CIMPA Conversations

Yesterday, at the chemo room, it hit me like a ton of bricks - Cancer is multicultural. It does not care what the color of your skin is, who you are or what you have done in life.

There was Sarah, born and raised in North Carolina. She moved here when her husband, an Army major, was moved to the Pentagon. She works as a TV producer.Leah was born in Taiwan, got married to a navy captain and has lived in Maryland for the past 5 years. She works for a non-profit organization. Sandra is from England but has living for 9 years with her husband, an air force officer, in Virginia. She stays at home to take care of 2 young children. Barbara is a black woman from Mississippi who moved to Washington DC when she divorced her husband of 11 years, an army sergeant. She is working for the DC government as a Program Director at the National Institute of Health. And there was me - married to an Army Colonel and has been living in Virginia for 26 years. I have been working as an independent consultant ever since I re-married and retired as Professor at Centro Escolar University and George Mason University.

The conversation was lively - centering around when we were diagnosed, the procedures we have undergone, the pain or lack thereof, medications and other snippets from our lives as cancer patients. It’s funny how easily we could talk to complete strangers about who we are on a very personal level, our deepest fears and hopes, our belief systems  and life experiences. Sarah talked about the horror and madness in Rwanda - seeing hundreds of people die around her while covering the holocaust. “I have looked death to the eye before”, she said, “but nothing can equal the fear I felt after the doctor told me “‘You have cancer”‘.

There was lively discussion of beliefs, folklores and practices related to health and medicine. Leah said, “In Palestinian tradition, if the bridegroom wears a clove of garlic in his buttonhole, he is assured a successful wedding night. Among practitioners of Auryvedic medicine, garlic is held in high regard as an aphrodisiac and for its ability to increase semen”. This drew chuckles from the group. Barbara added, “Egyptian slaves were given a daily ration of garlic, as it was believed to ward off illness and to increase strength and endurance”. To avoid diarrhea, a frequent side effect of chemotherapy, Sandra recommended boiling  young guava leaves and making it into tea.

There were no discussions of racism, multiculturalism or diversity We were just 5 women talking while hooked up to a machine dripping poison into our veins. Cancer does not care about who was black, white or brown or what you have done professionally. Neither did we.

Unfortunately, I have been diagnosed with recurrent cervical cancer. I will be posting my journal here shortly - for family, friends and other women who are fighting the same battle. Perhaps my experience will be of some help.

Take care of yourselves!

Andrea

Hello Everyone,
 
Summer is over. Time to plan for our winter meetings. Please save the dates.
 
January 31 - February 3: Pre-conference Cruise of the Yangtze River (Optional). Cruising  on the Yangtze River allows our meeting attendees a little extra time to see the wonders of this region before the completion of the Three Gorges Dam at which time this cruise will no longer be available. Daily shore excursions provide a closer look at life along this ancient waterway changed little by time.  
 
FEBRUARY 3-6  - ITMIC AT  IMPERIAL BEIJING � Meet at an  ancient, mysterious and beautiful land, Explore an ancient civilization while discussing the present and looking forward to the future; Race to save the Planet on the Great Wall of China
 
February 6-9 � POST CONFERENCE TOUR TO VIETNAM AND CAMBODIA (Optional) - Downtown Saigon is the most popular tourist destination in Vietnam � frequently referred to as “Paris of the East” The streets bustle with pedestrians, cyclos, bicycles, motorbikes, taxis and SUVs. Foreign businessmen and tourists share the walkways with noodle soup vendors and pajama-clad Vietnamese women. Get a manicure, facial, shampoo or foot massage for US$3 with a cup of tea.
 
