OLGY's WEBLOG

MyDiet4Life

2005-08-22T11:00:00.000-06:00

> I'm back doing Weight Watchers 100%

My friend dropped me an email with the above line and I replied, "Me too!" ...well, I'm not on WW myself, but me too as in I'm committed to losing weight by following a sound exercise program and nutritionally balanced eating plan.

More and more I'm convinced that each of us must find our own way of losing weight and getting in shape. Generalized answers work up to a point. A good low cal recipe is helpful, general guidelines for healthy eating and exercise help. But a "one-size-fits-all" program does not work for me...believe me, I've tried most of them, one at a time!

I found an online program that does for me what WW-online used to do when I belonged to it. It's called FitDay and it's $29.95 to buy and download. I didn't want to be at the mercy of my internet to access my online journal/calorie tracker with WW-online...so it was good finding this program. This is their site if you're interested in checking it out, http://www.fitday.com [note: neither CCF nor I make any money if you purchase the program. I mention it in this post because it's a program that's actually helping me figure out how to track my weight loss]. The program tracks not only what you eat but how much you exercise and the effect that various types of exercises have on your overall plan of getting healthy and losing weight.

Other tracking programs I've joined in the past made me feel like I was being denied. I reached my daily points or calorie limit too early in the day and then felt like giving up. But FitDay is awesome because it clocks not just calories eaten but charts them compared to calories I planned to eat and also against calories I burn just by being, just by breathing, doing absolutely nothing, being a total couch potato, which I really am not, even though I list myself as sedentary on the program because I work in front of a computer 16 hours/day. So when I eat more than my allotted number of calories, with FitDay I can see that even with what I ate I actually burned more by breathing (background calories burned through digestion, sleeping, just being alive) than I ate. On those days I then know I will at least maintain for that day. This knowledge keeps me from giving up. The picture gets even better the days I exercise so I'm making an effort to walk every day and plan on introducing strength training to my weekly routine real soon. If you're lucky enough to belong to a gym then keeping an exercise routine will be easier for you than it is for me. After all, why would you pay monthly fees and not take advantage of everything the gym has to offer?

I'm staying with the calorie intake that FitDay recommends for a healthy weight loss program, one where you do not lose more than 2 pounds a week. I have started walking 2 miles several times a week. The program tracks my water intake, fiber, fat, and it also tracks my moods so I can then generate reports that show what mood I'm in when eating. It tracks reason I eat and I'm discovering (duh!) that a good 50% of my eating is "triggered by food." I'd like to get to the point where most of my eating is triggered by hunger and not food or emotions, etc.

By and large, the most encouraging thing about this program is its one-time price of $29.95, the fact that it's always available in my computer whether or not my internet access is working or not, AND the wonderful way it charts Calories Eaten vs Calories Burned on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. Since I bought the program I've consistently eaten less than the number of calories my body normally burns. So it makes sense that I'm loosing weight, slowly but surely.

FitDay's website is full of other good information on weight loss, nutrition, and diets. If you just want to use their program online, then it's totally free. I did find that having it in the computer allows for faster inputting of foods eaten, etc. But it's nice they offer it for free off of their website.

I'm going to build a set of resources and make them a part of the "MyDiet4Life" program that's helping me get healthier. I'd love to hear what's working and not working for you. Blog your ideas alongside mine.

Why do you blog?

2007-01-30T09:43:00.000-07:00

I'd love to hear from site visitors as to why they blog. I gave a talk last year at our regional SCBWI conference and will be giving it again in April. I titled the talk, "Websites, Blogs, and Platform Building."

When it comes to writers, I do feel that every published and yet-to-be-published writer should have a website and/or a blog. They are a means to an end: building your platform. It's your platform that editors and agents look for once they fall in love with your writing...and even before! The workshop i give covers what you need to know in order to launch your own website and/or blog in a cost-effective manner. It covers the terminology, software, costs, philosophy, design components, etiquette, and maintenance of good sites that inspire visitors to bookmark them and come back to them time and again. Sometime in the future I may put this info in an eBook. I'll let you know when I do.

Now the above is for writers...but who else blogs? and why? I'd love to hear from you! Tell me why you blog. Do you have more than one blog? What topics are you blogging on? Fun stuff, huh?

Got Marathons On My Mind

2007-01-22T22:49:00.000-07:00

Christine Gary: 13:45:20
i ran a half marathon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ...HALF MARATHON!
Christine Gary: 13:53:18
and i was tired from the get go...like i started running and was thinking ooooh boy, this is gonna be a long run, i have no energy... haha... and it was cold

Those were the words I found on my IM window when I came to work this morning. It was my daughter sharing with me the thrill of one more practice run as she trains to run in the 111th Boston Marathon on April 16, 2007, a distance of 26 miles, 385 yards (42.195 Kilometers). She'd run 11 miles with her team members and then ran an additional 2 miles on her own to make it a half marathon.

