By David Himmel

• It’s funny how waking up after sleeping with your contacts in—all gunky and stiff—can provide a clear view on the state of things.

• “You can’t have your cake and eat it, too,” is a ridiculous phrase. Who wants cake but doesn’t want to eat it? And why shouldn’t they get to eat their cake? It’s their cake. We need a better phrase for this intention. Something like, “You don’t get whatever you want at the expense of others.”

• Saw a homeless man reading a copy of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. That made me hopeful and happy.

• The darker the humor, the better the medicine.

• We all need at least five people in our lives who love us despite our most egregious moments of bad behaviors through the years.

• Constructive criticism is only constructive when it’s presented through kindness. And the understanding that the criticizer can accept your kindly critique in turn.