Looking through the Windshield

I have had so many thoughts over the past few years, especially since I retired, thinking of the events in my life... the people in my life... and most importantly, what to do next.  I've run the full gambit, thinking everything from complete failure to one of many successes, from a friend, mentor, and teacher to being a pawn just used by others.  I guess there have been instances of all.  I have mentally worked hard to get past the negative thoughts so I could move forward and really feel accomplished. I've only always wanted to be a positive influence and make a difference to those I interact with. That's been hard to do, until tonight I hope.  I hope Joel Osteen just gave me the words I needed to hear.

The small image of the past is not as important of the wide open space ahead of us

I have to paraphrase, but he spoke of how always looking at the past limits our ability to move forward to the future.  It limits us from becoming all we can be.  My thinking has been that I needed to know how I did, to know whether I was on the right path or not.  Joel talked about looking in the rear view mirror while we drove.  Can you imagine how far we would get if that's where we looked most of the time?  He commented on how the rear view mirror was very small and the windshield was very large.  It's much more important that we spend most of our time looking through the bigger view of a windshield so we can see where we are going and all the possibilities of where we could go, rather than on that little rear view mirror to see where we had already been.  There is a subliminal reason the windshield is so much bigger.

Just as in life, my focus, our focus, needs to be on what is in front of us.  I'm not perfect and I've made mistakes,  but I've also led a life full of positives and success and I'm not done looking and moving forward.  It's time to spend more time of what might be, rather than on what was.  Join me as we move on to the fulfilled life God planned for us.

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With eyes wide open, join me in my Scentsy adventure,
Positive thoughts by positive people

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Burned Again With A Free Trial I Didn't Know I Had

I certainly am not the first to write about "free trials", but nevertheless, I'm sick of being taken advantage of by companies that offer 'free trails" and then continue to take your money when they know you are not using their product or service...  they don't care as long as your money becomes theirs.  I'd like to think of it under the guise of "theft by deception".  Companies need to be accountable and become honest and trustworthy.

I just discovered I've been taken advantage of, in my opinion, by NetFlix and their DVD.com Service free trial. Unfortunately, I can't even tell how long this has been going on, they only keep a payment history for 12 months, so I need to research my own bank records going back before that. I don't ever recall asking for the trial, I think it came automatically, for free, when I subscribed to NetFlix.  I have never, ever, rented or used the NetFlix DVD Service...  EVER.

Nevertheless, I'm sure DVD.com, NetFlix and others that use the free trial come on, along with numerous others that sell subscription serviced products are doing so with a clear corporate conscious, after all, they'll show you it's all written out in the fine print and legalese, somewhere. Many have written on this issue and have offered suggestions of how to protect yourself.  Easier said than done.

We all should do all that has been suggested, but what about the companies themselves?  I am more on the side of less regulation, but, in this case, I think we need to hold companies to task, make sure they are honorable, trusting, and, looking out for the customers who don't have the time, resources, and sometimes, wherefore all, to know what they should be looking for.

From the Federal Trade Commission

Read more from the FTC by clicking << here >>

All well and good, but I'm all for putting some requirements on the company.  Using my experience with DVD.com, a NetFlix company, that apparently was for DVD rentals for $7.99/month plus $0.50 tax as an example.  I never rented a DVD (or even knew I could).  So far, all I have been able to determine is that they have been charging me for more than a year, month after month.  Why couldn't they be required to confirm with me, or any customer, after a certain amount of non-use of the service, verify if I wanted to continue being and customer before being charged further?  Why not a 2 month or a 3 month limit of non-use to cause the agreement is automatically terminate and charges stopped?  Why not create a simple, easy to find cancel button?  Another company, Sirus XM, requires their customers to call to cancel...  you can not write, email, click a button, you must call, when they are open and it is convenient to them.

When you hear about free trial legislation, support it....  better yet, write your representatives.

The Gift of Yourself

inspired by findings in things my dad left behind...

There is nothing better you can do than the gifting of yourself to others

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Make It Up

Today I began tackling a task I have put off for years, going through boxes of papers my father left behind.  I know where I got my "save everything" lifestyle.  The good thing is the memories that have been stirred up, the pictures I've found, WWII memories and stuff I'm not sure why he saved it.  Someone may say that one day about me too.  

This is a poem I found, prettied up for presentation here:

This is what I found in my dad's papers:

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Handwritten Thank You Notes - what a concept

When was the last time you sent someone sent you a thank you note?  More importantly, when was the last time you sent someone a handwritten thank you note?