The news that her training is right on track led me to google "Boston Marathon" and, in so doing, I landed on one of the most inspirational stories I've read in a long time. I discovered all about Team Hoyt. This is a father-son team who's now run 24 consecutive Boston Marathons. Their time? One of their marathons clocked in at 2:40:47. That's running 26.2 miles under three hours... and that with the father pushing his son who cannot walk. Watch this 7 minute video and be inspired! Team Hoyt is scheduled to run the 2007 Boston Marathon. I sent an IM to Christine, "Christine! You'll be running alongside them!" And she replied, "or faaaaaaaaaaaaar behind them."

About the Tufts University Marathon Challenge

Christine is running the 2007 Boston Marathon as a team member of The
President's Marathon Challenge at Tufts University. "Each spring for
the last four years nearly 200 Tufts students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents
and friends have taken on a dual challenge: to run the Boston Marathon and to raise funds to help support health, nutrition and fitness programs at Tufts. The participants complete the challenge under the guidance of experts from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts and Tufts sports medicine staff." [Boston Athletic Association News].

Christine and every one of the 200 marathoners with the Tufts University Marathon Challenge Team is committed to their mission: "to raise funding to support nutrition, medical, and fitness research and education at Tufts." President Bacow has a goal of raising $75,000. Christine is half way on her goal of raising $1,000. You may sponsor Christine or any of the runners in the Tufts Marathon Challenge, including President Bacow. You'll receive a tax deductible receipt from Tufts University once your gift is processed.

I was inspired today by a student, a university president and a father and son team. For each of them running The Boston Marathon is a grueling challenge but as President Bacow says, "the pain is temporary, but the pride is permanent." My heart swells with pride for each of these marathoners and the legacy they leave behind as they each run and raise funds for tremendously worthwhile causes.

Be Ugly in 2007: Find ugly in "beauty"

2006-12-31T03:06:00.000-07:00

"Ugly is the new beautiful," the theme of ABC's TV show Ugly Betty, is picking up steam. "The fight for female self-esteem gets pretty ugly," reports Ann Oldenburg in an USA Today article about the BE UGLY '07 public service campaign that starts on-air tonight during "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve."

In the article, Oldenburg accurately states that, "The campaign is the latest entry in a backlash to the images of rail-thin models that bombard young women daily."

Girls Inc. president Joyce Roche is quoted as saying the campaign "allows us to counter the messages girls get that they've got to be perfect, be a certain size, look a certain way." Roche is right. It's time for the pendulum to swing back to normal and away from promoting unhealthy lifestyles in order to achieve the anorexic look erroneously labeled as "beautiful" these days.

Roche also is quoted in the article as saying, "I wish there would have been another way of saying it, but at least it will get the dialogue going." We also wish they'd chosen a different theme than "ugly is the new beautiful." It's not the best theme, but it hopefully will get the dialogue going, as Roche says.

Talking the article over with a young woman, she came up with a different theme: "Find ugly in beauty," and by "beauty" she meant the image of beautiful that the media has been promoting for far too long.

Either way, whether embracing "ugly is the new beautiful," or "find ugly in beauty" the idea is the same, find true beauty in yourself. Be yourself! As the BE UGLY '07 campaign proclaims: Be real. Be smart. Be kind. Be honest. Be true to yourself. Visit the campaign's website at http://beugly07.com/.

The Espresso Book Machine: An ATM for books

2006-12-28T12:59:00.000-07:00

"Buying a book could soon be as easy as buying a pack of gum. After several years in development, the Espresso - a $50,000 vending machine with a conceivably infinite library - is nearly consumer-ready and will debut in ten to 25 libraries and bookstores in 2007. The New York Public Library is scheduled to receive its machine in February." [Emily Baltby, CNNMoney.com]

"On Demand Books LLC. is planning to become the first company to globally deploy a low cost, totally automatic book machine, The Espresso Book Machine, which can produce 15 - 20 library quality paperback books per hour, in any language, in quantities of one, without any human intervention. This technology and process will produce one each of ten different books at the same speed and cost as it can produce ten copies of the same book. ODB has two machines currently deployed (one at the World Bank InfoShop in Washington DC, and one at the Library of Alexandria in Egypt)." [Press Release, OnDemandBooks.com]

The Inauguration of the Espresso Printing Machine took place on April 6, 2006, at the World Bank Infosession. You can see a video of the alpha Espresso Book Machine producing a book in seven minutes by clicking here (requires Apple's Quicktime Video Player version 6.5, available for download here).

