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The Secret of Happiness

by on March 4, 2011
There's a pool party at sunset - everyone mark...

Image by Stuck in Customs via Flickr

Time for review

My son has been reviewing my videos. He tells me that they are depressing and put him to sleep. This brings me back to memories of long ago when the kids were small and I was trying to be an enlightened parent (unlike my clueless dad). I bored them to death and it made no difference.  Or the pedantic presentations I used to give at business conferences during my career. I’ve always been a drag.

Part of the old shake’em up program I got going when I retired was directed to getting out of the predictable lifestyle decisions and actions. I got serious about that but I should have gone further, I should get excited. And my face ought to show it.  Maybe I can.  Maybe I can’t.

So the purpose of today’s video is to put some life in my speaking. I’m not sure how to make that happen but I guess a good place to start is with a smile. Let me know if you notice an improvement.

Back to the Point – Happiness.

The topic is simple today. It is happiness. Happiness is something everybody claims they want and most people say they don’t have. So when you are designing your retirement lifestyle, it is important to understand how to be happy.  So what’s the problem? Here you are, finally retired and no longer sucking up to bad bosses and suffering lazy co-workers. You are on your own and can do whatever you want. But with all that you are still unhappy? So what’s it going to take?  Do you need to win the lottery?

Don’t wait for anything.

I say that the problem for most of us is that we are waiting for somebody to make us happy. If we continue to wait, it’s never going to happen because they are all waiting for somebody too. They certainly aren’t thinking about you.

You actually don’t need anything else. You have everything you need to be happy and you can start right now. Just make a decision. Tell yourself that you are happy and act like a happy person acts even if it seems crazy. You may not actually be happy but I don’t think you can tell the difference once you start. Happy people generate their own force field.

 

Still, if you still doubt and you hesitate to commit to happiness, here’s a crutch. Try these eight tips to feel happier. See if they can get you in the mood. But don’t forget in the end that happiness is only a decision.

Breaking News

 

Sometimes being happy and looking happy are not the same thing.

Are you really?

 

My son just gave me a heart to heart.   This is good news for everyone.  He has offered to be my cinematographer. He has a few other ideas as well.  Like I continually say.  My next video will be better.

 

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60’s Nostalgia- Tang, the space drink

by on March 3, 2011
John Glenn

Image via Wikipedia

Enough is enough!

I have put this post off long enough. Several times over the last few months it crossed my mind to post about Tang- the breakfast drink of the astronauts. Each time, I was confused because  although Tang was created in the 50’s, it didn’t become a commercial success until the 60’s. So I dithered about should it be a 50’s post or a 60’s post. Dithering being what it is, the result was that I just put it out of mind altogether.

Then the last straw.

Then this week, Bob from Cantankerous Old Coots commented that Tang was one of the beneficial products developed under the US space program. I couldn’t wait any longer.  It is time to clear the air of this slander.  This myth has been circulated long enough.  It is true that some of the NASA launches carried Tang but Tang was developed and marketed independently from the space program. It was pure marketing genius that got Tang attached to the space program and made it a popular drink for kids in the 60’s not the science and knowhow of NASA.

Finally the Truth.

So what is the real truth? Tang predated the space program by several years and it was created by a big American food company, not NASA. So what made kids believe that they could be just like the astronauts when they chugged their morning glass of Tang. It was nothing but marketing hype. Tang was actually invented in the late 50’s by researchers at General Foods but did not become popular until the 60’s largely because of the association with astronauts.

The original idea for Tang was a citrus y, vitamin enhanced breakfast drink. It only became associated with the space program because the recycled water in the Gemini program had an unpleasant taste. Flavorings were used to mask that taste and Tang was one products that NASA used. But Tang wasn’t the only one and Tang wasn’t used for every launch.

Tang is now owned by Kraft Foods which still makes several versions of the product.

 

My Tang experience

When I was growing up, my mother bought Tang and my brothers and I happily mixed it up and drank it. It was easier than mixing up frozen concentrated orange juice which was messy and separated in the refrigerator. We thought it was cool to mix the powder with water.  It didn’t taste very good but neither did it taste bad and we were confident that it was good for us because the astronauts drank it.

Gradually the excitement over the space program died and Tang stopped being a part of my consumption.

 

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