Reading the bible

Reading the bible, cover to cover is a rather interesting undertaking. It's not just one book like 50 shades of Gray. Although some of the circumstances in the stories are rather explicit too. From the very beginning it becomes obvious, to me at least that some of it is meant to impart knowledge instead of specific historical fact. Nor, really was it meant to be read all in one fell swoop. It took me a few months to do it but that's just what I did. How much do I remember more than I did before? Probably not much. In an athletic analogy it was more like running a race than a walk through a park. Concentrating on getting the job done rather than savoring each sentence. I'm happy I did it. The benefit will play out over time I'm sure. But, I have another comment regarding one of the books in the bible, The Book of Revelations to be exact. Now that book is a real piece of work. I mean no disrespect whatsoever as my faith is sound in the truth set forth in the sacred texts of the bible. However, from the aspect of simply reading without benefit of meditation on the true meanings, The Book of Revelations is really far out there as far as understanding.

From angels to devils, swords, numerous heads and fire and truly mind bending visions it is most difficult to maintain focus in realistic way. The next time I read it I will be spending the time necessary in search of "revelation." This is definitely not a bed time story for kids or the weak of heart. The message of hope in spite of ourselves carried throughout the entire bible, to the beginner at least is well hidden in this final book. Yeah, my intent was well meaning but the quest of knowledge and truth was lost in the marathon approach. Still, time well spent compared to some other offerings on the best seller list. To be honest, no matter how I did it, by reading the entire bible, sometime, somehow, somewhere, I will see something I've never seen before. That's the way it works I think. Even if, at first glance to me at the time, it seems like the last book was written by a guy on a trip.

Amazon.com has Joe's Story in hard copy and Kindle

My book, "Joe's Story: The Book of a Lifetime" is going well on Amazon.com.

http://www.amazon.com/Joes-Story-Lifetime-Joe-Cramer/dp/1424185513/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1379071364&sr=1-1&keywords=Joe%27s+Story%3A+The+Book+of+a+Lifetime

The hard copies are doing well but the Kindle version is fast catching up. Since it was highlighted on a website a few weeks ago in connection with rehabilitation of people facing brain damage and memory loss, lots of 20 or more have been purchased by such institutions. I've been told the story is excellent for helping establish a route to regaining memory lost through trauma. Another area it is helpful in is hope. I am pleased that "Joe's Story" is helping people. The main reason I wrote it was to do good somehow. A man come into my office a while back, burst into tears, gave me a hug and said he felt better about himself than he has going through 15 years of Psychological counseling. He even bought another copy for his Psychologist. His wife even thanked the book for bringing her husband back from chronic unhappiness.

I certainly am not any sort of doctor but having survived a two year battle with amnesia I can attest to how wonderful it is to get a feeling happiness back. Just having one person tell me that makes all the time and effort worth while. And a royalty check in the mail yesterday is just another reason to be happy my own self wouldn't you think?

I wish you a day of happiness...............Joe

My book and a retirement fund

I enjoy listening to the adventures of my friends. The fellow I mentioned in the last posting had many stories to tell about walking trails and losing weight and learning to use his new found slimmer, more muscular and way more energetic body in ways he had not dared to dream of only a year ago. Now his plans are filled with hope like I'd never seen before in him. An excellent, inspiring conversation! I wish him well on his journey. Before he left he turned the conversation towards what was going on in my life with a few questions and he did some listening of his own. He is a good listener and I suppose I'm pretty good at talking too because he laughed a lot. I autographed a copy of my book: "Joe's Story: The Book of a Lifetime" he purchased and we said our good byes til another day. I figured I wouldn't see him again for a while. I figured wrong. He read "Joe's Story" all in one day and stopped by this morning to tell me how much he enjoyed it as well as an idea he had for me. I listened with interest to his advice. I got down right inspired again and thanked him when he left for parts unknown. It's pretty cool when someone goes out of their way to help you.

His idea was this: Start doing everything I can to get "Joe's Story" out there and in the hands of book readers as soon as possible. "It's a terrific story" he said. The wisdom in the book would help hundreds of everyday people by validating them in so many ways. By getting the book sold and helping others I would add to my own sense of having done good by writing the story. The side benefit, in his opinion was that I'd finally do something about a retirement fund like he did.

I can say without hesitation that his words made my day. I am also going to do some serious thinking about promoting "Joe's Story".I could use a few bucks in the, as yet non existent retirement fund.

Um, er, by the way. Are you looking for a good book to read? I can help you out there.

Personal adventure

A friend stopped by yesterday that I haven't seen in over a year. He's been on a sort of personal adventure, "renewing himself", he says. He and his wife split up a couple years ago after 43 years of marriage and 3 kids. She felt they had just grown in different directions and had nothing in common anymore. He was devastated, he loved her. Lost and not sure of himself, he decided to quit his job and go looking for whoever he was. The kids are grown, he's been frugal enough to be financially independent if he doesn't go crazy and figured he had nothing left to lose. Off he went in his van to see what he could see. When he left he weighed 304 pounds and used a walker most of the time. Holy Cow! Not any more. He went on a high protein eating regimen along with reducing his calorie intake too. His plan was to walk as far as he could each and every day. As the weight dropped, he walked more and more. Eventually he took on parts of a trail on the West coast over the winter and then came back to the East side and did parts of the Appalachian trail before returning to Michigan. He tips the scale at around 195 pounds, give or take a pound or two now, he says. Looks great and sounds great too. A different person in so many ways. He says his wife is paying some attention to him for some reason, they went on a "date" even! A continuing story there I guess. It was good to see him. Reminded me of back in the day when I lost 90 pounds in a very short time. I managed to gain about 30 of that back but that's a whole nother story too.

