Have a Nice Day

Do most of the people you deal with on a daily basis still say, “Have a nice day” or some version of that phrase?  Do you take it to heart?  Do you feel bad that someone has said to have a nice day and at the end of the day, you realize you didn’t?  Do you say to yourself, “Oops! That clerk told me to have a nice day and I didn’t do it.  What will they think of me next time I see them?”

Do 90% of those people say those words as they are moving and you miss some portion of it?  

If we all had a nice day every day, how would we know if we had a bad day?  There would be nothing to compare it to.  The days would become “regular” and not nice at all, wouldn’t they?

When do we ever look in the mirror and say, “This is going to be a nice day”…we don’t.  We just figure we get what we get and make the best of the day.  At the end of that day, we anticipate another (hopefully) and it feels much like the one before, with different highlights in it and sometimes new playmates.

Will the phase, “Have a nice day” ever go out of style?  Most phrases have a short life.  Why is it that this one has continued long after it should have died?  Can someone please think of a new one?!

If someone has made the moment a wonderful one, let’s share how they did that for us and how that felt to us instead of mimicking the words “Have a nice day.”    It isn’t everyone that can actually make moments in your day wonderful.  Repeating the words like a puppet doesn’t make your day, doing something nice for others does.

Home Automation for the Paranoid

AJ Wilcox and I have teamed up on this post.  He has been a delight to work with and easy going about the project. Please visit his home page at http://wwwbigfishautomation.com. 

Home Automation for the Paranoid

Are you paranoid about the security of your home? Always worrying about someone accosting your house or hiding in your bushes? Let’s find out what is available to help alleviate those fears, shall we?

Outside

Before anyone can get into your home, they have to approach it. That's why security cameras were invented.

Motion-sensing cameras around the perimeter of your home make it a piece of cake to see anything happening on your property.  Just remember, there will be things that you can’t unsee later.  Consider yourself warned.

Cameras can be programmed to record to a digital DVR's hard drive ON MOTION - so no rewinding through hours of video to see which of your neighbors was snooping - your video will only contain the parts where something is occurring.

What if someone starts creeping around at night? You can get cameras that have an infrared sensor - better known as night vision. You can paint your face black to go undetected yourself…just don’t open your eyes.

Inside

Is your paranoia overwhelming? Are you afraid someone is going to get inside your home while you are away?  There, there… I understand your condition.

Security systems are very common.  Feel better, now?  No?  You want the bells and whistles too?  You want an integrated alarm system? You want motion detectors in your indoor cameras?  You want lights that automatically come on since you have forgotten where the light switch is?  You can have it all!

If you habitually leave the house without locking the doors, you can even get automated door locks.  You can pull up a map of your home (in case you haven’t seen portions of it for quite some time) on your iPad and see which doors are locked and unlocked.  Let’s see, is it green if they are locked or it is red? 

On The Go

Worried about your home while you are at work or in your car…you can just whip out your iPhone or Android, and everything is right there. Check the status of, or set anything, from anywhere.

Basically, no matter how paranoid you are, home automation exists to help you feel more in control of your life.  We all have our quirks!  It seems home automation can really save someone’s sanity. And, of course if you're in the Utah area, we know a great home automation company that can help with the setups.

3 Things to Keep You Safe in the Emergency Room

We all have things that happen in our lives that have taken us to the emergency room.  I am more dangerous in the emergency room than most people.  I am easily bored and the personnel do leave you alone most of the time…If I could only go to sleep, everyone would be safe.

Unfortunately, that is never the case for me.  There are way too many lights to snooze; too much activity to relax and most importantly, too many new toys to play with I don't have at home. 

One of the funniest things in the ER is the gowns they use.  Why are they cloth instead of the paper kind you get at the doctor’s office?  Putting on the gown is a test and if you can figure out how to snap the shoulders and arms and tie it yourself (in the back), they will treat your illness.  If not, well, you might be asked to leave. Why do they have a pocket looking opening on the right side at chest level?  If they use the opening for monitoring the heart, wouldn’t it be easier to get the patient to put the gown on with the opening in the front and do away with the pocket?

