forgot to post this and it was sitting in my queue. click on the headline to see some interesting facts that i'm sure you're all dying to find out about!:)

Okay now this is just getting ridiculous! As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, right at easter the family had the wonderful pleasure of coming into contact with group A streptococcus bacteria, otherwise known as...."STREP THROAT"{in a big loud echoing voice}. No biggie we thought. We all got on antibiotics the next day and following ten days of treatment, we thought we were in the clear! We were all feeling better, going for walks and bike rides. Olivia was doin' it up in school, eating and sleeping well. But sure enough, yesterday, we were all diagnosed with it again!

Here’s how it all went down……

Olivia developed a small flaky rash next to her ear. I took her in thinking it was gonna be a simple routine topical prescription and we'd be out of there. It almost was until the Dr. noticed something that Chris and I had missed. There were strange oval like welts on the back of Olivia’s neck! He immediately told me she hadn’t been cured at all and ordered a new strep test. Sure enough....positive. Chris and I immediately went to get tested....positive, positive. I then ordered my parents who'd been spending so much time with her recently to go get tested....positive, positive! Is this an epidemic? A virus that can be apparently pretty dangerous and cause much discomfort, living in your bodies without any real noticeable symptoms? No cough, fever, swollen glands….nothing! If I wasn’t for a little rash on Olivia’s head, how long would have this gone on for? How many others would we have infected? Ugh, I hate antibiotics....I can’t drink wine!

For those of you who know don't know me, I'm not what you would call an avid reader or book worm. I never run down to the local book store and pick up the latest copy of whatever made the new york times best seller’s list that week or pick up Oprah's latest addition to her book club. Nor did I rush out to pick up a copy of the da vinci code when it came out even though my wife was raving about it telling me how I’d love it. Love you baby, but I'm waiting for the movie to come out this weekend(side note...i think i'm kinda excited about that). Well anyway, you probably get the point by now. I rarely, and I REALLY mean rarely, pick up a book and read it all the way through. And to be honest, I wouldn’t have read this one if it weren’t for a few important factors:

1) if my boss didn't pressure me to read it on a daily basis.
2) if it wasn't seriously only like 175 pages.(still took me weeks)
3) if it wasn't written in a bunch of little tiny short stories.
4) if I didn't have to return it to a co-worker and not expect to be quizzed.
5) if it wasn’t written by a group of really bright and successful business people

All things aside, it was a fun and motivating read! The whole premise behind the book is how to differentiate yourself and emphasize the importance of reprogramming your natural instinct of just wanting to fit in and shows you why overall complacency is bad in the marketplace. It really touched on several points that we've found continually arise when trying to establish yourself in our industry as a small business.

Bottom line, is this going to turn into Mauro's Book of the Month Club? No, definitely not. But I highly recommend this book to anyone who feels that they've lost their mojo and perhaps is looking for a different angle on their business. It really allows you to start thinking about your business differently. Whether it be a product or service you’re providing, it begins to help you see how to improve things from the macro level which is hard to do when you're in the trenches on a daily, weekly and on monthly basis continually pressured on improving the micro in order to grow what you already have in place. Be extraordinary!