Photo: Thinkstock

When I  moved into my first actual apartment, the awesome kitchen (actually a square of ancient appliances that overlooked a stinking alley) inspired me to learn to make bagels from scratch. I read about making bagels, I tried different recipes, a friend and I experimented with different dough-boiling techniques and flavors of mix-ins. For a few weeks I was obsessed with nothing more than bagels. Of course, this passed, and soon I was fixated on the challenge of reading Ulysses cover to cover. A few weeks later I was compulsively knitting terrible scarves. And then...well, you get the idea.

These days I tend to scoff, "Oh, I don't have time for that," "that" being most anything, but particularly teaching myself new things or taking on novel habits or hobbies. Pretty much everyone I know does this, too—it's like we're all in a weird competition for who's the busiest. But I miss those days of having goals, of trying out things I knew nothing about just...because. Leo Babauta of the excellent blog Zen Habits writes about this phenomenon in his recent post on self-directed learning, "Autodidact." He writes, "Learning is one of my favorite past times...I learn not as a chore to check off my list, nor as a route to self-improvement, but because I’m excited about something." He describes the eclectic list of things he's currently discovering (with no classes, by the way, or organized groups), from baking bread to  learning Javascript, and lays out his steps for acquiring each skill, which I loved.  Here it is, boiled down to its essentials: 1. Read, 2. Do, 3. Socialize, 4. Practice, and 5. Love. For more details, read the whole terrific post here.

We can all say "I don't have time for that" all we want, but in the end, do we have time not to learn something new? Hey, I want to make origami bird thingies! I want to pick up ordering in Spanish! Most of all, I want to regain that "I can't wait to get back to my new project" feeling that's so energizing and exciting. You know what I want to learn about first? Don't laugh—it's crock pot cooking.

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An adorable video that tugs at your heartstrings. Literally.

The Life-Lifter: "I was thinking I was going to die:" Chicago man risks his life to save children from drowning.

Photo: Getty Images

The star of the new movie Wanderlust loves to travel the world through literature.

Veronika Decides To Die By Paulo Coelho. I love Coelho because he asks important questions, like "What would I do today if I knew I'd be hit by a bus tomorrow?" This novel, the Brazilian author's 15th book, is about a woman who tries to kill herself, only to end up in a mental hospital where a doctor tells her she has just a few days to live. But then she falls in love with a fellow patient, and together they choose life. "Veronika gave me chills because it shows the power of the mind," Akerman says.



See the full list of Books That Made A Difference To Malin Ackerman.

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Photo: Thinkstock

Our smart phones can be efficient allies in our quest to live healthier lives, but they can also sometimes feel a little bit like beeping, chiming babysitters: There's my phone telling me to work out; there it is letting me know I'm late for my meeting, and, ugh, there it is making me feel guilty for consuming 747 more calories today than I should I have.

So imagine my delight when we discovered a free app for caffeine addicts that's less of a monitor, and more of an enabler—in a fun, functional way. With Caffeine Zone 2 Lite, you input the size of your beverage, the time you drank it, and how fast you sipped it. The simple-looking app, which was designed by two Penn State University professors (a cognitive scientist and a computer scientist), uses predictive modeling to figure out how much caffeine your body has absorbed and how much more you need to remain in your optimal alertness zone. You can also fill in details like your weight and bedtime to find out when the effects will wear off, when another cup will push you into the jitter zone, and whether that afternoon espresso will be likely to keep you up all night. You can even set alarms that will suggest when you need another dose. One of the app's designers told BusinessWeek that they hadn't received any funding from coffee- or soda-makers (although they wouldn't turn it down), so for now, he's just helping the caffeine-lovers of the world find their perfect happy place, one cup at a time.

Read more:
How your lattes affect your health

Watch this video. Go on. The whole thing. It's six minutes long. Turn the sound up. Close the door. Just watch it.

Giant soap bubbles - Bulles de savon géantes from Ebullitions on Vimeo.

