Voter Information Tool

Please use this tool to assist you if you don’t know where your polling place is and please feel free to share this other folks that may be in need of the information as well. Tomorrow is our General Election in the United States and it is imperative that if you are registered to vote, that you actually do vote!

Please read yesterday’s post about my feelings on this matter, I won’t be redundant here by repeating what I wrote yesterday. Suffice it to say, it is our responsibility as good citizens to elect those leaders who we believe will serve our best interest as well as the less fortunate and those that may be unable to speak for themselves.

I must say I am a big believer in teaching people how to fish instead of handing them fish but I also know that there are times when through no fault of our own, we find ourselves in need of assistance and that’s when those programs become essential and why they exist.
The hours that the polls are open do vary by state and time zone.

Time zone note: Arizona and Hawaii do not observe Daylight Savings Time (DST). Thirteen states have multiple time zones. Idaho and Oregon are split between the Mountain and Pacific time zones. Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Texas are divided between Central and Mountain time zones. Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, and Tennessee are split between Eastern and Central time zones. Alaska is divided between the Alaska time zone and the Hawaii-Aleutian time zone. Whew!

So please use our guide below or log on to your local county/clerk/recorder website for your community to fully understand where you will be going and at what time you are able to cast your ballot.

 

General Election, USA, Tuesday, November 4, 2014.

General Election While we’ve kept up our blog posts on a regular (usually 3 times a week a www.TheMariaSanchezShow.com) basis, we’ve taken some time away from the website and the podcasts to focus on some other professional opportunities, political campaigns and family matters.  It is terribly important that if you are a registered voter that you vote on Tuesday, November 4th. I’ve been fairly political most of my life. I was always the President of my class or a Student Body Officer while in high school and pretty much the same scenario in college when I attended and graduated from the University of California, Davis.

As an adult, I registered at the age of 18 and feel that our votes count. One of my favorite personal mottos is, “one voice, one vote, one pay check.” What say, what we do, how we spend our money and how we vote matters! I think far too often people feel that it is one vote, what could it possibly matter?

Well it does. Whether we agree politically or not really isn’t the point. That we participate in the process of our democracy and go to the polls is really more important.
Our representatives in our state capitals and in the corridors of Washington, D.C. need to be there because the majority of the people voted and thus our leaders represent the majority of the electorate. That seems pretty straightforward to me.

Unfortunately, what we’ve seen in the past is that the minority of people show up, mostly the extremists of both parties and thus they elect the exception or the more polarizing candidate.

So please, whatever you do, V-O-T-E on Tuesday!

If you have an absentee ballot and you haven’t mailed it yet, BRING IT IN PERSON to your polling place. The postmark does NOT count! It has to be received on or before November 4th so don’t trust it to the USPS at this point. Hold on to it and take it to your polling place.

Drs. Chuck and JoAnn Bird, board certified clinical sexologists

Drs. Chuck & JoAnn Bird

Please join Maria as she has a conversation with Drs. Chuck and JoAnn Bird who are Board Certified Clinical Sexologists, licensed mental health counselors who are also sex therapists.  Drs. Chuck and JoAnn Bird talk about their professions and how they help various clients with couples counseling and coaching, discernment counseling, workshops for couples, individual therapy and sex therapy.

You may be asking what is sex therapy? Sex therapy is a specialized form of therapy that focuses on intimacy and sexual concerns or issues. It is a solution-focused therapy designed to reach goals that are established by those seeking services. Sex Therapy consists of discussions in the therapists’ office, along with special exercises designed to make you feel more relaxed in your sexual interactions. These exercises are practiced by the individual or couple in the privacy of their own home. At no time does it involve clients performing sexual acts in front of the therapist or sexual contact between the therapist and clients. The goal of sex therapy is to maximize one’s potential for satisfaction, pleasure and happiness.

