Body Parts Found on 911 Site Seven Years Later

This is the very reason why they should build NOTHING on the site but a memorial to those who perished...



Tags: 911, Twin Towers, New York City, disaster area, 911 video

Taking a brain break

I have a problem. When it's your day off, and let's say you've had three of them in a row, and it's your last day off before you have to go to work in the offline world, do you catch up on online work because you know the next week is going to be horrendous fitting in finding tour stops, fielding calls from everyone under the sun and whatever other endless jobs I have on here or do you use that last day to take another brain break?

Not that I've been not taking brain breaks the previous two days as I think I've set a record posting in here two days in a row because brain break days are to be spent doing things that don't require a lot of concentration (think auto-pilot), but am I going to suffer for this later? Like when tours are supposed to be posted and I go oh shit it's not? Or, how about when the end of the month comes and you're freaking and sweating and cursing because you KNEW you wasted those three days taking brain breaks and you've got all that work ahead of you to do before tours go out?

I choose....

Well, I didn't choose it..it chose me.

Take that picture up above. Don't stare at it too long because boy that woman is having a bad hair day if I ever saw one, but that person...is me. Backside and all. Okay, too many brain breaks and diving into Dunkin Donuts but, hey, that's me in my glorified best taking Skylar out to the many many many many many rest stops we had to visit on our way to the Smokies last October.

So, I'm now a rest stop freak. I love them! I had more fun on the rest stops than anywhere!

And that's what taking brain breaks are all about. A simple thing like a rest stop can provide much fodder for blogposting.

If I weren't on a brain break, I'd probably be posting such mundane literature as how to get your book publicized, etc...but not today. Not on the last day of brain break week.

And, besides, Skylar will be talked about quite a bit in my blog because she is my GRAND-DAUGHTER. Okay, non-human grand-daughter, but this dog is the absolute bomb.

We bonded on that trip. I never thought it would happen as she loves my daughter dearly, but this trip was the absolute bomb because...she was there...and...we got to visit rest stops.

One rest stop had the oldest bridge in America...who would have thought? I took video and don't think I have pictures, but it was really really neat. I think they had to bring it from somewhere...don't know if they built the rest stop around it or not, but it was neat.

I love that bridge.

I love rest stops.

And...

I love brain break days.

Tags: Smoky Mountains, rest stops

Manifesting Sunrises

It's funny how simple pictures can make a dramatic impact on your life once you really see them for what they are. Take this simple picture. It's a beautiful sunrise coming over the Smoky Mountains taken the second week of October '07.

I've had this picture in my files and when I wanted a different backdrop for the background on my monitor, I chose that one. My daughter had printed out this one and a couple others and put them in frames for her wall, and I have to admit they were beautiful.

But, even hanging there on the wall, I never really studied them.

This morning, I had gotten up after a particularly weird dream which left me such a fantastic mood, I can't even begin to explain it. I don't even remember the dream; only, I knew it left me with this manifesting feeling. And, when I saw this picture greeting me first thing in the morning, it only confirmed the fact that this sunrise was the last thing I saw before I went to bed.

Incidentally, I'm going to be representing Dyan Garris in March for her Manifesting Money book, and I don't know whether I had that on the brain or what, but I got up thinking how great I was going to make the rest of my life and the screensaver empowered this manifesting feeling.

Manifesting. Such a neat word. In the dictionary, it says, "tr.v. man·i·fest·ed, man·i·fest·ing, man·i·fests : To show or demonstrate plainly; reveal: "Mercedes . . . manifested the chaotic abandonment of hysteria" (Jack London)."

To show or demonstrate plainly.

Sometimes things manifest themselves and sometimes you need to make things manifest for you. In March, Dyan will show you how to make things manifest for you; in particular, making money, so that should be a really interesting tour.

Back to the picture, and why I believe it gives me manifesting power, is this.

If I stare at it long enough, I can bring back that time. Have you ever taken a picture and memories rushed back, taking you back to that time and place? But, some pictures really have an emotional impact on you because it makes you remember something that happened in your past that brought back feelings. Feelings of happiness. Feelings of joy. Feelings of self-worth.

Not all pictures will bring back those kinds of feelings but I want to concentrate right now on the ones that do.

If I go back and look at all the pictures I have taken over my lifetime, the ones that really have an impact on me are the ones in which my children are in or even childhood pictures of myself. They invoke emotional feelings.

So, I am surprised at how this picture of a sunrise over the Smoky Mountains can have such impact as my children are not in it, nor am I.

But...the thing is...some pictures are looked upon as something quite completely different and they are what I call manifesting pictures.

This picture "showed" or "manifested" power...power within me to do what I have to do to get what I want to get or go where I want to go.

