1. I think part of a best friend’s job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to nap when I was younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on # 5. I’m pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

9. I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t at least kind of tired.

10. Bad decisions make good stories.

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren’t going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don’t want to have to restart my collection…again.

13. I’m always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report that I swear I did not make any changes to.

14. I keep some people’s phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

15. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

16. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.

17. I wish Google Maps had an “Avoid Ghetto” routing option.

18. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

19. How many times is it appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod and smile because you still didn’t hear or understand a word they said?

20. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!

21. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

22. Sometimes I’ll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

23. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey – but I’d bet everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time.

24. The first testicular guard, the “Cup,” was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. That means it only took 100 years for men to realize that their brain is also important.

Heal the past, live the present, dream the future.

ENJOY LIFE!

By Wild Iris

I was reading the paper this morning, with my usual cup of extra strong coffee.  An article caught my attention that focused on a person who was losing their home.  The person had been living without water or electricity for a very long time, the property taxes were in default and he had been eating less than quality meals for years. 

As I read the article, the usual rhetoric was applied…his neighbors turned to GOVERNMENT agencies to help him.  The writer built a case for why we need more social services to help people like him…and on and on.  Funny how this piece just happened to come at a time when states are having to cut services because we as a state and country are broke. …Another article for another day.

Excuse me, why didn’t his neighbors and local community do something to help him?  Someone please tell me, what about the local non-profits, Churches, Temples and Mosques?  Who better to know what this person really needs, then the people who live around him? 

So here is my rant about those who are continually talking about building strong communities, better communities, and on and on.  Seems to me their conversations stop, the minute THEY need to do something themselves to help someone.  I have found it to be a pattern with the group of people in our society whose war cry is   “we need to help the community and others” or as I like to call them the “somebody else should do it”  group. 

I have been involved with multiple non-profits, worked thousands of hours as a volunteer and donated money when I really could not afford to in order to help others.  This group really pisses me off.  Over the years, in my volunteering experiences, it’s these people who never seem to have the time.  They have the time to tell you what you should be doing to help the “community” but not enough time to do any volunteering themselves.

The excuses are, my child or children has “fill in the blank with a school activity, sporting event or whatever”, or I have “fill in the blank with some activity”.  Really?  How about you and your children volunteering to help someone else in your neighborhood like the elderly couple who can no longer mow their yard or needs some home repairs done, but can’t afford it?  Or maybe just sitting and talking with them for a few hours because they are lonely.  What a great life lesson for the family in doing for others, not ourselves.

Moving on to spending or donating money to help someone in their neighborhood.  Now the excuses are really funny. This group is the first in line to demand that the government do more to help the poor, but at the same time think personally they need bigger tax deductions.  Why should they have to pony up more money for the government agencies that is the job of the…drum roll please….”Rich people” The mythical Rich People should pay more taxes, not the “somebody else” group.  I sense another article in my future on this topic.

Here is a thought, if we ALL reached out to help each other and not demanded more government agencies or programs, the tax bill would be SMALLER for everyone.  Guess what, we would ALL have more money in our pockets to help others directly. 

In small towns, people help each other for the most part.  Those who live in larger cities seem to have lost any real sense of what a community is.  Look around you, my guess is that at least half your neighbors could use a helping hand. I am not talking about just money.  Perhaps, they are working on a home project and could use some advice or an extra pair of hands.  The couples with a new baby or a child that has not been out on a “date” for months and could use a free babysitter so they can afford a movie and some “them time”.  How about that single neighbor, do they have a place to go for holiday dinners or the safety of knowing that someone cares about them?

You might be asking yourself, right about this time, what has Wild Iris done to help or is this just another person trying to make me feel bad?  The answer is, I have put my money and time, where my mouth is, or in this case, keyboard is.  Most recently, several of my neighbors were at risk of losing their homes.  Now I am not a person with much free cash, however, I do have a lot of talents, so I put a couple of those to work for my neighbors.  

One has lost his business and could not find a job.  After a few conversations over the fence with him, I realized he has no skills or understanding of how to find a job in the new world of online everything.  So I jumped on the internet and started finding jobs that he had the right background for.  Shortly, he had a job and was on the road to financial recovery. 

Another neighbor has a home based business, but no idea how to grow it, without spending a bunch of money on advertising.  Again, this person was not online savvy nor knowledgeable about marketing.  With some coaching on selling and training on how to put ads on Craigslist (free), the business has slowly been gaining traction. 

