Hope Everyone Had A Very Merry Christmas!

I wanted to wish all my blogger friends a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS...I am a few days behind - busy with the festivities of the season - Health and Happiness to all! Shelley

Happy Hanukkah, Hanuka, Chanukah

Happy Hanukkah, Hanuka, Chanukah to all my Jewish readers. I still am not sure of the correct spelling!

Health and Happiness!

Friends...

"Girlfriends are like a strong cup of coffee. They both pick you up and give you a jolt of energy when when you need it most." ~ anonymous

Anna that one was for you...I truly am enjoying my week catching up with friends...The holiday's are so rushed but it sometimes is the one time of the year when we reunite with friends we have not seen in weeks, months or even years....A toast to all my friends! Health and Happiness to all~ Shelley

Jim Rohn passed away yesterday, December 5, 2009

Jim Rohn (September 17, 1930 - December 5, 2009)
I was sad to hear of the passing today of such a wonderful person who has touched so many lives...Jim Rohn will sure be missed... http://tribute.jimrohn.com/

I feel so honored to have had the opportunity to be featured in a book series with such a great man...RIP - he sure has transformed many lives over the years...

Jim Rohn's "Five Major Pieces To the Life Puzzle" -

• Philosophy- how you think
• Attitude - how you feel
• Action - what you do
• Results - measure often to see if you are making progress
• Lifestyle - the kind of life you can make for yourself out of the first four pieces

Some of Jim Rohn's famous Quotes...

The few who do are the envy of the many who only watch. Jim Rohn

When you know what you want, and want it bad enough, you will find a way to get it. Jim Rohn

Whoever renders service to many puts himself in line for greatness - great wealth, great return, great satisfaction, great reputation, and great joy. Jim Rohn

Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value. Jim Rohn

Words do two major things: They provide food for the mind and create light for understanding and awareness. Jim Rohn

Work harder on yourself than you do on your job. Jim Rohn

You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight. Jim Rohn

You don't get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value you bring to the hour. Jim Rohn

You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of. Jim Rohn

Your philosophy determines whether you will go for the disciplines or continue the errors. Jim Rohn

Success is steady progress toward one's personal goals. Jim Rohn

Take advantage of every opportunity to practice your communication skills so that when important occasions arise, you will have the gift, the style, the sharpness, the clarity, and the emotions to affect other people. Jim Rohn

Take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live. Jim Rohn

Take time to gather up the past so that you will be able to draw from your experience and invest them in the future. Jim Rohn

The book you don't read won't help. Jim Rohn

The difficulties you meet will resolve themselves as you advance. Proceed, and light will dawn, and shine with increasing clearness on your path. Jim Rohn

The major reason for setting a goal is for what it makes of you to accomplish it. What it makes of you will always be the far greater value than what you get. Jim Rohn

The major value in life is not what you get. The major value in life is what you become. Jim Rohn

The more you know the less you need to say. Jim Rohn

The reason that fiction is more interesting than any other form of literature, to those who really like to study people, is that in fiction the author can really tell the truth without humiliating himself. Jim Rohn

The walls we build around us to keep sadness out also keeps out the joy. Jim Rohn

The worst thing one can do is not to try, to be aware of what one wants and not give in to it, to spend years in silent hurt wondering if something could have materialized - never knowing. Jim Rohn

There are only 3 colors, 10 digits, and 7 notes; its what we do with them that's important. Jim Rohn

Things that I felt absolutely sure of but a few years ago, I do not believe now. This thought makes me see more clearly how foolish it would be to expect all men to agree with me. Jim Rohn

Time is more value than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time. Jim Rohn

To solve any problem, here are three questions to ask yourself: First, what could I do? Second, what could I read? And third, who could I ask? Jim Rohn

We get paid for bringing value to the market place. Jim Rohn

We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment. Jim Rohn

Whatever good things we build end up building us. Jim Rohn

Ann this one is for you...

Kids can be funny - ...So, this morning I got my kids up for school. They got dressed and my youngest was acting like the snail in the family. After I made breakfast, I went back up to check on him. He met me at the top of the stairs. I asked him if he had brushed his teeth yet...he looked at me with this "sure I did" face so I asked him to breath on me! OK...big mistake! What was I thinking asking a 6 year old to breath on me without checking to see if his toothbrush was wet first!?? UGH!

