Inch by Inch

The three-year-olds were singing "up like a rocket, down like the rain, 'round and 'round like a choo-choo train" to demonstrate how well they could hold their bows to their pint-size violins. Staying home with Nick, it was my husband who enjoyed the distinct privilege of reveling, firsthand, in these toddler's first steps. I only got the post-recital smile--the one I always get when I think about the tiniest musicians among us--as I listened to the complete run-down of their afternoon in Westport. We'd been through that drill four times. The "taca-taca-stop-stop" rhythms on the A-and E-strings; the "Mississippi is a River"; and enough Twinkle Twinkle Little Star's to practically send us orbiting around them. I'm the first to admit: after the fourth kid got through the "twinkles" I honestly thought that if I never heard that song again, it would be just fine by me.

But then in talking about the recital over the first dinner we've shared alone during the past three weeks, I couldn't help but romanticize the whole process. As I reflected back on the past thirteen years of violin lessons, I thought about those first recital pieces, about dressing up Cristina in hand-smocked dresses with white tights and black patent leather shoes, and about the first time two of them played Bach's Concerto for Two Violins onstage one Mother's Day. Yesterday, just as my daughter got on stage to perform, the school director gave a couple minute speech of encouragement for the other parents. For those with babes barely "twinkling" needed to understand that, before long, they too would witness mastery up close and personal. If only they could stick with it long enough.....

Sticking with anything is hard enough. In this harried world of ours, where emails have replaced handwritten letters; "IM" has replaced leisurely phone chats; and digital pix sent over the internet have replaced personal visits: it's no wonder that few of us have the patience for mastery. For enduring the day-to-day until the picture is 100% complete. During this time in which we find ourselves, business--and life--moves at the speed of thought. And we can hardly wait for that thought to be finished so we can move on to the next one. (Ever catch yourself finishing someone else's sentence?)

We're great starters, each one of us. Because starting something only requires that we overcome the law of inertia, (and maybe a dollop of temptation, too). Getting our bottoms off the sofa and over to the art studio to paint or our legs off the footstool and over to the treadmill to run both require overcoming inertia and the temptation of relaxing with too much TV. Finishing the after-school cupcake so as to pull the violin out of the case not only requires overcoming inertia; it requires serious discipline as well. But each act is far easier than incorporating it into your everyday reality. Indeed, going from the first piece in a music book to a full-fledged concerto is a different thing entirely. (As is going from a beginning painter to one who exhibits at galleries or a soft, overweight couch-sitter to a hard-bodied athlete who enjoys both physical strength and aerobic endurance.)

When I reveled today in hearing my daughter perform a drop-dead gorgeous movement from a concerto by Handel (in a post-recital private concert just for me), I was caught off-guard by its parallel to the roughly three-year endurance battle that our son is facing now with leukemia. As my daughter is sailing through mastery, I couldn't help but think of all the violin battles we've had over the years when she was barely taking those first steps of musicianship. Of hating to practice, of hating to play scales, of hating those nasty etudes. The eyeball-rolling, the door-slamming, and the stomping of the feet on each step up the hardwood staircase. And yet here we were, enjoying the fruits of all of those days of practice. It was a goose bump moment that could not be denied. It was proof-positive that mastery comes in inches, and not in miles. And it was a lesson to me that battles of health, or catastrophe, or financial hardships are not fought three years out. They're fought inch by inch.

It was my girlfriend, Lisa, who sent me the "inch by inch is a cinch" line. She met me with it when I needed to hear it the most. She met me with it when I was trying to mush three years of chemotherapy treatments into one day. When I was trying to calculate the math of a three-year chemo roadmap with high school graduation and the first two years of college away from home. Of three years of immune suppression with three other kids and an airplane-traveling husband during flu season. And of six months of long drives to the out-of-town clinic with New England snowstorms.

