I can remember when I was amazed by the first instant message systems on the Internet. Now they are interactive. If you have not yet seen this new one, click on the title and run your mouse over the page and see all the things this messenger has in addition to everything on the house menu. Technology expands way faster than any of us can keep up! This is pretty cool.
Great news! In reference to The New World Order is Here, Congress recently has stalled this action. Click on the title and check it out!
Although this is a very difficult video to watch - I strongly recommend that you do and that you think about what it says and means, even if you decide that you don't believe it. Just be aware of this and as you watch world events unfold, it may help you decide who you will vote into office in 2008. It does not endorse ANY candidates or either party. But it is information all true AMERICANS need to hear.
Click on the title to see this awesome collection of pictures of our troops fighting in Iraq, set to the music of two songs by Nickleback.
This is my husband, Rodney's, motorcycle. It is a Honda Shadow Ace 1100 American Classic Edition.
Albert Einstein said:
"Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions."
and......
"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
No question about the brilliance of this man....and what if he is right? We certainly are headed in the right direction to make his prediction true.
June 22nd, 2007 2:37 pm
Bush's job approval rating drops to 26%
By Kenneth R. Bazinet / New York Daily News
WASHINGTON - President Bush's job approval rating has sunk so low that he could end up south of Richard Nixon's worst Watergate numbers.
Bush's approval rating dipped to a dismal 26% in the latest Newsweek poll released yesterday.
The handling of the Iraq war and uncertainty about the economy are the biggest drains for Bush, who could break all records for the worst presidential job-approval rating.
Bush has plummeted beneath his father George H.W. Bush's lowest approval rating of 29%, which came amid economic recession. Dubya even rates worse than Jimmy Carter did during the Iran hostage crisis of 1979-1980, when his support fell to 28%.
If the slide continues, Bush could challenge Nixon's lowest job rating of 23%, which came amid the Watergate scandal.
Bush peaked in early 2002, when his job approval rating in the Newsweek poll hit 83%, attributed to his handling of the early aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
He's not the only pol with failing grades in Washington: Congress as a whole is faring even worse, with a 25% job approval rating, according to Newsweek.
This is a great video of SHINEDOWN performing for the troops in Iraq. SHINEDOWN is one of my very favorite bands. You may think the video is over, but hang on - one of the guys does a song with the soldiers as the video fades out. I had trouble getting it to play correctly on this page, so...
Just click on the above title which will take you to my MY SPACE page and the video is there. Look for the video called "SHED SOME LIGHT" Click and play.
Definitely worth the watch to see the troops in their environment and it is a beautiful song.
You Are 76% Open Minded |
 You are so open minded that your brain may have fallen out! Well, not really. But you may be confused on where you stand. You don't have a judgemental bone in your body, and you're very accepting. You enjoy the best of every life philosophy, even if you sometimes contradict yourself. |
Susan, Greg, and Rodney leave for their Saturday ride
Terrell Nedrow rode from near OKC and back to our house for the weekend.
There is probably nothing I hate worse than liars. All my life I have been plagued by them. It amazes me what people will lie about – from the smallest things to the most important things. People will lie when the truth would actually be more beneficial to them. I have been lied to and lied about all my life. You would think that, by now, I would expect it, or at the very least, not be so surprised by it when it happens. I am not sure which is worse either – being lied to, or being lied about. Probably the hardest thing to deal with is when you are lied to by people who you love, like family members, or by people who you think love you. Those hurt the worse.
But then there are people in the world who will lie ABOUT you due to some inferiority complex of their own. Those people really puzzle me. What is it they hope to gain? They know the truth. They know they are lying. They are the ones who have to live with the fact that they are simply outright liars. Do they find it easy to sleep at night knowing that they have lied about someone and possibly hurt them in some way?