Located in Northwestern Cambodia, Angkor, the Capital of the Ancient Khmer Empire was possibly founded around the Ninth Century AD by King Jayavarman II. The most beautiful and most famous monument in the city, Angkor Wat, lies about one kilometer south of the Royal town of Angkor Thom. With the decline of the Ancient Khmer Empire, Angkor Wat was turned into a Buddhist temple. In 1992, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee declared the monument, and the whole city of Angkor, a World Heritage Site. It is listed among the new 7 Wonders of the World published in 2006
 
February  9 -  BACK TO THE USA OR TRAVEL TO THE PHILIPPINES - When Magellan came upon the island of Homonhon in 1521, he claimed these islands in the name of king Philip II of Spain and named them Felipinas, the Philippines. Little did he know then the treasures of those yet unexplored isles, a bounty of verdant mountains rich with gold and ore, of emerald islands ringed with meandering beaches, of forests alive with wondrous flora and fauna, of fertile lands, spectacular sunsets and temperate climes which have bred a warm, smiling people who would be known the world over for their overwhelming hospitality.
 
Indeed, the early Filipinos were accustomed to welcoming visitors to their shores. When the second wave of Spanish conquistadores started converting and colonizing these islands, they found well-developed settlements conducting trade relations with the Chinese, the Arabs, and other seafaring merchants. The Americans introduced the democratic process, public education and infrastructure. World War II interrupted the course of events, and the Japanese captured the Philippines. The Americans liberated the islands in 1945, and recognized Philippine independence on July 4, 1946.
 
Dubbed as the “Pearl of the Orient Seas”, the Philippines consists of 7,107 islands. The capital of the Philippines, a grouping of twelve cities and five municipalities, is technically known as Metro Manila but usually referred to simply as MANILA, home to 9.5 million people.
 
February 9-12 - HELPING HANDS MISSION - Marinduque, Philippines. In cooperation with Marinduque International, Philippine Department of Tourism and Philippine Department of Health.
 
The smallest province in the Southern Tagalog region, Marinduque has the shape of a human heart floating on a clear, blue sea. The island province is characterized by undulating hills, picturesque valleys, sheer seaside cliffs, interspersed with patches of flatland on different parts of the island. The heart-shaped island rests on the Sibuyan Sea and is located south of Manila .
 
February 14-15:  Tours around Manila
February 16- Departures
 
COST? A bargain - I thought, as I read an email from a friend and mentor.  �How to Spend a Million Dollars in a Weekend� - the subject was intriguing. Allow me to digress and talk about this interesting million dollar weekend first. But if you do not want to be confused and just want to know how much to set aside for 1-2 weeks in Asia, here�s the info:
 
For costs and other details: http://www.cimpa.org/itmic2008.htm
To register: http://www.cimpa.org/register_print.htm
 
Now � if you have a million dollars left over, you might consider a weekend in Djibouti.
 
“If you truly want to be lavish, come to the Djibouti Palace Kempinski. We are here to chauffeur-drive you in one of the hotel�s fleet of chic black Lincoln Navigators to the Hotel’s imposing marble entrance, where you will receive a warm African welcome”.
 
“Your personal butler is waiting for you with plenty of delights. A 24-karat golden iPod on Egyptian cotton sateen luxury bedding in your Presidential Suite. Cold Chateau dYquem with superior Almas Caviar in real-gold-covered egg shell. Fritz Knipschildt�s world famous Madeleine, the most luscious truffle chocolate, will melt your six senses while your personal butler unpacks your luggage for you.”
 
“Your Special 24-Karat Welcome Kit -This Welcome Package includes 2 glossy iPod plated in authentic 24-carat gold and a Thuraya SO 2510, the world�s smallest telephone. With a little spare cash you can have a Vertu�s new $90,000 handset, dotted all over by tiny diamonds, and a keypad that carries eight carat�s worth of diamonds. The phone�s body in constructed from the finest platinum, underpinned with ruby bearings and equipped with a similar ceramic composition originally intended for the space shuttle!!!”
 
