Creating and succeeding at your New Year's Resolution.

The reason so many of us fail at our resolutions is because we doom ourselves in creating them. We only commit enough effort in coming up with our resolutions to give us something to say at parties or work. "I want to lose weight", "I want to stop smoking", "I want to exercise more" is about as much detail as we normally put into them. Those are not resolutions, they are feelings. And like other feelings they come and go with normal life.

Here are two ideas that might help you create a better New Year's Resolution and succeed at it.

Be very specific.

We are good at knowing what we want to do, but the key to a good resolution is asking yourself, "What are you going to do about it?" Anyone can say, "I want to lose weight", but to lose weight...what are you going to do about it? Anyone can say, "I want to stop smoking", but to stop smoking...what are you going to do about it? Try adding milestones and smaller goals that commit you further to your resolution. Maybe something that sounds like this..."My New Year's Resolution is to smoke fewer packs of cigarettes every month until I quick." Or something like this..."My New Year's Resolution is to encourage 3 people a week at my work for the next 6 months." "My New Year's Resolution is to give an increasing amount to charity each month." Those are resolutions that show you are committed from the very start.

Share your resolution with someone else and have them hold you accountable.

Have a friend ask you on the first of every month how you're doing in your goal. Have them set reminders on their phone or computer, so that you are assured that encouragement each month.

Accountability is a necessity for those of us who struggle to self-motivate. Things we enjoy doing really take very little motivation, but when we are trying to change a very hard part of our life...often times, takes the encouragement of another.

Good luck this next year. Let me know how it goes.

How to add "add to favorites" link to your website.

Whether you are a website developer or an avid internet user, at some point you will encounter the little link labeled, "Add To Favorites". It's a handy little tool that allows you to store a Universal Resource Locator or website address into your Favorites folder. 

Its a great little tool that helps with retaining visitors, so I went searching for solutions on how to add it to this website.  There were a lot of great solutions out there, including what had been done over at htmlgoodies. But it wasn't perfect. So, with a little adjustment here's a Blogger or Blogspot friendly version you can add to your html.

<a href='javascript:window.external.addfavorite(&quot;http://blog.brackwho.com&quot;, &quot;BrackWho&quot;)'>Add to Favorites</a>

Copy the code.  If you want it in your Blogger sidebar...
(1)Click Layout.
(2)Click Add a Gadget.
(3)Click HTML/Javascript.
(4)Paste the code into the big box.
(5)Change the bold green part to your website information.
(6)Click Save. And you're done.

If you want it at the bottom of each of your posts its a little more complicated, but manageable.
(1)Click Edit HTML.
(2)Click Expand Widget Templates.
(3)Search for the following line...

<div class='post-footer'>

...and paste the code just below it.
(4)Change the bold green part to your website information.
(5)Click Save Template.

It should look and function like this... Add to Favorites. Click it to test it out.

As a word of caution, I can see some online publishing programs trying to reformat the cutting and pasting of this code, so if you have troubles please contact me and I'll try to walk you through it.

Trying to clean an oven? Add more power.

On Mondays, I am charged with the duty of trying to get supper on the table for my family. So, what does a culinary baffoon like me make for his family?  I do leftovers or sandwiches and last night was leftovers.  So I put lasagna into the oven to give it a 20 minute warmup before my wife gets home.

Within a few minutes, I can see smoke rolling out the side of the oven. I'm not worried...it did the same thing just a few days earlier, but I immediately knew that my next duty was to try and clean the beast out.

So, after supper I cruise over the sink, grab a scrub brush and begin the hopeless task of trying to get the black stuff off the coated interior. It obviously wasn't working, so I progress to a hard plastic spatula. Same result. Then I grabbed an everyday butter knife and began doing the scrape.  You are probably picking up at this point that I don't have any of the spray oven cleaner. There's a reason for that.  They don't work for the black stuff.  They work for the greasy gunk, but so does elbow grease.

After the butter knife wasn't cutting it and then realizing I didn't want to spend the next 4 hours cussing at the oven, I came up with something a little unconventional. I grabbed my dewalt "corded" drill and put a metal brush bit in the chuck and started power brushing the black off. To my amazement, it started coming off. So I power brushed for about 10 minutes, wiped it down, and power brushed a little more.

It wasn't a perfect solution, as the little wires sometimes fly off.  I would also caution against this technique if you have a special coating that you're worried about buffing out. 

But, after giving in to my Tim Taylor, "more power" influence...the oven was 90% clean within about 20 minutes.  I was excited it worked. 

A new kind of window insulation

We are currently living in our second old home. It was built in 1918 and has kind of a Dutch Colonial architecture to it. We love older homes because of the attention given to the architectural style many older homes display.

But along with that attention to detail, comes, many times, a lack of attention to temperature preservation. Drafty windows, no insulation in the walls, and often a furnace that is undersized, means you will get chilled on days like today.

Here's an idea I wish someone would pick up on...and quick, especially for those homes who still have single-pane windows. A clear, spray on window covering that would blanket the entire casing of the window on the outside. This product would cover the trim, cover the glass, cover the cracks...cover it all. It would be much different than the clear, roll on, hairdryer wraps you put on the inside. Those products may act as that second pane of glass, but do little to help the cracks. This new product could be as thick as 1/4", but really, it could be as thin as it takes to cover the window and not make clumps. Also, formulate it so that, when it get peeled away, it doesn't peel the paint or existing caulk. It would be clear to allow natural heat from the sun to come through. Lastly, it would be recyclable, so every year, the service company would come to spray it on before the cold months, and come to peel it away in the spring.

Our first house had about 24 single-pane windows. It was a drafty house, but we couldn't afford to put new windows in. This kind of a product would have saved us in heat bills, but definitely would have kept us warmer.

A successful blog takes writing about your passion.