Then there is the “white” lie. This is the one I am guilty of committing. It is hard to tell someone the truth if it will hurt them and does not matter in the long run. For example, if you have a friend who has been dieting for some time but you cannot tell that they have lost weight, but they ask you, “Can you tell I have lost 5 pounds?” Well, I may not be able to tell it but I will say, “yes” because they are excited about the loss, and though I may not see it, to be truthful and say that no, I cannot tell that they have lost weight, is just mean and discouraging. Another example would be if you are having dinner at someone’s home, and you do not really care for what they have served. If asked, I will lie and say it is delicious rather than tell them that I don’t like their cooking. Again, this is a white lie and is intended to avoid hurting someone over something trivial. It does not give me personal gain and it does not hurt them either.
But there is a HUGE difference between white lies and lies that are intended to cause harm to another person, and those are the kinds of lies I tend to have to endure. Some people will tell you they will always be there for you if you need them, but when you need them, they are no where to be found. Others will lie about you to a third party and sometimes that third party will believe them without gathering all the facts first. Of course, this is an error in reasoning called “jumping to conclusions” which is one of the most basic problems in critical thinking abilities. Some people will lie about you to cover up their own screw-ups or as a “red herring” in order to escape their underlying problem – whatever it may be. Sometimes, very immature people will band together to lie about someone, believing that there is safety in numbers. Their lies might even work for them, but then they have to deal with Karma.
One thing I do know is this: eventually liars are uncovered and pay the price, usually in a much more costly way than they ever imagined. No, the world is not a “fair” place, but I do believe that eventually the bad Karma they have created for themselves will return to them in some way. The problem is that many people are not smart enough to figure out why suddenly all these bad things are happening to them. All they really have to do is think back over their lives and ask themselves this question: did I lie about someone to such an extent that I caused them harm? If the answer is yes, then they might discover that it is time to learn the value of honesty. It is never fun to have to admit that you have not done the best you could, or that you were wrong, or that you made a bad decision, but sometimes you just have to own your own mistakes, admit them, and move on. But for some people, this is never an option. They would rather lie than tell the truth.
Hopefully, this will be my one and only rant of the month! I prefer the light hearted blog entries myself.
Generally, I am not much of a nag. However, when it comes to our 40x60 shop, I have, periodically, "suggested" that Rodney clean that place up! It is full to the brim with all his toys, a complete carpentry shop, machine shop, tractor, riding lawn mower, push mower, a variety of trimmers, his boat, trailer.....I think you get the picture. Had I known that buying a new motorcycle would motivate him to do this in order to make a whole new area just for bike parts and his mechanical toolbox and supplies, I would have told him to buy one much sooner!
He has been diligently at work on it for the past 3 days and the changes are already considerable. We have been storing things for family members for years and years which I really don't think they will ever come and get, so out they go! Looks like we will be having a garage sale soon too, as we have quite a few things of value which we do not want, but seem silly to just throw out.
Actually, I think he is cleaning out the shop right now because he is waiting for the MANY new items for his bike that he has ordered that should come in some time this week, and he is killing time while waiting by getting all of this done so that when they do come in, he can justifiably spend every extra hour working on his bike. Friends coming in next weekend with their bikes will be staying at the lake house when not out on rides and I am glad to see him getting this done.
Today, it's kudos to HR! Hope he doesn't run out of steam! Should I go help him?
Nahhhhhh..........
Well, after all these years, and partially due to my personal attraction to bikers anyway, Rodney bought himself his first motorcycle in many, many years. Although he had always had them since about the age of 13, he had not for a really long time. Last week he bought a Honda Shadow Ace 1100 and he has been decking it out ever since. It is a beautiful bike and I will post pictures after he gets it "just so" as he is adding so many things and chrome wherever possible. We did take some before pictures which I will show with the NOW pictures once that is done.
So, why my reluctance when I generally like bikers, prefer biker bars when I go to cool towns like Eureka Springs or Bandera? It's all those idiots on cars who scare me. Not the bikers. My fears have nothing to do with his ability to ride. My fears are all about those people in automobiles who pull out in front of bikers and who tailgate bikers and who are too blind to even SEE bikers! He rides pretty much every day already and it is looking like some of our biker friends will be here next weekend and I am sure they will do at least a day trip if not an overnighter. For me, personally, after my motorcycle wreck with my brother-in-law, Steve, I am not up for this at this time. I don't mind him doing his thing and I like the people, but I will stick to automobiles....
