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March of this year I switched to a new life insurance. When you do that the insurance company sends someone over to take a blood sample, ask you a bunch of health questions, take your blood pressure AND weigh you!  So the scale comes up and I'm making excuses why it's going to read higher than I think it should.  I had just eaten dinner, it was just after the weekend, etc.  I couldn't come up with them fast enough!  The nurse just said, "That's fine, just step on the scale".  I complied and the scale spun and didn't stop until 200 lbs.  I'm only five foot eight inches!  Yeah, muscle is heavier than fat, but there my waist was confessing for me that it wasn't the muscle that was tipping that scale.

At the time Boarders Bookstore was going out of business and there was a weightloss book called Belly Fat Cure.  It was 75% off which made it like five bucks so I got it, read it that night and decided this was finally a "diet" that I could do. I can't recommend that book highly enough!  I've tried all kinds of things and couldn't stick with them because they usually had me drinking cucumber mix "fire water" drinks and a certain type of cheese that had to be eaten at a specific time of the day and on and on.  Jorge Cruise was saying something simple; eat like they did one hundred years ago, when soda pop was very rare, as were the mass amounts of donuts, candy, and cereals.  Sugar wasn't added to every and anything all the time.  Did you know milk (skim, 1%, whole, doesn't matter) has SUGAR!  Pour that in your "healthy cereal" and you've had 3 times as much sugar at one time than people used to have for an ENTIRE DAY 100 years ago!

Buy this now! Seriously, it's worth it!

In the first month I lost twenty pounds and hadn't had opportunity to go to the gym one single time.  I don't call Belly Fat Cure a "diet".  I have a new way of eating.  One that has me looking at labels and being very aware of sugar.  I've heard people saying they can't cut the sugar, or "there's now way you can cut out all sugar" and I have to disagree.  And if you start by saying you can't do it, then you probably won't do it, which is fine and understandable (discipline can be tough), BUT don't complain that "nothing works!" for you losing weight.

Here's the short version on eating right: Sugar, no more than 15 grams a day. Carbs, 6 servings a day and a serving is between 5-20 grams of carbs.  If you have something with 25 grams, you're only cheating yourself if you count it as one serving.  Don't cheat with sugar and say have 15 grams of sugar (3 cookies) and then try to substitute a donut as a a few carb servings.  Don't drink diet cola either.  It's stripped down to where just the poisonous parts remain.  The easiest and best way to set up a weekly menu is to get Jorge Cruise's book, Belly Fat Cure or any of his books.  http://www.jorgecruise.com/ 

My workout is old school.  I used the stuff I learned during my first enlistment in the Marines, so it's pretty simple.  3 sets of 8-12 reps of the old standards: Bench Press, pulley rows, Barbell curls (ez or straight), leg extensions, pull-ups, of course Marine Corps Push-ups!  I do supersets, which from what I understand is; Bench press (pushing exercise) followed immediately by Lat pull downs (no rest between sets and 8-12 reps for 3-5 sets).  Form is more important than weight.  Supersets for all my exercises.  I always start with 17-21 minutes on the treadmill of interval running.

The key to my workout is consistency.  I think I actually could be much bigger and more ripped if I had a "real" workout, something modern and researched.  I'm looking at counsel of Jaime Eason (http://www.jamieeason.com/).  I'm now a member of Bodybuilding.com and there's great FREE workouts there!  Chris Gethin has a 12 week weight and nutrition plan I hope to start in a few weeks.  I'll be getting into protein and supplements soon too.

So that's it for now. Let me know if you have a success story or your thoughts on my approach!

Here's the problem; where does one "Buy American?" I've found some jeans online thanks for a friend that sent me a link. What about electronics? Is RCA "American" anymore? Radio Corporation of AMERICA. They have their goods made in China like everyone else these days. When Sam Walton was alive WalMart promoted the fact that they bought American made products whenever they could. But they were sued over the truth (lack of it) and they stopped saying it.

I want to buy American, like a nice leather motorcycle jacket. But a Schott Leather Jacket (which is something I would really like) costs nearly $600! That's a lot of money for this American of average income. Am I really dedicated enough to buying American to putting out this kind of money?

