I passed by a busy street, vehicles were building up, both private and public transportation. There were establishments, big and small. There were stalls all over the area with all sorts of resto’s and different sorts of shops. There is a school in the corner and hardware at the end of the street. It is such a busy street. There were vendors along the sides of the road blubbering, selling stuff and talking endlessly. With too much warmth of the sun, I felt so tired with the scene. I feel so exhausted having to see how long they have been standing there to sell stuff. I walked and walked observing. There were beggars roaming around. I felt too tired of having been exposed to this kind of environment but it is really a good place for business. And then I passed by a vacant idle lot. The grasses were too high, it looks as if the place has been abandoned by the owners. And then I thought to myself “does, the owner of the lot, know what he is missing because of letting this piece of land stand useless in a very busy street?” I thought maybe he has gone abroad that he has not seen the potential of the area for business. It could not just stand like that when you can do a lot with that piece of property.

So in my mind, I thought of my own plans for the land – if only it was mine. I would put up a recreational activity area or a Function Hall to hold events… And I can also make a paintball field out of it especially that it is highly visible and accessible. But if I am going to set up a business like it I would have to research and know so much about paintball. I would have to think of a theme for my very own paintball arena would it be like the usual ‘in the woods’ type of field, or would it be the watery and muddy type. I still have to conceptualize and plan everything especially that it might be costly also to invest in the gaming gadgets of paintball. It is fun how imagination works sometimes. I am planning of a costly business and the lot I have been thinking about belongs to somebody else who doesn’t even know I exist.

Actually what if instead of a paintball field, I make use of the space to build badminton court to accommodate those players and find instructors to broaden my business. What If I also put food carts inside for the players to divulge after a very tiring badminton game. It sounds pretty good but I would rather build it into a court that is convertible anytime in case badminton’s out, then another would sprout. It is too tiring to think of business ideas that would work the way I want it. Even on this very busy street, when you put up something inappropriate, it will still be a flop.

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Posted by LayneEmerson | No Comments »

“One day Chicken Little was walking in the woods when—KERPLUNK—an acorn fell on her head. ‘Oh my goodness!’ said Chicken Little. ‘The sky is falling! I must go and tell the king.’”

Al Gore has come a long way since the days when he was moping around the house in his bathrobe all day, looking under the sofa cushions for his misplaced presidential election victory. He grew fat; he grew a beard. His future looked grim.

Al was having a tough time getting over being robbed, in 2000, of his chance to take joyrides on Air Force One. And even some of his hardcore fans hadn’t forgotten the slightly tawdry spectacle of those endless vote recounts during which the Al-Gore-For-President Creative Recount Team struggled mightily to include, on their side of the ledger, hanging chads, pregnant chads, and even chads that weren’t pregnant yet but hoped to start a family some day.

The whole thing looked a bit unsporting, and that wasn’t the only thing. Al is rumored to have a tendency to polish the apple just a little too much, like allegedly claiming that he and Tipper were the inspiration for the book and movie Love Story; or that he exposed the trouble at Love Canal, even though, strictly speaking, he didn’t; or that he “took the initiative in creating the internet,” and so on.

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Posted by BaileyStone | No Comments »

When I was growing up, we travelled around a bit. And between the ages of about 8 and 12 I lived in a little area called Nhullunbuy or Gove. It was on the coast, near Darwin. Probably about an hour or so flight from memory.

Anyway, Gove was crocodile, buffalo and box jellyfish territory.

About 4,000 people lived there. And the town was basically based around mining bauxite.

One of the funny things I remember about this town was the buffaloes.

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Posted by ScottBywater | No Comments »

Every successful person I know has been through some tough times. Personally, I can remember getting started in business. I had been to a few seminars, read a few books and thought it would be a piece of cake. Boy, was I wrong.

I started a hair salon with virtually no money… took over a lease… tore my hair out trying to deal with hairdressers… worked far too many hours and eventually went broke and were virtually forced to give the business away.

But during that time I learnt a thing or two about marketing. I actually implemented a strategy and it worked.

So I figured since I was good at marketing, I would try my hand at it.

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Posted by ScottBywater | No Comments »

I remember hearing about a book years ago from a friend. It was called “Talk and Grow Rich” and one of the things that was said in there was “If an idea comes to you from your subconcious mind, then it’s coming to you because you have the ability to pull it off.”

For example, if you suddenly get the idea while you are having a shower and a shave tomorrow morning that you should start running ghost tours around your town or city, perhaps you should listen to it.

(Sorry, my wife is reading the “Twilight Series” of books by Stephanie Meyer at the moment and I am being influenced by talk of Vampires and Werewolf’s.)

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Posted by ScottBywater | No Comments »

When I was living with my room mate(s) a lot of people would come over and leave the door wide open and my dog Barosa would run off and we would have to chase her down, luckily we had obtain/attracted some really good hearted people over in this area and they would bring her home a lot of the time.

