Everything is better on a stick

2010-10-20T19:37:00.001-04:00

I had my first doctor appointment in over 2 years today. Not by my choice mind you. I called to have my “once-every-6-months-or-so” refill of pills, for when I get a migraine, called in and was told I had to come see the doctor or no pills. Ok, so I understand that office visits are how she gets paid but all they did was listen to my aches and pains, take my blood pressure (which was down thankfully), then make me an appointment for next April. Just seems like a waste of time and energy to me…

And basically I have the same thing wrong with me everyone else does. The whole sexually transmitted and incurable thing called life is taking its toll on me.

But while I was there the TV in the waiting room was playing the news and all the stupid political ads. It got me to thinking and wondering if I was lied to as a child. There were a set of things I was told everyone was taught as a child. Rules to live by, or so I thought. I am discovering that some parents failed to teach these rules to their kids. But if that is true then so did the education system and in some cases the church’s as well.

Were these children failed? Did somehow a large group of children from all over the country or the world just happen to miss the same days of lessons, missing out on important teachings? Did no one think it important to take them aside when they returned and share with them what they had missed?

Then I got to thinking about all the years between then and now and all the times that broke the rules. Did some explain it then or just let it pass? And now that these people are all adults do we just ignore it when it happens or should we inform them of their wrongs and that these rules are not to be broken?

I know, a bit dramatic… But my point is this, how did so many miss out on being taught the rules? So I believe that they know the rules and are just choosing to break them. They saying to us that they just don’t care, they know we are follow the rules but they are not.

So now I think it has come down to us, we need to tell these people that we won’t tolerate it! They should be removed from a place where they can flaunt their disregard for the rules. Then someone needs to reinforce the rules.

We need to make it known to those in politics and the media that “If they can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all!”

A political campaign should be about telling the people what they have done and what they plan on doing, not telling you half truths or opinions or out and out lies about the person they are running against. Our society has become a place where we are always being told to choose “the lesser of 2 evils”. Why should I vote for someone I don’t like just because I like the other guy less. Compromise is fine and will always be a part of government but come on, when was the last time you agreed with everything a candidate said? When was the last time you trusted the person you voted for to do everything they said? It has become a running joke in our country that politicians LIE! I don’t find that funny!

We give these people so much power and control over our lives but we EXPECT them to lie to us? This is just as dumb as just accepting that there will be add-ons to every bill that passes, whether they have anything to do with the original bill or not. What has happened to this country and its people…Well that’s just the way it is. BULLSHIT

Elections should be nothing more than a candidate laying out a plan, itemizing in detail what they plan to do, why and how. They should explain why they think they will be the better person for the job. Then a group from both sides should investigate and report on whether what they said about themselves is true or not. Then leave it to the people. Think of the money savings on political campaigns. After the election the winner will then be judged on whether they follow through on their stated plans so when election time comes again the facts will be shared from one place. NOT from theirs or the other side but from the middle. In this system the politicians and their staff can spend more time explaining why they are not accomplishing what they told us they would rather than campaigning.

We are being told “That’s just the way it is.” The one that really sickens me to hear is “We have the best system in the world what more do you want?” Right so everyone turn in ALL your electronics, hand over the DVD and IPods we are going back to 45’s because they were the best there was.

REALLY?

We never sit by and except that, we are always trying to make things better so why not here, why do we except half truths from the system the governs us? Why do we just except that we will be lied to? We are WAY past preventative maintenance, it is broken and the people in charge of it like it that way! Would you keep going to a car mechanic that never totally fixed your car or broke other things on it each time you took it to them and charged you to fix them?

NO, so what’s up people, that is exactly what you are doing!

c Shell Franklin

2010-09-20T14:50:00.001-04:00

Eggshells and Friends

We’ve all heard at least one of the saying about true friends: there are a lot more than these. ‘Friends help you move, real friends help you move bodies.’ And ‘A friend will bail you out of jail; a real friend will be sitting next to you saying, “Damn that was fun!”.’

So here is my take on the different levels of people we know and how we interact with them. A friend is someone you know well and regard with affection and trust. Most of us have very few of these, maybe 10 at the most. We have even fewer true friends. These are people we trust with almost all of our secrets, but they are also the ones that can hurt us the most with betrayal.

Most people in our lives are not really friends they are just acquaintances. They are simply people with whom we are acquainted. They are the people we may or may not know their names but we see them often enough that we say we know them. We say hi to them on the street or at work but we would not really say we know them personally.

Where am I going with this you may be asking; well, I want you all to think of the last group meeting you were in, maybe a church group, a community organization, or even a business meeting of some sort. Now, with that in mind did you like everyone there? Are any of them friends or were they just all acquaintances?

Now as happens in groups; discussions break out, topics are brought up that not everyone agrees on and the topics are talked about, maybe debated, and sometimes they are even argued loudly. Once this starts everyone takes sides based on what they believe or feel on the topic.

Now that we all have the picture in mind I want each of you to think about how you feel, how you go about bringing up your point or disagreeing with others. Do you just speak your mind or do you temper your opinion so as not to hurt others feelings?

Example: You are in a meeting and there is a person that each meeting has to go into so much detail about how hard their job is and how much they do for the group. They have done this for years and everyone just sits and listens to them, not correcting them, not cutting them short, and not telling them when they are wrong. Now, after this has happened for so long, the person actually believes they are as good as they say and that everyone else thinks so too.

My first thought on this is no one there is truly their friend, a true friend would have told them the truth, shut them up and put them in their place. A true friend would not let them stay at the level there are or allow them to get to the point where no one else at the meetings even listens to them anymore. The rest of the people in the room are just being polite, in their minds. Most would rather just tell the person to sit down and shut up but they don’t for fear that they may be the only one thinking that way. So we are worried about friends of friends and so on.

I have several concerns about this, first is how this is harming the group/organization. It is a waste of meeting time, sets a bad precedence, and leads to bad feelings. A meeting is not the place for egos. Meetings take planning to make sure everyone that needs to be there can make it and that there is enough time for all the topics that have to be discussed. Everyone’s time is valuable so allowing a few people to take it up just to build their own ego is a disservice to everyone else there. I am also concerned that this person may not be the best person for the job if so many people want to shut them up. An organization needs to be run by those that have the best interests of the whole organization and its future in mind. If someone is in a place of authority just for the power or the ego boost this is harming the organization. This may not always be visible, as other may be picking up the slack of the few not doing their jobs, but think how much farther the group could be if everyone was able to put that extra time and energy into their own work?

Now I am just as guilty of this as the next person but I think that will come to an end now that I recognize it as happening. If someone is not doing their job point it out, make it clear why you feel that way and how to correct it. If after time it does not get fixed, remove the person and get someone that will do the job. If they are doing the job but just want to brag about their work to boost their ego, put a stop to it. If the person is in a visible job others will know they are doing it well, if they are not then management should be publicly acknowledging theirs and everyone else’s work performance.

c Shell Franklin

2010-07-01T10:44:00.001-04:00

Let’s take a walk down memory lane today. Close your eyes and think back to your school days, remember the different elections we had and how they were handled. Now open your eyes before you see something there to make you scream.

I remember having an election for student body officers and an election for kings and queens of dances. Thinking back I recall teachers explaining that the elections for officers were important and should not just a popularity contest like the other elections were. Voting we were taught was suppose to be done only after you had looked at the issues, listened to what the candidates had to say on the issues, and then you decided who would do the best job for position. I was taught that voting for a party simply because they were the best for you personally; was short sighted, selfish, and strictly a political move for your own gain.

If an election is simply a popularity contest; then let’s treat it as such! Let get rid of all the questions and answers, stop talking about what is best for the organization, and call it what it is, a barter, I give you my vote and you do something for me.

When you vote do you vote based on your whole hearted belief that your candidate will be the best for the organization? Or do you vote based on a hope they will give you a job you want or they won’t hinder your goals for a different organization? Or the one that bothers me most, I think, voting based on family or friendship. This one says to me that you truly care nothing for the future of the organization and you are just throwing your vote away without thinking.

But in the end it comes down to the same thing, politics and friendships win out over what’s best for the organization once again. “Me, me, me”. That is what politics have become. What is the person running going to do for “me” not are they the best for the job.

When a candidate listens to what the masses are demanding, takes the time to design out a plan to get there, and then actually sets it in motion showing visible signs it is working; and then someone else is elected, what does that say about the voting habits of the masses? Then when the winning candidate takes the ideas and plans of the other and runs with them; that tells me a lot about candidate that did win.

So, to finish, I will leave you all with a simple question; Do you vote based on what is best for the future of the organization or what was best for you?

c Shell Franklin

2010-06-21T17:52:00.000-04:00

He swings in on rope, not asking what the other end is attached to, sword in hand and feather sticking out of his hat. He lands in the midst of the crowd and challenges them all. “I’m back and I’m disgusted with what I am finding!” No one moves or speaks, they just stare, a look of puzzlement on their faces.

Ok, maybe it is not that dramatic but that would be cool! Ok, maybe not the green tights or the pointed leather booties. (We’re men, we’re men in tights. Yeah, tights!) I know, it has been a long time since my last post, my apologies. But it has been a very long time for me. The things I’ve seen, the stuff I’ve done… Ok, briefly, for those that are going to ask.

Since my last post I have seen drag queens, zombies, hypocrisy, and mislead freedom. I planned for horrors yet unseen while I held my breath knowing those in charge could not be counted on. I have seen more skin of more people. (Put some damn clothes on people! Unless your female and size 14 or above, then you are allowed to take it all off.)

I have dreamed of a world where all the people in charge were appointed by me and it was a wonderful place. A place where crimes were punished quickly and publicly. Good was rewarded and bad was shunned and humiliated.

But that is all that needs to be said and I will move on. On to some random thoughts I have had and put to paper recently.

So, someone please explain to me why the bicyclist that ran the red light, cut off the street and onto the sidewalk almost running over several people walking has the right to demand I share the road with him? I will gladly share the road with other law abiding citizens but as I have not seen one person on a bicycle in this town obeying the same laws I do why should I look out for them?

As a society, we force feed our children fast food an apathy while the media tells them they are fat and lazy. We tell our kids that hard work and being responsible is what will get them ahead in life but in the real world it comes down to money and who you know or how much noise you can make. We lie to our kids thinking they are too young to understand the truth but at what age are they old enough? And is that different for each kid and each generation? Children look to adults for everything, like sponges they absorb everything; even that it is ok to lie… We tell them not to do things that are bad for them but they watch us do those same things. We swear, speed, j-walk, and even cheat and then we wonder why each generation is getting worse. We are teaching it to them!

We send our kids to school to learn and be socialized but take no interest in what they are getting taught till there is a problem then we blame the teachers and the system. Teaching our kids is our job, we, the parents, are the ones ultimately responsible for their education. We choose to pass that on to our local schools and the teachers they hire but that is the same thing as a manager passing on a job to a subordinate, ultimately it still comes back to us. Teachers are simply our employees and as such we should be communicating with them constantly, adjusting things that are not working properly and checking the work they are doing. And here is the important part, are you ready? IF YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO TAKE THE TIME TO DO YOUR PART, DO NOT GET MAD AT THE TEACHERS!! Enough said, moving on….

People of self importance amuse me. I have encountered a few recently and though they are a pain in the butt, mostly they are only important in their own mind. They hype themselves so often that they have come to believe it’s true. Some people have the ability to make the hype come true but most don’t. The ones that do were important to begin with and hype was not necessary. For the others no amount of hype will ever be enough. A lot of celebrities have bought into their own hype even though they are just people, like you and me, doing a job, unlike you and me, being over paid for it. But at the point they are inconsiderate or rude to the fans that keep them working they have lost perspective and are no longer worthy of the position they hold.

Demographics are interesting, they help you understand the who, what, when, where, how, and how much in most situations. Demographics for a group of people would be ages, races, genders, religious beliefs, income, marital status, and so on. You know, we have all seen the question and thought “Why do they need to know all this?” Well, here is why. If I own a business that sells products to consumers, knowing all that about them helps me determine what products to carry. If 80% of my customers are between the ages of 15 and 20 then I will not stock a lot of products that are primarily bought by senior citizens. I also will not be advertising in AARP’s monthly magazine. You will most likely not see an ad for Mtn Dew or Cheetos in a health food magazine because the people that read that magazine are not the people most likely to by those products. Understanding demographics can help most businesses and not knowing them can kill a business faster than poor service or over pricing.

So there I was driving down the freeway, my thoughts on why each generation seems to care less and less about laws, manners, or just common courtesy” when a police call sped past me doing at least 20mpg over the speed limit. My first thought was “shouldn’t they have their lights on if they are rushing to a call?” Well I followed them, not speeding but watching to see where they went. They got off the freeway at the same place I was so when I pulled off I was surprised to see them parked at Wendy’s. I was saddened. How is it that the people we pay to enforce our laws don’t seem to follow them? And why should our children look up to or respect the police if they punish us for breaking the law but they do it on a regular basis? I got to thinking about how many times lately we have heard about politicians breaking some law or another and just getting a slap on the wrist, if that.

