There is a crisis in Missouri and across the country. Thousands of neglected and abandoned children lack families, homes and support. An upcoming Fostering Faithful Families summit will focus on the needs of Missouri children and the ways that adults can help solve this crisis. The foster care and adoption summit will be held at 10 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 6 at Webster Groves Presbyterian Church.

Care For Kids’ Presbyterian Children’s Services is a member of Fostering Faithful Families, a multi-faith organization of partnering agencies and local churches. More than 10,000 Missouri children are in the foster care system, and half of them are in non-relative foster homes. Fostering Faithful Families brings together agencies and churches to help meet this need and help kids.

Through Fostering Faithful Families, people can help in variety of ways, such as participating in toy and clothing drives for kids in foster care. Other people can sign up as mentors or even become foster parents or adoptive parents.

Representatives from churches all over the region will come together Dec. 6 for the public event, which is designed to get new adults involved in helping kids. The event will also be a forum for discussing new ideas about helping abandoned children.

Foster Care and Adoption Summit

10 a.m., Sunday, Dec. 6

Webster Groves Presbyterian Church

45 West Lockwood Ave.

Webster Groves, MO 63119-2931

More info: 314-835-1690

Having mentioned the idea of trialling things a few days ago, I immediately decided to give up caffeine for 30 days. It has now been 5 days, having started this on the 25th November.

I have been having the odd craving for a coffee or a cup of tea, but in general, having made the decision I have stuck to it 100%. I have had a slight headache today and understood this as a normal process of giving up something. I never normally get headaches, so this is probably my body adapting to the changes.

I cannot say I have felt an direct benefit, but I do not it is better for my body as there is less stress on my liver and kidneys. It should, theoretically give me more energy, and so I will just see the experiment out and then decided that I will do from then on.

In regards to more trials, I have also decided to wake up at 5am every morning for the next 20 days as well as not consuming alcohol. I know it is not wise to make lots of changes all at once, as it may be harder to accomplish them all at once and the results may be harder to trace back.

However, I think the caffeine one is fairly small and I am going along just fine with this, and also drinking herbal teas, which I am really enjoying. I also think that awaking at 5am to get three hours of work in for me and not consuming alcohol go hand in hand. It is quite a drastic lifestyle change, and I think they will assist each other nicely.

So, it will begin tomorrow waking up at 5am to start my new business. It will be a success, it will grow nicely and bring in a nice profit.

Well done.

I have recently been reading a book that suggest trying different things for 30 days to experiment with the idea. If at the end of the 30 days it didn’t work out for you, hey, no sweat, at least you tried it and you don’t have to do it anymore.

On the other hand, if you notice significant good things from the change in lifestyle then you will know why things are going better and you have already proved to yourself that you can change things. If you have been consciously doing something for 30 days, you have already begun and well, you  might as well keep going as it is working out so well for you.

Typical changes mentioned in the book were going vegetarian, if you are not already for 30 days; having a media fast, i.e. no television, radio, internet; another one was waking up or going to sleep at a different time.

The guy who wrote the book said he enjoyed the increase in energy so much from going vegetarian for 30 days, he never ate meat again.

Some of the ideas may seem a little extreme to some of you, like the media fast. Could you really live without not using the internet for 30 days? Would it seem like you would be missing out on a lot? Do you think you would have anything to do? Would your life be boring?

Doing these experiments should be seen as fun, a chance to shake things up a little. If you really hate it that much you can always go back to your life before. Having a media fast may open up new opportunities, you may start reading an interesting book, you may play a game with your partner or children where you would normally be staring at the television all evening.

One suggestions stood out to me, ‘wake up at 5am every morning for 30 days’. Now, I love sleep, and sometimes I wish I could sleep in for a long time, however, the author, Steve, said he tried this and never looked back. He said he was most productive in these hours and would get more done than most people get done in a normal working day.

You see, at the moment, I am working all the time for my Mother and Chris at their Spa working in the champagne bar and fitting in marketing when I can at home and in the Spa. The problem is I always have a list of things to do and so feel I never have time for my projects.

This can change today, all I need to do is allocate time to certain roles. Champagne Bar role, marketing role and my business ideas role. If I were to wake up at 5am every morning, I could go for a quick jog to get me awake, come back and get 3 hours of work in, have some breakfast and go to work. If I were to work for 3 hours before my working day for five days a week, that would be 15 hours towards building my businesses.

I have also been having trouble sleeping at night, so I am also thinking that if I get up that bit earlier, I will be nice an tired to drop off when my head hits the pillow.

I need to speak to my girlfriend about this, but I cannot see a problem. This could be very good for me. It might also be a disaster. But who knows? I have always used the saying ‘If you don’t ask you don’t get’, I am now going to adopt the phrase ‘If you don’t try you won’t know’. I am going to shake things up, experiment.

I would also like to experiment with my diet. I decided to have no caffeine today. I usually have a couple of cups a day of either tea or coffee, but want to see what happens if I cut it out. Is a bit hard as I am working everyday with a high spec coffee machine and making latte’s etc for lots of people.

Anyway, thinking of starting this on this coming Monday so more to come. Oh and if you want to know about who’s book I was reading, I will tell you soon enough.

Someone I know said they found my blog today, which hasn’t happened before, but sort of reminded me of what I started here, and so I shall continue with the mission.

The Spa has been going very well with a more and more people coming in for various services, mainly hair, but cross promotion will further growth in the other areas.

I have also just taken on sorting out the old cafe and now champagne bar, which is why I am still awake now, thoughts and ideas are not allowing me to sleep.

