Friday, November 30, 2012
Harvard OKs kinky sex student club
Harvard OKs kinky sex student club: Harvard OKs kinky sex student club
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
How much is too much?
How much love for a pet is too much? Everyone loves their pets. How far are you willing to go for your pet? I've known people that have paid for brain surgery for a cat. Same cat required insulin shots later. That's love and dedication that is unmatched especially for a pet. I've known people that have spent thousands for a broken leg on a dog. A dog that wasn't even theirs, it was abandoned. I've known several that have cremated their pets and kept the ashes.
Today though, through the course of my day job which takes me into people's homes, I saw a dog that had been put down because of terminal health issues. While that sounds tame, the rest of the story is that he had been dead for a full 24 hours. Then he was laid on the floor in the home office on a dog bed with care. All but his head covered with a small blanket. Eyes wide open. I had to step over him several times on my visit of over 2 hours today. Maybe it's just me being creeped out I don't know. They did remark that they were going to bury him soon but due to the current weather issues it was uncertain when that may be.
So I don't know,.... How much is too much? I don't know if that question has one answer. Our pets mean the world to us and we all have that right to do what we feel is necessary to help them. So while, it may sound like I'm judging, I'm not. There are times like today that I am amazed at the level some go for their pets.
Today though, through the course of my day job which takes me into people's homes, I saw a dog that had been put down because of terminal health issues. While that sounds tame, the rest of the story is that he had been dead for a full 24 hours. Then he was laid on the floor in the home office on a dog bed with care. All but his head covered with a small blanket. Eyes wide open. I had to step over him several times on my visit of over 2 hours today. Maybe it's just me being creeped out I don't know. They did remark that they were going to bury him soon but due to the current weather issues it was uncertain when that may be.
So I don't know,.... How much is too much? I don't know if that question has one answer. Our pets mean the world to us and we all have that right to do what we feel is necessary to help them. So while, it may sound like I'm judging, I'm not. There are times like today that I am amazed at the level some go for their pets.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Monday, November 19, 2012
Twinkles gone!
How could this happen? Well it's simple. Earlier this year Hostess filed for reorganization bankruptcy protection. Years after employees warned them of bad business choices and they refused the input.
Hostess upper management has bought into the catch phrase that unions are the problem. While collective bargaining is not the perfect solution to the workplace dilemmas it is the solution that has brought benefits to all of labor, union and non union. Most don't know that holidays, paid or not, weekends, paid vacations, sick pay, eight hour work day, overtime etc. are all benefits that are brought to the middle class through unions fighting to keep a middle class.
Case in point would be the recent labor/management dispute at Raleys. Raleys claimed for a year that they were going to face a financial problem unless they cut wages and made workers pay for more of their own healthcare. Which Raleys already received a tax credit for under obamacare. The union said if that was true then sit down with us and show us. Raleys kept saying no. It wasn't until the recent strike on the eve of a major holiday for food shopping did Raleys settle the dispute. Public relations people at all companies are paid to spin the data to make the company look good. Please realize that when you hear things in the media.
Also, when your uneducated neighbor, family member, etc tells you that unions are bad let him/her know that the middle class owes all better working conditions to union workers over the last 100 years.
Hostess upper management has bought into the catch phrase that unions are the problem. While collective bargaining is not the perfect solution to the workplace dilemmas it is the solution that has brought benefits to all of labor, union and non union. Most don't know that holidays, paid or not, weekends, paid vacations, sick pay, eight hour work day, overtime etc. are all benefits that are brought to the middle class through unions fighting to keep a middle class.
Case in point would be the recent labor/management dispute at Raleys. Raleys claimed for a year that they were going to face a financial problem unless they cut wages and made workers pay for more of their own healthcare. Which Raleys already received a tax credit for under obamacare. The union said if that was true then sit down with us and show us. Raleys kept saying no. It wasn't until the recent strike on the eve of a major holiday for food shopping did Raleys settle the dispute. Public relations people at all companies are paid to spin the data to make the company look good. Please realize that when you hear things in the media.
Also, when your uneducated neighbor, family member, etc tells you that unions are bad let him/her know that the middle class owes all better working conditions to union workers over the last 100 years.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Infidelity in government leadership
Why do we have government leaders? How did they get to their office? What job did we give them? How well are they doing at that job? I don't ever recall us asking any of them in advance any of these questions:
1. Are they going to commit adultery?
2. Who are they having sex with?
3. What's their sexual preference?
4. Are they into group sex?
And so on. Do you ask yourself these questions? Why does the American media sensationalize infidelity of government and military leaders? They are in their job titles because we put them there to do a job. Why does that seem to get lost when the media gets wind of what they think should be an issue? Any takers in my question? My guess is that as a society built on what are suppose to be Christian values we are very hypocritical. We rarely let the media down in the category of judgment. So regular they can the gauge how much their sales will boost if they run the story. Even if they aren't first. Like piranha they have a feeding frenzy and destroy anything good that person has done.
Why is it news worthy anyway? I believe that we should only be concerned with how they do the job we gave them to do The rest are life choices that we should not even be involved in. An argument is that they are leaders and role models to our children. Why are the role models for our children people we haven't even met? Why aren't we the role models for our children? Maybe we have too many faults of our own to be a good role model Maybe thats the fascination with leaders falling from grace That we get to see them not being as perfect as we thought? Maybe we feel better about ourselves when we see it. It lessens our own faults in some pathetic way.... Just saying.
You have to decide for yourself what it is for you or if you're just as disgusted with it as I am. Good luck.
1. Are they going to commit adultery?
2. Who are they having sex with?
3. What's their sexual preference?
4. Are they into group sex?
And so on. Do you ask yourself these questions? Why does the American media sensationalize infidelity of government and military leaders? They are in their job titles because we put them there to do a job. Why does that seem to get lost when the media gets wind of what they think should be an issue? Any takers in my question? My guess is that as a society built on what are suppose to be Christian values we are very hypocritical. We rarely let the media down in the category of judgment. So regular they can the gauge how much their sales will boost if they run the story. Even if they aren't first. Like piranha they have a feeding frenzy and destroy anything good that person has done.
Why is it news worthy anyway? I believe that we should only be concerned with how they do the job we gave them to do The rest are life choices that we should not even be involved in. An argument is that they are leaders and role models to our children. Why are the role models for our children people we haven't even met? Why aren't we the role models for our children? Maybe we have too many faults of our own to be a good role model Maybe thats the fascination with leaders falling from grace That we get to see them not being as perfect as we thought? Maybe we feel better about ourselves when we see it. It lessens our own faults in some pathetic way.... Just saying.
You have to decide for yourself what it is for you or if you're just as disgusted with it as I am. Good luck.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Thought for today
It's chilly today. If you're riding, take plenty of warm gear. Keep the rubber side down!
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Teacher fired over porn says she lost herself
Teacher fired over porn says she lost herself
This is an outrage to me and should be to everyone. Here is a woman that has a past like all of us. She's made decisions that were right for her at the time like we all have. Is being in the porn industry a job that should preclude you from teaching junior high or any age of children? If the truth were told the porn industry alone is responsible for putting lots of people, especially women through not one or two years of college but four or more for what they can make in a summer.
Our societal mindset that makes us judge these people comes from our Judeo-Christian values. Why do we feel the need to judge? Christ judged no one. Why do the self professed followers of Christ judge in a manner not unlike the assassins of Christ.
The important questions for the school administrator and anyone to be asking is " how is she as a science teacher?" "Does she interact with her students appropriately?" There are teachers that have torrid sex lives, make videos and have pictures everywhere on the Internet. So what? How are they at their job? If we hold everyone accountable for their past decisions that society doesn't agree with then everyone would be out of a job. That would be everyone, government and private sector.
The article says she thinks she deserves a second chance. I don't see where she ever received a first chance. If you're reading this, I know you've been judged and probably have judged others. Ask yourself how it made you feel to be judged and then ask why do you want to do that to others.
We're all imperfect. Why do we have this overwhelming need to judge others ? Why mess with their livelihood? How would you like losing you job because of some prior employment. At least this woman had a job.
This is an outrage to me and should be to everyone. Here is a woman that has a past like all of us. She's made decisions that were right for her at the time like we all have. Is being in the porn industry a job that should preclude you from teaching junior high or any age of children? If the truth were told the porn industry alone is responsible for putting lots of people, especially women through not one or two years of college but four or more for what they can make in a summer.
Our societal mindset that makes us judge these people comes from our Judeo-Christian values. Why do we feel the need to judge? Christ judged no one. Why do the self professed followers of Christ judge in a manner not unlike the assassins of Christ.
The important questions for the school administrator and anyone to be asking is " how is she as a science teacher?" "Does she interact with her students appropriately?" There are teachers that have torrid sex lives, make videos and have pictures everywhere on the Internet. So what? How are they at their job? If we hold everyone accountable for their past decisions that society doesn't agree with then everyone would be out of a job. That would be everyone, government and private sector.
The article says she thinks she deserves a second chance. I don't see where she ever received a first chance. If you're reading this, I know you've been judged and probably have judged others. Ask yourself how it made you feel to be judged and then ask why do you want to do that to others.
We're all imperfect. Why do we have this overwhelming need to judge others ? Why mess with their livelihood? How would you like losing you job because of some prior employment. At least this woman had a job.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
True Colors.....
Isn't it funny. I'm sure you all know the topic I'm about to write about. I would like to preface this article with the following information. 1) this is not about anyone I'm involved with. 2) this is also not about anyone I consider a friend 3) just because a persons is in your "friends list" on social media doesn't mean they're your friend.
People all have a time when they show their "true" colors. Now true colors can be so very positive but more often than not its negative. Which is what I want to discuss. Why do so many people need to be fake? Is it that they don't like themselves enough to be real? Is it that they have to manipulate and lie to have people like them. I personally don't care about the why. I give everyone a clean slate when I meet them. It's up to them to keep it clean after that. I also let everyone have mistakes within reason because none of us are perfect.
Having said that, when a woman acquaintance comes to me and accuses me of something that's not true. Then later goes further with an email that's not true about others just to make herself look good and manipulate me into liking her, is too big of a mistake for me to let go unnoticed. This would be her "true" color. Now the funny part is that in about 3 interactions at social events she nuked herself from any area of trust. Oh yes I almost forgot, it's always someone else's fault. Lol
People all have a time when they show their "true" colors. Now true colors can be so very positive but more often than not its negative. Which is what I want to discuss. Why do so many people need to be fake? Is it that they don't like themselves enough to be real? Is it that they have to manipulate and lie to have people like them. I personally don't care about the why. I give everyone a clean slate when I meet them. It's up to them to keep it clean after that. I also let everyone have mistakes within reason because none of us are perfect.
Having said that, when a woman acquaintance comes to me and accuses me of something that's not true. Then later goes further with an email that's not true about others just to make herself look good and manipulate me into liking her, is too big of a mistake for me to let go unnoticed. This would be her "true" color. Now the funny part is that in about 3 interactions at social events she nuked herself from any area of trust. Oh yes I almost forgot, it's always someone else's fault. Lol
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Why don't people grow up?
I'm sure we've all heard someone say I don't want to grow up. I don't want to either. Lol. For the most part anyway. I think that statement relates to keeping your inner child to remind you to have fun and enjoy life as you go through it. To not forget to smell the roses, etc.