Once again I am pointing out that we are teaching our kids by example, whether we like it that way or not, that the rules don’t always apply so they don’t need to always follow then. There is no consistency in what they are taught and what they see everyday going on in the world.

c Shell Franklin

2009-12-23T10:51:00.001-05:00

Sigh…

Wow has it been a long couple of months. Sorry to my followers for the lack of post, way too many other things going on.

Ok, first some history…

I was married at the way to young age of 18 and first child by 19 (na na na nineteen, for those that get the song) and all while in the army. My wife then was 6 years older than me and Korean. We had our problems at times communicating, getting over cultural differences, and a military lifestyle to deal with. I do feel she has some variation of depression so that to was a running problem. I also believe she was/is a bit racists, as in, she never wanted the kids to learn Korean and talked about how they were American and should only learn that. We had two kids together, both daughters which was another point we didn’t agree on. She wanted boys, I so only wanted girls. Divorced in the mid 90’s, remarried a couple of years later and am still married.

So jumping ahead to now, my ex still calls me if she has a problem, needs someone to talk to, or just to vent at someone. Her current husband still cannot talk to her about everything, so I get the pleasure of explaining things to her at times that he can’t.

But, my whole reason for this history lesson is this; her and her husband promised our youngest that her collage would be paid for so she enrolled. She started her first quarter, was told not to worry about it, so she didn’t. Now the quarter is over, they didn’t pay it all so now she can’t register for next quarter and has now had to move back home. She made that decision; didn’t want to keep going through this. So she is now going to go to a cheaper and closer college for a year. Going to get a job to cover her own schooling so she can go back to where she wants to be.

I don’t totally blame the ex, her husband more. He was the one with connections at the school and promised they get it taken care of. She has enough troubles right now, new business, lost their house, and he spent 9 days in the ICU recently. With all that going on… Oh well, another day another problem to fix.

Let’s see, what else has been happening?

Well, same daughter was assaulted by her now ex boyfriend. He hit her so hard he broke his hand. She has not a mark on her, other than a broken heart. But she now has a new guy taking a lot of interest in her and they are now dating, we’ll see where that goes. But for now it was good for her to see she was wanted by others (self-image and youth problems).

Other daughter, older one, has been saving her money for a car, and to go back to school. She has recently become engaged to her current boy toy, we called him Mr. Right-now for a long while. I’m not sure how I fell about him as I see her having to argue with him about things that I would not think anyone would see the way he does. He has a lot of chauvinistic outlooks on life and that just will not cut it with her, so they fight. But he must be doing something right; she has kept him this long. But time will tell…

With all this I am going back to school for some software classes and maybe take enough to transfer my other school credits and life experiences into enough credits to get that paper degree. I think it would be nice get but don’t get me wrong I will take real world experience and training over classroom work any day.

I thought my cat was dying but it turned out to be a hyperthyroid. Now we need to give him a pill 3 times a day. And feed him special food for awhile to rebalance his system. Not that any of this would of matter if I had just killed him last night for looking at me and pooping on the carpet. But he is still alive by sheer force of will on my part.

Other things going on in my life are; helping to plan two conventions, coding the software to run one of them, trying to stay ahead of bills, and hoping this next year will be better for everyone.

I know I need to answer a few of you back and Thank you to Heather for the Award. I will try to get to all this soon!!

c Shell Franklin

2009-12-04T13:54:00.001-05:00

Really?? Is it really that hard to use your turn signal?

As many of you may have guessed from some of my earlier post, I spend a lot of time in my car. I drive all over town for client appointments, taxiing the kids, taking my wife to and from work, and just to be out of the house. A lot of times it is just me in the car so I get to spend time “sightseeing” as it were; watching all the other drivers, people on the sidewalks, and don’t get me started on bicyclists. (If the hundred or so I see on a daily basis are the norm for the rest, none of them should be allowed on the road! But that is a post for another day.)

Today we discuss the simple use of the turn signal. You know, that thing that the law requires you to use when turning or changing lanes. Way too many drivers don't use their turn signals, some because one hand is holding a cell phone while the other is needed to steer the car. Bit I have seen people drinking coffee and talking on the phone at the same time so I don’t think the lack of a hand is really the problem.

Daily I see countless vehicles weave in and out of lanes without signaling their intent and possibly with very little forethought. Too high a percentage of drivers ignore street markings all together, straddling the lanes as they multi-task or just daydream. Drivers get in their car and seem to believe they are the only ones on the road and to my great horror they drive with that thought in their head.

Let’s do a comparison. If you drive your car at least once a day for more than 10 miles, which applies to most of us, then you change lanes or turn corners at least 5 times a day. This is a very conservative number, I know. So, with this in mind using your turn signal should happen at least 5 times a day. The reason I figure this number out is a friend of mine told me that it was just too much to remember to do each time they changed lanes or turned.

So I asked them, “How many times a day do you use the restroom?”

They guessed maybe 5 times. So I felt it important to ask them if they remembered to pull their pants down or back up each time they went. Needless to say they did not get it.

My point is this, if you can remember to pull your pants down and back up each time you are capable of remembering to use your turn signal.

With that said I think it is pure laziness and rudeness that keeps most people from using their blinkers. Most people just don’t care about anyone else on the road. They drive like they are the only ones out there and that even if they aren’t “who cares.”

Each time you get behind the wheel of a car you are legally required to follow the law but even more than that you are possibly putting your life and the lives of everyone else you come in contact with on the line. Slippery road, road hazards, car malfunctions, or even medical emergencies can all cause you to do something that could injure you or someone else by accident, hence the name “Car accident.”

But driving with no regards to others sharing the roadways with you is not an accident, it is something that you do on purpose. Every one took the driving test, we all know the rules. We all know that turn signals are required by law to be used EVERYTIME we turn or change lanes. So failing to use them is on purpose and as far as I’m concerned any damages or injuries should be considered a planed event.

If you can do something that could have prevented a car collision and you do not to me it is the same thing as you having done it on purpose.

A turn signal is there to alert others around you that you are about to change the direction of that ton or more of metal you are in control of and moving at a great speed. It is there to give others that ability to, in some small way, know your intent and adjust accordingly so as not to get hurt.

I was riding with my youngest daughter the other day and she was trying to change lanes so as not to miss her turnoff. She had her turn signal on and was half way into the lane when this pickup truck comes across 2 lanes, no signal, and almost into the side of her. She moved back where she was and slowed a little as he continued to cut across 2 more lanes, still no signal. As she was catching her breath the guy in the car that she would have ended in front of sped up and pulled over right in front of her with no signal.

The saddest part of all this is neither of these people was even aware that they had almost caused an accident…

Is a life worth more than the second it takes to flip that lever?

Is it really that hard to use your turn signal?

c Shell Franklin

2009-11-23T13:00:00.001-05:00

Evolving toward what?

The human race is always striving to better itself, make life easier for all of us. We envision a better tomorrow, a world free of conflict, a world free of wars, and plainly put a easier more comfortable life.

That bothers me!

Are we trying to make life too easy? Are we on our way to the humans in Wall-e?

In today’s day and age we are so obsessed with living longer, saving every possible life and then prolonging them; even if they are only being kept alive by machine. What happened to Darwinism? Have we in our fight for survival made Darwinism obsolete? Personally I think in moving to the top of the food chain and destroying all the predators bigger than us, Mother Nature has just made them microscopic.

Humans, just like all animals, exist for one purpose: to breed. We fight against it, we say we have evolved but it still comes down to women look for a good provider and men look for younger women more capable to bare children. We claim to be interested in higher purposes, such as artistic or scientific pursuits, the fact remains that these are superfluous activities. On an instinctual level we all revert back to what we have done since the beginning of time and that can be broken down into two things: Stay alive as long as possible and Breed as much as possible.

It’s sad, but true. As a kid, I was always under the misguided impression that grown-ups were subject to significant obstacles to achieve the whole “staying alive” thing. But each generation does its best to make sure that the obstacles they had are not there for their children. Then you had to get a job so you could get food and shelter and all that was hard and costly.

But our kids grow up to discover that none of that is true, each generation makes life for the next easier in some way, but the younger generation never sees it. All they know is it has always been this way for them and they want it easier and with less hard work.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like the idea of my kids having to go through any of the hard stuff I did, but if they don’t, they won’t learn the lessons I did and I worry what sort of a person they will grow to be. Are we creating bigger problem down the line by reducing smaller ones now? What are we teaching the next generation by removing the things that taught us as we traveled the path?

Are we really doing them a kindness?

I have to wonder if the fittest are really the ones that are surviving in today’s society. Hass the human race become a giant net, dragging along all the genetic flotsam and jetsam that should have long ago been weeded out of the gene pool?

But if our “herd” should have been thinned, why wasn’t it? Is nature allowing us to over populate, under prepare, and just get fat and lazy so she can do a mass thinning?

Why has evolution seemed to have stopped?

Humans have no natural predators, and we allow even the weakest among us to survive and long enough to breed. The human gene pool is becoming more diluted every day.

From this viewpoint I believe we are heading into the twilight of the human species: as our artifices become stronger and stronger, and do more for us, we become weaker and weaker.

We have stopped thinking of a hard day’s work as a good thing. And we are teaching our kids that that laziness is something to strive for.

c Shell Franklin

2009-11-13T14:54:00.002-05:00

A waste of time and money?

This is going back, sort of, to my earlier post about consequences but here I am going to show you what has happened because of the lack of consequences.

By the end of 2006 roughly 1 in every 31 adults in the United States was in prison, jail, on parole, or supervised release, according to the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS).

During the late 1970s, there were about 268,000 inmates in prisons spread throughout the 50 states. Shockingly, by the end of 2006, there were over 2.4 million.

With such an increase you would think the crime rate would be down but it wasn’t. Even with that many people in prisons the crime rates remain as high if not higher.

Now here is where it gets good. In 2001, the average inmate cost over $22,500 annually, or about $62 a day (BJS). So today I am assuming the cost is even higher, but I will use that number for now.

Of the 2.4 million, over 20,000 inmates, spread across 30 states, are kept in lockdown and complete isolation in a 10-foot by 14-foot room for 23 hours a day, with one hour of exercise.

These people the “worst of the worst”—prisoners who, given the current system, could not follow the laws of government nor the rules of lower security prisons. Virtually labeled unfixable, these criminals will live out their lives in solitude—with little hope they will change.

So, let do some math here 20,000 people locked in cells for life, no chance of ever getting out and it is costing the taxpayer’s $62 a day.

Wait for it…

$1,240,000 a day, every day! That’s $452,600,000 a year!

Does anyone else see a problem here? Why if a person has been declared so bad for the world are we wasting so much to keep them alive? Not a productive member of society, never will be, and might never have been.

Oh and get this, prisoners have started suing state and federal governments for inhumane conditions, stemming from the problem of overcrowding. Often, believe it or not, the inmates win, with the courts ordering the institutions to clean up their acts.

Now let’s ad in the ones might get out, those that the system says may be able to be rehabilitated. Today’s prisons have three basic objectives: punish a criminal by taking away his time, remove him from society (in an attempt to remove crime as well) and rehabilitate inmates to become better functioning members of society upon release.

I say it has failed in all 3. Today’s prisons give inmates nothing but time, they take classes, get degrees, body build, and the worse part; socialize with more criminals.

Correctional facilities are becoming “colleges” for criminals. Inmates are housed with other offenders, they have time to discuss, learn and hone their abilities, including learning how to better escape capture. Rather than being rehabilitated, prisoners are released, only to commit criminal acts again—but now more effectively.

Of the prisoners released in 1994 (the most recent nationwide study by the BJS), 67.5% were rearrested within three years.

I would bet this percentage has increased since that time.

America’s prisons are a failure and produce no tangible results. They just don’t work.

We have raised a generation that believes it can get away with anything, and it’s right. We have lawyers that will defend the guilty to make a profit. We have people and groups that want to make prisoners, which would just as soon shoot them, more comfortable. And I will throw this one in just because it creeps me out. We have websites dedicated to women who want to date criminals, the worse the better…ewwwww!!

How did we get here? What group of “Oh, we can’t do that, it’s too harsh!” brought us to this point and can we fix it?

A friend of mine said to me the other day that he was afraid of what this country was going to be like for his grand kids. Sadly he was more concerned about what the government was spending money on.

We have our heads stuck…in the sand. We are so concerned with the minute details that the bigger picture has become a mess. We need to start at home, fix our kids, yes, WE need to fix OUR kids. Not the school, not some church or community organization. Each one of us.

Teach them there are consequences and enforce them!

And to the older ones, the ones that didn’t get that taught to them at home. Stop babying, punish then fast and hard and publicly.

Shoot the first one that gets out of line, the rest will fall in line quickly…

c Shell Franklin

2009-11-12T10:12:00.003-05:00

Welcome to all you new readers and thank you to f8hasit for the awesome award. I’m kind new to this so if I put it on my page wrong please let me know.

Next; today’s memories I kind of blame on Heather. Only partially, I can never get these things out of my head, ask my wife I talk about them all the time.

