Licking County Courthouse Lighting

SANTA VISITS LICKING COUNTY & TURNS ON THE COURTHOUSE LIGHTS

One of the best reason to have Thanksgiving Day in Licking County is because on the next day, Santa Clause arrives to the County Courthouse and kicks off the Christmas Season by helping all the children turn on the decoration lights of our historic courthouse.

For an hour prior to Santa's arrival on NFD Tower One, Christmas songs by local artist and children's choirs prepares everyone for Santa's arrival.

Our family has not missed a year, standing in front of Cornell Clothing with owners Robin and Judy Pierce to watch hundreds of people enter downtown Newark for the official start of Licking County's Christmas Season.

The expense of this lighting is due to the many generous contributions by citizens, the annual Downtown Car Show in September and the Downtown Merchants Association. Make sure to shop downtown Newark and take an evening to drive around the Courthouse Square to view the decorations. It will surely bring some Christmas Spirit to you and it's free!

JENNY LANNING MADE US TURN THE CORNER

Holidays with the Guanciale Family are very different. It has always been a good test for boyfriends and girlfriends for myself and my siblings to see if they fit the mark.

Thanksgiving Day dinner for the past 28 plus years was prepared by Skip Salome, all due to my mothers long extended illness and my father's stubbornness to make sure he provided the holiday feast.

Behind closed doors, it was really Jenny Lanning who prepared the meal. All of the details were met from the turkey to the plastic plates. Jenny was always there on Thanksgiving morning when we would pick up the food, it was a part of our Thanksgiving Day. Jenny died on October 31, 2008. Besides leaving this earth too early and many people who knew and loved her, she stranded our Thanksgiving Day meal.

Well Jenny made us turn the corner of which should have been turned many years ago. Chip and Tina did an excellent job with the turkey and 90% of the entire dinner with others bringing pies, salads and wine. Jill brought her Buffalo Wing dip, which please me. We kind of became like most American families on Thanksgiving, we had a lot of major dish washing to do, we did stay around to talk more and the gathering lasted for almost two hours instead of 1.25 hours. I lost my battle of eliminating the family gift exchange due to a slowing economy.

Thanks Jenny, from our family and the many people that have depended on you for wedding receptions, service organization fund raisers etc over the years, we will miss you as I am sure Skip will.

PNB'S MORTGAGE MARKET GUIDE

WHAT DIRECTION WE ARE MOVING

Click here for an excellent newsletter from Park National Bank . I receive every week concerning finance and the economy.

I always look forward to receiving the information and hope you pick up something from it today.

CHRISTMAS SOCKS

I am not worried about the long socks hanging from the mantle for Santa to fill, but worried that someone will buy me socks for Christmas.

The other day I did some shopping for socks and was amazed I could not find the socks that I have worn for 40 years, Gold Toe, to the knee, 90% wool. The socks available were so hideous, I can not believe there are men who would wear such things, but do believe there are mothers and grandmothers who would buy them as gifts.

I found my socks on line and have ordered a supply which should last me the remainder of my life. This was easier than I thought compared to my quest to find a hard knit, dark navy blue Shetland wool sweater. I have always had at least one and wear them often, but I have holes in the elbows and can not find a replacement. I figured a good hard knit Shetland sweater will last me for 12 years, so I will need to buy three so I will covered through age 95. After age 95, the odds are that I will not know the color of sweater I have on besides, nursing homes always have the heat on so high.

Click her for some fashion guidelins on men's socks.

ALTERNATIVE INCOME DURING A TOUGH ECONOMY

Not too many people have figured out, if you work hard and smart, the money will come. Most are like a slow safecracker, time is their number one enemy. Before they know it, there is no money for retirement.

I found this lengthy article on safecracking. I did not know criminals and especially safecrackers had to work so hard and smart to do their illegal job correctly.

If I ever have the chance to meet a real safecracker, I will pat him on the back. He has worked very hard and practiced to establish a real skill and make a some possibly big money.

