With all the snow we got dumped on us recently I thought I’d share this with you…

Here are some tips to make shoveling safer:

Always remember to dress warmly. You may be working up a sweat, but that doesn’t mean you’re immune to the effects of the cold.

Don’t feel you need to get the whole driveway cleared in one shot. Take breaks every 15 minutes.

Go inside for some hot chocolate, but don’t drink coffee. The caffeine may increase your heart rate and cause your blood vessels to constrict, just like smoking does.

Keep hydrated. Drink plenty of water.

And most importantly, know the warning signs of a heart attack. These may include chest pain, shoulder, neck or arm pain; dizziness, fainting, sweating or nausea; or shortness of breath. And if you think you’re having a heart attack, seek medical help immediately.

When shoveling, it’s important to avoid back strain. The average shovel (loaded with 16 pounds of snow) ends up moving 192 pounds of snow, if you load your shovel about 12 times a minute. That’s almost 2,000 pounds being lifted in just over 10 minutes!

Here is how to shovel properly:

* Lift with your legs, not your back. Bend your knees and keep your back as straight as possible so that the lifting comes from your leg muscles, not your back. Never bend at the waist. Step in the direction that you’re throwing snow. This will help prevent the lower back from twisting and will help alleviate any back soreness that you might typically experience the day after a hard shoveling job.

* Create some distance between the hands. This will give you more leverage and make it easier to lift snow.

* Pick up smaller loads of snow. It’s best to shovel by sections. If you’re shoveling deep snow (a foot or more), take it easy and shovel two or three inches off at a time.

* Do push. Don’t lift. Save your back and your energy by simply pushing the snow to the side instead of lifting the snow and throwing it off to the side.

The blood boils… Monday’s Pet Peeve:

Why is it that when people opt-in to a newsletter/ezine they feel it necessary to either report you as spam or write back and complain when they do get the email they opted in for? The whole idea of an optin list is that it allows you to unsubscribe at any point. In all our ezines there is a link included at the bottom of the message that allows the reader to unsubscribe with one click. Plus I also include the record of the date and time when they first subscribed. Just so they know that I’m not contacting them in error.

People.. the list was free to join and free to leave, please use the unsubscribe buttom if the content is not what you expected.

With all the work I had piled-up from our recent vacation I forgot to make my usual “Work From Home Wednesday” post. So we’ll call it “Telecommuting Thursday” this week

It seems the majority of online jobseekers choose to use the job boards, search engines and directories when they conduct their job search. Why are we forgetting to use the one place where it all started, newspapers?

Newspapers.com

Newspapers are an excellent search tool for locating positions that can be done from home! They are usually ignored by telecommuting job seekers, and they are a valuable addition to your search! Many newspapers now keep their classified sections online for you to search for free!

I’m not a fan of horror movies but there was one Caron and I watched about 10 years ago that to this day, is probably the only one that really sticks in my memory. “The Changeling” (1980), George C. Scott plays a music composer who has just moved to Oregon to escape the painful memories of his wife and daughter who were killed in a car crash. He rents an old and secluded mansion from the historical society as a place to live. Soon after he moves into the house, strange occurrences begin. This is one of those horror movies that can be scary without being bloody and gory. It simply relies on atmosphere and frightening, but subtle images to deliver its chills, and it works.

Earlier today I had the opportunity to watch “An Inconvenient Truth”, A documentary on Al Gore’s campaign to make the issue of global warming a recognized problem worldwide. What was revealed in this movie will haunt me for a very long time. I can safely say that this is the scariest piece of film I’ve ever watched. An Inconvenient Truth is not a story of despair but rather a rallying cry to protect the one earth we all share. As a father of 3 wonderful girls, the uncle of several and friend to people who have children it scares me to think that there may not be a planet as we know it when these younglings get older.

The saddest part is that in my lifetime I will probably witness even more distruction of this planet we call home. Our attitude towards the environment must make a drastic change FAST!

Got stuck in NC over the weekend on our return from vacation. Seems there was a winter storm in Buffalo so our flight could not land (closed airport). I have no problem understanding that the airline cannot control the weather or the resulting conditions. But here is my pet peeve (Monday’s pet peeve). It bugs the crap out of me when all they do is give you a 1 800 # and move on to the next passanger. Here we were, stuck in a strange city, with 3 children and a 800 number for a hotel. I asked if they had a courtesy phone that I could use.. who told me to speak German. It was if I insulted his mother… “a courtesy phone!” we don’t have one.

Long story short a fellow passenger gave me use of his cell phone and I made the necessary arrangements to get a hotel and transport to it for us.

I’m sure with all the staff the airline had there, they could easliy have helped out every passenger who wanted to get a hotel and in any other way they could make this inconvience more pleasant.� I guess I expect too friggin much.