Unfortunately, I see a lot of people, men and women that have really not grown up. They still have the same social behaviors that they had in Junior High School. They talk about enemies and he said she said. Or Susie said you called me names, etc. we all know someone like that. Probably several people like that. I know it's a conscious choice for each of us to not do those things when we realize they are going on for us.
How come so many seem to be stuck there. Was it the best years of their life? Did they feel in control? Did others look up to them then with that behavior? I don't know. I just feel the need to write about it because I think it's such a problem today.
What can we do about it? Really all we can do is check ourselves to make sure we are making mature decisions when interacting with others. We can't change others by verbally critiquing them. Only by example can we teach others and inspire them to change. So I wish for each of you to have the self guidance and self control to recognize those behaviors in yourself when present, change it for you and move on. I only feel it needs to change because people without those behaviors seem to be much happier with themselves than those that have them. Thanks and good luck.
Unfortunately, I see a lot of people, men and women that have really not grown up. They still have the same social behaviors that they had in Junior High School. They talk about enemies and he said she said. Or Susie said you called me names, etc. we all know someone like that. Probably several people like that. I know it's a conscious choice for each of us to not do those things when we realize they are going on for us.
How come so many seem to be stuck there. Was it the best years of their life? Did they feel in control? Did others look up to them then with that behavior? I don't know. I just feel the need to write about it because I think it's such a problem today.
What can we do about it? Really all we can do is check ourselves to make sure we are making mature decisions when interacting with others. We can't change others by verbally critiquing them. Only by example can we teach others and inspire them to change. So I wish for each of you to have the self guidance and self control to recognize those behaviors in yourself when present, change it for you and move on. I only feel it needs to change because people without those behaviors seem to be much happier with themselves than those that have them. Thanks and good luck.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Study: Time with dad good for self-esteem
Adolescent kids retreat to their rooms when you try to ask them how they are and hide out with their friends so often that they spend less and less time with family, right?
Maybe not so much, according to a new study.
In the nearly 200 families tracked, kids generally spent increasing amounts of one-on-one time with parents in their early adolescent years. Time with the folks started to drop when they were about 15.
The time teens spend specifically with their dads may have critical benefits, the study from Pennsylvania State University found. The more time spent alone with their fathers, the higher their self-esteem; the more time with their dads in a group setting, the better their social skills.
"The stereotype that teenagers spend all their time holed up in their rooms or hanging out with friends is, indeed, just a stereotype," said Susan McHale, director of the Social Science Research Institute at Penn State. "Our research shows that, well into the adolescent years, teens continue to spend time with their parents and that this shared time, especially shared time with fathers, has important implications for adolescents' psychological and social adjustment."
Researchers studied families with at least two children over a period of seven years.
"It's very rare to have longitudinal data over such a long period of time for four members of a family," said Ann Crouter, dean of Penn State's College of Health and Human Development.
"It takes an incredible amount of time and effort to mount a study of this kind."
The researchers caution that the study was not representative of the whole country. The families studied are "almost exclusively European American, working- and middle-class families living in small cities, towns, and rural communities." Further studies are needed to look at more diverse samples of the U.S. population, they say.
The study, published in the journal Child Development, found that kids spend less and less time with their parents in group settings as they go through their preteen and teenage years. But one-on-one time increases up until about age 12 and then stays relatively flat before starting to decline a bit around age 15, says Crouter.
Parents spend roughly seven to eight hours a week in group settings with their kids ages 8 to 15, the study found. Mothers get in about an hour and 15 minutes alone with their firstborn kids and more than an hour and a half with second-born kids each week. Dads get in just over an hour of one-on-one time with first- and second-born kids each week.
Numerous other studies have found benefits for kids who spend more time with their families, such as fewer delinquent behaviors and less likelihood to give in to peer pressure, the study notes.
In this study, the findings about fathers proved to be very interesting, Crouter said.
While increased time with Dad showed key benefits for self-esteem and "social competence," time with Mom did not show the same correlations.
"In two-parent families, the mother's role as caregiver is so scripted that her involvement can easily go unnoticed and unacknowledged," researchers note.
Meanwhile, kids whose fathers spend one-on-one time with them "may develop higher general self-worth because their fathers go beyond social expectations to devote undivided attention to them."
Also, time with dad often involves "joking, teasing, and other playful interactions," the study says. "Fathers, as compared to mothers, were more involved in leisure activities" and had more "peer-like interaction" with their children, which is "crucial for youth social development."
There's also the possibility that time with dad goes hand-in-hand with self-esteem for another reason: Some fathers may be more "drawn to" their children who "have higher self-worth and social competence," the researchers suggest. They point to another study that found dads are more affected by their kids' personalities than moms are in how they parent. So in some cases, dads spending more time with certain kids may be the result of the kids being more social -- not the cause of it.
"This doesn't mean that mothers aren't important!" McHale said. "The youth in this sample were in general well-adjusted, suggesting that there were good things going on in their families on the whole."
Another previous study found that children who spent more one-on-one time with their mothers were less often depressed; that correlation was not there with fathers.
Parents who have a son and a daughter generally spend more time alone with the child of the same sex, the Penn State study found.
And parents generally spend a bit more time with second-born children, bolstering previous studies suggesting that parents learn from their experiences with their first children and are better able to maintain close relationships with the younger children during adolescent years, the study says.
Other studies have busted stereotypes about dads, including how much time they spend with their children.
The Families and Work Institute found that dads spend substantially more time with their kids under age 13 than they did decades ago. As of 2008, employed fathers spent about three hours a day with their children, while employed mothers spend nearly four hours.
Sent from my iPhone
Maybe not so much, according to a new study.
In the nearly 200 families tracked, kids generally spent increasing amounts of one-on-one time with parents in their early adolescent years. Time with the folks started to drop when they were about 15.
The time teens spend specifically with their dads may have critical benefits, the study from Pennsylvania State University found. The more time spent alone with their fathers, the higher their self-esteem; the more time with their dads in a group setting, the better their social skills.
"The stereotype that teenagers spend all their time holed up in their rooms or hanging out with friends is, indeed, just a stereotype," said Susan McHale, director of the Social Science Research Institute at Penn State. "Our research shows that, well into the adolescent years, teens continue to spend time with their parents and that this shared time, especially shared time with fathers, has important implications for adolescents' psychological and social adjustment."
Researchers studied families with at least two children over a period of seven years.
"It's very rare to have longitudinal data over such a long period of time for four members of a family," said Ann Crouter, dean of Penn State's College of Health and Human Development.
"It takes an incredible amount of time and effort to mount a study of this kind."
The researchers caution that the study was not representative of the whole country. The families studied are "almost exclusively European American, working- and middle-class families living in small cities, towns, and rural communities." Further studies are needed to look at more diverse samples of the U.S. population, they say.
The study, published in the journal Child Development, found that kids spend less and less time with their parents in group settings as they go through their preteen and teenage years. But one-on-one time increases up until about age 12 and then stays relatively flat before starting to decline a bit around age 15, says Crouter.
Parents spend roughly seven to eight hours a week in group settings with their kids ages 8 to 15, the study found. Mothers get in about an hour and 15 minutes alone with their firstborn kids and more than an hour and a half with second-born kids each week. Dads get in just over an hour of one-on-one time with first- and second-born kids each week.
Numerous other studies have found benefits for kids who spend more time with their families, such as fewer delinquent behaviors and less likelihood to give in to peer pressure, the study notes.
In this study, the findings about fathers proved to be very interesting, Crouter said.
While increased time with Dad showed key benefits for self-esteem and "social competence," time with Mom did not show the same correlations.
"In two-parent families, the mother's role as caregiver is so scripted that her involvement can easily go unnoticed and unacknowledged," researchers note.
Meanwhile, kids whose fathers spend one-on-one time with them "may develop higher general self-worth because their fathers go beyond social expectations to devote undivided attention to them."
Also, time with dad often involves "joking, teasing, and other playful interactions," the study says. "Fathers, as compared to mothers, were more involved in leisure activities" and had more "peer-like interaction" with their children, which is "crucial for youth social development."
There's also the possibility that time with dad goes hand-in-hand with self-esteem for another reason: Some fathers may be more "drawn to" their children who "have higher self-worth and social competence," the researchers suggest. They point to another study that found dads are more affected by their kids' personalities than moms are in how they parent. So in some cases, dads spending more time with certain kids may be the result of the kids being more social -- not the cause of it.
"This doesn't mean that mothers aren't important!" McHale said. "The youth in this sample were in general well-adjusted, suggesting that there were good things going on in their families on the whole."
Another previous study found that children who spent more one-on-one time with their mothers were less often depressed; that correlation was not there with fathers.
Parents who have a son and a daughter generally spend more time alone with the child of the same sex, the Penn State study found.
And parents generally spend a bit more time with second-born children, bolstering previous studies suggesting that parents learn from their experiences with their first children and are better able to maintain close relationships with the younger children during adolescent years, the study says.
Other studies have busted stereotypes about dads, including how much time they spend with their children.
The Families and Work Institute found that dads spend substantially more time with their kids under age 13 than they did decades ago. As of 2008, employed fathers spent about three hours a day with their children, while employed mothers spend nearly four hours.
Sent from my iPhone
Thursday, August 23, 2012
New relationship definition.....
We've all heard so many buzz phrases for different relationship arrangements. I'm sure you've all heard of the friends with benefits, monogamy, polygamy, polyamory and the old famous hit it and quit it. Have any of you ever thought about the boomerang? Now if you're going "what? " It's not all that uncommon in the world, for a long time now. I think most of you would realize it as the on again/off again relationship. Now I'll bet you're thinking "that's not new" and you're right. The new name more appropriately defines that type of relationship though. You see one or both throw the other into the wind, they go out and hit some others then return to where they were thrown from. Just like a boomerang. Lol
Sent from my iPhone
Sent from my iPhone
Monday, August 6, 2012
Woman laughs, accidentally swallows butter knife
Woman laughs, accidentally swallows butter knife: Woman laughs, accidentally swallows butter knife
Gives a whole new understanding. Lol
Gives a whole new understanding. Lol
'Walmart gropers' arrested in Kansas
'Walmart gropers' arrested in Kansas: 'Walmart gropers' arrested in Kansas
Friday, July 6, 2012
Dating-What is it?
You can ask 25 people to define dating and you will get 25 different answers like I did. I have my own very specific definitions that I'll discuss in a bit. So that begs the obvious question why so many definitions? I think that dating is a very general term. People use it loosely for a lot of reasons. Some don't really want to admit that they had feelings for someone (that "hindsight is 20/20" thing) because they are worried about their own "look good". Some use it because it was a casual thing a few dates. Some people think it means that you had sex with that person you dated. Sex is not necessarily part of dating. Just like a one night stand for sex is not necessarily dating. Lol.
My thoughts are that dating is a generalization about activities you do with a person that you have some interest in spending time with for a romantic purpose. A date can be simple to the complex right up to a serious relationship. A date most certainly needs to have mutual thoughts of romance, not just one party interested. It would exclude doing things as friends.
Examples of a date would be:
Casual Dating-the very basic level of dating. This can be simple like "you want to go to a movie?". It is also the level of dating that leaves it open to date other people. Not that you would have to but you can. While casually dating you can find out about likes and dislikes for both parties. If there is mutual interest in making things more serious, you can move to the next level of dating.
