Two Conflicting Statements

St. Paul police officer denies hitting man at O'Gara's Bar & Grill

"I don't know what you're talking about. The guy just fell down."

O'Gara's server testifies she was shocked when officer shoved, punched her co-worker

She later told police investigators the kicking reminded her of "where Sonny beats up Carlo" in the movie "The Godfather."

Left or Right, Opinion is NOT News

Haven’t written in a while, so here is my next post, which I thought of in the car while listening to Rush Limbaugh on KTLK. Yes, I know, I just wrote a post about how Barack Obama said people should stop listening to Rush, but its just too much fun to listen to him rant and meltdown on a daily basis. Also, I don’t buy into Rush’s dogma, so Obama’s comments weren’t aimed at people like me!

Anyways, back to the point. While listening to Rush, I heard a commercial for a different program, the Jason Lewis show, for which I have much more respect. The gist of the message was “Listen to Jason Lewis – He knows the news so you don’t have to.” Sounds innocuous enough, right? “Listen to Jason Lewis and you’ll hear everything you need to know about what is going on in the state and the nation.” Except that exactly is what Barack Obama was railing against.

I’m an independent voter (little i here, I am not affiliated with the Independent Party), so I listen to and read from nearly every source I can. I listen to MPR and KTLK and some of the lesser known AM stations that add just a little too much religion into their politics. I am just as likely to turn on Fox News as I am to turn on MSNBC, though my favorites really are Headline News and CNN. I feel that once I’ve dug around and heard or read as many aspects of the story as I can, I will have somewhat of an understanding of what is really going on and I can then make a decision for myself.

The problem with just listening to Rush or Jason or Bill O’Reilly or just listening to lefties like Bill Press or Keith Olbermann or Rachel Maddow is that you only get their perspectives. You’re relying on them to do their homework to give you all of the information, when in so many instances they are leaving out part of the story.

What really burns me is when Rush and Jason rail on the media for not reporting all of the facts – and they themselves leave out a huge chunk of the story because it doesn’t suit their viewpoint. Then they’re just as bad as the “drive-by” or “Left-wing” media for which they have such disdain.

Worse yet, neither left wing nor right wing pundits ever make it a point to tell their listeners when they’ve stopped reporting on the news and started editorializing. This can mislead people into believing that what they say is fact and not opinion.

Example: I can't find a transcript yet, but Rush Limbaugh yesterday railed against the idea of putting limits on executive pay, saying that it meddles too much in the private sector. He said that he would be particularly critical of any CEO willing to take a pay cut because they would be bending to Obama’s will instead of exerting their freedom. What he did not make clear was that only organizations that were accepting financial assistance would need to limit their incomes, meaning that companies that do not require assistance can still set the CEO pay to whatever they want to. He neglected to mention organizations which already received bailout money, and later paid their executives millions as their companies were failing, a misuse of taxpayer money. He outright failed to say that the companies accepting federal assistance can jack their salaries and bonuses back up after they’ve done their duty to pay back the taxpayers.

So the question is, is Rush Limbaugh cutting out elements of the truth to suit his needs, not doing his research, or taking an adversarial stance simply for the sake of arguing / entertaining? Here are some Rush Limbaugh quotes which may lead you to an opinion.

Conclusion: Left wing, right wing, if the source leans heavily in one way or the other, odds are the information being conveyed is missing important elements. If you want to know what is really going on with a particular political subject, you have to consult multiple respected news sources and pundit viewpoints. Only then will you likely have a good understanding of the issue.

I’ve always tried to write my political pieces in a way that leads the reader to reach their own conclusions. In the cases where my articles took an obvious tone, I would make sure to label it “editorial” or “opinion”. But in all cases, I made sure to gain information from a wide variety of news and other resources before I formed that opinion. For the sake of steering this country back towards common sense and away from the divisive politics that have plagued it in recent years, I ask that other citizens do the same. Left, right: We’re all in this mess together and we’ll have to work as a team to dig out.

It's About Time

What about the balls on our New President?

