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Show September 17, 2009 Every1Counts Doors & Windows: Which Ones’ to Walk Through & Open By Cynthia Kimball Humphreys You know, I’m running into many opportunities these days. And, isn’t this a recession? Yeah, I thought so, too. The coolest part is they’re everywhere. Yep, EVERYWHERE. Even where we wouldn’t normally think they would be. Winston Churchill said, “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” Here’s an example that epitomizes Churchill’s words. I’m meeting with a woman near Provo next week. She had something horrible happen to her a few years back, but has decided to put those bad memories into a book to warn others. She could have, though, decided to do nothing. But she saw, like Churchill, “… opportunity in every difficulty.” So, we are going to strategize about making her dream of getting published a reality. Being able to choose which door or window of opportunity to walk through or open is an art. As in all things, some are better at it than others. I feel that it is important to realize that just because there’s opportunity at our fingertips, doesn’t always mean we should act on or pursue them. Yet, according to Flora Whittemore, “The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.” For example, if you choose to drink and drive and kill someone, you have decided not only how you will live, but how others will or will not. If you choose to have sex at 14 and become pregnant, again, you have decided how you and others will live. My own personal example comes from when I lived in Washington State. Since I had experience as an English as a Second Language (ESL) instructor from teaching in Japan, I was presented an opportunity to be an ESL instructor at several junior colleges. Well, instead of taking just one of those opportunities, I took all of them. The problem was that I also had a family and didn’t live close to any of these colleges. To make matters worse, the classes I taught were held at different times throughout the day and night. Looking back, it would have behooved me to accept only one of those teaching positions, do it well, even master it, and spend more time with my family and other obligations. One unknown author pretty much summed up what I learned from that experience, “Good decisions come from experience, and experience comes from bad decisions.” Dallin H. Oaks said, “We should begin by recognizing the reality that just because something is good is not a sufficient reason for doing it. The number of good things we can do far exceeds the time available to accomplish them. Some things are better than good, and these are the things that should command priority attention in our lives.” Have you walked through a door or opened a window of opportunity because you couldn’t say no, because you felt pressured or because you didn’t think you were worthy of any other opportunities? Are you worried what people will say if you back out of a decision that you made? It’s not too late to make a recourse on a decision. After all, most people appreciate honesty and will respect you for being true to yourself. Tell them you got in over your head. You could also add, “If there’s time down-the-road, in which my schedule allows, and if the opportunity’s still available, I will contact you.” A lot of people I know, including myself (these days), write out which decision is best. Then pray about it. Listen to your conscious. Listen to your gut. Listen to the spirit. So you don’t, as I did in the above example, have to learn the hard way. Perhaps if I had listened to additional advice from Dallin H. Oaks, I could have saved myself and others a lot of head and heartache, “We have to forego some good things in order to choose others that are better or best…” So now it’s up to you. Determine which doors and windows of opportunity to walk through and open. Only you can decide. But perhaps, in your decision making process, Anso Coetzer’s advice can act as a guide, “Decisions become easier when your will to please God outweighs your will to please the world.” For information on coaching, consulting, speaking or training contact: Cynthia Kimball Humphreys, Vice President, Every1Counts, P.O. Box 574, Hatch, UT 84735. Ph: 435.632.1489, Fax: 435.735.4222 or Email: kimball@every1counts.net. Website: www.every1counts.net. Connect with Cynthia Kimball Humphreys on Face book, Twitter, Plaxo, LinkedIn, and Echo Loops. © 2008 Every1Counts, LLC. All rights reserved. Page 3 The Garfield County Insider AG MARKET NEWS Receipts: 686; Last Week : 747. Last Year: 1,438. Feeder Steers: wts under 700 lbs 3.00- 4.00 lower, wts over 700 lbs weak to 1.00 lower. Feeder Heifers: mixed but mostly 1.00- 2.00 lower, except 400 lb wts 3.00-4.00 higher. Holstein Steers: mixed but mostly steady. Slaughter Cows: 1.002.00 lower. Slaughter Bulls: weak to 1.00 lower. Feeder Steers: Medium and Large Frame 2: 200250 lbs pkg 129.00; 250300 lbs scarce; 300-350 lbs lot 128.00; 350-400 lbs 105.50-114.00; 400-450 lbs 103.00-110.25; 450-500 lbs 101.50-108.25; 500-550 lbs 94.00-105.50; 550-600 lbs 85.00-95.00; 600-650 lbs 88.00-93.50; 650-700 lbs 82.00-92.00; 700-750 lbs 83.50-92.25; 750-800 lbs 82.75-91.00; 800- 950 lbs scarce; 950-1000 lbs 79.25-81.75. Holsteins Steers: Large Frame 3 Baby Bull Calves: 1 lot 60.00; 200-300 lbs 41.00-44.00; 300-500 lbs 49.00-66.50; 500-700 lbs 53.50-62.00; 700-900 lbs 44.50-59.00; 900-1000 lbs scarce. Feeder Heifers: Medium and Large Frame 1-2: 200250 lbs lot 117.00; 250-300 lbs 106.00- 110.00; 300350 lbs 103.50-110.00; 350-400 lbs 101.00-109.50; 400-450 lbs 90.00-100.50; 450-500 lbs 85.00-94.50, pkg 98.50; 