http://denver.yourhub.comThe latest blog posts in The Denver Newspaper Agency YourHub.comen-usnews@yourhub.com(c) 2009, YourHub.com5Now and then I burst wide awake after midnight, before daybreak for no apparent reason. When these unfortunate wide awakenings occur, I have only a couple of choices. I can wrestle with myself, stay in bed and endure a long sort of frustration. Or, I can get up and....well....find something to do...http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Blogs/Your-Voice/Blog~690778.aspx11/20/2009 12:26:41 PMBarbara Neff In 2004, as I sat in the boarding area of the Little Rock Airport waiting for a flight that would take me to Dallas to connect with the flight that would take me home to Palm Springs, CA, the unmistakable voice of a funny woman rose behind me. She related that, since her friend's husband and dog ...http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Blogs/Your-Voice/Blog~688483.aspx11/17/2009 3:05:21 PMBarbara Neff In early summer I applied for a Discover credit card after seeing an incredible offer on the internet that included a very low interest rate, double airline miles, bells, whistles and a special feature that walks your dog. Within 72 hours of approval for my Discover credit card, I received a ca...http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Blogs/Archive/Personal-Finance/Blog~647440.aspx8/18/2009 8:48:20 AMBarbara Neff There is a saying "a fed bear is a dead bear". Maybe the rest of the saying should be "and a feeder is a bleeder". Last month my two sons and I traveled to Ouray, CO, to see my sister and her husband who vacation in Ouray each summer. The day before our arrival, my sister called. She told me ex...http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Blogs/Archive/Blog~644866.aspx8/9/2009 2:06:22 PMBarbara Neff The word on the lips of parents of Douglas County School District students these days is "bus". Frenzy would not be an exaggeration in describing the current exchange of information among us by phone, face-to-face and via email. Many are worried. Budget constraints in our school district have,...http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Blogs/Archive/Education-General/Blog~618431.aspx5/22/2009 8:56:08 AMBarbara Neff Maybe it's budget cuts. Maybe it's fear. Maybe it's just the demise of good manners. Whatever the reason, there's a disturbing trend out there in the business world. That trend is the elimination of public access to a live employee. Automated phone systems, even at huge corporate enterprises, n...http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Blogs/Archive/Local-Business/Blog~614270.aspx5/11/2009 8:37:38 PMBarbara Neff Over the years working in staffing the debate has regularly erupted concerning the value of one's personal appearance in the workplace. Some, particularly younger people in the workforce, will sometimes argue quite vehemently that attire, hairstyle, and personal style, including piercings and t...http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Blogs/Archive/Local-Business/Blog~603975.aspx4/15/2009 3:12:02 PMBarbara Neff Confusion exists over when an employer can deem workers "independent contractors" and when they must be classified as employees. Declaring certain workers independent contractors does, at first blush, offer understandable appeal. A company calling workers independent contractors might at first ...http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Blogs/Archive/Local-Business/Blog~594510.aspx3/22/2009 3:55:47 PMBarbara Neff When people learn I am in the staffing business, they often ask, "Who would want to work as a temporary employee?" Who wouldn't? With the job market taking the same beating most markets are during these turbulent economic times, many experienced workers at all levels are finding themselves ...http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Blogs/Archive/Local-Business/Blog~582432.aspx2/20/2009 11:20:03 AMBarbara Neff I dusted off a business plan I wrote and used in 1995 when I launched a temporary help company in Palm Desert, California, Neff Temporary Services. I am following the same plan to launch a new company here in Douglas County, Colorado, Neff Staffing Services, slated for March 1, 2009, opening. ...http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Blogs/Archive/Local-Business/Blog~573292.aspx1/27/2009 2:30:14 PMBarbara Neff Once in a while life throws down such a sign from the heavens, such a metaphor in the physical realm, that only a fool would fail to take heed. This morning, as I grasped my warm cup of joe, I flipped open the pages of the Rocky, in keeping with the strictest part of my strict morning routine...http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Blogs/Archive/Local-Business/Blog~566072.aspx1/8/2009 1:30:50 PMBarbara Neff I like holidays we can all get behind. The tendency these days seems to be debate, sometimes hotly, the origins and essences of our traditional celebrations. But, who can argue the true meaning of the New Year? Time flies, those of us past a certain age would surely agree. I don't like to ...http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Blogs/Archive/Blog~561911.aspx12/24/2008 8:58:37 AMBarbara Neff Though anything, they say, is possible, what are the odds a five-year-old child could systematically beat and abuse a three-year-old child to death? Can a five-year-old wield a towel rack, a wooden spoon and a plastic coat hanger with enough force on enough occasions to kill? A three year old g...http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Blogs/Archive/Blog~557954.aspx12/11/2008 7:52:44 PMBarbara Neff Who is she? Or, more accurately, perhaps, who were they? We recently invested in a great little rental property in the older neighborhood surrounding the University of Denver. This bungalow, built in 1949, was in great shape upon purchase, inside and out, with the exception of a detached carp...http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Blogs/Archive/Blog~552873.aspx11/26/2008 3:26:44 PMBarbara Neff On a Saturday morning with fall in the air, I sit in the quiet while my sons sleep, sipping coffee and gazing out the windows. I have been reading Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now and The New Earth. Nothing I have before read thrust me into such intense consideration. Maybe