Who the hell else would have told Republicans to stop listening to Rush Limbaugh if they really expect change to happen?

The UK's telegraph said that it was a move that would risk a new culture war with conservative voters, but I don't think that is particularly true. Mr. Limbaugh has been getting a lot of heat from his own rabid listeners about saying he hoped Barack Obama fails.

Not only did he say he hoped it, but he basically said "You can quote me on that". And then tried to say his words were taken out of context when the media took him up on that offer, saying he "supports the President, but not his policies." Yeah, right.

Rush Limbaugh, why do you hate America?

Pushing Forward

It's a new year! And with this new year comes new goals.

Last year, I did okay with one of my most important resolutions: To write more in my blog.

I wrote three times as many posts in 2008 as I did in 2007. That is pretty good! If you take a look though, I wasn't quite as successful as I would have liked to have been. 32 posts isn't really that much better than 11 when you take into account the fact that there were 366 days in the year of 2008.

That's okay, though, because I'm working on making improvements, right? Right. My next writing-related New Year's resolution is to write in Sense & Serendipity at least once a week. In order to start off this New Year's Resolution Write (aren't I funny?), I've already given myself a few "assignments" for the next few days and weeks.

All of this week and the last, I have been watching a lot of the History Channel. It has been stirring up both my imagination and an itch to do some serious research. So, I'm going to channel that energy into putting together some posts for this blog. What has been inspiring me?

Last week was a seven day analysis of the 7 Deadly Sins. All of this week has been an exploration of Apocalyptic predictions. Though I'm decidedly not Christian, historical analysis of the Bible and the Christian religion in general fascinates me because so much of it is rooted in the pagan traditions of the past. As for the apocalypse, if Nostradamus, Mayas, Hopi, and the Chinese prophecies (not to mention some mentioned in the Bible) are all true, the world as we know it will end on December 21, 2012 - Not very far away.

So if you check in over the next few weeks, content along these lines is what you should probably expect. Also, since I've progressed over the years into a political junkie, you will probably read about U.S. politics here over the short term, given that the President-Elect Barack Obama will be taking office soon.

If these types of topics sound interesting to you, stop back and take a look. History, politics, and news are my favorite topics to write about. I'll also be adding some links to other blogs and generally making improvements to this site. I look forward to starting a conversation with the next couple of posts and I hope that you will join me.

And so the New Year's Resolution to write more in this blog starts here with this post.

Have a Prosperous and Happy 2009!

Political Junkie: Confessions of a Previously Undecided Voter

Wow… I have a very good reason for not having written in a long time. This post that I’m writing right now has been in the works since the end of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, in September, which happened just 30 miles away from my adopted home town of Rockford. Ever since that time, however, I have been too glued to the TV, talk radio, and the Internet, sucking in every ounce of information that I possibly could about the state of our nation. Not just the political election, but our economy, foreign affairs, the national deficit, etc.

And I have to say that the overall tone of what I was going to write in this post has completely changed. “Political Junkie” was its original name, and I was going to talk about how much of an undecided voter I was. I was going to talk about how even though I’ve hated how the Republican party has ground our nation into the ground over the past 8 to 10 years, I wasn’t particularly happy with how the Democratic party was handling itself either. It was going to be about how once again, we’re voting for the lesser of two evils and not one current candidate is worthy of running a country. It was going to be about how regardless of who won the presidential election, I was going to be disappointed and apprehensive about the future of the U.S., its citizens at home, and its reputation abroad. I no longer have that attitude, and as you can see by the title, I am no longer an undecided voter.