Exclusive Dating- which simply stated means you only "date" each other. You still go out with friends to do things, as you should in any scenario of dating no matter how casual or serious it may be. You don't have to be girlfriend and boyfriend, or any other label at this level but you most ceratainly can be. You can also be very relaxed depending on the parameters that each of you set "together". (Parameters should always be realistic and definitely communicated, in any relationship whether romantic or not.) "Relaxed" meaning that while you talk on the phone during the week you may only see each other on the weekends. You still only "date" just each other. So you can see there are a lot of different sublevels contained in this level.
Significant Other- at this level you are in a relationship and can use the labels girlfriend and boyfriend, finally. You don't necessarily live together but you do a lot together. You make joint plans for events and time together. You travel together and just have fun. You discuss those issues that can impact you both. You consider each other when making decisions separately. Some couples don't progress beyond this level for lack of desire or need. If they did it would become marriage and no longer officially dating. Although, married couples that continue to date each other usually stay married. Lol
So once again what is dating? What does it look like? What level are you on? Or not? It's okay not to date. It's okay to do what adds to your own happiness as long as you don't do anything to intentionally hurt anyone else.
I hope this helps some of you that read it, none of you that don't and all of you just be happy!
Sent from my iPhone
My thoughts are that dating is a generalization about activities you do with a person that you have some interest in spending time with for a romantic purpose. A date can be simple to the complex right up to a serious relationship. A date most certainly needs to have mutual thoughts of romance, not just one party interested. It would exclude doing things as friends.
Examples of a date would be:
- movies
- Dinner or lunch
- A day at the lake or river
- A motorcycle ride
- A spa day
- and so on.
Casual Dating-the very basic level of dating. This can be simple like "you want to go to a movie?". It is also the level of dating that leaves it open to date other people. Not that you would have to but you can. While casually dating you can find out about likes and dislikes for both parties. If there is mutual interest in making things more serious, you can move to the next level of dating.
Exclusive Dating- which simply stated means you only "date" each other. You still go out with friends to do things, as you should in any scenario of dating no matter how casual or serious it may be. You don't have to be girlfriend and boyfriend, or any other label at this level but you most ceratainly can be. You can also be very relaxed depending on the parameters that each of you set "together". (Parameters should always be realistic and definitely communicated, in any relationship whether romantic or not.) "Relaxed" meaning that while you talk on the phone during the week you may only see each other on the weekends. You still only "date" just each other. So you can see there are a lot of different sublevels contained in this level.
Significant Other- at this level you are in a relationship and can use the labels girlfriend and boyfriend, finally. You don't necessarily live together but you do a lot together. You make joint plans for events and time together. You travel together and just have fun. You discuss those issues that can impact you both. You consider each other when making decisions separately. Some couples don't progress beyond this level for lack of desire or need. If they did it would become marriage and no longer officially dating. Although, married couples that continue to date each other usually stay married. Lol
So once again what is dating? What does it look like? What level are you on? Or not? It's okay not to date. It's okay to do what adds to your own happiness as long as you don't do anything to intentionally hurt anyone else.
I hope this helps some of you that read it, none of you that don't and all of you just be happy!
Sent from my iPhone
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Nice Guy Quest part 4
I feel like the most unheard person in the world on this subject. I just keep getting hit in the face with friends and acquaintances that have gone for the "oh so perfect guy" that turns out to be an asshole. That's right I said asshole. We could call him a jerk or say he's just misunderstood but when the rubber meets the road he's just an asshole. Now if that's not bad enough by itself, she will usually continue to paint all those red flags green while she is defending him to her friends and convincing everyone about how great he is.
Then, there is always that deeper problem of bringing a child into the mix. So then she stays thinking that adding more stress of responsibilty and financial burden will make him see the light! Doesn't happen. The asshole, appropriately named, just gets bigger when you add more shit for it to deal with. Further complicating the situation. which is now going to last several years.
Then let's not forget the damage she receives thinking she's not good enough or important enough that when she finally stands up for herself and leaves the asshole , she has all this baggage that she takes to the next asshole. Some of which she doesn't even realize. So how can she fix it? I have a few suggestions but one has to be ready to listen. And I already covered how I feel unheard so we are going to leave that for the future. Lol.
So while she's with the next asshole compounding her problem she starts thinking "I just need a nice guy or good hearted man". Professing this to the world while she's leaving that asshole. Then she passes several more nice guys up looking for the next asshole. Now while this whole process could be explained several ways from daddy issues to simple guilt she's packing around, it's not my intention to diagnose but to point out that it exists and each woman needs to take drastic steps to get it worked out so she can start enjoying life.
If she finds a nice guy in her 40's or 50's, is she going to turn him into an asshole because that's what she knows or will she just enjoy him and nurture a relationship worthy of the shared time they both deserve? Unknown at this time. I've seen all outcomes in my life so far.
The real question still exists "why choose the asshole in the first place?".
Alone and healthy is a much better place to be than in a bad relationship getting worse. We all do things that cause us heartache at some point. The responsibilty we have to ourselves is to figure out who we are and why we did something so that we can either add it to or take it out of our life in the future. Then we can say we've had some growth. Good luck!
Sent from my iPhone
Then, there is always that deeper problem of bringing a child into the mix. So then she stays thinking that adding more stress of responsibilty and financial burden will make him see the light! Doesn't happen. The asshole, appropriately named, just gets bigger when you add more shit for it to deal with. Further complicating the situation. which is now going to last several years.
Then let's not forget the damage she receives thinking she's not good enough or important enough that when she finally stands up for herself and leaves the asshole , she has all this baggage that she takes to the next asshole. Some of which she doesn't even realize. So how can she fix it? I have a few suggestions but one has to be ready to listen. And I already covered how I feel unheard so we are going to leave that for the future. Lol.
So while she's with the next asshole compounding her problem she starts thinking "I just need a nice guy or good hearted man". Professing this to the world while she's leaving that asshole. Then she passes several more nice guys up looking for the next asshole. Now while this whole process could be explained several ways from daddy issues to simple guilt she's packing around, it's not my intention to diagnose but to point out that it exists and each woman needs to take drastic steps to get it worked out so she can start enjoying life.
If she finds a nice guy in her 40's or 50's, is she going to turn him into an asshole because that's what she knows or will she just enjoy him and nurture a relationship worthy of the shared time they both deserve? Unknown at this time. I've seen all outcomes in my life so far.
The real question still exists "why choose the asshole in the first place?".
Alone and healthy is a much better place to be than in a bad relationship getting worse. We all do things that cause us heartache at some point. The responsibilty we have to ourselves is to figure out who we are and why we did something so that we can either add it to or take it out of our life in the future. Then we can say we've had some growth. Good luck!
Sent from my iPhone
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Raley's Employees vote to strike if necessary!
Raley's employees have voted to strike if necessary. Raley's has been trying to lower wages on employees for months and make them pay for more of their healthcare. Statiing that the employees are overpaid. Also that Raley's can't afford these continued costs with the recent economy problems. Except when the union has asked to have a disclosure to verify these problems and losses, Raley's refuses to disclose. I hope that they do strike and that Raley's will see how many union employed shoppers that they have. I would cross the picket line, not to shop, but to tell management and scabs "shame on you"! Please join me in supporting the workers at your local Raley's let them know when you're shopping, let management know that you won't be shopping there in the event of a strike!
Safeway pulls their head out of dark place!
Well it took awhile, but through the lengthy grievance process, the "hero" that Safeway suspended for doing the "right" thing has been reinstated with back pay. Thank goodness it didn't have to go any farther. I still feel that Safeway took the "low road" on this incident and could have chosen more wisely. They made choices to make the company look bad and they could have come out shining from the beginning.
Sad when you need a grievance process to make the company do the "RIGHT" thing......
Sad when you need a grievance process to make the company do the "RIGHT" thing......
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Safeway loses their mind! Common sense is dying....
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| (credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) |
“Every few seconds he would turn around and push her and then he actually kicked her,” Young said. “I told him to calm down and he was just irate.”
Young said Tran refused to stop and jumped in to stop the assault.
“I saw no one was intervening in the situation and I just became afraid for her safety and also other customers safety,” Young said. “The guy was out of control and pretty much lost it in there.”
Chief Ron Langford of the Del Ray Oaks Police said if Ryan did not intervene, things could have become much worse for the victim.
But Young said Safeway has suspended him without pay, for supposedly violating company policy. The store has not given word on if or when he will be allowed back.
“We understand about policy, but at some point someone has to do something. And in my mind, in this case Ryan did the right thing,” Langford said.
Young has no income, while his wife is five months pregnant.
“It’s a tremendous amount of stress on me, my wife as well. And I don’t think anyone should have to second-guess themselves or feel bad doing something that was right,” he said.
Even if Safeway doesn’t agree, Young said he has no regrets.
“How many people have been injured, murdered, whatever in front of everyone because everyone looks the other way and no one wants to get involved?” he said.
Safeway’s corporate offices have not responded to CBS 5’s requests for comment as of Tuesday night.
A manager at a Safeway store in San Francisco told CBS 5 he wasn’t sure of an official policy, but he said employees are supposed to contact store security or a manager if they see a conflict inside the store.
Commentary: While Mr. Young may have gone against Safeway policy he was morally correct. Pushing and shoving could have caused this young lady to fall injuring herself and the unborn child. Safeway management should have realized that this is not the average incident covered by a obviously less than comprehensive written static manual. Safeway suspended Mr. Young for a month because he did the right thing? If you were pregnant and your significant other was physically abusing you wouldn't you want someone to step in and say something? If the woman had of fallen, there would have most certainly been a lawsuit against Safeway. I commend Mr. Young on his action and feel that Safeway is in the wrong for disciplining him at all, let alone so severely. I think it's the corporate attitude that we can put warm bodies in a position, expect them to think on their own, then when they don't do what we think they can we'll just discipline them and if they quit we'll hire someone else....I personally will boycott Safeway for this action. I've been looking for a reason to shop at Trader Joes, this is it.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Raley's Workers struggle to keep Benefits
As I understand it, Raley's has been in contract negotiations since October. They have chose to extend their contract 6 times. The news reports that the company has been trying end healthcare and lower existing wages.
Most Raley's/BelAir customers I talk to shop there because they know that the service they get from the employees there will be superior to other stores. Those consumers don't mind paying extra for their groceries for that service. If overhead goes down I don't believe Raley's will lower their prices for their products. We as consumers would have to realize that they already don't care about the financial problems like simple inflation to their staff, "why would they care about their customers?" Worker's would have to suppliment their income and benefits for their families elsewhere and would be at the very least tired and not at peak performance levels. Where would the increase in profit go? Would it be like so many other corporations that cut benefits and wages and just line the pockets of upper management?
Furthermore, if the service level drops, customers will adapt to this but at different stores.....those customers that want service will shop places that they get that. Those that will see Raley's as just another greedy corporation out of touch with their staff and consumers will shop somewhere else. Those people that turn to price shopping will be shopping at Wal Mart. Rarely, when you lose customrer base for service problems or price problems will they return. If they do it will be substansial time before they do.