Yet I must claim "inch by inch" these days. I claim it when Nick's hematologist lays out the day's plan. I claimed it on Friday when we were sent back to the hospital for the day and another overnight stay. And I even got Dr. Joe claiming it with me. Together, we agree to not worry about what next week--or next year--will bring; it's simply too much to think about. We agree to tackle the battle inch by inch.

Whatever your personal struggle or your present-day worry: adopt an "inch by inch is a cinch" plan of positive action. As I've said often: just ask yourself at the end of each day: "Did I move forward?" And if you did--even by an inch--you can sleep soundly in the assurance that you will triumph in this journey of life. One day not far from now, inch by inch, you'll celebrate mastery. You'll celebrate wholeness. You'll celebrate complete healing.

Inch by Inch

The three-year-olds were singing "up like a rocket, down like the rain, 'round and 'round like a choo-choo train" to demonstrate how well they could hold their bows to their pint-size violins. Staying home with Nick, it was my husband who enjoyed the distinct privilege of reveling, firsthand, in these toddler's first steps. I only got the post-recital smile--the one I always get when I think about the tiniest musicians among us--as I listened to the complete run-down of their afternoon in Westport. We'd been through that drill four times. The "taca-taca-stop-stop" rhythms on the A-and E-strings; the "Mississippi is a River"; and enough Twinkle Twinkle Little Star's to practically send us orbiting around them. I'm the first to admit: after the fourth kid got through the "twinkles" I honestly thought that if I never heard that song again, it would be just fine by me.

But then in talking about the recital over the first dinner we've shared alone during the past three weeks, I couldn't help but romanticize the whole process. As I reflected back on the past thirteen years of violin lessons, I thought about those first recital pieces, about dressing up Cristina in hand-smocked dresses with white tights and black patent leather shoes, and about the first time two of them played Bach's Concerto for Two Violins onstage one Mother's Day. Yesterday, just as my daughter got on stage to perform, the school director gave a couple minute speech of encouragement for the other parents. For those with babes barely "twinkling" needed to understand that, before long, they too would witness mastery up close and personal. If only they could stick with it long enough.....

Sticking with anything is hard enough. In this harried world of ours, where emails have replaced handwritten letters; "IM" has replaced leisurely phone chats; and digital pix sent over the internet have replaced personal visits: it's no wonder that few of us have the patience for mastery. For enduring the day-to-day until the picture is 100% complete. During this time in which we find ourselves, business--and life--moves at the speed of thought. And we can hardly wait for that thought to be finished so we can move on to the next one. (Ever catch yourself finishing someone else's sentence?)

We're great starters, each one of us. Because starting something only requires that we overcome the law of inertia, (and maybe a dollop of temptation, too). Getting our bottoms off the sofa and over to the art studio to paint or our legs off the footstool and over to the treadmill to run both require overcoming inertia and the temptation of relaxing with too much TV. Finishing the after-school cupcake so as to pull the violin out of the case not only requires overcoming inertia; it requires serious discipline as well. But each act is far easier than incorporating it into your everyday reality. Indeed, going from the first piece in a music book to a full-fledged concerto is a different thing entirely. (As is going from a beginning painter to one who exhibits at galleries or a soft, overweight couch-sitter to a hard-bodied athlete who enjoys both physical strength and aerobic endurance.)

When I reveled today in hearing my daughter perform a drop-dead gorgeous movement from a concerto by Handel (in a post-recital private concert just for me), I was caught off-guard by its parallel to the roughly three-year endurance battle that our son is facing now with leukemia. As my daughter is sailing through mastery, I couldn't help but think of all the violin battles we've had over the years when she was barely taking those first steps of musicianship. Of hating to practice, of hating to play scales, of hating those nasty etudes. The eyeball-rolling, the door-slamming, and the stomping of the feet on each step up the hardwood staircase. And yet here we were, enjoying the fruits of all of those days of practice. It was a goose bump moment that could not be denied. It was proof-positive that mastery comes in inches, and not in miles. And it was a lesson to me that battles of health, or catastrophe, or financial hardships are not fought three years out. They're fought inch by inch.

