Kaizen Media Blog

The music of Mozart is of such purity and beauty that one feels he merely found it — that it has always existed as part of the inner beauty of the universe waiting to be revealed.
— Albert Einstein

Featured Martini for
Wednesday, December 27, 2006 
Candy Apple  Martini  

Ingredients:
Green Apple Sour Puss
Butterscotch Schnapps
Cranberry Juice

Mixing Directions:
Combine equal parts Sour Puss, Schnapps and Juice
Stir well over ice
Pour into glasses

He Says: “Tastes just link a Candy Apple!”

She Says: “This is my #1 Favourite Martini which I would happily drink every single day!”

He who knows all the answers has not yet been asked all the questions.
- Unknown

An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while a pessimist sees only the red stoplight… The truly wise person is color- blind.
— Albert Schweitzer

A bluebird in the garden, a spirit in a house, a kind man on the side of the road. Americans are big believers in angels, although not necessarily the ones with halos and wings.

An overwhelming majority, almost regardless of backgrounds and religious convictions, think angels are real, according to an AP-AOL News poll exploring attitudes about Santa Claus, angels and more.

Belief in angels, however people define them, is highest — almost universal — among white evangelical Christians, 97 percent of whom trust in their existence, the poll indicates. But even among people with no religious affiliation, well more than half said angels are for real.

Among the findings about angels and Santa:

_Protestants, women, Southerners, Midwesterners and Republicans were the most likely to believe in angels, although strong majorities in other groups also shared that faith. Belief in angels declined slightly with advanced education, from 87 percent of those with high school education or less to 73 percent of those with college degrees. Overall, 81 percent believed in angels.

_86 percent believed in Santa as a child. And despite the multiethnic nature of the country, more than 60 percent of those with children at home consider Santa important in their holiday celebrations now.

_Nearly half, 47 percent, said Santa detracts from the religious significance of Christmas; over one-third, 36 percent, said he enhances the religious nature of the holiday.

_91 percent of whites believed in Santa as a child; 72 percent of minorities did. One quarter of those now living in households with incomes under $25,000 did not believe in Santa.

The poll of 1,000 adults was conducted by telephone Dec. 12 to 14 by Ipsos, an international public opinion research company. The margin of sampling error for all adults was plus or minus 3 percentage points.

If it’s one thing to believe in angels, it’s something else to explain exactly what an angel is.

“A presence that you feel around you, is my opinion,” said Elizabeth Daves, 63, of Flemington, N.J. “I accept them — to come whenever they want to.” And she said they came, and have comforted her, since her mother-in-law died in their house.

Edward Pelz, 80, of Grabill, Ind., said he believes that angels are guiding him, even though it’s impossible to explain to anyone else.

“Have I ever seen one? Nope. We depict an angel as a person that’s white, has a robe on, has wings on back. I’m not sure that’s the way they look. So for me, I think sometimes there’s angels that aren’t that way.”

Pelz recounted a story about a man who showed up to change his tire when he had a flat in Ohio five years ago.

“I look at life — I say, well maybe I had an angel with me here today. It could have been just another man doing a good deed.”

Although Santa took knocks in the poll for diminishing the religious nature of the holiday, some grown-ups who considered him a benefit to the season cited the spirit of selfless giving that he represents.

“Now, if you are using Santa Claus to push a $100 robotic dinosaur, then that’s a problem,” said Ron Montgomery of Louisville, Ky. But the 64-year-old grandfather counts himself as a Santa believer to this day.

“It’s the whole atmosphere,” he said. “Santa Claus is the spirit. The trees, the church, the whole works. You actually see more of your neighbours.

“It’s a feeling. It’s not like a ghost. It’s an attitude.”

Pelz felt another spirit when he walked into his backyard on a winter’s day — that of the wife he lost over two years ago. He called her Mom.

“She loved bluebirds,” he said. “In the wintertime, we don’t have bluebirds. I was out in the back, thinking, ‘Mom I’d like to see you,’ and this little bluebird comes by.

“I don’t know, maybe that’s an angel. It was just something I wanted to see. Maybe I imagined it. Next thing you know, it flew off. What is an angel? Is an angel something that has a heartbeat like us? Or is it …?”

The thought trailed off.

___

AP writer Nancy Benac, AP’s Manager of News Surveys Trevor Tompson and AP News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this story.

Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.
— Unknown

Featured Martini for
Wednesday, December 20, 2006 
Classic Martini

Shaken, not stirred

Ingredients
Vodka
Dry Vermouth

Mixing Directions
Combine equal parts vodka and vermouth
Shake well over ice
Drop olive into each glass
Pour into glasses over the olive

He Says: It’s classic, what else can I say.

She Says: I was sold at olive.

So you’re thirsty and all that you have available is either a warm can of pop or bottle of warm beer. No worries, all you have to do is put them into a bucket of salted ice water and gently agitate them and you’ll have a cold beverage in 2 minutes.

If 2 minutes was the difference between life and death and you had a C02 fire extinguisher available then you would be able to chill your beverage of choice even faster according to Mythbusters TV show.

Each choice we make causes a ripple effect in our lives. When things happen to us, it is the reaction we choose that can create the difference between the sorrows of our past and the joy in our future.
— Chelle Thompson, Editor of Inspiration Line