The family decided to organize a garage sale for our cousin, Ambel, who's in the hospital.  Diagnosed with cancer, their family needs help.  If you guys have some stuff that you can give out for help, I would really appreciate it.

We need all the help we can get :) 

Watched The Producer a while ago on HBO, it was really entertaining.  Never been a fan of musicals, but this was really funny.

This was a remake of a 1968 movie, which had great reviews as well. 

Starring:  Uma Thurman, Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, William Ferrell
Plot: Ever failing broadway producer Max Bailystock had his books audited by accountant Leo Bloom, who actually suggests that he can make more money by producing a flop.  So the set off with three things in mind: get the worse screen play, get the worse director, raise two million dollars.  Since the idea was they can keep the overinvested money for themselves after the first and last showing of their flop play. 

The movie was totally hillarious.  The events revolving around the plot were knitted perfectly! Getting the worse screenplay, the color and the feel of the file was great.  Will Ferrell did a good job in his role, same as what he did on his other movies.  A favorite part of mine, although I'm a homophobe, was the part when they were convincing the cross-dressing director to sign the contract.  It was both scary and funny, they way the actors played out their roles, dress, lines of the songs were just great.  Not really a critic of musicals, but for me the acting and the way they palyed out the songs and tunes were ok. 

Overall, it's a movie that you should watch for yourself. 5 stars for me :)

There are times when no matter how hard we try to avoid it, we sink into a funk or a less than productive mood. We drag our feet, feel unmotivated and lose perspective. When that happens we can either roll with it hoping it will wear off, or we can apply strategies to counteract it.

To help you get moving and back on track again, here are some helpful suggestions to boost your mood.

1. Get some exercise. Exercise is one of the quickest ways to pick yourself up because it stimulates circulation and releases the happy hormones, otherwise known as endorphins. Before you know it you will be ready to take on the world, or at least you’ll feel that way!

2. Have a catnap. If you’re worn out and too tired to exercise, perhaps a nap is in order. It’s surprising how a little fifteen or twenty-minute rest can be refreshing. Not only that, when we nap new ideas, insights and solutions come to the surface from our sub-conscious. Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill and John F. Kennedy were all known to take catnaps to rejuvenate themselves.

3. Listen to uplifting music. Music is the ultimate mood changer! It can take you from the depths of listlessness to the heights of exhilaration. As Plato observed “Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul”.

4. Take a break and have a cup of tea or coffee. There is a reason coffee breaks are mandatory at most work places. Of course you need not drink tea or coffee but stepping away from what you were doing gives you a fresh new outlook and when you get back to it, you’re ready to roll.

5. Focus on the positive. At times when we get involved in a project and things aren’t going well or when we’re having a bad day, we have a tendency to become negative and distort the situation. We forget what has gone well and what is working. When that happens, it’s a good idea to re-focus, look at what is going right, what you have accomplished and how far you’ve come. It will give you the boost you need to keep going.

6.Talk to someone. Expressing your feelings to a friend or colleague can be both therapeutic and a way to get you out of your mood. When someone empathizes or commiserates with us, we feel that the burden is not all ours to bear and that someone understands what we’re going through. Knowing that others care or have had similar feelings gives us a pickup and helps motivate us to move on.

7. Switch direction completely. Sometimes getting in a rut or down mood can be the result of spending too much time on one particular task. In those cases you need a different type of break. The best thing to do is walk away from what you’re doing and engage in something completely different. If you’ve been working at a computer all day, take a break and go shopping, visit a friend or clean out your closet (a popular choice I’m sure). When you get back to the task at hand, you will have a new, fresh mindset.

As you can see, we are not at the mercy of our moods. When we get stuck (and we all do at times), we have the ability to lift ourselves up, rise above what’s momentarily dragging us down and forge ahead.

Z.Hereford writes articles on how you can live life happily, efficiently
and productively by utilizing the ‘9 Essential Life Skills’. Visit her at www.essentiallifeskills.net.

The Ten Habits of Highly Effective Brains

1. 1. Learn what is the "It" in "Use It or Lose It". A basic understanding serve you well to appreciate your brain's beauty as a living and constantly-developing dense forest with billions of neurons and synapses.
2. Take care of your nutrition. Did you know that the brain only weighs 2% of body mass but consumes over 20% of the oxygen and nutrients we intake? As a general rule, you don't need expensive ultra-sophisticated nutritional supplements, just make sure you don't stuff yourself with the "bad stuff".
3. Remember that the brain is part of the body. Things that exercise your body can also help sharpen your brain: physical exercise enhances neurogenesis.
4. Practice positive, future-oriented thoughts until they become your default mindset and you look forward to every new day in a constructive way. Stress and anxiety, no matter whether induced by external events or by your own thoughts, actually kills neurons and prevent the creation of new ones. You can think of chronic stress as the opposite of exercise: it prevents the creation of new neurons.
5. Thrive on Learning and Mental Challenges. The point of having a brain is precisely to learn and to adapt to challenging new environments. Once new neurons appear in your brain, where they stay in your brain and how long they survive depends on how you use them. "Use It or Lose It" does not mean "do crossword puzzle number 1,234,567". It means, "challenge your brain often with fundamentally new activities".
6. We are (as far as we know) the only self-directed organisms in this planet. Aim high. Once you graduate from college, keep learning. The brain keeps developing, no matter your age, and it reflects what you do with it.
7. Explore, travel. Adapting to new locations forces you to pay more attention to your environment. Make new decisions, use your brain.
8. Don't Outsource Your Brain. Not to media personalities, not to politicians, not to your smart neighbour... Make your own decisions, and mistakes. And learn from them. That way, you are training your brain, not your neighbour's.
9. Develop and maintain stimulating friendships. We are "social animals", and need social interaction. Which, by the way, is why 'Baby Einstein' has been shown not to be the panacea for children development.
10. Laugh. Often. Especially to cognitively complex humor, full of twists and surprises. Better, try to become the next Jon Stewart (Note: I just corrected his name from "John"...which may call for a #11: Spellcheck!)