It was my girlfriend, Lisa, who sent me the "inch by inch is a cinch" line. She met me with it when I needed to hear it the most. She met me with it when I was trying to mush three years of chemotherapy treatments into one day. When I was trying to calculate the math of a three-year chemo roadmap with high school graduation and the first two years of college away from home. Of three years of immune suppression with three other kids and an airplane-traveling husband during flu season. And of six months of long drives to the out-of-town clinic with New England snowstorms.

Yet I must claim "inch by inch" these days. I claim it when Nick's hematologist lays out the day's plan. I claimed it on Friday when we were sent back to the hospital for the day and another overnight stay. And I even got Dr. Joe claiming it with me. Together, we agree to not worry about what next week--or next year--will bring; it's simply too much to think about. We agree to tackle the battle inch by inch.

Whatever your personal struggle or your present-day worry: adopt an "inch by inch is a cinch" plan of positive action. As I've said often: just ask yourself at the end of each day: "Did I move forward?" And if you did--even by an inch--you can sleep soundly in the assurance that you will triumph in this journey of life. One day not far from now, inch by inch, you'll celebrate mastery. You'll celebrate wholeness. You'll celebrate complete healing.

Fight Leukemia with a Pre-Sale Ticket Car Wash Fundraiser

One of the most devastating cancers of all is Leukemia and the costs to fight it are immensely expensive. When a child has leukemia it is even more devastating threatening to cut a life short. Many times communities will rally together to have fundraisers to cover the costs. Generally the whole community and several fundraisers can come up with the funds with a couple of large donations. To attract large donors, it pays to have the public relations and show a consciousness effort to reach the goal for the treatment. Every year bone morrow transplants costs in crease. One of the fundraisers you might wish to consider is a car wash fundraiser. A pre-sale ticket car wash fundraiser can make significantly larger dollars than a normal car wash fundraiser. Let's discuss pre-sale ticket strategies for a moment.

PRE-SALE TICKETS

You should seriously consider selling presale tickets for your car wash. There are a lot of advantages in pre-selling your tickets such as:

You know about how many people will come to your car wash ahead of time

66% of the ticket buyers never show up but you've already got the money

If it rains you're washed up but not washed out

You will also have use of the money in advance even in the event of rain. Your rain date might be three weeks later yet you have most of the money in your coffers now. Important monies that can go towards your goal for the treatment.

Let's take one of our 1990 car washes. It was for the local high school band. There were one hundred plus students in the band. The average student sold twenty tickets at $5.00 each. The presale ended up about $10,000. That in it self would be great, but it gets better. The day of the event we raised $985.00 in drive-ups. Some of the girls on the drill team waved tall flags and others held poster board signs that brought the cars in all right. We washed 408 cars. Wow, were we tired! We had two solid lines of cars at least fifteen deep all day long. 201 cars were drive-ups with no presale tickets. With tips included that made up the $985.00. That left 207 cars worth of presale with tickets. But you say, "How can that be?" 207 times $5.00 = only $1,035.00. That's right. Since our lines were so long a lot of people didn't claim their tickets or never intended on coming in the first place or forgot or had some thing else to do that day. I believe it was a combination of all these reasons. Whatever the reason, the money went to a good cause. We've had many many fundraisers that have been equally successful over the years.

Now someone will have to typeset these tickets and have them printed. There is probably someone in your group who is a graphic artist or really good with a PC or MAC computer. They'll do fine. The tickets should be eight to ten on a page. You should print them on colored paper so they are not easily duplicated. You should pick a color that matches with your church, club or school's colors. Have the tickets cut. Put the individual tickets into piles of twenty. Put a piece of cardboard or poster board the exact size underneath each stack. Buy some rubber cement. Put about ten stacks of twenty tickets on top of each other and put them in a vice. Paint the rubber cement on the left side of the ticket book and let dry for one hour. Repeat until you have enough booklets for each member. You might want to print another dozen booklets just in case. If the tickets are selling fast, you don't want to run out. That will break your momentum.

