Boy is that funny!

Laughter...

One of my favorite all time things to do. They say it keeps you young, I agree! And I will add that I believe it keeps you young at heart as well.

I'll share that I'm one of those folks who can tell a joke and can't complete it because I've thought of the punch-line prior to the ending and get all broke up with laughter.

(From the TV Series "Seinfeld")
Lady: "Jerry, who does she [baby] look like?"
Kramer: "Lyndon Johnson!"
Lady: "No, really, who does she look like?"
Kramer: "No, really, she looks like Lyndon Johnson."

That cracks me up every time I think about it!!!! HAHAHAHHAAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHA!

And I'm one of those guys that has the tears pouring, full laugh and leg slapping going on. I really love a good laugh!

Plus, quick wit is what really gets me going. That "I wasn't expecting that" remark or reply. The "you think this, but get that" stuff...oh just too funny.

But have you ever been around someone and you wonder if they even have teeth because you never see them laugh? I, and this is just me, can't imagine going through life like that.

Now I've had my share of bad times, heart breaks, hurts, let downs, disappointments just like everyone else...but that doesn't mean some things still aren't funny!

And when I stop and ponder on it a moment, I find my favorite TV shows are all comedies: Seinfeld, CHEERS, According to Jim, King of Queens, M*A*S*H just to name a few that I continue to watch and never tire of.

Mark Beightol, a close friends and past colleague, once said, "If you can't have fun at work, why come in?" I thought, "He's right!!" And, unfortunately, I see some many people so unhappy, never enjoying what they spend so much of their life doing. So sad.

My question: What makes you laugh?

For me, I'm going to leave you with this:

[Note: first video from YouTube channel: BlackOleg; second from loppo101]

“Your Success Is My Business.”™

pondering - "to think about : reflect on"

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Toss Me A Life Perserver...PLEASE!

If I were drowning, wouldn't you throw me a life-preserver?

I really believe you would. I even believe you would even if you didn't know me. I also believe you would even if you didn't like me.

So then I'm pondering: Why then do we not reach out & support someone who just made a bad decision and has maybe stumped their toe and hosed up their life (and most likely others in doing so) and toss them a life-preserver?

We always here the gossip. And, we're all guilty of spreading that gossip (I've been actively, focused working on not doing this). We are all concerned for the person, but how many of us actively reach out to the person with an encouraging word and share that "we're there for them"?

This really hit me with problems a couple of people I know, and call friends, have recently gone through.

One friend left a party, where they had a few drinks, it's late at night, and through some additional bad decisions got into a wreck and then arrested. It was "the talk" (i.e., gossip) of the town when it happened. But something happened in all of it. One of my friends told me a few days later, "You know, I called ol' ____ and let'em know that I was there for them if there was anything I could do." My friend told me the person couldn't believe the call and the offer, that they were so happy and even relieved that someone really cared and showed concern. My friend tossed the person A LIFE PRESERVER! My guess (and I hope I'm wrong) is this was the only call like this the person received.

I currently have another friend going through some rough times because of some bad decisions. The families affected are besides themselves and I know people are reaching out to them. But is anyone tossing the person that caused all the pain a life preserver?

But let me add here that I also realize that just because someone is tossed a life-preserver, they might not take it. They might believe they're a good swimmer and try to make it on their own. Even so, they still need the ability to reject the offer that's next to them in the water with them, not still in the hand.

I think I'm a good person. But when I take the good person test (Have I ever told a lie? Have I ever taken anything that didn't belong to me, regardless of how small or seemingly worthless? etc.), I always fail. And because I'm human, I'll make bad decisions through-out my life. I really hope that there are people in my life that will throw me a life-preserver when I do.

My question: Does it take a major mind-set change for us to help out the person that gets caught up in bad decisions...to toss them a life-preserver?


[Note: photo from http://www.senseoncents.com/]

“Your Success Is My Business.”™

pondering - "to think about : reflect on"

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Tick - Tock... Tick - Tock...