But also available on Amazon.com is another leather motorcycle jacket, made of cowhide and looking nearly identical to the Schott. This jacket is sixty bucks ($60)! That's an awfully big difference!

So do I buy the Schott and enjoy being able to say I bought American or do I buy the Jafrum and use the difference to buy an iPhone (which is not made in the USA)?

Like my idea for a military veteran based media company, I would love to see The American Mall, even if online. The mall map we're all used to, except that the store icons are portals to Military Veteran Stores that sell everything from comics to clothing, movies to motorcycles and so much more. One day I hope to facilitate that concept. But until then, buying American may be a challenge.

After spending years reading screenwriting books I’ve decided now would be a great time to start reviewing them. I hope to save others time and money. I’ve started with the most recent book I’ve read, because it’s also one of the best. Riding the Alligator by Pen Densham. One of the best things about his book; he reviews other screenwriting books in his.

This is THE book to get if you’re looking to start a script, have a completed script or somewhere in between. I hope the video helps, or entertains, but I really hope it’s both!

 

I don't like President Obama.  I KNOW my liberal friends HATE former President Bush.  I could list a thousand things Obama is doing that I believe are ruining America.  My liberal friends will tell me they can name TEN THOUSAND things Bush did that ruined America.

The thing I'm wondering is; is everybody stupid?  Is it me, or is everybody taking crazy pills?!

Take the Beck rally.  Roger Ebert, my favorite film critic, hates Beck, Palin, Bush, Christians that actually practice their faith, etc.  He says adamantly that the prayer center should be built without controversy.  Yet Beck having a rally on Martin Luther King Jr's speech anniversary is practically sacrilegious, even though it featured many African-Americans including Dr. King's neice and of course several videos honoring Dr. King. But THAT event was wrong and building a Muslim prayer center in a building that was hit by the debris of the falling towers is right. And it's right because there's a strip club closer to Ground Zero than the proposed prayer center.  I am pretty sure there were no extremist strippers that were part of the group that killed three thousand plus people that day.  One of the reasons I can be sure is because of how the Muslim faith treats women and especially woman that do ANYTHING in ANYWAY perceived as sexual.

To the defense of the rabid Obama followers who believe their President is the Messiah, right-wingers are nut jobs as well.  They want Ronald Regan back, but he's dead!  So who might be the next Regan in their eyes; Sarah Palin!  I joined the Marine Corps under Ronald Regan's time and felt he really brought patriotism back to our country.  He didn't go around the world apologizing for America being a great country, but he did unite many of us in a way that hadn't happened since WWII.  Somehow liberals felt he was anti-gay.  He was a  Hollywood actor for crying out loud!!! He was the President of SAG!  How did he get elected to that position?  Only by the straight actors?!

I digress, the point is Sarah Palin is NO Ronald Regan.  I was also in during the Clinton years and while I could not stand President Clinton I believe the country as a whole did very well under his command.  The budget was balanced!  We had a strong military, we had economic growth, we had good movies.

I don't believe our country is on the right track and I don't believe it's 100% Obama's fault, nor do I believe it's 200% Bush's fault, I believe it's the fault of the American people who take extreme opposite sides of every issue and throw stones at the other side.  They won't budge.  The "Ground Zero Mosque" is the prime example.  Liberals, who typically hate religion, are up in arms defending the right of Muslims to build in a place very close to Ground Zero and make no apology for their support.  They do not want to hear for a moment that this is still a sensitive issue for victims and their families. They say that conservatives are scheming to use this as a controversial cause to stir up unjust anger against Muslims.  There's no thought whatsoever that the Imam who chose this spot knew there would be controversy and may have picked it just for that reason!  Of course that wouldn't happen!  After all, it's very few Muslim extremists that blow themselves up in populated markets, blow themselves up at Mosques in their own countries, very few cutting off the head's of journalists and killing Christian missionaries for possibly talking about THEIR faith while providing medical treatment to Muslims in third world countries. So how on earth could this Imam ever in his wildest thinking consider their just might be a controversy about building a Muslim prayer center near where extremists from his religion killed thousands of people and crippled the airline industry and cause an economic rift in America's economy.