500-550 lbs 84.50-90.00; 550-600 lbs 80.00-87.00; 600-650 lbs 81.00-84.50; 650-700 lbs 80.50-86.00; 700-750 lbs 78.75-86.00; 750-800 lbs 84.00-85.00; 800-850 lbs scarce; 850-900 lbs 66.5077.75; 900-950 lbs 69.5076.50; 950-1000 lbs scarce. Heiferettes: 34.75-63.50. Stock Cows: Medium and Large Frame1: scarce. Slaughter Cows: Boning 80-85% Lean: 36.5042.85; Breaking 75-80% Lean: 39.25-43.00; Commercial: scarce; Cutter 8590% Lean: 29.00-35.50. Slaughter Bulls: Yield Grade 1000-1500 lbs 50.25-53.25; 1500-2100 lbs 55.00-58.25; Yield Grade 2 1000-1500 lbs 41.5049.25; 1500-2295 lbs 48.25-53.75. Feeder Bulls 800-1100 lbs scarce. Hale Art Gallery Open for season Great prices on original art. Good selection of Lynn Griffin's work NOW’S THE TIME TO APPLY ONLINE FOR A NEW YEAR RETIREMENT By Mickie Douglas - Social Security Public Affairs Specialist If you’re planning on retiring sometime early in the new year, now is the time to apply for retirement benefits. The most convenient way to apply for Social Security benefits is online -- from the comfort of your home or office. Just go to www.socialsecurity.gov/applyonline. Our website will walk you through the online retirement application process. We will tell you what information you will need to answer the questions on the application. Further, we will describe the documents you may need to present once you have submitted your application. Before you start your application, we recommend you get an estimate of your retirement benefit. This too, you can do on the Social Security website at www.socialsecurity.gov/ estimator. The Retirement Estimator uses your personal employment history to estimate your retirement benefit. It also will help you to answer some of the questions on the retirement application. You can use the online application to apply for So- cial Security retirement or spouses benefits if you: • Are at least 61 years and 9 months old; • Want to start your benefits in the next four months; and • Live in the United States. You will want to be fully informed of your options and their consequences before applying. The website will tell you everything you need to know about the Social Security “basics” so you’ll be ready to retire when you apply online. Before filing online for retirement, we suggest you have the following information on hand: • Your date and place of birth and Social Security number; • Your bank or financial institution’s routing transit number and the account number, for direct deposit of your benefits; • The amount of money earned last year and this year. If you are filing for benefits in the months of September through December, you also will need to estimate next year’s earnings; • The name and address of your employer(s) for this year and last year; • The beginning and ending dates of any active U.S. military service you had before 1968; • The name, Social Security number and date of birth or age of your current spouse and any former spouse. You also should know the dates and places of marriage and dates of divorce or death (if appropriate); and • A copy of your Social Security Statement. Even if you don’t have all the information we need, you should go ahead and apply. We will contact you later if we need additional documentation. Applying online means there is no need for you to go to a Social Security office or wait for a scheduled appointment with a Social Security representative. Besides, retiring online is so easy. You can apply in as little as 15 minutes. So if you want to start the new year off as a retiree, or plan to start collecting benefits early in the new year, now’s the time to take action. Don’t delay; apply online today at www. socialsecurity.gov/applyonline. GSENM WALKS & TALKS September looks to be a grand month for Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument’s 2009 Walks & Talks series of lectures and field trips. All programs are free and co-sponsored by Grand Staircase Escalante Partners. Grosvenor Arch and the Cottonwood Narrows Wednesday, September 23 • 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. GSENM Cannonville Visitor Center; carpool to trailhead Difficulty: Moderate; 3 miles Explore the geologic setting surrounding Grosvenor Arch, and then hike into “the bowels of the Cockscomb” with GSENM Park Ranger Dave Mecham. Call the Escalante Interagency Visitor Center (435) 826-5499 for information and reservations. Limited to 12 participants. Spike bull elk permits sell out Permits to hunt bull elk on spike-only hunting units in Utah sold out on Aug. 28. Last year, spike-only unit permits didn’t sell out until Sept. 24. Two options If you want to hunt bull elk in Utah this fall, but you don’t have a permit, you still have two options: On the morning of Sept. 3, a total of 3,678 permits were still available to hunt with a rifle on any-bull elk units in Utah. Plenty of permits are available to hunt elk with a bow and arrow. In fact, the number of general archery elk permits the Division of Wildlife Resources can sell isn’t limited, so there’s never a problem getting one. The archery elk hunt started Aug. 15. It ends in September on most of the state’s hunting units. However, on three extended archery areas in Utah, the archery hunt runs into December. Extended archery areas are located along parts of the Wasatch Front, in parts of the Uintah Basin and in the Sanpete Valley. 2009 Big Game Guidebook You can find more information about the extended archery areas on page 32 of the 2009 Utah Big Game Guidebook. The free guidebook is available at wildlife.utah.gov/ guidebooks. You can also get a copy at DWR offices and from hunting license agents across Utah. |