Month: September 2018

  

The Meaning of Master Number 33

September 2018, signifies two important events in my business career. In September 1983, I joined mortgage broker company, Coldwell Financial.

For years prior to this, I worked as a industrial engineer or an operation manager. It was the first time I had to earn only a commission, as a salesperson and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. As it is turned out, thirty-five years later I became one of the first mortgage brokers in an industry that had not yet existed.

Two years later, in September, my wife, Elfa and I founded Pacific Bay Financial – the mortgage brokerage firm which has survived challenging economic conditions, and outlived most of the other mortgage brokerage companies which appears during those years. Thus, we found ourselves to be one of the first companies still in the mortgage business.

After the analysis of numbers using numerology, which I wrote about a few weeks ago, I decided to check what the two numbers 35 (the first year I got into the mortgage business) and 33 mean (the first year of we founded our company) mean.

On-line I learned that the numerological meanings of number 35 are motivation, creativity, imagination, adventure, vision and opportunity.

In the affirmative numerology I found that “35 is interests are concerned with material values and building significant works (Pacific Bay Financial Corp). But 35 does like to have fun, especially when it involves its creative aspects it’s practically for expressing its personal sense of freedom (“42 Encounters” book). According to angel numbers, there are other descriptions, but let’s examine the number 33. It is considered a Master Number (Master Teacher) and resonates with the energies of compassion, blessings, inspiration, honesty, discipline, bravery and courage.

The Number 33 tells us that “all things are possible” 33 is also the number that symbolizes “guidance”. Other Master Numbers are 11 and 22.

By adding 3+5 we are getting 8, whose key elements are power and strength. It is the combination of two world’s material and spiritual together in one point which is the symbol of infinity. By adding 3+3, we are getting 6. The most important influence of the number 6 is its loving and caring nature. Properly named the motherland number, it is all about caring, healing, protecting and teaching others. For this reason, the 6 is considered harmonious with all other numbers. No wonder that in the Torah’s story, it took God 6 days to create our world. If any of this trivia is interesting to you read more on-line

It was also on September 4^th, when I started writing “42 Encounters with Dog Lovers”. The number 42 has many interesting meanings, some of which I described in the introduction to my fist book “42 Encounters in San Francisco”.

At the same time, 4+2 equals 6, which I have written about before. In addition, the number 6 is the symbol of luck, the highest number of the dice.

P.S. I hope you find this information interesting. Perhaps by buying “42 Encounters with Dog Lovers” on encounterspublishing.com or amazon.com, I might be able to share some of my luck with you as well. I guarantee you and your friends will enjoy the book and today’s four selection of images from my encounters with the dog lovers. Enjoy and share with a friend.

Cheers,

  

What Is Love?

While working on my next book “Retirement Solutions for Smart People, 5 Easy Ways to Enjoy Your Golden Age”, I was doing research on what motivates people.  In a book titled, “Mind: A Scientific Guide to Who You Are, How you Got That Way, and How to Make the Most of it” by Patricia Daniels, I learned among other things that “Neuroscientists still don’t agree with one another on what love is.”

After being married to my wife Elfa, – for over fifty-one years, and still being in love, I cannot explain what I feel.  Nor can I put in words what I really feel when I express my love to my daughters. When our daughter Tamar married her husband David, my love was extended to him as well, as a new member of our family. And then a year ago,-our family expanded again by adding another member – our puppy Max, whom I love very much. There are also many other people in my life – men and women – whom I love.  Is it the same love?  Do we still feel love when we feel upset with someone?  I have no idea (nor do the neuroscientists). 

All of those thoughts crossed my mind during a recent visit to Muttville Senior Dogs Rescue Center, which I wrote about last week, and where I witnessed an expression of love for our four-legged best friends.  I was invited there to promote my new book. All the funding for the dogs’ rescue organization comes from private donations.  Therefore, I decided to contribute 10% from the sales of my new book “42 Encounters with Dog Lovers”.  During the four hours I spent there, I had the opportunity to experience an expression of what we call love for dogs.

Those who want to adopt a dog can go to Muttville.org to find their next best friend.  But to see the dog and to fill out the adoption paper work, one needs to come to 205 Alabama Street in San Francisco.  Every Saturday and Sunday there is a fenced tent in front of the building where employees and volunteers sit together with adorable, mostly small dogs.  During my stay there, one of the dogs managed to get out and started running in the street. At this moment, about ten of the handlers started chasing a very fast small creature.  To everyone’s relief, it was soon caught and shortly after was adopted by a loving family. At least sixteen dogs were adopted that day.  It was an incredible experience to see the expression of human love, which they get back from their new best friends.

P.S. When I started to write about Max, dogs and dog lovers, about a year ago, I had no idea that it would bring me the opportunity to witness the expression of love in such abundance.  These four images just give a glimpse of the whole experience, which will only keep growing.

You can see Sherri Franklin, the founder of Muttville, arriving with one of her eight loving friends and staff members and volunteers who work here mainly because they love dogs. You can also see the board where the name of a new adopter is recorded. The last image shows me and my book “42 Encounters with Dog Lovers” which you can order at Encounterspublishing.com or Amazon.com.

Enjoy and share.

Do Not Keep Me As A Secret!
Smile and Please Share It
With a Friend!