I worked today on a menu and gave it to Mum and Chris which they were happy with, but then got home, had more ideas, added them, and then a mysterious computer error sent the file back in time to a time when there was hardly anything there – early this morning!

May be a sign to redo and make better, I did email it to them as well so hopefully they got the good copy, more ideas and will dedicate 80% of my time this week to getting the food out and the money in and also getting some classy menus out to local businesses to attract the bread and butter business.

Bed for now, also need to write more and more, and read more and more. All is well.

November is National Adoption Month, and AdoptUsKids has launched a PSA and multimedia campaign to spread awareness about foster care and adoption. Visit the organization’s site to learn more about its “You don’t have to be perfect to be a perfect parent” campaign. Here is one of the organization’s many humorous TV ads.

President Obama’s health care plan has sparked alarm among Catholic Bishops,  Conservatives, Independents, Republicans and conservative Democrats who say that without an explicit prohibition on federal funding for abortion, it could be included in taxpayer-subsidized coverage offered through the plan.

Thus, Roman Catholic bishops are launching a massive e-mail campaign opposing the sweeping health care reform plan.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Pro-Life Activities Secretariat is encouraging all  archdioceses and parishes in the U.S. to send a pre-written e-mail that urges House members to oppose any rule that will not allow debate on an amendment that would prohibit taxpayer dollars from being used for abortions, and to send another e-mail to senators to support the amendment.

“If the serious pro-life concerns on abortion funding and conscience rights are not addressed, the final bill should be opposed,” the pre-written e-mail reads. “Genuine health care reform should protect the life and dignity of all people from the moment of conception until natural death.”

Catholic leaders have asked bishops across the nation to insert the e-mail, titled “Oppose Abortion Funding and Mandates in Health Care Reform,” in every parish bulletin or distribute it in pews or at church entrances.

“Congressional votes may take place as soon as early November…  Original article, more &  source here. This re-post was edited by promotionsforLIFE.com.

###

Add this article to your twitter & status updates.
Copy/paste link - http://wp.me/pGkSs-5G

Been working very hard working on the marketing for my Mum’s new business in our town. It is opening in a few days and everyone is working very hard. I am not a millionaire yet, but am getting closer. Not earning very much but I now see the bigger picture.

I am on my way to massive riches, I will try and post every day from now on, and on my other blog as well. Get the articles pumping very hard when you re dedicating yourself to something else 100% but, I will say I again, I will do my best.

So I am on the airplane coming back from the Youth leader Luncheon in Phoenix, and I am looking at the most beautiful sunset that I have seen in a long time. I was thinking back on the last 24 hours of my trip, and decided, in Dare 2 Share tradition to create a top 10 Moments List. So, Without Further Ado…

Top 10 Moments or the Phoenix Firestarter Luncheon

10. Watching the guy at the Denver Terminal when our flight was delayed fall sleep with his soda in his hands, straw still in his mouth, and head hanging back, sleeping. This kid has major talent, he managed to ‘doze” all the way to his seat on the plane and then off again in Phoenix.

9. Eating an at this Amazing hole in the wall Mexican Restaurant with Herman and Angie.

8. Listening to Greg Try to recover from “it was a hot day, you know like 90 degrees” (keep in mind, we were in a room full of AZ youth pastors)

7. Feeling like I walked in a room full of my “family” when I went on stage to bless the food.

6. Walking in the venue at 9:05 (only 5 minutes late) and Robert and Cameron already had all of the pallet broken down, table toppers ready to go, and everything organized for count, You guys ROCK! I cannot express how much that helped Angie and I get going.

5. Being greeted and hugged by about every other your pastor (one even kissed me on the check… that was a little odd, but we’ll excuse him for it).

4. The Flight attendant on the flight back to Denver, who did the “flight safety Arm ballet” with her hands, She was hilarious.

3. Making the “Phoenix Arm Cha-Cha” movie with Cameron and Robert after we packed up everything.

2. The sunset out my window as we left Phoenix Sky Harbor, God was defiantly showing off.

1. Watching the City of Phoenix disappear as we took off, and my iPod deciding to suddenly skip to “God Of this City”. I left with a heart knowing that God Has, Is and Will continue to do an amazing work in the life of teenagers and youth leaders across this area of the country. How humbling it was to be a part of that plan, in whatever small way.

Last night CNN ran an extraordinary report called “Abortion support falls sharply, new research finds.” In it they cite a new Pew study released yesterday that strongly reinforces research that emerged at the beginning of the summer showing that the majority of Americans have switched from being pro-choice to being pro-life. This dramatic shift in public opinion marks a turning point in the nation and the abortion debate. Intrigued by this unexpected turn, Pew Research conducted a more in-depth study and released a six-page report breaking down the pro-life shift in detail.

THE RESEARCH
Earlier this year I reported on this shift and highlighted some significant events the Lord showed us. At the end of April 2008 Bound4LIFE mobilized “The Mercy Seat.” 6,200 participated in praying at every Supreme Court in every state on the same day at the same time. Following that one day event, we organized teams to stand in silent prayer in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in DC around the clock 24/7 for four months straight. We called that the “Rizpah Stand.” We were shocked when GALLUP then released a study this summer (one year later) showing that the sharp turn in public opinion coincided with those events, and we do not think it’s a coincidence.

Pew’s new study says, “No single reason for the shift in opinions is apparent.” No doubt many factors are involved, but I believe that focused prayer and fasting are the source of the dramatic shift and the momentum we now see taking place in the nation. The shift can be seen in nearly every facet of society, but it also clearly highlights the need for more prayer.

