Walking to Eradicate Breast Cancer

Earlier today, my daughters passed the 5 mile mark in their Avon walk to eliminate breast cancer in Washington DC. I've since heard they have passed the 12 mile point... This is a huge fundraiser in the effort to eradicate breast cancer.

They are both short in their fund raising efforts, but tall in their efforts to complete the walk and reach their required goal to be in this walk. I am encouraging each of you to reach as deep as might be comfortable for you and make a donation to help them out in their efforts. Your donation will go directly into the Avon fund and you will receive a receipt for tax donation purposes. The minimum donation the page is set up to receive is $5.00, and every bit helps.

Thank you!

Tina's (pictured on the left) Avon Walk for Breast Cancer Web page is at:
http://info.avonfoundation.org/site/TR/Walk/WashingtonDC?px=6441427&pg=personal&fr_id=2190

Rebecca's 

Avon Walk for Breast Cancer Web page is at:

http://info.avonfoundation.org/site/TR/Walk/WashingtonDC?px=5333776&pg=personal&fr_id=2190

Your help is greatly appreciated.  PLEASE share the link that brought you here.

Take back America, we are #BostonStrong

As I see the years pass, I am often disheartened with the things I have witnessed and the direction I see things going in. I have allowed myself to be changed in a way I don't like because of it and it is time to stop. The following paraphrases parts of others writings, as a call to action by all Americans.  In times like these, I want to encourage the spread of love rather than hate and revenge, however, make no mistake about it, that does not mean I can or will accept that which is harming and dismantling this society or country from that which our forefathers built, and we must now reestablish and maintain.

Unacceptable events in our American society in recent months and years were not caused by religion; other countries did not do it; guns were not the cause of people, including children dying; an ethnicity did not do this – marginalized, sick individuals did this.  That's who needs to be dealt with. We don't needs to change our gun control laws, we just need to enforce our laws. None of us can even fathom the pain that parents, families and friends of those who's lives have been lost or maned because they just happened to be in the path of a monster criminal at the wrong time... monster criminals don't follow the laws or play by societies rules! It does not help to change the rules good, honest, level headed people already follow.  Find the core problems and fix them.

Instead of seeking revenge and perpetuating hate, let’s find ways to personally extend our hands to those around us who may be in pain, who may feel alone, who may feel disconnected from the rest of us and do what we can to welcome them into our communities.  That said, we should not be ignorant to those potential monster criminals that will use our own rules to hide behind.  Know that if you cross the line or even push to the boundaries of the line, societies hand will not be there to help you because it is also educated enough to crush you if necessary.  Tolerance is a two way street.  If you expect me to be tolerant of your beliefs, remember first, you must be tolerant of mine.  Most recently, kudos to the emergency responders and persons working the Boston Marathon case as a show of strength, capability and force when someone crosses the line.  Thank you for shutting down the city, mass transit and telling people to stay home while you identified, tracked down and captured one 19 year wayward young man that has forever negatively changed so many people.  That said, banning the sale of pressure cookers is not and will not be the solution to the problem, nor will it help in the healing for all the innocent victims of April 15, 2013.  As our forefathers before us, we must work to resolve the problems in our society today, and not the symptoms brought forth because of cancers within it.

God bless everyone affected by recent events that have come to our American streets, including any of the very misguided individuals that may be responsible. However, make no mistake about it, this is the United States of America, founded on a core set of rights, freedoms and laws... follow them.  We are not a third world country...  we are Americans.  We do not accept a way of life that allows violence in our streets.  Justice will and can be served without, preferably without any more loss of life.

Awesome show of capability #BostonStrong.

The Power of Love...

Yesterday was a special day...  not really very exciting, more or less a quiet day, but 3 things happened within the span of an hour that made the whole day worth it.  It all started shortly after noon, I received a text message, out of the blue from a dear friend, I rarely get to see.  It was short and simple:

"Happy Friday Dan! You're such a dear friend!  I love you! Stay true to your divine heritage... You come from the best"

So short, so powerful, and just what I needed today. A dear friend... a friend that is there for me, despite my shortcoming.  I know that and it makes this friend so special to me.

I love you!  Nearly brings tears to me eyes.  I know it is an unconditional love, not judgmental.  I was in such need to hear and feel that love.

