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Jay Whitenoreply@blogger.com2008-05-09T11:05:08.680-05:00Five Ways to Cope When Your Child Returns to the Nest</h3><content type="html"><div id="write"><h7 class="write">Written on 5/09/2008 by Alex Blackwell, who writes about creating success and happiness for the rest of your life at <a href="http://www.thenext45years.com/">The Next 45 Years</a>.</h7></div> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/misbehave/156216146/"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_dH0q9hvpVHg/SCR1Qx7yaLI/AAAAAAAABuU/COUJXLECZbA/s320/graduate.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198408801034856626" border="0" /></a>Final exams at Kansas University begin next week. My daughter, Caitlin, has been working very hard and will successfully complete her freshmen year in very good academic standing. Caitlin has learned a lot about being on her own and other important life skills, too. However, she has already informed her mother and me that her car will be packed and she will be ready to pull out of Lawrence, Kansas and head back home as soon as she completes her last exam. While Mary Beth and I are looking forward to spending the summer with our daughter, we just hope her return to the nest will be equally successful. In anticipation of her return home, my wife and I have been discussing how to embrace this change to our routine. We want the next few months to be happy and productive ones for the sake of the entire family. We have settled on these five ways to cope when our daughter comes home, again. I hope you will find these useful too: <ol><li> Establish Some Ground Rules. The first place to start is with establishing, and communicating, the fact that the house rules have not gone away even though Caitlin has been away from the house for the past 10 months. Things like curfew times, noise levels, keeping up with assigned household chores and friends coming over will all be redefined and enforced. Being part of a family is a privilege. The ability to enjoy a comfortable home, food in the fridge, cable television and a computer with a fast Internet connection all come with responsibilities. The most fundamental of these responsibilities is to be accountable and to follow the family-approved rules. No one is exempt for these and there are no exceptions. </li> <li>Set Boundaries. I have resigned myself to the fact that the peace and quiet Mary Beth and have enjoyed since last August will be interrupted over the summer months. This is not an indictment or criticism about Caitlin’s behavior; it’s just being honest to say our house has a lot more energy in it when our daughter is here. </li> With that said, my wife and I still have a right to privacy and to our personal space. It’s important for all of us to have some personal space to retreat to when the need arises. <li>Caitlin’s Contributions. In addition to respecting the house rules, there is also an expectation our daughter will contribute to the family in other ways, too. Helping with dinner, getting Emily, our younger daughter, to and from where she needs to go, and pitching in with the laundry will all be expected contributions. When children return home, they should not be considered as invited guests, but as fully engaged and productive members of the family. Their contributions, however, are not limited to how they can help their parents; their presence, spirit and love are all valuable contributions as well. </li> <li>Cultivate an Adult Relationship. It’s very fulfilling watching our children grow up and grow in to becoming mature and responsible adults. An expectation Catlin may have this summer is to be treated as an adult – I can’t wait to meet her expectation. We invest so much time and effort in our children when they are young. This investment yields very, very favorable returns when we get to experience them as adults. The years of reading bedtime stories and believing in Santa Claus are indeed magical. The time spent talking about who should win the next presidential election over a cold beer can be just as delightful. Gradually, and without much notice, our children become our friends. I’m looking forward to finding out more about the reasons behind Caitlin’s choice for president. I’m looking forward to nurturing an adult relationship with my daughter this summer. </li> <li> Create an Exit Strategy. As the August days begin to get shorter, so will our time with Caitlin. With every homecoming, there is also a farewell. When my daughter pulls up into the driveway in a couple of weeks, no one will be thinking about the day she will need to back out and head for Lawrence. It will be important to drop-in reminders of the inevitable departure along the way. Within a few days of her return home, we will quickly develop a new routine and grow accustomed to her new-found presence in the house. We will also need to help transition her back to her college life. Shopping for new items for her apartment, gradually giving her more autonomy as the summer wanes into the fall, and planning the Thanksgiving holiday details when we will unite as a family again, are all things we can do to help with the transition from the nest and back into her independence. </li></ol><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Wolfe">Thomas Wolfe</a> may suggest “you can’t go home again,” but you can welcome your child home again and begin building a new relationship that can be sustained for the rest of your lives together. -Alex <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/DumbLittleMan?a=QCLlyf"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/DumbLittleMan?i=QCLlyf" border="0"></img></a><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=oLbtKh"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=oLbtKh" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=sebIUh"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=sebIUh" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=ODnQ9h"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=ODnQ9h" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=nhPXmh"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=nhPXmh" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=qHQUDH"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=qHQUDH" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DumbLittleMan/~4/286922093" height="1" width="1"/></content><author><name>Jay White</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><updated>2008-05-09T06:16:15.876-05:00</updated><title type="text">Productivity v. Ingenuity</h3><content type="html"><div id="write"><h7 class="write">Written on 5/09/2008 by Marelisa Fabrega, Founder and CEO of <a href="http://www.marelisa-online.com/">marelisa-online.com</a> and blogger at <a href="http://abundance-blog.marelisa-online.com/">Abundance Blog</a>.</h7></div> <img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_dH0q9hvpVHg/SCQt-x7yaKI/AAAAAAAABuM/OHWTS4Ktbxc/s320/thinking.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198330426471639202" border="0" />Productivity usually refers to the amount of output produced relative to the amount of resources that go into the production, where the output is within a pre-determined parameter of quality. In the quest for increased productivity, solutions have been found that cover the gamut from automation and the creation of standard operating procedures, to providing ergonomic chairs for employees and raising the workplace temperature. Books with titles such as <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fs%3Fie%3DUTF8%26tag%3Dmozilla-20%26index%3Dblended%26link%255Fcode%3Dqs%26field-keywords%3Dgetting%2520things%2520done%26sourceid%3DMozilla-search&tag=nosid-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Getting Things Done</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=nosid-20&l=ur2&o=1" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" border="0" height="1" width="1" /> and others in the genre are constantly on the best sellers list. In addition, several blogs have been created with the express purpose of helping readers become more productive by hacking their lives, with advice such as: <a href="http://www.dumblittleman.com/2007/05/sleep-adjustment-gain-10-days-per-year.html">get up early</a>; <a href="http://www.dumblittleman.com/2007/07/10-ways-to-remove-clutter-from-your.html">declutter your workspace</a>; don’t go to meetings unless it’s indispensable that you be there, a meeting agenda has been prepared, and a moderator will be there to make sure that everyone sticks to the agenda; skim through reading material and delete e-mails ruthlessly; and so on. Although pursuing productivity is laudable, more and more of what the world needs is not so much increased output, but ideas to solve complex problems. The problems being created by a population that is increasing exponentially and an environment that is on the verge of collapsing can only be solved by ingenuity, not by productivity. That is, the world doesn’t need productivity gurus as much as it needs alchemists. Out With the Productivity Guru, In With the Alchemist In the book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FUnlimited-Wealth-Practice-Economic-Alchemy%2Fdp%2F0517582112%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1210329002%26sr%3D8-1&tag=nosid-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Unlimited Wealth</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=nosid-20&l=ur2&o=1" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" border="0" height="1" width="1" />, the brilliant economist Paul Zane Pilzer explains that for the past four hundred years virtually all economists have agreed on the notion of scarcity. That is, a society's wealth is determined by its supply of physical resources--its land, labor, minerals, water, and so on—and, as we know, these are finite resources. Pilzer goes on to argue that with today’s technology we now effectively live in a world of unlimited wealth, or in what he calls an Alchemic world. Productivity is basically the management of resources. Although proper management of resources is a move in the right direction, innovation, creativity, whole-mind thinking, and big picture thinking—what is referred to as “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy">alchemy</a>” in this article--are what is truly needed. Below are two examples of alchemy at work. In the 1960s it was widely predicted that the chronic food shortages suffered by India and Pakistan would result in mass starvation. However, the Indian government called on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug">Norman Borlaug</a>, a plant breeder born in Iowa, who--together with his team—had developed a special breed of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug#Dwarfing">dwarf wheat</a> that resisted a wide spectrum of plant pests and diseases and produced two to three times more grain than the traditional varieties. By teaching local farmers in the region how to cultivate this new strain of wheat properly, they achieved an astounding increase in the yield of wheat within the span of a few years, which saved over a billion people in India and Pakistan from starvation. Some credit Borlaug with having saved more human lives than any other person in history. The answer in this example wasn’t to devise a new process that would allow faster harvesting or to develop a new machine that would deliver pesticide more efficiently, but to create an entirely new breed of wheat. Our second example of alchemy involves rice. Rice is the staple food in Asia and an important dietary component in the rest of the world. Given the rise in Earth's population from around 6.5 billion today to an estimated more than nine