Tomorrow night in Dubai, my youngest daughter Sierra...my peaches and plums...will graduate with an International Baccalaureate Diploma from Dubai International Academy. Like her elder sister Bianca (aka Bumble Bee) she has been entirely educated in an international school system. I remember her first day of school at the village 'kindergarten' in Schlossborn (near Frankfurt) Germany. Thirteen years and three schools later (Frankfurt International School, La Châtaigneraie Geneva…

This spring 25,000 people worldwide (including myself!) took the challenge to eat and drink on $1.75 a day for 5 days! We are lived Below the Line so others can rise above it. The initiative was set to raise $4.4 million for the world’s leading anti-poverty organizations.



Keeping in mind that living on $1.75 a day is a daily reality for millions of people around the world, poverty isn’t just about food, It’s about freedom! Mother Teresa once said, “Poverty doesn’t only consist of…

Last week was an amazing week for us as far as being…

Hello fellow Kamazooie members!

I have been practicing yoga for several years; I find it to be very rewarding physically but at the studio I attend, they don’t focus on the more spiritual or metaphysical aspects so I decided to do some research and use the topic for this week’s community post.

Firstly, I found that Yoga is a Sanskrit or Hindu word for union…

As we discussed in the last few postings... I have been leading and organising my firm's Junior Achievement partnership and campaign. We had teams from 6 major cities in Canada. For Toronto - I also teamed up with a partner and delivered the "Economics for Success" program to the grade 7 & 8 split class of St. John Bosco Elementary school in Woodbridge, Ontario. 

This was an absolute blast! 

Naturally, it is so much fun to teach the children about the…

So, back to the music again. Sorry I must seem to go on and on about this but it is a passion and I can't help it. We confirmed this week that our former lead guitarist Jim "Snowflake" Robinson is bowing out due to time pressures and extensive travel involved in his new job. I am sure we will continue to jam together if and as we can but Jim's availability will be limited.…

Happy Mothers Day to all those special people out there.  Here's a great posting from a business blogger I follow but this one is dedicated to the leadership qualities of Mom.

9 Leadership Lessons from Mom

And of course, Happy Mothers Day to my beautiful Mom.

(If you wish to post to (my) Mom's page, you can find here…

The other day, a friend realized how much work it is to lead a cause like Junior Achievement (blogged about last week), and asked WHY? Why put so much effort into this? Why take the lead and drive this in my company, across the country? 

Two things come to mind. First if not me, then who? Second, I recall Amanda's blog on Balance. This is a great way of…

No, this isn't a posting on the hit TV series staring Juliana Margulies, that's "The Good Wife", or about the 2013 made for TV movie staring Helen Slater. This is a chance for you to post your appreciation for your mom as we head into Mother's Day weekend.

As I was driving in to work this morning, I heard a 'quist' (that's a cross between a quiz and a top-10 list) on…

Do you think you can make it all on your own in regards to starting up your very own web business? Have you ever before recognized just how internet marketing companies similar to Client Solution Innovations can achieve wonders in the optimization of your business? You will be assuming that there is no need to do this. You'll in addition need to become much more informed about the many website marketing plans.

To tell the truth, not…

Life is a ride and we’re all aware the ride has its ups and downs and this has been a roller-coaster of a week. From my last posting, you may know our family is dealing with the effects of dementia on our mom who is in a seniors’ home in Northern Ontario.…

What's Junior Achievement? 

It is a global organisation dedicated to teaching children about some basic financials and fundamentals of life, and the reason you want to stay in school. This gives regular business people, retiree's, and other volunteers the opportunity to go into a class of students and teach about work, your paystub, career opportunities, how to…

Greetings fellow Kamazooies:

For this weekend, I thought I would circulate some fun facts that you can review for your own personal interest or share with your friends during some weekend socializing.…

Wondering if anyone else tried the 3 Positives & Why approach, discussed in my last blog posting?

I tried it - for 12 consecutive days. It was actually nice. I found it to be a refreshing way to take a 5-10 minute break during my day. Taking a breather to reflect on what was going well in the day, and why (trying to internalize what I was doing that was making it positive). The best part of the practice was that by writing it down (I kept a small notebook), it forced me…

This week, I thought I would share a review of "Man's Search for Meaning" by Holocaust survivor Victor E. Frankl. Austrian born Fralkl was laborer in 4…

We're being called the sandwich generation; but I think there has always been a sandwich generation, maybe even to a greater extent before than now; I think it is more of a sandwich phase of life. My siblings and I now find ourselves dealing with dementia in our family. We are very fortunate because our mother is in her 91st year and still doing very well but her short term memory is challenged and this, and other things, cause her confusion and anxiety.

Even though I'm not yet…

This week, as we head into the nicer weather and the upcoming Easter & Passover long weekend, we at Kamazooie thought we would investigate the topic of balance.

Obviously, balance can mean many things, and at different parts of our life, the factors we have to balance against each other changes: career versus family, savings versus spending, kids…

Greetings Kamazooie members: 

I'm not sure what area of the world you're in but it looks like a great Spring day in most of the Americas today which covers a lot of our members. 

I usually work on a positive message piece for circulation to our membership each week but this time I'm going to circulate something from one of our new members, Charles.…

As I drive to work, I started listening to Flourish by Martin Seligman. He is the psychologist who started the whole positive psychology movement. One of his first suggestions is a little exercise I am working on ... and it seems to have some good results - of helping me stay more positive. 

This exercise is to get a small journal, and each day - write down three positive things that you did or that happened today. It could be as simple as "it was a sunny and warm…

Greetings Kamazooies! 

Just a little thought as…