Give universally but help locally…

November 12, 2012

There are so many very good causes begging for our attention and contributions these days. Almost all are legitimate, although some charity appeals come from fund-raising companies that keep as much as they pass on to the actual underlying charity. The really big causes – cancer, heart disease, muscular dystrophy and such – have huge fund-raising machines going all of the time. They are worth causes and giving to them will make you feel better; however, it’s a short-lived feeling because you just ship your donation off to somewhere and don’t really see how it’s used or any results from your small contribution to the cause. Still, we all need to support those big efforts because they will benefit us all.

There are also lots of local charities and organizations doing good works right in our community. With those, there are not only opportunities to give money; but, also lots of opportunities to o hands-on service work; the kind of work that will give you good feeling that will stick with you for a long time, because you get to see the results.  A couple examples in our area are the Community Sharing Outreach Center Food Pantry and the local Meals on Wheels group.

The Community Sharing Outreach Center appears to be a local group that was started back in 2004 as an outgrowth of programs being run by local churches. It has expanded and added services and now offers the following services:

  • Food/Pet Food – Available once a month and in emergencies
  • Clothing – Available during open hours
  • Emergency financial assistance – This includes evictions, utility shut off and other emergencies.
  • Case Management- Needs assessment, advocacy, networking with and referrals to other agencies for optimum assistance for clients.
  • Educational Assistance – Tutoring in core subjects (K-12), assistance for adults preparing for GED testing.  Tutoring is available for all Huron Valley Schools students who participate in the Federal Lunch Program. You do not need to be a client.
  • Focus Hope – Monthly food distribution site for those over 60 and under 6.
  • The Emergency Food Assistance Program – TEFAP distribution site providing extra food to clients quarterly.

It has been noted here before that the Community Sharing Pet Food Pantry is the only one of its kind in the state that also provides pet food to needy families that otherwise could not afford to keep their family pets.

The Community Sharing Outreach Center is located in Highland at 2029 N. Milford Rd in the old middle school building. They also have a Milford location, which is a community vegetable garden, at the corner of Milford and GM Roads. You can learn more about the Community Sharing Outreach Center and the opportunities that it offers to serve at their web site – www.community-sharing.org .

The local Meals on Wheels organization is part of a larger, national effort to make sure that food gets to shut-ins and seniors. You may visit the national web site at http://www.mowaa.org/  . Locally the web site is http://www.mealcall.org/meals-on-wheels/mi/milford.htm .

This is a simple idea, to make sure that seniors and shut-ins don’t go hungry; however it takes a lot of work by a lot of volunteers and a lot of contributions to buy the food that is needed. I’ve put a flyer on my Move to Milford web site about the volunteer opportunities for Meals on Wheels at http://www.movetomilford.com/meals_on_wheels.html .

People who need meals can call two locations – the Milford Senior Center at 248-685-9008 or directly to the Meals on Wheels coordinator at 248-684-0705. If you are able and interested there are plenty of opportunities to help with this effort. I can tell you, based upon my personal experience of delivering food baskets to needy family through my church, that nothing will give you a better feeling that seeing the smiles of people who were facing another day of hunger if you weren’t there with some food. Call them today and volunteer to make, pack or deliver food to those who are shut-in.

Another avenue for local volunteering that will make you feel great is through the many local organizations with a focus on programs for children and families, such as the Carl’s Family YMCA, the Milford Library, and the Community Education and Recreation through the Huron Valley School District. There are links to all three of those organizations and their program calendars on my web site – www.movetomilford.com. I’m sure that all of them can always use more help.

Local, membership-based service organizations like the Rotary Club and the Optimists, as well as organizations like the Knights of Columbus also have multiple fund raising events for worthy causes throughout the year. And, of course, all of the local churches are always working quietly behind the scenes to help families in need. Churches run on volunteer help, so ask how you can help at your church.

There is an old saying that I’ll paraphrase by saying “you get back by giving.” No amount of money in your paycheck can make you feel as good as you’ll feel by volunteering for organizations like these and helping others. Yes, we still need to give money to these and other worthy causes, both local and national; but it’s these local organizations that need and can use your help and time to make a difference. Call one of them today and ask how you can volunteer. So, rather than just hand off some money; get the hands-on experience of actually doing the work. It’s great!