I see Raley's as just attacking the middle class who work their and shop their and it will continue until "we the people" speak out and have our voices heard by the management that puts on their Armani the same way we put on our Levi's
Average Salarys of some positions at Raley's:
Deli Clerk $11.49
Grocery Clerk $14.18
Courtesy Clerk $ 9.35
Drug Clerk $10.79
Cert Pharm Tech $14.80
Most Raley's/BelAir customers I talk to shop there because they know that the service they get from the employees there will be superior to other stores. Those consumers don't mind paying extra for their groceries for that service. If overhead goes down I don't believe Raley's will lower their prices for their products. We as consumers would have to realize that they already don't care about the financial problems like simple inflation to their staff, "why would they care about their customers?" Worker's would have to suppliment their income and benefits for their families elsewhere and would be at the very least tired and not at peak performance levels. Where would the increase in profit go? Would it be like so many other corporations that cut benefits and wages and just line the pockets of upper management?
Furthermore, if the service level drops, customers will adapt to this but at different stores.....those customers that want service will shop places that they get that. Those that will see Raley's as just another greedy corporation out of touch with their staff and consumers will shop somewhere else. Those people that turn to price shopping will be shopping at Wal Mart. Rarely, when you lose customrer base for service problems or price problems will they return. If they do it will be substansial time before they do.
I see Raley's as just attacking the middle class who work their and shop their and it will continue until "we the people" speak out and have our voices heard by the management that puts on their Armani the same way we put on our Levi's
Average Salarys of some positions at Raley's:
Deli Clerk $11.49
Grocery Clerk $14.18
Courtesy Clerk $ 9.35
Drug Clerk $10.79
Cert Pharm Tech $14.80
Monday, April 23, 2012
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Is it expected?
On a visit to a small town about an hour north of Sacramento California, I saw the following road construction sign........
Now providing that no one stoled the other sign that said "Forni", I think we have a road construction worker from YHS......just sayin'! Small town USA, should we expect this presentation?
Friday, March 16, 2012
Communication and Leadership - Part V, Nonverbal Behaviors of Communication
No one would talk much in society if they knew how often they
misunderstood others. — Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
misunderstood others. — Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Communication is the exchange and flow of information and ideas from one person to another; it involves a sender transmitting an idea, information, or feeling to a receiver (U.S. Army, 1983). Effective communication occurs only if the receiver understands the exact information or idea that the sender intended to transmit. Many of the problems that occur in an organization are the either the direct result of people failing to communicate and/or processes, which leads to confusion and can cause good plans to fail (Mistry, Jaggers, Lodge, Alton, Mericle, Frush, Meliones, 2008).
Studying the communication process is important because you coach, coordinate, counsel,
evaluate, and supervise throughout this process. It is the chain of understanding that integrates the members of an organization from top to bottom, bottom to top, and side to side.
Nonverbal Behaviors of Communication
To deliver the full impact of a message, use nonverbal behaviors to raise the channel of interpersonal communication:
• Eye contact: This helps to regulate the flow of communication. It signals interest in others and increases the speaker's credibility. People who make eye contact open the flow of communication and convey interest, concern, warmth, and credibility.
• Facial Expressions: Smiling is a powerful cue that transmits happiness, friendliness, warmth, and liking. So, if you smile frequently you will be perceived as more likable, friendly, warm and approachable. Smiling is often contagious and people will react favorably. They will be more comfortable around you and will want to listen more.
• Gestures: If you fail to gesture while speaking you may be perceived as boring and stiff. A lively speaking style captures the listener's attention, makes the conversation more interesting, and facilitates understanding.
• Posture and body orientation: You communicate numerous messages by the way you talk and move. Standing erect and leaning forward communicates to listeners that you are approachable, receptive and friendly. Interpersonal closeness results when you and the listener face each other. Speaking with your back turned or looking at the floor or ceiling should be avoided as it communicates disinterest.
• Proximity: Cultural norms dictate a comfortable distance for interaction with others. You should look for signals of discomfort caused by invading the other person's space. Some of these are: rocking, leg swinging, tapping, and gaze aversion.
• Vocal: Speaking can signal nonverbal communication when you include such vocal elements as: tone, pitch, rhythm, timbre, loudness, and inflection. For maximum teaching effectiveness, learn to vary these six elements of your voice. One of the major criticisms of many speakers is that they speak in a monotone voice. Listeners perceive this type of speaker as boring and dull.
Speaking Hints
• When speaking or trying to explain something, ask the listeners if they are following you.
• Ensure the receiver has a chance to comment or ask questions.
• Try to put yourself in the other person's shoes — consider the feelings of the receiver.
• Be clear about what you say.
• Look at the receiver.
• Make sure your words match your tone and body language (nonverbal behaviors).
• Vary your tone and pace.
• Do not be vague, but on the other hand, do not complicate what you are saying with too much detail.
• Do not ignore signs of confusion.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Communication and Leadership - Part IV, Feedback
No one would talk much in society if they knew how often they
misunderstood others. — Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
misunderstood others. — Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Studying the communication process is important because you coach, coordinate, counsel,
evaluate, and supervise throughout this process. It is the chain of understanding that integrates the members of an organization from top to bottom, bottom to top, and side to side.
Feedback
When you know something, say what you know. When you don't know something, say that you don't know. That is knowledge. — Kung Fu Tzu (Confucius)
The purpose of feedback is to alter messages so the intention of the original communicator is understood by the second communicator. It includes verbal and nonverbal responses to another person's message.
Providing feedback is accomplished by paraphrasing the words of the sender. Restate the sender's feelings or ideas in your own words, rather than repeating their words. Your words should be saying, “This is what I understand your feelings to be, am I correct?” It not only includes verbal responses, but also nonverbal ones. Nodding your head or squeezing their hand to show agreement, dipping your eyebrows shows you don't quite understand the meaning of their last phrase, or sucking air in deeply and blowing it hard shows that you are also exasperated with the situation.
Carl Rogers listed five main categories of feedback. They are listed in the order in which they occur most frequently in daily conversations. Notice that we make judgments more often than we try to understand:
Evaluative: Making a judgment about the worth, goodness, or appropriateness of the other person's statement.
Interpretive: Paraphrasing — attempting to explain what the other person's statement means.
Supportive: Attempting to assist or bolster the other communicator.
Probing: Attempting to gain additional information, continue the discussion, or clarify a point.
Understanding: Attempting to discover completely what the other communicator means by her statements.
Imagine how much better daily communications would be if listeners tried to understand first, before they tried to evaluate what someone is saying
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Communication and Leadership - Part III, Active Listening
No one would talk much in society if they knew how often they
misunderstood others. — Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
misunderstood others. — Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Studying the communication process is important because you coach, coordinate, counsel,
evaluate, and supervise throughout this process. It is the chain of understanding that integrates the members of an organization from top to bottom, bottom to top, and side to side.
Active Listening
Hearing and listening are not the same thing. Hearing is the act of perceiving sound. It is involuntary and simply refers to the reception of aural stimuli. Listening is a selective activity which involves the reception and the interpretation of aural stimuli. It involves decoding the sound into meaning.
Listening is divided into two main categories: passive and active. Passive listening is little more that hearing. It occurs when the receiver of the message has little motivation to listen carefully, such as when listening to music, story telling, television, or when being polite.
People speak at 100 to 175 words per minute (WPM), but they can listen intelligently at 600 to 800 WPM. Since only a part of our mind is paying attention, it is easy to go into mind drift — thinking about other things while listening to someone. The cure for this is active listening — which involves listening with a purpose. It may be to gain information, obtain directions, understand others, solve problems, share interest, see how another person feels, show support, etc. It requires that the listener attends to the words and the feelings of the sender for understanding. It takes the same amount or more energy than speaking. It requires the receiver to hear the various messages, understand the meaning, and then verify the meaning by offering feedback. The following are a few traits of active listeners:
• Spend more time listening than talking.
• Do not finish the sentences of others.
• Do not answer questions with questions.
• Are aware of biases. We all have them. We need to control them.
• Never daydreams or become preoccupied with their own thoughts when others talk.
• Let the other speakers talk. Do not dominate the conversations.
• Plan responses after the others have finished speaking, NOT while they are speaking.
• Provide feedback, but do not interrupt incessantly.
• Analyze by looking at all the relevant factors and asking open-ended questions. Walk others through by summarizing.
• Keep conversations on what others say, NOT on what interests them.
• Take brief notes. This forces them to concentrate on what is being said.
Women have the love life they choose….."The Guilty One"
Now when I say this I don’t mean to imply that what they choose is what they want. Whether she is career oriented or family oriented, or somewhere in between she is choosing to be there. Sometimes, what she chooses is exactly what she wants. Sometimes, she even knows it. The problem seems to be when she doesn’t realize how her choices are either not getting her what she wants or even worse keeping her in a bad situation for all the wrong reasons.
Sure, sometimes the perfect love smacks you in the face and it’s undeniable. More often when you find couples that have been together for years, they will tell you a story about their life together that hasn’t always been rose petals. More often it is a story that has lead one or both of them to the edge of quitting. Through good communication, realistic expectations, understanding, compassion and the love and passion that brought them together with a splash of tenacity they have held it not only together but have grown together and increased that love for one another that is unbreakable. It’s like they have more love for each other out of the appreciation that he or she stayed to work together to become one. Hopefully without losing either individual, but most definitely operating together as one unit.
“The Guilty One”- This young lady has impacted her present and future with guilt from her past. While sounding very simple to understand, it’s not. Most commonly, something has happened that she has blamed herself for or has been wrongfully blamed for and she accepted that blame. Then feeling guilt for it subconsciously and packing it around until she realizes it. While men aren’t immune to this very problem, we are discussing women. I find that women that have had a poor relationship with a male role model as a child may have problems with trying too hard to make a bad relationship work with what they see (subconsciously) as a similar personality to that childhood role model. Typically, because they think they are responsible for the shortcomings of the earlier relationship, so they stay. Thinking that she deserves the abuse that can go on during a bad relationship. All the while, she is trying harder to make things work and dismissing the partner’s abuse(exhausting). Abuse can be in many forms from verbal to very physical. It usually escalates.
Realizing the guilt that they have put on themselves or allowed to be put on them is the first step in healing themselves. This healing is a wonderful thing. Usually it’s the first step in learning more things about yourself that are overshadowing your choices.
Sure, sometimes the perfect love smacks you in the face and it’s undeniable. More often when you find couples that have been together for years, they will tell you a story about their life together that hasn’t always been rose petals. More often it is a story that has lead one or both of them to the edge of quitting. Through good communication, realistic expectations, understanding, compassion and the love and passion that brought them together with a splash of tenacity they have held it not only together but have grown together and increased that love for one another that is unbreakable. It’s like they have more love for each other out of the appreciation that he or she stayed to work together to become one. Hopefully without losing either individual, but most definitely operating together as one unit.
“The Guilty One”- This young lady has impacted her present and future with guilt from her past. While sounding very simple to understand, it’s not. Most commonly, something has happened that she has blamed herself for or has been wrongfully blamed for and she accepted that blame. Then feeling guilt for it subconsciously and packing it around until she realizes it. While men aren’t immune to this very problem, we are discussing women. I find that women that have had a poor relationship with a male role model as a child may have problems with trying too hard to make a bad relationship work with what they see (subconsciously) as a similar personality to that childhood role model. Typically, because they think they are responsible for the shortcomings of the earlier relationship, so they stay. Thinking that she deserves the abuse that can go on during a bad relationship. All the while, she is trying harder to make things work and dismissing the partner’s abuse(exhausting). Abuse can be in many forms from verbal to very physical. It usually escalates.
