I would like to wish all my friends and family a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I know I haven't posted much lately, mostly because I've been enjoying life so much. Sure, I've been busy too, but this is one of the greatest holiday seasons ever. And not only because I will be frying my 4th turkey in a month. LOL

I will be switching this to more of a personal photo-blog in 2010 if time allows. I have big business plans for 2010 so time might be an issue.

December 16th, 2009 - Another Christmas party at the house.

Since my last post, I have done very well following through with tasks and my fitness. Well… I was 5 minutes late to Kung Fu this morning which resulted in no class because Sifu Sam left before I got there, but I did some floor stretches for about 15 minutes which I needed very much. VERY MUCH!

Monday was a good Kung Fu session! Although I injured both my wrists due to impact during fighting drills. I think I have bone bruising on both my wrists. That said; it was a great workout!

Tuesday, I actually made it to the "Group Power" class at BAC. Here is the description of the class from their website…

Group Power – (60 minutes) Group Power is your hour of power!  This 60 minute barbell program strengthens all your major muscles in an inspiring, motivating group environment with fantastic music and awesome instructors.  With simple, athletic moves such as squats, lunges, presses, and curls, Group Power is for all ages and fitness levels.  Discover results, discover group POWER!

This was an amazing workout!! And I almost made the whole 60 minutes (grin). I was so tired after 50 minutes that I started to get dizzy so I bowed out of the last two exercises. I was sore as I left and got sorer as the day went on. This morning I could hardly move because my legs, back, shoulders, and chest were all "good sore." This may have been the most effective workout I’ve had in a long time. Don’t get me wrong, Kung Fu is also a full body workout, but the addition of weights and concentration on muscle groups makes for an hour of effective conditioning. I am going to the Tuesday and Thursday classes, though I have decided not to go tomorrow so I can heal.

As sore as I was this morning I decided to go to Kung Fu anyway, though I was late and the class was canceled, I still had some time to stretch all of those sore muscles at the gym. I think it worked out in the long run because I may have hurt myself today.

The scale is still showing improvement, I am holding steady at 240 lbs (238 this morning), and that’s after a week of celebration, food and fun with friends and family for Thanksgiving. Yeah, after two deep fried turkeys (two separate meals), all the fixens and some of the best deserts I’ve ever had, I didn’t gain a pound… and for that I am also grateful.

Next post… Thanksgiving Francis style. (grin)

It’s been a while since I blogged. It sure hasn’t been due to a lack of activity, actually quite the opposite, Carrie and I have been very busy with holiday events (see below) and putting together the December issue of SOKY Happenings. I’ve been keeping my "friends" updated on Facebook almost daily, but the blog has been an afterthought.

As I look forward to the coming new year, a glance back on the year that is concluding, I see many things that I am proud of, and many things I intend to change. I guess those thoughts can be saved for my year end blog, but suffice to say, I’m already drawing up plans for change in 2010.

I am proud that I have been keeping up with Kung Fu and even lost a good amount of weight, 25 lbs according to the scale, but even more "fat" as it converts to muscle. I will start an aerobics class this week in hopes of trimming more of the fat. The new year will bring yoga and weight lifting to improve flexibility even more, and bulk up muscle in the right places. Carrie is excited. (grin)

The magazine is doing well! We trimmed it down this month from 84 pages back to 68 mostly due to the lack of event writers this month. We still had over 30 writers and about 80 sponsors, so it’s a good issue. We won a state wide award this month too, but I have not received the particulars so I will post that when the information arrives. We were invited to the awards banquet but were unable to attend due to the work necessary on the December issue.

Much of my enthusiasm for next year revolves around the magazine business. I have been working on the business plan and I foresee 2010 to be a life changing year. I know I have rambled on about this in the past, but there were too many variables that forced me to delay my plans. The economy sucking as bad as it has played a key role in my decisions to delay. But, with the growth of the magazine and a solid plan for the future, the time just might be right to take the logical step in my business.

I am planning on some major changes in 2010, and instead of waiting on January 1^st, I have already begun to make some of the changes. Some key changes are to make a conscious effort to "de-clutter" my life; to stop putting things off so much; to be more organized; to follow through better; and to be more willing to do the hard things. This is a reoccurring theme in my life, but to revisit it and make the decision to do better, I can continue to improve my life. It’s worked in the past. It’s funny, I can remember writing similar goals last year at this time, and looking around my office I can see some success over last year, but there is room for improvement.

On my old site I had a quote at the top of the pages, "If you want things to be different, you must be willing to do different things." In my effort to continually improve my life, I tend to look at the things I want to be different and then make the changes necessary to effect change. I’m not always successful, but making the effort to better one’s self is far better than to wallow in a hope that would never come to pass without effort. I want many things to be different by this time next year! I have a plan, I have the ability, I have the experience, and I have the desire, all I need to do now is execute the plan and do all of the things necessary to achieve my goals… "not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too." From the "We choose to go to the moon" speech by John F. Kennedy on 12 September 1962. I may not be going to the moon, but I have lofty goals to be sure.

I’ve made many improvements this past year and I have the determination to continue to improve and to achieve what I believe is the next logical step toward my goal of freedom and prosperity. (Primary Aim)

Carrie and I at Entourage Tapas for a birthday party and to take photos of the chef. 19 November 2009

 
November 14, 2009 - Heading out to the CHF Charity Ball fundraiser.

November 12, 2009 Carrie and I headed to the Celebrity Chefs Auction for the March Of Dimes. Yep... beard is gone... for the weekend.