“There was a drop seen in many, many demographics: men and women, people with a college degree and those with less education, people with various religious backgrounds,” The only groups whose opinions on abortion did not change were African-Americans — who tend to oppose it — and young people and those not affiliated with any particular religion, who tend to say it should be legal, Gregory Smith said. “Beyond that, this movement [was] across the board.”

CONCENTRATION OF FORCE
Bound4LIFE is based on the belief in long-term, sustained prayer that does not stop. But there is also a time for a focused “concentration of force.” Nehemiah had everyone build the wall in front of his own house, but in times of great threat he also said, “The work is great and extensive, and we are separated far from one another on the wall. Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.” (Ne 4:19-20) The accumulation of ongoing prayer is bringing forth fruit in this shift of public opinion. Yet at the same time we are seeing some of the greatest threats to the preborn dreams of God and people of conscience since Roe v Wade. The Health Care Reform debate rages on, and Congress continues to block efforts that codify the Hyde Amendment and provide conscience protection for health care workers. All this is in spite of the new shift in public opinion and the fact that President Obama promised that there wo! uld be “no government funding of abortion.” At the center of the health care debate is Planned Parenthood working feverishly to ensure their own survival by laying hold of government funding.

Clearly the spiritual forces of darkness behind this culture of death are working desperately to resist this recent pro-life shift in America. But I believe abortion’s days are numbered, and I am greatly heartened by what the statistics are showing. Prayer works. Prayer is powerful. Prayer is mighty to pull down dark strongholds.

DREAMING ABOUT HOUSTON
I want to draw your attention now to a great tragedy taking place in Houston, TX. I believe what’s happening in Houston calls for the people of God to rally in a great concentration of force–a concentration in prayer and fasting.

Planned Parenthood, in recent years, has shifted their strategy away from small neighborhood-sized abortion facilities to focus on the construction of massive regional-sized “Mega Abortion Centers.” We first saw the emergence of this in Aurora, IL in 2007 when it was discovered that Planned Parenthood had been secretly building a 22,000 square foot abortion facility under the cover of fake business aliases. In 2008, they did it again and opened a 40,000 square foot abortion facility in Denver, CO. Now in 2010, they’re set to open the largest abortion facility in the northern hemisphere – second largest in the world after China! This 78,000 square foot facility is being specially built around Texas law to bring back late-term abortion on an unprecedented scale.

This move by Planned Parenthood demonstrates their increased dependency on consolidated operations and critical need for government funding. This “Mega Abortion Facility” represents Planned Parenthood’s stronghold in America and their vain confidence in forthcoming government funding of their operations. Houston could become the flashpoint for national consciousness of their disingenuous activities as it follows Margaret Sanger’s original charter to disproportionately target minority communities.

Bound4LIFE is in the process of planning and organizing a series of large gatherings in Houston beginning in only a few months. The opening of this Mega Abortion Facility coincides with the 40-year anniversary of the Jesus Movement Revival hitting Houston like a bomb in the Spring of 1970 when scores were swept into the Kingdom. God could visit the city once again with revival! We believe God is raising up a powerful voice for LIFE right now among the Hispanic community. These gatherings will focus on the Hispanic community, mobilizing the people of God to resist Planned Parenthood’s agenda and prayer for a great revival to come to the city.

We are seeking many avenues of support to help fund this new effort. Would you prayerfully consider helping Bound4LIFE mobilize these gatherings in Houston? We have a great need right now to move forward with plans, and you can help right now at this critical juncture. It’s as easy as clicking DONATE NOW to be a part of this great work. Would you also please consider helping us to promote this need by sharing it in your own social networks like Facebook and Twitter?

Pressing Forward,

Matt Lockett
Director- Bound4LIFE

To read the CNN article click here.
To read the new Pew study click here.

 
Bound4LIFE, 205 3rd Street SE, Washington, DC 20003, USA 

So, progress on last week.

Still been listening avidly to my affirmations which are now recorded on my phone, two MP3 players and laptop so I can listen anywhere. Had my most productive day on Wednesday and going to sleep the night before I my headphones on with the affirmations on repeat. Woke up in the morning with the laptop on the floor and out of battery, even though it was plugged in, with no recollection of what had gone on.

Nevertheless, I was supercharged, didn’t wake up feeling so, but just got on with everything straight away, ticking things off my list one by one. Had to go out to do a few things as well, which took time, and some of the things were not necessarily beneficial to me, well they weren’t. Visiting people and stuff, but I did it with enthusiasm and enjoyment. All good.

Have since met with my Mum and her business partner who are opening up a new health spa in my town, called Synergy Spa. It is going to everything, hair, beauty, tanning, fitness, waxing, botox, facials, massage, everything under the sun and more, over 100 services available. Well, we met and had a discussion and they are happy with me to help them as I highlighted a few ideas online using technology to market their business etc. Basically we were on the same wavelength, so all good.

This is going to be done on a  consultancy basis, so methinks time to start a business name. Something generic like MT Holdings or something maybe, just so I can start doing my account for all operations and operating like a true business. This is how it should be done, and I am sure by starting a business, even if there isn’t a lot of revenue, I will kickstart the empire into me increasing the revenue as quick as possible.

This is start of something massive, millionaire in six years, so I obviously need my own business and to learn about taxes and everything don’t I?

Felt a bit poo today as started doing some tasks for new spa and a bit boring, bit I need to prove myself and not just to them, TO MYSELF AS WELL.

