Oh – OK – it’s now 7PM – my Go-Go Juice is still flowing! Long day for a Tuesday. How did your day go? Well, I have some cool and exciting news to share. One of my family members has been drinking a lot of Go-Go Juice over the years. She’s kinda’ like my niece as we’re a number of years apart, but in reality, she’s a cousin of mine who has been following her dream in acting, and recently starred in a new film that has many people stirring – the film is titled “The Human Centipede”. The actress I speak of is Ashley Williams. And yes, I can say with confidence that I held this little starlet as a baby and watched her and her siblings grow up from afar! And, while I could probably make her cheeks glow a scarlet red from all the “cutsie” things she did as a kid, or the pictures I’ve seen, now is the time to humbly present her amazing talent as she and her team of actors and actresses prepare for the unveiling of this controversial, compelling thriller. Having seen her in action, makes me feel…..so old! But so proud! Where has the time gone? And where did she go from being cutsie to a full blown woman competing in a challenging industry where it’s hard enough to get a job as a walking celery stick for a commercial, let alone a main character in a big screen blockbuster! You’ve got to watch the trailer. I have to admit, I’m a movie buff and I love horror movies – although, I’m not into the “hack-n-slash” type that displays just gore with no story, no history, no end – no point. But, when it involves a good plot, great suspense and even a weird concept, I’ll give it a go and am usually well satisfied. This happens to be one of those! While I have not yet seen the film, I have seen the trailer – pretty cool. I’ve attached the link to the title above so please check it out! Opening night will be April 30th in New York City and then Nationwide folks, MAY 7th! Do see it!
And Ashley, if you read this – I get an autographed poster for Christmas, right? Keep your Go-Go Juice filled to the brim 'lil cuz! And for everyone else – dream big. As I’ve said before, never say never, can’t is a B.A.D. word and the world is your oyster. Have a great night.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Time For Go-Go Juice! - George Washington is the Face of Motivation?
Good Monday Morning to you! How’s your Go-Go Juice brewing? Mine’s steaming with ideas from a recent article I read about bribing kids to do well in school. You know I’ve talked a lot about Cassy and her upcoming successes as she graduates this year. Her grades are up and she’s thrilled to be taking on the new challenges of freedom, new studies and getting employed…all the next steps to becoming an adult who can live on their own. But, what about those students who don’t do so well?
Teachers, psychologists, counselors and parents all discuss the ongoing topic of what to do with your student when he/she is failing or close to it. The contributing factors to a student’s success or failure comes with living environments, study habits, personal challenges (like ADD or ADHD or other mental complexity), type of friends he/she associates with and parental involvement. I have a child who struggles – my son. He’s a typical boy age 14 and while he’s into mischief time to time, overall, he’s a pretty good kid for the most part. His interest in school is nil. Not the social part, the study part. He, like most young boys would rather spend time with friends, play and just hang. OK – he’s a teenager with typical desires and level’s of interest. But here’s the snag…his grades suffer (although he’s put a teeny-bit of effort into pulling them up) and he constantly shows his dismay for the way teachers teach, how the subjects are not interesting, constantly complains on how long it takes to get homework done (I must agree on average, it takes 5 hours a night based on his sister’s studies), and he’s always rebelling against authority (he hates being told what to do). Sounds normal? Well, when the attitude becomes compelling, we start dealing with new issues whereas the attitude spreads to other areas of individual responsibilities and I as a mom, get caught up into an explosive debate with my son where we butt heads and play tug-o-war over who controls what. While I have him seeing a counselor to help identify any key areas that could otherwise help him out of his “rut”, I discovered this article published online by Time Magazine and reported by Amanda Ripley. See Article for reference: http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100409/us_time/08599197858900
The article is titled, “Should Kids Be Bribed to do Well in School?” For the most part, I think all parents dangle carrots in front of their kids to help motivate their study habits or improve their grades. But I had never considered paying per grade, type of behavior or for that matter for reading. The detailed report was highly comprehensive and focused on a Harvard Economist name Roland Fryer Jr. who was a deadbeat kid himself doing all the “bad” things when young, facing as much challenges as a kid from inner city issues, but who took the bull by the horns after years of finding himself one who could do better. Today, Mr. Frey is trying to help students find their way and payment seems to be the answer.
