In its ninth annual survey, Chief Executive Magazine polled 736 CEOs, the largest number ever, about the best and worst states in which to do business. The results should make all of us less than proud–that is, unless you’re a trial lawyer. “The bottom line is that California is one of the most litigious states in the union.” We seem to forget that the enormous amount of money, paid out to trial lawyers and plaintiffs, originally was intended for vital social services and public safety programs.

The survey asked business leaders to grade states based on the following criteria: quality of workforce, living environment, and taxation and regulation. California placed dead last, the same rank it received in 2012, right behind Illinois and New York. Texas ranked No. 1, followed by Florida, North Carolina and Tennessee.

How bad is it? In California, more than one million lawsuits are filed every year. While some of these lawsuits have merit, many do not and these lawsuits are costing each and every one of us.

While legal reform might not be specifically listed as one of the issues in the survey, it was on the minds of these 736 CEOs when they responded. The legal climate is as critical to whether a business stays in a state or relocates as anything else, and a single abusive lawsuit can cost a company an enormous amount or put it out of business altogether.

Tom Scott, Executive Director of California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (CACALA) did not mince words in a written comment on May 8, 2013. “If I were trying to grow a state’s economy, I would probably listen to someone who knows how to create jobs and is making decisions on behalf of shareholders, investors and employees. I think the time has come to take seriously all these various surveys that come out and rank California at the bottom or close to the bottom of nearly every category when it comes to our business climate.”

Scott said state legislators deserved part of the blame for “creating incentives for legal abuse.”

“The state of California has continued to pass law after law after law, regulation after regulation after regulation, and what it amounts to is more and more opportunities for litigation,” Scott added.

For decades we have heaped more laws and regulations on the books that have resulted in more lawsuits. While California is moving slowly in the right direction on legal reform, a lot more needs to be done.

If California is to move up the annual CEO list, it is imperative to reform its legal climate. We should be humiliated and angered that we are dead last. Call your California State representatives and senators and remind them that their job is to represent you the people, not give gifts and pay homage to the trial lawyers.

 Michael Arnold Glueck, MD, Newport Beach, is an ornery curmudgeon who has written extensively on medical-legal issues. Dr. Mike can be reached at drglueck@roadrunner.com.

Want to know the difference between demand and supply side economics? Grab another cup of coffee, ’cause you may find this one ranks with counting sheep. The subject is dull as dishwater, so I’ve injected bits of (excitement) to help you muddle through.

Since the Depression, liberals have championed Keynsian economics. They argue that demand drives economic activity. When demand falls short, the economy dips into recession. Built-in stabilizers help, but, when these aren’t enough (Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction), the government should help raise demand with stimulus spending (Prince Harry naked in Vegas).

Too often the boom side of this recipe is ignored. During booms, government should run surpluses and restrain demand. For example, during the Reagan boom, Congress should have raised taxes to generate surpluses. Taxes did go up during the Clinton expansion and we got surpluses (Jalapeño cornbread). Keynsians still argue that if Bush had foregone tax cuts in his first term, it would have been easier to cut taxes and run a deficit when we really needed a boost in 2008-9 (Obami Tsunami).

Conservatives don’t like demand theory because it justifies government action. They came up with supply side economics as a counter theory (Cubs win World Series). Supply siders argue we should focus on shifting the supply curve rather than the demand curve. OK, how do we do that?

The answer is you shift the supply curve by lowering costs of production. Republicans seized on a couple of tools to do this, i.e., cut business taxes and eliminate costly regulations. They tend to go a bit overboard (Red Bull martinis). Not all taxes are business taxes. Personal income tax cuts (including dividends and personal capital gains) don’t shift the supply curve. And when you deregulate too much, you risk throwing the (baby sitter) out with the bathwater.

Supply siders could include a bunch of other cost lowering weapons in their arsenal, but they don’t. Improving infrastructure by building better roads, ports, electric grids, the internet, etc. would lower costs for private companies (cheap suits).

