Live Long 101........by Dr. Hinohara

Dear friends, Please forgive me 

for stealing the following article. 

I was very touched by it and 

wanted you to see it too. 

I come from a long line of 

long livers. One aunt had a 

liver so long....but I digress. 

This article speaks to quality 

of life and I don't mean lazy 

over-indulgence. 

Dr. Hinohara is living a happy 

life helping others. I hope you 

too will be inspired by this amazing man. 

Advice From a 101Year Old Doctor!

Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara, Japan, turned 101 last year. As a 97 year old Doctor, he was interviewed, and gave his  advice for a long and healthy life. Shigeaki Hinohara is one of the world's longest-serving  physicians and educators. Hinohara's magic touch is  legendary: Since 1941 he has been healing patients   at St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo and teaching  at St. Luke's College of Nursing. He has published around 15 books since his 75th birthday,  including one "Living Long, Living Good" that has sold  more than 1.2 million copies. As the founder of the New  Elderly Movement, Hinohara encourages others to live a  long and happy life, a quest in which no role model is better  than the doctor himself. Doctor Shigeaki Hinohara's main points for a long  and happy life:  * Energy comes from feeling good, not from eating  well or sleeping a lot. We all remember how as children,  when we were having fun, we often forgot to eat or sleep.  I believe that we can keep that attitude as adults, too.  It's best not to tire the body with too many rules such  as lunchtime and bedtime. * All people who live long regardless of nationality,  race or gender share one thing in common: None are  overweight. For breakfast I drink coffee, a glass of milk  and some orange juice with a tablespoon of olive oil in it.  Olive oil is great for the arteries and keeps my skin healthy.  Lunch is milk and a few cookies, or nothing when I am too   busy to eat. I never get hungry because I focus on my work.  Dinner is veggies, a bit of fish and rice, and, twice a week,  100 grams of lean meat. * Always plan ahead. My schedule book is already full  until 2014, with lectures and my usual hospital work.  In 2016 I'll have some fun, though: I plan to attend the  Tokyo Olympics! * There is no need to ever retire, but if one must,  it should be a lot later than 65. The current retirement  age was set at 65 half a century ago, when the average   life-expectancy in Japan was 68 years and only 125  Japanese were over 100 years old. Today, Japanese  women live to be around 86 and men 80, and we have   36,000 centenarians in our country. In 20 years we will  have about 50,000 people over the age of 100... * Share what you know. I give 150 lectures a year,  some for 100 elementary-school children, others for   4,500 business people. I usually speak for 60 to 90  minutes, standing, to stay strong. * When a doctor recommends you take a test or  have some surgery, ask whether the doctor would  suggest that his or her spouse or children go  through such a procedure. Contrary to popular belief,  doctors can't cure everyone. So why cause unnecessary  pain with surgery I think music and animal therapy can  help more than most doctors imagine. * To stay healthy, always take the  stairs and carry your own stuff.  I take two stairs at a time, to get my  muscles moving. My inspiration is Robert Browning's My inspiration is Robert Browning's  poem "Abt Vogler."  My father used to read it to me.  It encourages us to make big art,  not small  scribbles. It says to try to draw a  circle so huge that there is no way  we can finish it while we are alive.  All we see is an arch;  the rest is beyond our vision but it is  there in the distance. * Pain is mysterious,  and having fun  is the best way to forget it.  If a child has a toothache,  and you start playing a game together,  he or she immediately   forgets the pain.  Hospitals must cater to the  basic need of patients:  We all want to have fun. At St. Luke's we have music  and animal therapies, and art classes. * Don't be crazy about amassing material things.  Remember: You don't know when your number is up,  and you can't take it with you to the next place. * Hospitals must be  designed and  prepared for major  disasters, and they must   accept every patient who  appears at their doors.  We designed St. Luke's  so we can operate  anywhere: in the basement,  in the corridors, in the chapel.  Most people thought I was  crazy to prepare for a  catastrophe, but on  March 20, 1995, I was  unfortunately proven right  when members of the Aum Shinrikyu religious cult launched a terrorist  attack in the Tokyo subway. We accepted 740 victims and in two hours  figured out that it was sarin gas that had hit them. Sadly we lost one  person, but we saved 739 lives. * Science alone can't  cure or help people.  Science lumps us all together,  but illness is individual.  Each person is unique,  and diseases are connected   to their hearts. To know  the illness and help people,  we need liberal and visual  arts, not just medical ones. Life is filled with incidents.  On March 31, 1970, when  I was 59 years old, I boarded  the Yodogo, a flight from  Tokyo to Fukuoka. It was a beautiful sunny morning, and as Mount  Fuji came into sight, the plane was hijacked by the Japanese Communist  League-Red Army Faction. I spent the next four days handcuffed to my  seat in 40-degree heat. As a doctor, I looked at it all as an experiment  and was amazed at how the body slowed down in a crisis. * Find a role model and aim to achieve even more than  they could ever do. My father went to the United States in  1900 to study at Duke University in North Carolina. He was a  pioneer and one of my heroes. Later I found a few more life  guides, and when I am stuck, I ask myself how they would  deal with the problem. * It's wonderful to live long. Until one is 60 years old,  it is easy to work for one's family and to achieve one's  goals. But in our later years, we should strive to contribute  to society. Since the age of 65, I have worked as a volunteer.  I still put in 18 hours seven days a week and love  every minute of it.