One the other side, the conservatives renamed the prayer center a Mosque, moved it four blocks and incorrectly said it was on Ground Zero and then proceeded to ignore the constitution that they're always screaming is being subverted by the Nazi-like regime that only half the country VOTED into power.  They rabidly support religious freedom, unless it's a religion that looks strange because Christianity is America's religion to ignore in actual practice.  Love your enemy as yourself may have been good for Jesus, but he didn't have people trying to kill him! (Actually he did, a little sarcasm here). Jesus says turn the other cheek, but to American Conservative Christianity that must be misinterpreted text, though there is absolutely no other way to interpret those words.  "And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well."  Wait, who was Jesus suggesting was wearing a tunic?!  Not American's I hope!

This controversy is understandably a controversy, but one that can actually lead to uniting us as Americans!!!  But as long as there's liberals that hate conservatives for being conservatives and as long as there's conservatives that hate liberals for being liberals we're going to be in deteriorating gridlock.  It's going to be a long decade.

We as Americans have a right to disagree, and Nancy Pelosi thinks when you disagree with her you should be investigated. The Islamic Prayer Center in NYC in the shadow of Ground Zero is more than just a "zoning issue". While I believe it is American to allow a Mosque of a Church or whatever to be built where ever in t he US, this is not a simple matter of zoning. There needs to be special consideration given when strip clubs want to build next to churches, or if a church wants to build next to an abortion clinic, or when an Islamic "Prayer" center wants to be built in the shadow of Ground Zero where the biggest act of Islamic Fundamentalist/Extremist hatred in the US took place.

Pelosi favors investigating Americans who oppose the GZM, but has there been an investigation of who's funding the "Prayer Center"? Even the ADL, Anti-Defamation League, is opposed to the Prayer Center's location. So instead of rushing to show how unbiased America is by giving Muslims special treatment, let's find out who's behind pushing an issue that is obviously devisive.

 

 

My goal for the past few years is to unite veterans to work in the media business as a production company.  Vets are entreprenuers and I see business after business starting from motivated prior military and their dependants.  Most of what I see is t-shirts.  They're some cool designs out there and I hope to get into that game as well.  However my passion and desire is to work in the media biz.  Books, TV, movies, and primarily online media content. 

I've worked on TV and movie sets.  The Client, One Good Turn, Undercover, Pensacola Wings of Gold, Rules of Engagement, etc.  I took background work to learn.  I learned that it takes a small army to pull off a feature length movie or one hour television show.  There's a ton of coordination that has to take place.  Everyone on a set has to be integrated  into moving towards the final product.

What did I learn in my twenty years in the Marine Corps?  We all had to be aligned to the mission.  Mission Accomplishment.  How did we do that?  I think it's a bit different than how Hollywood accomplishes making a movie.  In the military you accomplish the mission by taking care of the troops. They feed into each other.  The troops are happy, they accomplish the mission.  The mission gets accomplished, the troops are happy.

Now there's a ton of examples from Nam and even the wars today where that's not the case, but overall it's the method that works. 

I believe that veterans can come together on a movie set, a radio program, a music video, and we can accomplish the mission of putting out a well received media product.  We have the logistical skills, the motivation to follow through on a project until it's done, the ability to be inventive in providing solutions to the inevitable problems that come out of nowhere.  The U.S. has exported just about everything we as a country have been good at!  We're down to two things; our Military might and our Media mastery.  Why not merge these?

It's been tough getting veterans aligned on this though.  For some reason vets coming out of the service get back into a cowboy mindset of doing it all themselves.  But cowboys did not drive cattle across the country on their own, just watch a few episodes of Rawhide (starring a young Clint Eastwood fresh from his time in the Army).

I envision a Mall of veteran and dependant based talent.  We have clothing stores, news and magazine kiosks, computer and electronics shops, restaurants and food courts, an auto section that not only sells American steel but customizes it in every way imaginable and at the end of this incredible mall is the cineplex! 