“Ask for a diamonds encrusted tea-bag! Sun is slowly coming down! Enjoy the gorgeous view of the Red sea on the sunset cruise. In the middle of the ocean, on a private Fisherman�s boat, while an unbelievable orange-purplish sky is setting down, with the splish�splash of the Dolphins, enjoy your private orchestra: 25 pieces Violin and Harps , in a black Suit”
 
“We are sorry to disturb your dreamy moment � but our Chef has prepared cozy tea time for you! Sip your afternoon Makaibari Silver Tips Darjeeling tea which has particularly pale leaves and is picked as buds from the oldest garden in India. Tea will be served together with Almas caviar in a 24-Karat gold tin. Please help yourself with Petite Caviar spoon, Mother of Pearl, spread on whole-wheat �Russian Blinis� with real Smetana, chopped onions and egg yolks.  The diamond teabag worth $14000 has been hand-crafted using 280 diamonds. The Almas caviar comes from Iran making it extremely rare and extremely expensive, worth $25,000. The whole Orchestra at Sun Set is worth $50, 000.00″.
 
“The Billionaire Breakfast in a Volcano Crater� - Excuse the shiny sunlight in Djibouti to wake you up from good sleep. Your private helicopter ride will end on a top of a dormant volcano crater, around the Ocean of the �Le goubet � plage. You will be breathing cool mountain air of this wonderful, simple and peaceful area, quietly enjoying the sunrise while the Chef from the unexpected Live Station will prepare a Billionaire’s Omelet with a lobster on the top�.�
 
“Dinner will not be handed over by your average delivery boy. The Djibouti Palace Kempinski put a whole new spin on expensive take-out when we organize your Italian Meal Delivery in the Bush with hundreds of Pink Flamingoes chirping in melody around you. Near Taormina, a small town on the island of Sicily in Italy, there is a fantastic Italian Restaurant, which has agreed to deliver the expensive take-out Spaghetti alla Caprese, Lobster with Citrus Sauce and the real �Granita di Caffe� con panna�. Chef Tiziano Rossetti agreed to deliver the meal personally. And he will be going to the Italian Market in Catania, to choose the best ingredients, will escort from sunny Sicily to Djibouti. Book your � Godfather Dinner� in the middle of Africa for $50,000.00″
 
“Magic Moments under the African Stars� - A fireworks display designed specially for you, accompanied by a Classic Piano private Concerto…”
 
And so on and on it goes. Those of you who have a million dollars to spend on a luxury weekend in Djibouti, please contact me. Those who want to spend a few hundred dollars for  1-2 weeks in Asia, please contact me as well. We will not have diamond encrusted gold ipods to give away but 5-star accommodations, all delicious scheduled meals, registration at a conference where we engage you in thought provoking conversations, an opportunity to participate in a medical and educational mission to help the needy and tours of 2 of the worlds seven wonders as well as other unforgettable sceneries on the other side of the world are included.

Yes, butler service can be arranged if you want someone else to pack and unpack your bags. Massage service to relieve the stress of travel and other services can be arranged.  And oh, yes � where else will you have the experience of a lifetime participating in a race to save the planet on the Great Wall of China? Take home a certificate. You would have earned bragging rights.
 
For costs and other details: http://www.cimpa.org/itmic2008.htm
To register: http://www.cimpa.org/register_print.htm
 
The best value in airfare is Cathay Pacific�s All Asia Pass at $1399 for 23 cities in 21 days. http://www.cathayusa.com/offers/AllAsiaPass/subdefault.asp
 
You might want to save all your vacation days and spend 2-3 weeks exploring Asia. Even if you just go to 5 countries, it is still a good value. However, we are negotiating for special conference rates with United Airlines, China Airlines and Philippine Airlines. So far, the best we have is $905 plus tax anywhere from the USA (non-stop from Washington Dulles) to Beijing on United. Please visit : http://www.cimpa.org/itmic2008.htm often for updates.
 
CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS: If you would like to give a keynote or make a presentation at this conference, please hit reply to send me an email.
 
