My 2012 Thank You List

Over the years I've written that saying "Thank you" is something that you can never say enough to clients and prospects (family and friends as well of course).
With that in mind here are some people I would like to thank publicly for something they have done to help me in 2012. I'm limiting this list to people that have helped me this past year in the professional realm.
I know this list is incomplete because there is somebody I forgot as I'm trying to remember this off the top of my head.
If you are that person please know that I'm thinking about you and appreciate your efforts in working with me and for all you have done for me!

In no particular order:

God, my family, my parents for everything!
Joyce, Anthony, and Travis from Potawatomi Bingo Casino for hiring so many of our graduates
Mary Donovan for being a great Brewers fan and reference for all things
Brian Weis for support in my new venture
Mark Thomas for your advice, jokes, and lunches
Jim Watters, congratulations on your new job!
John Wiedemann for the photo opportunities
Mark Farrell and Bill Famiglietti for the good idea
My managers Aleks Hebron, Scott Tenhagen, and Jarvis Racine
Collegues Meg Jansen, Vikas Chopra, Tim Fick, Eddie Zirbel
Tammy McCormack my fellow "diva!"
Instuctors Willard Romantini, Bill Hogan, Bill Barkhaus, Craig Ashley, Brad Cress, Andrew Hancock
Paul Kohlman for help on various marketing projects
Gabe for his IT software fixing skills
Tina for her computer fixing problems
Kristine Kamikawa for great signs
Keith Kamikawa for the same

All the students in my classes that paid attention and tried their best.
All the students that thanked me for helping them find jobs or giving them confidence to find jobs.

Every employer that interviewed or hired graduates from the college I work at.
There are too many to name here however a few of them are:

Jamie Garancis (Teksystems) thans for EVERYTHING you do for me and my students
Kristy Knight (MurTech), thanks for the great opportunities
Kristine Hoormann (Apex Systems), I love your candor!
 Angela Triscari (Technisource) for interviewing a ton of tough students I help.
Gina Van Opens of Elite Human Capital for the same.
Amy Pentek, Johnson Controls, for helping me with student paperwork
Billye Survis at Rockwell for the same thing.
Larry Cirillo and Jen Hance of SEI for showing an example of a company that gets it!
Tony Ovalle of Robert Half for mock interviews and job fairs
Heather Bartel and Nic Toco from Superior Staffing for mock interviews
Mark Hoffman for having several students on his staff at TCGrx
Darnell Williams, Aerotek for the interviews
Paul Mazzaro and Ryan Parker of Dish network thanks for the hires
Sarah Frank of Randstad, Truly Dedicated (get it?)
Jody Massopust, WalMart, always a lovely person
Lindsey Hosler from Robert Half Technology taking my programmers
DaNelle Borglin from FIS, you rock!
Kim Schoening from Andis, 3 interns in a row 
Dalinda Galaviz, Meridian International Group
Marilyn Marriott at OnCourse Information Services for hiring two graduates.
Gary Herb at Veritas Solutions for the job opportunities
Melissa Irish and Lexi Anhalt of Aerotek, for all the leads
John Koscielak of FIS for the help
Gina Miller of Footlocker for a great job
Julie Watson of Stamm Technologies for forgiving me
Paula Bell of Milwaukee Children's Choir for giving someone a break that needed it
Scott Fregien, Experis, we got one at least!
Kim Polum Brooksource for having a bunch of graduates
Sherry Bergmann for giving a good guy the first step in a new career
Tina Donjeski, KHS, for giving the same guy a second step
Jamie Williams of Randstad, congrats on the new family member!
Matt Gordon, Thanks for giving the candiate a try. Too bad he didn't take advantage of it
Dave Spencer, MBM you had two busy days of interviews and thanks for hiring the two you did!
Jolene Lundahl, Echo Lake Foods, How is the LinkedIn profile coming along?
Nick Rolf and Julie Cosich of HUI, good people, good company
Bret Lokken, Adecco, I still don't know what happened to your candidate.
Keri Wozniak, Ellsworth you got a good hire
Crystal LaPoint-King, Elite Human Capital, congrats on the new digs
CJ Dykstra, Park Bank, someday we will meet on the golf course
Kristilynn Smukowski, Volt, thanks for all the interviews
Katie Galarza, Aries Industries, nice to work together again
Andrea Evert, Versant, one of my longest term newsletter readers
Joel Steffen, Russel Metals, thanks for my first drafting program placement
Sean Cook, Thanks for remembering me for the Racine area students
John Rinaldi, Real Time Automation, I'm glad your new employee is progressing greatly
Roger Bong, IFEBP, thanks for interviewing our graphics students
Kaycee Whitaker, Paragon Development Systems, Glad you found a good home
Nikki Wipperfurth and Glenna Cose, AllianceStaff, thanks for helping out with mock interviews

