Today's lesson for all time: Pay attention

I always like to remind the high school kids I work with that a great part of our duties as budding writers/journalists (yep, I still consider myself in the developing stage) involves paying attention: focusing attention on, listening well to what another person is saying so we can get our data right and watching closely what is going on around.

Today I saw this image while on my way to the Google Translate service (I wanted some Scandinavian blogger's words translated into English). After my purpose was met, I returned to the image and tried to see what it meant.

It is Rosalind Franklin's 93rd birthday today. Wikipedia offers this basic info about her: "Rosalind Elsie Franklin was a British biophysicist and X-ray crystallographer who made critical contributions to the understanding of the fine molecular structures of DNA, RNA, viruses, coal, and graphite."

Franklin's image from scienceblogs.com

I was struck by the ingenious design of the Google.com logo. No wonder one of my young friends' dream job is to work at Google's headquarters in California where the work ethos involves a lot of play.

I once saw a documentary about how the employees there are fed. The cafeteria makes a conscious effort to source their supplies from local farmers and other food producers. I was bowled over--how a global company that can afford to just bring in the top franchises (McDonald's or Starbucks) has taken the harder but healthier route for the greater good. So what is served is always fresh, the local economy is sustained, and everybody returns to the work-play station full, their minds ready to soar again.

Happy birthday, Ms. Franklin, and thank you, Google, for reminding us of her significant contributions to humankind.

How do you gild your Saturday?

"What do you do to gild the day?" Or in Norwegian, I think this question reads: "Hva gjør dere for å forgylle dagen?"

Call me crazy, and here's my number, but this blogger has seen it fit to add a Norwegian blogger in her play list. That blog is located at: http://glambibliotekaren.blogspot.com. I've relied on Google Translate so I can comprehend her entries. Today I think the Glamorous Librarian (How can I not like her? We share a love for Audrey Hepburn) is off to an adventure to celebrate mid-summer. 
 

Image of Ms. Hepburn in various hues of blue found in Google+

I make it a point religiously, piously to follow her and other bloggers in my list, and when I miss a new entry, I make sure I'm up to date. Such is my other life in the virtual world.

Of course, I have many things to gild my Saturday with, chief of which is to write what I call a livelihood article. Earlier preparation required mindful reading, then re-reading with a yellow highlighter that I had meant to gift my grand-daughter since it's recommended for kids when they travel. But she's too immersed in Lego world to miss it.

If you've followed me until this paragraph, it is clear that I'm practicing procrastination again, a bad habit of some who live by and with the word. So let me end with this Writing Goals Pyramid that I found in Pinterest. I intend to share it with my students next week, just to make them see that writing, like fashion, is "not for sissies" (thank you, Project Runway, for that line).