I receive a lot of email forwards sharing miraculous stories. Some of them are Urban Legands. Some are true. This one is a true story of a true hero. Here is an excerpt:
PO2 (EOD2) Mike Monsoor, a Navy EOD Technician, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously for jumping on a grenade in Iraq , giving his life to save his fellow SEALs.
At the gravesite, SEALs removed their gold Trident from their uniform and slapped it down embedding it into his wood coffin as a tribute to him. You can watch a YouTube video tribute to him that is posted on this Snopes entry.
The story is true.
Each of our military men and women are heros. They serve and sacrifice for our country and the welfare of others around the world. Their families sacrifice as well.
Pass this on. Remember those who serve. Continue to pray for them and for their families.
May God bless and protect each hero serving our country and their families who sacrifice as well!
From JoJo'sPurple Crayon...
Where's FIMM? Did you find himm this week? Where's FIMM? Come find the only Foot in Mouth Man picture that is different from all the rest. Email what he looks like and where you found himm to fimm@artofeloquence.com and win a free Art of Eloquence eProduct of your choice!
Well it's finally coming down to the end. We are currently living out of boxes and expect to move to Arizona in the next three weeks. Two weeks after we move my first born will be leaving for Vanderbilt University.
It doesn't seem like it could be 18 years ago that I brought her home from the hospital. Why just a year ago wasn't she 6 years old winning a figure skating trophy at competition? Seems like just a few months ago that we began homeschooling. Wasn't it just yesterday when she earned her black belt in Karate at the age of 13?
When I was a kid, it seemed like Christmas took forever to get here. Now I am already thinking that Christmas is only about five months away. I can't imagine what life will be like without her here each day. Seeing her smiling face we paid $6500 worth of braces for...
She is a treasure. The other day she was spending time with her friends before we leave California and found an I Love Lucy purse. She brought it home for me. You see, when we first began homeschooling, we would take an hour break for lunch and watch I Love Lucy. We could repeat the lines word for word. Sometimes we talk in lines from movies and we finish each other's sentences with them.
The episode pictured on my new purse is Vitametavegimin, our favorite episode. Now every time I see this purse, it will remind me of my precious daughter and what a fine young lady she has become.
From JoJo'sPurple Crayon...
Where's FIMM? Did you find himm this week? Where's FIMM? Come find the only Foot in Mouth Man picture that is different from all the rest. Email what he looks like and where you found himm to fimm@artofeloquence.com and win a free Art of Eloquence eProduct of your choice!
This will be my 9th year homeschooling my kiddos and I have done some silly things in order to get them to learn. My son is a Wiggly Willie. He has some focusing issues. The first math lesson we did was a lesson in Couch Acrobatics.
He started off sitting on the couch like a normal person. Before too long he had changed positions 17 times and before our 20 minute math lesson was over, he resembled Mork from Ork! A minute later he landed head first onto the coffee table and that's when I realized the math lesson was over!
I found that my son likes to be moving. His whole body has to be engaged: body, mind and spirit. So I invented a strange way of teaching math. It's called Drag Math. Here's how it works.
My son loves to be pulled around on the floor by his feet. Kids like this kind of thing. I have no idea why. I agreed to pull him all over the floor just as long as he answered math questions. The answer to 2x2 was good for about 12 inches. What's 4 divided by 2? That'll get you another 2 feet. I dragged him all over the house and he LOVED it.
My dd walked into the room and wondered if I had lost my marbles, but he learned! And you know what? Math lasted longer than 20 minutes. I wish I could say the same for my back!
What's the craziest thing you ever did to get through to your kiddos? Come share! After all, it's Speak Up Saturday!
You Just Can't Please Everyone! The Question is...Should You Try?
Matthew Slick, the president of Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry (CARM.org), publishes what he calls "Love and Hate Mail" in his newsletters. It is usually an equal mix of "What a blessing your ministry is!" and "You and your twisted organization are hateful and evil!"
Bill O'Reilly has a segment of The O'Reilly Factor where he reads viewer feedback. Very often he will be presented with completely opposite complaints. One viewer emails admonishing him for being too hard on Hillary Clinton. Another, watching the very same interview, blasts him for being too soft on her. So offended by his obviousbias, neither one will ever watch his show again.
How is it that the very same communication can be seen as both good and evil? Because all human beings view life through a filter made up of his/her beliefs which are created based upon life experience. This filter is necessary to help us discern what is good and bad for our lives. God gave us discernment to help ensure our survival. A child touches the flame on the stove and discovers, through experience, that fire is painful. As imperfect creatures our discernment is not perfect, but it is a most valuable tool.
What, if anything, do we do with this feedback? In the case of Bill O'Reilly, whose goal it is to be "Fair and Balanced", equal amounts of "Love and Hate Mail" may suggest he is on target. As we saw recently with Subway, feedback can tell you when your customer relations needs some attention! However, if you have a mission given you by the Lord, you cannot allow your "Love and Hate Mail" to determine your course! For, if you try to please everyone, you end up as milquetoast, communicating nothing at all. Revelation 3:16 says: "So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth."
I use humor in almost everything I do. I do so not just to entertain or to keep your head from bobbing-causing potential injury as it hits your keyboard, but because research shows that humor can increase comprehension. I am fully aware that not everyone appreciates humor. I understand that my brand of humor may not be someone's cup o' tea. Or perhaps you prefer decalf.
I consider myself fortunate in that most of the feedback I receive is "Love Mail". However, I do occasionally receive email from those who take exception to my humor or who don't find it funny. Just a few weeks ago I posted a few of the funnier emails I have received from those who don't appreciate the importance of communication skills. It doesn't feel warm and fuzzy when someone tells you that your life's work is worthless. They are entitled to their opinion, but if I am to be true to the Father who sent me on this mission, I can't worry about what some think of me.