He made an interesting statement, “most adults work primarily for money, and in a curious way, we seem to be holding kids to a higher standard than we hold ourselves.” His study drew extreme controversial comments – kids should learn and get improved through the love of learning. The biggest argument from his studies was that while kids get paid to do homework, change behaviors and get certain grades, once the incentive is stopped, so does their “learning”. On the contrary, how they paid students in this huge experiment showed varying and interesting results. While students were paid to get good grades and did, it did not seem to affect them after the experiment at the end of the year or the year to follow showing a cause that there was truly no long term effect from the payments. However, students who were paid to “read” actually improved grades and the effects showed a year later where the same students did better from their prior “reading”.
I know that my son is highly motivated by money. He wishes badly to get a job so he can have some freedom of his own – no doubt some of that is also control over what he can do. Let’s face it, it sucks to be a teenager who can’t really go anywhere or do anything without having a few bucks to spend. As quoted from the article, one teenager who was an eighth grader named Chyna, apparently a child with lack of interest herself in maintaining her own behavior and following school rules, said when she got checks to wear her uniform properly and do well in school, she tried very hard to do better, wear her uniform and not attack other girls in school, because she knew she was getting paid. Yet, the interviewer questioned her, “about how the psychologists' argument that she should work hard for the love of learning, not for short-term rewards.” Her honest response? She looked the interviewer dead in the eye, "We're kids. Let's be realistic."
My son would have said the same thing. I’m telling you, it’s not my influence – I was for the most part a straight “A” student – a book worm and a “Goody-Too-Shoo” growing up. Where my son gets his ideas I have no clue. But I’ve been enlightened and now, don’t feel so alone. While I’m not putting my endorsement on the idea just yet, it is no doubt, food for thought, or in this case, food for dollars. I will definitely need a few more cups of Go-Go Juice to decide on this one.
Motivation is still Motivation no matter how we look at it. I hope you find your motivation for the week – it is after all Monday. Have a great day!
Teachers, psychologists, counselors and parents all discuss the ongoing topic of what to do with your student when he/she is failing or close to it. The contributing factors to a student’s success or failure comes with living environments, study habits, personal challenges (like ADD or ADHD or other mental complexity), type of friends he/she associates with and parental involvement. I have a child who struggles – my son. He’s a typical boy age 14 and while he’s into mischief time to time, overall, he’s a pretty good kid for the most part. His interest in school is nil. Not the social part, the study part. He, like most young boys would rather spend time with friends, play and just hang. OK – he’s a teenager with typical desires and level’s of interest. But here’s the snag…his grades suffer (although he’s put a teeny-bit of effort into pulling them up) and he constantly shows his dismay for the way teachers teach, how the subjects are not interesting, constantly complains on how long it takes to get homework done (I must agree on average, it takes 5 hours a night based on his sister’s studies), and he’s always rebelling against authority (he hates being told what to do). Sounds normal? Well, when the attitude becomes compelling, we start dealing with new issues whereas the attitude spreads to other areas of individual responsibilities and I as a mom, get caught up into an explosive debate with my son where we butt heads and play tug-o-war over who controls what. While I have him seeing a counselor to help identify any key areas that could otherwise help him out of his “rut”, I discovered this article published online by Time Magazine and reported by Amanda Ripley. See Article for reference: http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100409/us_time/08599197858900
The article is titled, “Should Kids Be Bribed to do Well in School?” For the most part, I think all parents dangle carrots in front of their kids to help motivate their study habits or improve their grades. But I had never considered paying per grade, type of behavior or for that matter for reading. The detailed report was highly comprehensive and focused on a Harvard Economist name Roland Fryer Jr. who was a deadbeat kid himself doing all the “bad” things when young, facing as much challenges as a kid from inner city issues, but who took the bull by the horns after years of finding himself one who could do better. Today, Mr. Frey is trying to help students find their way and payment seems to be the answer.