Adam Gabor Nitz, Vicki Schuch, Matt Elmer for doing a good job running Recruiter Network after me.
Deb Marquette for listening to me a few years ago. Good luck in your search.
Kermit Kapp for your continued class and faith.
John Quincannon Congrats on your new job!
Kathy Bornheimer for good ideas

Dan Nauman, Alec DeLang, Jim and the rest of the gang at Great Lakes
Timm Heck-ME2
Matt Steffan-Focus on Energy
Laura Osten-Osten Plumbing
Don Finger
John McDonald-The Great McDonald

All of you have helped me so much this past year!
To those on this list and those not,
Thank you and HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy

December 2012 Jokes

More jokes to end the year on. Guess what? Another list of jokes submitted by someone other than me. Thanks for reading and sharing!
Happy New Year!
Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy


Why aren't there Walgreen's in Afghanistan?
Because everything there is a Target! (Thanks to AH for this one!)

What did the boy melon say to the girl melon?
Sorry Honeydew I Cantalope! (Kudos to AH!)

A man walks into a psychiatrist office and says:
Doctor! I think I'm a dog. When I'm at home I eat like a dog, walk like a dog, and drink like a dog.
Can you help me?
Doctor says:
I can help you. Climb on my couch.
Man:
I can't! I'm not allowed!
(Bob and Brian on WHQG FM told this one. You know I used to work there?)

What mobile device do pirates like the most?

An aye-phone.  (Thanks MT for this one)

How can you find out a pirate’s true name?

Check his aye-d.  (Thanks MT for this one)

What does a pirate call a surgical mask?

An aye-patch.  (You have to think about that one a while….Thanks again to MT! A consistent source of jokes over the years)   

2012 in Review

The one thing I like about the passage of time is the end of the year lists that come out.

Below are several that I find interesting to look back on. Enjoy!

Ev

A Heck of A Nice Guy and another year older

What did we look up the most on Google?

Review events and people that were hot on YouTube (many of these are in the video that follows)

What videos were hot on YouTube (can you spot the "stars" of these videos)?

What Celebrities Died in 2012

Remember this guy? Reminds you that we really are one people with more in common than differences and should stop finding ways to seperate ourselves from each other through politics, income, nationality, or race. At least that is what I like to think it means. Nice to know that the internet inspires some people.

A Toy Train in Space? A fun adventure for a kid's toy. Talk about innocent fun!

And of course we danced Gangham style!

Eight Things Remarkably Successful People Do

We all know successful people.
Not all of them follow these same eight steps that Jeff Haden lays out, however these eight steps are pretty good. Are there any others you would add to this list?
Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy


Eight Things Remarkably Successful People Do

By Jeff Haden

I'm fortunate to know a number of remarkably successful people. I've described how these people share a set of specific perspectives and beliefs.

They also share a number of habits:

1. They don't create back-up plans.

Back-up plans can help you sleep easier at night. Back-up plans can also create an easy out when times get tough.

You'll work a lot harder and a lot longer if your primary plan simply has to work because there is no other option. Total commitment--without a safety net--will spur you to work harder than you ever imagined possible.