What do you do with your "Love and Hate Mail"? Oh, yours may not come from customers. It may take the form of a phone call from a friend, a visit from a nosey neighbor, or a passing comment from your son, but you do get them! What will you do with them? You just can't please everyone. The question is...should you try? What say you?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
JoJo Tabares holds a degree in Speech Communication, but it is her humorous approach to communication skills which has made her a highly sought-after Christian speaker and writer. Her articles appear in homeschool publications, such as Homeschool Enrichment Magazine and The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, which also endorses her Say What You Mean curricula. You can also find JoJo on web sites such as Crosswalk.com and Dr.Laura.com. For more information on communication FUNdamentals and Christian-based communication skills for the whole family, please visit http://www.ArtofEloquence.com
Just after I posted S*/pammers Can't Spell! yesterday, I received my very first Insult-O-Gram!
In case you are not getting enough insults from your friends and family...
Yes, friends...there's a new spam in town and it has come to rescue you from the positive uplifting messages of hope and love and even the unwanted products/services that can potentially increase the quality of your life!
This is not your average, run-of-the-mill spam! Oh no! And this one ain't sellin' anything! Nope! There are no links, no ads, no extraneous words! Just a note of discouragement from an annonymous e-unfriend! My life's little unfortunune e-cookie was a not so sweet but very simple message:
"Your life is crap"
So be on the lookout for your very own Insult-O-Gram coming to an inbox near YOU!
From JoJo'sPurple Crayon...
Hey! Did you enter our contest yet?
Enter by midnight PST on Sunday, March 25th!
When my dd was younger, I would test her spelling by making up a story using all her spelling words. It was fun for me and for her because I would make up a silly story. It was challenging to use all the words and have the story make some sort of sense. So I thought it would make a fun story prompt for school.
Here are some words in no particular order. See if you (or your kids) can make up a story using all these words. You get extra bonus points if you can do so using the words in order! See how creative you can be. Post your stories here!
If you have ever been called for Jury Duty once, you have probably been a thousand times! It reminds me of the old joke:
"Your food stamps will be stopped effective March 1992 because we received notice that you passed away. May God bless you. You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances." --Department of Social Services, Greenville, South Carolina
Just about every three months I am called for Jury Duty and each time I tell them that I cannot go. I homeschool so, if I were to get on a trial, my son would miss school and I have no place for him to stay. Also my dd needs me to drive her to classes and pick her up in the middle of the day. Lastly, I have no one to run my business if I were to be gone. The situation hasn't changed much in 8 years yet they keep calling. There's just no communicating with them.
When I worked for a large company that paid for Jury Duty, they never called me. My dh never gets called. My neighbors never get called.
Ok so each time you just contact them and reitterate that you cannot serve, right? Wrong! It's not that simple. They ask you to fill out a slip and return it to them with your reasons. But they always deny your request and tell you that "Additional INformation is Required".
The folks who answer the phone aren't too bright either. The last time I did this it took me about 45 minutes to get her to understand that it is possible to homeschool and run a business at the same time. She said she could understand that I wouldn't be able to serve if I had a child I was responsible to provide care for during the day but she didn't see how I could do that and go to an office from 9-5. I asked her if she ever heard of home based businesses and explained that you can teach in the morning and run your business the rest of the day from your office down the hall from your kitchen classroom!
So this time I thought I would simply say that I homeschool and provide care for a young child. I figured this would be easier to understand and I would simply be excused, right? WRONG!! They just sent me a notice that my request for excusal has been DENIED and that "Additional Information is Required"!
So now on Monday, while I am exceedingly busy, I must spend another 45 minutes on the phone with the Jury Department representative at which time I will suggest that they begin to search in an as yet untapped Jury Market by contacting some of the rest of the 1,999,332 people who live in San Bernardino County!
Have any other homeschoolers out there had problems with Jury Duty?
Customer service is a big issue these days and if you have followed my blog for a while you know my continuing saga of cable woe! Here's the latest installment. In my book, Say What You Mean Every Day, I call them Cable Clods.
For the past three or four weeks (It's hard to keep track. Time flies when you're having fun!), I have lost my internet connection by about Friday or Saturday. I call Cable Clods and push buttons.
Press 1 if you speak English....
Press 2 if you want telephone...
Press 3 if you want internet...
(whole new set of buttons)
Press 1 if you want billing...
Press 2 if you want telephone...(didn't we just do this?)
Press 3 if you want internet...
(more!)
Press 1 if you want to add services...
Press 2 if you want to change services...
Press 3 if you are having technical difficulties...
(Still more!)
Press 1 if you are calling for the status of your previously placed service call...
Press 2 if you want to schedule a service call...
Press 3 if you are having trouble connecting to the internet...
(now we're cookin' with gas!)
Automated Audrey: Are you calling because you are having trouble connecting to your internet? (NO!) If so, say yes or continue. She goes on like this asking questions for about 15 minutes whilst you turn your computer on and off and clarify your "yes" or "CON----TIN---UE" into the phone. [Smile!]
You finally get back online and she wants to go over your services with you to make sure they "MEET YOUR NEEDS!" [Keep Smiling!!]
After doing this for several weeks, I decided to have Automated Audrey connect me to a customer service rep (preferably one that was breathing!) to discuss how I could avoid having weekly conversations with Automated Audrey. Audrey doesn't like that idea. She tries to talk me out of it by telling me that she needs to go over my services to see if they..."MEET MY NEEDS!"