Realizing the guilt that they have put on themselves or allowed to be put on them is the first step in healing themselves. This healing is a wonderful thing. Usually it’s the first step in learning more things about yourself that are overshadowing your choices.
Andersen Consulting Efficiencies-Joke
Last week, we took some friends out to a new restaurant and noticed that
the waiter who took our order carried a spoon in his shirt pocket. It seemed
a little strange. When another waiter brought our water, I noticed he also
had a spoon in his shirt pocket. Then I looked around and saw that all the
staff had spoons in their pockets. When the waiter came back to serve our soup I
asked, "Why the spoon?"
"Well, he explained, "the restaurant's owners hired Andersen Consulting
to revamp all our processes. After several months of analysis, they
concluded that the spoon was the most frequently dropped utensil. It represents a drop
frequency of approximately 3 spoons per table per hour. If our personnel
are better prepared, we can reduce the number of trips back to the kitchen and save
15 man- hours per shift."
As luck would have it, I dropped my spoon and he was able to replace it
with his spare. "I'll get another spoon next time I go to the kitchen,
instead of making an extra trip to get it right now."
I was impressed. I also noticed that there was a string hanging out of
the waiter's fly. Looking around, I noticed that all the waiters had the
same string hanging from their flies. So before he walked off, I asked the waiter
"Excuse me, but can you tell me why you have that string right there?"
"Oh, certainly!" Then he lowered his voice. "Not everyone is so
observant. That consulting firm I mentioned also found out that we can save time in
the restroom. By tying this string to the tip of you know what, we can pull
it out without touching it and eliminate the need to wash our hands, shortening
the time spent in the restroom by 76.39 percent."
I asked "After you get it out, how do you put it back?"
"Well," he whispered, "I don't know about the others, but I use the
spoon."
-Unknown
the waiter who took our order carried a spoon in his shirt pocket. It seemed
a little strange. When another waiter brought our water, I noticed he also
had a spoon in his shirt pocket. Then I looked around and saw that all the
staff had spoons in their pockets. When the waiter came back to serve our soup I
asked, "Why the spoon?"
"Well, he explained, "the restaurant's owners hired Andersen Consulting
to revamp all our processes. After several months of analysis, they
concluded that the spoon was the most frequently dropped utensil. It represents a drop
frequency of approximately 3 spoons per table per hour. If our personnel
are better prepared, we can reduce the number of trips back to the kitchen and save
15 man- hours per shift."
As luck would have it, I dropped my spoon and he was able to replace it
with his spare. "I'll get another spoon next time I go to the kitchen,
instead of making an extra trip to get it right now."
I was impressed. I also noticed that there was a string hanging out of
the waiter's fly. Looking around, I noticed that all the waiters had the
same string hanging from their flies. So before he walked off, I asked the waiter
"Excuse me, but can you tell me why you have that string right there?"
"Oh, certainly!" Then he lowered his voice. "Not everyone is so
observant. That consulting firm I mentioned also found out that we can save time in
the restroom. By tying this string to the tip of you know what, we can pull
it out without touching it and eliminate the need to wash our hands, shortening
the time spent in the restroom by 76.39 percent."
I asked "After you get it out, how do you put it back?"
"Well," he whispered, "I don't know about the others, but I use the
spoon."
-Unknown
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Communication and Leadership - Part II, Barriers to Communication
No one would talk much in society if they knew how often they
misunderstood others. — Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
misunderstood others. — Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Communication is the exchange and flow of information and ideas from one person to another; it involves a sender transmitting an idea, information, or feeling to a receiver (U.S. Army, 1983). Effective communication occurs only if the receiver understands the exact information or idea that the sender intended to transmit. Many of the problems that occur in an organization are the either the direct result of people failing to communicate and/or processes, which leads to confusion and can cause good plans to fail (Mistry, Jaggers, Lodge, Alton, Mericle, Frush, Meliones, 2008).
Studying the communication process is important because you coach, coordinate, counsel,
evaluate, and supervise throughout this process. It is the chain of understanding that integrates the members of an organization from top to bottom, bottom to top, and side to side.
Barriers to Communication
Nothing is so simple that it cannot be misunderstood. — Freeman Teague, Jr.
Culture, background, and bias — We allow our past experiences to change the meaning of the message. Our culture, background, and bias can be good as they allow us to use our past experiences to understand something new, it is when they change the meaning of the message that they interfere with the communication process.
Noise — Equipment or environmental noise impedes clear communication. The sender and the receiver must both be able to concentrate on the messages being sent to each other.
Ourselves — Focusing on ourselves, rather than the other person can lead to confusion and conflict. The “Me Generation” is out when it comes to effective communication. Some of the factors that cause this are defensiveness (we feel someone is attacking us), superiority (we feel we know more than the other), and ego (we feel we are the center of the activity).
Perception — If we feel the person is talking too fast, not fluently, does not articulate clearly, etc., we may dismiss the person. Also our preconceived attitudes affect our ability to listen. We listen uncritically to persons of high status and dismiss those of low status.
Message — Distractions happen when we focus on the facts rather than the idea. Our educational institutions reinforce this with tests and questions. Semantic distractions occur when a word is used differently than you prefer. For example, the word chairman instead of chairperson, may cause you to focus on the word and not the message.
Environmental — Bright lights, an attractive person, unusual sights, or any other stimulus provides a potential distraction.
Smothering — We take it for granted that the impulse to send useful information is automatic. Not true! Too often we believe that certain information has no value to others or they are already aware of the facts.
Stress — People do not see things the same way when under stress. What we see and believe at a given moment is influenced by our psychological frames of references — our beliefs, values, knowledge, experiences, and goals.
These barriers can be thought of as filters, that is, the message leaves the sender, goes through the above filters, and is then heard by the receiver. These filters may muffle the message. And the way to overcome filters is through active listening and feedback.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Communication and Leadership - Part I, The Communication Process
No one would talk much in society if they knew how often they
misunderstood others. — Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
misunderstood others. — Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Studying the communication process is important because you coach, coordinate, counsel,
evaluate, and supervise throughout this process. It is the chain of understanding that integrates the members of an organization from top to bottom, bottom to top, and side to side.
The Communication Process
Communication
That is what we try to do
Speak to those near us
Thought: First, information exists in the mind of the sender. This can be a concept, idea, information, or feelings.That is what we try to do
Speak to those near us
Encoding: Next, a message is sent to a receiver in words or other symbols.
Decoding: Lastly, the receiver translates the words or symbols into a concept or information that he or she can understand.
During the transmitting of the message, two elements will be received: content and context. Content is the actual words or symbols of the message that is known as language — the spoken and written words combined into phrases that make grammatical and semantic sense. We all use and interpret the meanings of words differently, so even simple messages can be misunderstood. And many words have different meanings to confuse the issue even more.
Context is the way the message is delivered and is known as paralanguage — it is the nonverbal elements in speech such as the tone of voice, the look in the sender's eyes, body language, hand gestures, and state of emotions (anger, fear, uncertainty, confidence, etc.) that can be detected. Although paralanguage or context often cause messages to be misunderstood as we believe what we see more than what we hear; they are powerful communicators that help us to understand each other. Indeed, we often trust the accuracy of nonverbal behaviors more than verbal behaviors.
Some leaders think they have communicated once they told someone to do something, “I don't know why it did not get done. I told Jim to do it.” More than likely, Jim misunderstood the message. A message has NOT been communicated unless it is understood by the receiver (decoded). How do you know it has been properly received? By two-way communication or feedback. This feedback tells the sender that the receiver understood the message, its level of importance, and what must be done with it. Communication is an exchange, not just a give, as all parties must participate to complete the information exchange.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
My Numbers
My Numbers this week........
- Triglycerides - started at 4000 - 1014
- Blood Glucose - Started 291 - 126
- Cholesterol - 400 ish - 343
The Wall St. Link to a Prostitution Case
By BEN PROTESS
Wall Street is always looking for the next great investment idea.
What about pumping cash into a prostitution ring? Well, that might seem a bit exotic, even for an ambitious Wall Streeter.
In an odd twist to the curious case of Anna Gristina — who burst into tabloid fame on Tuesday after being accused of orchestrating a multimillion-dollar brothel that catered to New York’s wealthy elite — prosecutors say she was arrested last month with an unnamed employee of Morgan Stanley. Ms. Gristina was meeting with the employee to secure financing for a new business, according to a transcript of a Feb. 23 court hearing that came the day after her arrest.
Ms. Gristina counted the Wall Streeter as a “close friend,” Charles Linehan, a prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney’s office, said at the Feb. 23 hearing.
The mysterious Morgan Stanley employee was not arrested, according to a person briefed on the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly because the case was continuing. The person added that the employee worked in the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney unit, the wealth management arm of the Wall Street firm.
The employee’s connection to the case was reported earlier by DNAinfo.com.
“She had been present at his office for a meeting in which she was trying to solicit money to fund what we believe is another illicit business venture,” Mr. Linehan said at the Feb. 23 hearing.
What sort of sordid venture? “Matching up male clients with female prostitutes,” Mr. Linehan said.
But Ms. Gristina’s lawyer portrayed a more benign business – specifically a dating Web site that matched consenting adults just looking for “love.”
“She has some legitimate business interests,” Peter Gleason, the lawyer, said Tuesday at a news conference outside the Lower Manhattan courthouse after her most recent hearing.
Her competition, in other words, was more likely JDate.com than New York Confidential. “She was endeavoring into a Web site that would have rivaled match.com,” he said.
But first she needed financing. That is where, according to prosecutors, her Wall Street connection may have played a role. Ms. Gristina, an immigrant from Scotland who now lives upstate, had some bona fide investors, according to a private investigator she hired.
It remains unclear whether the Morgan Street employee was counted among the investors. Officials of the Wall Street firm have yet to pinpoint which employee is involved in the case, according a spokesman, who declined to comment further.
Ms. Gristina was arrested about 11 a.m. on Feb. 22 at 53rd Street and Madison Avenue, according to court documents. Morgan Stanley has an office about a block away.
The fledgling online dating business was supposedly separate from the brothel that Ms. Gristina is accused of operating out of an apartment on East 78th Street. The government’s investigation into the alleged sex ring spanned five years and used video recordings and wiretaps, court documents said.
The case originated from a unit of the district attorney’s office that investigates police misconduct and wrongdoing by other public officials. While no officials have been arrested in the case, prosecutors say that Ms. Gristina knows “high-wealth individuals” who could have “an interest in not allowing this case to go forward.”
Ms. Gristina is being held in the Rikers Island jail.
Colin Moynihan contributed reporting.
Commentary: Well investors, I have some stocks to sell you for a special investment.... What the hell were they thinking? Can I see a prospectus? Not only do we have all of the obvious authorithies, but with Wall Street we also have the Securities Exchange Commission(SEC) that monitors every aspect of the market, If they can catch Martha Stewart for insider trading, they're going to find a prostitution ring lol
Wall Street is always looking for the next great investment idea.
What about pumping cash into a prostitution ring? Well, that might seem a bit exotic, even for an ambitious Wall Streeter.
In an odd twist to the curious case of Anna Gristina — who burst into tabloid fame on Tuesday after being accused of orchestrating a multimillion-dollar brothel that catered to New York’s wealthy elite — prosecutors say she was arrested last month with an unnamed employee of Morgan Stanley. Ms. Gristina was meeting with the employee to secure financing for a new business, according to a transcript of a Feb. 23 court hearing that came the day after her arrest.