Carrie and I enjoying our fall weekend! Preparing to watch Alabama beat LSU (which they did). 7 Nov 09

Carrie thinks I'm crazy for sharing this one because we are so "relaxed." True, I don't wear baseball caps, and Carrie made that shirt waiting for me to come home... we are who we are and I thought that is good enough reason to share!

(Yes, I'll be loosing the beard before the March of Dimes event on Thursday.) LOL

 
Halloween 2009 - on our way out to enjoy the night.

Great press week! Went to press on Monday - rest until Sunday. Sweet.

No rest though... We've been such social butterflies! Halloween party last Saturday, Mayan Riviera Bar and Grill on Monday, Smokey Bones on Tuesday and TGI Friday's tonight. Sheesh. Tomorrow? 90 minute muscle meltdown (massage) at 2:30 and margarita at 4:15 on the porch. (raining or not) Friday; Logan's and who knows what for the spooky weekend. Life is good. 

Getting ready to go to the Holland Haunted House, Saturday October 24th 2009

I decided to create a Twitter account and now it seems to be down and has been so since 8:30 this morning. I checked Google trends and it seems I'm not alone.

(update: still down, domain pings just fine, trace route finds the network, (through proxy) must be something big.)

update:correction 11:20am - will not ping from my IP address in Bowling Green KY

final update: 12:45pm... it appears to be back up and running. Oh, and the Saints are beating the Giants 14-3 at the end of the 1 quarter. (grin)

I got up early this morning after a nice evening watching football and eating fish. I woke refreshed and somewhat motivated but there was a little hesitation in my step. As usual, I made my way to the office, turned on the computer and browsed the usual websites. Checking news and social networking sites I fell into the same ol' daily routine; which I must admit has been far from productive for the past few days.

Looking for direction, inspiration or motivation, I visited a rarely viewed web page; http://today.myway.com/motivator.html and like a slap in the head, I got my direction for today and beyond. After reading the daily motivator, I took a short break, looked around my office and thought of the things that I should just do. It's amazing how often I put things off, from things I want to do to things that really need to be done. Nothing too urgent mind you, but there are many things. Ironically, I am more caught up than usual, but there are still a number of things I must do.

I can see on my desk that there a few things that need to be done; I can see from my notes that there are a few things that need to be done; I can see in my email inbox that there are a few things that need to be done; I can see that in order to reach my short and long term business objectives, there are a few things that need to be done. This is the week of doing them, one at a time, until they are done. Is it really so bad? Is it really that hard? Or is it something that just needs to be done. So be it.

Side note: This is a lesson that I have been learning for the past 4 months as it relates to fitness. I wake up in the morning with a million "reasons" not to go to the gym, and unfortunately, I have given in to those excuses more than 50% of the time. Fortunately however, my trainer has been persistent and I have made great progress in my strength, flexibility and have lost 25 lbs. Had I not allowed myself to think "it's too hard" so often, my progress would be much greater, fortunately for me, I did the hard thing often enough to see results. It is evidence that today's motivation works on the long term as well as the short term.

To paraphrase, "You know what needs to be done - stop making excuses and just do it!"

Oh, the motivation?

Is it really so bad?

Is there anything you need to do, but don't really want to do? Is there something that could bring success and accomplishment, but you just can't bring yourself to do it?

Why not? Is it really so bad? Or have you just become so accustomed to avoiding it, that you've created a block against it? Habits and attitudes perpetuate themselves. And often we find it necessary to break free.

Chances are, whatever you're avoiding, you've probably done many other things that are just as risky or unpleasant or difficult. It's not the thing itself that's stopping you -- it's you. In fact, some of the actions you take to avoid it, are probably just as uncomfortable as doing it in the first place.

Whatever needs to be done -- do it! Break free of your own limiting attitude. You can handle whatever challenges come your way. Stop holding yourself back, and learn to enjoy the actions that lead to success.

Copyright Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator® at www.dailymotivator.com 

I haven’t written a blog since 9/11 and even that one was a little brief. (grin) September was a very exciting month for Carrie and I. We had a number of social events that were exciting. Just flipping through the photos I took reminds me what a great month it has been. We got out a lot more than usual this month and have enjoyed it greatly. From nights out with friends, to visiting the Baker Arboretum & home of Mr. baker, to attending a concert by Orchestra Kentucky with dinner (Salmon with Lobster Sauce)… in a barn no less. It’s been a wonderful September.

Carrie celebrated another birthday this month too. She (we) got new furniture for the living room as well as two large paintings by Misha Ambrosia. We attended a benefit and art auction where I was encouraged to bid on a really nice southwestern style paining called "My Favorite Things." I told Misha that I wanted the sister painting (same size and style) to go with it and she sold me that one as well.

Dave, Jen and Jesse also came over for Carries birthday and we had a great time on the porch. Dave and Jen prepared a wonderful meal which included "flat iron steak" which is now one of my favorites. I can’t wait to experiment with that.

Then last week, we entered "press week" where Carrie and I hold up in the office until the magazine is done. With almost 90 sponsors, more than 48 writers and 84 pages, this is by far our largest ever! Sunday was the biggest day for layout, though yesterday morning was quite busy as we made final edits and put the calendar items in the layout… 1,096 individual events sorted by week, day and hour. What’s interesting is putting the calendar in the magazine used to take us 5 hours… with some automation scripts I’ve written as well as some major changes to the work flow, we were able to do it in 1 hour and 38 minutes. SWEET!

We were supposed to go to a big event at the baseball stadium on Thursday night but we worked too late and were wiped out when we were done. We did make time on Saturday night to attend Orchestra Kentucky’s "Tinseltown at Shakertown." We had a table at the concert and they served food from the Brickyard of Franklin. It was supposed to be an outdoor event but looming bad weather moved into the refurbished Shaker Museum barn. It was cozy to say the least, but it was awesome just the same.

