Brains Without Boxes!

Here’s a great introduction to dog training.

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Now, I don’t usually do much during the holiday season, but this year I thought I would do something different.  I though for a brief instant that I might want to work in retail for the holiday season, but I quickly changed my mind as I knew that it would be more hectic than I wanted to deal with.

So when the opportunity to be a security guard at a trade show in town, I jumped at the opportunity.  All the ad in the paper said was that I would have to keep tabs on the trade show displays and make sure that no one caused any trouble.

That seemed easy enough to me.

But after working the past week as a security guard, I have a new appreciation for those who work on their feed.  Mine really hurt, and I don’t know if I would survive if I did this full time.

I did quite enjoy having the opportunity to go back and forth between the trade show exhibits and see everything while getting paid for it.  There were sure some unique retailers at the event, and I picked up a thing or two for myself.

But thankfully I have just one little shift tomorrow and I am done.  Maybe I will try a different job next year.

Technorati Tags: trade show displays, trade show exhibits

It seems that ever since I became an adult, I have had a never-ending list of things that need to be done.  Whether it is mowing the lawn, going to work, or playing with the kids, it seems that every minute of my life is spoken for, whether I like it or not.

But for some weird coincidence, today I actually found myself with some free time.  Not wanting to take it for granted, I decided to give myself to read some of the magazines that I am subscribed to for a change.  Usually they just sit on the table in my study collecting dust, but today I was actually going to look at them.

There were very few articles that caught my eye and I was beginning to feel a little disappointed until I came across an article discussing hearing aid prices.  Even though I had never needed one, I had always been curious why some people had them and some didn’t when many of these people had obvious hearing difficulties.

The article went into depth on many aspects of hearing aids including prices, sizes, expectations and even included some handy hearing aids comparisons so that the reader could make an educated choice when making a purchase.

As I just finished the article, my wife called me from the other room with chores for me to do.  So much for my time off.

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During the end of each year, we reward the staff in our store with a gift to let them know we appreciate what they do for us.  The truth of the matter is that without them we wouldn’t have much of a business, so we give them a little token to let them know we care.

Even though the gift giving coincides with the Christmas season, that isn’t the real reason why we do it in December.  For us, our year end is this month, so it is a great way to check on the numbers, see how we did, and pick the gift accordingly.

For us, this year didn’t turn out as well as we had hoped, but we still ended the year in positive territory.  The downturn in the economy hit our business pretty hard, and we are still trying to recover.

So when it came to choosing the gift this year, it was tough – we didn’t have  a lot of money to go around, so we wanted to make it count.  After much deliberation, we decided to buy camera bags as we had bought digital cameras each year.

There will be a big speech when we give each staff member a camera bag tomorrow, and I hope that the staff understands why the gift isn’t as great as last year.

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Do you need to get your LEED certification this year? If so then you might want to think about taking an exam in a city that is not the one where you live. You can travel to a 2-day workshop in almost any major city in the United States and study for the exam there.

Reasons that you might want to travel to get your certification to become a LEED Green Associate include:

• You might be able to write off a portion of the trip on your taxes. This is a business expense and may be able to count as business travel depending on your business. Talk to your accountant about this.
• You will be very focused on your classes. When you aren’t distracted by all that is going on at home you can really focus on what you need to learn in an intensive two-day workshop like this.
• You will get a chance to travel. Ultimately the reason to do this is to get away for a little bit and to see a new city while still doing something productive with your time.

You can take the courses that you need to pass your LEED exam in your own hometown. Why would you do that, though, when you have the option to travel somewhere for a nice weekend instead?!

Technorati Tags: leed certification, leed green associate