Producer Nicholas Worries about our Heavy Footprint

For decades, Southern California companies were responsible for dumping chemicals, including DDT, into the Pacific. Only in the year 2000 were they found liable for the destruction they had caused. Many coastal and island populations of wildlife had declined rapidly, some perilously close to extinction. The Catalina Bald Eagle is among those horror stories.

Read more about the positive work taking place to save Santa Catalina Bald Eagles http://www.catalinaconservancy.org/ecology/actions/eagles.cfm

I spent the weekend in Catalina in order to reinvigorate myself, and find some well deserved peace and quiet. I became acquainted with the conservancy efforts taking place on the island, and was overwhelmed by how fragile island environments are. I also realized how large of a footprint I leave, specifically, on the environment based on things I take for granted. I found a helpful article by Gabe Travers on simple steps to help save the environment.

“Going Green” doesn’t have to take a lot of time or a lot of money. Dr. Lissa Leege, who heads up Georgia Southern University’s sustainability programs, offers five easy ways to help save the environment and save money.

1. As each incandescent bulb burns out in your house or office, replace it with a compact fluorescent bulb. CFLs use one-fifth the energy of incandescents and last 10 times longer, allowing you to save 670 pounds of carbon dioxide and $55 over the life of a single 60-watt bulb equivalent.

2. Replace old shower heads in your home with new, lower-flow shower heads. By law, all shower heads are now required to release no more than 2.5 gallons of water per minute – a significant savings over the older five-gallons-per-minute models.

3. Choose water from the tap over bottled water. Eight of 10 plastic water bottles end up in crowded landfills, and the oil required to make a year’s supply of new bottles in the U.S. is enough to fuel 100,000 cars a year.

4. Bring your own bags to the grocery store. They are much sturdier than the film plastic bags and they’ll never end up as litter in a river!

5. Give someone a nice travel mug to carry to Starbucks. That will save 10 cents a cup, but better yet it will save landfill space and trees by not trashing 365 cups a year.

Let’s all do what we can to lighten our footprint.  Till next time…

Nick

How to Get into the Video Gaming Industry!

I know, I know.  It’s been a while.  And so much has gone on since the last post.  So I’ll try to catch up little by little.

First of all, I’m really excited about the guest we had on the show today.  His name is Eric Nylund, and not only is he a best-selling fantasy & science fiction author, but he wrote 3 of the 5 HALO novels and his new book Mortal Coils has just been released.

Eric also works with the Microsoft Game Studio as a story consultant, and is intrinsically involved in game development.  So today we talked about family dynamics, violent video games, mythology, video games and girls, and so much more.

Plus, he spills the secrets on how to get in to the video gaming field. Eric talks about how he got into it and the smartest ways for others to break in.  And let me tell you, he says the field is wide open if you’re a female!

Check out the interview by clicking here.

Find out more about Eric Nylund here:  www.ericnylund.net There are several chapters from the new book up there as well as a “trailer” for the new book.

Fun fact about Eric: He’s a scientist by trade with degrees in chemistry and phyics.

And speaking of scientists… next week we welcome our favorite Quantum Physicist, Dr. Mani Bhaumik, back to the show.  He’s the co-creator of the excimer laser, which is what makes LASIK eye surgery possible.  He grew up in abject poverty during the independence movement in India and even spent some time in his youth serving Ghandi.

His love of knowledge brought him to the United States where his skills blossomed and he changed the world of ophthalmology.  He went on to be featured in Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous and even dated the gorgeous, and smart, Eva Gabor for a while.

After some soul-searching, Dr. Bhaumik turned his attention to the search, as a scientist, for God, which resulted in his book Code Name God. He now creates educational programs for young people and overseas the Mani Bhaumik award given for advancing the understanding of the brain and conscious mind in healing.

Dr. Bhaumik is charming, witty and fun and I hope you’ll join us next week on the show for our conversation.

In the meantime, remember to take time to hop off the hamster wheel and make sure you’re following your own dreams, not just making the dreams of other people come true.