Better public education would lower what businesses spend on training. Better healthcare raises worker productivity. Government spending on R & D offers cost savings and productivity gains to the private sector. So if shifting the supply curve is really the answer (cloud computing), why don’t Republicans want to include these strategies in their economic kit bag?

The explanation (Holy Sarah Palin! Sorry – didn’t mean to scare you) is that these strategies also require government activity, and no conservative wants to be caught advocating government intervention, even if it would help end a recession. So ideology trumps economic theory (Crazy Contradictions).

The body is a funny fickle machine at times. Like a computer offered the wrong password, the body given too much of something, even a good thing, can simply respond with a big “NO” that lights up a pathway of pain.

It’s the body’s way of talking, but many of us refuse to hear the call. We are creatures of habit and so are our bodies, forming patterns conducted over and over again without much thought. And in our fast-paced, over-stimulating world of time constraints and multi-tasked days, we offer these rituals to our bodies in the many hours of neglect and oversight produced in our movements.

Simply growing older also puts repetitive stress on our bodies as we run, walk, sit, and bounce our way continuously through life.

Bursitis, the inflammation of the bursa which is the connective tissue structure surrounding a joint, can appear in the shoulders, elbows, knees, ankles, buttocks, hips, and thighs. With a lot of repetitive motion, these tissues can become irritated and inflamed–for instance, lifting something over your head repeatedly.

And it is not necessarily the curse of athletes. Even standing or sitting on hard surfaces for long periods of time over and over again can cause the bursa to cry out.

When confronted with the nagging pain of bursitis, watch your movements and postures you use everyday. It could be an elbow sitting on a hard surface each day or getting out of a car that puts unwanted pressure on certain muscles and joints.

Find ways to redistribute pressure on joints by moving around every so often or improving a situation such as stepping on a stool or ladder to reach something that is up too high.

Flexing and working the body in yoga and pilates keeps the connective tissues sinuous and helps the cells release the buildup of toxins. Low impact exercises like aqua aerobics is beneficial as well.

Foods are also a good way to reduce inflammation found in bursitis. Reworking the diet to include fresh greens (kale, spinach, and celery) juiced or eaten raw provides the body with anti-inflammatory benefits. Celery contains natural sodium that flushes out the system and cleans the cells of built up toxins.

Increasing antioxidants in the diet helps destroy free radicals and toxins that cause cell damage and inflammation. Kale, spinach as well as apricots, asparagus, beets, broccoli and cantaloupes all include carotenoids that help protect and repair cells from damage. Other free radical busters are vitamin E and C–walnuts, sunflower seeds, avocados, and mangos are rich in these benefits.

Ground flax seeds, and salmon, both high in omega-3s, are excellent food sources to help reduce inflammation. Pineapples and papayas contain bromelain and papain respectively that can also ease the pain and swelling from damaged tissues.

Filling the body with more alkaline producing foods benefits not only sore joints, but internal functions that keep the body healthy.

Reduce dairy and red meat. Avoid too much salt. Stay away from refined grains and starches sticking to whole grains, and foregoing the fast, processed food arena. Instead boost your meals by eating a good amount of foods raw. Raw also gives the body the needed reprieve from the burdens of digestion. This frees up energy for the body’s more important function of healing itself.

And drink plenty of fresh, pure water so the body and joints stay supple.

The young boys in our neighborhood love fireworks, and the best time of year for them is just around the corner. 

Starting in warm April evenings just after dark, they begin to rehearse with a few repercussive rounds in the park behind our house. Last night, a few went off in the wee hours of the morning, and in the couple minutes it took me to get back to sleep, I wondered about how it is that our sense of hearing stays “on”  all the time—even as we doze.

Seth Horowitz, a neuroscientist at Brown University whose book “How Hearing Shapes the Mind,” explains in detail the amazing circuitry that shapes our capacity to hear. 

During sleep, hearing is still at work, the brain using an exquisitely sensitive volume control so that attention gets called only to certain sounds and noises.

For example, I may not notice a door closing in the house if I know other people are supposed to be home, but if my sleeping mind knows no one else should be there, the alarm system wired into my sense of hearing causes that door creak to awaken me. Hearing is a faster sense than vision. It takes a full second to respond to something seen out of the corner of your eye, but hearing something that goes fireCRACKer in the night gets a response ten times faster. 

