Simpleology

I'm evaluating a http://www.simpleology.com/training/blogging">multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you http://www.simpleology.com/training/blogging">snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.

An Inspirational Video 1 - The Law Of Attraction

This is a winner!

Shaolin Soccer (part 11)

The other day, I was sort of watching the movie “Shaolin Soccer” with my daughter. I say “sort of” because I walked in half way, had seen the movie before, and my mind was wandering. If you haven’t seen this movie, it’s definitely worth the watch and if you don’t want me to give anything away, stop reading this piece now and don’t check out the little video attached.

Towards the end of the movie you see the various players wearing yellow jerseys (the good guys) on the soccer field being whipped by the the players wearing black (the bad guys). Each good guy tries to stop the soccer ball, but is eventually stopped by the soccer ball himself. With less than the required players left on the field and a forfeit imminent, a female comes to the rescue masquerading as a male player. She doesn’t know the first thing about soccer and looks like a disaster waiting to happen. Then one of the bad guys kicks one of the deadliest of all balls her way. It looks like curtains for this well-meaning woman and the rest of the good guys. But when the ball reaches her, instead of trying to stop it, she simply uses the energy of the ball to turn it around and send it to the other side of the soccer field. I could go on and on about the story, but you really should see it for yourself and that really isn’t the point of this piece.

The point is if you simply try to stop something, anything, you merely are giving it power and will bring it that much closer to you and it may very well defeat you. On the other hand, if you work with what you don’t want by acknowledging it and setting it free, you will empower yourself, not the thing you don’t want.

You’ve got the power!
Rita

Paul sings Nessun Dorma high quality video/sound

So many lessons in this one little video. Among them: Take courage and believe in the beauty of your dreams, regardless of what others may think.

Rant & Saves

It feels like a good day to do a little ranting. But I don’t believe in just ranting; I’m one of those “If you’re not part of the solution, then you’re part of the problem” folks. So I’ll give you my rant (the problem) and my save (the solution) that I’m hoping you’ll use if ever a similar rant comes upon you.

My son plays collegiate tennis. He needed new racquets before the tennis season started in February, checked out a few places and decided to go with Golfsmith in San Jose, CA. They had a good demo program (try before you buy), a good selection of racquets and seemed to know what they were doing. Notice the word “seemed”? That’s right! These folks were CALUUULESS! Unfortunately, we found that out a wee bit late.
He ordered his Babolat racquets in January (Babolat is used by Roddick, Nadel, Moya) and was told they’d be in within two weeks. 2 ½ months later, the racquets, the WRONG racquets, arrived. We only discovered they were the wrong racquets once we were in the store. Did I mention the store is approximately 60 miles away? Did I also mention gas is $3.35 per gallon here? Well, they said they were sorry, would do a rush order and would make things “right” and, one month later, they hadn't. They also NEVER returned phone calls (12 different instances) when my son would call to check the status of his order and place him on hold for up to half an hour at a time (6 different occasions). And whoever answered always sounded annoyed that he’d call & he’s a friendly, easygoing person. IMHO, not the least bit professional. So here’s my son, full tilt into the tennis season, getting ready for a very substantial tournament and he still has no racquets because he’s been, forgive the pun, strung along by GolfSmith for sooo long.

The solution: Call the CEO of Golfsmith. A little extreme, you say? Well, I’m sure he wants his customers to be happy. Otherwise, Golfsmith may never brake over $10.00 a share in NASDAQ trading again (they ended trade on 4/27/07 at $7.37 a share). The CEO, a fellow named Jim Thompson, was easy enough to find (1.800.813.6897 and then type in T-H-O-M-P-S-O-N on the keypad, then hit 2 and #)

I’m sorry to say he never returned my call, also not professional IMHO, but I do believe he made the calls needed to resolve my son’s problem because less than 24 hours later, Golfsmith called with the delightful news that the racquets were in and strung.
The point of all this is life is simply too short to let some company foul up your day, week, or even months. Before it gets that far, go for the head guy, the jugular. S/He is truly there to serve YOU whether s/he knows it or not.
OH! Golfsmith strung one of the racquets wrong and didn't string either of the racquets at the right tension.
So here’s what you do:
1) Look up the company in question on the net.
2) Go to the “About us” page
3) Go to the management page. No management page? Try Investment relations
4) Look up the name of the CEO, CFO (I like the CFO because that’s a real look at the bottom-line dollar position & they better understand what it means to lose a customer), or President. The higher the better.
5) Remember that you are the client and decide you are so worth making the call.
6) Pick up the phone and call this person up.
7) There’s a good chance you’ll actually speak to the head-of-company’s Administrative Assistant. These people are just as effective at getting the matter resolved, so go ahead and discuss this issue with this person.
8) Be your own advocate when placing the call. Rants, screams, and cries are highly ineffective. Just pretend to be Mr. Spock presenting the situation to Captain Kirk.
9) Once you've stated the problem BE QUIET! Let the other person respond. One of my other favorite sayings in life is “He who speaks first loses” and I just hate to lose.
10) If the fix is acceptable, BRAVO! Move on, get the particulars, and write them down. If not, let the CEO know what outcome you expect.

This is another “everything starts with a decision” instance and you’re the one making all the decisions. Decide what you deserve, like receiving merchandise on time, working properly, and being treated in a professional manner, and you’ll receive it.
FYI: This is not the only instance of my going to the top to get an issue resolved. I did it to have Kitchen Aid replace a horrible washing machine, Electrolux replace a faulty stove top, Earthlink resolve our ongoing DSL issue, etc. etc. This works and saves you time and frustration.
5/1/07 update: Jim Thompson called back and apologized for the very bad experience my son had.

This is just a test...

My first blog entry. Hmmm. Well, it really IS a test, isn't it. And just like the enthusiastic contestants of a game show, we are all here to participate. Sometimes the results are spectacular, in both the best and worst sense of the word. Those are the times that etch our souls. Then there are the average times. I view those times as the ones where I can catch my breath