Kung Fu Fondue

There is no English equivalent for the original meaning of kung fu. In short, 功夫 (gōngfu) means "achievement through great effort". Originally, to practice kung fu did not just mean to practice Chinese martial arts. Instead, it referred to the process of one's training - the strengthening of the body and the mind, the learning and the perfection of one's skills - rather than to what was being trained. It refers to excellence achieved through long practice in any endeavor. You can say that a person's kung fu is good in fondue; saying that a person possesses kung fu in an area implies skill in that area, which they have worked hard to develop. For several years, now, our family has worked hard to develop Fondue Kung Fu. We own several fondue pots and each year it has become a tradition for our family (and a few friends) to get together on New Year’s Eve for an evening of fondue. I think it is ridiculous, how the art and practice of fondue has fallen out of favor. That everyone thinks it the same way they do avocado green appliances & shaggy burnt-orange carpeting. However, fondue is fun. And it is truly is the ultimate party food. Fondue comes with traditions; one being, if you drop the tasty morsel of goodness that you have on the end of your stick into the hot cauldron of oil – you have to kiss the person next to you. At our party, we’ve created a variation of this tradition that simply requires the fumbling fondue(r) to answer a question about themselves that most people at the party might not know about them. Another budding tradition involves playing the wii baseball, boxing, et cetera (I won’t go into detail, because I lost badly last year). This year, I feel like adding a new tradition that involves exotic fried items; and in honor of Kung Fu and the young “grasshopper” I think I’ll start with a treat I’ll dub “fried hoppers”.

A couple of questions remain:

1. Where to get grasshoppers? I wonder if the local Thai grocery will carry them?

2. Will the little hoppers taste better in chocolate or honey? My guess is honey, since John the Baptist seemed to prefer insects that way – good enough for John, good enough for me.

3. Who at the party will end up eating these things? I hope I don’t have to gorge myself with an excess of fried hoppers – waste not, want not. Have a Happy & Prosperous New Year! CAP

"Ich dien"

How do you get more out of life? I can give you a few guesses. Do you get it by complaining and criticizing? Nope... How about wallowing in self-pity and demanding to be the center of attention and everything center around you and your needs? No...Not even close.

I've noticed, that we've become a "soft serve" society. We have every possible service available to cater to our needs. The only thing missing, for the most part, is "self serve". Often we're "hard" on our service providers, but "soft" when it comes to serving others ourselves.

I've mentioned before, that I'm reading a book, titled, "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living" (HSW). Before you jump to conclusions, no, I'm not a worry wart. However, since I work in a "people business", and it's on my reading list of books to read in the next year, I thought I should make sure I'm not worrying about stuff I can't control -- other people. Consequently, I've been reading HSW, almost every night, about 15 mins. at a time.

Tonight I came across the motto of the Prince of Whales: "Ich dien" -- "I serve." To put the mention of the above motto in context, the author of HSW used an illustration of service to others as a way to cure depression in 14 days. You see, there seems to be a healthy inner glow in a man with purpose, a mission. There's a joy of knowing that one is being used by an idea far more nobler and more significant that oneself. Alfred Adler, psychiatrist, would prescribe the following exercise to all his patients: "Try to think every day how you can please someone." The prescription came with a guarantee that, if they follow Dr. Adler's instructions, they would be cured from their depressed state in 14 days.

Most people know that, between Christmas and New Year's Day, many people can become depressed, some even commit suicide. However, I figured we don't have to be depressed to take on Dr. Adler's 14-day challenge. Will you join me in forgetting ourselves enough to become more interested in others? For the next 14-days (and hopefully for the rest of your life), do a good deed that will put a smile of joy on someone's face. I'd love to hear from you on how you are demonstrating "Ich dien" to the world (in big and small ways).

CAP

*Note: This blog was not intended to discriminate against those who like soft serve. I, for one, love soft serve. Generally, soft serve is lower in milk-fat and tends to allow the taste buds to detect more flavor. If you are in need for a soft serve, please go to: joshandjohns.com and find a location near you. In fact, if you take the 14-day challenge and comment about your experiences, I may treat you to a soft serve some time.

