Weird Wednesday is on hiatus this week for the Veteran’s Day holiday. Thank you to all veterans for your dedication and determination in defending our country.

Hi ho, faithful readers,

After experiencing some technical difficulties the PowerSellers Blog is back up and running. Look for some new posts soon. Weird Wednesday ended up on vacation this week but will be back next week. Thanks for your concerned emails and stay tuned!

Yes I know it’s been a bit boring here on the PowerSellers Blog lately. That’s becuase there’s really nothing going on in the world of PowerSelling or eBay. Yes, there’s the big eBay-buys-Skype-hype but who hasn’t heard about that already.

I will do my best to keep you updated and informed as the world progresses. Tomorrow watch for Weird Wednesday and hopefully something interesting will be forthcoming in the world of PowerSelling.

My best to you all,

Laurie
Your PowerSellers Blogger

I’d like to focus on some positive things, and not just places where people can make donations. For example:

Here’s a wonderful CNN article about the unselfish, kind nature of people who are helping out Katrina evacuees. Some excerpts:

Food and water are now arriving in New Orleans. Lt. Gen. Russel Honore was directing the deployment of National Guard troops from a New Orleans street corner. He said getting food and water to the people at the convention center was difficult. “If you ever have 20,000 people come to supper, you know what I’m talking about,” the general said. But the general and his troops were able to provide everyone with something to eat and drink. Read the complete article on CNN by clicking here.

Countries around the world are helping the United States in any way they can. Some examples:

This is the one that moves me the most:

You can read the entire article including the excerpts from above at this link to CNN.

One of the most difficult things to do in the wake of such a tragedy is to keep one’s sense of humor. I found this posting on Craigslist and wanted to share it with my readers:

Katrina has been a terrible catastrophe for the people of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. I still haven’t been able to contact any of my friends and relatives on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Even with the sadness and depression many of us are experiencing right now, I had to laugh when I saw a photo of an Oriental rug store in New Orleans in today’s Austin newspaper. The photo shows a store front boarded up with plywood with this painted on the plywood:

Looters will be shot. Don’t try I am sleeping inside with a big dog, an ugly woman, two shotguns and a claw hammer.

I don’t know if anyone from any of the areas affected by the hurricane will ever see my Blog. But if you do, dear friends, I am thinking of you and hope that somehow you find some enjoyment or encouragement from the positive message I’ve shared today.

My mom had her last chemo yesterday. I sent her a little replica of the Point Loma lighthouse in San Diego to congratulate her on getting through. I reminded her that lighthouses are beacons of hope, points of light in an otherwise dark night that like stars, guide us through even the darkest of times.

This lighthouse is to represent hope for everyone affected by Hurricane Katrina.

The first few days after her treatment will be fine; by about the 8th day is when she starts having problems with it making her tired and feeling sick. I’m hoping she will be in such good spirits this is the last treatment that she won’t have such a rough time with it.

The breast cancer 3-day walk is coming up in San Diego and I have found a couple of folks who are going to carry a list of people who have had/have breast cancer with them during the walk.

Thank you all for your wonderful support. I always pass it along to her and she is amazed at how many people that don’t even know her are thinking about her. Thank you also for supporting me as well and reading my blogs.

Warmest wishes,

Laurie your Blogger

Source: Canoe

Documenting a caffeine-powered quest to visit every Starbucks in the world has become the mission of a Nebraska attorney.

Bill Tangeman, 32, of Kearney, NE, who was a journalist before going into law, is making a documentary film about a Houston native who goes by the name Winter, who set out in 1997 to get a caffeinated drink at every corporate-owned Starbucks store on the planet.

On his Web site http://www.starbuckseverywhere.net Winter, who was born Rafael Antonio Lozano, said that as of Aug. 8, he had visited 4,775 Starbucks in North America and 213 in other parts of world. Outside of North America, Winter has gone to Starbucks in Spain, England, France and Japan. There are 5,715 corporate-owned Starbucks in the world, according to the Seattle-based company’s August newsletter on it web site.

Winter said his trek has been satisfactory on many levels, not the least of which is that it has allowed him to be on a nearly constant road trip for eight years. But having the incessant goal of reaching the next Starbucks provided another benefit.

“Every time I reach a Starbucks I feel like I’ve accomplished something,” Winter said, “when actually I have accomplished nothing.”

Link to the entire article here.

My two neighborhood Starbucks stores here in California!

