books, art, music

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Back in the day, I spent half my time in libraries. Pre-Internet, there was nowhere to research those school term papers except for the local library. Even today, you could plop me blindfolded in the middle of a library and I’d know where I was, simply by the smell.

Fortunately for all those students, writers, and bargain hunters out there, libraries are shifting more and more material to the Internet; getting sound advice and accurate information is as close as a few mouse clicks - - particularly at an online library I recently discovered - - The Heart Health Library.

Whether you’re interesting in just getting a little anatomical education, or whether your best friend has been diagnosed with an enlarged heart, the Heart Health Library can provide accurate medical informatio.

Sponsored by St. Jude Medical, the library contains audios and videos of everything you want to know about the heart, including patient stories, heart diseases, and FAQs that answer questions about risk factors for sudden cardiac arrest or patient concerns about pacemaker implants.

If you have heart health concerns, pop over to the library - it may just save your life.

Note: This is a sponsored post by the Heart Library 

As anyone who’s read this blog over the years knows, I’m a fanatic for the frontier west. I love reading books on western history (there are several reviewed on this blog) as well as writing about the artists who captured the frontier before the major influx of Europeans to America.

Among my favorite artists are George Catlin, Karl Bodmer, Albert Bierstadt, and Frederic Remington. While Bodmer and Catlin captured the frontier of the early 19th century, later artists like Bierstadt and Remington painted (and sculpted) the iconic west of cowboys, Indians, and the grand western landscape.

Once in awhile, I’m lucky enough to run across museums that focus on western art and American Indian art. One is the museum in Roswell, New Mexico (surprised?); the other is the Stark Museum of Art in Orange, Texas. The Stark Museum of Art is part of the Stark Foundation, an organization developed to improve the quality of life in Southeast Texas by encouraging, promoting and assisting education, the arts, and health and human services. Continue reading »

Imagine your family photo, framed with custom matting, complete with a personalized foil caption easily online… eliminated the overhead costs so that they can offer quick custom frames in just three clicks.  On average their frames are 50% less expensive than going to a custom framing shop!

Who go online for your custom frames?  Real Memories offers an affordable alternative without sacrificing quality.  Custom Moulding, Foil Stamped personalization and eco-friendly archival matting all displayed behind museum quality glass!

Real Memories: Anyone can create beautiful custom frames using their digital photos easily, affordably – and from home!  Real Memories simplifies the traditional framing process by combining high quality digital photo printing and custom framing.  Customers can upload a digital photo, choose from an extensive selection of frames, personalize the mat with a caption –and see their entire creation before buying it.  They can even hang their new picture on a virtual wall to match home or office!  Be a part of the launch of this fun & innovative new website.

Skipping Emotions, an excerpt from Do Pantyhose Lie?

“On the outside we still see the beauty
But inside we are so ugly
How could my own self lie to me?
And pretend we don’t see what we see
What starts as disappointment turns to hurt
What starts as a smudge becomes full blown dirt
The buzzer goes off: a red alert
As from the pain we try to skirt”

There are so many areas that this applies to and not all the lies are told by us. Many are told to us by the world, culture, Hollywood and other outside influences. In Hollywood, a man can continue working well into his fifties, sixties or seventies possibly. However, the same is not true for women with a few exceptions (i.e. Meryl Streep, Susan Sarandon).

There is a confidence one must have in themselves that is not defined or detoured by Hollywood, magazines or anyone else but that person. This confidence must come from more than physical appearance, fame and financial status. Mature women are Continue reading »

Grady Harp is an Amazon top 10 Reviewer

‘The children now live in luxury and love chatter instead of exercise.’ Sound familiar? Describes youth today? The quote is from Socrates! It serves as an excellent springboard for this lively discussion by Leonard Sax’ Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men, a book that may be directed to health care workers, but one that deserves attention from the general public.

The five factors Sax entertains are 1) feminization of education; 2) video games; 3) increased prescription of psychotropic drugs that affect the motivational systems of the brain; 4) exposure to endocrine disrupters; and 5) lack of heroic role models. Continue reading »

I’m a great Richard Wheeler fan, having read his Sherman’s March: An Eyewitness History of the Cruel Campaign That Helped End a Crueler War and A Rising Thunder: From Lincoln’s Election to the Battles of Bull Run: An Eyewitness History; so was surprised to find this World War II-era book, based on the fact that I know Wheeler only through his books on 19th century American history.

