Chicago Trip

Last Sunday, I went to Chicago with my friend Rodger to give several lectures at Northwestern University. Entertaining/Educating people is great. I get to be myself 100% and I get help people. There is a feeling I can’t describe when people start asking you questions, write notes and are keyed in on your every word. Rodger and I presented our keynote lecture “Are you a BAD apple?” Then we did breakout sessions on leadership and how to motivate people.

We did the same lecture in Youngstown on Friday to a group of 200 school staffers and employees. With both lectures, the something unexpected happened. People started reciting the information we gave them and they started begging for our promotional items. We’ve made up t-shirts, stickers, handouts and buttons. People love them.

We were so busy with our lectures, we never made it into the city. Northwestn is north of the city. I've been to the Chicago airports at least six times, but I still haven't made it into the city. I'm getting closer though. I made it out of the airport this time!

Below are some pictures of the presentations and our logo. If you want a t-shirt leave a comment.

BadBad Apples Red Logo
BadBad Apples Green Logo

Time to Blog!

I haven’t had much time lately to type on my blog. I finally found some time. I’m typing this on the airplane. I’m on my way to Arizona for some rest and relaxation I’ve decided to take some time and post (type) a few things to make the time fly by.

I’m planning to change a few things up on my blog.
#1 With all the traveling I’m doing I’m going to pursue one of my dreams…be a travel writer. Starting with this trip and some upcoming trips, I plan to give information, tips and links for the places I’m visiting.
#2 I still plan to leave pictures from my trips so people can see what’s going on in my life.
#3 I plan to type some editorials and observations from my daily life and adventures.
#4 I like to have fun, so I plan to have at least one funny story, website or picture every week.

I’ll be sure to name these sections. My blog is coming up on it’s one year birthday. I’ve had a lot of fun, so far. I plan on taking things up a notch her in year two.

Please keep reading…..Frank

The Four Letter "S" Word

You have to love living in Northeast Ohio! It's only October 12th, but today we had our first snowflakes of the year! The news just reported that this years snow is 1 month and 2 days ahead of last year! It didn't snow for long and the snow didn't stick, but it reminded everyone that winter is around the corner. Pretty soon people will be using that four letter word that starts with the letter "S"......SNOW!

Its tough to think about winter, considering I was just in New Orleans running with my friend Brian. We did a 4 + mile run around the city. Brian lived in New Orleans for 3 months so he took me on a jogging tour of the city. The temperature was in the 80's. It was hard to believe it was October. After returning to the cold weather of Ohio, I definately know what time of the year it is. The crazy thing is, the leaves on the trees are just starting to turn colors.

I'm craving some warm weather. I'll be in Arizona next week, and I'm not sure I'll want to come back!

The picture above was taken from my balcony the other night.

Where in the World is Frank?

People have been asking me where my next trip will be so, here is my upcoming schedule or trips and lectures. Airports and the road will be my home for the next couple of weeks.

10/6-10/8 New Orleans, LA
10/13 Youngstown, OH (Lecture - Teacher's Conference)
10/14-10/15 Chicago, IL(Lecture - Northwestern)
10/19-10/22 Arizona
11/9-11/12 Peoria, IL (Work)
12/1 Columbus, OH (Lecture - Insurance Convention)

More dates and information to come. Be on the lookout for more great pictures!

New Orleans

Weekend Leadership Retreat

This past weekend my co-workers and and I took our students out of town for a Leadership Retreat. The weekend is used to teach students leadership skills and help develop teamwork. It's a nice getaway. The students I have this year are a lot of fun. The retreat is held at the St. Leondards Youth Retreat Center in Avon, Ohio. Below are some pictures of the Center on Sunday morning. I woke up early and walked the property and took some pictures as the sun was rising.

Are you looking out for #1?

Are you looking out for #1?

Thats a question/conversation I've been having with a lot of people lately. I started to think about this tonight, when I was doing something to take care of myself. I was getting a massage tonight at the college tonight. The massage therapy program looks for volunteers for their students to work on at different times of the year. The massages are definitely relaxing and work out the kinks, and they're FREE!

While I was laying on the table I started thinking about how the hour to take care of "me" would help out in several other areas of my life. Work, friends, people I deal with, my health. I was reading a handout a good friend showed me last night and it listed things people could do to live more productive and healthy lives. My friend showed me his chart, and showed me how he barely did anything to take care of himself, but put a lot of his time and energy into work and other things. He was pretty stressed, run down, unmotivated and blah. He said "I really need to take care of myself, I don't have the energy to spend time with my wife and kids."

We started to talk, and I asked him what he did for himself. I've asked a lot of people this question. Do you look out for #1?

