QUESTION TUESDAY

What SPF do you use when out in the sun?

I am off to the beach today and I will bring # 50 !

Click below for a live webcam of Pt. Pleasant, NJ...where I will be today!

POINT PLEASANT BEACH, NJ LIVE WEB CAM

  I'll try to wave to you ! 

"Meet Me Between the Covers Book Club"

I am proud to present a book by our very own

ATTITUDE ENGINEER

from the blog

NON-RELIGIOUS CHRISTIAN CHALLENGE

Please enjoy the following excerpts and reviews from Steve's Book "MINDROBICS"

Steve Simms

Steve Simms has spent the past twenty-five years studying the characteristics of top performers. As a full-time professional speaker and writer, he presents his findings and personal experiences in speeches and seminars for corporations and associations around the country.

Steve is the Executive Director of Attitude-Lifter Enterprises, a Brentwood, Tennessee, based speaking and training company. His unique professional-development articles have been published regularly in two national magazines, Selling Power and Zig Ziglar’s Top Performance,  and have also appeared in Reader’s Digest, The American Salesman, and The Inspirator, an international magazine published in new Zealand. Steve is the author of the book: Mindrobics; How To Be Happy For The Rest Of Your Life.

Steve has a B.S. degree in Education, English, & psychology, from the University of Tennesse and an M.Div. degree in theology from Memphis Theological Seminary. Steve is also a pastor in The Church of God in Christ, America's second largest black denomination. He lives with his wife, Ernie (yes she is female), and daughter, Amelia, in Brentwood, Tennessee.

Speech Topics

Programs Include:

Don't Lose Your Marbles--Staying Calm and Effective Under Pressure (Dealing with Stress in the workplace)

The Spirit of Serving Customers (citizens, clients, patients, students) Practical, Proven strategies and applications will assist you in developing an attitude of service.

Lighten Up & Succeed -- The best in motivational humor!

Steve Simms was a great match for us. He made the members laugh. He told stories that everyone could identify with and delivered the message in a low-key manner. His stories provoked thought and consideration. When the group left they collectively 'had a smile on their face.' I highly recommend Steve Simms. He made us think and laugh--often at the same time--and sent people away feeling good. 

Jeffrey Nevins--Communications Director
Maine Municipal Association

 
Not only were you entertaining, providing us with many opportunities to laugh with you, but we left with valuable tips that I am personally using on a daily basis! "Delay Negative Judgement" has become a favorite phrase. We were especially impressed with your personalization of your program by conducting interviews with a few of our folks. It's been a delight to work with you.

Jodi McConaughy--Direct Marketing Mgr.
IBM

 
Steve captures an audience with an easy style and humor that is unique. On an audience's 'likeability' meter, Steve goes off the scale. You can actually feel the room go through an 'attitude liftoff.' Steve's content has substance and his style is truly a pleasure to experience.

STEVE SIMMS

Steve Simms, "The Encouragement Engineer," is the owner of Attitude-Lifter Enterprises and author of the book, MINDROBICS: How to be Happy for the Rest of Your Life. Simms has spent the past 25 years studying the characteristics of top performers and has learned to communicate his findings in a practical, applicable, and inspirational style. Steve Simms has served as a regular writer for two national magazines, Zig Ziglar's Top Performance and Selling Power. Simms has also been published nationally in many other magazines, including: Readers' Digest, Cutting Edge Opportunities, Executive Excellence, and The American Salesman. Targeted content, uplifting humor, and a warm friendly manner make Steve Simms presentations a treat for audiences around the country. His topics include: Don't Lose Your Marbles - Staying Calm and Productive Under Pressure, Lighten Up and Succeed, and The Spirit 0f Serving Customers. Program Highlights: Problems - Everybody's Got Them People Who Feel Good About Themselves Produce Good Results Play Your Country Music Backwards It's All In Where You Put Your Thumb The Three "E's" of EncouragEmEnt Perhaps - Too Soon To Tell! Let Lucy Live Your Losses Silence - The Inner Misfortune Teller The Characteristics of Peaceful (Low-Stress) People Redeem Your Dream 7 Ways to Like Yourself More 8 Ways to Enjoy Your Work Beyond Customer Service Techniques to the Spirit of Service Characteristics of Positive People SUMMING UP: Steve Simms builds rapport by connecting his real life experiences with those of your audience. His focus is on practical, long-term techniques, rather than on short-term hype. Steve Simms speeches and seminars are events that encourage, entertain, and help people.