Let’s all take to one knee and bow to the greats, Sid and Marty. These two men single handedly shaped a lot of our childhoods. Gave us people to look up to, moral codes to live by, and entertained us for hours.

Who are they, for those asking?

“Sid and Marty Krofft are a sibling team of television producers who were influential in children's television and variety show programs, throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. They are largely known for a unique brand of ambitious fantasy programs, often featuring large-headed puppets, high-concept plots, and extensive use of low-budget special effects. The team also dominated the arena of celebrity music/variety programs during the period.” – Wikipedia

Memories coming back? Well I’m about to flood you with them so hold on...

The one most remember is ‘Land of the Lost(1974).’ It was the adventures of the Marshall family (father Rick, his son Will, and younger daughter Holly) who get sucked into an alternate universe inhabited by dinosaurs, a primate-type people called Pakuni, and aggressive humanoid/lizard creatures called Sleestak.

This show was great not only visually but it had an underlying message. It showed kids that adventures happened when least expected and to normal people. It also let kids see there was danger everywhere but also beauty and fun. It taught kids to think on their feet to stay one step ahead of the dangers in their life. We also go to meet the Enik, he appears to be one of the bad guys but proves to be a help at times; teaching kids to look deeper than just what is on the surface.

Sid and Marty were great, they taught and entertained on a low budget and it didn’t matter. We all loved and hated the characters in the shows; we saw their flaws and their strengths. When they made mistakes they owned up to them and dealt with the consequences. And no matter how bad it got they were still happy with what they had because they had others who cared with them. I wish TV and movies were like this today.

Oh well, time to list the rest so we can all sigh and have happy thoughts. Make sure you click on the links; I will try to get some clips from all of them.

H.R. Pufnstuf (1969) was the first Krofft live-action, life-size puppet, program. It was fairy tale of good versus evil and centered on a shipwrecked boy named Jimmy. As an 11 years old boy Jimmy takes a ride on a mysterious boat to kooky Living Island, home of dancing trees and singing frogs. The Mayor of Living Island was a friendly and helpful dragon named H.R. Pufnstuf. Jimmy had been lured to the island with his friend, a talking flute named Freddy, by a magic boat which promised adventures across the sea. The boat was actually owned and controlled by a wicked witch named Wilhelmina W. Witchiepoo who rode on a broomstick-like vehicle called the Vroom Broom.

The Bugaloos (1970) was a live action puppet show and the Bugaloos were a musical group comprised four British-accented teenagers with antennae and wings, who lived in Tranquility Forest and had their own rock band. They wore bug-oriented outfits which allowed them to fly, and were constantly beset by the evil machinations of Benita Bizarre, who was covetous of the Bugaloos’ musical prowess.

Lidsville (1971) was a show involving a teenage boy named Mark who fell into the hat of Merlo the Magician and arrived in Lidsville, a land of living hats. The hats on the show are depicted as having the same roles as the humans who would normally wear them. For example, a cowboy hat would act and speak like a cowboy. The characters' houses were also hat-shaped. The villain of the show was a magician named Horatio J. HooDoo.

Sigmund and the Sea Monsters (1973) centered around two brothers, Johnny and Scott Stuart, who discover Sigmund, a friendly young sea monster who had been thrown out by his comically dysfunctional undersea family for refusing to frighten people. The boys hide Sigmund in their clubhouse, and wacky hi-jinx ensues as they attempt to elude Sigmund’s relatives and the boys' housekeeper.

Far Out Space Nuts (1975) was about a seemingly dim-witted but uniquely clever maintenance worker employed by NASA, and his grumpy, short-tempered co-worker. While loading food into various compartments to prepare a rocket for an upcoming mission, Barney instructs Junior to hit the "lunch" button, but Junior mistakenly hits the "launch" button. The rocket blasts off and takes them on various misadventures on alien planets.

The Lost Saucer (1975) was about two time-travelling futuristic androids named Fi and Fum who land their flying saucer on present day Earth. They inexplicably invite a young boy named Jerry and his babysitter Alice to check out the interior of their craft. As onlookers begin to gather, the two androids become nervous about attracting attention, and abruptly take off with Jerry and Alice. The flying saucer has the ability to travel through time, and the controls which allow the androids to specify an exact date becomes damaged, thus preventing the androids from returning Jerry and Alice to their rightful time and place.

Dr. Shrinker (1976) was a mad scientist who creates a shrink ray that can minimize anything. Three young adults named Brad Fulton, B.J. Masterson and her brother Gordie Masterson, crash land their plane on an island. As they make their way to the only house on the island, they meet the aptly named Dr. Shrinker and his assistant, Hugo. Dr. Shrinker, in an effort to prove that his shrinking ray works, shrinks the three people down to six inches tall. The remainder of the series was different efforts by the 'Shrinkies' to get unshrunk, while Dr. Shrinker and Hugo want to catch the trio so that they will have physical proof that the ray works when they sell it to whatever world power wants to buy it.

Electra Woman and Dyna Girl (1976) followed the crime-fighting exploits of female caped crusader Electra Woman and her teen sidekick Dyna Girl. In each episode, the duo would don skintight spandex, hop in the Electracar and use an array of technically advanced gadgets to thwart an eclectic collection of super villains. They are assisted by Frank Heflin, a scientist who stays at their "ElectraBase" while keeping in continual contact with the pair through their "ElectraComps". This program playfully (but deliberately) lampooned the superhero combo of Batman and Robin, taking many of its cues from the earlier Batman television series.

Wonderbug (1976) was the alter ego "Schlepcar" and was an old, beat up, conglomeration of several junked cars that looked like a rusty dune buggy. Like Herbie of Disney movie fame, Schlepcar was alive and could drive itself, and could also talk in a mumbling voice. It was found in a junk yard by teenagers Barry, C.C. and Susan. Schlepcar transformed into the shiny metal-flake orange Wonderbug when a magic horn was sounded. In his Wonderbug identity, Schlepcar had the power of flight and was able to help the three teens capture crooks and prevent wrongdoing.

Ok, and lastly now that my brain is in it’s happy place, there was also The Shazam!/Isis Hour. Though this was not a Sid and Marty production, it was a Filmation, these two shows were campy but awesome and once again taught lessons.

Shazam! (1974) is about the teenager, Billy Batson, who granted the power, by the Immortals, to summon awesome forces at the utterance of a single word . . .SHAZAM!. . . a word which transforms him in a flash into that mightiest of mortal beings, Captain Marvel! Billy and his guardian "Mentor" were nomads, traveling around the country in a recreational vehicle. There were no supervillains and no violence in this series; the hero, both as Billy and as Captain Marvel, would find himself helping people out of precarious situations they'd gotten themselves into by doing things they shouldn't have. At the end of each episode, either Billy or Marvel would address the TV audience with a moral based on that show.

The Secrets of Isis (1975) is about a high school science teacher who found an ancient mystical amulet on an archeological dig in Egypt. The amulet belonged to Hatshepsut, an ancient Egyptian Queen and it gave the wearer the powers of Isis. Andrea, by virtue of being able to open the casing in which the amulet rested, was recognized as an heir to Isis's secrets. Whenever Isis was needed, Andrea would reveal the amulet and incite an incantation ("Oh Mighty Isis!") and she would be transformed into the goddess Isis. Unlike other superheroes who responded when people called their name, Isis often came to the rescue of people who didn't call for her, arriving in the nick of time and encouraging the wrongdoer to see the error of their ways through self-reflection, this was mostly high school students who find themselves endangered due to unwise choices. At times Isis/Andrea would wink at the camera or otherwise acknowledging the audience at applicable moments and had the "moral" segment at the end of each episode as well.

Wow! wasn't that fun! I could of gone on but those are the ones that I remember the most. All of these have some great actors in them from Billy Barty (willow) to Deidre Hall (Dr. Marlena Evans on Days of our lives) and tons more. As you can see i found all the clips on YouTube, go look up some of your old favorites.

c Shell Franklin
http://www.designonastick.com/

2009-11-10T11:03:00.002-05:00

What happened to the consequences?

My oldest daughter said this to me tonight, “If every person that J-Walked was hit and killed, in a few years no one would even consider doing it.”

Such a brilliant statement and it got me to thinking, what happened to the consequences? The consequences for everything. As I child we were taught if you broke a law you would be punished for it.

Now I don’t believe people believe that. People believe that if they know the right person, pay enough, or can be the biggest bully you can get away with anything. And what is sadder is we are passing this belief down to our children.

Whatever happened to shame? Whatever happened to disgracing your family name? There was a time in America where you did something wrong, you’d have to face the music. You were brought before your friends and neighbors and made to account for what you did.

Our children are growing up now with a sense that they can do or say whatever they want, whenever they want, and suffer no consequences.

We need a even system where no matter who you are, how much money you have, or who you know makes no difference.

Equal punishment for equal crime.

And there need to be a list, something to put in people’s faces that says you do X, Y will happen to you. Then act on it, do it every time, no exceptions, and it has to fit the crime, in the olden days your stole you lost a finger.

Oh, and it needs to be done publicly. Public humiliation is a great motivator. Public flogging on the courthouse steps once a week would do a lot to lower the crime rate.

America’s crime rate has been increasing at the same rate as the punishment levels have been dropping. As a child I remember getting spanking in school, I remember my mother spanking in public, and I remember it was safer to be out at night then and there was less crime. I see a pattern there, why doesn’t anyone else.

We have become a country of whiners. I’m sure everyone has gotten this in their email at some point, but did you really read it, really understand what it meant?

“Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law. Imagine that!”

Now days it is not our parents bailing us out, it is some person that knows nothing about us, our family values, or what our parents think should happen. The bleeding hearts and the whiny, crybabies that “KNOW” what is best for us and everyone else.

Why are we listening to them? Do most even realize what they have done to this great country?

We need to overhaul our legal system, our schools, and in some case our media because people that just need rehabilitation are filling our prisons and the ones that have done things so bad they will never see freedom we are paying to keep alive. What ever happen to being a productive member of a community? If they will never be set free, life in prison SHOULD NEVER be an option.

Sexual predator = Castration. Pedophile = Castration and hard labor. Murderer = Firing squad. Let people watch, put the fear of this happening back into people. We would save the taxpayers’ money and we would have a safer society.

If people were afraid of the consequences the number of people committing the crimes would go down. I hear all the time that we have a system built on “fairness” I think it is built on “fear” we are so afraid of making a mistake that we have made the system useless. If a person is not afraid of the consequences or believes he can fight them and win, then what is to stop him from doing the crime?

And lastly, if the adults in this country have no fear of the consequences and are constantly fighting to lessen them, what are our children learning from that? Why should a child obey rules if everywhere they look no one else is?

If our child see us break a rule, whether once or multiple times, even something as simple as speeding what have we taught them? Not to mention you have no right at that point to be mad at them for breaking rules you break.

c Shell Franklin
http://www.designonastick.com/

2009-11-09T11:06:00.002-05:00

I just called to listen

Have you ever called someone just to talk or had someone call you just to talk? Well most of us have.

Most of us only pick up the phone because WE have something to say, isn’t that kind of selfish?

I come from a pretty large family; seven kids and my parents. They live on the west coast for the most part, ranging between San Diego, California, Las Vegas, Nevada, Medford, Oregon and Portland, Oregon, with my parents in between. I live in Ohio, keeps the peace that way.

My mom calls me to talk, cry, laugh, and generally communicate with someone. My brothers and sisters all seem to “Know” what is best for them, one of the reasons, in opinion they moved so far from the rest of them last time.

Knowing most of my family and reading about them on Facebook, Myspace, and through email I know they have things that my mother doesn’t know about in their lives. And that’s fine, everyone has secrets. I’m not sure why but I just don’t care if people know about me, hence the blog.

But I listen to my mom when she calls or I call her (not as often as I should). But from listening to her they really don’t spend the time to listen to her. They call her to tell her what is happening in their lives and those around them.

My father has been in and out of the hospital lately, pacemaker and other stuff; his birthday was just last week; he’s in his mid 70’s. He has never been a big talker, get out what’s needed and or important and end the conversation. I think that is where my siblings get it from.

Mom on the other hand likes to talk and having moved a distance from everyone they knew a few years ago, the phone is her biggest form of communication.

So when she called me the other day to talk and started asking me what of their stuff I wanted when they were gone it was a bit sad, and creepy. I told her to go sell it all and spend the money of them, not to just save things because someone wanted it. I would rather they were off having a good time, enjoying themselves than saving things that others “wanted when they were gone.”

But all this got me to thinking, when was the last time I called someone not because I had something to say or was returning a call, but just called so they could talk?

Same to you, have you ever just called someone to give them a chance to ramble at you, no time limits and no other reasons that made you call?

No opinions on what they say, no reason you need to get off the phone, and only one thing on your mind, listening to them.

It’s at this point that my fingers start to go into the rant about my siblings and why they should call and listen to mom more, why they don’t know what is best for mom and dad more than mom and dad do. But then I am reminded that their side of that discussion goes “You have nothing to say, you moved so far away that none of us even know your family.”