You should have frequent ticket sales progress meetings with the people selling the car wash tickets. That way, if sales aren't meeting goals you can help motivate members or reorganize the group.

Tickets can be expensive to print. Ask a local print shop to advertise on the back and become a sponsor in exchange for half price or free printing of the tickets. Most print shops do binding so you may be able to trade for that and save you the time and aggravation of binding the ticket books yourself. Print shops will do a more professional job at binding than you can do on your first time trying. Professional tickets are more presentable and look more official when selling to customers. This will help your group in their selling efforts.

When a community unites in a common cause miracles can occur, all this positive energy and mind power may significantly help the child win their battle with leukemia. Work together and work smart to raise the funds needed and the awareness required to rid the world of this terrible problem and save your local VIP from leukemia. Think on this.

Cancer Curing Brain Theory Concept, Part III

As I continue my theory on curing cancer I wish to further CYA my position. I am not a medical doctor, thank god actually, because the malpractice insurance would drive me nuts. Also since I am not in the medical field at all you cannot sue me for this idea, concept of mine. Now then continuing Part III.

Chemo that is directly induced where needed might work, but we have better technology now and could use specific fluid dynamic beams of energy or radiation pointed at the exact source and area or even non-evasive light. Now then here is some additional information: it is now possible to send thoughts by fax through three-dimensional spatial representation of the brain in hologram video. We have hologram faxing available and Brain Surgeons are using this to show damage in the brain. The guy who thought of it had my friend in Malibu working for his company in LA. Now they can transmit this data by fax, three-dimensional faxing, like sending a cad cam design computer, but you can now fax it with special machinery.

Now we maybe able to use this same idea to send a thought. This relates to my theory of cancer curing so follow along. Wow, eventually the devise would be very small the size of a dime or so to send and receive data or thoughts by way of this devise, this is way in the future, but it could be available to the common man in 20 years or so. Now before this technology gets this small and nano-tech achieves these seemingly impossible feats we can use the basic concept to record a thought for my cancer experiment.

Now just think about this for a second. There have been cancer survivors with very positive thought patterns and attitudes and part of the reason they lived and others died may have been just that. We must mirror these thoughts of strength, character and attitude and place these thought patterns in those who do not have them. We can look into the thought patterns of many cancer survivors and take those and average them and mimic them and place them in the patients. Duplicate them with TMS through fMRI scanning and send those impulses to those areas of the brain of the patient.

Strong patients will be best since those thought patterns can converge. All we have to do is isolate the things I have discussed before in my many articles and in my brain research with regards to the 10,000 chemicals of the brain 2000 interacting at any one time and 200 prevalent. Take the ten strongest components of the 200 and experiment with them. What we are looking for in those miraculous cases, why did they survive, what makes them different, why do some die and others live? We look at the brain areas which light up and release the cancer fighting biological components in each strong willed survivor. We find common ground and record it, then hook a machine up to stimulate those parts of the brain in the other cancer fighting folks.

First we try the first experiment by placing thought of one persons brain into that of another, and yes as strange as this sounds I do believe it is totally possible and as the future marches on, very probable. This experiment to prove my hypothesis takes two people from the same mom, preferably brothers or sisters of the same mom and dad and hopefully born within a short time frame (2-3 years). Grew up and were nurtured by the same parents. Similar birth dates. Twins would also be good for this. To prove my experiment first; You separate the twins by 4000 miles but both at the same altitude preferably sea level. Similar longitude with similar magnetic pulls and similar gravity pull of the Earth; this will make sure that the oxygen level in the brain is similar and it will be a non-artificial environment, not a clean room.

Next; You then hook up a brain scanner that records a thought, a complex one, simple one first time. Then record where in the brain the energy is located in sequence during the thought. This is done all the time. It will take a controlled thought and focused thought at first. Next you send the digital thought sequences to the other coast. You could also fax that three-dimensional model to the East Coast or Pacific side or where you are, and hook up the data and the model to the brother or sister. And recreate the exact impulses where they occurred in the last person on the west coast or East Coast. Provided the diets are similar and the intake is similar, oxygen level, basic genetics are similar, you should have it. The same basic thought. Recorded transferred and sent and then duplicated, Thought transfer.