Violet meets Spike........Joyce Oroz

I woke up this morning with the realization that my friends are up to their eyeballs with anxiety over Sweet Baby Violet. Did she survive under such dire circumstances? After all, she arrived during the coldest, driest winter since George met Martha. After three months of living under a garbage sack every night, who knew she would thrive? Now she is sending out lovely leaves and looking radiant except for a few bug-bite flesh wounds. Baby Violet is a survivor all right. She's a slip from her mom in Morgan Hill who's a slip from her mom from my garden in Santa Cruz--long ago, before Bono met Sher.

But my friends, the excitement isn't over yet. Spike has arrived, via a chunk of celery I would normally throw into the worm bin. Just the thought of Spike in the worm bin breaks my heart. I put the last two inches of a celery stalk (un-named) in a small dish and added water. Young Spike had a nice southwestern exposure on the windowsill. The celery butt grew a little each day, adding more and more thin white legs on the bottom and greenery on the top. This is Spike's one month birthday and to celebrate, he went out and got potted. Now he lives outside under a garbage sack at night. Stay tuned.

JT Toman, the Author........Joyce Oroz

As the hot seat passes from Lyla to JT Toman, we are reminded that Cozy Catters are amazing people, not just authors. J.T. Toman lives in Boulder, Colorado. She received her Ph.D. in economics from Yale University and has taught econometrics at the University of Sydney and the University of Colorado at Boulder. She also has a degree in zookeeping from Pikes Peak Community College and has cared for everything from butterflies to elephants. She now teaches math at Front Range Community College, and truly believes fractions are useful in everyday life.

In her spare time, J.T. Toman joins the rest of Colorado hiking, biking and skiing. However, much like her cats, she finds food more inspiring than scenery. J.T. particularly loves home- grown tomatoes, udon noodles and tall glasses of chocolate milk, but not at the same time.

JT has fun and interesting answers to my questions. Her mystery novel, PICKING LEMONS, shows off her skill at tight and precise prose. Throw in some laughs and JT's style will lure you in. Here is my new guest in her own words: 

JT, was there someone, something or an event in your life that set you on the road to being an author?

I wrote my first “book” titled “A Big Book of Bear Poetry” when I was in elementary school. It was a book of poems about my favorite stuffed bear toys, and I pestered my mother to take the photos of the bears (having tea parties, jogging, in bed asleep and so forth) to help illustrate it. My first “paid” piece of writing was in my junior year of high school when I won two tickets to the opera for a non-fiction essay I entered in a competition at the local library.

No one suggested I become an author. I would be unhappy not writing, hence I write!

Please tell us what do you like about writing and what bugs you about it?

I love entering the world that I create in my writing. I get immersed in my characters and their lives and can leave behind my day-to-day concerns while I am writing. I love the moment when the characters do or say something that surprises even me! They can cause me to laugh out loud when I am writing.

I am less in love with the process of editing. My sixteen-year-old step daughter writes fan fiction for the show Supernatural, and she and I lament over the need to edit.  We both agree that we love the creative process, but need plenty of chocolate milk to bribe ourselves to edit.

How long have you been writing books and what other writing do you do?

“Picking Lemons” is my first published book. I have a multitude of UFO’s (Unfinished Opuses) lying around ... a children’s book, a memoir about my days as a zookeeper... the usual assortment. I have also written in the field of creative non-fiction essays, and had an essay published in Skirt! magazine in 2009 titled “Punishingly Younger”. http://skirt.com/essays/punishingly-younger

 Tell us about your protagonist. Is she a lot like you? What are her assets and weaknesses?

