Gaithersburg Arts Barn Manager Andi Rosati reads a storybook to area preschoolers.

For three years, the city has hosted a Preschool Songs and Stories cultural arts program at the Gaithersburg Arts Barn in Kentlands for children aged 3 to 5 years old.

A former preschool teacher, Gaithersburg Arts Barn Manager Andi Rosati runs the popular program.

“It’s a golden opportunity to teach the children about colors and numbers through songs and stories,” said Rosati.

On Jan. 5, a college student home on break (who happens to be an opera singer) joined Rosati on stage. After telling the kids to warm up their hands by rubbing them together on the cold winter day, Rosati and her assistant led the children and their parents through 45-minutes of songs beginning with the tune: “If you are happy and you know it clap your hands.”

The children enthusiastically clapped, they stomped, they spun around, they wiggled their bodies, and they shouted in unison: “Hooray!”

Dancing is another popular part of the city's preschool program in Kentlands.

Rosati told the kids to sit down and relax for story time.

“You need to stay nice and quiet,” she said as she instructed them to take their magic button out of their pockets and put it on their lips.

“I like to teach the kids about respect,” Rosati said, after the program ended. She said she has had as many as 60 participants, and the children are always well behaved.

After the story there were more songs and then another book. The program culminated with choreographed dancing and singing on the stage. As the kids held hands in a circle and sang and danced the “Hokey Pokey,” the room was full of smiles and laughter.

The class covers a wide variety of material including vocabulary, letters, numbers, colors and even manners.

Her mother, Valerie, said they learned of the program through a local newspaper, and she said they would be back because her daughter had so much fun. The Dettmers live in Germantown.

Lakelands resident Rosallah Karim said she was impressed with the program especially the “interactive parts.” She brought her two children, Zaria (3) and Omar (1).

Lilith Kia may be young, not quite 2 years old, but she actively took part in the morning program. Kia lives in Montgomery Village, and her parents said they found out about the city of Gaithersburg’s preschool program from some friends.

Kentlands mom Stephanie Diiorio is a fan. She’s been twice before with her 3-year-old daughter Gabriella. Diiorio said her daughter enjoys the program, and as a mom she likes “the incorporation of the songs, stories and active movement.”

The preschool program takes place the first and third Thursday of each month from 11 – 11:45 a.m. through June. The cost is $3 per child. There is no fee for adults or baby siblings. Payment is at the door.

Rosati said the city just started charging for the class last fall, and she said there have been no complaints about the new fee. She also noted that the program is constantly changing and that sometimes she brings out props such as musical instruments to mix it up. She gets her books for story time from the library and said she often takes some time to tell the kids about the importance of the library, too. She said the class is a great opportunity for the kids to socialize with other children their age.

Throughout the entire 45-minute class, Rosati’s love of theater and teaching prowess were on display without a miscue. Her Gaithersburg audience may be little, but they are having fun and learning some big lessons they will carry through life. Bravo!

For more information about the Preschool Songs and Stories program, call the Arts Barn at 301.258.6394.

Debbie Hartten

“I’ve pretty much always had dogs,” Hartten said. “I have also always been community-oriented and got more personal satisfaction when giving back to society.”

As a realtor, Hartten is accustomed to helping other achieve their dreams. So, it was only fitting that through real estate she began branching out to try and improve the lives of rescue dogs as well.

“I started by donating a portion of each sales transaction to a rescue group,” she said.

An offshoot of that effort, Warm Hearts, Happy Paws, was founded three years ago and benefits a variety of Rescue Groups in the area. Warm Hearts Happy Paws is a donation initiative with drop boxes located in local businesses. People can give new or gently used items to be distributed among the rescues.

“Through this program I got to know the different rescues and saw how stretched they were for resources,” said Hartten. “Many of the workers were sacrificing huge amounts of time — their lives really — for the desire to help rescues. And I thought ‘What can I do?’”