I haven’t been doing so well going to the gym lately. Actually, I was going real good until I tried to start lifting again. I worked my chest and arms way too intensely and was so sore for three days that I could not even lift my coffee cup. I had over worked my triceps, biceps and pecs so bad that the pain kept me up at night. I got a really good massage from Melissa the following Friday which helped me recover. Then last week, I was so busy with the new larger magazine that I bowed out of Kung Fu all week. It has been so long since I have been that Sifu Sam didn’t even plan to be there today and as I was driving there he admonished me in a text message to communicate a little better. I will. I wasn’t feeling well so I used the "excuse" to turn around and come back to the office.

Fitness update: I stepped on the scale this morning expecting to be disappointed. I had lost 20 pounds since June and since I have not worked out in two weeks, have been eating very rich foods and have been stagnate at my office desk, I really expected to have gained some of that weight back. Well, quite the opposite, I tipped the scale to 238 lbs, the lightest I have been in a number of years. We even celebrated the completion of the magazine last night with large Rib Eye steaks, Artichoke (w/butter) and I even indulged in some ice cream. The only thing I can attribute the lack of weight gain is that my fitness level over all has improved (even my Massage Therapist noted yesterday that she could see better muscle tone and less fat) and I have been trying to eat smaller meals more often. For example, every day last week I had an egg sandwich with two eggs, hash browns, cheese and bacon. Then every couple of hours I would have one hardboiled egg or a single all beef hotdog (w/bun). This is in contrast to eating two egg sandwiches in the morning then not eating most of the day until late when the hunger inspired me to make a big dinner and then go to bed. So I think that the 4 months of regular workouts coupled with the change in diet have resulted in the loss of weight, better muscle tone and ability to keep the weight off. Now, to kick it up a notch, start lifting to increase my metabolism more and move some of this weight from fat to muscle. I would not be surprised if I got back up to 260, but I want to do it with a 35 inch waist. Speaking of which, I do believe that I am back down to a 40" waist just due to the fact that my fat-boy belts are too big and I fit better in my old pants. WOOT!

So here I am at the office with not much to do. Well, sure I could start updating the online ads and magazine web page. I could also work on a new feature for the SOKY web site as well as another communications application I’ve wanted to finish. But instead, I’ve surfed browsed the news sites, checked my Face Book and other pages and am writing a long overdue blog. I guess I should go ahead and redirect the dot org version to this one since I’ve received a couple of comments encouraging me to blog more often from that domain.

So there you have it, I’ll edit this post a little later adding some pictures from the past few weeks. Thanks for reading.

Carrie and I getting ready to go out... somewhere... can't remember.

Carrie and I getting ready to go to the Baker Arboretum

Misha Ambrosia and Carrie Francis

Me holding Jerry Baker's Emmy (Notice, no finger prints grin)

Carrie and I getting ready to go to the PTK benefit and Art Auction

Carrie's Butterfly that just came out of its cacoon thanks Cynthia

I remember!

Sept. 11: As it happened Fox News

I really wanted to be able to post something profound on this auspicious date, but the well is dry and I cannot think of anything extra special about this date.

I will offer this from Ralph S. Marston,: It is the daily motivator; What a difference a day can make... that's appropriate.

What a difference a day can make. In just one day you can go from being filled with despair to being filled with excitement about your positive possibilities. In just one day, you can set yourself solidly on a course toward the achievement of your most treasured desires.

One day is plenty of time to make a major difference in your life and in the lives of those around you. One day, filled with positive thoughts and decisive, effective actions can have an impact that reaches far into the future.

And when that one day is over, there is another one, filled with just as many opportunities, right behind it. When you live one day to the fullest, it's amazing what a difference you can make. When you string together day after day after day of positive, effective thoughts and actions, the result is nothing short of miraculous.

What a difference a day can make. Imagine what a whole lifetime of them can accomplish!

Copyright Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator® at www.dailymotivator.com

Things have been going well since we delivered the magazine. This is our slow time when we have some basic clean up work to do but nothing too difficult.

We attended a ribbon cutting for a new restaurant on the 3rd. Mayan Riviera Bar and Grill. WOW, this place is great! I'm sure we will be going there many more times in the future! (Like this Friday for starters.) The owners invested a ton of money into this strip mall space and made it into something that you have to see to believe. Carrie and I have been to the Mayan Riviera in Mexico and can say this is an authentic reproduction and the food is as well.

The stone work and custom carved seating is amazing.

This is my "Shrimp Chimichanga" To scale, that is a beer bottle in the background.
There had to be a pound of shrimp in this thing and it was priced at $8.25. WOW

This isn't the food review, I will do that another time... mostly because this was a chamber event and I want to go when they've been open a little longer and when they are not trying to shine on for the business meeting. The owners own 19 other restaurants so I am confident they know what they are doing and will do very well in Bowling Green. Frankly, I think it should have been a stand alone place - just imagine what that building could look like.

Workout Update:
I had a good three consecutive days last week, but skipped Mon and Tue this week. Well, Sam skipped Monday and I skipped yesterday. Even though I've been watching what I eat, (correction, simply eating much less), I remain at 240 lbs. To top it off, even though I've lost 20 pounds, and my pants are fitting slightly better, I took some pictures of myself in July and last week and they are not much different. There's some toning, but I have a lot to do.

