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Jury duty, oh those two dirty little words...or are they? Not too many people get excited when they see that card arrive in the mail--the notification that it's their turn to be a potential juror for the upcoming term in their county. Some people even feel a sigh of relief when their term has passed and they hadn't been called. It has even been joked about in many movies and ridiculed in conversations as to the punishment of jury duty. I ask you to take a different look at things. No matter what type of case you are called to evaluate, do you realize how important a juror is to a case? The jurors ultimately are the decision makers. You decide the case. Of course, you are aided by the guidance and expertise of the judge of that particular court, but you get to listen to the facts of the case and determine the outcome. This is a huge and valuable burden. If you were that plaintiff or that defendant, wouldn't you want someone like yourself to objectively take a look at the circumstances and render a verdict? These cases are so very important to so many families. This is a right, a privilege and a duty that you have been given and when that notification arrives please try to embrace the experience in a positive manner. Many times after I accompany Geoff Brown to trials, when the court permits, I call the jurors and I talk to them. I get their firsthand thoughts and feelings on the matters which were presented and amazingly I hear more often than not that it was a pleasurable, interesting experience that they were glad to take part in. For this great task that you are asked to undertake, please know counsel, parties, and judges all appreciate you. We know that you put your lives on hold for a period of time to see cases through. We know it is difficult to be at the court's mercy and unable to go about your normal everyday living and we know what strains this can put on your personal life for a period of time. However, please know how important these matters are to plaintiffs and defendants alike. After all, should you ever find yourself in need of seeking justice through our judicial system, wouldn't you too like to have a juror on the panel just like yourself? So, I leave you changing those two dirty little words, jury duty, into something different, an act of consideration and an act of kindness, two new words: THANK YOU!

My mother, Carolyn, just turned 83. About a year and a half ago, she bought an iPad! Mom started out with a Kindle and she really loved it. After I received an iPad as a gift from my son, Mom took a gander at it and decided she wanted one of those. So we jumped in the car, went up to Best Buy and she bought an iPad! Mind you, my mother never really used a computer and, in fact, was scared to death of them. So the iPad was truly a new experience. Back up twenty or more years. Pap-Pap Wally, my mother's father, was in his late seventies when he bought his first computer. It was from Radio Shack and had a cassette tape player hooked to it! He loved it and taught himself how to write programs in DOS and use spreadsheets. He bought a new computer about every six months (much to my grandmother's dismay). Pap-Pap Wally was a whiz, especially considering his age. He attempted to teach my mother but she was so afraid she would delete something or make the thing crash, she didn't do very well. Believe it or not, Pap-Pap Wally was instrumental in my beginning interest in computers. When I left work to begin my family in 1980, the office I worked at had just purchased a Word Processor. I didn't get an opportunity to even use it. In 1986, a friend and I opened up a children's used clothing business and decided we should get a computer to keep track of our inventory. So I went to Pap-Pap Wally to take a few lessons! I think my grandfather would now be proud of his daughter and her iPad! So what does an 83 year old woman do with an iPad? After a rough start and hundreds of "mini-lessons," my mother uses her calendar and its reminders for birthdays, anniversaries, doctor appointments and even to remind her to take her medicine! Mom has several journal apps that she uses to keep track of her daily activities. She uses one of the journal apps to reminisce about days gone by. She will write stories of things that happened in our family and she will use Google Images to add a picture to the journal story. Sometimes, she reverses the process and finds an image that reminds her of something and then writes about it. She uses Tags in her daily journal to keep track of atrial fibrillation episodes and then takes her iPad to the doctor to report how many episodes she has had between visits. The doctors are amazed! Mom also keeps track of her weight since she has to weigh herself daily as part of her treatment for congestive heart failure. Mom emails, texts and even uses Facebook. She actually uses Facebook more than I do. She's always asking if I saw the picture of this person and that person. I keep telling her that I don't really use Facebook that much. This morning she pointed out a picture of my granddaughter that she downloaded from Facebook. I had her message me the picture since I've never been able to figure out how to download a picture from Facebook! Of course, Mom uses her iPad in replacement of her Kindle to read books. She has a very close relationship with God and uses at least two Bible apps. She has several versions of the Bible and various concordances. There are many daily devotionals available through Olive Tree, a wonderful Bible application, and she is using at least one read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year devotional. Mom also has a lot of games that she plays. I will hear her in her room berating Mr. Word for using letters that really don't seem to be words at all in a game similar to scrabble. She also has Sudoku and a jigsaw puzzle game. I am sure there are various other ones as well. Needless to say, Mom's iPad has no battery life left at the end of the day. This is a good thing, since it means she is getting her money's worth out of her iPad! The downfall to using an iPad at 83 is that none of her friends even have email, let alone an iPad, so she is pretty much stuck with emailing and texting family. I have to say that I'm pretty proud of my mom, the iPad geek!!

I work at a law firm. A really great one. The people within it work tirelessly within each of our now three locations to make certain that justice is served for our clients. I, however, am not a lawyer. I'm not a paralegal. Or a legal secretary. I'm not a legal assistant and I don't handle accounting. I'm quite certain that many of the nearly 40 people that work together to make this law firm the most preferred in the region aren't exactly certain what I do here. They know that from my office comes a lot of noise, laughter, occasional frustration and somehow, someway, exciting and interesting things happen. I am one part of a team of creative minds that help to manage the communications and philanthropic outreach of the firm. What does that mean in real life? Well...it means we wear a ton of hats. Every given day is different. One minute we can be on the phone with Keith Urban's tour manager coordinating a special event for Jamboree in the Hills and the next we can be collaborating with the media to discuss a recent verdict or community issue. Today it could be designing billboards; tomorrow it could be editing a radio commercial or assisting with the Driving For a Cure annual golf scramble for breast cancer survivors. We write press releases, design brochures, coordinate newsletters and execute the social media outreach for the firm. Anywhere across the region, if you see that now very recognizable Bordas & Bordas shield logo, chances are it passed through our hands. But traditional "marketing" isn't all we do on a day-to-day basis. Last year, Bordas & Bordas worked closely with more than 200 local non-profit organizations and charities to support their events and community outreach. From answering phones at the Easter Seals telethon, working with local high schools to honor students in our own Anti-bully campaign, or partnering with the OVAC, the largest high school athletic conference in the county, our office manages those efforts as well. Giving back to our community is what we do here, and I am honored to have even a small hand in helping to make that happen. We spin a lot of plates. And it takes a ton of coordinated effort to keep them all turning. Each attorney and staff member at the firm assists the social media effort by writing blogs, making community appearances at events as well as practicing some seriously good law. I love what I do. And I love even more where I get to do it. I love that my professional runway has brought me here to Bordas & Bordas where I am proud to do my part to creatively share the amazing professional accomplishments of our attorneys, the multiple legal capacities of our firm and the exceptional contributions back to our community.

Tune into this week's episode of the Bordas & Bordas Legal Review where host Jamie Bordas and guest Chris Regan discuss the Ed O'Bannon law suit against the NCAA that seeks to allow college players to be paid for use of their names, images and likenesses. In the second half of the show, Jamie and Chris discuss GM's difficulties with its defective switch that caused more than a dozen deaths across the country, in a variety of Chevy models. Learn about product liability, antitrust law, and a host of other interesting topics on this week's episode of the Bordas & Bordas Legal Review. You can view the Bordas & Bordas Legal Review locally on Comcast Channel 14 or also online, both streaming and in the archive. The current episode is embedded within this post. Click here to view the program on vimeo, or watch the embedded version if your browser supports it. Click this link to see the WLUTV schedule so you can view a live-stream of WLUTV and check this page for a schedule of when the program airs.

