Ladies and Gentlemen. Boys and Girls, and Children of all ages.
Where did that come from- a tv show in the 50's?
It's that time of the year again.
It's the end of another decade. Holiday advertising and sales are over, early Winter, short days, dark at 4:30pm. The New Year starts tomorrow night/Friday morning. That means its' time to review our goals for 2009, and make our new goals, for 2010.
Are New Year's resolutions goals?
Our country is not in its best shape. In fact, some are saying that the "naughts" was the worst decade of our country's existence.
Unemployment is at record high's; and we all have our problems.
That's right, each and every one of us has our own set of problems. There is no one without problems.
Johnny Carson said that having money eliminated money problems, but left him with all of the other problems. Of course, for most of us, our number one problem has to do with money, or the lack thereof. But it doesn't make life any better or any worse then those who don't have money problems. And if you think otherwise, if you think that just having money makes everything honkey dorey then you are mistaken.
(honkey dorey? what does that mean?)
Many of us look around and think that everyone else has it better than we do. Many people live their lives in envy, haunted by the green eyes of jealousy. Many people live their lives thinking that everyone else got a better hand from the deck, gets better chances at life, and has more luck then they do. And many of us might look at a certain someone else, who might seem to have a lot of money, good job or business, lots of friends, and think, "I bet they don't have any problems", or "I wish I had his or their problems". Unless you walk in my shoes, you cannot know what I see, and feel. (There is a great expression that I just messed up terribly). How about- the grass is always greener on the other side.
At various times in my life many people were envious of me. I seemed to have it all.
While writing this story, I was reminded of the old Simon and Garfunkel song, Richard Cory. (Now I can't stop singing it to myself).
They say that Richard Cory owns one half of this whole town,
With political connections to spread his wealth around.
Born into society, a banker's only child,
He had everything a man could want: power, grace, and style.
But I work in his factory
And I curse the life I'm living
And I curse my poverty
And I wish that I could be,
Oh, I wish that I could be,
Oh, I wish that I could be
Richard Cory.
The papers print his picture almost everywhere he goes:
Richard Cory at the opera, Richard Cory at a show.
And the rumor of his parties and the orgies on his yacht!
Oh, he surely must be happy with everything he's got.
But I work in his factory
And I curse the life I'm living
And I curse my poverty
And I wish that I could be,
Oh, I wish that I could be,
Oh, I wish that I could be
Richard Cory.
He freely gave to charity, he had the common touch,
And they were grateful for his patronage and thanked him very much,
So my mind was filled with wonder when the evening headlines read:
"Richard Cory went home last night and put a bullet through his head."
Oh to be Tiger Woods? I wish my life was as good as Britney Spears'? Charley Sheen? Phil Spector has such a great life -- bet he doesn't have a care in the world! Princess Diana- she really had the world by the short hairs, all of the money in the world.
If we all took our problems and we put them into a hat, the chances are we would want our own problems back, and not anyone else's.
Really it's not about what our problems are, what we perceive our problems to be, but it is our own attitude towards them.
We might consider our problems to be monumental and insurmountable. Some people can't handle their problems. So but what are the options? Run away? Nervous Breakdown? Alcohol or drug? Therapy? Death? Suicide?
But my problems, they're mine, and I'll take them, I'll deal with them, because I have no choice. Life goes on, which is a lot better than the alternative. And besides that, I am happy.
Remember the children's book- The giving tree? The giving tree gave the boy his apples so the boy could sell them and have money, and the tree was happy. The giving tree let the boy cut down the branches so the boy could build a house, and the tree was happy. The giving tree let the boy cut down the trunk of the tree so the boy could build a boat, and the tree was happy, but not really. Then the boy came back, and there wasn't much tree left, just a stump, and the giving tree said to the boy, "I have nothing left to give you," but the boy said, "I am old, all I want is a place to sit and rest." And the tree was happy.
My father had a series of strokes, which took away his ability to walk and talk and communicate with the world; and ultimately he became a vegetable. After the strokes, my parents moved to Florida because Staten Island just wasn't handicap friendly. For my parents to go anywhere, I had a couple of guys who would have to go to carry my father in and out of wherever he wanted to be. Florida is handicap friendly. Everything is on one level, and accessible. I used to visit them quite frequently. I remember one time my mother introduced me to a man in a wheel chair, just like my father, also out to lunch like my dad was at the time, and my mother telling me that this man was the president of this huge bank. This was in the late 80's, when the buzz around was that the person with the most toys at the end, wins. Wall Street was out of control. Real Estate was out of control. The great crash at the end of the 80's hadn't happened yet.
I will never forget that after I met this man and his wife, with all of their money, power and prestige, I realized that the winner isn't the one having the most toys; it's about how you feel as you age.
I guess that is when I really set my first goal- which was then and still is today, to live a healthy long life, without medical problems interfering with my quality of life, by eating right and exercising regularly. Now I have plenty of medical issues. I go days with no hearing, I had toe surgery, and my toes still hurt (I am currently being treated by a pedicurist- not a podiatrist- Blue Cross won't pay Anna Nails, even though they should- manicures and pedicures are probably more beneficial to people than psychiatrists - although I am not getting pedicures for relaxation, I am getting them because I have toe problems - but I definitely see the relaxation benefits. I have terrible skin issues. I've had various types of skin cancer, from basil cell to melanoma, and everything in between (I'd write them down but I don't know how to spell them all). They are not my problems. They are my health issues. Which is how this email started I think, before I started my rambling.