What Hartten has done is a testament to her passion for the cause. Her plan of action included an online store, Adore That Dog, which was created as a revenue source for her other efforts.

Those efforts include Read for Rescues, a kit aimed at elementary school children to educate them about the mission of Rescue Groups. The kit teaches kids ways to help and encourages them to get pledges for reading books related to rescue and other subjects.

“This is a way of educating the next generation about the issues surrounding animal rescue in a kid-friendly way and [teaching] them the importance of giving back as well,” Hartten said.

The giving back comes in two forms. In addition to the $1 automatic donation that comes off the top of each kit purchased, s savings box is included that lets children donate a portion of their pledges back to rescues. Hartten’s goal is to have MOM’s groups get on board with this initiatve and grow it from there.

She also created Rally for Pet Rescue, a one-stop clearinghouse for all things rescue-related.

Working with local merchants like Bark! and Fleet Feet puts the ideology of rescue into the mainstream. “I am working with Fleet Feet, Gaithersburg to host an event showcasing high energy rescue dogs that make good running companions,” she said. “We also work closely with Bark! and will engage with them in efforts throughout the year. They are great supporters of the rescues.”

Hartten practices what she preaches with a rescue dog at home now and a long line of rescue predecessors. Although she does admit that her now 23-year-old daughter did purchase the family’s “first ever purebred,” whom they adore, seven years ago.

“There is so much I want to do,” Hartten says. “I liken it to waves in the ocean. As many dogs as we rescue and place in homes, more roll in right behind them.”

With ideas and commitment as vast as the sea, Hartten is living one of her company mottos and truly “Paw-ing it Forward.”

Readers can access all sister sites through the store www.adorethatdog.com

Operating on several levels, thanks to a mesmerizing performance by Charlize Theron, this film starts out being a somewhat sad tale of self-delusion and stalking and turns into something more profound as it slowly unwinds to its logical and honest conclusion.

Theron brings many characters to one — Mavis Gary — the Queen of Mercury High back in the day as she tries to seduce her way back into the heart of the King of Mercury, Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson). Mavis is a struggling writer of young adult fiction, and her attempt at reviving a dying series of novels parallels developments in the movie itself. Mavis is either mad or, as she tells her mother, an alcoholic. Or both. Theron catapults from one stage to another so fast and skillfully that we’re left wondering along with the rest of the stunned mullets who inhabit Mercury.

“Everyone here is fat and dumb,” says Buddy’s plain sister (Collette Wolfe) as she tries to escape the hold the town seems to have on all its residents except Mavis. She has a shattered marriage, a broken relationship with her parents and a dead career, but she is far from a young adult — she admits to being 37. That’s part of the problem of dealing with this film: Theron can be so glowingly gorgeous and sensual that it is hard to believe she is almost 40, yet in some scenes she looks much older. And she has a dark and deadly look that she uses frequently on perceived enemies in the town, of which there are quite a few.

Patton Oswalt, as “the Hate Crime Guy” as Mavis calls him, is outstanding. Crippled by athletes (Buddy among them) while in high school for being gay, which he is not, he is soured by his status as well as by another wheelchair-bound classmate who lost his mobility in a car crash and remains a cheerful and irritating optimist. He becomes Mavis’s conscience while remaining as besotted with her as he was when she had the locker next to his in high school. Predictably, she never looked at him.

You will hear much Oscar talk about Theron for this performance. She deserves it. Let the youngsters see it on DVD when they’ve grown up and can understand how a woman like Mavis can deceive herself into believing she’s a young adult when she’s actually long past that status.

“Contraband” (R) ***

“You can’t trade on status you don’t have.” Mark Wahlberg as Chris Farraday is reminded of the rules of the real world by a former smuggling colleague at the start of this explosive film. So he has to get back into the game in order to attain the status he needs to get out again. He is forced to do “one more job,” and we all know what that means: lots of violence, hair-raising chases, narrow escapes and skullduggery.

