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Though my mother had never lived a day in a dorm, she provided me with some very good tips to get through my dorm days. These are things she learned while traveling throughout her life and those hotels she stayed in were not that different from a dorm room.

1. Hand wash and dry over the tub or out the window on a good dry day. I’m a guy so I won’t tell you what most guys do when they are out of underwear. My secret was to never run out because I would just wash and dry in my dorm room if I couldn’t get to a laundry.
2. Keep nuts as snacks. Nuts are not only good for you but they fill you up quicker than most snacks and for longer. My mom keeps almonds in her purse all the time and I learned to keep them in my desk for those long hours of studying late at night.
3. Drink more water than alcohol. Though my mother is not a big drinker she somehow knew before I went to college that I would partake in a beer or two on occasion. After the first morning after, I remembered what she said about “more water than alcohol” and found it was a life saver for me. When my roommate saw how much better I functioned after a party he also started drinking more water and it really does make a difference.

I hope these few tips helps you as you pack up and get ready for college this year!

Unless you have been living under a rock you have heard about the Supreme Court ruling about the current gun laws in Chicago. You have also most likely heard all the ruckus that surrounds the ruling as well. Some think we are headed back to the Wild, Wild West of yesterday while others believe we are fulfilling the our constitutional duties by allowing everyone the right to carry a gun.

What I find fascinating is the fact that according to the decision, it does not give the right to criminals and has held up safety regulations that one has to meet prior to owning a gun. It has brought out the both pacifist and fighter and from my impromptu survey among family and friends, many see both sides of the argument and agree with both sides. Now that is truly a conflict!

On the one hand people believe in the right to bare arms; especially in communities that are rural and where there is a lot of hunting going on. On the other hand, those who live in urban communities are a bit more hesitant to think everyone should own a gun. Where people live in close quarters, tempers tend to flare more often. Combine this with drugs and or alcohol on a collage campus or happening party and a gun or guns may be a dangerous fuel to add to the fire. Whatever happens, we will all need to become more responsible with guns around.

That’s right. I just finished reading about a poll in The Week magazine where 26% of Americans didn’t know that Great Britain (A.K.A England for those who may not know who Great Britain is) was the country we, America A.K.A United State of America, fought to gain our independence. I can even understand (well… a little bit) that some thought the countries of France and Mexico were who we fought; but China? That’s not even close!

What really scares me more is the fact that these 26% who haven’t a clue; vote. I have always been against a test of any kind in order to vote but after this I’m not so sure we shouldn’t have a basic rudimentary test in order to get your voter’s card. Just things like who we fought to gain our independence and maybe who was the very first president of the United States or list the three branches of your government. Not hard things but things everyone should aspire to know before they vote. No wonder we have such a mess in Washington DC and generally in government these days. Over a quarter of those who are potentially voting don’t care enough about our country to learn about its history. I can only hope they also don’t care enough to vote!

Three years ago my mother was diagnosed with the neurological disorder Multiple Sclerosis and as a family we were devastated. No one in our family had ever had this disease so we knew little to nothing about it. I live in Tennessee and my mother lives in South Texas so it was extremely hard to help her from here but I did use my skills as a college researcher to find out about the disorder as well as find a good doctor and neurological practice that could help her manage her care.

I took my mother to the Neurological Institute of San Antonio and was so relieved to find a wonderful staff of caring professionals who assured us both that MS was not a death sentence. We were able to meet several other patients who have had great results from their treatments and rehabilitation facilities on site. We also learned some tricks to stay cool in the summer as heat is very difficult to deal with when you have MS and Texas is hot in the summertime! Because MS normally attacks women under the age of 40 it has alleviated my fears in case I follow in my mom’s footsteps. The best news is my mother is doing well and is managing her care and her life proving you can have a good life with MS and other neurological diseases.

Several years ago my wife was considering a career change that included the possibility of going back to college. Because this would mean a large commitment in both time and money I asked her to take her time before deciding what to do because I saw so many people who had a degree in one thing and was actually doing something totally different; including me.

She made it a point to talk with as many people as possible about how they decided on their chosen careers so she could make a very informed decision. But it wasn’t until a friend of ours told her to “do what she loved” that everything came into focus. Most everyone she asked told her to “do what she was good at”. The problem with that was teaching seemed to be the only career that being good at math held but doing what she loved opened up other possibilities. She is now months away from completing her Bachelor’s Degree in Interior Design with flying colors and has used her math and graphic design skills throughout, which is also what she’s good at. I thank our friend every time I see her for her great advice.