Watch this for a reminder:

Till next time (and I promise, it won’t be so long!)

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Who knew the conversation would turn to Red Wigglers?

See, that’s just it.  You never know WHAT you’ll hear on A Closer Look!  Mary Ellen Psaltis was our guest on Thursday and we covered a lot of ground.  Including that in your own backyard!  Mary Ellen is a nutrition and wellness consultant,  so we decided to kick off the new year talking about how to increase our well-being.  Mary Ellen reminded us of some ideas we might have heard before (but forgotten) like keeping a gratitude journal… and gave us some ideas we KNOW we’ve never heard before!  (Wanna lose weight?  Get yourself some red wigglers!)  Here are some of the tips she gave us:

• Every day write down 5 things for which you are grateful in a journal.  Do not repeat. (Mary Ellen writes down such things as clean sheets on her bed, or a nice hot shower).
• When it comes to losing weight, become a label reader. No more Hydrogenated oil!  (or partially hydrogenated)
• No more High Fructose Corn Syrup! It’s empty calories and your pancreas may have issues with it.
• Keep a recycling worm bin at your house. WHAT?  Yup.  Mary Ellen says that those red wiggler worms like to eat non-protein discarded food products (think orange peels and old lettuce).  And if they don’t get enough to eat, they’ll die.  Now you don’t want those little fellers to pass on, do you?  So eat lots of fruits and vegetables to keep them happy and healthy!  Yes, it’s losing weight by guilt, but if it works…..

Other ideas from Mary Ellen include simply smiling at people (it’s contagious) and remember,  it’s not how MUCH you give, but rather THAT you give, when it comes to helping out others.

Find out more about Mary Ellen and her book,  12 Spiritual Vitamins, by clicking here.  And keep an eye out for her new book coming soon:  Gaining Thin.  I like that.  A whole new spin on the weight thing.  You’re not losing anything… you’re Gaining.  And that’s a positive way to look at it!

Coming up this week on A Closer Look… Jake Steinfeld (Body By Jake) gives us the inside scoop on steroids in body-building and how he started the personal trainer craze.  Then Dr. Keith Ablow talks about finding our truths.  Both interesting guys and sure to make a show that will give you lots to consider.  I hope you’ll join us this Thursday at 1pm PT, 4pm ET.  Go to www.ACloserLookRadio.com for more info.

And start infecting others with your smile!!

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Pam

True Confessions… I Love Trader Joe’s

I’m just going to come right out and say it.  I love Trader Joe’s.   I love it so much that I want to live there.

If you don’t know what Trader Joe’s is, let me enlighten you.  It’s heaven on earth.  It’s the most succulent, fresh, unusual, delicious, clever, creative food, drink and goodies that you can find on this planet.  And all from such good people.   Click here for the Wikipedia entry.

My daughter and I took a road trip to California to see my dad for Christmas. It’s been over 10 years since the group of us have gotten together for the holidays and since Beverly just got her Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and Applied Archaeology (don’t ask ‘cause I have no idea what she’ll do with it), we thought this year would be a good time to go.

I love road trips.  You get to sing badly in the car as loudly as you want to songs that you would never admit to anyone that you listen to, much less have a cd of.  (Yeah, I know, it ended in a preposition)  You get to visit small towns with great food and big towns with crappy motels. But I digress.

My father lives near the mother lode of Trader Joe’s… the home office/store in Monrovia. We saved our trip to the store for our last night in California.  It was ending the trip in Utopia.  Pumpkin/pecan/chocolate tart-pie. Yogurt cheese (I had never heard of that!) Dark chocolate covered mixed nuts.  Happy Face Shiraz.  Organic produce. Fresh sushi. (not my favorite, but Beverly could eat it every meal). A “guacamole kit.” Lime rice from India. Nut butters.  I can’t bear to go on.  Everything that is good for you, and at prices that are as good as mainstream grocery stores, or better!

I want to live there.

I know, I know… what about the fact that I want to live at the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago?  Well, I have worked out a plan.  I’ll live in the spring and the fall at the Palmer House, and the summer and the winter at Trader Joe’s.

