And now, a message from our sponsor

Well, actually, I am my own sponsor. So, nothing wrong with taking an ad for myself on my own blog. Right? Last year and this year has brought me an enthusiastic increase of interest in The Smile Side of Life, giving me hope that another reinvention of myself - this one completely of my own design and on my own schedule, is on the horizon. So here is my PSA - Personal Service Announcement. More information at www.njlaughter.com Let's talk about bringing the Smile Side of Life to your "neck of the woods."

How I Started Living on the Smile Side of Life - and you can too!

(JAMESBURG, NJ) In 2010, Noreen Braman—who had already reinvented herself in 1997 after a contentious divorce—was reeling from a corporate downsizing, dealing with a economic recession of historic proportions, and facing her own midlife issues. Soon  her  skills as a strategic communications professional, humorist and performer would send her in a new direction.

By the end of that year, she became a certified Laughter Yoga Leader, had her mind blown at a conference called “Can Humor Save the World” and studied the Psychology of Laughter at Rutgers University. In 2012 she added certification in Laughter Wellness, studied the Science of Happiness through Berkeley University of CA in 2016, joined the Association for Applied & Therapeutic Humor (AATH) and has been presenting laughter for the health of it through her Smile Side of Life Laughter & Happiness Club presentations ever since.

Noreen is again “reinventing” herself, this time to take her message about laughter to the world on a full time basis. This means spending time analyzing financial implications, doing as much as possible on a part time basis, and “working” all the promotional outlets she can find, including local events and social media. IN April 2019, she will add another giant step to the process with her Keynote presentation at the Society for Emotional Intelligence's 9th Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida. And on May 4, as part of an early celebration of World Laughter Day, she will be presenting free sample sessions of Laughter Yoga/Laughter Wellness at the Health and Wellness Fair at Brunswick Square Mall in East Brunswick, New Jersey.

Noreen credits Dr. Paul McGhee’s book “Humor as Survival Training for a Stressed Out World" as helping her understand the importance of humor and laughter to all humans. With the physical and emotional health benefits that come with humor, laughter and mindfulness, Noreen deals with her fibromyalgia and thyroid disease with humor, reminding us all that yesterday’s problem can be today’s funny story. 

 

Recently, she expanded ways of helping others enhance well being, with a workshop of self-discovery through developing a vision, mission statement, and strategic plan for one's own life. Noreen’s own vision and mission statements can be found on her website at www.njlaughter.com, along with more about enhancing well being with laughter, helpful articles she has written, and videos.

Find out how you can bring the Smile Side of Life to your workplace, organizational meeting, conference, event here!

Titan's Big Adventure at My House of Mayhem

Because a story is always better with a dog, here is the incident summary of "Titan's Big Adventure." Because, whether you are troubleshooting a computer or mayhem in your house, a clear list showing cause, effect and solution is required.

1. Titan arrives at my house Thursday night, for a weekend at Nanny's dogsitting camp and performs his traditional "holy crap" panic pee on the floor.
2. At bedtime, Titan paces the floor crying until I realize he has no real fur coat, no body fat, and is freezing.
3. Blankies applied.
4. Friday the house gets colder and colder until the furnace finally gives up.
5. LOML is working another double shift.
6. The furnace, which is in the attic, can only be accessed by pull down attic stairs. Previous furnace repairpersons have refused to work on it. Calls to repairpersons are not returned.
7. Plus, Christmas ornaments are blocking access to the furnace, (organizing attic storage is on the TO DO when time list.)
8. Ornaments removed after midnight when LOML arrives home. He will leave again at 7 AM to return to work.
9. Furnace blinking "4" Airflow problem, possible bad blower motor. (2 year old furnace!)
10. "Sort of" dirty air filter removed. VOILA.
11. Takes time for house to warm up. Electric heaters on.
12. Saturday morning. 6 AM. Sleepy-sounding repairperson returns emergency call for help. (It was 10 degrees last night!) Thanks, we fixed it. (here is where it really reminds me of some of the "support desk" calls I have made for software/hardware assistance, only to end up solving the problem myself.)
13. Put on electric tea kettle.
14. Check email, watch news.
15. TV signal lost. Set Top Box not communicating.
16. Go to internet, follow set top box troubleshooting steps.
17. OMG, what is this mess of wires behind TV! (Another To Do when Time list item)
18. Half hour to untangle and organize wires.
19. Troubleshoot set top box, no result, go back to internet instructions.
20. Internet goes down.
21. Call brother in law — is your Cable/Internet down? Nope, it is just me.
22. Walk through reset of WiFi box with brother in law.("I have to do this 3 times a week...")
23. Still nothing.
24. Whatever happened to my tea? I need a break.
25. Teapot cold. No power in kitchen.
26.  Notice electric heater no longer on in living room
27. (lightbulb emoji!). Blown circuit breaker, realize Cable/Internet box in attic must be wired on that circuit.
28. Titan (the pup whose adventure this is) watches from under blankets on couch.
29. Open electrical box. (Sooner or later we were going to mark these breakers.)
30. Especially that one that used to always go when we tried to run the air conditioner and the microwave.
31. That one that looks like it is still on even though it isn't.
32. Play circuit breaker roulette. Offending breaker marked with red nail polish. VOILA!
33. Lights, cable, tea kettle! (quick, unplug that heater)
34. Titan finally gets to go outside and pee. (Thanks for not panicking!)
35. Tea, toasted bagel, TV and WiFi. Apple for Titan; he listened to my complaining and didn't make remarks about the dirty furnace filter and the overloaded circuit.
36. Realize that non-tv/cable wires are still in a ball behind the TV.
37. LOML is still at work.