Now that would be a worthy accomplishment in itself but the possibilities for cancer fighting would be amazing indeed. Now obviously you do not reveal the thought to the other person, let them tell you what the thought is or was. A thought is recorded and therefore timeless. Thoughts can travel through time at least we can travel thoughts to the future. Just like knowledge. Or at least this has been theorized by many including Einstein. Now for my experiment once concept of thought transfer is proven: Now after this is done, you take a cancer survivors abilities of focusing in their own your body, mimic the diet and intake of that person with the patient anywhere in the world.

End of Part III

Fight Leukemia with a Pre-Sale Ticket Car Wash Fundraiser

One of the most devastating cancers of all is Leukemia and the costs to fight it are immensely expensive. When a child has leukemia it is even more devastating threatening to cut a life short. Many times communities will rally together to have fundraisers to cover the costs. Generally the whole community and several fundraisers can come up with the funds with a couple of large donations. To attract large donors, it pays to have the public relations and show a consciousness effort to reach the goal for the treatment. Every year bone morrow transplants costs in crease. One of the fundraisers you might wish to consider is a car wash fundraiser. A pre-sale ticket car wash fundraiser can make significantly larger dollars than a normal car wash fundraiser. Let's discuss pre-sale ticket strategies for a moment.

PRE-SALE TICKETS

You should seriously consider selling presale tickets for your car wash. There are a lot of advantages in pre-selling your tickets such as:

You know about how many people will come to your car wash ahead of time

66% of the ticket buyers never show up but you've already got the money

If it rains you're washed up but not washed out

You will also have use of the money in advance even in the event of rain. Your rain date might be three weeks later yet you have most of the money in your coffers now. Important monies that can go towards your goal for the treatment.

Let's take one of our 1990 car washes. It was for the local high school band. There were one hundred plus students in the band. The average student sold twenty tickets at $5.00 each. The presale ended up about $10,000. That in it self would be great, but it gets better. The day of the event we raised $985.00 in drive-ups. Some of the girls on the drill team waved tall flags and others held poster board signs that brought the cars in all right. We washed 408 cars. Wow, were we tired! We had two solid lines of cars at least fifteen deep all day long. 201 cars were drive-ups with no presale tickets. With tips included that made up the $985.00. That left 207 cars worth of presale with tickets. But you say, "How can that be?" 207 times $5.00 = only $1,035.00. That's right. Since our lines were so long a lot of people didn't claim their tickets or never intended on coming in the first place or forgot or had some thing else to do that day. I believe it was a combination of all these reasons. Whatever the reason, the money went to a good cause. We've had many many fundraisers that have been equally successful over the years.

Now someone will have to typeset these tickets and have them printed. There is probably someone in your group who is a graphic artist or really good with a PC or MAC computer. They'll do fine. The tickets should be eight to ten on a page. You should print them on colored paper so they are not easily duplicated. You should pick a color that matches with your church, club or school's colors. Have the tickets cut. Put the individual tickets into piles of twenty. Put a piece of cardboard or poster board the exact size underneath each stack. Buy some rubber cement. Put about ten stacks of twenty tickets on top of each other and put them in a vice. Paint the rubber cement on the left side of the ticket book and let dry for one hour. Repeat until you have enough booklets for each member. You might want to print another dozen booklets just in case. If the tickets are selling fast, you don't want to run out. That will break your momentum.

You should have frequent ticket sales progress meetings with the people selling the car wash tickets. That way, if sales aren't meeting goals you can help motivate members or reorganize the group.

Tickets can be expensive to print. Ask a local print shop to advertise on the back and become a sponsor in exchange for half price or free printing of the tickets. Most print shops do binding so you may be able to trade for that and save you the time and aggravation of binding the ticket books yourself. Print shops will do a more professional job at binding than you can do on your first time trying. Professional tickets are more presentable and look more official when selling to customers. This will help your group in their selling efforts.