We had a speaker come to owork last year and she made a great comment..."People spend more time taking care of their homes, cars, material items, and work then themselves. You can get new job, new possessions, but you only get one body!"
Those comments, really make you think. You can't have healthy relationships, possessions, work, etc if you don't take care yourself. If you're not healthy mentally or physically you won't be able to take care of yourself or the people you care about. If you're not alive, you can't have possessions or a job.

Your life is the #1 thing you have, but we'll put more time and effort into work then ourselves. We hoard our vacation time making comments like "I can't take a vacation because I'll have a ton of work when I get back from vacation." We don't look out for #1. If you don't remove stress and negatives from your life, then you're crabby or act poorly around the people you're close too. If you don't rest, you perform poorly at work or other things that are important to you. If you don't watch your health, you can't be their for your significant other, spouse, family, or friends. It all comes back to #1!

Isn't it amazing how people will treat cars better than themselves. People will go get service on their car, but won't take time to go in for a check-up at the doctor. They'll get their car washed or top notch gas, but won't treat themselves to anything.

So, I hope everyone reading this will take the time to figure what they can do for themselves to make themselves happier, stressfree, healthier, more motivated, positive, etc. You can't do anything if you're not around to do things. Once you take care of yourself, you'll have a better chance to achieving all of your hopes and dreams!

For people who say their too busy or don't have time, think about this. You'll take an hour to watch your favorite tv show, but you won't take 20 minutes to work out. You'll get good gas for your car, but buy crap food for yourself at the store? Makes you say hmmmm!

Life is short, do what you can to enjoy it and live it!

Good Luck to everyone! Take care of yourselves and take care of the one thing you'll only get one of. Life..."You!"

Here are some random pictures I found while organizing some files on my computer! I hope you like them!

My Trip to Arizona

I was in Arizona last weekend. I was a little busy this week, so this my first chance to type about the trip and show off some pictures. I had a great time. The weather was perfect! I can't wait to go back. I went to see my friend Kelly. She was a great tour guide. On Saturday, she took me to Tucson and we went to the PIMA Air and Space Museum. The Museum is next to the Airplane "Boneyard." AMARC (The Boneyard) is where the US Military retires all of their airplanes. The planes are preserved, scrapped or used for spare parts. There are over 5,000 planes at the "Boneyard" for more information, click on the following websites:

PIMA Air and Space Museum
AMARC Experience










Thanks, Kelly. I can't wait to visit AZ again!

Training to be a Bartender

On Tuesday night, I took a bartending class. It was a lot of fun. I don't know if I'll ever work as a bartender, but now I know a few more things about making and ordering drinks. You never know, if I ever need some money on the side, you might see me pouring/mixing your drink. Until then, the next time I have a party at my place, I'll be ready to make some martinis and daiquiris for my friends!

Revenge of the Chapstick

Something I have on me all the time is my chapstick. My lips dry out fast, so I pull out my chapstick and I'm good. Today the chapstick wasn't my friend! I was doing my laundry and stupid me forgot to check the pockets of my shorts. I'm sure anyone reading this can see where this is going. I just happened to be washing my "light" clothes. This included a lot of white clothes. My chapstick is wild cherry flavored...yep, a nice red color!

After conducting a CSI type investigation. I'm sure the chapstick was fine in the washer, but once it got to the dryer......my light clothes didn't have a chance! If any of you happen to stop by goodwill and see some pants and t-shirts with a nice array of pink poka dots, they're probably mine!

A few things are soaking clorox, but there were a large # of casualties in the Revenge of the Chapstick!

Cool Picture

A friend sent this to me. I thought I would share it.



The following is a picture taken directly above these camels in the
desert. It is considered one of the best pictures of the year. Look
closely, the camels are the little white lines in the picture. The black
you see are just the shadows!!

9-11

Monday was the 5th Anniversary of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. The police department at work held a rememberance ceremony. Here are some pictures from the ceremony. One of the comments brought up during the ceremony was..."1 out of 4 Americans knows/knew someone envolved directly in the events that took place that day." A few years ago I found out one of my high school classmates died in the World Trade Center. Some of my students were so moved by that day, they set up a memorial at the school between two twin trees.

Here are some pictures from campus.

Go Buckeyes!

On Saturday I went to a friends house to watch some college football. The Ohio State Buckeyes versus the Texas Longhorns. My friend Robert is one of the biggest Ohio State fans I know. He couldn't wait to throw a party. The Buckeyes won (killed Texas) and you couldn't wipe the smile off of Robert's face. Here's a picture of Robert and his grand daughter Nakaya. He's converting her into a Buckeye's fan already!