MY NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION...................

From Kurt's www.culturaloffering.com

Apples don't fall far from the tree, thank you Mom...................

I do not know how many years ago my mother started a tradition and has been carried on faithfully by my father since her death 13 years ago. Everyone has an apple on the Christmas tree, with their name. Over the years since we were young it has grown to include spouses, grandchildren, grandchildren spouses & great grandchildren. All were in attendance Christmas Eve, as our family grows the tree is almost all red with a couple of green branches showing: Mom, Dad, Patrick, Carol, Andrew, Jill, Luke, Robin, Tom, Tina, Chip,Carolina, Will, Abby, Ross, Hudson, Cole, Dino, Tina, Gabby, Bella, Doni, Dani. Thank you to everyone for making Christmas Eve Breakfast an evening to once again to remember. 

Italian Christmas Time Song...................

Baracuta..not to late to order one..............

The perfect Christmas gift to one's self. 

Click here to check out O'Connell's Clothiers.

$295

With age comes happiness?????????

“Especially when we’re young, it’s really easy to look at older adults and see the loss: loss of youth, loss of mobility, loss of loved ones,” Sutin says. “We assume that all of that loss would make older adults unhappy. It’s harder to see the benefits of aging: feelings of pride for children and grandchildren, a meaningful career, more confidence, wisdom. There are a lot of reasons to be happy in older adulthood, but they may not be as visible as the losses.” When they are, however, it turns out that happiness is one of the benefits that come with age."


Stolen from Time.com, click here for the complete article.

A little Dab will do ya...........................

This sign for the famous Vicks VapRub is missing one way to use the product almost everyone has grown up with. A small dab in the middle of your mustache, just below your nose helps make diaper changing a breeze.

Click here for more information on the inventor and for a reason why if you invent a product you should not have a name to long to print on your product's container.

Thank you to Sister Robin for sending along the history of Vicks.

Keeping juiced up..................

The photo above from USATODAY.com shows someone who had electric to set up a cell/computer charging station outside their home for those without electric. This reminded me of Licking Memorial Hospital after the June 29, 2012 storm that hit Licking County. All over the main floor of the hospital you found cell phone and their charges connected to an outlet while the owners were cooling off and enjoying the great cafeteria's food..

Click here to read the entire story with tips on how to keep more power in your phone during a disasters.

Hebron Music & Arts Festival, this weekend........

We attended last year and had fun, bring your lawn chair, plenty of parking and good food.

Main Stage Events


Noon Linnville Pike

1:30 Paul Clark Band

3:00 Crowning of Festival Queen

5:00 Lee Gantt Band

7:00 The BackBeats

Click here to find out more at HebronMusicandArtsFestival.com

From Steve Layman...................

Click here to check out Steve Layman's blog.

A must read & make you smile blog post.............

Nothing is withheld from us which we have conceived to do.

Do things that have never been done.

Click here to read the most interesting blog post

you will read this week.

Thank you to Cultural Offering, Execupundit, & Blog of Impossible Things

For women only.....................

Earlier this year I shot this photo in a small Italian walled hill town mid-morning on a Sunday. The reaction this photo has received from ladies one would think they had never seen a man before. With the boots, knee pads, all leather dress, they were not out for a Sunday ride on a Harley.

Lucy 1998-2012

Lucy "The Fire Dog" passed away yesterday, after battling old age for the past week, in fact 15 days after her 14th birthday.

Amazing personality, loved to be around anyone. Early on in life, her first job was to listen for the fire tone of the Newark Fire Department. She would hear the tones before I could, during the day she would quickly sit up and stare, during the night she would jump onto my chest to make sure I would wake up. For eight years she traveled to night time fires, often beating me to the garage door. At intersections on the way, she would hear the truck's sirens and would spin around standing on the console box to see them whiz by us. After the initial knock-down of a fire, I would have to move the car closer so she could see all the action. It was not uncommon to see firefighters in full gear rolling around with her on the ground, stopping on the way to their truck and look in the car to pet her. Her largest fire duration was eleven hours, downtown Newark, Ohio on South 3rd Street known as the "Arwebb Fire". During her senior years she would wake up to the tone, elect not to ride along but wait up for me to come home. Her attendance of fires was recognized several times by the media.