I push 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000 to see if I can bypass Audrey. Success. She says she is going to transfer me to a customer service rep and to hold on because they are all helping other (cranky) customers right now. [I'm smiling!]
So last week I asked for a credit for my trouble and time and the several hours that I was without services the two weeks prior when they had some sort of Cable Clods melt down for two days. After waiting on hold for 20 minutes she is sorry to tell me that she cannot oblige. [Ok I'm no longer smiling!] Then she accidentally hangs up on me. I don't call back cuz...I HAVE A LIFE. :D
So THIS week I talked to a Cable Clods rep who said she was giving me a $50 credit and would schedule an appointment for a technician to come out to fix the problem. [Now why didn't "I" think of that!]
However, for a tech to come out, I have to be home. No, he doesn't need to come into the house because the problem is OUTSIDE the house. Cable Clods just needs me to be home to make sure the fix (which will likely not work. I mean why should this time be any different?) has been successful.
I point out that the fix will work for a week and that he should check a week LATER to make sure it works. The customer service rep agrees with me but is sorry to inform me that "Them's the rules!" So I say..."Let's pretend I'm going to be home." She says great and asks me what time he should come out. I say it doesn't matter cuz I have no intention of staying home all day to wait for a guy who doesnt' need to be there and won't fix the problem anyway. Especially since I have several places to go this weekend.
She informs me that he can be here today from 1-3pm. I say great figuring he will knock on my door and find me not at home after perhaps fixing the problem?? NO! She then informs me that he will call me twice at least two hours before the time he comes out to make sure I will be home. If I don't answer the phone, they will cancel the trouble call. YOu know. The one he doesn't really need to be here for anyway!
I complain. She tells me they can't send someone out unless I am home. I say that's not true because they have done it before. I ask to speak to the supervisor. She puts me on "forget". [translation: Permanent Hold]
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is Customer Service in America! What's YOUR story? Speak up. It's Saturday!
Wasn't it just Monday? Ever feel like you are running on that hamster wheel so fast that you look back and realize you haven't gone anywhere? LOL Busy! Busy-ness!
I thought a homeschool mom was supposed to bake bread from scratch, spend hours preparing nutritious meals, go for nature walks in the woods (ok so we live in the desert and there is only dirt!)...
I don't have time for all that. Do you?
I used to belong to a homeschool support group when we lived down the hill. There were several women who got together each week and made their own bread. They had one of those dehydraters and made their own beef jerkey. They sewed their own clothes. I know one homeschool mom who made several elaborate costumes for various events!
Finances dictate that I work from home. If I am not teaching or driving a kidlette to some extra curricular activity, I am working. At 3am I am working. At 10pm I am working. While my son is working on his math work, I am working. While we eat lunch (which is not homemade chicken salad) I am doing laundry!
The other day, we did have a picnic. As I said, we live in the desert so the backyard has nothing but dirt. We ate on the front lawn on towels. We watched the planes go by and talked about my dd's graduation and my son's soccer interests. It was so nice to stop and smell the...dirt. ;D We reminisced about the old house and things we used to do. We used to walk to the park and have our picnics about once a week. (This is the desert so the only park is a long ways away!) We used to have quiet picnics in our back yard. We would go walking around the neighborhood with a magnifying glass and identify bugs.
Seems life has gotten much more busy the last few years. College prep has been exhausting for Kelsey and for us. But it's about to end. On Monday afternoon, college prep will turn into college acceptance. The rest of the schools she applied to will notify her by 2pm our time (Yes we are all counting down! LOL) either via an email or by posting it on a website they can check.
Kelsey is about to graduate and then I will have so much more free time with only one left to homeschool. And somehow the lack of busy-ness will be both welcomed and missed.
Everywhere you go you see the trappings of Easter...Easter Bunny, Chocolate Eggs, Easter Baskets, Easter Dresses...
But you are hard pressed to find the real meaning in Good Friday and Resurrection SONday if you look in the stores...
A friend made this video while at Walmart. It think it says a lot.
We don't do Easter. No Easter Bunnies or hiding eggs. We remember the sacrifice of Christ and the victory over death on Resurrection SONday. A favorite tradition is making Resurrection Cookies.
What are your traditions? How does your family remember Christ for His sacrifice for us?
My father sent me one of those "They Walk Among Us" emails with stories of people who haven't two brain cells to rub together. I am sure most of those stories are made up. There is one where the cashier rings up $42.45 and the man hands her a $50 bill and she gives him change of $42.45 because that's what the machine said. I don't think anyone is quite THAT ignorant. But I have run into many people who find it difficult to think for themselves. Think outside the box. I think most public schools for the past 20 or 30 years have concentrated so much on teaching students what to think that when they become adults they cannot think for themselves.
Here is a true story of something that happened to me that illustrates my point. It is sad that so few people are taught today to think themselves through a situation without being told what to do. American ingenuity is dying. We parents need to teach our children HOW to think.
I was directed to my local public school's Student Store to register my dd for the PSAT a year ago or so. When we finally got up to the cashier, I told the teacher/student team (It apparently took both of them to operate the register!) that my dd was a homeschooler and I wanted to sign her up for the PSAT. They asked me for her Student ID Number. I reminded them that she didn't attend that school and that she was a homeschooler. They asked for her Student ID Number. I tried to tell them that she didn't have one because she didn't attend that school and that there should be a code to put in for homeschoolers. They kept insisting that she had one and at one point said that she couldn't attend the school if she didn't have one. I, again, informed them that she DIDN'T attend their school or any other public school and that she didn't have a Student ID. They insisted that she had to have one. They asked for the name of her school. I told them the name of our private homeschool. They looked it up, but informed me that they couldn't find it. I told them why that was.