    

    Thanks for the support Titan. Maybe I can comb my hair now,

    
    

    
    

The End? Still another day left in the weekend.


Filed under: Expanded troubleshooting steps for TV/WiFi/Tea Kettle/Random Lights outages.

I am the Daughter of Laughter & Chaos

How to Live on the Smile Side of Life Even When You Don't Feel Like Smiling

"Here's a little song I wrote
You might want to sing it note for note
Don't worry, be happy..."

Bobby McFerrin, "Don't Worry, Be Happy

There is a great webpage full of quick tips out there: www.30seconds.com - because in today's crazy, superspeed world, a little web byte at a time may be all the time you have to devote to yourself. I am currently working on a 5 Minutes for Me philosopy, which I will share soon, but in the meantime, here is a tip I wrote about how to Live on the Smile Side of Life even when you don't feel like smiling. 

Are You Living on the Smile Side of Life?

Keeping the Ho Ho Ho in the Holidays

As promised, the Holiday Edition of the Smile Side of Life podcast. Also available on iTunes!

Keeping the Ho Ho Ho in the Holidays

A Message on Thanksgiving 2018

Was going to create a silly or funny #Thanksgiving greeting, but after such a cluster of horror this year, I offer this, with the knowledge that, each day is precious.

A Note to My Co-Workers on the Night of Murphy's Snowstorm

Today, I left the parking lot at 3:30 pm, after spending 15 minutes clearing my car. Took Rte 1 south, to avoid the Ryders Lane mess. Slow going, but it moved. Turned into Milltown, headed toward home via the usual back roads, at at about 20 mph. Slippery, but drive-able.

Passed one car stopped in the middle of the road with flashers on. Passed another car stopped in the middle of the road with flashers on. Passed a tractor trailer stopped in the middle of the road with flashers on. 

Turned onto Cranbury Road at 4 PM into stopped traffic.

Watched the gas gauge go down - the only thing moving on the gridlocked road. Finally reached WaWa around 4:35. All gas pumps blocked off. No gas. Actually, no pumps. Second day of "pump replacement." 

Concerned about waning gas level while sitting in traffic, ("30 miles") decided to stay at WaWa until non-moving traffic dissipated and would allow me to get to the 1/2 mile away gas station for a fill up.

Bought a coffee and a sandwich. Sat in the car with radio on, but car not running to save gas. Dripped sriracha all over my coat. Around 5:20 pm the radio cut out. Attempts to start the car were met with "that" clicking sound.

Dead battery.

Rescued around 6 pm by LOML. Left car at WaWa because traffic still backed up, and even a jump would not guarantee getting to the next gas station.

Home now. Car still at WaWa. May need to call AAA to come give a jump in the morning. First have to find a way to get there. Snowstorms often demand people in security work (aka LOML) to stay on post.

Conclusion: Murphy's Snowstorm obeyed its own law by causing as much havoc as possible at the worst possible time. 

Unsure of morning arrival time.


Epilogue: 
 I returned to my car after the traffic cleared and was unable to jump start it. AAA was summoned, although my stressed out brain confused both AAA and me, when I referred to my car model as a "verizon" and I stuttered for a few agonizing second until I blurted out the real make and model of my car.

The LOML and I dozed in his warm car, until AAA arrived, and it was amazing how quickly the new battery was in and I was ready to go.

Still needing to solve the low gas problem, I suddenly realized that work had been completed at some point, and all I had to do was turn my car around and head to the one pump that was open at that time of night.

Finally, with a new battery and a full tank, I drove home over formerly gridlocked-ice packed roads and got home, for the night, at 1 AM.

This morning, the sun is shining, the snow is gone from my local roads, and New Jersey os shaking her head, thinking "What the heck did I do last night?"