In the Mix with Aaliyah Miller

Got heart health? Many Americans don't. Heart disease is the number one killer of American men and women and has been been for more than 30 years. Heart disease   is actually a broad term used for a wide variety of diseases of the heart and blood vessels such as coronary artery disease, heart rhythm disorders called  arrhythmias   and defects of the heart present at birth, also called  congenital heart defects .  The good news is that we can do something about heart disease. The American Heart Association is diligently working to help all Americans  build healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke.  They work to achieve this through advocacy efforts and campaigns in communities throughout the nation. I'm proud to let you all know that I will be participating in the 2013 Greater New Haven Heart Walk with UIL Holding Corporation's Team West . UIL has a group of team leaders walking to raise awareness and funds for research...

Happy Earth Day !! There is so much going on in the world today, but I'm happy to take a moment out to acknowledge how grateful I am to be living and on this planet. I take a great deal for granted in my life and our planet earth is one of them. I don't know about you, but I have noticed our changing weather patterns and have heard the reports about sea levels rising. It's got me a little spooked. Even my local weather man is hip to the difference. Some call it global warming others call it climate change and some still believe neither exists, but does that matter at this point? There's a difference in our climate and for better or for worse people are the contributing factors. I don't think most people intentionally seek out to harm the planet, but if you drive a car, have a smart phone, heat your home, or use a microwave (just to name a few), then you are having an impact on planet earth. Going green has become cliche over the last few years. It's in p...

Yesterday's events in the city of Boston are still very fresh in the news . I purposely didn't watch news coverage of it yesterday. I read some news articles online and listened to NPR, but I didn't want to see the TV coverage or hear the sound bytes of the tragedy being replayed and spun to set a specific agenda. Everyday we are inundated with messages and it is easy to forget the subliminal impact they have on our lives. Unfortunately news isn't always just news. There are so many questions to be answered and we won't know those answers for some time. Despite this fact, it doesn't stop certain individuals and news outlets from blaming certain groups of people or publishing inaccurate stories. While I understand the need for justice, I don't think it's productive to blame others when so much is unknown or speculated. I've been encouraged by some of the media coverage I've seen, heard on NPR or watched on television today. There seems to ...

Author Jim Chernesky I'm thrilled to feature an author Q&A for this blog post! Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Jim Chernesky for an employee feature in Newsline , our company biweekly employee newsletter. Jim's work on his self published memoir Once a Fan serves as a personal reminder that goals can be achieved through dedication and hard work. Ready to meet Jim? Jim's bio: Jim Chernesky is the Process Manager for Electric System Operations. He is originally from Bridgeport Connecticut. His career has spanned 35 years and includes work in training, process and performance management for companies such as Unimation, Westinghouse, PHH Home Equity, Emery Worldwide and Uniroyal Chemical. Jim is also a professional photographer certified with the New York Institute of Photography and an adjunct faculty member at Post University in Waterbury where he teaches Art History. Jim lives in Oxford, Connecticut with his wife Beth three sons and a g...

A picture I took of this year's program. It has taken me a week to recover from last weekend's 2013 PAX East in Boston, Massachusetts. For those of you who are like me and don't really game, back in 2004, the folks at Penny Arcade wanted to create the ultimate conference and gaming experience and is how PAX was born. It started out as a 4,500 person event in Bellevue, Washington and now has expanded to the east coast and brings approximately 80,000 gamers together. Not just video gamers, which I still think is the bulk of people, but you will also find table top (board and card) gamers, techies, parents of gamers and those who cover this industry.  Keith, Rob, Karim and Jay pose for a picture. My husband, Karim and his friends have been going to PAX East since it came to Boston back in 2010. I joined him last year and it has been an enlightening experience as a non-gamer. I've grown up with the stereotype that gamers are male, but going to PAX quickly disman...

My photo submission Happy spring everyone, I know it doesn't feel much like spring, but it is officially here even if the temperature is less than ideal. Today, I was talking with a colleague in passing about the weather and this time last year it was in the 60s. Oh well, the weather is what is going to be for now. We just have to patiently endure and wait for the warmer days to come. Despite the cold I'm pretty excited. I recently submitted my photo in People  magazine's Real Beauty at Every Age Contest and just got an email that I'm in. Yeah!  I had to submit my photo a few times before it was accepted. Part one is done. Now I'm looking to enlist your  help for part two. The goal is to share my photos with my friends, family and colleagues and get you to click on the heart that is beneath my picture. I believe the more I have the better my ranking. THE CONTEST CLOSES IN FIVE DAYS, SO THE  PRESSURE IS ON. Can you help a sista out and show me som...

I was a big fan of MTV’s The Real World throughout my teenage years and into adulthood. The show’s intro “Seven strangers, picked to live in a loft and have their lives taped,” was my cache phrase. MTV had me and millions of other young people hook, line and sinker. I religiously tuned in every week for about seven seasons. The show was a hit and has spawned a plethora of knock-offs. More than 15 years later, media and entertainment companies find that reality TV programming still garners viewers and is very profitable. You can find reality TV shows on both network and cable television. Popular reality shows in 2012 included Here Comes Honey Boo Boo , American Idol , Love and Hip-Hop (Atlanta) , The Voice , Deadliest Catch , Keeping up with the Kardashians , Mob Wives and Real Housewives . The dominating force reality TV has in the lives of many Americans is as real as the shows are popular. How did we get here and is our culture better or worse off as a result of it...