As part of my desire to give back, I am a mentor and share my business and life experiences through the process. I recently saw some rules of mentoring and thought they were right on point. What do you think?
If anything goes wrong, I did it.
If anything goes sorta of right, we did it.
If all goes real good, they did it.
Filed under: friendship, humor, mind, thoughts | Tags: Habits, Mouse, Technology, Touch Pad
Another sign that old habits are hard to break. Sometimes you only do so when forced to. Well, I was forced to the other day. My old computer mouse was forced into retirement. In another words, it broke. I have had a mouse with my PC’s over the 25-30 years I have been computer proficient. When I bought my current laptop I intended to retire my mouse and start using the touch pad. I tried to for a few days and decided I couldn’t do that to my old friend. But now that it has broken, I going to advance a few years and start using the touch pad. Or maybe I am just too cheap to buy another mouse. Regardless, I am using the touch pad today and will continue to do so. It really is not all that bad.
How about you, are old habits hard to break? Do you maintain unless forced to break? Are there more mouse users out there?
What’s on Your Mind?
Filed under: Friends, God, friendship, mind, spirituality, thoughts | Tags: family, Friends, life, spirituality
Over the past few years and decades we have increasing become a society that is based on consumerism and wealth. Success is gauged by the possessions you have. This has led to greed, excesssism, perhaps a decline in morals, values, ethic standards and other evils. Some might say that this bent on consumerism, etc., is partly at fault for our recent economic decline. Though a positive outcome of our current economic woes, is a resurgence and/or escalation of gratitude. This resurgence is one of recognizing, caring more deeply and giving thanks for the simpler things in life. We are seeing a surge in faith, more bonding with God, family and friends. This is true wealth! If you evolve accordingly, you life will more fulfilled, more satisfying and you’ll be happier. What do you think?
Filed under: mind, thoughts | Tags: Giving Back, LinkedIn, Mentoring, MentorWorks, Passion, Poetry, Resumes, Writing
From now on, any definition of a successful life must include serving others. George Bush
Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not. The Lorax from Dr. Suess.
If don’t know if its my age or having available time, but I have a strong desire to give back to my fellow human beings. It’s a burning passion in me. These two quotes summarize my passion quite well.
So what am I doing. Well first of all, I offer free mentoring and coaching though a service called MentorWorks. Along with the mentoring and coaching, I provide resume and LinkedIn profile reviews. To date, I have had many takers. For the most part I believe the service has been beneficial to the mentees. I know I have derived a lot of satisfaction for being a mentor to others.
Secondly, I am a volunteer member of the Board of Directors for the charitable organization Homeland Security Foundation of America. The “Price of Security” is one of the greatest challenges we face today. HSFA’s mission is to advance Homeland Security while protecting Americans’ civil liberties and ensuring freedom, safety and prosperity for all. I also serve as Chair of the Board Committee – Governance and Finance. Again, this is a very rewarding experience. I am getting to work with some of the most talented and skilled people who are very, very passionate about achieving HSFA’s mission. I am excited to be part of the effort, part of the team!
I also write and publish regularly. I have three blogs. This one on Life’s Thoughts, another on Poetry Thoughts and a third on Business Thoughts. Further, I write articles on life, business, scholarly topics, and publish them at two on-line sites and at three association newsletter. Further, I write and publish poetry. You can find the links to my works at my web page: http://jamesyoakum.synthasite.com
Writing is an easy way to share my many personal and business experiences. It is a way to challenge other to learn, to think, to grow. I get these same benefits in doing the writing/composing itself.
Lastly, I try to attend and engage in group and organizational meetings. I participate and many times I present.
So I feel I am giving back. It takes some time. But the rewards make the effort worthwhile.
Two questions for my readers:
(1) Do you have any suggestions on how I can enhance my give back experiences?
(2) What do you do to give back?
My thoughts . . . what’s on your mind?
Filed under: Food, Friends, humor, laugh, love | Tags: Food, Ketchup, Oddities, Recipes
We had some fun popcorn and usual recipes a couple a blogs ago. Now lets have some fun with ketchup. Let me begin by stating that ketchup is one of my favorite condiments. It is healthy and tasty and can be used on lots of items to add and/or change flavor. While I am not normally brand choosy, I am when it comes to ketchup. I only like Heinz ketchup. This is not an advertisement for Heinz; it merely is a statement of fact. Now here’s some odd uses of ketchup.
(1) My youngest daughter (she’s 23) won’t eat macaroni and cheese without ketchup. When I asked why, she explained that growing up she frequently ate hot dogs with ketchup along with macaroni and cheese. Somehow the ketchup always found its way into the macaroni and cheese. Now, as an adult she will not eat macaroni and cheese without ketchup.
(2) Growing up I can’t recall my Dad eating eggs without ketchup on them. He also would spread ketchup on saltine crackers; he did the same with mustard.
(3) As a youngster, I had a friend a who family used ketchup as their sauce on spaghetti. Her mother would cook the pasta and put it in a bowl on the dining table. Then the family just took bottles of ketchup and poured it over the spaghetti. When my friend learned of “real” sauce for spaghetti, she was surprised. She had grown up thinking spaghetti sauce was ketchup.
How about you? Any odd recipes or uses of ketchup?