Meeting God in Strangers

By Steve Simms You don't shoot salesmen, do you?" asked a 20 year old white boy as he stood on a black man's front porch in Columbus, Georgia during the racial uprising of the summer of 1971. The smiling white boy was wearing a T-shirt, shorts, and sandals; and holding a sample copy of Ebony's Pictorial History of Black America. "Oh no! No Sir! We don't shoot salesmen. Come on in here." said the black man. The white boy warmly shook the black man's hand as he walked into the living room and asked, "May I sit down?" "Have a seat." the black man said and pointed to a couch covered with clear plastic. Above the couch was a picture of three men; Martin Luther King, Jr., President Kennedy, and Bobby Kennedy. Beside that was a picture of a black Jesus. The white boy sat down and began to flip through the pages of Ebony's Black History. He showed pictures of slavery, lynching, segregation, police dogs, Madame C. J. Walker, Jackie Robinson, and even the Jackson Five. Somewhere during the sales presentation the white boy asked the black man if he knew Jesus as his Savior. The black man smiled from ear-to-ear and said; "I couldn't have made it without Jesus!" "The white boy said: "I love Him too!" He put down the Ebony sample book and they began to talk excitedly about "sweet Jesus." Before long they were holding hands and praying for each other. Then they embraced warmly, both wiping away tears. When the white boy left, the black man said, "You be careful, Son!" The white boy said, "Thank you, brother. You too!" Then he walked across the yard to the small house next door. He knocked on the door. A black lady opened the door. The white boy said: "Hi, I'm Steve Simms. You don't shoot salesmen do you?" This happened many times a day that summer as I sold black history books door-to-door in the middle of a racial uprising in Columbus, Georgia. A few times I went into my "territory" and found a white-owned grocery store had been burned out. Once I was knocking on doors and police in riot gear marched down the street. But I was never threatened, never harmed, and almost always was warmly received. I even sold books to Black Panthers and was treated well by them. Many times I would be showing my book and find out my prospect was a Christian. I would lay the book down and have wonderful fellowship with my Christian brother or sister. We would testify about God's work in our lives and pray for each other, sometimes for hours. I was always amazed at the kinship and love we "strangers" felt for each other. I vividly remember one day when I was feeling discouraged and homesick. Suddenly a large black woman came around the corner of her house right in front of me. She was joyously singing, "Where Could I Go But To The Lord." I told her I was really discouraged and needed God's help. She put her hands on me and began to pray. It was one of those kinds of prayer you can feel all over your body and way down in your soul. Glory to God! I get excited thinking about it, even now, 31 years later. God is good! He's "better felt than 'telt.'" And God wants to bless you and me through brothers and sisters of a different race. I encourage you to seek out a Christian of a different race. Share Jesus together and pray. You will be amazed at how much God will bless you! Steve Simms is pastor of God's Glory & Grace Church of God in Christ in inner city Franklin, TN. He is also a professional speaker and author of two books: Mindrobics--How To Be Happy For The Rest Of Your Life and Your Sperm Won--Experiencing Your Value As A Championship Human Being.   Serenity Now The Importance of Inner Peace  Tips from author Steve Simms Black Enterprise,  Jan, 2000  by Robyn D. Clarke Here's What It Takes To Achieve Inner Peace Ever notice how some people never seem to let anything get under their skin? They could have been stuck in traffic for an extra hour, spilled coffee on their new suit and missed their daily report deadline--all before noon--and still manage to exude a mind-boggling level of happiness and calm. Doesn't it make you sick? Well, it shouldn't. In fact, you'd probably be a lot better off if you had that inner peace that seems so elusive in the daily grind. While remaining stable on the inside when everything around you is bordering on chaos may be a challenge, it certainly isn't impossible. "Often, there isn't much we can do about our high-pressure circumstances," says Steve Simms, president of Attitude-Lifter Enterprises in Brentwood, Tennessee, and author of Mindrobics: How to Be Happy for the Rest of Your Life . "But you can de-stress your mind and emotions." Indeed, there are a variety of things you can do--taking regular vacations, exercising and getting enough sleep are just a few of them--to keep stress in check. But maintaining a constant state of inner serenity will take patience and practice. Simms offers seven characteristics of internally peaceful people. Incorporate them into your own stress-management routine, and you'll be calm, cool and collected on a regular basis. * Peaceful people are mentally tough. They maintain inner peace by resisting and driving away anxiety-producing thoughts. * Peaceful people limit their responsibility. They have resigned as general manager of the universe. * Peaceful people learn and develop the skills to be effective. They organize, delegate, avoid procrastination, prioritize and avoid perfectionism while pursuing excellence, using time-saving tools and know-how, and knowing when to say "no." * Peaceful people take physical and mental breaks. They know how to relax, unwind, play, pray and get silly. * Peaceful people don't chase rabbits. They don't drop a high-priority task to pursue a less urgent one. * Peaceful people focus. When they are doing one thing, they aren't thinking about something else. * Peaceful people nurture and develop their spiritual life. They don't neglect matters of the soul and the sense of inner peace they produce.   The Challenge of Optimism "Not Caving in to Your Personal Capacity For Despair"   Steve Simms, author of Mindrobics: How to Be Happy the Rest of Your Life, offers this advice for those times when situations fail to meet our expectations:   Withhold Judgment Take a deep breath. While he makes an exception for obvious tragedies (the death of a loved one, for instance), he insists that in most cases we’re on good ground not to make immediate negative judgments about situations that disappoint us. Simm’s advice is good wisdom. Most of our negative judgments are based on very limited information; we know little about what is going on “behind the scenes,” or about how events will unfold in the future as a result of the situation that’s currently discouraging us. Over time, we often find that circumstances which we initially viewed pessimistically have benefited us in significant ways. With the advantage of hindsight, we now see them in a quite different light. Given that fact, we do well, as a matter of principle, to resist passing judgment on any situation until significant time has passed.