The Military Mall.  I've started with making commercials for my friend Hank's coffee, http://devildogbrew.com . The commercial above is the first in a series of spots I'll be making for his excellent coffee.  I'm not only promoting Devil Dog Brew but promoting myself as a media creator.  My son, seen in the commercial, is a film major at a university in NYC.  We're going to show you what a vet and his dependant can do and I hope you'll be interested in being a part of an amazing event as the military plants a guidon in the media!

 

 

 

 

I went to a garage sale in my neighborhood.  I found a few time life home repair books, $1 each!  Then in a nice trunk (no plastic, but not quite old school, however it has leather handles!) was an electronics item that caught my eye.

The woman said it was her husband’s, doesn’t work anymore and for the trunk and everything in it…five bucks!  I bought five books and the trunk, gave her a $10 and left.  When I got home…oh, well we (Abby, my youngest and I) did some more garage sailing.  At one place I got four black and white photos of the Beatles and a type written write up attached to the pics, dated Dec 9, 1980, the day after Lennon was shot.  These are original AP photos from an AP reporter.  He had passed away and his wife was selling old stuff. All pics two bucks!  My nineteen year retro son was very happy!

Then Abby and I ended up at a thrift store and found her a bike. Her old one, which was Amber’s (thirteen) old one, was too small.  We bought a size appropriate one for $10 bucks!

I took the trunk and put it into our crowded garage.  On top of some stuff, I didn’t really notice what.  I took my son Austin into the garage to show him the trunk and its contents, saying to him, “I think you’ll appreciate this find but I’m not sure your mom will that’s why it’s in the garage for now.”  He loved it but thought it probably wouldn’t work.

I went into the house to clear a little room in the basement.  But it was time to head to Abby’s soccer game.  Lisa (the wife) was looking for our fold out chairs.  I looked in the cars and couldn’t find them. I looked in the back yard, no luck.  I looked around the garage and couldn’t find them.  Lisa said they were in the garage and I told her I didn’t see them there.  A few minutes later she came back in and said she had found them.  I asked, “Where were they?!” She replied, “Under a trunk that wasn’t there yesterday!”  That was a true sitcom moment in our home.

After the soccer game that Abby played so well (sure to be this season’s MVP), I brought the trunk into the basement and laid out my find.  I looked over some connections then tested it out.  I had a TV I got when we bought Amber a dresser off craigslist. The guy threw in his old TV to sweeten the deal (it sweetened for me, not so much for Lisa).  TV; 19” RCA circa 1981.  Perfect for what I found…an Atari!  A real, authentic vintage Atari with a dozen games was my garage sale find of the decade (2000-2010).  Among the games was Frogger, Pole Position (in the box!) and of course, Ms. PacMan.  I connected everything and after some adjustments, it worked perfect!  So now I’m on a mission to turn the back part of the basement into 1983, they year I graduated High School.

             

                     

So my friend edits my last post, "Why Not Give Up?" and then challenged me with this: “Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand in guard in vain.” Psalm 127:1

I had to acknowledge that since I've spent nearly two decades trying to get traction on my media business concept and nothing has happened, maybe the Psalm verse had not been applied.

Also quoted to me, "Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses." Proverbs 27:6  Was I feeling wounded?  Yes! Why would I spend all these years working towards this noble goal (even though it would also benefit me, it was/is a noble goal to help veterans) if this was not of the Lord?  However, did I examine it early on and continually to ensure it was laboring for the Lord?  I'm thinking "no". So the truth hurts.  I just picked up a book well known in the media world, "Hello, He Lied" by Lynda Obst, a bout how things work in Hollywood.  I was hoping to learn more about navigating the Hollywood system, well known for it's sharks.  Yet I have several study books on the Bible I've yet to get to.

Colossions 3:23-24 says this, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."

So my last post actually was useful in showing how off track I am and have been because I had the Colossians quote twisted around.  Time to realign myself.