If somehow the worst does happen (and the "worst" is never as bad as you think) trust that you will find a way to rebound. As long as you keep working hard and keep learning from your mistakes, you always will.

2. They do the work...

You can be good with a little effort. You can be really good with a little more effort.

But you can't be great--at anything--unless you put in an incredible amount of focused effort.

Scratch the surface of any person with rare skills and you'll find a person who has put thousands of hours of effort into developing those skills.

There are no shortcuts. There are no overnight successes. Everyone has heard about the 10,000 hours principle but no one follows it... except remarkably successful people.

So start doing the work now. Time is wasting.

3.  ...and they work a lot more.

Forget the Sheryl Sandberg "I leave every day at 5:30" stories. I'm sure she does. But she's not you.

Every extremely successful entrepreneur I know (personally) works more hours than the average person--a lot more. They have long lists of things they want to get done. So they have to put in lots of time.

Better yet, they want to put in lots of time.

If you don't embrace a workload others would consider crazy then your goal doesn't mean that much to you--or it's not particularly difficult to achieve. Either way you won't be remarkably successful.

4. They avoid the crowds.

Conventional wisdom yields conventional results. Joining the crowd--no matter how trendy the crowd or "hot" the opportunity--is a recipe for mediocrity.

Remarkably successful people habitually do what other people won't do. They go where others won't go because there's a lot less competition and a much greater chance for success.

5. They start at the end...

Average success is often based on setting average goals.

Decide what you really want: to be the best, the fastest, the cheapest, the biggest, whatever. Aim for the ultimate. Decide where you want to end up. That is your goal.

Then you can work backwards and lay out every step along the way.

Never start small where goals are concerned. You'll make better decisions--and find it much easier to work a lot harder--when your ultimate goal is ultimate success.

6. ... and they don't stop there.

Achieving a goal--no matter how huge--isn't the finish line for highly successful people. Achieving one huge goal just creates a launching pad for achieving another huge goal.

Maybe you want to create a $100 million business; once you do you can leverage your contacts and influence to create a charitable foundation for a cause you believe in. Then your business and humanitarian success can create a platform for speaking, writing, and thought leadership. Then...

The process of becoming remarkably successful in one field will give you the skills and network to be remarkably successful in many other fields.

Remarkably successful people don't try to win just one race. They expect and plan to win a number of subsequent races.

7. They sell.

I once asked a number of business owners and CEOs to name the one skill they felt contributed the most to their success. Each said the ability to sell.

Keep in mind selling isn't manipulating, pressuring, or cajoling. Selling is explaining the logic and benefits of a decision or position. Selling is convincing other people to work with you. Selling is overcoming objections and roadblocks.

Selling is the foundation of business and personal success: knowing how to negotiate, to deal with "no," to maintain confidence and self-esteem in the face of rejection, to communicate effectively with a wide range of people, to build long-term relationships...

When you truly believe in your idea, or your company, or yourself then you don't need to have a huge ego or a huge personality. You don't need to "sell."

You just need to communicate.

8. They are never too proud.

To admit they made a mistake. To say they are sorry. To have big dreams. To admit they owe their success to others. To poke fun at themselves. To ask for help.

To fail.

And to try again.

Cute Santa Claus & Doggy Movie

Click on the link below the dog picture for a nice Christmas Santa Claus movie.
Merry Christmas!
Ev



Cute Dog and Santa Movie

December 2012 Newsletter

Greetings!

December is here. Will we have snow before you open this newsletter?

One of my most popular articles asked people what was their hardest or dirtiest job.
Several of you responded.

Below are some articles I’ve written on recruiting and sales from my blog along with the famous jokes.

Feel free to search my blog for other topics you’re interested in.

Have a great rest of December!