Note from Steve Simms:

Currently I am the chaplain/counselor for the Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center in Nashville, TN.  I work with 80 men--teaching classes on positive thinking and spirituality and counseling them one-on-one.  It is very rewarding work.

 

You may contact STEVE at his blog to obtain information on how to purchase his book. 

 

"If anyone wants my book

MINDROBICS: HOW TO BE HAPPY FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, The best place to order is through me.

It is $12.95 plus $4.00 shipping & handling ($16.95)

 

My second book is called YOUR SPERM WON--EXPERIENCING YOUR VALUE AS A CHAMPIONSHIP HUMAN BEING. It is the same price --

 

But -- there is a special for streamers!!! Both books for $20.00 plus $5.00 Shipping & Handling

Just send a check made out to:

Attitude-Lifter Enterprises,

263 Blackman Road,

Nashville, TN 37211

 

 

 

Next Monday I will feature Steve's second book titled:

"Your Sperm WON....Experience Your Value As A Championship Human Being!"

 

(Click on his name above to bring you to his blogsite...)

 

 

SUPPORT OUR PUBLISHED BLOGGERS !

Archives

 

May 30 - DEEJ of Deb's Diddies

 

"This Ain't' Shakespeare......But It Sure Is Real - A Collection of Memories"

 

July 10 - GRANDMA BABA of Grandma Baba Says

"I AM AFRAID - The Affairs of the Heart"

 

Aug 7 - ATTITUDE ENGINEER of Non-Religeous Christian Challenge

"MINDROBICS"

 

If you blog and are a published writer, please contact me to be part of "Meet Me Between the Covers"

Thanks Lucy

 

Editor in Chief
LUCY


BLOGSTREAM:
TRYING NOT TO COME UNDONE

Secrets
of The Tomb

MISS PUPPY INTERVIEWS

UNCLE SCRATCH Of Echoes From The Tomb

PLUS: BIRTHDAYS, BLOG SITE OF THE WEEK & BLOG TIPS

Our lovely Puppy interviews one of our best writers on the Stream, Uncle Scratch !

Puppy's Pages - Click the links below...

SCHNAUZER LOVER

THE PURSE POSSE

STOP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Scratch's Scribblings - Click the links below...

ECHOES FROM THE TOMB

SCRIBBLINGS

NUTCASES

Scratch is that you? Gosh, it’s so great to finally meet you and thank you for allowing me this interview. Are you ready to get started? I hope I’m not too early.

As for what I enjoy most about it? Probably the sense of community, that big invisible “Welcome” sign that hangs in the window of this place is just so incredible, the way everyone finds their voice here so quickly, it never ceases to amaze me.

