Quick Hits of the Week

• It’s important to keep up intensity when you are trying to accomplish a big goal. The problem is that when our intensity starts to fade, it’s not immediately apparent. According to Joseph Sangl, it’s a lot like a ceiling fan. Sangl is a finance guy, so he’s talking about money management, but we can also keep it in mind when we set goals in any area of our life. Don’t let your switch turn off. Momentum will drain away quickly.

• Yesterday was Halloween. My kids got a pretty good haul. They got chocolate bars, and lollipops, and licorice, and pretty much all the prepackaged sugary goodness you can think of. (Never enough of these, though.) Unfortunately, they didn’t get any popcorn balls or caramel apples. No raisins, either. That’s a shame, really. Lenore Skenazy wants us all to send in a picture of them eating the unsafe, unwrapped treat that they received. You might think she’s crazy, but I think she just wants to raise the incidence of poisoning or serious injury from these kinds of Halloween booty to more than zero. Yep. No one has ever actually been poisoned, or been seriously injured by a razor blade or pin in any of their Halloween candy. Sorry, fear-mongers.

• We used to have cats, but they’ve passed away, and we haven’t agreed on when we’ll be replacing them. It’s inevitable that we will, though. When we do, I’m going to look into building a cabinet like this one. I think it would fit nicely in the laundry room. I’m also hoping that my son will be old enough to handle cleaning duties.

• I’ve mentioned that I support overarching reform of drug policy in America, and that I want to see an end to the war on drugs. This isn’t such a controversial opinion anymore. According to a recent report from Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), “police in the U.S. arrest someone for marijuana every 42 seconds and that 87% of those arrests are for possession alone.” However, when three states are considering voter legislation to change how marijuana is regulated, we should take it as a signal to begin a serious discussion about nationwide change. Check out the recent Jarecki documentary, The House I Live In, as a great starting point regarding this issue.

• It’s a game that I will never force my children to play. It’s unlikely that I will ever own a copy. It’s the horror that is Monopoly. But it wasn’t always Monopoly. At one time it was called the Landlord’s Game, and it was well loved. Take a look at some of the vintage images on this site that shows you what ‘Monopoly’ used to look like, and what the rules used to be.

Is there something valuable or important or cool or funny or weird or awesome out there I missed this week? I can’t hit it all, but you should let me know about it by dropping me a line or sharing it in the comments below! I’d appreciate the heads up.