I remember taking this picture on our last morning in the Smokies. The cabin was haunted to beat all. I had to sleep in one of the haunted rooms and believe me, I stayed up as late as I could and then woke up before the sun came up so that I could get out of that room.

I had to walk the dog before the sun came up because animals weren't allowed (you didn't hear it from me) so I hurriedly did that, poured me a fresh cup of coffee, and went out to the deck to smoke (wasn't allowed either).

I knew rain was coming as was forecasted, so the clouds were even lower than usual in the mountains, but when I first saw that sun peeking through, it was like The Higher Powers had opened up the doors.

I had been dying to go home because mainly the place was haunted, but it was like something came over me, sitting outside on the deck watching the sun peeking through the clouds with a brilliance only pictures can tell the whole story, and I sat there. Completely mesmorized.

It's something about the mountains that gives me reborn life. For some, it's the ocean, for others, the mountains and probably a million other things, but the mountains give me strength. That last morning, seeing this for the first time was what I needed. I had not been "feeling" it this go around. I had been to the mountains three other times in my life, and something was missing from this trip. I attributed it to the fact I'd already been there and seen just about all there was to see.

But, this picture...was a first.

Manifesting sunrises...starting each day with the feeling that today I'm going to make count.

Tags: smoky mountains, manifesting, sunrises

New Character Interview Blog to Promote Your Books

Jaime McDougall is looking for authors who would like more online exposure for their books. If you would like to increase exposure for your book, check out The Plot, a new character interview blog, at http://www.theplotline.wordpress.com/.

“Basically, what I would like from all fiction authors is the book cover, a synopsis, an excerpt from the story, and the author’s interview of a character from the book. This will give the authors two or three days of content on the site.

Days are flexible, but I’d like to have one author on Monday/Tuesday and another on Thursday/Friday each week when/if possible.

Every Wednesday starting soon, I will be having ‘pub nights’ which are basically ‘come and chat’ type posts. I’ll be starting out on the first Wednesday with an author’s pub night, so people can see how it works without the added confusion of being a character. The next Wednesday will be a character pub night where an author can come as one of his/her characters (I’ve created the character ‘Rose’ to run the place and keep the focus on characters going throughout).

Pub nights will then flip back and forth between author nights and character nights. ‘Nights’ is figuratively speaking. The posts/’pub’ will be open for the week until the next ‘night’ is announced.

This will not only be a great place to publicize, but also to socialize."

If you have any questions, email Jaime at sylver1 (at) tpg.com.au.

Tags: The Plot, character interviews, online book promotion

How do chickens crow?

Just crawled out of bed.

Tell me something. How does a chicken crow? I mean, you have chickens and you have roosters right? This fricking chicken that BF brought home from the hatchery where he works CROWS. So the chicken crows at sun up, the dogs go into how do I want to put that...well the noise you would make when you've got your foot in a trap and have to chew it off to get out...that kind of noise, so all three are doing that and BF is up calling his boss to see if he wants him to come in (he's thinking time and a half to help pay these bills good boy) and I finally go back to sleep and do you see what time it is? 12:20. Any of you actually get up normally?

boomer chick, chicken, rooster

How Do You Achieve Your Dreams?

“Every step I take brings me closer to the realization of my dreams."

This is the passage out of the new book by Judi Moreo called YOU ARE MORE THAN ENOUGH ACHIEVEMENT JOURNAL. I have the book and I am love love loving it. I can't wait to fill it out. But anyway, I am partaking of her virtual book tour and what I have to do is write about how I have achieved my dreams or how I am achieving them.

Of all the writing prompts I have ever gotten, this has to be the easiest because this year has been phenomenol for me, not to mention doing it as a boomer chick *grin*.

I have taken something that started from a phone call from a desperate author to help her promote her book and she would pay me MONEY for doing it into a booming virtual book tour business (we set a record in February with 13 or 14 authors going out).

Anyway, after I laughed my ass off because I'm not a publicist, I thought to myself, I kept thinking of what that money could buy (the greedy, poor little boomer chick that I am), so I took her up on her offer. I wasn't sure what she wanted me to do, only she wanted me to do for her book what I wrote about in an ebook I wrote called THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO PROMOTING & SELLING YOUR SELF-PUBLISHED EBOOK. Even though it's basically for self-publishers, the rules of the game are outlined in black and white and can be used for any kind of book.

I'm not even sure what happened after that point, but I had heard about virtual book tours and I thought why not represent authors doing these as this is what I did for my ebook and it sold copies right well. But, it wasn't just virtual book tours, per say; I wanted to incorporate SEO and other marketing tools in with these tours so that they would have tremendous online exposure and so that people could find these authors' books on the first page of Google for their certain set of key search words.

I know, technical stuff, but this stuff is what makes Pump Up stand out from the others, not to mention the lower prices while not sacrificing quality.