I listed the equipment I've purchased in the last few years as a testament to how serious I am about getting into the media business.  I wanted to show that I'm not just talk, that I've put my money where my mouth is.  However, what do my finances show about where my heart is at?  The list is out of context in that respect because I was only speaking to my media investments. I do tithe and work to make sure it's above ten percent, but it's barely above ten percent.  Our Pastor challenged us to know God's pleasure through tithing and while I tithe, I'm not really feeling God's pleasure and I feel that may have a great deal to do with where my heart is at.  I want so desperately to be in the media business that I've lost focused on the things of God.  If He wants me in it nothing can prevent me from being there but if I want me in it and He's not had anything to do with it, nothing I do will ever get me there. “Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand in guard in vain.”

I feel it's time to give up on putting my media aspirations before everything and getting right with the Lord with the prayer that He would give me back the years the locusts have eaten and if it is His will, I could return to media on a foundation He has built.

To anyone who has read this:

May The Lord bless you and keep you.

May the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you.

May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.

ab

 

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,

Be patient with me.

 

Lord Jesus Christ, you are patient with me

Show me how to be patient.

 

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God

Have mercy on me.

 

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God

Have pity on me and heal me.

 

Jesus Christ, Son of God

I give you thanks and praise

 

Gentle savior be near me now.

 

Jesus Christ, Son of God

Help me hear your voice.

 

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

 

Even though I walk through the darkest valley,

I fear no evil; for you are with me.

 

Lord Jesus Christ, I believe.

Help my unbelief.

 

You desire truth in the inward being; therefore

teach me wisdom in my secret heart.

 

Lord Jesus Christ, you humbled yourself for me (us)

Show me how to be humble for you.

 

Lord Jesus Christ, you are gentle with me,

Show me how to be gentle.

 

Lord Jesus Christ, you have forgiven me,

Help me to forgive.

 

Lord Jesus Christ, You are compassionate,

Show me how to be compassionate.

 

Lord Jesus Christ, be my light in the darkness

And heal me.

ab

From this website: http://www.christchurchithan.net/benediction.htm

I'm Cary. My parents picked me up at K-mart during a blue light special (obviously this was a few years back). I grew up believing the simple things in life were just that, simple. I'd rather things be more like Sinbad movies. I joined the Marines out of high school to see the world, but found out it was the Navy that saw the world, the Marines just do a lot of yelling and running.

Since I wanted life to be more like Sinbad movies, I welcomed movies with cheesy effects and pretty girls.  I decided at a young age I wanted to be in the movie business.  I learned early the secret to good drama was conflict in this equation; drama = conflict. I've worked to master that equation and have applied it to my writing. Oh that's something I should have in my biography, I write. Screenplays & sometimes articles for newsletters.

I'm into technology. I tried building my own version of the iPad a few years back by taking a laptop apart and attaching different computer hardware for the prototype. It looked like something a terrorist might use so I was detained by the FBI for a short time, thankfully my military background kept me from being transferred to Guantanamo Bay, or "Gitmo" as we like to call it when we're joking about the Patriot Act.

The above paragraph was not true, just an example of fictional writing. Though I have taken apart many, many things in my life.  I was never detained by the FBI nor Police for that.  However, in high school my friends and I went to a mall, bought toy Uzis and had one friend (Nick) act like he was running for office and me and the other guy were his overzealous body guards.  At one store there was a woman who mistook my friend (wearing a beany with a propellor on it), David and myself (dressed like teenagers of the era) for terrorists (this was nealy a decade before Desert Storm in 1991).  The Police pulled us out of a movie and put us in a line-up with no-one else.  She was asked to identify us from among the 3 of us.  We had said we were the guys and she confirmed it.

The above paragraph is true, an example of non-fiction writing.

I did not care for high school, though my senior year I was living on my own.  I could write my own tardy and absent notes.  Several times I would wake up thinking I was already an adult and headed to the office downtown.  Sometime after the Egg McMuffin would start to settle would I realize I was mentally time travelling and had to turn around and get back to school.