billion by mid-century, boosting rice harvests is essential. In addition, the price of rice and other cereals has surged in the past year in response to drought in the United States and Australia, and to incentives to grow <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biofuel">biofuels</a> rather than food crops. In an <a href="http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/ng.143.html">article</a> published in Nature Genetics this past Sunday, May 4th, it was announced that scientists in China have discovered that by manipulating a single gene in the rice plant they may be able to control rice yield, as well as its height and flowering time. Once again, it is this breakthrough that may be a crucial step in global efforts to increase crop yield, and not a new method to harvest rice more quickly or a device to make workers more comfortable as they harvest. How to Become an Alchemist You become an alchemist by developing both hemispheres of the brain. Efforts to increase productivity usually involve only the logical, analytical, left-side of the brain. In order to innovate, to think out of the box, to have intuitive flashes that lead to breakthroughs, and to be able to see the forest instead of just looking at the trees, you need to develop the right-side of the brain. There are many ways to do this; a very effective way to develop whole brain thinking is through <a href="http://www.mahalo.com/How_to_Meditate">meditation</a> and similar practices that induce the brain to function at the alpha frequency of mind. In addition, artistic pursuits such as drawing, creating <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandala">mandalas</a>, playing a musical instrument, and even creative writing can help you to develop the right-hemisphere of the brain. Even people who plan their day to the T, treat their day-timer like the Bible, and know every productivity hack out there can become alchemists. You just have to be willing to create instead of organize, to synthesize instead of analyze, and to rely on what your intuition tells you instead of limiting yourself to the world shown to you by your five senses. -Marelisa <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/DumbLittleMan?a=lEc82j"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/DumbLittleMan?i=lEc82j" border="0"></img></a><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=9kqVqh"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=9kqVqh" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=hFUlch"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=hFUlch" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=itSc8h"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=itSc8h" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=Ci4j4h"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=Ci4j4h" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=o7vTIH"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=o7vTIH" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DumbLittleMan/~4/286748141" height="1" width="1"/></content><author><name>Jay White</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><updated>2008-05-11T17:58:22.960-05:00</updated><title type="text">7 Keys to DIY Graphic Design on No Budget</h3><content type="html"><div style="font-style: italic;" id="write"><h7 class="write">Written on 5/08/2008 by </h7>Mike Reeves-McMillan<h7 class="write"> who writes the blog </h7><a href="http://hypno.co.nz/blogs">Living Skillfully: Your Mind and Health</a><h7 class="write">.</h7></div> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/markjsebastian/350164368/"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_dH0q9hvpVHg/SCLOfanvtRI/AAAAAAAABuE/D90XcFWIprU/s320/creative.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197943959056266514" title="creative outlet" border="0" /></a>Everyone talks about starting a business, launching a website, doing what you love, quitting your job, etc. That's great but regardless of what you may read, people do indeed judge a book by its cover. When you start that business or website, you will most likely need a logo or some kind of graphics to accompany your text. For those of you that have the ideas and not the skills to design a new logo, poster, or cover page for your business plan, you can either dish out some money to have a pro do it or you can give it a shot yourself. Clearly there is a time when a professional needs to get involved. However, I like doing it myself and I have a learned a lot in the process. Take these notes into consideration next time you have to get a creative project done on no budget: <ol><li>Think few and simple: A highly-trained, experienced graphic designer can integrate a mass of disparate material into a good-looking whole. I can't, so I go minimalist. With the words, too. Less is more. Most people overwrite by 10%-25%; try cutting a tenth to a quarter of your text. </li> <li>Every element you choose must reinforce your theme: An old-fashioned font on a technology announcement? Pink for something aimed at lawyers? Grey for something aimed at little girls? No. Just no. If it doesn't reinforce the theme, no matter how much you like it, don't use it. You can always use it for something else another time. </li> <li>Get one, or maybe two, really strong graphic elements from one of the many sites where artists more skilled than you make their work freely available. My favorites are: <ul><li><a href="http://sxc.hu/" target="_blank">stock.xchg</a>. Stock photographs like you'd get from a pay site, well organized and easy to search.</li><li><a href="http://flickr.com/" target="_blank">flickr</a>. Thousands of mostly amateur, but often very skilled, photographers post here, and many of them let you use their photos.