My cup is half full, not half empty.
I have my "monumental problems" but I also have intricate plans to deal with them. And there is also plan B, if plan A doesn't work; and then there is plan C, and plan D. Don't get me wrong, we all have our moments. That's allowed. That's normal. It's okay.
(That's why God created oatmeal raisin cookies).
So the $64,000 question is- How can you reach your goals, if you don't set them?
Just this past week, I changed all of my underwear to the next size smaller. Man did that feel good. Now changing my underwear size was not one of my specific written down goals, and I still haven't reached my ultimate long term goal, but I am making progress, reaching some short term goals, which helps every other aspect of my life run smoother, and helps me maintain my positive attitude, and just feels so good. Last week I reached my short term 3 month goal, (from the weight loss challenge), to get back into a size 38 pants, which I did.
That being said, RIGHT THIS MINUTE is the perfect time to sit down, with a pen (or at a computer) and set your goals for 2010.
These are the instructions I included in last year's 'it's time to set goals' email.
1. Set CLEAR, SPECIFIC, MEASURABLE GOALS: (Health, Wealth, Family, Social, Public Service).
2. WRITE THEM DOWN.
3. SET a REALISTIC DEADLINE. (12-month goal; 3-month goal; weekly goal; and daily goals). There are no unrealistic goals, only unrealistic deadlines.
4. Identify OBSTACLES. Make removing the obstacle a priority and work on it every day.
5. Determine what INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE, TECHNOLOGY, is NEEDED TO REACH YOUR GOALS. Come up with a plan to get it
6. Determine what PEOPLE, GROUPS, and ORGANIZATIONS are NEEDED to REACH THE GOAL.
7. MAKE A PLAN TO OBTAIN THE GOAL. Write down every conceivable detail that you can imagine.
8. DO SOMETHING ON THE PLAN EVERY DAY. Review it, read it out loud, write it and re-write it. Update it. EVERY DAY
9. VISUALIZE THE GOAL AS ALREADY ACHIEVED
10. FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION!!!!
Now I recently heard that a highly effective method to set goals is to draw a picture of what you have in mind. Instead of saying, I want to lose weight you visualize yourself as being thinner. Draw a picture of yourself as thin. Additionally, you need to write down in a positive manner, I am so happy and pleased, that here it is, (date in the future), and I am now.........
And when setting goals think big. Shoot for the Stars. Don't let anyone tell you to be realistic or talk you out of setting high goals. The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it. Michelangelo.
Tiger Woods visualizes his swing before he swings. He visualizes himself hitting the ball into the cup. He certainly doesn't visualize himself coming in third, or hitting into the Sand trap.
Setting Goals in a positive way, as an accomplished fact, is how we trick our subconscious mind into capitulation.
When we think to ourselves, I am starting tomorrow; the subconscious takes you at your word, and makes it so we don't start until tomorrow. Of course tomorrow never comes, it's always tomorrow. This is very important. Setting goals is a way of taking control of our own life, exercising control over our subconscious.
If it's to be, it's up to me.
Last year I shared my goals. I didn't reach all of my goals. I am still working on reaching my goals. But I did make a lot of progress towards them in many different directions and on several fronts. I also stopped along the way and adjusted my goals. Changed deadlines, and changed a lot of the short term goals.
But before I get into my specifics, I would like to say that I really had a great year, talking to all of you who might have dropped me a note, sent me an email telling me that you enjoy my writing, or gave me a call.
Thanks to everyone who called about a listing, or referred someone to me, or added people to the list.
Thank you to Eileen who told me that she was addicted to my emails, and Anthony who tells me that I am brilliant, and Eve who tells me that she loves my writing, and Richard who engages me intellectually, and my cousin, Larry, the rocket scientist from NASA who thought that I might be expressing an interest in science, and my crazy lawyer friend Robert who wishes he had my professional skills and acumen; and Bruno who tells me he reads my emails in the morning to find out what is going on in the industry; and my cousin, Stuart, who edits for me, and the people who commiserated with me about weight loss, and shared with me their hearing issues, and Ted who points out errors made by other brokers, and all the people who told me what a whippersnapper is, or how to find out myself, and thank you to all of the other people who sent me a note, which unfortunately got lost, when my laptop was stolen last month. Believe me, it is my pleasure.
Goals realized in 2009
I sold every listing that I got (both of them).
I get referrals every day (well not every day/maybe every week) from people who read my emails, and from the people they pass them along to.
I write the most successful email publication on Staten Island.
My goal for 2010
I am so happy and thankful, that here it is: January 1st, 2011, and I am at the peak of my health and fitness, fit and trim, weighing 130 pounds, wearing small and medium men's clothing. I write down everything that I eat, which is 5 or 6 meals a day, small, nutritious, healthy good food, good choices, drink a gallon of water too. I exercise 4 or 5 times per week, because I love to exercise, it makes me feel so good. I feel the fat and the stress just sweating out of my strong lean body. I wake up well-rested each morning, eat my breakfast, pack my lunch, go to the gym, go to work, I sell an average of one property per week, to nice people on my list, and their referrals, I send out emails to 5000 people on my list at a time. Life is very good, and I love my life.
.......................to be continued
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Excess Baggage
It’s just about the end of the year and I am so much lighter than I was going in, in so many ways, having lost a lot of excess baggage.
I am less burdened by the ownership of needless material things.
I had a storage facility room filled with junk that I hadn’t looked at in years.
