Fitday

My new Internet toy is Fitday. I signed up for an account. No, not a public one, because I don't need to tell anyone else how many cookies I am eating. It is very easy. You do have to give them your e-mail, but I queried, and they don't share it with anyone; the only reason that they have it is if you ever forget your password.

You plug the food you eat in and learn whether you are taking in too many calories or not enough, and it tracks whether you are meeting your nutritional requirements. They have lot of food pre-programmed, but you can customize your own foods you eat frequently. It is very easy to use, and I have learned an awful lot in the three days I've had it. I hope it will make me more mindful about my eating.

Best of all: IT'S FREE.

Recommended.

Wizard Rock

Just about the best thing I brought home from Lumos were the CDs I picked up at the Wizard rock concert: three CDs from the group Harry and the Potters (website here, MySpace here, song lyrics here), one from The Remus Lupins (website here, MySpace here), and one from Draco and the Malfoys (website here, MySpace here, lyrics here).

The girls ADORE them. A huge hit. Not the best rock groups you've ever heard, but they're having a ton of fun. Lyrics are amusing, too.

What would Dumbledore do?

I have been thinking over the presentations I saw at Lumos. A couple in particular stood out: the one by Ed Kern on Snape's eyes, and Tom Morris' presentation (he just wrote the book If Harry Potter Ran General Electric, which Rob and I picked up and had signed.

Kern's presentation assembled a careful reading of the text to examine how Snape uses his eyes, coming to the conclusion that Snape has been reading Harry's mind using Legilimency to pretty much interpret Harry's thoughts ever since first year. I found it fascinating, and most convincing. Alas, it was not included with the Compendium.

Just as interesting was Tom Morris' examination of Dumbledore's character. Before encountering Harry Potter, Morris had written a book called If Aristotle Ran General Motors. After reading Rowling, he started wondering how Aristotle would go about running Hogwarts--and then realized that Dumbledore was doing it already. So Morris outlined for us how perfectly Dumbledore fits Aristotle's ideal, embodying those virtues Aristotle thought necessary ingredients to a good, effective, and happy life.

Courage - a commitment to do what's right despite the threat of danger
Temperance - a rational moderation and proper self-restraint in our pleasures
Liberality - a freedom in giving to others what can be of help to them
Magnificence - a capacity for acting on a grand scale
Pride - a true sense of honor and worthiness
Good Temper - an inner calm manifested by appropriate outward behavior
Friendliness - the demeanor of treating others convivially and sociably
Truthfulness - a strong disposition toward honesty in all things
Wittiness - the ability to see and express humor appropriately
Justice - the fundamental disposition of treating others well and fairly.

Yes, yes, Dumbledore is exactly like that. And what is more, as Morris explained, he is shaping Harry to be this way, too--not as only a teacher, but as a mentor/example. This gets exactly to what I was talking about in my paper on the Seven Deadly Sins, Seven Heavenly Virtues in the Harry Potter books, how Dumbledore considered his true mission to be giving his students a moral education--countering Voldemort by guiding young people to use their power ethically.

It made me think more deeply than I have ever thought about Dumbledore's character, and how I admire him. Yes, I do aspire to have a character like his, although I certainly fall short as often as Harry does. But I think I would like to be more mindful of this, to keep Dumbledore in my sights as a good personal model.

I would like to make it my practice to ask myself regularly: "What would Dumbledore do?"

Edited to add: Thanks to chamisa for the icon and picture for this entry!