Another thing I noticed is that if a guy says his pain level is a four, the nurses say that he is masking it well.  If a woman says her pain level is four, the nurses wonder why she is in the ER.  If you are a woman and say to the nurse that your pain level is at a ten, she pretends you didn’t say that and backs out of the room, slowly.

In my few hours visit in the ER, I found a variety of toys that are fun to play with.  A bed that goes up and down; can be lifted and lowered in positions that would make anyone ill at some point.  You have to wonder why a patient would ever need to be in some of those positions but I guess there are all types of illnesses. 

In my small room, there were two hand sanitizers that never got used by anyone.  I have to question why two were needed in a room that small and I have to say that the locations of them were not ergonomically correct. 

The nurses do like to ask you if you are allergic to anything over and over again.  Can someone remember this, please?  You’re scaring me.  Also, they print off an entire page of labels with your name on them, the date you came to visit but only use one or two of them.  Why do they need an entire page of labels for anyone in the emergency room?  Everything in the room had a label on it by the time I left.  I even had my name on the door.

Oh, and I can’t leave out the exceedingly young person from the admitting office that comes to gather the $200 copay from you while you are in so much pain.   They are way too perky for a collection agency.

When it came time for me to leave, the staff said they would never forget me.  How great is that for people that see hundreds of folks every night?  I was so touched!  I wish I could remember their names but the drugs worked much too quickly.

4 Very Quick Reads

Some Things You Just Can’t Make Up

Here are a few things I found on the FML website for entertainment.  Some of the words have been changed to make them less offensive…

I was walking when a man pointed a camera at me, so I decided to be nasty about it and say, "Did I say you could take a picture?" and he replied with, "No, but can you get out of the way so I can take one of my wife and kids." I turn around, and they were right behind me.

Today, my car was in the shop so I borrowed my wife's VW Beetle convertible. It's really embarrassing because it's a girlie car and it's full of little stuffed animals. At a stop light a man asked me if I'd like to borrow one of his testicles because "every man should have at least one."

My mother called me downstairs to give me what I assumed was going to be "The Talk" (About four years too late). So she sits me down, holds my hands, and with the gentlest, most motherly expression on her face tells me, "Honey, if you ever come home pregnant, I'll kill you and the baby."

I was at my church’s spaghetti dinner with my family. My brother shook up my mom's soda, as a prank. My entire church witnessed my mom waving around an overflowing Diet Coke while my dad yelled, "Come on, put your mouth on it! Suck it! Suck it, Kathy!!"

We all say or do silly stuff at one time or another and wish that no one witnessed it.   Hope these gave you a chuckle.

Disclaimer:  Smiling and laughing may be good for your health.  Making the load of life lighter is always a great thing.

A GPS for Santa

Today, the post is a delightful guest post, from Jeanne Kraus, Educator, Author, and Speaker and you can check out her blog at http://jeannekrasus.blogspotcom or her website at http://www.jeannekraus.com.  Jeanne was gracious enough to share this post with us.  I believe we can all relate….with a smile, now that it is over.

I must say, my husband, George makes a great Santa. With his red suit and beard and make-up, he’s the real thing. I am his devoted and mostly ignored spouse, Mrs. Claus.

Unforeseen circumstances caused friction between the jolly old man and I as we traveled to do goodly deeds Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, Santa’s twelve-year-old pick-up truck was not yet outfitted with a GPS so we were on our own. And Santa doesn’t have the memory he once had. As we made one wrong turn after another, I began to think that he resembled a Grumpy more than a Santa.

“You said to turn right,” Santa snarled through his beard.

“I can’t remember, “ I confessed. After all, I’ve never had illusions about the fact that I can’t find my way out of a shopping bag.

“Turn left!” I yelled. Santa jumped.

With exaggerated patience and a tad of sarcasm, Santa spoke. “No, we went that way already. We’re going around in circles.”