After the film downloads, move the marker 1/2 way to get to the part where Jason Epstein, a publisher for more than 40 years, talks about how he sees the Espresso Book Machine as the answer to keeping backlists, the publishers' bread and butter, alive. 4/5s down the presentation is where you see students click the "Order" button and seven minutes later a finished book comes out.

It felt a bit like watching a Star Trek episode where replicators are used to produce items on demand. Imagine, for $5 you can have a 500 page book within minutes. The book comes out perfect bound, with a full-color laminated cover. Amazing, isn't it?

Additional Link: The Future of Books (MIT Technology Review)

Press Inquiries: +1 (212) 446-5100 (Goldberg McDuffie)
Contact: 240 Centre Street, New York, NY 10013
www.OnDemandBooks.com

Kudos to Spain for banning underweight models!

2006-12-04T20:20:00.000-07:00

What a phenomenal turning point this may prove to be! At last someone has dared proclaim to the world that anorexic-looking models are
not what the fashion industry ought to be parading on their various catwalks. In this case it was The Spanish Association of Fashion Designers who decided to ban models who have a BMI of less than 18. Click to read the September 13, 2006 BBC article.

This is a topic dear and near to my heart because I continue to see the devastating effect that parading size-0 models on catwalks, and displaying their emanciated bodies on catalogues and on TV, is having on a generation of young women...and I now hear it's beginning to take its toll on our young men as well.

How did it happen that the public accepted what the fashion industry offered as "beauty?" when anyone in their right mind could have seen that, as in the children story, The Emperor's New Clothes, the emperor had no clothes? I'm so very proud of the stand that The Spanish Association of Fashion Designers took when they decided to ban underweight models from their prestigious fashion show.

The BBC article quotes Terry Killeavy, of the UK, as saying, "You cannot ban skinny women in the same way you cannot ban fuller bodies women." I disagree. We're not talking body size as much as we're taking health risks. Anyone with a BMI of less than 18 is starving themselves and it's criminal to portray such individuals as something our young people should aspire to look like.

My hope is that the BBC article will be the first of many the media writes as more and more standard-bearers of the fashion world take similar stands. It's time for all of us to cry out with one voice, when it comes to the idea of "beauty" that we've been sold for way too long, that "the emperor has no clothes!"

Ugly Betty: You-Go-Girl!

2006-09-28T23:09:00.000-06:00

On the heels of Spain banning underweight models from the runway, it thrilled my heart to watch tonight's episode of Ugly Betty. The pilot episode aired tonight on abc and I loved it! It promises to be a show that'll root for the underdog... in this case that would be a talented, engaging, professional young woman who doesn't fit the glamour image being sold by Hollywood these days "the" way to be.

If you missed tonight's pilot showing of Ugly Betty don't worry. abc is posting it, and it looks like upcoming episodes as well, to its website. The day after the show airs on TV you can watch it online.

I'm rooting for Betty!!!

Here's the premise the show's based on: "In the superficial world of high fashion, image is everything. Styles come and go, and the only constants are the superthin beauties who wear them. How can an ordinary girl - a slightly plump plain-Jane from Queens - possibly fit in?"

I'm sooooooooooo rooting for Betty!!!

Don't let the s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d out stereotypes get in the way of you watching, enjoying, and getting the great message woven throughout this show. I'm from Cuba and the hispanic stereotypes were a bit too blatant for me. But perhaps they need to be in order to get their point across. Even as I laughed at Betty's answer of "I'm flan," rather than "I'm fine" when she had her mouth full of the flan she was eating I also thought about how absolutely delicious that dessert is and how it's hard to eat just a little bite of it. Think Crème brûlée at its most exquisite and you'll get the idea of what flan tastes like.

I found several links at the abc site where video clips of the show were available. You can watch the first 8 minutes of the pilot, and read a longer write up on what the show is about in the "About" link. There's also a video clip with Vanessa Williams in it.

America Ferrera plays the role of Betty in the show. During her interview in The View, she tells us that, "the show is not about being ugly at all. More than anyuthing it's just about looking past what you see. Achieving that image is not all that we're on this planet to do."

One thing I would change is the log-line abc is using for the show, "Ugly is the new beautiful." It grated on me everytime I heard it, either between segments of the show on TV or on the various web pages for the show.

Here's to America Ferrera! Here's to Betty! And here's to all who watch the
show and embrace the life-giving message it's bringing to us: there's more to life than trying to fit an image that is only real when PhotoShopped.