Ms. Gristina counted the Wall Streeter as a “close friend,” Charles Linehan, a prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney’s office, said at the Feb. 23 hearing.
The mysterious Morgan Stanley employee was not arrested, according to a person briefed on the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly because the case was continuing. The person added that the employee worked in the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney unit, the wealth management arm of the Wall Street firm.
The employee’s connection to the case was reported earlier by DNAinfo.com.
“She had been present at his office for a meeting in which she was trying to solicit money to fund what we believe is another illicit business venture,” Mr. Linehan said at the Feb. 23 hearing.
What sort of sordid venture? “Matching up male clients with female prostitutes,” Mr. Linehan said.
But Ms. Gristina’s lawyer portrayed a more benign business – specifically a dating Web site that matched consenting adults just looking for “love.”
“She has some legitimate business interests,” Peter Gleason, the lawyer, said Tuesday at a news conference outside the Lower Manhattan courthouse after her most recent hearing.
Her competition, in other words, was more likely JDate.com than New York Confidential. “She was endeavoring into a Web site that would have rivaled match.com,” he said.
But first she needed financing. That is where, according to prosecutors, her Wall Street connection may have played a role. Ms. Gristina, an immigrant from Scotland who now lives upstate, had some bona fide investors, according to a private investigator she hired.
It remains unclear whether the Morgan Street employee was counted among the investors. Officials of the Wall Street firm have yet to pinpoint which employee is involved in the case, according a spokesman, who declined to comment further.
Ms. Gristina was arrested about 11 a.m. on Feb. 22 at 53rd Street and Madison Avenue, according to court documents. Morgan Stanley has an office about a block away.
The fledgling online dating business was supposedly separate from the brothel that Ms. Gristina is accused of operating out of an apartment on East 78th Street. The government’s investigation into the alleged sex ring spanned five years and used video recordings and wiretaps, court documents said.
The case originated from a unit of the district attorney’s office that investigates police misconduct and wrongdoing by other public officials. While no officials have been arrested in the case, prosecutors say that Ms. Gristina knows “high-wealth individuals” who could have “an interest in not allowing this case to go forward.”
Ms. Gristina is being held in the Rikers Island jail.
Colin Moynihan contributed reporting.
Commentary: Well investors, I have some stocks to sell you for a special investment.... What the hell were they thinking? Can I see a prospectus? Not only do we have all of the obvious authorithies, but with Wall Street we also have the Securities Exchange Commission(SEC) that monitors every aspect of the market, If they can catch Martha Stewart for insider trading, they're going to find a prostitution ring lol
Type 2 Diabetes and Triglycerides
What is a triglyceride, and why do some physicians refer to it as the “ugly fat”?
Most people who read the news or watch television know about cholesterol. There are constant warnings about high cholesterol as a very important risk factor for heart disease, and we are continually bombarded with advertisements for foods and pills and exercise programs that promise to lower our cholesterol levels.
But few people have heard about or understand much about triglycerides. Triglycerides are bundles of fats found in the blood stream especially after we eat. The body manufactures triglycerides from the carbohydrates and fatty foods that we eat. Almost 90 percent of the fat content of most non-lean meats is triglyceride.
What are the function and importance of triglycerides?
Triglycerides account for about 99 percent of the fat stored in our bodies. These triglyceride-laden fats serve as the most important source of long-term energy for the body, since they are stored in a much denser form than starches or muscle proteins. Formation of fat requires the presence of insulin. Triglyceride in fat is converted to energy between meals and overnight, or any time when we are fasting or insulin levels are low. Fat cells have a tremendous storage capacity, which may contribute to obesity. With extended fasting or absolute insulin deficiency, the liver converts fat breakdown products to ketones.
High triglyceride levels in the blood tend to coexist with low levels of HDL (“good”) cholesterol, contributing to a condition called diabetic dyslipidemia. The third component of this “dangerous trio” is a tendency for patients with this condition to have the small, dense, undesirable (more atherogenic) type of LDL cholesterol in their blood (even though their LDL cholesterol level may be normal).
The combination of high triglycerides, low HDL and central obesity are the hallmarks of the metabolic syndrome, which occurs in 80 percent of people with type 2 diabetes. The frightening significance of this combination of risk factors is the marked incidence in these people of premature death from heart disease.
What is a normal triglyceride level, and what should be my goal?
Triglyceride concentrations are currently rated as follows:
Desirable/normal: Less than 150 mg/dl
Borderline high: 150-199 mg/dl
High: 200-499 mg/dl
Very high: 500 mg/dl or greater
In the normal fasting state, the triglyceride level is around 100 to 150 mg/dl or less, but it will rise to 300 mg/dl or more just after a meal. In patients with type 2 diabetes, triglycerides are frequently elevated both in the fasting state and even more so after eating. It is important to be fasting overnight (preferably for 12 hours) when your blood is drawn for a lipid panel that includes triglyceride testing. You should also abstain from all alcoholic beverages for 24 hours before this test.
Just as with LDL cholesterol, the lower the triglyceride level the better. Most clinicians prefer that patients with type 2 diabetes keep their triglyceride level at or below 150 mg/dl to minimize their cardiovascular risk. It is not unusual for some people with type 2 diabetes to have triglycerides over 400 or even over 2,000. Very high triglycerides (over 1,000) can be associated with memory loss, skin lesions (xanthomas), abdominal pain and even life-threatening pancreatitis
How do physicians treat patients with high triglyceride levels?
Triglycerides respond to both diet and medications. It is very important to know that since uncontrolled diabetes causes an elevation of triglycerides, any behavior modification or drug (and especially insulin) that improves blood glucose control will lower triglycerides. Dietary modifications to lower triglycerides are listed below. Statins and other drugs that lower cholesterol such as Lipitor, Zocor, Pravachol, Crestor Zetia and Vytorin have only minimal effects on triglycerides. Several drugs do an excellent job of lowering triglycerides (see below). Many people with type 2 diabetes will require two or even three different drugs to bring their LDL and triglycerides to target and raise their HDL cholesterol. However, most specialists believe that lowering the LDL to target is the most important goal. Lowering triglycerides and raising HDL are secondary goals to be addressed after the LDL goal is achieved.
Clinical adviser’s note: For more information on medications to treat lipid disorders, see our chart on page 52 of the January 2005 issue of Diabetes Health. You can also download a printer-friendly version from our Web site at www.diabeteshealth.com/charts.
Medications for Patients With High Triglycerides
Fibrates
• Lopid (gemfibrozil)
• Tricor (fenofibrate)
Nicotinic acid (niacin)
Fish oil
Total fat restriction may help, but in some cases where fat restriction results in increased carbohydrate intake, it actually causes higher triglyceride levels.
Substitution of healthy fats (monounsaturated fats, such as olive oil) is recommended.
Avoid a high intake of sugar and white flour products.
Alcoholic beverages should be eliminated or restricted to no more than one drink per day, if your healthcare provider says that one drink a day is safe for you.
Oily fish such as salmon, tuna, sardines, anchovies, mackerel and herring contain omega-3 fatty acids, which lower triglycerides.
----------------------------------------------------------
Common Causes of Elevated Triglycerides
Genetic disorders
Type 2 diabetes
Obesity
Excessive intake of refined sugars and fat
Excess alcohol intake
Hypothyroidism
Liver disease
Nephrotic syndrome (common in diabetic renal disease)
Kidney failure
Drugs (such as birth control pills, steroids, Tamoxifen, certain blood pressure medications
Most people who read the news or watch television know about cholesterol. There are constant warnings about high cholesterol as a very important risk factor for heart disease, and we are continually bombarded with advertisements for foods and pills and exercise programs that promise to lower our cholesterol levels.
But few people have heard about or understand much about triglycerides. Triglycerides are bundles of fats found in the blood stream especially after we eat. The body manufactures triglycerides from the carbohydrates and fatty foods that we eat. Almost 90 percent of the fat content of most non-lean meats is triglyceride.
What are the function and importance of triglycerides?
Triglycerides account for about 99 percent of the fat stored in our bodies. These triglyceride-laden fats serve as the most important source of long-term energy for the body, since they are stored in a much denser form than starches or muscle proteins. Formation of fat requires the presence of insulin. Triglyceride in fat is converted to energy between meals and overnight, or any time when we are fasting or insulin levels are low. Fat cells have a tremendous storage capacity, which may contribute to obesity. With extended fasting or absolute insulin deficiency, the liver converts fat breakdown products to ketones.
High triglyceride levels in the blood tend to coexist with low levels of HDL (“good”) cholesterol, contributing to a condition called diabetic dyslipidemia. The third component of this “dangerous trio” is a tendency for patients with this condition to have the small, dense, undesirable (more atherogenic) type of LDL cholesterol in their blood (even though their LDL cholesterol level may be normal).
The combination of high triglycerides, low HDL and central obesity are the hallmarks of the metabolic syndrome, which occurs in 80 percent of people with type 2 diabetes. The frightening significance of this combination of risk factors is the marked incidence in these people of premature death from heart disease.
What is a normal triglyceride level, and what should be my goal?
Triglyceride concentrations are currently rated as follows:
Desirable/normal: Less than 150 mg/dl
Borderline high: 150-199 mg/dl
High: 200-499 mg/dl
Very high: 500 mg/dl or greater
In the normal fasting state, the triglyceride level is around 100 to 150 mg/dl or less, but it will rise to 300 mg/dl or more just after a meal. In patients with type 2 diabetes, triglycerides are frequently elevated both in the fasting state and even more so after eating. It is important to be fasting overnight (preferably for 12 hours) when your blood is drawn for a lipid panel that includes triglyceride testing. You should also abstain from all alcoholic beverages for 24 hours before this test.
Just as with LDL cholesterol, the lower the triglyceride level the better. Most clinicians prefer that patients with type 2 diabetes keep their triglyceride level at or below 150 mg/dl to minimize their cardiovascular risk. It is not unusual for some people with type 2 diabetes to have triglycerides over 400 or even over 2,000. Very high triglycerides (over 1,000) can be associated with memory loss, skin lesions (xanthomas), abdominal pain and even life-threatening pancreatitis
How do physicians treat patients with high triglyceride levels?
Triglycerides respond to both diet and medications. It is very important to know that since uncontrolled diabetes causes an elevation of triglycerides, any behavior modification or drug (and especially insulin) that improves blood glucose control will lower triglycerides. Dietary modifications to lower triglycerides are listed below. Statins and other drugs that lower cholesterol such as Lipitor, Zocor, Pravachol, Crestor Zetia and Vytorin have only minimal effects on triglycerides. Several drugs do an excellent job of lowering triglycerides (see below). Many people with type 2 diabetes will require two or even three different drugs to bring their LDL and triglycerides to target and raise their HDL cholesterol. However, most specialists believe that lowering the LDL to target is the most important goal. Lowering triglycerides and raising HDL are secondary goals to be addressed after the LDL goal is achieved.
Clinical adviser’s note: For more information on medications to treat lipid disorders, see our chart on page 52 of the January 2005 issue of Diabetes Health. You can also download a printer-friendly version from our Web site at www.diabeteshealth.com/charts.
Medications for Patients With High Triglycerides
Fibrates
• Lopid (gemfibrozil)
• Tricor (fenofibrate)
Nicotinic acid (niacin)
Fish oil
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dietary Principles for Patients With High TriglyceridesTotal fat restriction may help, but in some cases where fat restriction results in increased carbohydrate intake, it actually causes higher triglyceride levels.