HELPING HANDS NEEDED: If you live in the metropolitan Washington DC area, please lend a hand packing  up books and loading them into a container for shipping to needy schools in the Philippines. October16, starting at 3:00 pm at the McLean Community Center. For more info, please call Tessie or Pablito Alarcon, Tel 703 618 0345 or 571 333 5327.
 
QUOTE FOR THE MONTH: Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well. - Josh Billings
 
I look forward to seeing you in China, Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines.
 
All the best,
Andrea
 

 I was cleaning up my desk and stumbled into this letter of apology from Jetblue. I was one of the thousands of customers stranded by Jetblue and was furious at the time it happened.

But a good letter of apology goes a long way. Here’s an excellent example: 

Dear JetBlue Customers,

We are sorry and embarrassed. But most of all, we are deeply sorry.

Last week was the worst operational week in JetBlue’s seven year history. Following the severe winter ice storm in the Northeast, we subjected our customers to unacceptable delays, flight cancellations, lost baggage, and other major inconveniences. The storm disrupted the movement of aircraft, and, more importantly, disrupted the movement of JetBlue’s pilot and inflight crewmembers who were depending on those planes to get them to the airports where they were scheduled to serve you. With the busy President’s Day weekend upon us, rebooking opportunities were scarce and hold times at 1-800-JETBLUE were unacceptably long or not even available, further hindering our recovery efforts.

Words cannot express how truly sorry we are for the anxiety, frustration and inconvenience that we caused. This is especially saddening because JetBlue was founded on the promise of bringing humanity back to air travel and making the experience of flying happier and easier for everyone who chooses to fly with us. We know we failed to deliver on this promise last week.

We are committed to you, our valued customers, and are taking immediate corrective steps to regain your confidence in us. We have begun putting a comprehensive plan in place to provide better and more timely information to you, more tools and resources for our crewmembers and improved procedures for handling operational difficulties in the future. We are confident, as a result of these actions, that JetBlue will emerge as a more reliable and even more customer responsive airline than ever before.

Most importantly, we have published the JetBlue Airways Customer Bill of Rights—our official commitment to you of how we will handle operational interruptions going forward—including details of compensation. I have a video message to share with you about this industry leading action.

You deserved better—a lot better—from us last week. Nothing is more important than regaining your trust and all of us here hope you will give us the opportunity to welcome you onboard again soon and provide you the positive JetBlue Experience you have come to expect from us.
  
Sincerely,

David Neeleman
Founder and CEO
JetBlue Airways 

I have received a lot of queries and requests for extension of deadline for submission of the Asian Academy Hall of Fame Awards. Here are the answers: 

We are not looking for celebrities. We are looking for Asians who have distinguished themselves professionally but more importantly, who have given back to their communities thus serving as role models for other young Asians.

If you look at our past awardees, you will see that these people are not those whose images you will find in the covers of magazines and front pages of newspapers. They are people who worked quietly to climb up the professional ladder through education and then engaged in volunteer activities that helped other people. They deserve recognition, not just because of what they have made of themselves but because other people’s lives have been enriched by their knowledge, experience and caring.

Their achievements are much more significant when you consider that they are not people born into privilege. They are immigrants who had to overcome tremendous obstacles to get to where they are.

What we are doing is building a Hall of Fame where they can be recognized. By shining the light on them, we are shining the light on everyone of us. Inspiring the young to believe in themselves and their heritage. Discovering that we can remove the label of a second class citizen from a third world country. Intelligent. Hardworking. Achiever. Resilient. Caring.

That is why it is the responsibility of each of us to add to this list. What does it say about us when we have only a handful in our Hall of Fame? That there are only a few of us who have made it? Not true at all. World- class Asians are healing the sick, advancing science through their research, developing software, managing multinational corporations – being the best in their fields.

Sadly, the image we have in our adopted countries is not one of excellence. We must change this perception.  And you must help us do it.