After they tried pushing various buttons on the cash register for a while, I told them that there were some public high schools that didn't offer the PSAT and they should have a code for them to register at their school in order to take the test. They insisted that she must have a student ID at their school. I suggested that they call a supervisor for help who may know more than they did. Their faces lit up as if the thought never occurred to them. At first they weren't sure who to call. I gave some suggestions as to who I thought might know. They followed them.
After a few minutes, they reached someone who gave them the homeschool code and it worked. Their faces lit up as they congratulated themselves on a mission well done. A 25 minute mission that should have taken those few minutes if they had just thought it through a wee bit.
It is shocking how many times I come across people who don't have the ability to think outside of the script or training they are given. This is not how things used to be. I don't remember this being an issue growing up. It is only in the last 30 years where you find adults who cannot think through a situation enough to at least ask someone who might know more than they.
Grace Talk Soup, my podcast, will celebrate one year on the air next week. I am asking my listeners what their favorite episodes and guests, topics and all were. What were yours?
Favorite Guests:
Favorite Episodes:
Most Fun episodes or guests:
Most touching testimonies:
Most inspiring stories:
Most interesting ministries:
Most informative shows:
I will be revealing the most downloaded episodes. Please vote for as many as you like for each category. Also please join me on Thursday for the show and share your favorites! Grace Talk Soup: Boldly serving up God's Word with a side order of grace and humor every Thursday morning at 8am PST/11am EST! http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/19736
Also Bette Dowdell, author of How to be a Christian without being annoying will join me for her monthly segment: A La Carte with Bette. She will be sharing her insights on Jesus' death. We know the story but do we really know the why's and wherefores?
It's Saturday: Speak up! Which ones were YOUR favorites? Post yours right here!
We all get them. SPAM: Solicitation for the Purpose of Annoying Mankind!
First it was the occassional email selling get rich quick schemes. Then it was the folks who pretended to know you in order to sell you a get rich quick scheme. Then it was the incessant ads for viagra and other drugs used to enlarge certain parts of my anatomy that I don't happen to own. It is amazing how MANY people sell that stuff!
Next came the nonsensical emails from Dr. Seuss Wannabees relying on my curiosity to click on the link because I was dying to see what type of insane individual would go to the trouble of making this stuff up!
Just this week I posted about the NEW SPAM where each field is empty. Nothing in the "From", "To", "Subject" or body of the email whatsoever. Very clever, but I still fail to see the purpose of this one...
Now comes the Spam to end all Spam! And as they say...The cure might be worse than the disease! I will elaborate but if this sounds like an Abbott and Costello routine, just know that I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried!
As I had posted recently, I have been receiving SPAM from MYSELF! I am very annoying too! Unbeknownst to me, I have taken up selling drugs of all shapes and sizes! My evil self has been very busy.
Each time I received a series of these emails, I have notified my domain host that I had been hacked into and someone is using my domain email to send SPAM. I would estimate about 5 times in the last two weeks. They have been less than helpful each time suggesting a different course of action that didn't solve the problem. Each time they asked me to send them the "headers" from the email. Not being a techie, I thought the headers would be inside the email. You know...in the "From" field. So I kept forwarding them the emails I was receiving.
A few days ago, a friend sent me an explanation of "Spoofing", what "headers" were and how to get them. It suggested that I send them to all parties ISPs involved. This is what my webhost was suggesting. I could see where the email was NOT coming from me and who it WAS coming from. I was going to get some action NOW boy!!!
(Meanwhile back at the ranch, I was intermittantly unable to send emails to anyone with Yahoo address. You see Yahoo had banned me for spamming! I sent about 16 emails to Yahoo asking to be UNbanned and each time within a few days to a week, they did comply.)
Several hours later I receive all three emails back -returned undeliverable! This dashed my hopes of ever resolving this issue and I resigned myself to a life of communication with Yahoo. When all of a sudden I received some glimmer of hope! A shining moment in my dark and dreary SPAMoment! An email from my webhost. I quickly clicked on it and read the following:
Hello, Thank you for notifying us about this. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. We had a report from you that about the domain 'artofeloquence.com' is sending Spam. We have reported this issue to our Legal Specialist. They will take the necessary action about the domain.
If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact us. We are available 24x7. Sincerely, Sunny (Last Name Withheld) Support Specialist
My mood was not sunny! He didn't even READ my email! He just looked at the headers and assumed that "I" was spamming! Oh wait...I know... he is thanking me for alerting them to what my Evil Twin was doing! Anyway, the very next email in my inbox was this:
Hello Joanne,
We have received complaint from third party that you are sending spam e-mails. It is against our service. We do not promote spam, and we do not tolerate e-mail abuse. It is against our terms of service. You can only send e-mails to those who have requested it. Your mailing list must be an opt-in list. You also must check for any removal requests, and honor those requests, in a timely fashion. You also secure all mailing scripts.
If we receive any more spam complaints, we will be forced to suspend or terminate your account.
If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact us. We are available 24x7.
Sincerely,
Sunny (Last Name Withheld) Support Specialist
Now I am definately not in a SUNNY mood! My own webhost is going to terminate my site because I reported to them that someone had hacked into my site and was using my email address to send SPAM in my name???? They ASKED me for this information that they are now going to use against me!
I called them immediately to explain what Sunny didn't bother reading. I was on hold for 40 minutes (I was actually happy because customer service hold time is usually 45!). I reach a very uncaring young woman who told me that she would "escalate this to the next level and they would get to work on it as soon as possible." This is the answer they always give for email problems. Translation: I am typing notes in your file that you are unhappy with something or other.
My current web host has had excellent uptime for the last 5 years but their customer service leaves much to be desired! Thankfully my customers have never noticed the technical issues I have had to work around, but my hair has turned greyer in the last two weeks than in all my 45 years on this planet.