Tolle's perspectiv...http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Blogs/Archive/Blog~539857.aspx10/25/2008 9:10:35 AMBarbara Neff I bought them at Fashion Bar, a trendy Denver-area women's apparel chain in the 1980's. The Fashion Bar stores are among things that dropped from the Denver-scape during my extended residence in Southern California, 1990 to 2005. I miss those stores. Anyway, circa 1986 I transitioned from bei...http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Blogs/Archive/Pop-Culture/Blog~533664.aspx10/11/2008 3:46:22 PMBarbara Neff A loved one's death last week catapulted me to a small town in Mississippi like a rock from a slingshot. Relatives on both sides of my family reside in Mississippi and surrounding states. I lived in the area, too, from birth to young adulthood. A work opportunity brought me to Colorado nearl...http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Blogs/Archive/Blog~525565.aspx9/25/2008 6:02:44 AMBarbara Neff Day one. The ad. While cleaning a kitchen drawer I came across a box of toothpicks. I hate to throw them away. You know, save the trees and all. If you want them, email me and I will give directions. FREE! Later that day. A response. Trying to locate the person with the box of toothpick...http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Blogs/Archive/Technology-The-Web/Web/Blog~520092.aspx9/11/2008 5:01:49 PMBarbara Neff What a week. Both my sons and their friends in the neighborhood are back in school this week. Each year this time I marvel at how fast children grow. I find myself astonished that some neighborhood children are now in high school and others middle school. They all seem so young to me. This wee...http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Blogs/Archive/Blog~508742.aspx8/15/2008 1:08:23 PMBarbara Neff People are funny about their obsessions with weather. Those of us who reside down here in Douglas County are no different. We have stood tall and stoic these past two winters in the face of record snowfall. We have shoveled and scooped and de-iced more than our fair share. "I have been here tw...http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Blogs/Archive/Local-Weather/Blog~502809.aspx8/1/2008 8:03:20 AMBarbara Neff Homes in our swath of Castle Pines Village, south of Denver in Douglas County, were built in the early 1990's. The builder of our homes used a roofing material now at the end of its life expectancy. In 2008, many of us homeowners face roof replacement at the same time. When my husband, Kevin...http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Blogs/Archive/Blog~500408.aspx7/26/2008 11:32:24 AMBarbara Neff Is it Ooo-ray? YOU-ray? OR-ay? I have heard all three pronunciations and more. Doesn't matter. Ouray, Colorado, is one heck of a little vacation destination,any way you say it. My sons and I made the trek there this past week to meet up with my sister, Susan O'Meara , and her husband, Ke...http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Blogs/Archive/Travel/Blog~497890.aspx7/20/2008 3:09:03 PMBarbara Neff Slowdown? These days slowdown has a negative connotation as it relates to the economy. Homes on the market are moving slowly. Tourism has slowed because of budget crippling fuel prices. Entertainment has been set aside as the cost of daily necessities soars. I just got home from a different...http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Blogs/Archive/Blog~492522.aspx7/5/2008 2:28:06 PMBarbara Neff Jazzercise is no stranger to Castle Rock. It has been a presence in our area for more than a dozen years. But the facility, located at 101 Briscoe Street (directly behind the Castle Rock Motel) in downtown Castle Rock recently changed hands. Cathi Gosselin , new owner of Castle Rock Jazzercise...http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Blogs/Archive/Blog~477286.aspx5/30/2008 2:14:59 PMBarbara Neff Chatter wafting through the air, Gesturing wildly to no one there. In a busy place by light of day, Check him out, then look away. With invisible friends he candidly talks. With invisible friends he hurriedly walks. Animated, he laughs out loud. Oblivious to the passing crowd...http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Blogs/Archive/Blog~470669.aspx5/15/2008 10:35:27 AMBarbara Neff I cannot read Gladys Mercer's YourHub.com blog without finding myself appreciating something at the end. Gladys has a way of sharing her life with readers, a manner that draws the reader into something heartfelt. This week Gladys wrote of a recent visit with an old friend from grade scho...http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Blogs/Archive/Relationships/Blog~467724.aspx5/8/2008 2:10:53 PMBarbara Neff Don't you just hate finding something in the newspaper about an event perfect in every way for your family--the day after it has taken place? I was excited to find news of the Chihuahua Derby, May 3, at Petco in Aurora in today's Denver Post (page 4-B). I was dismayed we missed it. Our two Chi...http://denver.yourhub.com/Aurora/Blogs/Archive/Blog~465722.aspx5/4/2008 11:28:02 AMBarbara Neff I got that stinkin' cast off and the stinkin' pins out of my arm this morning. As dreadful as it all sounded, there was absolutely no pain or discomfort involved. It has been a long six and a half weeks. I have learned a lot. I expected to learn to eat with my non-primary left hand. I ex...http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Blogs/Archive/Blog~461179.aspx4/24/2008 3:03:22 PMBarbara Neff Last summer my 1997 Lexus ES300 began to drip. I got on my knees, craned my neck to peer up under the old girl the way car owners do, hoping to find. What? I took the car to a repair shop here in Castle Rock, Aspen Goodyear at the intersection of Founders and Front Street. Techies there quic...http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Blogs/Archive/Blog~460970.aspx4/24/2008 12:19:28 PMBarbara Neff Colorado House Representative Gwyn Green (D-Golden) has written a bill, House Bill 1344, well on its way to becoming law. According to the Rocky Mountain News, HB 1344 flew through the Colorado House yesterday ("Bill would banish teachers who abuse", April 19, 2008). House Bill 1344 is designed...http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Blogs/Archive/Education-General/Blog~458541.aspx4/19/2008 3:03:38 PMBarbara Neff