I’m talking about stuff that used to be in an attic or a basement, moved with every move, without even being opened, until put into storage place after my last move about 4 or 5 years ago. Boxes and boxes of accumulated things, most of which would never be looked at again until I died, and then only to separate the stuff of monetary value and the stuff of no monetary value. But because of a bookkeeping error on my part, I don’t have to think about it anymore, because it was sold in an auction.
I had some photographs from when my father was a student at PS 30. Actually the class photo of first grade, taken in 1925. A friend of mine’s son was starting PS 30, so I gave it to him to give to his kid to give to the school. Perhaps they would appreciate it. He said to me “Oh so altruistic of you”. Months later I noticed that he didn’t give it to his kid, but kept it for himself, put it on his bookshelf. How un-altruistic of him.
The thing about collecting stuff is that it is only exciting before you actually have it. Anticipation is 99% of satisfaction. Once you have it, you don’t look at it, touch it, and think about it any more, it just becomes a collector of dust.
The most joy that I have ever had from material things has always been giving them away.
I had an old advertising picture of an Indian on a horse, beautiful old art work, from an early 1900’s advertisement for some insurance company. One of my friends/partners at the time had expressed that he really liked it so one day I gave it to him. Felt great.
So what do you do with old photographs anyway? My kids haven’t got a clue who all of the dead people in my boxes are anyway (I still have boxes and boxes of more stuff in my attic, I only lost the stuff in the storage place). Sometimes for fun I take a bunch that someone that is still alive might like, and give them to them. I had given a lot of photos to my cousin Bob Tamarin, an attorney here on Staten Island, and he told me who the people were. We sat and talked and laughed.
Want to have a lot of fun? Go to an older relative or friend of yours and ask them to take out their old photos and tell you who everyone is. Both of you will have a great time.
My father was a prolific photographer most of his life. I once had envelopes printed with a picture of a guy under the hood of the old fashioned cameras, with the legend from the camera of Richard Lasher for him to give away his photographs. Used to be you walked into any Judge’s chambers on Staten Island and there would be a wall of my fathers photographs hanging, pictures of the members of the legal community.
Couple of weeks ago I had to go to a funeral in Long Island. I wanted to stay connected, so I brought my lap top with me, the one I used to use to send out these emails. Well I left it in my car the night before we left, forgot to lock the door, and someone stole it. (They also took my gym bag, looked inside, saw that there was nothing in it that they wanted so they left it about 100 feet away, behind my pool. They also left my SIBOR bag that I had the laptop in, and the thing you rest your palms on when typing).
Meanwhile, I had never been to an Italian funeral before. The night before the burial, we all were in the room at the funeral parlor, with the casket, and a priest came, who didn’t know the lady who died (my wife’s Aunt Grace). I was volunteered into saying a few words because they know that I love to speak in public. For some people it’s their worst fear, worse then fear of death. Used to be mine too, until I started the LANDMAX INTERNATIONAL CORP., my land development company "helping the landowner realize the maximum value of his land". When we first started LANDMAX, in 1987, we introduced it to the brokers of Staten Island at a breakfast at the Richmond County Country Club. I had hired someone to be the spokesperson, but after a few questions I had to jump in. I never jumped out. I discovered that I loved public speaking. My partner, Jack, used to sell vacuum cleaners; so he taught me the "tricks of the trade" of public speaking, and I got really good at it. After a while I felt like I was doing standup. We did "dog and pony shows" up and down the North East Coast, promoting the company- Massachusetts, Vermont, New Jersey, upstate New York, Long Island, etc.
Anyway, so the priest said some prayers, and then I stood up in front, and began entertaining the troops, making them laugh and cry, and told all of my personal experiences with “Aunt Grace”. Someone else said a few words, made everyone feel morbid. And that was that for the night. Everyone left.
The next morning, (after hitting the local Starbucks), we came back to the funeral parlor, into the room. Everyone was there from the night before except for the priest. The funeral director read a prayer, and everyone left the room, except for a few of us. Then the funeral director took out his trusty old screw driver-like thing, and started to turn it like you would the knob on a jalousie window, and the body was slowly lowered in the casket. Took a while, was a very eerie feeling. Then he closed the bunting on top of her, closed the cover, and locked it up. Took out a name plate, removed the backing, and stuck it onto the outside of the casket.
Then the casket was put into the hearse, (actually it was a Cadillac. So if it's a Cadillac, can it still be a Hearse? What is a Hearse? Who was Hearse?). Then we all got into our cars, and we followed the funeral director and the casket in the Cadillac, onto the Southern State Parkway, until we were pretty far out in Long Island, when we got off in the direction of the cemetery.
Once at the cemetery, we had to wait in line for our turn. Once it was our turn, we pulled up to this gazebo thing, made out of brick and wood; sort of round, open on most sides, with a closet in the back. We pull up and get out of our cars, the casket is rolled into the center of the area and we sat down or stood up. The funeral director said a prayer, and then we left, left the casket there, got back into our cars, the next funeral took our place at the gazebo, and we drove back onto the Southern State Parkway, went to an Italian Restaurant and had an 7-course meal. (I’m not quite sure which one was the funeral- the night before, or the day of?)
Jewish funerals are not done like this. No wake, you go to the funeral parlor for the funeral. When the service is over, you go to the cemetery, put the casket in the ground, and then people shovel dirt on top to fill up the hole. Then you go back to someone’s house, everyone brings cake, or fruit baskets, your closest people send entire meals, and you eat there for 7 days.
