On my flight back for New Delhi due to KLM losing my bags, with some persuasion I was up graded to Business Class which is now what first class used to be. I found myself uncomfortable. I'm usually in the coach--economy section fighting for my 3" of leg or width space with my neighbor next to me. It wasn't all the space that made me uncomfortable, what you say could make you uncomfortable--it was--how does one act in all this comfort. Well I stretched out and enjoyed it and now I think I'm spoiled. Believe me there's a world of difference in a few feet on an airplane. True each seat with get you to the same place maybe luggageless--but one will never know how good it feels until its experienced. So KLM please lose my bags again.

Yahoo! News - Dip Into Honey Pot for Good Health
Antioxidants are the next big buzz word, I drink Magosteen drink which has the highest levels: New Vision

Why is the Stradivari violin superior to all others then and now? That's been an obsession for years, decades, centuries. One violin is considered the de facto best ever made. Some say it was the varnish, some the wood, some the environment. No one has ever made a definitive statement as to why the Stradivari is superior. In an article on the Wall Street Journal reviewing a CNN show Barbara Jepson concludes that it was a combination of factors that created this classic and timeless instrument.
Just for your info a Stradivari violin sells for $1.6 million in recent auctions, private sales have brought up to $4 million. Not bad for a product made between:
1645-1715

Hannah, Ronda & I made a trip to Lubbock today to visit our store and see the new carpet. All went well: Thank GOD for DVD's. I can't imagine traveling without one now. They are wonders at entertaining kids.
If you wonder how bad the trade deficit is with China, just notice train cars loaded with containers that say: China Shipping, Hanjan, or Evergreen. This tells the tell. Most headed West are empty, most headed east are full. Most headed east I predict are going to a little town in Bentonville Ark to fuel the largest retailer in the world.
Wal-mart is 1% of China's total GDP.

Yahoo! News - Bush Courts Hispanic Voters with Ownership Message: "Hispanics make up about 40 percent of the population in New Mexico, whose popular Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson has been mentioned as a possible Kerry running-mate. "

I'll make a prediction: Bill Richardson will be John Kerry's running-mate.

Yahoo! News - Fitness Guru Simmons Cited for Slapping Fighter
I think Richard the consumate marketer will probably find a way to turn this into
a marketing take: Slapping To the Oldies

Yahoo! News - Clarke Is Hero to Some Families of 9/11 Victims: "'It was a very emotional moment. As Patty said, no one has ever apologized. Most of the witnesses who come to these hearings come with, I would categorize them, as rather self-serving statements and everything they tried to do.' "

What ever one thinks of Richard Clarke I like what he did yesterday, saying he failed
to the families and the government failed them. To me this went a long way in healing
some of the hurt.
Sure there's plenty of blame to go around but someone to say, "I'm sorry" is what these
people needed to hear.
We spend more than anyother country on earth in history on defense--I would expect better. Someone failed, something failed.

"It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than
anything else, will affect its successful outcome."

William James
1842-1910, Psychologist and Author

"A teacher's first duty is not to assign, but to inspire. He is not
merely a walking textbook filled with encyclopedic facts neatly arranged
for dictation, but a dynamo charged with a contagious enthusiasm."

Dr. Oscar G. Darlington
Professor and Dean of Liberal Arts
Ohio Northern University

Yahoo! News - Medicare Headed for Insolvency in 2019, Report Says

Just when I was thinking of retirement medicare is broke!

I make it very clear to every individual I am coaching, that the
investment they make in themselves must receive Top Priority. When you
GROW your entire world Expands...when you do not grow your whole world
starts to become Very Small...that smallness reflects in all areas of
life including your income."

Bob Proctor

"In the presence of greatness, pettiness disappears. In the absence of a great dream, pettiness prevails."

Robert Fritz
Composer, Filmmaker and Author

Everything you wanted to know about Billy the Kid, by Mike Ramsey.

William Bonney AKA " Billy the Kid "

His mom , Catherine McCarty Antrim is buried next to my Father-in-law's
sister in Silver City, NM..

