We're eight days into the New Year and I'm already beginning to snap due to my "lose some weight" New Year's resolution. I dream about all the tasty food that I can't eat anymore, and it seems almost impossible to accomplish. That is, until you read about a teacher, John Cisna, from Iowa who lost forty pounds in ninety days by eating nothing but McDonalds! Right?! Where do I sign up for this diet?? These were his guidelines to follow; strict 2000 calories a day, try to stay within nutritional recommended dietary allowances for things like carbs, proteins, and cholesterol, and he had to take a forty-five minute walk each day. Following these guidelines, he lost weight and reduced his cholesterol. Now, as nice as this sounds, the moral of the story isn't to go grab a couple extra value meals to shed some pounds. Cisna ate very well considering his dining establishment choice. For breakfast he would have egg whites or oatmeal, lunch was a salad, and then for dinner he would get an extra value meal of his choice. In the end though, all his food for those ninety days came from McDonalds. This gives me hope. I'm not saying go out and eat McDonalds every day, odds are it won't have the same outcome. Rather, eat or do what you want, but be smart about it and balance it out. Regardless, I congratulate this man on living the dream. I also thank him because from now on, anytime I get flack for eating fast food I'm going to reference this story!
With the lottery jackpots reaching so high lately, it’s easy to forget about the ritual of giving this time of season, and begin to focus on all the stuff you’d buy if you won millions of dollars. Nothing wrong with that, we all do it. Jackpot gets high up into the millions and you just start to daydream. A Canadian man named Tom Crist found out one day that his lotto ticket was a winner…a $40 million winner! Now, if that were me, I’d be singing and dancing from the rooftops. Not Tom Crist though. Tom Crist sat on that ticket for over six months. He knew what he was going to do with his money; he just needed some time for the reality to set in. Tom took all of his winnings and put it into a foundation he created in memory of his wife, whom he lost to cancer two years ago. All $40 million will essentially be donated to various charities, mostly to benefit cancer research. Here is a man that exemplifies the goodwill that comes along with this time of year. He wins $40 million dollars and doesn’t keep a single penny of it, but rather donates the entire winnings to charity to honor his loved one.
Now that we all feel warm and fuzzy, I want to wish you all seasons’ greetings and a happy New Year! We won’t be posting anything here until 2014, so keep your eyes peeled for new posts then!
Tis the season for giving. Most of us don’t expect much from large companies except for a sale here or there, or maybe a matched charitable donation. Sometimes however, just sometimes, a company goes above and beyond to really spark that holiday light in their customers.
Canadian based airline company WestJet did just that, went above and beyond. While passengers milled around their terminals, they could scan their airline ticket into a video machine allowing them to talk to Santa himself. Kids and adults alike were asked what is the one thing they really want for the holidays this year. Answers ranged from things like; a scarf, camera, video game systems, tablets, and even a big screen TV. The travelers thought nothing of it as they were talking to the Santa on the TV. What they didn’t know, though, is that while their flight was en route, the staff of WestJet was feverishly shopping for all of the gifts requested! When the plane landed in Calgary, per usual everyone funneled down to baggage claim. Much to their surprise, rather than seeing their baggage, the passengers were first greeted with wrapped presents individually addressed to each of them. All of the gifts were there; camera, video games, tablets, scarf, a flight home for the holidays, and yes even a fifty inch flatscreen TV!
Seeing stories like this always puts me in the holiday spirit. It goes to show that holiday cheer can be found anywhere, even in unexpected places like a crowded airport baggage claim. It also teaches us that if a video Santa asks what you want for the holidays, go big!!!
It’s the time of year that most everyone is out shopping. Whether you are getting gifts to give for holidays, or you’re just out taking advantage of all the sales this time of year, everyone is buying things. Not too long ago, you had to go out to a physical store to get your shopping done. Then, in recent years, technology and economy got together and created online retailers. It has changed the way a lot of us do our shopping. Well, guess what folks, technology is at it again, and about to change the way we view online shopping.
As it stands now, you go online, click, click, clickity click, and as soon as the next day (seeing as you’re willing to pay for next day shipping) you can have a package on your doorstep. The fact, though, that “next day” is the soonest you can get an online package is what still sends some of us out to brick and mortar stores. The idea that we can have almost instant gratification by just driving to the store, purchasing your product and heading home to enjoy is for some of us, what makes us get off the couch to shop. Well, guess what? Those days are going to be behind us shortly. Online retail giant Amazon is changing the game once again. They say in the next five years we could see unmanned drone delivery in as little as thirty minutes from the time you click and place your order on their site! That’s amazing! Imagine: you see a product on Amazon. You click to order it, and then in thirty minutes there is a remote controlled helicopter dropping off your package on your doorstep! I, for one, am going to love this. I’m pretty sure your outdoor cat will enjoy it as well. Not sure how Amazon will feel when it’s drone returns with your bloodthirsty cat clinging to it and batting it around though. Only time will tell. Until then, happy shopping!
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Time to reflect and be thankful for the things we have, a day to spend with friends and family. For some of us that means travel. In fact, today is the busiest travel day of the year. Depending on where your Thanksgiving plans are, you may be using air travel to get where you’re going. For most people, while traveling via airplane you avoid the bathroom as if it contains an incurable strain of bubonic plague. Not this time though! A cleaning crew was cleaning the bathroom on a plane coming from India and found $1.1 million in gold bars hidden in the airplane’s toilet! They haven’t found the suspected gold smugglers, and no arrests have been made yet. So, what does this mean for you? Most likely nothing, but if you’re on an airplane today or tomorrow, you may want to check the bathroom. You could be the king or queen of Black Friday shopping if you happen to stumble upon the right airline toilet. Not to mention you’d have 1.1 million more things to be thankful for this year.