Do you ever stop and think about TIME? I find myself pondering about it all the time. Allow me to explain...

I really like time-pieces. In fact, you might say I have a fetish for fine watches. I know I'm the rare breed that not only enjoy watches, but I also keep up with news about them. Sure, some people freak out to hear that a wrist watch can cost $600,000 and can't believe someone would pay that much for one; while at the same time they understand (well, somewhat) that folks would pay millions of dollars for a painting from Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso or the like.

And when you notice that most young people now don't own, much less buy, watches anymore (regardless of price) because they use the clock on their mobile devices, someone like me is becoming even more rare.

I fine myself, especially when I'm traveling, noticing the time-piece on other's wrists. It's difficult to identify what they are with so many models on the market now (and with my "past forty" eyes), but I can usually spot one that's really a luxury piece.

If money were no object, my first watch purchase would be a Breguet Tourbillion Messidor...but, money is an object so I just keep this one posted in my "wish list". But, I still occasionally treat myself to one (note picture above of the SPEC OPS Black Warrior the wife picked up for me from MTM - a great company to do business with by-the-way).

I don't see watches as just a time-piece for the arm, I see them as a work of art: the craftsmanship and man-hours that is required to put a luxury watch together, along with great looks and the incredible accuracy all catch my attention...but I see them as something else too.

I see them as a reminder that we are each given so much "time". And I view it as a constant reminder asking what we're doing with that time. How we prioritize our time, how we share that time with family and friends, how we give our time to others.

My question: Regardless of whether you wear a watch: Are you mindful of the time you have and how you're using it? What are some of the methods you use to monitor the use of your time?


[Note: photo from http://www.armaslajungla.com/]

“Your Success Is My Business.”™

pondering - "to think about : reflect on"

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Does it mean dig, or dance?

When I was a little fellow, when someone said "boogy", it meant something nasty from your nose. Then when I was a teenager, yes, during those wonderful disco years, the term took on a whole new meaning.

I'm pondering on all of this now because as I was driving around today, I heard two songs that used the term in them: A Taste of Honey's "Boogie Oogie Oogie" and Heatwave's "Groove Line".

I thought about how my parents had slang terms that their parents didn't understand, and how we had words that didn't have the same meaning as our parents used them, plus now our kids do the same to us. It's pretty cool how this seems to be a generation-to-generation phenomena.

I catch myself always using "cool", "awesome", "wow" and more...from different decades even. "SNAP!" I guess we all do it, and always will. So, let me boogy on down with the next project and I'll talk with ya next time.

My question: What word(s) do you use that your parents, or your kids, don't get - either the meaning as you use them, or why you use them?



[Note: photo from http://farm1.static.flickr.com/]

“Your Success Is My Business.”™

pondering - "to think about : reflect on"

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Don't Go with iGo

Man am I ever disappointed!

I recently had some very positive customer service experiences that I shared here. I was thinking when I wrote that blog that when someone WOW's me, I need to share that with others. But now, the exact opposite has happened and I wanted to share that as well - hopefully with the thought I might save you from the same fate.

Our personal laptop went south on us, transformer/charger the best I could tell since the light no longer came on and the computer wouldn't charge. So, while in a mall with a Radio Shack I thought why not stop in and purchase a new one.

The district manager happened to be in the store that day, and was the person who provided the help. I described the problem, and he quickly pointed me to the solution: an iGo charger unit. Of course the model he points me too is a rather expensive unit (from my perspective, but there was an even more expensive unit next to it) but I listened to all the advantages the model had so I purchased it. Prior to payment, I again mentioned my laptop make/model to confirm this was in fact the proper model (I had even brought the bad charger with me so I would have all the proper numbers).

So - back at home, install everything and...it's back to business!

But two weeks later, problems again. And, almost exact same problem.