I talked to my web designer who informed me that she has her own webhosting. She is a gem and her customer service is excellent! And hold time for her is about .005 seconds! She informs me that there are several avenues she uses to stop the spoofing of her clients so there is hope that my Evil Twin will be stopped in her spamming tracks!
3:24pm Tabares Manor, California. Phone call from Brown University Graduate who wants to interview Kelsey!
3:25pm, Kelsey's computer, her room, Tabares Manor. Email from Stanford University notifying her that they have received her completed application and will be notifying her via email of their decision.
Boy howdy are things getting exciting around here! Two more college interviews coming up and the college prep process marches right along taking my baby farther and farther down the grown up lane! I miss her already and she is still in high school!
As my father always says...Tempest certainly does fugit! Seems like just yesterday she was Christopher's age. 8 years old and bossy. Now she's almost 18 and grown to be such a refined young lady strolling down life to her college interviews...
I love The Word Guy, Robert Kyff! I look forward to his monthly columns. His column this month is called There's nothing petty about these peeves! These are some of his reader's pet peeves about words:
Cathie Shively of Sioux City, Iowa, is tired of hearing people say they're "reaching out" to her. She reports that a salesman recently said he was glad she had "reached out" to his company.
I'm so negatively affected by the common misuse of 'effect' and 'affect,'" writes Cynara Stites of Mansfield, Conn., "that I intend to effect a change to proper usage so I can improve my affect. The effect of this change is to make me appear to be an affected grammar snob."
An anonymous reader from New Jersey pleads, "PLEASE get people to stop saying, 'ek-set-ur-uh' for 'et cetera' ('etc.'). It's 'et-set-ur-ruh.' It drives me crazy. No 'k' sound."
One of my word pet peeves right now is "change". It's the political BUZZ word of the 2008 Election! Every candidate is for change. The problem is not all change is good!
In the last election (or the one before, I can't remember now) the BUZZ word was "gravitas". Nobody knew what it meant but boy did it sound good! We were told who had it and who didn't. The problem there was that each candidate had his own idea of who had it and who didn't. Whatever it was, we were told that any candidate running for office, had to have some!
So I am reaching out to you to help me determine the cause and affect of using words incorrectly. There needs to be a change, ekctera, ekcetera, ekcetera...
Who has the gravitas to share? What's your word pet peeve?
March 15, 2007 was the premier episode of Grace Talk Soup. I am coming up on a year of broadcasting my weekly podcast and I am looking for something special to do to celebrate. So I am looking for some feedback on the show. Click "Select a Past Episode" on the badge below to listen to any of the Grace Talk Soup past episodes.
* What was your favorite episode?
* Who was your favorite guest?
* What communication topic was your favorite?
* What topic would you like to see discussed in the future?
* Who would you like to see on as a guest?
* Do you have a creative idea for the anniversary show?
* Any other comments or feedback or suggestions for the show?
Sorry folks! I have been MIA for the past few days. Techno Troubles got me and I spent more time fixing stuff that should have worked in the first place in order to get what I needed done in the second place. Coming in a close third is Speak Up Saturday!
Here is The Word Guy to explain the very interesting origins of the word "change" that both political parties are bantering about this election season:
There's Something Crooked About 'Change'
The word "change" clings like ChapStick to the lips of presidential candidates these days. But if Hillary and the chaps knew the origin of the word "change," they might not stick with it.
"Change" first appeared as both a verb and noun in Middle English during the 1200s. In 1300, for instance, a piece of writing dubbed "Cursor M." (which would make a really cool screen name) included this sentence: "He chaunges crun or wede." After rummaging around in a Middle English dictionary, I discovered this means something like, "He changes gully and weed," a skill that might have come in handy during the Dust Bowl era.
In 1340, someone named Hampole wrote that "he ofte chaunged to and fra," which pretty much describes the shifting policies of today's presidential candidates. (Could "fra" be a prescient reference to Rudy Giuliani, who has changed his frau twice? Hmm ... ) The word "chaunge" was imported into Middle English from the Old French "changier," which, in turn, had been derived from the Latin "cambiare," meaning "to exchange."
But here's the game-changer: There's strong evidence that "cambiare" came from the Old Irish "camm," which meant -- get ready to wince, politicians -- "crooked."
So, over the course of 1,200 years, a humble Irish word meaning "crooked" went through a few changes itself, migrating from Old Irish to Latin to French and then back again to the British Isles, where it entered Middle English meaning "change." Perhaps the presidential administration of the change-loving candidate who wins should be dubbed "Camm-elot."
The candidates, of course, can choose among any number of synonyms for "change," but the trendiest terms related to mutability seem to be the adjectives "transformational" and "transformative."
Writing in the Atlantic Monthly, for instance, Andrew Sullivan described Barack Obama's candidacy as "potentially transformational." Last Thursday, Washington Post columnist George Will described the interval between the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary as "six transformative days."
And BBC reporter Justin Webb recently wrote, "The buzzword here on the subject of the 2008 presidential election is that it will be 'transformative.' ... I am at a disadvantage though: I am not sure what 'transformative' really means."
Maybe we should just stick with "change."
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Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Conn., invites your language sightings. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via e-mail to Wordguy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 5777 W. Century Blvd., Suite 700, Los Angeles, CA 90045. To find out more about Rob Kyff and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
Anita Renfroe's videos got me thinking of age this week. If you haven't seen her video on Memory, you are really missing out! If you subscribe to my Communication FUNdamentals Friday Funny newsletter you can see the past newsletters. Yesterdays has a listing of three of her videos with links. Too funny and so true!