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Posted by Norm Werner

Milford in the 20th Century – New Book Project

November 9, 2012

The Milford Historical Society has as its mission to collect, preserve and share the history of Milford, Michigan. Recently the Society announced plans to create a New Book about the history of Milford. The Society has already published one book – “Ten Minutes Ahead of the Rest of the World” – which was completed in 1978 and focused mainly on the founding and growth of Milford, Michigan in the 19th Century, from the first settlers in the 1830’s up to the early years of the 1900’s.

The new book, which is being researched and written under the working title “Milford in the 20th Century”, will focus upon the history of the Milford area (Village and Township) from 1901 until 2000. The Milford Historical Society is calling for local area residents to share pictures, stories, memorabilia and other things that might contribute to understanding the history of Milford during that time fame.  The framework of the book is organized initially around the decades of the twentieth century and will place the history of events in Milford within the context of what was going on in the world at the time. It is particularly important to find old pictures that show how Milford looked in each decade or which document significant events in Milford’s history and long lost buildings or venues.

There are places long gone that existed during this era, such as the old Milford High School, many of the Mills of Milford (which were all demolished during this era), the Milford Hotel and Movie House. There are also great stories about the days when Milford used to host the Oakland County Fair and when there was horse racing and car racing in Milford. We need to capture and document all of that. There were places that had nick-names like Little Egypt and Baby Town that we want to understand and share the stories of for future generations.

There are events that occurred in Milford that reflect how the local scene was impacted by the larger context of what was going on in the world, like the WPA sidewalk project during the Depression that brought work and new sidewalks to many Milford streets. There was the creation of the General Motors Proving Ground that was cobbled together out of many Milford and Brighton Farms. Of course there was the Ford Carburetor Plant in Milford, a part of the Ford Village Industries program that Henry Ford initiated early in the 20th century. Milford had many other manufacturing companies in the early part of the century that are all long gone. We’d like to document them.

Life and lifestyles changed quite a bit during this time span, too; and we’d like to understand and share those changes. The impacts of the railroad and the automobile were profound on Milford and the lifestyles of the Milford residents. Tell us stories about that and maybe share pictures. Several churches in the area grew and moved about during this century, we’d like to hear about that, too. Several school building came and went during this timeframe, if you have any picture and stories. Let us know. Although many of the building remained in place, there were changes to the downtown as stores came and went. There were car dealerships and drug stores and grocery stores on North Main Street at one time. Do you have pictures or stories about them? The train used to stop in Milford; do you have pictures from the old train station?

It is our hope that we can find and preserve as much of the photographic history of Milford in the 20th Century as possible and also capture and preserve the oral history that many life-long Milford residents have about this era. We will be drawing quite a bit of our research from our own archives, but we have only collected a very small portion of the items that likely exist in our community to document Milford in the 20th Century.

You may call or email to discuss what you can contribute. Call the Museum at 248-685-7308 and speak to the Museum Staff or leave a message with your name and a phone number,  if no one answers. We’ll get back to you as quickly as we can. You can also email us at NewBook@milfordhistory.org . If you have scanned images of pictures or a written story about Milford during this time span you can attach it to the email. If you have only the original picture of something, we’ll arrange to get it scanned into a digital image and document what the picture is about and then give it back to you (unless you wish to donate it to the Museum). Our hope is to spend the next two years collecting and documenting the history of Milford during this era and then get the new book published sometime in 2015. Please help.

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Posted by Norm Werner

In Short Sales Ignorance is Risk

November 7, 2012

In my real estate business I run into a lot of people who seem to fit the old saying, “Ignorance is bliss.” I’d probably put it a different way – Ignorance is risk. Because I run a web site called MIShortSales.net, I get to talk to a lot of people who have already made some bad decisions or who have had some bad turn of events in their lives that have left them in distress. We start out talking about the possibility of doing a short sale, but I usually am quick to try to educate them on some things that can only compound their problems and about which many people are blissfully ignorant.

