Gaia Herbs has helped advancethe understanding of echinacea through research funded by federal Small Business Innovative Research grants; introduced the EarthBottle™, an all-natural, plant-based, biopolymer composite resin technology for packaging dietary supplements and body care products; made charitable donations of organic produce through its Community Supported Agriculture project; supported naturopathic medical education, including the annual Medicines from the Earth Symposium now in its 18th year; and developed its 250-acre commercial, educational and research farm in western North Carolina, and key support for an 800-acre public-private botanical sanctuary and medicinal plant research farm  in Costa Rica. Gaia Herb’s newest offering is an industry-first traceability program, “Meet Your Herbs”™, that allows people to confirm the purity, integrity and potency of the herbs within its products.

I was reading an article from RISMEDIA, March 8, 2010 quoting some staggering statics. ComScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, released a study on social networking access via mobile browser. The study found that 30.8% of smartphone users accessed social networking sites via their mobile browser in January 2010, up 8.3 points from 22.5% one year ago. Access to Facebook via mobile browser grew 112% in the past year, while Twitter experienced a 347% jump.

Mobile Browser Access of Facebook and Twitter Posts Triple-Digit Growth
Access of leading social networking sites via mobile browser continues to see significant growth. In January 2010, 25.1 million mobile users accessed Facebook via their mobile browser, up 112% from the previous year. MySpace attracted 11.4 million users, approximately half that of Facebook, in January. Interestingly, Facebook’s mobile browser audience surpassed MySpace in February 2009, three months earlier than the Facebook audience exceeded that of MySpace on the PC-based Internet in May 2009. Twitter, which has experienced tremendous growth in both mobile and PC-based visitation, attracted 4.7 million mobile users in January, up 347% versus year ago. These figures do not include access of the social networking services by the nearly 6 million mobile phone owners who do so exclusively through mobile applications.

See you on Facebook and Twitter!  Happy posting!

Over these last few days I have been following closely the desperate pleas of a fellow Rotarian and friend, Matthew Beck, as he tries to get word about his brother missing in the rubble of Hotel Montana in Haiti. Brendan, an engineer doing consulting work in Haiti, checked into the hotel for a night to catch a flight to another part of the country the next day. His mother is angry that she’s not getting information from the government; U.S. officials say they’re doing what they can under difficult conditions. As I followed postings on Face Book, my heart and emotions wrenched with him and his family as they tried to gleam any information leading to Brendan’s whereabouts.   The highs – the lows – the unknown – the known – was all not without a mixture of emotions. Seeking help from all avenues – running into road blocks – mixed signals – miss information.

I want to share a posting Matthew made Friday the 22nd of January:

“Life is precious. Never did I anticipate the possibility that the last glimpse of my brother would be looking over my shoulder to see him walking toward Pennsylvania Avenue on January 1. It’s something I’ll never forget. Treasure the moments you have with those you love.”

Below you will find a a of video feed from CNN and a news report from WLOS channel 13 in Asheville NC telling about Brendan Beck.

If you are so moved, please contact your elective officials to make sure they bring all the missing Americans home.

FROM WLOS CHANNEL 13: Arden resident Matthew Beckand his father Barry are in Santo Domingo desperately trying to find out the fate of his brother who’s missing in Haiti. Brendan Beck was believed to be inside the Montana Hotel when it collapsed in the January 12th quake. He was last heard from minutes before the earthquake struck. They say they’ve had trouble getting information from the State Department and have had to rely heavily on information from social networking sites. Brendan’s 35th Birthday was last Friday. He was in Haiti working as an engineer.

Looking forward to 2010!

Buyers and Sellers alike are looking forward to the New Year and are starting to plan what will be a priority when it comes to real estate. According to a Move.com survey, beginning a home improvement project is the most popular resolution, with 37.7 percent of Americans wanting to spruce up their homes.

Here are the rest of the top ten real estate New Year’s resolutions.

