Fun Word Riddles!

What nine letter word in the English language is still a word when each of the nine letters is removed one by one?

What five letter word in the English language is still a word when each of the five letters is removed one by one?

If you figured out the answers on your own, you’re a genius — in my book!

Conflict Resolution and Creative Job Hunting

(First posted on May 10, 2009.  Accidentally deleted and found.)

What do you do if you find yourself working for a tyrannical or incompetent boss, or a jealous co-worker is out to get you?

Some companies can be unhealthy for your career development and your mental health (indeed, people usually get fired because of politics and personal conflicts — not gross incompetence).

How about an annual career check-up. Take out your resume and review it.  Ask yourself several questions about your current job and your goals.

• Am I achieving my goals and purpose in life?
• Has my objective changed?
• Is this job meeting my expectations?
• Does this company fully value my contributions?
• Am I doing what I’m good at and enjoy doing?
• Are my skills up-to-date for this job and organization?
• Am I fully using my skills as well as acquiring new skills?
• Is this job worth keeping?
• How can I best achieve career satisfaction either in this job or in another job or career?
• What other opportunities elsewhere might be better than this job?

Perhaps changing jobs is not the best alternative for you. If you encounter difficulties with your job,  first understand the problem.  Perhaps the problem can be resolved by working with your present employer. Many employers prefer this approach.  They know that increased job satisfaction translates into less job stress and absenteeism as well as more profits for the company.  Happy workers become more productive employees.

You may want to play a “just in case” scenario by entering your resume into various online resume databases where you can literally keep yourself in the job market 24/7. Whether you’re actively looking for a job or just keeping in touch with potential opportunities, putting your resume online may be a good way to conduct a career check up on a regular basis.

Anonymously putting your resume online with websites such as Monster.com, Yahoo! hotjobs, and careerbuilder.com allows you to remain constantly active in the job market.

Participation in such resume databases may result in employers coming to you rather than you seeking out employers by using the job search strategies and techniques outlined in The Blue Collar Resume and Job Hunting Guide.

By the way, white collar workers, don’t click out just yet  This book offers numerous guerrilla job hunting tips and strategies — from how to answer tough questions to getting interviews the street-wise way (knock on doors!) – an invaluable resource!

With number of plumbers and electricians earning more than six figures, blue collar workers, in many cases, may be more skilled — if you define “skilled” by earning power — than their white collar peers.

Thoughts?

The U.S. Food Industry — Faster, Fatter, Bigger, Cheaper, Death! (I)

DEMAND good wholesome food.  We’ll get it!

(see also FOOD, INC.)

Sign this petition — Child Nutrition Act Reauthorization.  Make your voice heard TODAY!

PS — if you strongly disagree with the above, please post opposing views with ample evidence.  Truth, in my opinion, is usually (not always) somewhere between the extremes.

What Most Dentists Won’t Tell You

“Brush your teeth for at least two minutes!”

My dentists never told me that.  How about yours?

For the last year or so, my 70-year-old mother insisted I brush at least two minutes.

“Who has the time?” I used to think … Until my checkup last November.  My dental health was in shambles.

(Did my dentist ever tell me I should brush longer — NO.  Patients equal dollar signs … ch ching!)

Okay mom.  I’ll put my ego aside.  I’ll listen to you one more time.  What do I have to lose?  Once a mother, always a mother.  Once a daughter, always a daughter.

Nevertheless, spending two minutes on my mouth was A COMMITMENT … for me, anyway.  I had to make it fun.

I went to Safeway and bought the musical toothbrush, Tooth Tunes (also available at Toys-R-Us):

Guess what?!  Six months later, my gum and teeth are in tip-top shape! (Colgate swears by minimum-120-seconds brushing!)

My teeth are three shades whiter and stronger than ever!  My gum — Popeye strong!  My dentist recently told me I have a gum of a 15-year-old — youthful!  By the way, I don’t use toothpaste; just water, mouthwash, and dental floss.

Brush two minutes, twice a day (plus floss).  We’ll all be on our way to clean, bright teeth and healthy, strong gums! Decrease your chance of heart disease, too! (Full Story)

Adios periodontal disease!  Adios dentists!

Tooth Tunes, you rock! 

Freedom — The Right of All Mankind

Throughout history, dictators — despicable tyrants — have fought tooth and nail to control the masses.

If  they would only understand — violence and oppression may guarantee short-term power (a generation or two, at most), but never the respect nor the support of its people necessary for the governance and prosperity of a sovereign nation.

Iran, for example, is at a point of no return.  People are openly defiant; cell phone photos and the Internet exposing the regime’s violent acts for the world to see.

The dust will settle; sooner, if not later.

Then what?  Who will be next on world’s stage?

North Korea, perhaps — an isolated nation of human tragedies, a regime thriving on criminality, “hell on earth” with an estimated unemployment rate as high as 95 percent — where bribery, stealing, starvation, human trafficking, imprisonment, and torture are the norm.