A reminder to turn back to God and back to my roots.  Duly noted Becca.  I also note you keying in on that and I'm beginning to remember I need to rearrange my priorities.

Ten minutes later, I get an email from another friend in response to a request I made to use some of his published materials (he's an author, mentor, key note speaker who has worked around the world)...  he said:

"use anything, any time in any way ….I LOVE YOU!!"

Again...  I LOVE YOU!!!  This is a very special friend to me... I wish I could work with him more, his life seems to be the life I have always strived to have.  An amazing family, loving wife, I believe a personal relationship with God, well respected, well educated and living what I'd call...  the good life.  Don't get me wrong, I have tons of amazing great things in my life...  but I strive to be better, and to mean to someone else, what Kirk means to me...  and I love you too man.

Lastly, although a typo...  Someone else said "I love you... ", meaning to say, "I love your... ", but I'm taking it and running with it as a third.

The power of love...  Celine sang it best...

I hope love strikes your inner being today and every day....

Sit the Goons... we need skilled, disciplined players

Boston Bruins leading scorer Brad Marchand was injured in Wednesday night's game against the New Jersey Devils. He was elbowed by Devils defenseman Anton Volchenkov for which Volchenkov was immediately given a five-minute major for elbowing and a game misconduct (ejection). Marchand was unable to leave the ice under his own power and could not return to the game. 

I don't believe the Bruins have provide any definitive information yet other than he has sustained a concussion and more details would be forth coming. Unnamed sources say he is out indefinitely.

The NHL Department of Player Safety announced this afternoon that Volchenkov had been suspended four games for the elbow. He was also fined $91,891.88, which is the maximum allotment allowed under the collective bargaining agreement.

Do you think that is enough? I don't, here's why, and I'd like your support.

It's not that he injured another player... it is that he injured another player with an illegal hit... one could say, with intent to injure. In this case, an intentional hit to the head. He received a major penalty (5 minutes) and a game misconduct plus the additional sanctions the league felt were appropriate. Marchand was also out the rest of the game... will likely be out at least 4 games Volchenkov is... and then some... maybe the rest of the season and playoffs. Seems that the Bruins will come out on the short end of the stick in the long run on this one.

My suggestion: I a player causes an injury with an illegal hit... that player gets the automatic game time penalties, as he got... however, the additional league sanctions should include suspension from all play, including practice, until the injured player returns to action... then, the additional sanctions begin. So, if Marchand would be out for the rest of the year, so is Volchenkov. If Marchand plays the first game next season, then Volchenkov starts his 4 game suspension. Sort of akin to public hangings... players might think twice about the hits being made out there. Oh, and if Marchand never returns to play because of the injury, Volchenkov is gone too... for good. We don't need goons playing the game, we need skilled player that can play with discipline.

Voice your support... Tweet your support using #sitthegoons

http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=-6&id=237774&cmpid=rss-whatsnew

My Hero

I've often written about my dad, a decorated WWII B-17 bomber pilot.  He was in a sense my mentor, but mostly my hero.

A friend just posted on Facebook: My Dad, retired Deputy Chief of the El Paso Fire Department....my hero!!!

How sweet is that to be able to live up to your child's dreams and be their "hero".  It's now on my bucket list.

I've Been Thinking

I've been thinking it has been way too long since I have written, a thing I really like to do.  Why?  It's because I've been using every excuse that my mind was able to justify as a reason not to.  In fact, they were just all excuses....  I have felt stuck, paralyzed, listless, overwhelmed and the list goes on.  I have warned others: do what I say, not what I'm doing.  I needed help, I knew it, I know it....  the list of excuse kept finding its way into my head.  God help me.

God?  I abandoned God years ago.  Not on purpose, I just stopped.  I think now, that is when it all started going down hill.  I have been a run away train.  All I thought I knew was how to do work, I thought that was what was necessary to give my family all the things they wanted and that I was able to.  Oh what a horrible choice I made and it has cost me...  and as it stands today, it has cost me almost everything.

