Intrigued by a reference during a recent business meeting, I picked up the book “Rules for Renegades” by Christine Comaford-Lynch. Apart from an extremely high recommendation, I wanted to touch on one of the more powerful moments I experienced and have thus “borrowed” from Christine. 

As an entrprenuer, I have an insatiable curiosity for learning, exploring and improving new ”things”,  and an equally ambitious attraction to the thrill, work and reward of a new venture - of taking risks.  Although I haven’t always seen it as such, failure in my life now is a virtually non-existent term.  Where there is no sense of failure, there is no apathy, complacency or pessimism.  Anything is possible.  Thats is what I believe.

And while I have always had an unexplainable, unshakable and often frightening (to others :))drive when it comes to pursuing my passions, challenging norms, acheiving success and “making things happen”,  I had never thought about the declaration of any formal decision to cement and guide my future searches and ventures.  Atleast, not until I met Ms. Comaford-Lynch. 

In her book, Chrisitna doesn’t say she is a high school drop out, or lament over her lack of college degree.  However, she doesn’t ignore it either. She owns it.  She “made a decision to drop out of high school” and “made a decision to drop out of college” (a college she talked her way into without a high school diploma!).  And a few years later, she made the decision to be a millionaire. Three years and ten million dollars after she made that decision, she began helping others do the same. 

The compelling aspect to this “decision” awareness exisits in its practicality.  Making decisions is so commonplace - an everyday, multiple times a day occurence, on several levels ranging ifrom life changing to soda flavor - that I lost sight of their purpose…and of thier power.  A decision is a plan - a promise - the follow through.

After researching the web to find a solution to a very “Ohio” problem that BOTH my huband and I are facing with our cars, I found a post that I wanted to pass on. Enjoy!

Help! My cold engine won’t start

It is a cold Melbourne morning. Your feet are freezing, your scarf is so tight you feel as though you are strangling yourself and your fingers will not work because they are blue and cold. You slide into the front seat behind the wheel and turn the key. Nothing happens. Well it is winter! Now what do you do? Call the car repair shop? Buy a new, better car? Or you can do few simple things to prevent this happening.

Starting a car with a cold engine is easier said than done, and there are times it can be a real frustration particularly if you live in the hills or areas that get exceptionally cold. Getting late for work, missing deadlines, not being able to drive the kids to school: these are just some of the things that happen when your car refuses to start due to cold engine. How to avoid this from happening?

Cold weather will come; that’s for sure and inevitable. The trick is to not let cold engines stop you from driving your car without hassles.

Firstly, because cold weather affects liquid evaporation. When it is cold, petrol evaporates less, making it more difficult to burn. By the time petrol burns sufficiently, it is already too burnt for the car to use properly.

Secondly, a cold engine might have problems in starting because oil happens to get thicker in cold weather. Oil, just like any liquid, changes consistency when exposed to very low temperatures. The oil then may my not properly circulate in the car engine.

But oil is not the only problem, as car batteries are affected too by cold weather. Since batteries function through chemical reactions, cold weather can severely hamper those necessary chemical reactions, making it hard for you to start your car. You end up starting the engine futilely as the batteries struggle to spark a chemical reaction.

When these three difficulties occur at once, then it becomes clear that you really won’t be able to start your car anymore. What to do then?

Spray ether into the engine to help evaporate the petrol quickly and help your engine to start. Opt for thin synthetic oil which has better resistance from coagulating in the cold. Also, park your vehicle inside a garage where it’s warm and sheltered. Leaving it out in the cold is a sure-fire way to deaden your engine. Never miss a family or business appointment again!”

***This is a great website for all car problems! http://articles-cars.blogspot.com/2007/12/help-my-cold-engine-wont-start.html

BREAKING NEWS: December 19th, 6:28PM

Timothy Carroll, the youngest of three boys, has just announced that he is awesome.