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San Antonio, Texas - Home of the Alamo

Nestled in the heart of downtown San Antonio lies one of the most famous reasons why visitors come from all over to see this interesting city. In a classic story of bravery and sacrifice, a band of men held their ground against far superior numbers in a desperate battle that helped shape the history of Texas. The Battle of the Alamo has been the subject of multiple films and historical accounts.

Touring the grounds at the Alamo provides an interesting perspective into the past, and easily imparts a reverence for the lives that were lost in trying to defend this ground from the attacking army led by Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. At the same time, it is difficult to visualize how the battlefield must have looked when the fighting actually took place, as the modern city of San Antonio surrounds the Mission on all sides. The battle lasted from February 23 to March 6, 1836. Though the Texans lost this fateful battle, events at the Alamo inspired others and helped rally forces to victory over Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto.

The city of San Antonio and surrounding attractions make this place a wonderful spot to take a long vacation. This tourist friendly city offers a wide variety of interesting sights that include both glitzy attractions and more unique places to settle back and relax. If you are not a native to the southern United States, you might want to consider planning your trip to San Antonio between the late Fall through early Spring months. Just like in Florida, the hot and humid months of the year are pretty brutal in this part of Texas.

Other interesting attractions in the city include the famous river walk area that runs through town, Hemisfair Park, the Mexican markets, La Vilita, the Alamo Dome, the Rivercenter Mall, historic neighborhoods, botanical gardens, an amusement park, and plenty of great places to eat. San Antonio also has growing residential and shopping areas developing north of old downtown.

At the Hemisfair Park, there are an impressive array of fountains which surround the observation tower in the middle of the park. The city offers any shutterbug ample opportunity to capture a wide range of beautiful and memorable photo opportunities. The people who live in San Antonio are very pleasant and friendly to talk with, which adds to the distinctive and unique atmosphere that makes the place worth coming back to visit more than once. Downtown is very pedestrian friendly, and it is easier to park the car and walk to the various attractions in this area than to try to drive all over the place. If you like to walk at a leisurely pace, there are few other cities better suited than San Antonio to spend several days getting around town to see the sights. Getting a room in downtown San Antonio is an excellent way to take advantage of the many things to do in that area.

Entrance to the Alamo

Inside the Mission grounds

Have You Considered?

1. What would happen if the Earth's magnetic poles shifted 90 degrees?

2. If the only thing holding back fuel cell technology is a distribution system, who would be willing to solve that problem?

3. How impressed would a primitive person truly be with their first sight of a cigarette lighter?

4. How many hairs does it take to support the full body weight of a person weighing 150 pounds without pulling the hair out?

5. How far does an audible sound travel in the air before it can no longer be heard?

6. How long does it take a man who is skimming television channels to recognize what is on one station before changing to the next?

7. What is the average size of a room that leaves a person feeling like the room is too big for a single person?

8. If maggots only consume dead flesh, how do they detect the difference between live and dead flesh?

9. How many people live within reasonable walking distance of their work?

10. How do the courts establish the difference between interpretation of the law and manipulation to create unintended meanings for a law?

11. Why do cats seem attracted to human body odor?

12. Where in the world are the most new species discovered, and how often is a new species identified?

Rants Raves And Other Stuff

In one of the latest moves to raise the price of everything to even more ridiculous heights, the food industry has started promoting the sale of "organic" foods. I understand the principles behind the movement to grow foods and raise animals without pumping everything full of pesticides, antibiotics, hormones, and other techniques used for assembly line food production. Nearly everything mankind does to "improve" on nature gets us in trouble sooner or later. With all this taken into consideration, there are still some real issues that bother me about our new trend toward becoming "food huggers."

