2008 Annual Letter from Jeff Mishlove & Janelle Barlow

What a year! To reuse Charles Dickens, it’s been the best of times and the worst of times. We began 2008 by attending the Rose Parade in Pasadena – where our dear friend, Lynne Morris, choreographed and directed the grand opening of the parade (see previous blog). And, fortunately, we found many things to celebrate since then – especially our thirtieth wedding anniversary and the election of Barack Obama! Both were big events for us. In fact, the actual date of our anniversary, August 28, found us en route to Denver, CO, to attend Obama’s acceptance speech along with 85,000 other people in Invesco Stadium. Later, in October, we celebrated our anniversary again with a visit to the magnificent temple complex in Angkor Wat, Cambodia (after a brief stop in Vietnam). We learned of Obama’s actual election while in the air, flying from Bangkok to Tokyo, on our way home. It was very gratifying to us, as we had been housing election workers in our home for several months. 

Above is a photo a Janelle’s hand shaking hands with Obama in Las Vegas. We think that this election signifies an important new era for America – one which will restore integrity back to our political life and put this country back on the track of fulfilling the dreams of our founders for a “Novus Ordo Seclorum” or “new order of the ages” (if you look carefully, you’ll see this phrase on every dollar bill).

It’s been a year of new beginnings for us in others ways as well. We have undertaken two new business ventures: Insight Realty Group, Inc., a commercial real estate firm and business brokerage – of which Jeff is the broker; and TACK USA, a sales training company. TACK has been active for fifty years in over forty countries. Now, we hold the first TACK license in the United States. It is a business that complements our existing TMI customer service offerings.

2008 has been full of activity for us. Janelle received the “Friendship Award” last summer at the international meeting of our TMI partners. She has also been active on the board of directors of the International Federation for Professional Speakers. As usual, her travels have taken her to exotic locations from Dubai to Germany, France, Singapore, Malaysia and Nepal. And, she continues to swim two miles every morning she is able – while Jeff hikes in the nearby Mohave desert as often as his schedule permits. Janelle is also now the Chair of the Nevada Forum for the Women’s Business Enterprise Council. She’ll have a busy year handling that along with our new business.

Jeff has taken a serious interest in karaoke – and has even performed publicly, with his duet (and real estate) partner, Cat D’Angelo, on several occasions for various senior citizens homes and centers. In fact, Jeff and Cat have been joined several times by Jeff’s mother, Rose, who – even at age 87 – still loves to perform.

Another important development this year has occurred at the University of Philosophical Research, in Los Angeles – a distant learning program where Jeff and Janelle both teach and where Jeff serves as dean of programs in transformational psychology. This year, UPR received accreditation. This is a big step forward for the institution that Jeff helped to create about ten years ago.

Another interesting development is a renewed interest in Jeff’s book, The PK Man, among the European avante-garde community. Dutch artist, Jantine Wijnja, has created several exhibitions, articles and theatrical happenings based on the book. Speaking of books, Janelle’s first major trade book, A Complaint Is a Gift, was reissued as a second edition in October this year. She worked so intently on the rewrite that her vision reversed itself. She used to wear a single contact lens to see distances, and her up-close vision was just fine, pretty remarkable considering her age. Then after 6 weeks on her computer, pretty much every day from early morning to late at night, she regained her distant vision, but is now wearing reading glasses. She still hasn’t had a good explanation for what happened.

We continue to host a variety of parties throughout the year; we are blessed to enjoy the wonderful company of our son, Lewis. And, by and large, our families are in good health. We look forward to an enterprising 2009, hopefully an economy and an ecology that turns around, good health for all of us, and lengthy laughter at the craziness in the world.

Much Love,

Janelle & Jeff

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