So if our hearing is so great, why do we hear so many people say, “You never listen!”

In my office, couples who are working through a glitch, and teenagers and their parents, say those words to one another a lot. The problem isn’t that the desire to listen is missing, it’s that being a good listener, or an active listener, is really hard work, and not everyone knows how to do it.

Active listening requires two things from us:  Attention and intention. We have to turn the volume down on those things that compete for our attention and distract us, and turn up the “volume” on the attention we pay to the person who’s speaking. Since we only remember between 25 to 50 per cent of what we hear, most of us walk away with only half of our daily conversations in our pockets.

Listening well is a talent that has to be practiced. To be better requires a conscious choice to understand the complete message you hear. The brain gets excited so easily, especially the emotional center, which encourages us to react or defend ourselves before we’ve heard the whole message. Don’t form counter arguments, statements, or even reassurances while you’re trying to listen. Attend to the speaker with your full attention. Silently repeat the words you hear as they’re being said to you, and wait until the speaker is finished before asking questions.

None of this means that there aren’t times when you might lose focus or feel too bored to listen well. It’s not criminal to be real and just tell someone that this is not be the best time for you, and offer some alternate times to listen. 

In 2003, David Issay founded the “Story Corps” project, in which thousands of Americans  record conversations with a loved one in which a question is asked, and listened to. In addition to being archived in the Smithsonian, the collection has been made into a book, “Listening Is An Act Of Love,” by Issay.

I really like the title, and believe it’s true.  You give of yourself in the truest most selfless way every time you set aside all of your mental machinery for a few minutes and really tune your ears in to someone you love.

Hear every word—it really is an act of love.

 Ruth Wimsatt is a psychologist practicing in Newport Beach and can be reached at (949)222-3285 or at ruwimsatt@gmail.com.

]]> http://www.newportbeachindy.com/hear-here/feed/ 0 http://www.newportbeachindy.com/lynns-spin-electric-poker-run/ http://www.newportbeachindy.com/lynns-spin-electric-poker-run/#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 08:02:55 +0000 Lynn Selich http://www.newportbeachindy.com/?p=14432

On Friday, I participated in my very first electric boat poker run, this one in support of the Leukemia Lymphoma Society, part of the Leukemia Cup Regatta activities being held here in Newport Harbor, which I wrote about in my Feb. 16 column.

The Leukemia Cup Electric Poker Run & Auction was organized by Las Commodoras, the women’s auxiliary at Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club. BCYC is hosting the Regatta Cup races and activities May 17 – 19, and on July 13, with all funds raised going to LLS.

In case you’re not familiar, an electric poker run involves visiting different destinations around the harbor via electric boat – in this case five private home docks – where we were greeted by the hosts and given a card bearing our assigned number (this prevents any temptation by participants to “muck” their hand). The hands are then tabulated back at the dock and winners announced.

My website, OCSocialScene.com, is an official media sponsor of the Regatta, so I invited eight friends to join in the poker run fun.

As we all boarded our Duffy, like every good captain should, I pointed out where the personal flotation devices were stowed, who was in charge of drinks, who would navigate, who would keep another eye out for other vessels/kayakers/paddle boarders, where the trash receptacle was located, etc.

Launching their individual leadership skills into action, there was a flurry of activity as each gal took charge of her designated assignment. We left without incident, following the trail of electric boats to our first destination.

Though I had assigned my friend Robyn to navigate with the map we’d received, it wasn’t too tough to find the homes since there was always a line of electric boats heading in the same direction and queued in front of each dock. (I must say, on top of a fun day for a great cause, I also honed my Duffy driving skills considerably as we all got in line and waited for our turn to tie up at each dock.)  

  As the champagne flowed (not in the captain’s glass I might point out), sushi and hummus were passed (captain did enjoy a plate) and before I knew it, along with multiple conversations and questions bouncing around (“Which one is John Wayne’s house?” “Isn’t Lido back that way?” Who’s got the wine opener?” Please pass the edamame!”), I didn’t have one navigator, I had eight.