What was your hardest/dirtiest job?

http://everetsblog.blogspot.com/2012/11/what-was-your-hardestdirtiest-job.html

Dissecting Another Bad Cold Email:

http://everetsblog.blogspot.com/2012/11/another-dumb-cold-call-email.html

Dumb Interview Stories:

http://everetsblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/dumb-interview-stories.html

Should You Hire Your First Salesperson:

http://everetsblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/should-you-hire-your-first-salesperson.html

Jokes:

http://everetsblog.blogspot.com/2012/11/november-2012-jokes.html

Everet Kamikawa

"A Heck of A Nice Guy"

State Seeks Database to Match Jobs to People Getting Unemployment

Wow! Is this going to be a political football or a great boom for employers?
Either way it will be interesting to watch what happens.Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy

State seeks database to match jobs to people getting unemployment

By John Schmid of the Journal Sentinel

Nov. 27, 2012
state-seeks-database-to-match-jobs-to-people-getting-unemployment

It's often called one of the leading impediments for Wisconsin's manufacturing-heavy economy: the inability to find qualified or willing job candidates for production jobs even at a time of high unemployment.
And after a decade of ceaseless industry complaints, white papers and debate, the state Department of Workforce Development on Tuesday promised to have its own answer to the problem up and running by the first quarter of 2014, at least in some rudimentary form.
The agency wants to start an online database with analytic software that will attempt to match the skills of those collecting unemployment insurance with job openings. The idea is to collect so much information on job seekers and job opportunities that the system eventually will include a predictive algorithm that will help technical schools and universities figure out what skills are expected to be in demand in a dynamic economy in time to educate a generation of workers.
The matchmaking system ideally will communicate directly with job applicants using smartphone apps, "because that's what young people are familiar with," said Jonathan Barry, deputy secretary of the state workforce agency.
Barry spoke Tuesday at a forum presented by the Milwaukee Press Club. Other panel members included the chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and executives from two companies, global recruitment firm ManpowerGroup Inc. and Milwaukee-area metal fabricator GenMet Corp.
The agency's computer system is "archaic" and "inefficient," Barry said. "Right now it's a telephone- and paper-based system."
It's too early to talk about precise costs, some of which might be offset by reallocating programming time within the agency. Barry estimated that the new system could cost $15 million to $16 million in federal taxpayer funds.

The problem goes by many names. Some call it a skills mismatch or jobs disconnect. "It seems like a paradox," given how many remain unemployed, said Manpower vice president Melanie Holmes.
Barry said his agency is just getting started. It created project teams to make plans to build the system, which is still in the concept phase. It doesn't yet have a name. "We haven't called it anything," Barry said.
The agency recently began requesting cost proposals from different software vendors. A timeline of 2014 is "ambitious," he said.
Gov. Scott Walker would be up for re-election in 2014.

The system might also include "carrots and sticks," Barry said. If users are collecting unemployment insurance but don't comply with the terms of the job-search program, their unemployment check might be delayed, he said.

Another challenge is the bureaucratic culture at Workforce Development, which has six divisions and 1,600 employees meant to oversee training and re-employment efforts. Commenting on the agency, Barry said: "It's siloed. It's tough to change. It's a challenge for all of us in government to meet the kind of rapid change we've seen in workforce and society."

And the search for qualified talent in a fast-changing economy is global, Holmes said. Half of all the employers who respond to Manpower's surveys cite the struggle to fill positions. Causes are as numerous and complex as any other major social issue: They can include access to transportation, child care or the inability to develop "soft skills" that can make or break chances of employment, she said.
But in Wisconsin, the issue is often the bane of machine shops, factories, welders and metal fabricators.
Mary Isbister, president of Mequon-based GenMet, said few young people appear interested in working in manufacturing, echoing sentiments heard often in the Midwest manufacturing economy, where too often factory work is stigmatized as "dumb, dirty and dangerous."

In fact, it's neither dumb nor dirty, she and others said. The opposite is the problem: Factory work is highly automated and needs math, computer and blueprint-reading skills, she said. "We are a paperless shop. We use computers."
Lost in contemporary culture is the pride in making things, she said. Her 75-person company specializes in metal fabrication, turning sheets of steel into bumpers, hoods or the big letters on a McDonald's restaurant, she said.
"This is the biggest thing controlling the growth of my business," she said. "I could have doubled my business last year - doubled - if I could have found the right people."