Rodney "claims" he will be getting my name tattooed on his arm, but I will believe it when I see it! And if he does....I will definitely take a picture of it and post it on my site and my blog!
Normally, I really enjoy living in an area that gets so much rain. Most of the time, the rains come gently and the sound is incredible as I sit out on my covered porch and watch the rain fall. However, this month it has rained nearly every single day. We have had a couple of storms, but nothing dramatic. Just rain, rain, and more rain. It's lost its romantic appeal and become more of a nuisance. I guess I really shouldn't complain since so many places really need rain, and I wish we could send them some of what we are getting, but it is starting to depress me! I crave a warm, sunshine filled day. I am sure I will write again in August - complaining about the countless days of heat and son and lack of rain, but today, I will just complain about the rain....
We were supposed to go to an outdoor concert at Lake Eufaula today, but looks like it will be cancelled due to the rain. We went out on the lake in the boat yesterday to hook up with the K-Hits folks (Tulsa rock station) since they were advertising my lake rental, but the weather was chilly and it rained off and on all day. The lake was surprisingly busy considering the weather. We didn't stay out on the water for very long.
Rain, rain, go away....come again some other day!
One of the benefits of teaching at the University of Phoenix, as the nation's largest private, accredited university, is the variety of students that I get to meet. I have been with University of Phoenix for about four years now and have taught non-stop year round. I drive to Tulsa, Oklahoma, two nights a week and teach 4 hour sections for 5 weeks ( and I teach a great many directed studies courses) and it is highly accellerated, and students have to be highly motivated and disciplined to make it or they drop like flies. For almost two years I also taught flexnet (online) courses in addition to teaching on the Tulsa Campus. Well, since every 5 weeks at two classes per week, over the past 4 years I have had hundreds and hundreds - maybe thousands of students. You don't always get to know them like you do in a public traditional institution. However, I have a class that will end next Thursday night and the course is called Skills for Professional Development. (A course that many people I have known or worked with in the past really ought to try to take sometime!)
This class has been awesome. Everyone gets along great and has great attitudes; they are psyched up every class night; they turn all their assignments in on time; and treat each other with the greatest of respect and courtesy. We have had a lot of laughs for the past 4 weeks and I am going to miss them. Last week they did their powerpoint presentations about conflict resolution or team building issues. Every single one of them was unique and it was obvious that they had each put a great deal of time and effort into the presentations. I use Power Point for every class I teach rather than lecture notes, so I know how time consuming it can be to get them just the way you want them.
So...these kids got creative and had music, sound effects, humor, great transitions and custom transitions, and they knew their topics. It was great. Next week they will be presenting their team research papers and giving me a presentation that is a wrap of of the five intensive weeks of study. If last week was any indication of what to expect, then when that much creativity and ambition is combined on a team - watch out. I can't wait to see them. They also decided we are going to have a potluck dinner celebration. This is a class that I am really going to miss, but....as I told them all - they have probably not seen the last of me as I am certified to teach 34 courses and generally get the same students somewhere down the road in their program.
UOP shout out to Tim, Kelly, Julie, Wade, Jennifer, Chris, Toni, Giavanni, Paula, Bob Nelson, Burhan, Michael, Alex, Heather, Retina, Gianno, and Tammy.