So, I spent some time looking at my old weight lifting schedules this morning, and even looked at some new ones; I've resolved to start lifting tomorrow. I took a stroll through the lifting area in the gym and I was motivated, but had Kung Fu starting soon so opted to do my old ab workout until it started. Since Sifu Sam says I shouldn't lift after Kung Fu because of muscle fatigue, I will be going to the gym about an hour early and start slow and easy. I figure I can get 4-6 different exercises in before Kung Fu and this should accelerate my fat loss and muscle gain.

I really should start running again, but I really don't like running. That is something I can do after Kung Fu and I should! I think I'll wait a few weeks before I start running or using the elliptical in the theater room at the gym. If I could get 40 minutes of cardio on top of lifting for an hour and Kung Fu-ing for an hour, I think I'll drop the pounds very very fast. No matter how much I hate running, I hate being out of shape more.

Miscellany:

We have a very active social calendar this week. Starting tonight, we have plans until Sunday. Tonight is a birthday party at Entourage Tapas, tomorrow is an Artist reception at some big-wig's house, then Titans football after, Friday is dinner at Riviera Maya with Dave and Jen, Saturday is tailgating and football, Sunday is another artist dinner thingamabob at 440.

I have my pocket camera all charged up so maybe I'll be able to post some pictures.

Status Update 2/Sep/2009 9:04: I had a wonderful day delivering the magazines yesterday! Many people complimented the magazine and several businesses expressed interest in becoming a sponsor! One past sponsor is also excited about getting back in the magazine. It was a great day - and it feels very good to be doing something good for the community.

From the Publisher:
September 2009 SOKY Happenings

The September issue of SOKY Happenings is our 28^th issue and is one of our biggest ever.  With more than 45 contributing writers and many new sponsors added, this issue marks a turning point in our business, which is exciting.  A special thanks to our new and renewing sponsors for making September one of our best months ever.

SOKY Happenings began a little over 2 years ago as a 36-page events guide, and it has grown to 76 pages, which include articles about interests, people and even hobbies.  The SOKY Frugal Wine Snob, Garden Hoe, Bridal Guide and health matters articles have been warmly received and widely read.  We are able to continue to diversify with article like the monthly “Guess Who,” which challenges the readers to guess who Rachel Adams Walston has interviewed.  Readers have a month to guess who it is, and the person featured is revealed the following month.

The SOKY Snapshot Scavenger Hunt winner is also announced in September.  We had the most entries ever, and it seems more popular this year.  The SOKY Snapshot Scavenger Hunt is a contest in which we publish several close-up photos from a specific area and readers try to identify the places where the pictures were taken.  This year, the photos were taken by Daisy Baxter, and they were taken in Circus Square park as well as Fountain Square Park in Bowling Green.  Readers submitted their answers, and all correct entries were eligible to win by random drawing.  The prize was a $100 gift card to Mariah’s Restaurant and Buckhead Café as well as $100 in cash from SOKY Happenings.  The answers and winners are on page 45.  Congratulations to Steve and Donna Corbitt.

We would like to thank everyone who participated in this year’s hunt! We especially enjoyed the notes with kind words about the hunt and SOKY Happenings.

The cover was painted by Debbie Reid. (www.drportraits.com) She and her husband Ray, are principals of Kentucky Downs Horse Track in Franklin, Kentucky.  We felt this cover was appropriate because of the huge live horse racing events schedule for September 19^th through the 28^th.  There is an article about the events on pages 18 and 19.  Thank you, Debbie, for allowing us to use this beautiful watercolor on the cover of SOKY Happenings.

SOKY Happenings is proud to be a reliable source of events information and an entertaining magazine for the whole community.  The free guide is only possible through the sponsoring advertisers found in the magazine and online.  We would like to encourage you to patronize their businesses and let them know that you saw them in SOKY Happenings.

We are also happy to announce that we are expanding our distribution in Glasgow Kentucky!  We have received several requests from the community to make SOKY Happenings more widely available in the city.  A complete list will be published on the website when it is available.

Once again, I would like to personally thank our sponsors, writers, readers, and our entire community!  This has been an amazing and humbling experience.  When I started this, I had no idea that the outpouring of love, support and encouragement would be so great.  I appreciate all of you and thank you sincerely!

- David Francis

I am not exactly sure why I'm in the office so early on a Saturday (0600). Just a little work to do for Alliance Corporation. Oh well - I'll make the best of it!

Status updates are cool little comments you find on Facebook. They were called "blasts" on Yahoo for a while, and some people call the tweets on twitter. I will update my status here on my blog when appropriate. They are updated on my Facebook page as well. http://www.facebook.com/David.Carrie.Francis I don't do the Twitter thing so this will have to do.

I’ve been blogging for many years and my activities have been sporadic at best lately for a number of reasons. I closed my two main blogs mostly for privacy reasons – especially as it relates to my business and strategy.

I blog privately for the most part now. Just like the previous post, I’ve been "journaling" my weekly activities when I can. I find it very useful to write a daily summary of my activities as well as a weekly overview including missed and achieved goals. The funny thing is, when I’m done writing it, I look at it and think, who would even be interested in this stuff anyway. I have chosen to just save them on my hard drive.

There are many kinds of blogs out there, most are useful only to the owner and maybe a few close friends, others provide commentary or information about different subjects, current events or just a place for people to show the world just how much smarter they are than the rest of the world. I’ve never been much of a self promoter; I prefer to be the guy in the background, present but not the focus of attention.

My most successful blog was SOKY.biz which was a blog about More...

Sunday: In-laws arrived and then left for a cabin at Barren River State Resort Park Lodge leaving behind their beloved Muffy, a very old poodle. I had a good day at the office installing the new blog system. Nice night on the porch with Carrie.

Monday: Good workout with Sam and worked on sponsor web pages. Had a massage and quit early to "melt" on the porch. Very relaxed.

