First Snow!

We had our first snow here in Ashland, KY this last few days. At work we had about three inches, here at the house we had an inch or so. It is starting to go away, but we are supposed to get a couple of inches tonight, along with sleet and rain. Doesn’t sound fun, going to work tomorrow.

I like snow, but not the bitter cold we are having this year. Last year, today was 47. Today the high was 26ish. BRRRRR!!

Some days I miss Ft. Lauderdale when it gets this cold, although I hear its a bit cold down there this year too!

Looking forward to a possible white Christmas this year!

Merry Christmas!

Half over…

…and I want to double the time off!

Well, my week off form work is all but half over, and I’m already wishing for more time off.

It has been a busy week of traveling to Ohio for a medical appointment to make sure my bad knee, given to me by the US Army, was still bad, and if to see if I could get a bump up in how bad it was (more money, and it is in pain ALL the time these days, gives out often, and I’m in a brace most of the time now), fixing the code behind ExposeYourBlog! and WORKING on getting Surf&Chat back in place (not quite there yet, but getting closer) in a manner that the system doesn’t bog down like it was. I have also been busy cleaning out my dresser, night stand, car, and closet. My wife wants me to clean up my books too, but there is no place to put them, and I’m not wanting to get rid of them…. I have also added more music to my music selection, equalized all the music in my collection so it all comes out with the same volume when it plays, and updated the autoDJ at Radio ExposeYourBlog! today.

Tribal Blogs and ExposeYourBlog! have joined up in partnership in what I think will be great for the blogging community! I look forward to this relationship growing stronger each day! (And if you don’t use either service for your blogs, you should sign up for both, and actively use them!)

Tomorrow I get to go to the dentist for a cleaning, anyone want to go for me? Please? Pretty please?

Busy times. But I’m having fun, and I’m getting some reading in to boot!!

Happy Days! (Till I go back to work Monday…)

Wow, what a two weeks…

This past two weeks has been pretty busy for me. And, while a lot of that busy has been on line, I really haven’t been able to surf much on ExposeYourBlog!, post here, post on Watkins Ramblings, or Daily Readings. I’ve been busy working on the back end of ExposeYourBlog! (some surprises coming in the near future there!), and on the Council web page for the Knights of Columbus that I belong to.

Add on to that all the work at work, restarting and re-building my Watkins business, working on Circular Wind Ryu building it up, and then last weekend and this weekend going to Knights of Columbus related events (last weekend doing service work at a Missionary Church, and this weekend going to Knights of Columbus training). Busy times.

Monday of next week, I will get to (I wish I could say back to, but I just haven’t been doing it!) doing daily postings on both Watkins Ramblings and Daily Readings. With Daily Readings I plan on going back in and filling in the missing days, all the way back to the first day I started it. (That will take some time though… )

See you all Monday!! Be safe and have fun, and if you have a blog, be sure to come to ExposeYourBlog!

The Sabbath

Over the last few weeks I have had some pretty heated and long discussions about “The Sabbath” and the 3rd Commandment of “Honor the Lord’s Day” with several people.

I am aware that the Old Testament day for the Sabbath is the 7th day of the week, from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. This is the day that the Jewish and I believe the Muslims still follow as the Sabbath. Somewhere between 75AD and 321AD Christians began celebrating the Sabbath (which translates to “day of rest”, not 7th Day, etc.) on Sunday in memory of the day Christ rose from the dead. So, for at least 1700 years now, Christians, under the Bishop or Rome (now called Pope) and the head of the Christian faith in 321AD, Christians have their Sabbath (day of rest and prayer to God) on Sunday.

Those that follow the Christian faith mostly have Sunday as their “Holy” day. There are of course exceptions, by some sects (all religions are sects in my reading of the word sect) that claim Christianity, that are on a Saturday Sabbath.

This leads to the point of honoring God’s commandment of resting 1 in 7, which for “main line” Christians is Sunday.

I can remember when I was younger that almost every store was closed on Sunday, by law, and those few that were open, mainly grocery stores, couldn’t sell some items. I’m not a big fan of having laws made by our government saying that we can’t be open on a certain day and certain items can’t be sold on that day, but I do think that ALL Christians that own a business should close on Sunday, the “official” Sabbath for most Christian faith systems. I also think that all Christians that wish to follow their faith fully should stop going to business on Sunday. Buy your groceries and gas on Saturday, go to a park and enjoy God’s creations after Church/Mass/Services instead of going to the mall and shopping or…. Go up into the mountains and enjoy the day. Sit on your porch and get to know your family again. Slow down and enjoy the life God gave us and find Him again through your faith community and His creations.