People You Don't Know That Changed Your World

This is the start of a series I call:

"People You Don't Know That Changed Your World"

(Question: Like the title? Give me a better suggestion, and I'll give you a free book!

Comment on this post, send me an e-mail, twitter me, post on my facebook, call me, or just tell me in person!)

Carl F. Rehnborg, while living in China in the early 1920s, noticed, amid unforgettable malnutrition and disease, an important connection between the foods people ate and their overall health. In farming communities, where fresh fruits and vegetables were plentiful, people were much healthier overall. In the cities, where diets included far more sugar, salt, and fat, Carl noted that there were many more instances of critical diseases, such as scurvy and beriberi. During political unrest in Shanghai, Carl was isolated in a protected enclave. There, he conceived the idea of using nutritional elements missing from the typical diet as a way to improve overall health. Carl supplemented his meager diet with soups from what was available: local herbs, grasses, and vegetables, along with rusty nails (for iron), and lime stone and ground-up animal bones (for calcium).

He shared his broth with a few friends, although the flavor was far from palatable. Months later, Carl and his friends who ate the nutrient-rich broth emerged from their enclave much healthier than those who had eaten only army rations. Returning to the United States, Carl set up a small laboratory on California's Balboa Island, where, over the next six years, he conducted experiments using different plant varieties. He developed a way to dry these plants while still preserving their important nutrients. He created a formulation of alfalfa, watercress, and parsley, which became the basis of his first product.

Prior to 1934, there were no multiviatiam/multimineral supplements. People found it difficult to know if they were getting enough nutrients in their daily diets. Ultimately, pioneer, Carl Rehnborg created the first multivitamin/multimineral supplement sold in North America. Since 1934, when the first NUTRILITE product was introduced, the company has become a leader in nutrition research, development, and innovation. Because they are made from whole plant concentrates, many NUTRILITE supplements contain a wide array of phytonutrients.

Throughout his life, Carl Rehnborg believed this was the optimum way to achieve good nutrition the way nature intended. Manufacturing operations in Buena Park, California, and Guangzhou, China, produce up to 10 billion NUTRILITE tablets, capsules and softgel capsules annually. Carl began selling his new supplement person to person, friend to friend, through word-of-mouth referrals. When some of these early customers began referring new customers to Carl, he suggested they sell the product themselves, rewarding them with discounts on their purchases.

Carl Rehnborg's innovative work was the start of a multi-billion dollar company. (Source: Nutrilite.com)

http://www.surfmyshops.com/ /twitter.com/chrisaperez/facebook.com: Christopher A. Perez

