Welcome

Welcome
John William Tuohy lives in Washington DC

Here are my general orders for getting through bad times;



Stay positive.

This is the mantra for bad times “This too shall pass” not even the worst storm lasts forever.

Stay positive.

Hold over making any big decision in a bad time, you may regret it later.

Stay positive.

Talk to God, tell him what’s going on and ask for help (You should probably do this first)



and always remember, laugh and have fun, life is short, create happy memories 



Awful but true


Last Night


Mary and I attended a fundraiser last night for "My Sister Place" a shelter for battered women and then grabbed a late dinner at the Tabbard Inn one of our favorite places in the city.

http://tabardinn.com/

http://www.mysistersplacedc.org/

I learn a new word once a week

Impedimenta (im-ped-uh-MEN-tuh)  Baggage, supplies, or equipment related to an activity or expedition, especially when regarded as slowing one's progress. From Latin, plural of impedimentum, from impedire (to impede), from im-/in- (in) + ped- (foot). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ped- (foot) which also gave us pedal, podium, octopus, impeach, antipodal, expediency, peccadillo (alluding to a stumble or fall), impeccable, and peccavi.

Spleen 1. An abdominal organ serving to clean blood. 2. Bad temper. From French esplen, from Latin splen, from Greek splen. Earliest documented use: 1300. In earlier times it was believed that four humors controlled human behavior and an imbalance resulted in disease. According to this thinking, an excess of black bile secreted by the spleen resulted in melancholy or ill humor. Also, spleen was considered to be the seat of emotions. To vent one's spleen was to vent one's ange

Mansuetude (MAN-swi-tood, -tyood)   Gentleness; meekness. From Latin mansuescere (to make tame: to accustom to handling), from manus (hand) + suescere (to become accustomed). Ultimately from the Indo-European root man- (hand), which is also the source of manual, manage, maintain, manicure, maneuver, manufacture, manuscript, command, manque, amanuensis, legerdemain, and mortmain. Earliest documented use: 1390.


Finish whatever you're writing

Can anything be sadder than work left unfinished? Yes, work never begun. –

                                                                                 Christina Rossetti, poet (1830-1894)


..................and life goes on

Century-old publishing house goes to auction

By Arthur Hirsch, The Baltimore Sun

 The West Baltimore home of a defunct century-old book publisher that once commanded offices in Chicago and San Francisco will go on the auction block Wednesday — a casualty of Hurricane Katrina, technological change and even the "For Dummies" instructional book series.
What remains of the H.M. Rowe Co. — named for a man who was killed by his son in 1926 — straddles two addresses on North Gilmor Street in Harlem Park. Two three-story buildings joined together contain offices that were active with final orders only weeks ago, and a warehouse with a conveyor belt running from the basement to the third floor.
In July, the owner put the business up for sale, but there were no takers.
"Unfortunately for us, it was just dying," said Gail Willie, who inherited the business when her father, William E Steigleman Jr., died in 1999. The original owner, H.M. Rowe, was married to her great aunt, the former Jeannette Steigleman, who was in the room of the house when her husband was attacked on that May evening 88 years ago.
Willie, 60, who lives on a farm in Howard County, has been a nurse her entire professional life and now works at a school in Montgomery County. She left the publisher's day-to-day operation to a company manager who has been there for decades, but said she feels the loss of the business that's been in her family for about 90 years.
"It's been a grieving process to let go of a business that you've had so long," she said.
Three employees remained at the end, from a high of 15 during Willie's time as owner. As business declined, Willie said, new people were not brought in to replace older employees who left.
The company specialized in books sold to business and community colleges and vocational high schools to teach skills such as typing, shorthand, filing and business math. When computers arrived, the company tried to keep pace with instructional books on Windows and Mac applications.
The company suffered a serious blow in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, forcing many of the schools that were customers to shut down. Many never reopened. The company did business across the country, but Willie estimated that about 60 percent of their customers were in the South.
"We've been struggling ever since '05," she said.
The damage was compounded by technology, which made much of Rowe's material more easily available by download. Meanwhile, a series of instructional books with a catchy title covering everything from banjo playing to beekeeping grew more and more popular.
"When the 'Dummies' books came out — you can just learn everything from them," Willie said. "In hindsight, we should have diversified."
An only child, she was kept distant from the business as a young person, never groomed to take on a management role. She was also kept in the dark about how H.M. Rowe died.
"As a child, I always heard about 'the accident,'" she said. "It wasn't until I was a young woman in my 20s that I heard about the murder. I had no idea."
Harry M. Rowe, who once served as president of a young American Automobile Association, had co-founded the Sadler-Rowe Co. in 1898 to publish accounting textbooks. In 1907, Warren Sadler decided to withdraw from the business, selling his share to Rowe, who gave the enterprise his name a few years later when Sadler died.
On the evening of May 3, 1926, Rowe was in the library of the family home on Johnnycake Road near Catonsville with his wife, Willie's great aunt Jeannette, and his teenage daughter from a previous marriage. According to a Baltimore Sun account, based on Jeannette Rowe's description, Rowe's 38-year-old son burst into the room and "began beating his father in the head with a club."
Harry M. Rowe Jr. was Rowe's son from the first of his three marriages. The girl was from his second marriage. Willie's great aunt was his third wife, with whom he had no children.
Rowe, who was in his mid 60s, died six days later at St. Agnes Hospital. His wife and daughter also were injured in the attack but recovered. The police pursuit of the son ended May 15, when his body was found in the Severn River in Annapolis. According to a Sun account, police said he had apparently committed suicide.
Articles from the time said that about two years earlier, Rowe had fired his son from his job as secretary-treasurer of Carozza-Rowe Construction Co. when he was president.
The publishing business passed to Willie's great aunt, then to her grandfather, to her father, then to her. Willie said her son, the older of her two children, might have taken over, "but there's nothing to take over."
There are the two connected buildings near Harlem Park Middle School, a neighborhood of many boarded-up rowhouses. The place served as the company's home after its building on West German Street was destroyed during the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904. Property records date the buildings to 1910.
Auctioneer Charles Billig of A.J. Billig & Co. said two bidders have registered so far. He was asked if he thought the building — in fine shape on the outside, but which needs updates and water damage repairs inside — would be a tough sell.
"Not sure. I think we've got it attractively priced," he said.
Willie said she'll attend the auction to see how it goes.
"I'll be there crying," she said. "I never wanted this to happen on my watch, but it's happened."





