Business, Marketing, and New Technology
Life Beyond Work
On the Mend
Apr 4th
Guest post from: Winston Stewart
By mid-morning every day I am beyond ready to break free from my leg cast and run a streak around the world. Having a cast on your leg is a lot like being trapped in an animal cage. It takes loads of effort to do my everyday normal activities. I am in week six now and I’m going a little nuts. So in order to try to hang on for a few more weeks without totally losing it, I logged onto www.directstartv.com and switched over our cable system for a satellite one. I am bored beyond belief with reading books which is shocking, I never thought this would happen to me, so I decided to purchase the entire movie package and begin catching up on some blockbusters. Anything to get me out of my own head for a little while seems like a good investment to me. So now my mornings are filled with routine for the kids, then it’s time to prop the leg up and see what movies I can watch before they get home. I am feeling like this change of pace might actually keep me sane for the next two remaining weeks.
Rather have one of those Neff Kitchens
Mar 17th
I tried to have a luncheon. Didn’t make it. I’d made all the plans, sent out the invites, planned out the menu, and shopped. But, alas, my kitchen had other plans.
As I washed dishes the night before, I just happened to be in bare feet, since Spring has sprung here in the south of the good ol’ USA. Anyway, I felt dampness, then real water on my little tootsies, if you know what I mean. Opening the cabinet, I saw water just streaming out from under the sink.
Well, it had been leaking just a little bit. I knew that. But this was new. This was much more water than I could tolerate. I had someone come over and look at it, and sure enough there was an actual hole in the pipe. I guess since my house is about 60 years old, it had to happen sometime.
The whole kitchen seems to need remodeling anyway. I mean, everything in it is still the original. Now that I think about it, it does look old. Really old. Remodeling is a good idea. I need new cabinets, new sink, new flooring, the works. While searching for a good company to help me out with this, I ran across Neff Kitchens . They know what they’re doing. I’ll be contacting them soon. Well, right after I sop up some of this water.
Abaco Real Estate- Retire to the Bahamas
Mar 5th
Winter days, cloudy days, cold bitter winds, much to uncomfortable to be called breezes- are we tired of this yet? I sure am. I was not made for the cold, not to mention the cloudiness. I am one of those who suffers when there is not enough sunshine around. I get grumpy, if you know what I mean.
Time for some serious dreaming. Where would I rather be? Well, that’s not a hard question- in the Bahamas! Isn’t that everyone’s dream? Seems like it is, but you never really hear about anyone moving there… perhaps they think it’s too expensive, and they would be right- almost.
Right now, the real estate market is favorable to the buyer. There will probably never be a better time to buy that dream house. Just imagine, clear blue waters… warm white sand… soft ocean breezes… smell of shrimp beginning to boil… you don’t even have to blow out a flip-flop (tipping my hat to Jimmy Buffet).
Just look at this picture of Schooner Bay on Abaco Island! Wouldn’t you love to spend hours and hours right there? Look at that crystal water! Wow. And that sand- so perfect. Shoot, even the clouds are perfect.
I’d like to live there. I’m going to go down there and check the place out just as soon as I can. I think I’ll take my next 3 (or 4 ) vacations there, and rent different places on the island, so I can get a feel for the place, then I’ll know exactly where to buy. I’m sure I can find just the perfect piece of Abaco Real Estate .
I might visit Atlantis Resort and play with the dolphins for a while. For sure I’m going to spend a lot of time on the sand, with my feet in the warm water. Hmmmm…… I’m thinking I’ll need to take a few friends along for company. Who’s up for a quick trip south?
Your Life History in Photos
Feb 28th
Do you have boxes or drawers full of old photos? I do. I always meant to put them into albums, but years of life just got away from me. I do know that about 2004 or 5, the amount suddenly decreased, because at that time, we all got digital cameras, and from then on, they were all on the computer, or online (a really bad place to store your pictures, by the way).
Still, I have literally boxes and boxes of pre-2004 photos that have yet to be sorted, or even looked at again, because they are so unwieldy. I just don’t have the time to go through them, and take them to the nearest photo-service, and scan them in , one by one, not to mention that people behind you in line get pretty upset when you stand there for an hour at a time. Who wants that?
So, I was delighted when I discovered More >
Streamlining
Feb 4th
Thanks for the guest post by Kennith Kramer
My husband and I have been streamlining our home utilities and the first thing we did was go to Cabletvadvisor.com and up our package. I knew I wanted some extra movie channels and he was dying for the NFL stuff so we did that in lieu of renewing our home security alarm. We live in a really safe area and it just didn’t make sense for us to pay that money. Another thing we did to cut back was get rid of the weekly gardeners. Our yard is small enough that we should be able to do it ourselves without too much work and we’re even thinking of planning a small garden out back to save some money on produce! I can’t believe there are times in our lives where we have to be so careful with money but I guess right before you decide to bring a baby into the world is as good a time as any to really buckle down and try to save. There’s something to be said for being stable!
You Can Learn How to Be Happy
Jan 6th
A long time ago, I heard a quote that has stuck with me. I can’t remember who said it, so there’s no way for me to give credit, but I’ve never forgotten it. It goes like this: “Cheerful is a choice.”
This has meant a lot to me over the years, as I went to work feeling gnarly or grumpy, and just wishing that the world would go away. I would remember that I had a choice in how I greeted the people in my life, and that being cheerful, putting on a smile, and being courteous was a CHOICE. I found that I could do it by choosing to do so, and then, by doing it, somehow, I actually did feel better.