It seems that taking the time to write a thank you has become a lost artifact from yesteryear.  Why is that?  Is life today just too fast paced and digitalized, we don't have the time?  Maybe the reality is that we don't take the time.

Think back to the last time someone actually took the time to sit and hand write you to express appreciation for something you might have done for them.  Thanks for a birthday gift, for helping them on an assignment they were having trouble with, for being their friend, or just because they care.  The list of reason why is longer than the endless list of excuses we may use not to.  Just think how you'd feel if you received a genuine moment of appreciation.

I challenge you to but a box of note cards the next time you visit the grocery store, pharmacy or department store.  A small box of 6 or more, and give it a try.  It might be to give thanks for something someone did for you years ago, giving thanks is just as important today, for both you and the recipient.

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No Matter How Good It Is

A situation beyond my control hit home this week.

No matter how good it is, no matter how you are working at life, things can still jump up and slap you in the face.  No matter how hard you dream and hope that things will be better and enjoyable as they were, another's action can zap your strength and hope away.  

I need to step away, not share the details, just focus regain control and reach out in faith... a faith I lost and need to find it again, so I step away.

Keep me in mind, I want nothing more than to enjoy time with you.

Support Your Team, but to what extent?

As I write, I'm sitting in Orlando, Florida, a long way from my home in western Massachusetts, listening to morning talk radio.  I always thought of Florida as that warm, sunny place in the south where oranges grow and northerners move to when they are tired of the snow and cold.  The home of northern transplants.  As we are less than two weeks away from the next Super Bowl game, I'd say, there are few fans and supporters of the New England Patriots around here.  Wow!  Anybody but New England.

Tom Brady, New England Patriots

I guess that is what happens when you are part of what might be referred to as a professional football dynasty.  What is this, the 7th time Brady and the Patriots are making a trip to the big show in recent football history?  Only the 2nd time in franchise history for the Atlanta Falcons, seeking their first ever NFL title.  Nevertheless, the talk on the radio was not about the Falcons, it was all about the hate of Brady and the Patriots.  Why?

Why don't we celebrate those who are the best at what they do rather than knock down the very elitist  of the bunch?  Whether it be sports, business or just friends?  Most who read this will not know who Robert Griffin III or Mike Smith are, or, how about one of my personal friends, Bjorn Aberg?  You probably don't know them, but they are, or were, a few the very best athletes in the world, buy you've never heard of them.  Why? because we only focus on the very, very best and many work to knock those few down.  Why?  I don't know, I don't get it and in my opinion, that's pretty stupid.  I guess because they are the money guys and they are better than your home town heroes.

Come on folks, it's a game.  Granted a big money game for the investors and owners, but it is still a game that is meant to entertain, not cause hate and discontent.  Celebrate their greatness.  Celebrate their abilities.  Learn to copy the work ethic of most of them and be the best you can be, at what ever it is you do.

Bjorn Aberg
1992 Albertville Olympics

By the way, Robert Griffin III is an elite NFL football quarterback.  One of the best in the world, calling the plays for the Cleveland Browns for most of the 2016 season.  True, as a team, they didn't have a great year, but who else do you know that is good enough to be in the top 32 quarterback in the world to lead an NFL team? As a goalie parent, I know well how fans feel about hockey goalies.  When a goal is scored, it's likely the goalies fault...  NOT necessarily.  Mike Smith is a goalie with the Arizona Coyotes in the National Hockey league.  Mike minds the net for the team with the worst record in the 30 team NHL...  As a team that are struggling badly, but Smith has a very respectable .915 save percentage and has won his last 2 games in net for Arizona, he's one of the best goalies in the world.  My friend Bjorn, who I worked with before I retired from Evergreen, Colorado, was one of 47 skiers in the world who qualified for and skied in the 1992 Olympic Winter Games in Albertville, France for Team Sweden.  Should be enough said, that when you are one of only 47 people in the world good enough to ski in the Olympics, enough said.  Bjorn qualified for the gold medal round by placing 10th in the trials.  He told me, if you are not #1 or #2, it's just like doing a job you love....  All the money is being #1 or #2....  despite his falling in the second run for the gold medal and finishing 16th overall....  Bjorn is a #1 class act guy in my book, he was good enough to be there.  Love your team and your heroes for their abilities.

If we were only that good.  What if we just set out to praise expertise and encourage those trying.  Cheer when our teams wins, shake hands as good sports when they don't.

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