I knew what I wanted to do with Pump Up, but I had no idea it would require so much work. I calculated how many hours I put into this and it's about 80 hours a week. Do I sleep? Well, not by much because there is just so much to do.

But...it's all about achieving dreams.

Before 2001, I never even touched a computer. I had typing skills, but the computer? Not on your life. My son stayed on it 24/7, and I could not understand how he could sit there that long without getting a headache.

Well, I learned and, no, I don't get headaches, lol, because it's all part of my business and the more I work at perfecting that business, the more money I make.

Achieving your dreams can mean different things to people and to me, right now, it's about taking an online business and making a success of it. And, not to mention, enjoying the hell out of it in the meantime.

So, yes, Judi, I'm achieving my dreams tenfold. I wish you luck on your virtual book tour in January and I'll see you on the tour circuit!

Incidentally, if you would like to know how her tour got started, visit my marketing blog at http://www.bookmarketingbuzz.wordpress.com/ and the whole story is there...it's quite interesting.

If you would like to be a part of Judi's tour, visit her tour page here!

Tags: virtual book tour, Judi Moreo

Achieving Your Dreams Virtual Book Tour ’08 Where YOU Are the Star!

With 2007 behind us and 2008 on the horizon, it’s time to reflect on how we want the rest of our journey here on earth to go. Do we settle for letting life happen or do we take steps toward achieving our dreams? Do we think about it or do we DO it?

If you have watched the movie, “The Secret,” then you understand the power of affirmative thinking = affirmative action. Are you taking those steps in the right direction to enjoy life at its fullest – whether it’s through financial success, relationship bliss or perfect health?

On January 1, 2008, Judi Moreo, author of You Are More Than Enough Achievement Journal (Stephens Press, Dec. '07), will embark on a virtual book tour throughout the blogosphere, but it will involve YOU. She wants YOU to be the star in a campaign to let the world know how you are taking those steps in realizing your dreams.

If you would like to become involved in her ACHIEVE YOUR DREAMS VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR ’08, here is how it works:

1. Repeat this passage from her book: “Every step I take brings me closer to the realization of my dreams” until you understand its powerful message.

2. Think about what steps you are taking to achieve your dreams and write about it. Your entry can be as long or as short as you’d like.

3. Post your message on your blog and give us the link so that we can post it on Judi's tour page at http://www.virtualbooktoursforauthors.blogspot.com/ (her tour page goes live tomorrow). Email us with your link at thewriterslife(at)yahoo.com.

4. When we receive your link, we will put it on our daily rounds of promotions, thus bringing you instant traffic, so get those links to us soon!

5. We only ask that you include the passage above before your blog post so that people will understand what you are doing.

6. We also ask that you include a jpeg copy of Judi’s book, You Are More Than Enough Achievement Journal, in your blog post. You can find her book cover at http://tinyurl.com/3cqa46 and link it to http://tinyurl.com/ywf67x.

7. All participants will be listed at Judi’s tour page at http://www.virtualbooktoursforauthors.blogspot.com/ when they come in, stating the date on which their blog post will appear and will remain there indefinitely.

That’s all there is to it! Hurry before time runs out. Become involved in a nationwide campaign to bring in 2008 with a bang and help others realize that dreams are not something that happens; dreams are something that YOU make happen. Let's make 2008 the year when you realize your dreams and make them happen. Share your stories and become involved in Judi Moreo's "Achieving Your Dreams Virtual Book Tour '08" where YOU are the star!

Judi's virtual book tour will be highly publicized including press releases and other promotions. Let us know what steps you are taking to achieve success and be read by thousands of Internet users!

Thank you,

Dorothy Thompson
CEO/Founder Pump Up Your Book Promotion
http://www.pumpupyourbookpromotion.com/

Tags: virtual book tour, Judi Moreo, You Are More Than Enough Achievement Journal

Christmas shopping with a non-attitude

My daughter and I are going to try an experiment. After today, there are - uh, let's see - six shopping days until Christmas. If you are of the sane mind, you will have just about everything done - maybe a stop off at Dollar General for some stocking stuffers (CAUTION: DO NOT GO TO WALMART FOR REASONS THAT ARE SELF-EXPLANATORY) and maybe a jaunt over to Food Lion to pick up some macaroni noodles or eggnog, and well, maybe a stop off at Peebles to buy a gift certificate. All of these are perfectly sane things to do because you can't think of everything, but you have at least thought ahead to have your other Christmas shopping done. These are things that the ordinary sane person leaves for the last minute because it really doesn't require much thought nor fighting over the last remaining Nintendo WII and having the cops come and escort you out of the store.

No, you're sane. You're what I call enviable, too, because I don't know if you fit into that category, but I don't and I really don't know how to fit into that category. But, oh, I wish I did.

