Ah, Sweet Memories - Part One

Author : Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein
Finally! The colors of the leaves are changing, and now all too quickly. As I walk around my neighborhood enjoying the smells of autumn, combined with the reds, oranges and even maroons of some of the leaves, I think once more of all the autumns that have come and gone.Surely for me, it is a special season. How does my memory hold on to this time of year? It is partly by color, and certainly by memory traces of weather conditions. I particularly think of gray days where it doesn't rain, as well as crisp clear days of brilliant blue sky, when I feel cold but so fresh and clear headed. Some of my autumn memories are tied into Halloween. There were those giant paper bags that I dumped onto the living room rug as a six year old. It seemed like millions of candy bars came tumbling out. There were Hershey Bars, Three Musketeers, Kisses and Life-Savers that lasted six months, along with lollipops—even loose change—and of course apples. I had to come back and forth to my house three times as the bag got so full. There were no plastic bags in those days. Then there were the high school football games in Norwalk. My father was the Superintendent of Schools and liked to go to show support. I wanted to go to be popular and see the boys. Finally I was old enough to be invited to a game by a senior in high school. I thought I would die with joy. He was handsome and smart and I was only a freshman. We had a great time. I was nervous but still felt entranced. He put his arm around me as we walked. He knew everybody. When he dropped me home later I realized suddenly that my pants had a rip in them that was fairly large and noticeable. Now I really wanted to die!Today I came across a wonderful story sent to me by a guest writer, Emily Doherty. She takes us in to her vivid memory bank, by color, by aroma, by setting and many other ways of delight. For example, Emily captures the essence of color beautifully by letting us take a peek into her vivid childhood memories. We really get a chance to see how she has been able to hold on to memories and bring them back to life as truly enchanted moments. These moments are what I call in my first book, THE ENCHANTED SELF, A Positive Therapy, 'Positive Fingerprints of the Mind', unique to each of us. I hope that you enjoy her insight and joy as she recounts her unique way of connecting with enchantment. I also hope that you experience, as I did by reading her story, that you have a real sense of having been there with her. Even though we all experience life a little differently, there is a joy in sharing and connecting that happens when we make our story real. Emily has done that for all of us! Enjoy.Please enjoy this short exercise below and stay with me next week for part two of this article where you will get to read Emily's beautiful story about color and enchantment.Ponderings: What does color mean to you? Can you play with positive memories about color, or perhaps the feel of beautiful fabric? Or the aromas that goes with special occasions? Give yourself a momentary treat and retreat to some pleasant sensations! For me right now, I'm remembering the beautiful recital dress made out of lavender organdy that I danced in when I was six. It had ruffles and to this day I yearn for it. How I wish my mom had saved that little dress. There are lavender roses every year that are the exact shade. How happy I am when I see them.I hope you treat yourself to a pleasant reverie and be blessed by some lovely way in which at least a part of it will come back or be reinvented in some way, as the roses took on the exact color for me!Ah, Sweet Memories - Part TwoBy Dr. Barbara Becker HolsteinThank you for staying with me. Last week I shared some colorful autumn stories of my childhood that were truly enchanted moments. This week I hope you will enjoy part two as Emily shares her beautiful story about color and enchantment with us. Enjoy!Featuring the story Prism by guest writer, Emily Doherty"Right brain ... left brain ..." droned the speaker. I doodled idly in my already embellished notebook margins and mumbled "No brain!" under my breath. Surely a crayon or two might still lurk in a forgotten corner of this escapee mother's pocketbook. I nudged my friend for assistance, but all she could find was an old lipstick stub, too neutral for my purposes. Not even a smudgy red pen or a faded highlighter. I grinned conspiratorially in her direction as we recalled yesterday's 'there-goes-another-flower-child" glances of other tourists when they spied the bunches of scarlet poppies waving comfortably from a free corner of my backpack. "Right brain...left brain..." One for words, one for