On Writing: BIC HOK TAM!

2006-10-01T11:17:00.000-06:00

For all my writing friends, have you heard of the BIC HOK TAM mantra? It stands for "Butt In Chair, Hands On Keyboard, Typing Away Madly," and it's the theme song of the BIW, (book-in-a-week) group.

BIW is a program you sign up for free and dedicate one week each month to writing away madly. The idea is to throw your internal editor out the door and write, write, write during that week. Some folks who like to plot (like me!) do all our plotting prior to the BIW time and then we use our outline to write the various scenes and/or chapters we've selected to work on during that week. Non-plotters "write into the mist" as Deb Courtney calls it and they do just as well. It's all up to your writing style which route you take.

It's free to participate in BIW but you do need to sign up/register. Go to the BIC HOK TAM web site, to sign up. You then email the list and tell them how many pages you plan on writing during the BIW week. It's all on the honor system. No one reviews or critiques your writing. This is just a way for you to set writing goals for yourself and have a group behind you to hold you accountable.

During BIW, every day you write the list and tell them how many pages you actually wrote that day. A page=250 words.

Visit the site and, if you're interested, join today and start participating on the monthly BIW challenges (it's always the first full week of every month) and you have to have your goals posted before the challenge starts if you want to participate.

Email me if you have questions. I've been a member of BIW for a while and wrote about it at the CCF site.

On Life: I cannot do everything, but I can do something

2006-09-25T10:45:00.000-06:00

"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do." ~Edward Everett Hale

"We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once." ~Calvin Coolidge

Do you ever feel paralyzed by work and personal deadlines facing you? What helps you out of those funky moods? Inspirational quotes seem to do the trick for me.

I just came back from a summer of travelling on work and family business and woke up this morning feeling overwhelmed because I do not seem to be making as much progress as I'd like on the work projects and personal life goals that need my attention. My husband came over and asked me how I was feeling and I replied, "Everywhere I look, every aspect of both my work and personal life is demanding so much of my time that, for once, I don't know where to begin."

He asked, "Do you have any control over these things?" And I said, "Very little. They're all important. They each deserve my undivided attention. And there's so much to be done in each of them that I don't know if my efforts will make any difference." He smiled and as he did the lights went on in my head and I replied, "I get it! I can do the little I have the power to do in each of these work projects and life goals...and as I complete the little that I can do, the windows will open just a bit wider and I'll see that I have a little more control over what to do next in those areas. But this will only happen after I've done what I can to begin with."

So ...I googled the part of the quote I remembered so well from days gone by, "I cannot do everything but I can do something," and Edward Everett Hale's quote came up. I realize he was probably talking about doing things that would change the world for the better. But that's what I consider a job well done to accomplish. So I'm applying that quote as well as a similar one by Calvin Coolidge to my life. I've decided they'll be my mantra, my key to successfully getting done what needs to get done by me this week as I work to complete:

a book contract with a publisher,

maintaining the various websites I manage

assisting on a graduate level curriculum project,

rendering streaming audio/video talks to the university web site I manage,

work on my middle grade novel, and

continue to exercise and eat healthier

Here's to Hale and Coolidge's inspirational quotes motivating me to do my best this week with the time I have been given to get my work done.

What's your key to getting unstuck and getting moving on what needs to be done in your own life and work? Write and tell me about it!

Stupid Girls, new single by Pink

2006-03-10T20:03:00.000-07:00

Just finished watching Pink's new video Stupid Girls. It's awesome! What a powerful message she's sending thru this tongue-in-cheek parody of what our society and culture is trying to do to our girls! I loved watching it and listening to the words and hope millions of girls will watch it and memorize such lines in the song as, "What happened to the dreams of a girl president, She's dancing in the video next to 50 Cents...Where, oh where, have the smart people gone? Oh where, oh where could they be?...I'm so glad that I'll never fit in. That will never be me. Outcasts and girls with ambition, That's what I wanna see!"

Kudos to Pink for making this music video. You-go-girl!!! I really do hope words such as the ones she's singing in this video will herald a wake-up call for our generation of young girls. They don't have to fit in and should not even try to fit into the unhealthy lifestyles and aimless trends parading in front of them on a daily basis.