So I won’t go into that. I will briefly point out that for most of my adult life the only time I heard from one of them was if they needed computer help, and I will leave it at that.

Are we all really too busy to pick up a phone, send an email, or text message?

Do we not talk for fear of arguing? Not being able to just accept the other person and what they do or don’t do in their lives? People fit into the friends and family category because at some point we decided that they were such a big part of our lives that we put them in that category. And not all relatives fit in that category; they’re just not close enough.

Life gets in the way at times but it never really stays there. Ever find yourself thinking about someone you haven’t or heard from in a long time? What happened, did you grow apart, become too caught up in life, or just get lazy?

Life is too short to not talk to someone because of a difference of opinion, religion, chose of partner, or any other reason!

Reach out and touch someone and let them touch you back.

Thanks
Often during troubled times,
we forget to say “Thank you”
The shoulders we have cried on,
the ears we have confessed to
The arms in which we have found comfort,
or the hearts that said “I love you”
So, when the tears have all dried,
and the heart is content
Remember to thank them,
and let them know what their love meant.

c Shell Franklin
www.designonastick.com

2009-11-05T10:16:00.003-05:00

Can't fix stupid

When I think of all the “idiots” I’ve dealt with in jobs, none of them considered they were the idiots. After all these years and so many clients, bosses, and coworkers, I am more convinced than ever that these "special" people think they are doing an adequate, if not better, job each day.

Don't laugh but the person in the office or cubicle next to you or even people attempting to run the whole show may very well be one of these "idiots" and they no clue what the rest of you think of them.

Idiots come in all shapes, sizes, and positions. They can be CEOs, secretaries or engineers. They can be bosses, assistants or salesman. Those afflicted, for the most part, don't even feel the symptoms. Sadly, it is the rest of us that suffer the pain of our idiot coworkers. The sad but important thing to remember is you can’t you fix stupid!

Idiot bosses are the mutant hiccups of organizational evolution, with cockroach-like immunity to calamities that wipe out truly talented and creative people. Have you ever found yourself thinking “I’ve got nothing to really be pissed about but when I step into work I feel like my whole world is crashing down?” You feel a kind of anxiety or something. You can only put it down to the fact that, at other times, your body naturally does this as some kind of defense, to enable you to cope with the idiot/s you work with for 8 hrs a day.

But I find that even worse than an idiot boss is a clueless boss. This person is highly intelligent, can be a nice guy, but chooses not to be. Has to reword everything you write, tell you what you were thinking and how it was wrong, and constantly slows down the forward motion of a business simply because it is “not the way he envisioned it.”

They have specific words of phrases they have to fit into every written document. They think that by just placing their name and/or picture on things people will flock to purchase from your company. They criticize their employees constantly and always believe you have nothing more important to do than whatever they are currently wanting you to work on. They have to question each time you are ill and why did it take you so long to get better. They, making way more money than any of us, just can’t understand how you could have car trouble but don’t get it when you look at them weird when they ask you to take their car, on company time, to be looked at by the dealership.

The clueless boss will actually believe they know and understand you; I have even had them sit me down and try to explain me to me. Laughably inaccurate as it was it just let me know just how clueless they truly were.

And one of my favorite ways to know you have a clueless boss, no matter how little work they are actually doing they truly believe you can do more than you currently are, because they are swamped with “other things.”

My current boss can be an idiot at times but he is working on it and tries to ask humbly for help when he finds himself in to deep. He does have a few statements to live by that he spouts off a lot.

His favorite two are “Plan to be early and you are never late,” and “It is better to know where to find information that to try to have it all memorized.”

As my own boss we seem to get along ok, he threatens to fire me and I threaten to quit at least once a day but I can live with that.

I started this several days ago and was thinking of not posting it, worrying about how some would take it, but decided to just do it anyways. If you are finding this hits home, maybe you are one of the idiots I spoke of, work on it, you don't have to stay that way.

Ok, for those of you who want to read or add to some of these websites; here they are, enjoy them.

http://mybossisanidiot.com/
http://www.workrant.com/
http://www.iworkwithfools.com/

c Shell Franklin
http://www.designonastick.com/

2009-10-30T22:31:00.002-04:00

Don't wait for it

Today’s post is odd as I don’t normally quote from the bible but this is one of my favorite parables. A lot of people see this parable told by Jesus as a lesson in forgiveness.

I don’t, not really.

I see this more as a story of what should happen to you if you are not willing to “pay-it-forward” and Karma gets a hold of you.

Matthew 18:23-35 tells a story of a king whose servant owed him “ten thousand talents.” But could not pay, so the king ordered that he, his wife, children, and everything he owned was to be sold to pay the debt. But the servant fell to his knees and begged for patience saying “I will pay thee all.”

The king felt compassion for him and set him free and forgave him the whole debt. (credit card companies? Are you listening to this? I can beg pretty well…) How cool is that the value of ten thousands talents in today’s money would be millions of dollars.

It then goes on to say that the same servant found a fellow servant that owed him “ hundred pence”, about $15 physically assaulted him demanding payment.

This fellow servant fell to his knees and begged for patience saying “I will pay thee all.”

Sound familiar? Well this is where the story goes bad. The servant that was forgiven a million dollar debt would not forgive a fellow servant just $15.

He had him thrown into prison till he could pay his debt.

Side note: How exactly do you expect someone to make money while in prison in order to pay a debt? I personally would think keeping him out of prison would go toward getting your money faster…

Ok, so someone saw this happen and went and told the king. And wow was he pissed, with good reason. He called the servant back to him let him know how pissed he was, “O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt.”

Then the king said “Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee? “

With this the king had him shipped off to worse than prison “delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.”

That’s it, a short story about paying it forward or in this case failing too.

As I was writing this the thought crossed my mind about all the companies that the American taxpayers have “bailed-out” or “forgiven their debts” but here we all sit with our debts unforgiving. I wonder how this all applies to them?

Oh well, not really my point. I really believe in the pay it forward concept and totally believe in the good and bad karma transferred in the process.

Sometimes it is hard to find ways to pass it forward; I have to remember little things to me might be big things to others.

Several months ago I was on my way into a McDonald’s one morning for breakfast. At the door was a man dressed in a suit that looked like it belonged to my grandfather and had not been cleaned lately. But he was well mannered and well spoken. He politely asked me if I had some money I could spare as he wanted to get some food. I could tell buy the look in his eyes that he expected me to say no, like I was just one of many he had asked.

Now I normally carry no cash with me and had none that day. And told him I was sorry but carried no cash. He just nodded and said thank you, his face turning to look back out to the parking lot.

Something about him just grabbed me and would not let go. I stood there I guess longer than he thought I should of and he looked back at me.

I smiled at him and he smiled back. I told him I would buy him breakfast if he wanted.

The look on his face changed so fast and in such a marvelous way. He actually asked if I was sure. I held the door for him and told him I was.

We got to the counter and he looked at me, asking, I said “whatever you want”, he smiled and turned to order. I had no clue what he would order or how much but at that point I really didn’t care.

He proved my thoughts right about being welled mannered and ordered a single sandwich and a hot coffee. He could have ordered 10 and I would of let him, but he didn’t. I ordered my food and paid for it all.

The food came out and he said thank you in voice and with his eyes. I told him he was very welcome and he left to go sit and eat, I left to finish taking my wife to work.

Strangely, I go to the same McDonald’s every morning, 5 days a week and have never seen him again.

That was such a small thing for me, less than $5, but I felt it made a world of difference to him.

What I think we all need to remember is Pay it forward has to start somewhere, you don’t have to wait till someone does something for you.

Start it yourself, do something little for someone or do something big for someone so they can pass it on, pay it forward.

Eventually it will come back to you; then you can pass it on again.

c Shell Franklin
http://www.designonastick.com/

2009-10-26T20:49:00.002-04:00

Story time!

Sit back, get comfy, and grab some popcorn. This story is not true but you will understand that as I tell it and you will understand why I tell this story when I reach the end, which is true.

There once was an old man, well it could be today or years in the future. He was a painter and by his standards not really a good one but his work was important.

He took pride in his work and made sure it was the best he could make it for some power had deemed him good enough for this life saving job he did. He had helper that brought him his paint and other tools to do his job but ultimately it was he that the work fell on.

He used special paint, he loved how it sparkled in the right light and was always thick so it did not run.

He did not know why he had been chosen all those years ago to paint the magic portals but he swore he would do his best on each one.

And so he had, day after day, year after year, he devoted his life to painting these magic portals to help others get from one place to another safely, unharmed and in an orderly fashion.

Lately though he had become saddened. He was seeing more and more people wandering though the danger zones, totally ignoring the portals he painted to protect them. More people were being hurt all the time and for what? Some of them just mere yards or feet from one of his portals that could have helped them safely across the zones.

Did they not know? Did they just not care? Have they stopped believing in the magic of his painting?

He wondered if it was his fault, had he stopped making them correctly. Were they not useful anymore?

He inspected each one when completed, double checked them to make sure they all met the same high standards; and they did.

So why would someone not use them? Why would someone choose to endanger themselves when there was always a portal close by?

So he started warning people when he saw them attempting to cross a danger zone. Mostly he was ignored, sometimes he was just stared at like he was speaking a foreign language, and he had even been cursed at by a few as he tried to protect these unthinking people.

This painter, this artist who spent his days creating so we could be safe died last week. He was a simple man, did not really leave much behind some clothes, what furniture was in his small home, and a paintbrush.

His tombstone read “Don T Walker, Painter of Safety.”

So next time you find yourself near a danger zone, think of this man’s work and how much he put into it so you would be safe. Take that extra couple of steps till you find one of his painted portals. Close your eyes for a moment and say a thank you prayer for this man that worked so hard to keep you safe. Then look to the other side of his painted masterpiece and know that it is still not safe to cross till his full name changes to just his last…

I hope you enjoyed my story and will take it’s advice for one day I may not be able to stop fast enough as you step out into the danger zone without looking from between two parked cars or random other places.

c Shell Franklin
www.designonastick.com

2009-10-26T08:13:00.001-04:00

5 Simple but Necessary Steps to Developing Policy and Procedures

Why a policy or procedure?

A well constructed policy is written to protect everyone from those who break the rules.

In today's society, having some policies and procedures is a wise idea whether your organization is large or small. The basic reason is to let people know what is expected of them and what they can expect from others. In doing this it keeps people from taking advantage of situations where things can be done differently than what is in the organization’s best interests. It will also let the employees/volunteers know where they stand and that they are not being taken advantage of either. It is important to make all concerned aware of each policy and procedure and how it affects them.

The following is a method of putting policy and procedures together for your manual.

1) Identify issues

This, in most cases, will be the easiest part of this whole activity. Either someone will bring the situation up or you will notice there is a problem of some sort. This can be anything from “why are they getting to do that and I’m not?” to “Shouldn’t that be done like this?” or even “Didn’t we do that this way before?” and everything in between. Once you have a topic you are on your way.

Review underlying concerns. Ask, "Do we have a policy about...?" Then, "Do we need a policy about...?"
Relate to philosophy, values, mission, and goals. If it doesn't help further the mission and goals of your organization then it may not be an appropriate issue for the organization.
Collect information that will help you draft the policy. Contact other like organizations in your community that may have a similar situation.
Document the history of how your organization has dealt with this in the past.
Consult with people who will be affected. Get the big picture and remember good policy is based on fact, not opinion.
Describe the desired outcome. What do you want this policy to do when implemented?
Outline alternatives that will give the desired outcome.
List positive and negative reactions that may occur. Look for weaknesses and limitations. Try to eliminate major gaps. But remember you can’t please everyone.
Choose the best alternative for the organization not its current members.

2) Draft policy

Make it as clear as possible. Use plain language, be brief and to the point.
Review with anyone it affects.
Be certain it is in agreement with by-laws and/or other current organization policies.

3) Approve policy

Directors approve policy at a regular meeting.
Record in the minutes. Note all concerns, questions, or objection and who raised them.
Add to policy handbook. Have it signed and dated by the approving parties.

4) Implement

Communicate policy to all affected. Post it to places where all affected can see it.
Put into action. Make it dated as to its effective date and when to be reviewed.

5) Review and evaluate

Review regularly. Follow the review date.
Does everyone understand the policy as written? Periodically ask those affected if it is clear as to meaning and purpose. Note feedback for possible reevaluation.
Is it working? Check with those affected for their perception. Remember reality and perception are not always the same.
Adapt to meet changing situations. Don’t be afraid to make changes to the policy as situations change, and they will. Do this with the same diligence as it was created with.
Document in new policy what changed to bring about the change to the policy.

c Shell Franklin
http://www.designonastick.com/

2009-10-24T08:34:00.002-04:00

In Memory of…

For the purpose of this writing I am going to put forth the assumption that I do not personally know your lost loved one or the relationship that you had with her/him so please understand this is just my thoughts on the subject of death and my thoughts on how it is and should be treated.

I do not mourn death, I see it as two friends standing in line at a roller coaster ride and your friend or loved one get the last seat in the final car and I just have to wait for the next car.