In some ways, recent years...  I don't know how many, but many nevertheless, I have been like the tide,  in one minute, out the next.  Many good times, many sad, lost times.  I guess I might look okay on the outside, but I've been lost and sad on the inside.  I abandoned God unintentionally and am paying the price.  I unknowingly abandoned my family, I'm not who I want to be or who I use to be.  I know it's time to change, I know I have huge obstacles to overcome, deep valleys to climb out of.  The excuses resurface...  I know what I have to do, but I can't move.  I have to move....  and I finally have taken a few baby steps.  I'm not sure what gave me the energy, ambition, inspiration or what...  but I finally got up.  The time is NOW.

It was Sunday, February 3rd, the day before Scentsy Family Spring Sprint in Portland, ME.  Something came over me, I didn't know what, but something felt different.  I had to leave my house at 4:30am, but I can't sleep, I'm not tired, my mind was racing but I can't tell you about any one thing, it was everything. The family I have lost, the work I use to love and now despise, Scentsy and my lack of being where I want to be, money, bills, how my house was becoming a disaster area....  but I didn't feel bad....  something was coming over me.  I went up to bed at 1:15am, I knew I should try to take a nap before leaving.  I did leave at 4:30am as planned and actually woke up before the alarm went off.  Less that 3 hours sleep.  Why?  It was time to change.

We arrived in Portland right on schedule, much earlier than we needed to be there, but I planned it that way in case something went wrong.  It was awesome, I felt good, but I also was confused, I don't know why I feel different.  Then came the hugs, hugs and more hugs.  I felt needed, wanted and loved (in a friendly way, not a romantic way).  It felt good...  it felt like life use to feel.  There's Buffy, then Erica my power buddy I met at convention, Dawn, Cathy, Michelle, Dawn, and especially Niki, I'll come back to Niki, and others, they kept coming up to me...  and people I didn't know, but they knew me, they came to me with hugs and happiness...  I felt like a rockstar...  someone people wanted to be with...  a feeling I have not had in many years....  and it felt good to feel that way again. People I apparently helped online with their questions....  they looked for and me and found me.  It was cool.

Then while waiting for our pre-event meeting, I saw Becca (Levie) come into the room.  Now there's a rockstar...  we are all like groupies around her.  People point and whisper "there she is", so excited to be in her presence.  I'm no different, but, what goes on in my head is different.  I feel like I have a connection on some level with Becca, and I have no idea what that really means.  Like an ESP thing (she'd laugh if she knew that), but it feels different.  I have heard her story, listened to her talks...  she is an amazing person that has gone through more than most of us can imagine and done what I need to do...  I look to her in awe.  She is in my life because she has traveled a path before me, now I know I can too, even if I don't know how to do that yet.  I watched as people crowded to be near her and to have an opportunity to talk.  I smiled inside, how special is that.

When we finally made eye contact, smiled and waved across the crowd, it was calming.  I struggle to write because I don't what this to sound like something it is not.  When I saw her step in my direction I knew it was to come see me and get one of those 12 hugs a day everyone needs.  That was special there were only a few words spoken and she went back to responding to her flock.  I felt that same strange feeling again, something was different, but I don't know what.

After the team meeting, when many had left, I met Becca again. I think she asked "how are you" but it felt like, "how are YOU", meaning now just general chit chat.  I knew my life was a mess...  I did not know what to say.  I can not complain and talk about woe is me...  that's wrong, but that is what my life felt like, so I could hardly talk.  She shared quietly at me without saying a word and let the love of God start pouring into me in silence.  She probably does not even know it happened.  I was still unsure of what was happening to my inner being...  I still didn't know what direction to go...  but I knew I was no longer alone.  Not only had I reconnected with my friend, I also knew God was there somewhere, he never abandoned me.  I didn't see Becca again all day.

I had several offers for dinner that night.  My two riders told me they had found other rides back to Massachusetts because they knew I wanted to stay.  I turned down every offer for dinner, they weren't meant to be, not that night.  All the good byes had been said, everyone I knew left, I decided to make one more walk around looking for others to say good-bye to, but all those I knew had left....  I was ready to leave for home when I received a text message that simply said "Dan I am in the bar".  Who was this from....  Becca Levie....  holy cow, what an adrenaline rush I got!  I responded "I'll be right in".  She said "Awesome".  OK, where's the bar????