Why 4th Quarter Is Tough

Lots of salespeople and recruiters say the last few weeks of the year are tough.
It can be tough for sales of any kind.
Many thoughts turn to the holidays, and starting the new year, and vacations.
The following are not excuses to give to your bosses, however if you understand the reasons for what is happening on the sales front you can combat them easier.

1. Open Enrollment:
Typically companies that offer employee health insurance have their plan enrollment time in November (sometimes May depending on their fiscal calendar). During this time HR people have more than enough to do so if you're lucky they will get back to you before the month is over. Keep your visits and messages brief and to the point. Don't harass them with messages. They'll appreciate it if you respect the fact they need to get back to their enrollment project.

2. Budget Process:
Usually budgets for the following year are started and finalized during the third quarter. Depending on how sales forecasts are turning out, or certain business realities set in, budgets might have to be adjusted. The company might be
conserving their remaining budget to make sure they can get through the year because revenues were lower than expected or pay for something they didn't expect to need.

3. New hiring usually gets put on hold.

If you're selling recruiting related products, hiring decisions always start to go on hold in October.

Companies don't want to hire people only to see business go down and those positions are no longer needed the following year, causing them to fire those new people a few months down the road. If it is a position they need to fill they will. Other positions might be put off until the new year. Don't forget that companies have a hiring budget. Since people will often quit without notice or get fired, HR might not want to spend the money until they are absolutely sure they don't need it for something else.

Sometimes the people who need to make the decisions aren't even in place yet to make decisions on what you are trying to offer them.

4. Companies might play it safe and hold the rest of the budget to see what happens.

For buying companies still usually have a chunk of budget available and can commit to a package before the end of October or even up to Thanksgiving and through December if it is an annual contract. If the budgets are not finalized the company might wait as long as they can before spending money just in case they need it for something unexpected.

5. Holidays are all bunched together and people are easily distracted either by the events around the holidays or the attitude of "no one is going to be around because of the holidays so why bother." Vacations and time off also play a part as sometimes the people that need to make the decisions are gone.

6. Companies hate uncertainty.

There is always optimism for the new year. There is also a bit of trepidation.

Companies like to think things will work out and plan for that, however they will also plan on what to do if things don't work in the new year.

In other words they hedge their bets.

That hedging can confuse and frustrate businesses and hiring because of the uncertainty of what is going to happen. Sometimes businesses get themselves freaked out by what MIGHT happen they become paralyzed and take no action. Usually if this is the case waiting it out is all you can do along with moving to your next prospect. Sooner or later the company realizes the sky isn't falling and makes decisions.

7. Elections can screw things up too. I recently wrote more in detail about this:

politics-does-matter in business

8. Fourth quarter might be busy for them! In retail 3rd and especially 4th quarters are where they make their money and are usually the busiest. They might love to buy what you have, but are too busy selling to get the money to pay for it. Let them sell and do what they do.

Fourth quarter might be tougher than others, however if you plan for it you can make it a prosperous quarter too. Think about all the annual deals that get closed. Plus if you keep doing the basics of calls and appointments, you'll not only have a better and easier fourth quarter than you thought, you will also set yourself up for a great first quarter as well!

Thanks for everything in 2012!

Ev

A Heck of A Nice Guy

Real Reasons your Employees are Leaving You

These topics have been touched on in other articles by me and others in this blog. What are you doing to prevent your employees from leaving as 2013 approaches? Thanks Maren for the insight.
Ev
The Real Reasons your Employees are Leaving You

Maren Hogan  |  December 3, 2012  |  

It’s a fact of life that’s all too familiar to recruiters and HR pros alike. Employees come and they go. But as talent acquisition broadens to bring “retention” into the stable of measurements that we use to gauge our effectiveness, more information on the real reasons employees leave begins to emerge. Organizations are frequently looking to recruit, retain and train their employees – but why?