Ultimately we all get to take the ride; some just get to take it sooner than others.
We do not lose the memories of the time we spend with our loved ones. We do not stop loving them or thinking about them. It is said that those who have gone before us, can watch over us and intercede for us with those that created us. So I see them as recon, they have out there surveying the way and setting up the party for when we get there.

I believe "they are not dead who live in the hearts they leave behind."

So I feel when a loved one passes away we have only lost sight of their face and the sound of their voice. I believe the hurt we feel is because we have had so very little time with them. We hurt because we did not or were unable to say and do all the things that we had planned to do with them and for them. If they cared for you while living, would they be happy knowing you were feeling bad or having regrets? Think about how you would feel if you knew a friend and loved one was miserable because of you?

They are still with you, in your heart and very much on your mind, so I'm sure they are watching over you.

No, I’m not saying just act like nothing happened, that would be a injustice to them and their memory. Take the time to tell them what you want; but you don't need to look at them in a coffin to do that.

If you would feel better, go to someplace that was special to them or the both of you, a place of happy memories; tell them there. Remember them as they were at their best, I never go to funerals for that reason.

Would they want the last image of them stored in your mind to be of them in a coffin or of them smiling and happy?

Funerals are for the living, not the dead.

Obviously, the dead no longer have any needs in this world, but humans seem to have this need for ceremonies. If I remember correctly, originally the body of the dead was burnt at the funeral and their soul was given over to god. After that short funeral the living got together to celebrate the life and accomplishments of the one that had passed. They would spend hours sharing memories, eating, and in a lot of cases drinking and remembering all the good things they had shared.Greif is our loneliness; it is the prospect of facing life without that persons face and smile, without the sound of that person’s voice, without their tender touch and caring hand, without the nature of their character, the sparkle of their humor, or the wonder of their compassion. It is the fear of living without them, of growing without them, of surviving without them here, without them seen or heard or felt or known. It is the sadness of feeling abandoned; it is the sadness of separation.

But we need to remember that we were not abandoned. They did not choose their time to go and would likely be hurt that we felt they abandoned us. Celebrate their life don’t mourn their passing. Remember we all stand in that roller coaster line and soon enough it will be our turn to climb in the car, pull down that bar, through our arms in the air, and scream in the exhilaration as we travel to our next big adventure to meet up with the one that got to go before us.

c Shell Franklin
www.designonastick.com

2009-10-23T09:32:00.003-04:00

Donating in these hard times

Ok, if you are like me and try to give something back in some way each year, like me I’m sure you are finding harder and harder. Money is not so easy to come by these days so either you don’t give or you are looking at different areas than you normally would.

A lot of people never think past donating money, but a majority of charities operate almost entirely on donations of non money items. From your local humane societies and other pet rescue groups to national and international organizations such as Goodwill, charitable donations are an integral part of many important programs that assist thousands of individuals in need.

If you are one of those philanthropic souls that donate large amounts of money and goods to these charity organizations; great! But for the rest of us the faltering economy has left us with little or no money to spare. There are, however, many ways you can donate to charity without opening your checkbook or digging in your furniture for change.

Donating Eyeglasses and Sunglasses

One of my most recent discoveries is that there are several programs that supply the poverty-stricken with free eyeglasses. You donate your old eyeglasses and sunglasses to help people with eyesight difficulties worldwide. (Sunglasses can be non-prescription. They are needed in countries near the equator to help protect people's eyes from sun damage.) These groups collect donated pairs of glasses or sunglasses, which are then sent in to be refurbished. The frames are adjusted if needed, and then the lenses are re-ground to the prescription of their new owner.

Adults usually need new glasses every few years, and children with eyeglasses tend to need a new, stronger prescription on an even more frequent basis as they age. The outgrown pairs are ideal candidates for donation. If your workplace has a lost and found, consider donating glasses left beyond a certain length of time to charity.

Collection facilities include Goodwill Industries stores, LensCrafters stores, and Lions Club drop boxes. Items also can be sent in padded envelopes or boxes to: New Eyes for the Needy.

Donating Clothing

Everyone has clothing that we no longer wear; consider donating it to a charity like Goodwill, AMVETS or The Salvation Army. As most of you know these organizations rely mostly on donations of goods, the proceeds from the resale of those items fund programs ranging from food pantries to disaster relief.

Sorting through your closets and drawers pulling out all the garments you no longer wear, like or that no longer fit properly will not only help a charity but give you more space for what you keep. Ditto for children's clothing, children are perpetually outgrowing their clothes, and can likely be donated on a regular basis as new clothing is purchased. You might be surprised to know that even damaged clothing can be donated, as most of these organizations sort out items that are stained, torn or damaged in some way, selling them by weight as rags to companies that recycle the fabric. So not only are you donating you are also recycling.

Just remember when making donations to charitable resale shops you should approximate the value of the items you donate and be sure to request a receipt. This type of donation is subject to the same tax deductions as those monetary ones, and donating enough items to charity could even help you get a bigger tax refund!

Donating Hair

I find this one to be very special; I see it as a way to literally give a part of you to someone in need. A lot of times patients undergoing chemotherapy will lose their hair as a side effect. To make the patient's daily life as normal as possible and help them avoid the stares; organizations like Locks for Love, Pantene Beautiful Lengths, and Wigs for kids supply these patients with wigs. These wigs are made from real hair which caring people have donated for this purpose.

To do this special type of donating your hair must be long enough to meet the minimum donation length of ten inches. You need to braid and secured both ends of the braid before its cut. You then need to bag the hair and send it to Locks for Love or any other hair donation charity.

Some salons even offer discounts to those who are donating their hair to charity! Your donations will need to be accompanied by a donation form; which can be found on online but many salons keep copies of this form on hand and will even send in the donated hair on your behalf.

Recycling

In most communities these days, schools and community organizations collect recyclable materials as an ongoing fundraiser. These programs usually have specific drop-off point and/or times, where residents can take their recyclables. These organizations then, sell the collected items to companies that turn them back into raw materials, which are then used in the manufacture of new products.

Be sure to check with the local groups to see which materials they will accept. In today’s market everything from cell phone and computers to aluminum, paper and cardboard is collected. Research in your local area to see if any such programs exist, find out which recyclable materials you can be donated, and to which schools or charities.

Donating Blood

Here is one way to donate that a lot of people don’t think of as donating. The need for blood donations is constant and will never go away. Every year, countless lives are saved because of a blood transfusion. The American Red Cross holds countless blood drives across the country to stock their blood banks, which then supply hospitals with much-needed life saving blood.

Just please be aware that there are some medical conditions which may prohibit someone from donating blood. If you have traveled to certain areas of the world, if you have recently gotten a tattoo (surprised me too), or if you have certain medical conditions, you may not be eligible to be a blood donor.

Click to Donate

Here is an interesting idea that has spread all over the internet. The concept is that you can donate for free simply by clicking. They say “You CLICK and Sponsors PAY!” I have not really looked too far into this so please be careful if you try this option. But from what I have seen there are tons of sites that use this type of donating. If you want to view some look here http://www.thenonprofits.com/ or do your own research.

Other Donations

So there you go, that is just a few of the ways you can continue to donate to charities on a tight budget. Research, research, research! Search your local area first, you will likely find many places to make non-monetary donations of all types. You will quickly find there are many charitable organizations that seek a plethora of donated items, and these donation opportunities vary from town to town. Nearly anything that has value can be donated to someone, somewhere, and they will greatly appreciate your kindness.

Oh, one last thought don't forget you can always donate your time! There are alot of organizations that would rather have your time than your money or items. But please find a group that does something you like, there is nothing worse than an unhappy volunteer...

c Shell Franklin
www.designonastick.com

2009-10-22T10:38:00.002-04:00

Did you smile at someone today?

Sounds simple, right? But really think about it. I’m not talking about that uncomfortable smile we all give people when you’re all in the same elevator or that embarrassed smile you realize you’re staring and they caught you.

No, I mean a real heartfelt smile that lights up your whole face.

I know, for most the answer is no. Why?

Well I’m just not a smiling type.

It’s been a bad day/week/year/life…

Have you ever just stopped in a crowd and looked around? You should sometime, you will be very shocked (I would hope). No one smiles anymore. Oh sure there are the rare ones or the creepy ones. But for the most part we have conditioned ourselves to not look at any and to never smile.

Years ago, one day at work I made an effort to spend the day smiling. I smiled at everyone. By the end of the day I had discovered several things. First, it was really hard to do, which kinda bothered me, smiling should not be hard to do. Next, you can’t smile all day without it making you feel silly, and when you feel silly it gives you that “I’m happy” feeling inside which makes the smile look more sincere. Also, you seem to talk to more people if you are smiling. Not sure if it is because your mouth just need to move so it doesn’t cramp from holding a position you are not use to or if it is because you can’t make yourself smile at someone and not say “Hi” or “How are you?”

I also noticed that more of my coworkers were smiling by the end of the day.

Smiles are contagious?

I felt the day was a more productive day, not sure why. Maybe it was just not so gloomy at work that day. There was a point early on in the day where one of my coworkers actually asked me what was wrong. Think about how sad it is when having a smile on your face makes people wonder if there is something wrong.

How and why did we as a people get to the point where we only smile on certain occasions or at special people?

Are we all just unhappy all the time? I don’t think so.

Are we afraid of making contact with our fellow people? I think this might have something to do with it. How many times has someone asked you how you are and you just say “I’m good” or “Ok?” Rather than actually telling them what is on your mind?

When you ask someone “how are you?” or “How have you been?” are you really wanting an honest answer or are you just asking to be polite?

All of this has to do with smiling; we don’t smile because it offers an opening. It says “talk to me” or I want to talk to you. And I think as a people most of us are afraid of that interaction.

So here is my challenge, go smile at people. Tell them “Hi!” and do it in a friendly way, make them feel it.

I bet you will make their day and they may pass it on. The other thing I bet is you will have an awesome day, no matter how bad the day is.

Go forth and smile!!

c Shell Franklin
http://www.designonastick.com/

2009-10-21T12:20:00.003-04:00

Entitlement: I deserve... NOT!

When I was in high school we had to read the book, "I'm OK -- You're OK" by Thomas Harris. Harris' book was part of the “self-esteem movement” of the time. But I am saddened to see that some 30 years later, what should have been a good thing, self-esteem, seems to have become one of the things I complain about every day.

“Entitlement is a guarantee of access to benefits because of rights or by agreement through law. It also refers, in a more casual sense, to someone's belief that one is deserving of some particular reward or benefit.”

My sources tell me (Yes Kevin, I really do have my sources) that “Entitlement issues are increasingly a concern of psychologists and therapists.” I have also seen that the clergy and some educators are having similar concerns.

We seem to have come to the place where we feel entitled to the good life. Oh, and one of my favorites I hear all the time. We're entitled to have everything work for us, the way we think it should and exactly when we thing it should. If it doesn't, someone must be to blame, and you can be sure: Whoever is at fault, it isn't us.

Really people, is this what we have come too?

Many adults whimper at the slightest inconvenience, delay, or restriction. Why? Because they are convinced they deserve what they want when they want it.

I read that these days mental health types see young people on a regular basis who are absolutely certain their lives should be better than they are and someone else is to blame. But not only young people, my generation is just as bad, if not worse because we are the ones passing this messed up thought process on to our children.

Teenagers these days seem to expecting the best of everything, despite parents' financial realities. Too often parents are guilted into trying to meet every perceived need of their child even to the point of rescuing their troubled children over and over instead of teaching responsibility.

And what about personal responsibility, what about our part in the problems? I mean really, how can we possibly say, "It's my fault," when we've been raised to exert our own self-esteem? If I'm OK and you're OK, then it must be "Them" that is the problem, not me.

We have, it seems, also grown fluent in the language of blame, complaint and grievance, while having lost that simple ability to use words like, "Please," "Thank you," and "I'm sorry."

A sense of entitlement means that we feel that we have a right or a claim to something, whether it's the best school, a grand home, preferential treatment, or the good life.

Throughout my life and the numerous jobs I have had, it still makes me shake my head when I hear people saying things like:

"What have they done for me lately?"

"They're not being fair."

"This company owes me more than this as an annual raise. After all, I put in my eight hours a day."

Would you like a little cheese with that whine? Now, don’t get me wrong, sometimes those statements are legitimate concerns. Mostly though they are nothing more than us feeling we are entitled.

I had a boss who once told me that because he was the owner of the company he felt he had the right to ask his employees to come to his house and work on personal things for him. That just because he owned the company that, his employees were there at his beck and call for whatever and whenever.

Entitlement signals a rejection of the very DNA of America. Our national genetic code, at least at one time, was patterned on respect for the common man and woman. It was sequenced by a belief in the dignity of human life that's not the consequence of having, but of being.

My parents, as far as I can remember, never had that feeling. They worked for everything they had and felt grateful to have it. We never had the extras but we never really missed them. My father taught me something that will always be with me and I don’t even know if he knows he did it. He said to me one day when we were talking about loaning money to someone. “Never loan more than you can afford to lose, always give it freely, and never expecting to get it back.” My father was always gone out of his way to help those that really needed it, whether they really deserved it or not. And as best I can tell he has always been a happy man.