Check out Pink's letter to young people where she shares how the lyrics and message in Stupid Girls are just her opinion and how you don't have to dumb yourself down in order to be sexy. Pretty cool things she's sharing in her letter! :-)

STUPID GIRLS (Pink)

Video Code provided by VideoCodeZone.Com

Pink: I'm not fat!
Pink's letter talking about her single "Stupid Girls"

Rules of Engagement: How To Get (& Keep) A Reader Involved In Your Novel

2005-11-15T14:02:00.000-07:00

At the RMC-SCBWI 2005 Fall Conference one of the speakers was Cheryl Klein, Editor at Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic. Klein's talk on The Rules of Engagement: How to Get (and Keep!) A Reader Involved in Your Novel is a rare opportunity to understand, from an editor's point of view, what it is that makes a manuscript work and what keeps it from working.

Klein graciously allowed Children Come First to produce an eBook of her talk. It's divided into three parts.

The first part of the eBook talks about how to get and keep a reader involved in your novel. Klein lists the various things she sees in manuscripts that knock her out of the characters' brains or worldsâ€"little tiny things, pacing questions, word choices even, that distract and dislodge her from the story.

The second part, How to Disengage Your Reader in Ten Easy Steps, goes through ten different things writers need to avoid doing if they want to keep the readers engaged in the story.

The eBook wraps up its third part with a transcript of the question and answer session from the RMC-SCBWI conference.

Feel free to email this blog to friends. There's an "Email link" at the end of the blog you can use or you can just send them this page's URL. The eBook was produced by Children Come First and is graciously being offered free of charge by its author. Remember to click the "bookmarks" tab to navigate thru the document once you receive it.

TO RECEIVE YOUR FREE eBOOK: We've automated the process as requests were coming in faster than we were able to reply to them!

Go to our online store. Click "Add to cart" and then "Checkout." You'll need to set-up your Customer Account unless you're a returning customer. Only name, email, country, state and password are required for us to process this particular order.
If you wish to receive the free CCF-Bulletin you need to click the "Newsletter" box under "Options" when you're signing up to receive your free ebook[Privacy policy].
After you set-up/log-in to your account click "Continue" and follow prompts until you get to the final "Order Confirmation Page," where you'll scroll down and click the "download" button to save the eBook to your computer.

PLEASE NOTE: The eBook was created with Acrobat 7 and should open with Acrobat Reader 5.0 and up. If you do not have Acrobat Reader installed in your computer you'll need to install it in order to open the eBook. [Click here to choose your operating system and download this free software.] You do not need to download the items Adobe has clicked under "also download" if you don't want to.

Contact us if you have questions or any trouble downloading the eBook. It's a great resource and we do not want computer glitches to get in the way. We'd really love for you to have it. [ Click to order your free eBook ].

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Olgy's online CUBA eStore!

2006-10-22T22:34:00.000-06:00

My two passions in life are all things related to Cuba and all things related to writing. So tonight I worked for a couple of hours and generated a fully stocked online store with all things Cuban.

I'm featuring special products related to Cuba on my Cuban eStore. Top among these is Andy Garcia's film, now available on DVD, "The Lost City." The soundtrack for the film is also available. I LOVED this movie. Andy Garcia's "The Lost City" is the movie to watch if you want to feel what the two million Cuban exiles feel...me being one of them.

Though I used the keyword "Cuba" to filter items in, sometimes that word is used for other than items related to Cuba so you may see articles come up that have nothing to do with Cuba. :-)

Enjoy shopping at my online Cuban store! For every purchase you make, amazon.com gives a referral fee to ChildrenComeFirst.com, the nonprofit educational corporation I manage.

Here's the link for my online Cuban store.
http://astore.amazon.com/childrencomef-20

Bueno, esto es todo por ahora, (All for now,)

Olgy

Corporate Lessons

2006-07-08T21:08:00.000-06:00

Corporate Lesson 1.

A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower when the doorbell rings. The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs. When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next door neighbor. Before she says a word, Bob says, "I will give you $800 to drop that towel." After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob. Bob watches her admirably for a few seconds and hands her the $800 dollars and leaves. The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs. When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, "Who was that?" "It was Bob the next door neighbor, she replied. "Great!" the husband says, "Did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?" --- Learning from the story: If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.

Corporate Lesson 2.
A sales rep, an administration clerk and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie comes out. The Genie says, "I'll give each of you just one wish." "Me first! Me first!" says the admin. clerk. "I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world." Poof! She's gone. "Me next! Me next!" says the sales rep. "I want to be in Hawaii, relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life. "Poof! He's gone. "OK, you're up" the Genie says to the manager. The manager says, "I want those two back in the office after lunch ." --- Learning from the story: Always let your boss have the first say.

Corporate Lesson 3. A crow was sitting on a tree, doing nothing all day. A rabbit asked him, "Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long?" The crow answered: "Sure, why not." So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow, and rested. A fox jumped on the rabbit and ate it. --- Learning from the story: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very high up.

