Monthly Archives: August 2011

It’s comforting knowing our tropical storms have a cycle

As of 11 a.m. EDT Monday Aug 22, 2010, the National Hurricane Center’s track forecast puts the center of Irene roughly 120 miles east of Florida’s Cape Canaveral by Friday evening, with landfall  forecast just south of Charleston, S.C., about 8 a.m. Saturday.  Irene is expected to make landfall as a Category 3 hurricane (winds in excess of 115 mph) Thursday morning.  For reference, in 2004, Hurricane Jeanne was a category 3 (I stayed home for Jeanne – lots of wind all night; oak tree came down on my back porch.)   Errors are large, however, in track forecasts this far in advance. The track’s error cone also includes possibilities that the storm could swing west and move up the Florida peninsula.  By Tuesday, Aug 23rd, Irene was  expected to swing parallel to Florida’s east coast Thursday for a possible landfall in North or South Carolina Saturday. Continue reading

Facebook friends, if you don’t care about my work, please unfriend me now

I’ve got almost 4,000 friends on Facebook.  I am asking you now, if you do not care about the work I do*, please do us both a favor and unfriend me now.  Really.   Of the 4,000, 647 are on a list called “People I actually know.”  These include not just real life friends, but also clients, advertisers, publicists and other media contacts I’ve worked with in the 19 years I’ve published Horizons Magazine.  Some of them I only know as far as their name on the periodic emails we exchange, or a voice on the phone twice a year.  But I still feel a personal connection to them, so they are on the list.  A lot of people want to friend me on Facebook simply because I publish a magazine.  They see me as potentially someone to promote them.  They don’t necessarily care about me or my posts, or my work; they see me as another media contact while they are doing their shotgun spam approach to marketing.  So if you’re one of those, or if your main focus is politics or news reports or looking for a girlfriend, please unfriend me now.  Thank you.  And if you are interested in what I do, then you must be part of my cluster.  Abraham-Hicks says, “You come forth in clusters with intentions to enhance one another’s experience; and when you meet up with your cluster, it’s really fun.”  I’m all about the fun.  Andrea Continue reading

How can you tell if you’re a Sugar Mama?

Last night I had a reading with Domino, whom I first met in 1987.  Domino is in her mid 60’s and was widowed in 1990.  She looks 40, she’s petite and slim and fit and she gets plenty of male attention.  Domino has always been a free spirit.  Her boyfriends are often the topic of our discussions and they definitely fit a distinct pattern.  Domino works part time and has a modest income.  Her boyfriends are always nice guys who are looking for a place to live shortly after meeting her, and they usually don’t have a steady source of income.  One former boyfriend helped her remodel her home to the tune of $26,000.  This was not money she paid him, but rather out of pocket costs for supplies and labor.  He simply lived in her home for 3 years and she paid for everything, meals, vacations, all costs.  With that one, when she finally asked him to get a job and contribute to the repayment of the second mortgage she financed the renovation with, he decided he needed his space and disappeared.  With no notice, no forwarding info.  I was glad she didn’t marry that one. Continue reading

Frank Lorie can custom make the jewelry you design

A Franklin Lorie original

Ever dream of designing your own jewelry line?  If you can draw it, my friend Frank Lorie can create it for you.   He’ll make a professional master mold so you can make as many pieces whenever you wish, at a fraction of the cost of having it done elsewhere. I first met Frank in the mid 70’s when I worked for his stepfather.  Frank’s a cool guy, an awesome jewelry artist, and he’s soul centered. He made this awesome ring for me.  I’m telling my friends they can design their own jewelry lines.  Frank can also set gemstones in a variety of settings and do repairs. Continue reading

Tribe on Papua New Guinea meets white man for the first time

http://videosift.com/video/Tribe-Meets-White-Man-for-the-First-Time Very interesting, from documentary filkmaker Jean-Pierre Dutilleux shows the Toulambi tribe in Papua New Guinea.  The music is Sacred Spirit – Yeha Noha.  He shows them matches, mirrors and other wondrous new things.  I like at the 7 minute mark when the tribesman takes the mirror and covers it with a leaf so he can sneak up on it.  At 9 minutes they are tasting what looks like a white rice, and the taster signals the tribe by hitting the side of his head.  That’s clearly a signal that makes them all want to taste it.  Then he sprinkles what might be salt and gets a big reaction.  Near the end he wows them with a voice recorder.