Santa was posturing, heading for a fight. Where was Rudolph when I needed him?

I gave him my best Mrs. Claus look. “If you don’t talk nice to me, Santa, you can just let me out and go by yourself.”

Despite the fact that he knew I would not get out and walk home, he didn’t take me up on it. I was lucky.

By the time we reached our destination, Santa and Mrs. Claus were not speaking. The front door flew open. Santa belted out in his deep voice, “Ho, Ho, Ho! Merry Christmas!”

Jerk! I muttered.

Santa got a rousing greeting, and was hustled over to the Chair of Honor. Mrs. Claus was flattened by the stampede of children streaming toward Santa. As I readjusted my festive hat and jingle bells, I looked at Santa. There he sat, cradling a three-week-old baby in his arms, surrounded by adoring children. The spirit of Christmas had worked its magic on me. That and our new GPS, which will help Santa on his rounds next year.

In Flight Magazines

Do you enjoy the in-flight magazines?  I read them just for entertainment as many people do.  After all, on a plane, everyone is literally, a captive audience.

I enjoy the ads and what they are saying…or just trying to imply.  There is an ad for “The Original Hawaiian Slipper Pendant with Diamonds.”  What this represents is the casual lifestyle of the island. Seriously?  Have you been there?  Traffic is horrendous in the city.  Why would anyone want a flip-flop around their neck for $200?   The chain is additional (doesn’t come with the necklace)…isn’t that called a charm?

Then there is one for Garmin, which claims to be the thinnest navigator in the world.  Does anyone care how thin their GPS unit is?  I don’t think so.  What they do care about is that it gets them from point A to point B in a quick manner.  Being voice activated sounds great but in my experience, it doesn’t seem to save you time, especially if an accent is involved.

Welcome to Santa Barbara where women with clingy dresses wear high heels to walk in the vineyards and men with suits dirty their shoes in the mud of the vineyard.  The woman looks at the man with delight while the man looks at the vineyard in lust.  Instead of wine country, they advertise it as WIN country…because they now have casinos.

Last but not least, entertainment at 30,000 feet.  The Pandigital.  “You can take your favorite books, music, videos, photos, and more with you anywhere you go.  Connect to the Internet at home or on the road via Wi-Fi hotspots and check e-mail, surf the web, or keep in touch through all your social networking sites.”  Uh, did someone forget that we have limited space and are instructed to turn off our electronic devices or get escorted off the plane?  Josh, do you care to comment? 

Pounds and Time...It is All so Confusing

I recently returned from traveling and can’t seem to shake a problem I had with the airlines on the weight of my luggage.  I am amazed and somewhat ashamed at how much stuff I took with me, but to defend myself, I was packing to be gone three weeks!

How did the nomadic people do it?  Traveling from place to place with all their belongings and no suitcases?  I wish I knew one to interview!  I just know it would have made a difference in the weight of my luggage.

First the counter agent tells me that my  bag is overweight so I take it 30 feet from the counter and put it on the scale across the aisle and it weighs less than 50 lbs. but the counter agent instructs me to open it up and rearrange stuff anyway.  Who knew a fleece jacket weighed a pound and a half?  They understood I had a flight to catch, right?  Did they not see the stress in my facial expressions on being able to get to the airport two hours ahead of my scheduled flight; packing for hours; finding a parking spot for the car; then a shuttle and getting all these bags to the counter?  Did they not smell the sweat from getting these bags here?

Who calibrates these machines?  Why don’t they say the same weight?   Why do the airlines go by the scale in front of them but not the one 30 feet away?  How can they not be the same weight?  The airline knows I have a flight to catch, right?

Welcome to REAL life and all the idiosyncrasies of living in a world of a traveling society.  I found my share of craziness before the flight!

My mind wanders to buying a bathroom scale at the department store.  How do people decide?  If they step on one and they weigh less than they think they should, do they buy that one or continue shopping until they find one where they weigh less?  

Real poundage is almost as confusing as real time, isn’t it?