As a child we had little peanut men all over the house (peanut shells glued to a piece of cardboard and a face drawn on them). They had signs that read “Life’s not fair!” So I grew up knowing this as a fact. Here are some more things that would help the world if everyone just lived by them.

LIFE'S NOT FAIR GET OVER IT
My youngest daughter, as a child, use to say, "Life’s not fair!" all the time to which my wife and I would tell her, “you’re right, it’s a carnival ride and you better hold on tight!” Things don't always happen the way you planned. People don't always treat you the way you think you should be treated. Someone else may have more than you, though you believe you worked or tried harder.

Stop with the pity parties. Getting bitter every time you don't get what you think you deserve is a recipe for misery. Don’t let yourself get lost in the endless pursuit of "justice". The score will never be even. Remember that no matter what others choose to do, keep playing fairly with others and doing the right thing,

THE WORLD DOESN'T OWE YOU ANYTHING
"The world owes me" is so far from the truth. There are so many life-giving, life-enhancing resources and opportunities at our disposal. And most of the time we take them for granted when really they deserve our gratitude, not our indifference. What better way to show our gratitude than to give back?

STOP BEING THE VICTIM
"Chronic victims" are a pain in the ass to others and themselves. These are not the people who have been legitimately victimized, yet work hard to deal with it and move on. I’m talking about the chronic blamers and complainers. When you hear yourself bemoaning your life and habitually blaming others for your troubles, it's time to do a "response-ability" check. In what ways do YOU have the “ability” to improve the situation by “responding” differently?

In the end, it's the entitled who, however rich or self important, are truly poor. Instead of knowing life as a gift, life turns into something that's taken for granted -- or worse, begrudged. That's real poverty, and no sense of entitlement can alleviate it.

Rather than complaining, let's live the words of Mohandas Gandhi: "We must be the change we wish to see in the world."

c Shell Franklin
http://www.designonastick.com/

2009-10-20T09:28:00.002-04:00

Not Always Right?

Ok, so have you ever worked for someone that just would not let you do your job to the fullest? They are always slowing you down or just plain don’t think you know what you are talking about.

“Wow! Press Releases are a great idea. Can we put these out once a week?”

So said my boss at the time as I presented him with some newly written press releases I had planned to distribute to local media.

“Let me look these over and I will get back to you with them.”

A year later we still had not sent one out. I asked almost every other day if he had “looked them over”, his assistant created a special folder for them and inquired weekly on their status. A year later I thought I’d try again.

“Wow! I didn’t know you knew how to do Press Releases. Can we do these often?”

I just smiled and answered his questions.

“Why haven’t we done these before?”

To which I got up, went to his desk and retrieved the folder handed it to him open to the first set.

“Oh, when were these put in here? I wish I had known they were here. Let me look these over and I will get back to you with them.”

They still sit on his desk right up to the day the company closed its doors…

I put together an article for the same boss on how our company has always been “Green”, how we have been doing all the things that our competitors are just now starting to do and claiming they are going “Green.” It was primed to get released just before the big “We’re Green” ads started everywhere several years ago. They had to review it. Never did, I tried setting deadlines I needed it back by, scheduled meeting to go over it, and still nothing was done with it.

It is the same way with design field, there comes a time when a client hires you and they request a design that is less than “aesthetically pleasing.” One of the great things about the design business is doing some things you wouldn’t normally do. I, like most designers, have projects that I could include in my portfolio but choose not to because they’re poorly designed at the clients request and I have chosen not to display them in my portfolio.

As designers, we can only guide a client so far but ultimately it comes down to doing what it is they want. You know the old saying, “The customer is always right.” Well it sounds good, but in reality it is not always the case. Go read this site if you truly believe they are, http://notalwaysright.com, it will cure that feeling and give you a good laugh for the day. Of course you do always have options—you could give the client their deposit back and say no thanks or you can suck it up and do what they want. Mostly I will go ahead and do it as I like seeing the happy look on their face when you get it just the way they want it and sometimes it can be a challenge.

You could also try to sneak a few good design details in and see if it gets past them but more often than not they’ll notice and shoot it down. This type of project can be a frustrating and unrewarding project to work on but sometimes, especially in the beginning of one’s career, there isn’t much you can do about it. A good thing to keep in mind when these projects come along is that we all end up doing things in our professional career that we look back on and snicker about.

These are just a few examples, I could go on, page after page. Am I bitter? No not really, just confused. Why hire someone to do any type of design, marketing, or advertising, for you if do not trust their opinions or skills? It just makes no since to me.

To those reading this that may be the client, please understand that when you put the time into finding and hiring a designer, hopefully based on their knowledge and skills, that you will listen to them and use that knowledge and those skills and not just ignore them. Otherwise why bother finding the best…

c Shell Franklin
www.designonastick.com

2009-10-19T11:21:00.002-04:00

Just ask!!

Over the years I have been part of or worked with numerous non-profit organizations in various capacities. One of the things I have heard a lot is “No one is willing to donate.”

To which I always say “Did you ask?”

Most of the time their answer is no. They just assume no one is willing to help. This is simply not the case.

This year just to prove my point I took over acquiring stuff for a non-profit convention I work for. I sat down and figured out what sort of stuff I wanted to try and get, who I was going to contact, and put together a spreadsheet for tracking it all.

First thing, most people have less of a problem donating stuff such as their product than they do money. The simple reason is product is advertising, not only does it help you but they get something out of it and they write it off as part of their advertising budget. So figuring out what to ask for is a big part of actually getting something. What to ask for should be determined by who you are asking. You wouldn’t ask a magazine publisher for movies or an office supply store for movie posters.

Let’s start with what do you need then work into what would be really cool if you could get. Remember to think through the whole organization and all its needs. If you don’t know what all may be needed, ASK! Write down everything, office supplies, trucks for transporting your equipment around, supplies or food stuff for the next banquette, toys for the kids, passes to the next movie premiere, auctionable items if you have and auction, and gift cards to anywhere just to name a few things. Every organization is different and has tons of needs that most don’t think of asking to have donated.

Now you know what you would like to get donated now you need to figure out who might be willing to donate them. Start with where your group normally buys the items, then branch out to their competitors and anyone else that sells the item. Depending on how much of the item you use at a time you may also want to think about contacting the manufacturer. Like I said giving away product is good advertising. Write then all down and find their contact information. This can be a bit difficult sometimes, figuring out whom in a company to ask. I would start with publicity, marketing, and advertising departments and in your letter note that if this is the wrong person to please forward the request or let you know who would be a better contact. Most people really are willing to help if you are nice about it.

Now for the request. I find emails work great, the person can quickly respond or delete, without going out of their way and on their time line. Write up a letter that is simple and to the point. Make sure you cover the who, what, when, where, and how items in as brief a way as possible, if they want more info they will ask. Make the letter friendly but to the point. If you know the name of the person you are contacting address the letter to them and a generic “Dear Sir/Madam”. People like to see their name in writing.

The main thing you need to do is make it clear what you are asking for and how it will be of use to your organization. Let them know that their help will save your group time and money. Don’t make it a “sob story” be very businesslike and to the point but make them feel the hero by helping.

Keep track of everything. When you send the letter, who you sent it to, when and if they replied, who replied (if different), and what they answered. Respond back quickly if they have more questions and thank them for their prompt answer and help.

As I said I have been doing this for a convention so if anyone would like more info or some contact information please let me know.

c Shell Franklin
http://www.designonastick.com/

2009-10-16T21:05:00.005-04:00

STOP! and read the signs

I really hate the signs that say "Drive slow, we care about our kids" and “Slow down, we love our kids" there are several more but you get the point.

Why, well several reasons.

First, the sign makes it sound like the reader doesn't love their children.

Secondly, if they really loved their kids they would teach their kids not to play in the street, like I taught mine. This option seems to make more sense.

If parents spent more time teaching their kids common sence and paying attention to their kids to make sure their lessons were getting through their kids wouldn't be playing in the street. I am really bothered by parents that just push their kids off on everyone else, expect the schools, churches, or other community groups to teach them everything they need to survive in this world.

Don’t get me wrong, all of these groups can serve to help in the process but should not take the place of a parent. If they do take the place then yes, they will teach then, but it may not be what you had in mind or even the correct information. But if you leave it all up to someone else you also give up the right to complain about what they were taught.

On a lighter note, several months ago I saw a sing I did like. It was at roughly 39° 3'29.72"N 84°53'57.07"W, in Aurora, Indiana. It was a stop sign, well it was the sign under the actual stop sign. I’ve been kicking myself for not getting a picture of it, you live and learn and always have your camera ready.

Please forgive me if I don’t get the wording exactly right. To sum it up, it said something like “A partial stop $146.23. A full stop Free. Your choice.”

This sign reaches out and grabs everyone where it hurts most, their wallet.

c Shell Franklin
http://www.designonastick.com/

2009-10-15T23:57:00.003-04:00

Ok, here is my child like moment

When I was a child I had this friend named Max. He took me on wonderful adventures were we met all sorts of monsters. We played together every chance we got. As I grew older we played less and less till one day we stopped all together.

In the years since then I have seen Max numerous times in a lot of different place but I really never gave him much more than a glance. I would occasionally think back on those times. I can still see the wild forest and seas we would sail with our boat. There are times I miss the fearsome-looking monsters we would encounter.

As a child I thought I knew so much about Max, we were together so much and did so many things together but really looking back all I knew of him came from 10 short sentences.

We would get dressed, him in his furry wolf costume and me in my furry pajamas. We would run through the wild forest and sailing the seas to the land of the Wild Things. The Wild Things were fearsome-looking monsters that Max and I would conquer "by staring into their yellow eyes without blinking once". Once conquered Max or I is made "the King of all Wild Things", dancing and playing with the monsters.

Now some 30 years later I am sitting in my house watching TV when a commercial comes on, my eyes lit up and my daughter tells me I had the silliest grin on my face. There on my TV was Max and the monsters! Suddenly all those times flashed back into my mind. There I was back in the forest running with Max and the Wild Things.

They have taken my favorite childhood book and made it into a movie, my childhood friends and all our adventures on the big screen. I find myself almost giddy each time the commercial plays. My wife and oldest daughter laugh at me as my eyes glass over as I find myself back in my pajamas partaking in the "wild rumpus".

Even with all my excitement I find myself hoping they did not ruin my best friend and the dreams of childhood.

I will go see the movie; I will sit in the theater and try not to bounce in my chair. For a short time I will be a child again and renew my friendship with my oldest friend, forget about acting my age and just run with the monster again.

c Shell Franklin
http://www.designonastick.com

2009-10-14T22:17:00.003-04:00

Books...What I’m currently reading

Someone asked me the other day what I was reading. After thinking for several minutes I started reciting my list, yes there is a list. Books for pleasure, books for work, and books for reminiscing.

So here it goes in no particular order.

A wrinkle in time
This one I am reading because it has happy childhood memories. I will occasionally pick up a book I read as a child and reread it to see if my memory of it matches what is really in it. This one was my first adventure into Sci-Fi, though I did not actually read it myself. It was a book on tape but for a child I really enjoyed and am this time around as well.

Santa steps out
Hmmm, what to say about this book? Well, a friend of mine told a story once about a book that he started reading and could never finish because it was just that creepy, I had to have it. I searched for quite awhile before I found it, it was a limited edition, signed and numbered by the author. So I had this book and started reading this book that a very well read friend could not get past the first 30 pages. I guess I am a bit more twisted than he is. I am over half way though and would be finished if I had not loaned it to another friend. I have it back now but haven’t gotten back to it. Note: this book is not for the closed mined or easily disturbed!

Skin trade
Ah, Anita Blake. This is book 17 in the series by Laurell K. Hamilton. I love this writer and have read everything she has written. This one I’m in the middle of because I am reading it to my wife. We take turns reading books to each other, awesome way to spend time together. I read this series to her and she is reading The dark side novels to me, oh and the Harry Potter series.

Dragons of the Dwarven Depths
This is the first book in the latest 3 book set of Drangonlance books. At one point I read every one that was being written, but slowed down to just the one written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. This book is in my car and will stay there as I read it while in my car waiting for something. So I will be reading this series for awhile.

Echoes of Honor
First let me say sorry to David Weber the author, you are an awesome person and writer so please don’t take this personally (oh, and hope you and the family are well). This book is book 10 of the Honor Harrington Series. And yes I have read book 1 through 9. This is a bit of a strange story as to why I am still not done reading this book. Before I started this book my wife and a friend of ours told me about the book and what happened in it(now so as to not ruin it for anyone I won’t go into details). But as I reached the three quarter point in the book and what had been described to me as the main conflict had still not happened I stopped reading. Books that spend so much time on build up then try to pack tons of stuff into the last few pages bother me. So, David, I will eventually go back a reread it, really but for now it is still on my “Still reading” list.

