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.

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 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 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.

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...

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.

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!

Technology changes; Long (personal) story short, I'm upgrading all of my web servers!! I'm moving everything to a more secure environment that has better performance. All of my domains, websites, email, databases and everything. I'm closing, deleting, removing and otherwise eliminating many online services and files! This is all in the name of consolidation and simplification of my life and technology.

Personal changes; starting Monday (May 25th), I have a private trainer/Kung Fu fitness instructor who is going to take this "white, wide and weak" old man and transform him into a lean mean fighting machine. I've put this off for far too long! I've gained way too much weight! And I'm so out of shape that I got sore playing golf this week and I even had a golf cart. Sheesh. Just 4 years ago, I was much thinner and in much better shape - I plan to be there once again and build upon that. I will be learning the basic of Kung Fu while working my core strength, building stamina, reducing weight and improving my waist line (which is pushing 45" at the moment.) My goals are simple, get my waist down to 35" and be able to run 1.5 miles in less than 10 minutes. I want to improve my muscle tone as well and that is why I won't be as concerned about my weight as I am about my shape. Fact is, I was in the best shape of my life when I weighed close to what I weigh now, so the scales will have little to do with my objectives. Actually, it is quite possible that I will weight up to 275 by the first of the year, that is if I can get back into the gym like I have been in the past and meet my measurement goals for back, chest, shoulders and arms.

Warning, I will be creating a new section of this website that will journal the progress. The plan is to include photos and stats over the next six months. That said, I probably won't start posting until some progress has already been made. (grin) I will also divulge the name of my instructor and the gym at that time.

Business changes; if progress continues as it has been, it is highly likely that I will be hiring as many as 10 people in the next 30-45 days. For those who know my objective, you already know that I have longed for a team of motivated and creative people for a long time. I have put into motion what is necessary to build my business very quickly and allow me the ability to create a wonderful team, which means I can be about the things I want to, and not about the things I have to. I am still not ready to "announce" the new company, though many of you know what it is already. Let it be said however that we have made a great stride in that department and I am more confident than ever that it will become a reality sooner than later. Even still, SOKY is poised to redouble in the next 90 days when my plan comes together.

Family Updates:

Jesse is back from Afghanistan! YEA! He brought his parents a "mission flag" which is an American flag that flew on a combat mission in theater! That was sweet! He is settling in though life has been offering its fair share of challenges, he will do fine.

David and Jennifer have returned from TX! YEA!!!! They have been there for about a year and are now at home. We are happy!

BG Hotrods, game 2

Carrie and I have been having a great time! Loving life and living it to the fullest.

Barren River Park May 2009

Barren River Park May 2009

Hotrods Victory night - May 13th 2009 WINNER!