Wahlberg is developing a taste and a perfection of “reluctant criminal” roles, and this one is perhaps his most active. A search for $15 million in uncut pages of bills sends him and two others to Panama where they run into cocaine, scores of bloodthirsty smugglers and a surprise, the nature of which is revealed in the last reel.

Kate Beckinsale, meanwhile, is Kate Farraday. She and her two sons are held hostage by one of the slimiest, most thoroughly hateful villains in film, Giovanni Ribisi, at his most blood-curdling worst here. He truly makes your skin crawl with each appearance.

The action is so continuous that most of the audience probably never realizes that the source of the $15 million in uncut form is never revealed, nor is why it should be in a Panamanian warehouse run by smugglers. Also, why $15 million that takes up the interior of a large van should be paid for by a gym bag full of cash is not explained either, but details in these films are irrelevant.

Improbable, impossible, incredible — most Wahlberg fans will enjoy it anyway.

“Beauty and the Beast — 3D” (G) ***

A new generation can now see the original 1991 animated version in 3D. More important, perhaps, is remastered sound that is truly “surround sound.” The 3D is not really necessary and dims the vividness of the original color somewhat.

The movie was rereleased in 2002 so this is its third life in the theater. The story remains exactly the same — Belle has to fall in love with the Beast in order to allow him to return to life in his original form which, one is shocked to realize is — FABIO! Chip, the teacup has all the cute lines; the voices include the late Jerry Orbach, Angela Lansbury and Robby Benson and Paige O’Hara.

If you loved the original, you’ll probably like this as well. You have to decide if it’s worth the extra cash for the glasses.

“Joyful Noise” (PG-13) **

The music is the plot. Think of “Glee” meets “Drumline.” The PG-13 is for tender young viewers who are not ready to see the results of too much plastic surgery and for diabetics who must avoid too much sweetness.

Of course there must be an allergy to corn as well, but none of the producers of this singfest has it. “When foxes pack the jury, the chicken’s always guilty;” “There’s always free cheese in the mousetrap, but the mice in them aren’t happy;” and “Trying to get past her is like trying to sneak sunrise past a rooster.” More such country wisdom comes pouring forth from both Dolly Parton as G.G. Sparrow and Queen Latifah as Vi Rose Hill. They are members of and rivals for directorship of a small town church choir in Georgia that, of course, also competes for “the Regional Championship” (whatever that means) and loses.

This year they’re determined to win when a frail Kris Kristofferson, in a cameo as Bernard Sparrow, dies and Vi Rose gets the directorship. GG’s grandson, Randy, (Jeremy Jordan) comes back to town to fall in love with Vi Rose’s daughter, Olivia (Keke Palmer), and we settle back for a good ol’ gospel concert. This isn’t your grandma’s gospel, of course and you know how it all turns out. (See “Drumline” or any other competition movie of late.)

The music is fine, but it never avoids the obvious and tries not to. Go for the music and cover the young one’s eyes when Dolly’s on in close-up. What has been done to her face is criminal.

Janet Witkowski is a lifelong athlete.

A lifelong athlete — her degree is in exercise physiology — Witkowski “always trains better with a goal,” she said. “I watched the IronMan when I was little and thought, ‘Wow I am going to do that one day.’ I never really thought it would happen though.”

It happened as a result of hard work and dedication. “I started off doing small races, and increased my distances over time,” she said. “Eventually, I did a half IronMan and then two IronMan races, the latest a qualifier last May.”

Witkowski went into that qualifier race knowing that the top 20 in each age group would be eligible to compete at the World Triathlon. “I had hoped to qualify but really hadn’t expected it,” she said.

And what exactly has she qualified for? Witkowski will pay for her travel to Spain with her racing bike and gear, purchase her own Team USA uniform, and pay for all race charges. She then will swim an open water 3K, bike a 120K and run a 30K. “As an amateur athlete, I am responsible for all of my expenses,” she explained. “I still only hesitated maybe a split second before deciding that this was a once in a lifetime chance that I needed to take advantage of.”