Beauty's Release
This is another strange story. I have actually started this book 3 times and each time I have gotten farther in it but still have not finished it. This is book 3 in a 3 book series called the Sleeping Beauty Series by Anne Rice. Warning: Not the sleeping beauty from your childhood. The first two books are great thus the reason I have gone back and reread the series 3 times so far. But the third book just goes in a weird direction and at a stranger pace. So hopefully the next time reread the series I will get all the way through the last book.

Best of Business Card Design 8
This one I have not finished reading because I just bought it recently. This is kind of a work related book. I like to see how other view design and what the new trends are from others perspective. So far it is good and I will finish it soon.

Layout Workbook: A Real-World Guide to Building Pages in Graphic Design
Like the previous book this one is new so not done reading it yet. This is an older book a picked up at Half Price Books and got a good deal on it.

Grant Writing for Dummies
This book I have just barley started reading. I hear all the time from some of the non-profit groups I work with that they wish they knew how to write grants. So I decided to see just how hard it could be. Once I finish reading it I will let you know what I find out.

Well there you have it, the list of books I am in the middle of reading. Some might say some of them I have just stopped reading but not me, I hate to leave things undone.

c Shell Franklin
http://www.designonastick.com

2009-10-13T20:15:00.005-04:00

Fundraising… To sell, To beg, To guilt, or offer a service?

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

I will briefly recap for those just joining us, you would get more by starting from the beginning here.

We are talking about non-profit organizations, fundraising, and volunteers. Non-profit organizations need to do fundraising in order to stay alive and complete whatever their mission is. Just like with all other businesses they need cash flow to survive. In most cases in order to do fundraising they need volunteers. These are the people that man the phones, stand at the booths, wash the cars, stand in the streets, and generally whatever else needs done. And they do this on their own time for no pay and mostly with a smile on their face.

We briefly talked about how to keep these priceless individuals happy, motivated, and working hard for the cause. Feedback, rewards and recognition, and making the work fun (or at least the environment fun). We then briefly covered what to do with the people when they show up to work and some of the kinds of people you may encounter.

So now we move onto some, a very brief list, of the types of fundraisers that work for you. Like I said in the title you can sell, beg, guilt, or offer a service in order to get people to donate to your cause.

Selling is the easy one to talk about because there are so many companies that would love to offer goods that you can sell and make back a percentage of the price. This is all good if you don’t have the time to research and find better bargains on your own, allowing your group to keep more of the profit. An example of this would be candy bars. We have all had the local kids knock on our doors asking if we will support their group by buying some candy. If you go through a fundraising distribution company you will pay around $27 for a box of 52 candy bars. You can only order by the case (4 boxes) and will pay shipping. Now if you go to Sams Club you can by the same box one at a time and they are around $25 a box. So if you buy from Sams Club and sell 50 boxes you will have made $100 more. Oh, and that is not counting the shipping cost from the fundraising distribution company. So you can see what I mean by doing a little research can help make your group more money. The other thing I will point out is once you have the “Fundraising” candy box you can always keep it restocked by finding even better sales on the same candies from your local grocery stores. Now don’t get me wrong some of these fundraising distribution companies can be of great use. They may have some items you just can’t find anywhere else and may go over really well for your group. Don’t just over look them in your research.

There are a lot of other things you can sell to make money for your group; one I like is the Entertainment Book. This book has coupons and discounts in it for restaurants, stores, hotels, travel, and stores and you can get them for you local area. There candle sales, wrapping paper, food items, and even Christmas wreaths just to name a few. All of these are good and will make money as long as your people really get out and sell. Once again research, check local place to see if you can get what you want to sell at a cheaper price. The local school here found a small company that made candles for less than they could get them anywhere else and they were really good quality. They also found a local tree farm that would take pre-orders for wreaths each year very inexpensively. So selling works great as a fundraiser, you will just have to try things and see what works best in your area and change the items all the time so people don’t get tired of being asked to buy the same thing time after time.

I have heard people in non-profit groups refer to the letters they send to other companies as a “begging letter”. This form of fundraising can work really well for many types of groups. It works best for charities as you can point out the tax deduction they will receive by donating. With this type of “begging” you need to be very careful how you word things and what you offer. Some companies may require to know how you are going to spend the money if they donate; whereas some will donate product and not money.

Sometimes the group you are working for can use what I call “guilting” to get people to donate money. This method relies on you being able to tug on peoples heart-strings, make them feel that by donating they are saving lives, helping the homeless, or getting food, clothes, or medical care to those in need. This one seems to work best on a large scale effort, tv or radio commercials, billboards, and other visual in your face campaigns. There is a fine line here of showing the need and disgusting people. You need to catch their hearts not scare them away.

Lastly there is my favorite type of fundraising. With this form you are offering a service in exchange for them donating money. Under this heading you have car washes, rummage sales, and lawn cleanup just to name a few. With this you can make people feel they are getting something for their money which in a lot of cases will make them more likely to donate. You are offering them some sort of value for their hard earned money. This area offers you a wide range of things that can be done. I have seen churches do pancake breakfasts, fish fries, and spaghetti dinners. One idea I saw recently was a local school would go around after Halloween door to door and offer to remove and dispose of the jack-o-lanterns. And for a larger fee they will clean the yard decoration up; either boxing them up or just removing them.

In no way does this cover all that can be done. Each group will have to think hard about the direction you want to go, taking into consideration the area you are in and the types of volunteers you have. You also need to decide if you can take product in the place of money and the types of product. This can be very useful for office and other supplies.

Research, plan, and do what works best for your group. Oh, and one last thing; keep good records!

c Shell Franklin
http://www.designonastick.com

2009-10-12T21:45:00.005-04:00

Welcome back.

So here it is Monday evening and I’m just getting back to my computer. Yesterday was spent at a meeting for one of the groups I volunteer with and today was spent in business meetings.

So, do I try to force my brain into what I’ve been writing or just write about something lighter and get back to work tomorrow. Ok, lighter it will be.

Sundays meeting was long, a lot longer than it should have been. The need to complain just for the sake of complaining will never make since to me. Don’t get me wrong, playing “the devil’s advocate” is something I do often, and well, but that is not what I’m talking about.

Let me back up, someone stated “I have this perception that voting rules seemed to be changed right before voting takes place. Can the rules of who can and cannot vote for chair be set 'IN STONE', I do not like that they are constantly changed.“ And once said more people had to jump on the wagon. Soon a lot of other members were complaining the same thing. The fact that the rules used for each of the last few years was posted for them to read and compare, they were the same, did not calm the complainers.

So a subcommittee was created to define the rules and submit options for the main committee to vote on. The subcommittee met numerous times, argued about what each thought should in the rules. Hours and hours of defining and documenting the process and who was eligible run for chairman and who is eligible to vote.

And then came the meeting Sunday were the main committee got together to vote. The same people voiced their complaints, concerns, why they didn’t feel they had enough control over the organization, or why they felt that the chairman had too much control. They talked and talked and then came the vote. They voted and all felt they had won…

Now, want to guess what they voted for? They voted in the same set of rules that has been in use for years. And the scary part is most of them having no clue that is what they did.

Some days I wonder how they get by in their daily lives. Oh well.

Ok, moving on to today. Still can’t go into a lot about this but met with NightArmor today. They are almost ready to release and are working with a lot of people you would recognize. They have developed a product that will save so many lives. Everyone from police, firefighters, bicyclists, miners, construction crews, and even children will all be safer.

As soon as I can I will actually let you all know what all this is about.

c Shell Franklin
http://www.designonastick.com

2009-10-10T15:05:00.006-04:00

Intermission Time. We will rejoin our regular programming on Monday.

Today I bring you an important message about a lady that gives her all to care for those that can’t care for themselves. Her name is Rita Wood. Her day job is spent answering calls for help from people just like you and me. This takes a special type of person to listen people at their most frighten and in need of help.

In 2004 Rita was visiting a shelter to help administer medication to some of the sick kitties kept there in isolation. It was then that she found out a euthanization would take place that day. She already had several rescued cats and tried to convince herself she could not afford to take any more in. But after holding and feeding the condemned cat and with tears in her eyes, and the terror running thru the cats body; she held her tight & whispered softly, "you're coming home with me, Special."

It was at that moment that PurrEver Ranch, the cat sanctuary became a reality.

And from that day on she rescues elderly felines from shelter euthanization. You wouldn’t believe how many people dump an old friend because they are just that – old. That’s just plain evil. Most cats over 12 are considered "unadoptable" at shelters & euthanized.

She also feeds a couple of feral colonies and has been known to take in the occasional “problem” kitty. She is a good woman with a big heart and too small of a pocketbook. PurrEver Ranch is a registered 501(c)(3) charity, so PLEASE for the love of any feline in your life, donate to help her keep up this amazing work.

At this moment PurrEver Ranch is in dire need of permanent housing. Their landlord passed, the property was appraised, and sadly the widow has been advised to sell. They desperately need to find a new home very soon.

Somewhere there is someone that can help. So I am posting this to spread the word, and hopefully reach that person. You too can help by making sure as many as possible see this, spread it around QUICKLY.

Visit the PurrEver Ranch website (www.gotcats.org), maybe you can’t help with a new home but you donate a can of cat food or treatment of flea medicine. Anything is better than nothing.

c Shell Franklin
http://www.designonastick.com/

2009-10-09T11:02:00.005-04:00

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Today we talk about what to do with the people once you have them but first a recap. We are talking about non-profit organizations, fundraising, and volunteers. Non-profit organizations need to do fundraising in order to stay alive and complete whatever their mission is. Just like with all other businesses they need cash flow to survive. In most cases in order to do fundraising they need volunteers. These are the people that man the phones, stand at the booths, wash the cars, stand in the streets, and generally whatever else needs done. And they do this on their own time for no pay and mostly with a smile on their face.

We briefly talked about how to keep these priceless individuals happy, motivated, and working hard for the cause. Feedback, rewards and recognition, and making the work fun (or at least the environment fun).

So, back to these wonderful people and what to do with them. The easiest answer is: Find out what they are good at and put them to work doing it. But that is not always as easy as it sounds. Some of the problems you run into might be:

The skills they have are not of use in your organization.
They may want a change of pace and not want to use the same skills.
They may have no easily definable skills.
You may already have someone with that skill set.
And the hardest one; for whatever reason, no one wants to work with them.

All of these I put in the category of hard working, really want to help, and have no ulterior motive for helping. They show up, work hard and mostly don’t complain. They believe in the cause generally asked to be used and abused for the better of the organization.

Each one of these needs to be carefully looked at and thought through. Here are a few thoughts on how to deal with each one of these.

The skills they have are not of use in your organization.
I feel this one is a fairly easy one. Find out not only what they do well but find out what they would like to do. This type of person is one you can move around, let them try different things. In doing this you will begin to see that they probably do have skills useful to you even if that skill is just grunt work.

They may want a change of pace and not want to use the same skills.
This type of person can be more difficult. They have some skills but aren’t willing to put them to work for you. The easiest way I have found to deal with this is ask them to teach someone else the skills they have. In doing this they are getting to practice their skills from a different angle and you are getting the job done and getting more people that can do it in the future. And just to note, most people have a hard time keeping way from what they are skilled at doing.

They may have no easily definable skills.
Here is say “no easily definable” skills because everyone has something to offer, well almost everyone. This type of person require more time to get to know them, figure out if they are a good behind the scene people or a good out front, easy to talk to type person. Once you figure this out you move them around a little till you find a match. These people may need extra motivating as you move them around in order to keep them from feeling like they have nothing to offer. Start them on small jobs that can be done easily and give lots of feedback so they feel they are important. I have seen this type of person turn out to be one of the greatest assets to a group but it took awhile to find their niche, and without the motivation they might have left.

You may already have someone with that skill set.
This person has the potential to be a great help or a great problem. Are they a team player, can they watch someone else doing what they see as their area of expertise without telling them how to do their job. No one likes to be told how to do their job and it is just human nature to want to tell someone how to do something better. This situation will require a delicate touch; you don’t want to lose either worker as workers are sometimes hard to come by. But you can’t let one walk all over the other. I would sit them both down together and work out a division of effort, make each one in charge of a specific part of the job and make it clear that they work together but only on their part.

And the hardest one; for whatever reason, no one wants to work with them.
With this one I feel I need to once again point out that I am talking about hard working people, these are people that are too clingy, in need of too much ego stroking, to talkative, to creepy, or too whatever. Others just don’t like being around them for long periods of time. With these people you need to watch them, see if there are those that can stand them and keep them in mind as you may need to have that person talk to them. Not that I am implying that you not talk to them about whatever makes them hard to work with but sometime it comes across better or they will listen to this other person more. But you will have to occasionally sit this type of person down and have long talks with them in order to keep them working and make them more tolerable to others.

Now there are other types of people that I didn’t put in that list as they really are not hard workers. These are the people that show up when they feel like it, complain about what is or is not getting done, why so and so is not doing their job or not doing it correctly but is really not will to help fix any of it. You give them chance after chance to step up and work and they never come through and always have a reason why and a finger to point at someone else. A lot of time they are the loudest to complain and the quickest to run when work needs done. Depending on the organization you may or may not be able to just tell them to go way. In some cases if you do that they may actually take others with them, some of the hard workers you don’t want to lose. In cases like this I result to the Put-up-or-shut-up concept. This is best done in public and in front of all those that might go with them if they leave. Each time they complain about something offer to put them in charge of it but it very clear that as they have set the standard by complaining about it that they have to live up to those standards themselves. After they have backed down or failed to accomplish what they expected from others they will hopefully have less pull on others and I have found that others will begin to not listen to them as much. And to go the other way they may just surprise you and do some really great things when they actually do some work.

