Dear residents of the Sylvania School District:
It was an honor and privilege to serve you as a Sylvania Board of Education member for the past 12 years!
During the past 12 years, the district made great strides. Some of those include:

• Excellent with Distinction — State rating improved from continuous improvement, to effective, to excellent, to excellent with distinction the past two years
• Gained Community Support — passed two operating levies and two bond issues, all on the first attempt

Three new elementary schools will replace aging existing buildings and major renovations will be made to others:

• Facilities — upgraded maintenance and cleanliness
• Operations — centralized support services, transportation and purchasing
• Technology — expanded acceptance of its use for teaching and learning and data-based decision making
• Curriculum — began audit and continuous review of changing needs for higher education and employment opportunities
• Communications — key communications with major stakeholders improved, methods of communication expanded to include print, voice, and electronic means
• Finances — improved internal controls, auditing and forecasting
• Student services — integration of all students in the classroom
• Athletics — improved understanding and acceptance of its important role in education
• Staff development — improved methods and standards for educating our educators

I attribute these improvements to the hard work of our students, teachers, staff, the involvement of our parents and support of our community. I am thankful to have been a part of our district’s progress during the past 12 years and wish Sylvania Schools continued success.

PAM HAYNAM, Sylvania

Hawkins Elementary School opened its new “green” building  with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Jan. 19.
“It is awesome. The thing I enjoyed the most, when the children walked in, and in awe they were like, ‘wow windows,’ ” said Ann Baker, principal of Hawkins. “The building feels healthier and is absolutely environmentally friendly. I think it will increase the children’s learning and brighten their day up.”
The building is Toledo Public Schools’ first U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) qualifier.
“We’re excited that this can be a learning lab for students centered around energy efficiency. We have a windmill and passive solar designed into the building,” said  John Foley TPS superintendent.  “Its location next to the botanical gardens is a great opportunity for the school to be a lab as well as a place for learning.”
The old school still needs to be demolished and applications need to be completed prior to LEED certification but the building should get at least a silver if not a gold certification, Foley said.
The building cost $11.4 million to construct, with 77 percent of the funding coming from Ohio Schools Facility Commission.
The school is nearly 60,000 square feet and will house up to 500 students, teachers and faculty.
According to Dan Tabor, a partner of the Collaborative Inc. and the project’s head architect, the school features a number of environmentally friendly features.
The building is made of 25 percent recycled material and recycled 75 percent of its construction waste, he said.
The school was also constructed with 51 percent regional materials, materials manufactured within a 500-mile radius, cutting down on the projects carbon footprint.
The site takes advantage of  a rain garden and bioswale to filter storm water, Tabor said. In addition, the building is oriented to take advantage of natural lighting, aimed at offsetting the energy costs.
Other cost saving features include a helix wind turbine that can light the lobby and corridors, a white reflective roof that reflects sunlight keeping the building cool and an ice storage unit that allows the school to utilize ice as part of their cooling system.
The school utilized low-flow water fixtures as well as waterless urinals making the water usage 40 percent less than average schools.
This is the ninth TPS school designed by the Collaborative as part of the Building for Success Program. The company’s future projects for the district include Woodward and Old Orchard.
Contractors for the building were Blaze Contracting, Inc, A.Z. Shmina, Shambaugh & Son, L.P., Bayes, Inc., Westfield Electric, Inc. and Laibe Electric Co.

