03/06/10 - NNHS Newsletter - The Scorpion

“And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither
be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns
be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions:
be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed
at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.”

- Ezekiel 2: 6

March 06, 1945 - The Dutch Resistance hijacked a truck in Apledoorn, Holland. The following week the German SS executed 263 Dutch in retaliation.

March 06, 1945 - The city of Cologne was captured by American Troops.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Dumont:

"She is remembered mostly for being the comic foil to Groucho Marx in seven of the Marx Brothers films... Dumont played wealthy high-society, posh-voiced widows who Groucho alternately insulted and romanced for their money. The roles are Mrs. Potter in The Cocoanuts (1929), Mrs. Rittenhouse in Animal Crackers (1930), Mrs. Gloria Teasdale in Duck Soup (1933), Mrs. Claypool in A Night at the Opera (1935), Emily Upjohn in A Day at the Races (1937), Mrs. Suzanna Dukesbury in At the Circus (1939), and Martha Phelps in The Big Store (1941)."

   But to answer your question, no, no one else has reported anything of the kind. 

   I did some checking.  My #5 son,        Nathaniel (Harty - Hillsboro HS, IL - '97 - of IL) said we have enough anti-virus protectors installed here to block practically anything they can throw at us, and suggested you might be getting a "false positive" reading.

   I Googled that phrase, "DON'T DARE GO TO THIS SITE", and found this:

http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/lynette-chiang/247-customer-evangelist/worklife-google-alerts-go-where-your-friends-dont-dare:

"A Google alert tells you when someone noted or quoted you on the web, seemingly in the last 5 nanoseconds. You know instantly if someone found your bleat about something you liked or hated useful, or if you've butchered a sacred cow on the way to making a point."

   I don't know, Polly, but thanks for telling me!

Hi Carol and skiers from the east,

This morning was a great surprise for Park City.  Deer Valley and the surrounding resorts had a 14 inch dump of fresh.  I am no longer depressed from the lack of snow this year.  I went to work early and got my stuff done and was on the slopes by 9:30 reaping the benefits of the first tracks in the powder.  And we are expecting more over the next week!

Come on out,

Phil
 

   OOOH!

   Thanks for the breathtaking (as always!) images of your mountain home!

   Thank you, Shari!

   I myself prefer to believe in blessings rather than luck; still, I thought this article was a hoot! - Crbh

From http://www.selfgrowth.com - 03/03/10 - "An Article on Luck":

"Searching for Dimes" Tip for the Day: "Find a Reason to Believe"

- By Patricia Phelan Clapp

 

The boss sings about it. Self help gurus write about it. Setting goals is the ideal way to live your best life and most of my clients get that. However, how do you get to the point where you get that gusto to want to be a goal setting machine?

The bottom line is, exactly how do you find reasons to believe when most of what is going on in your life causes nothing short of disbelief?

I have to confess, over the last few months or so, I have become very superstitious. Not the bad kind of superstitious, like worrying about black cats in my path or steering clear of ladders; I have become a believer in luck. This may counter act much of my "you are what you think" mentality and how we control our own destinies stuff, but I have had some fun with this stage in my life. There is a level to my persona that likes to test the barometers of thinking outside the box and to see what happens. This is when my fixation with dimes began.

A good friend of mine explained to me the significance of a "dime sighting" as we call it. She explained that each time you find a dime means good luck and a great financial future. She went on to say that it signified a loved one that had passed on was looking out for you.

In the beginning, I have to admit, I thought she might be a little silly ending an email or two confirming her good luck by the dime she found that day. "Geez", I thought, "I have heard of pennies being good luck, but dimes?" I hate to say it, at first, I was a dime skeptic.

She continued to find dimes and to be honest with you, she is a dynamic person who really does seem like good luck sits on her shoulder each day -- professionally and personally. So, I thought, why not? I was in on this dime thing. Behind closed doors, I was officially proclaiming myself to be the Sherlock Holmes of ten cent sightings.

Ironically, dimes started appearing out of nowhere! On my nightstand when I would go to bed, in the middle of my bedroom floor after the painter had just left (and I swore up and down that it was not there when I had vacuumed) and so on. Dimes were appearing everywhere! I was on a lucky streak and loved it!

Each and every time I found a dime I felt that all was going right in my coin-seeking world.

My business had never done better, my phone was ringing off the hook and it seemed that each day, my life was smooth sailing. I was working out again, sleeping well, new clients were emailing me daily and kids were helping out around the house (And I thought the heavens would part for that to happen!).

This is the life, I thought. Where the heck have all these dimes been hiding? However, I didn't want to seem ungrateful for their present day appearances and did not want to look a gift horse or rather coin fairy in the mouth.

Until one day, the reality of it all came crashing down rattling me to my coin-hunting core.

A few days ago, I was out on my deck telling my dime story to my kids and a few of their friends. As usual, I had a handful of nay-sayers but mostly, the younger ones were intrigued and wanted in on this good luck venture. Then, I noticed out of the corner of my eye the look my son, Jake, gave his girlfriend. Feeling my stomach churn I was thinking, "He is just embarrassed that I believe in all this stuff" and shook it off. But that wasn't it as I looked into the big brown eyes of his sweetheart of a girlfriend who simply had to spill it, "Jake did it, Mrs. C."

"Did what?" I panicked.

"I have been planting dimes around the house for months!" As he expressed in his ever so smooth 15 year old demeanor -- Not!

"What?!" I said, heart pounding, beads of sweat coming off my forehead trying to rationalize how a kid that doesn't even pay attention to which end of the bed he is going to sleep on actually cared about his mom's preoccupation with silver coins.

My daughter, her friends, Jake's girlfriend, all paused for a moment to see how I would react. Was I going to hit him over the head with the deck umbrella or shun him from family dinners for a month? What was I going to do?

Then it hit me. Yeah, it was great fun finding those dimes and thinking about my dime guardian angel who put them there. (I was sheepishly thinking of my aunt each time I found one.)

That's when my AHA moment hit me! Dimes or no dimes, my luck was still the same! I could still say I had a dynamic month at work, my finances were steadily on the rise, and personally, my guy, as well as my kids, was doing terrific! I still was able to own that good luck -- dimes or not.

Most of us have good luck charms, believe in silly superstitions and little rituals that we hope to bring us good fortune and hope for tomorrow. And it's what all of these things symbolize that really matters.

We are finding reasons to believe.

In a world that can throw us a curve ball or two at times we may not feel like taking a swing, look for reasons to believe in your life. Little moments that create hope for a better tomorrow. It could be the power suit that gives you the confidence when doing a presentation at work, or the belief that a dime means new clients are on the way -- at the end of the day, it just reinforces your reason to move forward and live your best life.

So, go ahead, and go out and search for your dimes today. Whether you find 2 or 20, I guarantee that you will feel a little lighter, hopeful and conscious of the good in your world prior to your coin lookout days. And, if all else fails, you will inevitably be a few cents/sense richer.

"Still at the end of every hard earned day people find some reason to believe."

Bruce Springsteen

About the Author:

Patti is a forty something single mom of two awesome kids. In the past six years, she has: separated and divorced, finished a graduate degree with honors, started a part-time career as a writing instructor at a local college, opened up a business as a transition coach, and as of November 2008, become newly engaged! In addition, as of June 13th, she will have finished her basic training to become part of the Jersey Shore Collaborative Law Group. 

While she was studying and researching the various aspects of divorce and how to do it right, so to speak, she would reward herself with reading books on how to achieve your dreams! As a result, Patricia Phelan Clapp M.A. LLC, the Transition Coach, was created!