The odds are he will spend all of his non-taxed income during his early years, fail to save and then become like many others, he will have his retirement subsidized, but in prison.

BEAT MICHIGAN BASH!

BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF LICKING & PERRY COUNTY

Once again this organization held their BEAT MICHIGAN BASH at Hopewell Hall on the campus of OSU-Newark and it was a pleasure to be a part of the exciting crowd. Many great items were auctioned to raise funds for this 800 plus volunteer organization helping so many children's life's.

If you are interested in becoming more involved or want to learn more, click here.

TURF WARS

WAR AS THEY KNEW IT by Michael Rosenberg

My sister emailed me last night and suggested to place this book review on my blog.

Two great leaders to be remember this weekend of the "Big Game"

NON PROFITS VERSUS NON PROFITS

Last night I attended my third of the three Town Hall Meetings regarding the book Community Capitalism.

While driving home I started to think about not for profit organizations. Within Licking County they all have done a good job, they each have their area of fulfilling a need or attempting to fill the needs of our community. I try to give of my time as well as money to many organizations because they are a strong part of Newark and Licking County.

But......there are not for profits that do make a community exceptionally great such as Hospice, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Salvation Army, LMH, YMCA, The Works etc. Then there are the ones fulfilling their needs, but are they really helping the community?

Last night one person kept speaking out, several of her concerns were housing and the underprivileged. In fact, she talked too much. Yes, these folks need clean and safe places to live and I think a good job is being done organizing and providing shelter and home buying programs.

My big concern is several not for profit organizations strive to attract more needy people in order to stay in business. As discussions brought out the great things about our community as far as education, resources etc. and how we need to beef up our community in attracting responsible and well spending individuals to live in Licking County. My thoughts were: Do we need to strongly support not for profits that are strongly attracting more residence we do not need in a thriving community?

Nothing is wrong with helping the deprived, but we do not need the deprived we do not have thinking they should move to Licking County because they can get more bang for the buck that they do not have versus other areas of Central Ohio.

I know one person that will think this is mean.

THE WORLD HAS CHANGED

Several years ago a AM radio station was marked as Anti-American because they played this Beatles' song at the end of their broadcast day instead of the National Anthem. This was during a time when AM stations only operated from 5am through midnight.

To blog or not to blog...that is the question

Sean Carpenter, our company's training director is the one who started this whole blogging mess for me. Then I had encouragement from Cheri Hottinger of the Licking County Chamber of Commerce because of her Chamber Blog , then Kurt Harden's of Medben Cultural Offering has given me a different view about the world.

Sean's blog for November 7th really gives us over 25 good reasons why to blog, most of them are fun when you think about it. Thank you to Sean, Cheri & Kurt for pushing me a little further into this great world.

Check out Sean's list at: The Realtor's Toolbox: To blog or not to blog...that is the question#links

I BET FRANK WORE KNEE SOCKS

I found this article about Frank Sinatra and the fashion statement he made to the world. He carried a look about himself that not too many could do.

Being lucky to see Frank in concert twice several years ago, he always wore his black tuxedo (no break length) and always looked good.

Make sure to check out "Why he's a style icon"

Groundhog Committee

Everyone knows breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but it is a very special part of Licking County on Groundhog Day.

Making sure the members of the Licking County Chamber of Commerce are happy and are entertained on Groundhog Day is important to the Groundhog Committee. With several comments about the breakfast potatoes served last year, the committee was given a mission:

Find the correct potato to be serve for the 2009 breakfast!

This afternoon the committee met with chamber member and caterer Eric Mason to sample four different recipes of breakfast potatoes. A final selection was made, but will not be unveiled until the 2009 Groundhog Breakfast.

THE CHARGE HAS STARTED!

What a great way to start off the day!

Patrick Jeffries aka State Farm guy, local guy and all around nice guy moderated the charge today to help make Licking County a better place to live in the future.

If you can imagine 60+- people at CTEC discussing what their thoughts were after reading "the book" Community Capitalism and what can be done to make Licking County more successful. Pat as the moderator did a great job bringing comments out of people from all walks of life with ideas and comments concerning their personal feelings about the assets and downfalls of our community.