1. Start a home improvement project (37.7%)

2. Start saving money so you can purchase a new home (15.4%)

3. Fix my credit so I can buy a home next year (9.1%)

4. Become a first time home buyer (7.2%)

5. Refinance my mortgage or modify my loan (6.8%)

6. Learn more about local real estate condition in my community (5.5%)

7. Sell my home next year (5.2%)

8. Buy investment property (5%)

9. Talk to a lender about what I can afford for a new home (3.2%)

10. Purchase a home to live in myself next year (2.2%)

“Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.” -Oprah Winfrey

Image via New Voices of Philanthropy Blog

Are you making a Resolution this year (Professional or Personal)?

If so, what is it?  If not, why?

• Retail sales rose 1.3% in November 2009, prompting some to suggest consumers were ready to spend in earnest this holiday season
• Americans’ net worth—the value of assets such as homes, bank accounts and investments, minus debts such as mortgages and credit cards—rose 5% last quarter to $53.4 trillion

It was the second straight quarterly increase.

But the recovery remains in its early stages. Since the recession began in December 2007, more than 7 million people have lost jobs, ballooning the unemployed to 15.7 million. And despite recent gains in Americans’ net worth, it remains far below its peak of $64.5 trillion before the recession began. That underscores the vast loss of wealth in the last two years.

Goebel offers the following tips for a financially-healthy 2010.

Examine your goals

What do you want to accomplish with your money besides just making more of it? “Financial issues are, at root, decisions about what is important to us and what is not,” said Thomas Murphy, a certified financial planner at TEMAA Financial in Dallas. “How we choose to spend our money should reflect things which are important and deeply felt, not whims or ego-supporting extravagances.”

Tracking your spending and analyzing your purchases will help you shift your resources to what’s important to you. Knowing where your money is going also will help you break wasteful habits. Murphy suggests documenting every penny you spend for three months. This exercise will create habits that will permanently change your behavior.

Set up a spending plan
“Give yourself an allowance with each paycheck,” said Michael Miller, certified financial planner at Miller Premier Investment Planning LLC. “Put your allowance in an envelope and spend it on discretionary items such as dining out, entertainment and shopping. Once the envelope is empty, you are done until the next paycheck.”

Pay down debt
“Credit cards are great conveniences, but credit card debt is evil,” said Mickey Cargile, a certified financial planner and managing partner at WNB Private Client Services in Midland, Texas. “You will never know personal freedom until you stop deficit spending.”

Get reacquainted with using cash. When you’re counting out dollar bills from your wallet, the price of an item hits home.

If you can’t break the credit card habit on your own, card issuers are leaving you no choice. In advance of new credit card regulations that will take effect in February 2010, issuers are raising interest rates, instituting fees and slashing credit limits. You can’t afford to max out your credit. It will harm your credit score and leave you without credit for emergencies, such as a job loss.

Boost your savings
“The lesson for 2009 is that the things that your mom told you turned out to be true,” Murphy said. “Spend less than you earn and put more money aside for a rainy day because a rainy day will come.”

One convenient way to do that is to set up an automatic savings plan—from your paycheck or your bank account—so you don’t get a chance to spend the money you’d save. “Make sure that you have three to six months’ worth of living expenses set aside in a separate account to take care of life’s unexpected moments,” Miller said. “If you are short, you should create a plan to restock your fund as quickly as possible.”

Have an emergency plan
“Jobs can end at any time,” Cargile said. “Plan for the contingency of losing your job and surviving an extended unemployed period.” Be specific in your emergency plan. “Plan for how you will immediately cut expenses as much as possible,” Cargile said. Cancel subscriptions and cable TV. Eat at home.

Tips for 2010
Here are some tips for developing a strategic plan for your finances in 2010:
-Set specific, realistic financial goals.
-Take control of your finances. Know how much money is coming in, how much is going out and where it is going.
-Create a spending plan for you and your family.
-Lay out a plan to shore up your savings.
-Manage credit carefully; pay down or pay off your credit card debt.

