Black Belt Scrapping

Love My Mac!

Yepper, this says it all for me!

Wisdom for the Young

Again, a friend sent me this via email this morning and I loved it so much that I had to post it here.

Wise words from Bill Gates......
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.


Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
++++++++++++++++++++++++
On a taekwondo related note, big congrats to my friend Kristi and her son Cory who passed their ITA taekwondo testing in Tennessee this past weekend as well! Yay! Kristi will be testing for her black belt in about 4 months! Yay!

Testing Update

Three cheers for adrenaline! That combined with a whole lot of nerves and a bit of foolish courage got me through my black belt test today. Testing today probably wasn't the brightest move ~ my ankle is really sore now ~ but it's done and I'm most likely moving on (I'm a judge, so I kind of get results pretty early).

Ginger if you're reading this, Scott and Maggie did a great job today. Maggie had to repeat her form, but did fine on try #2.

My diamonds are still MIA. Waaah. I guess it's off to QVC to get some fake bling to replace it until I can afford to get it fixed.

So Sad

Missing: several diamonds from my wedding band, channel set baguettes.

Where did they go? How did this happen? I looked at my hand today after putting gas in my car and did a double take. All gone.

I feel like I've been knifed in the gut. I feel like I'm going to be sick.

Sigh.

**** update ******

No, the diamonds are still lost. But tonight I sprained the shit out of my ankle walking on an uneven surface and now I can't walk. I roll my ankles a lot but this one is a baddie. I'm supposed to test for my next black belt tomorrow. Great timing...not.

We were supposed to go to a really nice housewarming party tonight, but I can't walk and dh has the migraine-from-hell and he can't get out of bed because he has no vision. We're quite the pair tonight.

This has not been a good day.

When I Was Your Age....

My pal Karin sent me this today and it totally cracked me up. Right now at this stage in my life, I feel like I'm trapped between being the "younger generation" and just plain old. I don't feel old, but then I look at how ridiculously clueless (or downright stupid!) some of the "20 somethings" are somedays and I just shake my head, as if I were born into a different universe (oh yeah, I was....it was the 60's!).

So, without further ado (thanks Karin!).....

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning…uphill BOTH ways!

Yadda, yadda, yadda.

I remember promising myself when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they’ve got it!

But now, I can’t help but look around and notice the youth of today!!

You’ve got it so easy. I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!

And I hate to say it but you kids today don’t know how good you’ve got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn’t have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!

There was no email! We had to actually write somebody a letter…with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were no MP3’s or Napsters! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ’d usually talk over the beginning and @#$% it all up!

We didn’t have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that’s it! And we didn’t have fancy Caller ID boxes either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn’t know!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn’t have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like “Space Invaders” and “Asteroids” and the graphics sucked! Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens; it was just one screen forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and faster and faster until you died…just like LIFE!

When you went to the movie theater there was no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn’t see, you were just screwed! And cup holders? Yeah right. See that thing at the end of your arm with four fingers and a thumb, there’s your cup holder, you lazy piece of shit.

Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels and there was no onscreen menu and no remote control! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on and get up off your ass to change the channel. There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday morning. Do you hear what I’m saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards!

And we didn’t have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we had to use the stove, or the oven or go build a friggin’ fire…imaging that! If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid JiffyPop thing and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot.

That’s exactly what I’m talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You’re spoiled. And don’t even get me started about on-demand TIVO, satellite radio, cell phones, camera phones, your sidekick (give me a break), mp3 players and the like! Damn whippersnappers, you wouldn’t have lasted five minutes back in 1980!

Dancing with the Stars!

Last night we went to the Dancing With the Stars tour here in town. It was fantastic! Over three solid hours of unbelivable dancing. I can't believe that these people do this basically every other night for 12 weeks! I would just die. Bodies shouldn't do what these people make them do.

Lisa Rinna is my new hero. She's charming, talented, and HOT. She's my age. Maybe I should take up ballroom. Drew Lachey was great, he was very happy to be back in town with his family and the crowd LOVED him, of course. No Nick sightings, sorry Ginger. I can only assume that he was back stage. You just know he was. And then there was Jer-REE, as in Jerry Springer. He's not a regular on the tour, but he's a Cincinnnati guy just like Drew and they brought him back for the encore. He stole the show, he was so funny. He poked fun at his "fan base" and he basically poked fun at himself. And ya know, he didn't dance all that badly either. He's no Mario, but he was smooth out there.

I missed some of m DWTS faves, like Mario (of course!), Emmitt, and Maks from the pro dancers, but it was a fantastic show and we're all so glad we went.

And yes, Drew and Cheryl did their "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy" routine and we got to see Drew do those pushups with Cheryl on his back. That was so hot!

Let's Get to Work!

It's "Get Back to Work Week" here for me.

I quit my job at Imagination Project a month ago and it's been a lot of fun having a month off. Too bad I spent a good chunk of that time being sick. I'm still coughing, ugh.

But my unemployment is over, the holidays are over, the ski trip is over, and it's time to get back to work. I started last Monday.