A note from Winter:

“I’ll be in Northern California from Tuesday, August 23 to Sunday the 28 trying to visit as many of the new stores as possible. To avoid wasting time driving to stores that have not yet opened for business or are licensed (not operated by Starbucks), I need to call ahead of time. That’s a lot of phone calls, around 100. If you know that one of the stores on this list is not open, or is a licensed store, please let me know. Note that I’m only interested in stores from Fresno northward, and from Paso Robles northward.” You can contact Winter on his web site, Starbucks Everywhere. There’s a link for it in the article above.

How is my mom? I talked to her last week and she was doing OK after her chemo treatment, but now is not doing so well. The oncologist did find that one of the drugs in her “chemo cocktail” was making her very sick so he was able to remove it from the mix. She did a little better at first when she had her last session, but the next day was extremely tired and weak. She has not been feeling well at all. She has had trouble eating and since she has IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) it’s not making it any easier. She has been drinking Ensure to supplement some of the vitamins and minerals that the chemo is leaching out of her body, which has helped a little bit.

My dad is doing his best to take care of her and working at the same time. He arranged with his boss to have Thursdays off (for mom’s chemo treatments) and Fridays so he can be with her in case she has any problems (like passing out as she did before). Because she isn’t eating much he has resorted to eating sandwiches and such and isn’t getting proper nutrition, either. I recommended he drink an Ensure at least once a day and that they both take multivitamins.

One thing my mom said was that people aren’t coming over or calling as much anymore and that has really depressed them both. Of course it’s not helping that I am unable to visit. It is very hard on me, too. I wish I could be there to help them. I didn’t tell my mom but I’ve been very homesick lately and I wish I could be there to get a hug from her. I miss her hugs.

We’ve officially lived in California for a year now. I still don’t know where anything is. I get lost trying to find things and don’t know all the freeways or which directions they go. It’s difficult to really get out and do any traveling to figure it out since I work all week and we don’t have much time on the weekends to do anything. I don’t have any family here (my closest family member is a cousin in Las Vegas) and we haven’t met any friends through work or in our apartment complex. I feel very lonely and isolated sometimes, as well as homesick for familiar things and for my parents. My husband and my three cats are a great comfort to me when I am feeling sad.

And so, dear readers, that is all I have time for right now. Thank you all for your kind thoughts for my mom. I always pass them along and she enjoys reading them. Thank you for reading my blog. I hope you all keep coming back

Sometimes when we come home we almost step on her because she is so tiny. She’s a sweet little dog, very good with the 2-year old and baby. She doesn’t bark much; usually only when she is trying to defend her “daddy”, who is a good 5’8″ and 150 pounds, while he is outside cooking on the barbeque. She runs in and out of the row of bushes and onto the sidewalk in front of our apartment building. Sometimes you can’t even see her, she is just a tan and white streak.

The real reason I’m posting this is to see if I can get the image link to work. I’ve been having some trouble learning how to do that so here’s my first good shot at it.

Oh yes, I apologize if my Spanish is bad. It’s been a very long time. I need to brush up on it.

Well, it’s about providing eBay PowerSellers with resources, news and information about eBay, payment services and development information so they can increase their sales volume and more easily maintain their auctions.

It’s also about having some fun, for example, Weird Wednesdays and the Blogger’s Blog.

I do my best to provide relevant and worthy information, to guide folks to places and people they might need or help and if I can, just make someone smile.

It’s not easy finding information to post on the PowerSellers Blog, but I do my best and thank those folks who send me links to information and articles and those of you who email me just to say you enjoy my blog.

My email is laurie.barak@gmail.com if you have any links, comments, etc. Thanks for reading and thanks for your support of the PowerSellers Blog and NinerNiner.

A few personal notes:

A new vehicle: I have just purchased a new Ford Ranger pickup. It is smokin’.

A Mom update: Mom’s white blood cell count has been low, so she can’t go out much or be around anyone who is sick. She has chemo on Thursdays and is very tired for several days afterwards. My dad worked it out so he can have Fridays off from work until her treatments are over. That way he can be with her for a few days in case she is feeling sick or needs anything.

Mom’s spirits are still up, thank you for everyone who’s emailed to ask how she is doing, especially my new friend, Carolyn, who I met through a breast cancer support web site. Carolyn is also undergoing chemo treatments and says her faith and prayers help her get through each day.

Everyone take care and look forward to Weird Wednesday. I’ve got some kooky things to share with you.

Until then,

Laurie
PowerSellers Blog
Senior Editor