I said to him, "why did you breathe on me if you knew you had not brushed your teeth?' Of course I got the typical little smile and he said "because you asked me too!" Needless to say I sent him into the bathroom to brush his teeth!

Create A Great Friday!
Shelley

Simple Pleasures...

Simple pleasures can help sooth a troubled mind...what I mean by this ~ think about your childhood - candy bars, ice cream, Boo Berry cereal, what comforted you...what brings back pleasant memories for you...

...What was your favorite when you were a child? Think about being at the grocery store with your mother or father and having them buy you a candy bar at the checkout line. Can you remember how the first bite tasted? Oh so yummy!

When you are troubled get your mind back to that simple time...relive the moment when your mind was zapping from the pleasures of sinking your teeth into that chocolate bar, Twinkie, Quisp cereal, whatever your vice...just go for it!

Rain Nutrition Business Opportunity

Rain Nutrition offers great products and a great compensation plan for those eager to add some extra income to their household. Whether you work full-time, part-time or are a stay at home parent you can join RAIN NUTRITION and add to your weekly and monthly income!

When you Become a Rain Nutrition Distributor there are many ways to earn Long Term, Residual Income with the Rain Nutrition Compensation Plan. Rain offers one of the best Compensation plans in the industry with 7 simultaneous ways to earn income including Product Sales, First Order Bonuses, Team Commissions, even Luxury Car Bonuses.

Rain Nutrition Compensation Plan

If you are ready to take advantage of this premier opportunity, secure your spot, and join one of the Top Rain Nutrition Teams in the business, don’t pass up this opportunity, Join Rain Nutrition Today!(referral # 23509)

1. Sell Rain Nutrition Products

Anytime you sell Rain Nutrition Products you get to keep the difference between your wholesale cost and the retail cost of the product sold. With Rain Nutrition’s World Class Science leading the way, this product line is sure to be the next big thing in the Nutritional world.(FYI - you do not need to carry inventory - a customer can purchase from the RAIN website with your referral number and you get the credit)

2. First Order Bonus (FOB)

When someone signs up as a Rain Distributor that you personally enroll, depending on your personal volume, you can earn a First Order Bonus (FOB) of up to 20%. First Order Bonus Plan below:

First Order			First Order Bonus % Based on PV of the Sponsor
			50 PVQ 5%	100 PVQ 10%	200 PVQ 20%
$ 125 100PV	FOB		$6.25	$12.50	$25
	FOBM		$3.12	$6.25	$12.50
$ 250 200PV	FOB		$12.50	$25	$50
	FOBM		$6.25	$12.50	$25
$ 500 400PV	FOB		$25	$50	$100
	FOBM		$12.50	$25	$50
$ 750 600PV	FOB		$37.50	$75	$150
	FOBM		$18.75	$37.50	$75
$ 1000 800PV	FOB		$50	$100	$200
	FOBM		$25	$50	$100

3. First Order Bonus Match (FOBM)

Anytime one of your personally enrolled distributors receives a First Order Bonus, you earn 50% of every First Order Bonus received by that enrollee.

4. Team Commissions

When you build your own Rain Nutrition Team, you build a left and a right team and can earn up to 10% commissions on your lesser team Commissionable Volume no matter how big your team becomes. Team Commissions are paid weekly in 300CV increments, every week the CV from both teams that are not paid carry over to the next week. You can earn up to $10,000 every week in team commissions and there is no limit on the levels you can earn commission on.

5. Leadership Bonus

A great bonus to the Rain Nutrition Compensation plan is the Leadership Bonus. With 3% of all commissionable volume made by the company is put into the Business Builder pool which is then divided according to shares earned by individual distributors that meet certain qualifications. Every week, ranks from Managers to Platinum Executives receive a share in this pool, your rank determines your share. The Leadership Bonus plan Below:

Builders = 70%		Executives = 30%
Rank	Share	Rank	Share
Manager	1	Silver	1
Senior Manager	2	Gold	2
Director	3	Platinum Executive	3

6. Generation Match

Once you reach the rank of Director in the Rain Nutrition Compensation Plan, you may earn a check match not only on the distributors you personally enroll, but also on the distributors they personally sponsor up to seven generations. Generation Match generates wealth from your entire organization in relation to your sponsorship activity. The Sponsor Tree details the sponsoring activity of yourself and everyone you have sponsored, throughout multiple Generations. A Sponsor Tree can have unlimited legs. Must have 200PV to qualify.