An open water swim can seem intimidating to some, but Witkowski said that, “I have been swimming competitively since I was 7, so feeling comfortable in the water definitely comes into play during a race.” She is so comfortable, in fact, that her company offers a swimming program called Swim Like A Fish for adult beginner and amateur swimmers alike.

“The best part of the job is definitely when a client gets it,” Witkowski said. “They get the concept of eating well, exercising and managing stress and the results that can come with it.” She hopes to offer that same wellness support to military families with a deployed family member in the near future.

“As a Gulf War veteran, I know how hard it is to have a spouse deployed,” she said, “and I want to be there to offer any support I can. Having served in the Army Reserves for nearly a decade, Witkowski experienced those hardships first hand.

It is that personal approach to the business that has led to a steady referral base and allows her business to thrive with little to no advertising. “I worked at Fleet Feet for a while, and they were nice enough to put me on their referral list. Word of mouth is definitely the basis of the business,” she said.

The business of training for the World Triathlon will move to the forefront in the coming months as Witkowski increases her workouts to 15 – 25 hours per week. A sacrifice, no doubt, but every mile and every day put her one step closer to living her dream.

Matt King’s life is on a downhill slide, and the momentum gathers as this film progresses. King, played by George Clooney, has seen his wife put in a coma by a boating accident in Hawaii. As he struggles to cope with her condition and his older daughter’s sudden disattachment and disdain for him, he finds out his wife was having an affair with a neighbor. He is also under the gun to make a decision on who should be given control of a vast swath of Kauai owned by his family.

As the pressure mounts for King to make up his mind, the pressure on the smaller family — Alexandra and Scotty (Shallene Woodley and Amara Miller) mounts as well. This is a moody piece but also very funny, and you seldom see the laughs coming, the situation is so desperate. This is an easy film in which to place oneself, be you male or female. Moral and financial decisions made under the pressure of approaching death are never easy, and Clooney as King captures all the angst and subtlety of the emotions boiled up by such a crisis.

As my wife and other friends have said, this is a film that, once seen, keeps resonating for days afterward. The “R” rating is for language, but teens could get a lot out of this film in terms of understanding their parents and life in general. The setting is around the St. Regis Hotel and Princeville on Hanalei Bay, where “South Pacific” was filmed years ago.

Quality stuff for the holiday.

“New Year’s Eve” (PG-13) ***

America’s answer to “Love Actually,” this film succeeds on many levels but needs a central core love story to hang it together and make it memorable. The core story in “Love Actually,” the one story that held everything together, was the blossoming love between Hugh Grant as the PM and Martine McCutcheon. There is no such binding in this film and it needed it. Not that it isn’t okay in its own right, but so many moments spun off the central story in the British film that one misses them here.

The solutions to some of the stories are mostly surprises: who is actually in love with whom. There are enough candidates in a star-filled cast. Outstanding, for various reasons, are Sophia Vergara as a sous chef who actually ends up with nobody but wears a blue dress that is astounding. Catherine Heigl, as her boss, the caterer, is with Vergara in the blue dress scene — Heigl is in silver and the two of them are sheer physical marvels. Heigl has probably never looked better, and her usual soapy approach to a romantic role is softened here. Jon Bon Jovi is serviceable as Jensen, the singer who dumped Heigl (you might ask “why?” in wonderment.)

Michelle Pfeiffer looks so good and acts so vulnerable as a painfully shy and directionless secretary that one can almost believe she could Cougarize Zac Ephron. Wisely, the producers did not take it that far. Jessica Biel and Seth Meyers are effective as members of a pregnancy contest for “First Baby of the Year” that has a nice denouement, and Abigail Breslin gets her famous first screen kiss on New Year’s Eve while looking charmingly adolescent instead of child-like. She tries to prove her age and maturity by stopping on a public stairway and lifting her shirt to Mom Sarah Jessica Parker, saying: “This is not a training bra!” Parker has been reduced to being iconized by her shoes in two scenes. Matthew Broderick is one of the many cameos in the film.