So which is more civilized? 7 days of meals, or eat 7 days worth of food in one shot?
Jon Salmon had an extra computer around; so I loaded it up and thought that I would be back in business. Got myself one of those portable hard drives, called cruiser. I downloaded my email addresses from my home computer, brought it to the office, and downloaded it, and now I had all of my email addresses and I am back in business.
Then I decided that I would move all of my emails, including all of my Lasher’s List emails, to the office computer. Now I am a very organized person. I save all of my emails by category. Lasher’s List land; letters received, my kids, family, surveys, different clients, health and fitness, receipts, cool stuff, legal stuff, etc. Years of emails, totally organized.
Anyway, so I thought that I loaded them onto the Cruiser- the F drive, brought it to the office, tried to download it but nothing. But now I am getting these warnings that they can’t find certain files in the F drive, so I figure out how to delete the data file that had no data.
Then I’m at home again, and I’m trying to move the files, PST not comma separated values (does anyone know what I am talking about?) It asks me where to put them -- in the personal folders? I say 'yes'. (Who am I to argue with Microsoft?). Nothing. But now I have the error notice about it can’t find the personal file on the F drive so I go to delete it like I did the day before, and I deleted all of my emails. Gone. Lost. I looked in the deleted file, not there. I called my friend Jimmy at Stardate Computer Systems Inc who told me that they are gone forever. That there are no hidden secret files where these things go once deleted- they vanish.
So now I don’t know whether to be upset or feel relieved.
I no longer have the burden of worrying about my stored things, nor do I have to pay for their storage.
I no longer have my lap top, but I also no longer have the frustration of the old relic's breaking down and freezing all the time.
And I no longer have all the old emails. They are gone.
But most important, I am a lot lighter than I was at the beginning of the year because I won the weight loss challenge that I told you about three months ago.
Remember I told you that I saw an ad in the supermarket about a weight loss challenge? $35 bucks and the winner gets all.
It turns out that the weight loss challenge was being run by a nice older-than-me couple, Roslyn and Skip, who sell Herbalife. Herbalife is apparently the worlds largest weight loss health company, bigger than Slim Fast, and Optifast, and the others that are around. They claim that their products are the healthiest.
Anyway, a month or two into the diet, I had stopped losing weight. So I figured, let me try this stuff, it solves the age old dilemma called breakfast. Every diet in the world tells you that to lose weight you must eat breakfast. They even say its better to eat a donut then to eat nothing. It has to do with metabolism and all that stuff. But I’m never hungry in the morning, and I'm too lazy to make oatmeal.
So I buy a container of Herbalife, “cookies and cream”, which you are supposed to put in the blender and make a malted milk out of. But I’m lazy, so I just put my two scoops into my coffee mug- and you know what- it’s great and, more important, it’s easy.
The current thinking on weight loss is also that you eat 5 or 6 times per day, smaller meals every 3-4 hours. You can supplement the meals with “protein bars” which I was having a ball buying at the health food store and the supermarket. (Like so-called healthy candy bars!)
Turns out that Herbalife makes a protein bar that has less calories then the best ones on the market, tastes better, more protein, less junk, and is cheaper, so I buy them too. (My favorite is chocolate coconut- like a mounds bar).
So I start eating my breakfast everyday at 8am chock full of protein, my regular food which I make and put into Tupperware things (veggies, fruit, and protein), supplemented by the protein bars. At the end of the 12 weeks, December 6th, I had lost 23 pounds an average of 2 pounds per week, which is the absolute healthiest way to do it.
Pretty Cool.
I lost the largest percentage of weight, and the most weight, but we split the pot 3 ways (not my idea). (2nd place lost 5 pounds, and 3rd place lost 3). My clothes fit great, and on January 1st, I break out the next size down waist pants. Can't wait.
So I am lighter at the end of the year, then I was at the beginning, although I didn’t reach my goal, but now I will set new goals for next year, but that will be a separate email too.
I am going to start my own Weight Loss challenge. $35 bucks to join, winners split, or winner takes all, to be determined. We will start the 4th of January, Monday night, at 7pm, at my office, Salmon Real Estate, 1855 Victory Blvd. Please let me know if interested, and if a different time is better.
Happy holidays to everyone.
……………………………to be continued
I am less burdened by the ownership of needless material things.
I had a storage facility room filled with junk that I hadn’t looked at in years.
I’m talking about stuff that used to be in an attic or a basement, moved with every move, without even being opened, until put into storage place after my last move about 4 or 5 years ago. Boxes and boxes of accumulated things, most of which would never be looked at again until I died, and then only to separate the stuff of monetary value and the stuff of no monetary value. But because of a bookkeeping error on my part, I don’t have to think about it anymore, because it was sold in an auction.
I had some photographs from when my father was a student at PS 30. Actually the class photo of first grade, taken in 1925. A friend of mine’s son was starting PS 30, so I gave it to him to give to his kid to give to the school. Perhaps they would appreciate it. He said to me “Oh so altruistic of you”. Months later I noticed that he didn’t give it to his kid, but kept it for himself, put it on his bookshelf. How un-altruistic of him.
The thing about collecting stuff is that it is only exciting before you actually have it. Anticipation is 99% of satisfaction. Once you have it, you don’t look at it, touch it, and think about it any more, it just becomes a collector of dust.
The most joy that I have ever had from material things has always been giving them away.