</li><li>the <a href="http://openclipart.org/" target="_blank">Open Clip Art Library</a>. Usually well-drawn and often completely without restrictions on usage. Unfortunately, the site isn't searchable. You can download the whole library for free, but it's large.</li><li><a href="http://deviantart.com/" target="_blank">deviantART</a>. More emphasis on painting, drawing and digital art and less on photography. </li><li><a href="http://everystockphoto.com/" target="_blank">everystockphoto</a> and <a href="http://picfindr.com/" target="_blank">PicFindr</a>, which are search sites that search a number of different free photography sites. I find everystockphoto to be the more useful of the two. (Often, though, the best photos I find turn out to come from stock.xchg or flickr anyway.) </li></ul> Make sure you check the usage conditions before you use a piece from these sites, as they do vary both between and within the sites. Familiarize yourself with the various <a href="http://creativecommons.org/" target="_blank">Creative Commons</a> licenses and what they permit, require and prohibit. Stock.xchg has its own <a href="http://www.sxc.hu/help/7_2" target="_blank">usage terms</a>, and individual contributors sometimes add other requirement such as attribution, linking to them, informing them or even asking permission from them before you use the work. Look underneath the photo to be sure. Flickr uses the Creative Commons licenses, and you can search by CC license either <a href="http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/" target="_blank">on Flickr itself</a> or on <a href="http://flickrcc.bluemountains.net/" target="_blank">flickrCC</a>, which presents the pictures in an easy-to-view format. For deviantART you will usually need to contact the artist to ask about usage. It's always courteous to let the artist know you're using their work in any case. And if you leave a comment on the piece of art you used, you have the opportunity to link back to your own site and promote it. </li> <li>Use two, or maybe three, clean, legible fonts: A lot of amateur graphic design looks like an explosion in a font factory. One font for headings, one for body text, and maybe one other for special elements is the rule to go with. Look on your computer first - you probably have dozens of fonts already. If you don't have quite the right one, though, there are plenty of free font sites around. Two that are easy to use and well-organized are <a href="http://www.urbanfonts.com/" target="_blank">urbanfonts</a> and <a href="http://betterfonts.com/" target="_blank">better fonts</a>. </li> <li>Use three, maybe four, well-matched colors: Hands down the best site I've found for harmonizing colors is <a href="http://www.easyrgb.com/harmonies.php" target="_blank">EasyRGB</a>. It's for web designers, but there's no reason you can't use it in other projects too. Pick a main color and then get EasyRGB to show you good matches for it. </li> <li>Use Inkscape to bring it all together: <a href="http://inkscape.org/" target="_blank">Inkscape</a> is free software, and fairly easy to learn. You can do pretty much anything you need with it for basic graphic design. </li> <li>Align the elements with each other so that the viewer's eye moves through them naturally and they seem related: I've used these principles to design <a href="http://csidemedia.com/csidemediafonty80.gif" target="_blank">several</a> <a href="http://hypno.co.nz/hypnologo.png" target="_blank">logos</a>, a <a href="http://csidemedia.com/images/display/181.png" target="_blank">book cover</a> for my <a href="http://city-of-masks.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">novel</a> (using an image from <a href="http://donia.deviantart.com/art/Mask-Wp-12905573" target="_blank">deviantART</a>), and a <a href="http://hypno.co.nz/images/nonsmoking-heart.png" target="_blank">poster</a> for my stop-smoking clients (using an image from <a href="http://www.sxc.hu/photo/801003" target="_blank">stock.xchg</a>). </li></ol>If you can afford it, of course, use a proper graphic designer; they're worth it. But zero-budget graphic design isn't as hard as you may have thought. -Mike <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/DumbLittleMan?a=0yClhd"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/DumbLittleMan?i=0yClhd" border="0"></img></a><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=ONDdrh"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=ONDdrh" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=XUO1Nh"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=XUO1Nh" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=IeRkWh"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=IeRkWh" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=XxkCjh"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=XxkCjh" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=tNlM8H"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=tNlM8H" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DumbLittleMan/~4/285989610" height="1" width="1"/></content><author><name>Jay White</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><updated>2008-05-08T05:10:47.141-05:00</updated><title type="text">5 Snacks That will Smash That Afternoon Groggy Feeling</h3><content type="html"><div id="write"><h7 class="write">Written on 5/07/2008 by Garrett Whelan who writes about cooking for men or anyone trying to kick the fast food habit at <a href="http://fatbastardeats.com/">FatBastardEats.com</a>.</h7></div> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lukewisley/454298607/"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_dH0q9hvpVHg/SCHkKqnvtQI/AAAAAAAABt8/z26uSQHX2pY/s320/salsa.