Substitution of healthy fats (monounsaturated fats, such as olive oil) is recommended.
Avoid a high intake of sugar and white flour products.
Alcoholic beverages should be eliminated or restricted to no more than one drink per day, if your healthcare provider says that one drink a day is safe for you.
Oily fish such as salmon, tuna, sardines, anchovies, mackerel and herring contain omega-3 fatty acids, which lower triglycerides.
----------------------------------------------------------
Common Causes of Elevated Triglycerides
Genetic disorders
Type 2 diabetes
Obesity
Excessive intake of refined sugars and fat
Excess alcohol intake
Hypothyroidism
Liver disease
Nephrotic syndrome (common in diabetic renal disease)
Kidney failure
Drugs (such as birth control pills, steroids, Tamoxifen, certain blood pressure medications
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Therapy Schedule 3/08/2012
Woman arrested after fight with Southwest Airlines flight attendant over nail polish
One airline passenger's attempt to give herself a manicure en route to Houston ended in a free trip — to jail.
Jeanie Daniels, who was flying from California to Houston on Southwest Airlines to visit her boyfriend, told KTRK-TV that she was handcuffed and thrown into the slammer for 10 hours after getting into a tiff with a flight attendant.
She told the TV station the fight began when the flight attendant asked her to stop painting her nails on the flight after other passengers complained of the smell. She said she apologized, but 20 minutes later went into the plane's bathroom to finish her last two nails.
When she exited, she claims a flight attendant immediately confronted her.
"She was getting so loud, while I was sitting in my seat, and I was just like, 'Will you stop!' And I was loud when I said, 'Stop bitching at me,' because she wouldn't end the conversation," Daniels told the TV station.
Upon landing, she was arrested for using a curse word and charged with "abusive profane language".
A judge dismissed the charge after her 10-hour stay, according to the report.
Daniels said she blames the airline.
"I don't know what's going on with the airline or why the flight attendant suddenly has so much authority and can treat people so poorly," she said.
A Southwest spokeswoman told the Daily News in a statement, “The customer you reference was taken into custody upon arrival in Houston for behavior she displayed while onboard a flight from LAS - HOU on Feb 26th. The airport police became involved because of the passenger's behavior and a verbal altercation with a Southwest Airlines crew member. Southwest Airlines is responsible for the safety of all of our passengers and employees.”
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/woman-arrested-fight-southwest-airlines-flight-attendant-nail-polish-article-1.1034511#ixzz1oSdUv0Db
Jeanie Daniels, who was flying from California to Houston on Southwest Airlines to visit her boyfriend, told KTRK-TV that she was handcuffed and thrown into the slammer for 10 hours after getting into a tiff with a flight attendant.She told the TV station the fight began when the flight attendant asked her to stop painting her nails on the flight after other passengers complained of the smell. She said she apologized, but 20 minutes later went into the plane's bathroom to finish her last two nails.
When she exited, she claims a flight attendant immediately confronted her.
"She was getting so loud, while I was sitting in my seat, and I was just like, 'Will you stop!' And I was loud when I said, 'Stop bitching at me,' because she wouldn't end the conversation," Daniels told the TV station.
Upon landing, she was arrested for using a curse word and charged with "abusive profane language".
A judge dismissed the charge after her 10-hour stay, according to the report.
Daniels said she blames the airline.
"I don't know what's going on with the airline or why the flight attendant suddenly has so much authority and can treat people so poorly," she said.
A Southwest spokeswoman told the Daily News in a statement, “The customer you reference was taken into custody upon arrival in Houston for behavior she displayed while onboard a flight from LAS - HOU on Feb 26th. The airport police became involved because of the passenger's behavior and a verbal altercation with a Southwest Airlines crew member. Southwest Airlines is responsible for the safety of all of our passengers and employees.”
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/woman-arrested-fight-southwest-airlines-flight-attendant-nail-polish-article-1.1034511#ixzz1oSdUv0Db
Commentary-While nail polish can be an annoying smell especially in confined spaces, chastizing a passenger because they went to an area away from passengers to complete the task was unneccessary. Over zealous actions are not new to Southwest Airlines though....On two separate flights they have asked young women that they claimed were underdressed, to cover up or get off of the plane. When theses stories went public, the outfits were something that you would see at the mall. i.e. denim skirt fot one and a mid thigh length dress for the other. Which seems kind of rich coming from the airline kmown as the "LUV" airline in the 70's. Where the flight attendants all wore hot pants. which were only a littke bit longer than today's bootie shorts.
My personal experiences have also been bad with Southwest, I was boarding in Las Vegas. I found trash in my seat from the last passenger that was apparently missed by the cleanup crew, I picked it up and handed it to a flight attendant that snarled as she took it from me, Unknown who created the above situation for sure but I would tend to believe this passenger.......
How Cruise Lines Fill All Those Unsold Cruise Cabins
Over the past few years, cruise companies have spared no expense and literally invested billions in jaw-dropping super ships. Even if you’ve cruised before, you probably have not experienced anything like these new marvels.
But, the best news is that due to the slowdown in travel caused by the recession and significant overcapacity in the industry, savvy travelers can now book once-in-a-lifetime cruises at insanely low prices.
How does 80 percent off the brochure price sound? Believe it or not, it's possible through a company called Vacations To Go, one of America's Largest Cruise Agencies.
Founded more than 25 years ago, Vacations To Go realized that taking a cruise vacation was a new experience for many. They set out to build an online service to help people learn everything they need to know to find the best possible cruise vacation, at the best possible price.
Vacations To Go is now home to an extensive selection of top-brand cruise vacations, and in-depth information about every cruise line and cruise ship. Customers can browse the latest in new promotions and offers, shop by category, and compare prices at a glance.
But, what about the discounts?
Because of the huge costs involved in building and operating today’s luxury ships, cruise lines want their ships to sail with as few empty cabins as possible.
So, they turn to trusted partners like Vacations To Go to sell this “excess” inventory at deep discounts, allowing the cruise companies to still get full fare on the travel packages that they sell directly.
The discounts they authorize Vacations To Go to offer can be as much as 80 percent off the full price fare. What it means for you: Simply put, it is the opportunity to take a once-in-a-lifetime luxury cruise for a price that makes it affordable on any budget.
Vacations To Go has also developed a Best Price & Service Guarantee that guarantees they will meet any other authorized price--so, if getting the best deal is important, look no further.
If you are not ready to book your cruise immediately, signing up for Vacations To Go’s free newsletter can help you stay informed of all the spectacular discounts that become available, as cruise lines seek to fill their remaining empty cabins before their cruises depart.
This year, it seems like everyone is cruising--and, for good reason. After several years of austerity, people are realizing that a cruise vacation is now one of the great values in travel.
Online Dating working well for singles over 50...
And, if you’re like most of them, you probably struggle with the process of meeting other singles who share your interests and who would make great potential partners for more serious, romantic relationships. The idea of heading out to a bar is ridiculous to many older people, and sometimes the bingo and bridge crowd can get bland really quickly.
Perhaps not surprisingly, online dating services are one of the fastest growing ways mature individuals are meeting like minded people. It’s not surprising because increasingly, everything seems to be done online these days, and more and more baby-boomers are mastering the Web.
Online dating has also come a long way from its origins in the 1990’s.
Firstly, it now works extremely well. Recent statistics show that 1 in 5 couples married in the last few years met each other online.
Online dating lets you get to know the basics about someone before deciding if you want to invest any time in them. And, studies have proven that communicating online before meeting someone face-to-face significantly reduces the stress involved in your first meeting, leading to more great first dates.
The online dating process also lets people spot potential red flags before they set up a date. It sure beats getting involved with someone and then discovering something that’s a real deal-breaker for you.
And, contrary to what some may think, research has also shown that people are generally honest about themselves online. Most people know they will have to expose themselves at some point, so they choose to be honest, rather than disingenuous, when creating their online profiles.
And today, there are specialized services that cater to older singles. By far, the most successful of these is OurTime.com.
OurTime.com specializes in creating romantic opportunities for singles over 50, so they are more likely to find someone special. And, over the years they’ve continued to refine their tools in order to take the lottery out of love.
One of the reasons the service is so successful is because they give singles the opportunity to express themselves and find potential online matches for free. New members can create an online profile that includes up to 26 photos, as well as selected preferences regarding the person they’re searching for.
Next, tell OurTime.com a little about yourself and what you're looking for in a partner and relationship. With the click of a mouse, you instantly get to see photos and read about potential matches in your area; all free and incredibly easy.
By subscribing, you become entitled to view all the photos of singles you are interested in, send unlimited emails, and even see who's been viewing your profile and shown an interest in you. You have more choices, more ways to connect, and more chances to find your love match.
The service also puts a lot of emphasis on member privacy and integrity. All communication between members on OurTime.com happens through an “anonymous” email network. The names and contact information of all members are kept confidential until the member personally decides to share the information with a potential match. And, every profile and photo is screened by the site before it’s posted online.
Who can you meet on OurTime.com? People just like you, in your local area. But, also much more! OurTime.com members form a diverse, global community of mature singles who share common goals—to meet other singles, find dates, form romantic relationships, and meet potential life partners.
If you’ve never considered online dating, or thought it just wasn’t for you, perhaps it’s time to reconsider. OurTime.com looks out for your best interests and consistently delivers matches for its members.
Click here to safely check out some of the singles on OurTime.com for free or subscribe today.
Therapy Schedule 3/07/2012
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Snoring tied to kids' risk of behavioral problems: study
(Reuters) - Young children who snore a lot or have other breathing problems at night may have a heightened risk of behavioral and emotional problems later in life, according to a U.S. study of more than 10,000 children.
The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, is not the first to link behavioral issues to so-called sleep-disordered breathing -- where children chronically snore, mouth-breathe or seem to stop breathing for seconds at a time, known as apnea.
"We didn't invent the association," said lead researcher Karen Bonuck, at New York's Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
But the work by her team, which followed more than 13,000 children from infancy to the age of seven, is the largest study yet to examine the issue, she added.
Of those children, 45 percent remained free of nighttime breathing problems, according to reports from parents. The rest had symptoms at some point during infancy or early childhood.
Eight percent of the children fell into what researchers dubbed the "worst case" group, with breathing problems that peaked between the ages of two and three, and then persisted.
Overall, Bonuck's team found, children with sleep-disordered breathing at any time were more likely to develop symptoms of behavioral or emotional disorders, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or anxiety, by age seven.
About 13.5 percent had such symptoms at age seven, versus just over eight percent of children who'd been free of sleep-disordered breathing.
The biggest risk was seen in the worst-case group. By age 7, nearly 18 percent of those children had possible behavioral or emotional disorders.
The researchers couldn't say for sure whether all of those children had outright disorders, such as ADHD, since their results are based on a screening questionnaire given to parents. The children would have to be further evaluated to get a diagnosis, Bonuck said.
In addition, it's not certain that the breathing problems are directly to blame.
But Bonuck said the researchers did factor in a range of variables that could help account for the link, such as parents' income and education, race, birth weight and whether their mothers smoked during pregnancy.
"Even considering all those variables, overall, sleep-disordered breathing seemed to have the strongest effect," Bonuck said.