This principle, that we have control over our feelings, our actions, and our internal states, is a crucial one to understand, if we are to have the lives that we desire. No matter what life has thrown at us, we can still choose to respond in this way, or in that way. Which way we choose will have a profound affect on not only our internal state, but on how the rest of our outer world is also.
Unfortunately, we are not taught this in school, or even in our culture. Many of us are floundering around at the mercy of random events, feeling out of control, frustrated, and miserable, because our lives just haven’t turned out as expected. We were never taught to cultivate an anchor of personal happiness that comes from controlling ourselves within. We were never taught How To Be Happy .
Learning how to have internal control is a real skill, and can be learned. It is not the same as taking some pill, or slapping on a temporary bandage, or deadening the pain temporarily with a drug, or even with some activity that acts like the placebo effect . We can, if we decide to learn how, begin to control our lives on the outside, by controlling our lives on the inside.
Home Arcade
Nov 11th
We’ve been cleaning out the garage. You know how things can just pile up, and pile up, and before you know it, there’s no space left? Well, that did indeed happen, and so we’ve been making a concerted effort to get rid of stuff, to make space.
At least, that was the plan. But nature abhors a vacuum, and it didn’t take long for that free space to start filling up again. At least this time, the “stuff” was a bit more interesting. I walked out of the kitchen the other day to find a large white contraption right in the way. My son had brought home a pin ball machine! It was old, a regular classic, with race cars, and lights, and bells- the whole works! How could I complain? I mean, who doesn’t love a classic pin ball game?
When I was young, my grandfather had one in his “game room”. This was a room in the corner of the basement, which he’d paneled, and carpeted, and hung a few deer trophies on the wall. It also had this awesome pinball machine, and we kids just loved it! So, now, I had no objection to having one of my own. We even discussed getting more “toys”, like a pacman arcade machine, and turning the garage into a game room. Now, THAT’s a good idea!
Need a Boca Raton divorce attorney?
Oct 21st
If you’ve watched television lately, you’ll be thinking that either all marriages are sugar and honey, or all marriages end in divorce. There just doesn’t seem to be any in-between. It is all black and white, no shades of grey. I, for one, do not find it amusing to see couples fighting all the time over teeny tiny little things. Even worse, fighting and yelling and arguing over misunderstandings, and then holding a grudge for hours, days, weeks. Perhaps it makes for a sit-com plot, when the writers can’t think of anything else, but it is not my kind of humor. What is this world coming to when two people do not even try to work things out? Of course there will be differences, and there will be opinions that clash, and there will always be two different ways of looking at anything. But whatever became of compromise? or personal responsibility?
Sadly, it is possible that two people can grow apart. After all, maybe it is just too much to ask that two people could live happily together for decades and then decades more. (I am the hopeless romantic that believes it is possible, so don’t ask for my opinion.) As people grow up, and find new interests, and make changes to whatever it s that they believe, it is quite possible that they might find themselves in two different places. That’s when you might just be better off calling it quits. You know, you don’t have to part as vitriolic enemies. There are many people who just drift apart and decide to go their separate ways. I believe this is a new trend, called the “peaceful divorce”.
Two of my friends are doing this. They live in Boca Raton, and have just decided that both will be happier on their own. They found a good Boca Raton divorce attorney
and are working things out peaceably. Good for them. At least this way, there is very little chance that you’ll find them on the Boca Raton News fighting it out.
New TV
Oct 17th
Contribution by Saul Martin
I have been dying to get one of those new LCD televisions. I would really like to get a 60-inch screen for our basement, which my wife has graciously allowed me to turn into my “man cave”. However, my wife said that she had to draw the line somewhere, and she said we could not get the new television until I had figured out how we could save money elsewhere. After all, our utility bills had almost doubled since we moved into a bigger house two years ago. Luckily I had just had a conversation with a buddy of mine about how he saved money on his power bill by going to shopelectricityratestexas.com. I told my wife about it and she agreed that it would save enough money for me to get the new television. I have big plans for the television with football season coming up. I hope to have my entire fantasy football league over to watch a few games on the big screen. My wife may regret letting me get the TV, but I’ll gladly let her watch it during the week.
Camera Philosophy
Oct 17th
Are you planning a vacation? Maybe just a short visit to a friend? Or perhaps you just like to have fun. Anytime you find yourself doing something out of the ordinary is the time to grab your camera! Now, I have always had just a tiny bit of a different philosophy when it comes to picture taking. Most of my family and friends will line everyone up in a row and say, “smile!” But then you end up with an album of lots of people standing in rows.
I much prefer to take out my camera periodically, and just take a picture of “what everyone is doing right now”. Then you end up with a historical snapshot of the event. At Thanksgiving, I always catch at least one person asleep on the sofa after the big meal. Or someone reading in a corner. Or the kids making a card house on the carpet. These sorts of pictures are so much more interesting to look back on, than one-face, two-faces, three-faces, all in a row. Of course, you do have to have the obligatory line up, but that’s ok, as long as there is some reference to what else they might have been doing that day.
Recently, my camera has been giving me a bit of trouble. Fortunately, though, one of my sons noticed, and I’m pretty sure he made note. Ah, Christmas is coming! Perhaps I’ll get a new camera!