He sent me a link to a news story he had seen and in his opinion, the video says it all when it comes to the results and the lady in the video obtained.
http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/womans-time-lapsed-weight-loss-video-goes-viral-135734803--abc-news-health.html?vp=1

I found it interesting. You may too. Have a good day!

Syria

What a time in history to be President. We are still reeling from a catastrophic war in Iraq, ongoing war in Afghanistan, seemingly unstoppable tide if illegal aliens, economic instability, carnage amongst drug infested neighborhoods and a myriad of other problems. Now, there is Syria, another country thousands of miles away, suffering through an almost inhuman carnage of their own. The President, when speaking about the political divide, civil war and senseless loss of human life going on there, drew a line in the sand and said that if chemical warfare was used we would step in and do our best to stop it. A daring statement. A few days ago hundreds of people, mostly women and children were killed. Two things are being investigated, was it in fact chemicals or gas? And who did it? One thing is sure, almost every other country in the world has declined to go along with us in any type of military response. It looks like if we do respond, we'll be going it alone. Will that result in a reduction of killing of innocent people or will it bring on even more retaliation to their own people and more importantly, beyond their borders and around the world. Iraq is still after so many years involved in a civil war and people are being murdered every day. So far, not much was settled in that war. No weapons of mass destruction were ever found. Some say the stability and modernization brought on by Saddam Hussein was far better even if he did kill the guys he didn't like and make stupid threats.

The president is going to make a decision for us. Just as he has done so many times before as well as  his predecessors. There doesn't seem to be much we can do about it. Where does this get us? According to news reports, most people in Arab countries don't like or trust us so much do they? Normal for us isn't necessarily normal for them. We have a Judeo-Christian set of morals. Al Quida and other similar groups find our desire to be fair in all things as a weakness. They kill us as well as their own people without conscience. Is any intervention from us, further taxing our already slim resources, going to accomplish anything constructive? Personally, I do wonder where the Arab groups and countries stand on Syria and the murder of innocent people. They, so far really haven't said anything or offered any real solutions or help military or diplomatic. I wonder if they know more than we do concerning the mind set of that region.

Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, We've been there. I do pray for a correct answer to this. I do pray the president looks at all the consequences involved here. I know I certainly don't know what the solution is but too swift a move often leads to more loss of lives. I pray that doesn't happen.

Minimum wage

One confusing aspect of governmental controls that is a bit crazy to me is the imposition of a minimum wage. Personally, I feel that those people that work should receive a fair compensation for their labor. Anyone withholding wages from a worker to keep exorbitant profits for themselves should be prosecuted in a court of law. A minimum wage to me however, is counterproductive in many ways.

#1- Minimum wage, as dictated by government, does not take into consideration market, demand, costs or any other conditions regarding any particular business and the profitability to remain operational.
#2- Minimum wage, as dictated by government controls, removes the competitive nature of international commerce and manufacturing. Countries without minimum wage produce and manufacture cheaper than we can. Fair or not, that is a fact.
#3- With far less jobs available due to the competition in non regulated countries, right here in the United States, far more people are on government assistance. Government assistance is funded (supposed to be anyway) by income taxes of working people thereby reducing their take home pay.
#4- The higher the minimum wage, the less competitive our products and services, the less competitive these things are, the less companies there are, the less companies there are, the less people are employed at any wage, the less people employed, the more people on government assistance. The more people on government assistance, the more taxes needed to pay for the assistance. With less people working, the higher taxes they pay so minimum wage or not, their take home pay is taken away by excess taxes.
#5- With more and more people losing their jobs because we cannot compete with other countries, more and more people are buying the imported products from other countries because they are way cheaper. Resulting in a reverse cash flow from the united States to the other cheaper countries draining our cash resources so fewer and fewer companies remain open. Creating a downward spiral in our economy.
#6- In my opinion, wages too high to compete=fewer people employed=more people on assistance=higher taxes=fewer people to pay those taxes=an overall lower wage and our currency becomes worthless. So, what did the minimum wage dictated by government to increase our standard of living actually accomplish?

Oh, wait a second. Am I talking about the United States or is it Greece? I forget sometimes. I'm probably just a bit tired, need coffee. Have a good day.

It don't work that way no more

Having lived during many decades I've experienced innumerable changes in the way we live. Most of the things that have changed, although exciting and adventurous and practical at the time, simply wouldn't work today. We are far more educated, worldly, and "mature". Grabbing onto a slow moving car rear bumper, in the middle of the winter and being pulled a full two miles on ice and through drifts before letting go and rolling to a stop, laughing until my stomach hurt is probably something I would never want my grandkids to do. I'm way to smart for that now. Seemed good at the time though, all us kids did it. Walking back and forth to work through the streets of downtown Detroit in the middle of the night was necessary and interesting back in 1964 (although I did get robbed at gunpoint twice by the same guy, I survived). I certainly wouldn't do that now. I guess maybe I'm a scaredy cat. Working two full time jobs every day, one in Detroit and the other in Grand Rapids, catching what sleep I could on the train ride back and forth between the two. Rather fun then but I value my sleep too much now. Meeting people from all over town by dialing my own number on the telephone to get a busy signal and speaking to total strangers in between the beeps. Too many perverts out there now. Cruising up and down the street on Friday and Saturday nights until the sun rose right alongside hundreds of other teenagers playing loud radios and yelling at one another and having an occasional drag race at the red lights. Are you kidding me? Wouldn't want to try that now would you?

Nope! None of that stuff would work anymore. I sure did like it then though. I kind of feel sorry for anyone that hasn't.