Friday, September 29, 2006

BE THE FIRST TO SEE

Our October issue cover designed by yours truly...

Sunday, September 24, 2006

A MILLION DOLLARS

Well Friday started out like any other day. I woke up at 6:30, had Charles to school by 8. I went in to finalize the Fall Festival Directory which I was lucky enough to design most all of the ads and the cover of.

Heike took me out for a celebretory sushi lunch. (Her favorite). She has eaten raw fish since she was a kid growing up in Germany. I can eat a very small amout of raw tuna mixed with lots of wasabi, rice and lower sodium soy sauce. My bento box mainly consisted of california rolls, some fried salmon roll and tuna rolls. We chatted about how sucessful the deadline went and how sometimes dealing with customers is reminescent of babysitting.

I went home, took a shower and went to my other job. I sometimes like to call it "playing the market". But you actualy have to rely on a lotta charm and a little luck. The stocks werent paying so well and after losing out on a VERY large stock due to timing and possibly my own insecurities I decided to cut my losses and take what I was lucky enough to receive even though I was kicking myself.

I stopped by Publix for some subs and stuff. Well the little geek making my sub had the personality of a toad and the speed of a slug. So I patiently waited. The usual nice guy who actually TALKS wasnt there that night. I got my subs and a few other things and headed over to the express line which, by this time, was about 10 people deep. So, I did the next best thing and went to the customer service counter to check out. Well there was a guy in front of me getting 2 money orders, 2 people in a line to the right of me and one girl behind the counter. After she dealt with the money order guy about 5 minutes I thought to myself, "If she finishes with him and goes over to the other line, I will scream"..... Well I didnt scream, instead I walked off in a huff BACK to the express line which was now only 1 person long.

THAT person turned out to be a 70 or so year old man in no absolute hurry. So I waited, read mags, looked at candy and after I saw the young cashier starting to count out his mangled dollar bills I started to stress again. Thats when I happened to look over and right at eye level was a lovely bouquet of miniature roses. Do you see where this is going??

So I did it.....

I actually stopped to smell the roses!!


I inhaled a deep rose scented breath and remembered that there were actually still wonderful things all around me and I waited my turn.

When I got up to the cashier who had to be no more than 20 or so, she said "I really LOVE your hair". What a nice compliment from such a pretty girl. (I WAS having a great hair day).

I left feeling like a million dollars!

The moral of the story is clear. . .


PUBLIX IS SLOW!!!

Jobs before Stars were famous

When you see someone on the cover of US Weekly, it's almost always a celebrity who has found some semblance of success in the glamorous world of entertainment. If you dream of reaching celebrity status, only to be brought back to reality by your humdrum job, don't lose hope. Whether getting their foot in the door or just working for a living, those at the top often had to start at the bottom.

Johnny Depp
Before he was an Oscar-nominated actor, Johnny Depp sold pens. "You're calling people who don't want you to call them," he recalled. "You put on your best fake voice and try and sell them a gross or two of ballpoint pens with their name printed on them." Depp was still selling pens when Nicolas Cage suggested that he try acting, and he soon landed his role in the film A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Nicole Kidman
Young Nicole Kidman's first love was ballet, but she also practiced mime and drama. In her adolescent years, she worked regularly at a local theater, and eventually dropped out of high school to pursue acting full-time. She broke into movies at age 16, landing a role in the Australian holiday favorite Bush Christmas.

Chris Rock
Comedian Chris Rock worked at Red Lobster. "The thing about Red Lobster is that if you work there, you can't afford to eat there," he once told Jay Leno. "You're making minimum wage. A shrimp costs minimum wage... I cleaned up after the kids. Kids don't eat. I used to zero in on a kid. 'Don't touch that scallop. Please don't touch that scallop...'"

Halle Berry
This future Oscar winner got her first taste of the spotlight at the Miss Teen All-American Pageant, representing the state of Ohio in 1985. The following year, she was the first runner-up in the Miss USA Pageant which was a catalyst for a stint in modeling. It was this that eventually led to her first weekly TV series, 1989's "Living Dolls."

Salma Hayek
Before she was on Hollywood's radar, Salma Hayek was a superstar in her native Mexico thanks to a role on the soap opera Teresa. Anxious to make films and to explore her talent and passion, Hayek left the soap and Mexico in 1991, and left her heartbroken fans spreading rumors about an affair between Hayek and Mexico's president.

Russell Crowe
Way before he was in Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind, Russell Crowe worked, very briefly, as a waiter. Luckily, the aspiring actor and musician didn't like the service industry and turned toward more creative endeavors.


Snoop Dogg
On The Tonight Show, rapper and actor Snoop Dogg told Jay Leno he was fired from his first job as a grocery bagger. "I was better at stealing the groceries," he later explained, "than I was at bagging the groceries!"

Quentin Tarantino
When Quentin Tarantino dropped out of ninth grade, his mother insisted he get a job. He did, and promptly began working at the Pussycat Lounge -- a local adult entertainment theater. Years later, he landed a job as a "production assistant" on a workout video. His job duties: Cleaning up dog mess from the front lawn of the house in which the video was being shot.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Thursday, September 14, 2006

INFO YOU MAY OR MAY NOT KNOW


- Carroll got a temporary job at a place that turns poop into $$$. Something about the gas the poop emits is turned into energy. Any company that is FOR the environment is a good company to work for. She should be able to hook a full time one once she shows her stuff.
- The trailor she has that is stored at our house looks like we are gonna have some really great camping trips. It would even be great to take to the Keys.
- Last weekend Mom, Corrie, Charles, Jerome and I watched the Space Shuttle take off, played at the beach and came home for a Mexican Fiesta. YUMMO
- Charles is having fun learning Backgammon and his favorite thing right now is basketball.
- The Martin Short broadway play "Fame Becomes Her" looks cute and I'd love to see it.
- I havent watched Dancing with the Stars yet so I can't read Annette's or Bobby blog until I do. By the time you read this, I have probably watched it. I know Jerome will be rooting for Emmit
- Is Orlando really dating Uma? He is soooo hot!!
- Tom Cruise bought part of the redskins. hmmm.
- My favorite songs right now are Beyonce's "Ring the Alarm", Justin Timberlake's "Sexy Back" and Christina Aguilera's "Ain't no Other Man".
- Madonna needed a huge army of Cops and the Bomb Squad during her 1st concert in Russia. Wow.
- Needless Deaths = Steve Irwin and Daniel (Anna Nicole's son)
- Blogging is kind of boring.....

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

A JOYFUL 75TH


We had a nice time in Orlando for Granny's Birthday. We (Charles, Jerom and I) went to Red Lobster with Annette, Mac Butch, Sharon, Crystal & boyfriend Jason. Granny got her lobster and ate it too! Well not that particular one. That one was to personally give her a card from Red Lobster. (Notice she also had a pina colada-one of her favorites)

Saturday, September 02, 2006

CUPS OF COFFEE

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and in life.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - procelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress."

What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups and were eyeing each other's cups.

Consider this: Life is the coffee and the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and do not change the quality of Life. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided.

So, don't let the cups drive you. . . enjoy the coffee instead.

p.s. and don't forget to add some sweetness with Hazelnut coffee mate!!