Robert DeNiro is perhaps the only depressing note as a man dying of cancer, but he is so good with Hillary Swank and Halle Berry that he gets to you.

This is a romantic comedy with the emphasis on the romance. Most of the comedy comes from Vergara, the romance from Swank who is given a terrific speech about the value of love at New Year’s. Should be fine for teens and the rest of the older family.

“Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” (PG-13) ****

The franchise continues with more panache than in the first Holmes-Downey Jr. collaboration and the first American lead for Noomi Rapace, Swedish star of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.” She makes a great gypsy, with her dark coloring and flamboyant physical presence, but she doesn’t stand a chance against the near-genius Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes. Every move he makes has an impact on the film, and he often makes the audience laugh just by standing still and doing relatively nothing.

There’s not much standing around in this film, however, as it is, like the first one, more an action-comedy than a mystery. We meet the infamous Dr. Moriarty (Jared Harris) who, in the Conan Doyle books, kills off Holmes by dumping him into a river — a scene that is approximated here. Watson is played with admirable patience and restraint by a hassled Jude Law, who is trying to get to Brighton for his honeymoon. Who wouldn’t blame him with Mrs. Watson, played winningly by a stunning Kelly Reilly, waiting for him?

Briefly, the plot involves Moriarty’s attempt to take over the world with Holmes and Watson out to foil his purpose. Moriarty’s principle tool is a trained assassin who also happens to be the gypsy brother of Madame Sinza, the gypsy fortune teller (Rapace). The chases, fights and shenanigans that Guy Ritchie, the director, conjures up, involve some of the most creative use of photographic techniques seen yet in any film. The scene in which Holmes, Watson and Sinza are chased through the woods followed by various pieces of artillery, is stunning and effective as all the techniques are applied to make the action even tenser than it is. The shot of a bullet passing through Watson’s coat is particularly magical.

The script demands that you bring your “fast ears” along as the dialogue moves at a rapid pace, especially given that much of the dialogue is jokes and puns and fast references to other eras and other characters. Holmes says, of one of his many disguises: “It’s so overt it’s covert.”

Holmes’ brother, Mycroft, played by Stephen Fry, disconcertingly calls Holmes “Shirley” and has a nearly nude scene that is as offensive to Mary Watson as it is to the audience; it is hysterically funny as well as gross.

Holmes and Watson bring off their relationship with a reluctant but effective brotherhood, and the question mark next to the final “The End” makes us glad to know that another chapter is coming soon. A little wild for the youngest set, but teens and up, even with no knowledge of Holmes, should enjoy this romp for what it is — a jolly good and funny fight film.

“The Sitter” (R) **

As advertised, this is a parent’s nightmare of a film, made by a pre-diet Jonah Hill and stolen by a kid, Landry Bender. Based on her poise and command of timing, this one could take over from Abigail Breslin as the go-to female juvenile in film. She is hysterical in her role as the sanest of three kids — Max Records as Slater — “I’ve got several anxiety issues” — and Kevin Hernandez as the consistently dangerous El Salvadoran adoptee, Rodrigo. When Rodrigo tells Hill as Noah, the sitter, that: “I joost put a bomb in the toilet,” he is not struggling with English.

Blithe (Bender) does have her quirks: Her desire is to be a cool hipster celebrity, and she uses enough makeup to get the job done. Noah gets the four of them in trouble by trying to buy some “snow” for his unreciprocating girlfriend Ari Graynor as Marisa. (The film opens with graphic oral sex, which goes only one way and sets the general tone for the movie.)