Getting Dirty

Every year, around this time, people begin to look back at their year and say, "I can't believe it's almost Christmas! This year went so fast!" As they contemplate the fleetness of their days, the song Happy Christmas, by John Lennon and Yoko Ono rings out, "So this is Christmas, and what have you done? Another year over, and a new one just begun..." Next, there's the pangs of their conscience, as they lament over lost time, and lost opportunity to change for the better. The sit- ups they stopped doing, the friends they forgot to call, the spirit-man they didn't strengthen, the finances they didn't fix--all these miscarried goals flood their mind. In my home office (the war room), I have a quote by Thomas Alva Edison that reads, "Most people don't recognize opportunity when it comes, because it's usually dressed in overalls and looks a lot like work." If only there was a magic pill, magic bullet, or magic trick, that you could pick up at the local magic store--and POOF--your life would be magically delicious! Everything nice, neat, and pre-packaged. For a moment, there's the bright idea to ask for the magic gift for Christmas! Last week, you remember seeing an info commercial offering the magic gift in your choice of color. About this time, you realize that your God-given goals and dreams don't come in a nice, neat box. They are found in seed and soil--sometimes covered so only you can see them. You have to get your hands dirty. You have to work with the seed and soil. I'm not talking about a toilsome work. Rather, I'm talking about diligence--steady and earnest in application to a subject or pursuit. God says that the hand of the diligent will be successful. As we approach 2009, and you map out your goals, dreams and desires for you and your family, here are some instructions we can learn from an old cotton farmer that might help you in the process: Preparation: A. Till your soil, eliminate weeds, and add compost. B. Next, drag a garden hoe in a straight line the length of the garden to create a row for planting. If making more than one row, make them about thirty inches apart from each other. Then pre-moisten the soil with a good deep watering. C. Plant. Application: What are some weeds that you've allowed in your soil? Take action to eliminate the weeds immediately. Renew your mind daily to ensure the soil is rich to grow a strong harvest. If you have dreams and goals, make sure you give them room this year to grow properly. Don't crowd your dreams with so many activities, clubs, commitments, and committees that you hinder any one thing in your life from truly reaching it's God-Size! Get familiar with the word, "NO". It's OK, go ahead and say out load--No! Staring at the compelling distractions on a television screen is one of the major consumers of time. You can enjoy and benefit from the very best it has to offer in about seven total hours of viewing per week. But the average person spends more than thirty hours per week in a semi-stupor, escaping from the priorities and goals he or she never gets around to setting. The irony is that the people we are watching are having fun achieving their own goals, making money, having us look at them enjoying their careers. Even so, time is amazingly fair and forgiving. No matter how much time you've wasted in the past, you still have an entire today, month, year. If you've just frittered away an hour procrastinating, you will still be given the next hour to start on priorities. Time management contains one great paradox: No one has enough time, and yet everyone has all there is. Time is not the problem; the problem is separating the urgent from the important. Clear your calendar to get your hands dirty doing what God has uniquely called you to do this year. Take time prior to Jan. 1, 2009 to pre-moisten the soil with a good deep watering at a one-day retreat. Book it in your calendar now, get out of the house and dream cast, pray, seek God (alone). If you are married, spend time alone with God and schedule a portion of the day to come together with your spouse and discuss what God's prompting each of you to accomplish. A few ideas--my friend rents a room at "Glenn Erie" each year, walks the grounds, brings paint brushes, paints and canvas, his guitar, his Bible, lots of paper, and meets his wife for a dinner date later in the evening to discuss, etc. Cultivation: A. Check the soil temperature using a soil thermometer. B. Refrain from watering the newly planted seeds until four to five weeks after the plants emerge. Then water the small plants through the summer months about every ten days. C. Stop watering the cotton plants sixteen weeks after planting. Soon after they stop receiving water, they will start to dry and shed their leaves. The cotton bolls, or pods, will split open allowing the cotton fiber inside to dry. Application: Get a game plan and follow it. Check on your dream seeds on a regular basis. Give your dream seeds time to take root. It's all about the slight edge. Sometimes (OK, maybe all the time), the tendency is to over do it, and want to see fruit on day one. Example: you want to lose weight, so you join a gym, and on Jan. 1st you go in and "over water" by lifting too much, for too long. The next day, you get up and your body is screaming! Your body is stiff and sore from all the lactic acid rushing to rescue your muscles, so you don't go back to the gym that day. Day three the soreness hasn't subsided, and you're feeling sorry for yourself. You can't even raise your arms above your head, and you don't want to cook, so you order McD's for dinner on the way home from work. After downing a Big Mac, a biggie fry and a large strawberry milkshake you feel guilty, fat and sore, with clearly no results in sight. The next day you sleep in and say, "I'll start again next week." Next week turns into next month, and ultimately next year. The key is daily, diligence and monitoring. There is a problem with even a little bit of neglect. Neglect starts as an infection. If you don't take care of it, it becomes a disease. And one neglect leads to another. Worst of all, when neglect starts, it diminishes our self-worth. Once this has happened, how can you regain your self-respect? All you have to do is act now! Start with the smallest discipline that corresponds to your goal/dream. Harvest: A. Harvest the cotton when all the bolls have cracked open and the cotton is a ball of fluff. Application: Celebrate the harvest! People will see the fruit and so will you! Something good is going to happen in 2009! IDEA: Get a cotton ball and put it somewhere you can see it daily (put it on the dash of your car, tape it to your computer monitor, keep it in your pocket, etc.). Make the cotton ball a visual reminder of the dreams you're cultivating, to be diligent, to be ever-monitoring and to get your hands dirty! CP