Bridgetown Point of View
PDX Everday – N. Lee JohnsonArchive for Uncategorized
Incomplete Thought of the Day
O’bama seems almost he’s like a prophecy about to come to fruition; out of no where comes this man to lead the US. He’s not like the other leaders – and most will assume that it’s because he’s black, that he is different. And maybe that’s more true than any of his other qualities.
No other man of color has come into power of a white nation.
I see a lot more news coverage of hate groups and white supremacists. Is it because there’s a fear from white people that a black man is now in power? Has O’bama caused the rebirth of full frontal racism? Rather than the quiet and passive racism we’ve endured since the 90’s?
Maybe because O’bama is black the media will pick up on stories about white supremacists.
Will we go through the racial intolerances and violence from the 50’s when we first tried to integrate?
Red states
It may be because we’ve elected the nation’s first black president, and I’m being hypercritical of results, but those red states look like the states that are stereotypically racists. IDAHO? THE SOUTH? Midwest? Jeez.
The doughnut
The doughnut is pretty much the evil genius of the processed food kingdom. It undermines diets, creates potent deposits of stubborn fat, all clad in an innocent and provocative shell. It’s genius is it’s ever changing facade, morphing into any shape or design that almost no one can deny – unlike, say a cucumber – where no matter how it’s cut or presented, it’s still a cucumber.
The doughnut’s mad alchemy lab is Voodoo Doughnuts. Plotting, frying, icing, seducing it’s way into my breakfast. My rejected banana is looking sad and healthy. “How could you do that to me?”
During those times when your willpower is at it’s peak, the doughnut will patiently wait until you are vulnerable. Not that it has to wait long.
How can there be raw foodists and vegans with the invention of the doughnut? What are these people made of? Vegetation as a diet. I assume they’re made at the same farm equipment companies like John Deere and Caterpillar – chains saws, woodchippers, threshers and bailers – tools that manage vegetation.
Then again, how can there be raw foodists, and vegans with bacon running around all sweet, crispy and breakfast-whorish.
Raw Foodism
Ugh. I don’t know if I can do it. I’ll try, but man – 3 pounds of watermelon for breakfast?
The All-Raw Diet Weekly Menu (Spring/Summer):
Day 1: Monday Morning: 3 pounds (1.4 kg) of watermelon (not seedless).
Afternoon: 2 mangos. 1 avocado. 3 sticks of celery.
Snack: 2 mangos.
Evening: One large lettuce, cucumber, tomato, and green onion salad with one handful of raw sunflower seeds, two avocados, and a fresh-squeezed lemon.
Day 2: Tuesday Morning: One large honeydew melon. The water of 2 coconuts.
Afternoon: 4 oranges. One small green-leafed vegetable salad (containing at least 3 ribs of celery) with 10-20 walnuts and fresh-squeezed lemon.
Snack: 2 oranges.
Evening: Large salad containing 80% green-leafed vegetables, 2 avocados, and an orange squeezed as dressing. 1 quart (1 liter) of freshly made vegetable juice containing at least 60% green vegetables, 40% other vegetables or fruits (i.e. apple, cucumber, yam, etc.).
Day 3: Wednesday Morning: 2-3 apples. 10-20 pecans or macadamia nuts with lettuce.
Afternoon: Cucumber, tomato, zucchini mixed salad. Squeeze an orange into the salad as dressing.
Snack: 2 apples. Assorted greens (green cabbage, lettuce, endive).
Evening: Large salad containing 80% green-leafed vegetables including kale or spinach eaten with 20-30 macadamia nuts, and an orange squeezed as dressing.
Day 4: Thursday Morning: 1/2 quart (1/2 liter) of freshly-made grapefruit juice.
Afternoon: 2 bowls of berries (strawberries, blueberries, etc.). One small lettuce salad with cucumber. 1 avocado.
Snack: 2 mangos.
Evening: Large salad containing 80% green-leafed vegetables, 20-30 almonds, and an orange squeezed as dressing. Add several servings of raw dulse seaweed to the salad.
Day 5: Friday Morning: 3-4 oranges (eat the white pith too!). 10-20 macadamia nuts with lettuce.
Afternoon: Cucumber, tomato, okra, zucchini mixed salad. Add high-quality extra virgin cold-pressed olive oil as dressing.
Snack: 2 oranges. Assorted greens (spinach, baby bok choy, endive).
Evening: Large salad containing 80% green-leafed vegetables, 2 avocados, and an orange squeezed as dressing. 1 quart (1 liter) of freshly made vegetable juice containing at least 60% green vegetables, 40% other vegetables or fruits (i.e. pear, zucchini, asparagus, etc.).
Day 6: Saturday Morning: 30-40 berries (strawberry, blueberry, etc.) mixed with lettuce or mixed with 1 avocado.