Tuesday: Missed the new early workout time due to a few fires in the office. The in-laws returned from the cabin to spend the week with us. I had a very important lunch meeting which turned out very well. I hired a new salesperson for SOKY Happenings!!! I got a lot done online and then went to see the Bowling Green Hot Rods play. We scored a luxury suite again and had the in-laws as well as Dave and Jen join us. I got to see a few friends at the game and had a really nice time. 

Wednesday: Got to the office late, more or less checked email and then went to work out. It was a good session!! I got a fair amount of work done and then went to Earl Dumplin’s restaurant with the in-laws in Scottsville. It’s very good! Saw some awesome cloud formations and a killer sunset. Chilled on the porch and even saw the International Space Station fly over.

Thursday: New early workout with Sam… was a great workout though my arms are severely bruised from blocking and being blocked. Finished up some lose ends at the office and had another massage at 2:30. After the massage, I met Carrie at a really fancy home to lay by the pool and enjoy some good company. It was really nice and I really want my own swimming pool. A pool is impossible at our current home because the lay of the land. It is something I plan to rectify soon. Chilled on the porch with the in-laws and went to bed early.

Friday: No workout! Arms are sore, but Sam had plans too. I got to the office early enough but ended up surfing Facebook and a few other websites I like to visit. I did some work on the new blog system which I am still getting used to. This blog is in ASP.NET which is something that I have not embraced as much as I should. I’m also working with a friend to modify my old website management coding to update it and make it easier to manage, backup and migrate.

Saturday: Mostly worked on web stuff all day. We were invited to, and attended a wedding reception for some friends who got married in Florida. The food and friendship was great. Ended the evening on the porch with the in-laws.

Sunday: Slept in a little; woke up at 08:40 and the in-laws (and their dog) were gone. I suppose they got up early and just wanted to head out. I think they had a good time, Carrie worked hard to give them some ideas and things to do while they were here.

I got to the office at about 10:00 and the power was out. I did get a chance to clean my desk and start planning for the next week. I still have some letters to write.

In review:
As far as my fitness goes, I am learning the basics of Kung Fu and the forms that Sam is teaching. He says I’m doing very well. We have started a morning abs routine which I am happy about because my gut is still entering rooms before I am. We have also modified the schedule so that it doesn’t break up the day so bad. In other words, it’s earlier in the morning. It looks like I’m going to have to get an alarm clock again, darn it! Next week I plan to go every day at 07:30 to start lifting again and then do martial arts right after. I’m very excited to start lifting and I know it will accelerate my plans to reshape my body. I feel much more flexible that just a few weeks ago and can already tell I’m in better shape, but I have a long way to go!

As far as business goes, I will share more information next week, but I’ve hired another salesperson and I believe this move will allow me to quickly implement plans to automate SOKY Happenings. In other words, the new business I expect, as well as the new revenue will allow me to expand the magazine and hire a few people I’ve wanted to hire for a while now. These people will be taking the day to day tasks as well as the layout of the magazine. This has been my plan for some time, but I have been patiently waiting until the revenue allowed a smart transition. The new staff will also allow me to concentrate more fully on the next phase of my company.

I finally took the time and deployed a new blogging system! I really wanted one that would allow me to categorize my blogs and give me more control. No, it's not the fanciest layout in the world, but it suits my needs and my compulsion to share. I hope to blog more useful "stuff" now that I can organize it.

We had a wonderful 4th of July this year. Lots of stuff going on, along with the distribution of the magazine.

Jesse started a year of active duty on the 1^st, so we spent some quality time on the porch with him. Just me, Carrie and Jesse. It was very nice, albeit it short because we went to sleep early and Jesse woke up and went to another party.

July 3^rd was at Dave and Jens for friends, family, food and fireworks care of the local Kiwanians who put on a big show. I'm still catching hell for not assisting and the Sgt. at Arms already plans to fine me (reads shame me in public) at the next meeting. As expected, the food was great and we had a wonderful time. They did have some kind of video game where you play instruments to songs you know. They had a full drum set that worked with the game and I played it. It was really fun... even though I really stunk at it. The best part of the night was not having to deal with the post-fireworks traffic. We just stayed, played, talked and waited until everyone was gone. It was fun!

July 4^th was at some friends house. They have this elaborate "Tiki Hut" entertainment area in their back yard... I mean it's amazing! Banana trees, tiki torches and everything. The food, friendship and atmosphere was wonderful. Even though it rained, we stayed high and dry under the "Freaky Tiki" and enjoyed the evening!

We called the evening early mostly because we were tired from the night before. We... correction, I watched Hell Boy again and then crashed.

Well that's about it... thanks for reading.

The July 2009 issue of SOKY Happenings brings some new articles, some mystery and—back by popular demand—the SOKY Snapshot Scavenger Hunt!

SOKY Happenings is a monthly community resource offering an exhaustive calendar of events broken down into week, day and even hour. There are more than 1,000 events in the July calendar, listing everything from toddler time at the library to sporting events and business gatherings with the Chamber of Commerce. The calendar is your LOCAL reference guide to what’s happening in South Central Kentucky.

This month’s cover was selected about two years ago when I fell in love with it while it was on display at the Brickyard Café in Franklin. Bonnie McBain’s painting, “Maine Oh Maine,” depicts a peaceful country porch with an American flag blowing in the breeze. I love this painting so much that our salesperson, Vicki J. Fitch, purchased a full-sized reproduction of it and presented it to Carrie and I for our 25^th wedding anniversary. Thanks to Vicki for the gift, and thanks to Bonnie for painting it and allowing us to use it on this month’s cover. www.bonniemcbain.com

The SOKY Frugal Wine Snob also returns this month revealing his identity. Having lurked in the shadows with the protective blanket of anonymity, Bill Singletary decided the time was right to come out into the light and let people know who he is. This is his effort to be held accountable for his recommendations and make himself available for suggestions and comments.