He made an interesting statement, “most adults work primarily for money, and in a curious way, we seem to be holding kids to a higher standard than we hold ourselves.” His study drew extreme controversial comments – kids should learn and get improved through the love of learning. The biggest argument from his studies was that while kids get paid to do homework, change behaviors and get certain grades, once the incentive is stopped, so does their “learning”. On the contrary, how they paid students in this huge experiment showed varying and interesting results. While students were paid to get good grades and did, it did not seem to affect them after the experiment at the end of the year or the year to follow showing a cause that there was truly no long term effect from the payments. However, students who were paid to “read” actually improved grades and the effects showed a year later where the same students did better from their prior “reading”.
I know that my son is highly motivated by money. He wishes badly to get a job so he can have some freedom of his own – no doubt some of that is also control over what he can do. Let’s face it, it sucks to be a teenager who can’t really go anywhere or do anything without having a few bucks to spend. As quoted from the article, one teenager who was an eighth grader named Chyna, apparently a child with lack of interest herself in maintaining her own behavior and following school rules, said when she got checks to wear her uniform properly and do well in school, she tried very hard to do better, wear her uniform and not attack other girls in school, because she knew she was getting paid. Yet, the interviewer questioned her, “about how the psychologists' argument that she should work hard for the love of learning, not for short-term rewards.” Her honest response? She looked the interviewer dead in the eye, "We're kids. Let's be realistic."
My son would have said the same thing. I’m telling you, it’s not my influence – I was for the most part a straight “A” student – a book worm and a “Goody-Too-Shoo” growing up. Where my son gets his ideas I have no clue. But I’ve been enlightened and now, don’t feel so alone. While I’m not putting my endorsement on the idea just yet, it is no doubt, food for thought, or in this case, food for dollars. I will definitely need a few more cups of Go-Go Juice to decide on this one.
Motivation is still Motivation no matter how we look at it. I hope you find your motivation for the week – it is after all Monday. Have a great day!
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Time For Go-Go Juice! - How Much Coffee is Too Much?
“Have faith in your dreams and someday your rainbow will come smiling through. No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true.”
- Cinderella, Disney 1950
Well, I’m pooped. I know – it’s Sunday, not Saturday. I totally skipped yesterday. Here’s why…Did you have your Go-Go Juice yesterday? I didn’t. Racing out yesterday morning to whisk my daughter out the door to acquire her prom dress, I left my Go-Go Juice behind. What an atrocity! How neglectful, shameful, careless…how sad. But, we took the bull by the horns anyway. And, now, with the dress and its accessories, Cassy has proudly pranced around to show off how she will be transformed into Cinderella for her upcoming Prom. An all day event that turned successful. Hundreds of young senior girls were out this weekend with the same goals in mind. But of course, it came with compromises – and leaving you alone for a day with no posts was one of them. So hence, with Go-Go Juice in hand this morning, I’m here to say a warm hello and will try not to go another day without the juice! LOL.