I proudly say that I feel I am one of the most informed “average Jane” citizens you could find outside of the political sector or other related fields. I’m not a journalist, I’m not a pundit, I’m not a lobbyist, nothing. Because I’m a freelance copywriter working out of my home, I have complete control over my working environment, and it has been filled with CNN, MSNBC, Headline News, even FOX News. When I’m in the car, I’m listening to either local conservative radio station KTLK or the more liberal-leaning Minnesota Public Radio / NPR. I read news from local, regional, national, and international sources with reputations for reporting the truth. I also read those underground “left wing” and “right wing” conspiracy theory web sources, just to cover all of my bases (conspiracy theories are sometimes found to be reality). I’ve seen nearly every televised speech Barack Obama, John McCain, Joe Biden, or Sarah Palin has given in the past two months. I watched the debates and the analysis. In my search for knowledge, I have used every resource available at my disposal.

With every spin of a story, negative attack ad, and campaign strength or blunder, my decision has incrementally moved more in the same direction consistently. That would be towards Barack Obama. When my conservative friends have found out this independent was voting democrat and why, they said it’s because of media bias. I’m not sure how that could be, considering half of my resources have intimate ties to Republicans. I was no less disgusted with Republicans and their conservative dogma regardless of the spin accompanying it or the source reporting it.

Additionally, most of my decisions were based on real-time statements and actions. Like I said, I watched nearly every speech and saw all of the debates for the last two months. I saw what they said, in the context it was meant, before the media re-cap, before their words were picked apart until what the candidates said was no longer recognizable. At a basic level, Obama has shown himself to me to be worthy of the presidency, “inadequate experience” and all. I have more faith in Obama’s ability to follow-through with his promises.

Half of my decision has been based on Obama’s behaviour, and so likewise, the other half of my decision was based on McCain’s behaviour. I feel more that McCain is saying anything and doing anything he possibly can to try and gain the presidency, with little chance for follow-through on issues that I deem to be important. Additionally, not once have I seen Obama fear monger in the way that McCain has. Ask a democrat how they feel about McCain winning the presidency and they say something along the lines of “4 more years of this non-sense we’ve already had for 8 years.” When you ask a Republican how they feel about Obama winning the presidency, you hear “I’m scared, I’m afraid, this country will fall into ruin if he wins.” Have they not been paying attention for nearly a decade? Our position as a world power has been severely compromised by policies enacted by (or eroded by) a Republican president, Republican senators, and Republican congressmen.

All of this is forgotten by conservative loyalists when you use the Republican Party’s #1 weapon of choice: FEAR. A few months ago, the fear weapon wasn’t out, conservatives were so sure they were going to win. Then when Obama started pulling ahead, labels like “socialist” and “communist” and “terrorist” were being passed around like candy from the Right. Now you have a whole section of people terrified of someone they will have to give their trust to if he wins the presidency. Tell me, is fear of our leaders good for our country? Not in the least.

I hope against hope that this section of people who make their decisions on fear like this is small. I truly hope that when people cast their ballots this year it is based on what the candidates stand for, not what their opponent or the media says about them. With the media, it is all about ratings.

We’ve been fear mongered for 8 years already. It is time for real change.

Dewmocracy: The Revolution Has Passed

I don't even know why I'm writing this. Maybe to blow off steam, maybe for attention, maybe because I'm an addict. I don't know... I guess I should back up a little bit.

I used to love Mountain Dew. I say "used to" with emphasis. I did love it, and now I don't. Like a past relationship, every once and a while I think of Mountain Dew and wonder what its doing. But also like a past relationship, that's where the wondering stopped. I didn't visit Mountain Dew for literally years. Probably 5.

Then a friend coming over for a gathering at our house brought three twelve packs of funny colored Mountain Dew. Two shades of blue, one shade of pink: Voltage, Revolution, and SuperNova. I still didn't bite, at first.

But then my curiosity got the best of me. I tried all three. The SuperNova was strawberry-melon flavored, which didn't impress me at all. Melon has got to be the worst idea for a soda flavor ever and strawberry pop has been sooooooo overdone. Yes, overdone. The Voltage tasted a little flat to me, but was okay. Sort of like blue cotton candy flavored pop. It was the Revlution which really got me. It had such a crisp taste (mixed berry with a splash of lemon) I couldn't just drink a sip, I grabbed myself a whole can.