I had an old advertising picture of an Indian on a horse, beautiful old art work, from an early 1900’s advertisement for some insurance company. One of my friends/partners at the time had expressed that he really liked it so one day I gave it to him. Felt great.
So what do you do with old photographs anyway? My kids haven’t got a clue who all of the dead people in my boxes are anyway (I still have boxes and boxes of more stuff in my attic, I only lost the stuff in the storage place). Sometimes for fun I take a bunch that someone that is still alive might like, and give them to them. I had given a lot of photos to my cousin Bob Tamarin, an attorney here on Staten Island, and he told me who the people were. We sat and talked and laughed.
Want to have a lot of fun? Go to an older relative or friend of yours and ask them to take out their old photos and tell you who everyone is. Both of you will have a great time.
My father was a prolific photographer most of his life. I once had envelopes printed with a picture of a guy under the hood of the old fashioned cameras, with the legend from the camera of Richard Lasher for him to give away his photographs. Used to be you walked into any Judge’s chambers on Staten Island and there would be a wall of my fathers photographs hanging, pictures of the members of the legal community.
Couple of weeks ago I had to go to a funeral in Long Island. I wanted to stay connected, so I brought my lap top with me, the one I used to use to send out these emails. Well I left it in my car the night before we left, forgot to lock the door, and someone stole it. (They also took my gym bag, looked inside, saw that there was nothing in it that they wanted so they left it about 100 feet away, behind my pool. They also left my SIBOR bag that I had the laptop in, and the thing you rest your palms on when typing).
Meanwhile, I had never been to an Italian funeral before. The night before the burial, we all were in the room at the funeral parlor, with the casket, and a priest came, who didn’t know the lady who died (my wife’s Aunt Grace). I was volunteered into saying a few words because they know that I love to speak in public. For some people it’s their worst fear, worse then fear of death. Used to be mine too, until I started the LANDMAX INTERNATIONAL CORP., my land development company "helping the landowner realize the maximum value of his land". When we first started LANDMAX, in 1987, we introduced it to the brokers of Staten Island at a breakfast at the Richmond County Country Club. I had hired someone to be the spokesperson, but after a few questions I had to jump in. I never jumped out. I discovered that I loved public speaking. My partner, Jack, used to sell vacuum cleaners; so he taught me the "tricks of the trade" of public speaking, and I got really good at it. After a while I felt like I was doing standup. We did "dog and pony shows" up and down the North East Coast, promoting the company- Massachusetts, Vermont, New Jersey, upstate New York, Long Island, etc.
Anyway, so the priest said some prayers, and then I stood up in front, and began entertaining the troops, making them laugh and cry, and told all of my personal experiences with “Aunt Grace”. Someone else said a few words, made everyone feel morbid. And that was that for the night. Everyone left.
The next morning, (after hitting the local Starbucks), we came back to the funeral parlor, into the room. Everyone was there from the night before except for the priest. The funeral director read a prayer, and everyone left the room, except for a few of us. Then the funeral director took out his trusty old screw driver-like thing, and started to turn it like you would the knob on a jalousie window, and the body was slowly lowered in the casket. Took a while, was a very eerie feeling. Then he closed the bunting on top of her, closed the cover, and locked it up. Took out a name plate, removed the backing, and stuck it onto the outside of the casket.
Then the casket was put into the hearse, (actually it was a Cadillac. So if it's a Cadillac, can it still be a Hearse? What is a Hearse? Who was Hearse?). Then we all got into our cars, and we followed the funeral director and the casket in the Cadillac, onto the Southern State Parkway, until we were pretty far out in Long Island, when we got off in the direction of the cemetery.
Once at the cemetery, we had to wait in line for our turn. Once it was our turn, we pulled up to this gazebo thing, made out of brick and wood; sort of round, open on most sides, with a closet in the back. We pull up and get out of our cars, the casket is rolled into the center of the area and we sat down or stood up. The funeral director said a prayer, and then we left, left the casket there, got back into our cars, the next funeral took our place at the gazebo, and we drove back onto the Southern State Parkway, went to an Italian Restaurant and had an 7-course meal. (I’m not quite sure which one was the funeral- the night before, or the day of?)
Jewish funerals are not done like this. No wake, you go to the funeral parlor for the funeral. When the service is over, you go to the cemetery, put the casket in the ground, and then people shovel dirt on top to fill up the hole. Then you go back to someone’s house, everyone brings cake, or fruit baskets, your closest people send entire meals, and you eat there for 7 days.
So which is more civilized? 7 days of meals, or eat 7 days worth of food in one shot?
Jon Salmon had an extra computer around; so I loaded it up and thought that I would be back in business. Got myself one of those portable hard drives, called cruiser. I downloaded my email addresses from my home computer, brought it to the office, and downloaded it, and now I had all of my email addresses and I am back in business.
Then I decided that I would move all of my emails, including all of my Lasher’s List emails, to the office computer. Now I am a very organized person. I save all of my emails by category. Lasher’s List land; letters received, my kids, family, surveys, different clients, health and fitness, receipts, cool stuff, legal stuff, etc. Years of emails, totally organized.
Anyway, so I thought that I loaded them onto the Cruiser- the F drive, brought it to the office, tried to download it but nothing. But now I am getting these warnings that they can’t find certain files in the F drive, so I figure out how to delete the data file that had no data.