7. Luxury Car Bonus

The Luxury Car Bonus Program is based on rank achieved for 4 consecutive weeks. Upon qualifying, Rain Nutrition will guarantee the allotted amount for the duration of 12 months, which allows the Rain Nutrition Distributor (RND) to purchase or lease a vehicle.

Join Rain Nutrition Today!(referral # 23509)

Rain Nutrition

Listen to CEO Chad Christofferson talk about Why Rain Nutrition? Why Now?

What makes Rain different and why the timing is perfect to join now. After watching you can visit Rain Nutrition and use referral #23509 of you feel compelled to join.

Rain Nutrition Business Opportunity

When you Become a Rain Nutrition Distributor there are many ways to earn Long Term, Residual Income with the Rain Nutrition Compensation Plan. Rain offers one of the best Compensation plans in the industry with 7 simultaneous ways to earn income including Product Sales, First Order Bonuses, Team Commissions, even Luxury Car Bonuses. (I will go into more detail in upcoming blog posts about the compensation plan)

Rain Nutrition Compensation Plan

With some of the best products around, and 7 different ways to Make Money with Rain Nutrition it becomes extremely easy to see that this is an opportunity you don’t want to pass up. Rain Nutrition is already one of the fastest growing MLM based nutrition businesses ever, and is only expected to get bigger. If you are ready to take advantage of this premier opportunity, secure your spot, and join one of the Top Rain Nutrition Teams in the business, don’t pass up this opportunity, Join Rain Nutrition Today use referral #23509! Or contact me

Rain Nutrition

Rain Nutrition LLC is a new company that launched in November 2009. This company offers three core products...Rain Soul, Rain Rush and Rain Storm. Rain Soul is the flagship product and Rain Rush is an energy drink. Rain Storm is my favorite so far...Storm is the recovery product for anyone who works out. They will be releasing more products over the next few months.

Rain Soul is the initial product. Soul is rich in free-radical fighting antioxidants and loaded with essential fatty acids is no ordinary supplement. It is extraordinary. The proprietary blend of Black Raspberry, Black Cumin, Chardonnay Grape, and D-Ribose in SOUL help replace cell energy, have excellent anti-inflammatory properties, and help support a healthy immune system. The added bonus of the powerhouse antioxidant, Resveratrol, found in the Chardonnay Grape, may also enhance heart, muscle, brain, and kidney health. It has been hailed as one of the most important anti-aging supplements ever discovered. In SOUL you get the one-two punch of the Black Cumin Seed, hailed for it's immune system strengthening properties, and Black Raspberry Seed, loaded with Omega 3 and Omega 6 essential fatty acids. While the incredible antioxidants found in both Black Cumin Seeds and Black Raspberry Seeds fight the harmful effects of free radicals, the essential fatty acids found in the Omegas support the and help repair cell membranes. The seeds are the heroes in this remarkable product. They are the storehouses of the antioxidants and when treated properly, through the proprietary cold press process, yield better results than anyone could have ever imagined.

Rain Rush, Rain’s Energy Supplement is a far cry from the Red Bulls and Monsters you see lining the shelves of your local grocery or convenience store. These typical energy drinks may provide synthetic stimulants and be loaded with empty calories that can make you ride the high but can also have an equal or sharper crash not to mention giving you extreme jitters.

With this energy drink you will be supplementing your body with an unmatched mix of Vitamins, Minerals and Antioxidants. This refreshing and energizing drink supplies a healthy blend of natural ingredients and botanical extracts to deliver sustained and natural energy.

NO JITTERS. NO CRASH. JUST NATURALLY ENERGIZING AND REFRESHING. Boost your energy, increase your endurance and power, and improve your focus with RUSH. This natural energy supplement will give you the fuel you need while supporting your long-term health with an unparalleled combination of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

After just one sip you will know how easy it is to fall in love with RUSH…Increased Power and Endurance, Improved Focus and a Natural Boost of energy is what you will experience as soon as you take the Rush Challenge. The drink is 8.4 ounces, and is made to grab and go for those of us with very active lifestyles.

