People of Lancaster

I’m currently in the penalty box. Actually, Rocco is in the penalty box, aka the segregated ‘bad dog’ section of the dog park. Why? Well he’s a huge 8 month old puppy with lots of energy and wrestled a submissive dog to the ground 2x. I apologized to the owner and voluntarily banished Rocco to the other side of the dog-park since the other 5 dogs were playing nicely. Rocco was being an asshole and I followed proper dog-park etiquette removing the aggressive dog. Unfortunately not all dog-parkers understand the rules. 

So, here’s Pete’s rules. Not the dog park rules but Pete’s common sense dog park rules.

1. If your dog isn’t spayed or neutered keep them the hell out of the dog park. Male dogs with balls are much more aggressive and females in heat make all the dogs crazy. Plus, this actually a RULE rule.
2. If your dog is really hyped up let them run off some steam in the penalty box side of the dog park first.
3. If your dog is being an asshole, put them in the penalty box or take them home. In my example, my dog is a good dog – but today he was an asshole. So owners if your dog is being an asshole try again another day, don’t ruin everyone else’s time.
4. Keep your kids out of the dog park and I’ll keep my dog out of your playground, ok? Today there was a perfect parent who warned her sweet little snowflake 20x about running in the dog park. A mid sized dog kept running him down and humping the shit out of him, and the mother expected the humpy-dog’s owner to hold their dog and make him stop. No lady, sorry. Tell your precious snowflake to sit on the damn bench and he won’t be subject to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse. 
5. Close the damn gate. Why is this so freaking hard? When you come in – let your dog and not all the other dogs out. 
6. When new dogs come to the dog park grab your freaking dogs so they don’t gang-bang the fresh meat on the way in. 95% of skirmishes at the dog park occur when some dog is scared to death walking into a pack of 10 dogs. Kind of like you walking into the prison shower for the first time.
7. Pick up your dog’s turds. Jeebus. Or if your dog has explosive diarrhea like Rocco at least make an effort with the rake to cover it. 
8. Take your dog’s leash off when you go to the dog park. When you have him/her tethered they’ll be scared. Let them off leash and they’ll find their own place within the pack of other dogs. 
9. I’m too ADHD to go on, but please submit yours. 

The concept of a POL website has been kicked around for a few years now. At one time we actually had a website. The guys at MIND D&D were friends and fans of the site and graciously built us a WordPress website. The problem was I had no idea how to effectively use the site, and 98% of our traffic was on Facebook. So, I turned off the site and then just forwarded the traffic to the Facebook page.

Over the past few months we’ve had several folks offer to help out with POL. Help us build a site, write articles, etc. All great offers but nobody has actually followed through to do anything. So, the punishment is this: I’m going to attempt to build a WordPress site all by myself, which should be a complete trainwreck.

You see I had a WordPress blog already. Some random rants or comedic thoughts was the focus there. Then my employers wanted me to write some blogs on the mattress industry, so I did that on the same blog (then they copied/pasted to their blog – apparently they know how to use wordpress). So now I have a POL website shell with a history of articles that have nothing to do with POL.

Additional dysfunctionality: the actual domain of http://www.peopleoflancaster.com was registered by a friend of mine who quickly bought the name when I came up with the concept. He’s going to re-point the domain to the WordPress servers – except he is out in tractor-trailer somewhere in the USA learning to drive with a mentor.

Short Term Goals:  Post funny & topical stuff on the POL website, then post those links on Facebook so when you want to see a stupid picture, you come to the website and see shameless advertising.

Long Term Goals:

1. Have multiple bloggers on the website. Anyone who is a prolific and interesting writer. Interesting funny, controversial, whatever. (I think there is a way I can have bloggers from multiple sources – just too sober to figure this out).
2. Revive Lancaster505 Happy Hours throughout the year, culminating with the Santa Stumble in December.
3. Launch our LancoFoodies website (Mobile dinner party/restaurant reviews)
4. Launch our PetsOfLancaster website (Like POL, but for pets. Pet memorial pages, photo contests, doggie park meetups, etc.)
5. Take over the World

Venerable Prophet here. A few months back the then fezless Chief Justice, now fezless Monach Hindson asked if anyone would be interested in running for the Venerable Prophet chair and apparently I made eye contact and got elected. Ok, no problem. I have 2 years to do nothing and then I’ll start to do leadership type stuff. That plan failed as I was subsequently placed in charge of 2013′s dining events.  As I just started easing back into my recliner with a Crown Royal Manhattan the phone rings…

Fezless Monarch HINDson on the caller ID. Sigh… What now? Apparently Chief Justice Timmay was supposed to write an article for the new Ubar Pillar Newsletter and couldn’t do it, you know, like he couldn’t make it to the installation of officers. (I’m starting to see a pattern with Chief Justices here…. He better watch his fez). So now I’m to come up with something fascinating to write about in the newsletter. Since I have nothing fascinating that is family friendly, I’ll explain Eventbrite to you.

