Friday, February 27, 2009

Rick Segel

I've been a fan of Rick Segel now for several years. For those of you who don't know him, he was a specialty retailer in Florida and then he started writing books and consulting for other retailers, some small, some large. He has a great following at trade show events where his retailing expertise provides the basis for his tutorials and discussions. I'd strongly recommend that retailers, shopkeepers, heck, anyone in business, take the time to visit his site and check out what's happening in the world of retail through his eyes.

Rick Segel runs a membership site called The Retailers Advantage where you get access to much information and discussion on the art of being profitable and successful in a very competitive marketplace.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Today has been quite surreal

Today has been a day of extreme contrasts. It started well enough with the news that I have another contract for a web site, as well as a good online sale in my Scottish Gifts web site. There are a couple more web enquiries outstanding, so hopefully they will also come to fruition.

However, in some respects, the day went downhill from there. One of our friends came in to the shop for lunch and told us that her best friend had had an accident while entering the local bus. So our friend ended up arranging medical care, transport, etc instead of travelling to Glasgow for a nice day out. When she arrived at the coffee shop, she was white and drawn; it took a wee while for her to recover her composure.

Then later on, a group of four people arrived for coffees - and gave us the news that a regular customer had died in her sleep last weekend - and that the funeral had already taken place. We were numb, because the lady had lunched with us just a couple of days before her death.

The day was "topped off" by being told that another customer had died of mesothelioma almost a year ago. His widow said that there had been no indication of it until he had an accident and at that stage, there was no possibility of effective treatment.

We're going home shortly and are going to say silent prayers for the friends we have lost, the friends we still have - and for all the relatives and friends left behind.

M

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Frank Kern reminds me of .....

erm,... "Hey, Dude" - I finally figured it out. It's been bugging me for days.  I knew I would get it eventually, but today I finally worked out who it is that Internet Marketing Guru Frank Kern reminds me of - and that is ....
Donald Sutherland
... particularly in Kelly's Heroes
whew - now that I have made the connection, I can go and get on with something else, LOL

Margaret

Fresh Air - Spring Cleaning

After a cold, frosty spell of weather, today is the first day when I can say that it feels spring-like.  I opened our bedroom windows wide and felt the lovely fresh air flooding into the room.  It's great - just getting the room aired out - and it made me feel like doing more than whisk a duster around the furniture.  There isn't quite enough "drouth" - or drying wind - to get the curtains down and wash them, but there are corners which need refreshing and I'm just off to do that.

Vinegar for windows

A quick tip for cleaning windows - use

2 cups of water,
1/4 cup of white
distilled vinegar,
1/2 teaspoon of liquid soap or detergent in a spray bottle.

(The liquid soap is added to take away any residue from using a commercial window cleaning product - sometimes they linger on windows, leaving them streaky.)

That's all there is to it. (Make sure to label the
bottle and keep it out of the reach of children.)

Saturday, February 07, 2009

Map of 52 States in the USA


View Larger Map


I need somewhere quick and easy to find a map of all 52 states in the USA - and this google map is great, because you can expand it to see much more.

Enjoy!

Admin

Monday, February 02, 2009

Presidential Autographs - for the Collector

List of Presidents

in Numerical Order




  1. George Washington (1789-1797)

  2. John Adams (1797-1801)

  3. Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809)

  4. James Madison (1809-1817

  5. James Monroe (1817-1825)

  6. John Quincy Adams (1825-1829)

  7. Andrew Jackson (1829-1837

  8. Martin Van Buren (1837-1841)

  9. William Henry Harrison (1841-1841)

  10. John Tyler (1841-1845)

  11. James K Polk (1845-1849)

  12. Zachary Taylor (1849-1850)

  13. Millard Fillmore (1850-1853)

  14. Franklin Pierce (1853-1857)

  15. James Buchanan (1857 - 1861)

  16. Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865)

  17. Andrew Johnson (1865-1869)

  18. Ulysses S Grant (1869-1877)

  19. Rutherford B Hayes (1877-1881)

  20. James A Garfield (1881-1881)

  21. Chester A Arthur (1881-1885)

  22. Grover Cleveland (1885-1889)

  23. Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893)

  24. Grover Cleveland (1893-1897)

  25. William McKinley (1897-1901)

  26. Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909)

  27. William Howard taft (1909-1913)

  28. Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)

  29. Warren G Hardin (1921-1923)

  30. Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929)

  31. Herbert Hoover (1929-1933)

  32. Franklin D Roosevelt (1933-1945)

  33. Harry S Truman (1945-1953)

  34. Dwight D Eisenhower (1953-1961)

  35. John F Kennedy (1961-1963)

  36. Lyndon B Johnson (1963-1969)

  37. Richard Nixon (1969-1974)

  38. Gerald Ford (1974-1977)

  39. Jimmy Carter (1977-1981)

  40. Ronald Reagan (1981-1989)

  41. George H W Bush (1989-1993)

  42. William Clinton (1993-2001)

  43. George W Bush (2001-2009)

  44. Barack Obama (2009-present )



I've found some interesting presidential autographs for sale. I wonder if this could be the start of a new collection??

Bill and Hillary Clinton

Kennedy Speeches

Barack Obama

Ulysses S Grant Presidential Pardon


Very Rare President John Adams Signed & Owned Book


White House autograph of President Theodore Roosevelt