The most recent school shooting in Oregon made its way across my Twitter timeline with the same urgency of a story about the most recent baseball player to be the highest paid at his position. After a full day, I couldn't have told you the exact number of casualties, the names of those who died, or who the shooter was. In fact, I would imagine the majority of people reading this would have a better chance naming every starting quarterback in the NFL than one kid involved in the Oregon shooting. Compare that to Columbine High School, where in 1999 two young men named Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold opened fire and killed 12 of their fellow students. For weeks, the Columbine story was all we saw on news stations across the country. The names and faces of the victims were etched into our minds, and the shooters' lives unraveled before us. As a nation we truly grieved. Let us fast forward to 2014. School shootings are becoming so commonplace we, without realizing it, brush them off just as we would a mosquito on a soggy summer night. According to The Washington Post, since January 2013 there have been at least 74 other instances of shootings either on or near school grounds. Seventy-Four-in eighteen months. That averages out to one school shooting every 7 days. When I read that figure everything stopped for several moments...and the magnitude of one school shooting per week for the last year and a half sunk in. This is not where I begin to try and sway you one way or the other in the polarizing debate our politicians have created over the 2nd amendment and what it means (or should mean) for gun owners. This is where I plead with you to consider the largest issue at stake here-the safety of our nation's children. Our sons and daughters are currently going to schools where, based on recent statistics, there will be a shooting next week. And the next week, and the next, and the next, until something changes. Please get angry about the amount of violence plaguing America's schools. Take that anger and contact your political representatives-local, state, federal-and let them know it is time to put party lines and egos aside, fix this problem, and protect our children.

On Friday afternoon, a Wheeling jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty in the much anticipated Craig Peacock Trial. The trial, which focused on the death of Wheeling Jesuit student, Kevin Figaniak, who died after a fight with the defendant, was widely publicized. Within minutes of the jury returning a verdict, social media began to explode with posts and comments. Many of the local news outlets posted BREAKING:NEWS updates informing the public of the recent findings. People were quick to chime in with their opinions on the merits of the case and the decision of the jury. Many were stereotyping pipeliners, some poking fun at the justice system, yet others gently reminded the public that they were not part of the jury, and therefore, did not hear the facts of the case as presented. I, like everyone, was deeply saddened by this story. After all, I am a mother, and the thought of a phone call telling me that my college student child had gotten into a street fight and subsequently died, makes me sick to my stomach. I am also young enough to remember college and nights of drinking and partying and just how horribly alcohol can affect people- their minds, their judgment, their memory, their impulses. Nothing about the story of a young person losing their life is justifiable or excusable. Losing a child is one of the most heart wrenching things I can fathom. And when alcohol is involved, sadly, it is also the most preventable. All of these emotions- shock, sadness, confusion, got me thinking about the significant right and responsibility that we all hold as citizens of the United States. Most of the people commenting on the not guilty verdict shared their shock and disbelief that a jury could actually have come to such a conclusion. They were irritated that a life had been lost, and yet, the jury could not find fault in the defendant. It is actually quite amazing how powerful jurors are. Jurors are essential to our existence! They determine the outcome of every jury trial that takes place in our country. They have the power to determine a person's guilt or innocence. The have the authority to set someone free or take away their freedom. The 7 th Amendment of the United States Constitution grants us the right to a jury trial. Just as surely as we have the Freedom of Speech granted to us by the 1 st Amendment, we have a right to a trial by jury granted to us by the 7 th Amendment. This is so very important for many reasons... Whether you are granted a jury trial with a jury of your peers in a criminal case as Peacock was, or whether you are granted a jury trial to determine the negligence and damages caused to you by a civil defendant, the stakes are often very high to both yourself and your family members. What this means is that your future, sometimes your freedom, depends on the 6-12 people that are chosen to act as your jury. These jurors often spend several days away from their jobs, lives, and families to sit and listen to the facts of your case and deliberate to render a decision that ultimately affects your life. Conversely, you hold the power to make decisions that ultimately affect the lives of others as well. It is really quite fascinating to think about... the same people that you pass on the street, the people who share the check-out aisle with you at Walmart or the drive thru line at McDonalds - these are the people that determine your future should you be involved in a lawsuit someday. The 7 th Amendment gives you this wonderful right to a jury trial. It gives jurors this incredible power to decide someone's fate. It gives US amazing influence over the lives of others. And it gives YOU immense and unbelievably important authority to make such important decisions. After all, we are all potential jurors. We never know when we may be called to exercise our civic duty and sit through a trial of facts, deliberate and decide. We aren't sure when we will be called for jury duty, report and make it through jury selection, but one thing is for sure, we are extremely important. When you act as a juror, YOU are vital the person whose case you are hearing. You have an integral and paramount job when you sit on a jury. A job that none of us should take lightly. A job that we understand to be so critically important, and one that we are all grateful that you undertake. Jurors are powerful people, therefore, we are powerful people! Famous philosopher Voltaire once said, "With great power, comes great responsibility." How true are those words!