Of the many tensions that hold our society together, the one I find most fascinating is the tension between independence and interdependence. Independence is important to our self understanding as a people.  After all, we practically invented the concept in our war with King George when we declared our “independence” from England. We love to celebrate “Independence Day” with fireworks and cook outs and grand celebrations. Some of us might even take time to read Jefferson’s words, “We hold these truths … ” This love of independence transcends politics and invades each of us at the most basic level of our existence. What 16-year-olds don’t feel like  they own the world the first time they get the car keys after they secured their driver license? To be America is to love one’s independence.
Then there is the concept of “interdependence.” Interdependence is important to our survival as a people. It speaks of a reality that we all know in our bones to be true but often we choose to deny. Nothing we have or own or do or are happens apart from others, past and present, and the generosity of all the resources provided by our planet. That 16-year-old may feel free as the breeze as she takes off for the first time solo in the car, radio blasting, tires screeching … but chances are high that if it wasn’t for Dad and Mom — not to mention the elaborate system of innovation and manufacturing that gave us the car —there would be no car. The self-made soul may think they succeeded by doing it “their way” but the reality is there is a long history of negotiated interaction with others, their ideas and the blessings of the planet. Nothing of importance or significance happens apart from someone or something else.
It is not lost on many that these can be mutually exclusive concepts.  My desire to be independent will at times interfere with my need to be interdependent. I thought of this tension as I read Toledo Mayor Mike Bell’s words about thinking regionally. Now here is a man who understands the concept of interdependence. I suspect anybody who has lived their life in a dangerous profession, such as firefighting or law enforcement knows and understands the importance of interdependence. Adopting this concept to the work of his new administration shows some vision and sensitivity to reality.
The vision is simple.  Think how much stronger we all are if Toledo and its surrounding communities work together to create a renewed energy for economic development, healthy community building and addressing the needs of the poor and marginalized. Think of the possibilities if all communities would work together … the pooling of their gifts, talents and resources around a set of challenges that would be owned by all.  This is America at its finest.
The reality is jarring. If we do not own our need to be interdependent on each other then the whole area will suffer, not just the City of Toledo. How long could Perrysburg or Maumee or Rossford or any of the “burbs” live as well as they do if Toledo were to die as a viable city? Think of all the ways Toledo anchors community life in Northwest Ohio.  The culture, entertainment, sports and metropark system of the city feeds all of us in one way or another. The “burbs” have as much a vested interest in Toledo’s success as the citizens of that city do.
So Toledo has a new mayor who seems to live out of a vision of “interdependence.” The question will be, will he face leaders in the villages and suburbs throughout Northwest Ohio who share this sense that  we are interdependent and need each other … or will he face leaders in these villages and suburbs that have arrogantly declared their independence of the Glass City on the lake?  Success will demand from the new mayor every ounce of political savvy and leadership skill he can muster. For I sense the spirit of independence is strong out here in the land beyond the Glass City on the lake. I wish Mayor Bell well and much success. If he succeeds, all Northwest Ohio succeeds.

Eric McGlade is a United Methodist Minister who lives and works in Bowling Green.

