Happy Birthday John Denver

Today is John Denver's birthday. If John had not been killed in the plane crash at Monterey Bay he would have been seventy-four years old today.

I knew that John would eventually be gone, but he left a powerful legacy with his music. With that idea in mind, I wrote a song I called "The Bard" --my tribute to the man, John Denver.

The Bard
Music & Lyrics Michael W. Mickey Maguire

The was an old man was a teller of stories
of visions of lands far away
His stories were songs from a life-time of living
things he had seen in his day

This man he had wisdom from years he'd been living
his insights outnumbered his days
His songs you could say they were much more than stories
they helped us to see on our way

(chorus)

The Bard, the Dreamer, the singer of songs
about treasures far better than gold
free for the taking, for all, so we are told
The Bard, the Dreamer, the lover of children
and all who are willing to give
The Bard sang songs about life and how we should live

The children they sat at the feet of the minstrel
his songs filled them all with delight
The Bard he adored them he loved little children
they were precious indeed in his sight

He would sing them his songs about magical kingdoms
where good would prevail in the end
He would sing about castles knights in bright armor
defenders of truth and of men

(chorus)

Then, one night it ended the bard he was gone
like a night mist the wind blows away
But his message lives on in the songs that he gave us
and still helps us see on our way

(chorus)

----------- Here is a link to the song on a YouTube video

Business Has its Ups and Downs

Over the last couple of decades the working world has changed. There are many people hanging on to the old paradigm for dear life; however, the days of going off to the factory or the day-job are disappearing fast.

Many people say our best days are behind us.

Welcome to the GIG ECONOMY

What IS the "gig economy" you ask? It is a world where people try to figure out "what it is they can do" and "how to monetize it" in order to pay their bills. We have reverted to life before the industrial revolution. Most people just don't know it yet.

Big industries have all taken their jobs to the lowest bidder. American labor no longer means factory jobs. At one time, those jobs were part of what we called "The American Dream" and countless waves of immigration brought skilled people here from around the world. Now, those industrial jobs have been supplanted by low-wage warehouse jobs.* 

Many people believe that the days of wine and roses are gone.

What's a body to do?

First, you have to determine what it is that you CAN do. What talents do you have? What are you capable of doing? What do you have in the way of tools that will enable you to offer some sort of products or services? HOW can you market them?

Before you set out to find fame and fortune, you have to determine all of those things I have already asked. Then, you have to figure out what sets you apart from the rest of the people trying to do the same thing. You either have to be so good that people want you specifically, or, you have figured out some secret formula that enables you to take the market by storm. Neither of those is likely to be the case, initially.

How do you survive?

Hard work is the key to making it in the gig economy. You have to hustle. You have to be assertive. You have to be confident!

Picture Mr Miyagi (the Karate Kid)... telling Daniel-san that karate is over here (right of the road) or over here (left of the road), but, not down the middle of the road-- or you get squished like a "grape" and it's over.

It's Hard Work

Picture a barren wasteland. You could sit around and pray for rain. You might wander around looking for that desert oasis. You might try irrigation. A water-pipe could turn that arid landscape into a lush green valley. Once a pipeline is made, keeping it full is the key to success. The flow of water cannot be intermittent if you want paradise valley.

The gig economy is the same way.

Some people will succeed. Many will not. What lies in store for the rest of humanity? I have a feeling that people will do what many in the past have done, they will wait for a savior-- but he's too busy making a living.

Make an assessment of your talent and skill-set. 2018 is just around the corner. You can make the new year great by crafting a solid action plan. Ponder those things as the new year approaches.

Are you ready? Set? Go.

(*in terms of relative buying power of the dollar)

Snow, Snow, Snow

I woke up this morning to a fresh blanket of snow. The ground is white.

My thoughts wander to the commute to work and what the traffic will be like. Safety is always foremost in my mind when winter storms hit. I'd love to have the sort of day-gig that allows me to stay at home on such occasions. Too bad that is not the case.