Rain Storm - Renew. Rehydrate. Replenish. Recover. As ,mentioned above, this is my favorite product as of today...RAIN STORM is a unique combination of antioxidants, amino acids, and vitamins of which include Grape Pomegranate, Raspberry Lemonade, Grape Blueberry, and vitamins B6, B12 and C that will best help you replenish important depleted energy stores. This scientifically-backed formula was created to help you speed recovery after strenuous workout.

During workout you put almost every system in the body to work. Your muscular, circulatory, nervous, skeletal, and digestive systems are all affected. You burn calories, lose fluids and electrolytes, and generate oxidative stress. It is important to repair and replenish these systems before your next workout and in order to rehydrate and renew energy levels.

Consuming a beverage rich in amino acids and antioxidants is the ideal way to quickly recover as the nutrients are more quickly absorbed in to the body with a liquid. This will also help speed rehydration, which is essential to the recovery process.

Add Storm to 16.9 oz of water and just like magic you will have the most potent recovery product on the market. Storm is not only for your post work out recovery, but it is also for anytime you need to boost your health. With a taste this good you can replace that afternoon soda pop with something that builds and not destroys.

********************************
What Makes Rain Different?

********************************

IT’S ALL IN THE SEEDS.

Formulated using the powerful extracts found in the seeds of fruits and herbs, Rain Nutrition’s products have stronger, more concentrated levels of antioxidants. Through a patented cold-press process, the essential nutrients inside the seed is extracted and the efficacy of those nutrients are preserved. The natural power that comes from this perfect combination is ground-breaking. As the nutritional supplement market grows and changes, Rain Nutrition will follow and continue to raise the bar with world class science leading the charge. Click on the links below to learn about the "Rain Difference."

FIVE REASONS TO BE INVOLVED

1. Dr. Arnold S. Leonard - The foundation for Rain Nutrition is based upon over 50 years of dedicated service and nearly 2 decades of clinical studies

by renowned and highly acclaimed Dr. Arnold S. Leonard. Dr. Leonard is an MD/PhD, and former head of the pediatric and thyroid cancer research and surgery department at the University of Minnesota, and who is currently the founder and chairman of the Arthur S. Leonard (ASL) Cancer Research Fund, and most recently, out of all the doctors in the United States, was appointed to the Congressional Health Care Committee for his outstanding research and study on preventive health and will be speaking at their upcoming meeting.

2. Scientific and medical research spanning more than 15 years backing the product

3. Sound financial backing and proven leadership

4. Rapidly expanding market

5. Now is the Time!

PRODUCT ORDERING PROCESS:
Rain Nutrition uses the network marketing business model. To sign up as a customer with Rain please email me at shelleyk@raex.com and I will help you place your order.

To sign up as a DISTRIBUTOR member of RAIN and have the opportunity to earn extra income please visit RAIN NUTRITION http://www.rainnutrition.com and use referral # 23509. The beginning distributor packages start under $200.00 (includes started kit and products for your own use) In less than 15 minutes you could have your own home based business in place! With less than 1500 distributors to date, you are considered a founder in the company and you will be starting at the top in the network marketing structure.

Pizza Toppings...

I just took a break from cleaning my office and rummaged through the refrigerator to find some pizza left over from last night. We had ordered pizza for the kids. Of course, I got what was left over..now I know why it was left over. When I had asked my husband to order pizza, my daughter asked for a veggie pizza. Well, I guess veggie did not sound too appetizing to my husband, even though he was not going to eat it - we already had dinner plans to go out. The slice that was left over was a roasted tomato and pineapple pizza! I have heard of pineapple ham and pineapple peperoni. The pineapple roasted tomato did not do it for me - UGH! I know this is not my typical post, on my blog, but I thought I needed to share this with all of you so you do not make the same mistake of ordering the tomato pineapple combo for your next pizza :)

Back to the office...I hear my desk calling my name...I can almost see the top of it :)

BEFORE you buy your paper holiday greeting cards READ THIS...

Sending cards from SendOutCards start as low as $.31/card and someone else addresses, stuffs, licks, stamps and sends the card for you! Wouldn't you rather be enjoying your family and friends rather than sitting in a room addressing cards for hours?

