Procrastinate No Longer January 27, 2010

This is not about New Year Resolutions. This is about putting off doing things good or bad in your life until…. The until times mount up quickly; until you have more money, until you have more time, until you drop 15 pounds, until you meet your insurance deductible, until you are in that area, until next week, next month, next year. Sooner or later until the ‘until’ never happens.

Gift cards from companies have been banking on this procrastination behavior for years. The card may have an expiration date of 6 months or 1 year or no expiration date and still many people never use them. They fall into the trap of waiting for the right time, the right reason, or the right gift to use the card. Some airlines are now putting a deadline on frequent flyer miles. No activity in 12 or 18 months and all those miles you have been saving until you have enough will be gone.

A colonoscopy, a visit to the dentist, or a mammogram can easily come under the put off until later category. But what if there is no until because you put off too long? What if you lose all those gift cards and the people who gave you them want to know what you bought? What if that perfect trip to France you have been planning with your miles and vacation days doesn’t happen? Can you still have just as good of a vacation using those miles to Louisiana instead?

What makes life interesting is that things change. No life is ideal and waiting until whatever is not making life Today any more interesting. I say do not put off the good or the bad UNTIL; add some interest to your life today!

Absent from the State of the Union Address January 20, 2010

I will not be at the State of the Union address this year. I can hear a collective sigh of disbelief and regret. I feel it too. I asked Mrs. Obama and President Obama to include me as a guest at the address. I got the phone call a few weeks ago that my request could not be met. There must have been some misunderstanding because I was told “There is no public ticket availability for the address, so your request could not be met”. I wasn’t requesting to be the public; I was requesting to be a guest! 

I came up with this idea over the summer and sent my first letter then and subsequently a letter every month. As a middle aged cancer survivor, woman entrepreneur, small business owner with all business done in the USA, and a voting Democrat, I thought I represented a hopeful contingent of the American public. I easily could have been blown off with my letters never seeing the light of day, but I did receive a personal phone call and a form letter from the President. I am sad not to attend personally but very pleased at the personal touch.  The return address of the letter says ‘White House’, Washington, DC. No need for the Pennsylvania avenue address since it is THE White House.

I am resolved to watch the State of The Union Address from the comfort of my home this year. Evidently I will be clearer in my request for next year. I will clearly state the sacrifice that as a small business owner I am willing to make to keep my production and jobs in the United States. My competition has gone off shore for production. Although we sell at the same retails their profit margins are greater. I hope my customers understand that not only do I keep jobs in this country but also give back to breast cancer charities. I hope the President understands this issue of small business owners like me, and offers hope for the US economy.

A Colorful Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign January 11, 2010

There was a viral campaign on FaceBook recently to reveil your bra color for

Breast Cancer Awareness

 breast cancer awarenss. Here is the message many people saw in their FaceBook inbox. “We are playing a game for Breast Cancer Awareness,” one form of the message read. “Write the color of your bra as your status — just the color, nothing else!! Copy this and pass it on to all girls — NO MEN!! This will be fun to see how it spreads.”

OK, if it works why not? Many bloggers and reporters took ofense while others did not see the problem. The end result is that the campaign was talked about, the pros and cons of this kind of awarenss strategy and hopefully raised some awareness. No one group is claiming ownership of the campaign as yet. So if you saw your FaceBook friends with a comment, Black, Pink or Nude, now you know!

Pomegranates haave been in the news lately as the next darling for breast cancer prevention. Move over blueberries. So in trying to tie all current news together, let’s call that pink or nude bra pomegranate, and that black or blue bra blueberry and we can show our support for breast cancer awareness and our knowledge of breast cancer prevention.