Rodney and I were fortunate enough on Saturday to be able to attend the wedding reception/party of our good friends, Greg and Susan, over in Wellston, Oklahoma. I have known Greg since 1970 and Rodney has known him a few years longer than that. We met Susan last year when they came out and spent a weekend with us. Susan was perfect and fit right into the old gang. Greg owns and runs a very successful print shop and Susan, like Rodney, is a CPA. So we all have a great deal in common. We also had the opportunity to meet the wives of a couple other people we have known since High School, Ray and Paul, and to plan a get-together some time this summer. This was a great party that started at 3 in the afternoon and went into the night. Catered meal, beautiful wedding cake, lots of interesting people and live music. Fort Worth musician, Danny Robinson, was awesome, and he played a wide variety of music. I greatly enjoyed listening to him and will be adding some pics to my gaylasgarden website. He played sometimes by himself and sometimes accompanied by others. Rodney got to jam with the other musicians and I even went up and did a song with them. But the day was really about Greg and Susan and it was a perfect day all around. It is really a wonderful feeling to watch two people so much in love. I think they are absolutely perfect for each other! They make each other happy - and that's what really matters. I believe this is an ideal marriage that will last forever.
I was most amazed with Greg's son, Terrell Nedrow - remember that name. This guy is young and already an amazing musician. I think you will be hearing more about him in the future. He has natural talent - which is rare, and is very comfortable on stage and interacts really well with the audience. He has a quick wit and a huge repertoire of songs already. Excellent guitarist and perfect lead singer to front a really good band. I predict he will go far in the music industry. I am hoping to help him out with this endeavor. He has the talent....he just needs a break! As I told him - we have to MAKE things happen. "Luck is preparation when it meets opportunity."
Having spent many years as a college faculty member, and also having a daughter who lived on campus when she was in college, violence on college campuses has always been a particular concern of mine. I have read several books that discuss college campus violence, security measures, security systems, faculty training, and all other aspects of minimizing possible violence. There appear to be two questions that the media are focused on at this point. First, could more have been done to prevent this from happening? And second, did the university act appropriately after the first incident occurred early that morning?
With a student population of 26,000 plus a faculty and staff of another 10,000 people, there is bound to be violence. Comparing this to a city of this size, even the largest, best trained, and efficient police department could never have stopped this event from occurring. When a disturbed person like 23 year old Cho Seung-Hui decides to go on a killing rampage and can carry everything he needs in a backpack, how can this be prevented? We live in an uncertain world. This type of violence can happen anywhere, at anytime, for any reason. Have we come to the point that we need gun detectors on EVERY SINGLE BUILDING in the United States? And even if we did that, a disturbed person can open fire outside anywhere at any time. We saw this with the Tulsa shootings from an overpass on a turnpike. How can those types of incidents be stopped? They can only be stopped after there are deaths and the police can finally track them down and arrest them. It is impossible to watch and regulate 3 million people, 24/7.
However, this particular student should have been on a watch list. He was a senior and an English major. His writings in his Creative Writing class were so disturbing that his teacher turned them over to the counseling department. So was he being watched? The teacher obviously saw him as dangerous. Having taught Creative Writing for years, I have seen some disturbing writings, but never anything that indicated a psychopathic personality or I would have done the same as his teacher did. As this story continues to unravel, there may be many factors that will come to light that will help explain why he did what he did, although that will be of absolutely no comfort to the families of the victims. America is a violent nation. It always has been, and a study of our history clearly indicates exactly how violent we are as a people. I wish I had an answer to this problem, but I simply don’t. My concern is that we will give up yet more of our own personal freedoms in our desperation to be “safe” in an unsafe world. I do not believe it is possible to prevent everything that can happen in the modern world.
Regarding the Virginia Tech’s response to the events, I must say that I am very disappointed. From the moment of the first shooting at 7 am, the entire campus should have been on lockdown and all students notified to stay where they were, with doors locked. Security and police should have been immediately brought in – full force, and I also believe that this delay resulted in the mass murder that ensued. When the shootings occurred at the Fort Gibson School in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, I was teaching at a college campus about 4 miles away and even though this had not occurred on our campus, we immediately went into lockdown mode. Virginia Tech administration should have assumed the worst – that there could be more than one killer on campus. Had they not learned anything from the Columbine school shooting? How could they possibly make the decision that it was an isolated incident? They keep saying that they were acting on what limited information they had at that time. Well, that is exactly my point. They did not have enough information and it is better to be safe than sorry. Lock down the campus and figure it out later is much better than allowing innocent people to continue about their day, believing that they were being protected by the security measures in place at their school. I believe in the days and weeks to come that their responsibility for making a very bad judgment call will haunt them. Personally, if I had a child going to school there, I would pull them out of that college based on this incident alone.