images, and I, ever easily aroused and enraptured by both. Which brain was mine, I mused? Yet another hole too round for my perennially square peg. Images. Color. Why choose? I cannot remember a time when I was not seduced by color. Was it the petunias, perhaps, the firm grip of my father's aging hand as we climbed the short hill beside our house to browse briefly in the palette of fuschias and magentas, violets and lavenders blue? Was it the haphazard piles of velvet upholstery samples tossed invitingly on the play yard floor of my grandmother's linen closet, beckoning me to cavort with kings and queens? Or the bright balls of wool stored in the shiny brass potato chip can awaiting her dedicated fingers to transform them into rainbow squares for afghans? Perhaps it was the color words themselves, the tantalizing tongue twirls of fairy tales and Crayola wrappers: heliotrope, delphinium, vermilion, celadon, burnt sienna, Endless as imagination, they lured me to delight. I am drawn to the mesmer of color as the musician is to melody. Song colors my ears; image colors my soul. I cannot choose a favorite, like chocolate or vanilla ice cream; life remains incomplete without all 64 in one box. From the earliest remembrances of childhood, my favorite few possessions were books with "colored plates", a rare find among my mother's vintage novels, and crayons. I amassed color everywhere: postage stamps, ribbons, fabric switches, buttons, flower petals, butterflies, marbles, in endless and varied collections. While my mother shopped, I crawled invisibly under the tables in the millinery department, risking spots on my shopping-white gloves and hoping that an elegant bloom or two, a feather or a bright sequin, had somehow hidden in the pale, plush carpeting. I traced the paisleys in oriental rugs, and retraced them as I rubbed my eyes and journeyed through my very own Arabian Nights to sleep. Dresses, many ill-fitting and old, hide in the depths of my closet, appearing as briefly as butterflies in Spring cleaning, and then carefully return to their hooks and hangers because the loss of their colors would somehow diminish my being. Like my relationships, they stay safely in the shadows, each waiting for the vibrant moment to emerge from its Plastic bag chrysalis when the light changes seasons. My mother's coral wool dressing gown, my father's tasteful maroon ties, my daughter's first velvet gown, an unmistakable Evening-In-Paris blue, a length of bright Marimekko left from my son's window curtain -- each has a spot in my Technicolor memory. Bred on the still enticing black and white films, a secret part of me breathes a quick sigh of relief when the movie is in color! Like my mother, I find myself chasing Tiffany windows in obscure towns and places, their brilliant tones enveloping me in awed silence as they did on Sunday mornings long ago. Unable, to rationalize a splurge on the real thing, I have carefully arranged a pauper's ransom of colored glasses and bottles on the eastern sill to greet the early morning light. Drawers burgeon with sheets of wrapping paper too beautiful to be sacrificed yet to packages; silk scarves spanning the generations lie in neatly folded piles looking for a more swan-like neck than mine. Yes, it is I, screeching to a stop in front of summer's roadside stands—surely there is a friend who will delight in the medley of marigold yellows and cosmos magentas as much as I. Only a woman committed to keeping all 64 colors in a single, dog-eared yellow box would buy flowers instead of cucumbers for dinner, would count Provencal sunflowers instead of sheep on a sleepless night. There is not a jelly glass (see how that one looks blue in the afternoon light!) too dusty for the optimistic crimson of the last November rosebud, nor a moment too full to wonder at the purpling miracle of sunset, where, at last, one might search between the gilded folds of cloud and finally capture the elusive sky-blue pink. "Color", continued this morning's speaker, "frolicked like the child at the edge of the sand" in the chosen artist's works. In color lies the kaleidoscope of my life, the fire opal of my imagination, and the palette of my memories and dreams. It is the prism of my soul, illuminating the depths and the dark. About the Author
Dr. Holstein is the originator of The Enchanted Self and a psychologist since 1981. She is the author of two books: The Enchanted Self, A Positive Therapy and Recipes for Enchantment, The Secret Ingredient is YOU!Dr. Holstein speaks on radio, and appears on television in NY and NJ. She gives lectures, seminars, retreats and audio interviews on LadybugLive.com and is in private practice in Long Branch, NJ with her husband, Dr. Russell Holstein.
Category : Management

