Monday, April 16, 2007

The Week of 3/5/07

Thought of the Week:

Lions or Gazelles

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle, when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.

- Winning Spirit

Quotes of the Week:

"Don't wait for your ship to come in, swim out and get it!"
- Unknown

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it's dressed in overalls and looks like work."
- Thomas Edison

"If there is no wind, Row!"
- Latin Proverb

"There's no traffic jam on the extra mile."
- Unknown

"He climbs highest who helps another up."
- Zig Ziglar

Link of the Week:

This looks pretty interesting for those involved in the arts community. Check out http://www.nextaudiences.com/.

Events of the Week:

Blue Man Group: How to be a Megastar Tour 2.0 on March 8, 2007 at 7:30pm at the Chevrolet Centre. Check out http://www.chevroletcentre.com/ or http://www.howtobeamegastar.com/

Youngstown State University and the Paul J. and Marguerite K. Thomas Colloquium on Free Enterprise present Alvin Toffler, author of Future Shock, on Thursday, March 8 at 7:30pm at Stambaugh Auditorium. The event is open to the public and free of charge. http://www.alvintoffler.net/

Spring is on the way (hopefully). Get ready by attending the Mahoning Valley Golf Expo at the Chevrolet Centre on March 10 and 11th. For info: http://www.chevroletcentre.com/ or http://www.mvgolfexpo.com/

The Week of 2/26/07

Thought of the Week:

How do you see it?

Two stone cutters were asked what they were doing.

The first said, "I'm cutting this stone into blocks."

The second replied, "I'm on a team that's building a cathedral."

Quotes of the Week:

"The missing ingredient in most of our talking is a little shortening."
- Unknown

"Man's greatest hour - his greatest fulfillment - is that moment when he has worked his heart out and for a good cause and lies exhausted but victorious on the field of battle."
- Vince Lombardi

"To move the world we must first move ourselves."
- Socrates

"Don't find fault. Find a remedy."
- Henry Ford

"Yesterday is a dream. And tomorrow is only a vision; but today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and tomorrow a vision of hope."
- Kalidasa

Link of the Week:

Some interesting ideas and commentary for the Youngstown area. Check out www.shoutyoungstown.blogspot.com.

Events of the Week:

The Oakland Center for the Arts presents Misery, by Stephen King on March 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. For info: (330) 746-0404 or www.oaklandcenter.com

The YSU Men's Basketball team will host it's first post-season game since 1995 when they play Detroit on Tuesday, February 27 at 7:05pm at the Beeghly Centre. For info: (330) 941 -1YSU or www.ysusports.com

The Youngstown Steelhounds play host to the Memphis Riverkings on Thursday, Friday and Saturday of this week at the Chevrolet Centre. www.steelhounds.com

The Week of 2/19/07

Thought of the Week:

"Wills of Iron Build City of Gold" by Paul Harvey

For 30 years I'd been hearing about "the rustbelt." Surely that must be America's unlovely and embarrassing backyard.

So I went looking for it.

If the rustbelt is where our steel industry is I knew where to begin my search. I aimed my jet toward the valley of the Mahoning River in Ohio.

There, 170 years ago, a man named Young discovered iron ore and Brier Hill coal in just the parallel quantity necessary to make pig-iron and just the right amount of limestone to smelt pig-iron into steel.

Young called his pioneer village "Young's Town."

Youngstown flourished. By 1810 there were 773 people thereabouts. By 1890 there were 33,000.

Something about Youngstown, generation after generation, bred uncommon men - the Rev. William McGuffey, who authored our nations' best-ever schoolbooks, and the Rev. George Bernard, who wrote "The Old Rugged Cross." Early political and industrial giants, spring from roots in Youngstown.

But then - in our own time - high wages, alternative construction materials and cheap imports put our nation's ailing steel industry to bed and eventually to sleep.

I settled out of a leaden winter sky, folded my wings and went looking for rust.

What I found was a state university, thriving, expanding.

I found a Museum of Modern Art - 17 enormous galleries - displaying the most precious collection between New York and Chicago.

I found a Symphony Center as elegant as anywhere and an orchestra worthy of it.

A handsome classic courthouse - restored with loving care and private money.

This hub of five railroads for a population of 100,000-plus has 30 city parks!

And hospitals and tree-lined avenues of elegant homes on lawns wide and deep.

Where steel once was everything, half a hundred thriving industries now are.

All this plus 15 - count them, 15 - golf courses!

I went looking for the rust. I found none in Youngstown, Ohio. There were just enough riverfront ghosts to keep folks reminded how far they've come. Except that homefolks will be the last to know. Youngstown is under appreciated only by its own citizens who are as yet unaware that running scared from the blast furnace flameout they've run on ahead of most of the rest of us.

I know now where hometown boy Dave Dravecky got his get-up-when-you-fall-down-courage. Lead on, Youngstown. And please don't ever again feel sorry for yourself. Nobody else would.

