Expose Yourself #2 - Straight to the T.O.P.

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In this series of articles, I talk to people who have been successful at taking control of their lives, making a name for themselves, and helping others to do the same. I’m very fortunate to have met them, and very thankful they have agreed to spend a few minutes talking with me to share part of their stories. We’re going to delve into what it took to propel these people from ordinary lives into extraordinary lives. We’ll find out where they’ve been, where they are, and where they’re going as each guest is asked to “Expose Yourself”.

My guest today was rather unexpected, but I knew when I saw her that I had to talk to her. Hailing from Portugal, she spent many years of her life building businesses to the break-even point and then selling them off for a profit, so she knows what it takes to build one. She's been to several countries throughout Europe in this pursuit, and even came across the pond several times a year for vacation, until she met a restaurateur in need of her specialized talents, and found in him something missing in her own life. The two married and she took over his restaurant and turned it into something special. For the last six years, she's been in Palm Coast, doing what she does best: making her customers glad they came to her.

Currently she's running the Taste of Portugal restaurant in Palm Coast, Florida, which has great food and a relaxed environment; allow me to introduce Maria Diamanfino!

MD: Hello, everyone!

JC: Thanks for talking with me, Maria! Wow, are all Portuguese women as pretty as you are?

Chumming the Waters

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Yesterday, I took my first deep sea fishing trip in about 25 years. My dad fondly remembers he and his dad going out on the ocean to fish, and I recall going out there one year with them and being somewhat bored. I've never been that interested in fishing, but it's good time to spend with my dad, so I was happy to do it.

The ride out there took the better part of two hours, and I ALMOST made it before I had to chum the waters.

10-4 Good Buddy!

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It's that time of year again: National Talk like a Trucker Day!! Ahoy there mateys! Er, I mean, hit that hammer lane and watch out for the four-wheelers, you got bears in the air, gators on the zipper, and the chicken coop is open, so watch your back door for diesel weasels and stay out of the pickle park.

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Civilization 5 Got Blasted

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Over on CivFanatics, they linked up a review of Civ 5 done by a guy named Sulla, who is known for his unbiased reporting and for giving very good walk-throughs for the Civilization series. Unlike the big-name magazines and websites, Sulla doesn't have a personal stake in deceiving anyone to buy a bug-ridden, poorly made game, so he doesn't have an obligation to hand out high ratings. He doesn't get insider information or kickbacks, which means he doesn't have previews and giveaways and such, but then if you guys had an iota of patience and waited for the honest reviewers to have their say, you wouldn't be pre-ordering a game and then feeling ripped off by it.

Things aren't always what they appear, you know. Just because a bunch of people tell you something is good, that doesn't mean it's actually good. If you stop and consider that all these sources of information have a vested interest in lying to you to get you to spend money, you'd realize you're being played for a fool. Kind of like how a friend got played when a girl he met once had been preceded with raving compliments, but when he met her, he found out she was just a phony. It works the other way, too; a guy I know was constantly being bad-mouthed something horrible, and then when I met him, I found out he was actually quite a decent fellow. When someone sees themselves as your master, they lie to you to get you to do something you otherwise wouldn't.

You know what I think?

Attack of the 10's!!

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OMG! We're being attacked by 10's! And I don't just mean hot girls, either!

It's 10/10/10!

Worse, it's also 10:10:10! Fear! Panic! End of the world!

Forget 2012, the zombie apocalypse starts NOW!!!

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What makes for good TV?

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Everyone who knows me is aware that I watch very little television anymore. I was born in front of the TV just in time for Primetime and I didn't move until I was 23, when I joined the Navy. (A tough time to do it, too, because Babylon 5 was in the middle of its run! I missed a lot of critical episodes.) Since being in the Navy, I found I didn't need TV at all. When my dad came to visit me, he had to buy a TV for me because I didn't have one. Lately, I've started watching it a little, mostly educational stuff like Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman, and Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe, and some History Channel and Science Channel stuff.

My roomy watches a lot of TV, and sometimes I sit in the living room with my computer so I can write stories and such, and he's watching almost everything they put on cable now, so I get to see a lot of shows in a bystander sort of way.

One show he introduced me to was Burn Notice. OMFG, that's the best show I've seen in a long time!

OTOH, you'd think something like Ghost Whisperer would be good TV, what with Jennifer Love Hewitt showing off her cleavage all the time. She's talented, the others on the show are talented, and it's got a topic I find a little interesting. But I don't watch it, and the roomy doesn't watch it anymore either. Why?

Shh-it's a Secret!

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Thanks to Jay Leno for that headline...

I just wanted everyone to know that THIS GIRL LOVES ME!! (So nya!)

You may be seeing a lot more of her around here later, so start liking her, or I'll write you out of my will. (You guys ARE aware you can click on the pics for a closeup, right?)

Shortly after this picture was taken, the tree fell into the water. She started flailing and screaming about how she was drowning, and wanted me to jump in and save her. I rolled my eyes. I wasn't going in there after her, there could be gators in that water! Besides, climbing on the tree was HER idea.

Writing is Easy

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They say everyone has a story in them, but not everyone knows how to tell it, and not everyone knows how to sell it. Wouldn't it be nice if you could tell your story in a way that others found interesting, entertaining, even gripping? And heck, why not make some money at it?

Today, after attending a great book-debut party put on by a local publisher, I had the pleasure of reading through a very interesting new book, written by four fun people, about how to write.

Why am I, master writer that I obviously am, reading a book on how to write?

Because it's not one of those typical books on how to write. It's better than that, and this is why: