Monday, November 27, 2006

Issue 394 - Big Girls Playing Rugby

Hi,
I hope all is well where you are, and that if you celebrate it, your Thanksgiving is/was good.
I've been giving thanks that I have stopped being sick.

I was out running on Thursday when I suddenly had a feeling in my stomach which didn't feel quite right.
'Hello,' I thought, 'that doesn't feel quite right.'

I ploughed on, and felt like I had recovered, but as the day wore on I felt worse and worse.
Going to bed early didn't help, and it wasn't long before the first technicolour yawn.
In fact, technicolour yawn doesn't quite do it, it was more of technicolour speech.
In fact, more of a technicolour lecture.
In fact, more of a technicolour seminar, are you with me?

I'm still feeling a bit fragile today, but I won't complain, lest I come across as a big girl's blouse.

Speaking of big girls, there was a petty incident over the weekend, and I suspect it was a case of men acting like big girls.

New Zealand were playing rugby against Wales.
It's a fixture with a long tradition, and an equally long tradition is the haka, the tribal chant which New Zealand teams perform before games.

On Saturday though it was nowhere to be seen.
The anticipation of the crowd was there, but the players just lined up in their normal playing positions and the game started.

It turns out that the haka was not performed because of an argument about protocol, i.e. who would go last in the preliminaries.

Hmm...
I must do some investigating to find out more about it, but why do I get the feeling that it was men having little power play arguments with each other?

It's easy to let the petty seem more significant than it really is, but as in this case, it can overwhelm and ruin something which is bigger and should have taken preference.
The sporting spectacle of the haka should not have been lost to petty arguments, but it was.

Ok, it's a quickie this week, but the point is a good'un - don't lose sight of what's really important amidst the petty.

Have a good week.'
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Support your own favourite cause at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com

Monday, November 20, 2006

Issue 393 - Blistered To Buggery

Hi,
I hope Monday finds you well.

I think I'll call this week's issue 'Blistered to Buggery'.
I'm sure the good old filters may not like it, but let's face it, 'Blistered Quite A Bit' doesn't quite have the same ring to it does it!!

There's a little tip in itself about article titles.
If you're not using articles to generate free targeted traffic, firstly I ask you why not, and secondly I would suggest you use titles which use the most descriptive words you can , and if they start with the same letter, even better!

Members of my Grab A Grand Club can have me go through any article they write, and I'll come up with titles for your article all day long if you want!

Ok, so where was I.. oh yes, blistered to buggery...
Both my hands and feet are suffering on the blister front at the moment.
Although getting hand blisters from drumming is not unusual. I seem, to have them badly at the moment, some real whoppers.
If you imagine typing with a water balloon stuck to your thumb, you won't be far away from where I am!

In my marathon training I havn't had real foot blisters so far, but as with my hands I noticed a worsening this week.

I wondered what was causing it, and lay awake for, oooh it must have been several minutes pondering.
Then the penny dropped... it's the curling!

All that friction of broom against hand when you sweep has pushed my fingers over the edge, and my questions about why some curlers wear special gloves is being answered!
Also, when you sweep, you tend to hop and shuffle along the ice, your concentration is centred on where you put the broom, not your feet.

At the weekend I was sitting in on drums for Shameful Behaviour, and the drumming has intensified the friction on my hands, the running has intensified the blisters on my feet, and with all the extra puss I must have put on a few pounds in weight!

Of course I could stop doing one or all three of those activities, and the blisters would be better.

I won't though.
I enjoy doing all three, they are vital to my rest and recuperation.
If I stopped just because of a bit of blistering, my quality of life would suffer.

Not hugely, but nevertheless, if you start cutting out your pleasures in life, you can find yourself on a slippery slope towards hermitude.
Hmm, hermitude, does that work - being a hermit, hermitude?
Good word anyway.

Right then, that's it for today, what niggles do you put up with for your vital r & r?
Have a good week.'

'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Join my Grab A Grand Club at:
http://www.thegrabagrandclub.com

Support your own favourite cause at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com

Monday, November 13, 2006

Issue 392 - Do You Know How To Skweeze Me?

Hi,
I hope everything is well where you are.