Now we have workers and they are ready to work, what types of fundraising are we doing, what can we do?

Next post I think…

c Shell Franklin
http://www.designonastick.com/

2009-10-08T09:35:00.006-04:00

Thursdays, I never could get the hang of Thursdays.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Charities, donations, and fundraising! Oh, my! I work for some non-profit organizations as well as volunteer my time to some. The one thing I hear a lot about is raising money. How to do it, who will do it, how quickly can it be done, and …

You get the picture.

The dictionary says this about a non-profit organization: Not seeking or producing a profit or profits: a nonprofit organization.

So why then are they always looking to raise money you ask? Well, without money they can’t keep doing what they do. Most of these groups are what I call “Helper groups”; they are the organizations that use their money, resources, and people to better the world. They are the groups that help the homeless with food and shelter, they are the relief groups that come in after a natural disaster and supply food, water, clothing and anything else needed. There are so many different types of these groups and the services they offer I could spend days trying to list them and would still not scratch the surface.

So without money that can’t help those they are setup to help. It’s like the Red Cross saying they are short blood and putting on a blood drive. Think of fundraising for non-profits as a blood drive, without the infusion of funds the organization will die.

Just like any business they need money to operate but how to get it? Good question. There are so many way that have been used in the past and are still used every day. The kids and ring your doorbell in the evening asking if you want to buy candy/candles/popcorn/whatever, they are fundraising for something. The carwashes you see in the summer all over with signs out at the road, they are fundraising. The bake sale outside the grocery store or the Girl Scouts selling cookies, this all done to raise money. Strangely in my area one of the shopping centers uses there parking meters and the parking fines as a way to raise money for a charity.

Now most fundraisers require one important element to work and work well. The lack of this important piece is what will make or break a fundraising effort. People, plain and simple, it’s the people. Volunteers are the most important part to making a fundraiser work. If there are no volunteers then it will fall apart. You’ve all seen them walking up and down traffic, the Shriners with their buckets asking for donations, the Knights of Columbus, or even the fire departments with their “Fill the Boot” campaigns. The volunteers washing cars, the kids going door to door, or the people sitting making calls to ask for donations, it all requires workers.

And therein lies the catch, finding those people, those dedicated soldiers that are willing to give up their time to help the cause. Volunteers run on motivation and the best motivation is feedback! Positive feedback is a great motivator. Everyone likes to hear they are doing a good job and that someone noticed. Volunteer work, like all work, quickly becomes a drudgery there is no feedback, no inspiration to keep you going. A personal thank you note is a wonderful way to say thank you. A short, very specific thank you note says volumes.

Rewards and Recognition work well too. A simple gift card or certificate as a thank you works wonders. Publicly or in a newsletter announcing their name and accomplishment will not only raise their morale it will also work to inspire others so they too can be praised.

But the biggest perk an organization can offer its people is to make it fun! Inspire creativity, ask for ideas, make them want to come back time-after-time to help because it seems more like playtime than work. Fun will motivate. Volunteer work is stressful. And fun is one of the most effective stress relievers. Groups that play together, go to movies together, or even just have pizza together, stay together and work better as a team.

Too often those who are passionate about their cause, forget to laugh. They become so serious about their causes and their mission that they forget to have fun.

John F. Kennedy said, "There are three things which are real: God, human folly and laughter. The first two are beyond our comprehension. So we must do what we can with the third."

So once you have people what to do with them… next post I think.

c Shell Franklin
http://www.designonastick.com/

2009-10-07T09:52:00.006-04:00

Recycling is a dirty word! Or maybe not…

I recycle at home and at work. Maybe not as much as some think I should but it is more than most. At home we have a trash can, a container for aluminum cans, and a tub for plastic bottles. We give the cans to a friend that takes them and turns them in for money, the plastic bottles we take to the big dumpsters behind the local Korgers' and the trash is taken away by the trash company.

Let me back up a bit and tell you why we started recycling. It wasn't for any big notion that we were saving the planet or conserving natural resources. It was pure laziness and penny pinching.

I know some of you are saying “What?” It’s true, laziness. Let me explain. In our household there is my wife, two kids, and me. And we drink a lot of water and at one point soda too. Where we live the water out of the tap is not that great so we were drinking around a 24 pack of small water bottles a day and sometimes a 12 of soda between us.

So there I was one evening taking out the trash when my brain kicked in and asked the question that started it all. “Hey, didn’t we just take the trash out last night?” I shook the bag, that hardly weighed anything but was so full it had to be taken out and got to thinking. Most of it was just air. Plastic bottles filled with just air and aluminum cans. And that voice in my head spoke up again, “If all these cans and bottles weren’t in here we would only have to do this once a week rather than every night,” and just to appeal to my money saving side, “and we would not have to buy as many bags.”

And at that moment I decided we were going to recycle. I got two new containers for my house and got to enjoy sitting in my recliner each evening without have to take out the trash.

That was two years ago I believe and we still do it. Since then I have put some more thought in this recycling thing and tried a few more ways of recycling.

For work we recycle paper, toner cartridges, inkjet cartridges, cell phones, computer equipment, and anything else someone wants. But for the most part it is still not a planet saving effort. We do it for the money, the savings, or just because someone wants the stuff.

We’ve donated old cell phones to the kid’s school, boxes of them, for some fundraiser. Donated computer equipment and copiers to non-profits because we no longer had a need for them and they were taking up space in the office. We have even sold toner cartridges to companies that refurbish them, because they called us before we had thrown then out. And we take our empty inkjet cartridges to Staples every month and turn them in for cash.

Now with all this said I have to wonder how many others out there recycle for the same reasons. It’s not that I don’t think it is a good idea to recycle, I do. It’s just that as a true “now generation” capitalist I want to know what is in it for me and how quickly I can get it.

Recycling in most communities around me is something you pay extra for the trash collector to pick up. They supply you with a special container, you sort it, in some cases clean it, take it out to the curb on a different day than the rest of your trash, and they pick it up. This really confuses me. I have to do all this extra work, pay you extra to pick it up, and you turn around and sell it for a profit? Brilliant for you Mr. Trash Company, capitalism at its best! Charge me for it and resell it for more money to someone else. Not so good for me or for recycling for that matter.

Most people don’t look at the long range of recycling not because they don’t care about the planet but because they’re just lazy or too busy to be bothered on a day to day basis. I think recycling would catch on faster and more people would be willing to take the extra time if there was something in it for them right now.

Telling people that doing it today will make it better years down the road is just not cutting it.

c Shell Franklin
www.designonastick.com

2009-10-06T09:40:00.008-04:00

Ok, so what's new I'm working on you may have asked? Lots of stuff!

Here is the basics: At Your Service Columbus, Apex Title, Marcon, EMSEKG.com, and NightAromr.

At Your Service Columbus, LLC
They are one of the highest caliber of service I have ever seen. They offer Domestic Staffing Solutions, Moving & Relocation Management, Estate & Household Management,
Home Inventory Services, and Personal Concierge Services. They can help you manage any and all aspects of your life to give you more time to do the funner things in your life.

I recently completed a new brochure for them that covers their new partnership with The Bexley Gateway. It was a two sided full color glossy brochure.

Apex Title
They are a full service abstract, title, and escrow company. Their friendly staff is very experienced and ready to help anyone through a closing. They offer title and closing services in all of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Florida, and Colorado. They also provides title and closing services for Banks, Mortgage Companies, Real Estate Agents (Residential and Commercial), Builders, Developers, and Property Owners. I have know serveral of them personally for many years and will tell you they are great at what they do. Oh, and do you hate calling a business and just getting voicemail? Well not here, their phone is answered by a real person.

I created their website serveral years ago but recently I created a "Net Proceeds Worksheet" for them. This is a form for a client to fill out that calculates alot of information based on the users input and choices they make. It will do all the math for them.

Marcon(Multiple Alternative Realities Convention)
Marcon is work and play for me. Because it is a Non-Profit 501(c)(3) organization I do most of the work for them pro-bono. Their site changes every year as they have a new theme for their annual convention held each Memorial Day weekend in May. This years theme is Horror in all it's forms from old movie monsters, kids scarry/creepy mysteries, all the way to todays blood and guts horror movies and everything in between.

Recently for them I put together not just their website but there flyer and some posters.
Poster 1 Poster 2, Poster 3, Poster 4, Poster 5, Poster 6, Poster 7, Poster 8

EMSEKG.com (Salvo Marketing)
This company offers a 12-Lead EKG Interpretation course that you use on your own PC. This training course is for Paramedics and Nurses, teaching how to rapidly interpret critical cardiac conditions on 12-Lead EKGs. They offer not just the course but also Quick Reference Cards and certifications.

I did the whole website setup and design using Yahoo's SmallBusiness stores for the e-commerence part of the site, and I design the Quick Reference Cards.

NightArmor
And last but not least in any way. NightArmor is a company that markets safety gear. They are still new but about to take off in a really big way. The ideas and technology that they have come up with will revolutionize alot of markets and job safety. I can't really say to much more till they launch their site but this, WOW! Keep and eye out for them, they could save your life or the life of a loved one.

c Shell Franklin
www.designonastick.com

2009-10-06T09:05:00.006-04:00

As Am trying to get back into the swing of things I'm taking count of what i have going on. First, thank you to everyone who has been supportive recently. Next, thank you to all my rescent clients: At Your Service Columbus, Apex Title, Marcon, and EMSEKG.com. Check them out and see how they might help you or your business. I will talk briefly about each one in a later post. Work is always a good distraction.

Ok, so on the new company. Design on a Stick, LLC. is where i am working now. I am a partner in this growing business that provides Graphic Design and Marketing.

For the past few months my partners and I have been working around the clock to bring this new concept to life. We finally have all the structure in place, people and organizations lined up, and are now ready to present it as a whole to the public. Some of you have already been using our services as we were building them (see above).
Design on a Stick, LLC. offers its clients a unique partner in the Graphic Design and Marketing industry. We work with the latest technology and equipment, businesses, and ideas allowing us to supply our customers with the best services.

We have come up with what we beleive to be a new approach in this area of business. We have designed a Concierge approach to marketing, finding each client the services they want or need whether we provide it or not. Kind of a "One-Stop-Shopping" if you will. Our Concierge service runs on the most basic of premises. Our clients want things done but may not have the time to do them or find someone who can. Most people are happy to pay someone to take care of their business efficiently and with a touch of class, as long as it is at a reasonable cost. Through the partnerships we have and the constant effort to find our clients better service for their money, we pride ourselves in what we can offer.

c Shell Franklin
www.designonastick.com

2009-10-05T11:33:00.003-04:00

Lets start with an introduction and see where this goes from there.

My name is Shell and this is my blog, visual playground, testing ground, soapbox or whatever. This blog will showcases some of the work that I have created in digital media and my thoughts on the world around me. I've tried blogging before but never stick to it so hopefully this time I will be better at it.

I was born an Army brat, the fifth child of seven in La Mesa California in 1968. My father was in the Military so we moved a lot up and down the west coast. My childhood is much to boring to go into except to say it had it's ups and downs.

In 1983 I started working with graphics and hardcopy printing in high school and within 2 years I was supervising a print shop that functioned as the printers for all the nonprofit organizations in a tri-city area. Raised the shops production to such a high level we were able to purchase much needed new equipment, which again increased output. Was awarded the Kiwanis Printer of the Year Award and took Second place in the Vocational Industrial Clubs of America (VICA) statewide printing competition.

I went on to teach a high school graphics and photography class three periods a day for two years. This class included typesetting, graphics design, layout/paste-up, plate making, printing and the black and white photography.

I’ve taken numerous courses in programming and multimedia, attended Devry, and was accepted to an art school; but most of the things I have learned are self-taught through online tutorials off the Internet and constant self-study. I am a flexible artist, whether you are talking the graphical and visual or the behind the scenes code that makes it all work. I can render any kind of approach to design - minimal to maximal, bright to dark, clean to grungy... and then translate my designs into HTML, XHTML, CSS, PHP, PERL, MYSQL or whatever it takes to make a design work, hand-coding it or not.

Graphic Design is what I love, from doodling to high-end art for sale in art shows. I also develop websites, from straight forward to flashy, to making people say “wow!” I sit up late at night designing web templates or digital art, just to get it out of my head. Graphic Design is my passion. While most people work with computers, computers work for me, they always have. I have had clients ask for cardboard stand-ups of me because “as long as you're in the room everything works.” I’ve done everything from teaching high school to managing a store in a mall to serving in the army for 7 years with top-secret security clearance while working military intelligence.

Well that’s me in a nutshell.

c Shell Franklin
www.designonastick.com