Eleanor Roosevelt  “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

I really enjoyed this blog post today, a story called Me and Moe (not about  me - although my nickname is Moe).  Melissa, the author, and I are both bloggers on www.PEICanada.com and I’ve been really impressed with her writing.  She inspires  me, frankly, to be a better writer and a better person.

Thought you would enjoy it too…  click on the link above to read.

An absolutely mind-boggling, factual and interesting video worth a watch from Mark Bittman, a food critic, journalist and best-selling author.  For all of you health conscious folks.

We just moved to a place that is right across the street from a state-of-the-art playground, arguably the nicest on Prince Edward Island.  My kids have been there everyday, pretty much a few times a day, since we moved here.  We down-sized from 1900sqft to just over 800sqft.  We don’t have cable or satelitte tv, just two bedrooms, kitchen and living-room.  No home phone or even a pc other than my laptop.

I pick up a wireless signal somehow so as far as bills go… no heat, internet, cable or home phone bills.  I’m estimating that gas consumption for driving will be cut in half.

Toys and junk have been completely cut back… although two birthdays in the next 10 days will change that

No office filled to the brim with junk.  No rec room, play room, spare room, dining room, basement, yard to mow, garage with critters in it.   No propane bill, garden to weed (although I do have a plot in the back of the building for next spring if I want).

I brought all of my art.  Our books.  Clothes, kitchen stuff, bikes, wool woven rugs that my mom made us.

Anyway, life is grand.  I love the fact that we’ve cut back on how much “stuff” we have.  I love that we can walk to the grocery store or walk to rent a video.  I love being able to walk around the school and through fields while the kids play at the park.  I love having neighbourhood kids around and come calling for my boys.  It’s so nice to have friends stopping in.

I’m not missing rural living at this point.   My kids still mention that they may want to move back to the big blue house that we’re renting out to students right now and I loathe to tell them I’m thinking of putting it on the market.

So if I can propose an analogy for small business, it’s a challenge to you business owners to consider cutting back on how much stuff you have.  Think about how you can streamline things.  Inquire to see if someone can help you become more efficient by the use of their expertise.  You’re small so you should be able to move quickly.   Cut back the fat, trim the excess.   Make use of the free or low-cost tools on the internet to help market your business.   Get back to enjoying what you do.

I have a vice in which I’ve put forth legitimate effort attempting to quit. I spend short periods throughout the day, multiple times a day, playing out this filthy habit. I feel dirty sometimes, doing it. It consoles me however, that I am not alone and that there are millions out there, like me, that feel conflicted about their secret, just as I do. Read more »

Really interesting, timeless video sent to me by Handsome that I thought you’d enjoy.

On a dreary, rainy day I headed over to the mainland with my friend to see a seminar by Gair Maxwell called the Seamless Brand. Once again Gair gave a fantastic presentation, which one could argue could be called a performance, in which his love and vast knowledge of entrepreneurial-ism shone. It was a pleasure to meet Gair’s partners: Darren Sears and Dave MacKenzie. Dave reminded me that we had met years ago when I was involved in the travel industry.

A highlight was having a young, up and coming businessman by the name of Pierre Martell of Martell Home Builders give a touch and go story of how his company made it out of the trenches. Read more »

I don’t follow American news closely but have been told by a number of people to have a listen to Barack Obama as soon as possible.

I think that his speech on race is worth sharing because it is remarkable. Read more »

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that breast cancer has been a big part of my life for the past decade as I have watched three women very close to me die of it. Recently my good friend was diagnosed and the sadness and memories are storming back. Read more »