Shoes that hurt your feet

My wife made a thing to stick her makeup onto that sits on the bathroom counter.  The back of if is a metal sign or picture thing with a frame around it.  Then she glued magnets to the different containers of makeup so they will just stick to the picture backing thing.  The picture on hers is an exaggerated pair of red high heel shoes.  Well, if the shoes are not exaggerated they would be the most uncomfortable shoes in the whole world, was my initial thought when I was looking at this one day. Time passed and I get a chance to see this picture every time I visit the restroom.  It dawned on me that women wear uncomfortable shoes in the trade off that the shoes make them look hot.  I arrogantly thought...

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The Brave Soul In Italy

As anybody who is published on Amazon knows, last year they added four new markets in Europe.  Amazon DE for Germany, FR for France, ES for Spain, and IT for Italy.  Since they added these new markets I have mentioned them numerous times in past posts and for a while last year I even held a contest to see if France or Germany would be the first to purchase one of my books. Yesterday some BRAVE soul in Italy purchased a copy of my second Sci-Fi Novel, “No Rules Of Engagement.”  I have done numerous post about it, the inspiration behind it, some of the characters in the book.  I wish I knew who purchased it because I would write a blog post dedicated to that brave individual.  I am over joyed that somewhere in that wonderful country somebody will be reading my book...

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Cussing and Swearing

I happen to cuss and swear every now again.  I hope I still have some blog followers after using the C word in my last blog.  I try daily to not cuss and to watch my mouth, especially around my boys.  The place I work is entirely, at our location, crewed by men.  We have had numerous woman employees in the past who have held positions from office staff, order entry positions and several women who worked in the warehouse moving tires.  For the last couple of years we have had a hard time even finding men who want to really work.  The work has gotten harder and the pay has not increased at what would be considered a fair exchange to the increase in work and responsibility.  We have had to be much more selective with what few positions we have had openings...

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Comments, The Middle Finger, Thumping People

If you are a follower of my blog, you know I manage a Tire Wholesale Operation in the middle of the United States of America.  You probably read about my new chair and the comment somebody made to me about the chair.  I have been asked, “What did you say to the person who made the comment?”  Nothing!  I just smiled as I continued to push the old one out of the office.  I am not the typical manager, if there is even such an animal.  Managing and leadership are two completely different animals with different characteristics.  Sometimes they exist simultaneously which is good for the company and better for the employees.  Just as in good books and stuff you could consider using for toilet paper if the need arose, people can tell the difference no...

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A really weird place.

As you get older your life sometimes revisits past times, places, events, memories resurface, reconnect with old friends you seldom see, and you see or read something that touches you so deeply it scratches your soul, and leaves a lasting impression. At times when these events occur you can see the interconnectedness of people, people who haven’t met, but have shared experiences and feelings. When something done years ago resurfaces as a memory, it ties you to things you’re doing now, what you’re reading, who you are seeing. I grew up in northern Idaho, out in the woods and went to school at Athol Elementary, started in the first grade, the same year I had my tonsils and adenoids taken out. My first memories are of this place and time with only fragments of memories of living in California...

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Posted in: Peretti Cancer Tubes Time Idaho Friends Place

My book is in Prison!

Many authors can post about their book being published. I did a post where my book made it into a library because of a connection I made with a High School Librarian who gets to purchase books for their school library. Today I was informed by one of my readers that a copy of my first book is on its way to Prisoner in a Correctional Facility in Clark County, Las Vegas. A fan, reader, and Good Friend of mine, manages fighters for cage fighting. He ran across a guy who he would like to sign up to fight for his team as soon as the guy gets out of prison. My friend found him on Twitter where the gentleman in prison writes to somebody outside who is blogging about his experience while he is in jail. The guy in Prison who is on twitter not only goes by the name War Machine, he has legally changed...