Many times I find that the distressed homeowner has moved on, usually to pursue work somewhere else. Almost all of them are too far underwater to be able to sell at a market price that would cover what they owe. Some have rented out their homes and some have friends or relatives living there. Some have just locked the place up and are leaving it sit empty. Many of these people just rent somewhere else, but some have actually bought another house. What almost none of them understand are all of the risks that have come into play, based upon that decision.

For those who have actually established residency in another state or area, there are several issues that are raised about their old home. One issue that is most often overlooked is that fact that once the old place isn’t your primary residence anymore the Homestead Tax Exemption needs to be revoked. For most, I suspect that this is a decision that was made overtly and not a case of ignorance; the homeowner just doesn’t want the taxes to go up 30-40% based upon it now being viewed as an investment property. That is risky because it is illegal and there are fines and penalties involved if the local taxing authority finds out. In the past local Townships and cities didn’t have any focus on this issue, but now all are looking for any extra revenues that they can find; so don’t take the risk that, “they’ll never find out.”

Insurance is another thing that is often overlooked, mostly out of ignorance. Insurance companies write normal homeowner policies for owners who actually live in the house. If the house is now a rental a different policy is required (to cover the structure) and the tenant should be required to have their own policy to cover their possessions and their own liability. If the place is sitting empty, there is yet another,  different  insurance policy that can be written to cover that scenario. Vacant home policies are more expensive, but better than having no coverage, which is what ends up happening, if the insurance company finds out based upon a claim that the house was empty. Empty houses are still being targeted by copper thieves and vandals, neither of which would be covered for a vacant house under normal homeowner policies.

Another risk for homeowners who choose to lock the place up and let it set is that of plumbing damage in the winter, should the heating system fail. As a realtor, if I take on a vacant property in the winter, I require that the place be properly winterized. Michigan winters can be harsh and the amount of damage that can be caused by frozen and split pipes pales in comparison to the $200-$300 to have the house winterized. Winterization involves completely draining the plumbing system and putting anti-freeze in all elbows. Even if you have a brand new furnace, it isn’t worth the risk to just turn the heat down to 50° and hope that the power stays on. I’ve lived through too many multi-day power outages to be comfortable with that strategy.

Finally there is ignorance of the changing real estate landscape. A few years ago it was common practice for Realtors® and even lawyers to advise clients to stop making mortgage payments, in order to get the proper attention from the lender for a short sale attempt. The attitude of lenders has changed as the recession and housing bust have played out. Now they would much rather deal with clients who have, in good faith, tried to keep up with the mortgage, but who are just tapped-out now.  The lenders also have more refinance options and more latitude to use programs that encourage proper behavior on the part of the homeowner, rather than the vindictive and destructive behavior that has been displayed in the past. Lenders even have the ability to offer the distressed short seller a small amount of money to help with their move to somewhere else.

In Michigan, leaving a vacant house and getting behind bring up another risk – seizure. Lenders have the right to try to determine if the property has been abandoned. They hire people to do nothing more than travel around peering into windows to see if there is anyone still living in the property. If they don’t see furniture and people around they will normally post a notice on the front door that states that the owners should call the lender within 48-72 hours. If the lender doesn’t get that call (and they won’t if you’re not there to see the notice) they have the right to seize the property, change the locks and immediately foreclose on it.

One thing that most people are also complacently ignorant about is that the law that made it illegal to issue a 1099 Tax Form for the balance that was forgiven in a short sale is set to expire January 1, 2013. That 1099-Form treats the amount that was forgiven as if it were income that you earned but upon which you paid no taxes. The current Congress recessed without acting on bills that have been introduced to extend that law. There will be a “lame-duck” session before the end of the year in which this might be taken up and passed, but that is not assured. You should let your Congressman (woman) know that this is an important thing for them to renew. Otherwise, short sellers whose sale doesn’t close until sometime in 2013 could be facing the ugly surprise of a big tax liability.

So, now you aren’t ignorant on these issues anymore and hopefully you understand the risks involved. The choice to take the risks or to take action to mitigate these risks is still yours to make. In every case the cost to mitigate is far less than the cost if the risk is realized.

