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Matt Lafata’s Weekly Email Newsletter |
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February 8, 2007 – Volume 6, Issue 6 |
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The newly named Mrs. Frisco Sheila Elliott stops by to say hi at my company, HRchitect. Good luck to Sheila as she competes for the Mrs. Texas title in Frisco in May.
Win this 2007 Lexus IS 250! Support the Frisco Family Services Center by purchasing a raffle ticket at www.friscocenter.org or by calling 972-335-9495. See the item in the newsletter for more details about their upcoming gala on March 3.
This newsletter and information source is designed to bring us all a little closer together each week by providing coverage of so many things going on in our community. There are so many amazing things in this newsletter, as there are every week. Please forward this newsletter to all your friends and neighbors and encourage them to sign up to receive it themselves. They will greatly appreciate you for it as no citizen should be without this important information at their fingertips. Let’s work to get all Frisco citizens on this list as a more informed society is a more functional society.
If you have questions or have any community events, people or groups you want to recognize, fundraising events, or any newsworthy items you would like to see added and shared with more than thirty-five thousand residents and businesses in Frisco and the surrounding areas, please send me an email so I may include them. The newsletter goes out each Thursday and I need materials by the end of the day on the preceding Wednesday if you want something to be included.
If you received this from somebody else and would like to be added to the list, just send me an email. Your email address will never be sold or given to anybody else for any reason. All newsletters can also be found on our web site at www.mattlafatamarketing.com.
In this action packed issue you will find the following…
Matt Lafata’s Weekly Email Newsletter 1 Newsletter Sponsor – Kokopelli's Wellness Spa - Your Resolution Solution Center!: 2 Spotlight on…Mrs. Frisco, Sheila Elliott: 3 Free Car Safety Seat Checks: 6 Answering Questions for Kids and Young Adults: 6 Tornado Talk…by Junior Sports Reporter, Kaleigh Lafata: 7 Face & Body Day Spa Public Service Announcement: 8 Frisco Cycling Club Upcoming Meeting: 8 Relay For Life Frisco Seeking Teams: 9 Youth Artist Call for Black Heritage Month Celebration: 9 11th Annual Daddy Daughter Dance: 10 2007 Kurt Thomas Invitational Women’s International Gymnastics Competition: 11 An Evening of Rising Stars!: 12 A Plea to all businesses, home based or corporate! (and individuals): 13 North Texas Baseball Alliance: 13 Happenings in Frisco ISD by Sarah Ianace: 14 “Being Mom and Dad” - Parenting Class at Bright: 14 Collin County Ballet Theatre Presents "Romance & Revelry": 15 Greater Collin County Pachyderm Club: 15 Texas Democratic Women of Collin County Upcoming Meeting: 15 The Living Opera Presents our 2007 Gala: 16 Tornado Return Home this Weekend for More Action with the Springfield Jr. Blues: 16 FC Dallas and Lamar Hunt Pioneer Match Update: 17 Salsa Social at St. Francis Catholic Church: 17 Frisco Residents of Color Upcoming Meeting: 18 Frisco Association for the Arts Holds Its First Annual T-Shirt Design Contest Reception: 18 My Computer Crashed - Now What? Frisco Business and Professional Women meet March 1, 2007: 19 Plano Symphony Orchestra Presents Its Annual Fundraiser “A Valentine Gala with Marvin Hamlisch”: 19 Centennial Students Selected for State Honor Band: 20 Today’s Tax Talk From Joe!: 20 Piper’s Loft Jazz Concert Series: 21 Collin County Songwriters Association News and Recommendations: 21 www.Frisco-OnLine.com & Mrs. Frisco - A Pod-Cast made in Heaven 2/9/2007: 22 Frisco High School Choir Booster Club Presents...A Spring Shopping Fair: 22 Texas Tornado Fan Bus Trip March 10th to Wichita Falls: 23 Word of Mouth Products Presents…Males Order Brides: 23 DBU Patriot Baseball to Host Southwest Diamond Classic in Frisco: 24 Wedding Vow Renewals This Saturday: 25 St. Philip’s Episcopal Preschool Enrollment Underway: 25 Landscape Detail by Glenn E. Kopanski, United States Navy Retired: 25 Active Warrants Now Searchable on Collin County website: 29
Matt’s Blog - Blog - an online diary; a personal chronological log of thoughts published on a Web page – LAST UPDATED 1/30/07
Newsletter Staff Members and Contributors
Matt Lafata – Editor and Publisher – 214-336-3355
Kaleigh Lafata – Tornado Talk
Sarah Ianace – Happenings in Frisco ISD
Glenn Kopanski – Landscape Design
Pedro Checo – Advice from Dr. Checo
Joe Hockaday, CPA – Today’s Tax Talk From Joe!:
State Representative Ken Paxton -- Capitol Steps
Two New Columns - Citizen of the Month and Neighborhood of the Month
The Citizen of the month and Neighborhood of the month for February have been chosen and will be revealed next week. If you have a citizen or neighborhood you would like to nominate for March, please send it to me by the end of February…
The Citizen of the Month will focus on a person in Frisco who has been nominated by another individual. He or she could be a person who has recently done something special that contributes to the well-being of our city and/or its citizens, or it could be somebody who has had (or currently has) an interesting career or experiences that could be shared with our readers.