The mystery in this issue is the introduction of a brand new monthly feature by Rachel Walston. Rachel writes in the opening, “Think you know the people of South Central Kentucky? In this new monthly feature, we’ll introduce you to someone whose name or title should be familiar, but there’s a hitch—all the obvious details have been left out. Can you tell who’s who from their lesser-known details? Put on your thinking cap and keep reading!” The rest of the article can be read on page 5.

The Snapshot Scavenger Hunt is something we introduced in our second issue two years ago. We recruited the assistance of a real photographer this year (instead of doing it myself as in years past), and Daisy Baxter brought her talent and vision to the hunt. She spread out the playing field this year, incorporating Fountain Square Park and the new Circus Square Park and all roads in between.

The contest is easy: simply bring your copy of SOKY Happenings downtown and stroll through the parks and the facing roads. Identify all of the images and send in your form. We will draw a winner from all completed forms and the winner will receive $100 in cash and a $100 gift card from Mariah’s/Buckhead Café.

We are also introducing another monthly feature about gourmet coffee. R. Justin Shepherd, owner of Spencer’s Coffeehouse on the square in Bowling Green, will offer his insight, ideas, anecdotes and intimate knowledge of the dark brew each month.

Our list of contributing writers continues to increase and we are so very grateful! SOKY Happenings is authored by people in the community who have a passion for their topic and a willingness to share. We are honored to be able to bring you their thoughts and ideas each month.

I would also like to, once again, thank our sponsors. SOKY Happenings is free to the public, thanks to continued financial support from our sponsors. We do our best to provide our sponsors with effective advertising and value, which includes a full color ad, monthly changes and bold listings in the calendar, as well as a free webpage on our website with their information, current advertisement and a map to their place of business. SOKY Happenings’ guide format also offers our sponsors the opportunity to be seen all month long for one small investment. Please take note of our sponsors which are listed online as well as on page 4 of the magazine and if you see fit; please use their products and let them know you saw them in SOKY Happenings.

Thank you for reading SOKY Happenings.

- David Francis

I wrote a long blog on June 21^st, (Father’s Day) that rambled about my personal feelings about the day. I didn’t post it because it was a little more personal that I intended. Suffice to say, I never knew my father which is what inspired me to be the best darn father I could. History (and opinion) will determine if I was successful, but I gave it my all.

Update on training:
It’s going very well! We’ve had 10 sessions so far and I’m learning a lot! What used to take the whole hour is now being done in half the time. This allows Sam the time to teach me new things and work on my form. I’ve also starting working the heavy bag a little. I’m kicking a little higher, moving much better and over all, I feel like I’m getting a good workout. The scale and the waistline remain unchanged, but Carrie says she can see a difference.

Water
I am now getting a weekly therapeutic massage on Fridays. On my first visit, Mellissa used up a gallon of lotion and told me that I needed to drink a lot more water.  Actually, she said that I need to drink 1 oz of water for each pound which is more than 2 gallons per day. I haven’t been able to consume that much, but I am drinking more than 1 gallon plus the coffee, cokes and “other liquids” throughout the day. Carrie has mentioned several times that my old man wrinkles on my face are going away and that I look younger and healthier. Either she’s being very nice, or it’s working. I know one thing for sure, it has helped my flexibility! Even Melissa has commented on that.

Business
Things are going very well for SOKY Happenings magazine! We picked up several new sponsors, some even signed on for a year. We also enjoyed some significant renewals. Next month is set up to be another record sales month already! I am making some changes and looking for a real office for the company so we can hire some more people. I’m very excited.

The “other” business has been a little frustrating. I’ve tried to get this started but due to a number of influences, it has not. I hope to hire one or two more people next week and get this off the ground. It is key to my overall success and early retirement. (Funny, I thought early meant 45 years old, that’s in 6 months, I guess early is not 50 years old. LOL)

A very recent business development… which could prove quite profitable revolves around web development and technology. It’s still in concept and I’m waiting for more information, but if it comes to pass, I will likely be hiring one or two full time developers this month to write the site as well as get the technology part of my corporation off on good footing. Web development has always been part of my long term plan, but this new gig could offer the opportunity to get it going sooner rather than later. More to come.

That’s about it…

Things are going quite well! We will receive the July issue of SOKY Happenings very soon and I thought I would post an update. I’ll post more about the magazine next.

Thanks for reading!

I had a heart to heart with my trainer/sifu on Monday about the training. Fact is; I was trying to get out of it. The Kung Fu seemed a little too intense and I had a desire to get back to the old way of working out that worked before. After going back and forth a few times with him, and a short period of internal soul searching, I decided to continue, as scheduled, no excuses! Even next week, which is press week, I’ve decided to take the hour and a half and not use the excuse that I’m too busy.

The soul searching? Well, after explaining why I didn’t want to continue every day, Sam felt there had to be another reason. He suggested that my mind seemed unbalanced and that there had to be something else causing me to want to reduce the training. After thinking about it, I think in part he was right; I was overly concerned about people watching our training. I felt self conscious about being so fat and not being able to keep up with my trainer which made the sessions uncomfortable. Ever since I actually “decided” that I was going to go no matter what, I’ve been able to keep up better, (though Sam slowed down for me too) and I am doing one extra kick, punch or movement… this is my way of keeping my commitment and confirming it with every exercise.