And it's not that I don't know better; I do. I just don't know how to plan something like CHRISTMAS SHOPPING weeks ahead. Even if I go in it KNOWING what it would be like a week before shopping (hell, I've gone Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve before, not that I'd do it again, but still...), that doesn't seem to make a bit of difference.

But...then...maybe I'm not sane.

Scary thought, but anyone who thinks going out shopping during the week before Christmas must have a few screws loose somewhere.

So, my daughter and I were sitting out there and she said, "Let's make this fun."

Fun to me means sitting home and catching up on promo, or setting up tour stops for my authors, or working on the website, or catching up on email. I wasn't sure how we could make this shopping trip beat something like what I could be doing otherwise.

But, then, we got to talking and I said, "Let's try an experiment. Let's not go in it with the attitude that we're going to hate the earth these people walk on. Let's go in with a non-attitude."

Can we do it? Can we walk out of this house with a perennial smile that won't come off? Can we stand in lines and not push and shove? Can we smile when someone whips the last remaining item we so had on our shopping list off the rack without even a second's thought that maybe someone else was just seconds from putting their fingers on the very item?

I'm not sure but I'm taking bets. Can an over the hill boomer chick make it through a 4-hour shopping trip in the city without getting an attitude?

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post. If I'm still alive.

Tags: Boomer Chick, over the hill, Christmas shopping

Real or Artificial Tree?

This was one of the questions on a meme I found on a blog tonight...but can't give away the meme just yet because I'm going to post it in a future blog post, but one of the questions was whether you have a real or artificial tree and it reminded me of when I was a child and I first got a glimpse of one of these fake contraptions. I think it was more or less the same reaction I had when I saw a color TV for the first time - completely in awe. Here was a tree you could put up months ahead of Christmas and not worry about it burning your house down before Santa came down the chimney.

We never had a fake - err - artifical tree and except for the ones in the department stores, not many members of my family had one either. I'm not sure the reasoning as I've had one for years and years, but I think it has something to do with the smell - that pungent outdoorsy pine smell.

When I got married, I wanted a fake one so bad I could taste it. I didn't want to wait until a week before Christmas to put one up. I didn't care if it smelled or not, I wanted a fake one so I could start decorating early like everyone else.

But no...ex was from the old school and he wanted THE SMELL.

It took many, many years before I finally put my foot down and bought my very first fake Christmas tree. I was working in a department store and I bought the best one they had that every bit of my paycheck would cover. It was BEAUTIFUL.

I brought it home and ex looked at it, turned up his nose and walked away. Because things were heading down that long winding road to splitsville, I thought why make things worse and bought a can of pine spray. Wasn't the same.

But, I didn't care. I put that sucker up the first of December and marveled at the twinkling colored lights - how they twinkled and shone so bright.

I still have that tree and for some odd reason, I can't part with it. That had a lot of memories.

I don't know if I'll ever have a real tree again. The ones in front of Food Lion sure do look pretty, though.

So, what do you prefer? Real or fake?

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

Goodness, I haven't posted since Thanksgiving? Bad, bad boomer chick.

Lots and lots is going on. I'm halfway done with Christmas shopping (is anyone finished?) and I started my Christmas menu planning which will involve the feast, of course, but will include lots of cookies and gingerbread and fudge - yummy! That is, if I can find the time to cook everything.

Oh...I've got great plans at Pump Up which won't be announced until the January authors go out, so you'll have to sit tight until then, but it will include a way to help these authors sell books so it's waaaay cool. I'm working with my tour coordinators now on this and we're ever so excited.

Is anyone getting any snow? And...did this winter come in with a bang, unlike previous winters? Actually, winter hasn't even started and we saw our first snowflake a few days ago! It didn't last long..didn't even stick, but we've not even had a snowflake this early in years.

I loved snow as a kid and still do. We couldn't afford boots, so my grandmother wrapped plastic grocery bags around our shoes, put a rubber band at the top and we were good to go! I remember my aunt lived next door and I would plead for her to let me wear my uncle's fishing boots. Those suckers ran up your entire leg almost, but they were way less embarrassing than plastic bags!

Has anyone ever walked outside at night after snow has fallen? Isn't that the most beautiful sight you've ever seen? I remember one morning, very very early before the sun was out, I went outside to brush a walkway for my grandmother so that she could go to work and it was the most peaceful experience I've ever had in my entire life. The stars were out and everything was so quiet. It was like a real personal experience with nature...awesome. Of course, those bags around my feet didn't keep out the cold like my uncle's fishing boots so my feet were beet red and tingling when I got back in, but I'll never forget the experience...truly awesome.

Well, lots of work to catch up on...I hope the Christmas buying frenzy hasn't caught up on you yet and you can enjoy the beauty of the season. Have some eggnog on me. ;o)