When a community unites in a common cause miracles can occur, all this positive energy and mind power may significantly help the child win their battle with leukemia. Work together and work smart to raise the funds needed and the awareness required to rid the world of this terrible problem and save your local VIP from leukemia. Think on this.

Fight Leukemia with a Pre-Sale Ticket Car Wash Fundraiser

One of the most devastating cancers of all is Leukemia and the costs to fight it are immensely expensive. When a child has leukemia it is even more devastating threatening to cut a life short. Many times communities will rally together to have fundraisers to cover the costs. Generally the whole community and several fundraisers can come up with the funds with a couple of large donations. To attract large donors, it pays to have the public relations and show a consciousness effort to reach the goal for the treatment. Every year bone morrow transplants costs in crease. One of the fundraisers you might wish to consider is a car wash fundraiser. A pre-sale ticket car wash fundraiser can make significantly larger dollars than a normal car wash fundraiser. Let's discuss pre-sale ticket strategies for a moment.

PRE-SALE TICKETS

You should seriously consider selling presale tickets for your car wash. There are a lot of advantages in pre-selling your tickets such as:

You know about how many people will come to your car wash ahead of time

66% of the ticket buyers never show up but you've already got the money

If it rains you're washed up but not washed out

You will also have use of the money in advance even in the event of rain. Your rain date might be three weeks later yet you have most of the money in your coffers now. Important monies that can go towards your goal for the treatment.

Let's take one of our 1990 car washes. It was for the local high school band. There were one hundred plus students in the band. The average student sold twenty tickets at $5.00 each. The presale ended up about $10,000. That in it self would be great, but it gets better. The day of the event we raised $985.00 in drive-ups. Some of the girls on the drill team waved tall flags and others held poster board signs that brought the cars in all right. We washed 408 cars. Wow, were we tired! We had two solid lines of cars at least fifteen deep all day long. 201 cars were drive-ups with no presale tickets. With tips included that made up the $985.00. That left 207 cars worth of presale with tickets. But you say, "How can that be?" 207 times $5.00 = only $1,035.00. That's right. Since our lines were so long a lot of people didn't claim their tickets or never intended on coming in the first place or forgot or had some thing else to do that day. I believe it was a combination of all these reasons. Whatever the reason, the money went to a good cause. We've had many many fundraisers that have been equally successful over the years.

Now someone will have to typeset these tickets and have them printed. There is probably someone in your group who is a graphic artist or really good with a PC or MAC computer. They'll do fine. The tickets should be eight to ten on a page. You should print them on colored paper so they are not easily duplicated. You should pick a color that matches with your church, club or school's colors. Have the tickets cut. Put the individual tickets into piles of twenty. Put a piece of cardboard or poster board the exact size underneath each stack. Buy some rubber cement. Put about ten stacks of twenty tickets on top of each other and put them in a vice. Paint the rubber cement on the left side of the ticket book and let dry for one hour. Repeat until you have enough booklets for each member. You might want to print another dozen booklets just in case. If the tickets are selling fast, you don't want to run out. That will break your momentum.

You should have frequent ticket sales progress meetings with the people selling the car wash tickets. That way, if sales aren't meeting goals you can help motivate members or reorganize the group.

Tickets can be expensive to print. Ask a local print shop to advertise on the back and become a sponsor in exchange for half price or free printing of the tickets. Most print shops do binding so you may be able to trade for that and save you the time and aggravation of binding the ticket books yourself. Print shops will do a more professional job at binding than you can do on your first time trying. Professional tickets are more presentable and look more official when selling to customers. This will help your group in their selling efforts.

When a community unites in a common cause miracles can occur, all this positive energy and mind power may significantly help the child win their battle with leukemia. Work together and work smart to raise the funds needed and the awareness required to rid the world of this terrible problem and save your local VIP from leukemia. Think on this.