This reminds me of a similar situation I had years ago. During that storm, I wrote this poem and posted it on my blog. I am going to post it here, now.

Snow

by Mickey Maguire

Snow is softly falling
past my window to the ground
Each flake a thing of beauty
that lands without a sound

The meadow is now covered
in a blanket colored white
It glistens like a crystal dish
sparkling in the night

When the storm, at last, is gone
and the moon is shining bright
Trees encased in icy coats
make for an awesome sight

I do not have the time to sit
and savor winter's beauty
I am reminded by the clock
that I must do my duty

For when the day commences
and I must venture out
the snow and ice will hinder me
along my chosen route

I've little time and won't enjoy
the beauty of the snow
In truth it's not so beautiful
when off to work I go

Rules for Business Success

The business world is one of competition. Opportunity is given to the best and the brightest. In this world, nobody gets a trophy for just showing up. Any position of lasting value is worth earning. If someone just hands it to you, then you don't want it.

Andrew Carnegie once said this: "Anything in this world worth having is worth
working for." That includes career opportunities.

If you want to succeed in business, think and act on these things:

Stop looking to the stock market and start making business generate income in
excess of expenses.

Stop looking to get-rich-quick marketing schemes and start learning about how
businesses of the past became profitable.

Stop pulling yourself in so many directions and focus on what is before you, but,
don't lose sight of what will be standing there tomorrow, a month from now, a
year from now, or even a decade.

If you make something, make it profitable. If you can't, make something else.

If you want to go into business, arm yourself with information and make sure you know what to expect.

Try to control the level of stress in your life.

Learn to turn off your cell phone.

Learn to say no when people ask for your time... know your limitations.

If you are in a bad job situation, look for something healthier today.

Make a list of your strengths and weaknesses. Be honest. Choose the career that is best suited to your strengths and try to strengthen your weaknesses.

Spend less time with passive entertainment and read a lot more. If you already
read a lot, look at what you read. Can you find things that will help you build a
better future?

Never, never, never give up! (borrowed from Winston Churchill)

Always look for the bright side of every situation.

See every challenge as an opportunity to succeed and grow.

If you want to succeed in life, and you prepare to meet whatever challenges that come along, you will overcome every adversity. If you doubt, then find a way to convince yourself that you can do it, or you will not succeed. You have to believe and visualize your eventual success or you will fail. Your only limitations are self-imposed.

Everyone has native abilities― you are born with them. When you discover them you have found the path you were meant to follow. People used to refer to these as “God given talents.”

I have referred to such talents, in the past, as raw talents; meaning, they need to be refined. For example, I became a “world-class fly tyer” when I was still in my mid-twenties. By the time I was thirty-one years old my work was on exhibit in Livingston Manor at the Catskill Fly Fishing Museum. I started tying flies when I was about ten or twelve years old. I took a raw talent and, through hard work and determination, I cultivated the skills I needed to become one of the best fly tyers in the business. It worked for me and it can work for you, too.

How you determine what it is that you were destined to do varies with people. I
can tell you from personal experience that passion has a lot to do with whether or not you will succeed. You have to WANT success. You have to work for it.

The KEY to success is this: You must first BELIEVE IN YOURSELF.

ALL of YOUR LIMITATIONS are SELF-IMPOSED. Remove those and SUCCEED.

What Do You Want?

Goals are the very basis of any success. ~Earl Nightingale

The single most important advice I can give for living a good life is for you to answer this simple question: What do you want?

If you want to accomplish anything in this world, you have to first make it a goal. My own advice on this is to make a list of the things you would like to do in the course of your life. WRITE THEM ON PAPER.

By writing your goals on a list you are committing them to a tangible form via pen and paper. Ink on the page is the first step in turning a thought into a reality. Once you have enumerated your goals you can start to focus on them one-by-one.

You can start with the big picture. Make a list of life-long goals. Then, make a list of short-term goals, interim goals between where you are right now and where your ultimate goals will take you.