One time she ran off and I had caught a glimpse of her running past the window and didn’t really think about it, but later after I saw that no body was outside with her and she ran off, I went looking for her. I couldn’t find her, so I did what I normally did when this happened. I waited…. I waited and waited and waited. I finally for the day closed up the house and went to sleep, the next day I waited and waited and waited, no avail she didn’t come back. A week or so into this someone came up on our lawn and stole our lawn mower – I didn’t really think to much about this, but it proved to be a very important attraction even though I didn’t see it as a bad thing then (still isn’t) — (it was a crappy lawn mower anyway ).

2 months went by and Barosa still had not come home and I was beginning to become very worried for my little fury friend. At this time in Colorado we had a heavy winter and the spring/summer rains we’re coming down in record fall. The lawn out front had become a jungle! Although it was just “weeds” in many people’s opinions. I had brought a chair and table out near the fence where it had become the largest area of plant growth. It was absolutely beautiful and relaxing to sit out in this oasis of plants, it was cool (the air) and alive!! All these plants we’re of different species and they all blended together to create a garden effect – like it was suppose to be there just like this for me.

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Posted by NathanScheer | No Comments »

His eyes closed, wearied from too much Wikipedia, and staring at a lonely inbox. As they did, the screensaver on the monitor on the desk kicked in, strobing enough light to alternately illuminate his inner eyelid with light blue and white.

As his mind drifted along, Mark thought about how technology had changed his life, how much information was available, how alone he was in the universe. Mind spinning, approaching darkness, all his thoughts spun into blissful nothingness.

A muffled slam of the car door brought him back to consciousness. He heard the telltale sound of keys jingling, as someone struggled to find just the right one. After 3-4 obviously unsuccessful attempts, Mark ran past the coffee table to open the door, knocking over a flat can of soda in the process.

“Just a minute”, he yelled, distracted by the quickly spreading dark liquid, making its way across the carpet. He flicked the deadbolt open, deftly twisted the knob, and ran to get the first absorbent piece of cloth that he could find. This happened to be his one pair of running shorts. Oh, well. Sacrifices must be made.

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Posted by KurtHartman | No Comments »

Up until – probably the last 5 years – I always tried to pretend like I was perfect.

How are you Scott?

I’m fine. Doing great.

What’s happening?

Just really busy. Doing this. Doing that. It’s all good.

In short, I would try and hold everything I could from those around me in order to appear as if everything was perfect.

I wouldn’t share parts of myself.

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Posted by ScottBywater | No Comments »

Set a goal of making a million dollars and you’ll have a good chance of reaching it. Make no goals; you’ll have a good chance of reaching those too. When I was in high school I had a friend David that had a piece of paper over his desk with $1,000,000 printed in large black letters. I asked him what that was all about and he explained to me that was his goal. He wanted to make a million dollars and he wanted to make it soon. David not only reached that goal but I’m guessing surpassed it. At the same time, many people I knew had no goals, wandered through life, and have little to show for it. Set specific tangible goals and create a plan to reach those goals, measure your progress, and you’ll have a good chance of success.

Everyday David looked at his one million dollars sign and thought of ways to achieve the goal. Stocks, small businesses, other investments were all vehicles to achieve the goal. He set his sites, mapped out a course to achieve the goal, measured his successes and failures, and refined his strategy. I know when it comes to financial goals you’ve heard people like Suze Orman talk about taking steps toward financial freedom. Those steps start with a goal and then planning to reach that goal. You have a much better chance of getting to a destination if you know its location. After David set his specific goal, he mapped out the path to his success.

There were roadblocks, traffic jams, and even a few bridges that were out but that didn’t stop him. He just adjusted the plan, tried another road, and kept hounding his goal. In contrast how many people do you know that never set goals and, if they do, don’t map out a strategy for success? Yes people will say I’m going to do such and such, when I get around to it, but they are not specific and don’t keep track. Imagine getting in your car, turning on the GPS, and punching in nowhere and then heading there. Where will that get you? Probably not even out of your driveway. It sounds ridiculous yet this what many of us do everyday with our life goals.

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Posted by PhilipBusk | No Comments »

Jane Austen started to write “Northanger Abbey” in 1798. It was sold to a publisher in Bath for £10 in 1803 but as he felt it was a bit out of fashion with its Gothic subject, put it in a desk draw, and there it sat until finally published, posthumously, in 1818.

Synopsis -:

Jane’s character, Catherine, goes to Bath for the season, the guest of Mr and Mrs Allen. In Bath she is introduced to the rather eccentric General Tilney and his son and daughter, Henry and Elanor. Catherine is invited to stay at the Tilney’s family home, Northanger Abbey.

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Posted by MauriceRobertson | No Comments »