I am decorating the study in my house and I think that I will continue to go with an academic theme. I have most of my professional library in there but the walls have always seemed too empty to me and the entire room boring. I decided to find images of studies and after that I decided to decorate the walls with maps of places that I’ve been to or that I am planning on going to. I think that I will like the maps more if they have a personal meaning to me.

First I hung a Russia map behind the sofa. I went to Russia when I was a sophomore in college. I didn’t learn the language much but I loved the food. I went to the Kremlin while I was there. It is so amazing and the colors are unbelievable. It looked even more stunning, if possible, at night. When it is dark all around it and strategic lights are on it, it will take you breath away, to use a cliche.

Next I will hang a map of Europe above my desk. I spent a couple of days in France and a week in Spain last year. I really liked both places. Paris had too many people there for my likings but I still enjoyed seeing everything. I loved the Eiffel Tower. It, too, looked stunning when it was all lit up. Because of things like that, I can see why it is the City of Love.

And I think I will have enough room left a couple of Japan maps. I’ve never been to Japan but I plan on going in a couple of years. I think visiting Okinawa would be great. There is so much history there. I really like Japanese pop culture. Tokyo always looks so alive when I see it on television.

I think I will like my newly decorated study. It will not be boring but not too loud.

Teen drug abuse is starting to increase after several years of it slowly decreasing. The reason behind this, I think, is because so many teens are abusing over-the-counter and prescription drugs. Once this abuse begins, addiction quickly follows. The only way to help the addict is to get him or her into an addiction recovery program. A long term drug rehab program will help teach the person coping skills so that he or she is able to re-enter society and stay sober.

Often what happens is that a person with a drug or alcohol problem will only seek short term or outpatient care. The time that is allowed for in the short term care facilities do not help the addict learn how to live without substances. They usually just have enough time to get the substance out of the addict’s system.

Addiction recovery takes time. It takes several months and then years of practice to learn how to read. Learning how to live without drugs and alcohol cannot be taught overnight. The skills must be practiced and thought about for an extended period of time.

But in the meantime, parents should monitor the over-the-counter and prescription drugs in the house and keep an eye on their teenagers and young adults.

The lives of many powerful people are well sheltered. This is not true, however, for Arthur Trueger. While he is a busy man, he finds time for the things he loves and they are in the public eye.

Arthur Trueger is known for several things. He is most known for his involvement in the telecommunications industry and as a patron of the San Francisco Ballet. He is at most openings. He is also a member of the Japan Society of Northern California. He must have an affinity to the Japanese culture because he is currently learning Japanese. That is his fourth language to master.

Along with these hobbies and interests, Mr. Trueger is an avid flyer and bicyclist. So, while many influential people keep their lives private, Trueger’s life is very public, just like his hobbies. Speaking of which, Arthur loves the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Many people that want to advance in their careers do not realize the importance of presentation skills. Dale Carnegie offers courses in this and if you do a search for  "presentation skills" and the state you are in with "Carnegie" you will find the course you’re looking for. I did a search for "leadership training in Minneapolis" and found exactly what I needed. I also decided to take this a step further and "presentation skills Minneapolis."

I also did some research on my own and I discovered some of the key ingredients to good presentation skills. You must communicate ideas and information to the audience in a way that is clear and concise. The issue with this is nerves.

Presentations must carry the speaker’s personality better than reports or essays. Presentations allow for immediate interaction between the speaker and audience and the audience alone.

Presentations should contain info that is needed for understanding and not too much fluff. It must be structured with a logical beginning, middle and end and the audience must be able to understand it. If the presenter gets of the subject for too long or not in the appropriate way, the audience will stop paying attention.

The Roland Garros 2008 tennis tournament is sure to be very exciting as women’s singles 3 times consecutive winner Justine Henin-Hardenne tries to set a new record by being the only woman in the open era to win 4 French Opens in a row. She has faced opponents like Ana Ivanovic (2007), Svetlana Kuznetsova (2006), and Mary Pierce (2005). It will be a surprise to see who she faces in the French Open 2008.

The men’s singles winner from 2007 was Rafael Nadal. He also won in 2005 and 2006. He too looks forward to setting a new record with consecutive French Open championships. He has faced Roger Federer the past 2 years and the world of tennis wonders if they will face off for the third time. After all, Nadal is known as the "King of Clay."