How wonderful is this?

Elijah Moment: Campaign Promotes Random Acts of Kindness

By Charlene Aaron

The holidays are a time for giving and sharing. That's why Rabbi Daniel Cohen and Pastor Todd Novotny of Noroton Community Church in Darien, Connecticut, are heading up what they're calling the Elijah Moment Campaign.
The campaign is named after the biblical prophet Elijah. Cohen and Novotny say a seemingly minor act of generosity can change a life and that every person can be an Elijah.
The campaign encourages people to think about ways to do random acts of kindness with just a moment's notice and can involve anything from sharing a kind word to paying it forward at a local coffee shop or restaurant.
The campaign began on November 23 and ends on January 1. Participants are encouraged to post their Elijah Moment on Facebook or tweet with the hashtag #elijahmoment to inspire others to do the same.

CBN News spoke with Rabbi Cohen about his hope that these moments of generosity will happen all across the country and spread beyond the holiday season.


Get knocked down a thousand times, get back up a thousand and one



CLASS OF 2014 SUCCESS STORIES: OVERCOMING ADVERSITY

Bowling Green State University / News / 2014 / December / Class of 2014 Success Stories: Overcoming Adversity

A story of courage, success and hope

 By: Jacquie Nelson

He is quick with a smile, has the gift of gab and has never met a stranger.
His story began 23 years ago in the small Ohio town of St. Marys. Josh King entered the world two weeks late and pronounced clinically dead of meconium aspiration (the ingestion of fecal matter into the lungs). The whirlwind that followed included lifesaving acts by three doctors and six nurses that brought him back to life, followed by weeks in an incubator at Children’s Hospital in Dayton, Ohio, and a lifetime of challenges ahead. King’s ordeal left him physically disabled with a mild form of cerebral palsy and faced with an array of learning disabilities.
Now? He is days away from achieving a life-long goal.
The first-generation college student will soon be graduating from Bowling Green State University with a bachelor’s degree in sport management. King never dreamed of going to college, let alone graduating, but this December he will have achieved what many thought was an impossible feat.
Always interested in sports, King began working in his high school’s equipment room and although he dreamed of college, he had never considered it an option. Instead, he enrolled at a branch of Wright State University in his hometown to work toward becoming a police officer.
Continuing his work at the equipment room, he eventually realized it was a career in sport management that he wished to explore. He discovered the program at BGSU, one of the best in the country, so he applied and was accepted.
“I was given the opportunity to go to college, even given my challenges.” King said. “BGSU gave me this chance – I was still able to go to college!”
Over the course of his career at BGSU, King has taken advantage of all the programs and services that the University has to offer. He has a record 338 visits to the Learning Commons where he received much-needed tutoring; his exams were taken at Disability Services on campus where each was read aloud to him. In addition, he participated in a practicum with Brian Daniels in the football equipment room and Scott Jess with the baseball and hockey programs and was a member of the Sport Management Alliance Group for a year. All of this while managing to keep up his grade point average (three times on the dean’s list) and completing his internship in the athletics equipment room at Wilmington College on Nov. 23.
“Josh is a wonderful student to have in our program,”said Dr. Ray Schneider, sport management. “He is extremely passionate and engaged in our class material.”.
King credits his family, friends, mentors and heroes for providing support necessary to achieve this goal and realize his dream. Tragically, as he was completing his summer semester and fall internship, he lost two of his three heroes in a three-month span – his grandfather, who had been ill, and his father, who passed away suddenly of a heart attack. Through all this adversity, he continued his internship at Wilmington College so he would graduate on time, noting, “I had to complete my degree for both my father and grandfather, and I just took it one day at a time.”
In his limited free time, King enjoys football, playing video games, spending time with family and friends and all Pittsburgh sports.