Here is what Wikipedia has to say about my home town, Brevard, NC:

Brevard is a town in Transylvania County, North Carolina, United States. The 2005 population estimate by the United States Census Bureau was 6,643. It is the county seat of Transylvania County^[3].

Brevard is located at the entrance to Pisgah National Forest and has become a noted tourism, retirement and cultural center in western North Carolina. A moderate climate, environmental beauty and cultural activities attract relocators to the area.

Brevard is the home of Brevard College a four-year liberal arts institution with nationally-recognized programs in music and environmental studies. The town also is home to Brevard Music Center, one of the nation’s preeminent summer music teaching and performance institutions. Brevard also boasts an extensive local music and arts community.

The city is nicknamed “The Land of Waterfalls” due to the many waterfalls in the area, including Looking Glass Falls, Connestee Falls, and Sliding Rock.

The Mayor of Brevard is Jimmy Harris. To date he is the youngest Brevard Mayor to have been elected (age 37). He is currently serving his 5th term.

Brevard is home to the Brevard White Squirrel Festival [1] Approximately 25% of Brevard’s squirrels are white squirrels, according to an annual survey conducted by the White Squirrel Institute. [2]

If you think this sounds interesting and would like to have more information about my home town in Western North Carolina, give me a call today.

In this age of instant information -

instant gratification -

data overload -

we at times forget the humanity behind the written word.

So I would like to say a simple THANK YOU for following my Blogs.

It’s nice to know what interests me also interests some of you.

I enjoy connecting with great folks all around this great country

and the world we all share.

Suspect and Strange!

Upon further delving into the situation, she realized the message was part of a Video Virus circulating FaceBook.

Here is the question – why would anyone find pleasure in creating so much havoc?

Too much time on their hands?

A sick sense of humor?

Just think if all that talent could be put to better use – they could do so much GOOD!

Sherwood Forest in Cedar Mountain NC is making local, national and even international news with their Llama Caddies. Aubrey Woodard, Diane Woodard’s husband, and granddaughter Alex was shown on NBC national news Sunday Night with the Llama Caddies. Here is an article about the Llama Caddies posted in The Hendersonville Times News Online:

The game of golf invokes many thoughts: peacefulness, natural beauty, camaraderie, and, maybe after a bad tee off, absolute anger. But it’s highly unlikely that llamas — yes, that’s right, llamas — would ever be associated in most golfer’s minds with the sport.

Well, Sherwood Forest Country Club hopes to change that. For the past two months, club pro Brian Lautenschlager and Great Smoky Mountains Greenskeepers Inc. owner Mark English have been training 11 llamas to caddy for golfers. And as bizarre as the idea may sound to most, it was a no-brainer for Lautenschlager.

“Obviously they’re a great attraction and will turn heads when you’re driving by the course. And Sherwood is kind of in an isolated location, so I thought it’d be something unique to get people out to see us,” he said. “And one thing I thought about when deciding to do this was why get a bunch of carts when you can do something unique with an animal and have less damage done to the golf course.”

Thus far the risk has paid off in spades. As one of two courses in North Carolina offering llamas as caddies — the other being Talamore Golf Resort in Pinehurst — the attention has been more than anyone could have expected.

“People, whether they’re golfers or not, are intrigued by the animals and the uniqueness of it and they’ll come in just to take pictures,” said Lautenschlager. “And people call me from all over the country — one person told me he heard about us on a nationwide talk show, which was cool.”

Every Tuesday morning the llamas — which are kept on a nearby, 7-acre farm — are fed and saddled with specialized harnesses capable of holding two sets of clubs. Once prepped, they trek out two at a time with golfers with a trained supervisor there to tend to the animal and act as a more traditional caddy. After nine holes, the animal is taken to a “llama litter box,” where they use the restroom, and back out they go to finish the round.

By STEPHEN ROPER
Times-News Correspondent
Published: Monday, July 20, 2009 at 7:57 p.m.