However, once I read that Richard Wheeler enlisted in the Marine Corps during World War II, and was a corporal in the 250-man company that raised both flags on the summit of Mount Suribachi, I understood his need to tell the story.

Wheeler’s The Bloody Battle for Suribachi: The Amazing Story of Iwo Jima that Inspired Flags of Our Fathers is a first-hand WWII narrative that chronicles the Marines’ savage struggle to wrest Mount Suribachi from its tenacious Japanese defenders during the 35 day battle for Iwo Jima in 1945.

Revised with a new introduction by the author and recently discovered photos, this book served as invaluable source Continue reading »

Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing, 57 Word of Mouth Marketing Challenges for the Entire Workforce, by Ron McDaniel

I had the pleasure of reading Buzzoodle on a long, bumpy flight from Houston to Tallahassee. I’m not a great one for reading on flights (preferring instead to catch up on my marketing podcasts) but I looked forward to digging into Buzzoodle because of Ron’s innovative approach to the topic.

The premise of Buzzoodle is that every member of an organization can do something everyday to create buzz, without spending big bucks on a pricey marketing campaign. Many of the 57 ideas take less than 5 minutes to complete, and pack a powerful punch.

My favorite feature of Buzzoodle is the way each Buzz Challenge is displayed, making it easy for the reader to tell at a glance if a challenge is difficult, time consuming, has any associated cost, or technology requirement. In addition, the facing page has space for notes, comments, and suggestions for implementing the Buzz.

For example, Buzz Challenge #24: Trivia is rated Simple, Quick, Minimal Cost, Simple Technology. For this Challenge members are asked to create interesting trivia points about their company, then use the trivia to create more interest about the organization.

McDaniel’s own example was the trivia that Buzzoodle was created because of his own frustration that members of the team weren’t willing to create buzz because it wasn’t their job! Continue reading »

The Myth America Pageant by Robert V. Wickes

Ordinary Joes don’t need another dreary book on government or, far worse, more biased partisan ranting. So in The Myth America Pageant, Rob explores a brand new perspective on politics and takes an often-amusing look at often-confusing issues. The result is a friendly conversation with the readers, easy to read and simple to comprehend.

Here’s his recipe:

Take the lessons of history
Blend in ample common sense
Sprinkle liberally with controversial speculation
Turn up the heat until you’ve cooked the goose of all manner of ambitious politicians.
The result is a thought-provoking, passion-evoking analysis of today’s problems along with some radical, but rational ideas for tomorrow.

Serves: Everyone (politicians not included).

Comprehensive and comprehensible, The Myth America Pageant is a great read for Ordinary Joes of any political party. Continue reading »

Amazon Kindle is a revolutionary portable reader that wirelessly downloads books, newspapers, magazines and blogs to a crisp, high-resolution electronic paper display that looks and reads like real paper, even in bright sunlight.

Kindle customers, no matter where they are in the U.S., can wirelessly shop the Kindle Store and download new content — all without a PC or a WiFi hot spot. Amazon pays for Kindle’s wireless connectivity so there are no monthly wireless bills and no service commitments for customers.

The Kindle Store contains over 90,000 books that can be purchased and delivered wirelessly to Kindle, each in less than a minute. Customers can choose from hundreds of top newspapers, magazines and blogs and have their subscriptions auto-delivered wirelessly. All New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases are $9.99, unless marked otherwise.

Sign me up! Order your Kindle today.

About a decade ago, Emotional Intelligence, (EI), was recognized to be a far better indicator of success in the work world than IQ.

However, the key question that remained was, how do you raise you EI?Dr. Reldan S. Nadler’s book, Leaders’ Playbook answers that question. The Leaders’ Playbook is a how-to guide with more than 100 EI techniques and tools to help raise EI.

Nadler, an executive coach and speaker also reveals the secrets of success in fascinating thumbnail EI stories of corporate star performers, political leaders and sports coaches.

Examples include:

• Rudy Giuliani.s perfect pitch of empathy and vision after 911
• G.E.s Jeff Immelt.s managing adversity
• eBays Meg Whitman’s initiative and service orientation
• USC’s Pete Carroll’s optimism and developing star players and championship teams Continue reading »