Then I’m at home again, and I’m trying to move the files, PST not comma separated values (does anyone know what I am talking about?) It asks me where to put them -- in the personal folders? I say 'yes'. (Who am I to argue with Microsoft?). Nothing. But now I have the error notice about it can’t find the personal file on the F drive so I go to delete it like I did the day before, and I deleted all of my emails. Gone. Lost. I looked in the deleted file, not there. I called my friend Jimmy at Stardate Computer Systems Inc who told me that they are gone forever. That there are no hidden secret files where these things go once deleted- they vanish.
So now I don’t know whether to be upset or feel relieved.
I no longer have the burden of worrying about my stored things, nor do I have to pay for their storage.
I no longer have my lap top, but I also no longer have the frustration of the old relic's breaking down and freezing all the time.
And I no longer have all the old emails. They are gone.
But most important, I am a lot lighter than I was at the beginning of the year because I won the weight loss challenge that I told you about three months ago.
Remember I told you that I saw an ad in the supermarket about a weight loss challenge? $35 bucks and the winner gets all.
It turns out that the weight loss challenge was being run by a nice older-than-me couple, Roslyn and Skip, who sell Herbalife. Herbalife is apparently the worlds largest weight loss health company, bigger than Slim Fast, and Optifast, and the others that are around. They claim that their products are the healthiest.
Anyway, a month or two into the diet, I had stopped losing weight. So I figured, let me try this stuff, it solves the age old dilemma called breakfast. Every diet in the world tells you that to lose weight you must eat breakfast. They even say its better to eat a donut then to eat nothing. It has to do with metabolism and all that stuff. But I’m never hungry in the morning, and I'm too lazy to make oatmeal.
So I buy a container of Herbalife, “cookies and cream”, which you are supposed to put in the blender and make a malted milk out of. But I’m lazy, so I just put my two scoops into my coffee mug- and you know what- it’s great and, more important, it’s easy.
The current thinking on weight loss is also that you eat 5 or 6 times per day, smaller meals every 3-4 hours. You can supplement the meals with “protein bars” which I was having a ball buying at the health food store and the supermarket. (Like so-called healthy candy bars!)
Turns out that Herbalife makes a protein bar that has less calories then the best ones on the market, tastes better, more protein, less junk, and is cheaper, so I buy them too. (My favorite is chocolate coconut- like a mounds bar).
So I start eating my breakfast everyday at 8am chock full of protein, my regular food which I make and put into Tupperware things (veggies, fruit, and protein), supplemented by the protein bars. At the end of the 12 weeks, December 6th, I had lost 23 pounds an average of 2 pounds per week, which is the absolute healthiest way to do it.
Pretty Cool.
I lost the largest percentage of weight, and the most weight, but we split the pot 3 ways (not my idea). (2nd place lost 5 pounds, and 3rd place lost 3). My clothes fit great, and on January 1st, I break out the next size down waist pants. Can't wait.
So I am lighter at the end of the year, then I was at the beginning, although I didn’t reach my goal, but now I will set new goals for next year, but that will be a separate email too.
I am going to start my own Weight Loss challenge. $35 bucks to join, winners split, or winner takes all, to be determined. We will start the 4th of January, Monday night, at 7pm, at my office, Salmon Real Estate, 1855 Victory Blvd. Please let me know if interested, and if a different time is better.
Happy holidays to everyone.
……………………………to be continued
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
The skinny on Global Warming
Over the past week on the radio, I've been listening to reports on the Copenhagen meetings which are trying to deal with Global Warming. Also last week, the EPA said that Global Warming is harmful to your health.
So I thought to myself: Hey, it's time for another informative email, maybe explaining global warming to those of us who really don't know what is going on."
So here goes.
In 14 hundred and 92, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Columbus said that the earth (or the world) was round. He was right about that. And when he sailed the ocean it might have been blue.
When we look at maps, globes, photographs, of the topography of the earth, we see blue (for the water although in many places it is now black or green with muck), we see the white snow
-capped mountain ranges, we see the red desert dryness.
But this isn't the earth's boundary. Earth doesn't stop at the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro, and the top of the earth is not Victory Boulevard. The Earth is round, is situated inside a king-sized Ziploc bag, which is also round (without the zip). Now this Ziploc bag makes a seal around the Earth, and establishes Earth's outer boundary.. It holds in what's on our side of it, and holds out what's on the outside of it.
The space between the dirt that we call earth and the outer limits of the Ziploc bag, if you will, is filled in with what is sometimes called our atmosphere. (There are lots of other words like stratosphere, used to describe the various layers which cumulatively, for purposes of this discussion, we will call the atmosphere. I am not pretending that this is a scientific thesis).
Some stuff does break through, like meteors. If you have any trouble understanding or believing this concept think Space Ship Challenger, that evaporated or exploded or whatever while attempting to enter the earth's atmosphere, or pass through the outer circle or break through the Ziploc bag.
You know, we used to think that if we throw something into the ocean (this also applies to rivers, lakes, streams, pond's, etc.) that it will just disappear.
For centuries, industry thought that it would be okay to just dump their waste into the water- courses, because the oceans were so vast and all connected that the "pollution" or industrial waste products, or whatever you want to call them, would be diluted enough so that it wouldn't matter. It would just dissipate.
(I try to explain to my 16-year-old granddaughter that when you throw trash out of your car window, it is going to land somewhere and be ugly somewhere, but it is very difficult trying to explain anything to 16-year-olds!!!)
