New Renter!

After forgetting to check back in with BlogExplosion last Monday and accepting a bid, I have a new bidder this week. (Mean to do this on Monday’s, but yesterday was a very busy day, so I’ll start doing it on Tuesdays.:)). Check April out over there to the left and give her BLog a once over (and many more after that). She, like me, talks about her life through the days, and what strikes her as she goes along.

Busy Times…

We have a lot going on at work (AV Books) these days. We are working on sending in three Federal Grant request for a series of Educational Studies using our Reader, we’re producing three books, Complete Idiot’s Guide to Learning French, 3E (The Complete Idiot’s Guide) (Fourth Edition though, which is not ready to purchase in the US yet!), Complete Idiot’s Guide to Learning Spanish, 4th Edition (Complete Idiot’s Guide to), and How to Capture and Keep Clients: Marketing Strategies for Lawyers, by the American Bar Association. Add to that a couple of “stealth mode” projects and that’s a full calendar in itself! In fact so full I’ve been at work every weekend for the past three weekends including today. I have had to work several 27+ hour days, and one over 36 hours!

I still have Kodi to work with and train with for Search and Rescue, my Ph. D. dissertation (which hasn’t gotten too far), walks on the beach (been a while for that), and playing on the boat (although I missed the last three cruises because I needed to work..).

All that said, I’m having a blast!

The Idea Book, By Fredrik Haren

I participate in the daily “game” on InBubbleWrap.com and have actually won a book (the Marketing Genius on the left sidebar there) and am reading it. A, so far, pretty good book.

One day they had the option to buy a book, The Idea Book by Fredrik Haren, for $33.00 that the over view looked good. The price is normally higher, but through a group deal we were able to get it at the great price. I know some of that is hype, and that I can live with.

I received the book this week, after paying my $33.00. I am not sure I’m happy with purchase. At all… In quickly looking over the book, I would probably have normally spent no more than $10.00 for the book, if I would have even bought the book. The book didn’t meet any of the hype on it, and definetly doesn’t meet the cost I spent on it. I’m still going to read it cover to cover, but my first scan has me a bit unhappy.

That said, if you aren’t a member of on InBubbleWrap.com, I HIGHLY recommend it! The books he is giving away, and selling, are pretty good, for the most part, and some of them may not be of interest to you, so if you win that book, send it to me. (The one you didn’t want that is, not the Idea Book…)

Happy Days!

Learning French

While I also am working on learning Spanish finally (I’ve attempted to do so for years now, on and off) I have started to work on learning French as well. The main reason is I just spent two weeks on reading the Complete Idiot’s Guide to Learning French, 3E (The Complete Idiot’s Guide) (although I had the 4th Edition coming out soon, and I will update the link when it is available). This book is fairly well written, although I would make a few changes if I set up the format. That said, I highly recommend this book to anyone that is wanting to get started on learning French (although I’d wait until the 4th Edition hits the streets as it has the AV Books formated version of the book at the back of the book that you can put on your computer and on your MP3. The computer version will read the book to you as the English and French words are spoken so you can see the word being spoke to know the spelling and learn how to pronounce the written word.).

Enjoy!

New Glasses.

Well, after about three years with the current pair of glasses, I’ve finally gotten my eyes examined (about two weeks ago now) and a new pair of glasses. Yep, I’m over 40, and near sighted, so now I’m in “bifocals”. Well, Progressives instead of Bifocals, but same thing, you just can’t tell. The “wife” of a guy I work for works for a eye glass company (they make the lenses and put them together for Optometrist) so I got a ~$800 pair of glasses for the $300 I was going to have to pay for glasses anywhere else down here in Florida. (It seems that when you live where old folks, most wearing glasses live, you get a boosted cost for glasses. Supply and demand I guess.)

Walking around and just sitting here with these glasses has proved interesting. Hold the head or eyes just wrong and it’s fuzzy, but if you are positioned right for what you are looking at it is VERY clear. Going to take some getting use to!

Feels good to be able to read again and not have sore eyes or have to take off the glasses!!

Places to be..

A friend of mine, Jamie made a comment to me about a comment I made on her blog that got me thinking today.

Her comment was, “You live on a beach, kind of; at least a hurricanes sneeze away. You crew on the Second Star. And you want to trade that for a kayak on a mountain lake. Is the salt air getting to you?”

That had me sit back and think about it. She’s right, I’m in a great place, have water around me all day, get to play on it often via the boat or just by going to the beach, neither of which I do enough of, but do get to do often, and I’m dreaming of being on a kayak in the mountains?

Yes, I’m dreaming of being in the mountains. My ideal location in the world is a mile or less to the ocean (along the lines of Stenson Beach or Pompano Beach) and a mile or less to the Rocky Mountain Range foot hills. I love both the ocean and the mountains, and want to have the best of both worlds. I could live the summers in the Rocky Mountains, North and West of Denver Colorado, and the winters in Pompano Beach Florida on the beach. I’d be one of those ever present (in the winter months here) Snow Birds that come down. (And I guess I’m getting to that age as my hair is turning grey and white each and every day…)

My Shaman always told me I was centered in two areas of the elements, Water and Earth, and that both called to me, and spoke through me. I guess that is why I like these two areas so much in the physical world. (He did say that Air (via the Wind) played big in my life, which is why I blew all over the world, but I think he was jesting there…)

I feel well grounded when I’m on or near the ocean, on or near a lake, hiking or sitting or just plain being, in the mountains. Having both water and mountains around me is a great feeling that I like having about me…

So Jamie, yes, I’m dreaming of being in the mountains on a kayak looking at and absorbing the area’s aura and feelings!

Communications.

Bi-directional communications are very important in every venue in life. By this I mean all people you come into contact with, do business with, and basically just interact with, should have the respect of bi-directional communications.

Bi-directional communications are when both side talk and more importantly both sides listen. I don’t see much of this going on these days.

And the sad part I see the lack of it killing business deals, killing companies, and just plain ruining personal relationships.

Yes, I’ve had problems with it at times myself, but when I see myself not listening I mentally slap myself and settle down and listen. And when I do, things start working themselves out, provided I can get the other side of the conversation listening too.

Can everyone agree to start listening, start opening bi-directional conversations? Please?

Photos

Historically I try to keep a camera on my person or in my vehicle. Of late, I’ve been leaving the camera at home for some reason. And today it bit me in the behind… As I walked to work, in my return to getting back in shape, I walked past about a dozen Egrets about 10 feet from me! It would have been a great picture.

Yesterday would have been another good day to have had my camera handy. We got a small piece of the Tropical Storm Alberta here yesterday with some short, but heavy, rain storms. Here at the airport where my office is we had over 5 inches of rain water running across the ground at one point. Would have made a decent picture too! It was almost enough to “float” the airplanes lined up outside the offices!

I should probably add the camera back into my “pack” for daily carry again.