My heart goes out to the families of the victims of this horrible tragedy.
Okay, I will admit it. I have WAY too many irons in the fire! I don't even meet myself coming or going. A bit of advice here....never start two major new businesses at exactly the same time. Or, let me put it another way - know your limits. No one handed me more than 24 hours in the day, but I do have that tendency of biting off a bit more than I can chew! My schedule book is almost impossible for me to keep up with. I do not have a clone.
Here's the thing. I moved way out here in the country on the lake to RELAX. I taught full-time at a community college. Then I started also teaching for the University of Phoenix. All I did was teach, drive, grade and do prep. I had no life. So, without going into details as to why I quit my full-time job (that's one heck of a soap opera in itself!), I thought I would have more "free" time to take on some projects I had wanted to do for a long time. And I did. I just should have done them one at a time.
For those of you old enough, "Calgon! Take me away." If you didn't get that, you are not a baby boomer.
Dead beat dads. Who needs them? THEIR CHILDREN. I have personally not received a dime in child support from my children's biological father (or as they now call him - the sperm donor) since 1987. I was lucky. I was educated and I married a wonderful man who became the man they call "dad" and love dearly. Not all women are as lucky. So, does that let him off the hook? NO.
Sometimes they don't pay because they can't seem to hold down jobs, are alcoholics, drug addicts, in prison, or are just plain losers. But some, who own their own businesses, like mine does, CHOOSE not to pay in an effort to punish the mother - their ex-wife. What they don't realize, or if they do, they just don't care, is that who it hurts the most is the children. The children deal with severe abandonment issues that carry into adulthood. The children see it as a rejection of them, personally. Even though I have told mine time and again that it is not their fault, that he is trying to punish me and not them, and that it does not necessarily mean he does not love them (somehow in his own way - okay, I am doing my best to give him the benefit of the doubt here), but none of that matters to the children. They still take it as a personal rejection from their father. My children are adults now - 26 and 30 years old, and neither of them have yet married and are both very leary of marriage and I do believe a great part of that has to do with the emotional scars caused by their dead beat dad.
On the other hand, my husband of the past 17 years has a son who he always paid his child support for, exercised ALL his visitation rights, and has kept a good relationship with his son throughout the years. This son is now 25, happily married, and has none of the abandonment issues that my children have dealt with since they were 4 and 8 years old. The difference a father makes in the life of a child is tremendous. Anyone who thinks that as long as they have a mother they will be just fine is wrong. Sure, there are exceptions to this, but I have learned over the years how very critical the relationship between father and child is to the development of the personality of all children. When I was a single mom, I had to be both mom and dad and it was hard. I don't know how we made it through those times, but we did. I am very close to my children and I actually pity my ex because he has really missed out and that time can never be recovered. Their childhood is long gone and they now live their own lives and he has no place in it. I could not imagine my life without my children in it.
So, if the intent to punish the mother was the reason for non-payment, it worked. I have been punished for over 20 years now by the sadness and abandonment that they have felt because of him. Nothing hurts a mother more than seeing her children hurt. We made it without him, but he still has an obligation to fulfill his debt and that never goes away. What I wonder most about dead beat dads is this: how do they sleep at night? I am very maternal. I cannot even imagine going through life NEVER seeing my children, not knowing who they are as people, not spending time with them, never knowing if they are hurt, dead or alive, not getting that hug and kiss or that call asking for advice or telling me some exciting news.