The tragedy which has struck Haiti is beyond our scope of imagination. The situation will only grow grimmer as the need for clean water, food, power and basic sanitation rises. Before the Jan. 12 quake, there were more than 20,000 orphans in the metropolitan area of Port au Prince. Certainly these numbers have escalated. More than half  of the population of Haiti is age 15 or younger. And sadly, more than half of the people of Haiti didn’t even eat on any given day. Many orphans die of malnutrition and the streets full of children who were the least in this country. And this was the case before the earthquake.
A year ago this month, Pastor Duke Crawford, senior pastor at Emmanuel Baptist Church, was in Port au Prince visiting an orphanage called My Father’s House.  Later this year the head of this organization (Wordsower International)  and the pastor in Haiti who runs the orphanage, Pastor Predestin, are scheduled to visit  Toledo so Emmanuel Baptist Church can partner with this orphanage. But their need is now greater than ever.  Though times are tough here in the United States, they don’t begin to equal the misery the hundreds of thousands are experiencing in Haiti. What follows is a brief encapsulation of the ministry of Our Father’s House.
In  January 2009, moved by the many orphans roaming the streets,  Pastor Predestin established an orphanage on the outskirts of the Giardo Ravine Slum. Initially, My Father’s House took in 25 orphans — children orphaned by hunger, natural disasters and political upheavals. In April the house had reached capacity with 41 children.  Food was tight and they had to turn away children daily. In June there were more than 50 children.
Two orphanages in Haiti had to close because of the worldwide economic downturn. These children were going to be “dumped” back into the streets. My Father’s House wanted to feed these children and to offer them a home, a bed, a roof, safety, education, shoes, medical care and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They took in many and were sleeping two and three to a bed. The crowding was not a healthy environment. A house designed for 25 housed 100.  At Thanksgiving, Emmanuel Baptist Church and others supplied the money so they could rent an additional house, purchase mattresses, sheets, bowls and help pay for additional staff.
It costs about $4 to feed and educate a child each day in My Father’s House. Quickly, the second home was filled.  There was no room for tables, but the house was brimming with joyful children — children that were so happy to be in a place where they had no reason to fear.  They were not going to be sold or abused.  They would not starve.  The building was large and sound. Soon 100 children grew to 200 children. They sadly had to turn away more children.  The orphanage was seeking to buy a generator and a refrigerator. With two houses full, My Father’s House began to look for a third home in Port Au Prince this very month.
To help find a house, Jason Nightingale, the head of Wordsower International, and his wife, arrived in Haiti at 4 p.m. on Jan. 12, the day of the quake. The earthquake struck at 4:53.  Word has come that the Nightingales, Pastor Predestin and the orphans are safe. “We have people who died right next door. And the three Americans that they think are dead were staying here with us.  Heartbreaking. The front courtyard is a homeless shelter currently.  Lots of aftershocks.  Keep praying.” This word was received two days after the quake. However, they only had food and water for the weekend.  With banks closed, supermarkets destroyed, and anarchy reigning, the  needs of this orphanage are great.
At present their greatest need is money. No funds will be used for promotion or anything but the immediate needs of these children.
They would like to open a third home as there will be an overwhelming demand. “There are many, many new orphans.  We will take in any and all that need it,” writes Nightingale. If you would like to contribute to this organization, the people at Emmanuel Baptist Church at 4207 Laskey Road are accepting monetary gifts to support My Father’s House.  Please contact the church (419-473-3280) if you would like to make a contribution. For further information and pictures, visit www.wordsower.org.

I suspect most of us have a shining, victorious moment from our youth that we keep tucked away in our back pocket as a reminder of the lifelong lessons it left behind. My moment was on a tennis court, winning a grueling tournament match that, in all honesty, I had no business winning.
My competition was obviously better than I was.  She had a much better technical grasp on the game and had the physical strength to back it up. Although fortunate to have learned the game here and there from my aunt and my cousin during my childhood, I was a late-comer for the most part and depended greatly on my garage door to hone my skills.
Adding to the cards stacked against me that day, I’m just not very competitive. I’m not sure if it was my mom’s insistence on always backing the long shot no matter what the contest or my dad’s setting me up to gracefully accept failure by making me a Cleveland Browns fan, but somehow I ended up completely OK with not quite winning. I like to win like anyone else, but I tend to react to the agony of defeat with an “oh, well” instead of an “oh, no!”
My opponent’s first several serves literally just whizzed right past me. “Well, this should be a quick romp,” I figured. It stood to reason in my mind that decent natural ability with minimal formal training and little drive didn’t really stand much of a chance up against seasoned and determined, especially in tournament play. Although I’m not one to give up, I decided that it wouldn’t hurt to start writing my concession speech in my head.
What I didn’t count on was a coach who actually believed I could win.
Coach Tim Smith, who recently passed, helped to carry many an area youth to victory during his long and lustrous coaching career.  I personally will always remember him as the coach who taught me how to beat Goliath on the day I showed up as David.
Although a fierce desire to win somehow passed me by in life, I do enjoy figuring things out. After a few quick blowout games, I realized that there was at least a way I could attempt to score a few points for myself. For all of the power my opponent had, I had an equal ability to place the ball. I quickly learned that standing right at the service line gave me the upper hand on controlling her powerful serves and using them against her.
With my newfound strategy and Coach Smith’s insistence that I actually had a chance, I did score a few points.  A few points turned into a few games that turned into a set that turned into the closest, most exhausting, most memorable sporting event of my life. Between wanting to get the win for my coach and for my team, and wanting to give my parents that come-from-behind, long shot win that the Browns never did, I just kept going.
The ending was not pretty. In fact, it turned rather ugly rather quickly. On the verge of losing what should have been an easy win, the opposing side became quite irate. The last thing someone like me wants is to be immersed in conflict and controversy, which is exactly what those last few points ended up boiling down to. Surely I must be cheating somehow if I was poised to defeat a talent so much larger than my own.
Coach Smith, however, quite convincingly assured me that just knowing myself that I played with integrity in tact should be enough.  And it was.
My son is getting to the point in sports at which he cares. He wants to watch, to learn, to play. He wants to score; he wants to win. The lesson I will be passing on from Coach Smith is that there is no such thing as having no business winning when you put forth the will and the integrity to do so.

