Lots of things on my mind….
I will always have a fondness in my heart for Ford’s Mustangs. My first car was a 1967 Mustang and haven’t owned a better or cooler car since then. I took some time today to look at the Mustang Body Kits that are available today and it brought back some mighty fine memories.
Wish I still had that old Mustang.
Brent, who is the author of a valuable website I just found online that gives so much good information about everything you ever wanted or needed to know about PA Systems. And if he can’t provide you with what you want you can find even more information by clicking on any of the numerous provided links that he has taken his time and researched to find more. After all more is better, right?
I remember going and picking up one of my sister’s kids from school to take him to an important dentist appointment that she couldn’t take time off of work to take him herself. I had to sign in on a small sized computer at the front desk. It wanted to know my name, the relationship to the student and it took my picture. It was pretty impressive technology for a back country elementary school that has been forced to work even harder on really pinching pennies just like all our schools around the country with the economy still in such bad shape.
I understand the need for tight security around any and all schools these days. It doesn’t seem like a week goes by that there isn’t a reporting of some type of violence, usually a shooting and people being hurt and killed. It’s just madness and schools are struggling keeping their security as tight as possible to keep all students and employees safe from all the crazies roaming the streets that are determined to cause death and destruction in our schools.
What was really weird though was when I had finished with the sign-in procedure on the school’s computer and had my picture taken and took the printed name tag that it spit out for me to have on my body, the receptionist had to use the school’s very out-dated PA system to contact my nephews teacher to announce my arrival and to send him on up to the office for me to sign both of us out and leave the school hours before the last bell would ring. Their PA system sounded just like the PA system did in that same school (the same school that I attended back in the day). Her voice sounded rough and broken up, with a lot of popping and crackling along with other irritating noises they used to bug me back then and come to find out, still does.
I remember I asked my nephew about the PA system, of course he is oblivious to the whole entire subject. When I asked him what the normal morning announcements were all about in his school each morning, he couldn’t provide me with anything at all. Guess his ADHD makes it hard for him to concentrate and listen so early in the morning. I remember getting a lot of good information each day from the morning announcements, but that was me and my nephew doesn’t seem to be interested. To each his own I reckon.
Did you know that a victim of a cardiac arrest could die within four – six minutes if they are not treated the right way and in a timely fashion? And that today’s studies show that by providing CPR to an adult that has collapsed due to a sudden cardiac arrest can more than double or triple a person’s chance of coming out of type of arrest alive. What really bites is that less than 1/3 of these people, that are not in the hospital at that precise moment, don’t even receive CPR.
I know that way too many people are not comfortable performing CPR on anyone – especially on some one that they don’t know for a various reasons. Since the 1980’s what with the AIDS/HIV epidemic people are really scared about getting that close to anyone and have really shied away from the whole CPR idea, big time and not just because they are afraid of doing something wrong. It is such a shame.
I’m so glad that there is a big new ad campaign going on right now with the American Heart Association and the Ad Council that is introducing the Hands-Only CPR technique that hopefully will have a positive impact on people and get people to start saving lives and reducing the number of people that are dying each day because of heart failure. This Hands-Only CPR is a simple 2 step process, the first thing you do is call 911 and the second being to push hard and fast on the chest, right in the center of it, until help arrives.
Some times you can do things on your own, but some times you really need to turn to some one who specializes in that particular field. As much as I wouldn’t mind creating and then printing out the brochures, pamphlets and flyers that are needed for the neighborhood watch that I belong to, I really think that they should check out the website that I sent them the link to for custom printing in new york.
Right now is a really busy time here at the farm. With yet another massive snow storm on the way there is so much to do to prepare for. I never seem to have an extra time since the holidays came and went. This has been one heck of a winter so far. Not that I am surprised. We have had some pretty easy winters, these past couple of years, we were due.
If push comes to shove I will do my best, but I’ve heard good things about this particular printing company and I think that they could do a much better job at this point, but we will see what they decide on at the next meeting come the middle of March.
My brother has asked me to help him with his website, as his busy is in a slow cycle and he needs more customers. It is hard to be ready and willing to work to support your family but the phone does not ring. It is hard running a business in the first place – so many things to do and so much on your mind. But I think I can help a little but kick-starting his small business marketing with some changes to his web site and then showing him how to use the internet to bring in new customers.
He is a plumber – and a darn good one. But when I was trying to talk to him at Christmas about local search marketing and something like Oracle support services, all I got was a blank stare and a mumble about not having time to deal with it. I totally understand how you can be kept busy with everything else it takes to run your business, but even in busy times you need to continue working at bringing in new customers. Marketing and Oracle support services are a year long effort. I know a lot of people do not take the time to write out a detailed business plan or a marketing plan. They try to “wing it” and just work that into their daily list of everything that needs to be done. But having something on paper – or in the computer – really helps keep you on track.
