Safety can be fun.....Fun can be dangerous!

O.K. gang, gather round. Is this microphone working? Too loud? Good. Eyes forward please. Today we will discuss safety in the workplace. My name is Mr. Slug, but today, you can call me "Mr. Safety." Your safety is important to me, and today I intend to make it important to you. Please write the word on your worksheet. Stare at it, remember it, live it. Imbedded in the word "Safety", one will find the following words: FAST, STY, SAT, SAY, EAT, FAT, STAY, YES, YET, AFT, TEAS, SEAT, and a few more that can be found on your own time. You will notice that many of these words contain a certain element of risk. This demonstration proves that even the safest and most attentive slug must be on top of his or her game at all times. Do not trust that another co-worker slug will be watching out for you. Every slug must be on the lookout for potentially unsafe situations and act upon them immediately. Watch your tails you slugs! Look alive and pay attention at all times! Ignore the danger signals, and you are likely to get your tail burned! Thank you for attending today. Please pick up your proof of attendance card as you slide out. This safety class funded in part by Oregon Slugs Hazard Avoidance. "Slide Smart, Slide Safely"

Take a look what they've won! A day at the spa!

It seems that slugs everywhere have been forced to work harder than they have ever worked, that is, if they are lucky enough to have a paying situation. If you are the "Boss", that is, an employer of slugs, you must remember to reward your best employees with incentives to keep those sluggy minds lively and supple. They must be ready to rock and roll and be the best at what they do. Mr. Slug has a business tip for you: "Begin your day with some light sliding, and then make a few phone calls to some prospective buyers to set the tone for a productive and profitable day. I see a glimmer of hope on the financial horizon! Set the dial on high! Warm those bellies! Look lively you slugs! Sell! Sell!" (This motivational message paid for by the Belly Baker Corporation of HamHock Valley, Oregon)

Now that's "Livin'!"

Tonight you might be here checking on the Adventures of Mr. Slug and Friends because you found yourself sitting in a catatonic state in front of a TV set saying, "How come we are paying for 160 channels and I can't find one thing that interests me?" We are honored to have you here as a visitor here at our comfortable and spacious estate that we refer to as Slug's Rest. Please kick off your shoe, put on a tail sock and a slipper and make yourself at home. We are here to help. Mr. Slug will set you up with a refreshment and a bit of music for your enjoyment. Mr. Slug asks, "Would you care to dance?"

This is where you need to pay attention if you want to break out of the catatonia.....If someone asks you to dance, you must accept! Yours truly has recently purchased a 1961 Magnavox Hi Fidelity Stereo Console with a full 50 watts of tube amplified musical nirvana. When Mrs. Slug helped him load the unit into the truck, she said, "This thing weighs a ton. Did they leave the records in it too?" Indeed they did, Mrs. Slug, indeed they did. Mr. and Mrs. Slug were delighted to find a very special collection of mint condition record albums inside the storage of the handsome walnut veneer cabinet with little fake drawer pulls. Incredible! Mr. Slug took the turntable apart and tuned up the motor for a flawless spin. The unit came to life with the sounds of "Hawaiian favorites, Song of the Islands (Marty Rollins), and "Tumbleweed Trail, (Sons of the Pioneers)." After listening to a number of great tunes, Mrs. Slug immediately slid over to to her local library so she could round out the evening entertainment with a good read. She is now snuggled in her bed at the end of a perfect spring day. She will, of course, hand the book to Mr. Slug because the only thing better than a good book is having someone read it to you. What could be better? Certainly not that boring old TV!

Your business is Mr. Slugs business!