I love C.J. Whitmore. She is who I wish I was. Smart and sassy. She says out loud all the things I vent in frustration to the bathroom mirror at the end of a day. Of course, she isn’t perfect. C.J. is a tenured economics professor at an elite university. You don’t get to a position like that by being nice. She is quite self-centered, and not what you would call emotionally intelligent.

JT, What is the most exciting thing that ever happened to you?

This is a fascinating question. If you had asked me when I was ten, I would have told you it was going to see CATS the musical. My mother, grandmother and I went as my tenth birthday present, and it was the most amazing evening. I didn't think I would ever come back to earth, and I certainly didn't stop singing the songs for months.

If you had asked me when I was twenty-three, it would have been getting into Yale to do my Ph.D. This meant moving 10,000 miles away from the small island of 200 people I lived on in Australia, and living in New Haven CT. I still remember landing in LAX and thinking "Oh My! There are a LOT of people here! And they are all walking very quickly."

I asked my husband this question this morning, and he said "Surely it was the day you met me." And, while a little sappy, I think he is right. Because when I married my husband, I became a stepmother of two elementary-aged children as well as a wife. And of all the things I have done (zookeeper, economist, author), being a wife and stepmother for the last ten years has been the most exciting, exhilarating ... at times terrifying (I taught both kids to drive!) ... but wonderful thing that has ever happened to me.

 Economic theories can predict many things--just not the death of a renowned Economics professor. When Professor Edmund de Beyer is found in his office strangled to death by his own PhD hood, the police don’t have to look any further than his colleagues in the Economics Department for suspects. After all, Edmund was the most despised faculty member in the department. CJ Whitmore, the department’s only tenured female (who also has a penchant for wearing pink-cowboy-boots to class), resolves to get to the bottom of the mystery using economic principles. Comparing tracking down murder suspects to selecting a used car, she attempts to discern the real deals from the “lemons.” That is, which suspects are really telling the truth and which are lying to protect their guilt? Will CJ be able to pick the lemon before her clever adversary strike again?

Where can we find your book, and a website or blog?

My first book is titled “Picking Lemons: A C.J. Whitmore Mystery.” It is published by Cozy Cat Press. It is available on Amazon in kindle format and paperback. I also have an author website, jttomanauthor.com. 

Thank you JT for taking the time to share your interesting life and book with us today. Good luck in all your ventures!
Happy writing everyone

Charmed, I'm Sure.......Rosalinda Randall

Feeling like Maxine, lost your usual charm, your partner thinks you are basic furniture like the moose head on the wall? Take a listen from Rosalinda. She will charm us into acting like adults--people other people like. Here is Rosalinda! February 2014 Newsletter Turning Up The Charm  Being that February is the month that celebrates love. I thought I'd write about "charm"--which is sort of a requirement to be successful in love, wouldn't you agree? “Charm is the glue that holds marriages together. Charm is your passport to the best houses and the best bedrooms in those houses. . .Every day begins with a couple of people getting out of bed. Every day ends with those people crawling into it again. . .even if you don’t carry it (charm) around all day with you, like a handbag or brief-case, you need it—and lots of it—all night.”  --“Bed Manners, 1942”  Is it so different now?  Is charm a thing of the past?  What makes someone charming?  What makes someone stop being charming?     "It is absurd to divide people into good and bad.  People are either charming or tedious." --Oscar Wilde  Why do lovers stop being charming to one another?  Old-school thinking: "I've already got 'em, so..."  New-school response: Um, do you wanna keep 'em (interested)? Over time, those cute little mannerisms that once were so delightful and charming become tired, annoying, and even repulsive. Do we see it coming? Or do we wake up one morning and decide that we're over it? Does your sweetheart get on your last nerve when they call you in the middle of your lunchtime?  Did it bother you when you were dating? Do you stop what you're doing to hug and kiss when they walk in the door at the end of the day? Remember when you couldn’t wait? Do you cut him/her off mid-sentence?  Do you walk away because you know what they’re going to say?  Do you blurt a sarcastic response, or let out an impatient sigh?  Remember when you’d listen to their every word in a caring and patient manner? Do you still express interest in their hobby? Remember when you used to be their biggest cheerleader? Remember when:  you used to open her door? you used to make or buy him his favorite dessert? you used to say “I love you” often? you used to say “excuse me” if you burped or passed gas? you used to shut the door when using the restroom? you used to put on lipstick or try to look put together? you used to put on a clean shirt and even a little cologne? you used to ask if you could “get them something from the kitchen” when you got up? you used to get up quietly so that you wouldn’t wake them up? you used to keep your snide comments about his/her parents to yourself? And then, you got comfortable, complacent, or too busy. Maintaining (or reintroducing) a little charm can keep the relationship from getting stale, bitter, boring, and even unkind. It all starts with the smallest word or gesture.   If you feel awkward taking on all of the above, start with one and see how it goes. Important note: If you are the recipient of a kind gesture or word, do NOT respond negatively or with skepticism. When someone gives you a gift, do you shoot it down or give it back?  …same thing. I highly recommend that you avoid the following responses and versions of them: What d’ya do now? What’s going on with you? Whoa, there’s a first! What did I do to deserve this treatment? (sarcastic tone, of course) It’s about time you treated me like you used to! This is just weird. I guess you expect me to gush all over you for that? What; did you talk to your mother or something? My brother’s wife always makes him a “real” breakfast, I just get this egg? Charm does not equal formality. Charm is simply a way of pleasing someone, hence looking more attractive to them. Now who doesn't want that!  (To read my latest blog post "Picture Posting Privilege", please "click" on the photo of the teen washing dishes (upper right). Kind regards, Rosalinda Oropeza Randall   _____Etiquette is an attitude. NEW! Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Rosalinda-Randall/e/B00H49T858 Rosalinda Randall is an Societal Etiquette and Civility Consultant and Author, focusing on communication styles and enhancing reputations.  Her California based company is Your Relationship Edge.  She provides on-site workshops for sales teams, front office staff, new hires, from-home-to-work staff, managers, high school and college students.  She brings a modern attitude and humor to the age-old topic of etiquette.  650.871.6200  http://www.yourrelationshipedge.com/