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Posted by Norm Werner

It’s all about Milford…

November 5, 2012

Whenever someone moves into a new community they have lots of questions and concerns about finding stuff and services that they might need. They also won’t know what’s going on in he community that they may wish to participate in with their families. Those are some of the things that I’ve tried to help with by creating and maintaining the MovetoMIlford.com web site.

A person new to Milford can find just about anything that I could think of within a few clicks at the Move to Milford site. Much of the content is not stuff that’s I’ve created, it exists on other web sites; but, I did go find those sites and put links to them on my site, so that you can find them. Some of the obvious things, like the calendar of Upcoming Community Events, I keep right on the opening page. Some more obscure things, like the link to a site that has all of the Township and Village ordinances, require a couple of clicks to get to (hint: the Click on Milford page has lots of those things).

I’m not a restaurant critic, but I’ve tried to keep track of all of the eateries in town, with contact information and links to their web sites, where applicable. All of the churches are listed, too. Both lists are accessible from the Click on Milford page. I also have a Recommended Local Businesses page on which I have listed businesses that I have done business with and/or businesses that are in my Huron Valley Chamber of Commerce referral group. I don’t keep businesses listed there for which I have received complaints or bad feedback. There is also always a Featured Business of the Month on the opening page with a write-up that I do about the business.

If you are new to the area and have a family, you’ll likely have questions about the schools and boundaries for the district and the schools. Answers to those questions may be found by following links from my site to sites that are about schools.

Milford is a very active community, with lots of groups sponsoring or running lots of programs. I try to keep up with all of that, but for some I have links to their schedule of events and programs. Specifically the local YMCA, the Milford Library and the Huron Valley Community Recreation and Education groups each have program schedules on the Move to Milford site. Many of the local charity groups run fund raising events throughout the year and they will always be highlights on the site, too. I generally post anything that I get information about events from these various groups that are open to the public.

Finally, of course, I am a Realtor in Milford, so there is lots of real estate information available there, too; including real estate sales statistics that are updated weekly. There are links to Community Profiles that are supplied by Oakland County; links to maps and data on the inland lakes in the area, which is supplied by the DNR; and a page full of different ways to search for a house or property. I’ve also created a reading library of articles and useful links to sites with specific information about real estate. There are also forms that you can fill out and submit to get help with either buying or selling a home.

I encourage you to explore the site, whether you are new to the area or not. I suspect that you’ll be able to find things there (or links to things) that you didn’t know existed. One final note – There are two versions of the site, one for full screen PCs and tablets and one for smartphones. The smartphone version is formatted for the smaller screen of the phone, so that you don’t have to pinch and zoom trying to read the site. The site senses the device that you are coming into it from and will automatically switch you to the smartphone version, if that is how you access the site. Try both versions. I hope that you enjoy using the site as much as I enjoy keeping it up.

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Posted by Norm Werner

Great Halloween night

November 1, 2012

This is as much a follow up to my last post about MIlford and the Boo Bash as anything. Last night was Halloween night. Even though it was cold and occasionally drizzly we had tons of kids come bye. I ended up with one box of Milk Duds left, after going through 7 bags of candy.

That’s just another great thing about Milford. The layout and population density of the Village and several of it’s major subs encourages Trick or Treating. Lots of kids from the Township and surrounding areas are brought in by their parents for the evening; and, that’s a good thing – the more the merrieer.

Another thing that we see every Hallowen is a number of parents who dress up too and accompany their children. No, they don’t actually come to the door and ask for candy. They’re just out there, having fun and making sure that their kids are safe. I enjoy talking to the parents, too.

So. another year is marked by the passage of Halloween. Now, it’s on to the Holiday Season, in advance of the dead of winter. We have the Great Reveal to lookl forward to this month, as well as the Christmas Parade the weekend after Thanksgiving. there are a number of upcoming charity events in the area, too. Visit www.movetomilford.com for  a complete list of upcoming community events.