No Christmas or birthday cards or presents for all those years. No requests to see them or expressing any interest in seeing them. Moving around to avoid my attempts to collect child support must have been very expensive and tiring! When my kids turned 18, I told them that as long as I had their biological dad's address and phone number that any time they wanted to contact him, all they had to do was ask. I encouraged it. I thought it could help heal the scars they carry with them. But they have a dad who has raised them and loved them and been there for then through the good times and the bad times, and they pretty much say to me about their "sperm donor" the following: "I don't even KNOW him. Why would I want to have contact with him?" Although I can understand and respect their feelings, there is still a part of me that believes that if there was a chance of reconciliation, that they could heal the scars he caused by stabbing that knife of abandonment deep into the core of their very being. In other words, I would like them to have the opportunity to FORGIVE him in their hearts so that they could feel better in THEIR hearts. Unfortunately, neither of them has the slightest interest in him at all. Now that they are adults, there is simply nothing that I can do about that. They now make all their own decisions in life.
Their careers, their friends, their sense of humor, their interactions with each other, their dreams, philosophy of life, their beliefs, their accomplishments and failures - everything that goes with the raising of children, he has missed. He does not know them as people at all.
Dad beat dads miss ALL that and more. The children of dead beat dads eventually stop loving that missing parent, or go even further, and grow to hate him. That is not good for them either. Hatred in the heart hurts THEM - not the dead beat dad. He doesn't care.
Dead beat dads are the most pitiful of creatures. In the end, they hurt not only their children, but themselves as well. I can sleep at night because I have ALWAYS been there for my children. I wonder if he can? I wonder HOW he can...
Click on the dead beat dads label under this post to see how you can find that dead beat dad and hold him responsible for his obligations to his children.
Those of you who have been here before may have noticed that things are missing or different. That is simply because I ACCIDENTALLY deleted my entire blog. Fortunately, my friend, Lesbianca, who had been helping me learn how to do this, and who knows me quite well, had just so happened to have saved all my postings in March. So, because of her, I was able to retrieve them. Anything I wrote after April 1, however, is gone, gone, gone. I know, for example, that I had posted one day about how Lesbianca, once my student, had now become my teacher. After this debacle, she saved some postings that I was particularly upset to have lost. To her, I am very grateful. She is awesome! So....here I go again. Trying to get it back as much as I can the way I had it before, but some things are lost forever. However, to borrow a cliche - when one door closes, another one opens. I bet I don't delete it again!
What has happened to America? Or, more specifically, what has happened to Americans?
The preamble to our Constitution states that we have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Would someone explain to me how so many Americans die due to lack of medical care while illegal immigrants get it free? Why can’t we have a national healthcare system? Would someone explain to me who changed the definition of liberty? We are a country of “NO’S.” No smoking, no loitering, no trans fats in any foods in New York and soon it will be nationwide. “No, no, no” has become our national anthem. What’s next? Try to order a dessert at a restaurant and they make you step up on a scale first to determine if you are ALLOWED to have it? After all, obesity is a huge problem in this country and costs us so much in healthcare just like tobacco does. As time passes, rules keep being made by whoever “they” are. Like little ants, we all blindly follow the leader. Will we follow him to our own doom? If they stick their head in the oven, will we do that too?
And happiness. What is that? The pursuit of happiness comes with a set of rules that I cannot begin to fathom. Happiness is allowed only if you conform to some accepted national standard of behavior and anyone who steps out of that little box is labeled odd, or gay, or the wrong color, and persecuted and, therefore, denied their pursuit of happiness.And then, of course, there are those political and religious agendas. Everyone seems to have one. Unfortunately, they all seem to want to share theirs with me when I never asked for them in the first place.
One of our rights, as Americans, is freedom of religion. I never tell people what to believe or if I agree with their religious beliefs because, as an American citizen, I recognize that freedom and respect it. However, other “so-called” Americans do not seem to understand this concept and preach to me how they are right and everyone else is wrong and if I don’t believe it, then I am going straight to hell. Well, I guess I will have a great deal of company if that is true. I have lost track of the hundreds of religious denominations and cults out there. Or could they all be right?Many people deny other people their American rights based on their personal religious beliefs which is, if you think about it, a direct violation of the United States Constitution. If there is freedom of religion, doesn’t it apply to ALL Americans? I know the Constitution pretty well, and I have yet to see anything in it that states that any particular religion has dominion over another in the United States or that it should even be a factor in the governing laws of the land.
