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Mercy Me Bart, Just get a “real” job |
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In This Issue:
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Issue 343 - - February 13, 2007
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Welcome! And what's new...
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1. Mercy Me Bart, Just get a “real” job
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4. Quotes - - It's Valentine's Day
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5. Humor -- Shoebox Dolls
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Remember, you can hear the live radio broadcast of 48 Days to the Work You Love and call in with your questions (615.737.9986) each Sunday night from 6:00-9:00 PM CDT. The call letters are 99.7 FM in Tennessee or go to Super Talk 99.7 WTN for direct Internet access. You can also listen to any past shows via podcast. 48 Days to the Work You Love
I receive frequent requests to use these newsletter articles in other newsletters or websites. I recognize that many more are simply using items without bothering to ask. This prompted me to do a search on my name – I was amazed at seeing the thousands of links including unheard of bookstores, health and fitness sites, and magazines like Fast Company and Praestantia, a magazine for modern women. I always tell people they are welcome to use content from the newsletters, the over 300 articles I have posted, and the website links IF you would just please include my name and website contact info: www.48Days.com
If you live in the Nashville area please come out to Costco in Cool Springs this Saturday afternoon. My wife, Joanne, our daughter Ashley, and I will be there to greet you. We’ll answer your questions, take photos with you and give you free candy and CDs with a Career Kit purchase. We’ll be there from 1:00 to 3:00 PM this Saturday.
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Last week the great singing group, Mercy Me, joined us on the Intelligence for your Life cruise. Of course they sang I Can Only Imagine and many other of their inspiring songs. We also had informal time to hang out and ask questions. Someone asked Bart how they came up with the name Mercy Me. Bart explained that several years ago he and two friends formed their little group and started singing at church camps. They would receive a “love offering” and with those contributions of $20 and $30 would attempt to buy hotdogs for the week and put gas in their car.
One evening he was describing their then current situation to his Grandma. In exasperation Grandma said, “Mercy me Bart, why don’t you just get a real job?” And thus the name, Mercy Me, was birthed. And six million albums and a Grammy nomination later, Bart can laugh about Granny’s frustration.
How many of you had a Grandma, or a Mom or Dad, or Uncle Harry or respected teacher who told you to forget your dreams and just get a real job? My own Dad understands milking cows or picking corn to create income, but still doesn’t fully comprehend why people pay me for just talking and writing. I just never could get very excited about a "real" job so I had to figure out how to make something else work.
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Yes it’s Valentine’s Day – but make sure you know where to direct your romantic urges. A new survey by Spherion Corporation, a recruiting and staffing company, shows that nearly 40% of American workers have dated a co-worker. 34% of these romances led to marriage. What the survey does not show is how many marriages were destroyed prior to these office romances. However, 22% of the workers surveyed said they have in fact dated a colleague who was married. 14% have dated their married boss.
"Given that most of us spend at least a third of our day at work, there's plenty of opportunity to consider a workplace romance" John Heins, senior vice president and chief human resources officer at Spherion said in a press release. Throw in overnight trips, happy hour after work, late night working, conferences and awards for team efforts and you have the recipe for developing relationships that go far beyond working together. People often look, smell and act their very best at work – and then feel underappreciated at home.
This is a growing phenomenon that is complicating workplaces and decimating families. Remember the old days when families lived and worked together? It was rare for my Dad to leave the farm more than once or twice a week. He and Mom were married for 62 years.
Don’t let this modern-day workplace challenge complicate your life. Enjoy Valentine’s Day with the love you’ve committed to. By working at home I can be infatuated with the only woman I see during the day – and night. Romance can take place at any time. And I’m taking the love of my life and my office partner to go see Bernadette Peters, with the Nashville Chamber orchestra on Valentine’s Day night.
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A man and woman had been married for more than 60 years. They had shared everything. They had talked about everything. They had kept no secrets from each other except that the little old woman had a shoebox in the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about.
For all of these years, he had never thought about the box, but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would not recover.
In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man took down the shoebox and took it to his wife's bedside.
She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the box. When he opened it, he found two crocheted dolls and a stack of money totaling $25,000.
He asked her about the contents.
"When we were to be married," she said, "my grandmother told me the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doll."
The little old man was so moved; he had to fight back tears. Only two precious dolls were in the box. She had only been angry with him two times in all those years of living and loving. He almost burst with happiness. "Honey," he said, "that explains the doll, but what about all of this money? Where did it come from?"
"Oh," she said, "that's the money I made from selling the dolls at $1.50 each."
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