In yet another strange career twist, I was offerred an opportunity back in early December to be the Marketing Director for the chiropractic and physical therapy office that I've been seeing to help me with my achy-breaky back since the fall. I've loved the place since I first stepped foot into the door. The staff is warm, friendly, casual, and really helpful. I always looked forward to my appointments, and how many people can say that about going to see a doctor?

Anyhow, they are not only expanding their practice starting in February, but they're also rolling out a new program for their massage therapy services and that's what I'm in charge of. First, let me say that their massage therapists just ROCK! I'd never been one to get massages, they kind of skeeved me out in the past, and I was reluctant. I've decided that the problem was that I just never got a GOOD one before! Now I'm totally hooked.

The program works similar to a tanning salon membership. You pay a monthly fee, and depending on the level that you pay, you get so many massages/month (either 30 or 60 minute, it's up to you). We'll also be providing hot stones massage in the near future. I haven't tried that yet, but I'm looking forward to it.

My role is simple...organize it, promote it, and sell it in the community! I'll be contacting businesses, civic groups, salons that don't have spa services, etc. We'll also be looking to donate to charity auctions as well, so if you're in the Greater Cincinnati are and are looking for donations, please let me know!

Also for you Cincinnatians, I'm giving away free massages, so if you're interested, please let me know and I'll make sure you get one. No obligation, I promise, and it's worth it!

Right now our program has a name, but due to trademark issues, we may need to change it. If you have any suggestions (and keep it clean, remember it's massage services, so you have to be super careful) leave me your ideas here. If we end up using it, I promise a ginormous RAK for you!

On other work related notes:

- gained weight...ugh. Time to get to work on that. Taking another long vacation on the South Beach.

- Taekwondo belt testing is in two weeks. I'm testing for level 3 first degree black belt and I'm half way to second degree. Where does the time go? All of the ITA forms are changing effective immediately, so since I'm an instructor, I have to get up to speed on those ASAP.

- I'm also working on a lot of scrapbooking projects ~ that's fun again!

Well, that's all for today. I need to get ready for work. Remember, if you want a free massage or you have a name suggestion for our program, be sure to comment!

A Thought for the Day

"I have the audacity to believe that people everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, quality, and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down, other-centered men can build up.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, jr.

Peace, everybody.

A Whole Lot of Scrap

Well, we're back from the Great White West. Man it was cold yesterday. When we left Denver, the real temp was -16. The cold air walking down the jetway took your breath away.

Anyhow, it's great to be home! There's nothing like your own bed and shower, is there?

So here it is, January 13th. If you're a scrapbooker, you probably know that the biggest trade show of the year, Winter CHA, is in January every year. That's when the manufacturers all over the world get together with the press and the retailers from around the world to sell and show of their stuff. This is the first show in over two years that I'll be missing. I'll miss seeing my friends, but I certainly won't be missing all the hard work.

One of the people that I'll miss seeing is my friend April Oaks. April is the owner and creator of Digital Scrapbook Memories, a great company selling super cute and creative digital papers and elements for digital (and paper!) scrapbooking.

April will be teaching free classes at CHA in Anaheim. Be sure to check them out, I know they'll be great. Here's some more information if you're going to Anaheim:

Digital Scrapbook Memories is hosting free digital scrapbook classes at CHA.
Tuesday, January 30th 6:30 p.m. at the Anaheim Marriott (accross the street from the convention center).
Two classes will be offered: Introduction to Digital Scrapbooking and Advanced Digital Scrapbooking.
The introduction class will teach you everything you need to know to start scrapbooking using any version of Adobe Photoshop, including Elements.
The advanced class will teach you a bunch of fun tips and techniques for digital scrapbooking.

You can read what we will be teaching in our Introduction class here http://www.digitalscrapbookmemories.com/digitalScrapbookTips.asp Lesson 1-8 will be covered in the class.

You should see the previews of April's new CD, it ROCKS! My friends Deb Perry and Danielle Catalano-Titus have also contributed to the artwork and it's really great. I can't wait to get my copy, for sure. If I get permission from April, I'll post some sneak peeks here in the next day or so.

Be sure to check out Digital Scrapbook Memories. April provides great education, information and education on the site.

Happy Scrapping, everybody!

****** UPDATED *********

Here is a sneak peek at April's "In the Mood" CD. These are gorgeous kits!

Fresh Air!

Wow, where did the time go? Time always flies when you're having fun, I suppose.

We've had great weather the last two days up here in the high country....mid 30's, blue skies and no wind (yay!). When we have good weather, we sure stay out there on the slopes for the majority of the day. That's sure fun, but oh are my knees aching! My knees didn't ache like this fifteen years ago. Hmmm.

Shannon skied with us the last two days. She is rockin' the ski slopes. She's fast and fearless and a natural talent. Man, things that she picks up immediately took me years to master. I sure wish I had started when I was a kid. She'll be kicking out butts in a few years. Rock on, Rocker!

We fly out of Denver tomorrow at noon and guess what? Another snow storm is a comin' overnight. Great. Just what I didn't want to happen. Hopefully it won't be a problem.

See ya back from Ground Zero very soon. I'm anxious to sleep in my bed and take a shower in my shower.