A question that law students and attorneys are often asked is "so, what made you want to become a lawyer?" The answers to this question are limitless, and certainly a variety of factors influences one's decision to pursue a legal career, but one that I have heard from many of my friends and colleagues is that a family member or other respected person in their life is an attorney. This was not the case for me. Having said that, you may assume that this is because I was not closely acquainted with any lawyers during the time that I was figuring out my career path. Also not the case. My father, who is one of my biggest heroes and role models, is a lawyer, and a good one, at that. You may be wondering, then, how it is that my father's being an attorney did not influence me to become an attorney. Recently, the Legal News in my home county did their weekly " Monday Profile " on my dad. Anyone who knows me will quickly see where I get my wit when you catch his off-beat answers sprinkled in with the serious ones. (Where would he like to be when he is 90? - Anywhere above ground.) This profile highlights my father's many successes in his legal career, from graduating from law school, to getting his first job at the Public Defender's Office, to becoming a partner at a law firm in his hometown, and to this day, still practicing full time and loving every minute of it. My dad also has some great advice about becoming a lawyer, advising those who are considering going to law school to think carefully about that decision before investing the time, money, and emotion in a demanding, but rewarding, educational experience. But more than showing that my father has worked hard to become a great attorney, this profile shows what a great man he is. He has a wide variety of interests, including marine biology, in which he obtained both his undergraduate and master's degrees, and traveling, enjoying both camping in the great outdoors and sightseeing at historic locations. My dad enjoys things we can all relate to, like golfing, listening to music, and hanging out at his favorite local bar & grill. He is also down-to-earth. If he could have ANY car in the world, if money was no object, what would this man drive? A Ford Escape. The same car he drives now. But a new one. Most importantly though, and the thing that sticks out most about this profile of my dad, is that he is a wonderful husband, father, and family man. When asked about all of his happiest memories, proudest moments, and biggest achievements, each and every one centers around his family. What was his proudest moment as a lawyer? When he was sworn in, and his whole family was there for it. Who is one of the three people, living or dead, he would want to have dinner with? His father, who passed away just this past December. What is his greatest achievement? Helping my mother raise my sister and me. My father never once pushed me to become an attorney. He stood back and let me make my own choices, supporting me at every turn. We never had discussions about whether or not I should take the LSAT, apply to this law school or that one, or focus on a particular practice area. If I had asked, would he have helped me? Of course. But he had the confidence in me, the person he raised, to figure things out and make decisions that were right for me. And that right decision turned out to be going to law school and becoming a lawyer. So, to explain what I mean when I say that my father's being an attorney had nothing to do with my decision to become an attorney, I mean just that. But it had everything to do with him being my father, and the man that he is.