Great enjoyment was what she brought to Carol and I and she was very deserving of being pampered like a lady should be.

The three bells have rung and she has been called back to quarters.

Guinness facts, things you did not know............

Why Guinness is “Dark”
Guinness is Innovative
Guinness is Healthy
Guinness Fought Poverty
Guinness was a Great Employer
Guinness Supported the Troops
Click here to review the eplanantions from Men's Health.

The 10 best & most unusal employee perks..........

From @Time via twitter:

Google: The search giant comes in first on Fortune’s list of the best places to work, and its legendary perks helped put it there. Among the more outlandish are a boccie-ball court and bowling lanes at the company’s Mountain View, Calif., headquarters — and for a nominal fee you can get your eyebrows shaped at its New York City office.

SAS Institute: Three weeks into the new year, let’s hope you’re not running low on sick days just yet. But if you’re lucky enough to work for this software maker based in Cary, N.C., you’d never have to worry because its employees get unlimited sick days. It also subsidizes Montessori child care and boasts a free health care center at its headquarters.

JM Family Enterprises: You’d think that benefits like a child-care center at the company’s headquarters, or free haircuts would be enough to keep workers happy. But this automotive distributor based in Deerfield Beach, Fla., keeps a fleet of yachts handy for employee use too. You know, just in case.

Whole Foods: The organic-food giant doesn’t so much lavish its employees with perks as give them the assurance that their bosses won’t be. The company caps executive pay at 19 times the average full-time salary.

Autodesk: Do your two weeks of vacation never seem enough? This Mill Valley, Calif., company takes a positively European stance on the matter. Employees can take a six-week paid sabbatical every four years. And when you are in the office, feel free to bring your dog along too.

Scottrade: CDs are yielding a paltry 1% these days, but employees of this discount brokerage get 5% interest on their checking accounts if they use the firm’s bank, which launched this year. A perk, indeed, in this no-interest world.

Atlantic Health: Based in Morristown, N.J., this firm owns several hospitals in the New York metropolitan area. But it doesn’t fail to overlook the health of its employees: stressed workers can get acupressure services at its on-site “mind-body centers.”

FactSet: This financial research firm lays it on thick with the foodie perks. Employees there get free lunches, and there’s also an on-site pie truck, Chinese truck and cupcake truck. Of course, there’s an on-site gym, too, to help burn off all those free calories.

Microsoft: Tech firms are known for their perks, and the original tech giant will not be outdone. Its Redmond, Wash., campus offers Microsoft’s many well-paid software engineers an organic spa for letting off steam.

Mattel: The world’s largest toymaker helps its employees find their inner child by shuttering its offices at 1 p.m. every Friday. Is there a greater work perk than not having to work?

Click here for more of Times Best & Worst list.

Are you emitting sparks...................

“So many men in this world are going nowhere in particular that when one comes along…who is really and passionately going somewhere, what a stir he communicates to a dull world! We catch sparks of electricity from the very friction of his passage.”
- David Grayson
The Friendly Road

Sean Carpenter relays in a recent post that we are responsible for setting a "spark of electricity" with the following three questions:

What are you going to do today to be that person?
How can you create “sparks of electricity” in your business and personal world?
When will others start saying that about you? Or do they already?

Sean also at the end of his post placed a twist to his theme of building relationships, solving problems and having fun to: Build better relationships. Solve tougher problems. Have more fun…on purpose.

The photo above is a photo of Sean and his mother of whom I was very lucky to meet last month at a company party. Mrs. Carpenter said one thing about her son that I will never forget: "Sean started to read well at a very early age and then stopped for the longest time."