The kids are good and the scrapes so dire that one wonders if all the gratuitous language and sex is necessary. It is at its best when Noah cares about the kids and a beautiful young actress, Kylie Bunbury as Roxanne. More moments like the scenes throughout the picture that show Noah as potentially competent would strengthen the impact. As it is, the R rating loses the film a lot of teenagers and under who would have enjoyed it in a more accessible version. It would still give parents nightmares.

“Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked” (G) *

I remember the start of the franchise when Ross Bagdasarian worked with tape, slowed it down so that the voices sounded faster and recorded songs as chipmunks. The effect is now old and worn, and the voices are simply tiring as well as no longer cute to those of us who have heard them for over 50 years. Yes, it was 1958 when they burst upon the novelty scene.

This effort is painfully clichéd, dull and, most deadly of all, not cute any more. Even the “spectacular” musical numbers done by the chipmunks seem dated and dull, given the better effects of live human acts of today that feature lights, fireworks and vaudeville acrobatics.

I asked one mother if her son had enjoyed the movie. “Well,” she said, “it’s his first movie ever. He’s 2. He sat still for the whole thing so that’s good.”

The target audience in this case was bulls-eyed. Anybody older than 2 might find themselves yearning for anything newer and more imaginative to see.

Gail Norris

Yes, it’s that time of year, the holiday movie season, when fun family flicks hit the big screens as the days turn cold and short and we need an escape from the frenetic pace.

But how can you escape the hit to your budget that taking a family of four — including two 5-year-olds whom I sometimes catch napping in a dark theater — to the many movies you wish to see?

For me, this year, the solution came in the form of some great online discounts, via Living Social, Groupon, Certifikid and other daily deal websites.

While many of these deals are very attractive, I am cautious about making the purchases because I don’t want to waste the money on something I may or may not be able to use by the expiration date or because they have too many restrictions to be practical for our needs. But the movie deal was too good to let pass by — four movie tickets for $20 (a savings of about $3 to $6 per person, depending on whether you went during the afternoon or at prime time) or $10 for one ticket, a large drink and a large popcorn (which basically was a free movie for buying a snack).

And I knew that the discounted movie ticket purchase wouldn’t go to waste. I mean, Kermit, Miss Piggy, Animal and the other crazy Muppets that I loved growing up were coming back to the theater. There’s no way I was missing that feature presentation! Plus there’s “Arthur Christmas” and a new installment of guilty pleasure in our family: the Chipmunks. Lots of fun family times to be had!

Without the offers from these daily deal and specialty coupon websites, there is probably a lot we wouldn’t have done over the past year, simply because we couldn’t have spent full price or we hadn’t considered the activity. I’m almost positive we wouldn’t have spent a kid-free weekend exploring Baltimore with friends and neighbors, with accommodations at a nice downtown hotel through Living Social (nor would we have already purchased a similar deal so we could get the gang back together and do it again next year — starting a new springtime tradition, perhaps?). We probably wouldn’t have made the effort to go ice skating at an indoor rink in Rockville if not for Groupon. And while we often go to Growlers to test out the latest brews, we perhaps wouldn’t have taken a large group, bought extra appetizers or even indulged in dessert without a Restaurant.com offer.

The combination of today’s economic environment and the fact that both my husband and I are self-employed — which results in our income varying considerably from month to month — means we don’t go out to eat as much as we used to in our pre-kid days, and we often pass on events we know we’d all enjoy because the cost is too great for a family of four. But as we approach the New Year, one resolution is to be able to do more with less. It’s just not about extreme couponing. It’s about taking advantage of daily deals from Living Social, Groupon, Restaurant.com and a host of other services for which we’ve signed up (for free!) to explore all the things our community has to offer, taste new cuisines and give our children some fun memories that last a lifetime.

Let the New Year begin!

Editor’s Note: Gail Norris is an East Deer Park resident and active city volunteer, including serving as public relations co-chair of the Gaithersburg Book Festival.

Chamber choirs will perform at the Dec. 17 concert at the Kentlands Mansion.