Suddenly, the event began to feel like herding cats, not just out on the water, but on board as well. I say this without malice but with all the tenderness in my heart, for all I could do was crack up as I concentrated in getting us back to BCYC before we all went deaf.   

If you’ve ever been seated next to a table of nine women during brunch or dinner at a popular restaurant, you can imagine the scene. The only difference is that we were underway and I kept having to put on my mental cone of silence to concentrate on driving the boat since I am pretty sure the Dory fisherman down at the pier could hear the commotion. The more each gal talked or gave instructions, the louder each got trying to talk over the others.

This is one of those “you had to have been there” stories to truly appreciate the flavor of the afternoon, but I have to say, I love my friends’ well-meaning, assertive personalities (which I suppose is why we’re friends!) and their desire to steer their captain in the right direction.

We got back to the BCYC dock safe and sound and in the same manner we started. The girls had the Duffy ship shape in no time and off we went to peruse the fundraiser’s silent auction followed by dinner with our hubby’s who no doubt were regaled by our stories of the day’s adventure.

Leukemia Cup Regatta events this week include a Family Bingo Night on May 17, Junior Leukemia Cup Regattas on May 18 and 19, and Harbor 20 Leukemia Cup Regatta on May 19. The final event, PHRF Leukemia Cup Regatta, will be held on July 13. For more information, log on to leukemiacup.org/ocie or bcyc.org.  

Columnist and some time Duffy captain, Lynn Selich, resides in Newport Beach. Reach her at Lynn@OCSocialScene.com. 

“Try to remember, the kind of September, when life was slow and oh, so mellow…”

“The Fantasticks”

My parents met while performing in a play, so it’s no surprise I have theater coursing through my veins. Make that musical theater, because my dad – whose voice sounded much like that of Robert Goulet – performed in a succession of musicals throughout his life.

My earliest memory of seeing my dad on stage was in the role of El Gallo in “The Fantasticks,” first at The Laguna Playhouse during the summer of 1965, and later in San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and multiple other towns over the next 20 years.

Having seen the play countless times, it’s no surprise that I’ve memorized most of the dialogue and songs. It’s one of those sweet, charming, simple musicals that weaves memorable music around a universal story about love and longing (as El Gallo tells the audience, the play is about “a boy, a girl, two fathers, and a wall”).

It’s also a wildly popular play: after opening off-Broadway in 1960, it ran for 42 years before closing in 2002. A revival opened a few years later, which is still running. The play has been done in dozens of countries around the world, and thousands of productions have been staged in theaters throughout the U.S. The plays signature song, “Try to Remember,” is considered a musical theatre classic.

South Coast Repertory is the latest local theater to stage “The Fantasticks” (it opens this weekend and runs through June 9).

Knowing that SCR seldom does anything by the book, I talked to actor Perry Ojeda, who plays El Gallo in SCR’s production, to find out what makes this production different–and does different actually work for this play?

“I did one production of ‘The Fantasticks’ (ten years ago) that was pretty much like the original version, but this is not that at all,” Ojeda told me during an interview earlier this week. “Not to give anything away, but…the director and creative team have decided to approach this world by having El Gallo introduce and seduce and entertain the audience through magic. You’re surprised by things that appear, so you know that in this world you’d better expect the unexpected.”

“I was at first skeptical, because I hold the original version in such high esteem,” added Ojeda. “When I came to the first rehearsal, I wasn’t sure it was justified. I cannot express what great reservations I had. The show has been running since 1960, so you’d better have a good reason for doing it differently.”

Ojeda said the setting is an abandoned amusement park, and he and another character (The Mute) are like ghosts haunting the amusement pier that tell a story in a magical way.

So does this new concept work?

“Before the first preview, I was not sure if audiences would buy it. A friend of mine saw the second or third preview last weekend, and told me the production really surprised her. She loved it. Audiences love it. The reaction has been…there is rock star screaming. I am startled at how people are reacting to it. The theatre has been packed.”