Because Drs. Bird practice in the state of Florida these are the requirements that they have to meet for their state. A licensed therapist who has specialized training in Sexology (the science of sexual behavior) and the diagnosis and treatment of sexual issues/concerns. A licensed therapist must meet the State of Florida requirements (additional education/training and supervision) to be called a Sex Therapist. A Sexologist is a clinician that holds a doctoral degree (Ph.D.) in the field of Sexology.

Sex therapy is for people of all ages, gender, and sexual orientation, who have sexual concerns or want to improve their quality of life by dealing with sexual issues. Sex therapy is for individuals or couples.

If you are in a relationship and are both available to see a sex therapist, that is highly recommended. No matter which one of you feels “responsible” or “blamed” for the problem, it is a problem that both of you are experiencing. It has become a “couples problem”. If you, as a couple, are interested in having a satisfying sex life, you will benefit from being in sex therapy together.

Hotter than a witch’s . . .

138 degrees

We here in Southern California are embroiled (pun intended) in not only a record setting drought but a heat wave that is nearly indescribable. Yesterday was most likely the hottest day ever recorded for the day/date/area.
I have captured a picture of the thermostat from my car. The day before my thermometer read 118 degrees.

Our water district has restricted the days and times that we are allowed to have our irrigation systems on. We are limited to three days a week, never on a Sunday as well as the specific times that the systems can be used.

My landscaping is fairly drought tolerant but under these constraints it is languishing and looking pretty unsightly.

I also have a pool and the heat is creating such evaporation that it has to be filled frequently.
The following lyrics are from a Bruno Mars song, “It Will Rain.” I am asking for the good of the order and for the well being of our planet, would someone jettison their relationship so that we can have rain? I’d offer to take one for the team but alas, I don’t have a significant other!

So I’m asking for those of you who do, would you please dump them for the rest of us and our climate challenged communities? You can always get another one but we cannot heal our world as quickly if what Bruno Mars has sung about would come to pass!

“‘Cause there’ll be no sunlight
If I lose you, baby
There’ll be no clear skies
If I lose you, baby
Just like the clouds
My eyes will do the same, if you walk away
Everyday it will rain!

And if someone has a better idea, please share. Whatever it takes. We have to get rid of this heat and get lots and lots of precipitation.
Again, I’d fall on the sword but I am not in a relationship.

@BrunoMars; @MariaSanchezSho

Facebook became my ‘friend’ in my time of need!

Mark ZuckerbergMost of us use Facebook for various reasons, not always alike. Connecting with friends, connecting with causes, connecting with celebrities, connecting with products and services.
However, an interesting thing happened to me recently with my ‘relationship’ with Facebook. I found myself in the Emergency Room of a hospital due to a friend’s medical situation. My time there was not planned. I rushed to be by her side as soon as I heard the news so I was unprepared for the hours and hours and hours that it took the physicians and medical staff to tend to her needs, get her body/health stabilized and ultimately, get her discharged.
Thus I found myself by myself as she slipped in and out of consciousness. I didn’t have a book or a newspaper. I didn’t have the use of a television. In short, I was stuck with nothing to do, no one to talk with and nothing to read.
Enter Facebook – I opened my Facebook account on my iPhone and suddenly a world opened up to me. Stories and posts that I might ordinarily have skipped over since I don’t usually have the luxury of having so much time to dawdle over everyone’s life events.
But on this day, at that moment, not only was I not going insane by simply being idle, I was able to delve and read and revel and shudder and cry at all of the humanity that were on those pages that folks took the time to share.
I know that it might sound trivial, or else you could ordinarily say, “get a life” but this time, at that moment, it was a life saver for me.
I was able to keep my vigil for my friend in her time of need and I was also able to fully relish the lives that others have and cared to share.
So in that instance, I realized what a life saver social media can be. It isn’t just bragging or being voyeuristic, for me it was a life line to the real world and it kept me company in my time of need.
Thank you Facebook and thank you all for sharing! Warmly, Maria