Corporate Lesson 4.
A turkey was chatting with a bull. "I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree," sighed the turkey, "but I haven't got the energy." "Well, why don't you nibble on my droppings?" replied the bull. "They're packed with nutrients." The turkey pecked at a lump of dung and found that it gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after the fourth night, there he was proudly perched at the top of the tree. Soon he was spotted by a farmer, who shot the turkey out of the tree. --- Learning from the story: Bullshit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.

Watch out for digital dirt

2006-05-17T18:28:00.000-06:00

Steven Rothberg, President and Founder of CollegeRecruiter.com, was interviewed Saturday evening on the NBC Nightly News. The story was about how employers are increasingly using sites such as Facebook for background checking of potential employees. NBC Nightly News reports that "Facebook was meant as a place to share personal information but now it could affect students' future." Rothberg's advice, along with a link back to his blog, can be found at the CCF site under the article "Dangers of Posting Private Info to Facebook."

It's a sobering fact to realize that once posted your words do not really go away. There's always the WayBack Machine and other internet archives to resurrect what we thought was dead and bring it back. I like Rothberg's analogy, "Posting information on-line is like getting a tattoo. There's nothing inherently wrong with posting information on-line or getting a tattoo, but in both cases you need to be prepared for it to be out there forever and for people to see it whom you may not want to see it."

How does knowing that your words can come back to bite you affect what you post to listserves, blogs, emails or other digital media?

Ask and you shall receive

2006-04-11T13:31:00.000-06:00

Today's paper carried an Associated Press story about a man in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, who received a $218 trillion phone bill from Telekom Malaysia. Talk about sticker shock! Does the old adage of "ask and you shall receive" still works, especially when it comes to paying your bills. Do you get sticker shock when you see the figure in the "amount due" box? Did you ever wish there was something you could do about lowering that figure? ... short of discontinuing the service in question?

I discovered this week that calling the company and asking them what they can do to help goes a long way into lowering my monthly bills. As I went thru my pile of bills, I picked up the cable/high speed internet one. $121.18/month... and I don't even watch TV! So I called them and asked if there was anything they could do to lower my cable bill. I mentioned that I'm getting lots of offers from other venues that seem to be a better deal than what I'm spending with cable these days. Their response? They'll cut my monthly bill in half for the next three months and said to give them a call after that to see what else they could do for me. So, for the next three months I'll be paying $52.60/month for the exact same service I've been paying $121.18.

This week also I dealt with the grandaddy of domain name registrars. A client had been paying $34.95/year to renew their domain names and wanted our company to start managing their domains instead. We charge our clients $33 for a 3-year renewal. So I called the company and started the transfer process. Their response? "We'll let you stay and charge you $9.99/year to renew your domain names." I asked them why they do not list this option on their website. They replied, "It is only available to those who ask."

In the case of our man in Malaysia I'm sure he's already called his phone company. Have you ever called and asked a company to work with you to lower a specific bill even if there was no error in the billing? I was fascinated to see that companies seemed to have better deals available...but only for those who asked.

ACLU Pizza

2006-02-02T20:21:00.000-07:00

I've watched the flash movie several times now. First I laughed. Then I giggled. Then I thought about it and wondered how soon before this is actually the way things go for us.

Merry Christmas...and Thank You to our Servicemen

2005-12-12T15:39:00.000-07:00

Whether or not the following poem was written by a US Marine stationed in Okinawa Japan I can't tell for sure. I can, however, echo the sentiments expressed in the poem and wish one and all a Merry Christmas... and send a special thank you to our armed forces personnel. I owe them so much, personally... as a naturalized US citizen I know how precious it is to live in the USA... how precious the freedom we enjoy in this land. Thank you for your service and sacrifice...and Merry Christmas!

Twas the Night Before Christmas, He lived all alone,
In a One Bedroom House Made of Plaster and Stone

I had come down the Chimney with presents to Give,
And to see just who In this Home did live.
I looked All About, A strange Sign did I see,
No Tinsel. No Presents. Not even a Tree.

No stocking by the mantle, just boots filled with sand.
On the wall hung a picture of far distant lands.

With Medals and Badges, Awards of all kinds
A sober thought came through my mind.

For this house was different. It was dark and dreary
I found the home of a soldier once I could see clearly.

The soldier lay sleeping, silent, alone
Curled up on the floor of this one bedroom home.

The face was so gentle, the room in such disorder
Not how I pictured a United States soldier.

Was this the hero of whom I just read?
Curled up on a poncho, the floor for a bed?