Clever Bil Clinton Gets $5 Million Advance For Book On His Charitable Work

Author : Tom Attea/NewsLaugh.Com

Think whatever you might of William Jefferson Clinton, you have to give the ever-smiling overachiever credit.He finds, in the lassitude of his post-Presidential years, a devoted and commendable calling to charity. And so canny is the man that he is able to extract a $5 million advance from Knopf to write a book about his benevolence.While there have been many noble people who have given their lives to charitable acts, it is a rare person indeed who can find a way to make millions out of it.We can all rest assured that he is now even more abundantly funded to keep up his meritorious work. Tom Attea, humorist and creator of NewsLaugh.com, has had six shows produced Off-Broadway and has written comedy for TV. Critics have called his writing ""delightfully funny" and "witty" with "good, genuine laughs."

Category : General Humor

OnStar Satellite System for Engine Efficiency

Author : Lance Winslow
OnStar is a cool system for any family. There is even the ability to unlock your door from Space, no kidding, so if you lock yourself out of your car you simply call a number and they unlock it from space. With this great technology and the fact it always knows where you are with GPS, that means the OnStar system could do much more, if it were designed to do so.Recently a friend on a road trip in a mini-van had been thinking that when going up and down hills the engine had a tough time at the higher altitudes. Having Onstar of course makes drivers feel safer when traveling on road trips; for instance if you get caught in a snow bank collapse or small avalanche. As more people get GPS in their vehicles it will adjust traffic thru an area due to how the display is set on everyone’s in car navigational devices.Some GPS units suggest best routings and distances, by doing this on the more advanced units it will change traffic flows, for those who have such units. The programmer in Los Angeles could end up effecting traffic in Wyoming on a Device made in China sold with your German car. Go Figure? Currently not all GPS Navigational Systems are programmable and those which are, well like your home VCR, you may never figure out how to use all these cool options. It might be easier to learn a new language?My friend said; “Wouldn’t it be cool if the Onstar had the capability of programming ones itinerary into an onboard computer, which would then program the engine to be more efficient?”Well with GIS information data sets figured into the GPS Navigational system it would be easy. The XML database sets can be integrated that is not a problem. Then the Onstar could tell the navigational system that the elevation is changing for a hill. The engine would change for fuel setting for a lower gear or passing gear as the driver hit was one-third up the hill. The GIS-GPS system would tell satellite where it was and the satellite would tell the car that you were at higher altitude and to lean out the mixture of gas and air. Sure, I agree this would be a fuel efficient way to increase fuel mileage and performance and it is not only a smart idea, but also easy to engineer.I can tell you I have my generator in my motor coach set for about 1500 feet and when I am up at 7-8000' it runs with extra soot coming out. It does not adjust properly itself. If Onstar adjusted for hills or down hill too that would be smart, it can be done, you know? My friend is correct, as it makes a lot of sense. Think on it."Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/
Category : Supplements

How To Choose The Proper Bicycle

Author : Jeff Slokum
There are many different types and styles of bicycles. You will need to decide on the type of biking you will be predominantly doing in order to help you narrow down your choices. Below are just some of the types of bicycles available on the market today.

The first bicycle we will mention here are what are considered by some to be comfort bicycles. These are the type used by most weekend recreational bike riders. They usually have a comfortable shock-absorbing seat and shock absorbing front forks and wide pedals.

Another type of bike which is a bit more rugged than the comfort bike is a trail bike or light duty mountain bike. These bikes can take a bit more rough stuff than the bikes mentioned above but are not meant for serious mountain biking.