“I have known Josh King since my arrival on campus three years ago,” said Mark Nelson, director of the Learning Commons. “He has taken full advantage of our services within the Learning Commons to the tune of 338 total visits. Over the past three years we have enjoyed sharing our love of sports, and I have enjoyed watching Josh grow and mature as he pursues his dream of becoming an equipment manager."
What is after graduation for King? A career as an equipment manager, of course, and he is approaching that search with just as much fervor as he did his collegiate career. To date, King has delivered his resume to all Division I, II and III universities, all major league baseball and all national football teams. King is approaching this next step of the journey as he has his life to this point. “Wherever I have to go (for my career) is where I have to go.”
King knows that life is a journey, and that all face obstacles. Those who know him well agree he has endured more than his share. Despite this, Josh King is a friendly, generous, hardworking, giving human being who is passionate about his career path.
He is also passionate about those individuals on campus who have mentored him, those heroes who inspired him, and all those who continue to support him.


Should we measure gross national happiness?



Leslie Nguyenokwu

Move over, GDP. Psychologists Shigehiro Oishi and Ed Diener say it's time to make room for happiness, the next big tool for evaluating public policies and social development in the U.S.
Scoff all you like, but after analyzing dozens of policy-related happiness surveys and studies in a new report called "Can and Should Happiness Be a Policy Goal?" Oishi and Diener argue that people's self-reported happiness can help gauge the effectiveness of a particular policy and promote national well-being. Take, for example, disability benefits — one survey found that severe disability hurts people's life satisfaction twice as badly as unemployment. Such psychological insights into populations, the authors say, could improve how we assess and make good policies in the future.
Oishi, a psychology professor at the University of Virginia, believes in measuring what matters — and that people's happiness ought to be recorded as often as possible, quarterly or even monthly. Admittedly, "it all boils down to the cost here," he said. But he compares happiness measures to other regular data collections we perform, like unemployment and life expectancy.
He and Diener looked at surveys that measured happiness on several different scales, including Diener's own 1- to 7-point scale, which asks participants to rank statements such as "If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing" and "The conditions of my life are excellent." Sure, plenty of stuff can affect self-reported happiness — which is pretty much the most subjective thing you can ask about. Variables, as the tradesfolk say, abound: the day of the week the survey is taken, the weather, how someone reacted to previous survey questions … as a start. Oishi argues that's a reason to overinvest in multiple methods of tracking happiness.
Maybe he's onto something. According to the 2013 World Happiness Report, the U.S. tripled its per capita income over the last few decades but has seen "significant declines" in happiness levels over time. Moreover, some countries around the world already measure happiness, including Bhutan's erstwhile Gross National Happiness and the U.K.'s National Well-being Index. (Though Bhutan, in full disclosure, bailed on the happiness measure last year.) Yet some critics say that a happiness index is too "fuzzy" for serious policymaking. "We have more accurate tools of measuring depression than we do of happiness, unfortunately," said Mark Setton, founder of Pursuit-Of-Happiness.org. And the wording of the surveys is especially tricky, he explained, as many of them use different words to describe happiness.
So, maybe happiness won't exactly make the world go 'round, as Oishi and Diener would hope. But perhaps a dose of happiness policy could get Congress to do a little less ranting.

OZY is a USA TODAY content partner providing general news, commentary and coverage from around the Web. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY




Look for the good and you will find the good


Generous Stranger Secretly Pays Off Every Layaway Account at Toys R Us

At the Toys-R-Us store in Bellingham, Massachusetts a complete stranger became an angel for 154 customers.
Around noon on Wednesday, a woman walked into the store and told a cashier she wanted to pay off a layaway balance. “Which one?” she was asked.
“All of them,” she replied. For a total of $20,000.

“I have no words. I can’t believe someone would do that, it’s so nice,” said one of the customers who had their balances erased.