A recent infographic by Paycom addresses the twin issues of “pull” versus “push”.  And for those who spend their days attracting employees to their organizations, it might come as a surprise that nearly 94% of employees report voluntarily leaving employers for “push” reasons where the motivators were based on dissatisfaction or a desire to leave versus the siren song (or “pull”) of an outside opportunity.
Did you hear that? If your employees are stepping out, it’s because they were pushed away, not tempted. Therefore, you can do something about it. And you should, because the cost of losing an average employee is 1.5x their annual salary and for every top dog that leaves your company, you can lose 2 more high performing employees. And those top performers? They cost 3x what the average employee costs to replace.
Those are scary numbers. So why are your employees leaving you?

They don’t trust you. At least the higher ups. This one hardly comes as a surprise as corporate loyalty has been wearing relatively thin as of late. However, it’s not entirely impossible to turn this around. One of the best ways to instill confidence in higher leadership in your company is by instituting pay for performance throughout your company. Pay for Performance Programs can increase employee retention by 27%.

You’re not paying them enough. Cost of living is rising steadily but take home pay just isn’t and sometimes employees can find better offers elsewhere. It’s tough for organizations to “find money” lying around but there are other ways to create value for your employees. Work-flex time, increased benefits, better training programs to name a few.

Your culture sucks. This is the hardest one to both identify and fix, but it’s costing you big bucks to leave it alone. When you have an unhealthy or undesirable culture within your team or organization, you’re not only at risk of losing your best people but in damaging your employer brand. Pinpointing the issue that’s draining your culture and then excising it will underscore your retention efforts.

You don’t care about their job. So, not to put too fine a point on it, why should they care about your company? Lack of concern for your employees’ development is listed as a top reason with 41% of employees at companies with inadequate training programs planning to leave within a year. In companies that provide excellent training, only 12% of employees want to leave. So start training your employees.
All of this speaks to further aligning business goals with employee goals. AS talent management and talent acquisition draw ever closer, corporate recruiting leaders that focus on areas that traditionally belonged firmly in HR and Management camps: like training, compensation and performance reviews, will find their efforts rewarded by increased retention numbers and better bottom line numbers. In fact, organizations with reward and talent management programs that support their business goals are more
than twice as likely to be high-performing companies.
So what are you waiting for? Get cracking!

Why I Write This Blog

This is my 300th blog article.

It is also the 13th anniversary of my client newsletter that morphed into this blog.

I've written before on why I think you should read this blog:

why-read-this-blog

However I've never explained WHY I write this blog.

There are two main reasons.

The first is obvious. In this electronic age I want to stay in touch with you-my clients, prospects, readers, fans- to keep you informed of changes in the industry, ideas that can help your business, and remind you that I'm a resource for you for networking, advice, or resources.

The second reason relates to the pictures in this article. 

I started selling Kirby Vacuum cleaners in 1991. It was my first professional sales job.

Our daily sales meeting started at 8am and my first appointment was at 9am daily.

I averaged 4-5 demonstrations each day. 

Each demonstation was 2-3 hours long by the time I demonstrated (and sold) the vacuum and finished cleaning the carpet as a thank you for watching the demo.

It was not uncommon that my day would end at 10 or 11pm.

I was earning money for college and living at home.

Every night my dad would wait up for me.

He would ask how my day went and would go though each appointment with me.

He was an executive chef who was literally "world famous" as he always traveled for his company.

Turns out he was also a great salesman.

We would go through the appointments and my conversations with the clients and he would explain what I did right and wrong. Being the last of nine kids, my father was already "old" by the time I started playing sports, so we didn't have some of the typical father-son experiences like playing catch.

It was during these talks that I got to know my Dad and he me. It was a great bonding experience and taught me many of my core beliefs on selling and customer service.

There isn't a day that goes by in my sales career that I don't think of his advice and lessons.

Many of them I've talked about in this blog, and with you over the years.

I write these blogs not only to help you and others, but to pass along my Dad's lessons to my son. Even if he doesn't go into sales for a career, the lessons from his Dad and the Grandfather he never met will be out in cyberspace for him to read and to get to know us.