Chamber choirs Carmina and Illuminare will perform jubilant songs of the season from the Middle Ages through the Baroque at the Kentlands Mansion.

Carmina, known for its tonal balance, is devoted to exploring the musical styles of early music. Illuminare, Carmina’s women’s ensemble, was founded to illuminate exceptional vocal music of past centuries and focuses on early vocal repertoire.

Seating is limited for the 8 p.m. concert, so don’t delay.

“We’ve already sold more tickets than the first concert in the series,” said Denise Kayser, Gaithersburg’s Cultural Arts Director.

Tickets cost $23 for Gaithersburg residents. For more information, visit the city’s website at www.gaithersburgmd.gov.

Lakelands inventor Michael Recker highlights some of his company's products.

Recker is the co-founder of Wireless Technologies and its product line Mr. Beams Lighting Products and currently serves as the company’s Chief Technology Officer. Mr. Beams specializes in LED lighting products for the residential market.

Recker and David Levine, a friend based in Cleveland, started in 2005 with a small concept.

“My partner had the idea for a closet light that would come on automatically when you walked in. After doing research and checking out the market, we discovered that few products were wireless, battery powered and had motion sensors or remotes.”

The next five years were a practical application of Small Business 101. While his counterpart focused on the business side of the endeavor, Recker set about making a prototype. “We spent the first year, figuring out what homeowners wanted. I had a day job so I worked on the prototype when I could.”

Although Recker never considered himself an entrepreneur, he had the fortune “to work for start-ups since 1995 so I was surrounded by people who were successful entrepreneurs. You learn from their mistakes,” he explains, “and see their motivation and drive.”

Recker also got support from wife Judy. “She understands the ups and downs involved in this kind of effort and has been great.” he says.

After investing their own money, Levine and Recker had perfected the prototype and were ready to launch their products. Levine’s previous work for large companies in the home goods industry gave him the contacts to get the lighting products in a few catalogs and sold on what Recker terms “tech savvy websites such as Smart Home.”

The company launched its own website in 2008 and employed a smart growth strategy that has served them well. “In a small company, everyone does sales,” Recker explains. “ We really counted on our resellers to market the product through their websites or catalogues. We have relied on outside resources for things like marketing, patent work and manufacturing.”

The patent work alone is extensive with sixteen patents due to be filed by the end of 2011. Its expansion into the international market has been steady and sales on Amazon have been brisk. With such growth, the company felt it necessary to hire a professional public relations firm. As a result, Mr. Beams has been featured in USA Today and The New York Times.

While the company has grown, the Recker household has kept pace. Two sons, Davis, a kindergartener at Rachel Carson and Anderson, now 3, round out the family.
Indeed the future looks bright for Recker and company.

Their new Power Outage pack debuted to rave reviews and is particularly timely given the rampant local power outages of late. Designed with an automatic sensor to detect a power outage, the power outage system then automatically activates the wireless lighting throughout the house. Because of it’s applications for both residential and commercial use, the Power Outage pack is primed to take the company to new levels.

Meanwhile in his residence, Recker works where it all began six years ago amid the bustle of his brightest lights, his family.

The Muppet movies are never just funny or cute. They always have a point and this entry is no different.

With a virtual non-stop parade of star cameos, including Alan Arkin, Zach Galafianakis, Sarah Silverman, James Carville, Whoopi Goldberg, Rico Rodrigues, Kristen Shaal, Emily Blunt, John Krasinski and more.

Jason Segel as Gary and Amy Adams as Mary team up with the Muppets to try to save the Muppet Theater and their history. They, of course, plan to do it in less than a week with a marathon TV show, overseen by Rashida Jones as the producer in an attempt to foil the dastardly plans of Chris Cooper as the villainous and aptly named Tex Richman.

Everything that happens is completely predictable, totally unbelievable and utterly charming. Peter Linz voices the Muppet wannabe Walter, the “brother” of Gary. Much of the plot centers about Walter’s struggle to identify either as a man or as a Muppet—when sees himself as a man, it’s as Jim Parsons of “Big Bang Theory.”