I always come up with a lot of ideas, good ones, but rarely have the staying power. I go in all guns blazing and then usually fizzle out. All I need to do is just keep doing and not keep looking at the bigger picture and wishing I was three years down the line when I am HERE and there is nothing wrong with HERE   –   LOVE HERE and WHERE I AM AT and just KEEP DOING, everyday, KEEP DOING. If I keep doing then progress is always being made.

Good stuff, also been recording myself doing a bit of cooking. Vids not very professional yet, but got some free editing software which I need to learn. Love cooking and enjoying filming myself so started another site, blog, www.makefoodeasy.com, couldn’t believe it was available actually. Will start a You Tube channel to support this and embed the videos, will be a good ongoing project.

After a few refunds and future sales of a few items, net cash will be at about £1,600, £400 down, but we are just getting started on everything artn’t we now.

KEEP GOING ME AND YOU.

Interesting podcast from iinovate with two fellows (previously worked @ Google of course)of Aardvark. The most interesting part – one of those guys explains the benefits of having users involved early in the process. Aardvark tries to get feedback from users extensively with great success – more than half of their users responds.

There’s another side to this – is you launch as early as possible to get users involved, you risk having explain yourself why your startup sucks. And there’s not such thing as the second first impression. Just look at Paul Graham talking about his Y Combinator’s startups – they take this risks of not looking impressive in exchange for feedback and involvement.

Our way ? As you see, we’re launching before there’s even something to show. Happens, when you’re not afraid to suck.

My comment for theSun in commemoration of Malaysia Day was published today, which can be found here.

In the article, I make a reference to 1Malaysia. It was meant to be sarcastic in nature, but unfortunately that little quip was edited out… so it looks and sounds as if I am praising it.

Some other subtle hints I make were also edited, so I think it’s best to publish the article in its original form here. Happy Malaysia Day, everyone!

* Malaysia Day is going to be busy. Just got back from this morning’s Fast4Peace event, a grassroots effort to fast for the nation on Malaysia Day. Was a little late as I only decided to go after I got up for the usual sahur for the month. In the morning our Selangor State Government will be celebrating Hari Malaysia with Menteri Besar and some guests from the East (Malaysia). In the evening, there is the launch of Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia, at BlogHouse. What are you doing today to remember you are Malaysian? 

Looking Beyond Race: Ethnic Minorities in Malaysia

Tricia Yeoh

Any right-thinking Malaysian should be increasingly disturbed by recent incidents that are rocking the multiethnic boat. These separate events coalesce in our minds into one thing: the nation is riddled with racialist individuals. Whilst Malaysia battles with numerous other problems, ethnic relations is considered the primary wild animal to tame, and rightly so, since without equality of opportunity what pride can one take in one’s birth country?

The feeling of helplessness and disquiet is of course not new. Yes, recently a cow head was stomped and spat on to protest the building of a temple in a Muslim-majority area (cows are sacred to the Hindus). Yes, certain newspapers allow opinion pieces that read, “nothing can stand in the way of ensuring only Malay and Muslim rights are defended”. While one does not want to dilute the severity and gravity of these, Malaysians should not be particularly shocked.

Official policy in Malaysia already sets the fertile ground upon which ethnocentrism can grow and flourish. This has been debated at length, and many view the country’s socio-economic policies as being unable to contribute constructively towards building a united nation. The unfettered overzealousness in ensuring the advancement of a particular ethnic group turned sour over the years, never mind that the Constitution actually emphasises the well-being of all ethnic groups equally. Our race-based political structure does not help either, and has in fact proven instrumental in promoting division.

The nation stands confused and bewildered in the wake of irrational attitudes towards race, a tragedy indeed as we celebrate 46 years of Malaysia’s formation on the 16^th September 2009. Our frail attempts at national unity seem to have all but shattered. What has become of mutual respect, understanding and compassion towards the other, all of which form fundamental elements of every religion? What should we make of sloganeering 1Malaysia when with one hand we cradle the platitudes of various motherhood statements, and with the other we fan the flames of racist sentiment?

Without wanting to place labels once again on ethnic groups, since I would rather all consider ourselves Malaysian first, it seems necessary to highlight the ethos of ethnic minorities: How should we react amidst such crazed antics? There are multiple ways in which ethnic minorities in Malaysia could respond to the strange direction the country seems to be taking of late.

The first and most natural reaction against an onslaught – real or imagined – is to retreat into respective ethnic bases, stick our heads into our own little communities, never to return to interethnic life. Unfortunately, this happens more often than not. Ethnic minorities around the world have a general tendency to close in on themselves, creating sub-cultures that overemphasise their own value-systems – like the early Turkish settlers in Germany, for example. Similarly, the danger for the Chinese, Indians and other “immigrant races” in Malaysia is to huddle in their own little club-houses, speak their own languages, build their own schools and produce and read their own newspapers. It is difficult to lobby for equality when participation of these communities in public life lies only within its fringes at best. It is difficult to counter the exclusivist positions when we entrench ourselves in precisely those categories of “immigrant” in which others seek to confine us.

Again, one understands this instinctive reaction, especially given their justified grounds: they feel excluded from mainstream of socio-economic life and hence create smaller worlds they can fully belong to and claim as their own territory. However, harsh as it may sound, this sort of thinking impedes the development of a united Malaysia. It is perfectly acceptable for multiple language to flourish as mediums of education and commerce, and the diversity of literature, resources, and culture should be encouraged. But the promulgation of isolated societies, members of which never see the light of any other community’s day, is unhealthy at best.