So, why am I calling today's issue 'Blah blah Skweeze me?'
Well, I had a busy day yesterday.

I went to a curling event, called a 'bonspiel', where people come for 3 days from anywhere in the world to play curling and socialise. It's a real community feel, but as a newbie I still have to work hard to get to know people.

One chap lost his footing and fell on top of a stone.
'Ooh, that's gotta hurt' was the general opinion, and since he had landed with his back right on top of 42 lbs of granite with a big handle on top, it did hurt, and he cracked a couple of ribs.

Apart from that, it's a nice peaceful game, played with smiling faces and fierce etiquettes.
I suspect my skill level may never get much higher than 'poor', but not everything has to lead to an end product, this is an end product in itself, enjoyment and recreation - vital parts of life improvement!

When I got home I opened my emails, and found I had been asked to step in on drums for a band next week.
It's a full make up band, and I will be getting out my sequinnned jacket for sure, and more fun will be had I'm sure.

The band, Shameful Behaviour, has an unashamed Kiss influence, and Kiss themselves were influence by the likes of the British glam rockers Slade.
One of Slade's hits was called 'Skweeze Me Pleeze Me.'

Another of the emails I got was about video squeeze pages.
A squeeze page is where you simply get the visitor to sign up to an email list.
The ease of putting videos online has led to many marketers employing the video squeeze page, as it has better conversion rates.
This particular video squeeze page offer was for $50 a month!

Hmm, interesting...

I still only charge $49 a month for my Grab A Grand Club, and something I will be covering this wek, is putting video on your site.
I'll be handing over the software I recently got.
I'm sure it does the same thing, and of course members get tutorials from my 4+ years of absorbing info on how to market online, plus specific help if you want it.
You can see it at:
http://www.thegrabagrandclub.com

Ok, that's it for today, remember to include enjoyment and recreation into your schedule, it's a necessity not a luxury, and I'll close by asking again 'Do You Know How To Skweeze Me?'

Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Support your own favourite cause at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com

Monday, November 06, 2006

Issue 391 - The Insignificant Fingernail

Hi,
I hope Monday finds you well.

In my book 'Transform Your Life in 21 Days!' I wrote about perspective.
I had some great prompts over the weekend, so I want to mention the subject again today.

In the paper over the weekend, there was a surprisingly uplifting double page spread.
Newspapers as a rule tend to focus on the bad things, but this was a double page of photos showing some gorgeous bronw orange and gold autumnul scenes around Britain, aiming to remind us that those of us living here live in a beautiful country.

That put a little smile on my face.

Later in the same paper there was a picture from the Cassini spacecraft which is currently clicking away at Saturn.
Through the famous rings, you could see a little white blob, and the little white blob is us lot.
Earth.

Pictures like that always remind me that we are of tiny significance in the universal scheme of things, (and that's assuming there's only the one universe, but don't get me started on that!)
Although when I break a finger nail it feels significant, and my yelling of 'Bugger me I've broken a fingernail! is loud enough. it really isn't significant, and life becomes a lot less stressful when you simply put small petty incidents in their rightful place.

Also over the weekend, a great natural history programme began a new series on TV.
The BBC has always been good at this sort of thing, and on eword springs to mind to describe the Planet Earth programme - spectacular.
It really is awe inspiring to see the environments and some of the creatures living in them.

A polar bear swimming 100km to find food, getting ever more desperate as his only hope of food is a walrus he cannot kill.
Penguins waddling 100 miles to breed, and the male penguins huddling together in a huge scrum to keep warm, while the females do the 200 mile round trip to bring food. It's stunning.

What I like is that at the end of each show they have a segment showing how the camera crews managed to get such amazing shots.
This week for instance, the ice worlds of the arctic and antarctic were featured, and we saw crews living in that icy world for a whole year!
Just to get us some nice shots to watch with a cup of tea (and a biscuit).

Of course these crews are following their passion without a doubt, which is a another key to a happy life, but this issue is about perspective, so I'll sign off by suggesting you soak in the visual treats of autumn.
Remember that was all carrying on before we came, and will be carrying on after we've gone, so get that broken nail into perspective!

Have a good week.'
'Til Next Time,

Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Support your own favourite cause at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com