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Posted in: prison Book twitter War Machine

My New Chair

Yesterday I received a new office chair. The black, high backed, very cushioned executive model many people probably wish to get and to get to sit in for years. Let me preface this with a few facts. This July will mark my twentieth year with this company. Over 2/3 of my time with this company I served in my current position. My failure to move up the corporate ladder is because I have hit the top. I report to my boss the General Manager or directly to the owner of the company. I am very grateful to be accepting a new office chair rather than a gold watch as I am only 45 years old and this old dog has a lot years left in him. I requested a new chair because my last one would slowly sink until my armpits were sitting on the desk top. I could stand up and hit lever on the side and it...

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Posted in: Chair comfortable Operations dedication failure Buck

A Lesson in Creativity

For years I have built plastic model kits. I grew up in the back woods of Idaho and my folks, as poor as we were, managed to find and afford to enroll me in the model of the month club where each month I would get a new model, a newsletter with model building tips, a bottle of paint, and some little model building tool. Through those early years I built models to impress my parents, my brother and sister. Later in years to come I built models to impress others. Many years later I found out my grandfather who lived in Missouri, as part of his rehab for being an alcoholic was a model builder. I eventually inherited his model building tool box and kit years after he died. In time building models with tools that were hand made, widdled down wooden clothes pins, hand made handles for the...

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Posted in: models tools built materials example

Risk versus Gain

I understand now as a father of two young boys how afraid for them I’ll be if and when they tell me they want to join the service. I can’t in good conscious tell them no as I did it and so has someone from every generation of my family going back farther than anybody can remember. Either in the United States or fighting for Great Britain, my family has always been warriors. Yet I know now what I put my parents through by enlisting in the service, how a father would feel seeing his child leave and possibly enter into harm’s way. I look back to the skills I have, the confidence to deal with what some people might consider horrific circumstances, and the knowledge of what true freedom really is. I know how to drive and shoot a tank. I have fired a wide array of fully automatic weapons,...

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Posted in: Risk Gain Love Passion Fire judges

Failure is not an option!

Apollo 13 Launched History Tidbit On this day April 11, 1970, the Apollo 13 Saturn V rocket was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. I did a post a few days ago mentioning that Hollywood made a film about this very mission that was released in 1995 called Apollo 13. It was directed by Ron Howard and starred Tom Hanks, Ed Harris, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, and Gary Sinise. Ed Harris played the part of Gene Krantz the Head of Mission Control and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his brilliant performance in the movie. The mission started off fine except one for early in the mission the center inboard engine shut down two minutes early during the second-stage boost. The outboard engines burned longer to compensate and the mission was still on...

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Posted in: Apollo 13 Lovell Krantz Howard Hanks Bacon

Know Your Audience

I love checking the stats section on my blog. It tells me who has viewed my blog, where they live, what they had for breakfast, where they work, and tons of useful information about the person who viewed the blog. No it doesn’t! I was just seeing if you were paying attention. It does tell me how many people from what country checked in, it could be the same person if they hop to my blog five times that day, and it will show five people from that country. I am sure that many of the countries that are frequent viewers of my blog it is a lot of the same people who are just faithful loyal readers of the stuff I write. It does have a similar counter for what kind of system the person was using who happened to check in, so you know if it is a PC, Mac, Cell Phone, etc. It has a counter on...

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Posted in: Audience Blog Post Mouth Word

The Magic Moment of the Unreal

A while back, in another blog post, I alluded to the moment when a book takes the reader over that imaginary line of what’s real and what we know is not possible and how that’s the magical point, the hook in many cases that makes the book interesting. And not so far back I mentioned I am reading the book Illusion and how I was enjoying it so very much. As a writer it is of foremost importance to read other peoples work if you desire to grow and improve your skills as a writer. You will get to a point like I realize I have reached that you start analyzing others work as you read it. You study their English and Grammar skills. You study how they handle the so called rules of style which are so harshly judged by certain readers and I have come to realize just as the code among Pirates the...