The second possible option is to react violently, akin to the ancient law of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”. This is obviously immature and mutually destructive. A cow’s head may have been used to upset Hindus, but no one has the right to retaliate by desecrating a pig’s head to insult Muslims – far from it! Without necessarily resorting to physical acts of ridiculous rudeness, however, we have developed subtler ways to point fingers at the other. For example, should a Chinese-language publication spout biased remarks, its justification for doing so would be, “The other side did it first!” This may be so, but where does it end? No one should disgrace themselves by descending to whatever vile levels they think others have sunk. If, by contrast, we were to take the opposite tack of responding to provocation with calm and deliberate reason, would we not at least take a step closer – however small that step might be – towards admitting that we each have the right to be different?

The third and wisest option is the only one available in paving the way forward. The same trend has been developing in recent years in different shapes under different banners: “Anak Bangsa Malaysia”, “Malaysian Malaysia”, and yes even “1Malaysia” (hypocritical as the implementation is under the current government). As long as we continue to consider ourselves separate and divergent, leaders will continue to treat us as such. Whilst cultural diversity should be supported, one’s identity should be primarily identified based on one’s citizenship, that is, in being Malaysian. Ethnic minorities, while being critical of biased affirmative action policies should rise up against their natural tendencies and be counted for their ability to be colour-blind.

This means more than just fuzzy ‘we are all the same’ feel-good pats on the back. It also means the willingness to support institutions of government; for Chinese, Indians and others to work in the civil service; to reform educational institutions with the view of eventually sending all our children to national schools in which children interact with all races; for vernacular newspapers to shed their mindsets of defending only their own communities. Most importantly, we must all step out of our comfort zones and make genuine friends from other communities. We must honestly desire to help those communities that are poverty-stricken, whether they are Malay, Kadazandusun, Indian, Orang Asli, Penan, or Chinese. And we must be able to speak honestly and openly about each other’s religion and cultures.

The danger of bigotry is that it often prompts an equally ugly reaction from the other side. Malaysians of all communities should not stoop to such levels, but instead rise up above the ‘tit for tat’ attitude that, if nothing else, is reminiscent of the insane zero-sum logic that has brought more harm than good to the world.

Furthermore, race is not as defining a factor as socio-economic status, income levels, and other demographics. Let us not fall under the sway of the ‘illusion of singular identity’, espoused by Amartya Sen in one of his books. Malaysians must be responsible for thinking and behaving as Malaysians, for the sake of a truly flourishing united nation.

Tricia Yeoh serves as Research Officer at the Selangor State Government. 

With me ending the bad addictions, I am going to be needing new better addictions, although, I shouldn’t  get addictive about them.

Food is a big one, and I need to be ending my caffeine and sugar addiction. The two are linked, as I am sure I get most of my sugar through tea and coffee. It is not that I drink them in excessive amounts, but two to four cups a day is not a necessary strain on my liver. Sugary drinks, not that I have a lot, but I do drink them, they are gone.

To be eating healthier and on the cheap I shall be consuming the following:

Porridge – love it, very good for you and cheap so breakfast and snacks this will be good for.

Protein Shakes – Very good for you and sort of free as my Mum has a business called Weight Loss Detox where they provide their followers with sachets of powder which only water needs to be added to provide a fibrous, protein and vitamin enriched drink. Have these for breakfast and afternoon snack as well.

Vegetables – Stir-fries, poached and steamed veg will provide me with living enzymes and good real food, nice and crunchy.

Yogurt – probiotic Yogurt will be good for a quick snack with fruit, not that cheap, but a pot for a couple of pounds will last four or five days.

I need to do a shop, buy healthy stuff, being conscious of amounts and quantities then budget what food is going to cost me a week or month.

Thinking about it, meat is rubbish, the quality we get anyway. Sausages filled with a little meat, steroid water pumped chicken, light read beef. Supermarkets have ruined the meat production process. The only butcher left in our town closed down due to lack of business, not lack of excellent quality which I can personally say.

My girlfriend is vegetarian, she is not hardcore, she eats a bit of chicken if she cannot see it, but I get where she is coming from. I could make some homemade curry paste, and then take passion is making vegetarian curries for me and her with some rice and stuff.

This is the perfect time as the kitchen will now be mine, it needs a real good sort out, but once it is, things will be on hand to make some really good food, for not a lot of money and the health will be all there.

Nut roast is something I also would like to try. Meals to prove that you do not need meat to survive, my sort of backlash against the supermarkets. If I want some meat, I will treat myself to some great stuff from somewhere like the Well Hung Meat Company.

Right, this is start of great things. Things are going up and will keep on getting better and better.

As you may or may not know, the ski industry has seen many tragedies in the past few years, from spinal cord injuries to athlete deaths. Now is a time to give back with awareness to the general public, in our case, we are giving back as fellow athletes and friends.

The plan is a charity bike ride during the month of October  from Seattle to San Diego on the Pacific Coast Highway/101 to benefit the Riley Poor Foundation, The Shane McConkey Fund and Billy Poole Foundation.

Links containing information about these foundations are the following:

Riley Poor:
Riley’s Blog
Nike 6.0’s Riley Site
The Transplant Fund

Shane McConkey
The Shane McConkey Fund
Make  a Wish Foundation

Billy Poole
The Billy Poole Ski Foundation

Through this ride I am seeking to have individuals, businesses, major corporations, etc. support my injured and fallen friends and icons in the ski industry. We will need as much support as possible.

This ride is open to anyone, friends, family, strangers, fans….anyone.

For further information, please email at:

PacificCoastCycleforaCause@Gmail.com

Hope to see you on the road!

Max

I think it is going to be wise to get a job now back. I am going to need money coming in and I do no want this £2,000 to run out without me securing finance. There are no easy ways to secure the £20,000 I think I need to start a food catering business. I may be able to do it for £15,000, I mainly depends on the cost of the van.