I realized the families that I saw this night,
Owed their lives to these soldiers
Who were willing to fight.

Soon round the world, the children would play,
And grown-ups would celebrate
A bright Christmas Day.

They all enjoyed Freedom each month of the year.
Because of the soldiers like the one lying here.

I couldn't help wonder how many lay alone,
On a cold Christmas Eve, in a land far from home.

The very thought brought a tear to my eye,
I dropped to my knees, and I started to cry.

The soldier awakened and I heard a rough voice,
Santa don't cry, this life is my choice.

I fight for Freedom. I don't ask for more,
My life is my God, my Country, my Corps.

The Soldier rolled over and drifted to sleep,
I couldn't control it. I continued to weep.

I kept watch for hours, so silent and still.
And we both shivered from the cold night's chill.

I didn't want to leave on that cold, dark night,
This Guardian of Honor so willing to fight.

Then the soldier rolled over, with a voice soft and pure,
Whispered "Carry on Santa,
It's Christmas Day. All is secure."

One look at my watch, and I knew he was right.
"Merry Christmas My Friend,
And To All A Good Night."

Visiting the UK this Christmas

2005-11-22T08:47:00.000-07:00

My daughter and I both love myths and legends. We'll be in the UK end of December/beg of January (her Christmas break from university studies). I'd love to be able to visit the most magical places England/Scotland have to offer but with all my work, writing, etc it's hard for me to plan my itinerary (Dec 27th thru Jan 8th). I was wondering if anyone reading this blog, who's visited the UK, would send me suggested itineraries I could follow. I've ordered books and videos from my public library and they've begun to arrive but if I can see someone else's itinerary and what they liked and didn't like that would help me lots. We both love the Arthurian stories. Would love to experience Stonehenge. Maybe go to Scotland and visit sites related to William Wallace, to Nessie the Loch Ness monster. Make this a time for memory building, fun explorarion of a land rich in history and lore. Thanks, in advance, for any/all information you can send my way.

ZITS: Understanding Teenage Boys

2005-10-18T09:56:00.000-06:00

I love the cartoon strip ZITS. When I first discovered it years ago, I realized my son was absolutely normal. It helped me understand boys more than any other self-help book I'd read on the subject. Since then, every mom I talk to about ZITS is convinced that Jerry Scott & Jim Borgman are basing the character of Jeremy on their son. I know different. Scott & Borgman are basing Jeremy's character on MY son!

Today's strip again made me laugh. It's on blogging, a topic we've been going over in my writing group.

ZITS by Jerry Scott & Jim Borgman

In the strip you have a father (an orthodontist), a stay-at-home mom (representing so much of the way I and other moms relate to our sons), and Jeremy, their son (representing my son...or is it yours?). The interaction between them, with Jeremy's teenage POV coming through every time, is hilarious! I love getting my daily dose of laughter through reading this cartoon strip. My kids are grown and gone now, but reading ZITS brings back memories and, along with the laughter, understanding.

As a bookseller I keep waiting for the day these two brilliant writers of this amazing cartoon strip will put all their strips together and publish them in a book. I would immediately become their own private marketing machine!

Until the time when ZITS comes out in book form you can read the daily strips in your local newspaper and, if they do not currently carry it, you can pester them until they do! It's really one of the best strips around. You may also consider paying $15 for an annual subscription to DAILY INK. The $15 is worth every penny for me. I picked several strips I enjoy reading and receive them all together in a daily email from them. Click to read more about membership to DAILY INK

On writing short stories

2005-10-24T11:48:00.000-06:00

Alright, I've asked all my friends to stop sending me those cute email attachments that seem to navigate through cyberspace with a life of their own. For once I'm glad this one friend ignored my request. You got to laugh at people's creativity. I did this morning when looking at this image. Enjoy!

The FBI and the High School Yearbooks

2005-05-28T21:21:00.000-06:00

COLORADO SPRINGS--On May 26th I read in our local paper that the FBI will be investigating Mesa Ridge High School's yearbooks. Why? Because under the photo of one student, under the common "The student most likely to..." section of yearbooks there is a "threatening" caption that reads, "the student most likely to assassinate President Bush." How could anyone think this is anything but a joke? Students knew it was a joke.And yet, school staff recalled the yearbooks and blacked out the caption. In the aftermath of 911 folks are throwing away the baby with the bathwater. We run a risk of loosing the most precious thing this country has to offer: freedom.