My point is do you know your neighbors?  Are you involved with them on an ongoing basis?  Are you there when times are tough, willing to do what you can to be of assistance?  Will they be there for you when you need help?  Every little bit of interaction, caring, helping, sharing, builds a truly strong community of neighbors.  With strong communities and neighbors, the need for big “agencies or programs” goes away, while the sense of being a part of something amazing grows.

By Mor E. Caubell

A while ago my daughter expressed an interest in law enforcement. So I asked her if she wanted to go shoot a handgun, she did, and we arranged to meet one of her Cop friends at a local range.

After her initial shooting experience she asked me the question “Which is the best ammunition for home or self defense?” Actually I think her question was, “Which is the best bullet?”. So after a short conversation to zero in on what she really was asking we got to the question of this article.

This question, by the way, is the beginning of many heated discussions on the web, at parties or around the dinner table. If you don’t believe me, give it a try. Sign on to almost any blog and ask, which is better 9mm or .45 then sit back a watch the debate.

To head off any flame wars, let me state that this is my opinion and you will have to do your own research and come to your own conclusion.

To begin, there is one truth that I have discovered from a lifetime of purchasing things. That is “there is no such thing as the perfect x”. You can replace the “x” with whatever it is you are looking for. Be it cameras, cars, bullets or whatever. You the purchaser will have to decide on various compromises to get to your own decision.

In cameras for example, you might want the best picture and be able to see the results immediately after taking the picture. Typically the best picture taking cameras are film based, but you can’t see the results immediately. So you will have to compromise on one of your requirements.

In cars, let’s say you want to drive fast, carry 8 people and 4 sheets of plywood. Sad to say, you will have to decide which of your requirements are most important and which ones you will compromise on because I don’t think Porsche makes an 8 passenger pickup truck with an 8 foot bed that can go 120mph.

But back to the question “Which is the best ammunition for home or self defense?”

The quest for the perfect bullet is enough to keep even the most ardent re-loader searching for a life time. A re-loader, by the way, is a person that assembles their own bullets out of the separate components of bullet, powder, case and primer.

My personal belief is any caliber handgun that you will practice with and carry is better than the one you don’t like to shoot, so you leave it home.

That being said, there is a whole mass(M) times velocity(V) formula that many use to compare stopping power, or knock down power between calibers. You can look that up if you are really interested.

Some people (read “men”) believe the only calibers worth carrying will stop a bad guy with a single well placed round. I would suggest, that a single well placed round of any caliber will stop a bad guy. Notice I didn’t say kill, as my intent is not to kill anyone, my intent is to stop the bad guy from hurting me, my family or my loved ones.

For brevity I’ll only list a few of the most common calibers. Caliber is measured in millimeters(mm) or fractions of an inch, expressed as .xx or .xxx.

Example list of common handgun calibers: .22, .32, .38, .357, .380, 9mm, 10mm, .40, .44, .45, .454 and .50.

How to decipher the information on the ammo box.

There will be the caliber of the ammunition, which is then followed by some letters or words like: lr, S&W, ACP. Which tell you more about the ammunition, lr stands for long rifle and I’ve only seen it on .22 caliber ammo. S&W stands for Smith and Wesson, ACP stands for Automatic Colt Pistol. Also, there are lots more than these, but way to many to list here.

There will be the weight of the bullet, or projectile measured in grains or gr. You’ll typically find it listed something like 115gr, 124gr or 147gr.

There will be the type of bullet, FMJ for Full Metal Jacket, JHP for Jacketed Hollow Point. There are others to be sure, but these are the most common.

That leaves the amount of powder used in the round. It’s the pressure created when the powder burns, that pushes the bullet down the barrel. Standard pressure loads aren’t marked in any special way but if it’s marked +P that is a higher pressured load than standard, and a +P+ is higher still. Don’t forget the M x V thing, the faster the bullet travels, the more the gun will recoil. Read the manual or check with the manufacturer of the handgun before using high pressure loads. The handgun must be designed to handle the extra pressure, if it’s not bad things can happen.

Like I said above any caliber handgun that you will practice with and carry is better than the one you don’t like to shoot, so you leave it home.

Some things to keep in mind:

• As you progress from the smaller .22 caliber to the larger .50 caliber, the recoil will increase, it’s that whole M x V thing.
• As you progress from the smaller to the larger caliber, the cost of the ammunition goes up.
• As you progress from the standard pressure loads to the higher pressure loads, the cost of the ammunition goes up.
• As you progress from the smaller to the larger caliber, the handgun itself will get bigger and heavier.
• As you progress from the smaller to the larger caliber, the cost of the handgun itself goes up.

But it’s not all bad news when it comes to size, the larger and heavier the handgun or the more mass it has, the more energy it takes to move it. That means a bigger handgun will recoil less than a smaller, lighter handgun if they shot the same bullet.