“If you know ‘The Fantasticks,’ prepare to be delighted and surprised,” stated Ojeda. “Even if musicals are not your cup of tea, this is a musical you need to see–it’s that surprising and delightful. You can bring the entire family. I am surprised when I look out at the audience because there are high school kids and 80 year olds, and everyone in between.”

 ”The Fantasticks” plays Tuesdays through Sundays, through June 9. For tickets, call (714) 708-5555 or visit SCR.org.

Tick Tock.

Each beat of your heart is like a tick on the clock of life, each hour making up a chapter, until you have a tapestry woven together from ticks and tocks – mistakes, wisdom, and experiences bound together to form a life story.

In Nancy Klann-Moren’s novel, “The Clock of Life,” we meet Jason Lee Rainey, a young boy growing up in the 1980’s in the small southern town of Hadlee, Mississippi. Raised by his single mother, Cassie, after his father was killed in Vietnam, Jason Lee is on a journey to learn not only who his father was as a man, but who he himself is, and whether or not he has the constitution to be the man his father would want him to be.

Although the book takes place in the era of neon clothes and the moonwalk, the setting makes it feel as if the story is unwinding a couple of decades earlier. Not exactly on the cutting edge where much of anything is concerned, Hadlee, Mississippi is still a place where folks gather in town on the weekends to do their shopping. A place where men fraternize at the hardware store, women gossip over a cup of coffee at the diner, and where it is hard for a little white boy with a dead daddy to be friends with a little black boy.

Since his mama is a private person who finds it difficult to open up about the past, especially his father, Jason Lee turns to others on his quest to learn about his daddy, J.L.  Through stories told by others, including his father’s best friend, Wally, Jason Lee begins to piece together what a remarkable man his father was.

While he was killed in the same “conflict” in Vietnam that also incapacitated Jason Lee’s Uncle Mooks, J.L. Rainey first discovered conflict in himself when he found that he couldn’t stomach the South’s attitude about race. Never one to shy away from anything, J.L. became involved in the civil rights movement, even participating in the march from Selma to Montgomery with Dr. King.

His involvement in the cause paved the way for the son he would never get to know to one day be able to form a deep bond of friendship, against all odds, with a black boy named Samson Johnson.

In a passage from the book, Jason Lee, who was being tormented for his friendship with Samson, said, “Our friendship happened in an instant and felt as comfortable as an old pair of sneakers…Even so, I slowed when we got close to school, thinking [the bullies] might spot us. But then I remembered my daddy got forty-seven stitches across the back of his shoulder so Samson and I could be friends. I mustered up the courage to run and catch up, to walk beside him.”

As Jason Lee grows older, and his friendship with Samson deepens into a brotherhood, we begin to see more and more what the consequences of going against the grain in a place like Hadlee can be. As he simultaneously reaches the pinnacle of his quest to know his father, and begins to truly come into his own, tragedy strikes, and the life that Jason Lee has known begins to unravel. It is at this point that he truly finds what he is made of, and discovers that he is, after all, his father’s son.

Rich with vibrant characters, Klann-Moren’s tale shines a light on how two pivotal events in our nation’s history – the conflict in Vietnam, and the Civil Rights Movement, shaped the lives of everyone in this small town.

Brought to life by a first-class storyteller, “The Clock of Life” is one of those books I was sad to see end.  As the story’s clock ran out, however, I didn’t regret a single one of the ticks and tocks we spent together.

 A finalist in the 2013 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, “The Clock of Life” can be found on Amazon.com.

By Amy Senk | Corona del Mar Today

The South Coast Air Quality Management District has released information about air samples collected this spring from near beach fire rings, according to the agency’s website.

The website, updated this afternoon, also states that a decision on whether to ban beach bonfires throughout Los Angeles and Orange counties could be delayed from the board’s June 7 meeting. Spokesman Sam Atwood said in an email that the board instead will vote at its July 5 meeting or later.

The agency’s air quality samples did not exceed federal standards, the website states, but pollution from wood smoke was higher near the beach bonfires and exceeded public health guidelines for short-term exposure.