Shannon and her husband Michael are raising three children in Sylvania. Visit her blog at www.whatswithwomen.com.

With January half over — and most of our resolutions already splattered, or on the brink of extinction — we thought we’d try and breathe new life into some of

those well intentioned travel-related twenty/ten goals…

In light of the Christmas Day airline kerfuffle and subsequent stringent security enhancements (how’s that for government speak?), our #1 resolution for the new decade is: “Just Do It”!

Twenty five years or so ago, following a savage and sadly successful attack on an Air India flight over Ireland, we naively cancelled a trip to the Indian subcontinent at the very last moment thereby losing not only scads of money…but more importantly…the opportunity to visit parts of a country that are now no longer accessible to the traveling public.

We’ve regretted it ever since. And would never do it again.

The bottom line, of course, is that once people start giving in to the bad guys…they win. The reality is that the chance of getting caught up in some random act of violence is so slight that it’s just an asterisk to our main point.

Resolve #2 is somewhat related. Keep It Simple. Please.

Fewer airline connections and transfers. Longer stays in each location. And packing less stuff in general. All add up to less angst and more flexibility in the event of travel snafus…from whatever the source.

In all our years of organizing and leading trips, foreign and domestic, the very best lesson we’ve all learned is that keeping things simple…and traveling light…is the best revenge.

Now it’s truer than ever. Witness this week’s announcements by major airlines that they’re bouncing checked bags fees up to $25. And that’s just for the first piece of luggage!

Where all this will lead, nobody knows. But we can easily imagine scenarios when the size of carry-on luggage will be even further restricted…or banned altogether.

Always…Stay Alert and Informed…is Resolution #3. And in today’s wired up environment this is easier to accomplish and more important than ever.

New technology in the form of sophisticated palm-size cell phones, GPS units, text messaging and Twitter–plus instantaneous 24/7 media coverage of world events–mean that there’s no longer any excuse for not staying on top of world events.

Even for non-techies, a simple AM/FM/Shortwave pocket radio will alert to any possible travel problems whether it’s adverse weather, work stoppages, airline/train delays, traffic jams or terrorism.

Invaluable English language news and travel information can generally be pulled in via shortwave even in the remotest outposts…so don’t leave home without one!

Keeping a Trip Diary..is our Resolution #4.

Much as we like to think that we’ll never forget those special travel moments–good and bad–time and tide have a way of all too quickly deleting those memories.

However, a detailed written account…aided by digital photos…will preserve those “tours of a lifetime” forever. People well met and friends made, scrumptious meals, incredible sights and cultural observations will be great reminders in the future….as well as making some fascinating reading for our kids, grandkids…or even someone on the Antiques Roadshow of 2110!

Travel of any kind, especially in today’s super stressed environment is tough on any body. Whatever the age. And whether it’s standing in endless check-in and security lines, toting bags (even light ones), taking city walking tours, climbing hotel or museum staircases, negotiating cobbled streets or hillside villages…not to mention jet lag, strange foods and congested cities…travel is hard.

So, our final resolutionary advice is: “Get Fit For The Trip”!

This probably means losing excess poundage. Starting a fitness regime like regular walking (after checking with your physician, of course!). And doing some upper body building.

And it’s not a bad idea to also have a specific goal in mind beyond just the general improvement of health and fitness. This year for us, it might be kayaking the length of Michigan’s Au Sable River…hiking the 200 mile Thames Path, again…or at the very least, fitting into a pair of cargo pants that were last wearable in 2004!