One of the great beauties of a democracy is the ability to vote. I am a voter. I research before I vote. I don’t vote a particular party – I vote the candidate on the issues. I am also really tired of the political propaganda – doesn’t matter which party – that clogs my inbox, whether it is from strangers or family members. The thing is that these emails are rampant with incongruities, lies, distortions, illogical reasoning, emotional or logical fallacies, misinterpreted statistics, or are just downright stupid.Isn’t it bad enough that the Internet loads our inboxes with a variety of sex ads, medications, the same tired, old email jokes that we have gotten hundreds of times, the get rich quick schemes, etc… without us also being assaulted by our own friends and relatives with their forwards on religious and political propaganda? If I pulled one hair out for each one of these that I receive, I would be totally bald by now.
I have a very simple political agenda (throw out the two party system and vote in a SMART party of the most brilliant minds in all areas of our knowledge base) and a religious belief which I won’t be sending out in a mass email to everyone in my address book. Perhaps NOT sending out my own personal religious and political beliefs could start a trend of others NOT doing it either.That’s just my opinion and I could be wrong, but this is MY blog, so I get to say what I want!
Thank God we still have freedom of speech. Oh wait. I forgot. “They” are trying to take that away too
Jason Miller, writer for Webpro News, wrote in his insider report yesterday on what he called Marketing to Madness, the following:
The problem with the human condition is that it involves humans. Bringing that condition online, fostering it with the Wisdom of Crowds philosophy, is slowly but surely proving what philosophers have said since humans first learned to write: the anonymous mob is powerful and passionate, but no more rational than an angry swarm of bees.
Jason, I have to agree with you.
Well, the good news is that a former student of mine just called me to tell me he would be the chef at a new upscale restaurant on Fort Gibson Lake. He even invited me and Rodney for a free meal on opening day. Very sweet guy. But here is the bad news. Having considered this since 1999, I finally decide, after much research, that there is simply not enough lodging on this lake for the amount of people who come. Too many end up in hotels in the surrounding towns and driving with their boats back and forth every day.So....I spend a few thousand dollars fixing up a 1600 sq ft house with lake view and I am ready to open and have my first customers coming on April 13. This student informs me that this restaurant is 10,000 sq ft and there will be dozens of upscale cabins and rentals with several swimming pools, hot tubs, fitness center, etc... How can I compete with that? I can offer seclusion and an entire home for their use, but not any of the other amenities that they will have. I do believe in healthy competition, but I don't think I can compete with a 400 acre resort complex that close to me. What's an entrepreneur to do?
Posted by Gayla of Gayla's Garden at 8:26 PM 1 comments
What a wakeup call for me. My son turned 30 years old and it seems to me that I was just 30 about five minutes ago. How does time fly that quickly? Yesterday, it seems, I was running kids to various activities, or looking for better daycare. In the blink of an eye, so it seems, I realized that my nest has been empty for 8 years now. Doesn't seem like it at all. My days still seem super busy although I only work part time teaching for the University of Phoenix in Tulsa. How did I cope with the old empty nest syndrome? Diversification! I also own a lake vacation rental and am in the process of opening an online store for interior decorating. I also have totally revamped my website recently, and have many new pages in the works. I can stay on the computer all day and night. I have to admit that I never paid much attention to blogs until my friend, Lesbianca, started her blog and I have been reading it for the past two years. Hers is really nice looking and I will be hitting her up for advice real soon to make mine better. Until I have something worth saying, I will sign off with just this - take time to smell the roses. Time flys. You have a baby and then you wake up and he is a 30 year old man - and I never knew 30 years could go so swiftly by.