And that's where it started. That was some time in May or early, early June. Ever since, I have drank at least a can or 20 ounce bottle of Revolution every day, sometimes two. It has been a requirement for me to be able to make it through my day.

I was devastated in August when it was annonuced that Voltage won the Dewmocracy vote. That meant whatever was left of Revolution on the shelves and in the warehouses was all that was to be manufactured. I told myself that it was bound to happen. Just like the Democracy of America, the candidate you want to win never does. I told myself I would get over it and soon my life without Mountain Dew would be back to normal.

Yeah, right. I went out and bought every 12 pack and 20 ounce bottle of Monutain Dew Revolution that I could. At one point, I had half a dozen 12 packs in my living room closet, hidden so no one else could drink them. If that seems small, it would have been more if I could find them! But they disappeared. If I liked SuperNova or Voltage, I could have had my fill. Revolution sold out of stores so much faster than the other two flavors, I still don't understand how Voltage won.

Anyways, I bought as much Mountain Dew Revolution as I could, trying to grab on to every last shred of it that I could. I rationed myself, no more than 2 cans per day. Yesterday, October 2, I drank the last can. I rationalized that today would be my first Revolution-free days in months. I was wrong.

Today, I drove around and found a gas station that still had 20 ounce bottles of Revolution left and I bought what I could find. I have no idea what I'm really going to do when I actually run out, which will probably be very, very soon.

I like the new and improved Mountain Dew. Its sweet, bubbly, and refreshing in a way that old Mountain Dew hasn't been in a long time. I kicked it to the curb at one time and in my absence, Mountain Dew found a whole new life of its own, changed, evolved. Then it strolled back into my life, teased me for a bit, and then left me wanting more, just like an old boyfriend might do.

Does that mean eventually I will get over Mountain Dew Revolution? Perhaps with the passing of time. Will I find a new drink to replace it? Probably. But it could take a little while before I'm ready to start a new relationship.

Mojo Runnin'

I just thought that while I had a spare moment, I would check in with an update since Mojo MIA. I think it is safe to say that it's back. Until I wrote that post, I was slowly working my way to productivity, but like I said, it was slow. After I laid out all of my spinning thoughts in that post, I feel like I've been able to move on with my work.

Instead of being apathetic about what I know I have to do, I've been getting stuff done. Lots of stuff! Press releases, blog post entries, search engine optimized website content. Today I put in a 12 hour work day! I've been busy!

Once I focus my attention on writing another article for The Drummer and get some better content on my website, I'll be as on track as I want to be.... to start. Then it's time to start kicking my motivation into high gear!

Anyways, if anyone is reading this, expect to see more posts in the future. I'm working on one right now that might be up as early as tomorrow!

Mojo MIA

Ugh... Okay, so I haven't exactly been on the ball lately. I haven't had many posts in recent months: 2 in June, 1 in July, and I entirely missed August. I guess if I wanted to I could lie to myself and post-date an entry, but what exactly would that prove? Not a damn thing.

As the title suggests, I feel like I've lost my mojo, my groove, my inspiration, my innovation. A series of events has really messed with my inner equilibrium over a period of time, starting obviously enough in June. Here they are, in order, laid out for my brain to sort through:

10. Week-long vacation in Ohio to visit family (CRAZY!)
9. Favorite feline diagnosed with lymphoma (He is doing great on his chemo!)
8. Bridesmaid in a wedding (I might just get married in Vegas)
7. Star Wars Exhibit Visit (Meh)
6. Minnesota Renaissance Festival (Twice!)
5. Minnesota Garlic Festival (I wrote an article about it to be published in The Drummer!)
4. Visitations from Out-of-State friends (Love You, Z!)
3. High School Friends re-union (no reason to attend my real 10-year high school re-union now, which happens in 3 weeks!)
2. iQualifyNow.com suspended its article writing program (win/lose: I lost an account, but now I have more time to try advancing myself)

And the #1 thing which has messed with my mojo more than anything else?