There are two more Town Hall Discussions to be led during the next ten days and I hope they are as meaningful as today's meeting was to me.

This is a great beginning to a new chapter of Licking County, brought to you by the Licking County Chamber of Commerce, Heath-Newark Licking County Port Authority and many other individuals who believe, we can always do better.

It is all about the music!

Two days ago I posted the link to a Central Ohio radio station 93.3 because they start playing Christmas music on November 1. This is the only thing of hurry up and get the Christmas Season here I like.

I was telling a friend that there is nothing better than working in my wood working shop listening to Christmas music. It makes me feel like one of Santa's elf's. This photo is of the 2007 project. Always wanted to make something with a contemporary touch. A great place to go and see some real examples of contemporary furniture is thosmoser.com . This fellow is so talented, my sister receives his catalogs and she always forwards them to me, I saw his shop in Boston during 2007.

I have not decided what to give a try at this year, but have to get on the ball. Big projects are not my game, after a 9 month dining room table and 8 month chest over chest of drawers, it just takes too long.

By the way, I use Craftsman's tools & equipment, just in case Bob Vila stops by during the Holidays. I doubt Norm will stop by since I have butchered so many of his designs and plans.

CHRISTMAS MUSIC

Click her for:

CHRISTMAS MUSIC

This may make you forget for a short time all the other problems.

FRIED CHICKEN TO GO

I just read a Fox News article about a lady causing problems while in flight and the flight attendants used duct tape to subdue her until the plane made an emergency landing. You can read the entire article here.

This article made me think about a terrible flight from Atlanta to Columbus, Ohio. I was flying by myself, which is kind of fun for me because it seldom happens. As we boarded the plane, the lady (more like an aging adult woman) in front of me had a plastic bag with the Church's Chicken logo. I did not think anything about it, but we ended up sitting next to each other.

Well the lady was in the middle with me having the aisle seat. As soon as we were "wheels up" the plastic bag came out. She had a four piece dinner with green beans and corn on the cob. I never in my life had been so miserable. Greasy fingers, chin, pull down tray, used paper napkins you could now see through. The lesson learned was that I found out one can suck on a chicken bone to make sure you are able to eat the last drop.

Why can I remember the green beans? While standing at the merry-go-round for luggage pick up, I looked down and I had part of a green bean on the toe of my shoe.

POLITICS

"The lion takes long strides, but the path is worn smooth by the pygmy armies"

M.A.M.R.M.

SHORT-SIGHTED THINKING ABOUT SOCIAL SECURITY

My good friend Frank Frye turned 65 two years ago and signed up for his social security and Medicare benefits. This is how he explained his birthday"this is the first birthday since I was a little boy that I really felt like I received something that excited me".

Survey shows many on the verge of retirement are poorly informed about social security. Learn more here .

Choosing when to begin receiving your benefit is one of the most significant decisions you will have to make.

(I sought the help of a good friend, now I know how to hyperlink an article with one word within a post. Thank you!)

OIL COMPANY FACTS

My weekends are not usually fun and sometimes results in thrashing around the house looking for something to read to take up some time. Last night late I found the recent publication of AAA's Home & Away. I did learn a couple of things about our large oil companies in the United States:

1. Our largest provider of oil to the USA is Canada, followed by Mexico. Only 16% of our oil comes from the Persian Gulf countries.

2. Oil prices are set by demand, the continue growth of China and India has increased demand causing the USA cost increasing.

3. Oil companies have large profits: Microsoft makes 29.3 cents on the dollar, McDonald's is about 12.2 cents and Exxon Mobil is about 8.5 cents. The Dow Jones companies have an average of 11.6 cents on the dollar.

4. Exxon Mobil pays about $4,000 a second in taxes or about $27 Billion Dollars. To give you an idea of this amount of tax paid, it is equal to the bottom 50% of all tax payers in our country during 2004.

This information was provided by Tom Strongman of The Kansas City Star.