Deal with it. Walter’s search for identity and a talent have a remarkably unforeseen result, one of the most charming of many in the film. The movie pokes reverent fun at itself, with such inside jokes as Cooper’s “cue maniacal laugh” to his collaborators and the suggestion of somebody to introduce the old Muppets to the audience: “May I suggest we pick up the rest of the Muppets in a montage.”

When they look for a celebrity host for the marathon, it is wisely observed: “A celebrity is not a people.” Lovers of “Menomena” have to wait to the credits but the still-effective “Rainbow Connection” that won an Oscar in 1979 as Best Song, is used in the last third of the film and may unite kids and their parents—the former through the beauty and gentleness of the song, the latter through nostalgia.

This is a very nostalgic film, reuniting the Muppets after a long break—2005 saw The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz—and it’s good to have them back. The Swedish chef still cracks me up every time.

Author Chris Hodges

“I was envious,” Hodges said. “His success in creating this great film was jarring to me. Especially since this was a movie that had a fantastic story and a message about the relationship between a father and son.”

After some reflection, Hodges recalled the toll that making this film had taken on his cousin. He knew that he had sacrificed everything to bring it to fruition. “He was 100 pounds overweight, had no personal relationships and had made his whole life his job.” Not only was there no envy of that position in life for Hodges, but it sparked an idea that would change his life philosophy permanently.

In that moment, he let go of “the illusion that we can have it all and have it at the same time,” Hodges said. “You can have things at different times in your life, but anyone who thinks they can have it all at once has been watching too much tv.”

Hodges shared this ideology with others, and he discovered many were struggling in the same way. He found a society searching for the elusive definition of success and the delicate balance of the varied sectors of adult life.

Hodges, a Naval Academy graduate and former naval officer, was so energized by his revelation that he knew he simply had to get it down on paper. “I didn’t start out intending to write a book,” he said, “but I had been keeping a journal for about 15 years that was filled with aspirations of excelling in different areas. I just built on that.”

And build he did. He likened the parts of our lives (careers, relationships, etc) to “stones” and set about showing how our personal placement and prioritization of those stones determine our destiny.

His book, “Placing Stones,” and an ensuing website of the same name have led to some new stone placement for Hodges. “It took almost two years to write the book, getting up early every morning and writing for an hour.” He would then switch gears and transition to his career as an engineering management consultant with a Fortune 500 firm.

“The book was originally over 300 pages long,” Hodges admitted, “but I hired an editor, and she suggested that I cut it down and change the chronology. It all came together from there, and I was able to publish it through Amazon in 2010.”

“Placing Stones” boasts numerous positive reviews on Amazon.com. Though the book is printed on demand in small runs, it has parlayed into speaking engagements for Hodges all over the world as it is a business guide as well as a personal how-to.

“I will probably speak six or seven times this year, mostly to corporations,” said Hodges. “I try and combine travel for work and speaking as often as I can. If I really marketed the book I might be able to speak more, but that is not where my stones are right now.”

Adding book-related activity to a career and family life begs the question, does Hodges practice what he preaches?

“Absolutely,” he vows. “This summer I had to release running the Marine Corps Marathon because I needed to devote the time to my son Rio’s summer swim season with the [Kentlands] Kingfish. Stones change and placements change. The goal is to achieve great things without regretting the things you didn’t do and not envying those that made different choices.”

Yet Hodges has lived what some may call an enviable life. He is a seasoned world traveler and marathoner and a successful entrepreneur. Recently he added author to his resume as well.

“I don’t really consider myself an author, but I am starting to work on ideas for a second book [that] will flush out some of the concepts in the first one.”

Most importantly, Hodges looks forward to passing on these life lessons to his son. “This is an idea that young and old can embrace. It’s never too late to change, and it is never too early to learn.”