Services like Send Out Cards saves you time and money, while allowing you the options of adding your family photos, a company logo and even gifts and gift cards. You can even use a font of your own handwriting and signatures.

* Walgreens, Shutterfly and Costco cards cost about $1.47 per card with photos. But remember ...YOU still have to address, stuff, lick, stamp, and take to the post office yourself! What is your time worth?

* Hallmark costs about $2.35 for a card with no photo, and YOU still have to address, stuff, lick, stamp, and take to the post office yourself! Again, what is your time worth?

** For the eco-conscious, the cards are printed on recycled paper. You can even choose a gift to be included with your card – some of the items SendOutCards offers: chocolate, coffee, pet treats or gift cards from places like Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, and The Gap. These are NOT e-Cards. These are REAL PAPER CARDS.

**You can find more information at http://www.sendoutcards.com/read While there, open a FREE no obligation Gift account today and send a FREE card to anyone you choose at my expense-No strings attached.

Use For Business:
SendOutCards offers and simple and professional way for business to follow-up with their customers, vendors and associates. A customer that feels appreciated with continue to do business with you. They will also refer others to you.

With the assistance of your SendOutCards representative, you can have a campaign set-up for your business in just minutes. You can even personalize each piece within a day of its scheduled time to go out. You can have custom greeting cards and postcards made for your business; this lets your customer recognize you. You can find information on creating your custom cards on the SendOurCards site.

Example: Let's say you sell insurance. You decide that when someone buys a policy from you, you will send a pre-scheduled campaign of cards to your new customer. You will first send a Thank You Card, then a Birthday Card will be scheduled, A Holiday card will be scheduled and an Anniversary of Policy postcard will be scheduled that promotes new products that you offer. The system will automatically do this for you.

ONCE AGAIN...These are NOT e-Cards. These are REAL PAPER CARDS.

Open a FREE no obligation Gift account today and send a FREE card to anyone you choose.

http://www.sendoutcards.com/read

Matt's Sailing Voyage #5

Sorry this is a bit overdue...

Hello Everyone!

Well I finished the first “leg” of my journey. I’m now in Gloucester Point, VA, Chesapeake Bay. I left New York on Monday morning around 10 am, cloudy at first then a nice sunny day with a light SE breeze. I motor sailed down the Jersey shore and almost pulled into Atlantic City at around 11 pm, but at dusk the wind had changed to 10 to 15 kts out of the NE, so it was a perfect wind to sail. That was until the wind built to 20 to 25 kts around 5 am and at that point the next safe inlet was Ocean City, MD where I pulled into at around 10 am after being at the helm for five hours because my auto pilot couldn’t keep up with the 7-8 ft following seas. The strong NE wind was forecasted to last until Wednesday night but later forecasts predicted lasting through the weekend. So I was stuck in Ocean City where I was one out of only three sail boats – the rest were sport fish, 250 in my marina alone. After resting for a couple days I set out on Thursday for Chesapeake Bay in 20 to 25 kt NNE winds and 6-8 ft seas. Once I motored through about a mile of 10 foot breakers to get out of the inlet area, it was actually a relatively comfortable sail all the way to the entrance to Chesapeake Bay at around 11:30 pm where I had to turn into the wind and motor against both the wind and the 2 kt tide current. I would have had to wait about three hours for the current to change direction, so I motored at around four kts up the Chesapeake. I pulled into the marina at about 6 am and then took a long needed nap… I will be leaving my boat here until beginning of October and going to Annapolis Boat Show. My next destination will be Charleston, SC if anyone is interested in crewing for about a week in mid October. I will be flying home on Sunday and planning to stay through Louie’s Last Regatta Sept. 26!

See you soon!

Matt

The Concept II

Who refuses opportunity?

"Not rich successful people. They don't refuse opportunity" This came in my inbox today from a very successful business acquaintance of mine. Many of you have heard him speak and I have had the pleasure of speaking to him several years ago and also had the pleasure of speaking to his son-in-law, Art Jonak, one of the most successful networker marketers in the world. I KNOW meeting him on the internet over 12 years ago helped my decision with my road to success and my sales exceeding over $500,000 a year working from home and helping others reach their monetary and personal goals.