Here is some trivia…while I thought I was one of the few psychotic coffee drinkers, I learned something of interest. It appears I’m not alone. Did you know based on data collected ten years ago, (you say, “what the heck, ten years ago? What’s the point?” Well, I couldn’t find anything more current – probably because those who did the test died from over caffeinating themselves), however, back then, there were over 108 million consumers of coffee in the US alone who spent approximately $17 billion dollars on coffee in both retail and food sectors spending approximately $165.00 annually in grounds. Hmmm…I know I spend about $240 yearly when I buy two large canisters monthly at about $9.00 per can, unless it’s on sale (the difference from stats is probably inflation). Now, last night, the History Channel quoted one of our submarine sectors, the USS Kentucky, buys approximately 5,000 pounds a year in coffee grounds currently, averaging about 1 pot of coffee per sailor per day consumed. I’ve never given that any thought before? Can you imagine? I did a little more research. As found online at through Chief of Naval Operations Submarine Warfare Division with a web address of http://www.navy.mil/navydata/cno/n87/faq.html - I found unless under specific orders, subs go out to sea for weeks at a time but are equipped to store foods and goods for up to 90-days of sail time. Most submarines employ 14 Officers, 18 Petty Officers and approximately 109 enlisted men. Now, the reality is, submarines are designed to attack or defend – so here we have approximately 140 people living in tight quarters, no sunlight, no moonlight, no windows and their only means of seeing the outside world is through a peep hole of a periscope, their bedrooms are 15 square feet of space for sleeping and personal stuff, they get about 6 hours of sleep a day based on assigned work projects that basically contribute to the common goal of maintaining a roving machine that carries ballistic missiles, fleet missiles, and yes, nuclear weapons – and these guys are strung up on a pot of caffeine a day each? Hmmm, maybe it’s not such a good idea. Go-Go Juice here, takes on a whole new meaning. Whew! Join me tomorrow for another week of family, trivia, ideas, employment and whatever else pops up. Enjoy your Sunday!
- Cinderella, Disney 1950
Well, I’m pooped. I know – it’s Sunday, not Saturday. I totally skipped yesterday. Here’s why…Did you have your Go-Go Juice yesterday? I didn’t. Racing out yesterday morning to whisk my daughter out the door to acquire her prom dress, I left my Go-Go Juice behind. What an atrocity! How neglectful, shameful, careless…how sad. But, we took the bull by the horns anyway. And, now, with the dress and its accessories, Cassy has proudly pranced around to show off how she will be transformed into Cinderella for her upcoming Prom. An all day event that turned successful. Hundreds of young senior girls were out this weekend with the same goals in mind. But of course, it came with compromises – and leaving you alone for a day with no posts was one of them. So hence, with Go-Go Juice in hand this morning, I’m here to say a warm hello and will try not to go another day without the juice! LOL.
Here is some trivia…while I thought I was one of the few psychotic coffee drinkers, I learned something of interest. It appears I’m not alone. Did you know based on data collected ten years ago, (you say, “what the heck, ten years ago? What’s the point?” Well, I couldn’t find anything more current – probably because those who did the test died from over caffeinating themselves), however, back then, there were over 108 million consumers of coffee in the US alone who spent approximately $17 billion dollars on coffee in both retail and food sectors spending approximately $165.00 annually in grounds. Hmmm…I know I spend about $240 yearly when I buy two large canisters monthly at about $9.00 per can, unless it’s on sale (the difference from stats is probably inflation). Now, last night, the History Channel quoted one of our submarine sectors, the USS Kentucky, buys approximately 5,000 pounds a year in coffee grounds currently, averaging about 1 pot of coffee per sailor per day consumed. I’ve never given that any thought before? Can you imagine? I did a little more research. As found online at through Chief of Naval Operations Submarine Warfare Division with a web address of http://www.navy.mil/navydata/cno/n87/faq.html - I found unless under specific orders, subs go out to sea for weeks at a time but are equipped to store foods and goods for up to 90-days of sail time. Most submarines employ 14 Officers, 18 Petty Officers and approximately 109 enlisted men. Now, the reality is, submarines are designed to attack or defend – so here we have approximately 140 people living in tight quarters, no sunlight, no moonlight, no windows and their only means of seeing the outside world is through a peep hole of a periscope, their bedrooms are 15 square feet of space for sleeping and personal stuff, they get about 6 hours of sleep a day based on assigned work projects that basically contribute to the common goal of maintaining a roving machine that carries ballistic missiles, fleet missiles, and yes, nuclear weapons – and these guys are strung up on a pot of caffeine a day each? Hmmm, maybe it’s not such a good idea. Go-Go Juice here, takes on a whole new meaning. Whew! Join me tomorrow for another week of family, trivia, ideas, employment and whatever else pops up. Enjoy your Sunday!
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