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Posted in: imaginary magic unreal story Wiley hero

Musician vs. Author

I was listening to Bob Seeger’s “Katmandu” on the radio driving home from work today as was kind of critiquing the song as I was listening to it. Part of it he was just singing it in that classic Seeger fashion and parts you could tell he was putting everything he had into the vocals. As I thought about it, I realized if I was to be a singer I would try and do songs that didn’t total max out my efforts, because if you have a very long career and have to keep doing the same songs for the next forty years you won’t be able to consistently hit those fine extreme points later in life. Fortunately for singers and musicians they only need really hit perfection once in a studio to record that best track they can to be played by millions of people for years to come and it will always be that perfect...

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Posted in: musician singer author death creative mature

Illusion and Hunger Games

Pre Review of Book – Review of Movie Currently I am reading “Illusion” By Frank Peretti. I am only coming up on the halfway point but it is incredible! I am totally hooked and can’t wait to finish it. I have been working feverishly trying to finish my next novel, and I want to finish this book. So with 98% of my free time I am working on my novel, and part of my lunch hour everyday I am reading this great book. Tonight I did take the evening off from writing and went to the movies with my daughter to see Hunger Games. The book is by Suzanne Collins, which I haven’t read yet. I wanted to see the movie before I read the books. As everybody knows the movies are never as good as the books so if I see the movie first usually I am impressed and then when I read the book I am further impressed....

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Posted in: Hunger Games Illusion movie book review daughter

Movies Reviews Vs. Book Reviews

I know how I feel when I get a one star review posted on one of my books. I realize it is just one person’s opinion of my writing, my story, and my work. For some reason the reader was not impressed, felt let down, disappointed or offended and felt so strongly about their feelings towards my work that they needed to share their feelings with the world. Thankfully for every one star or two star review I have received there are almost three times as many four and five star reviews when you look at all the reviews from the many various sites at which a person may post a review. The fact that most people who have left reviews have loved my work keeps me going. I can see and have heard from those helping me bring my future books to market that my writing is getting much better, a work in progress....

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Posted in: reviews stars movies books production

Great Imagination VS. Spoiler Alert

They are re-releasing Titanic again for a limited time in a 3D Version on the big screen. * SPOILER ALERT * The Titanic SINKS! Seriously, the movie was based off of a real ship in history! I know many of you are reading this and going, DAH! Fortunately there is a group of people that don’t know the boat was real and that it really hit an iceberg and sank. * SPOILER ALERT * Remember the movie APOLLO 13 starring Tom Hanks, “Houston, We have a problem!” Yeah, that one actually happened also. Most people know this before going to see the movie, so I don’t feel too bad with posting the spoilers on my blog. Fortunately as with anything variety is the spice of life and for our benefit and mutual enjoyment we have all kinds – of variety in our lives. I apologize for taking anything away...

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Posted in: Titanic Apollo 13 Spoiler Alert Imagination

Detailed Day Dreaming

In writing the sequel to “Whisper,” Wiley and Lisa are taking a dream honeymoon around the world. Sorry if this turns out to be a spoiler to some degree but it is necessary to the understanding of this blog post. I also know that if you have read “Whisper” or “No Rules Of Engagement” you will know there is plenty of other stuff going on to still make it a great book in spite of the spoiler. One of the fun parts of writing this book is imagining being able to travel around the world with no schedule, no rush, money is no object. The dream vacation, the ultimate honeymoon. I have learned so much from Alpha and Beta Cities, the top ten sites of each city, the history of the sites, populations, aspects of cultures from each of these different countries. Researching resaurants close to major...

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Posted in: Whisper Research Honeymoon Travel E-book

Improve the Customers Experience

My day job is in the wholesale tire industry, which has no direct contact with customers, retail customers that is, the everyday people like you and me who would go into a tire shop to buy new tires. That doesn’t mean we don’t pay attention to customer service or what is important to the retail tire customer. If anything we are hypersensitive to what the customer on the street is looking for. The more we can do to help our tire dealers be more successful the more successful we will become as their supplier. A big key in the tire industry is to ‘Improve the Customers Experience.’ Let’s face it most people never think about their tires unless they have to. Most people visiting a tire shop are there because they have to be there not by choice. So everything a tire dealer can do to improve...

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Posted in: Pricing Cover Art Error Free Full Length