This time, I load everything up and take it to my local computer guy, Tom Reeves of UpTime Computer Services, who quickly discovered the problem: "Power charger not outputting the proper voltage". The unit was rated properly, but it was not putting that amount out. Tom suggested I get it replaced since it was new and still under 30 day warranty.

Our communications with Radio Shack produced no resolve ("Contact the manufacturer" was there advice). Once they found out we hadn't saved the box...TWO WEEKS LATER (and who does that??)...they didn't want to provide us any help, or any suggestions. Unbelievable!!! So, first lesson for me: Never shop at Radio Shack again.

Then, we started contacting iGo. This was an even worse experience!

iGo offers a "contact us for repair" page, which includes in-warranty repair and out-of-warranty repair options. To make a very long story short; after multiple attempts (almost daily in fact) request at these links (yes, I even tried the "out-of-warranty" link) as well as links to them on other pages, the company never once contacted me to resolve the problem. NOT ONCE!

I would provide prior e-mail message notes and dates and to what e-mail address I'd used, as well as asking if I'm contacting the incorrect department to at the least point me in the right direction. Even with all this, I never received any communications from them.

So, a month-and-a-half later, I give up. I'm stuck with a defective laptop charger from a company that provides NO CUSTOMER SERVICE and then had to purchase another charger on top of all this (Tom did find me a great deal on one. Second lesson: I should have gone to him to start with versus trying all this on my own.). But, the laptop is up and running fine since returning from Tom's shop. Final lesson: I'll never shop with or recommend iGo to anyone, ever.

I'm pondering on how these two seemingly huge companies can completely ignore a customer and provide absolutely no customer service. And on top of all that, how they think in today's economy and with even a small voice like mine that can share with an audience (regardless of size), that the Voice of the Customer (VoC) isn't important.

I've very disappointed.

My question: What company have you elected to not do business with anymore because of a customer experience you had?


[Note: photo from http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/]

“Your Success Is My Business.”™

pondering - "to think about : reflect on"

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Why Can't I Just Be Frank?

"I'm going to be honest with you..."

Hmmmm...okay, I'm pondering something here: shouldn't I always be honest with you? Wouldn't you want everything I share to be the truth?

I'm in a meeting recently and the speaker literally starts every thought and answers every question asked to him with "I'm going to be honest with you..." I'm thinking, "Do I ever trust anything this guy says if he doesn't start a sentence with that comment?"

Maybe I'm being too nit-picky, but when you have to ask me if I want you to be honest, let's just go from this point forward that the answer is always going to be "YES!"

Here's another pet-peeve of mine: When someone asks me if they can be brutally honest...come on!!! First, why does it have to be brutal? And secondly, aren't you always honest??

If I need to say something, and I have your best interest at heart, and I want to help in a way that's "coaching" and not "criticism" wouldn't you want me to just be frank (but mindful of my delivery)? My dad taught me, "Never tell someone you're 'going to be honest' with them, always be honest regardless. If you have to begin a statement with something like this, always say 'let me be frank'." Great advice!

My question: So, honestly now, can't I be frank?


[Note: photo from http://4.bp.blogspot.com/]

“Your Success Is My Business.”™

pondering - "to think about : reflect on"

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Hey, why don't we go and ...

So what if I watched "Julie & Julia"!

It wasn't my pick to rent, but I viewed it and actually enjoyed it (and yes, have even recommended it!). In fact I was pleasantly shocked that I enjoyed it. The acting was first rate (I always like Stanley Tucci) and it was a great story. Plus, I guess if you're my age you remember watching Julia Child on the ol' Black & White TV so the history there was enjoyable to learn. WHO KNEW? (You'll understand when you watch the movie.)

I think the part that most interested me from the film was the back-story of "Julie" (Julie Powell) and how she decided to blog about her adventure. About how she had no "readers" to her blog for so long, and then one day, that magical number happened: 1

That singular inspiration. That unique moment. That blast of encouragement. That first, "someone is watching" realization. It finally happened!!

I knew how she felt.

