by Ken LeClair

You have the job dreams are made out of, digging for gold in the gold mine. The ground is laden with gold nuggets and all you have to do is find them and you get to keep them too! Yes, the work is hard, you have to put in long hours, and some days you don’t find any gold at all but you know it’s there.   A nugget here, a nugget there leading you to that thick vein of gold that will make you rich beyond your dreams.

No, it’s not a 9-5 job with coffee breaks and long lunches. But somehow, the days just fly by as you show up early in the morning and finish up 12 or more hours later. And yes you may have to go into the mine on saturdays and sundays to make it happen, but you know it’s happening and that makes it all the more exciting. You realize that the act of digging for the gold is a reward in itself- you are determining your own destiny, not waiting for it to determine you.

What happened??? Some oil is what happened! And it happened somewhere off of Louisiana!!! It is supposedly a ton of oil.  Shitload! Who’s OIL? BP!!

The cause of this explosion is unknown however.  The potential of this oil disaster to cause environmental problems is still being figured out as to how it reached land.  I wouldn’t want to be swimming in oil and I’m sure nobody would. I would literally grab buckets and feed my car with it.

by Ken LeClair

Ten percent of the sales people make ninety percent of the sales. This ten percent has something that the others don’t. Namely charisma, dynamic energy, drive, motivation and a superior work ethic. These are the super stars that sales managers dream of and treat accordingly. Their charisma draws others to them.  Their dynamic energy propels them forward where others stumble.  Their drive keeps their mind focused on success.  Their motivation to be number one keeps the whole thing in sync, while their superior work ethic means first at their desk in the morning with minimum personal phone calls and total dedication to making the next sale.

If this describes you then you are on your way or already there. If not, you better get your act together. Play to win all the chips by honing your skills from meet and greet all the way to the close. You can do it if you suck it up and put one hundred percent of your being into it. The buyer is going to buy from somebody and it might as well be you!

by Ken LeClair

Had a tough day at the office?  Monday got you down? It rained a little on your parade? Head to the gym and pour out that pent up energy gurgling inside you!  Yes, go at those weights with all the gusto you have and the next thing you know everything will be coming up roses! Or at least it will feel that way.

Once you get the blood pumping through your veins into your muscles and throughout your entire body the world will look altogether different. The energy and vitality harbored inside you now has a venue to expand upon and enjoy. Nothing like a little adrenaline to get things going your way. You can feel your muscles pump up as the weights move and the hum of testosterone and human growth hormone kicks in.

Now you are back on top of the world, the master of your destiny and the one who is calling the shots. There is no better feeling than a great workout that leaves you totally pumped and primed to be the ruler of your own destiny.

Last week, the Sydney Morning Herald reported how mass obesity of middle and upper class Indians has become a major killer in the country, joining deaths of the poor due to malnutrition.

While many middle class citizens have succumbed to heart disease due to their sedentary lifestyle and intake of fatty foods, the article reports that 48% of India’s children are underweight.

The article calls this a paradox.  I’ll go ahead and call it reprehensible.  The same financial resources that were being used to give primary medical care to the poor are being diverted to treat the lifestyle diseases of the rich.

Sure, America has a fair share of impoverished people but in India it is an epidemic.  To say India is making great progress is essentially looking the other way- so far, it is indeed progress for the very few.

submitted by Julie Graber, www.delightfulhealth.com

Are you looking for a pick me up that is also good for you? A natural solution without the caffeine jitters! You have heard about green tea and all the wonderful benefits of drinking this beverage but have you heard about Matcha? It has 10 times the nutrients of regular green tea!! It also has 70 times the antioxidants of orange juice and 9 times the beta carotene of spinach.
What can Matcha do for you?
• Raises your Energy,
• Boosts your metabolism, by 35 to 40% in regular drinkers
• Contains L-theanine, which improves mental alertness, increases calmness and reduces stress
• Powerful anti-aging activity due to the super-charged antioxidants
• Lowers blood pressure
• Decreases LDL or bad cholesterol
• Minimizes symptoms of PMS
• High levels of polyphenols and catechins which are cancer preventatives
• Stabilizes blood sugar levels
• Powerful antibiotic and antiviral activity
• Strong blood detoxifier and alkalizer, due to the high chlorophyll content
• I learned about Matcha several years ago from Dr. Andrew Weil and have enjoyed it ever since. I love mixing Matcha with some hot water, Truvia and a little cream. If you are avoiding dairy another great option is coconut milk, very yummy!
Now with the weather warming up, I make a wonderful Matcha ice-cream using coconut milk! Enjoy Matcha and have fun with it! Delightful Health does carry an excellent Matcha that is a very bright green (so it is very fresh!) I have had other Matcha’s that are a lot duller in color which means they have been sitting around for awhile. So it loses some of the antioxidant and nutrient content over time.

by Ken LeClair

A record turnout of voters in the Garden State resulted in 58% of school budgets being defeated this past Tuesday. Governor Christie led the fight to vote down budgets that called for higher taxes to fund the bloated school budgets that are bankrupting the state and its citizens. One notable exception was Bergen County where 71% of the budgets passed with a pitifully low voter turnout that saw many bloated school budgets pass by the slimmest of margins.