Bordas & Bordas was in trial and I was in a hurry, trying to file a document that had to be hand-delivered to the judge and to our attorneys who were in trial. I was in a very big rush, and one of the clerks asked me a question. When I turned to answer her as I was stepping into the elevator, my car key slipped out of my hand and fell though the small opening at the bottom of the elevator and disappeared into the shaft below. The hole was only about an inch wide. "Oh My Stars!" I said. The clerk looked at me and said "Was that your phone that dropped down into the elevator shaft?" "No," I responded, "It was my car key." Even more unfortunately, it was a car key belonging to my husband's car, and he was out of town. She looked at me and said, "What are you going to do?" I told her "I'll worry about it later, but right now I have to get back upstairs and deliver these documents to the judge and the attorney from our office in trial." The clerk was kind enough to call the building maintenance staff for me to get some help.  This is when my story got really interesting. First, I had to call my husband and ask him where the extra key was for  his car.  He reminded me that I had just dropped the extra key down the elevator shaft, as he had his own keys with him.  Things were really starting to look bad for me.  The maintenance gentleman told me it was a one in a million shot to retrieve my key.   He also said that they would have to call an elevator company out of Pittsburgh to come down to stop the elevator. Things went from bad to worse.  I had to call AAA and have them call a tow truck company to unlock my car door for me so I could retrieve my purse from the trunk of the car.  I had to tell both the AAA lady and the tow truck driver what happened, and they both couldn't help but laugh at me.  If you have ever been in the Ohio County Court House, you know you have to go through the metal detector with the help of our very own Ohio County Sheriff's Department and some wonderful guards, who are there to make sure everyone who enters the court house isn't carrying anything that could harm others.   They all just couldn't help but laugh at me too. I stood there waiting for someone to come and save me, and thank the good Lord above for my friend and co-worker Linda Scaggs, who came to save me from some of the embarrassment I'd caused myself. Of course while I was standing there waiting for her, what felt like every single person I knew in the tri-state area came through the elevator, and I had to tell my story to each and every one of them. Some of them were confused how I had achieved such a feat, because the crack in the elevator seemed so small! As I like to tease my friends, I told them that I just had to see if I could shove my key though the slit in the bottom of the elevator, to see if they would it fit and what would happen. Some of them just looked at me and thought I was crazy. Others who knew my sense of humor laughed with me (and at me, I'm sure). When I told some of my friends at the court house what the maintenance man told me about needing to bring in help from Pittsburgh, they told me to call the county commissioner's office and have them contact the maintenance man to ask him to stop the elevator.  Apparently at that office, they have a stick that they've used before to retrieve things out of the elevator shaft.  They got my keys out!  I also had to ask for special permission from  the Wheeling Police Department, the Ohio County Sherriff's Office and our wonderful meter maids so I wouldn't be towed until I could finally rescue my car.  I can't thank them all enough for helping me out, and for keeping my husband's car from being towed, vandalized or ticketed.  You all rock! I also can't thank everyone at the Ohio County Court House for their help in persuading the maintenance department to stop the elevator and use their stick to get my keys back. Thank you also to Jeff the maintenance man who did all this to get my key back for me.  I guess if the worst thing that came from all of this was that I'm now the butt of all the jokes at the Ohio County Court House, then I can live with that outcome! The moral to this story is don't use your husband's car when he is out of town.  Lesson learned.  Until the next time, Rock on Wheeling West Virginia Rock on!