And then, I saw the short film "Lemonade" as well. WOW!

All these folks were pressed, against their will to begin with, into a situation as well were they were about to begin a new adventure.

The adventure for them as they discovered, much like Julie, was to go after their passion and to share that passion with others. What an interesting concept!!! (sarcasm intended)

I was speaking with a friend the other day about "stepping off the mountain". About hanging "out on a rope, and unable to see the floor beneath you". About the faith it takes to make that leap.

Sure its scary! If you viewed the movie "Lemonade", none of the people interviewed actually chose to take their "adventure" to begin with because it was scary...uncomfortable. But, as you saw in the end, all were full of smiles and happiness.

I'm thinking of an adventure.

My question: Do you have an adventure you've been pondering on? I'd like to hear about it if so.


[Note: photo from http://popculturenerd.files.wordpress.com/]

“Your Success Is My Business.”™

pondering - "to think about : reflect on"

White Stuff from the Clouds!

It happened! It doesn't happen here much, and when it does it's a big deal for us.

Here's what I'm talking about...

My question: Were you in the "Great Southern Snow of 2010"?


“Your Success Is My Business.”™

Doubles and Halves

Well, I attended another funeral. Hmmm...."another".

Is it just me, or do you do this too, but I find I catch myself doing a lot of pondering during and immediately after a funeral. In fact, I've even blogged about funerals before!

This funeral was the father of one of my friends (well, actually, I am friends with all the siblings). He had suffered for some time with his illness, and they knew the time was near. During the messages that were shared, a niece of the deceased made this comment about helping others through life that floored me and I made note of it while there to share here. It was about the thought to:

"live life in a way that was doubling your blessings
and halving your burdens"

BAM!!! Isn't that incredible!?? Can you imagine going through life with the mindset that everyone you meet you're thinking how can you double their blessings and half their burdens??

My question: What is your personal mission statement that you want to tell the world? (See mine below.)

[Note: photo from http://www.actnow.com.au/]

“Your Success Is My Business.”™

Top Shot...Not

It was a fun ride, but it just didn't happen - this time.

My first attempt at appearing on a TV series, a reality TV series at that, has ended. I didn't make it...doesn't look like I'm going to be America's first TOP SHOT.

For those of you who don't know the story, I'll give you the Readers Digest version:

A friend of mine sent out an e-mail in early December stating that the History Channel was in the process of creating a new series and it had something to do with shooting guns. Well, that was right up my alley! His message included an e-mail address to Pilgrim Films, the company responsible for creating the series. So, I started to ponder on all this, thought "what the hey", and I fired off an e-mail to them - which began with the line, "STOP LOOKING - YOU'VE FOUND ME!"

I didn't share with anyone that I had sent in the request. So on Wednesday night, December 16th, I had just come in from hunting and my wife arrived home at the same time from her outting. She noticed a message waiting on the phone and while I piled up in my recliner, she listened and I overheard her mumble, "Huh? TV show....what??" I thought silently to myself, "NO WAY!" She listened to the message again and said, "I don't know what's going on, but there's some guy named Sydney that wants to talk with you about being on a TV show. He wants you to call him back." I burst out laughing, told her the story of getting the e-mail a week or so earlier and what I had done.

So, I called Syndey Leier and we talked for about 20 minutes. He asked me a lot of questions, "What do you do? Tell me about yourself? Why do you want to do this?" etc., etc. I was so tickled I think I giggled through the entire conversation. At the conclusion of the call, he stated he was going to send me a form to complete and return to him, then asked if I could make a 5 to 10 minute "demo video" and upload it for them to view (here is that video).

With the form completed and the video submitted (on Sunday, January 17th) I patiently waited to hear if I was going to make the cut.

Let me add here that I've never watched or been "hooked" on any reality TV show. I've NEVER seen one single episode of Big Brother, Survivor or anything of the like. Just never had any desire. Hey, life is a reality show in itself, why watch one of TV?