Thank you to all of you for everything you have done for me.

Thank you to everyone who have read, or are reading, this blog or my client emails.

Ev

A Heck of A Nice Guy

Having costume mohawk fun for Halloween at 5

First rainbow trout at 6

First crawling on grass (still one of my favorite pictures)

First time on grass

Stuff You Never Knew

I'm on vacation today.

As a result todays column has been provided by Tim Fick.

Thanks Tim!

Ev

Stuff you didn't know you didn't know!

----  

Men can read smaller

print than women can; women can hear better.

------------

Coca-Cola was originally green.  

----  

It is impossible to lick

your elbow.

------------

The State with the

highest percentage of people who walk to work:  

Alaska  

------------

The percentage of

Africa that is wilderness: 28%

(now get this...)  

------------

The percentage of

North America that is wilderness: 38%

------------

The cost of raising

a medium-size dog to the age of eleven:

$ 16,400

------------

The average number

of people airborne over the U.S.

in any given hour:  

61,000  

------------

Intelligent people

have more zinc and copper in their hair..  

------------

The first novel ever

written on a typewriter, Tom Sawyer.  

------------

The San Francisco  

Cable cars are the only mobile

National Monuments.  

------------

Each king in a deck

of playing cards represents a great king from history:

Spades - King David

Hearts - Charlemagne

Clubs -Alexander, the Great

Diamonds - Julius Caesar  

------------

111,111,111 x

111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987, 654,321  

------------

If a statue in the park of a person on a horse

has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle.

If the horse has one front leg in the air,

the person died because of wounds received in battle.

If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes

------------

Only two people

signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4,

John Hancock and Charles Thomson.

Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the last signature wasn't added until 5 years later.

------------

Q. Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of what?  

A. Their birthplace

------------

Q. Most boat owners name their boats.

What is the most popular boat name requested?

A.

Obsession  

------------

Q.. If you were to spell out numbers,

how far would you have to go until you

would find the letter 'A'?

A. One thousand  

------------

Q. What do bulletproof vests, fire escapes,

windshield wipers and laser printers have in common?

A. All were invented

by women.  

------------

Q. What is the only

food that doesn't spoil?

A. Honey  

------------

Q. Which day are there more collect calls

than any other day of the year?  

A. Father's Day  

------------

In Shakespeare's time,

mattresses were secured on bed frames by  ropes.

When you pulled on the ropes, the mattress tightened,

making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the

phrase...'Goodnight , sleep tight'

------------

It was the accepted

practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply

his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink.

Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month,

which we know today as the honeymoon.

------------

In English pubs, ale

is ordered by pints and quarts... So in old England , when

customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them 'Mind your pints and quarts, and settle down.' . . .

It's where we get

the phrase 'mind your P's and Q's'  

------------

Many years ago in

England , pub frequenters had a whistle baked

into the rim, or handle, of their ceramiccups.

When they needed a refill , they used the whistle to get some service. 'Wet your whistle' is the phrase

inspired by this practice.

------------

At least 75% of

people who read this will try

to lick their elbow!  

------------

YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING

IN 2012

when...

1. You accidentally

enter your PIN on the microwave.

2. You haven't

played solitaire with real cards in years.  

3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers

to reach your family of three.  

4. You e-mail the person who

works at the desk next to you.  

5. Your reason for not staying in touch

with friends and family is that they

don't have e-mail addresses.

6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your

cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you

carry in the groceries...  

7. Every commercial on  television

has a web site at the bottom of the screen

8. Leaving the house without your cell phone,

which you didn't even have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and

you turn around to go and get it  

10. You get up in the morning and go on line

before getting your coffee  

11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )

12 You're reading  this and

nodding and laughing.  

13. Even worse, you know exactly

to whom you are going to forward this message.  

14. You are too busy

to notice there was no #9 on this list.

15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on this list .

~~~~~~~~~~~AND FINALLY~~~~~ ~~~~~~~  

NOW you're LAUGHING at yourself!

Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused!" (Unknown Author)