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Posted by Norm Werner

Not even in Mayberry…

October 29, 2012

I’ll bet that not even in the mythical Mayberry did they have a Boo Bash like we did last Saturday night in Milford. This annual event has become a real favorite with families that have small children. The downtown is closed off and all of the merchants sit in their doorways giving out candy to the kids in their Halloween outfits as they pass by. It’s just too cute and now draws quite a crowd to the downtown.

 

Next up for the downtown is the Big Reveal – the unveiling of the downtown stores annual Christmas displays. Store windows will be covered with holiday wrapping paper soon as the merchants put together special window displays for the holidays. Then, on November 15th at 6:30 pm kids are invited to help the merchants reveal their windows by ripping down the paper.

The downtown will soon be all decorated and lit up for the holiday season and parking meters will be bagged (don’t have to pay) from November 21 through January 2.

The final big Milford parade  downtown for 2012 will be the annual Christmas Parade, which takes place the Saturday after Thanksgiving – Nov. 25th this year. There’ll be floats and bands and groups marching in the parade and Santa will be there too! Plan on bringing the entire family to Milford for that event and then stay and enjoy our wonderful shops and restaurants.

On November 29 the downtown merchants will be holding a Christmas Open House with strolling entertainment, refreshments and special sales. Santa will officially set up shop in Milford at 6 pm and start talking to kids about what they want for Christmas. If you bring a can of food to donate for the hungry, you can exchange it for a candle in Ceter Street Park and there will even be horse-drawn carriage rides available through the downtown area.

Mayberry was a quaint little town on TV which I often refer to as a comparison to Milford; but they just couldn’t hold a candle to all of the events and family activities that go on in Milford each year. Life was quaint but somewhat dull in Mayberry. Life is anything but dull in Milford; and that’s great, especially if you have small children who are always asking what there is to do next. Come on out to Milford, there’s always something to do.

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Posted by Norm Werner

You haven’t live in MIlford until…

October 27, 2012

you’ve visited the Powerhouse.

The Pettibone Creek Powerhouse  is perhaps the only venue in the Village of Milford that’s The Pettibone Creek Powerhouseharder to get to see than the Museum, so persistence isi n order. The museum is open two days a week for about 8 months of the year, but the Powerhouse is currently only open on special events and about 10-12 times total all year long. Hopefully that will change in the not too distant future and the Powerhouse will become more available for the citizens of the Village.

The Pettibone Creek Powerhouse is located in the north side of Central park, between the baseball field and the upper level parking lot. You can park in the upper lot and walk over or you can get to it off West Liberty St (which runs east and west off Cabinet St) and park in front of the building. That’s just about as close as you’ll get currently, since it is fenced off to prevent vandalism. It’s also fenced to prevent people from falling into the little waterfalls next to the Powerhouse, where the mill pond spills into a short creek run leading to the Huron River.

Henry Ford had the Powerhouse built in 1939 to provide electricity to the Ford Carburetor Plant in Milford. That plant was a part of his “Village Industries” initiative of that era. You can read more about the era and the Powerhouse itself at the Milford Historical Society Web site or at the site that the Friends of the Powerhouse have set up. The facility is known by several names. The Milford Historical Society uses the name Pettibone Creek Powerhouse  because the the water source for the generation of power is actually Lower Pettibone Lake to the north of the Village. A 48” diameter ½” thick pipe runs under the north side of Milford delivering water to the powerhouse. It does not take water from the mill pond right next to it.

When Henry Ford was building the various plants and infrastructure for them he often used a Detroit friend and architect Albert Kahn to design the buildings. The Pettibone Creek Powerhouse is an Albert Kahn design.  The Village of Milford had designated the building to be demolished when the Milford Historical Society stepped in and requested that they be allowed to save and restore it. A multi-year project, involving several grants and lots of local fund-raising resulted to the complete restoration of the exterior of the building and the cleanup of the interior. While the interior no longer has the turbines and control equipment that once generated power for the Ford plant, it is interesting to tour and you can still see the Lower Pettibone Lake water coursing thought the turbine housings.

