Words, Words, Words - to savor and abuse

In spite of all of the technological communication tools available to us, words are at the core of nearly everything we do. We read them, we write them, we speak, whisper, and shout them.

We can paint mind pictures, create and change relationships, make love, and make enemies all through our choice of words.

I just read a post about the use of words that I want to share, because the author, Arlene Bice has touched on another use of words - demeaning, insulting and assassination of character. So rampant during this charged time before our National elections.

And who are the offenders, read Arlene's post here Arlene S. Bice blog: Political Words

Shouldn't we all take Time to Think about the words we hear and evaluate what they are intended to portray?

Teenagers helping Teenagers understand Teenage Suicide

Two days ago I became a Great Grandfather!

Obviously, my children are well beyond their teen age years, but their children aren't. Fortunately, our family has been able to navigate through their trying 'growing-up years' without major mishap.

But a lot of families haven't. They have experienced heartbreaking incidents of automobile deaths caused by underage drinking, serious life threatening illnesses, the deaths of aging parents, etc., but the most devastating of family disruption is teenage suicide.

It's very encouraging to read about all of the organizations, churches, governmental agencies and others who are addressing the serious increase in teenage suicides.

Teenagers themselves are pitching in when they can - especially those who have experienced the pain of loss of a friend or family member, or have actually tried it themselves!

They are reaching out to each other through the Internet in teen age forums - like "Open Your Eyes to Teen Suicide" at http://www.bebo.com/OYETTS.

Parents and guardians, for a real eye opener and look into your teenager's inner thoughts, read some of the posts at this site. Many are by other teens who, themselves, have considered and even tried to kill themselves.

It helped me understand where they're coming from. Hopefully, it will help you ,too.

For more help, look into:
Teen Survivors
Prevent Teen Suicide
Speak Up Save Lives

Want to read a frightening statistic about teenage Suicide?

The Centers for Disease Control reported recently that "...the suicide rate rose more than 18% in those 1 to 19 years old, from 2.2 per 100,000 in 2003 to 2.6 per 100,000 in 2004. In those 15 to 19 years old, the figures reflected a more than 12% rise in suicide, from 7.3 per 100,000 in 2003 to 8.2 per 100,000 in 2004."

Scary, isn't it?

Even if you have no teenagers at home, you probably know many families that do.

You can help these families and their teenagers. How?

Visit the "Speak Up Save Lives" for access to information and resources to help save lives and combat the "silent epidemic" of suicide.

Thanks for caring ... Richard

How to Build A Strong Foundation For Your Business.

Seems to be the trend these days for people to want to start various types of home based businesses. For whatever the reasons, it could be because of the instability in their current employment or they would like to have a little more independence and try to control their own futures.

Are you toying with the idea of creating your own business?

One of the very first things to consider is that the key ingredient for not just your home based business, but for any type of business, is creating a strong foundation for the long term.

So now without being too specific, starting any type of business usuallydepends on some of the interests that you have. It only makes sense that you should try to establish a business that can revolve around some things you enjoy doing. This is supposed to be long term so you don't want to lose interest.

That could spell disaster a year or so down the road.

Think about some of the skills you have - are they going to be a part of your business or do you need to learn new skills? Or maybe just some upgrading. The skills you have now usually play a role in what type of business you choose.

If you need to learn or upgrade some new skills, then maybe one of the first steps you should take is doing some ground work or research for your chosen business. There is probably a lot of information you can find using your computer, although in some cases just getting out there and talking to people that might be related to your type of business is never a bad thing.

All the research you do in the beginning will give you a better idea if you are going in the right direction. Not to mention it might open a few more doors that you didn't expect and can also close some that you thought where open. Either way, it might give you a different perspective towards your goals.

So doing some research is a very important part of building the strong foundation that is needed for any business. More research can make your initial start up less stressful and it will go a lot smoother. It can also give your business a better chance at succeeding to meet your long term goals.

Another ingredient of course is your finances. Are you going to borrow money for start up costs? Even if you have your own money, talking to a business consultant or your financial planer might not be a bad idea.

What ever your situation might be, just take your time, do your research to make sure that a strong foundation is in place.

Resource

Finding Your TRUE Niche The TRUE Facts on Setting Up and operating your Successful Online business – includes "Foundations for Business" – the 2 part eBook that gives you specific directions for setting up a successful and professional online business.