As I began to wind down from my weekend on Sunday evening, I chose to watch the 63rd annual Miss USA Pageant on NBC. Luckily enough I caught it right at the beginning and I, like many other women my age, was hooked and had to stay up late until the Miss USA 2014 was crowned. The competition was held in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the entertainment provided by Florida Georgia Line featuring Nelly added to the show. With 51 women, one representing each state and one representing the District of Columbia all participating in the event, the competition seemed extremely tense. However, what truly amazed me was how the representatives from our tri-state area were three women from nearby towns. I believe that we live in the best area of the United States, and have always been fascinated by the fact that we can be in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio in such a short travel time. When the three candidates were announced, their hometowns were all relatively close to my hometown of Wheeling, WV, as Miss West Virginia was a Parkersburg, WV native, Miss Pennsylvania was from Pittsburgh, PA, and Miss Ohio was from Massillon, OH. Although Miss Pennsylvania was the only one to make it into the top 20 before being eliminated in the next round, it is really exciting to know that these women were representing such beautiful towns so close to my home. All three attended local universities as well. Miss West Virginia was a 2011 graduate from West Virginia University with a bachelor of science degree in pre-med, and is currently the Development Manager for West Virginia Rx Card. Miss Pennsylvania is an alumni of the University of Pittsburgh and is currently a marketing coordinator and hopes to become an actress. Miss Ohio is a recent graduate from The Ohio State University and is currently a first year law student who plans on completing law school. All three of these women have hometowns only a short distance from Wheeling, and it's my hope that this will show local young women and girls who wish to compete in the Miss USA Pageant that anything is possible. Knowing that women from local towns achieved their dreams is truly an inspiration, and it showed me that you don't have to be from a big city to make your dreams come true. With the support of their "small town USA" hometowns behind them and their goals set high, any woman can make her wildest dreams come true. In general, The Miss USA Pageant teaches young girls and women all over the country that being an all-around genuine individual makes you the most beautiful person in the world. After all, Miss USA is not only chosen by her beauty on the outside, but by her beauty on the inside.

I recently had the pleasure of presenting the 2014 Public Servant Award at the annual meeting of the West Virginia Association of Justice. WVAJ is a group of trial lawyers in the state of West Virginia who have chosen to represent the interests of injured victims. I have been privileged to be on the Board of Directors for many years. The recipient of the Public Service Award was Joyce McConnell, who has been the Dean of the West Virginia College of Law since 2008. She is well educated, highly respected in her profession and a real God-send to the law school. In addition to teaching and running the law school on a daily basis, Dean McConnell has undertaken a huge expansion at the law school. New classrooms, practice courtrooms and talented faculty members have been added. More importantly, under her leadership, the number of clinics has grown from one to nine. Clinics give law students hands on experience with real cases under the guidance of experienced lawyers. Just as important is the role the clinics play in helping clients in West Virginia who would otherwise not have access to legal services. Added clinics include those that deal with Children and Families, Domestic Violence, Land Use and Sustainable Development, the Innocence Project (representing those wrongly convicted of crimes who are serving time in prison), Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Immigration, Taxpayer Advocacy, Veterans Assistance and United States Supreme Court cases. Dean McConnell has made the College of Law a place all West Virginians can point to with pride. If you see her, be sure to offer her your congratulations!

By now, I'm sure many of you have been subjected to the ongoing marketing blitz about testosterone therapy for treating "low T". Touted as a way to make men feel more alert, energetic, mentally sharp, and sexually functional, millions of American men are using a prescription testosterone gel, patch, or injection to boost testosterone levels. Although testosterone therapy isn't approved for age-related conditions and the natural, age-related decline in testosterone levels, a FDA loophole permits aggressive direct-to-consumer marketing urging men to talk to their doctors if they have certain "possible signs" of testosterone deficiency, including common things like feeling tired. As a result, testosterone replacement has exploded into a multi-billion dollar industry over the course of the last two decades. In fact, according to researchers at UCLA, testosterone replacement has been marketed so successfully in recent years that sales of Androgel, a testosterone therapy, eclipsed sales of Viagra in 2013. However, a growing body of evidence has raised alarming concerns that testosterone treatment could be deadly. A number of recent studies have found that men taking testosterone have more cardiovascular problems, including heart attacks, strokes, and deaths from heart disease. Testosterone therapy is also suspected to stimulate the growth of prostate cancer cells. Concerns first arose in 2010, when the National Institute on Aging (NIA) halted a testosterone trial after cardiovascular-related problems were reported in the testosterone group. Another study from the Veteran Affairs system soon followed