This video makes me want to cry, and it took me a while to figure out why. This is because there's really no good word for the feeling it creates, that happy-sad feeling I get from watching something that's beautiful in a bleak way, uplifting in a quiet, melancholy way. The doleful music, the bare trees, the man alone with his unlikely, unwieldy, ineluctably temporary creations. It's so ridiculous what he's doing, and so perfect. Why shouldn't we all send our time creating whimsical will-o'-the-wisps, beautiful shimmering bubbles made just to pop? (Also: how on earth does he do it? I can't even blow a decent marble-sized bubble with the crummy drugstore soap solution I have!) And does it help knowing he's in France? Probably.

I usually call this feeling, in my mind, Funny-Cry-Happy. It was the name of a dollar store in Chicago I used to pass on my daily bus ride. I never went to store and have no idea what they were actually trying to say with its name, but I loved the phrase. And that's just how I feel about this video: Funny-Cry-Happy. It's not exactly a word, but it works. It's a feeling to hold onto and appreciate, despite—and maybe because of—the fact that's so hard to pinpoint.

via The Kid Should See This.

Men! What are they thinking? We can't always answer that, but we'll be posting our favorite glimpses into their world in this space every Thursday.



* The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore won an Oscar® on Sunday, and you can watch the whole charming video above. (YouTube)

* "From the age of 3 to the age of 23, Brian Spitulnik was sure of one thing: he wanted to be a Broadway dancer. When he was 24, he was cast in the long-running revival of Chicago." Find out what it's like to be a guy who wears black mesh in front of thousands of people in the Chorus Boy Chronicles. (McSweeney's)

* How great is this photo of Joe Namath in a fur coat at a 1973 Jets game? (The Lively Morgue)

* "Davy Jones was unfailingly gracious to his fans, delighted by the longevity of his career and grateful for the life it gave him."—Kerry Nolan in her lovely remembrance of the Monkees member and former teen idol who passed away this week at the age of 66. What's your favorite Monkee's song? (WNYC)

Photo: Courtesy of Best Life

Every few weeks, we'll be asking one of the Best Life experts for advice on diet and exercise, ways to get better rest and strategies to live a little younger.

If you have a question, send it to us!

You know your gym is germy, and that's why you always bring your own water bottle, towel, yoga mat and shower shoes. You haven’t let your bare skin touch the stretching mats since you first joined, and no one needs to tell you to wipe down the treadmill control panel before you press "GO." But you may not realize where else viruses and bacteria may be hiding, says Michelle Kennedy, MS, a Best Life fitness expert. Take these extra precautions, especially with the CDC's recent announcement that flu season, significantly delayed this year, is just getting started.

Disinfect the disinfectant containers: Think about it: you see people spraying and wiping everything in the gym—except for the spray bottles and wet wipe receptacles. Wipe them off before you put them down for the next germaphobe to use.

Store your gear high: Even fastidious gyms don't get around to cleaning every single locker every single night. The bottoms of the lockers tend to be the dirtiest because that's where people tuck away their outside shoes, says Kennedy. She always hangs her clothes and gear from hooks so that they come in contact with as few grimy surfaces as possible.

Don't co-mingle your clothing: Kennedy points out that most people don't think twice about taking off the shorts that just spent an hour on the stationery bike (one microbiologist found the fungus Candida albicans, which causes yeast infections, on exercise bike seats all over New York City) and tossing them into a bag with clean clothes, books and other items. She suggests a sports duffel with separate pockets for shoes and sweaty gear, like this one.

Read more:
A primer for good gym hygiene
Foods that can boost your immunity to colds
How healthy is your gym?

 

The cutest, weirdest video you'll see today: the test flight of the robo-bees.

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The Life-Lifter: That one really nice guy at work. Blankets. Seeing old people dance. Learn to appreciate an awesome thing every day, courtesy of the awesome blog 1000 Awesome Things. AWESOME!

My morning question, in as far as I have one, is usually something like "Why are the children talking to me while it is still dark out?" I start to regain consciousness several hours later, at which point the kitchen is shellacked in breakfast and coffee drips; midday I find myself glazing over in front of a computer screen; before I know it I'm collapsed on the couch wondering where the day, and all my plans for creativity and productivity, went.