January 20, 2009 Awesome

Inauguration day! Free at last.... Fantastic! Time to go to work!

Yin and Yang

Today was a day of yin and yang. On the yin side was all the hoopla around the inauguration and all the wonderfully uplifting pre-inauguration activities. On the yang side I spent hours on the phone trying to resolve three questions. The first was about my McAfee account (they can't find me but I keep getting updates)and I was on the phone with a customer service person in India for almost an hour. Second problem was to figure out how to get the facing on a kitchen cabinet repaired. The cabinets were custom made and are out of warranty. That took another hour. Finally, I got a couple of frantic emails and phone messages that the warehouse for A Hand Up was flooded because the sprinkler system got turned on. After a few phone calls, the property management company turned off the water and will repair the pipes tomorrow. We will have to throw out most of the softer furniture like sofas and mattresses and any linens that were not in plastic. Time to start collecting again. We'll have to put off delivering for a couple of weeks.

Hula hooping

The fitness center has 2 hula hoops available for clients to use. One day the director was saying that the literature that comes with the hoops claims that if you use the hoops for 10 minutes a day for 30 days you can trim up to 3 inches off your waist.

These hoops are weighted, about 5 lbs., and have bumps on the inside circumference. Having more than my fair share of muffin top or love handles or call them what you will, I was game and decided to give one a try.

I started hulaing just before Thanksgiving and in the first 30 days lost close to 2 inches and with nearly 7 weeks under my belt, I'm closing in on 3 inches! who knew! The cost about $38 and you can read about them here: http://www.sports-hoop.com/ pretty cool. I've got everybody using them at the fitness center. I think the secret is consistent use.

The little post office down the street

At the foot of the mesa is the town of Halcyon. The town was founded in 1903 and there is a store called the Halcyon Store and Post Office which was started in 1908. The post office has the same zip code as Arroyo Grande 93420 and offers all the standard post office services except it doesn't accept credit card payments. The post office serves the 100 residents of Halcyon who share a philosophical, religious and ethical belief system as members of The Temple of the People. People come from all over the central coast to shop there. The store/post office celebrated its 100th anniversary on August 6.

The store features crystals, massage oils, Buddha figurines, Christian crosses, marbles and incense. Self-help and local history books line the shelves. The store's goal is for customers to leave feeling good about themselves. A shop sign reads “Just Another Day in Paradise.”

They have a program called "magic money", which is cash donated by people and later used to buy items for others deemed deserving by the clerks. The magic money restores people’s faith in humanity.

New neat number

I received an email from my brother, M with the following:

"Here's a number worth putting in your cell phone.1-800-GOOG411 (1-800-466-4411). This is an awesome service from Google and it's free(copy & paste) or click on the website. www.google.com/goog411/"

So I checked out the website and gave it a try and it works! I've added it to my cellphone. Very cool!

It's BEAUTIFUL today with temps in the mid-70s, a slight breeze and relatively dry. It feels like what a summer should feel like in my mind's eye.