For guys, a great find is often multiplied..........

Came across a New York Times article via Valet about how men buy clothes differently from women. Most women find shopping as a social activity. Men find it as a must do event when something is worn out. Men have the tendency to hoard what they like.

This NYT article pretty well describes myself and my closet. Yes my closet is full, but almost every item has an exact mate if not multiple duplication.

My navy blue sweaters are a fine example. I remember years ago traveling with my father when he finally asked "Do you have any other color of sweaters" being tired of seeing me every day in the traditional navy blue, boiled Shetland wool crew.

Last year I had a serious problem, down to one navy Shetland with the elbows patched and the crew neck raveling I found myself in replacement mode. Searching Ebay, retail shopping and direct factory outlets on line throughout the summer proved to be stressful and not fruitful. Finally the sweater was found, true to my specifications and I ordered two.

Why two? I figured if I keep my sweater in good repair and clean it should last 10-12 years. Figuring that I am sixty now, the new sweater will last until I am 70-72 years old. The un-packaged hoarded sweater will last me until when I am 80-84 years old. After this I will no longer be worrying about the sweater, Andrew has directions just to tell me in the nursing home that I am wearing a navy Shetland even though it is a gray cardigan with the funny pockets. I won't know the difference within minutes after I ask the question.


Click here to read the NY Times article, it will appreciate your buying habits.

50 Rules to live your life by.....

1. Focus on what really counts 2. You can’t please everyone 3. Choose friends wisely 4. Tell people what you’re really thinking. People are not mind readers. 5. Understand that you can only control yourself 6. Learn a new skill this weekend. Repeat! 7. Identify your preferred form of expression 8. Self-motivation is not optional. Get some! 9. Find great ideas then change the context 10. Wake up claiming the best day ever 11. Ditch the TV for more time 12. Do what’s in front of you 13. Set a limit for having unfinished tasks 14. Speak your truth 15. Spend more time with the right people 16. Set short deadlines for decisions 17. Consider your appearance and proper grooming 18. Reward yourself 19. Take ownership don’t blame others for your situation 20. Let the little things go 21. Learn how to negotiate a better deal on everything 22. Know your top 5 values 23. Simplify by eliminating anything that’s not essential 24. Start meaningful conversations 25. Know what you want 26. Limit what you borrow 27. Get the important work done first 28. Never be dissatisfied with what you have 29. Lay the groundwork for some future fun 30. Honor your commitments 31. Don’t settle for anything less than excellence 32. Create a routine and stick to it 33. Ignore the unimportant 34. Make it manageable 35. Be careful when you make comparisons 36. Character counts! 37. Never say, that’s not my job 38. Get organized 39. Schedule small tasks for a given time of the day 40. Don’t underestimate the power of support 41. Don’t browse online as soon as you get home 42. Get enough sleep 43. Speak less. Listen more. 44. Find gym and start going regularly 45. Pay attention to what you’re putting off for tomorrow 46. Stop caring about mistakes, learn from them 47. Get your financial house in order 48. No Cheating! 49. Do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do 50. Know the difference between affirmation and information and be careful receiving too much of either

Officially stolen from Kurt Harden.

What Christmas is all about............

Spending what you do not have...................

I look forward to D.C.'s journals posted by Kurt Harden. This portion was written on December 20, 1931 and indicates to me not a whole lot is different from 80 years ago. Click here to read 77 of D.C.'s journal entries, may be the best book you read this weekend.

Licking County TweetUp at Velvet Ice Cream....

Last Thursday, I attended what I would consider one of my top three social events of 2011. On my way home, several photos in my phone I kept thinking about the great blog post I could write.

Master blogger and good friend Sean Carpenter the next morning posted what I consider a masterpiece of reporting the event.

Please click here to read "The "Scoop" on Being Successful".

Great job to @VelvetIceCream for being such a great host and @seancarp for your blog.