I remember when we all had plain text and white backgrounds, but we still had great times. One of the best things about Blogstream in the beginning were the spontaneous “blog-fests” that happened periodically.  Kind of what I commonly refer to as “comments gone wild”.   Which of these do you remember that make you chuckle the most and why?

And speaking of Halloween, your “Halloween Odyssey” has always been one of my favorites. You’re a very talented man, my friend. Tell me….where did your interest in vampires come from? You have written a lot about them.  And what other hidden talents and interests do you have that we haven’t been privy to so far?

Uh….now where was I? (looking around nervously)….uh…oh yeah! You’re a single man and seem to be very comfortable with your life. But I’m gonna put you on the spot a little, if that’s okay. Can you describe the perfect woman for you? And since I can see the twinkle in your eye about the result of your little “scorpions and tarantulas” remark, I’m gonna throw in a little extra challenge for ya. Is there a woman on the blog that closely resembles that perfect woman or a combination of the attributes of a few of them?

I absolutely hate abusers of any kind.. The emotional scars that they leave behind on their victims are still there long after the physical ones have healed.  Women, children, and even some men, nobody should have to live through that.. I’ve seen it in animals too, beaten down so bad that they flinch every time you raise your voice, even if its in laughter.. I hate that.

So, let’s move to the first of “THE” questions that we all must answer…..What five people from the Stream would you most like to meet and why?

(All names are also links....click the name and it will bring you to their blog site.)

#1- SHERRY'S CHERRIES

I think meeting Sherry of "Raindrops Makes Things Beautiful" would be a blast, she has a great sense of humor and doesn’t seem to take herself too seriously.

#2 RITA B

Rita of "Momma Never Told Me", because she just has all of those qualities in a person like the kind that I grew up knowing, she seems so nice, and yet you wouldn’t want to mess with her too much.  I know she’s been here since November, but I just had to put her in there she’s an important part of this community .

#3 MR. ORNERY

Well what can you say about Mr O. of  "Mr. Ornery's Corner"?  He just has that kind of sly sense of humor that puts me on the floor laughing.  You never know what to expect out of Mr O.

#4 CITIZEN ZANE

Citizen Zane of “Like My feelings Are Observed”, just because he seems like someone that would be very interesting to sit and talk too.

#5 QUIOXTE

Quioxte of “Hot Flashes” is another woman with a wicked little sense of humor.  And she seems to know how to have fun with everything.  Its important, to be able to laugh.

Of course the choices really come in no particular order I would really like to meet so many.

And uh….you never did tell me what that thing is that seems to be scurrying around under that chair? (inching toward the door).

Huh? Oh.. Yeah right.. The cd thingy.. five cd’s are in heavy rotation in the Tomb right now, that sort of reflect my taste in music..

1 - The Essential Leonard Cohen

2 - Elegant Gypsy by Al DiMeola

3 - When A Guitar Plays The Blues by Roy Buchanan

4 - The Reunion CD by Cream

5 - The Best of John Hiatt

I’ve been told that I have strange taste in music.. but I mostly listen to whatever strikes my mood at the time I’m listening.

By the way, I sincerely hope your back feels better my friend.

Is there anything you’d like to add or comment on?

Thanks for coming to The Tomb Pup!

FEATURED BLOGSITE THIS WEEK

Just in case you have had your head in the sand all week, please check out the beautfiul SIX and the talented PRANK to see what is brewing on the Stream!

BOG TIP OF THE WEEK

COLO taught me how to add links in this cool new way. All you have to do is be in "advanced mode", find the "url" you want to link, click the icon above with the globe and insert the url and name it ! 

Now on my site, when you see a name such as Colo above, all you have to do is click it and it will bring you directly to Colo's blog !

THIS WEEK'S BIRTHDAYS

Please stop by and wish them a happy birthday!

IN THE STREAM

SATURDAY

              Okay, now where did that deranged squirrel go?   

   DAISY

Mama is ninety-three years old. She often scolds me for being forgetful. "Lord-a-mercy, Young'un," she'll say, shaking her head at me. "I'll declare if you wouldn't forget your rear end and leave it in the chair if it wasn't already in your pants."

LADY LEE

That went over like a turd in a punch bowl!

Just say no to Gerbil Ovaries, it could lead to the harder stuff...

PRANK

Do the Friday Dance!</