Cheers,

  

Are You Ready for a Change?

Friday, September 14^th, the day you are probably reading this story, falls on the 5^th of the month of Tishrei in the Jewish calendar.  The significance of this date is that it is in between when Jews celebrated the holiday Rosh Hashanah, which fell on Monday, September 10^th this year, and Yom Kippur, September 19th.  Rosh Hashanah, translates to “head of the year”, and according to the Jewish (lunar) calendar, is the beginning of the year 5779. The custom of the celebration of Rosh Hashanah as prescribed in the Torah, has been practiced since about 1312 BC.  There is another interesting meaning of the word – “shanah” in Hebrew it can be “shinui” – “change” – or “leshanot” – to change.  This becomes significant because the ten days between Rosh Hashanah and the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, are the Ten Days of Repentance or Days of Awe. Religious Jews believe that during those days the King-God judges his people, opens His (or Her) book, examines their deeds and decides who will live, who will die, who will have a good life, and who will have one filled with troubles.  While it is believed that God makes His decrees on Rosh Hashanah, that decree is sealed in the Book of Life on Yom Kippur.  Thus, over these ten days, everyone has an opportunity to repent and change their behavior – to leshanot.

The question I ask myself, – can I really change my behavior?  A lot of people make New Year’s resolutions, sincerely believing that the that the next year is going to be different, only to discover that it can be challenging, since all of us are creatures of habits.  How can we change them?  We can learn from Ben Franklin, who in 1726, at the age of 20, created a system to develop his character.  In his autobiography he lists his thirteen virtues, which he practiced one for each year until perfection. You might already know that he was a remarkable human being and accomplished many things during his lifetime (perhaps because he figured out how to change).

Sometimes we need outside stimulus to help us change.  For our family this happened on September 4^th, 2016- the day when we adopted our best friend, our labradoodle puppy Max.  As a result, there were many changes and adjustments in our lives;- one of them was writing and publishing my new photo-story book “42 Encounters with Dog Lovers”. This book might inspire you to change your life, as well!

One of the purposes of Yom Kippur is the opportunity to repent, and ask for forgiveness; first from people, and then from God.  Therefore, I want to use the opportunity to ask for your forgiveness for anything I did (or did not do) to you.  Your forgiveness might help to make a favorable impression on God’s decision about me on Yom Kippur and help me to change.

P.S. After a year of living with Max, I noticed that his behavior has changed, after repeated exercises. There are many books on how to help dogs change, but to get results, humans need to change first.  These four images show Max while he was changing. To see more Max’s images, check out the Max and Manny page on facebook.

Enjoy and share.

Do Not Keep Me As A Secret!
Smile and Please Share It
With a Friend!

Cheers,

  

The Book Is Here!

The wait is over for me, as well as for you, to be able to hold your own copy of 42 Encounters with Dog Lovers in your hands.  It was almost a year ago on September 4, 2017 when I started working on the book about Max, recording the first 42 days of our life with our new puppy.  Though we had four dogs before him, it was the first time I decided to learn what it takes to become our dog’s best friend.  To do that, I read many “how-to“ books, and I shared a lesson a day in my book.

There was an original set of photos leftover from my first book, 42 Encounters in San Francisco, that I’ve taken in many parts of the world over the past eleven years.  As I continued to photograph new, “better” images, they replaced other sometimes equally interesting encounters.

Forty-two days after I finished writing the book, the production process began.  The text had to be edited and shortened first by me, then by my daughter Tamar, followed by the professional editor, Amy Bauman.  The next step was to assemble the book, which was done by the talented graphic artist, Darren Young.  But there was still a question – which image should be on the cover?  Though the photos were about dog lovers and their dogs, our puppy Max was the real hero.  But which of his many images to choose?  There was also thequestion of where to print the book?  After getting the first run and receiving the first prints from one company, I went back to the printing company I used to print my first 42 Encounters in San Francisco book, and who did a great job – Moquin Press.  Meanwhile, as I immersed myself into the world of dogs and their owners, I decided to use my book as an opportunity to help owners become their dogs’ best friends. As a first step, I started a Facebook page, Max and Manny where every Monday I share a short description of my experience with Max and post his images.  After the first time I visited the Muttville Senior Dog Rescue (which I wrote about before), I decided to donate 10% from the book sales to various dog shelters.  I have no idea what is going to be the next development, but I intend to promote the book to 75.4 million millennials.  According to Marketing Daily, thirty-five percent of dogs are owned by Millennials.  I am sure that at least some of them want to have my book.  And since there are also 74.1 million Baby Boomers and some of them (like myself) also own a dog, who knows how many dog lovers will be able to buy the book and to contribute to dog shelters?  I am sure you are getting the picture.  To make a long story short, regardless which group you belong to, when you buy 42 Encounters with Dog Lovers, many dogs in dog shelters are going to benefit.  And as far as you are concerned, I guarantee you will love the book and hope you will buy many copies as presents to your friends and family, and share your reviews on Amazon.com.

P.S. In the first image you see is of Max and I receiving the first box with books, the other three are among forty-two in the book.  You can purchase the book at Encounterspublishing.com or  Amazon.com.

Enjoy and share.

Do Not Keep Me As A Secret!
Smile and Please Share It
With a Friend!

Cheers,