Passion...the "get your butt out of bed", "never give up", "blood, sweat and tears" engine that really moves us from one place to another.

Some are lucky and find their passions early. I hate those folks. :) You know, those who knew from an early age what they wanted to do and be. I had one of those folks as a roommate in college. He knew from the age of 9 that he wanted to be a pilot...and he is. He's a great guy, so I don't hate him too much. Hi Jared, if your out there.

For those of us who are still searching for that drive,(smile, smile) I believe there's hope in finding our passion. Once we've tried a few pursuits, made lots mistakes and failed a few times, I think we're forced to really learn what we're good at and what we're not. In that arena, I think passions are found. I feel like I'm really close to finding mine.

Are you there now? Are you on the other side? Have you found yours?

Now go write about it. Go do it.

That satisfying feeling after its all over.

You know the one.

The belly is full. The pajamas are on. Your favorite beverage is in hand. Maybe there's a good movie on and the kids are in bed. All these things are very satisfying, and if you top it off with knowing you don't have to be at work tomorrow....wow, now that is satisfaction.

My idea for you, right now, is to add one more aspect of the Christmas Day satisfaction? Why not consider that today, you can have total confidence that you are loved by God. Imagine it, the Creator of the Universe wants you to know and follow Him....wow, now that is true satisfaction. Sigh!!!!

At our home, the paper is all over the floor, the toys have been played with for the first and last time, we've stuffed our faces with chocolate and cinnamon rolls, I kissed my wife, and my oldest son thanked God during lunch for a great Christmas.

I am satisfied!!! Merry Christmas.

Why not a "short and stocky" clothing store.

I went to our local Minear's Department store the other day to get fitted for a tux for a friend's wedding. Now, I wasn't shopping for clothes to buy, but typically I avoid most department stores altogether because of the disappointment I've experienced visiting most of those stores when I do go clothes shopping.

Typically what I find is a mix of inseams that are too long, or waists that were made for 14 year olds. It amazes me how incredibly difficult it is to find 32x28's, but somehow, the market for 43x28's is so in demand that I seem to find those everywhere. Sometimes I will find that perfect pair of jeans, but to look at the pricetag, would make the Kardashians become squeamish. Once, on a glorious day last summer, I was visiting my local Goodwill Store and just happened upon two pairs of Levis, that were one size too big in the waist, but the length was perfect. So I bought them and probably would have paid 3 times what I did because they were so close to what I wanted.

Anyway, as I was getting a very humbling dose of my measurements at Minears, I noticed in the back was a sign that read, "Big and Tall." It reminded me of an idea I had a while back for a short guys clothing store.

Now, why hasn't that business idea been picked up on? A "Short and Stocky" Men's Clothing Store. If you google, "Big and Tall" you'll receive a little over a million results with lots of apparral stores to choose from. Now, type in "Short and Stocky"...what do you get? Almost 700,000 results, Pit Bulls and no clothing stores that I could see on the first page. I know this isn't a perfect indication for market demands, but it does show that no one has seen success in this area. Maybe it could be you! If you think it is you....I'll be your first customer, my size again is 32x28.

Never wake a sleeping baby.

You might just get the cops called on you.

Last night I called the cops on some boys who were playing in the middle of the street and being loud...mind you it was 11:30pm and the temperature was about 20 degrees. At least one of the boys was a part of the "loud croud" the other night I feared would wake my 7 month old.

Turns out, they weren't doing anything all that bad, putting a wallet on the end of a fishing pole I think and tossing it into the middle of the street. Really, it was harmless, but these were the same boys who just 6 hours earlier were part of a group of boys throwing snowballs at cars as they drive by. So last night really was all I could take.

So I approached the boys, and of course they started for home. So I threw a quick question at them hoping it would stick and they would stay just long enough for the cops to arrive. Well the boys did stay, but only because they didn't understand my question, which was...."What good could you boys be doing at 11:30 at night?"

So the cop arrives and he asks them to approach the car. They just stand there, petrified. So the cop asks with a little stronger voice. The petrified feeling now was real fear. You could see it in there eyes. Heck, I think I might have peed a little. They finally approach the car and the cop asks the routine questions, "what are you doing?" "why are you out here?" A minute into the conversation, the mom strolls out and defends her son tooth and nail. "My son's not doing this, my son hasn't been doing that." The cop asks a very poignant question, which told me this wasn't his first night on the job. He asked, "How do you know they weren't doing this?" "Were you out here with them?" And of course she wasn't, she had just gotten out of the shower and was freezing to death in the 20 degree cold.

Anyway, to cut down on the story, the boys were obviously stunned and scared a little. Honestly, I don't think those kids really are bad kids. I think for some reason they are drawn to make really poor decisions that they don't realize will affect today, tomorrow and the rest of their lives.

I also don't think they realize how lucky they were, because if they had woken up our 7 month old......

The first blog post is the hardest.

At least it is for me.

There are so many things that should be said. There are so many things that are important to say. If a blogger wants to be successful in truly influencing and retaining a few really devoted readers, they have to constantly push themselves (yeah, you Brack) to write about what their visitors would want to read. Not so much about what the blogger wants to share at the time.

So there-in lies the challenge with this blog.

I've been wanting to start this for quite some time. My bank of ideas, journal notes, helpful tips, questions, etc, on varying subjects is beginning to explode. I have found myself being very frustrated that I don't have the time to develop them all further, while at the same time trying to be a good husband, father and friend. These ideas, many of them being profound to no one, are for me, causing a feeling of pressure that needs a release. I feel pushed to get these ideas out there. I'm hoping this blog will be the pressure release that I know I need.

So, to keep you coming back, while at the same time satifying my desire to share ideas, I will ask myself constantly, "what will my readers want to hear?"

Ready, set, go!