Book Excerpt

Ok, so it took a while but here is an excerpt from my book. Tell me what you think, so I can tweak it and make it something that people will want to read. Thanks for looking!


Book Chapter (Self Improvement)
Have you ever noticed that you do things in patterns? Get up, shower, get dressed, make breakfast and out the door to work/ school, etc. We're creatures of habit, we like routines. We're in a comfort zone in our routine. Well our minds and bodies can(and usually do) get into routines as well. We just "go through the motions" of living and don't excite ourselves or challenge ourselves. This is what I call the "eat, sleep, die" cycle. How do we break the cycle? Self improvement, setting goals, excite ourselves. Now some cynics and skeptics will always have a negative retort to these suggestions. I always like when I hear from them "I'm just too busy" or " that's just what people say that don't have an important career/job/responsibility/duty". They use their career or comittments as an excuse to just "go through the motions" everyday. Now I will concede that at various times a career or responsibility will take high priority or excess time. But that shouldn't limit the setting of personal goals or self improvement. If you could find 3 five minute blocks of time a day for "personal time" you would have 105 minutes a week of "personal time". That's quite a bit of personal time that you could use for anything you want. Maybe its used to relax or meditaten maybe for reading a book, maybe its just a chance for you to slip away to a quiet spot for some uninterrupted thinking. I think that my personal time is best used when I'm achieving a goal or maybe I'm reading on a subject I have been wanting to study. However you use this time you need to use it!!! This is your time for you!
Now let's talk about setting goals, when you set goals you need to writethem down, and you need to see them continually. Leave a copy of your goals on your mirror, on your desk, anywhere you can see it. Goals can be anything you want them to be; short-term, long-term, personal, professional, etc. The main objective to goals is to provide us with self improvement and accomplishment. The most important thing to remember is that these are YOUR goals. You choose them and you accomplish them and experience the joy of reaching them. Encourage your family and friends to set goals and achieve them. Goals are a very powerful antidote for the "eat, sleep, die cycle" introduced earlier.
Limits. What are limits? Quite honestly most (limits) are what we place on ourselves. Usually the limits we see are self imposed. Why do we put limits on ourselves? Simple, they provide us with a (false) sense of security. Ever heard this? "Well I can't do that, I'm not that kind of person". Ok says who? Who told you you couldn't do that? Or who says you're not that kind of person? Probably you said that. And if somebody else is placing limits on you, take my advice and stop listening to that person! No one should put limits on you! Now I'm not condoning illegal activities or anything else, laws aren't limits, they're laws! Now that the disclaimer is done let's talk about taking our limits off. If you constantly tell yourself that you can't do something, well chances are you won't suceed in your attempt to do said thing. So..how do we break the "I can't do something" mindset? Well simply put, stop saying you can't do it! I'll let you in on a secret, you can do it! You can do anything you want to, you just need to believe in yourself. Yes its that simple. If you wanted to say...go make a million dollars, and you believed in yourself; chances are you'd go find a way to make a million dollars. Through your own belief in yourself you'd find the drive, determination, and discipline (the 3 D's, if you will. We'll discuss these later) to go achieve your million dollar dream. But if you sat there and put "limits" on yourself; "I don't have time to do this, or its too hard to find a good job, or I'm not educated enough to know how to do that" well you probably won't make that a reality. My response to these "limits" is; "make the time (you have personal time each day), take a job and work til you find a better one, and then a better one, and so on, or go to work for yourself! And if you're not educated then for crying out loud get educated! You don't HAVE to have a degree or even a diploma to be successful (some of the most successful entrepreneurs ever were high school and college dropouts, they just had enough belief in themselves and the 3 D's to make themselves successful) and what's stopping you from going to the library and checking out books on a subject you want to educate yourself on? " These limits aren't real limits, they're fears and excuses, nothing else! But this is exactly the type of self doubt that telss us to put "limits" on what we can and can't do. The truth is, most people are afraid of themselves. They're afraid to succeed. I know that sounds crazy but its true. Why you may ask are they afraid of success? Well it's not so much that they're afraid of succeeding, its that they're afraid to fail. Failure is something no one wants, but everyone will at somepoint fail. So instead of focusing on the rewards that could come with success, people will focus on the dooms and glooms of failing at something. This is truly what causes us to "limit" ourselves, our abilities, and our true potential for success (of any kind). Failing is ok though. Its good for us to fail, it will either strengthen our resolve or cause us to quit. Now the people that will be successful will just learn from their failure and try again. The ones that will ultimately never succeed will just say "well I tried oh welln I'm going to quit". This negative mindset is what must be destroyed in order for limits to be removed. The only true limits you have is the limit of what you're willing to do and what you're not willing to do. When you can remove self imposed limits and self doubt, then you will accomplish the things that you have set out to do and will achieve the successes that others thought "they just couldn't do".

A Book... by ME?

So I have been told by Shana about a hundred times that I should write a book. I always just figured she was just half serious. But over the course of the last few weeks I've been told that exact same thing by about a dozen more people. I don't think I'm qualified to do such a thing, so for the time being I will just post some "inspirational" (I use that word loosely) blogs and see how they are received, so please offer feedback. The first one will be here soon about happiness. Thanks.

Guilty?