Among the worst-case children, for example, sleep-disordered breathing was linked to a 72 percent increase in the risk of behavioral and emotional symptoms at age seven, even with other factors considered.
Bonuck stressed that nobody is saying that sleep-disordered breathing is the whole story and advised parents not to panic.
"Certainly, emotional and behavioral disorders are multi-factorial," she added.
"But parents can pay attention to their child's breathing, and if they have a concern, they should ask their pediatrician about it." SOURCE: bit.ly/x5N27K
(Reporting from New York by Amy Norton at Reuters Health; editing by Elaine Lies and Bob Tourtellotte)
Monday, March 5, 2012
Easy to read Therapy Schedule
----- Tuesday, March 06, 2012 -----
Physical Therapy
7:00 AM-7:30 AM (Sutter Rehabilitation Institute)
Breakfast
8:00 AM-8:30 AM (Sutter Rehabilitation Institute)
Occupational Therapy
9:00 AM-9:30 AM (Sutter Rehabilitation Institute)
Physical Therapy
11:00 AM-11:30 AM (Sutter Rehabilitation Institute)
Speech Therapy
11:30 AM-12:00 PM (Sutter Rehabilitation Institute)
Lunch
12:00 PM-12:30 PM (Sutter Rehabilitation Institute)
Physical Therapy
1:00 PM-2:00 PM (Sutter Rehabilitation Institute)
Speech Therapy
3:00 PM-3:30 PM (Sutter Rehabilitation Institute)
Dinner
6:00 PM-6:30 PM (Sutter Rehabilitation Institute)
Physical Therapy
7:00 AM-7:30 AM (Sutter Rehabilitation Institute)
Breakfast
Occupational Therapy
Physical Therapy
11:00 AM-11:30 AM (Sutter Rehabilitation Institute)
Speech Therapy
11:30 AM-12:00 PM (Sutter Rehabilitation Institute)
Lunch
Speech Therapy
Someone's not having enough sex in college.....
Sometime college dorm rooms make for strange bedfellows.
Such was the case for Lindsay Blankmeyer, a former student at Stonehill College in Easton, Mass., who filed a suit against the school claiming that her roommate's alleged inappropriate sexual behavior drove her into a deep depression.
Blankmeyer is seeking $150,000 in damages in the suit, which was filed Wednesday at U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, citing violations of the Rehabilitation Act, the federal Fair Housing Act Amendments, and Massachusetts anti-discrimination laws.
According to court documents, she alleged that during her senior year, her roommate engaged in online and actual sex right in front of her. According to the suit, the roomate "would have sex with her boyfriend while [Lindsay] was trying to sleep just a few feet away," and would also "engage in sexually inappropraite video chatting" while Blankmeyer was in the room.
Stonehill College told ABC News that it "responded swiftly and professionally to the concerns of the student in this case, seeking to help resolve the matter."
"The issues between the student and her roommate were first attempted to be resolved through mediation with a residence director," Stonehill spokeswoman Kristen Magda Magda wrote. "The student was then presented with multiple options for housing on campus, including a private room. The College also made special arrangements for the student to complete her degree while living at home. At no time did the student notify College staff that her concerns involved sexual activity by her roommate."
However, Blankmeyer alleged in her lawsuit that that the resident director "did nothing to alleviate the problem," and that her mental health begain to deteriorate as a result.
Before a scheduled group mediation, Blankmeyer alleged that the roommate "grabbed Lindsay while she was sleeping and began shaking her and yelling at her. Lindsay was terrified and pretended to remain asleep," according to court documents.
Blankmeyer already suffered from previous diagnoses of depression and attention deficit disorder, for which Stonehill had agreed to grant her extra time on exams and papers. She was, however, briefly hospitalized during her freshman year, according to the lawsuit.
When Blankmeyer's parents and psychiatrist "all asked if Lindsay could have a single room ... Stonehill refused Lindsay's request ... and in following weeks and months Lindsay fell into a dark and suicidal depression requiring her to take a leave of absence from school and undergo extensive psychiatric and medical treatment," according to court documents.
Blankmeyer said the college offered her two unattractive options: She could move to a different dorm that had a hard-partying reputation and room with a girl she didn't know, or she could move to a "small cubicle-like space" that was previously used as a study lounge.
The lawsuit alleged that Blankmeyer evenutally moved to a hotel room, and became so depressed that she completed her bachelor of arts degree from home in New York in September 2011.
A call to one of Blankmeyer's attorneys, John Tocci of the Boston law firm Tocci, Goss & Lee, was not immediately returned.
courtesy of ABC News
My comments are that Lindsay Blankmeyer should have moved on and fixed her problem by leaving and finding other living arrangements if she had issues, Instead she chose to stay and go into depression and bkame someone else. Where is her "personal responsibility"?
Such was the case for Lindsay Blankmeyer, a former student at Stonehill College in Easton, Mass., who filed a suit against the school claiming that her roommate's alleged inappropriate sexual behavior drove her into a deep depression.
Blankmeyer is seeking $150,000 in damages in the suit, which was filed Wednesday at U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, citing violations of the Rehabilitation Act, the federal Fair Housing Act Amendments, and Massachusetts anti-discrimination laws.
According to court documents, she alleged that during her senior year, her roommate engaged in online and actual sex right in front of her. According to the suit, the roomate "would have sex with her boyfriend while [Lindsay] was trying to sleep just a few feet away," and would also "engage in sexually inappropraite video chatting" while Blankmeyer was in the room.
Stonehill College told ABC News that it "responded swiftly and professionally to the concerns of the student in this case, seeking to help resolve the matter."
"The issues between the student and her roommate were first attempted to be resolved through mediation with a residence director," Stonehill spokeswoman Kristen Magda Magda wrote. "The student was then presented with multiple options for housing on campus, including a private room. The College also made special arrangements for the student to complete her degree while living at home. At no time did the student notify College staff that her concerns involved sexual activity by her roommate."
However, Blankmeyer alleged in her lawsuit that that the resident director "did nothing to alleviate the problem," and that her mental health begain to deteriorate as a result.
Before a scheduled group mediation, Blankmeyer alleged that the roommate "grabbed Lindsay while she was sleeping and began shaking her and yelling at her. Lindsay was terrified and pretended to remain asleep," according to court documents.
Blankmeyer already suffered from previous diagnoses of depression and attention deficit disorder, for which Stonehill had agreed to grant her extra time on exams and papers. She was, however, briefly hospitalized during her freshman year, according to the lawsuit.
When Blankmeyer's parents and psychiatrist "all asked if Lindsay could have a single room ... Stonehill refused Lindsay's request ... and in following weeks and months Lindsay fell into a dark and suicidal depression requiring her to take a leave of absence from school and undergo extensive psychiatric and medical treatment," according to court documents.
Blankmeyer said the college offered her two unattractive options: She could move to a different dorm that had a hard-partying reputation and room with a girl she didn't know, or she could move to a "small cubicle-like space" that was previously used as a study lounge.
The lawsuit alleged that Blankmeyer evenutally moved to a hotel room, and became so depressed that she completed her bachelor of arts degree from home in New York in September 2011.
A call to one of Blankmeyer's attorneys, John Tocci of the Boston law firm Tocci, Goss & Lee, was not immediately returned.
courtesy of ABC News
My comments are that Lindsay Blankmeyer should have moved on and fixed her problem by leaving and finding other living arrangements if she had issues, Instead she chose to stay and go into depression and bkame someone else. Where is her "personal responsibility"?
Easy to read Therapy Schedule
NO SUGAR ADDED cheesecake
Disclaimer-I got this recipe and have never tried it. So, go at your own risk. lol
Ok.. so technically, if you consider the sugar that naturally occurs in two bananas,, then we should possibly for legal reasons call this.. NO SUGAR ADDED cheesecake. But as far as I am concerned, God made bananas, and His sugar cannot be improved, digested, but not improved.
This one is simple, delicious, and you better be a banana fan, or just stop reading now.
Take a mixing bowl
Throw a package of cream cheese in there.. 8oz on top of that throw a half cup of REAL sour cream (trust me)
Start mixing that up with of all things.... a mixer on medium once that's good and mixed, throw in another package of cream cheese (2 total)
now add two eggs a squirt of lemon juice (not too much)
1 teaspoon vanilla
mix that up
Now add 1 1/2 cups of Splenda for Baking (even though its the devil)
mix that up
In a separate bowl throw in two bananas (without the peels) and mash them with a fork, or something that mashes.
Now take that and throw it in with everything else.. and mix one last time, until cream smooth, which sounds girly.
The oven of course has been pre-heating at 500....
Spray your spring form pan with something awesome...so it wont stick.
Put your cheesecake goop in the pan,,, give it a shake.. and a pound getting all air bubbles out.
Take your spring form,, and set it on a sheet of aluminum foil... fold the foil up the sides a bit.
This will stop the cheesecake bath water from entering the mix......
Now,, pour in some hot water up to just below the aluminum foil highest point
Throw that bathing beauty in the oven,, and let er rip for 8 minutes convection oven,or 10 conventional
Then open the door,,, let the heat escape... slap the oven down to 200 and let it cook in the bath for 1 hour.....
Take it out,, and let it stay in the fridge over night,, because when its chilled,, its bomb.com
The cheesecake bath thingy really calms the cooking process allowing the cheesecake to be creamy and delicious... the bananas really make it interesting.
It passed the wife test,,, the Blake test,,, and Carson said.. why did you make me eat that???
Enjoy... unless your 6 and your diet consists of sugar and meat. jC
Ok.. so technically, if you consider the sugar that naturally occurs in two bananas,, then we should possibly for legal reasons call this.. NO SUGAR ADDED cheesecake. But as far as I am concerned, God made bananas, and His sugar cannot be improved, digested, but not improved.
This one is simple, delicious, and you better be a banana fan, or just stop reading now.
Take a mixing bowl
Throw a package of cream cheese in there.. 8oz on top of that throw a half cup of REAL sour cream (trust me)
Start mixing that up with of all things.... a mixer on medium once that's good and mixed, throw in another package of cream cheese (2 total)
now add two eggs a squirt of lemon juice (not too much)
1 teaspoon vanilla
mix that up
Now add 1 1/2 cups of Splenda for Baking (even though its the devil)
mix that up
In a separate bowl throw in two bananas (without the peels) and mash them with a fork, or something that mashes.
Now take that and throw it in with everything else.. and mix one last time, until cream smooth, which sounds girly.
The oven of course has been pre-heating at 500....
Spray your spring form pan with something awesome...so it wont stick.
Put your cheesecake goop in the pan,,, give it a shake.. and a pound getting all air bubbles out.
Take your spring form,, and set it on a sheet of aluminum foil... fold the foil up the sides a bit.
This will stop the cheesecake bath water from entering the mix......
Now,, pour in some hot water up to just below the aluminum foil highest point
Throw that bathing beauty in the oven,, and let er rip for 8 minutes convection oven,or 10 conventional
Then open the door,,, let the heat escape... slap the oven down to 200 and let it cook in the bath for 1 hour.....
Take it out,, and let it stay in the fridge over night,, because when its chilled,, its bomb.com
The cheesecake bath thingy really calms the cooking process allowing the cheesecake to be creamy and delicious... the bananas really make it interesting.
It passed the wife test,,, the Blake test,,, and Carson said.. why did you make me eat that???
Enjoy... unless your 6 and your diet consists of sugar and meat. jC
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