Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

The 3 Obstacles: How to identify, overcome, and exploit them by James Ignizio Ph.D.


Available in Paperback and eBook here!

The 3 Obstacles: How to identify, overcome, and exploit them   
by James Ignizio Ph.D.    

Are you, your firm, or organization reeling from the aftershocks of yet another failed management fad? Did you know that there are more management and self-help fads than fad diets ... and that their failure, disappointment, and abandonment rates are even worse? Consider, as just one example, the matter of manufacturing management fads. Over the past sixty years more than fifty such fads have been introduced – often with great fanfare – and yet the performance of our nation’s factories, supply chains, and business processes have yet to exhibit any significant – or in particular – sustainable improvement. Nor have the decisions made in company boardrooms, our Ivory Towers, the halls of Congress, or the corridors of the Pentagon been perceptibly enhanced by the introduction of such schemes. Management and self-help schemes address the symptoms of problems when what is needed is to identify and then overcome their causes. Those causes are invariably Unnecessary Complexity, Excessive Variability, and Intellectual Myopia ... The Three Obstacles that must be identified and surmounted if there is to be any possibility of the successful and, in particular, sustainable achievement of one’s goals. This book describes how this may be accomplished.



About the Author

James Ignizio is the author of nineteen books and several hundreds of articles. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineering, a Fellow of the Operational Research Society of Britain, and a Fellow of the World Academy of Productivity Sciences. He is also a Distinguished Alumnus of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech and recipient of the First Hartford Prize. Dr. Ignizio is Founder and Principal of the Institute for Resource Management. Prior to that he served as an Internal Consultant and Staff Scientist at the Intel Corporation, Professor and Chair of Systems Engineering at the University of Virginia, Professor and Chair of Industrial Engineering at the University of Houston, and Professor of Industrial Engineering at Penn State. He has also been a Visiting Professor at the Naval Postgraduate School, the Helsinki School of Economics (now Aalto University School of Business) and the U.S. Army Logistics Management College. In addition, he has held senior management level positions in the U.S. Aerospace industry. Dr. Ignizio has served as both an external and internal consultant to more than 100 firms and his courses in Intelligent Decision Systems and Management Science have been attended by several thousands of individuals over the past three decades. He has also held the position of series editor (in Management Science) for Kluwer-Nijhoff Publishing and has served on the editorial boards of Omega, Journal of Large-Scale Systems, Information and Decision Technologies, Computers and Operations Research, Journal of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis, and the International Series in Operations Research and Management Science. Dr. Ignizio’s primary interest is, and has been for a half-century, that of exploring the vital role provided by means of a holistic approach to decision-making. This book, The Three Obstacles, represents an attempt to present that topic in a readable and yet comprehensive form.


Monday, May 28, 2018

Milliron Monday: The Legacy Continues June 4, 2018


Milliron Monday
A detailed journey into the legacy of Dr. Abbott P. Smith and his biography Milliron by Gina McKnight.

Beginning Monday, June 4, 2018, Gina will be revisiting and reposting original interviews with Dr. Smith’s clients, archived photographs, and much more.

Follow the Milliron legacy @ Riding & Writing!




Sunday, May 27, 2018

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Curt J. Robinette, Author & Historian

Curt at home with a photo of Hiram Robinett
An Interview with Author Curt Robinette

Originally from Nelsonville, Ohio, now residing in Louisiana, Curt Robinette stays active spending time with his family, writing, and other fun things that motivates his creativity. He is the author of Chauncey’s Blood, a historical novel based on true life. Curt is also behind The New Nelsonville Tribune, a historical memoir and current update of Nelsonville, Ohio, a gem in the foothills of Appalachia.

The Elks Lodge, Nelsonville, will host a book signing event on Nelsonville Final Fridays, June 29, 2018, 6 PM. Curt will be signing copies of Chancery’s Blood as well as premiering the first publication of The New Nelsonville Tribune, Volume I. Monday Creek Publishing is the publisher of the 2nd Edition of Chauncey’s Blood, as well as The New Nelsonville Tribune, Volume I. Both books are currently available online in paperback and eBook.

Welcome Curt!

GM: What is the premise for Chauncey's Blood?
CR: Five school friends of mine were killed in Viet Nam, several others, including my cousin, were wounded and/or maimed for life. Others came home with PTSD and other serious issues. It seemed that my small hometown paid a high price to defend our country and do what was “right”. As I researched for telling Hiram’s story, I discovered that the impact was very high in support of the Union in the Civil War as well. Five Robinett young men from Chauncey, Ohio died and several never returned to a fully functional life after the fighting had ended. The impact to the communities, the families left behind, was obvious. The price was blood.

