I have a question for you. How do you get from where you are to where you want to be?

That’s a question not only of geography, but also one vision, self-identity, and personal worth.

Well – I believe the first thing you have to do is figure out where ‘there’ – the place you want to go or the destination – is.

Then you have to ‘want’ to get there. You will have to start with ‘wanting’ to go ‘there’. You need to have a vision of what you want to reach. An ideal, goal, or destination.

Then, you go, you do, you act.

Arthur Ashe said, “start where you are, use what you have, and do what you can.”

NO one’s road to achieving what they desire is the same. Some may begin with advantages or challenges along their path of desire, some may be on that road much longer than others, but all begin with the same basic tools. 

But before you make any purposeful trip through time, space, or self – you have to ‘want’.

Or, in other words, there must be ‘Desire’. 

10 second pre-roll promo for An Ounce Podcast on YouTube

In the mid-1950s, in Bangkok Thailand, a well-loved and centuries-old statue of Buddha was being moved from its tin-roofed pagoda to a more permanent location. This statue of the Buddha, covered in a concrete stucco and inlaid with colorful glass was 10-feet-tall. 

It was incredibly heavy even considering its large size, and very difficult to move.

During the move, and in a final attempt to lift the incredibly heavy statue, some of the riggings shifted and the statue smashed into the ground, seriously cracking the stucco and concrete at the base.

That's where the Story gets really interesting!

10 second pre-roll promo for An Ounce Podcast on YouTube

So why do they call it a hummingbird?

Because it remembers the melody, but it can't remember the words.

 OK sorry – but how about this. A flock of hummingbirds can be referred to in many ways. Grouped together they can be called a Boquete, a glittering, a hover, a shimmer, or ….. a tune (without words of course).

And, the name Hummingbird – comes from the sound of their rapidly beating wings. 

With their bright colors and in your face personalities they are a bit of a fixture in our back yard during the summer. They are fun to watch. 

But, What if they were bigger – 

Imagine they were Humming along with those bright colors at about the size of a pigeon or crow.

Buzzing you every time you got to close.

Problems can be like hummingbirds.

The threat a problem seems to pose in direct proportion to it’s perceived size.

10 second pre-roll promo for An Ounce Podcast on YouTube

Lynne Cooper was born on October 4, 1916, in St. Louis Missouri. 

But, Who was she?

In her early years, she worked as a school teacher. 

And, Lynn was a graduate of Washington University in her hometown of St. Louis and a member of the Phi Beta Kappa sorority.

IN 1939, during a tour with her sorority sisters at Radio station KXOK, Lynn met Paul Aurandt (or-NOT) who was employed at the station. Paul took a shine to her immediately and precociously asked her out to dinner that evening – and Lynne accepted. 

In 1940 they married.

But Paul’s Angel, Lynne, continued as his greatest fan, and valued creative and business partner. 

It was in 1944 that the Aurandt’s (or-NOT) settled in Chicago. Paul found a position and took on his now-legendary nom de plume. 

I expect you’ve heard of Paul, but without the genius and collaboration of His Angel, it is likely he would have never risen from obscurity.

Lynne was Paul’s greatest asset.

If you know Paul - it is because of Lynne.

10 second pre-roll promo for An Ounce Podcast on YouTube

This little bean has been around delighting the tastebuds of humans for thousands of years. 

What Little Bean you ask? Well, we’ll get to that.

Around 4000 thousand years ago the Olmec’s of Central America began to pick from the trees, pods, each pod containing about 40 beans. 

Cortez said though he was in search of gold, the Aztec emperor gift him with a cup of the drink made from this highly prized bean.

And, the drink became popular among the rich and ruling class, the Spanish version was mixed with Honey and sugar to sweeten the naturally bitter taste.

A century or so later the cat was out of the bag when the French King Louis the 13th married Anne, the daughter of Spanish King Phillip the 3rd.

Then this marvelous drink made its way to Britain, and then the rest of Europe. Still, it was enjoyed only by the Noble Class for its health benefits and decadence. Plantations were established along the equator by many of these colonizing nations to produce this valuable little bean.

10 second pre-roll promo for An Ounce Podcast on YouTube

You know what they say – The early bird gets the worm. And, he who hesitates is lost. But, Good things come to those who wait.

 And, it’s better safe than sorry. But, nothing Ventured Nothing Gained.

 Life is seemingly full of contradiction:

• Analog vs Digital
• Democrat vs Republican
• Progress vs Tradition
• Old vs New

It goes on and on.

There is a need to reject the perspective of ongoing contradiction, contention, winning the argument, being right at all costs.

 It is divisive and destructive – and it does not have to be. 

To our eyes and our minds, what at first might seem a complete contradiction, can exist in seamless harmony. We just need to learn to see how.

10 second pre-roll promo for An Ounce Podcast on YouTube

This episode is about an 'alarming' character. Why do I describe this person as alarming? Perhaps it is because he blazed his own path, cutting through many societal expectations and norms. He worked tirelessly to better himself, and to provide opportunities for others to do the same.

He was born in 1706 to a Boston family of modest means. His father was a soap and candle maker, who married twice. One of 17 children.  

Ben was a self-made man of great ingenuity. 

A man whose hopes should have been held within the modest circumstances of his birth. 

But, instead, he did not settle for how things were supposed to be and charted a course against the current of the existing norms and expectations of society.

10 second pre-roll promo for An Ounce Podcast on YouTube

It is Fire Prevention week! But the information in this Practical Bits episode is good all the time.

Seasons are changing and it’s time to take a few important actions to prevent fires and reduce the loss that fire can cause.

Listen for some practical tips, and a fun game you can play with the kids

10 second pre-roll promo for An Ounce Podcast on YouTube

Names – everybody’s got one.

The use of names – that’s how we know who or what we are talking about, reading about, learning about.

They are a vital and useful part of our society, culture, and personal identity.

“What’s in a name,” asked Juliet of her beloved Romeo?

“A rose by any other name is still a rose”.

As an introduction, it has the meaning bestowed in the mind of the stranger to whom it is presented.

In time, it carries the character of the one to whom it belongs.

10 second pre-roll promo for An Ounce Podcast on YouTube

Theodor was born in Springfield Massachusetts on March 2, 1904. He was born to a German family who was considered prosperous, but as world War 1 broke out their German heritage brought them under suspicion, as it did every German in the United States. It was a time when the German Frankfurter became the ‘hot dog’, and sauerkraut became ‘liberty cabbage’.

Regardless of the attitudes of others, the family continued to thrive. Though an occasional target of anti-German bullies. Theodor was not big, or strong, or a skilled fighter. But, he did possessed and ingenious and creative mind. And, he loved to participate in the boy scouts, Troop 13.

In 1918, at the age of 14, Theodor’s enterprising nature led him to be one of the top 10 salesmen of war bonds in his Springfield MA boy scout’s organization. And, as a result, had the opportunity to meet a famous and patriotic President of the United States, with whom he shared a first name - President Theodor Roosevelt.

On the appointed day Theodor, along with 9 of his peers were lined up onstage at the Springfield Municipal Auditorium. Where he waited his turn to have his namesake - Theodor Roosevelt the great hero and president - pin a medal on his chest proving him to be a Great American. After all he and his family had endured from the anti-German sentiment of neighbors in Springfield, he was to be exonerated, and his devotion to his country proven.

There was a little mix-up, however.

10 second pre-roll promo for An Ounce Podcast on YouTube