One of the main issues was teacher give backs wherein teachers would accept a wage freeze to avoid teacher layoffs and proposed changes to their grandiose pensions and healthcare provisions that have home owner taxes the highest in the country and the state looking at a $10 billion budget deficit in the next fiscal year. Meanwhile the teachers union executive director receives a salary of $550,000 per year. Teachers health care, for which the taxpayer foots the entire amount, is 41% higher than the average Fortune 500 company and is solely responsible for a 71% increase in property taxes in the past 10 years. Not to mention that the average police officer in Bergen County makes over $100,000 per year and retires after working 25 years at 65% of his salary with full healthcare benefits for life. Police chiefs in tiny municipalities pull in $150,000 plus per year, more than the New York City police chief, and often retire with a “unused” sick pay check for $200,000 plus, all at the taxpayers expense.

Governor Christie closed the $2.2 billion dollar budget gap he inherited by enacting 375 spending freezes and budget cuts. An additional $13 billion is to be cut from the budget by executive decree. The democrats want to tax the rich to pay for their largess; but as Gov Christie noted $700 billion in wealth has left the state for lower taxing states since 2004, taking their businesses, jobs and tax dollars with them. Perhaps the taxpayers have awakened in time to save the state from total ruin. Time will tell and there is precious little of that left.

What is with all these ongoing earthquakes and tsunamis? Is it a sign of the times?? With the events going on Haiti and Iceland, who else would suspect that another crisis will happen soon This particular quake in Chile was 22 miles deep. Fortunately, there were no immediate reports of injuries or damages. So what’s next?

written by a desiexclusives.com contributor

Just recently, I was watching an episode of Saved by the Bell and the main character Zack Morris whipped out his infamous oversized cell phone, simply known by many as the “Zack Morris cell phone”.  Though the cell phone was considered to be advanced technology that many people didn’t have during that time in the early 90’s when the show aired, it was the size of a brick and quite the laughing stock for those who live in today’s technological age.  It’s amazing how far we’ve come in regards to technology, specifically cell phones.  This device has really made an impact on our lives, whether we want to admit it or not.  Some consider it a dog leash whereas others consider it their favorite gadget, where they can check email, text, browse the internet, and many other things.  For those of us who have a cell phone, we can’t deny the fact that we can’t imagine how we lived without one.

Watching reruns of sitcoms from the 90’s, its amazing that some of the storylines revolved around the absence of cell phones.  One episode that comes to mind is the episode of Seinfeld, where the four main characters, Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer are in a mall parking garage looking for their car.  In the episode, the four get split up looking for the car.  They don’t have any way of contacting each other since they don’t have cell phones.  They are walking around aimlessly looking for each other.  If one person had a beeper, I guess the other person could page the person from a pay phone.  The person with the beeper would call from a pay phone to the other pay phone he was paged from hoping that the other person is waiting for his call.  Seems quite complicated doesn’t it?  Today, a simple call from a cell or even a text would have resolved the whole situation.

Cell phones became a great convenience for people.  In certain situations where you had to talk to someone who wasn’t at home, or if there were a change in plans, you can simply call the cell.  Now today, cell phones are so much more.   So many people today have smartphones such as the Blackberry, Android, Iphone, and others.  You can check your email, watch videos, browse the internet, listen to music, check facebook or twitter, play games, and so much more.  It is really amazing how cell phone technology has made our lives so much easier, possibly even more spoiled.  But technology is still progressing and still getting more advanced.  It is really interesting to look back at the past and remember how we reacted to the new technology that came out.  Could you imagine people going crazy over the Zack Morris cell phone?  I am sure people were in awe of it since it was an item that many people didn’t have.  Today, we have all these smart phones out, but imagine what they will have 20 years from now.  A 4G connection would probably be considered dial up connection compared to what they will have in the future.

by Ken LeClair

First we have the one stage rocket. We all know this one. A loud noise, plenty of fanfare and then a big boom as it self explodes and falls back to the ground. You know the party animal who hit all the hottest clubs with a pocket full of cash but never had a job to get up and go to like the rest of us. The twenty something with no education and no career.

Then we have the two stage rocket. We know this one too. Graduated from college with a 2.4, got a job in the post office, gained 50 lbs and married and bought a condo in Hackensack. Two kids later they divorced, sold the condo and went their separate ways and nobody has seen them since. Looked like things were going somewhere but stopped short and disintegrated.

But the three stage rocketeer is still is still very much in flight headed toward orbit. Yes, he parties but knows where to draw the line, has a goal in mind and a trajectory that will go there. His aim is high and that is where his destiny is taking him. We can watch and encourage; we know the third stage booster rocket has kicked in from deep inside propelling this one to the top and it is a great thing to see.