GM: What prompted you to combine fiction with historical facts to create a novel of your family and the Civil War? 
CR: My research was originally for our family history. When I found Hiram and discovered how closely related we are (my grandfather’s half-brother), I wanted to find as much about him as was available. From the historical documents at the National Archives, his story became more remarkable with each new discovery. When a West Virginian Historian and Author shared a picture of Hiram and it matched a picture that my Aunt and Uncle possessed, I was hooked. To discover that Hiram served three separate times demonstrated to me that he was not just doing his duty, he was following his calling to serve his country.
The documents discovered contained enough information to develop an accurate time table of Hiram’s life from 1861 through his death in March 1868. Likewise, his lifetime friend and compatriot Robert H. Edwards, was easily detailed almost from start to finish.
          The challenge was to utilize the historical documents and determine where the gaps existed and what logically or historically was going on at that time. If I could find historical evidence that seemed to indicate where the boys were, such as a campaign or battle, it was easy. If not, then I had to use my imagination to create a plausible connection from fact A to fact B, etc.

GM: Describe your writing style; how do you maintain thoughts, ideas, and creative endeavors?
CR: Not being an experienced author, I will call my approach “conversational”. I attempt to give the reader a feeling that I am talking to them, telling them the story. I hope for them to feel that they are right there, standing, in the story, experiencing things as they occur.                       

GM: In Chauncey's Blood who is your favorite character besides Hiram?
CR: First, I would say that Robert H. Edwards likely had a personality like my own. He had goals, was not a total flake, but didn’t take day-to-day issues as seriously as others, especially Hiram. He admired Hiram, looked up to him, and would only fleetingly wish that he could be that way, because he was satisfied with who he was. I think that he knew that you were responsible for yourself and that no one could be expected to take care of you, although he did appreciate it when Hiram was there to help him out. Facts that I found out about Robert that I didn’t know while writing the story enhanced my respect for him greatly. Robert graduated in June 1868 from Georgetown University School of Medicine. Being discharged in January 1865, he enrolled in school, married, and spent three intense years as a medical student, preparing for his career, which he never had.

          Melinda Booth was equally a favorite, the only difference is that she is a figment of my imagination, brought to the story as the strong, stable and ultimately wonderful figure that Robert needed in his life. In the story, Hiram was not into hugging and Robert needed someone to help him get through the tumultuous times and events occurring around him. As Melinda’s character developed in the story, and I have no idea how that happened, it became obvious to me that Robert would not have accomplished all that he did if she had not been in his life. She was his salvation and his reason for living.    

GM: What do you suppose Hiram would have to say about your book and memorializing his name?
CR: I think that he would be impressed that I knew so many facts about his career, like the address where he lived in Washington town in 1867. I’m not at all certain that he would feel that I portrayed him accurately, but I believe I have. Hiram would have been impressed and happy that his friends and co-workers in Washington cared enough to purchase his tombstone and eulogize him in the way they did.

GM: It seems most writers have a teacher or mentor who inspired their writing career. What/who is your inspiration? What motivates you to put pen to paper (or hands to keyboard)?
CR: Telling Hiram’s story was quite easy because of my enthusiasm to get him out to the world. If and when people read about his life, they will be impressed both with his maturity, and his plan for his career. I would suppose that Zane Grey has always been my favorite author and I admired the manner in which he delivered his characters to the story. Lewis Wetzel, one of Zane’s main characters and a real person, was made larger than life and that is how I came to feel about Hiram. While Wetzel was in actuality a cold-blooded Indian killer, Zane Grey turned him into a frontier hero. I didn’t face those same challenges with Hiram, as he was a good guy in reality.

GM: What are you currently writing?
CR: Ezekiel, where the hell are you?

GM: What are you currently reading?
CR: Anything and everything concerning 9-11 Conspiracy. I just finished thoroughly examining the events surrounding the assassination of President Kennedy.

GM: Who is your favorite author?
CR: Greg Isles. I have read a half dozen of his novels and continue to be amazed with his creativity and incredible imagination. How he is able to create the situations and the characters he comes up with is simply mind-blowing for someone like myself with a very limited imagination.