linking testosterone therapy to an increased risk of heart attack, stroke and death. But the largest study to date, a PLOS ONE study of 55,000 men, suggests a doubling of heart attack risk within 90 days after beginning testosterone therapy. This study found an increased risk in men younger than 65 with a history of heart disease, and in older men even if they didn't have a history of the disease. The theory underpinning these alarming cardiovascular findings involves the effect of testosterone in blood. According to the PLOS ONE researchers that conducted the study, testosterone is believed to promote clotting, which can be particularly problematic for older men, who tend to have thinner blood vessels, but is of concern for all men taking testosterone replacements. According to Dr. Carl Pallais, an endocrinologist and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, "here is a bit of a testosterone trap Men get started on testosterone replacement and they feel better, but then it's hard to come off of it. On treatment, the body stops making testosterone. Men can often feel a big difference when they stop therapy because their body's testosterone production has not yet recovered." This effect tends to promote long-term, indefinite testosterone supplementation and concomitant exposure to its side effects. For now, doctors are urging caution in decision-making when it comes to "off-label" testosterone therapy and men are being urged to: consider other reasons why they may be experiencing fatigue, low sex drive, and other symptoms attributable to low testosterone (i.e. not eating a balanced, nutritious diet, exercising regularly or sleeping well) ruling out relationship or psychological issues that could be contributing to a change in sex drive or investigating underlying cardiovascular issues as a source of erectile dysfunction get an accurate assessment of their testosterone levels - testosterone level should be measured at peak time between 7 am and 10 am and any low levels should be confirmed with a second test on a different day follow-up with your physician periodically if you are on testosterone replacement for lab tests to check for any prostate or blood chemistry problems Keep in mind that, despite the marketing hype, testosterone therapy is not a fountain of youth. There is no proof that testosterone replacement restores youthful levels of physical fitness or sexual function, promotes longevity, prevents heart disease or prostate cancer, or improves memory or mental sharpness. If you are considering testosterone therapy, it is best to temper your expectations and approach this therapy with diligence and caution. If you are looking to boost testosterone levels naturally, consider mastering weightlifting movements, like squats, dead lifts, power cleans and other compound movements that promote a natural increase in the body's production of testosterone. This article is for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. You should contact an attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem. Use of and access to this website or any of the email links contained within the site do not create an attorney-client relationship between Bordas & Bordas and the user or browser.

Last evening I sat on my back porch admiring the peaceful skyline that formed above the trees as far as my eyes could see as the sunset on Pinewood Drive. The weather was finally comfortable again as summer began to set in. Everything was so calm. I tuned into the sounds of nature and the beauty of it all was so powerful. I thought about how lucky my family and I were. In that moment, I paused to remember that I must always be grateful for this beauty of nature while it's right before my eyes. This led me to think about how we don't really know where we're headed or when it's all going to end. There are so many subjects that may be uncomfortable to discuss, but, really should be addressed while you are able to now. Have intimate talks with your family so that they understand your wishes and you understand theirs in turn. The day may come when you least expect it that you have to make those decisions for each other. Now, I'm not talking about final arrangements or life support. These are very important talks to have as well, what I am talking about today is organ donation. Are you? Would you? I registered as an organ donor and some of the things I'd like to ask that you take careful consideration is what you could leave behind for someone, for many who need this so very much. I'm not sure how many people realize just what organ and tissue donation and transplantation can provide for so many. About every ten minutes someone is added to the organ donor waiting list and in the meantime about 18 people die every day waiting for an organ transplant. Now this is not just a statistic or a number, this is a human being. This is someone's child, mother, father, co-worker, and friend. It's someone who matters. You may not personally know them and you may say well, someone else will do it, I don't need to worry with that. But, you hold the key to opening up a new life for someone. Your skin could help heal a burn victim. Your liver, lungs, heart, heart valves and so many more body parts can be used to help those who need this to survive. I've read that somewhere around 42% of people in the United States say they'd like to be organ donors, but we need many more than that. You may never be able to donate even if you tried, so we need as many people as possible to be selfless. One organ donor can save up to eight lives! I implore you to give this careful consideration and give it consideration today. You can register online ( http://www.organdonor.gov/index.html) or at your local DMV. Be clear with your family. Let them know your wishes so they can feel assured that they followed what you wanted them to do and not question themselves. Give the gift of life, become an organ donor today.