Think of your life-long goals as you final destination. Your short-term, interim goals, are the stepping stones that help you navigate on solid ground as you plod your way to the finish line.

Without goals, we accomplish nothing

Goals enable us to focus. We see results as we complete tasks on the way to our ultimate goal. The interim goals are important in order to see progress. Without those, it is easy to get discouraged. The longer it takes to achieve those interim goals, the easier it is to give up on them, so, make those goals attainable.

Visualization is the Key

Clearly, if you can imagine yourself enjoying the fruits of your labor, if you can see yourself succeeding in accomplishing your goals, then, you are already on the road to success.

If you are unsure about how to envision your future, my book Get Happy, Write Away will walk you through the process. My follow-up book, Ninja Mind Tricks, will help you create a positive plan of action in order to turn those dreams into realities.

At this point you should think about what you want to accomplish.
Commit those goals to paper with pen and ink.
Create a list of interim goals on the path to your final destination.
Create your plan of action.

The first step is always the hardest

You might have to do some research on what is required in order to achieve certain goals. Your plan of action will depend on what it is that you really want.

Remember this: You are the captain of your own destiny. It is all up to you. Where you go in life and how you get there is a matter of whether you create goals, focus on them, and work to complete them. The Universe will not simply drop them into your lap. Sorry, it doesn't work that way.

Your path lies before you.

A Time for Change

I have had Tricorn Publications, a domain on the internet, for many years. The hosting company, Netfirms, just jacked up the price by over 50 percent, so, I am ending the relationship with Netfirms. The site is scheduled to go dark as of January 9, 2018 (I've made up my mind).

I had a blog for my book, Get Happy, Write Away, that I started in 2009 that gathered 135,000 readers. It was hacked on Netfirms servers through no fault of my own and a backdoor was placed on every file. Netfirms' solution to the issue was to sell me their security services. That was the first thing to taint our business relationship.

My reaction was to pull the entire WordPress blog from the site and upload a hard-coded, HTML based site like the one I originally created for Tricorn Publications in 2001 when I sold books directly to the public.

Netfirms "salesman" was shocked when I rejected their offer and did what I did to my website, but, I made it virtually hack-proof in the process. Take that!

Since the time of the hack I have had this blog on "Blogger" (thank you Google) and everything is running smoothly. I have other blogs, too.

What's In Store...

I will gradually move all of the content from Ukulele Player Magazine to a dedicated blog on Blogger.

I will move all of the old DSLR-MAG site to a dedicated photography blog on Blogger.

I have switched my e-mail address to a newly created one on my Earthlink account and I have also converted the old "Magfly" site to an author page to promote my books and connect people with all of the various blogs.

You will be able to download the Ukulele Player Magazine issues via the blog and will eventually find new content there.

I believe that positive-thinking and positive action is always the best course to take. All of these changes will, in the end, be better for my readers, better for me, and will save money.

Positively Mickey

Happy Thanksgiving

On this Thanksgiving Day, I want to celebrate the beauty of this planet. I am grateful that I have always been able to photograph wildlife, waterfalls, and the world around me.

My parents have never taken the time to enjoy the beauty of nature, even though they appreciate landscape photography. I made this little video to share with them later today.

What an Exorbitant Price!

I was looking up weekend events in the Columbus, Ohio area and came across Franklin Park Conservatory. These days, general admission is $14 per adult.

Franklin Park Conservatory is an interesting place. The main facility is segmented in “biomes” that include the following: Himalayan Mountain, Rain-forest, Desert, and a Pacific Island Water Garden. In addition, there are orchids, bonsai, a palm room, and lots of flowering plants of all types.

I can’t help but feel that the people who could benefit the most from visiting the conservatory, inner city poor kids, will most likely never see the beautiful exhibits because they cannot afford the price of admission. It saddens me because when my son was a little guy, the place was FREE. We went there many times and I took pictures.

As a result of visiting the Columbus Metro Parks, Franklin Park Conservatory, and places like Old Man’s Cave in Hocking Hills, Ohio, my son has a love of the outdoors. He is conservation-minded and loves various flora and fauna to this day.