GM: Do you have advice for novice writers?
CR: Take up golf instead.  At a minimum, have fun. Try different approaches to telling your story and don’t settle on one until you “feel” this is your story.


Saturday, May 19, 2018

Thursday, May 17, 2018

When Harry Met the Queen by Tim Truelan

The Copper Horse (Monument to George III) by Sir Richard Westmacott (1775-1856) 1824-30; 
erected October 1831. Bronze, on a rocky platform in Snow Hill, Windsor Great Park, in the grounds of Windsor Castle.


When Harry Met the Queen
Based on a True Encounter by the Author while on Horseback

Harry Hunter, event rider that is, while riding across Windsor Great Park one summer’s day, the huge Royal Standard atop the great round tower was streaming magnificently in the wind, calling me to come and look inside the largest and oldest inhabited castle in the world.

My tour started through a portcullis gate and inside, a regiment of Lifeguards – resplendent in shiny black, thigh-high riding boots, red tunics and gleaming breastplates – marched to the regimental band.

I continued into a horseshoe-shaped Tudor Cloister, to my right a grand flight of steps led up to St. George’s Chapel – where Prince Harry and Meghan will marry in May. Inside the Chapel shafts of sunlight shone down from beautiful tall windows, a sublime setting for any wedding. Embedded in the flagstones, tombs from history: Henry the Eighth, Jane Seymour and Charles the First.

I went inside the Castle. The entrance hall was built to impress, likewise the huge Waterloo Banqueting Chamber with its great vaulted roof and an immense carpet brought from India – which took forty men to carry up the hill from the railway station when it arrived.

I strolled along the battlements, looking out towards the playing fields of Eton, where many a foreign battle had been won, or so it has been said.

Everywhere throughout the Castle were amazing artifacts, two stuck in my memory: the Bible that ‘Gordon’ was holding when he perished at the Battle of Khartoum, and the musket ball that felled Lord Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar.

One could not fail to be impressed by the interior of Windsor castle: the Great Hall, its roof covered in hundreds of Coats of Arms; the green Drawing Room; and the Crimson Room of red and flaming gold!

I strolled into the garden before ending my visit and came across a guardsman, resplendent in his black Busby and scarlet tunic, gazing out over the treetops towards Eton; I wondered if he was musing on the fable of the playing fields.

Riding once again across Windsor Great Park, close to the Castle, Harry bumps into its owner, The Queen. They exchanged greetings, she from a Bentley Sedan and Harry on horseback…

Which prompted the author to title his latest novel, Horseback.

From the novel Horseback by Tim Truelan, available onAmazon.
#Books #Horsebooks #Windsor #Harry #eventing #Badminton #Queenelizabeththesecondofengland #thewindsors #windsorcastle #Royalwindsorhorseshow #Burughley #Chatsworth


Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Survivng Toxic In-Laws by Miriam Davids

New!
SURVIVING TOXIC IN-LAWS:
THE BIG BULLIES

Ever wonder why most people around the world do not get along with their in-laws? Is it all about the adage that has been in existence for ages – “When you marry someone, you do not marry the individual. Instead, you marry the person’s entire family?" If so, should this give some in-laws the right to be cruel and nasty to new members of the family?

This book introduces readers to simple ways they can recognize, handle and survive toxic in-laws while protecting their marriage.

Surviving Toxic In-Laws is a couple’s guide to building and creating a more united front as a couple. Written for all couples, married or not, that desire to uproot any ounce of toxicity sprouting from their in-laws. Written for couples currently under the wrath of toxic in-laws and are eager to acquire ways on how to cope with toxic in-laws; gain tips on how to counter their toxic in-laws’ evil actions with wits about them, especially if they want their marriage to survive against all the odds. This book gives readers:

-Practical insights on how to deal with the toxic parent in laws.
-Everyday steps for handling overt controllers, manipulators, and narcissists
-Tips to tackle different issues.


Amazonamzn.to/2JOe9f6

Google: bit.ly/2KiI1QL

About the Author:
Miriam Davids is a former journalist and now a creative entrepreneur. She is the Author of Surviving Toxic In-Laws: The Big Bullies, as well as Toxic: Don't Let In-Laws Ruin Your Marriage. She has an MPA from the University of Alaska, Anchorage.