Here is the rest of the email I received...DO WITH IT WHAT YOU WANT:

"Who refuses opportunity?

Not rich people. They don't refuse opportunity.

They are not programmed to look for the reasons why something won't work. They are programmed to look for reasons why something can work.

There are always hundreds of reasons why an opportunity will not work, but also hundreds of reasons why the opportunity will work.

It just depends on which set of reasons you decide to focus on."
Tom Schreiter

Anyway...if you are open and want information on what I do...YOU KNOW WHERE TO FIND ME :)

Matt's Sailing Voyage #4

Hello again!

I made it to New York, NY!! Finally… Motored 500 miles in eight days. Had a couple short days and several long days, some were more than 15 hours. Made it through the 35 locks with the highest drop being 40 feet. The “the flight of five” into Waterford were five locks within 1.5 miles with an average drop a 35 feet each bringing you down to the Hudson River. I put my mast back up in Catskill, about forty miles down the Hudson but still had to motor the rest of the way to New York. It would have been nice to take more time to do some side trips along the way, like the finger lakes and the Adirondack Mountains. Many of the towns along the way were very nice and historic and some were not… by all means avoid Lyons, NY very depressed area. The Hudson River Valley was very scenic and very beautiful, rolling hills and mountains, huge mansions, rock faces, historic light houses all the way into New York City. I decided not to anchor but to get a dock at the West 79^th St. Boat Basin because of the approaching tropical storm Danny which will be coming though on Saturday. So I will be stuck in New York City until Monday I think. It has been raining all day and will rain all day tomorrow and T-storms on Sunday then a good forecast next week. Joe Conway was a huge help getting though the canal and he left this morning so I will be single-handing it to the Chesapeake Bay on Monday where I will be for about six weeks. I plan to fly back to MKE for Labor Day Weekend.

Till next time…

Matt

The Concept II

Matt's Sailing Voyage #3

Hello Everyone!

I almost made it to Erie, PA under sail, only had to motor about two hours. I didn’t do much there besides anchor in a remote lagoon and took a nap after sailing through the night, then worked on the boat for a while and got a good night sleep. Next day (Tuesday) forecast was for storms all day and SSW winds 20 to 30 knots. I got lucky and had sun all day, I was out 5 to 10 miles in Lake Erie and it stormed on shore from Erie to Buffalo all day long. The wind gusted up to 33 knots and the seas built to over six feet and the auto pilot couldn’t handle it so I steered the entire way. I had the spinnacker up for a while until it was too rough and windy to handle, then I put up the jib. Made it to Buffalo by sunset and pulled into a restaurant and had a good meal after a long rough day at sea. I was driving by the Yacht Club and was invited in for the night. The next day (Wednesday) I went to Wardell Boat Yard in Tonawanda just two hours up the river to take the mast down. I went through one small lock. I made quick work of un-stepping the mast and packing it away. I had a bit of an accident when I was securing the rigging, I lost my hold and fell into the water scraping and cutting my right hand on the way down. I rode my bike for about two hours to find a place to get six stitches. Went back to the boat I continued packing it up for the Erie Canal the next day. Joe Conway flew in that night to help me through the Canal. The first day of the canal was absolutely beautiful and much better than I thought…more interesting than sailing through the Great Lakes. There were farms, orchards, parks, peoples back yards, marshes, bridges, locks, and nice little towns. We stopped in a small city called Brockport, NY and tied up to a wall at marina in the center of town where the docking fee was $8 dollars a night. But since I didn’t need power or water the docking was free. It stormed that night and into the morning and has been light rain most of the day so far.

Till next time…

Matt

The Concept II

Barney's Version film gets rolling in Rome

Barney's Version film gets rolling in Rome

Had to give my cousin Michael Konyves, the screenwriter some pub...our family is so proud and excited for him...check out the cast - Dustin Hoffman, Minnie Driver, Rosamund Pike, Scott Speedman, Bruce Greenwood and Macha Grenon.

Shared via AddThis

Update #2 - MAtt's Sailng Voyage

Hello Everyone!