More about the road trip in another post. In the meantime, I just got this release from iDrink.com and it looked like fun, so I thought I would re-post it. But before I do… I invite you to join us this week on A Closer Look.  We’ll be chatting with Mary Ellen Psaltis about the twelve essential nutrients for well-being… a perfect way to start the new year!  Click here to go directly to the Achieve Radio site. (you will not pass GO, nor receive $200, but you might find an interview or two that you want to listen to!)

From iDrink.com….
If you are planning to host a New Years party this year you might be looking for some help to make it extra special or at the very least more unique.  A part of most New Years Eve parties is various alcoholic drinks.  Instead of just providing (or having guests bring their own) the regular beer, wine, rum, vodka and rye, why not create a theme around the drinks available.

There are various cocktails and shooters that have a Holiday theme to their names or appearance.  A quick visit to www.idrink.com/newyears.html shows more than 25 different recipe ideas with a Holiday theme.  One idea is to setup a table with the various ingredients for the drinks with smallrecipe cards and the appropriate glasses so everyone can be their own bartender.

Here is a sample of some recipes to try:

North Pole Cocktail

1.0 dollop  Whipped Cream
1.0 each  Egg White
1.0 oz.  Gin
0.5 oz.  Lemon juice
0.5 oz.  Maraschino

Shake all ingredients (except whipped cream) with ice and strain
into a cocktail glass. Top with whipped cream and serve.

Celebration

Click on photo to check out HostessWithMostess website!

1.0 oz  Cognac
1.0 oz  Cointreau
1.0 oz  Lemon juice
1.5 oz  Rum

Shake over ice and pour into cocktail glass. Garnish with orange peel.

Steaming Hot Holiday Punch Recipe

3.0 cups  Apple Juice
1.5 teaspoons  ground Cinnamon
3  sticks Cinnamon
0.75 teaspoon  ground Cloves
6.0 cups  Cranberry juice
0.75 cup  Maple syrup
0.75 teaspoon  ground Nutmeg
3.0 cups  Orange juice
2.0 teaspoons  powdered Sugar

Combine all the ingredients in a very large heavy pan, except
the cinnamon sticks. Bring to a boil and turn to simmer for
few minutes. You can put the ingredients in a crockpot after
it has boiled and keep warm over low heat.

After the party is over and you have lots of leftovers you can head on over to www.idrink.com again and enter the ingredients you have to find all the other drinks you can make with them.  iDRINK has over 32000 cocktail recipes to experiment with. Have a happy holiday season, don’t over indulge and please drink responsibly.

Indeed.  Till next time….

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Singing slime and saxophone-playing squirrels!

The holidays are in full swing and the stress levels are going up Up UP!!

We found this great video on YouTube that just cracked us up. We hope you’ll get a chuckle or two and that it lightens the workload this holiday season.

If these singing animals don’t make you laugh… then see your doctor for a replacement Humerus bone. HA!

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ps… a BONUS video! Laughing baby. A word of caution, however… it’s contagious!

Hamsters and Holiday Trees

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving.  My daughter and I finished the day off by going to see BOLT at the theaters, accompanied by vast amounts of buttered popcorn and 3-D glasses. (btw, the Hamster steals the show). Afterwards we found the Salvation Army Angel tree and picked out names of kids who might not have such a merry holiday season.

Every year since Beverly was little, we have picked out names from the tree and shopped for them.  It’s a tradition I’m proud to share with her.  For the last 3 years we have chosen the names and done the shopping in the name of the New Mexico branch of Interim Health Care.  Interim is a home health care company and NM General Manager Twila Rutter decided several years ago that the best way her branch could thank their doctors and health care providers at the holidays was not to send them yet one more spiral ham or fruit basket that would go uneaten and unremembered, but instead to help the less fortunate in the area.  The Salvation Army helps between 600-700 kids each year in the local area, and Interim proudly supplies gifts for approximately 10% of their needs.