“One fire pit in one evening estimated to emit as much PM2.5 as one Heavy-Duty Diesel Truck driving 564 miles,” according to a preliminary assessment.

“Measured levels of particulates varied widely depending on weather conditions, the level of beach fire activity, and location,” the website states. “In parking lots near beach fire pits, fine particulate pollution concentrations from wood smoke were as much as 10 times higher than typical background levels. In nearby residential areas, particulate concentrations were up to three times higher than background levels.”

The air monitors were placed at Corona del Mar, Balboa Island, Huntington Beach and Dockweiler State Beach since late March using both mobile and fixed air monitoring devices, the AQMD website states.

“Tests were conducted for particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) as well as black carbon and ultrafine particles,” the website states. “These levels of fine particulate from wood smoke did not exceed the federal 24-hour standard for PM2.5, but they did exceed public health guidance levels for shorter-term exposures.”

The website notes that wood smoke contains toxic, cancer-causing chemicals as well as “common combustion pollutants such as nitrogen oxides.”

“Numerous health studies during wildfires, and in communities where large amounts of wood or other biomass is burned, show that wood smoke causes respiratory irritation and an increase in hospital admissions for respiratory problems,” the website states.

The AQMD will continue “air monitoring at fixed sites near beaches in the near term, and will report results to the public as they are available,” the website states.

In March, technicians from the South Coast Air Quality Management District installed air quality monitoring equipment on the roof of the concessions building at Big Corona State Beach. Prior to the installation of that equipment, technicians took air samples during the Persian New Year celebrations, where all the beach’s 27 fire rings were in use.

AQMD staff previously declined to say specifically where other tests were being conducted, citing worries that the results could be tampered with if the public knew where the equipment was placed.

Meanwhile, Newport Beach Mayor Keith Curry and other local mayors met today to discuss the proposed beach fire ring ban.

The proposal to ban all beach bonfires grew out of a request by the City of Newport Beach to the California Coastal Commission, seeking permission to remove the city’s 60 fire rings because of concerns from liability over injuries at the fire rings and the dangers of wood smoke.

The Coastal Commission in March delayed a decision because the SCAQMD was going to consider an overall ban.

If the AQMD board votes on July 5, their decision would still be before the Coastal Commission’s July 10 meeting, which is the last meeting that the commissioners could consider the Newport Beach permit to remove the rings while still meeting regulatory timelines.

“What do we do when life catches us off guard and it doesn’t look like what we imagined it would?” asked Rebekah Lyons, author of “Freefall to Fly: A Breathtaking Journey Toward a Life of Meaning.” 

“It turns out we don’t have the control we thought we did. My biggest fear in life was mental illness, and then I started struggling with it myself. I began having anxiety, panic attacks, and low-level depression. I felt crippled and lived in fear.”

Rebekah spoke about her new book recently to almost 100 women at the home of Newport residents Ines and Jim Franklin. The book details Rebekah’s journey from depression and anxiety to discovering a life of meaning.

“We just launched the book, and the Franklins are friends who’ve really cheered me on and wanted to host an event in honor of the book,” Rebekah said. “Ines is wonderful; she hosts many meaningful events.”

“Rebekah’s generous heart and visionary mind shine through every page of “Freefall to Fly,” Ines said. “She shares a warm, brave, and vulnerable view of her journey from struggle to redemption, and anxiety to surrender. Her goal is empower women, and she encourages her readers to run toward a God who is full of compassion, and, as we find Him, to help each other.” 

Rebekah and her husband, Gabe, were in southern California recently from their home in New York for a whirlwind week of events, beginning with hosting a three-day conference at the Nokia Theater in L.A. called Q Ideas, a Christian conference that began in 2007 out of Gabe’s vision “to see Christians, especially leaders, recover a vision for their historic responsibility to renew and restore cultures.” 

Annual Q gatherings take place in Atlanta, Manhattan, Austin, Chicago, Portland, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. At the recent conference, Gabe interviewed a diverse lineup, including TV producer Mark Burnett, and Bob Hurley, founder & CEO of Hurley.  