Afternoon: 1 cantaloupe. 1 quart (1 liter) of freshly made vegetable juice containing at least 50% green vegetables, 50% apples or pears.
Snack: 1 handful of sunflower seeds.
Evening: Large salad containing 80% green-leafed vegetables including 3 ribs of celery, 2 avocados, and high-quality extra virgin cold-pressed olive oil as dressing. Add several servings of raw dulse seaweed and grated raw garlic to the salad.
Day 7: Sunday Morning: No breakfast.
Afternoon: The water of 2 coconuts. 1 quart (1 liter) of freshly made vegetable juice containing at least 60% green vegetables, 40% other vegetables or fruits (i.e. asian pear, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.).
Snack: 2 apples. 2 ribs of celery.
Evening: Large salad containing 80% green-leafed vegetables, 1 avocado, dulse seaweed, and an orange blended with raw, unhulled tahini as dressing.
The All-Raw Diet Weekly Menu (Fall/Winter):
Day 1: Monday Morning: 2 young coconuts, with coconut meat and water blended together in a cream. If young coconuts cannot be found, blend 2 avocados with mature coconut water.
Afternoon: 5 oranges. 2 avocados. Spinach leaves.
Snack: 3 oranges.
Evening: One large spinach salad containing cucumber, tomato, and green onion salad with 1 avocado and fresh-squeezed lemon.
Day 2: Tuesday Morning: One large papaya eaten whole or blended with orange or lime juice.
Afternoon: 4 oranges. One small green-leafed vegetable salad (containing kale or spinach) with 10-20 almonds and fresh-squeezed lemon.
Snack: 2 oranges.
Evening: Large salad containing 80% green-leafed vegetables, 2 avocados, cayenne pepper, and an orange squeezed as dressing. 1 quart (1 liter) of freshly made vegetable juice containing at least 60% green vegetables, 40% other vegetables or fruits (i.e. squash, peppers, okra, etc.).
Day 3: Wednesday Morning: 1 quart (1 liter) of freshly-made orange juice mixed with 1/2 avocado or 3 teaspoons of flax seed oil. (Mixing a fat with a sugar for breakfast will time-release the sugar for more endurance energy).
Afternoon: Cucumber, 10 pitted dates, lettuce mixed salad. Squeeze an orange into the salad as dressing.
Snack: 2 persimmons. Assorted green leaves (lettuce, spinach, endive).
Evening: Large salad containing 80% green-leafed vegetables eaten with 1-2 cups of raw nuts, and an orange squeezed as dressing. Add several servings of raw dulse seaweed to the salad. Add 30-40 Sun-ripened olives (if available).
Day 4: Thursday Morning: 2 large pomegranates and 3 oranges cut and juiced on a citrus juicer. Blend with 0.5 ounces (0.015 liters) flax oil if desired.
Afternoon: 8 dried prunes. Silicon salad! (see Appendix C: Sunfood Recipes).
Snack: 2 asian pears. Assorted greens (kale, spinach, baby bok choy).
Evening: Nori rolls! Be creative! (see Appendix C: Sunfood Recipes).
Day 5: Friday Morning: 8 tangerines. 1 avocado.
Afternoon: Cucumber, okra, zucchini, onion mixed salad. Add high-quality extra virgin cold-pressed olive oil as dressing
Snack: 2 tangerines. 1 grapefruit.
Evening: Large salad containing 80% green-leafed vegetables, 2 avocados, and an orange squeezed as dressing. 1 quart (1 liter) of freshly made vegetable juice containing at least 60% green vegetables (including 3 ribs of celery), 40% other vegetables or fruits (i.e. asparagus, apple, cucumber, etc.).
Day 6: Saturday Morning: 1 Papaya mixed with lettuce or mixed with 1 avocado.
Afternoon: 1 cup (0.25 liters) of wheatgrass juice blended or juiced with 3-4 apples or 1 quart (1 liter) of freshly-made vegetable juice containing at least 50% celery, 50% apples or pears.
Snack: 2 apples. 10 almonds.
Evening: Large salad containing 80% green-leafed vegetables (including kale or spinach), 2 avocados, and high-quality extra virgin cold-pressed olive oil as dressing. Add 8 pitted dates to the salad for added zest.
Day 7: Sunday Morning: No breakfast.
Afternoon: 1 quart (1 liter) of freshly made vegetable juice containing at least 60% green vegetables (including 3 ribs of celery), 40% other vegetables or fruits (i.e. jicama, pumpkin, etc.).
Snack: 2 pears. 1 zucchini.
Evening: Large salad containing 80% green-leafed vegetables, 3 avocados, and a lemon or lime squeezed as dressing.