The first thing that bothers me about naturally grown foods is that it costs more to eat something that saves all those dollars otherwise spent on expensive chemicals, hormones, and equipment used to grow mass quantities of food. Having tranquil cattle grazing lazily across an open field takes up more space, and requires more time for the animal to get naturally fat enough to take to market. When plants are grown without using pesticides or other chemicals, more of the crops are lost to insects and other natural problems in bringing the crops to harvest. Longer production times and higher risks for losses raise the price of naturally grown foods. This is why farmers came up with all those techniques for higher yields and faster growth in the first place. Food retailers have taken a signal from the oil companies in how to get more for less, and jumped enthusiastically into offering over priced "organic" foods at way more than the over priced non-organic foods. Meanwhile, farmers try their own hand at selling one of their biggest cash crops to come along in a long time by producing huge quantities of corn that can be sold to create ethanol, and raise the price of other foods as livestock have to give up their grain food in order to keep cars on the road.

One more little trick associated with the labeling of more costly "organic" foods is the potential for some real fraud. When I go to the grocery store and see a bag of soy nuts with a label that reads "Organic Soy Nuts," and this bag of nuts costs almost twice as much as a regular bag of soy nuts, my inner alarm goes off in a way that cannot be ignored. Using a simple term like "organic" to describe these supposedly healthier and more naturally grown foods is a train wreck waiting to happen. It is only a small step to see how some crook will get the idea of putting the "organic" label on foods that were not grown naturally. I can almost see the court case where the crook will be explaining to the judge that he decided to call his product "Organic Peas" because the peas themselves are an organic substance, and therefore, no fraud or deception was intended in selling these products at over inflated prices.

There is no way for the average consumer to verify that any food labeled "organic" was actually grown or raised using only naturally available techniques. Any food that is a derivative of a plant or animal can legally be called an organic substance, and could legitimately carry the description of the word organic as part of its product name.

Since there have not apparently been any widespread complaints about over priced foods carrying the word "organic" on their labels, everyone who purchases these products appear to be happy to presume that this label means they are getting a naturally grown product. Well, suppose everything with this new wrinkle for selling higher priced goods is completely on the up and up at present. Even if this is currently true, the over simplicity of the presentation reeks of a program designed for deception out of the starting gate.

With the history of our food and packaging industry's tendency for creating misleading advertising and false claims on packaging, this new business is ripe for a whole sequence of frivolous law suits and debates to come along in the near future. Eventually, there will be a contest between lawyers that represent the battleground between consumers and industry to establish clear terminology designed to guide consumers toward making informed choices in alternative foods and how they are raised. Using the adjective "organic" on a package of food is clearly not definitive enough to ensure that buyers are getting the kind of product they think they are getting.

The present terms were likely selected intentionally by the industry to pave the way for making a quick income boost before the controversy begins. Those responsible for this push understand that they may have to eventually reimburse some consumers for creating false and misleading claims, but not before a significant amount of money can be gained from creating the avenue for higher profits. It will take some consumer complaints and time for the government watch dogs to investigate allegations before anyone can try to prove that anyone is intentionally trying to pull off an "organic" food scam. If the practice is then proven fraudulent, there will not likely be a way to prove how long the false claims were in place, so any restitution ordered will only represent a small portion of the ill gotten gains. The moral of this story is not to trust assumptions or presumption. If you cannot find out how and where something you buy to eat was grown, you probably should stick with the lowest cost to you that you can get.

Money Tips

In general, there are several ways to put your money to work. You can take measures to earn more, save more, and increase your money faster. Many people spend their income to the limits of their means, and tend to confuse the difference between needs and wants. A vast number of people will live their entire lives without realizing what it is like to experience a state where they have control over more wealth than they can ever spend.

Many people live under the false paradigm that ultimate happiness comes by seeking ever increasing levels of riches, and that the right thing to do with money is to spend what is earned to the limit of our ability to adjust our personal vision ever upward. We are often told that money is not everything, but to those who do not have enough money to get the things they want, having a lot more money sure does not sound like such a bad idea.

One need only look at the regular drama of the rich and famous Hollywood set to see what having too much money can do to wreck the lives of those who do not know how to handle their wealth. Certainly, having greater access to things like drugs, alcohol and other forms of trouble seems to bring many who are supposed to be the social elite down to the same level as the extremely hopeless. Great wealth is useless after it reaches a certain level of complete mismanagement. When some people reach higher levels of income, they merely obligate themselves to more expensive versions of the same things less wealthy people seek to obtain for themselves. The question to ask here is whether or not the more expensive house, car, boat, plane or other possessions bring anyone a proportionately greater amount of satisfaction by obtaining them.