My 1st period teacher was strict so I had to not only use good grammar but show creativity in my tardy notes. One day I handed in a note that told her I was late because I ended up being part of a sting operation at McDonald's. Through a series of rather comic missteps I became a key player in stopping the illegal sale of a dozen F-16 Fighter Jets to an Arab National.  I had been tipped off by the unusually high number of jets in the parking lot of the restaurant.  Seeing I knew something was up, the Secret Service had no choice but to make me a field agent on the spot.  Once the bust took place I signed some paper work so they could prosecute the case without having to call me out of school.  I explained to the teacher she had to take my word for it because of national security the SS would not confirm my presence in the sting.  Though to this day I still have the hand I used to swear in by.

There's a great deal I could write about my time in the U.S. Marine Corps, but my youngest wants me to come watch her ride her bike, so this biography will be a work in progress.

I also have some stories from the days I participated in tennis tournaments.

Top out...

The military is often bashed in the media, but not too often in business.  One reason is because business relies on leadership and they know that the military provides the most intense leadership training there is.  My favorite mag, Fast Company, has an article on Admiral Mullen who is taking the lead in getting the military squared away in the world of social networking.  It may seem a like a late start, but keep in mind only 18 months ago very few people knew what twitter even was.  It is a fast changing landscape, and in that environment, the military scores again.

Fortune Magazine had a great article on Wal-Mart and other 500 companies that seek out Junior Military Officers that they could retrain into managers.  In Wal-Mart's case, they had a shortage of leaders, people who could make good, quick decisions under pressure. Someone suggested they recruit war veterans since that's all they did was make decisions under pressure.  No, not all were "good" decisions, but the business world knows that bad decisions are great investments.

I enjoyed the article in Fortune, but I still flinch a bit when I read all about Officers with neary a mention of the enlisted.  One of those interviewed did say they learned to trust those who had been there before them, but that's not the same as saying clearly that it was their NCOs and especially the SNCOs that have acted as the glue that bonded the Officers with their junior troops in order to accomplish their missions.  The Senior Enlisted have not only a great deal of leadership skills but also the skill of being a liaison.  The Senior Enlisted must take a officer, often fresh from school, and guide them into becoming effective commanders of troops.  The Senior Enlisted is the muscle behind the officer's orders AND the voice of the junior enlisted (who are the ones that carry out the mission.)  Not all young enlisted personnel agree with the orders given them. Not all officers are aware that there may be trouble in the ranks.  The Senior Enlisted must be the bridge.  Officers cannot carry out a mission alone and the junior troops usually think with their hearts and not their heads. The Senior Enlisted work to bring the mission and the welfare of the troops together to make sure the mission is accomplished and the troops are cared for.

These three groups make an amazing team unlike that seen anywhere in the modern world.

People my age (mid-forties) have been doing what we do for a while now.  We know the ropes and it can seem like a great burden to have someone younger come in and be placed in charge of you, especially when you have to train them how to be your boss.  But this is a great opportunity.  Go into this relationship with the right attitude and you will have a powerful ally.  Ignore this opportunity at your own peril.  In the military we don't get to pick our officers and they don't get to pick their troops.  We all play the hand dealt us.  I've seen senior enlisted personnel lose their authority from not carrying out the orders of their officers. Not only that, they often lose the respect of the junior troops.

I was once in a leadership battle at my unit in San Diego.  The OIC didn't like my unit working in "his" building.  During weekly field day it was decided those assigned to clean would not clean my area.  This is highly unusual in a Marine unit.  I spoke to the Senior Enlisted person in charge and they simply said they were carrying out the orders of their OIC.  I spoke to the OIC who said I could clean the area myself.  Though I didn't agree it was proper for me, a Senior Enlisted Marine, to be cleaning along with the junior troops, I went back, grabbed a mop and commenced to cleaning.  The troops were shocked, even angry.  Some insisted on not allowing me to do their job, but I made it clear, these were lawful orders and while they may not like them and I may not like them, we were all going to follow them.  I also told them I would single handedly out clean the group and turned a sour note into a joyful song of getting work done.

I could have complained, I could have let the troops try to clean before ordered not to, but I knew that one day they might need to follow orders they didn't agree with and this was a chance to teach them.  I supported the decision of the officer and acted as a liaison to his troops that helped enforce his authority.  In the end, everyone benefited.