Advice can come from anywhere and anyone and any time. You just have to listen carefully.
A great observation about coping with unexpected challenges came from my son, Andrew. He was 12 years old.
At the time both he and his brother played baseball on a rep team. Lots of regular season games during the week and tournaments around southern Ontario on the weekends. This particular weekend we travelled to Stratford.
Trip started around noon Friday afternoon. Lived in Mississauga at the time. Wanted to beat the traffic and get there early for the early evening game.
After the usual pre-game drill, settled down to watch the game.
The team played well. Pitching was good, fielding solid. But the boys couldn’t buy a hit that evening. Ended up losing the low-scoring game.
In the car later that night on the drive home I of course offered my usual ‘armchair coach’ critique expert that I felt I was…not!
Me giving advice, the kids quiet, tired, not paying much attention. More interested in playing Tetris.
Somewhere along the 401 with the innocence of youth, and in a bid to shut me up, Andrew casually uttered, “I understand you are upset that we lost, Dad, but we get to play again tomorrow”.
Stopped talking immediately fortunately.
"You get to play again tomorrow".
Those words have stayed with me over the years. Have gotten me through some tough times. It is good advice for the challenging times we are currently experiencing.
Yes, sometimes despite your best efforts you loose. Did your best, did nothing wrong. External circumstances beyond your control. You’re out!
But unless you have committed a crime, you do get to play again tomorrow. Life provides opportunities for getting up, dusting yourself off and moving ahead. May not be exactly as it was before, but if you listen carefully to what you really want to do, you do get to play again tomorrow.
Thanks Andrew.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Twisted Rum Punch
Its cold outside.
Snowing.
Winter!
For those of you who do not get to enjoy the warmer temperature of JA, this recipe for Rum Punch (with a twist) is sure to warm you up. We enjoyed this at dinner at Candice and Peter's in the Beach last Friday. We hope you do as well. Thanks for the recipe, Candice.
Ingredients
Snowing.
Winter!
For those of you who do not get to enjoy the warmer temperature of JA, this recipe for Rum Punch (with a twist) is sure to warm you up. We enjoyed this at dinner at Candice and Peter's in the Beach last Friday. We hope you do as well. Thanks for the recipe, Candice.
Ingredients
- 1 part Sour (Lime Juice)
- 2 parts Sweet (Sugar or Splenda - works well here as a substitute for sugar http://www.splenda.ca/)
- 3 parts Strong (Dark Appleton Estates rum http://www.appletonrum.com/ )
- 4 parts Weak (Water)
- 1 tsp Nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp Allspice
- 1/2 tsp Cinamon
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- Angostura Bitters http://www.angostura.com/
- Bring water, lime juice and Splenda/Sugar to a boil. Cool to room temperature
- Add rum
- Add Nutmeg, Allspic, cloves
- Add Bitters to taste
Enjoy over ice!
Friday, January 16, 2009
A Blogging Newbie
Friday morning.
Settling in at my home office with the first cup of coffee. Tim Horton's Fine
Grind http://www.timhortons.com/ brewed with an authentic Bunn machine http://www.bunnomatic.com/.
OK, enough with the plugs.
To business. Read the online newspapers. Checked the weather: cold and more snow. Checked in with Adsense once again to see what traffic happened overnight on my blogs. I am obsessed with this. Do it multiple times each day.
Wow! Pleasantly surprised to see that the # of unique visitors running significantly ahead of where I hoped to be. Hmmm...
I started blogging last October with a couple of things in mind. First, I wanted and needed an outlet for my writing. Done: posted stories on business, running and driving experiences: http://mykalsreport.blogspot.com/. Originally began with one blog, expaned up to three then consolidated back to one. Seems to be working.
Second, true confessions: I wanted to make money from blogging. Signed up with Google's Adsense https://www.google.com/adsense from the beginning and have been experimenting continuously ever since with ad placement, sizes, type, etc. Yes, it would be great to make a living from this. To get to this point has been a journey into the wild frontier of social marketing. And yes, I have make all the usual newbie mistakes.
In no particular order, here are the steps and learnings to-date:
Settling in at my home office with the first cup of coffee. Tim Horton's Fine
Grind http://www.timhortons.com/ brewed with an authentic Bunn machine http://www.bunnomatic.com/.
OK, enough with the plugs.
To business. Read the online newspapers. Checked the weather: cold and more snow. Checked in with Adsense once again to see what traffic happened overnight on my blogs. I am obsessed with this. Do it multiple times each day.
Wow! Pleasantly surprised to see that the # of unique visitors running significantly ahead of where I hoped to be. Hmmm...
I started blogging last October with a couple of things in mind. First, I wanted and needed an outlet for my writing. Done: posted stories on business, running and driving experiences: http://mykalsreport.blogspot.com/. Originally began with one blog, expaned up to three then consolidated back to one. Seems to be working.