My tenant of nine years passes away

The sweet woman who was my tenant of nine years passed away this afternoon.  My prayers are with her and her family.  The good news is the doctor discovered the mass in her lung just 30 days ago and ordered her in the hospital right away. She said she’d smoked for 40 years and figured it just caught up with her. Last week she learned it was lung cancer and lymphoma – so she didn’t suffer or worry for too long.  We’ll meet again.

The end of death as we know it: What the crossing over experience is like as reported by those who have passed

I’m having fun shampooing my carpets at the rental

What a powerful cleaner Tod’s Bissell Steam Master carpet shampoo machine is.   I’ve been cleaning at the rental and I may not have to replace all the carpet after all.  Last night I finished the September layout of  Horizons and sent it off to the printer.  First thing this morning, I went over to the mobile and began shampooing the carpets.  When I worked on the back bedroom carpet last night, I didn’t know how much shampoo to use, so I only added a couple of capsful.  I got lots of dirty water up that eventually came up clear, so I knew it was working.  Today I was told to add a cup of shampoo, so I did that for the living room.    Wow, big difference!

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Syncronicity and The Idiot Who Survives

Has anyone noticed this besides me?  On Facebook, there’s this silly post going around,  it says, “Go to your profile. Look to your left. First 7 friends are your Zombie Apocalypse Team. Here’s mine.”  Then you list them in the order they appear.  Mine were:
Sidekick: Tim Tedana
Heavy Weapons: Robert Goldberg
The idiot that survives: Morgana Starr
The Sniper: Miro Posavec
The one that loses it: Julie Hall
The Brains: Raymond Hines III
The First to Die: Sharon Greene

I don’t know what the name Zombie Apocalyse refers to exactly, a movie or game, but I get the drift. I didn’t think too much about the post I made, except thought it was funny that Morgana Starr was The Idiot Who Survives.   LOL   She would be.  Then, as friends began posting on their Walls, I began taking delight in who each had as The Idiot Who Survives and I began to see a pattern. Continue reading

Friends are always watching out for me

The last few days I’ve been working almost nonstop 18 hour days doing final layout for the September issue of Horizons Magazine.  It helps me to stay focused when I don’t dilute my thought energy.  I got several new ads and those are always fun to create.  I took breaks in the middle of the day and worked late into the night.  That’s my favorite time to work: nighttime, when it’s dark outside and the crickets are loud and the phones are quiet and the streets are clear.  About 5:00pm I took a ride to the rental home.  I’d turned the a/c off but kept the fan running and wanted to know how warm it got in there.  It wasn’t bad and it began to cool off quickly.  A/C floor vents are a good idea: heat rises.  I opened the little bathroom and kitchen windows for more air circulation, but kept the other windows closed in case it rained.  This way I won’t run up a big power bill on days I don’t get over there.  I’ve got good neighbors next door and across the street who are home all day long,  watchdogging the ‘hood.  Built in security!  As I look back over my life, I realize I always end up in the midst of people who want to look out for me.  Is that because I need protection or because we all like to have something or someone to protect?

I’m not just readying a rental, I’m creating a home for someone

A friend asked me yesterday how the construction was going with my rental.  She follows my progress on Facebook and is surprised I take so much of it in stride.  She’s a landlord, too, and knows how aggravating tenant damage can be.  For me, at this stage of my life, it’s a no brainer.  I think of the truth of the situation:  I had an ideal tenant who paid rent on time for nine years.  Ok, so she moved out with little notice and no deposit, and as she was a smoker, I have to clean every surface, or replace or paint it. For me that means not only replacing all ceiling lights and ceiling fans, but all wall receptacles and light switches, medicine cabinets as well as carpet.  I think my out of pocket is just under $2,000 so far.  So I can’t really complain about the situation.  She’d still be there had she not developed a serious health problem and had to move in with family.  I’m glad she had a happy nine years there and like to think I contributed to her happy life.  So I know that I’m not just readying a rental, I’m creating a home for someone new and that’s a sacred endeavor. Continue reading