Becca, her husbad Terry, daughter Kallie and another Director, Edie Cote, and me, how strange was that?  Edie and Becca did most of the talking, I listened a lot, I didn't know why I was there or why I was the only one Becca said she sent a text message to asking me to join them.  Then Jill McCarthy and Jen Audette.  I was there with the real super stars of Scentsy...  why me?  They started talking about going out to dinner and discovered I was going too....  it just kept getting better....  and I still don't know why me.  We went to Bull Feeney's in the old port area of Portland...  how quaint and how much fun.
There was nothing more too it...  just great company.

So why was I there?  Napoleon Hill spoke of a master mind team in his book Think and Grow Rich.  The concept is that one person can not do it all or know it all.  Thus, surround yourself with the best of the best.  I believe I was brought there to meet my mastermind team with Becca as my lead mentor in both business and God.  She is an amazing teacher of both, God first.

So, the time has come, it is time for a change, and it all began, right then and there.  I know I have to start with me.  The next morning, I got the scales out and found myself at the heaviest ever in my life...  tipping the scales to the tune of 233 pounds.  I have no plans for my weight to ever be an ounce more than that, ever.  I dusted off my "Lose it" app on the iPhone, upgraded and set my first goal to get to 210 by April 17th.  I think 190 would be better, but I want an initial goal of 210 so I can have a big celebration at that point....  then I can set another goal and get ready for the next celebration.  As I write this post, I'm at 229.  My target is 1644 calories per day...  something I have never counted before and on Wednesday, I obtained my black card from Planet Fitness (so I can go in any Planet Fitness anywhere).  I now go to the gym for lunch instead of McDonalds or Wendy's.  I joined the Scentsy Wellness Program and sent my picture in as was required while standing on the scales...  I'm going to do the 5K at the Scentsy Family Reunion in July... some would say - OMG, you are going to do a 5K?  Yes I am.

I'll close with the wonderful ways I am being inspired....  the writing of my friends...  Kirk Weisler on T4D (Thought for the Day) that help me become a better person.  Bernice Taylor, a former neighbor from Safford, AZ who's writings touch my soul....  I want to help her publish her works and of course, Becca Levie...  my Scentsy,  God and life mentor.  She reminded me (and others) today about how we think...  and I am rethinking life as a result.... so this is the week.

The start of a renewed me.

The road to success is not too far from the road to failure....  with stops along the way like quitting, negativity and naysayers.  It's really easy to get hung up in the stops.  If we examine the options, and really learn the advantages or disadvantages, it might help us become stronger and not get hung up with those things that hold us bad from reaching success.

We should first all understand that the rate or speed in which we reach success is not the same for all of us.  A regulation major league baseball game will normally end after 9 innings, but rain could cut it short or a tie score could cause it to have to go longer.  Only you can determine when you have reached success in your chosen endeavor, and it may be shorter or longer than the time taken by someone else.  It's most important that you do not use time to get there as the measure.

Whether you are a member of the Scentsy Family with me, and I hope you are or will be, see my contact information below, or you are in some other line of business or sales...  there are some things you can do that should enhance your ability to become successful, and perhaps shorten the length of time to get there, depending on how fast you can master a few things.

Get out of your comfort zone.  If you keep doing just the things you like to do or find easy to do, you'll be right where you are now.  There's an old saying that goes something like: If you keep doing what you've always done, you'll keep getting what you've always gotten.  To move forward, you need to keep trying new things.  You might not do them well at first, keep working at it, you'll get better.  Talk to new people, expand you network of people you know.

Do something to make your work space better....  in my case, I just need to clean it up.  Touch papers once when possible.  Read it, take action and discard it or file it (if you really need to). I have SO much stuff that I really don't need.  My best intentions are to pass things along to others who might have use for the "stuff", or I'll deal with it later so it sits around.  It's time to de-clutter.  Take 30 minutes every day to get more organized and toss what you really don't need.

A core Scentsy value is about giving more than you take.  I contend giving more than we take should be a core value everyone should live by.  Try volunteering, doing something for someone else.  Don't ask for, expect or want recognition for what you do...  that only dilutes the goodness into giving only to get.  Give from your heart and walk away.  There is always someone out there less fortunate than you are...  look for opportunities to be kind.

Want to join me in my little corner of the Scentsy Family?  Check out our brands:

Scentsy Fragrance

Grace Adele

Velata