The clay courts slow down the ball and it produces a high bounce compared to the other types of courts, namely grass and hard. The French Open is very physically demanding because the playing surface is slow and there is no tie-breaker for the five-set men’s singles matches.

I just got my first fixer-upper car. I am so excited. I can’t wait to do everything from rebuilding the engine to getting General grabber tires. I want the interior to be cherry red and I want the outside to be very black. I think that will look great. I also want 20 rims to make it look smooth and to ride nicely. I think that chrome will go beautifully with the colors I’ve picked out.

I also need to buy toyo tires for my son’s car. He’ll be going off to college in the fall and I want him to be safe. He is a Sooner  and the weather in Oklahoma  can be harsh. I want him to be able to drive home during the holidays and what not. I hope that he likes it there. The football games are great.

I also hope that my son won’t try to talk me in to giving him my classic once it’s fixed up. I spend some time and money updating my Toyota and then he talked me into giving it to him for a graduation present. But that’s okay. He makes great grades and he plays soccer for the school and another team so I didn’t want to make him get a job while he was doing so good.

I don’t know about you but I love live music.  I attend a lot of concerts and spend a lot of money on this hobby.  I go to concerts in my home town, but also attend them when I am traveling.

In that past, especially when I am on the road, I have had trouble getting my hands on tickets.  You know what its like when a show is sold out, its really hard to find them and if you do you have to wait till the last minute or pay scalpers big bucks!     Now if I want to find sold out concert tickets I go online to find them.  This makes life much easier and getting them is so convenient.   Now its just a matter of turning up for the concert.  Its easy to find pop tickets, rock tickets and metal tickets.

So now if I am traveling or on an unexpected trip I go online to find my concert tickets and book them there rather than facing the hassle of trying to do it when I arrive at my destination.

Actress Kirsten Dunst has checked in to rehab and is also apparently involved in a rehab romance. It is not known who this mystery man is but relationships while in drug and alcohol rehab is never a good idea. There are multiple reason why, but the most important are because the addict needs to focus on herself. Part of any successful rehab program requires that the addict do self-realization activities in order for that person to understand why he or she started using drugs and/or alcohol. When a person’s attention is focused on someone else, there is little time left for the all-important self-reflection.

Another reason why a person in rehab should not be involved in a rehab romance is because when the relationship in question turns sour, a relapse could, and often is, triggered. Not only is the addict not making recovery the priority, he or she hides the ugly side of addiction. It is human nature to show a more favorable side when starting a new relationship. This is normally innocent but admitting the negative sides of oneself is crucial for any shot at sobriety once outside of treatment.

I love Italy. In fact, I love it so much I’m going for a second time this year. I went earlier for a vacation and now I’m going to get involved with Liberty League Intl. I invested in the product of Liberty League and I am so glad that I did. Besides all of the benefits the program gave me, I’m going to Rome again. This is so exciting. I’ve been to several places in Europe but Rome is one of my favorites.

Liberty League International always has their conference in exciting places. I heard that one year it was at Miami Beach, Florida. How fun would that have been? I love the lights of Miami Beach. But I love the lights of Italy more. Liberty League Int has really outdone themselves this year. I wonder how the ballet in Rome is. I bet that it’s world class.

I also wonder what the co-founders of Liberty League International will be doing in their free time. I bet they have great plans and know all of the great eateries. I wonder if they’ve been to Italy before like I have. I’ve also been to France and Spain. One of my goals from life is to see as much of the world as possible. I cannot wait until I find out where the conference will be in 2009.

I have several  United States printable maps hanging on the wall of my study. I use them for several different things. I mark on them when I go someplace and I use them to help teach my kids about geography and history. These US maps help me show my kids everything from where battles took place to where the pilgrims first landed.

I also have a country map of the Middle East. This particular map helps me stay up to date on all of today’s events and it helps me teach my kids about the places they see on the evening news. They seem to really like going over this stuff because I don’t treat it like it’s school. I ask them what they think about certain things and they give me their opinions. Then I tell them what happened and they decide what they believe on their own.

I use these maps to show them where I’ve been and where they’ve been. They like this activity a lot because they get to point out the places that look like fun to them. They seem to want to visit Italy a lot because it’s shaped like a boot. We’re actually saving up to go there for a visit sometime. I think the kids will love being able to take a learning activity that we do at home and actually visiting one of the places.