The Neighborhood of the Month will highlight a particular neighborhood in our city. I am looking to hear from you as to why your Neighborhood is so special.
Please send an email to community@mattlafatamarketing.com to nominate and explain why a Frisco citizen or a neighborhood should be honored with this monthly recognition.
“Dear Neighbor” Column:
Hi Neighbors, in attempt to assist The City of Frisco Residents with their Spring Projects this newsletter would like to start a ‘Dear Neighbor’ column for questions and inquiries about home improvements. Such improvements might include questions regarding accessory buildings, sheds, patio covers, gazebos, fences (new or replacements) foundation repairs, re-roofing projects, arbors, room additions or alterations, tall grass, trash, outdoor kitchens, fire-pits, spas and pools.
It would be something similar to the famous ‘Dear Abby’ or ‘Heloise’ column, where readers submit their questions or concerns and the response is printed in this newsletter. This newsletters’ reader’s, as the citizens of Frisco, will be able to ask for information in regards to home improvements, general building practices and property nuisances.
So, if you have questions or home improvements, general building practices property nuisances or any newsworthy items you would like to ask and have shared with all our readers, please send them to me at community@mattlafatamarketing.com so I may include them.
Question of the Week:
Q. My street light is out or flickers on and off. How do I get it repaired?
Report the problem to 972-335-5520, supply the address and electric provider (if known) for your neighborhood and we will notify the correct company for repairs. The majority of street lights in Frisco are owned and maintained by either CoServ Electric or TXU Electric Delivery. You may report the outage directly to your utility provider by phone or through their Web site: CoServ: 1-800-274-4014 or click here; TXU: 1-888-313-4474 or click here.
Wine Question of the Day:
Since I enjoy a glass of wine from time to time, I have become more fascinated with wine in general and in trying to learn more about wine. This week’s question…
Q. I see some people swirl their wine before drinking it. Is it necessary to swirl wine in the glass before you taste it?
A. It is not necessary. The reason for swirling wine in the glass is to release its aroma. Swirl if you enjoy taking in the wine’s aroma, otherwise get straight to tasting it.
How to “Whitelist” this Frisco Community Newsletter in Your Spam Filter:
With the advent of outrageous volumes of unwanted email these days, of which I get a ton, it's unfortunate that legitimate email publications like this are not being seen by some of the readers who enjoy those publications. There is much fear today that the email publishing/marketing industry is in serious trouble, due to mistakes in filtering when legitimate email is erroneously tagged as unwanted email.
While we applaud the anti-spam industry for removing the plethora of unwanted email from many of our mailboxes, from time to time, some legitimate email publications are mistaken as unwanted.
Sometimes, this results in our mailings bouncing back, with requests for us to respond to challenge/response messages to prevent future filtering. However, due to the size of our list, it's nearly impossible for us handle the volume of such requests.
To that end, please realize that we want our readers to always anticipate and enjoy the valuable information that this community newsletter delivers.
If you currently use an anti-spam program or service, we ask that you take just a minute or two to add this newsletter to your "safe" or permitted email sender list. This usually involves simply adding our sending address (From:) to your whitelist, safelist, or list of privileged senders. This is commonly known as whitelisting a publication. Simply add the email addresses of matt@mattlafata.com and matt@mattlafatamarketing.com.
Just a reminder - this newsletter is put together with information from many different sources. You can also view this newsletter and past newsletters in the News section of my web site at www.mattlafatamarketing.com. If you do not receive your emailed newsletter for some reason, please visit www.mattlafatamarketing.com each week as some mail servers block emails that are sent to multiple recipients. Just remember that if you don’t get it by each Friday, you can read it on the web site.