So every year we choose about 30 girls and 30 boys and go shopping! We often will pick out the older kids, since they can be harder to purchase for and the gifts more expensive. One year, when Beverly worked for Radio Shack, she gave us her employee discount so we could get remote control cars, v-tech computers and loads of batteries for the toys.  It meant that she couldn’t get commission for her sales, but she was proud of her contribution to the effort.  And I was proud of her.

After we have meticulously made lists and purchased the gifts, we set them up on, around and over a table at my office and shoot pictures.  There are so many gifts, we have to shoot the boy gifts separately from the girl ones!  Then we bag everything up in plastic Hefty bags and label them for the Salvation Army.

For us it is one of the most joyous parts of the season.  It’s something that Beverly and I do together, commiserating and planning and deciding… deciding if Hulk Hands are still appropriate for an 11 year-old (they are), if the new Girl Gourmet Cupcake Maker is better than the EasyBake Oven (we’re not sure, but it  looks awfully cute), and what kind of Tinkerbell stuff we’ll choose for an 8 year old girl (I’m for the old-style, but Beverly likes the new “tink” look). I’ll post pictures this year after we complete our shopping.

It’s these times that we remember with great fondness and our children take forward into the future for their own families.  Tell us about your holiday traditions.  We’ll get good ideas and cheer on the creativity and kindness of others!

Speaking of traditions, Goops Publisher Barbara Ross talked with us about that last week on the show.  She shared with us how the desire to share the cherished Goops books with her grandson got her into the publishing business when she couldn’t find any of the books.  It’s a great story and an inspiring one (she was 68 when she published the book!) and perfect for the holidays.  We talk about manners for kids (that’s what the Goops books are about) and how to be good examples.

Dr. Susan was on the show as well, with her tips on how to deal with too many get-togethers and cranky know-it-alls.  Here’s her list of 5 rules for the holidays. (Listen to the show as she explains the why and how of the rules)

• 1. Cut down on the drinking
• 2. Ask yourself the question: Do I REALLY have to go to all those parties and get-togethers?
• 3. Determine if there is a way to be with people you DO want to be with that’s less stressful.
• 4. Try not to feel you need to be perfect
• 5. It’s okay (and sometimes very good!) to let people go in our lives.

Next Thursday on the show we get Frommer’s list of 10 Best destinations for 2009 (and all the cheap travel tips!) and Santa Paws comes to visit as WebVet co-founder Hope Schultz talks about great holiday toys for the pets.  (aromatherapy? a massage glove?)

Don’t forget… we’ve got a page for recipes on the site… so check it out and send us yours to add to it!

Being thankful for so much…

XX

Pam

ps… Welcome to TJ, a new listener.  He was my rep at QWEST when I had dsl problems.  Thanks for the great service TJ, and hope you enjoy the show!

Yes, it’s been a while….

We’ve elected a new president in the time since I’ve last posted!

I admit, things have been busy and I’ve gotten behind in my posting. We’ve had some great guests and some exciting things happening.

First of all… I hope you will join us this Thursday for our interview with Ken Levine.  (He was scheduled for last week, but we were in the middle of a studio move for our online home at AchieveRadio.com and a winter storm and crazy internet issues kept us off the air last week.  Kudos to Engineer Bill for getting things hooked up so quickly.)  Ken Levine is one of the most interesting people you will meet.  Why?  How much time ya got?!

So let’s see… he’s an Emmy award-winning television writer.  You’ve seen episodes that he and his writing partner David Isaacs have written for Cheers, Wings, Fraisier, Becker and more.  Plus, Levine has directed many episodes for those sitcom as well. And he and David were head writers for the iconic show M*A*S*H.

He’s also a radio personality, having gotten his start in the boss radio years.  Now he hosts Dodger Talk for KABC, along with a Sunday night sports show.

Then there’s the major league baseball play-by-play announcing that he did for the Baltimore Orioles, the San Diego Padres and the Seattle Mariners.

Did I mention that he and David wrote the episode of The Simpsons that named the baseball team the Isotopes… and then the Albuquerque, New Mexico team decided to appropriate it for their minor league team?  Oh, he was also the baseball announcer on that episode.