(c) 1991, Los Angeles Times Syndicate

Quotes of the Week:

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."
- Will Rogers

"Some people see things as they are and ask why. I dream of things that never were and ask why not."
- Robert F. Kennedy

"You are the only one who can use your ability. It is an awesome responsibility."
- Zig Ziglar

"Everyone has a plan until they are hit."
- Evander Holyfield

"Never believe you're better than anybody else, but remember that you're just as good as everybody else."
- John Wooden

Link of the Week:

The MVP 20/30 Club launched a new website recently. Check out www.mvp2030club.org.

Events of the Week:

The Mahoning Valley Thunder will hold their second select your seat night event on Cortland Banks Field at the Chevrolet Centre on Tuesday, February 20th from 5:30 to 7:30pm. www.mahoningvalleythunder.com

The YSU Men's Basketball team is getting hot at the right time. Home game vs. conference leader Wright State on Thursday, February 22 at 7:05pm at the Beeghly Centre. For info: (330) 941 -1YSU or www.ysusports.com

Youngstown Business & Professional Women along with the YSU Williamson College of Business Administration present "Women Entrepreneurs: Increase your Possibilities in Today's World" on February 27 from 5:00pm to 8:30pm at the DeBartolo Stadium Club. For more information call (330) 502-7080. RSVP deadline is this Wednesday, February 21.

The Week of 2/12/07

Thought of the Week:

THE MAYONNAISE JAR AND COFFEE

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar . . .and the coffee.

A professor stood before his Philosophy class and had some items in front of him.When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very aged and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between thegolf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous "yes."

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand.The students laughed. "Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. "The golf balls are the important things - your God, family, your children, your health, your friends, and your favorite passions - things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full."The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car. "The sand is everything else-the small stuff. "If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls."The same goes for life.”"If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. "Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.

"Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner."Play another 18.” "There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."


Quotes of the Week:

"The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they are okay, then it's you."
- Rita Mae Brown

"If you can dream it you can do it."
- Walt Disney

"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself."
- George Bernard Shaw

"Democracy is based upon the conviction that there are extraordinary possibilities in ordinary people."
- Harry Emerson Fosdick

"You can't turn back the clock, but you can wind it up again."
- Bonnie Prudden

Link of the Week:

Ever get a great idea or remember something you need to do in situations where you never seem to have a pen and paper around? Well, here is a service for you. Simply save this number to your phone, call it when the situation arises (assuming you have a cell phone near by), and they will transcribe your message and e-mail or text it to you. Check out http://www.jott.com/.

Events of the Week:

MVP 20/30 Club Monthly Mixer (third Thursday) - Thursday, February 15, 5:30pm at Jillian's in the Southern Park Mall. http://www.mvp2030club.org/

Good to see young enthusiastic people stick around and start a business. Adtronico ribbon cutting - Thursday, February 15 at 10:00am, 3530 Belmont Ave., Suite 10. http://www.adtronico.com/

MAD about the ARTS - Friday, February 23, 6:30pm at the McDonough Museum of Art on the campus of YSU. Tickets selling fast. For more information call SMARTS at (330) 941-2787. www.fpa.ysu.edu/smarts/

The Week of 2/5/07

Thought of the Week:

"Here is a very interesting thing I have learned: Giving each letter of the alphabet a number, a=1, b=2, etc. If you add up the letters of the alphabet in the word "Attitude" this is the result:

A = 1
T = 20
T = 20
I = 9
T = 20
U = 21
D = 4
E = 5
100% Attitude is 100%!!"


Quotes of the Week:

"Take a lesson from the mosquito. She never waits for an opening - she makes one."
- Kirk Kirkpatrick

"The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it."
- Michelangelo

"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising every time we fall."
- Confucius

"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Youngstown is ready to take off - to move into the 21st century more vital and prosperous than ever."
- Bill Clinton, 7/4/1996

Link of the Week:

Pittsburgh native and current Youngstown resident Phil Kidd has done a remarkable job with his "Defend Youngstown" initiative. For great links, news, and authentic merchandise check out www.defendyoungstown.com. Keep up the great work Phil!

Events of the Week:

"Young Professionals Night" - Steelhounds vs. Mudbugs - Friday, February 9th, 7:05pm at the Chevrolet Centre. www.steelhounds.com

Looking for something to do on Valentine's Day? The Children's Museum of the Valley may have the answer. Call (330) 744-5914 for more information on their dinner/dance. www.valleykids.org

Turn your Winnings into Wishes - The Make-A-Wish Foundation Fabulous Casino Night - Friday, February 16th, 6:30pm at the Packard Music Hall in Warren. RSVP deadline is this Friday, February 9th. For more information: (330) 965-9085 or julies@makeawishohio.org. www.makeawishohio.org