I have always worked in sales and enjoyed doing so. I have only really had one real job in sales, ane smaller before but doesn’t really count, it was more of a stepping stone. I take an avid interest in behaviour, language, body lanuguage and persuasion techniques such as Neuro Linguistic Programming. I believe I am a good sales person, as long as I believe in what I am selling.

Working a steady 9-5 will provide me with a steady income to allow me to structure my finances into expenditure, investments, business and saving, mainly for a business. I may have to work for half a year or a year working on ideas and learning as I go. I can build up to the business ventures, it may not even be the mobile catering van, and at the rate ideas and thought are going on I think a lot more viable ideas will come my way over the next year.

I also think that If I can save £10,000 myself, then it is going to be a lot easier for me to raise the rest from people I know. Having nearly nothing isn’t the best situation to be in if I am going to reach my million in six years. Working will keep some cash coming in to build up while I build everything else up around it. I even think a transition period is wise. If a year down the line I am still keen to purchase a mobile catering van and get trading, I can purchase this and learn the ropes at weekends and then maybe go to some festivals or Fairs to see how things go. Then, when I do go full time, I will be going full throttle with enough cash around me to not be too pressurised but enough know how and belief to get it absolutely pumping.

I am going to set aside tomorrow for sorting my CV out and finding relevant field sales positions available.

I am affirming to the universe to provide me with the perfect field sales job to allow me to grow, learn, be proud and to earn a nice living to allow me to save and invest wisely for the future.

Sorry, keep posting, but this is what my blog is for, I am asking the universe to provide me with the perfect branding, including name, colours, designers, everything to enable this brand to grow from into outlets across London and the UK, cookbooks, TV appearances, the whole lot.

Wow, it has only been a few days since I started, and, well, a few hours since I last posted, but, hey, things are heppening fast. Once you get your thoughs sorted and get a plan in motion, a sort of plan filled with some good positive thoughts you have to then start acting on ideas. A fast food catering van is something that I have thought about in the past, doing fajitas and just, well, good healthy fast food. Coming back I came across an article of a guy who started selling porridge in Scotland from a van. I also met up with my best mate Alex in London on the way back home and mentioned the idea to him. He confirmed that Porridge was the new craze across London over the past half a year.

People are more then ever aware about what is healthy and what is not and know what they should be putting into their bodies. The only problem is, most of the convenient food out there is not healthy. Every mobile van you see, sells burgers, sasuages and coffee. Why not have a van selling healthy food and drink.

Having been thinking about this, while cooking dinner tonight I started getting the oats out and seeing looking at the fruit bowl and my mind was immediately filled with great toppings for porridge. How about:

Porridge with:

- Poached Pear

- Spiced Apple

- Caramilised banana

- Maple Syrup Roasted Nuts

- Probiotic Yogurt and Local Honey

These just the ideas I have had over the past day, I figure I only need 8, 9 or 10 different recipes of porridge, test them all, do some taste tests, oh, also need some takeaway pots and spoons to give to people.

This also needs to be a brand I can develop, and one that does limit me to porridge, or a few products. I am up for anything healthy, fajitas are a lot healther than burgers, and vegetarian options can easily be done, people will love them. I get to make food, sell it as well as being the face of my business, the link between the business and the customers, oh yes. It is perfect.

More ideas to come.

Final Word:

This blog is making things happen. I love and approve of myself, this blog and am confident and happy about the future.

I am also feeling very good about this blog finding people, me finding an audience. I have started a few other blogs before this, but with the wrong intention or idea and sometimes now having the time to effort needed to make the blog work. So here it is again, I will keep putting it out there and I affirm to network my words and wisdom out there on the internet and link with other people searching for inspiration, wisdom or just a good story.

Just been into town and sorted the bank, they had been charging £7.00 a month for my overdraft service which was no longer needed, but, I decided to keep paying the £7.00 a month to Barclays as this gives me access to a further £1,700 overdraft if needed. When I pledge to turn £2,000 into £1,000,000, this means anyhow really. I have £2,000 now, and to get more, I may work, I may get a loan, I may get given some money, I may find some money, who knows. The whole point of this is to change my attitude, to make me work my ass off to get to that £1,000,000 mark, to prove to myself and others that I can do it, that the exercises and beliefs I have, work.

So, some promises and pledges of what sort of things I will be doing to keep my mind and body fit and healthy from now on:

- 30 minutes meditation.

- 15 mins positive affirmations, these will be decided and documented in due course.

- Running, everyday, time to get the heart fit. For now, I will just run, time how long I run for, and see how long it takes me to get back to resting heart rate, and then doument. I will be monitoring my heart rate closely from now on, doing exercise to lower it.

- Sit ups and pressups everyday a well as weights and pull ups if I can get a pull up bar sorted.

All of this will take no longer than 2 hours a day, and if I start at 8 I can be done by 10. It might not be a good idea to do all in one, but maybe running first thing would be a very good wake up, then a work out and then relaxing meditation to finish and prepare for the day.

Diet intake is also going to be very important for my well being. Seeing as one of my strong business ideas involves providing the public with porridge, I will be starting the day with porridge everyday and for snacks, such as mid afternoon if I get hungry again. For lunches and snacks I will also be consuming protein shakes which I can get for free from my Mum and her business. Eating like this will be excellent for my health but also very cheap, porridge is super cheap, and it will give me ideas to develop different toppings, such as poached pear, which is the first idea I have had.

Also need to get facebuilder book and cds so I can do this everyday to give my face some new muscular strength and keep me feeling good and young.