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197686316853081346" title="Salsa" border="0" /></a>You should snack, a lot. During the day you should eat approximately 200 calories every 2 to 4 hours, both for health and productivity. If you let your blood sugar get too low, you could be on your way to some serious binge eating and desperate snack choices. In fact, 90% of your overeating could probably have been avoided if you ate a little before you got hungry. But you don't plan to snack, so you overeat. Then what happens? Grogginess, sleepiness and the inevitable productivity plummet. Your response to said grogginess? Candy, sweets, coffee, and other quick fixes that cause quick blood sugar highs only to be followed by lower lows. The cycle continues forever until you actually go to sleep. Regular, planned snacking can avoid all this. So how to we snack? Clearly we have to make some smart choices and they don't have to include baby carrots and diced apples. A snack should meet some physical needs (keeping our blood sugar from getting too low) and some mental needs (i.e. Brain Food!). So we need snacks that meet the following 4 criteria: <ol type="A"><li>It must have a low Glycemic Index. The higher the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycemic_index">GI</a>, the quicker your blood glucose levels will rise. If your blood sugar gets too high, your body releases insulin to bring it down. This makes you tired and hungry again right after you just ate. Lower carbs, more fat and fiber (to slow absorption) will mean <a href="http://www.diabetes.ca/Section_About/glycemic.asp">snacks with a lower GI</a>.</li> <li>It must be filling. Ever take a pill in the morning and as soon as you turn around you can't remember if you took it or not? You don't want a snack like that.</li> <li>It must be interesting to your mouth. Your mouth likes contrasts: sweet and sour. crunchy and chewy. We want a snack that uses this. </li> <li>Ideally our snack is self-regulating. That means that we won't eat too much of it. This one is tougher, and we won't always find something that has this quality. In those cases we have to practice the dreaded art of self control. </li></ol>Stumped for ideas? Here are 5 snacks (in no particular order) that fit that criteria and that you're probably not eating: <ol><li>Spicy Nuts. Now regular nuts meet our A, B and C requirements. They're crunchy and interesting and full of fat, fiber and protein. But if you had a trough of them at the office, you'd be buying new pants weekly. That's why I like spicy peanuts, they're self regulating. You can only eat as many as you can handle. I like <a target="_blank" href="http://www.hotsauceworld.com/asskicpean.html">Ass Kickin' Peanuts</a> myself. As an added bonus, snacking on these all day really builds up your tolerance for heat. So the next time you and your brother go out for Thai food you can make him look like a total wimp (I hate my brother).</li><li>Homemade Salsa and Tortilla Chips. Tortilla chips with any dip are crunchy, creamy and low on the GI. Salsa is the best choice for a dip because it has the highest flavor/nutrition ratio and because when you make a batch it's good for a week. You can pack it up and take it to work, unlike guacamole, which might make it to the table before it turns brown. And I say homemade because it's better, cheaper and super easy. I use the Alton Brown <a target="_blank" href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_16886,00.html">salsa recipe</a> (halve that unless you're a pro linebacker) and I buy bulk tortillas from the supermarket and fry them up in some corn oil. In about 10 minutes I have a bag of chips at 1/6 the cost and they're restaurant quality.</li><li>Deviled Eggs. Boiled eggs have the same benefits, but deviled eggs bring a little more flavor to the mouth party (yeah, I said that). They taste great, they're filling and they have 0 carbs which means they don't even register on the GI. I would call them self regulating because they are not easily packed and transported. </li><li>Half a Toasted Peanut Butter and Honey sandwich. A whole sandwich is a bit too much for a snack, but a half is perfect. The peanut butter is the key part here, it's got enough fat, protein and fiber to keep the GI low. The honey provides a nice sweetness with fewer calories (sugar is only 80% as sweet as honey) and it won't create the purple slurm on one side of your sandwich like jelly will. Don't skip the toasting part though. The toast has a crunchy outside, chewy inside thing that makes this snack interesting; remember that's important.</li><li>Homemade Popcorn. This is my favorite. It's pure fiber and carbohydrate and it's GI isn't too high. It tastes great and it has the most interesting mouth feel (I'm telling you, that's important) of any snack. It's perfectly healthy if you don't add butter and it's not too bad if you use a healthier <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-olive-oil-spread/">olive oil butter spread</a>. It keeps great for a day or so and if you haven't eaten it by then (why would you not eat it by then?) throw it in a bowl with milk and sugar. Popcorn is the original cereal. And if you make it yourself (don't buy those overpriced bags of microwave popcorn with carcinogenic imitation butter) it's practically free. It literally costs pennies per gallon if you <a href="http://www.dumblittleman.com/2007/09/diy-make-your-own-microwave-popcorn.html">pop it in a wok on your stove.</a></li></ol>Almost free, tasty and healthy. What more could you want? Huh? You want more? 5 isn't enough for you? Fine, whatever. Here is a 6th: <ul><li>Bonus: Diced Apple with Lime. This is big in Mexico and it's a great way to make an apple a little tastier. Just dice it up real fine and squeeze a lime or lemon on top. The sour gives a great contrast to the earthy, sweet flavor of the apple. It also stops the apple from turning brown so you can dice it at home and throw it in a zip lock for work.</li></ul>Snacking is an important part of your day but you have to snack smart. Look for things that have a low GI (fat and fiber) and always plan to snack. 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