On June 5, 2007, we are going to the White House and US Capitol, the seats of power in the
United States, to present our awardees. Will you join us?

All the best,

Andrea Sigler, PhD

Chairman of the Board

P.S.

Whoops! Before getting off my soapbox, I need to tell you that in order to give more people the opportunity to send in their nominations, the nomination committee has decided to grant the request to extend the deadline to 5:00 pm, April 6. They also decided to include those whose grandparents were born in an Asian country.

I want to thank all of those who have already sent in their nominations. We will get back to you no later than April 12.

 Here’s a disturbing story from Yahoo news: 

From the micro to the macro, from plankton in the oceans to polar bears in the far north and seals in the far south, global warming has begun changing life on Earth, international scientists will report next Friday.

“Changes in climate are now affecting physical and biological systems on every continent,” says a draft obtained by The Associated Press of a report on warming’s impacts, to be issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the authoritative U.N. network of 2,000 scientists and more than 100 governments.

In February the panel declared it “very likely” most global warming has been caused by manmade emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

Animal and plant life in the Arctic and Antarctic is undergoing substantial change, scientists say. Rising sea levels elsewhere are damaging coastal wetlands. Warmer waters are bleaching and killing coral reefs, pushing marine species toward the poles, reducing fish populations in African lakes, research finds.

“Hundreds of species have already changed their ranges, and ecosystems are being disrupted,” said University of Michigan ecologist Rosina Bierbaum, former head of the U.S. IPCC delegation. “It is clear that a number of species are going to be lost.”

The IPCC draft estimates that if temperatures rise approximately 2 to 4 degrees Fahrenheit more, one-third of species will be lost from their current range, either moved elsewhere or vanished.

From Associated Press bureaus around the world, here are snapshots of animals and plants the IPCC will identify as already affected by climate change:

___

The frogs went silent in the night

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Back in the Puerto Rican rain forest for the first time in five years, biologist Rafael Joglar sensed something was wrong. He wasn’t hearing the frogs whose nocturnal calls he had long recorded in the misty highlands.

It was as if a small orchestra had lost key players, he recalled.

After that discovery in 1981, Joglar and wife Patricia Burrowes, a fellow University of Puerto Rico amphibian specialist, found that other populations of frogs in the genus Eleutherodactylus — known locally as coquis for the distinctive co-kee sound made by two species — were also mysteriously absent. Similar reports trickled in from frog specialists worldwide, particularly in Central and South America.

Working their way through such suspected culprits as pollution and habitat loss, researchers here eventually zeroed in on climate change. The average minimum temperature had risen from 1970 to 2000 by 2 degrees Fahrenheit, a significant rise for climate-sensitive amphibians.

Scientists believe higher temperatures lead to more dry periods and a chain reaction, at higher elevations, that leaves the frogs vulnerable to a devastating fungus, Burrowes said.

In Puerto Rico and nearby islands, experts believe three of 17 known Eleutherodactylus species are extinct and seven or eight are declining. Loss of the frogs, scientists warn, could have disastrous consequences, depriving birds and other predators of a food source, eliminating a consumer of insects and disrupting the ecosystem in ways impossible to guess.

___

Fragile, sensitive coral sounds the alarm

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — The rainbow world of the Great Barrier Reef may fade away.

Scientists say rising sea temperatures worldwide are causing more coral bleaching — the draining of color when the fragile animals that form reefs become stressed and spew out the algae that give coral its color and energy to build massive reef structures.

Oceans are also absorbing more carbon dioxide, increasing their acidity and eroding coral’s ability to build reef skeletons.

Because just a 2-degree-Fahrenheit shift can trigger a major bleaching event, the behavior of corals is an early sign that global warming is already changing our world, experts say.

“We’ve got about 20 years to turn (greenhouse gas emissions) around or it’s going to cost the world a lot environmentally but also economically,” said Terry Hughes, a leading Australian coral specialist.