End Note:

I am really enjoying writing this blog, it is helping me to be more productive and I am feeling very positive about the future which is very important. I am on my way to the £1,000,000, this is the start and it is all good.

Woke up late again today, but I am just catching up on 6 months lost sleep from working on that busy busy boat. Enjoying the sense of freedom I am having and using this to watch a few films and not think of anything. Anyway, woke up feeling motivated, which I need to do everyday. Chased up where my my lost bag from my trip back to UK and it is at East Midlands and will hopefully be delivered back here very soon. Booked a hair appointment as well, and cancelling gym. Going to go down to the bank and get a new card, consolidate all accounts and ask them why the hell they are still charging me £7.00 a month, whihc was previously £5.00 a month and see if I can get any of this back.

I am treating my life as a business and am reducing all unnecessary costs. So far, it is going well, just called my phone company and managed to get a new deal for all the calls and messages I need a month for only £10 a month, which is a saving of £25. I also booked a dentist appointment and a hair appointment and am feeling very positive.

Off to the bank now and looking forward to my amazing girlfriend coming back from holiday late tonight. I have not seen her in several months, and she understands me very well so we will be having some good talks about the future.

Final Affirmations:

- This blog is going to prove to people the power of belief when I turn my £2,000 into £1,000,000 and have a long list of avid followers on this blog.

- I am going to meditate for half an hour every day from now on and report on the effects of this meditation which I know will be very positive for my healthy, mind, creativity and well being.

So, had a good day, not too productive wise in some ways but very much so in others. Thinks I have been procrastinating in some ways but am also conscious of these things and realise that now I have all these new plans and a definite direction that certain things will not be accomplished straight away.

One thing I have been very aware off is my heartbeat. Since being back I have been lying down whilst thinking and watching a few films and also feeling my heartbeat. Common sense dictates that my heart is not as healthy as it could be, and I know I will be exercising to make it a healthier muscle. However, while relexing, I keep hearing it beat, and counting it, so, this is probably just a physical sign to get it healthy and good again which I will be doing.

I was all up for jogging today, but my foot is still bad from my journey back to the UK, and yes, this may be a bit of procrastination, but I think I just want to be all good to start, and it is not like I need to rush into things immediately. I mean, tonight I had the first proper catch up with my best friend, Franny T. I cannot submit to a total healthy lifestyle without having a social life. I think, recently, whilst coming back from Sicily I have been thinking it is either or; super fucking T-Total healthy or a fucking drinking drug addict, but but but. Surely, there is a in between, a nice medium, a nice social happy place in the middle where I can be social with the friends I want to be with but also get healthier whilst pushing the fuck out of the business world with my own endevours.

I have had some good talks with my parents today about what the hell I am going to do. They as well as I know I do not want to get a job and work for anyone, and from this some good ideas have hit the pipeline. These are ideas mainly in the form of a food catering van selling porridge, fajitas and healthy drinks. Convenient, healthy food, sold from a van, which I am in charge of, I run and I am the link between me and the customers. I will create good products, place the van in a lucrative location, sell to people who will enjoy the products, gain a loyal customer base, then buy more vans, grow the business and provide as many people as possible with convenient healthy food.

Stay posotove Michael, this is Michael Todd, putting it out there to the universe that it trusts the universe to provide Michael Todd with everything and everything to get this thing going and succeeding.

Ok, a lot has happened to me over the past half a year and I am now at a point in my life where strict decisions have to be made. I am a 25 year old male who has recently fired from a job on a Superyacht which was travelling around the Mediterranean. Working on a boat was something I had wanted to to do since I was about 20, and so I very glad I had the balls to get over the the south of France. I was very lucky to get a job in the first place as it was smack bang in credit crunch time and there were many others looking for a job with no experience in the industry.

Six months after leaving the UK, I am back, a little richer. Having paid back my parents and paying to get back here, I am probably going to be left with around £2,000. Now, I am the kind of person who likes to spend money, and on the way back here, on the three planes it took, it got me some time thinking that I could not just come back here and spend that money, because if I did I would probably very unhappy and back to square one. I really do not want a 9-5 job to live for the weekend. I have some good talents I can use, I have always wanted to be a successful businessman, so now is the time to start.

I am pledging to turn my £2,000 into £1,000,000 over the next 6 years. I do not k now why I came to the number 6, I just did and it felt right. I will then give 10% of this away, £100,000 to a suitable cause I feel good about nearer the time and then take my very good friends away on a boat charter on Giorgia, the yacht I was just fired from or a boat similiar to this. Really a celebration of the success por working for myself.

Anyway, that is quite into the future, that is the end result as I can see now, it will probably be the start if a lot more then, for now I need to think small. I believe in a lot of spiritual and mind stuff and it is time to put this into full practice. I need to start treating my life as a business, my belongings, the balance sheet and the spending and earning will be the profit and loss account, my mind and body , the most prized possessions of the business of Michael Todd, and so, will be treated like it should. My mind needs to be fit and healthy so does my body and so plenty of physical exercise as well as meditation, learning, reading, affirmations all to keep the mind healthy and moving.

I have always had ideas, and I still have relevant business ideas that I would love to have a go at. The only problem is, I need more than £2,000 for most of these ideas. So, I could submit to this fact, picture the end business success and feel bad for not being there, then spend all my money on booze, fags and drugs, or I can take action. I can change my life and values for the better, and go on this mission to a million.