The Columbus Zoo is a lot more expensive than it was when my son was a toddler, too. Now, THAT, I completely understand. The cost of care for the animals, upkeep of the grounds, and INSURANCE liability is incredibly high. My wife and I can spend a day at the Columbus Zoo for about what it would cost us to visit Franklin Park Conservatory and the zoo has a lot more to see and do. If given the choice, the zoo wins, hands down.

What bothers me most about the costs of family entertainment these days is that even educational places, like the conservatory and the zoo are not affordable for the people who would benefit from them the most. If poor families cannot afford to visit those sorts of attractions it is unlikely that their kids will ever develop an appreciation for trees, wildlife, and endangered species in particular. Not to mention they will likely never think about career opportunities in science or the wildlife and conservation industries.

This reminds me of the Sierra Club’s efforts to ban hikers in certain wildlife areas and national parks because lug-soled boots were “damaging” hiking trails within the parks. Take away the ability for people to enjoy those parks and nature preserves and they will never grow to understand the importance of conservation and preservation of wildlife. They will not think about the effects of clear-cutting forests along natal streams of salmonids in the Pacific Northwest, or the loss of vulnerable species like the spotted owl. They will not care about the harvest of elephants for their ivory tusks and rhinos for their horns.

Access to conservatories and wildlife areas should be open and affordable for the sake of future generations.


Here is the main building at Franklin Park Conservatory, if you’ve never seen it. If you want to visit, prepare to spend about $30 for two adults and about $7 per child.

Franklin Park Conservatory Main Building

Everybody Needs R&R at Times

Everybody needs rest and relaxation from time to time.

Life can be overwhelming. Between work schedules, events, city traffic, bills, bills, and more bills, everybody needs time to get away from it all and just forget about the stress of modern-day living.

Over the years I’ve discovered places that help me relax and shed the cares of the day. Wherever I have lived, I have somehow managed to find places to go and unwind. Some of those places were far from home, but most of the time they were within an hour from home and I could go there for a few hours and recharge my batteries, so to speak.

I have always been passionate about photography. When I go to these sanctuary areas, I take pictures. The resulting images help me stay focused on what is important to me, like the beauty of nature, my love of the outdoors, capturing those images to share with others, and counting my blessings.

My home is the woodlands of this beautiful planet. I love the mountains. I love prairies and grasslands. I love the marshes and estuaries. I love the beaches, smooth and sandy or rocky and rugged. It’s the sound of the waves. Waterfalls, I am totally hooked of waterfalls. If I could I’d bathe strip-stark naked under waterfalls. I love everything about them. I’ll be content to photograph them, or shoot video of them ’til the end of my days.

Nature is my sanctuary. The forests are my “safe place.” As long as I have these places of scenic beauty, I really don’t need much else; though, I must say that from the very beginning of my life with Mary Rose (my wife), I shared my love of the outdoors with her and she has made my life richer. On the day I proposed and she accepted, I took her here…

We took time, yesterday, to return to Old Man’s Cave and take a few pictures. We’ve been there many times and continue to take pictures because every day is unique with photography. The lighting is always different. The seasons bring subtle changes. No two images are exactly alike for a multitude of reasons.

If you have never been to Old Man’s Cave and you live in Ohio, put it on your list of MUST SEE locations. It is beautiful. Take a camera with you.

One more thing, My wife and I were the only people there carrying genuine cameras. Everyone takes pictures with cell phones these days. They are a poor substitute for a good DSLR.

Thoughts…

Are we losing history because we no longer take pictures with film cameras? Are your precious memories backed up in case of hard drive failure or ransom-ware attacks? In thirty years, will you have a record of the events in your life or will you lose those memories because you trusted in technology?


Make back-ups of your pictures.