I speak to middle grade students about what it was like living in Cuba after Castro took over. I compare that to what it's like living in the USA. I tell them I kiss the ground I walk on here in the States. My mind has yet to grasp the reality that I can stand in the middle of any street and scream at the top of my lungs that I hate President Bush or hate President Clinton or hate this or that political leader and nothing will happen to me. In Cuba one cannot even think about harming its supreme leader without getting in trouble with the law. It strikes me odd how paranoid American society is becoming... to the degree that a tried and true joke section of high school yearbooks now merits the involvement of the Secret Service.

Americans take for granted the freedoms that surround them. Will they learn to appreciate them before they are gone, driven away by the paranoia that's pushing common sense right out the window? The jury's out on that one.

Narrative Nonfiction "must reads"

2005-05-31T14:15:00.000-06:00

I'm compiling a list of "must reads" in narrative nonfiction. Looking for additional titles to those Edward Humes lists on his site. Edward Humes - Narrative Nonfiction:

The Right Stuff, by Tom Wolfe

Among School Children, by Tracy Kidder

The Pine Barrens, by John McPhee

Executioner's Song, by Norman Mailer

Salvador, by Joan Didion

Dispatches, by Michael Herr

Hiroshima, by John Hersey

In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote

Also looking for a list of narrative nonfiction titles for middle grade students:

...add your suggested titles to list...

I can't afford my gasoline

2005-09-13T13:26:00.000-06:00

I received a link to the I can't afford my gasoline MP3 animation by TOCCI. I shook my head in dismay as I watched the animation play and replay over and over. Dismay because I could personally vouch for what TOCCI was so amusingly depicting as going on at the gas pumps. Whether I ignore or embrace the political barbs TOCCI includes in his animation, the truth is that my husband had just come from filling up our 1991 Dodge Caravan and the price of the fill-up was $50...that's $50 ... FIFTY DOLLARS!!!

To add insult to injury the old car's transmission died the next day. The mechanic tells us it'll be around $2,500 to replace it. He tells me it's because you can't find rebuilt transmissions for Dodge Caravans because they break all the time, so they're not available used/rebuilt. So my 1991 Caravan is sitting at the mechanic's lot for now, with fifty of my dollars stashed away in its gas tank.

Paid Surveys: Bad Telecommuting Jobs

2005-06-01T10:50:00.000-06:00

I'm looking to canvass telecommuting jobs that actually pay. One that comes up frequently is how people can get paid for taking online surveys. Signing up for this was a huge mistake! I've taken several surveys but have received no payment. What I have received is a deluge of spam mail offering me the chance to sign up for even more things.

The site we signed up under looked credible and had the right message: "Would you believe there are people who make thousands of dollars a month just for giving their opinions? It's quite possible... "The good news is that getting paid for your opinions doesn't involve skill or hard work ..." "You're here to make some money, so let's get...started ...one favor to ask - would you please tell at least two people about us?...We appreciate your help in letting people know about us and your friends will too."

I very much doubt your friends will thank you if you actually refer them to any of the paid survey sites online. The offers that are pouring in promise free items, from computers to designer bags, to dating services to prescriptions, but to access them you have to sign up (read give credit card info) for "trial" memberships on various offers from known and unknown companies. And not just sign up with one but rather several offers.

My advice, if you sign up for ANY "paid" survey taking opportunities online: Use a different email.Don't use your regular email to sign up. Use one you can easily delete when it begins receiving spam by the 100s. Do not give personal information out. If they ask for first name, give first initial. If they ask for your birthday, don't give out your real one. Make one up while keeping the year the same. Use January 1 and your birth year. That way you can remember what you used. Don't give your actual street address to the sites you sign up with. If you have a PO Box use that instead.

My experience with "getting paid to take online surveys" has not been good. This is a thumbs down option as far as I'm concerned. I'd like to hear about other folks' experiences on earning money by taking surveys online. Is there any wheat out there? All I found were weeds.

The Written Word

2005-06-02T09:27:00.000-06:00

Are you all familiar with "thewrittenword"? TheWrittenWordEZine is a daily source of inspiration for writers, editors and publishers. Jade Walker sends these nuggets of inspiration to writers and it's free to subscribe... A recent quote applies to both published and yet-to-be-published writers: persistence is the key, it really is... I am encouraged on a regular basis by these quotes and wanted to share this resource with others... along with how to subscribe to it if you want to (click the link at the beginning of this paragraph). --- Also, if you know of other good sources of encouragement for writers use the "comments" link to blog your suggestions! Thanks.

5/27/05: Success
"Successful writers are not the ones who write the best sentences. They are the ones who keep writing. They are the ones who discover what is most important and strangest and most pleasurable in themselves, and keep believing in the value of their work, despite the difficulties." --Bonnie Friedman