For advertising opportunities, please contact sales@mattlafatamarketing.com
Please support our past sponsors of this community newsletter wherever possible. They help to make all this happen. If you have questions about any of these sponsors, please feel free to ask…
Banking, Financial, Insurance & Mortgage
Banker’s Financial Mortgage Group – Wayne Lancaster
The Steven Graves Insurance Agency
Churches/Places of Worship
St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church
Entertainment/Sports
Food and Restaurants
Angela Patterson’s Farm Fresh Pecans
Bonnie Ruth’s Café Trottoir et Patisserie
Home Improvement/Repair
Lawn Care and Maintenance
Medical/Healthcare
Preston Medical Assoc – Dr. Checo
Professional Services
Frisco Financial Planning – John Gay
Jordan, Houser & Flournoy, LLP
Profitpointe Tax & Bookkeeping
Trinity ID Graphic Design Company
Realtors
Keller Williams – Angie Dyer, Frisco Stars
Keller Williams – Katherine Lynch
Retail/Shopping
David McDavid Honda –Mack Parker
Schools/Education/Day Care
Spas
Others/Miscellaneous
Mrs. Texas United States Pageant
Valentine’s Day in other Cultures:
Thanks to a concentrated marketing effort, Valentine's Day has emerged in Japan and Korea as a day on which women, and less commonly men, give candy, chocolate or flowers to people they like. This has become an obligation for many women. Those who work in offices end up giving chocolates to all their male co-workers, sometimes at significant personal expense. This chocolate is known as giri-choko, in Japan, from the words giri ("obligation") and choko, a common short version of chokorēto, meaning "chocolate". This contrasts with honmei-choko, which is given to a person someone loves or has a strong relationship with. Friends, especially girls, exchange chocolate that is referred to as tomo-choko; tomo means "friend" in Japanese.
By a further marketing effort, a reciprocal day called White Day has emerged. On March 14, men are expected to return the favor to those who gave them chocolates on Valentine's Day. Many men, however, give only to their girlfriends. Originally, the return gift was supposed to be white chocolate or marshmallows; hence "White Day". However, men have taken the name to a different meaning and lingerie has become a common gift.
In Korea, there is an additional Black Day on April 14, when males who did not receive anything for Valentine's Day gather together to eat Jajangmyun (Chinese-style noodles in black sauce). In South Korea, there is also Pepero Day, celebrated on November 11, during which young couples give each other romantic gifts.
In Chinese Culture, there is a similar counterpart of the Valentine's Day. It is called “The Night of Sevens”, on the 7th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar; the last one being August 30, 2006. A slightly different version of this day is celebrated in Japan as Tanabata, on July 7th on the solar calendar.
In Persian Culture (Iran) this popular date is discreetly celebrated by most lovers despite the disapproval of such occasion by the hardline Islamic government as a copycat of the West.
According to Jewish tradition the 15th day of the month of Av – Tu B’Av (usually late August) is the festival of love (hag haahava). In ancient times girls would wear white dresses and dance in the vineyards, where the boys would be waiting for them (Mishna Taanith end of Chapter 4). In modern Israeli culture this is a popular day to pronounce love, propose marriage and give gifts like cards or flowers.
In Brazil, there is no Valentine's Day. Instead, Dia dos Namorados (lit. "Day of the enamored", or "Boyfriend's/Girlfriend's Day") is celebrated on June 12, when couples exchange gifts such as chocolates, cards and usually a flower bouquet. This day is chosen probably because it is the day before the Saint Anthony’s day, known there as the marriage saint, when many single women perform popular rituals in order to find a good husband (or nowadays, a boyfriend).
In Columbia, the Día del amor y la amistad (lit. "Love and Friendship Day") is celebrated on the third Friday and Saturday in September, because of commercial issues. In this country the Amigo secreto ("Secret friend") tradition is quite popular, which consists of randomly assigning to each participant a recipient who is to be given an anonymous gift (similar to the Christmas tradition of Secret Santa).
In Mexico, the Día del amor y la amistad is celebrated similar to Colombia but this one falls on February 14.
In Finland, Valentine's Day is called Ystävänpäivä which translates into "Friend's day". As the name says, this day is more about remembering your friends than your loved ones.