Professional Sales People
That is my profession, chosen, more likely my default profession. I have been a salesperson for a very, very long time. I paid for school via phone sales. I did not study sales, but rather art. An education not at all used in my current profession.
I hated sales. I hated cold calling, hunting leads, talking to people, carrying a quota, processing an order, competing with other sales people. For the most part, the only thing that was likable about being a salesperson is of course the paycheck.
Sales is a natural talent for some people, but it’s not so unique that it can’t be learned by anyone. I am a person who had to spend years learning how to sell.
I remember Jana Winslow, a coworker of mine who as a natural salesperson, ask me where I saw myself 5 years from now. My answer had no inclusion of “sales” as a profession. She asked me about how I felt about being in sales. I told her “it’s not my dream job, I can think of other things I’d rather being doing for a living. I mean, when you were growing up, did you ever dream about being in sales? Nobody does.” She looked at me and said, “I did. I dreamt of having a multimillion-dollar deal. Landing a big account. Being the top salesperson.” At the time, I thought that was really sad.
Reflecting how much it pained me to be in sales for so many years, I envy Jana Winslow. Even in tough times, when her pipeline was non-existent and she was being told “not interested go away” – I seriously doubt she ever hated life. I’m almost positive that made her hungrier and more determined to find her dream sale.
What have I learned over the past 10 years in sales? Easy.
Never take anything personally. I have to call salespeople and naively, I was excited. Who better to build a quick rapport than another salesperson? WRONG! Salespeople are guarded. And given the chance to finally control a sales call, they have the opportunity to tell you “no” when their days are filled with that comment. Don’t take it personally, find another contact and get an answer you want to hear. If here are multiple contacts on a prospect, call them all, don’t limit yourself to a single contact.
Call early, call often. The more calls the more chances at getting a lead, a sale, a contact, a decision maker, a project. Make as many calls as you can make. Take the average number of calls and double that number for your call volume.
You can’t get if you don’t ask. This applies to orders, and contacts. Don’t be afraid to ask for the decision maker and don’t be afraid to ask for the CXO level contact. Don’t be afraid to call back over and over, even if it means bumping heads with the gatekeeper.
Spring Break 2007
Long distance dating is a bear. It’s slightly more impossible when there are several continents involved.
How do you do it? It’s tough. Very tough. But it’s the every cheesey “worth the wait” saying.
Obama on my mind.
It must be pretty embarassing for all the previous VPS, with their experience, education, wealth, family background, that all they actually just needed to be really pretty.
I think I’d be a little pissed. I can see Al Gore going, “Impudent STRUMPET. I INVENTED THE INTERNET and all SHE did was GO MOOSE HUNTING.”
It’s probably in her favor that the majority of Presidents and Vice Presidents didn’t go to Ivy League Universities.
Harvard University
John Adams
John Quincy Adams
Rutherford B. Hayes (Law School)
Theodore Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
John F. Kennedy
George W. Bush (Business School)
Yale University
William Howard Taft
Gerald R. Ford
George H. W. Bush
Bill Clinton
George W. Bush
College of William & Mary
Thomas Jefferson
James Monroe
John Tyler
Princeton University
James Madison
Woodrow Wilson
Georgetown
Lyndon B. Johnson (attended a few months the School of Law)
Curse you Wikipedia and your ability to distract my research. Curse you and your questionably-reliable factoids!
Both Sarah Palin and Barack Obama symbolize change in our history. Either way we go, they will provide either women or minorities the inspiration they need to become strong, powerful and finally heard. So loud you can’t ignore them. So loud you have no other choice but to treat women or minorities equally.
To me, it will be one or the other. We’re too young a nation to have gotten over those hurdles. Women and minorities in power in a countries that are dominated by white males have been countries, societies, cultures longer than the US. And despite our wealth, pride, education – we aren’t mature enough as a nation to treat all citizens as equals.
And as much as I would like Sarah Palin to pave a road for women – I think we have to overcome racism in our nation first.
Strange Fruit – Abel Meeropol
Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.
Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.
Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.
Bobby Kennedy
[...] and when [he] shall die
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.
Week 2
Holy cow. I dunno what I did, but it was expensive.
Week 1 = $91.20
Week 2 = 131.80
________________
223.60
Week 2 = Pastries for work, Starbucks, and other stupid purchases. It’s amazing how much you learn about wasting money when you pay attention to the stuff that seems occational, but are actually habitual, just in a few dollars here and there. They add up in a month.
Although I’m $25 bucks from hitting my cap, there’s 2 weeks left in the month. No spend month is a bust. Readjust the goal to under $350.
Next month, I will try again, for $250.
$59.1 trillion
National Debt, or Debt held by the public, including unfunded Medicaid, Social Security, Medicare…
And Happy Birthday to me! U.S. National Debt: 53-Year High on Sept. 22, 2008
