29Mar 2012 by CJ

Earth hour is a time to help the environment and turn off all the distractions

Life & Living
Earth Hour is March 31st at around 8:30 in the evening. I’ll be sitting home in the dark with a single candle illuminating the blackness. Why you might ask? Well it’s not because I forgot to pay my electric bill. For those of you who might be questioning my motivation (and perhaps my sanity), I’ll be one of millions of other environmentally conscious individuals on the planet who will participate in this year’s Earth Hour. From their website: Hundreds of millions of people, businesses and governments around the world unite each year to support the largest environmental event in history – Earth Hour. More than 5,200 cities and towns in 135 countries worldwide switched off their lights for Earth Hour 2011 alone, sending a powerful message for action on climate…
Read More
27Mar 2012 by CJ

Things that are old are often forgotten but they once held greatness

Generosity & Kindness, Life & Living
Did you ever notice how things that are old are often forgotten? Did you ever pass by an old, abandoned building and wonder to yourself, how did it start out life? At the time of completion the building may have been considered state of the art - on the cutting edge of technology. Only now it’s nothing more than a piece of history that’s been plagued by vandalism and reduced to rubble. The same could be said for that 57 Chevy rusting and rotting away in an overcrowded junkyard. Certainly a pale comparison to the years when muscle cars were all the rage and drive-in movies were a common form of entertainment on Friday nights. But there must have been a time when these relics once possessed beauty and commanded…
Read More
26Mar 2012 by CJ

The Sound of Music teaches us so many lessons about dreams

Life & Living
Growing up I knew very little about the widely popular Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music, beyond singing its title song in grade school music class. In fact it wasn’t until I was in my late 20’s that my wife first introduced me to the Von Trapp family in the 1965 film musical starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. It’s a shame that it took me so long to discover what millions of viewers had already known. This weekend, while visiting my 91 year old grandmother, we decided to watch it again with her. I assumed she had already seen the movie years back, but had no idea just how much she’d enjoy it. She bobbed her head up and down during songs like How Do You Solve…
Read More
11Mar 2012 by CJ

Food on a rope is a timeless story I still love sharing with others

Generosity & Kindness, Life & Living
My grandmother came from a family of nine brothers and sisters and loved to share the story of food on a rope from her childhood. Her mother (my great-grandmother) was a homemaker – staying home to raise the children in their tiny North Bergen, New Jersey apartment, while her husband went to work as a furniture re-finisher. Money was always tight, as were the sleeping quarters. It wasn’t uncommon to have two or three children sharing a bed. My grandmother used to always tell me how cold her sister’s feet used to be or how she was always crying about something when they were trying to go to sleep. Another story she told over and over was that of food on a rope. You see their apartment was on the…
Read More
08Mar 2012 by CJ

Lessons are being taught to us all the time it’s up to us to learn from them

Information & Education, Life & Living
Lessons are taught in more places than just nursery rhymes. Diane Warren is a songwriting powerhouse, penning memorable favorites for performers such as Celine Dion, Carrie Underwood, Elton John and even Meat Loaf. One that’s been resonating with me lately is sung by Underwood entitled, Lessons Learned (it was also recently covered by Broadway darling Kristin Chenoweth). Here’s a sampling: There's some things that I regret, some words I wish had gone unsaid,Some starts, that had some bitter endings,Been some bad times I've been through, damage I cannot undo,Some things, I wish I could do all over again,But it don't really matter, life gets that much harder,It makes you that much stronger,Oh, some pages turned, some bridges burned,But there were, lessons learned. [Chorus:]And every tear that had to fall from…
Read More