My standard recommendations for deciding on which caliber to shoot and carry are as follows:

• The ammunition must be currently and commercially available.
• The ammunition must cycle reliably in your semi-automatic handgun. If you carry a revolver, this doesn’t apply.
• The ammunition must be the equivalent of what your local law enforcement types use.
• The ammunition for carry must match the practice ammunition.

For example I carry both 115gr, 9mm and 230gr, .45ACP, JHP. So I shoot both 115gr, 9mm and 230gr, .45ACP FMJ.

Now you’re probably wondering why I shoot two different calibers. It’s that size thing again. As it’s darn near impossible to conceal a full sized .45 caliber 1911 pistol while wearing a Speedo, the bulge is just too unsightly. But a small 9mm, can get tucked in just about anywhere.

This week I am continuing my coverage of “The Vitamin D Solution” by Dr. Michael Holick.

One of the most interesting chapters of the book was the one in which he discussed autoimmune diseases – especially multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease in which cells of the immune system attack the nerves, leading to loss of muscle coordination, weakness and even loss of sight.  MS generally develops in middle age and is much more prevalent in women than in men. There is also a genetic component to MS, with people of Scandinavian or Celtic origin being more prone to developing MS.

But by far the strongest predictor of MS risk is sun exposure. People in North America or Europe are five times more likely to develop MS than people who live in the tropics, Even in North America people living above the 37th parallel are twice as likely to develop MS as people who live below the 37th parallel. And the most interesting part of it is that the risk of developing MS seems to be determined by your sun exposure at an early age. Once you’ve reached the age of 15 you can move anywhere in the world and your risk of MS will not be altered. It has already been determined by your sun exposure before the age of 15.

Type 1 diabetes is caused by the immune cells attacking the pancreas and rendering it unable to make insulin. Once again sun exposure seems to play a significant role. Northern Finland, for example, has the world’s highest incidence of type 1 diabetes. Since type 1 diabetes generally develops during childhood, the question of whether you could decrease the incidence of type 1 diabetes by getting more sun exposure after age 15 is a moot point.

The mechanism of this effect is not known, but it is known that the thymus plays an important role in destroying immune cells that could harm the body. This function of the thymus is particularly important when we are young and recent research suggests that it could be regulated by vitamin D.

The evidence that vitamin D could prevent MS is indirect, but there is clinical evidence that vitamin D can prevent type 1 diabetes.

The Finnish government did a major study with 12,000 children in 1966 in which they gave half of them 2,000 IU of vitamin D/day during their first year of life and the other half a placebo.

The children who received the vitamin D supplement during their first year of life were 80% less likely to develop type 1 diabetes than those who received the placebo. And when they did the comparison with a subgroup of children who were demonstrably D deficient (they developed symptoms of rickets), the vitamin D supplementation decreased the risk of developing type 1 diabetes by 2.4 fold (240%).

However, with both type 1 diabetes and MS it appears that the die is cast early in life. Dr. Holick and others have tried vitamin D therapy with patients that have already developed MS or type 1 diabetes without success.

So what is the bottom line?

If you have already developed MS or type 1 diabetes, there is no evidence that vitamin D supplementation can slow or reverse the disease (although it may reduce the risk of osteoporosis and many other diseases).

However, one of the greatest gifts that you can give your children may be to make sure that they get adequate levels of vitamin D from birth through adolescence. And that is particularly important in light of studies showing that 50 – 70% of our children may not be getting enough vitamin D.

To Your Health!
Dr. Stephen G Chaney

Dr. Stephen Chaney
Shaklee Master Coordinator
http://www.socialmarketingconnection.com
888.860.2075

P.S. If you would like copies of any of my previous
“Health Tips From the Professor” they are a free
resource at:      http://www.socialmarketingconnection.com     888.860.2075

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not
intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

If you a re really bored and want something to do, click here….

By Karen Gore, Co-Founder and Co-Owner Virtual Business Associates and Virtual HR Associates

In this continuing series of articles, we strive to provide the reader with simple and easy ways to follow steps in finding a job.  If you are easily offended by the truth, step away from the monitor now…. I don’t pull any punches in my articles …this is about getting you a job.

Over the last 23 years of recruiting and hiring thousands of people which required reading their resumes, there are some basics in finding a job that remain a constant.   I would like to share some of these with you in this article.  You are receiving for free, what I normally charge good money for….enjoy.

The resume is your calling card, marketing and sales tool.  It’s what makes someone want to ask you in for an interview.

What does it say about you and what you have achieved?