What have I missed?  Oh… that book he wrote.  “It’s Gone… No Wait a Minute.” And he’s currently working on his memoirs, even while I post.

And because he felt that no one was really giving  writers a good feel for what the television writing business is really like, he started a seminar/workshop series called The Sitcom Room, where writers, and writer-hopefuls, come from across the nation and Canada to participate in as close to a real writing room as can be created without actually being part of a show.

And then there’s his blog. (click here to view) Viewed by thousands every day, Levine has fans from around the world who read his daily postings about everything from writing to baseball to American Idol.

I promise, there will be something for everyone on the show this Thursday.  Including some Hollywood Dish!  So please tune in at 1pm PT/4pm ET. You can get to the show by going to www.ACloserLookRadio.com. Hit the big LISTEN button and you’re all set.  And if you miss the show when it’s live, you can also go to the exact same place to catch the interview in archive.  But we will be taking questions this week with Ken… so you might want to make the live show!

* * * * *

As I may have told you, I’m the voice of the Goops books for children about manners. (click here to see all about the Goops) The publishers have asked me to do a radio tour promoting the book for Christmas, so I may be on the air on a station near you!

So far, we are scheduled for:

• 11/19 at 8:40am CT on KORN with Jena O’Connor in South Dakota
• 12/1 at 1pm ET on WOON with Don Burnelle in Rhode Island
• 12/15 at 10:15am PT on KAHI with Mary Jane Popp in Sacramento, CA
• And  12/18 at 3pm ET on 880 The Biz with Kandee G in South Florida

And we’re putting the finishing touches on our annual Holiday “Best Of” List.  It’s where we share with you about unique, unusual and downright weird things for the holidays! And some of those ideas come from YOU!

So I promise, I’ll be better about posting.  In the meantime, please tune in this week, and check out the archives for any of the shows you have missed.

Till next time…

XX

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They Swore to Uphold the Constitution… What Happened??

Dr. David Gray Adler

As Constitutional Scholar Dr. David Gray Adler pointed out… every President of the United States swears to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States when they take the oath of office.

U.S. Senators and Representatives also swear to protect and defend the Constitution. Our military affirms the same thing.

Yet Adler made clear in his chat with us last Thursday on A Closer Look that obviously some of our leaders have not read their U.S. Constitution lately.

Case in point: the Patriot Act. Adler says Bush takes much of the blame in pushing through this piece of legislation that is clearly beyond the scope of presidential power. The Act takes away many of the rights GUARANTEED in the Constitution; not rights that apply some of the time, when it’s convenient. GUARANTEED. Unalienable. Meaning they can’t be suspended.

But Adler says don’t stop at the President – it took both houses of Congress to pass the Patriot Act, making our Senators and Representatives complicit.

What good is a Constitution if our leaders and legislators don’t abide by it? It simply becomes a piece of paper.

Adler pulled no punches as he talked about usurpation of the Constitution, of the suspension of our rights and the abuse of power, in direct conflict with what is laid out in our most revered national document. Listen to just part of our conversation, when I asked Dr. Adler what exactly were the powers of a Vice President, according to the Constitution.

adler-vp1

I hope you’ll listen to the entire conversation (click here to get to the entire interview) Dr. Adler talks about Guantanamo and a recent case of a Federal District Judge releasing a group of prisoners. We delve into the recent revelations of eavesdropping by our government into the private conversations of our men and women overseas – and how these conversations were posted on websites for others to listen to. And we talk about presidents throughout history, both Democrats and Republicans, who have abused the powers of their office.

It’s a remarkable conversation with one of the most respected Constitutional Scholars in the nation. It’s straight talk from someone who loves our Constitution unconditionally, and is not afraid to talk about those who ambitiously work to subvert its power.

And it should scare you a little, too. These are our rights, guaranteed to us by our Constitution. It’s frightening to watch this document, which the Founding Fathers so carefully laid out to protect us, be so callously disregarded.