During the wait, I had asked friends, family and colleagues to send in a "we want Joey" e-mail to Pilgrim Films. With this, I had many, many people ask me about what was going on. It was really fun in sharing the story, and so many people were so very encouraging.

I found out this morning (02/10/10) that I was not selected for the show; I have to admit that the process, the effort in creating the video, the support from everyone was quite exciting. Sure I would have LOVED to have made it on the show...I can only imagine about all the cool weapons they're going to get to use, but life is like that and I'm okay.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH to each of you that helped with the e-mail campaign, who provided encouragement and to everyone who helped...especially my wife Chris who I drug out into the woods, in the rain and all over with my crazy video ideas.

So, with that adventure over, a new one now begins.

Until next time...


[Note: photo from http://www.fairlawnpd.com/]

“Your Success Is My Business.”™

Who likes you this much?

I like ol' Skeet Reese. I like to watch him fish, and I really like his truck! He is one of the top Bass anglers in the world today. I like to hear him teach about fishing techniques and I love his passion for what he does.

Others must like him as well.

He's very popular in the Bass Masters tour and has a social media site that has a lot of connected fans. But, more importantly for Skeet, he has a lot of companies that like him too. So much so that they sponsor him in his endeavors (i.e., PAY HIM!).

So on the last show I was watching with Skeet, I noticed his shirt (see photo above) and this made me think about drag racing and the cool shirts they wear there too. This thought lead me to think about my favorite competition shooter, Todd Jarrett, and his shirt + sponsors.

I'm looking at all the names on all these shirts of my favorite athletes and pondered how cool it would be if we could do this in our "business world"!

But this leads to my question: If you were to wear one of these shirts, who would be sponsoring you? How many sponsors would you have? What and how have you created your "personal brand" that would cause people/business to want to be part of what you're about?

I'd like to hear your thoughts about creating your personal and/or business brand. Please leave them in the comments section (below). THANKS!


[Note: photo from http://www.geminisportmarketing.com/]

“Your Success Is My Business.”™

Kudos - Surefire and CRKT

I wanted to publicly give kudos to two companies that I recently had some repair service done with:

First and foremost - Columbia River Knife & Tool (CRKT). I've owned a "Ryan" folder from them for several years now. Some time back, I snapped the pocket clip off when exiting my vehicle when it got tangled with the seat belt. I had let this go for some time, but recently became anxious to correct the problem. I sent CRKT an e-mail asking for information on how to purchase the replacement clip (and of course mentioned how much I enjoy all their products) and they promptly replied with a request for my mailing address so they could, FREE OF CHARGE, send me a replacement clip along with the associated set-screws. INCREDIBLE! Now that's what I call great customer service and something, even though small, that will keep me coming back to do business with them again in the future!

The other is - Surefire. If you want blinding white light for personal defense, few companies are better than Surefire. This is another case where I've owned one of their products (Z3 Combat Light) for some time and then experienced a major malfunction (tail-cap on/off switch freeze) that required replacement. So, I contacted Surefire (but note it took three attempts) and they too requested my mailing address and will ship me, FREE OF CHARGE, a replacement tail-cap which will resolve my problems. AWESOME!

So, with such great customer service and a positive customer experience, I thought I was share the news about these companies with you.

THANKS!


“Your Success Is My Business.”™

Don't Say It!!!

"Business as usual." I know you've heard it. You may have even said it. But is "business as usual" really the kind of business you want?

I really dislike hearing a business, or more especially a business owner, proclaim it's "business as usual". To me, it means that they're happy with the current status quo they've set for products, services and customer experience. But how can that be?

With new products constantly being developed, services always in need in review and update, and with the customer experience a never ending changing landscape, "business as usual" should never be spoken within a company by anyone!

The only "business as usual" they should have is constantly transforming the business into the absolute best it can be.

How about you - what do you think about the term "business as usual"?

[Note: photo from http://randwickelection.com/]

“Your Success Is My Business.”™