People who are not rich do not seem to understand the weight and responsibility that gets piled on with each new level of success, even though they do see it for themselves from the perspective of their own journey up the ladder. Increasing material riches adds more burden to maintain and keep control of gains. With each new level achieved, there are more people wanting to take a share of the wealth in both sales and circumstance. For every merchant that appears on the doorstep with their hand out, there are more "friends" and family who also believe they deserve a fair portion of what someone else has earned. Those who do not know how to manage wealth properly will come to recognize their mistakes when their fate takes away everything more quickly than it was gained.

Ten Comics Without Pictures

1. "Nearly all the party guests were outraged when they learned the pig had been faking its fever."

2. "Filming came to a halt when the stunt coordinator insisted that a lot more cartons would be needed to break the elephant's fall."

3. "At the baseball game, Gordon failed in his attempt to replace the familiar 'wave' with what he called the 'stench'."

4. "Mitch was fired when he could not sell Dr. Frank's Joint Relief for fat cats and senators."

5. "Mr. Brown thought he made a great deal until he learned that Tupperware was supposed to have lids."

6. "Opinions changed about Bo Fike when his huge ears came in handy after all."

7. "It seems that it is never too late for something else about life to suck."

8. "Mayor Proctor could not think of anything else to do but thank Tootie for his little speech."

9. "Neville was most concerned about whether or not he had torn his pants after his big tumble."

10. "The protesters paused to view the impressive array of farm products on display."

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Remember The Alamo

P L M D M D W L W Y L Q X M B B S M U I
E A I C N M M A H V R X O E N O L A M C
B T R N G A E W S N G R W D J Z T Q R Z
S O T K D E L L V H N X E O R U V O U N
R I G U E L E R T I I B F P R A C T Y M
T P M R R R E L E O K N P V R K W O B S
G H C M L S P Y B H N C G T E F Z O G D
V K O E O A T J P M T Q N T K O G F N L
Z Y W M D N E O Z M I U T L O S R T A O
N I B I S S S V C V I K S V H N F H L N
S U L I K O B O C K N T S F I N S G W Y
P L W M P E N Y K M T Y C Z T M H I O E
O E R J V R N G K U E O M H I B N L N R
Q Z E N T N T T M N Q I N T A O D R R I
T Y L N H R R L N V T F H O S S E J F Z
U B L R A E I I I C X P Q N P I S F I M
L N I M K N K I H W A H I A B O V O S M
T X M L S C P E F R X B G W J Y R A N U
L E A O M P L I K F O A L R R A T S R I
L W N G O L E S W R N U K N J Q G H W T

Word List

KENT MCGEE    NOWLAN SIMMONS   KERR
MCKINNEY PAGAN    KIMBLE MELTON    PARKER
TRAMMEL    KING    MILLER PADILLO   TRAVIS
PARKS THOMSON     MITCHASSON    LEWIS    MALONE
TUMLINSON LIGHTFOOT PERRY      CROCKETT STARR
SUTHERLAND WALKER LINDLEY MITCHELL   REYNOLDS
STOCKTON WARD       WASHINGTON ROBINSON SMITH

School Word Scramble

Last Month Answers

NEEITDSNRTENPU CPPNRLIAI BUITUSSTET LEOTNMELNR
SUPERINTENDENT PRINCIPAL SUBSTITUTE ENROLLMENT

NTRIDAGOUA UUCMUILCRR IIPDSLECNI DCSMEAICA
GRADUATION CURRICULUM DISCIPLINE ACADEMICS

Inspiration

God must protect the incompetent because they always seem to have a good job.

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Tips For Better Interviews

When an interviewer asks, "Can you give me some examples of how you have handled difficult customers in the past?"