In today’s economy many companies are looking for top notch sales professionals with a good amount of experience. This could potentially make it very difficult for those who are seeking their very first sales job after graduating from college since you will have little to no experience; or do you? One of the things you can do is to think about what you have done through high school and college that might relate to sales. Did you participate in a local drive or charity of any kind, volunteer with a non-profit, intern with top sales professional, etc?

Another option is to hook up with a staffing agency that specializes in sales and sales professionals that can help walk you through the process of preparing for a sales job. These agencies often have the first look at entry level jobs that may never make it to the light of day, which is in a newspaper or on the internet as they get filled by these types of agencies. The people and agencies who deal with companies that are sales oriented have connections that can help you break into these types of jobs. This also holds true of those who wish to change professions and move into a sales position.

Education is supposed to be the backbone of America and as parents and educators alike we know the best teaching comes from that done by example. With this in mind, is anyone asking what we are teaching our kids by the examples that are coming through loud and clear by politicians, business executives, the media, sports and entertainment? If we were really thinking this through then we should not be surprised by the current happenings in and around America.

Mark Kirk, Republican candidate in IL, is the latest example of lies being told by a politician in order to get elected; so why is he still allowed to run? This should go for any candidate from any party; shouldn’t it? What about the lies BP told to all of us over the years? If someone would have said they can’t do business anymore until they can level with the public would we be in the Gulf mess we are in? You’ve heard it all before, steroids in sports, cheating on spouses, fraud, partisanship, prejudice, dummying down and the many other behaviors that we reward with our money and our time. We are here simply because we allowed it and we teach it by example.

It used to be that the person to watch out for was the busy body neighbor or the gossip at your local church. Now it seems that it’s not only okay but fashionable to mettle in everyone’s business now that everyone’s business and personal life seem to be online. But the real question is; how did we get here?

Many years ago at a family function I was talking to one of my great uncles who also happened to be one of the smartest people I have ever known in business as well as a great person with relationships. The topic of the day was the rights of ordinary citizens. My uncle had studied the US Constitution and consulted with a foreign government after WWII to help them write their Constitution based on ours. With this experience he made this statement, “People who are free to vote, vote the very freedoms they cherish away little by little over generations”. I have come to believe him over time. We have given up our privacy in the same way as technologies arise that ask us to, little by little, acquiesce to their policies in order to connect with others. The final question we will eventually have to ask is; when do we as people say no to the invasion of our basic privacy? I hope it is before we discover that the price we pay is much too high.

I am a huge fan of cartoons.  I love the classics like Looney Tunes or Tom and Jerry, and I love the modern cartoons like the Simpsons or King of the Hill.  Oh, and did I mention that I’m 30 years old?  Cartoons have made a huge comeback in the past few years, but with a brand new demographic – adults.  There’s even a latenight block of adult-themed cartoons on a Cartoon Network program called  “Adult Swim”.  I suppose I would say that the Simpsons really launched the cartoon into the primetime hearts of adults worldwide, but I think that perhaps an even greater phenomenon is Seth MacFarlane, creator of Family Guy, American Dad, and most recently, the Cleveland Show for the Fox Network.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the entire collection of MacFarlane-imation.  But, the fact that ALL THREE SHOWS air on the same night (Sundays) back to back, has me admittedly – a bit frustrated, and quite honestly overwhelmed.  Seems almost like MacFarlane has a monopoly on Sunday Night entertainment, and isn’t that supposed to be a bad thing?  Sometimes as I sit watching the seemingly neverending string of his cartoon creations, I suddenly envision Rupert Murdoch threatening me, saying “you’ll watch three hours of Family Guy, and you’ll bloody like it!”

I love you Seth, and everything that you do, but it’s time to give the nation joint custody of your shows – We’ll take Family Guys Sundays, American Dad Wednesdays, and The Cleveland Show every other weekend.

When people look back on the history of this country there is no doubt in anybodies mind that The Great Depression was one of the hardest time periods in our history. During the Great Depression the body of American withered and withered and almost died. But one thing that most people do not seem to realize is that the spirit of America had been dead the whole time. It had been dead since the previous decade. And nothing shows that the American dream had gone bad better than the literature of the time.

One of the best novels of that time period and also one of the best novels in American literature, the Great Gatsby, shows the corruption of the American dream. In the book, the main character, Jay Gatsby, has built a large amount of wealth for himself. On the outside it looks like he is living the American dream, rising from nothing to something. But as you read the book, you see that it was not by legal means that he had earned his wealth. Pressure from the upper class had made him decide that wealth by illegal means would allow him to be accepted by the rich.