A Book by Joyce Riley........Joyce Oroz

Today I want to talk about my cousin, Joyce Riley and her new book of poems, "Color This Day Beautiful."
Joyce is the youngest adult person I know--for her age. She never ages, but she does keep growing--spiritually. This wonderful great-grandmother, grand lady, youthful person has always and still does write a poem a day. Her uplifting words will make you smile--give you hope. I love to talk to her on the phone or in person because she never expresses negative thoughts, just a beautiful, thankful outlook on life. Her family--my cousins, inherited a grateful attitude, not to mention gorgeous red hair. Read all about it in "Color This Day Beautiful." Available at Amazon.

This book of poems and affirmations is a lot like a box of mixed candies. There's something for everyone. Unlike the candy box, this box will still be full when you finish. Here's an excerpt: 

Color this day beautiful. 
Don't leave it black and white. 
Let your smile be a rainbow, 
which fills each day with light. 
Let your thoughts outline the picture. With words, fill it in. 
Color this day beautiful. 
Think love and then begin.....

Three cheers for Joyce's husband, Jack, who was the persistent motor that helped to make this wonderful book happen!

Lyla on the Hot Seat.........Joyce oroz

Today I am with Lyla Fox (in spirit). I feel like I know her from her fun posts and remarks on facebook, not to mention her wonderful mysteries, "Murder on Cinnamon Street" and "Snoop" A Small Town Gossip Mystery.
Lyla knows how to put her readers smack into Small Town America where things are not quite as innocent as they seem. Here is a typical review of Lyla's "Snoop"

5.0 out of 5 stars Delicious reading

Like a good candy bar, I couldn't put the book down until it was finished. With the proper proportions of sweet, salty, and nutty - it was great fun to read. More, please?

Published 9 months ago by Anne Elk

Now here is Lyla in her own words:

Lyla, was there someone, something or an event in your life that set you on the road to being an author?

When I was very young I read the Nancy Drew series.  I so fell in love with Nancy and her “boon companions” that I wrote Carolyn Keene.  I actually got a letter back and treasured it. I think I carried it around with me and showed it off for six months.  In the letter she said something to the extent that I was a good writer and should keep it up.  Over a decade later, when I learned that there was no actual Carolyn Keene, the damage was already done.  I’d been convinced that a writer was within me.

Please tell us what you like about writing and what bugs you about it?

I don’t like the beginnings, the creation of what is to come, knowing that it probably won’t show up in the final product.  For me, beginnings are merely a jumping off point, something I may change entirely once my book is underway.  What I love is getting into the story, finding out who the characters are and what they’re up to.  Many writers have outlines and I envy them. For me, though, the elements of surprise and discovery are what make my mysteries worth doing.

How long have you been writing books and what other writing do you do?

