The Lighthouse Society

If you’re part of Generation Y or even at the tail end of Generation X, you may be one of those super-energetic and highly motivated thrill-seekers who just doesn’t have time for the crash that most energy drinks give you. You know the feeling – when you’ve hiked two-thirds of the way up the mountain and all of a sudden it feels like it’s time for a nap? Well if you’re drinking most of the leading energy drinks, this is exactly what you’re experiencing and it’s due in large part because they’re filled with lots of chemicals and additives that were produced in a lab somewhere. Yikes!

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Less than a week ago, the US Soccer Team was getting ready to head home from The Confederations Cup being held in South Africa. After uninspired losses to Italy and Brazil, The US need to beat Egypt by at least three goal and have Brazil beat Italy by at least three goals. With such a rag-tag group of international benchwarmers and MLS starters, the US wasn’t even the odds on favorite to beat Egypt, no less advance to the second round, but for some reason, the stars aligned with the US winning 3-0 and Brazil winning 3-0. The end result was that Brazil one the group with 9 points and the other three teams all had three points. And yes, you guessed it, The US advanced and the Italian team they lost to a few days earlier; were the one sent packing.

Despite only one win, the US had a scored a victory for their tournament in making it to the semifinals to play no other than Spain. Yes, that’s the team that hadn’t lost in its’ last 35 matches. Needless to say, the US were once again underdogs for Wednesday’s match and perhaps Spain had already made plans to meet Brazil in the final, but in one of the year’s most shocking upsets, the US, lead by goals from Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore, shocked the soccer world by beating Spain 2-0 and punching it’s own ticket to the finals. Now just imagine if these guys ever really got to play together…

Some of you around the northeast may have missed it, but yesterday was the first day of summer. I know, shocking, right, with the mere fact that it’s rained for like 3 weeks straight. I mean it’s rare that weather has an affect on me one way or another, but for the love of all that’s holy; this dreary weather is downright depressing.

Granted, sitting in an office cube all day typically doesn’t make a difference, but summer is the time when it’s light out later and thus the evenings can be great for playing tennis, going for walks, and especially going out on the boat. This year, not so much, so all we can do is hope for better weather soon!

Just recently, a friend told me that he couldn’t ride certain types of motorcycles, but that he loved his basic foreign-built set-up. I think he was actually referring to high-end Harley Davidson’s that have lots of chrome detail. When I asked his rationale, he said that for him, the bike was a simple mode of transport while a many motorcycles are a part of life. So as we stood in another friend’s garage, we looked at this bike that shined from every angle and had upkeep that was seemingly second to none. My friend said that to have a custom bike like that means a lot of time and devotion, which actually sounded pretty cool. We talked about all the great equipment and custom parts that are readily available now with the internet. Who knows? Maybe my arm is getting twisted.

In difficult times, it’s increasingly important to be able to count on people to help you and advocate you through legal and financial matters that may be foreign to the life as you know it. Now more than ever, people are facing personal litigation and bankruptcy in light of the global recession and having the proper representation can mean a lot. Since 1996, people form all over Canada have counted on the Toronto-based law firm of Tanner & Guiney and in particular, Lawyer Bob Tanner. Bob Tanner has been in practice for 30 years and can provide the experience necessary for chart your uncertain waters.

Nick Green hasn’t made much of a name for himself anywhere he’s played in the major leagues, but as a journeyman, he’s one of those guys that may not have the flash, but will play hard for you every night. That being said, he’s hardly the future of the Red Sox plans at short stop. And yet with Jed Lowrie on the DL and Julio Lugo a statistical nightmare, it was Nick Green who had the clutch hit and clutch defensive play to cap the sweep of the Yankees in Boston.

Down 3-1 in the eighth inning, Nick Green, of all hitters, go the first base hit in a rally that would end with the Sox going into the ninth with the one run lead.

And yet a one run lead is no time to be getting all excited when you have the Yankees’ top of the lineup coming to bat, but just as it looked like Derek Jeter would start a New York rally leading off the top of the ninth, Nick Green robbed him up the middle, spun around, and fire a strike to Kevin Youkalis at first. With Papelbon on the mound, the defensive momentum was enough to deflate any chance New York had. Boston ups its’ record to 8-0 over the Yankees this season with the third sweep in a row!

Whereas I don’t think we can start singing the praises of David Ortiz just yet this year, if there ever was a game for a big hit, he chose the right one. With the first place Yankees coming into town, the Red Sox sent ace, Josh Beckett to the mound for what turned out to be his best outing of the year.

Sure, Beckett may have only pitched 6 innings, but those were six innings of one-hit ball. The Sox bats provided the only cushion they needed pounding out seven runs and chasing A.J. Burnett from the game in the third inning. For the Sox, it was their six win over the Yankees this year without a loss and the win puts them back on top of the standings in a tie with “The Evil Empire.”

I can honestly say that from the perspective of someone who works in an environment with a lot of sensitive company material on my work computer at any one time, I often fear what would happen if someone was able to breach my company’s internet security system. Moreover, I worry what that would mean to our clients. Now that isn’t to say that I don’t trust our IT Security system, but to be frank, I don’t have much of a clue as to how easy or hard it would be to breach it.

For those of you who spend your lives on a computer, wouldn’t it be cool to actually help protect your company’s IT security and get paid to be a Certified Ethical Hacker? Perhaps you think it sounds a little far-fetched, but just think about it. The best way to protect yourself is to know where your weaknesses may or may not lie and the EC-Council can get you started by offering online training that focuses on what Ethical Hacking is, the role it plays in IT Security, the Hacking Cycle, and Security Fundamentals; just to name a few. Additionally, your training can be tailored to include areas like penetration testing, disaster recovery, and secure programming.