After only three days this week, and a good modification to the workout routine to prevent injury, I feel really good and I look forward to my work outs. I can’t wait to get a full week in! After 4 full weeks, I will evaluate my progress (losing inches on my waist), and would like to start lifting weights again. But first, core strength, and overall fitness, then building the muscles again.

My weight is at 255 (down five pounds from Monday) which is the only standard measurement I’ve tracked. I’m not as concerned about my weight, but since I am not lifting yet and mostly working on cardio, I figure it would be a good indication of improvement. That said, I am much more flexible than when I started and I can hold the postures, kick a little higher and I’m not as sore as I was the first few days.

On a related note to the previous post; if only mildly; today represents 6 month's until I turn 45 years old. Yep, The ol' Forty-five! It's not that big of a deal to me except I have grown so far out of shape that I might not make it the next six months if I don't do something about it. (Based on statistics, not symptoms.)

Returning from a week of indulgence, I stepped on the scale and for the first time in my life, exceeded the 260lbs marker. This brings into sharp focus how fat I've become. Sure, I could lose the vacation blubber by skipping a few meals, but that's not the point. "They say" that if your waist is over 40 inches, you are at significantly higher risk for a myriad of diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes. Based on what "they" say, I have resolved to reduce my waist size to 35" or lower. I was in the best shape of my life when my waist was 35" so I will spend the next six months getting back there.

Yes; I've posted about this many times! Yes, I did start Kung Fu training three weeks ago (which was expunged in 8 short days). But today, June 15th, 2009, I have resolved to start running _{(jogging at a walking pace)} again and resume my efforts to reduce my pant size... all else will follow including better eating habits, better fitness and better health.

Here goes!

I’m back! We had THE most wonderful time on the beach for the past 7 days. As mentioned earlier, we celebrated our 25^th wedding anniversary at a beach house on St. George Island, in the “Plantation” area which is a restricted area of the island. Our house was so close to the beach that only a small sand dune separated us from the wonderful nature to be seen. Carrie and I discussed it, and though we have been on many trips together, (remember, we used to own a travel agency), this was our favorite one yet! Just the two of us in an exclusive area on the beach for an entire week!

Carrie and I from the porch of the beach house on St. George Island

Lots to do! Apparently, I have more than 2000 email coming in and many things on my to-do list. This is the price for taking 8 days off.

I’ll write more about the trip and post pictures as time allows.

Thanks for reading.

With all of the strange problems I’ve been having with my Mac, I started to prepare for the worst; the worst being having to recover the entire operating system and reloading all of my software and settings. I suppose worse than that would have been is I had to send the computer back to Apple for repair, but I didn’t even want to consider that one. I cleaned off one my hard drives so I could put a clean version of Leopard on it with all of the other hard drives removed. But I hesitated!

I decided that I should ask for a lifeline before going to the trouble of reloading Leopard on the Mac. I logged onto a Mac forum and explained the symptoms and within 24 hours I had one short response that didn’t sound right, but after contemplating some of the early symptoms, considered it more carefully. Basically, the Mac was having trouble with the graphics. Sometimes it would fail to start, other times it would start but the icons would be all jumbled, and more recently, it would just freeze up causing me to have to power down. The suggestion on the forum was to change the graphics card.

Changing the graphics card made very little sense to me because the computer would operate fine in safe mode. No freezes, lock ups or jumbled graphics. I thought that if it was a graphics hardware issue, it would cause trouble in safe mode or any other mode. I was wrong! I changed the card and my beloved Mac is back to normal – as fast as before and I didn’t have to reset all of my software. WHEW!

I still don’t understand how the graphics card could affect the operation of the entire computer so intricately. I am assuming it is the way the memory from the card interfaces with the memory on the computer, but I can’t be sure. What I am sure of is that changing the card fixed my problem and I’m finally good to go. Good thing, because I really wanted this fixed before taking some time off.

So there you have it! Mystery solved. I suppose if I were a good technical blogger I would write the name of the old card, and the new card as well as the specifications, but I never claimed to be a good blogger, much less a good technical blogger. LOL

I will mention the store that helped me out. “The Place” on the square on Bowling Green was where I went to purchase the card. I tried Best Buy, but even the “Geeks” suggested that The Place would be more knowledgeable about Mac hardware. They were right. Brad Bitterling took extra time to look up my options and offer advice. Even after some trouble with the first card I bought, he took even more time to confirm the trouble and replaced the card actually saving me more money. What’s even better, they sold me a hard drive at a discount because of their policy to match prices if the can. Bottom line, they really helped me out and saved me money – for less than $300, I not only got a new graphics card to fix my computer, but also a 1TB hard drive to expand my storage needs. Well done Brad and thank you! 

The issues with my MAC that I posted about on Wednesday continue. In fact, they have gotten worse. I did a little poking around and I am going to try to change the graphics card. I must admit that I am very disappointed in this computer. It's less that 2 years old and the glitches are more than an annoyance. I spent thousands of dollars on this hoping it would be a good investment, but I've never had this much trouble out of a PC, at least not this young.

Grrrrr

On a brighter note, we had a wonderful gathering on the porch Friday night and went to the Glasgow Highland Games yesterday. I started my fitness training with Sam on Thursday and again on Friday, we will be going every day. I'm a little sore but I already feel better. Toss in a 70 minute massage from a licensed massage therapist on Friday afternoon and I feel great!

Life is good! It's just my MAC computer that torques my screws.

This month (our 2nd – Happy Anniversary to us) was a very challenging and frustrating month for me. Press week, which had essentially been reduced to just a few days, took not only a full week, but the entire Memorial Day weekend plus one day. I didn’t get done until nearly 10pm last night.