The 1,250-mile-long Great Barrier Reef, off Australia’s northeast coast, produces $4 billion a year in tourism revenues. Forecasts vary, but many experts say ocean temperature rises projected for the next 50 years could strip this natural wonder of most of its color. The changes will affect countless millions of fish and other marine organisms that depend on the reef.

Many reefs worldwide will fare worse, since they don’t have the protection against pollution and overfishing provided by the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.

___

Ticks move north, carrying diseases with them

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) — A bloodthirsty parasite is popping up in parts of Sweden where deep winter chills used to make survival difficult, if not impossible.

Ticks are spreading north along the Scandinavian country’s shorelines, pestering pets and spreading infectious diseases to humans.

“It probably has to do with the greenhouse effect,” said Thomas Jaenson, professor in medical entomology at Uppsala University. “The fact that we’ve seen ticks in January indicates that there has been a major change.”

Swedish studies have shown that ticks have multiplied countrywide in recent decades, spreading north from traditional breeding grounds in the Stockholm archipelago. The pinhead-sized arachnids have even turned up near the Arctic Circle.

“There are more of them now. And they show up earlier in the year,” said Marja Lodin, 69, who has a summer house near the northern city of Umea. Two years ago she was infected with Lyme disease, which causes fever, headache, fatigue and skin rash, from a tick lodged in her navel.

Sweden’s disease control agency doesn’t keep records on Lyme disease, but said the potentially deadly tick-borne encephalitis virus, known as TBE, is on the rise. Reported annual cases more than doubled from 60 in the late 1990s to 131 in the 2001-2005 period. In 2006, there were 155 cases, two of which turned fatal.

“It is possible that these people would be alive if we had had a more stable climate,” Jaenson said.

___

White giants face future of too much water, too little ice

TORONTO (AP) — Inuit hunters in Canada’s Arctic say they have seen polar bears moving farther north as the polar ice cap recedes, or farther south in search of new sources of food.

The northern people who have hunted these majestic marine mammals for thousands of years say they haven’t seen a dramatic decline yet in their numbers. But scientists worry that the polar bear will be pushed steadily toward extinction by 2050, to be found only in zoos, as Arctic waters grow warmer.

The bears depend on sea ice for survival. They have their pups and they hunt seal and walrus on ice floes. But the summer ice cap is about 20 percent smaller today than in 1978, the U.N. climate panel reported in February. And as sea ice shrinks, bears are forced to hunt and to fast for longer periods.

Biologists believe 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears roam the frozen Arctic, about 60 percent in Canada. The research group Polar Bears International says one polar bear population, in Canada’s western Hudson Bay, has dropped 22 percent since the 1980s, about the time Inuit hunters started noticing dramatic changes in wind and weather patterns.

The trends are so troubling that the U.S. government has proposed listing polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

___

Changing climate, vanishing plankton threaten cod

LONDON (AP) — Overfishing has cut deeply into the North Sea’s cod population in recent decades, and scientists now say this important food fish faces a second challenge — climate change.

North Sea water temperatures have climbed 1 degree Fahrenheit over the past 100 years, and that has shifted currents, carrying a major food source, plankton, away from the cod, said scientist Chris Reid of the Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans in Plymouth, England.

“The only way that these increases can be explained is by greenhouse gas emissions,” Reid said. In their larval stage, the cod feed on the minute plants and animals known as plankton. Chances of survival without them are slim. North Sea cod that do survive today are smaller and less successful at mating and reproducing, Reid explained. In addition, warmer temperatures increase cod metabolism and the larvae’s need for nutrition, he and other marine scientists noted in a 2003 research paper.

Because the        European Union’s 2003 cod recovery plan isn’t working, scientists and fishing industry representatives met March 9-10 to discuss new ways to counter the threats and help the cod.