But now we know better. Now we know that the oceans and rivers do not dilute the toxins. Instead, we have polluted the oceans and rivers and water steams and ground water and drinking water. (Many industries know it but don't care, and continue to pollute the world!) (Washington lobbyists will have you believe that it's in our best interest to allow them to continue polluting the earth for it creates jobs).
Now the air outside is sort of the same as the ocean in terms of vastness, except the atmosphere (cumulatively) is bigger.
Same thing with the air. We think that the emissions from our car just go up in the air and are diluted in the air. That the bad stuff just dissipates.
WRONG: They do not just keep going up. They get trapped in the atmosphere (cumulatively) and hang out.
Now here is the problem.
We use a lot of electricity. Lots and lots.
Where does electricity come from?
Well, in places like in Pennsylvania there are mines where miners dig out coal from coal mines. The coal is eventually put into railroad cars and shipped to where they make the electricity. The amount of coal used is so much that the railroad shipments never end. It is non-stop railroad cars full of coal going to the power plants. 24/7.
Now what they do is they take the coal, and they burn it in huge ovens (like the furnaces or boilers where we make heat). These coal burners then heat water that makes steam that makes the turbines go up and down, creating the electricity that then flows through the electric wires on the telephone poles and underground in the cities creating the power we use to run our computers and television sets and coffee pots and lights, etc.
Now there is this never-ending fire cooking the coal. Next time you drive across the Goethals Bridge at night, notice the "smoke stacks" releasing that white smoke that doesn't dissipate into the air but gets trapped in the atmosphere. At the foot of the Goethals Bridge is a power station. By the way, ever notice the smell at the bottom of the bridge, or when you first get onto the NJ Turnpike?
Coal, and Oil (including gasoline) are what are known as fossil fuels.
So heat rises. So where does it go? Into the atmosphere.
So what's the problem?
The problem is that the Earth is a finite space- from the dirt to the top of the Ziploc bag. Granted it's a big Ziploc bag. Over the past million years or so, it remained fairly constant, since the ice age. There was some change in the climate, but it was slow.
Over the past 40 years, since the advent of the 2 cars in every garage life style, and now the industrialization of the Third World (China, India, Vietnam, etc.) what has happened is that the rates of changes are doubling every 10 years or so. And the rates of changes are increasing all of the time.
The temperature in the big Ziploc bag is rising, because we are creating so much heat from burning all of that coal and oil. As a result, the ice caps are melting, the icebergs are melting. In Alaska and Iceland and Denmark and Canada, there is land and water where there used to be ice. In El Alto, Bolivia, the glaciers melted, and they are now running out of water. A
World Bank report concluded last year that climate change would eliminate many glaciers in the Andes within 20 years, threatening the existence of nearly 100 million people.
The ice has to go somewhere, so it goes into the oceans. The water level of the oceans rises, so places like New Orleans and Venice, Italy, and the SSolomon Islands, Manhattan and Staten Island could disappear.
As the temperature of the ocean rises, many species have died off. Some of the species that died off were responsible for protecting the coral reefs, and some of them ate some of the pollution. Certain sea life are not able to reproduce as well. We are seeing the end of many species of fish and animals, however this is a natural phenomenon anyway, survival of the fittest. Or is it?
The problem with global warming is that the changes are occurring too rapidly, so that in the natural sequence of things, the next group of fish/animals/plant/vegetation don't have a chance to evolve naturally.
The changes are occurring faster and faster. The rate of melting of ice bergs keep doubling. This is the microcosm, the best example of the problem in a nutshell.
The world is getting smaller, and the world is also becoming more industrialized. More of the world is now asking for energy, as new parts of the world discover and are first getting electricity, and washing machines, toasters, and cars.
One of the issues in the global warming debate, is who is going to pay, and how much each of the countries is going to cut its consumption of energy: The industrialized countries like the US who have caused all of the problems in the first place and use so much energy? Or the newly industrialized countries that in the world right now, who are beginning to use so much energy (India and China).
My purpose of this email was not to place blame, or to criticize anyone group, because it isn't necessary.
My purpose is to help spread awareness of the issues.
What is necessary is an acknowledgment that it is a problem, and that it is occurring.
Imagine you were living in a tent, or a Ziploc Bag, and there is a heater burning logs or coal or gas, or whatever.
Eventually you would get too hot,. you would need to shut off the heater. Well the Earth is a huge bubble with a heater in it. And it is getting too hot. But we are not able to turn off the heater, because the world is begging for more energy, pump up the volume- turn up the heat. Our thirst for energy is insatiable.
So what is the answer?
......................to be continued
So I thought to myself: Hey, it's time for another informative email, maybe explaining global warming to those of us who really don't know what is going on."
So here goes.
In 14 hundred and 92, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Columbus said that the earth (or the world) was round. He was right about that. And when he sailed the ocean it might have been blue.
When we look at maps, globes, photographs, of the topography of the earth, we see blue (for the water although in many places it is now black or green with muck), we see the white snow
-capped mountain ranges, we see the red desert dryness.
But this isn't the earth's boundary. Earth doesn't stop at the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro, and the top of the earth is not Victory Boulevard. The Earth is round, is situated inside a king-sized Ziploc bag, which is also round (without the zip). Now this Ziploc bag makes a seal around the Earth, and establishes Earth's outer boundary.. It holds in what's on our side of it, and holds out what's on the outside of it.
The space between the dirt that we call earth and the outer limits of the Ziploc bag, if you will, is filled in with what is sometimes called our atmosphere. (There are lots of other words like stratosphere, used to describe the various layers which cumulatively, for purposes of this discussion, we will call the atmosphere. I am not pretending that this is a scientific thesis).