Currently, a group has formed and preliminary work has been done to see if the Powerhouse can once again be made to generate power. Engineering feasibility studies have identified the types of new turbines that would be required, the flow rate and power generation rates that could be sustained and have explored the economics of the venture. It is estimated that the old Pettibone Creek Powerhouse, if refitted to generate power could generate enough power to supply the majority of the power required to operate Milford’s municipal water pumping, with the excess to be sold back into the power grid. It’s an exciting prospect that has a lot of local people pulling for it.

If you’d like to schedule a group through to see the Powerhouse or you’re interested in supporting the work to get the Powerhouse generating power again, contact Rich Harrison at 248-935-5556. If you’d like an idea about what you’ll see, there is a virtual tour at the Powerhouse Web site. Click here to view that tour.

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Posted by Norm Werner

When is it a valid short sale?

October 24, 2012

I own and operate a web site called MIShort Sales.net which one can get to using .net or .com at the end. It is an informational site that explains the short sale process and hopefully answers a bunch of common questions. It has lots of links to very good articles on various topics, such as the impact on your credit of a short sale and comparisons of the consequences of a short sale vs. a foreclosure vs. a bankruptcy.  It also gives the reader a good idea of the timeline and processes that one must expect to go through in order to do a short sale.

One of the key ideas behind the short sale process is that of the “hardship” that the sad face rain cloudhomeowner faces that has caused the need to sell. There are many valid reasons that will justify the lender granting the mortgage holder relief – a layoff, illness, divorce, and more. All of them somehow point back to a loss of income by one or both of the homeowners involved. I get those stories of life’s travails all the time. You can read a more complete list of justifiable reasons for a short sale at the web site. Something as common as a loss of overtime at work can become a hardship justification.

I also get a lot of calls from people who have already made other life decisions to move on, whether that was required or not, and who now just don’t want to continue paying for the mortgage on the old homestead that they’ve left. Some are retirees who’ve moved to their retirement home (usually in some warm clime) and just don’t want to keep paying for their old home. Some are people who’ve accepted new jobs somewhere else and moved, initially renting out the old home because they were underwater on it. Now they’ve tired of the whole absentee landlord routine and perhaps the monthly drain that the old home still has on their finances. They have very marginal cases (if any) for justifying a short sale. In many cases they have already been turned down for a short sale by their lenders.

In those cases, I have the would-be sellers talk to my short sale partners at Nationwide Loan Help. I don’t do the lender negotiation and legal side of the short sale, that’s what I use Nationwide for. They have a staff of negotiators and more importantly they have lawyers on staff. It’s my feeling (and the feeling of my company’s legal counsel) that short sale negotiations quite often cross into the territory of giving legal advice, which I am not qualified to render. It may well be that trying to negotiate a deed-in-lieu is the best path for some of those homeowners; or it may just be that they need to find a way to bring some money to closing. They really need to look at whether they are in a “I don’t want to” or “I can’t afford to” situation. We can explore the” I can’t afford to” cases for possible hardship justification. The “I don’t want to” situation just isn’t going to get any sympathy from the lender or from us.

So, before you call about a shot sale, go read the material at the MI Short Sales Web site and take a good honest look at your situation. If life has dealt you an unexpected blow that has really left you unable to continue to make your payments, give us a call. I can help you.  However, if you’ve made conscious decisions to move on and abandon your obligations, because it just isn’t convenient to keep paying anymore, I probably can’t help.  Call your attorney and your financial advisor and get ready for the credit impact of a foreclosure.

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Posted by Norm Werner

Some things that amuse or interest me…

October 22, 2012

I think of lots of little things that I find amusing or interesting, but which wouldn’t, in and of themselves, justify a blog post. So, today I collected a bunch of them under the heading of a bit of this and that.

An Andy Rooney/George Carlin kind of morning…

Two people now passed that I enjoyed were Andy Rooney and George Carlin. Both had fun with words and our language. Andy used to go off on those “Did you ever notice…” riffs and George could make a single word the subject of 3-5 minutes of a comedy routine, although later in his career he seemed obsessed with just dirty words.

So, recently I was having sort of and Andy & George moment and I wondered how does one re-gruntle someone who has become disgruntled? I mean you can work with someone who has become disenchanted and perhaps re-enchant them, maybe on some enchanted evening; perhaps when you see a stranger; but what do you do with a disgruntled person to re-gruntle them?