Touring bicycles are for those who go long distances and faster than recreational bike riders. These bikes are built for riding on the pavement. They are light weight bikes with more shock absorbency than comfort bikes.

Cruiser bikes are heavier than the comfort bikes with fatter tires. They are good for the road, or riding in the sand.

A true mountain bike has a stronger frame and components than any other bike as they are intended for off road and rugged terrain. The tires on a mountain bike are knobby and wide for more shock support. The seat and handlebars are positioned to allow for the rider to lean over while maneuvering the bike.

Recumbent bicycles are becoming very popular with older riders and those who have some limits in physical ability. The rider reclines while pedaling in a feet forward position. The seat is much more comfortable than on any other bicycle. Recumbent bikes sit low to the ground and have multiple gears.

Talk with family and friends who own bikes to get their opinion on what may be the best investment for you. If you don't think that you'll stick with bike riding long term and if you don't plan to do more than weekend riding you don't need to spend a fortune. Visit several bicycles shops and talk with the pro's before making a decision. You can get many years of enjoyment if you choose the right bike for you.

VoIP - The Exception That Proves the Rule

Author : Helen Upsher
Indeed corporate accounts are often constrained against adopting a new voice platform by large, long-term investments in a legacy PBX. Meanwhile the SME is being offered low risk, low disruption, high-value propositions from service providers such as Skype, Devil7 and Evoxus. Furthermore, recent advances in the IP-PBX and gateway space promise huge opportunity for the reseller focused on the SME market.VegaStream's Vega 50 6x4 is the ultimate configurable gateway targeted at the SME market. This product lets the reseller deliver a wide range of IP/TDM gateway options supporting analog exchange lines and end points as well as Basic Rate ISDN in a single, compact form factor. Driven by VegaStream's award winning configuration and dial planner software, this gateway provides a simple, one stop solution to migrate and integrate the typical amalgam of lines acquired by the growing SME to a converged VoIP solution.In an associated move, VegaStream has also become corporate sponsor of SIPFoundry, the not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the development of open source software for SIP-based communications on industry standard platforms. SIPFoundry is following the Linux/Red Hat model with Pingtel adopting the role of Red Hat as the company to bring SIPFoundry output to market as fully supported and commercialised product. Pingtel's current IP-PBX offering comes to market up at up to 70% less cost than equivalent solutions from traditional telecoms hardware vendors. They look on track to meet their goal "to bring PC economics to the VoIP industry."For once, it looks like the SME may have an edge over the corporates!For more information please visit www.vegastream.comFormed in 1998, VegaStream is one of the most experienced players in the industrial VoIP market. The company supplies gateway CPE to both traditional telecommunications carriers and the new generation of Internet telephony service providers. VegaStream also serves the enterprise market through a global network of distributors and resellers supported by regional offices in the UK, USA and Australia. VegaStream is a non-listed UK company. Investors include the management team, Pace Micro Technology PLC and MTI Partners. http://www.vegastream.com
Category : Computers-and-Technology:VOIP