2008! Doesn't that sound incredibly futuristic to you...I mean even NOW? 2008! I remember when the year 2000 was 30 years off. Remember the movie 2001: A Space Odessy? How could we have come so far so fast?
Who remembers when a postage stamp was 13 cents? When milk was delivered in bottles to your door in those tin covered milk recipticals. What'd they call them again? Remember Pong and Pac Man? I remember when the first calculator came out. My father paid $100 for it and all it did was add, subtract, multiply and divide! lol
Does it seem to any of you over the age of say... 35 that the world is spinning faster these days? Wasn't it just January 2007?! I think the years are getting shorter! 2007 was actually a couple of months shorter than 2006. I just can't prove it scientifically. Who's noticed?
How many of you have kids over the age of 16? How many of you remember his or her birth like it was just last year? I just took some pictures of my dd to include on the Say What You Mean Convention site because she is a guest speaker this year. She's almost 18! How'd that happen? She'll be going off to college in August...3000 miles away! In September I'll be wondering how THAT happened!
How many of you have kids under 10? My son is 8yrs old. Do you realize that when Christopher is an adult, it will be the year 2018? How does THAT sound? Do you realize that the new employees coming into the workforce were born in the early 1990's? I have shoes that are older than that for heaven sake!
How we talk about time has changed over the years too. I remember when TV dinners first came out. My mom thought it was a great time saver from the hour or so it took her to prepare dinner. It was an occassional answer to that eternal question: Is dinner ready YET? My kids can hardly stand to wait those endless seconds for the microwave!
I think the speed of time travels faster as you age. Sometimes I look in the mirror and I can almost see the wrinkles as they form. The other day I thought I saw a grey hair as it was sprouting!
Is it really 2008? Don't blink or you might miss 2009 entirely!!!
No matter your political affiliation or who you support within it, the Iowa Primary was something to behold! Two virtual unknowns to the political arena just a short time ago took on and surpassed the frontrunners with the power and the money! Why? COMMUNICATION SKILLS!
I have been reading some of the pundits' blogs recently and one blog reader commented that the only reason Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee won in Iowa is because they had charisma and the American people are looking for a president who can communicate well. I will agree with that to a point. After all, we are just coming off two terms of George W. Bush whose sincerity came across regardless of the fact that he is NOT an effective communicator. He is no Ronald Reagan! But I submit to you that there is far more at work here than just the American people looking for a president who can effectively communicate. Obama and Huckabee won BECAUSE the are effective communicators!
Barack Obama is a very effective politician. He communicates a sincerity and a likeability which Hillary Clinton sorely lacks. In addition, he comes across as reasonable. He definitely leans heavily left, but the way he shares his ideas makes even Republicans feel comfortable. Hillary seems to be at war...with half the American people! Remember that Ronald Reagan, The Great Communicator, was admired and loved as a person despite the fact that his policies were fiercely opposed by the Democrats.
Mike Huckabee is a Pastor. Of course he can communicate well. People believe he is a likeable guy. He wears his faith as a badge of honor which endears the Christian Right but he communicates his compassion for the tired, the poor and the huddled masses which appeals to the Liberal Left. He says all the right buzz words each side wants to hear. He pushes all the right buttons that ignite the fire. And he does this with a sincerity of purpose that does not allow the fact that his policies reflect that he really is neither a Republican nor a Democrat to seen by either side.
This is only one battle in the fight for the Presidency. Clinton, Romney and the rest will not take this sitting down. Obama is still inexperienced and Senator Clinton will not let the American people forget that. Huckabee is a Baptist Minister and as such MANY will not vote for him even against a Democrat. The Republicans know this and so I don't think he has as great a chance as the pundits are espousing to win the Republican nomination.
I don't believe that it is an indication of things to come but it is an important step for each of them. It also teaches a few important lessons in communication:
1. Good communication can win out over disagreements in politics or policy.
2. It isn't enough to have a good platform, you have to know how to sell it to the American people!
"You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can't get them across, your ideas won't get you anywhere." -Lee Iacocca
"He who loves a pure heart and whose speech is gracious will have the king for his friend." Proverbs 22:11
My daughter took four years of ASL. It is a beautiful language to watch. This is an ASL interpretation of Amazing Grace sung a cappela by LeAnn Rimes. BEAUTIFUL!
From JoJo's Purple Crayon... ~ Need some last minute CHRISTmas gifts? Take advantage of our BOGO (Buy 1 GIVE 1 Free) eSale!
You can even purchase on CHRISTmas Eve and have delivery for CHRISTmas!
It's that time of the year when all college bound seniors are gathering up their letters of recommendation. Kelsey has asked two of her public school teachers and the Guidance Councelor and each was gracious enough to say they would take the time to write it up for her. Strangely enough a letter from her homeschooling mom just won't do!
I must tell you that I feel sorry for these poor AP teachers who are inundated with requests for them. Colleges certainly don't make it easy for them to be nice! It is no longer a matter of writing one letter and having the student copy it in order to send it to a few colleges they are applying to. OH NO! Now when you ask a teacher to write one, they are required to fill out a very involved form (a different form for each university, mind you!) in addition to writing their letter!
Since the universities like to see these letters of recommendation come from the teachers of their most difficult classes, the AP teachers are asked to write about 40 of these EACH! Well, you say, 40 letters and a one page form for each university. How much work could that be for the year? Well, multiply 40 requests times the average number of universities each student applies to (5-8!) and you get approximately 320 individual items each AP teacher is required to write up in a span of 30-60 days! And you thought they weren't paid enough before!