___

The dimb’s demise tells of African climate change

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — It’s getting harder for villagers in the north of this dry West African country to find a favored ingredient for a traditional couscous dish — the fruit of the dimb tree.

The once-prevalent tree with its meaty fruit has disappeared from all but one village in an area the size of Connecticut, as shifting rainfall patterns have made northern Senegal drier and hotter, research has found.

Many tree species like the dimb are retreating from the Sahel, the arid region south of the Sahara Desert, losing ground to more arid species. In the zone that climate change scientist Patrick Gonzalez studied, the dimb’s range decreased 96 percent between 1945 and 1994 — from 27 villages to one.

Gonzalez said he looked at many factors, including population shifts and tree cutting, but “precipitation and temperature explained most of the variance in the data.”

The greenhouse effect has warmed the southern Atlantic Ocean, source of the African monsoon, causing more rain to fall over the sea and less over the Sahel, said the Nature Conservancy’s Gonzalez, who did the research while with the        U.S. Geological Survey.

Fig and firewood species also are dying, forcing women gatherers to range farther and spend more time hunting firewood. “Once you don’t have that, people start burning cow dung. And that’s when environmentally the area is in great trouble,” Gonzalez said.

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck.One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.At the end of the long walks from t he stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water.

My daughter forwarded this email to me. I have read it 3 times today. I think every woman should read it at least once a day.

IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE OVER - by Erma Bombeck

(written after she found out she was dying from cancer).

I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren’t there for the day.

I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.

I would have talked less and listened more. would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained, or the sofa faded.

I would have eaten the popcorn in the ‘good’ living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.

I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.

I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.

I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.

I would have sat on the lawn with my grass stains.

I would have cried and laughed les s while watching television and more while watching life.

I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn’t show soil, or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.

Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I’d have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.

When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, ‘Later. Now go get washed up for dinner.’ There would have been more ‘I love you’s’ More ‘I’m sorry’s.’

But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute … look at it and really see it … Live it and never give it back. 

STOP SWEATING THE SMALL STUFF!!!

Don’t worry about who doesn’t like you, who has more, or who’s doing what. Instead, let’s cherish the relationships we have with those who do love us. Let’s think about what we are blessed with, and what we are doing each day to promote ourselves mentally, physically, emotionally.

Trade shows usually leave me inspired, invigorated and refreshed. So - why did the Destinations Showcase sponsored by DMAI and held at the Washington DC Convention Center yesterday, March 1. leave me unispired and tired?

Was it just me or did anyone else feel the same way?

Nobody is born a bigot. But it sure has set in a lot of people in the CVB community. I will explain what I mean in a later post. Right now, I just want to concentrate on more pleasant tasks.

Prague’s best kept secret is not a castle. It is neither a museum nor a clock. It is a hotel.The President Hotel Prague is a meeting planner’s delight. No, it does not have a flamboyant lobby or sleek, colorful brochures. What it has are what matter most to conference planners and attendees:

1. Great location. On the right bank of the Vitava River, within walking distance to most tourist attractions.

2. Beautiful, spacious rooms - some with terraces overlooking the Vitava River and the Prague Castle

3. Most importantly, a well-trained, truly hospitable staff. I had a thoroughly enjoyable, totally stress-free interaction with both sales and service staff during the International Technology, Meetings and Incentives Conference heled at this hotel on November 10-13, 2006. Truly a meeting planner’s dream.

I was surprised, nay, shocked to have received no major complaints from any conference attendee. Starting from the Director of Sales and Marketing to the last banquet staff and housekeeper, we had pleasant, competent service, a “Can Do” attitude and an eagerness to please we seldom encounter outside of Asia. It certainly helped that the hotel was the right size for our meeting.

I strongly recommend this hotel for small meetings. . Call me if you want more information.

Hotel President*****
N�m.Curieov�ch 100, Praha 1 - 110 00
tel: +420 234 614 143
fax: +420 234 614 117
http://www.hotelpresident.cz/