Be Prepared with The Emergency Financial First Aid Kit

Are you familiar with this free resource? I recently downloaded my copy and have encouraged my friends to get their 'kits'.

You are welcome to download a copy for your family using this link:

http://www.ncua.gov/Publications/brochures/EmergencyFinancialFirstAidKit.pdf

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Citizen Corps, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and USA Freedom Corps encourages everyone to obain 'The Emergency Financial First Aid Kit' to help minimize the impact of a natural disaster or national emergency.

It's a simple tool designed to assist you and your family in maintaining financial stability in the event of an emergency. The 'kit' helps identify and organize key financial records and provides a quick reference file for your most important financial documents.

Get these 'FIVE TIPS TO PREPARE FOR AN EMERGENCY' with simple worksheets to help you summarize Your Personal Information, Important Legal Documets to have on hand, and EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE NUMBERS:

Click here to download your free kit.
http://www.ncua.gov/Publications/brochures/EmergencyFinancialFirstAidKit.pdf

It's a direct download of a pdf file. You don't need to sign up or leave your name. After downloading, you can easily print a copy - there are only 16 pages.

I put my 'kit' is a inexpensive Report folder, the kind available in most office supply stores for under a dollar.

Be prepared -
Richard

Summer in just a few weeks and kids will be home from school. Everyone will anxiously be looking forward to a Summer of FUN!

Now's a good time to complete your plans for a safe Fun Filled Family Vacation.

Family Fun - there's just no way that every possible fun activity could be covered in one website. Even so, there are many activities that can be shared to bring pleasure, appreciation and togetherness for your family.

Visit my 'Family Fun Stuff' site. I shared a bunch of the family fun activities that helped create a loving and fun filled environment for our family - like RV'ing to our National Parks and Monuments, gardening, antique collecting, camping and much more.

http://www.RichardPresents.com/family-fun-stuff/

Make extra effort to have a SAFE fun filled family vacation. Be sure to check the three safety and security items near the bottom of the webpage.

Like everything else there, they are FREE.

Have a Safe and Fun Filled Summer.

Richard

Taking "Roughing It" Out Of Family Camping

Years ago when our family was young, going camping in the great outdoors on a family camping trip often meant several days of roughing it with few of the amenities of modern living - like sleeping on the ground in blankets and cooking over an open camp fire after carrying everything in a backpack before finding a suitable wilderness location.

The facilities of home that were automatically given up when camping in those days, such as music, televisions and other "essential" gadgets of modern living, are often now a part of wilderness family camping life, thanks to RV Camping.

Today, far from living off the land, a family camping trip can mean driving right to your campsite and living in conditions like a home away from home. Some families prefer traveling in a recreational vehicle or motor home, fully equipped with all the comforts of home. Those that still prefer family camping in a tent can more comfortably enjoy their weatherproof lightweight cocoon, with built-in floor, zip up doors and windows, even separate compartments...

There are ever so many wonderful ways a family can have Safe fun camping together. I put a bunch of ideas, and links to exceptionally helpful resources in a short report on "Taking Roughing It out of Family Camping" - great for the RV and Truck Campers. Read More HERE


... and for the tenting campers and back packers, check out Family Camping Tips for even more ideas and free stuff.

Have a great Summer

Free Quality Reports - Join Now (Really?)

I was skeptical, but I joined anyway. Why not - it's free.

The "Free High Quality Reports" headline attracted my attention,
even though my first thought was "Yeah, sure. Free AND
High Quality!" - was this just more hype?

So I joined with healthy skepticism. I had to see if this was
another of those sites offering more low quality stuff churned
out from some remote article farm.

However, I found my skepticism melting away. In fact,
I was quite pleasantly surprised by what I found. You
can look it over here -

http://www.butterflyreports.com/

First, I have to say that this site is quiteingenious.
Branded, high quality reports you get to give away -
and make money from.

For real! So far, I've downloaded 3 reports, branded with
my name and website addresses.

They are much more than just "thrown together trash".
In fact, quite the opposite. I feel very comfortable about
offering them to my website visitors.

Along with the reports supplied by the staff writers of the
site, I plan to contribute some of my own reports. As a
free member, you can contribute one of your original
reports every month.

After a while, once you have contributed a few reports, you
will see how viral this concept really is.

My advice to you is simple.
See for yourself. It's all Free - Join. Now. Why wouldn't you?

http://www.butterflyreports.com/

To your success
Richard