Two of her teachers will be turning theirs in to her next week, but we did get the one from her councelor yesterday and it had us laughing a bit. Oh...It is a great letter full of glowing remarks about my dd. It is obvious that she took quite a bit of time with it and we appreciate it very much! But tucked inside was this statement:
"Not only in the classroom has she excelled, but also socially which is usually a difficult aspect of attending public school after a history of home schooling."
I suppose Kelsey is that rare exception. You do remember me posting about her parent/teacher night? When two or three of her four teachers made a point of commenting about how well she "fit into the class" and is "making friends". ROFL
I just wonder where all those non exceptions are. You know, all those homeschooling "Wall Flowers" who don't know how to act in public. The ones whose parents keep them locked in their closets and only let them out to go to the library. Where are all those homeschoolers who don't "work and play well with others", have a hard time talking to people and have no friends.
I guess I've just been privileged to have met an inordinate number of exceptions in the 8 years we have been homeschooling!
By the way...this misunderstanding of homeschoolers is so pervasive that we were told by many college prep individuals that it is exceedingly important to communicate to the colleges that your student has been "socialized". They really feel they need to see that your student will be able to "work and play well with others" ...at Harvard and Stanford and Yale!
Well today is my dd's very last SAT! She is retaking the US History one and then she is DONE! She couldn't be happier. She will have three AP tests in May or there abouts but she says they will be easier. After all, she never took the classes and got perfect 5's on both of the others! She is currently taking all the AP courses for these tests and so the prep should be much easier for her!
Additionally, December marks the end of several more over scheduled activities that will free up our family time and my sanity! LOL In just a few more weeks my three online classes will end and we will be officially done with some of the remnant football activities. No more SATs mean no more books to purchase too! Whoohoo! The USC grad student who filmed us for the homeschool documentary on Wednesday had my dd put all her SAT prep books on the floor and she filmed her next to them explaining what they were all for! Took her several trips to get them all down and it was an impressive sight! There is a lot of money in that pile!
Next bit of news is that right after Kelsey retakes the US HIstory SAT, we will be driving her over to Disneyland for her to perform in the Candlelight Processional for thousands of people! Her choir was one of only 14 accepted of the 77 that auditioned! Please pray it will not rain on her parade! Literally! We are not sure we will attend. We would have to pay for 3 tickets to Disneyland for just a few hours and if it rains she will not perform and we wont' get our money back. Tough decision!
Since we will be gone most of the day, I will be announcing the Family Word Contest winner(s) this weekend. Stay tuned for that!
Many of you know how difficult this month has been for my family and our business. We have been under spiritual attack all month. We have had two different podcasts unable to air due to the strangest technical problems over at TalkShoe.com where we host the show. Not only were these very powerful and FREE workshops not able to air but Art of Eloquence missed out on the sales activity that we were counting on for this month because we couldn't announce them on air. Further, there were techy glitches of all shapes and sizes mostly inexplicable and fleeting! Well, despite the efforts of the Evil One to destroy our business and our spirit, the Lord miraculously blessed us anyway!
To explain...we set a goal each month and this month was no exception. Since very few children say..."All I want for Christmas is communication curricula!", this time of year is typically very slow and since we had a boom over the summer, we have had huge bills for inventory replacement. We never expected to meet our goal this month. With the additional technical glitches and spiritual attack, we never thought we would get anywhere close so I wasn't keeping a close watch.
Late yesterday I got an email from my dh at work. He said that we were within $48 of our goal! I was shocked! We had had a flurry of responses to our half off sale for Say What You Mean: Defending the Faith as the sale was ending last night. I watched in amazement as the Lord continued to work and that number came down. I am amazed and excited to report that we ended up actually exceeding our goal!
The Lord is truly in the miracle business and it was a privalege to sit and watch it all unfold last night!
SInce this is Speak Up Saturday, I would love for each of you to share a miracle the Lord has done in your life recently!
Early this week, I received a phone call from a Grad Student at USC. She is the producer of a local TV show called Impact that is on 40 local cable stations. She explained that she is doing a documentary on homeschooling and had come across my profile on the internet. She found what I do facinating and wanted to interview me about being in her documentary.
I answered several questions for her about homeschooling and how our family does it. I told her that there really isn't a typical homeschooler as each of us homeschools in a unique way. But if there was one, it woudln't be us because my dd actually attends a not-so-local public high school part time for some AP courses and a performance choir. She was very interested when I told her that my dd was applying to several Ivy League colleges and that she was an instructor at the local karate studio.
I did tell her of my concerns that the footage could be edited in such a way as to make us look bad. I have heard it done before. She assured me that she was neither biased for nor against homeschooling and that she was open to learning about it. She said she felt the viewers would be interested in seeing what it's really all about.
I told her that some of our schooling uses text books in a sit down traditional schooling atmosphere but that much of it takes place as we live life. We drive my dd to school and back discussing life, current events and pointing out issues to discuss as we go. I take every opportunity to develop my children's minds with critical thinking by pointing out situations and having them think through how they came to be etc. She agreed to put a wireless mic on me and film us driving my dd to school to show how we do this! AND she wants to get some footage of my dd teaching at the karate studio.
I discussed this with my dh and with my kidlings and all felt this was a wonderful opportunity to show what homeschooling is really like. They certainly can't say homeschoolers "don't know anything" with my dd ranked 4th in her public school senior class! They certainly cant' say she is a wallflower with her a black belt instructor in karate and 150 trophies to her credit. They certainly can't say she doesn't speak well as they will be interviewing her on camera. They won't think my kids sheltered or that they fit the notion that homeschool kids are hidden in the closet with a book in one hand and a nightlight in the other as both my kids are involved in MANY extra curricular activities such as karate, football, choir, leadership conferences etc.
