Monday, June 1, 2009

Oh, Mr. President! Smooches!

This is just so CRAZY COOL!

The little guy in the picture is my third-generation cousin, Christian. My guess is that you probably already know who the other guy is!

Apparently, during his campaigning, he made a stop in South Bend, Indiana, where some of my relatives live. (I was there recently for my uncle's homegoing ceremony, and afterwords some of my cousins and I were reminiscing over old and new photos and they showed me this article). Anyway, Little Christian was there that day wearing his "Babies For Obama" T-shirt. Who would notice, especially in a thick crowd of Obama T-shirt wearing supporters? Well, our President did! He made the comment "that's a cute baby" while looking over the crowd, sporting that big smile and in his typical charming, humorous manner. Who knew what would happen next?

Well, my cousin Camesha, Christian's mother, kind of lost it, realizing that the then Senator had noticed her child in the crowd, after mentioning that he had shaken millions of hands and kissed a million babies. She raised Christian up high in the air and screamed, "pass my baby down there!" Yeah, she really did.

O.K. Now get this picture: little Christian is literally being passed from raised hands to raised hands until he reaches the security guys who then give the baby to President Obama. Well, the picture tells the rest of the story! He then plants a big smooch right on Christian's cheek! Now, tell me if that is not just CRAZY COOL!


For more on the story that appeared in the South Bend Tribune, here's the link:

http://gallery.pictopia.com/southbendtribune/gallery/72473/photo/7474873/?o=25


S.R.F.

IN YOUR BUSINESS Solving Workplace Worries


Is Work a Pain In The Neck?

I have been on my job for only a few months, and I am in a position that I am usually on the phone all day. I hug the phone to my ear with my shoulder while I am talking so I can continue to use my hands while I take my calls. The problem is that I suffer now from severe neck pain and I may have to file for workman's compensation as a result. I am concerned about how to handle this properly. I don't want to jeopardize my job. Do you have any suggestions?


H. N., Customer Relations
Arlington, Texas


Dear H. N.:
First of all, you should be using a headset. Your employer has the responsibility to supply this equipment for the ease and comfort of doing your job. I suggest you request the headset, and give yourself time to let the muscles in your neck re-adjust before you consider filing a compensation claim.
If you have sustained some permanent injury, that's something that definitely warrants taking a formal approach to getting time off to heal. However, I think you may discover that you simply have pain in the neck from using improper phone equipment. You will probably feel better very shortly, once you are using the headset regularly instead.
Hope that helps!


S.R.F.

IMAGE POINT


EVERYBODY ON YOUR FEET!

Most of us don't give feet the special love and care they deserve. They hit hard ground hundreds of times a day under the pressure of body weight, most often in enclosed shoes, and for us ladies, often inches off the ground.

Sometimes the results are sore, aching, tired feet, fallen arches, corns, callouses, and GRIEF! Alas, there is help you can give yourself to make your walk through life a little easier:

1. After coming out of your regular shoes, find a comfortable place to sit. Put your feet up if possible. Scrunch your feet and toes tightly for ten seconds, then stretch them out for ten seconds, then relax. Repeat the exercise for five to ten minutes.

2. Use a glass soda bottle, exercising one foot at a time, roll the bottle underneath your foot from the tips of your toes to heels. This is great for relieving the tension in your feet.

3. A good old hand massage for feet is very effective for ridding yourself of the kinks. This exercise can be performed by another party. Oh joy!

4. Regular pedicures can help eliminate odd toenail growth that can cause significant pain.

5. Visit a foot doctor. If you have foot discomfort that is unusual and persistent, you may need medical advice and attention.

These are just a few remedies. Regular care gets the best results. And, remember, too, there is nothing like the feeling of a plain old-fashioned hot water soak! Add a little epsom salt, and you're good to go!

S.R.F.

YOUR SELF ESTEEM

DON'T HATE ME 'CAUSE I'M WALKIN' TALL

Are you jealous of other people? Do you find that some encounters fill you with envy and irritation, and that you have feelings of disdain, or even hatred that seems to surface when you're in their presence? Do some people make you feel intimidated and insecure because of how good they feel about themselves?

Of course, if the answer is yes, yes, and well...yes, then we need to talk. Let me tell you a story:

When I was a young girl, my mother gave me some very wise guidance. She told me not to waste my time being jealous of other people. Her words were strong words of caution, if not an intended warning to help me understand the importance of developing my own identity and not worrying about someone else's.

My Mother told me that we are all born with the same capabilities, and what one person chooses to do with himself/herself, his/her resources and gifts, is entirely up to them, and for another individual to be mad or jealous because of nicer clothes, better looks or more confidence was ridiculous. Actually, she considered it more than ridiculous. She said it was stupid. During this mother-daughter moment, she dared to teach me that the issue and effort of my self-esteem was up to me and not to be based on evaluations and comparisons that stemmed from envy. She said that you lose yourself, your own identity, who you are and what you can become when you allow jealousy and envy to take away from your own self interest. She said that it was a waste of energy that could be better used on something important, like myself.

I got this lecture laid on me when I had gone to my mother with what I thought was a pretty important issue. My concern at the time was that I had requested a pair of new shoes, shoes that no money was available to buy for me. We just didn't have the money, and even though the shoes that I had to wear were really worn, the issue of new ones was not a priority. In case you are wondering, yes, this was during a time when parents didn't buy 30, 40 and 50 pairs of shoes for their children.

I tried to explain to my mother how important this was to me, because all the other girls at school looked so nice. I wasn't jealous of any of them, I don't think, but I was truly embarrassed about the condition of my shoes. You would have to know my mother to know the look she was giving me: that "you're kidding, right? slanty-eyed look", just before she began to state (or maybe it was more like yelling) her firm objections and frustrations toward me regarding my request.

Her perception of my argument was that I was jealous, and making unnecessary comparisons of what I didn't have to what others did have. She really went off, telling me that I was never to compare myself to anyone. She said, "hold your head up and walk like you have on new shoes." She went on to tell me that there would be many a time in my life when you will have to hold your head up and walk like you've got it together when you really don't. She said wearing new shoes in one thing, having pride in yourself regardless is another.

Well, from that day to this one, I've never wasted the precious time that she suggested that I use on myself. My mother was absolutely right. She was a living example. If you could have seen her always dressing as nice as we could afford, you would not have guessed the hardships she had come through. She walked tall in spite of it all.

Her clothes were always sharp and crisply pressed, and so was her attitude about herself. She may not have stood out in a crowd, and most folks maybe would not have seen her as anyone special. But the wonderful thing is that she carried herself like she was, and in her own mind, she knew enough to walk like she was indeed very special, and beyond comparison.

S.R.F.

VIDEO INTRO: IT'S ABOUT TIME!