UPDATE AND CORRECTION (July 9th, 2009): I was corrected on the Muslim Holy Day. It is Friday.

???What to do…???

Well, in my post a couple days ago (here), I posted the 10 Commandments as given to us by God in the Old Testament (Exodus 20:2-17 [show]Exodus 20:2-17 [2]"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. [3]"You shall have no other gods before(1) me. [4]"You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. [5]You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, [6]but showing steadfast love to thousands(2) of those who love me and keep my commandments. [7]"You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. [8]"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. [9]Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, [10]but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. [11]For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. [12]"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. [13]"You shall not murder.(3) [14]"You shall not commit adultery. [15]"You shall not steal. [16]"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. [17]"You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's." (ESV) Footnotes 1. [20:3] Or 'besides' 2. [20:6] Or 'to the thousandth generation' 3. [20:13] The Hebrew word also covers causing human death through carelessness or negligence
), and made reference under the 3rd Commandment (Exodus 20:8-10 [show]Exodus 20:8-10 [8]"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. [9]Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, [10]but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. (ESV)
) about some issues I was having at work.

Today those issues blew up in my face (so to say). Our week at Crisp’s Dairy Treat (where I am cook, Ice Cream Man, Cleaner with the rest of the crew) goes from Thursday through Wednesday, and we get our schedules for the next week late on Wednesday. Today we got our schedule for tomorrow through next Wednesday. Each Monday, before 16:30 hours (4:30PM), we are required to post a note stating what time we need off. We do this weekly for the next weeks schedule.

At my interview, I informed the owners (Crisp be their last name) that I was a very devout Christian and that I tried to live by the Bible and Christian faith, which includes the aforementioned 3rd Commandment (as well as the rest), and that I also went to Church from 9 to 12 each Sunday (first to a Catholic Church, then to my wife’s Nazarene Church), but IF I had to, I could work in the evenings if really needed. Each Monday I turn in a note stating that I am requesting off Sunday for Religious beliefs and Religious reasons. So far, I had gotten them off.

Not this coming week. I work Sunday day… This does not have me happy and is against my belief system. I was told by Mr. Crisp that today’s society doesn’t allow for “not working on Sunday”. My response is, “that’s why there are problems in today’s society”. I was further told that he had wanted Sundays off for years after he converted to Christianity but that his company laughed at him and made him work on Sundays. This is a bad reason to make others work on Sunday if it is against their beliefs. (And what gets me is he is a Nazarene which is a Church that is trying to take their people back to Christ in a very pure way, and their by-laws very clear state, on page 41 of their manual dated 2005-2009, section 27.2.2 “Profaning of the Lord’s Day by participation in unnecessary secular activities, thereby indulging in practices that deny it’s sanctity.”) Mr. Crisp further went on to say that they stayed open because his son, who owns part of the business needed the money to pay off debt and Sunday was a busy day so they were going to stay open for that day.

Now, if I were Jewish or Muslim (and the day was Saturday) and I was told I had to work, there would be recourse. I feel that right now there is no recourse. Why is that?

I REALLY feel that I should not be made to work Sunday days. (Or evenings, but will give him that per our agreement at our initial interview.) I REALLY feel it is God’s wish that we not be working on the Sabbath, and I very much want to follow his ways.

What should I do about this issue? Sigh…

Working for Yourself, in this economy and job market…

As our economy continues to be pretty weak, and many people are without a job, it is time to look at history and see what one can do to make their life better and to help bring money in.

Over the last several years, I have have occasionally talked about working for yourself. Several years ago TDBell Enterprises, Inc, my company became a Watkins Independent Associate and opened that portion of my business. When I actively worked it, I had over 200 down line Associates (people under me) and had made Manager. I allowed life to get in my way and I pretty much let the business tank. I now have 25 Associates under me as I have not sponsored, or worked the business for almost 3 years for the most part.

First, what is Watkins? Watkins is a 141 year old Direct Sales company that can say they are the start of the Network Marketing system! Watkins is best known for their spices, especially their pepper and cinnamon, and their vanilla extracts!

