I'm a novice horseplayer for the past couple years after a chance trip to the track on a date...and thoroughly enjoying it.   The education they plan to do to help educate the potential betting public caught my public relations/marketing communications professional eye.  If you want to sell, be prepared to educate first, most times. 
We went to a seminar the Downs held this summer and caught the fever.  $10 each for a seminar and nice meal on a Friday evening, with a hot date, and a chance to bet on the races with a bunch of expert horse players all around you....it didn't get any better than that....at that moment in time.  Now we've got a chance to win the same amounts as others by getting into the pools directly.  I may have to get the cable or satellite horse racing channel back earlier than the start of our next spring- summer season here, next year.  Horse racing may be the next poker...oh well, not likely but it should be.

The Winnipeg Free Press - other

Downs hopes new rules attract fresh bettors Wed Oct 26 2005 By Paul Wiecek



MANAGEMENT at Assiniboia Downs yesterday unveiled an ambitious new project to turn some Manitobans into millionaires.
And they plan to do it with New Yorkers' money.
Downs operations director Darren Dunn told a news conference at the Portage Avenue thoroughbred track that a change in the way Canadians bet on horse racing in the U.S. has the potential to generate huge -- possibly unprecedented -- payoffs for Manitoba horseplayers. And Dunn said management at the non-profit track is determined to teach its customers how to go get all that new money with a series of betting seminars with top local horse players, an online seminar that is coming soon to the Downs website and an aggressive recruitment drive aimed at teaching new horse players how to get in on the action.
"We're on a mission," Dunn said. "We're going to make Manitobans the highest rated, best handicappers in the world."

And the mission starts immediately, with Saturday's Breeders' Cup -- the world championships of horse racing -- providing the first big opportunity for Manitobans to cash in on a rule change that, beginning today, will allow bettors here to wager directly into the pools at New York tracks, including Belmont Park, host of this year's Breeders Cup.

1000 Questions for Couples Best Selling Ebook of all time, says author

Michael Webb says his ebook, 1000 Questions for Couples is the best selling Ebook of all time. I'm not sure of that, but I do agree that his approach to helping couples communicate better by asking direct questions of each other, works well in most cases. It should be tried by more couples, particularly early on in the relationship. He has a number of other ebooks on the dating, mating, lovemaking theme that are popular but it's probably best to start here. 1000 Questions for Couples

You can search for more dating and romance help ebooks here: Love and Romance Ebooks.

Email post test

Email post test.

how's your love life today?  What will you do to make it better?

 

Sometimes it's just about making a bit more of an effort if your heart is in the right place

This is a post I made about two weeks that I posted to one of my website. I've decided I'd like to share the message more widely.

Last week, I gave blood, took part in the Terry Fox Run raising money for cancer research, and also the Rock for Relief fundraiser by the Canadian Red Cross/92 Citi Fm and Two Small Guys with Big Hearts Trucking raising money for Hurricane Katrina relief. A couple of quarters for a panhandler, a few more bucks here and there for other causes that approached, and lot of thinking about making a difference. Who is this masked man, others asked? The World's Rearranger (thank you Robert Plant)

A funeral for a fine young man, Dustin Hickie, 16, a close friend of my daughter, touched me deeply. Why is the answer to cancer's ravages still so elusive? There is so much more I can do in my life on earth to help others, even a bit, and I knew my effort had been weak at best so far.

So I gave myself a kick in the pants with the help of Dustin and my friend Del and my father and others who have gone before. But it still begs the questions, why does it often take someone leaving this world to get us to act? Why are we so insulated? How can we, as individuals, act against the pain and suffering, hunger and illness without turning ourselves inside out again and again with feelings of hopelessness and helplessness? How can we stop the tears for a while and see the lights of hope again?

The opportunities to to make a difference will appear, if we keep our eyes and ears open and we find out what touches us personally. What brings tears to our eyes and sobs to our chest? Or just get involved. What is the first thing we think of in the morning...the last thing at night. Your passion for these things will keep you coming back.

It took the death of a young man I didn't know well, but I liked, far too early in life, to give me better focus. Other events had hurt but did not have that effect. In this way he lives on with me and my daughter. You will find inspiration in your life to make a difference if you look.

I can do more! I hope you can to.