Atrocities abound:

• In North Korea, good people can’t survive; stealing, a necessary evil.
• High-ranking North Korean defectors have testified before Congress saying that the government is overseeing the production and export of heroin and methamphetamine.
• The quality of fertilizer South Koreans give the North is so good (and expensive), the North Korean government sells it to a Southeast Asian country.  The North continues to use fertilizer full of acidity, yielding minimal harvest.
• The regime practices collective punishment — guilt by association.  “Political wrongdoers” and their families (accidentally sitting on a newspaper printed with the leader’s face, not hanging leaders’ portraits in homes [officials check residences], etc.) — up to three generations — are imprisoned for their “crime.”

Despite horrific accounts, positive changes are taking place inside one of the world’s most oppressive regimes.  Political shifts are occurring due to the flow of refugees back and forth from China.

These days, North Koreans are openly criticizing their government — when a few gather, discontent spills over … North Koreans are learning their country is not “paradise on earth.” (Full Story)

As people discover the truth, the regime’s grip loosens … Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, is now the last bastion of super-control.  The rural area is becoming the ‘Wild West.’”  With fear declining, there’s great potential for change.  The regime’s control is deteriorating. (Tom White, Executive Director of Voice of the Martyrs)

Stop Aging — Wine, Dine, Socialize!

Good food, good friends — fun, relaxing, energizing!  How about a drink or two?  One or two glasses of red wine each day may protect you against cardiovascular disease.  (Full Story)

And exercise?

Ugh!  Ugh!  Ugh!

I want to eat like a horse and stay fit!  THAT, for me, is eternal bliss!!!

I absolutely dreaded the “E” word … until I read the following:

Most aging is just the dry rot we program into our cells by sedentary living, junk food, and stress.

When you don’t exercise, your muscles let out a steady trickle of chemicals that tell every cell to decay, day after day after day.

Yikes!  What the hec does this mean?

Dr. Henry S. Lodge, a faculty of Columbia Medical School and co-author of Younger Next Year (Workman) summarizes concepts on healthy living:

• Animals face two great cellular challenges — growth and decay.
• Motion, not food, controls our system.  When we exercise, the muscle releases substances that tell your cells to grow.
• Sedentary muscles let out a steady trickle of chemicals that whisper to every cell to decay, day after day!  Exercise and cells get stronger; sit down and they decay.
• Emotion (the master signal to our cells) is more important than exercise.  Anger, stress, and loneliness “melt” our bodies the same way sedentary lifestyle does.

• Optimism, love, and community trigger the process of growth, building our bodies, hearts, and minds (we are social creatures) (Full Story)

I guess I’ll get off my chair and go for a quick walk.

Will you join me?

Great Openings and Attention Grabbers

Grab!  Connect!  Engage your readers!

How?!

With a BANG!

Here are five simple techniques writers often use to open their writing:

• A question that sparks the reader’s curiosity
• A personal story that sets the tone of the story
• A famous, inspirational quotes stimulate thought or gives the writer credibility
• A dramatic, inspirational opening
• A clue as to what the reader can expect in the piece (a summary, so to speak)

Came across this yesterday while helping my 10-year-old with his writing workbook.  Learning something new everyday.

Life is great!

Like Father, Like Son — Meet the Pool Shark (in Diapers)!

If you ask me, “The best dads lead by example.”

Meet 23-month-old Keith O’dell.  Keith has taken pool-lover dad’s example to the next level!  Born into a family of pool players, Keith, still in his diapers, takes his game quite seriously.

If a toddler can practice his craft two to three hours per day, there’s no reason why a 43-year-old adult couldn’t focus on her passion.  Once I find it, I’ll get going.  Wish me luck!

Happy Father’s Day to all you amazing dads!

Barack, You Rock!

JibJab, the funniest e-cards in town!  “Boom, click, done, fun!” — check it out!

Republicans — Offer solutions (minus emotional rants and criticisms).  Moderates and Independents might support your cause.

I would. 

We Can All Coexist — All Faiths, All Nationalities, All Walks of Life

According to Muslim Demographics, “Fertility rate of 2.11 children per family is necessary for a culture to maintain itself for more than 25 years.  Anything less, the culture will decline.  At 1.3 children per family, this decline is irreversible.  As the population shrinks, so does the culture.”

Today, all Western European and North American countries’ birthrates are below 2.11 with the exception of the United States, at just barely, 2.11.

The Muslim population, on the other hand, are growing exponentially.  Immigration, higher birthrate (on average, over three children per family), and conversions to Islam aid their growth.

What does this mean for non-Muslims?

Cause for alarm?  Time to criticize, ostracize, impose our values and way of life?

I think not.

Nurture friendships, relationships, love … not hate.

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  There is no greater commandment than these.”  (Mark 28:31)

Amen!