And did you ever notice that you can help someone who is disorganized regain control and get some organization back in their lives; and often when someone becomes disoriented it just a matter of helping them stop and take a breath and think about where they are to help them reorient themselves. But, what of someone who becomes discombobulated? How does one go about re-combobulating that poor individual and how would one gauge when the combobulation process was done.

Of course one wouldn’t just replace someone who had been displaced, because the original person might then become misplaced; but we won’t go there.

“There is no Someday in the calendar.” (Ignacio)  from the blog Jack’s Winning Words

Jack went on to write about not putting off your dreams until Someday. I’d probably add that although there’s no Someday on the calendar it does have tomorrows aplenty and we all have a tendency to put off until tomorrow what we should do today. Do you have dreams that you’d like to get to someday but keep putting off until tomorrow?

The AARP-a-rtia…

We have a tequila bar in town – Tequilaritas – which has many different kinds of tequila on display and which features lots of special margarita drinks. I was there last week and got to thinking that, since I’m a senior they ought to have a margarita that is specially made for seniors. So I suggest the AARP-a-rita.

The receipe is as follows:

1 shot of tequila (take you pick of the huge selection)

1 shot of lime juice

3 shots of Ensure Clear

And  a dash of Metamucil (just to be sure)

Rim the glass with crushed Zantac

 

Down a couple of these and you’ll be happy, healthy and regular again, with no worries about heartburn later.

Finally, there’s been an ad running on TV lately for one of those testosterone replacement products for men, the kind where they ward women and especially women who may become pregnant not to touch the area where the product is applied, because it might cause unwanted hair to grow on the person doing the touching or cause other bad health problems. The ad ends with a slow pan from the waist up of the actress who is playing the wife of the man, who has applied the product; who is now shown in the background as the epitome of a viral male. I always think when I see that ad that it would be a hoot to see a bearded lady when the camera pans up. Well, oops!

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Posted by Norm Werner

Don’t let your errors become mistakes…

October 21, 2012

“An error doesn’t become a mistake until you refuse to correct it.”- Orlando A. Battista 1917 -1995, Canadian-American Chemist and Author.

I saw that quote in a post on ActiveRain.com, one of the real estate sites that I frequent and have a blog on. I’d probably add that you first have to acknowledge the error, which all too many of us have problems doing in the first place. You can’t move on to the correcting (or not) stage unless you first come to grips that you have made an error. In fact, it’s probably the refusal to admit the error that really turns it into a mistake. The refusal to correct the error just compounds the mistake.

It is human nature to have some trouble admitting to an error. Sometimes that can be as simple (and as obvious) as going in the wrong direction when trying to get somewhere. Of course, if you’re a man, admitting that you are lost and stopping to ask for directions is very hard. Another obvious error is “finishing” the assembly of something only to find that you still have some parts left over. Oops! 

person who misspokeSometimes the error may be very difficult to recognize. That happens a lot when human feelings are involved. Maybe the error was just a remark dropped innocently into a conversation. Maybe that remark was meant as a joke but wasn’t politically correct. It’s easy to miss that slight pause in the conversation or the flush on someone’s face as they react to something that you just said, but many times you’ll sense it.

You may not understand why something you said caused the reaction from the listener. It’s not always easy to figure out in the midst of the conversation how to recover or to correct the error. You may have to ask someone else, later, in order to find out what it is that you might have said that offended or caused the person that you were speaking with to react. Many times you’ll find that you’ve inadvertently hit a nerve that is still raw from some traumatic event in that person’s life, like a death or divorce or perhaps there are family things that you’ve somehow been insensitive to, like a having an autistic or special needs child in the family.

The key is not to let that error become a mistake, by refusing to acknowledge it and not trying to correct it. It may be hard to go back to someone with whom you had a conversation and made some remark that you later found was probably offensive or insensitive from their perspective; but it is important to do so. Otherwise they will forever have this little flag that says “jerk” in the back of their minds that is raised whenever they see you. Don’t let your error turn into an uncorrected mistake. You’ll feel better and so will they.

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Posted by Norm Werner

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