I am going to have to start small, and some of my ideas can be very small and then grown, I just need to start. I am going to be using a book by Dr Richard Bandler to help me change certain attitudes towards work, exercise and money. I saw a lecture by him in London around a year ago and bought a book by him and it was the first thing I picked up with a feeling of importance when I find out that I was being sacked from my yachting job.

So, this blog will be my tool to record and plan the next stage of my life and then when I have got to the stage of turning £2,000 into £1,000,000, I will have all the evidence here on this blog, I will, and others will be able to look back and see all the tools I used to achieve the things I set out to achieve.

In this path, I suppose I can sell things I already own as they are on my balance sheet as assets, I can buy and sell smaller items, got car boot sales. Consolidate my belongings, sell stuff at my parents or others do not want, basically be my own boss and as long as I am working for myself I am not having to work for anyone else.

Sacrifices are going to be made. The life I have been used to on the boat, always having money to spend of going out, but I think deep down, that was escapism. It is time to stop escaping from reality and get making my reality.

I think a few friends are going to be a bit shocked, but so what, I cannot come back to Grantham and submit to the life I had here before. Yachint gave me time to think and plan things, I am a better person for going away and working on the yacht, therefore, it would be stupid to come back and be the same. This is my pledge to change that for a new start. So, I might as well outline some of the ideas I have had and the ways I can make money from what I have learnt in the past:

1. Sell stuff I own.

2. Buy things that I can sell to other people for a fair profit.

3. Buy things I can make into other things and thel sell at a profit.

4. Perform for money, such as stand up, circus or something along these lines.

It is coming to winter, cold time and I have been having the idea of developing a warm porridge drink that can be sold to people to have in the mornings, the drink will provide them with protein and fibre and vitamins etc and will be the perfect start to their mornings.

Anyway, I have just tried to write the last part of this first article twice now and lost them both time, so I am just going to finish here and promise to dedicate myself to this blog and my cause for going for it and having no regrets. It is up to me how I feel, so from now I feel good positive about the future, even though I now do not know what is coming. See this as as adventure, love me, entirely. I have the skills and talents to go and make this happen.

So, good luck MICHAEL – this is the start of another adventure, GO FOR IT.

In corporate world result always comes in front of process. "Results oriented" is considered a great value. There have already been 3 parts where we put our effort trying to picture mainframe of our idea. But I believe that you noticed the difficulties we are having while trying to make pure and clear description. So, I think it’s time for some changes – I will try to explain how are we going to make our idea come true.

No, it’s not what you thought – I am not going to use all kind of fancy adjectives. You already had enough of them. There are simple steps in our path to creating our product. So how we will do it:

• Reach people who can answer questions that are either relevant to realization of our idea or can really help to execute it. It can be such things as "how to convince programmers from India to cooperate with us", "what are the main drivers for pride and achievement feelings" and many similar more.
• Aim for individuals who could be our consultants in journey of strange corporate world. These persons would be our guardian angels and evil devils at the same time. We will be open to their advise. We will implement their suggestions. We will listen to their critical judgments.
• Contact those who are potentials to cooperate in developing our product as well as creating it. This will include programming specialists, people with the sense of graphics and design.

And this is so much for our way of working. It is not very detailed or explaining much, but I believe that description of a process will be of great additional value towards better understanding of our product. Also you should not forget that this is our plan – how everything will proceed in reality you will able to follow in this blog. Next STOP – action.

PS. Many different questions arose while thinking about the procedure to realize our idea. And I believe that you (especially those mentioned in bullets) have them too. And that is why our main steps of advancing towards our goal consists of consulting people who are far more experienced than we.

The product

Firstly, this is totally incomplete. We’re not even close to polished idea of the product. There are, however, several things we know for sure. As most of the things created today, it will be a synthesis of several things. We are not about to invent new technologies, just new application of existing ones. Basically we want to give our users economic reality to play with.

Of the games, namely MMOGs, we want our product to have a need to think strategically and be demanding intellectually. Want a shooter? Go someplace else.

The simulation of the process, the excitement, limitless possibilities – in other words, not being constrained by reality. Its fun, it’s cool. Tick.

Competitive environment and sense of achievement will also be there, as well as the ability to gain respect by others.

The main difference? In all strategic games you are not the boss. You are GOD. Allocation of resources, military decisions, building of cities – you consult no one, you report to no one. You get fired by no one after screw-ups. This is not how it works in real life. The tools for collaboration needed for decision making, as well as some sort of hierarchy will be there.

Of social networks we want to give users a platform for a community. Users will be known by their real names. If you’re good – don’t hide yourself behind a nickname. If you suck – get lost. This will not be one of the “upload your photo, share your music interests and buy your avatar a pair of pants” type of thing, though. There are already many of those. Far too many to catch attention of the masses and people that are still developing new one are lunatics. Period.

Elements of prediction markets will also be included. Despite the failure of early entrants, this area still looks promising. We are especially eager to extract the wisdom of the crowds, as well as put it in action.

The thing we build will be designed for young professionals or Gen Y as they are called. We’ll expand on our customer in the upcoming posts.

The more time you spend on a website, the better. For the owner (=more ads) that is. Not true for our thing, though. Quality of decisions taken and not time spent will be most important. Addicts are not welcome here.

The thing will be playable on any computer in the world connected to the internet. These days folks either do want to have ultra-cool hardware with 20 processors or they don’t. There’s no middle path anymore. We cater for the later.

So is it clear now what sort of thing we are building here?

No, because things mentioned above are disjointed at best. So why can’t we just say “we’re going to be X for Y”? Because neither X nor Y exists. If it does, we’re not interested anymore. So I guess we’ll struggle explaining it for the foreseeable future. There goes the elevator-speech…