Don't Let It Rattle You - Unsocial Media

I had an unusual event occur yesterday evening. A long-time “Facebook friend” blew up in a fit of profanity and unfriended me as he flailed away with a string of insults and personal attacks. We had never met in person. We did have a lot in common. It’s a shame because we even know some of the same people in “real life” –I have witnessed this with other people, but it has never happened to me until now.

In a way, I am saddened by it because all I did was ask a simple question (if he had read one book that I have in my collection by a particular author– and he went crazy all of a sudden).

This former friend has done this before with other people. He has definite anger management issues. The lesson to be learned from this is that we all have genuine friendships and there are so-called friendships with people online. Real friendships can come as the result of online “friendships” –but that is somewhat rare.

Don’t let a misunderstanding and subsequent thrashing by a so-called “friend” in social media hurt you emotionally. It is way too easy to have a simple misunderstanding with people on the other side of the world. In this case, the person in question often appears as a volatile, reactive individual. He has spewed foul language over politics and other topics on more than one occasion. Now, I guess I won’t be seeing his fits and bursts of outrage and I won’t miss them.

If you get caught in a similar situation, don’t let it rattle you. The cyber-world is filled with all kinds of people and flame wars occur virtually every day. That is why REAL friendships should be cherished all the more.

Friends come and go, people move on, only to become a distant memory. In the end, our “friends” online have little genuine influence in our lives. They are simply entertainment. They are merely players, performers in the theater of the online world.

When I see this sort of incident erupt in a forum or in social media I remember the immortal words of the Bard of Avon, William Shakespeare, “What fools these mortals be.” Alas, parting is such sweet sorrow.

Yes, these things happen.

Nothing to see here.

Move along.

BTW... If you want to learn how to deal with Unsocial Media check out Brandy Booth's book on the subject.

Here is a link...

https://www.amazon.com/Unsocial-Media-Management-Business-How/dp/1548450243/

Are We Rewarding Mediocrity?

Are we rewarding mediocrity? It sure seems like it.

We now live in an age where excellence is no longer seen as the gold standard. Schools in some districts have done away with traditional grade cards because they give children negative feelings. Criticism is frowned upon because students feel bad about themselves. Cursive writing is gone because most kids lack the patience to master the craft. We are a nation of dabblers.

In some places, little league teams give out trophies to everyone, regardless of whether or not there is a real reason. People have joked about giving trophies to kids who just show up. Really?

In the labor force, people do just enough work to keep their job. Nobody, it seems, is passionate about doing a great job at anything and “close enough” is one of the most common phrases used today.

Homes are built with OSB (oriented strand board– a fancy way to say wafer-board). They are thrown together in no time and a few years down the road they are in need of repair.

Organizations like ISO emerged in the world of manufacturing and business, but, nobody plays by the rules and it seems that no one takes them seriously. There are programs like “5S” and “Six-Sigma” (Lean Engineering), but, the manufacturing world is still plagued with poor quality.

Young people want to jump from school into the job market and immediately land in the corner office without actual experience. Others leave college and start their own business without any management experience, no job history aside from flipping burgers, and no people management skills. But, they can learn a new cell-phone app lickitty split.

Digital music is often very poorly mixed. Audio tracks in digitally filmed movies are so bad that music drowns out dialog and volume fluctuates from deafening music and sound effects to church mouse conversations. I have to fiddle with a remote constantly just to hear the actors. Documentaries are the worst.

Customer service? I’ve heard of that once.

I am tired of performance coaching and political correctness, warm fuzzies and all that touchy feelie garbage! Managers should be great role models– show up for work on time. They should be efficient and highly effective. They should have their priorities straight. They should find the best and brightest recruits and bring them on-board. Then, pay them enough to keep them.

Your business should be a talent pool. Develop the best workforce you can. They make your business run smoothly. BUILD A TEAM OF WINNERS– not a group of whiners and losers. By the time someone is in their early twenties, if they don’t have a good work ethic, chances are they never will. Pitch ’em and shoot for the first-round draft choice. You want to fill your team with rising stars.

In my school of thinking, nobody gets a trophy without earning it. STRIVE TO BE NUMBER ONE. 