When it comes to doing business, Mr. Slug has a motto....Mr. Slug says, "Let your belly guide your decisions. If you have a gut feeling that an important decision must be made and the axe has got to fall, swing that axe hard and make a nice clean cut." In a recent Fortune 500 interview, Mr. Slug gave the following advice. He stated, "Nothing can move forward without decisive action. A slug must take responsibility for his actions, a willingness to deal with the ensuing fallout, and develop a plan that will get his corporation through the lean times. Distance yourselves from shifty eyed slugs. Keep your most hard working trusted slugs informed of your moves, slide with a purpose. America, start your engines and turn off your televisions! Don't let anyone tell you that it is a bad time to do business! I love the smell of my photocopier in the morning! O.K., everyone, repeat after me....... I'm a lean, mean, gooey selling machine!!" This motivational message has been paid for by the I.B.S. of America (Independent Business Slugs of America)

Try a little tenderness

All of that work on the new driveway has been taking its toll on Mr. Slug this week, and he does not seem to be getting the sympathy that he would like from his peers. Even though the driveway is smoother, the highway is a dangerously uncomfortable slide this time of year. You really need to watch your sliding. Anything can happen! A gravel rock can hit you right in the snout when the traffic passes! As the winter wears on, it just gets worse. The road bed is so rough that Mr. Slug needs a heavy steel plate to strap on his belly to keep from getting scraped. The steel plate that Mr. Slug slides on has been ruined from too many highway miles, and is proving to be ineffective protection from the rough road. Good thing Mr. Slug has his Mrs. Slug to comfort him and rub salves and ungents into his tender dermis!

Follow your dreams and your belly machines

The winter rain and snow has made a wreck of the gravel driveway leading up to the house at Slugs Rest. There are numerous dips and gullies where the road was once smooth and easy to slide on. Even the deer are avoiding it, which is distressing for the local cats who enjoy chasing them through the yard. Mr. Slug has a dream - he would like to smooth out the driveway and install some new paving stones like the ones you see in a James Bond movie under the tires of Mr. Bond's specially built Jaguar with the seat ejector button and the oil slick button and the slicing knives that stick out from the axles so that anyone trying to follow him can be made to swerve wildly so he can get away and save the world from the likes of Goldfinger or some such villian. At the entrance to the driveway would be a pair of gargoyle attack slugs with smiling faces and a big imposing gate with an intercom system that you would have to talk in to before being allowed admittance to the compound. The first order of business will be to hire those paving slugs right away! The rest will take care of itself! The name is Slug.......James Slug.

More time to barbeque, less time to sleep!

There is something about the sound of an alarm clock that makes you feel like you might be in trouble with the law - your heart beats faster, the room seems colder and you wish you could just stay in bed and make that alarm clock go away and leave you alone. Don't be so hard on your alarm clock, or Mr. Clampy for that matter, they are both just trying to keep you earning an honest days wage for an honest day of work, and that also means being on time to said employment situation. I know what you are thinking.......(Get real! Mr. Alarm clock is not your friend! He and that dratted Mr. Clampy can go play on the freeway with a pack of angry ostriches! Leave me alone Mr. Alarm Clock!.... LEAVE!....ME!..... ALONE!) If this is what you are thinking, then I suggest that you grab yourself a nice cup of decaffinated tea and turn in early on Sunday night. After all, it was Mr. Daylight Saving Time that has caused all of this civil unrest, unless of course, you are lucky enough to live in Arizona USA. That is where they send all of those stolen hours from the rest of the country and then tack them on to the summer. That is why it is so darned hot there, but, I am wandering from my point I was trying so hard to make......You may want to blame that sneaky Mr. Daylight Savings for your troubles and leave the innocent time enforcement officials out of this! Instead, I urge you to send a thank you card to Mr. Alarm Clock and Mr. Clampy! They are just trying to do their job.

My pillow needs fluffing, so let's hire a pro!

What used to take an hour or two now has become an all day affair! At least all receipts have been found lurking in the glove box of the car or the back of the writing desk and Mrs. Slugs purses (that are last years fashion), hanging in the closet getting dusty. Now we can get down to the nitty gritty! Smile as you prepare your 2009 taxes, and don't forget, it all goes to a good cause. Now get out that pen and start writing some checks, or you might end up with a Mr. Clampy attached to your tail! After the taxes are paid, Mrs. Slug has decided to dust off her purses and give them another run, especially that cute pink handbag with the clasp that goes "Snap" real loud when you close it.