Wednesday, July 21, 2010

My Secret to Wealth -- Retire and Develop Your Favorite Passions!


OK, I'm not wealthy----YET!  But I'm havin' a ball.   Last year, our sweet, well meaning daughter gave me a workbook of Sudoku, cross word puzzles and other exercizes to keep from catching the dread Alzheimers.  I saw a man at the Sizzler Restaurant the other day in the next booth doing a "Word Find exercize like my Dad used to do in the Alzheimer's ward of his rest home--and I thought:  "I could no more slog through such a non-productive time waster than, 'fly to the moon backwards with my bed socks on!!!'"   Give me a juicy writing opportunity--or a picture collage to produce.  I think I know how to keep my own grey matter sharp and focused, thank you!

I've found fulfillment in publishing now five blogs about human behavioral engineering.  Follow the links below and enjoy a leisurely sample of my publishing just since March of 2010.   (Blogs are great for repressed reporters and photographers who have ached to get out from under a restrictive, tyrannical committee of lilly-livered editors all their lives.) If you've ever wanted to run your own newspaper--and let Google handle the ads automatically, THIS IS IT!

1.  Grampa in Training (GiT) for Already and Wannabe Grampas and the Grammas who love them (This site concentrates on the application of specifics with gramkids especially where "The Rubber Meets the Road)  This will include more and more little DVDs

2.  
Teaching Moment Boosters (Vitamin TMB) is the fulfillment of a more than 40 year old hobby collecting and publishing quotes and stories and a lot of Object Lessons for teaching good upbeat Human Relations Engineering theory and practice.  The Blog has the built in benefit of constant updating.  I may never publish on pulp again.   Trees may now breathe a healthy sigh of relief.

3.  Santa's Cosmic Sleigh (Howe to Build Your Own North Pole) focuses on the tools and techniques of another aspect of Human Relations Engineering -- Entertainment as a Teaching Tool--for both young and their participating adult handlers.  This is becoming a series of digital training publications and DVDs for World Class Santas and Wannabes.  It's also become a fun history of my nearly 40 years in "The Rig".

4.
Backstage at the North Pole  I just started this guide for parents and party hosts to help them get the most out of their rented Subordinate Clauses--with a bonus illustrated Gift Guide   It's become a fun way to promote my favorite Toy Store--The Red Baloon in the Sandy Mall and 33rd South in Salt Lake City.  (This one is only a few days old---but I hope to make it publically available after 25-30 posts, just in time for Christmas Party Planning.

5. MUSH-FO-U is an acronym for The Milo S. Howe Family Organization Blog It has become on-going tribute to our great folks.  Mom passed away earlier this year...and I've been pumping out her Memorial Service in little bits and bytes on YouTube and e-mailing those efforts to our bunch.  Though a public site, this one is designed to reach our wide ranging extended bunch of inlaws and outlaws!



Whenever an idea pops into my head, I thoroughly enjoy deciding which of the Blogs will get to run it  It then takes an average about an hour to develop each post and illustrate it once or twice from Google Images or my growing library of brief video and digital images.  I invested in a wonderful new Olympus Pen 12 megapixel digital camera.  It's often better than continuous tone--if you are hooked into the developing world of digital photography.

I also run the church program as the Bishop's Secretary with ample space for announcements calendar items and lots and lots of pictures.  Our ward is getting to know each other on paper as they connect faces to names--and find out a little more about each other.    Just yesterday, I was exchanging e-mails with ward department heads who wanted their material included for next week...and it was just like being back at work, in every good way.  My publisher's uniform is pajamas (and bathrobe on cool days)  --and I take a shower whenever I like!   I don't have to get permission from anybody to go swimmin' in the middle of the day ('cep' mabe Gramma Rosie!!!  Good life!   JWC