Eventbrite is the service I use to collect RSVPs for the UBAR events like dinners, etc. It is a powerful tool that you can use for your Blue Lodges or other Masonic events. I’ve used the Eventbrite service successfully for Masonic events before including the past two blood drives for the First Masonic District and for large events like the Lancaster Santa Stumble I organize that raises money for the Lancaster City Mounted Police.

For “free” events there is no charge. You can select if you want to have paper tickets that people can print or not. Eventbrite will log their RSVP, send them reminders, and on the “HOST” side, keep track of all the attendees. If you are doing a more complex event you can also use your mobile phone to “check in” attendees or even scan the barcodes on paper tickets.

If you use Eventbrite for an event where you want to charge a fee, Eventbrite does have a fee for handling and a credit card processing fee. These fees can be passed on to the end user (ex. $5.00 ticket would have $1.33 in fees bringing it to $6.33) or you can do some math (I was told there would be no math) include the fees in the ticket price and make the fees invisible.

UBAR dinner link: http://ubargrottojanuary.eventbrite.com/#
In the case of Ubar dinners we are using the FREE version and going to collect the money in person for the dinners, thus avoiding the fees and gaming the system. But remember if you RSVP yes you owe the money if your show up or not.

Ok. I’ve rambled enough, back to my Manhattan.

Pete Ruggieri, Venerable Prophet

How many of us make a resolution to eat better, lose weight, join a gym, stop smoking and a few weeks later we’ve given up? The intentions were good, to help your body and to improve your health, but after a few weeks the plan fell apart. Well I have a way that you can invest in your health while embracing your inner laziness. Buy a better mattress.

According to Mark Stibich, Ph.D. having a great night’s sleep can help you with many things.

1. Sleep Keeps Your Heart Healthy: Heart attacks and strokes are more common during the early morning hours. This fact may be explained by the way sleep interacts with the blood vessels. Lack of sleep has been associated with worsening of blood pressure and cholesterol, all risk factors for heart disease and stroke. Your heart will be healthier if you get between 7 and 9 hours of sleep each night.

2. Sleep May Prevent Cancer: People working the late shift have a higher risk for breast and colon cancer. Researchers believe this link is caused by differing levels of melatonin in people who are exposed to light at night. Light exposure reduces the level of melatonin, a hormone that both makes us sleepy and is thought to protect against cancer. Melatonin appears to suppress the growth of tumors. Be sure that your bedroom is dark to help your body produce the melatonin it needs.

3. Sleep Reduces Stress: When your body is sleep deficient, it goes into a state of stress. The body’s functions are put on high alert which causes an increase in blood pressure and a production of stress hormones. Higher blood pressure increases your risk for heart attacks and strokes. The stress hormones also, unfortunately, make it harder for you to sleep. Learn relaxation techniques to counter the effects of stress. There are also stress reduction techniques for sleep.

4. Sleep Reduces Inflammation: The increase in stress hormones raises the level of inflammation in your body, also creating more risk for heart-related conditions, as well as cancer and diabetes. Inflammation is thought to one of the causes of the deterioration of your body as you age.

5. Sleep Makes You More Alert: Of course, a good night’s sleep makes you feel energized and alert the next day. Being engaged and active not only feels great, it increases your chances for another good night’s sleep. When you wake up feeling refreshed, use that energy to get out into the daylight, do active things, and be engaged in your world. You’ll sleep better the next night and increase your daily energy level.

6. Sleep Bolsters Your Memory: Researchers do not fully understand why we sleep and dream, but a process called memory consolidation occurs during sleep. While your body may be resting, your brain is busy processing your day, making connections between events, sensory input, feelings and memories. Your dreams and deep sleep are an important time for your brain to make memories and links. Getting more quality sleep will help you remember and process things better.

7. Sleep May Help You Lose Weight: Researchers have also found that people who sleep less than seven hours per night are more likely to be overweight or obese. It is thought that the lack of sleep impacts the balance of hormones in the body that affect appetite. The hormones ghrelin and leptin, important for the regulation of appetite, have been found to be disrupted by lack of sleep. So if you are interested in controlling or losing weight, don’t forget to pay attention to getting a good night’s sleep.

