Wiser Worker Blog

5.3 million people in the United States are living with Alzheimer’s.

10 million baby boomers will develop Alzheimer’s disease - that’s one out of eight according to the Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures.

Did you know?

Smoking after age 65 increases your chances of developing Alzheimer’s by 79%?

Obesity in midlife makes you 3 ½ times more likely to experience Alzheimer’s?

Diabetes makes you twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s?

Genetics account for only 25% of Alzheimer’s cases?

Chronic stress may quadruple your risk?

Act now to prevent and delay Alzheimer’s disease

Exercise at a moderate pace-for at least 30 minutes five times per week.  

Build muscle to pump up your brain-moderate levels of weight and resistance training not only increase muscle mass, they maintain cognitive health.  

Think movement- for opportunities to walk, bend, stretch, and lift your way to vitality.

Maintain consistent levels of insulin and blood sugar. Eat several small meals throughout the day. Avoid packaged, refined, and processed foods. Emphasize fruits and vegetables across the color spectrum to maximize protective anti-oxidants and vitamins.

Drink tea daily. Green, white, and oolong teas are particularly brain-healthy. Drinking 2-4 cups daily has proven benefits.

Set aside time each day to learn something new - read a good book, study a foreign language, play a musical instrument.

Practice the 5 W’s - observe and report like a crime detective. Keep a Who, What, Where, When, and Why list of your daily experiences.

Solve riddles and work puzzles - brain teasers and strategy games provide great mental exercise and build your capacity to form and retain cognitive associations.

Stay connected - We are social creatures, and the most connected fare better on tests of memory and cognition.

Wear a helmet - and limit distractions. A National Institute of Health study suggests head trauma at any point in life significantly increases your risk of Alzheimer’s.

Avoid toxins - Among the most preventable risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease are smoking and heavy drinking.

Source: alz.org

It’s sad but so many of troops overseas never get any care packages, I know this because my sister has served in both Iraq and Afghanistan and she has shared that so many just don’t get the postage love as she calls it. So we did our part and always sent many extras so she could share with others. It’s what we as a family could do; so we did, but the question today is what can you do? 

I was inspired by an article I read over Veterans Day.  It was about some Atlanta residents of the King Bridge Retirement Center made care package boxes for the Marines in Afghanistan. They spent Veteran’s Day remembering the fallen of wars past and as a remembrance they dedicated the day to making boxes for the Marines that contained magazines, books, thank-you cards, a cap, energy bars, Moon Pies, hot sauce, wipes, hot chocolate, candy, gum and toilet tissue.

This got me thinking….what if this holiday season we each consider donating to your favorite charity. Instead of giving gifts to friends, family and co-workers I guarantee the person/charity that receives your donation really needs it…and more importantly will appreciate it. Over the next few weeks I will be gathering donation suggestions and posting them. If you have a suggestions please send them my way via Twitter, Email, LinkedIn or comment to the blog today!  

So that brings me back to postage love:

If you want to send some postage love to a soldier overseas here are some ways you can get started.

USO.org  Quick and Easy Option.  You donate money they build the box

Operation Shoe Box  Founded in 2003 in an effort to send support, snacks and much needed personal care items to our troops deployed outside of the USA

Operation Love Box Simple information so you can assemble a box and they provide you with a soldier in need.

Any Soldier You select one or more Soldiers from the Where to Send page. You will notice the Soldier’s address includes the line, “ATTN: Any Soldier^® the Soldiers are volunteers for this effort, they will see the “Attn” line, and will put your letters and packages into the hands of Soldiers who don’t get much or any mail. This effort is 110% voluntary.

A complete list of items that you can send in your care package

I just learned that 25.00 can go a long way…… for the next 48 hours you can purchase one-way flights on Southwest for as little as $25.  Don’t worry; you can buy round trip tickets for as little as $50.00 so you won’t be stuck at the kids house!  There are additional fare specials for $50, $75, or $100, based on length of trip. Good for travel between Dec. 2, 2009, and Dec. 16, 2009, or travel between Jan. 5, 2010, and Feb. 10, 2010.

You better hurry!

These fares are available through 11:59 p.m. PST Oct. 29, 2009,

You heard me right it’s that time of year…..cold and flu season, this year experts predict a harsher season with the outbreak of swine flu. Never fear there are ways to keep you, the ones you love and let’s not forget the ones you work with free from the virus.  Center for Disease Control recommends that the best way to protect yourself is by getting vaccinated and I’m happy to report that both CVS and Walgreens are providing FREE vaccines to people are unemployed. Way to step up and help the community, these organizations are the largest national drug store chains and you should be able to find one in your community.

In addition to getting vaccinated you should also practice good health habits to keep yourself flu free this season.

Avoid Close Contact: Avoid close contact with people who are sick

Stay home when You are Sick: You will help prevent others from catching your illness.

Cover Your Mouth and Nose: It may prevent those around you from getting sick.

WASH your Hands: And was them often, washing your hands will protect you from germs.

Get Sleep and Exercise: This will keep your body able to fight off germs.

Remember when you are looking for a job you will encounter more germs; it’s important to take all precautions to keep yourself healthy to start your new job.  

Did you know… In the U.S. alone, more than 10 billion donuts are made every year and every year the donut industry cranks out $3.6 billion dollars in sales.