Of Drugs and Youth

Author : Billy I Ahmed

Today, the problem of drug abuse among the youth has assumed a greater significance and heightened concern in various socio-cultural and economic strata. Though no accurate figures are available to measure the actual extent of the problem, drug addicts reporting to counseling in the country points out that the problem has spread among various age groups, and much among youths aged 16 to 25 years. The age group in which a youth is, signifies the transformation of an adolescent to a young person, which usually is accompanied with the trials and tribulations of a 'child' in becoming a 'grown-up'. A bundle of exuberant but undirected energy, he derives pleasure in taking risks and experimenting with new things. He craves to taste the 'forbidden fruits' in his quest for attaining recognition and status amongst his peers. Such a behaviour often brings him in open or concealed conflict with his parents and 'parent figures' which leads to the much discussed 'conflict of generations' and 'generation gap'. The situation has been further complicated due to the fast paced social transformation brought in the society by rapid industrialisation, urbanisation and rural-urban migration. It has eroded the traditional, informal, social control mechanisms and has even brought in changes in the structure of the family, from joint to nuclear, or at best an extended family. The 'media explosion' has shrunken the world, especially for the youth, and they are now more aware of things around. This has also raised their level of aspiration and ambition. With materialism, consumerism and individualism gaining ascendancy, modern youth is drifting away from his traditional roots and finds it difficult to cope with ever increasing social pressures. Further, the increasing economic pressures compel more and more parents to take full time employment leaving a child, more so a youth, alone in the house or in the company of friends. With no adequate programmes available to keep them busy, they become easy prey to anti-social activities including drug-abuse. There may be various reasons for a youth to take to drug abuse, from just curiosity and a tendency to experiment with. It may be an expression of his revolt against established authority, a way of gaining recognition in his group or he may just not be able to say 'NO', when offered. Therefore awareness creation or preventive education programme for youth is an imperative. In build up immunity amongst them, would promote self-respect and determination, provide experiences which encourage self-respect and sense of dignity, enhances personal and social skill which are necessary for functioning in a rapidly transforming society and provide for professional skills. What is more important is that the leisure time activities of both student and non-student youth are so organised that they provide for healthy recreation and constructive work habits. As is evident, a youth feels more at home within his age-group. Therefore, to reach them, it is but natural to take the help of more active groups among them. In Bangladesh, a strong emphasis has been placed on awareness building against drug-abuse among youth as they are considered to be the most precious asset for human resource development. Financial and technical assistance is provided by the government and NGO's to help them undertake activities such as socio cultural programmes. Experience has shown such programmes have a salutary impact, if backed by a good follow-up programme. It has also been realised that youth power can be harnessed not only from preventing youths from the malady of addiction but also by improving the environment they live in. One such example is the "Rainy Day" concert organised by Prothom Alo to observe the International Day against Drug Abuse and Trafficking. Some 15000 youths saying 'No to drugs' vowed to launch a nationwide movement against drug. I take my hats off to Anusheh who had the gut to narrate her once drug addicted life. Anusheh, you can be a good ambassador to help the drug addicts return to their original track. Such activities/programmes help to identify addicts in their own peer groups. Dare devils as the youth are, they prove to be an asset in reaching rather inaccessible areas of the community, such as, pockets of addiction. Many a time, due to their connection with traffickers, pushers and pedlars, it becomes difficult to impress upon addicts to leave their habit. It is here that the youths, voluntary organisations have not only been able to create awareness but also have been able to muster support for combating trafficking, pushing and peddling drug. About The AuthorBilly I AhmedExperienced in writing feature articles, short stories, biographies, and reports. Well versed in copyediting and proof reading. Strong technical command of English language&familiar with virtually all writing styles serious commitment to excellence lexicography. Competent researcher, interviewer, and reporter. Billy covers News summaries * Analytical reports * Translations * Current affair / Human rights/ environment/ health / poverty allevation/ human resource/ management issues/ production planning/ write-ups * Research services * Consultancy services*Copywriting*Proofreading*Editing The WritingtableA socio-political bouquet on a platter When you require information at the press of a key. When you wish to have a ring-side view of what's on. When you look forward to updated news in brevity. Then the one-stop solution is :thewritingtable@yahoo.com. Updates including all politically relevant social issues. Social responsibility issues that not only keep you dumbfounded but touches the core of your heart. Makes us all bleed within ourselves. Its time, we did something for the planet we live in. And any action starts with knowledge of what's happening. BILLY IS SEEKING A MEDIA AGENT TO SELL AND PROMOTE HIS COLUMNS AND ARTICLES ON MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING.MORE INTERESTED IN COPY EDITING AND PROOF READING. SERVICES AVAILABLE AT COPETATIVE RATE. thewritingtable@yahoo.com

Category : Kids - Teen