Now, when I say Network Marketing, over half of you readers will probably run away screaming, and some of you may never come back. I hope not, I only have a couple of Readers! But, Network Marketing is not all bad folks. And this one is not a get rich quick scheme either. It takes time and patience, and a like of the products. Speaking of the products, with few exceptions, and there have been a couple of exceptions, the products are pretty dang good, and in most cases, they are “green” products (as the company is).

After some heavy review of my life and where I am in life, I have decided to get back fully into the Watkins business again. What does this mean? This means that I am looking for any of you that are interested in building a side income from using and selling great products as well as in building your own team of Independent Sales Associates.

I am going to add the next four people I sponsor into Watkins directly under me, and then as I sponsor more people into Watkins I will be placing the new people under these four and two others I already have directly under me. In doing this I build my team and yours, so one in every 6 people that I sponsor (and I use to be good at this, and am betting that I still am!) will end up on your direct team (which is still part of my team, so it is a win win situation), growing your team and your income levels.

Now, what does being an Associate entail? Well, first and foremost, it means you should be buying the spices, personal and home care products that Watkins has from yourself instead of the store down the road. This is the first step. You get a 25-39% discount of the listed prices up front. Next, you should begin selling product to others, via the catalog or on line (http://www.watkinsonline.com/ Associate 335373 if you just want to buy some product from me now to check it out, or if you want to see what is available), in which you get 25-39% commission, paid monthly if purchased on line, 25% paid immediately if your customer buys directly from you (you may be eligible for the remaining up to 14% more which will be paid monthly).

Now, to begin making even more money, you start sponsoring more people under you. Now, keep in mind, that I will be helping you build your down line, but you still need to do the same thing. As you build your team of self users and sellers, your total volume goes up and you make more money. Your goal is to have at least six people directly under you that each have at least six people directly under you that have at least six … and on.

Now, this can take some time. I had over 200 people under me in under two years, some of which I sponsored, and some of which others that I sponsored sponsored, and those sponsored, etc. *** NOTICE *** This is not typical for all teams. *** NOTICE *** It takes work, I worked about 30 hours a week on my Watkins business some weeks, 10 other, and 40 other weeks. It takes USING THE PRODUCTS! Which means it will take some money! Now, this money comes from not buying the same product types from your local store, and redirecting that money to “your own store”. Now, this can be a slow build up or a fast build up. YOU get to set the speed in which you build your business, income, and team.

If you are not interested in being an Associate, I would very much like it if you went to http://www.watkinsonline.com using Associate ID 335373 and check out the products and potentially buy some. For those that do I will send a $10.00 gift certificate on your next order, provided you spend at least $10.00 in the first order, excluding taxes/S&H.

Watkins is a long living, successful company based on Christian principles and one that can help you in making your ends meet.

If you would like to talk about it feel free to drop me a line here, or send me an email. (Drop me a line here, and I will send you my email address.)

New Laptop?

Ok, so it’s time to get my company employees that need them, laptops. I’m thinking of getting this one for everyone:

Toshiba Satellite P105-S9312

Has anyone played with it?

Centering

Many people do not live a centered life, and living a centered life is important.

What is a centered life? Good question! To me, a centered life is one in which the following areas are equally shared:

Physical (exercise, eating correctly, etc.)
Mental (expanding the mind, and not by drugs)
Social (Significant other, interaction with others)

If one were to be active in these three areas, their emotional aspects of life will be positive, and they would be living a fairly centered life.

All of this needs to be balanced with the need to earn protection (housing/clothing/etc), sustenance (food/drink/etc), and cash in general to cover the various needs above.

So, your goal in life is find the job you LIKE doing that you are happy to get up in the early in the morning to exercise, eat right (Physical) then head into work, and that allows you to interact (social needs) with those around you. In the evening read that book (it has been found that your reading is comprehended better if read right before sleeping) to expand your mind (Mental).

If you aren’t working the job you like, you will find that you are not centered, and are lacking one or more areas needed to be centered in life.

Find that job that you like to be doing! It is key to the rest of your life! If you don’t like your job, begin looking for the right job, it’s out there for you, you just have to look! Also, till you find it, do what you can to make the job you are currently in better for you!