1. Calvin, our new Siberian Husky puppy, who just turned 5 months old yesterday.

I never said that all of these things were bad, in fact, most of these things were very, very good and in many cases, lots and lots of fun. But I am a home-body. I think I did more out-of-my-home activities this summer than I have in a while.

Plus, my pets are very important to me. I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to have any children, so as far as I'm concerned, they're my kids. Krillin's diagnosis of lymphoma came as a huge, traumatic shock. Then, my boyfriend falling in love with a husky that was headed for the pound completely turned our house upside-down. Who am I to say no, though? I'm a sucker for a good pet-related sob-story.

Needless to say, I've been distracted so writing and work have been low on my priorities. Because I've been completely off of my schedule, I haven't been able to concentrate. I've been doing enough to make sure ends are met and my kitty could get his chemo, but I haven't done a thing all summer to advance my career. In fact, because iQualifyNow suspended their program, I'm down a client compared to when I started in June.

Thankfully, my social life is slowing down a little bit, not that I didn't totally deserve to take a mental vacation for a while for as hard as I've been working for the past few years. In the last two weeks, I've been pulling myself back together. This blog post is part of my recovery, in fact! Laying it all out here in a sort-of journal format has helped me put in writing what I have been unable to place my finger on for the past few months.

I have to get it together, anyway! With the new husky, our house is super-cramped. We rent and want to take advantage of low real estate price, low interest rates, the abundance of homes on the market, and new first-time home buyer programs. I have to get my butt in gear to get my financial house in order and prepare myself to enter a new stage in life by June 30th next year: Home Ownership. Working up some new clients and making more money could really help with that!

Anyways, time to wrap this up. Today, I rededicate myself to this blog, a new webpage I'm creating for myself, and shortly there-after, an industry-related blog to hopefully drum up some more interest in my writing. Not this kind of writing, but something more related to my industry. I've got a few irons in the fire right now which I will probably cross post to here once I have them going.

If anyone is reading this, thanks for listening!

Top 10 Oldest Jokes in the World

Yes, its been a while since I posted. I'm making sure that I at least have one entry in July. I'll explain what sorts of fun and not so fun things that have been distracting me later. For now, let's read the list of oldest jokes throughout the world as compiled by the University of Wolverhampton.

1. Something which has never occurred since time immemorial: a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap (1900 BC – 1600 BC Sumerian Proverb Collection 1.12-1.13)

2. How do you entertain a bored pharaoh? You sail a boatload of young women dressed only in fishing nets down the Nile and urge the pharaoh to go catch a fish (An abridged version first found in 1600 BC on the Westcar Papryus)

3. Three ox drivers from Adab were thirsty: one owned the ox, the other owned the cow and the other owned the wagon's load. The owner of the ox refused to get water because he feared his ox would be eaten by a lion; the owner of the cow refused because he thought his cow might wander off into the desert; the owner of the wagon refused because he feared his load would be stolen. So they all went. In their absence the ox made love to the cow which gave birth to a calf which ate the wagon's load. Problem: Who owns the calf?! (1200 BC)

4. A woman who was blind in one eye has been married to a man for 20 years. When he found another woman he said to her, "I shall divorce you because you are said to be blind in one eye." And she answered him: "Have you just discovered that after 20 years of marriage!?" (Egyptian circa 1100 BC)

5. Odysseus tells the Cyclops that his real name is nobody. When Odysseus instructs his men to attack the Cyclops, the Cyclops shouts: "Help, nobody is attacking me!" No one comes to help. (Homer. The Odyssey 800 BC)

6. Question: What animal walks on four feet in the morning, two at noon and three at evening? Answer: Man. He goes on all fours as a baby, on two feet as a man and uses a cane in old age (Appears in Oedipus Tyrannus and first performed in 429 BC)

7. Man is even more eager to copulate than a donkey - his purse is what restrains him (Egyptian, Ptolemaic Period 304 BC – 30 BC)

8. Augustus was touring his Empire and noticed a man in the crowd who bore a striking resemblance to himself. Intrigued he asked: "Was your mother at one time in service at the Palace?" "No your Highness," he replied, "but my father was." (Credited to the Emporer Augustus 63 BC – 29 AD)