I am going to show him how to spiff up his website and then Elevate local listings so that when people type in the search word “plumber” that they can find his business listing on the front page of the search results. If you think about it, most people do not click past the first page when they are looking for a business or a service provider. So getting his web site and contact information on the first page is vital to getting the eyes on his site and the phone ringing again with new business.
A small business is sounds like it would be easy to handle on your own, but with all my experience I have learned help is sometimes needed. My niece whom I helped raise when she was still in diapers, opened up her own small business in the Raleigh, N.C area after she had finally earned her degree last year.
She seemed to have everything in order until she had visited last week and had told me that she learned she was expecting a baby in a few months, and she needed help handling some things with her small business. I had asked her if there was anything I could do to help without having to up and leave my farm, to move closer to help. She replied back saying she needed professional help but she didn’t know where to start, so I came up with an idea that might just help her.
We took an evening during her visit here, to search the net for any advice or help. It didn’t take long to find the perfect way to help her out for such a great deal by having local accountant help her with her bookkeeping, tax preparation, and financial statements. My niece was ecstatic to see that they were offering what she felt she needed help with for her small business.
She is now working with a great accountant and has been updating me on her stress levels, and it has dissipated tremendously since she had gotten back with the help she needed. I’m so glad I could help her without taking drastic measures to up and move from my home, and help her reduce her stress, since she is now pregnant and expecting.
I remember, many years ago, as a first time car insurance buyer, all that time that I spent on the telephone and looking through the yellow pages for local car insurance companies, for hours on end, asking for car insurance quotes to compare in an effort to find the best deal available. Not only did that take a lot of time and effort, it also limited me to agents that were for the most part, local to my area.
Now we can go online and quickly get quotes from all types of insurance companies in a matter of minutes. What a different the Internet has made in our lives today.
One of the many touches that my mother had around the old homestead was the amount and usage of burlap. In just about any of the rooms in this house had something burlap in it. Some people collect unicorns, but my mother collected many things. One of them being burlap.
I came across a fitted faux washable burlap tablecloth on line this morning and it took everything that I had not to immediately order one. I mean the price was right and I do believe that it would great on the dining room table, but I have bigger things and items that are waiting for me to get around to.
I have bookmarked the site for further reference. Who knows maybe if I put it on my Christmas wish list, I just might find it under the Christmas tree this year. It might help if I tell people that is one of the items that I would love to receive. Lord knows I don’t need any cookies, candies, slippers or a new tie! Burlap would be wonderful compared to some of the yearly presents that are purchased and given with out any thought or consideration.
It is a slow process, but I am getting the place turned around and looking better bit by bit. The house hasn’t seen these many changes in so very long, my parents had not done much in the last decade, due to age and illness, so it has a lot that needs repair and changing. It isn’t easy, trying to find the balance between keeping the memories and bringing the much needed modernization into the place, I would hate to cross the line and upset other family members that have a vested interest in the place as well.
I have run across the most marvelous canvas art online and am considering purchasing one of the many pieces that would look good in the old place. Wall art doesn’t have to be expensive, and I’ve really been impressed with the prices that I’ve run across at Mywhitewalls.com, very reasonable and several have jumped out at me and caught my eye. This piece in particular would go really well with the colors in the front living room and is just over $100, and comes with the offer of Free Shipping as well.
I’m sending my one sister the link for her review and opinion, just to keep her in loop with many ideas and issues that I run across. I value her opinion and her eye for colors and decorating for the place.
My neighbor called this morning in a panic and asked if I could please drive her and her teen-aged daughter to the hospital. She didn’t want to call an ambulance, but she had no transportation until her husband got home late tonight with the family car. Of course I agreed to drive her. Her daughter looked very pale and sweaty and I was very concerned for her health. I suspected heat exhaustion – but it could have been something even worse.
We got o the hospital quickly and without incident and I helped them get in the ER entrance. She asked me to not bother staying at the hospital – she just need the ride to get there. That is not the way I was raised – I felt a duty to go inside and make sure she would be treated and taken care of – not just drop someone off and drive away. I don’t care how many white lab coat doctors, med students and nurses were milling about – I needed to know that she would be seen.
It has been a couple of years since I’ve even seen a lab coat or pair of scrubs anywhere. Thankfully I’ve been healthy and not been around hospitals much. In fact, the last time I saw anyone in scrubs is when I went online and ordered a Halloween costume for my nephew, who wanted to go trick or treating dressed as a med student flunky, with fake blood smeared all over his shirt and gloves.