Some of the delays were my own fault! Since we decided to pick up the magazine our self on the 31^st, it meant that my deadline shifted from Friday to the following Tuesday. So, having 4 extra days, I didn’t stay as focused as I should have. That’s my own fault.

BUT – the biggest and most frustrating reason for the hard press week was technology. From my computer to the remote control on my TV in the office, nothing worked properly!

1^st, I’ve been dealing with some major issues on my web servers which requires that I check all hosted sites several times a day. This cost countless hours but it could not be avoided.

2^nd, my email server for SOKY.NET has been getting slammed with SPAM and has resulted in up to two hour delays in email. Not that big of a problem you would think, but my workflow for the magazine requires Carrie to email me resources as I come to each page.

3^rd, my MAC PRO, (this was the most frustrating one and should be a post on its own). I have been having trouble starting the MAC in the morning; so much so that wasn’t even turning it off at night for the past two weeks. When I would start it, sometimes it would hang up and fail to load, other times the screen was all jumbled and I couldn’t click anything. So, I left it on overnight which seemed to have solved the early morning issues. I did a little searching and found some possible remedies, but I wanted to wait until this issue of the magazine went to press first. (mistake)

The MAC issues got exponentially worse each day!  As I was laying out the magazine, the MAC would lock up completely, a little more often each day. On the final day, (last night) it got so bad that I could only have one program running at a time and even then, I couldn’t touch anything until the task it was working on was complete. All of this at the final hour of proofing, packaging and uploading a 200mb file for the press. I would say that I had to manually stop and start using the power button at least every 15 minutes. I thought I was going to come unglued!

Throw in one idiot moment that cost me more than an hour where I was laying out several pages and tried to close something… selecting "do not save" was the brain fart that cost me not only time, but a few ticks of the blood pressure. I was so mad I cannot write the words in public.

So what does a hard working entrepreneur do? We adapt and overcome!  I very patiently waited the 30 minute for the file to upload, confirmed the file size was the same on the FTP as on my hard disk (because the display stopped functioning during the upload), turned off my computer and went home. I just need to be away from this hunk of junk for a little while and formulate a plan.

To top it all off, Carrie didn’t want to sit on the porch because she had already taken a bath and didn’t want to get “buggy” outside. Grrrrr

This morning my thoughts immediately turned to my computer problems. Would I have to buy a new one? How much data was I going to lose by trying to fix the issues? Would all of my setting get screwed up recovering the system? Am I going to have to reload all of the software and files all over again? Do I have enough coffee at the office to answer all of these questions? So, I hopped in my truck, drove to the office and tried a few things.

Since I turned the MAC off, the first step was to press that little button and see what happens. Sure enough, the first time I pressed it, the monitor didn’t even display anything. Pressing it again, the screen appeared but wouldn't let me type in my password; pressing it again, it let me enter my password but hung up on the login. Phooey!

So I remembered something I read last week that I wanted to try after I went to press. I wanted to wait because according to my information, the procedure would cause Leopard (the MAC operating system), to do a quick check of the hard drive before booting. It also allowed me to boot in what’s called “Safe Mode” which would load only the fonts and drivers needed to operate. So I pressed the power button off, then pressed the power button on and held down the shift key. The little Apple appears and the circle thingy that shows the computer is thinking turned and turned and turned. After what seemed like an hour (only about 5 minutes), the logon screen appeared with two red words above the password box, “Safe Mode.” I entered my password and it booted very quickly.

While in safe mode, I decided to use the disk utility to verify the hard drive as well as the main volume. That took some time too, but it reported no issues. That was disappointing in a way because I really wanted to have something to fix.

Still in safe mode, I decided to search Apple Support for suggestions about problems starting a MAC PRO that is less than 2 years old. I found the suggestion to reset the parameter random access memory (PRAM) and nonvolatile RAM (NVRAM).  (link) From the document, it just made sense to me that this could be the culprit, mostly because of what the PRAM controls. So, still in safe mode, I selected restart and followed the instructions from the document.

1. Shut down the computer.

2. Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.

3. Turn on the computer.

4. Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.

5. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.  (Actually, I had read elsewhere to let the start up “gong” chime three times so I did.)

6. Release the keys.

Releasing the keys resulted in a normal start up. Actually, it seemed a little faster. I was worried that all of my program setting would be lost, but I entered my password, closed my eyes and waited… it was all there! SWEET!

Just to be sure, I started InDesign, PhotoShop, and Parallels because they are the programs that would lock everything up last night. Everything worked! Then I opened the magazine file in InDesign and made a couple changes, saved them and everything worked fine. I opened Outlook in Parallels as well as the web browser and everything worked fine. (Except for MS Outlook which is having her own problems right now with the display of email… another frustration of the month but a different post when I figure that one out.)

I have been working on this MAC for a few hours now and I have not experienced any glitches.

Admittedly, I do not know if starting in Safe Mode, running the disk verification, or resetting the PRAM worked because I did all three of them at the same time. But, with 20 years of experience with computers, I’m confident it was the PRAM more than anything else. Even still, the safe mode boot did allow me to access the computer, check the Apple Support site, run the verification without locking up either. Hmmm… interesting.

UPDATE: This did not solve the issue, it could be the graphics card which I will have to change on Monday.

So now that the June Issue of SOKY Happenings is complete AND I seemed to have solved the issues with the MAC PRO, I can turn my attention to the web server and email server. I will be moving all sites to a new vendor which will require more technological frustration. The biggest hurdles are transferring the SQL databases and setting up all of the email accounts. It just takes time and persistence.

Subject: MAC PRO, Lock Up, PRAM, Technology