9. Wishing to teach his donkey not to eat, a pedant did not offer him any food. When the donkey died of hunger, he said "I've had a great loss. Just when he had learned not to eat, he died." (Dated to the Philogelos 4th /5th Century AD)

10. Asked by the court barber how he wanted his hair cut, the king replied: "In silence." (Collected in the Philogelos or "Laughter-Lover" the oldest extant jest book and compiled in the 4th/5th Century AD)

The accompanying article for this list can be found here.

Religious Tolerance in America

So, I found this interesting article on Religion in America at the Star Tribune here in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It shows that religious tolerance is rising, to the point that 70% of the 35,000 adults surveyed who had a spiritual affiliation said they're religion is not the "only true religion" and that other belief systems can lead to eternal salvation.

When you read the article though, you get the feeling that the person who wrote it was indeed Catholic and very much against the idea that there are multiple roads to salvation. This makes it a particularly interesting read! Bible quotes and all! And they say the STrib is only a God-less liberal mouthpiece.

My favorite quote, though, is:

"What most people are saying is, 'Hey, we don't have a hammer-lock on God or salvation, and God's bigger than us and we should respect that and respect other people,'" said the Rev. Tom Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.

Wow! Its a human within the "business of religion" that actually accepts that God is omnipotent and omniscient compared to man's puny amount of knowledge. Its rare to find a religious figure that doesn't believe they are "all knowing" and "all seeing" when it comes to God's judgement.

Finally a Sonic Drive-In in Minnesota!

When perusing the Star Tribune today, I stumbled across a blurb which seemed to indicate that at least one of my prayers has been answered. A Sonic Drive-In has finally opened in Minnesota!

Twin Citians with a taste for cherry limeade, tater tots and extra-long Coney hotdogs served up at Sonic drive-ins can quench their cravings. Sonic is to open its first Minnesota store at 6 a.m. today at 1960 Suburban Av. in St. Paul, just south of Interstate 94 and east of White Bear Avenue.

The closest Sonic had been 180 miles south, in Fort Dodge, Iowa. Sonic got its start in 1953 in Shawnee, Okla., as the Top Hat Drive-In, a hamburger and root beer stand. It's now the nation's largest drive-in restaurant chain.

As previously stated, I most certainly plan on partaking in their Chili Cheese Tator Tots, Caramel Apple Bites, and Bacon Cheeseburger Toaster Sandwich. Also as previously state, I will bring my fellow Minnesotan friends who also have had an interest in Sonic Drive-In goodness with me. And if I want breakfast in the afternoon they will give it to me, unlike their inferior counterparts.

Beware of Foreclosure Fraud

All across the United States, more than 1 million homes have been put in foreclosure so far this year. With more foreclosures occurring every day, "foreclosure rescue" scams are also on the rise. From California to New York, criminals have been pretending to sooth the fears of borrowers facing foreclosure with promises of mortgage help, only to fleece them of their homes and equity. Basically, the wave of the predatory lending has broken into a new era of foreclosure fraud.

That is the lead in to one of my most recent articles on www.iQualifyNow.com. Obviously, it is about foreclosure fraud. I really liked writing this article because it was interesting to research, but it makes me mad that there are so many people in the world who are willing to take advantage of others. These are people trying to save their homes!

Anyways, this article provides tips to help you weed out most of the criminals in your search for help to fight foreclosure. There really are people out there who can help you, you simply have to find them.

Pure Pionus Parrot

Okay, so after I made my last post, I got to thinking that there was at least one publication of mine which had not been linked to this blog yet. I wrote this article for Associated Content because I thought (very briefly) that I might be able to make some money this way when I was first starting out as a writer. I had been out of practice for articles of any length (my primary duties at the time were creating about 33 news blurbs of 200 characters of less), so it took me a little while to write. I wasn't satisfied with the compensation I received, however. Now I know a little bit more about those sorts of mass produced things. I will probably write something else for them someday, but I feel that site is a little bit more about quantity and not as much about quality.