It seems like I’ve been writing as long as I’ve been walking, but probably my first serious, completed manuscript was a book for the 8-12 year old reader that I completed in my thirties. It was almost bought by Scholastic and won an honorable mention in the Writer’s Digest Annual Writing Contest.  I knew I was getting somewhere when the rejections were handwritten and encouraging, not boilerplate, and I had plenty of those.  I have done a lot of nonfiction writing for ACT and SAT tests, regional publications and national magazines like Newsweek, Forbes, Business Week, and many others. Sadly, they are rapidly morphing into online journals which, for me, are in no way comparable to their predecessors. 

Lyla, please tell us about your protagonist. Is she a lot like you? What are her assets and weaknesses?

I have two series out now.  My first book in the Small Town Detective Series is Snoop whose protagonist is Samuels (Sam) Harper Hayes. She’s an independent young woman who has gone to the small town of Cotter’s Corner to live with her reprobate father. Like me, Sam is a writer, but that’s where the comparison ends.  She is gutsy and I admire her willingness to flee her snobby mother’s tony Chicago digs to go to the small town where her summers were casual and reality-based. She believes in true love and that is probably like me, too.  Oh, and Sam loves tabloids so I guess there’s a third connection to me.  I would never buy a National Enquirer, but I have held up lines in grocery stores as I try to find the scandalous article that the cover relates to.

A friend in Japan just read both Snoop and the second book I wrote titled Murder on Cinnamon Street.  My friend asked the same question, “Is one of the characters based on you?”  Perhaps Elizabeth Clary (E) is a bit like me.  She is dubbed the shaky detective because she’s had panic attacks.  The murder at the beginning of Murder on Cinnamon Street throws E into a panic. I know that feeling.  E is not naturally as brave as Sam but she can’t keep her nose out of the murders happening all around her.
She is a writer, but that’s where the comparison ends.

Lyla's wonderful books, published by Cozy Cat Press, can be purchased from Amazon
Thank you, Lyla, for taking the time to share your story
Happy writing everyone

The Rudest Things........by Rosalinda Randall

January 2014 Newsletter
By Rosalinda Randall, Etiquette Specialist
The Rudest Things

If I asked you for a list of the "rudest things people do," what would you include?

What would I include? Why, thank you for asking:

1. Inconsideration (a.k.a. narcissism): Please, do what you need to do; we'll all wait until you decide what your next move is.
2. Loud cell phone talkers: Unless I'm invited into your conversation, please keep it to yourself.
3. Lack of using the basics: Please, thank you, you're welcome, pardon me, excuse me, and I'm sorry.

I conducted an informal survey asking children what they considered "rude things people do". These are a few on their list:

• Passes gas in public/out loud. (this was repeated by many)
• Burps but does not say excuse me.
• Sleeps a lot when people do presentations.
• Starts bragging out loud.
• Gives a wedgie.
• Runs a red light.
• Fights.
• Is bored when someone is talking.
• Litters.
• Gets drunk and has it affect others in a rude way.
• Calls people names.
• Slams doors.
• Says very bad words.
• Reaches into other people's property.

Are these things, or a variation of, demonstrated in your workplace? Not the "wedgie", I hope.

These and many other gestures, words, or actions in the workplace can elevate the level of stress and general grumpiness, which can negatively affect the atmosphere, which can bring down productivity. And then, you take that vibe home with you.

If you consider each one of the above infractions individually, it can be overlooked as someone just having a bad day. However, if it is an ongoing habit or trait in a co-worker, it will begin to negatively affect the relationship. What can you do?

• Avoid them.
• Privately speak to HR.
• Privately speak with them, approaching it as a "concerned co-worker."
• Hire me to deliver a presentation on tact and civility in the workplace.
• Accept and ignore. (try not to let them see you roll your eyes)

May tact, respect, consideration, patience, and humor be with you as you interact with the temperamental co-worker.

Please take a moment to read my latest blog post by clicking on the guy in the blue shirt (upper right). Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Rosalinda Oropeza Randall

_____Etiquette is an attitude.

NEW! Amazon Author Page:
http://www.amazon.com/Rosalinda-Randall/e/B00H49T858

Rosalinda Randall is an Societal Etiquette and Civility Consultant and Author, focusing on communication styles and enhancing reputations. Her California based company is Your Relationship Edge. She provides on-site workshops for sales teams, front office staff, new hires, from-home-to-work staff, managers, high school and college students. She brings a modern attitude and humor to the age-old topic of etiquette. 650.871.6200 http://www.yourrelationshipedge.com/