8. Naps Make You Smarter: Napping during the day is not only an effective and refreshing alternative to caffeine, it can also protect your health and make you more productive. A study of 24,000 Greek adults showed that people who napped several times a week had a lower risk for dying from heart disease. People who nap at work have much lower levels of stress. Napping also improves memory, cognitive function and mood.

9. Sleep May Reduce Your Risk for Depression: Sleep impacts many of the chemicals in your body, including serotonin. People with a deficiency in serotonin are more likely to suffer from depression. You can help to prevent depression by making sure you are getting the right amount of sleep, between 7 and 9 hours each night.

10. Sleep Helps the Body Make Repairs: Sleep is a time for your body to repair damage caused by stress, ultraviolet rays and other harmful exposures. Your cells produce more protein while you are sleeping. These protein molecules form the building blocks for cells, allowing them to repair damage.

So, don’t you think it is time for you to invest in yourself? Visit Gardner’s Mattress & More and we’ll help you find the right mattress for your needs and budget and help you get a great night sleep in 2013.

How many Lancastrians does it take to change a lightbulb?

CHANGE?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“I don’t want one of those fancy, foamy, gelly, airy, watery beds. I want the kind of bed they used to make”.

Ok, like this?

No, just old timey style, not Ephrata Cloister style.

OK, got it. For those of you that want a traditional, well made innerspring mattress, Gardner’s Mattress & More features two great brands. Aireloom by Kluft and Gold Bond.

Aireloom by Kluft mattresses are still hand made, meaning that 1 or 2 mattress craftspeople make the mattress start to finish, instead of the assembly line method. Aireloom mattresses are also hand tufted. The buttonless tuft is hand-sewn from top to bottom, locking the upholstery layers and the innerspring securely in place to prevent shifting and bunching. To prevent body impressions these mattresses are “stuffed” with more material than should normally fit. This way even after years of use and after some of the natural fibers have broken down, it’ll still not have a body impression.

Gold Bond Mattresses have been produced by the same family in Connecticut since 1899. Gold Bond mattresses feature two significant differences than most mattress with the first being they are two-sided. Yes, these are still a flippable mattress that will last you 20 years and upwards. The second feature is that instead of using a foam edge-rail like most manufacturers, they still use a steel-on-steel method which is stronger and allows them to have pocketed coils go all the way to the edge of the mattress.

So if you want to take a walk down memory lane AND get a great night’s sleep – come to Gardner’s Mattress & More.

I came into work yesterday to find these two items on my keyboard. One of the owners of the company where I work was out in the Philly area and came across these two Masonic items and knowing that I’m an active member in many Masonic bodies thought I might enjoy these. 

At first glance it is an antique set of By Laws for St. John’s Lodge No. 1 in New York and a lifetime membership card for one of their members, signifying that he had been a Master Mason for 50 years. I decided to do a little digging on the internet to see if I could find any information about this Lodge in New York and even possibly about the man, Otto Haas.

St. John’s Lodge No.1 is the oldest operating Lodge under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of New York F&AM but was originally warranted in 1757 by the Modern Grand Lodge of England.There is a LOT of history and I think it best to just link to their site here: http://www.stjohns1.org/portal/lodge_history . One of the neatest things about St. John’s Lodge is their “Washington Bible”. You see after the conclusion of the War of Independence, New York City became the first Constitutional capital of the United States, and it was there on April 30th, 1789 that Brother George Washington was to be sworn in as the first President of the United States. But… they forgot to bring a Bible. A member of St. John’s Lodge rushed the Lodge Bible over as a back-up and the rest is history. The Bible has since been used at four other inaugurations: President Harding in 1921; President Eisenhower in 1953; President Jimmy Carter in 1977 and President George Bush Sr. in 1989. More information can be found here: http://www.stjohns1.org/portal/gwib . 

So we know about St. John’s Lodge No. 1, but who is Otto Haas? Was he just a mild mannered German immigrant? He could be because as Masons we don’t care if someone is the President or a janitor, we look at all brothers on the same level and only compare their merits that they’ve done for the good of Freemasonry. As a brother Mason, Mr. Otto Haas was a regular member, but outside of the Lodge in America he was a historic figure. 

Haas was born in Stuttgart, Germany, on March 15, 1872, to a middle-class family. Because his father, a civil servant, died when Otto was still a youth, he left school at the age of 12 to help out at home. By the time he was 15 he was working at a local bank and supporting his mother and two younger siblings.