Remember this: In tennis, the runner-up is the loser.

REACH FOR THE STARS!

Stop, Look, and Listen

Occasionally I remind myself to stop, look, and listen– there is a world of wonder around us and if we continue to rush through life, we will often miss it.

It is easy to get caught up in the routine of day-to-day life. For example: My alarm tolls at 2:00 AM (yes, I am serious). I get up, grab my laptop, and a tablet of some kind, a Palm device, a smart phone, and start working in my den. I pump myself full of coffee. At about 5:00 AM, I pack my lunch, shower, shave, and by about 6:00 AM I’m heading to the car. By 7:00 AM I am at the office. I have to modify my schedule about three days a week in order to be in the office by 5:00 AM.

With all the prep and a thirty-minute drive to the office, I have to keep track of time really well or I’ll be late and I also have to keep a weather-eye when winter storms are predicted. I like being punctual.

Why do I get up so early? Well, I keep a “day job” for health insurance and other benefits. I don’t need it. I can get plenty of work without it, but, medical insurance is a must these days. I am up at 2:00 AM most days in order to write for several of my own blogs, do video editing or organize photographs from a shoot. I also do a lot of artwork on computer these days. In addition, my best writing (books) comes in the wee hours when all the world is asleep.

Slow Down…


I have always pursued my passions. Landscape photography is one of those. Even then, it pays to stop, look, and listen. The picture below is a Jewel blossom. It is one of the tiniest of flowers. This particular one was photographed with a 35mm film camera and a close-up filter on a 35-70 zoom lens. This specimen was only one-eighth of an inch long.

Had I been rushing down the trail to a waterfall I was planning to shoot, I would have missed this little gem. As it is, many people have never seen a jewel flower because they are so tiny anyway. Now, I look for them and I’ve been blessed to find them in several parks I frequent when in the past, I missed them completely.

I wonder how may other things I’ve missed on the trail? Have I trampled any such wonder underfoot?

Take time to stop, look, and listen. And while you are at it, take time to relax and enjoy the company of family and friends. Step off the beaten path and forget about the noisy, hectic world for a while. If you can, share the beauty of the world with others.

The rat race will be there when you return to it… trust me.

Changing Your Life

Whatever you’re looking for must first be found within you, whether it be peace, happiness, riches, or great accomplishments. ~Earl Nightingale

I see people every day who wander aimlessly through life. They appear to have no goals, no dreams, they aspire to NOTHING. I will posit that what people appear to be outwardly is a physical manifestation of what they are inwardly. In simple terms: YOU are what you THINK.

When people are wandering aimlessly, this is a definite sign that they have been programmed to believe that dreams are the province of children. They are afraid of failure and recall, vividly, every attempt they’ve ever made that went wrong. Rather than discovering that mistakes are part of the learning process and an opportunity to grow, they feel that life has kicked them in the teeth and they feel humiliated.

When Earl Nightingale said that whatever you are looking for must first be found within you, he meant that you have to first believe in your ability to accomplish what you set out to do. Goals are funny things. If you can’t convince yourself that you can do it– whatever IT happens to be– then, why bother. So the people that I’ve mentioned previously start wandering aimlessly. They become reactive, not pro-active. They are sheep and circumstance simply prods them in the rump as they meander from one dull moment in their life to the next.

Again, you are what you think. It’s time to change that.

You have to start with goals.

Take a critical look at your life, what you do, where you live. What would you really like if given the chance to get it? Make a list of the things you would like to change. Think about the job, hobbies, even the kind of people with whom you associate. What would you like to do differently?

Putting together a list of changes like this is a start to creating goals. Once the list is made, you are ready to start building the life you really want. Some things might be easy to change. Others will take a little time or study.

Remember this point: If you can see yourself accomplishing any of these goals, you can make them happen. It all starts with the belief that you can do it. On that note, I will leave you with one of the greatest quotes of all time:

Whether you think you can or think you can’t, either way, you are right. ~Henry Ford