Till next time..

Pam
ps… This Thursday (Oct 16th) is National Boss’s day, and what a show we have for you! We’ll talk with Dr. Robert Orndorff about the PITA principle (Pain In The Ass)… and Bonnie Low-Kramen (Celebrity Assistant to Olympia Dukakis) shares some insider secrets and crazy things bosses ask for. Plus… why an assistant is more important than ever in this economic downturn. Please join us… Thursday 1pm PT/4pm ET. Go to ACloserLookRadio.com and click on LISTEN!

“Rescue Me” is More than the Title to a Fontella Bass song

So, the bail-out rescue bill is signed.

Can we expect our economy to turn around tomorrow? Are we back on track?  Is the recession/depression no longer going to happen?

I’m sorry to say it’s more complicated than that.  Real Estate Trend-Spotter Ed Ross says it’s going to be a while before things get back to normal.  And it’s going to get worse before it gets better.  He was our guest Thursday on A Closer Look.  And joining us was Dr. Richard Darwin, who gently reminded us a time or two that this bill isn’t really a Bail-Out… it’s a creative rescue.

Ed told us why Wall Street crashed, and indeed, why Wall Street was even involved in the economic plunge.  It has to do with selling mortgages to other banks, investment groups buying against the mortgages and speculators betting on the funds.  Complicated? You betcha!  But Ed does a great job explaining it.

Dr. Darwin and Ed told us that we’ve got to get the housing market stimulated to crawl out of this mess.  What that means is we have to keep jobs and create jobs, and we have to make sure people are making good wages.  And it won’t hurt to see gas prices go down!

And they both said that there were signs of this coming, but those signs were ignored.  HHmmm.  Fox watching the hen house?

Do yourself a favor.  If you missed the show, and you want to know how we got into this mess and what it means to your pocketbook and mine… listen to the show in archive. (click here) Ed and Dr. D. gave us plain talk and no-bull explanations.

Speaking of plain talk… I really, really, really hope you’ll join us this Thursday, October 9, for our show with Dr. David Gray Adler… one of the most recognized and respected Constitutional Scholars worldwide.  Not only is he smart, but he’s funny, too!  We’ll ask what the constitution says about Vice Presidents (that came up in the VP debate, you know) and how our presidents have handled the powers of the Constitution.

I guarantee you will learn a lot, and have a lot of fun.

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Oh… and please remember… October is National Domestic Violence Awareness month.  Read up on Domestic Violence, donate to a local shelter, find a way to help.  In November we’ll be talking with Georgia Durante, a victim of domestic violence and the author of The Company She Keeps. (which is just being re-released in paperback on Tuesday!). Georgia has such an inspiring story.  From model, to mob wife to Hollywood stunt car driver.

I am Suspending All Current Programming Until Congress Makes A Move!

(Okay.  Not really.  I mean, kinda.  Well, we’re bringing on a guest to talk about the economy and the real estate market and mortgages and that wasn’t what we originally planned, so kinda, yeah, we are.  Sorta.  You know.)

I’m befuddled.  And if you’re not, you’re probably lying.  Whoever understands what just happened to our economy and how $700 billion will fix things… raise your hand.

I didn’t think so.  Me neither.  I’ve read and watched and talked and done everything I can possibly think of to understand this is plain terms.  And I can’t get a simple answer.

So when I got an email newsletter from Ed Ross, a light bulb finally went on.  Ed is a real estate trend-spotting specialist, and he’s got a handle on this mess.  So because we know YOU probably are wondering about this fiasco, too (and I know you Senators, Representatives and Presidents don’t have a handle on it either!), we thought it most timely to bring Ed on for a chat.

So please join us Thursday (tomorrow) October 2nd at 1pm PT/2pm MT/3pm CT/4pm ET on A Closer Look.  WE WILL BE TAKING CALLERS… so if you have questions, this is the time to ask!

And wait until you see all the fascinating guests we have lined up for October.  Constitutional Scholars, Celebrity Assistants, Success Specialists, and CHER!!!

Till next time…

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