After 10 years at the bank, Haas secured a clerical position with a dye and chemical firm that, in 1901, sent him to work in New York City. “Looking back over the years, I think this was the turning point in my life,” he wrote years later in some surviving personal notes about his life. He briefly moved back to Germany and went into business with a friend named Otto Rohm and Rohm & Haas was created. Rohm & Haas went on to become a huge corporation based in the Philly area and was later bought by Dow Chemical. 

His legacy lasts on with the Wyncote Foundation and the William Penn Foundation, where his trust still benefits 1000s of people to this day. 

(more later)

So the boss asked me if I could write up a blog today on Latex Mattresses. I replied, “Of course I can” and then proceeded to stare at my computer screen and keyboard for the next hour. Not because there is nothing to write about, but because for some reason when I mention latex mattresses to people they get a look on their face like I was speaking in Klingon or something.

Latex Mattresses? What are they? Is that something new? These are all the questions they ask me while their mind wanders thinking of what they think latex to be. The truth is that latex mattresses have been around for a long time.

Latex is made from the sap of the rubber tree. Latex is very durable – probably the most durable mattress material we have in the store. A latex mattress will outlast both memory foam and coil-spring mattresses. Latex is also naturally mold, mildew, and dust-mite resistant and a more natural alternative to other foams.

The biggest benefit of a latex mattress is its pressure relieving ability. Latex seems to be the best choice for sleepers who suffer from pressure-point type pains and discomfort. It is also very responsive or springy, allowing for easy movement and ease in rolling over.

Latex mattresses come in firmness feels from extra-firm to extra-plush. At Gardner’s Mattress & More we feature the Pure Latex Bliss and The Dr. Breus Bed line of mattresses. Stop out at Gardner’s to try a Latex bed – it might be just what the doctor ordered.

Sounds like a great name for a Professional Wrestler, right? You know the master of the sleeper hold. However, Dr. Michael A. Breus is actually a doctor that specializes in sleep disorders and is regularly featured on afternoon TV Shows like Dr Oz, The Doctors, Rosie O’Donnell, Katie Couric and others.

Dr. Breus has partnered up with Comfort Solutions (the #5 bedding manufacturer in the US) to create a line of mattresses will help you sleep better. Dr. Breus has worked with thousands of patients over the past 20 years and his line of beds are designed to help provide you with the 4 Tenets to Better Nights Sleep.

I’m relatively new to working in the retail world however I can, with confidence state emphatically that SALES ARE BULLSHIT.

Coming into work today I noticed a low-end bed and furniture retailer advertising, via sign-walker, a “Going Out Of Business Sale”. Seems like a legit reason to blow out inventory, right? You know, at the end of the month the landlord is taking the keys and this stuff just HAS TO GO! Problem is, this retailer has had at least 6 of these sales in the past 3 years. Thus – bullshit.

Here is a little “inside baseball” from your friendly mattress salesman. Mattresses are made every single day. With the exception of a handful of pieces for cash-and-carry, retailers don’t warehouse lots of inventory. Mattresses are sold-and-made using the “Just In Time” process. For example, if you buy a bed from me today, we order it on Monday, on Wednesday the factory makes the mattress, and on Thursday or Friday they deliver it to our store. We know what we are buying that mattress for and what we are selling it for at the time you make your purchase. Clean and simple.

However, every week in the paper there are HUGE BLOWOUT SALES. 50% OFF EVERYTHING!. and other assorted lies from retailers where they double the MSRP, then magically cut it in half. Or, they give you a deep discount on the product and then nickel and dime you for delivery, haul-away of old product or sell you mandatory accessories at huge mark-ups.

Here are some legitimate sales to look out for.

• Manufacturer sales. Occasionally manufacturers like Tempur-Pedic or Serta will offer a free box-spring event or discounts on adjustable bed bases. This is straight forward. They give us the box spring for free, we give it to you for free.
• Model Closeouts/Floor Model Clearance. Whether you are a small independent store like Gardner’s Mattress & More (where I work) or a huge mega-warehouse store – you only can display X amount of models in your showroom. Some are home-runs, some are not, and sometimes the manufacturers change up the models color or fabrics. The non-sellers need to be voted off the island so something else can come in. In these cases the existing inventory (usually not much as I stated previously) and floor models must go. In the case of brands like Tempur-Pedic or iComfort which have fixed manufacturer pricing, the ONLY time a retailer is allowed to deviate from the set price is if it is a floor model.
• Legit Going Out Of Business Sale. You can’t take it with you, right? Sadly all good things must come to an end. If a store is legitimately going out of business they may be truly getting rid of everything, just make sure they aren’t bullshitting you like the sign carrier guy.