Among interview questions, this type of question is one of the most difficult kind that anyone could answer. If you disagree with my perspective, bear with me while I offer the following information to support my contention. On the surface, the question seems like a simple request for your perspective on how you have effectively applied your experience in past jobs. In truth, diving right into trying to answer this question can slam the door on your desire to win a job in such a wide range of ways, you may not even perceive what actually toppled your chances to get the position.

Without getting some clarification from the interviewer, tackling a question like this is almost like watching Indiana Jones dodging the traps in the Temple of Doom. By the way this question is worded, you cannot be sure if the interviewer wants to know how you might handle an irritated and unreasonable customer, or how you resolved a difficult procedural issue that related to solving a problem for a customer. Another hidden bomb in this question relates to revealing what you perceive to be a difficult customer or procedural issue, which may fall far short of what the interviewer expects from a candidate at this level of opportunity.

Having an answer ready for a question like this is not possible, because you can never be sure of the context for this question from the interviewer's point of view. The person might be hoping to hear something that would provide them with some consulting advice in solving problems they are having with their own customers. If you think I have covered all the angles of intent for this question, then get ready for another turn. For some interviewers, this question may simply be probing into how well you utilize available supervisory or team resources, with the expectation of hearing a simple confirmation that you check with your co-workers or supervisor when you experience difficulties on the job.

No matter what avenue you pursue in trying to answer this question without clarification, you are running a very high risk of missing the mark with your answer, no matter how you respond. Unfortunately, you may also be running the risk of creating a negative impression by seeking clarification for this question as well. From the interviewer's point of view, questions like this are simple and direct, but only from the perspective that the interviewer knows what they are wanting to hear as a response. When an interview question can easily open the door to a wide range of possible responses, the path to a correct approach is often quite narrow.

The best possible chance for any candidate to win a job offer is for them to give the most answers an interviewer wants to hear, and to project a personality that is perceived as the most pleasant from the interviewer's perspective. Your response to this question should be based on your own perception of the personality traits you can observe in the interviewer, and by driving the conversation to narrow down open ended questions into clear specifics. An interviewer may or may not be intentionally trying to trip you up by asking you to come up with a response to a question as stated.

If you keep your own mind tuned to probing for clues about what the interviewer is trying to accomplish in speaking with you, then you may be the candidate to provide the best responses to all the questions you are asked. These answers are not necessarily the best ones from your own perspective, especially if you are certain about what the interviewer wants to hear, and you give them what they want.

To get moving in the right direction for your response to a general request for examples of your past handling of difficult customer situations, you should first identify how ambiguously the question is worded. You might say something like, "There are a lot of different possibilities for answering that question. Do you have any more specific scenarios you would like me to address?"

If this type of initial response does not cause the interviewer to paint a more specific target for answering the question, you can follow up with a further narrowing question like, "Do you want to hear about specific problems I solved, or how I used other resources to resolve issues that I could not handle by myself?"

These probing tactics are meant to size up the mentality and expectations of the interviewer, and show them how ambiguous this "simple" question truly is without first revealing an undue amount of information about what you perceive as a "difficult" scenario. It is always more advantageous for you to address a hypothetical situation presented by the interviewer, than it is for you to come up with a retelling of some spontaneously resurrected scene from your working past. A further advantage in taking this approach is that you are responding to exactly the right level of difficulty as perceived by the interviewer who is listening to your response. By resisting the urge to spew out a few memorable moments from your own past, you reduce the risk of telling a long winded tale which might ultimately go unappreciated by your audience. There is no better way to give the right answer than to understand exactly what someone wants to know.

If you have an interview question you want help with answering effectively, drop me a line at jdir@earthlink.net

Feedback: If you have comments, ideas, requests, or questions about this publication we would like to hear from you. Your information will be used only to respond to your inquiries. If you like what we do, tell your friends, and let us know your thoughts on what you want to see more about. Send your email to jdir@earthlink.net

September 2008 Events

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
	1 Labor Day	2	3	4	5	6
7 Grandparents Day	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16 Step Family Day	17 Constitution Day	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26 Native American Day	27
28	29	30