The last update I was having a beautiful sail down Lake Huron. Just after I sent the letter the wind died so I motored all of the way down to the southern tip of Lake Huron where I anchored at around 2 am for the night. The next day (Thursday) was a nice sunny and calm day, perfect for motoring down the St. Clair River and through Detroit. There was a strong following current all of the way through to Lake Erie, at least 2 knots and as much as 3.5 knots, so I made good time to my next destination of Put-In-Bay Island, Lake Erie. I planned to stop for fuel at Wyandotte, MI, just south of Detroit and the last place to stop before crossing Lake Erie. I pulled up to the Yacht Club where there was a sign that said they have fuel, but they no longer carried fuel, so they directed me to the place next door and they were either out of diesel or didn’t carry it and said there was no other place to get it. Good thing my jerry cans were full on deck so I put in 5 gallons to make it to Put-In-Bay. I made it there by 10:30 and anchored right by the 352 foot high tower, the International Peace Memorial for Commodore Perry’s victory in the War of 1812. The next morning (Friday) I went to shore - first time since Mackinac Island on Monday. Put-In-Bay is known as the “Key West” of Lake Erie. The marinas are packed full of boats on the weekends – even the power boats were rafted four deep. I hung out there until Sunday and now on my way to Erie, PA. Motored into a 15 knot breeze for about seven hours, then the wind shifted and I have the perfect wind, 12-15 knots out of the south all night long when I am headed east. I will be in Erie by noon.

Matt

The Concept II

Matt's Sailing Voyage from Milwaukee to the Bahamas...Began Aug 6th

While visiting Put-In-Bay in Ohio on August 15th, my sister Pam and a friend Veronica and I met a very nice guy. His name is Matt. We invited him to join us for dinner one night - he was sitting at the bar alone so we figured the more the merrier. He turned out to be one of the most interesting fellows we met the entire weekend. He is an accomplished young man that took on the sport of sailing about 5 years ago...Matt if I am wrong please correct me on that one. He bought himself a beautiful sailing boat (Matt you will have to fill in the details about size and all the bells and whistles).

Matt is now on a voyage from his home town of Milwaukee to the Bahamas to spend the winter - that sounds so wonderful! I am going to post his journey for all of you to be able to share his experiences...did I mention...LADIES HE IS SINGLE! Maybe he can find his true love on his journey at one of the stops he makes. Ladies you can leave him messages on the comment section of this blog - hehe - Matt, we said we would take care of you :) Anyway, here is the first entry...

Hello Everyone!

Here is a little update on my solo journey through the Great Lakes and onto the Bahamas. I started out on Thursday Aug. 6th like I planned, left around 2:00… Yeah it was a bit of a late start, but if you were one of the few who stayed until the bitter end of the Bon Voyage party the night before you would understand. Thank you all for attending, it was a great party! Thank you Joe Miller for the party, Dan Nelson for the band, and Gwen Kuber for the posters!

I left on a nice sunny day with no wind, so I motored up to Sheboygan where I anchored in the harbor around 9:00. The next day (Friday) I met friends Max and Sam, and Frank and Julie from MYC for lunch. I then left around 1:30 in fog and no wind, and motored up to Sturgeon Bay. I made it in just after midnight and anchored by Bay View Bridge just before it began to storm. Several storms went through that night and rained heavily until morning. I then met friends John and Ellen Kuber from MYC for lunch and dinner. They were on their way back from the North Channel. I spent the day (Saturday) and night in Sturgeon Bay because more severe weather was expected. From there I went Beaver Island. I actually was able to sail with my spinnaker for a

bout six hours! I anchored at the southern end of Beaver Island for the night.

The next day (Monday) I left for Mackinac Island. Once again I motored most of the way but was able to sail from the Bridge to the Island, yeah! I anchored out in the harbor and went ashore to eat fudge and smell horse shit… the Island just isn’t the same without all the sailors.

Tuesday I started sailing though Lake Huron. It was a beautiful day for sailing. I had my spinnaker up in 10 to 20 knot breeze out of the Northwest and still have it flying all of the way to Saginaw Bay. So I’m near Saginaw Bay,been sailing through the night and continuing to sail as long as the w

ind is favorable.

I plan to start the Erie Canal around the 20^th of August. Still looking

for a crew so if anyone would like to take a nice little cruise through New York State, please let me know.

Matt

The Concept II