I knew and socialized with the Coe Family in 1944 - 45 at the Glencoe,
NM Ranch. They rode with Billy; and George threw me out of the House
once for trying to Jitterbug to " My Adobe Hacienda" being sung by
Louise Massey with her Band

( This was during WWII and all we had to drink was Rum & Coke which was
pretty potent at altitude)

My wife Jane is from Ft. Sumner, NM and sometimes I think she is
probably the great-grand-daughter of the little Bandit.

He was killed at Pete's and is buried at Ft. Sumner - All the rest is
hog-wash.

Several hundred people, mostly grieving Mexican friends, saw him laid
out after the shooting.

He was very popular with the Mexicans and if it had not been him - - it
would have been known immediately.

It was widely known among the Mexicans;
he was messing around with a young Mexican wife of an older man - -
(this can be hazardous to your health)

The man offered a "reward under the bed" (excuse the pun) and furnished
necessary location-time intelligence.

Patrick Floyd Garrett and two of his compadres, collected the dinero.

They are talking about digging poor Catherine up for a DNA on the Body
at Ft. Sumner. I am trying to figure out how to get some money out of
Mental Anguish because they will disturb "our " famiy plot.

You see. I am the son-in-law of the lady who is the second wife of the
brother of the lady buried next to Catherine. Isn't that close enough to
get some money?

If I can be of further confusion - -please advise.

Tu Historiador

M

PS: From the people I have talked to and the reading and reflection I
have done, I am convinced he was probably " inflagrente delicto " at the
time of his demise.

There was a good size party going on nearby but he was dressed only in a
pair of pants - - no boots or shirt.

He had a butcher knife in his hand and was on his way to the meat-house
to "cut a steak"

Question: If Pete Maxwell was in bed - and all the hired help was at the
party, who was going to cook the Steak for whom to eat ?

Most Cowboys and Bandits don't stroll around barefooted and no shirt
unless they just got out of bed - - hungry - -

The Gillette Company
I had a conversation in Houston waiting for a plane the other day with the Gillette rep for Texas--my question was, "how come I can buy Mack3 razors at flea markets, new in the box for about 1/2 of what I pay at Wal-mart?" His response--razor blades are the most shoplifted item in the grocery store and they steal them and peddle them at the flea markets. I guess that's why they are so high--so cover for shrikage. This is an affluant society where razor blades are hot property for thieves, you'd have a hard time in the Muslem world, since most men don't shave.

My how the world is changing, I'm setting out in the backyard using my laptop, surfing the Internet on a Wi-Fi connection.

I think I have one of these every Monday!

The Miami Herald | 03/16/2004 | Is it stroke? Ask 3 questions

Trader Joe's Specialty Grocery Stores
My favorite store in the whole world! 2.99/bottle wine and 1.99 in Cal, how can you not like Trader Joes?

Newt also said that China graduated 6 times more engineers than the USA, but we beat them on Lawyers. We graduated more Lawyers than any country in the world--and now you know the rest of the story!

Newt Gingrich said last night that the world will change more in the next 25yrs than it did in the last 100. We are just 100yrs from the Wright Brothers first flight, the mass production of automobiles, radio, tv, mirco electronics. But the next 25yrs will change more. He said there's more scientist alive today than at anytime in human history and they are all connected via the internet and instant communications. For better or worse the world will change, I believe biotechnology will spur huge advances in customized treatments for just about every disease known to man. Plus nanotechnology that will enable mico divices for the treatment of diseases.

Jet Lag � Prevent Jet Lag with the Anti-Jet-Lag Diet

Here's a new diet for travelers!