Some stuff does break through, like meteors. If you have any trouble understanding or believing this concept think Space Ship Challenger, that evaporated or exploded or whatever while attempting to enter the earth's atmosphere, or pass through the outer circle or break through the Ziploc bag.
You know, we used to think that if we throw something into the ocean (this also applies to rivers, lakes, streams, pond's, etc.) that it will just disappear.
For centuries, industry thought that it would be okay to just dump their waste into the water- courses, because the oceans were so vast and all connected that the "pollution" or industrial waste products, or whatever you want to call them, would be diluted enough so that it wouldn't matter. It would just dissipate.
(I try to explain to my 16-year-old granddaughter that when you throw trash out of your car window, it is going to land somewhere and be ugly somewhere, but it is very difficult trying to explain anything to 16-year-olds!!!)
But now we know better. Now we know that the oceans and rivers do not dilute the toxins. Instead, we have polluted the oceans and rivers and water steams and ground water and drinking water. (Many industries know it but don't care, and continue to pollute the world!) (Washington lobbyists will have you believe that it's in our best interest to allow them to continue polluting the earth for it creates jobs).
Now the air outside is sort of the same as the ocean in terms of vastness, except the atmosphere (cumulatively) is bigger.
Same thing with the air. We think that the emissions from our car just go up in the air and are diluted in the air. That the bad stuff just dissipates.
WRONG: They do not just keep going up. They get trapped in the atmosphere (cumulatively) and hang out.
Now here is the problem.
We use a lot of electricity. Lots and lots.
Where does electricity come from?
Well, in places like in Pennsylvania there are mines where miners dig out coal from coal mines. The coal is eventually put into railroad cars and shipped to where they make the electricity. The amount of coal used is so much that the railroad shipments never end. It is non-stop railroad cars full of coal going to the power plants. 24/7.
Now what they do is they take the coal, and they burn it in huge ovens (like the furnaces or boilers where we make heat). These coal burners then heat water that makes steam that makes the turbines go up and down, creating the electricity that then flows through the electric wires on the telephone poles and underground in the cities creating the power we use to run our computers and television sets and coffee pots and lights, etc.
Now there is this never-ending fire cooking the coal. Next time you drive across the Goethals Bridge at night, notice the "smoke stacks" releasing that white smoke that doesn't dissipate into the air but gets trapped in the atmosphere. At the foot of the Goethals Bridge is a power station. By the way, ever notice the smell at the bottom of the bridge, or when you first get onto the NJ Turnpike?
Coal, and Oil (including gasoline) are what are known as fossil fuels.
So heat rises. So where does it go? Into the atmosphere.
So what's the problem?
The problem is that the Earth is a finite space- from the dirt to the top of the Ziploc bag. Granted it's a big Ziploc bag. Over the past million years or so, it remained fairly constant, since the ice age. There was some change in the climate, but it was slow.
Over the past 40 years, since the advent of the 2 cars in every garage life style, and now the industrialization of the Third World (China, India, Vietnam, etc.) what has happened is that the rates of changes are doubling every 10 years or so. And the rates of changes are increasing all of the time.
The temperature in the big Ziploc bag is rising, because we are creating so much heat from burning all of that coal and oil. As a result, the ice caps are melting, the icebergs are melting. In Alaska and Iceland and Denmark and Canada, there is land and water where there used to be ice. In El Alto, Bolivia, the glaciers melted, and they are now running out of water. A
World Bank report concluded last year that climate change would eliminate many glaciers in the Andes within 20 years, threatening the existence of nearly 100 million people.
The ice has to go somewhere, so it goes into the oceans. The water level of the oceans rises, so places like New Orleans and Venice, Italy, and the SSolomon Islands, Manhattan and Staten Island could disappear.
As the temperature of the ocean rises, many species have died off. Some of the species that died off were responsible for protecting the coral reefs, and some of them ate some of the pollution. Certain sea life are not able to reproduce as well. We are seeing the end of many species of fish and animals, however this is a natural phenomenon anyway, survival of the fittest. Or is it?
The problem with global warming is that the changes are occurring too rapidly, so that in the natural sequence of things, the next group of fish/animals/plant/vegetation don't have a chance to evolve naturally.
The changes are occurring faster and faster. The rate of melting of ice bergs keep doubling. This is the microcosm, the best example of the problem in a nutshell.
The world is getting smaller, and the world is also becoming more industrialized. More of the world is now asking for energy, as new parts of the world discover and are first getting electricity, and washing machines, toasters, and cars.
One of the issues in the global warming debate, is who is going to pay, and how much each of the countries is going to cut its consumption of energy: The industrialized countries like the US who have caused all of the problems in the first place and use so much energy? Or the newly industrialized countries that in the world right now, who are beginning to use so much energy (India and China).
My purpose of this email was not to place blame, or to criticize anyone group, because it isn't necessary.
My purpose is to help spread awareness of the issues.
What is necessary is an acknowledgment that it is a problem, and that it is occurring.
Imagine you were living in a tent, or a Ziploc Bag, and there is a heater burning logs or coal or gas, or whatever.
Eventually you would get too hot,. you would need to shut off the heater. Well the Earth is a huge bubble with a heater in it. And it is getting too hot. But we are not able to turn off the heater, because the world is begging for more energy, pump up the volume- turn up the heat. Our thirst for energy is insatiable.
So what is the answer?
......................to be continued
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