I even called HSLDA and emailed them the release form they sent me to look it over. They said that the it is a standard release and that any publicity for homeschooling is good even if it is bad. They said that Michael Smith did an interview once that was misquoted and twisted, but after it aired, it drew several people to call and investigate homeschooling!
We prayed on it and have decided to go ahead with it. They are coming Wednesday, November 28th to film and I think she said it airs in the middle of December.
Please pray that it will be a positive experience for my children, for the show and for those watching. Please pray that we will be a shining example of Christians and homeschoolers. It is going to be a typical day in the life kind of thing (whatever typical is for us lol) so I am not sure what will take place. We usually are unstructured in our discussions and we never know where a homeschooling day will lead us. :D
We are letting the Lord lead us, as we do each day, so I am sure we will be in good hands.
What do you all think? Would you do it?
From JoJo's Purple Crayon...
Psst: Does your family have terms or words you made up? Come share! Tell us what the term is and the story behind it and you could win a prize! Click here for details!
I'm just buried under it! I was not able to post my FIMM episode on Wednesday or a Friday Funny yesterday and I am a day late with my Communication FUNdamentals eNewsletter too so hang in there if you subscribe and didn't get it yesterday! I'm working on it today!
I can't believe I haven't posted since Tuesday Tips! I don't know about you folks, but I was swamped before it became Christmas season! This is the time of year where my family has decided to put many of its birthdays and anniversaries too so it's like Christmas shopping on STEROIDS! ROFL Besides which, we have recently added a new family member. Ok so she's tiny and just a few months old, but still...
Let's see where to start...
My dd has been busy studying to retake all of her SATs. She is doing very well but it means that she can no longer help me around the house, with my son or with Art of Eloquence. She does come out of her room for meals and to watch Jeapardy! One more to go in December and then she is done. Well...there is that little matter of taking three AP tests sometime next year, but I digress...
My son's football season seems to have been prematurely cut short by the fires. Nobody appears to want to continue. Ok so they have scored only one touch down all season and parents were expecting the season to end last month so that might have contributed to our apparent lack of enthusiasm for expending energy and priceless GAS on practice! That and the fact that practice is two and half hours long three times a week while we huddle together with blankets and hot chocolate!
My dh is getting tired of his 2 1/2 hour drive home from work. Oh and on Fridays it can be as much as 3 1/2 hours of fun and adventure with Tommy Tow Truck picking up Freddie Fender Bender and the general Go Slow Gang! Southern California promisses to build more freeways but I think the rate of new teenage drivers and imigrants far out number the ten year plan for new freeways by about 657 to 1!
As for me, I don't appear to have the Techno Thumb. Last week's Birthday Bash show on Grace Talk Soup didn't go off very well. To be precise, it didn't go at all. Now I am in the process of one upsmanship making the show even more fun than it would have been had we been able to proceed on schedule. Keeping up with the Jone's has nothing on keeping on step ahead of the Beelzabubs!
The Say What You Mean Convention is getting very exciting. LOTS of planning and details to follow up on but you all are going to be blessed to tears to see what my sponsors and keynote speakers have in store for you! Marie, my technical advisor, has reworked the convention site. Go take a look!
My online classes are going so well, but they are very time consuming. I guess had I known that my dd would have been taking classes at a not so very local public high school this year, I would have scheduled them differently. As it stands now, I practically street race it after my second class to pick up my dd with just enough time to race back to my computer with about a minute thirty seconds to spare! Just to make life interesting, the local cities have declared Martial Law on the streets. We are fighting old pavement and so each day new streets are closed and the preferred route changes day by day. It's not a commute, it's an adventure!
For those who had asked, we will not be able to offer the online classes next semester. Perhaps next year.
I had a blast at Cindy Rushton's High School conference yesterday! What a line up of speakers she has. Go if you can! It's still going on today. I taught two seminars yesterday: Because I Said So! Tips for Mother/Daughter Communication and a sampling from my newest eBook, Say What You Mean Every Day! Everyone had fun and I ended up giving away a ton of free books!
I received a call from one of the staff writers at The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. What a pleasure she was to talk to! She is going to do a story for the next issue on the Say What You Mean Convention! So look for that in the next issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. If you don't subscribe, now is the time! They are giving away a ton of free gifts with each subscription! It's an awesome magazine!
I finally got a vacuum cleaner! I don't know if I told you the story, but this house seems to be the black hole of vacuum cleaners! My mom and dad gave us one for our engagement. It lasted nearly 20 years. After we moved in to this house, it began to have some problems. My folks were getting a new vacuum system and gave us their old one. Very expensive and fairly new. It died within a few months! So we purchased a vacuum cleaner. It died within a month! And so it went... I was visiting our neighbor who was having a garage sale and they were selling their old one. We bought it. Please say a little vacuum cleaner prayer for me today as I use it for the first time. It remains to be seen how long this one will last.
So what's going on in your household? Go ahead and comment... After all, it's Speak Up Saturday!
Discusson and debate are a staple in the Tabares household. I only request that it hold to a respectful tone and, as I say on Grace Talk Soup, with a generous helping of grace!
My son is 8. He turned 8 this past June. He and his sister (17 going on 40!) often have debates. They both love to debate. They love to prove their point and they are both pretty creative in their evidence that they feel justifies their position.
Yesterday my daughter and I were at the table where she and Christopher were discussing something. I can't even remember what it was they were each trying to prove to each other, but a word caught the ear of both my daughter and me.
Therefore.
My son was trying to prove his point and, in doing so, he said "and therefore..." with a conversational accent on that word to give it emphasis. We both looked
I was not able to post my FIMM episode on Wednesday or a Friday Funny yesterday and I am a day late with my Communication FUNdamentals 