My good friend Mike A. Salvadore, Sr. wrote me yesterday about the dismantling of the American Manufacturing base:

Dear Homer,

I went to the Texas Instrument auction sale, today (3-11-04), and it wasn't a very pleasant experience. The sale was held while part of the plant was still working and some of the employees, when they were on break, would wander in and cry out there tale of woe. This plant had 5,000 people working, then cut it down to 1400, and now it's down to 130. It will close in 1 month and the TI company will no longer have a prescence in this little New England town. Everyone will suffer, gas stations, markets, cleaners, banks, stores, etc. TI is moving to Mexico! So much for NAFTA. For your information the Chinese had a broker here buying up all the scrap iron available so that although the deman for machinery has diminshed they michinery is going to China as SCRAP! Last year Bass shoes closed their plant in Maine and the town just died. The whole town was really dependent on the Bass plant but all of its manufacture is now in China too. TI had a campus in Attleboro MA., I do not have any idea what will happen to the many buildings, or the craftspeople. I learned that the tools were, or are, being made in Holland and Portugal and I saw the tols and they are really well built. And INEXPENSIVE!
I receive brochures everyday (enclosed), like the enclosed, and am really troubled by what is happening. My fear s that we are unknowingly bleeding and I worry about our nation's seciruty and direction we are heading in.

How can we secure our childrens Future?

Vitamins for the Mind

Overcoming the Negative by Jim Rohn

We must all wage an intense, lifelong battle against the constant downward pull. If we relax, the bugs and weeds of negativity will move into the garden and take away everything of value.

Humility is a virtue; timidity is a disease.

If you spend five minutes complaining, you have just wasted five minutes. If you continue complaining, it won't be long before they haul you out to a financial desert and there let you choke on the dust of your own regret.

You cannot take the mild approach to the weeds in your mental garden. You have got to hate weeds enough to kill them. Weeds are not something you handle; weeds are something you devastate.

Don't ask yourself what the world needs - ask yourself what makes you
come alive, and then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who
have come alive."

Harold Thurman Whitman
Philosopher and Theologian

Joe Moore of Tulia will split 5million with his fellow Tulia citizens who where unjustly jailed on trumped up drug charges--Moore said he wants to visit Las Vegas with his proceeds from the settlement. I'd stay away from Vegas and stick to getting back in the Hog farming business---Vegas is a giant sucking sound for Money.
In fact gaming revenues are rising, almost $1billion in Jan--up from 03.

I can now say I've seen $2.00+ per gallon for gas--I remember growing up
we had gas wars, the lowest I'd seen it was .23cents. In Las Vegas you'll pay
over $2.00 just about anywhere you go.
Also beef: ground beef is over $4.00 per lb--if you can find it, Costco was sold
out on Sunday afternoon.
Milk: Over $3.99 Gallon
Over 11,000 new students are added to schools here each yr. The Las Vegas
metro area is the fastest growing school district in America.
There economy is all built on services: Gaming, credit card processing,
LOTS Of government, tourism.

Metroactive Dining | Donut Shops: "And here in California, statistics show that between 75 percent and 80 percent of the independent donut shops are owned by Cambodian immigrants--who, as the ringing of Krispy Kreme's cash registers mounts into an ominous crescendo, are probably not too stoked at the moment. "

"Courage means to keep working a relationship, to continue seeking
solutions to difficult problems, and to stay focused during stressful
periods."

Denis Waitley
Author and Speaker

Trader Joe's Specialty Grocery Stores
This is the most unique store I have ever seen.

"Americans are unlike Rome, unlike Britain and France and Spain and the other classical empires of modern times, in that we do not hunger for territory. The use of the word "empire" in the American context is ridiculous. It is absurd to apply the word to a peoples whose first instinct upon arriving on anyone's soil is to demand an exit strategy.
(Not so fast, Ask Native Americans what they think of this idea, ask the Suex nation? Crazy Horse?hhh) I can assure you that when the Romans went into Gaul and the British into India, they were not looking for exit strategies.
We like it here, we like Mcdonalds, we like Starbucks, we like Nascar,
we like football and the Grand Canyon or Graceland. We've got Silicon Valley or Silicon Breast implants, we've got $2.99 wine at Trader Joes or 299.00 wine at Costco. And if that's not enough we've got Vegas---which has a facsimile of everything in the world.
I'm in Vegas this week and I can attest to that--a facsimile of everything exist here.