A vote took place at the Jan. 19 Toledo City Council meeting, but the discussion that determined the outcome occurred at the Jan. 6 Toledo City Council Zoning and Planning Committee meeting.
Camille Harris wanted to upgrade from a Type B home day care that allows a maximum of six children to a Type A home day care that allows a maximum of 12 children. While Ohio law has many regulations and licensure requirements, Toledo recently went beyond what the state requires and passed an ordinance that all new Type A day cares must have building frontage on a major street.
Bryan Ellis of Glass City Engineering & Surveying was at the meeting on behalf of Harris. He stated the site met all state and city codes but one — the house is located two doors down from Manhattan rather than  on Manhattan. That is why Harris requested the special use permit (SUP) which has a non-refundable filing fee of $300.
Ellis’ opinion was that the impact to the neighborhood would be minimal, much less than the Wendy’s directly across the street from the property.  He said, “it’s kind of a hindrance to tell someone, ‘OK, sorry, you can’t run a business out of your home; you have to go and rent in an expensive commercial area,’ which they can’t afford in the first place.”
Councilwoman Lindsay Webb, whose district the proposed home is in, said while she was sympathetic to Harris, “The restriction that Type A home care sites have to be on a frontage of a major street, that was a provision that this council instituted as a result of the sort of proliferation of these types of day cares.”  Webb also expressed concern with a SUP being granted when the law was just recently changed.
Councilman Adam Martinez talked about his own small business and said Lagrange Development Corporation has a reputation for protecting its residents: “I need to defer to them because I don’t live there, I go home to my house, to my neighborhood.”
Harris had letters from the neighbors within direct proximity that supported her SUP application.  Lagrange Village Council at the request of United North polled 19 residents from that neighborhood who said they opposed the permit being granted because of traffic concerns.
A traffic study done by the Division of Traffic was disputed by Councilman Michael Ashford, who said, “I bet they did not send one person out there from the Division of Traffic.”  Ashford was in support of the SUP and said council needed to revisit this ordinance, as this was going to prevent many of the current Type B homes from being able to increase their home business operations.
Linda Detrick-Jaegly, economic development director for United North, in opposing the SUP, said the Brightside Academy and Dreams of Tomorrow Learning Center  invested more than $100,000 in its neighborhoods and “have jumped through hoops to open a real day care center, and by allowing a residential day care to care for up to 12 people on a residential street, undermines the work that these people have put into our neighborhood and our whole Toledo community over the last year.”
Dreams of Tomorrow opened in December. In addition to assistance from United North, it received a $6,400 façade grant for new awnings, paint and window treatments from the City of Toledo.
Harris said, “I am a ‘real day care’; just because I don’t have the fancy commercial building doesn’t mean I am not. Some people prefer their children to be in a home environment.”
The Toledo-Lucas Plan Commission recommended disapproval because of the frontage issue. Toledo City Council Zoning and Planning Committee passed this on to the full council without recommendation.
Nine votes are required to override a plan commission disapproval.  At the Jan. 19 council meeting, members Ashford, Wilma Brown, Phil Copeland, Mike Craig, Rob Ludeman, George Sarantou and Steven Steel voted yes.  D. Michael Collins, Martinez, Joe McNamara, Tom Waniewski and Webb voted no, so Harris’ SUP was denied.
While council tries to balance the law and its opinion of what is best for a particular neighborhood, at times it holds the dreams of others in its hands. This time the dreams were dashed.

Lisa Renee Ward operates the political blog Glass City Jungle.com.

Tommy Davidson, who will appear at the Funny Bone in Perrysburg on Jan. 29 and 30, has his own unique view on the Conan O’Brien/Jay Leno situation.

“Those guys are paid a whole lot of money to do what they’re doing,” Davidson said in an interview. “How long has Conan been on the air? And Jay Leno?”

Both of them for about 17 years, I said.

Davidson

“So, that’s 17 years of immense wealth and immense exposure. I am not feeling sorry for them. You know what I mean? I mean, if they’re having a little bit of problems right now, going from one network to the other, you know, take a look at my world for a little while. You know, I am not sad and upset about their situation.”