Myself, I strive for quality and content over quantity. I put time and research into my articles. Though I will use existing items as references, I like to create my own original articles on various topics. I also like to take a few things that might be happening in the news at the same time and tie them together, such as this article I wrote which combines information from a piece that says the act of giving can counteract depression with a piece that says donations are down.

Anyways.. back to the parrot. I have a Pionus Parrot named Harry. He is of the Blue Headed variety. They are peculiar birds. They don't usually talk, or if they do talk, it is not very clearly. But mine does! He is very self centered, though. His phrases are "Harry Bird," "Harry Boy," "Buddy Bird," "Buddy Boy," "Whats up, birdy," "Come here," and "Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty." He does have some more colorful phrases, but thankfully, those are much less easily understood. The F-sound is a little harder for a parrot to mimick :) He can be very, very loud and it can be very frustrating. I can't always account for the language I use towards him when he is throwing a little birdy temper tantrum!

Anyways, my family owns birds. My aunt has a Yellow Naped Amazon and a Congo African Grey. I would never own either of these birds, their beaks are far too large and they tend to only like one person. Harry, on the other hand, craves attention from anyone who will give it to him. My mother and brother, between the two of them, have a Nanday Conure named Cozmo, a Blue-Crowned Conure named Indigo, and a Jardine's Parrot named Jordy. While I would totally have another Pionus or a Jardine, I wouldn't get another conure. They are friendly but very loud.

Never Too Late to Teach Your Kids About Money

Teaching children about money is never an easy task. Perhaps you don't feel confident about your own money-management skills. However, you probably know a little more about directing cash than you think. From the time that children begin comprehending money (which is around the same time they learn to count) until they move out of your home permanently, your financial actions will play a critical role in shaping their attitude toward money. Teaching and encouraging children to become regular savers, thrifty spenders, and savvy investors will help them lead a financially fit life in the future.

This is the lead in to my most recent article published on iQualifyNow.com. I think the title is pretty obvious! It has some tips about teaching kids about cash. I wish I would have been made to save when I was younger. Maybe I would have some savings of which to speak!

I'm a little bummed that my iQualifyNow articles have been the only items in my blog lately. I have been very busy and super productive, however! I picked up two new clients this week. WOOHOO! New projects! Of course, since I want this blog to also be a record of my on-line published articles, I will post links when appropriate.

I am stoked that I've been contributing so regular to Sense & Serendipity! I've been doing infinitely better since the sputtering start of this blog in March of 2007. But then again, I was working 60 hours a week last year. Now all I do is write! Makes me so happy. I really, truly love what I do and I am excited to see where my next projects will lead me!

MORE Earth Friendly Purchases Under $50

MORE! I like more. I had so much fun writing Earth Friendly Purchases Under $50 that I had to write another one, because there just had to be MORE!

In the previous article, 10 environmentally friendly purchases that cost less than $50 were listed. Household items, foods, cleaning products, even clothing were named as helping to foster a "green" life that didn't require taking out a home equity loan to install solar panels or wind turbines. Here are 10 more tips to help you live a greener lifestyle without blowing your budget.

Again, these are articles I wrote for the iQualifyNow.com financial site.

Glad To Be A Wild Goon!

If I didn't know better, I would think it sounds like The Denver Post's Mark Kiszla woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. I know the real reason for his bitterness, however, is that the Minnesota Wild are beating the Denver Avalanche in the Stanley Cup Playoff Series. The article he wrote wasn't as much about the actual game as it was how annoyed he was that Denver lost and Minnesota won. He took a lot of cheap shots at the Wild and their fans. Here are a few choice cuts:

"Let the mugging begin. It's the only way the Minnesota Wild can win."

"When playing this goon-it- up Wild bunch, hockey is a no-holds- barred battle of attrition, not skill."