National Donut Day is celebrated on the first Friday in June and this year that falls on June 5^th!  I learned that National Donut Day started in 1917, when Salvation Army female volunteers known as “lassies” prepared thousands of fresh donuts to the homesick soldiers that served in France during World War I. National Donut Day was officially established in 1938 by the Chicago Salvation Army to raise much-needed funds during the Great Depression.

In honor of National Donut Day many national retailers are handing out donuts and you know how much I love free stuff……

Dunkin Donuts: will give every customer a free donut of their choice, with the purchase of any beverage, limit one per customer.

Krispy Kreme is offering one FREE donut per customer, no purchase necessary.

LaMar’s Donuts –will be giving a complimentary Ray’s Original Glazed donut to customers in honor of the founder, Ray Lamar. No purchase necessary.

Grab a donut to enjoy on while searching for a job on WiserWorker.com.    

Over the last year I have written several times about scams; particularly how to avoid them.  It seems that as we as a country tries to dig out of this economic shape we are in we are in the more we see scams surface.  I will never understand how people can prey on others in a time of need but that’s not the topic of the day. 

The topic is avoiding being a victim, only you can protect yourself.  Each one of us has the ability to navigate and avoid scams; we just have to make smart choices.  The best place to start is by remembering this: “If it sounds too good to be true, then perhaps it is.”  People by nature like to take the road most traveled because well it’s easy; the problem the road most traveled is where the scam artists live and find their victims.  

Anyone who is searching for a job knows that the job market is tough right now, so naturally that’s the latest place we are seeing a new crop of scam artists.  In a recent article in The Arizona Republic the reporter highlighted all the possible ways to scam the unsuspecting job seeker some of these were new and some of them we have talked about after reading the article I noted one commonality among all the potential scams. They ALL involved the job seeker sending in money to gain information or for an interview.

You have heard me say it before but I will say it again:  You are looking for a job where you will EARN a living; this should not cost you anything. Anyone who wants money to help you look for a job is probably not on the up and up. Protect yourself and don’t become a victim. Look for a job the traditional way online at wiserworker.com, its hard word to find a job. Nothing worth anything comes free in life. 

DON’T take any shortcuts that you will end up regretting!

That’s what every adult has always taught me, always followed with an assortment of the following comments:

So you need to work hard

Keep focused

Keep your eye on the prize.

You get the picture, so you can imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning to the news that there are several establishments where you can indeed go to get either a free meal or meals at a discounted price. Pretty impressive especially in our current economic condition, there’s nothing more impressive than when companies all pitch in and help out the American people.

Here are the Deals I found they are all in the form of a coupon you will have to download:

Kentucky Friend Chicken 2 Piece Meal

Wendy’s lots of different coupons

Denny’s You will have to join their club

Schlotzsky’s Deli - Special Offers posted periodically.

Baskin Robbins EVERYONE loves Ice Cream

So in the end it does turn out if you able to access the internet and hunt for coupons you can find maybe a free meal and this does help out especially when you are looking for a job!

These payments are part of the Stimulus package that was enacted in February.  The targeted recipients of these payments are people who receive Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, railroad retirement or veteran’s disability benefits.

The $250.00 checks will serve as a boost just as the recession is showing signs of easing a little speculate Economists. These payments represent a little more that $13 billion dollars of the stimulus program.

If you fall into the category of individuals who will be receiving these payments you can expect them in the early weeks of May.  The goal of the stimulus package is to get people to spend money at a time when most are reducing spending and saving more. These payments are also expected to provide much needed relief too many struggling seniors.  

The extra Social Security payments should boost spending because retirees on fixed incomes are more likely to spend them than workers earning more money, said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial.

“The people who live closer to paycheck-to-paycheck are more likely to spend it,” Swonk said.

“You’re 62, you’re eligible, you just lost your job,” Swonk said. “It’s better to get something than nothing.”

Hopefully you don’t have the swine flu, but there’s nothing worse than finally finding a job only to end up sick. It happens and all too often in fact…. why does this happen? Well it’s simple when you are pounding the pavement in pursuit of a job you are bound to encounter germs.

How can you put your defenses up and ward off the ever present germs that are out there in the job seeking world? I found the following useful tips at the Center for Disease Control:

Avoid close contact: How do you avoid contact when interviewing?  Well you can’t what you can do it this: wash your hands frequently and if you can’t get to a washroom use antibacterial gel. Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth with unclean hands.

Cover your mouth and nose: if you do have to cough or sneeze cover your nose and mouth and wash your hands before contacting other people.

Clean your hands: Wash your hands, this must be important because I am mentioning it again…..   

Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth: with dirty hands especially……

Practice other good health habits: gets lots of rest, drink LOTS of water.

Stay Home: If you are sick stay home.

It’s a real threat out there and it’s called the flu, make sure you ward off the germs that can stop you in your tracks. It’s no fun to finally find the perfect job only to have to call in sick.  At WiserWorker.com we want you to be well and in tip top shape to start your new job!

From our Friends over at Grandparents.com

Learn to be a better communicator! Communication is the key to all positive family interactions. But how do you know if you’re communicating effectively? Join the experts at Grandparents.com for a live online seminar (a webinar!). This interactive event will show you how to:- Identify your communication style
- Discover new ways to resolve family conflict
- Learn valuable listening skills
- Understand how others perceive you

It’s FREE — all you need is a computer and a telephone. Register now!

When 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM EST

Where Thursday; May 14, 2009

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/544722659

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.