The resume is most important when starting your job search.  Have five people read it before you EVER send it out.  Ask them to read it for understanding, grammar, spelling and flow.  Remember this is your marketing tool, what does it say about YOU?  So many times I have read resumes from very talented people that tell me nothing about them, only what their job duties were. 

Would you be interested in test driving or buying a new car based on an advertisement that said “this car has an engine and four tires”?  NO!  Why not?  You would buy it because all cars have an engine and four tires!  An advertisement that states this car “has all the features you need and want at a great price, including superior gas mileage, cool sun roof”, etc., those things you might want in a car, would make you want to check it out…right?  The same is true for a winning resume….what are your “special” features, skills, knowledge, or talents that set you apart from the dozens, if not, hundreds of resumes received. 

Have the five people looking at your resume, ask themselves this question and have them answer truthfully, based on JUST the RESUME: Would they call you in for an interview?  If yes, as them what in the RESUME trigger this reaction?  If no, ask them what in the RESUME triggered this reaction?   Don’t take it personal if the answer is no, see it as a learning experience and start over on the resume.

When I am working with a client on building their resume, there is a series of questions I ask, one of them is:  “What did you do in this position that makes you stand out from others in this position”.  This will take some hard analysis on your part, go back to what you did or are doing in your job.  No, not the job description stuff you read when you were hired or applied for the job.  What we are looking for here are the achievements and contributions you are making to the company or organization that are NOT in the job description.

Think about it in this light, if all you have to offer me as an employer, are the very same abilities that every other person who has had the same/similar job, why should I hire you over someone else?  By answering this question with point by point contributions to your employer, you have earned my interest in you as a candidate.  As examples of what makes for good achievements:

Sale person – Increased overall sales revenue by XX% year over year. Or successfully landed a renewal contract with a previously dissatisfied customer by providing outstanding customer service.

Technology person – successfully produced code that passed QA without bugs, on time and under budget. OR critical to the development of the XYZ product launched successfully on time and under budget.

Executive Assistant – responsible for reducing the cost of business meetings and travel by 30% through development of vendor relationships, research of services and creative problem solving. OR successfully managed a $500K project full cycle that allowed for increased productivity of senior managers and support staff.

I know what you are going to say, “I did not have the opportunity to do these types of things”.  Really?  Let’s examine the sales person’s bullet statements first.  The job of any sales person is to sell.  Most sales jobs come with sales quotas, meet them or you lose your job.  So, if you are doing a good job and have met or beat your quota, why are you not bragging about it?  Keeping customers happy and getting them to renew contracts or come back to the store and buy more is part of the job.  Mostly likely you do this on a daily basis….so tell me about it.

The craziest thing on resumes from people looking for a sales job is NO NUMBERS.  How can a reader know if you are any good, if there are not sales numbers?  Tell me about your achieving and exceeding your annual sales quotas.  It is so easy to do, 2008 achieved 103% of quota, 2009 achieved 100% of quota, 2010 and so on.  If you missed your quota one year, but met it every other year, so be it, the other numbers of meeting or surpassing in other years tell me you can do the job.

For many people, especially women, bragging is hard.  We have been taught most of our lives that is not polite or good manners to do so.  Well that does not apply in the job market.  Other cultures competing for YOUR job have been trained from birth that bragging is a must to achieve success.  Now don’t confuse lying with hooting your own horn or bragging, on a resume.  Lying is never a good idea.  Pointing out your skills, talents and knowledge is a GREAT idea.

She’s NOT going to marry you before she finds a job!   Great video, affirming and entertaining all at the same time.  This is DEFINITELY a Babe In Total Charge of Herself!  Enjoy.

Best friends graduated from medical school at the same time and decided that, in spite of two different specialties, they would open a practice together to share office space and personnel.  Dr. Smith was the psychiatrist and Dr. Jones was the proctologist;  they put up a sign reading: “Dr. Smith and Dr. Jones: Hysterias and Posteriors.” The town council was livid and insisted they change it.

So, the docs changed it to read: “Schizoids and Hemorrhoids.” This was also not acceptable, so they again changed the sign. “Catatonics and High Colonics”……No go.

Next, they tried “Manic Depressives and Anal Retentives”….thumbs down again. Then came “Minds and Behinds”….still no good. Another attempt resulted in “Lost Souls and Butt Holes”…….unacceptable again ! So they tried “Analysis and Anal Cysts”……not a chance. “Nuts and Butts”…..no way. “Freaks and Cheeks”…..still no good.  “Loons and Moons”…..forget it.

Almost at their wit’s end, the docs finally came up with: “Dr. Smith and Dr. Jones –

Odds and Ends” Everyone loved it.