Tommy Davidson is the kind of man who cuts right to the heart of things. He’s a terrific performer, to be sure, but you can tell he brings an analytical eye to everything, and a conversation with him offers tremendous insight into comedy, the audience, and the nature of humor. At one point, as he expounded about the differences between types of performance, he even stopped and remarked how he sounded like a sociologist.

Although he made his mark nationally with his numerous roles on the legendary comedy series “In Living Color,” before that, Davidson had made a reputation as a stand-up comedian. And a comedian he remains today, touring the country with an act that has seen many changes since he began in the late 1980s.

“Wow, that’s a long time. It’s still really funny, I know that,” he joked.

“I guess I’ve just gotten smarter over the years and I’ve been able to, like, become a lot more spontaneous on stage. My show is never the same. As opposed to before, I would just do material. Now, I gotta create on the spot and do material. You get everything with me, now. You know, my mind’s evolved a lot more, culturally, as far as my observations of life and being an American. It’s different, it’s broader, it’s smarter,” he said.

What has inspired those kinds of changes, I asked?

“I think it has more to do with me enjoying myself, (to) make it exciting. If I did the same thing over and over again, I’d get bored, even though those people are hearing it for the first time. So, I gotta kinda split the difference between what I know and what they don’t know.

“So, I just keep it fun and exciting for me, to just keep coming up with stuff right then and there.”

On “In Living Color,” Davidson wowed audiences with his ability to summon up hilarious and uncanny impersonations of a wide variety of individuals, everyone from Sammy Davis Jr. to Sugar Ray Leonard. But he seemed reluctant to discuss the process of developing those characters, and said that his grasp of imitation comes naturally.

“I’m just lucky that I’m one of those few that have a wide range of understanding in the form of comedy. Not a lot of people can do it, you know? I got really lucky. I can’t really, like, expound on it too much, because it’s kinda like a gift. So I don’t wanna take too much credit for harnessing it, because, the fact I know, it’s technique, but the rest is just natural. What I’ve learned is technique. You can’t teach funny.”

Given “In Living Color”’s focus on sketches, what is the difference between working in sketch comedy and stand-up, as a performer?

“Well, sketch performing is collaborative. You know, you have to do whatever you’re doing in conjunction with somebody else to convey the idea,” Davidson said. “Whereas stand-up comes all from you. It’s a one-man performance. You know, it’s like the difference between being on a basketball team and being a boxer. Basketball team, scoring and winning totally depends on the team. In boxing, winning totally depends on the individual.”

But no matter what form it comes in, Davidson, who cites the legendary Richard Pryor as an inspiration, believes in the positive effect that comedy has on its audience.

“I think we’re kinda like doctors in a way, you know,” Davidson said. “Because we go out there…we go from city to city, making people forget about their problems, you know, for an hour. Making them feel good about life.”

For more information about Davidson’s Funny Bone appearance, visit http://www.funnybonefatfishtoledo.com/.