Gabe was a technical advisor on Mark Burnett’s “The Bible” miniseries on The History Channel, which was seen by 42% of US adults.

 Rebekah was one of many featured speakers at Q, and she also spoke at Franklins about the downward turn of her life when she and her family moved from Atlanta to New York.

“I thought it was going to be an exciting adventure,” Rebekah said. 

But moving away from the safety net of the familiar into the intensity of New York, while raising 3 children, including one with special needs, proved overwhelming, and Rebekah began a downward spiral.

“Sometimes we need a freefall to teach us how to fly,” she said. “God met me and caught me. There was a link between my anxiety and feeling purposelessness. I finally asked God what my calling is that only I can uniquely fulfill. That meant learning what makes my heart sing and what breaks my heart. That also meant being honest about struggles and failures.”

Rebekah is eager to share her experiences and discoveries in hopes of helping others flourish and fly.

“Be courageous,” Rebekah continued.  “Let’s stop keeping mental illness a secret.  Secrets lose power when we talk about them. Let trusted friends know what is really going on inside you so they can rally around you with support. And let them share their struggles honestly too. We are each created uniquely with our own gifts and we need to affirm the gifts we see in each other. Let God use you to help others discover their gifts and help bring them to life.”

For further information, go to rebekahlyons.com. Cindy can be reached at cindy@onthegrow.com.

My mom bought Wyatt a pair of cheap plastic walkie talkies from CVS this past Monday. It’s good to know that walkie talkies still have relevance in our digital, high tech, 4G world. Truth is, I don’t even understand the science behind how these simple communication devices work. I am still trying to figure out how the soup cans and string worked so well.

Within seconds of unscrewing the tiny screw which held on the back with a Philips screwdriver and snapping in a 9 volt battery, Wyatt was in business.No charging, no downloading software, no agreeing to conditions, no instruction manual necessary.

I have to admit, I was pretty excited too. Holding one of them in my hands brought me right back to my childhood. Pushing down the talkie button, I walkied into my room and asked if Wyatt could hear me.

He indicated just outside my bedroom door that he could. My bedroom door was still open, so I told him, sans the walkie talkie to go into another room, to really test it. He went into his bedroom and I said,

“Take off your jeans, put them in the laundry and put on your pajamas.”  

The crackly response came back, “I’m in the laundry room now mom”

When Sally got wind that Wyatt’s new walkie Ttalkies were operating, an entire walkie talkie society ensued complete with notes on her huge dry erase board. All told, it was a fun night, but Sally, as is typical took a little too much control and Wyatt, tired, past his bedtime, finally made his way into my room frustrated with his bossy older sister. I told everyone it was time to stop, but they insisted on debriefing me on all their hard work.

They brought the dry erase board into my bedroom, where I was already in bed.  The board was divided into sections with notes under each one. Everything from the Rules of Being a Spy, and Undercover Techniques, to What Not to do with a Walkie Talkie and  Code Words.

First things first, a list of what Walkie Talkies are for:

1. Staying in touch with your partner.
2. Receiving/giving info.
3. Inputting ideas.

And, what not to do with a Walkie Talkie:

1. Don’t yell into it.
2. Don’t drop it.

Simple enough. But then things started to get interesting. They taught me how to talk in code. Here’s some of their inventions.

 “Natural Volcano” means I have to go to the bathroom.

“Your skirt is too high” means you can be seen.

“I’m throwing away the moldy cheese” – I’m turning off the walkie talkie.

“The hat is off” – they know.

Also according to Sally and Wyatt, among the most important qualities to being a spy are: “Stealthiness,” “Ninja-like,” “on the spot thinker,” “take all missions seriously,” and being “disciplined.” 

And finally: rules for Spy Slang:

Instead of saying can you hear me – say do you read me.

Whenever you use a code word you have to say it twice and say, “I repeat,” such as “Natural volcano. I repeat, natural volcano.”

Rather than ask your partner, “Where are you?” say “What is your position?”

I know one thing about my position – walkie talkies are as cool as ever. And as far as I know there is still no app for pure imagination. I repeat, there is no app for pure imagination.

Over and out.