So it's been all over the news, it's the biggest headline about the NFL right now, and yes I'm going to share my opinion about it. I'm talking about Michael Vick being indicted on Dogfighting charges. Here is a little bit of a background.. Back in March of 07 the NFL commisioner told Vick that Vick was accountable for what went on on his property and was responsible for the friends and associates that he chose. So, when Michael Vick's property was raided and 17 dead Pitbulls, dogfighting training equipment, and evidence of animal cruelty. He and 3 other associates were indicted on animal cruelty, and dogfighting. Michael Vick went before the judge and pled not guilty..not guilty!!! I think that if you own land and something illegal is going on there and you don't stop it, I'm sorry but I think that makes you somewhat guilty. Well, an informant came forward and did an interview about dogfighting, and he fingered Michael Vick as a "high roller" saying that Vick would bet thousands of dollars on dogfights and was deep into the dogfighting world. Now I'm not going to say that what was said there is totally true or not, but when your property is raided and the authorities find a dogfighting pit, a breeding or"rape post", a lockbar (for breaking dogs up), treadmills, and bloody carpet, I'd start thinking your guilty. And then they find 17 dead pitbulls, that were brutally killed. (Some were electrocuted, hung, slammed on concrete and beaten, and drowned) I'm sorry but I think you deserve to be locked up, and punished for a long time. Now alot of people think it's wrong that the NFl and the Falcons have told Vick to stay away from training camp, they're saying" well it's innocent until proven guilty" yes thats how it is in a court of law, but in the eyes of your employer its not that way. If your employer doesn't think your conduct is appropriate, guess what? They can fire you!! I think that the NFL and the Falcons are doing the right thing keeping Vick away. Nike and Reebok have suspended their dealings with Vick, Don Russ (a Football Trading Card company) has pulled his card from all packs of football cards this year. So Michael Vick is guilty in the court of public opinion!! I think that he's guilty, and I hope that he gets what he deserves! One new development in this case... one of the other defendants in this case has entered a plea bargain and will probably testify against Vick. I know that in America it's " innocent until proven guilty" but I think Vick's guilty and I do hope that justice will be served.

Broken Records...

This year in Major League Baseball will see a new record. Barry Bonds is only 2 homeruns away from breaking Henry (Hank) Aaron's 755 homerun record. There's plenty of controversy about this event. Barry Bonds has been investigated for using MLB banned substances (Steroids), and has been fingered by many prominent baseball players as using steroids. The Commissioner of the MLB (Bud Selig) is trying his hardest not to acknowledge Barry Bonds, but why not just recognize it (very briefly) and move on. I'm not too happy to see Hank Aaron's record broken, but it's going to happen. Do I think Barry Bond's used 'roids? Yeah, of course. Do I think this casts a huge shadow on the record? Yes, I think that no matter what, Barry Bond's will always be haunted by the steroid scandal and his record will always be somewhat tainted. I can't blame Hank Aaron for not showing up to the record breaking game. Hank Aaron didn't use steroids to acheive his record, he just went out there and played the game. He was one of the most beloved players in MLB. Barry Bond's is probably one of the most disliked players to ever play the game. All this being said; I also know that sports are evolutionary, constantly changing. Technology gets better, the athletes get stronger, the rules get changed. In fact the only thing thats constant, is change. So while, I'm not too thrilled about this record being broken, I have to take a moment and recognize that change is inevitable and regardless about how I feel about Barry Bonds, it is a notable accomplishment to hit over 755 homeruns in your career. I'm sure someday that record will be broken as well, so until then...

Talk Radio?

Now, when I was a kid I used to tease the heck out of my Dad for listening to talk radio. I always said "I'll never listen to this crap" Well, as most of us do as we grow up, I'm now eating those words. I have been listening to talk radio for the last few weeks and loving it! I listen to ESPN, Fox News, CNBC, Free Capitalist, etc. I am so much more in tune with what's going on in the world around me. If I am not able to listen to a broadcast, I just podcast it. I never thought I'd see the day when I'd actually like talk radio. I guess it's me getting old, or maybe I just never listened when it was on before. So I am now converted to talk radio and love listening to the news, sports and market info all day at work. I still like music stations, but talk radio is definitely the dominant type of the two. So maybe it's the fact that I'm going bald, or maybe it's because all of the sudden my back gets sore after working hard, or maybe it's the fact that I am losing touch with my younger self, but whatever the reason Dad, I owe you an apology. You weren't weird for listening to talk radio...you were just a little too grown up for me at the time... but since you now have more hair than I do... well I'll leave it at that. :)

What I Do...

So this is what I do. I work for Energy Solutions as a DOT (Dept. of Transportation) Shipper. I receive and ship Radioactive and chemical Radioactive material. I have been doing this for about 2 years now and I now have most of the Federal Regulations for Hazmat Shipping memorized. (I know that is not something to be proud of) I work at a facility that is regulated by at least 5 different Federal Agencies and have developed a disdain for the lawyers that write regulations. But I do enjoy my job, and the people I work with. In this picture I am surveying (measuring radiation dose and contamination levels) on a lead lined shipping cask. This is the kind of shipping I deal with most of the time. I don't think there's too much more too tell but if you'd like to know more about Energy Solutions check out their website at energysolutions.com

Why I need Her....

Why I need her... She's the love of my life, she's the only one I want forever. She's my sunshine when I'm cloudy, she's my angel when I'm being bad. She's my sunrise and sunset. She's the reason I try to be better each day. She's the memory that puts a smile on my face and the thought of losing her makes my cry. She's the person I can talk to anytime I need too. She's the only one who can tolerate my idiocity and my weird behavior. She's the best Mom and wife I could've ever asked for. She's the one I dreamt about and the one I want to cherish and grow old with. She's everything to me!!I love you Shana!!!!