Second, true confessions: I wanted to make money from blogging. Signed up with Google's Adsense https://www.google.com/adsense from the beginning and have been experimenting continuously ever since with ad placement, sizes, type, etc. Yes, it would be great to make a living from this. To get to this point has been a journey into the wild frontier of social marketing. And yes, I have make all the usual newbie mistakes.
In no particular order, here are the steps and learnings to-date:
- Hard work. Slogging daily through the various social marketing networks, setting up profiles on endless web sites and blogs. Signing up to receive endless newsletters.
Go back to the ones that work for me and update them every time I post new material - Twitter http://twitter.com/. Follow me at Chris_Morales. I post an update with a link to the blog I am promoting every time I post new material.
- Facebook http://www.facebook.com/. A number of things here. Update my profile of course with the new post and blog URL. Then post the same update in one or more of the relevant groups. If I have story on driving, I post in the driving groups I belong to. Same for the running or business posts.
- Send emails to 30 or so contacts/friends. Thank you for putting up with the intrusion :)
- Linkedin http://www.linkedin.com/. More subtle here. I post a discussion only in the relevant groups I belong to.
- Tribal Running http://www.tribalrunning.net/. Recently joined this group. Not many members yet, but all seem dedicated to making the site work. Like it. Have received great response from the posts. An interesting note: I was prompted to join this group because of a connection I made in a Linkedin group, 'Running in Business'.
That's about it. No silver bullet. Just hard slogging building one-to-one relationships. Duh!
Stay tuned..
(Article originally posted on http://giraffemarketing.blogspot.com/)
Generating traffic to blogs - A Newbie Primer
Early Friday morning. Settling in at my home office with the first cup of coffee (Tim Horton's http://www.timhortons.com/ made with an authentic Bunn machine http://www.bunnomatic.com/).
OK, enough with the links...
Read the online newspapers.
Checked the weather: cold and more snow.
Checked in with Adsense once again to see what traffic happened overnight on my blogs. I am obsessed with this. Do it multiple times each day.
Wow! Pleasantly surprised to see that the # of unique visitors running significantly ahead of where I hoped to be. Hmmm...
To be perfectly honest, I started blogging last October with a couple of things in mind. First, I wanted and needed an outlet for my writing. This I have done in spades and have covered business, running and driving. Stories about the off-beat experiences I have observed and participated in: http://mykalsreport.blogspot.com/. I organized my previous three blogs into this one site to consolidate my work. Seems to be working.
Second, I wanted to make money from blogging. I signed up with Google's Adsense https://www.google.com/adsense from the beginning and have been experimenting with ad placement, sizes, type etc. continuously. I have daily goals for traffic and have a goal for the end of 2010 to be earning significant dollars from these blogs.
And the good news (that is shared below) is that I am on track!
Enough self congratulation though. Here are the steps I have taken to get to this point:
OK, enough with the links...
Read the online newspapers.
Checked the weather: cold and more snow.
Checked in with Adsense once again to see what traffic happened overnight on my blogs. I am obsessed with this. Do it multiple times each day.
Wow! Pleasantly surprised to see that the # of unique visitors running significantly ahead of where I hoped to be. Hmmm...
To be perfectly honest, I started blogging last October with a couple of things in mind. First, I wanted and needed an outlet for my writing. This I have done in spades and have covered business, running and driving. Stories about the off-beat experiences I have observed and participated in: http://mykalsreport.blogspot.com/. I organized my previous three blogs into this one site to consolidate my work. Seems to be working.
Second, I wanted to make money from blogging. I signed up with Google's Adsense https://www.google.com/adsense from the beginning and have been experimenting with ad placement, sizes, type etc. continuously. I have daily goals for traffic and have a goal for the end of 2010 to be earning significant dollars from these blogs.
And the good news (that is shared below) is that I am on track!
Enough self congratulation though. Here are the steps I have taken to get to this point:
- Hard work. Slogging daily through the various social marketing networks, setting up profiles on endless web sites and blogs. Signing up to receive endless newsletters.
- Go back to the ones that work for me and update them every time I post new material
- Twitter (http://twitter.com/). Follow me at Chris_Morales. I post an update with a link to the blog I am promoting every time I post new material.
- Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/. A number of things here. Update my profile of course with the new post and blog URL. Then post the same update in one or more of the relevant groups. If I have story on driving, I post in the driving groups I belong to. Same for the running or business posts.
- Send emails to 30 or so contacts/friends. So far they have put up with my intrusion :)
- Linkedin (http://www.linkedin.com/). More subtle here. I post a discussion only in the relevant groups I belong to.
- Tribal Running (http://www.tribalrunning.net/). Recently joined this group. Not many members yet, but all seem dedicated to making the site work. Like it. Have received great response from the posts. An interesting note: I was prompted to join this group because of a connection I made in a Linkedin group, 'Running in Business'.
That summarizes the basic plan for me on promoting my work. The key is connections (dun!). And doing it honestly: I approach most new situations by asking permission for my post. So far the community has welcomed me. It has been a positive experience.
Stay tuned..
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