One of the classes offered that I find most interesting is Computer Hacking Forensics training, which focuses on what to do if someone actually gets through your security. Imagine if you had the skills to analyze a system breach, track intruder’s online footprints, gather trace evidence, and then put it all together to catch the criminal. Not only would your services be in high demand at a time when cyber-criminals are everywhere, but you’ll find that great pay is a perk you might not be able to resist.

Like just about every other Boston Red Sox fan, I sometimes think that I, too, could be the manager. Boston fans are famous for their critique of their club and this year is certainly no exception. Now all things being considered, the Sox have done pretty well for a team that has been hampered by injuries and have had basically played with an 8-man line-up, but as the season rolls on, things will need to change.

The most talked about topic has been David Ortiz, who has been nothing short of a disaster as the designated hitter. Save George Kottaras, Ortiz has been the worst hitter on the team and quite frankly his only job is to hit. So much of the talk has been about what the Sox should do. We hear time and time again that Terry Francona is waiting for him to get hot, but by the time that happens, the weather may be getting cold again and the Red Sox could also be left out in the cold.

I’m not saying that Ortiz doesn’t deserve any respect for all he’s done for the team, but as a team, keeping him in the lineup isn’t fair to the rest of the players and it isn’t fair to the fans. The Red Sox need to either send him to the minors for an extended “phantom injury” rehab assignment or give him his outright release. Yes, the team would have to eat his contract, but maybe he’d play better with another team and maybe, just maybe the Red Sox could go back to a 9-man lineup for the rest of the year. Just my thoughts.

Thousands of families pack their cars every summer and take off for a Jersey Shore beach Vacation. Morey’s Piers in Wildwood has a little something for every member of the family from famous New Jersey amusement parks to two of the best and unique New Jersey water parks.

Take a stroll along the beach at night or join some of the Top Radio Disney artists who will take the stage from June through August performing free family-friendly concerts making Wildwood vacations the perfect way to spend time with the family.

If you want to know more, log onto Morey’s Piers’ website and plan your next New Jersey Vacation. You can research some of the fabulous Wildwood New Jersey hotels, order ticks for the amusement or water parks, get information about other great things to do on and around the beach and check out some great values on Wildwood New Jersey motels. You’re just a click away from finding some of the greatest New Jersey attractions.

Six years after I began the long and seemingly painstaking process of beginning my first completed novel, The Lighthouse Society; I find myself once again with my hands tied and its’ fate in those of someone else. After 22 drafts, one literary agent, two lengthy tours with publishing house editorial boards, and more proofreading than I care to remember, the final straw has been drawn.

With the novel having been delivered to an independent publisher yesterday; I have made the choice to end the constant changes and updates to this work. Too much time and energy has gone into it and if it’s determined not to be good enough for their ranks, it will be time to move one to the next project. And while I still have optimism that the editor will come back with a contract; realism tells me that the market for first time novelists is still too thin when taking into account the amount of mystery novels out there today and the sheer volume that get put on agents and editors desks.

Nevertheless, most first novels don’t see the light of day until a writer has published their second and third, and therefore I proclaim that I will never give up on my dream.

Admittedly, I’ve found myself watching quite a bit of Lifetime Movie Network these days. For some reason, I find that while the movies are typically low budget and have lesser known stars, the stories tend to be a lot better than the run of the mill reality shows that are on just about every other channel.

Every night there are movies that, while predictable, offer some interesting murder and deception plots. People seem to have a perception that it’s just television for women, but I disagree, I think the topics of lying, cheating, deception, and the never-ending search for life insurance can using make for a pretty entertaining movie.

Many people think that the only time there is action in the stock market is when it’s earning season. Granted, earning season takes place four times a year, and usually goes on for a few weeks, but there are about eight other full months of interesting times that define investment strategies and outlooks.

Last week was pretty stale in terms of good or bad news to really spark the markets on way or another. At the beginning of the week, all three major indexes shot up over two hundred points before gently settling down to nearly flat gains by the end. Weeks like this are interesting to me because with moderate trading, you wonder why people are buying or selling a particular stock.

Speculators are already fearing a poor week ahead because of new data on jobs and foreclosures coming towards the end of the week, but there will also be two consumer reports – consumer confidence and a report of gross domestic products. While the consumer numbers are likely to be good, the GDP is a whole other story and may tip investors hands towards the sell button. If I were to give some advice, it would be to hold firm on most positions and let them play out. Like we saw after last weeks early gains, the market corrected itself and even action on bad news will do the same.

The past week I went on a bit of a cleaning rampage of some of the rooms in our house. I wanted to get the rooms clean, but also had to be careful to not throw away anything valuable or any gifts Julie had gotten from her wedding showers or the wedding itself. While organizing the items carefully in a closet, I came across some gifts that could easily be mistaken for baby shower party favors. And yes, this made me a little anxious!

The other night Julie got her new iPhone and in order to use it, she had to take iTunes off her computer and re-install it. The former wasn’t an issue, but re-installing the program took a lot of time. She has a decent computer, but as technology has evolved, computers are being built with more memory for these new programs and hers seems to be having a hard time with the new program. Thankfully after quite a while, I was able to get the program installed, but admittedly I had considered having to buy memory to upgrade her hard drive.