E-mail Jeff at PopGoesJeff@gmail.com

The night before my dentist appointment is often spent flossing, brushing vigorously and gargling aggressively.  It seems silly to spend so much time cleaning my teeth before I go to have my teeth cleaned, but you probably do the same thing.
As we spend this extra time cleaning, we remember how we promised the dentist we would floss regularly, brush three times per day and not wait so long between cleanings (and we meant every word of it).
In fact, we probably did floss more right after the appointment, but then at some point we fell right back into our old habits. Then, a year later, we once again find ourselves staring at a cheap poster on the ceiling while the dental hygienist works on our mouth like it was some kind of science experiment.
After the appointment, we will once again vow to perform all the hygienic sundries that the dentist recommends.  However, no matter how badly we wish to change our habits, we fall right back into our old patterns.
Old habits die hard, but they can be killed if we fight fire with fire.  Yes, we need to use our bad habits to break our bad habits.  In order to use our bad habits, we need to start by identifying what we know about them.
Whether we’re talking about flossing our teeth, keeping our office organized, or spending more time preparing for our client presentations, we know sheer willpower alone will not create new behavior.  We know this from experience.
If you know you cannot simply use willpower to change your habits, then ask yourself what situations bring out the behaviors and actions you want? Are these the behaviors and actions you wish were your normal habits?
Perhaps you wish you spent more time preparing for a sales presentation, but you always seem to wait until the last minute. Do you prepare more when you know that your boss is going to be listening to your presentation? Do you put more effort into your work when you know your colleagues are counting on your performance?
If so, then you know how to bring out your best behavior, even if you need to put yourself into a seemingly undesirable situation.
Having your boss around for a presentation in order to bring out your best work is no different than me flossing the night before I have a dentist appointment. I floss because I know I will have strangers staring in my mouth and evaluating my dental hygiene.
Habits are nothing more than patterns.  If a stream flows through a field for 50 years, the water slowly carves itself a channel, changes the landscape and wears down even the toughest terrain. Your habits are formed the same way, they are deeply rooted, and no matter how badly you want to change them, you cannot just wiggle your nose, blink your eyes, and expect them to change magically.
To change your habits, you need repetition, repetition, and more repetition. If you want to floss more, and you know you floss more the night before a dentist appointment, then schedule more dentist appointments. It may seem silly, but you’re creating a situation where you are flossing more; you’re creating the repetition needed to create a new pattern.
Eventually, you’ll be flossing out of habit alone and not because you have an appointment the next day.
If you want to spend more time preparing for your appointments, and you know you prepare more when your boss or colleagues are present, then invite them to as many appointments as possible.
Tell them you are trying to create better habits and that their presence helps bring out your best work.  They’ll support you.
It may seem embarrassing, but your ego is a small price to pay for being able to create new habits.  Repeated actions, when repeated often enough, become habits. Do whatever you need to do to yourself to bring out your best actions and they will become your best habits.
For more examples of fighting habits with habits, visit the Web site www.boltfromtheblue.com and enter the word FLOSS in the blueprint box.
Tom Richard is a Toledo-based sales trainer, gives seminars, runs sales meetings and provides coaching for salespeople. Visit www.boltfromtheblue.com, call (419) 441-1005 or e-mail him at tom@tomrichard.com.

On the title song of Richie Havens’ 2008 disc “Nobody Left to Crown,” he sings, “There’s no place like home/ Home, home on the range/ Where the fear and the antidotes play/ Where seldom is heard/ An encouraging word/ And our leaders do nothing all day.”

The soft-spoken singer-songwriter talked about that track during a phone interview from New Jersey.

Richie Havens

“I figured when we were back a ways politically, that behavior on the political scene was not fit to do anything for the whole of us and that left a big spot for all of us to stop and consider what we really need to be doing together,” Havens said.

“I knew back then we would have something happen, and it really did. What I saw was a change in the whole body politic and an open door for all of us who are still trying to make a clean break,” he said and laughed.

The man known for his passionate performances and rhythmic guitar playing believes he’s in the communication business.

“What comes through me is what is there for me, I mean to say, that there are things awaiting us that are very anxious to be heard, and I think that this is the time to begin to sort of ground ourselves and listen,” he said.

The Brooklyn native had millions listening when he opened Woodstock in 1969.

“We weren’t talking about the ’Net back then, but [Woodstock] did allow us to share; there were grand ‘sharings’ as I called them,” he said.

“A lot of the material for all of the artists coming out of the ’60s was really a big question rather than statement, and the songs wrote themselves. At that particular time, I, basically being the amateur in the bunch, I really saw myself as having that open floor and doors to actually share this information.”

Havens will perform at the 33rd annual Ann Arbor Folk Festival at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 30 at the University of Michigan Hill Auditorium. Also slated to take the stage are Rosanne Cash, Doc Watson, Raul Malo, The Hot Club of Cowtown and Enter the Haggis.

The festival begins at 6:30 Jan. 29 with Iron and Wine, Jay Farrar and Benjamin Gibbard, Band of Heathens, Hoots & Hellmouth, Po’ Girl, Jer Coons and Nervous But Excited.

Tickets are $45 and $30 for a single show or $80 and $50 for both nights.

“I know the first and last song I’m going to sing, and everything that happens in the middle belongs to all of us,” Havens said.

www.richiehavens.com