In Slovenia, a proverb says that "St Valentine brings the keys of roots," so on February 14, plants and flowers start to grow. Valentine's Day has been celebrated as the day when the first works in the vineyards and on the fields commence. It is also said that birds propose to each other or marry on that day. Nevertheless, it has only recently been celebrated as the day of love. The day of love is traditionally March 12, the Saint Gregory’s day. Another proverb says "Valentin - prvi spomladin" ("Valentine — first saint of spring"), as in some places (especially White Carniola) Saint Valentine marks the beginning of spring.
In Romania, the traditional holiday for lovers is Dragobete, which is celebrated on February 24. It is named after a character from Romanian folklore who was supposed to be the son of Baba Dochia. Part of his name is the word drag ("dear"), which can also be found in the word dragoste ("love"). In recent years, Romania has also started celebrating Valentine's Day, despite already having Dragobete as a traditional holiday. This has drawn backlash from many groups, particularly nationalist organizations like Noua Dreapta, who condemn Valentine's Day for being superficial, commercialist and imported Western kitsch.
In Norway, Valentines Day is known as Valentinsdagen. It is not celebrated to a large extent, but some people take time to be romantic with their partner, or send a card to a secret love.
Valentines Day also has regional traditions in the UK. In Norfolk a character called 'Jack' Valentine knocks on the rear door of houses leaving sweets and presents for children. Although leaving treats, many children were scared of this mystical person.
All the opinions, endorsements or recommendations in this newsletter are mine alone and they do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of any organization or group with whom I am affiliated or the individuals who are a part of such organizations and groups. You should not rely on any statement made in this newsletter as evidenced of how I may act as a member of any organization or group. Inclusion of news, events and other information in this newsletter does not imply an endorsement; it merely serves as my effort to be of service to the readers.
All About Frisco:
In our continuing efforts to bring information to our great community, we have updated our web site with listings of:
· Frisco Neighborhoods and Homeowner Associations · Churches and other places of Worship · Clubs and Organizations · The Frisco Independent School District and other Schools
Visit www.friscocommunity.com to access this information and I look forward to your feedback. This site will continue to grow and evolve over time.
About Matt Lafata:
Matt Lafata is the proud parent of three children and moved to Frisco from Gloucester, MA in January, 1999. Mr. Lafata has helped build several highly successful businesses for more than 20 years. A long-time business consultant and entrepreneur, he is the Director of Sales and Marketing with the Frisco-based HR technology consulting firm HRchitect (www.HRchitect.com). He is also the founder of several marketing and public relations agencies including The Matt Lafata Marketing Group (www.mattlafatamarketing.com). Previously, Mr. Lafata was an Executive Vice President of a computer software company where he was responsible for corporate development, strategic supervision of marketing and sales, product development and more. Mr. Lafata studied finance and business management at Salem State College in Salem, Massachusetts.
Mr. Lafata is involved in numerous organizations throughout Frisco. He is in his 2nd term as a Frisco City Council member and is also involved in the following…
· Former Deputy Mayor Pro Tem on the Frisco City Council · Former Planning & Zoning Commissioner · Graduate of Leadership Frisco · 2005 recipient of the “21 Leaders of the 21st Century” by Inside Collin County Business · Graduate of the Citizen’s Police Academy and a member of the Alumni group · Youth sports coach · Past board member for the Frisco Family Services Center · St. Francis of Assisi Knights of Columbus Member · Member of the Frisco Heritage Association · Member of the Frisco Association for the Arts · Community Advisory Board member for the Frisco Women’s League · Board member for the Frisco Square Municipal Management District · City of Frisco Technology Committee member · City of Frisco Budget and Audit subcommittee member · Tax Increment Finance board member · Co-Director of the Mrs. Texas United States Pageant
Matt recently became engaged to Erika Howe of Frisco, who also has three children.
If you wish to be removed from this list, please send an email to matt@mattlafata.com.
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Dear Friends,
This week’s newsletter is proudly sponsored by Kokopelli’s Wellness Spa. Check out their “Resolution Solution Center” and don’t forget that Valentine’s Day is right around the corner! Also check out the spotlight on the new Mrs. Frisco, Sheila Elliott. A lot of work goes into putting this newsletter together and I greatly appreciate the support of our sponsors so please patronize them wherever possible.
We received a drought update this week and I thought I would pass it along. As I have stated in the past, Frisco is a member of the North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD) which is who we get our water from. The NTMWD is continuing to plan for new water sources in the coming years, which is good news, and two new sources should be available by the end of this year. That being said, the recent rains and the continued compliance of water restrictions by our citizens has greatly improved our situation. Lake Lavon, our main source of water, has risen about 10 feet in the past month or so. Which it is still about 7 feet bel |