Category: Extended Family, Parenting and Relationships, Marriage and Long-Term Relationships

Saturday, May 12, 2018

Friday, May 11, 2018

Custom Iron Work & Welding: Richard Rozzo


Spring Craft Show
Lake Hope State Park Lodge
McArthur, Ohio

Saturday, May 12, 2018

Meet 
Richard Rozzo

10 AM to 3 PM


For questions please call the Lake Hope Nature Center: 740-596-3030



Thursday, May 10, 2018

SAVING FERN GULLY



From the Arc of Appalachia
Announcing an Emergency Land Campaign
 
Saving Fern Gully in Hocking Hills
Ohio USA

The Arc of Appalachia is announcing a new land campaign: the 80-acre Fern Gully which is a pristine hemlock ravine that flows into 5300-acre Clear Creek Metro Park. The tract is surrounded on three sides by parkland and is one of the last undeveloped tracts in the region.

Project Total: $400,000  Amount Raised on 5/5/18: $152,930
Pledge Deadline: May 31, 2018    Progress: 38%

      Fern Gully is a beautiful hemlock-canopied ravine. Clear Creek Watershed supports 43 species of fern and fern allies, hence the site’s well-deserved name. Saving Fern Gully would result in the protection of over 90% of this crystal clear tributary’s watershed, the 80 acres enclosing the upper half of the stream’s upper watershed.
     Over 100 species of breeding birds have been recorded from the Clear Creek region, including such Ohio rarities as the blue-headed vireo, magnolia warbler, and hermit thrush. Twenty species of warblers breed at Clear Creek - an extremely high number for any Ohio locale.

    If the people of Ohio demonstrate they can save a worthy tract of land by working together, they won’t stop with Fern Gully. Future worthy conservation endeavors could be similarly empowered.

For a full report with campaign details, balances, video and maps: see
www.
 arcofappalachia.org.

For in-depth information, contact:
Rick Perkins, Arc of Appalachia Board Member: 740-703-2717
Brian Blair, Forest Conservancy LLC: 740-332-1025
John Watts, Franklin County Metro Parks: 614-832-3402
Arc of Appalachia Preserve System: 937-365-1935

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Tony Nardecchia Photography


Photography
Landscapes, Nature, Flora, Fauna, Portrait, and more…
Tony Nardecchia
Fine Art America
Mesa, Arizona USA
 Clickin' shutters and making pictures 
with varying degrees of success

Profile: Tony Nardecchia
Featured: Driftwood


Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Selah's Painted Dream by Susan Count

New!
Selah's Painted Dream
Dream Horse Adventures - Volume 3

Thirteen-year-old Selah’s life is about as perfect as it gets. She has horsy friends at school, and on weekends, she rides her black mare on Grandpa’s farm. Training the horse to do upper-level liberty work is what makes her heart beat. But one word can ruin a perfect life—moving. A move would separate her from her horse, so she plots to get her name on the farm mailbox instead. She’s sure she could persuade Grandpa—except he’s overly distracted by a sheep-loving neighbor. Determined not to let Grandpa's new sweetheart take her place in his heart, Selah puts her hope in a painted dream horse from Grandpa’s past. When she snugs up the girth and buckles on her spurs, Selah rides to win.


About the Author
I write at an antique secretary desk, which belonged to the same grandmother who introduced me to horse books. The desk has secret compartments and occupies a glass room with a forest view. Bunnies and cardinals regularly interrupt my muse, as do my horses grazing in a clearing.Though I am a rider and lover of horses, I make no claims of expertise in any riding discipline. I hope my research keeps me from annoying those who would know. The only thing more fun than riding might be writing horse adventure stories. Saddle up and ride along!

Monday, May 7, 2018

Best card for Mother's Day! Handmade Real Wood


Surprise your Mom this Mother's Day!
Special wishes deserve a special card!
Best card for Mother's Day!
Handmade Real Wood
I Love Mom
Unique Mother’s Day Greeting Card

Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 13, 2018!

Dimensions: 3.5"x 5.5" (1/8" thick). Due to the nature of the material, the card is a little bit smaller than the regular-sized card. Quantity: 1 Greeting Card with matching envelope.

Inside: Red Rose and "Mom, words are never enough to thank you for all that you do…"

Please note this card is created using real wood; wood grains can vary slightly, making each card unique.

Give a lasting memory to your dearest...
Handmade Greeting Cards for every occasion
Custom greeting cards, Personalized greeting cards!
See them all at amazon.com

Milliron Monday: Letters Home Oct 10 1960

          Abbott "Pete" Smith D.V.M.:   June 16, 1938 - February 22, 2010 Virginia Joyann "Jody" Haley Smith: April 2, 1...