This was taken from Democratic Realism by Charles Kruathammer--transmitted by Ray King the best Northwestern Mutual agent in a 2 block area
in Abilene,where is customers a healthy and have long premium paying lives!
Embellished by Homer

Homer

Mike Ramsey writes:

Janet Downes in Bellvue , Nebraska is going to marry herself on her 40th birthday. Wedding gown, cake, choir and flowers.

She says she does not want to be called an "old maid" any longer.

Moral: In case it doesn't work out, who gets the house? Or is it divided under Nebraska law ?

Quote from trip:

"Too many goods chasing too few dollars in the world today, your product must be unique enough and niche enough to stand out in a sea of products" Homer H. Hillis, Jr.

I've leaned what an Indian Driver is: He is a totalitarian Driver, thinking the whole rode is his.

Just returned from New Delhi, if you remember KLM lost my luggage on the way over--and they delivered it the same day I was to depart, so I petitioned them for a business Class upgrade, on the Delhi to Amsterdam flight it was full--but the Amsterdam-Houston the Purser was very accommodating and compassionate and bumped me up to the Galley of the 747-Homer rode in style. I kept thinking was a difference a few feet make in service, style, COMFORT (I could stretch out my legs). The food: Excellent+++, and all served in glass or ceramic dishes.
So KLM redeemed themselves and made a very good impression on me.
I caught them doing something right.
The next time you have lost baggage give remember to ask for an upgrade----you'll just say keep my luggage from now on.

"The little unremembered acts of kindness and love are the best parts of a person's life."

William Wordsworth
1770-1850, Poet

Walk toward the light & you will never see the shadows . . ."
Helen Keller

"Lord, may we always count our blessings more than our troubles . . ."
Paul Haynes, recovering cancer patient (his hair is beginning to come back) in a prayer in our Sunday morning services.

In 1983 India kicked out Coca Cola along with a host of other companies. Mr. Ramesh Manchanda was a manager for GE overseeing 1200 employees. When I came to India in 1983 for the first time you could not by a Coke. I met Mr. Ramesh here at the show and I inquired about how he got in the bead business. He spoke of the yr 1983 and the changes made in government privitzation of business. India took large steps backwards but now GE has well over 5,000 call center employees in Delhi alone.
Those days were very tumultous says Mr. Ramesh. You see he was in line to be country manger of India and that all changed very fast.
Today he has a very successful bead supply company, his son is a software engineer with Microsoft, and I believe his daughter works for Cisco systems.
Now India welcomes foreign invesment and the country is prospering.

I'm posting this from New Delhi India where my stomach us cured with Curry for about 2 months. My travel has been nothing less than exciting. First KLM lost my luggage, for one week I had the same pants, yesterday they found my luggage, today I leave. My luggage is still at the airport. I should see it today, just enough time to re-check it back to states. How about that for a ordeal! They gave me 5000 rupies, about 60us$ for cloths. We'll its hard to find big and tall Indian clothing stores. Its been fun!
My trip to Turkman Gate was as historic and much like an Indiana Jones movie. TG is a totally muslem community here that is a large are with back alley ways--in Indiana Jones movies you have a scene usually with Indiana and Hindi in a back street part of a city in the middle east--well that was the movie I got to expierence it---
all along these little alley was are shops the majority are bead shops, flower griding, sheep selling, curry cooking all open flame--not problem with city codes--there's none--
as you walk the smell of 100 spices mixes in your nostrils, as well as
a loud speaker hollering out Allaha Acbar and other religious poems and sayings---not a problem staying awake in this semon everyone here's it.
I was well received in Turkman gate--could not be missed. Had my photo taken sturing a large pot Chicken Curry. The cooks loved it and smiled big.
The little things in TG go a long way.
I've heard of the Arab Street, I think I visited it at Turkman Gate!