"Minnesota, the land of 10,000 dead car batteries, has an inferiority about this hockey team. The Wild's style of play is as ugly and obnoxious as the uniforms, which look as if designed by a toddler who randomly pulled two crayons from the box of 64 and began scribbling."

"Anywhere the Wild goes, flowers wilt, the sky turns gray and beauty dies."

And let's not forget one of my personal favorites:

"The dark hockey arts are practiced by every member of the Wild. Even a player as remarkably talented as Minnesota center Mikko Koivu is not adverse to hacking and tripping when Colorado's Ryan Smyth is carrying the puck on goal."

"When scores are certain to be scarce and the mugging is beyond the control of any referee, what's the lone goal for the Avs now? Be the last men standing, and live to play something that resembles beautiful hockey another day."

Wow... He sounds truly morose and bitter! At least when the Wild lose, their fans don't cry foul on the other team. We acknowledge that our team messed up or perhaps didn't play so well, we don't blame it on the tactics of the other team. Besides, I watched that game, too, and I saw plenty of calls that were not called against Denver which should have been, particularly hooking. I also saw Denver starting the brawls just as often as Minnesota. One hockey team is not an "angel" compared to the other, fighting is a part of the game whether some people like it or not and in this case both sides were getting their digs. This is for a shot at the Stanley Cup, you know.

Brute force is sometimes necessary to win. To be the last man standing, and live to play hockey another day, you have to claim victory. To do otherwise, puts you in the off-season.

Money Etiquette Matters

A lot of attention these days is spent on all manner of financial topics, from budgeting and credit reports to investments and property taxes. Knowledge and expertise in these areas can be easily measured by the numbers. Not all subjects revolving around cash are so cut and dry, however, especially when it comes to money and friends. In fact, talking about some money matters even in close company are considered to be taboo.

Thats the lead-in to my most recent financial article for iQualifyNow.com. The article discusses a few guidelines for people to follow during those tough times which require good financial etiquette, like how to split an uneven check or what to do about an unpaid loan. This was a fun and interesting article to write because in my experience, not many are willing to talk about what is proper or fair in these types of situations.

Money Etiquette Matters

New Crayola Color Names Lack Hue Description

I had to pass along this little gem, which I heard about first on the radio. I had to look up the articles online in order to discover all of the color names and find out which crayons they messed up. I was truly a fan of "turquoise blue" and I am a little sad to now hear that its name has been changed to such a bizarre name.

Crayola Changes Names of 8 Colors based on on-line poll of children.

Old Name - New Name
laser lemon - super happy
wild tangerine - fun in the sun
screamin' green - giving tree
beaver - bear hug (what kind of color is Beaver anyway?)
turquoise - blue happy ever after
hot magenta - famous
orchid - best friends.

One of the articles that came up in my search was called "Colorful new names for eight crayons". No, lady, these names are distinctly lacking in any sort of color what-so-ever. If I had seen colors named like this when I was still young enough to regularly use Crayons, I don't know what I would have thought. Now that I'm an adult, I find it hard to believe these names weren't concocted by stoners.

Fun Real Estate Post

Though I don't usually post stuff from the real estate blog I contribute to here, I had a lot of fun writing this post about unique home sale tactics. People are finding some pretty crazy ways of trying to sell their houses these days! I wonder if any of these people really sell their homes in this manner? I almost wrote an essay to try and win a 41 acre farm in Ohio once (hubby's homestate), I didn't have $100 extra dollars sitting around at the time to mail off into the ether. It would have been an expensive lark. They didn't receive enough entries, by far. The winner is receiving half of what they got in entry fees, though.

More to come soon!

Retirement: Tips for Truly Golden Years

Retirement is one of the greatest stages of life, but it is also very expensive. Experts estimate that you'll need about 70 percent of what you make right now to maintain your standard of living after retirement. Those who earn less may need 90 percent or more. With that in mind, assume responsibility: No one else is going to plan your retirement, so it is up to you to make plans for your future.

This is the lead-in to this weeks iQualifyNow.com article. You can read the rest of it here!