Free Parking is at the Pennington street parking facility.  A great concert at the Fox by the Portland Cello Project is expected to rock the house.

Lots of other activities for the evening from a Twitter wall display in a store front window on Congress street to lots of food and street vendors.

Come on down to the first 2nd Saturdays Downtown.

For more information you can check out these two local sites and posts.

2ndSaturdaysDowntown.com

2nd Saturday Nights Downtown Tucson

He defined GOAL as “How much money do you want to make next year”  Interesting.  Seems to me when most “motivational” speakers talk about goals they are talking about money.

I’m not opposed to money, but it isn’t why I live.  It isn’t something I would set an amount of money as a goal.  Over the years I’ve found the people that make an amount of money a goal, do so at the expense of other people.

The people are no something, not someone, they are to be “sold” a product, service, widget.  It doesn’t matter, what it is, the “GOAL” is to SELL them something.

The speaker was highly motivated to SELL all of us on coming to HIS seminar that is worth almost $3000 on the screen but “For today only” we could get it for $299  and if just 12 people would sign up at this “incredible” price he would donate $1000 to the main charity at Tucson WCR.  Well he had 6 at that price.

But that’s not all . . .

How many of you would attend if the price were just half that?  How about for “Today only” we make the price $149?  Would you come then?  Now another 6 or 7 were signing up and he was going to write that check.

I’ve been to so many of these sales pitch at a meeting deals that I made a bet with myself.  I bet that before I left the room he would offer the seminar to me for FREE.

I listened to the pitch, but wasn’t writing down his keywords from the screen on the handout.  After all my goal isn’t money, so why write down all the things I could do to make more money, which meant I had to SELL stuff to people.

Five minutes into the presentation he handed me his sheet so I could continue writing on his sheet.  Ah, a nibble on the line.  I set it down on the table and continued to listen.  A few minutes more and he came back and picked up the paper and pen and handed it back to me, saying “No one just sits in one of his presentations”  Ah, a solid strike on the line.

I set the paper and pen down again.  Now all I had to do was wait patiently and reel him in.  More pitch, more screen shots of testimonials of how great he and his seminar were in the past.  An additonal FREE book.  etc.

Announcement at the end of the meeting, but he was still popping up making more “Appealing offers” to the group.

As most were leaving he walked over to me, put his hand on my shoulder and said “You are my guest at the seminar for free”.  : )

NO, I’m not going.  Why do I need to go?  I out sold the salesman.  I got his $30o0 product for FREE.  Do I need more money?

My Goals?  Making a difference in peoples lives so they can be more successful.

I know a lot of very unhappy rich people.  I also know a lot of people enjoying their life and business because of things I’ve helped them do or implement.

Write down your GOAL.

Berry Ball Stuck

It might be down, left, right, up, but mine was stuck so it wouldn’t go down. There have been times in the past where it felt like there was gravel under the ball and it would stick.  Usually a good hard rolling in all directions would dislodge whatever had decided to become a squatter under the ball.

This morning however, it didn’t matter what I did it wouldn’t scroll down.  I even tried powering it down and back up again.  (It didn’t seem like a software problem, but with a Blackberry the first thing you always try is a battery pull reset).

I could tell there was something under the ball, but no matter what I did I couldn’t dislodge the gunk.

I had my laptop with me so I did a google search on “Blackberry Trackball won’t scroll down“  One guy recommended blowing into the ball area and the keyboard.  Not sure why the keyboard, unless it was to throw off any suspicion on why you would be blowing on the trackball on your berry.

I looked around and no one was looking my way so I tried it.  Nada.  Another suggested a can of air, another picking the ball out with your fingernail.  That one had me crossing my legs and fingers at the same time.  Finally, I put the thing in the holster and decided I’d tackle the trackball issue once I got home.

I have an Air Compressor

Not only do I have an air compressor, but I have a nozzle with a trigger so I can direct a small blast of air at any object.  It comes in handy for cleaning filters, etc.  I didn’t want to hit the berry with a huge amount of pressure (No reason to blow the trackball clear across the garage).  I set the pounds of pressure to 40 psi and told the berry to hold it’s breath.  Blasted the keyboard, then the trackball while moving and depressing it.

What the Heck, no go.  It still would not scroll down.  So I decided to turn up the pressure, but I wasn’t going to baby the berry.  If 40 psi wouldn’t dislodge the gunk I would go straight to 100 psi (damn the flying balls all over the garage I was going to get that crap out of the berry ball slot).

When I pulled the trigger, the berry almost screamed, or whistled, as the air hit the trackball.  I pressed it down with the nozzle end and rotated the ball in all directions.  I didn’t hear anything, or see anything.  The berry held onto it’s ball even at 100 psi.  (Great little berry).

That did it!!  The crap was blown somewhere else.  I don’ t know where it went or how far it was blown, but it was gone and gone for good.

I unplugged the compressor and slid the Berry back into the case.  100 psi.  That’ll make the Berry sing and make the crap fly away.

The trackball is now scrolling in all directions.  It better.  I have an air compressor, did you know that?

It is hard to navigate in a fog

I was pretty sick for a couple of days this past week.  I don’t like to be sick and I’m fortunate it doesn’t happen very often.  I came home after a long day on Thursday and in the middle of the night I woke up realizing someone had shoved a brick into my stomack while I slept.

I spent the rest of the night sitting either in a chair or else where but sitting none the less.  It was after breakfast the next morning I realized this wasn’t going away after a few hours.  My head hurt like they must have shoved the brick through my nose.  Either that or there was a second brick that was slowly expanding in my head.  Maybe that’s it.

The Brick Dissolved

That brick slowly dissolved and entered my blood stream causing massive shutdown of my muscles and joints.  Drugs were used to control the pain life on the couch was about all the movement I could get out of the rest of my body.

A little white pill donated (I had no idea what was in it) put me to sleep on the couch for the second night.  (We don’ t have a couch as such.  It is a series of recliners joined together with a couple of cup and remote holders between a few of them.) Which makes sleeping on this concoction of chairs and humps difficult.

But at 4 am I awoke and all the bricks and particles were gone from my system.  A little tired from the experience and glad it was over in 36 hours and not 4 days as I had feared.

Something happened though I hadn’t counted on.  The whole 36 hour experience served as some kind of internal reboot.  Like I have to do with my Blackberry.  It gets to acting strange and suddenly locks up.  I pull the battery while it is turned on and after about 5 minutes it resets everything and functions great after a reboot.

One of the things I enjoy doing and might even go so far as to say am passionate about is writing.  But lately, there has been a glitch in the software.  I was out of words or thoughts weren’t coming together in any way.  I wanted to write, I needed to write, but nothing was being written.

A Glitch in My Software

There was a glitch somewhere.  It appears I’ve undergone a power on reboot.  The end result some thing has been reset and I’m writing again.

Maybe there is a good reason why we get sick.  I always thought sickness was a bane.  And we do everything we can to take drugs and keep on pushing and pushing harder to keep going.  Like me trying to get one more tweet and one more email responded to with the berry when I know the smart thing to do is just pull the battery and let it reboot.  But I don’t want to take the time. I have too much to do, till I have no choice and it stops working all together.

I know that it wasn’t a pleasant experience being sick, but I will never look at the experience the same way again.  I’ll take it as my signal that a reboot is in process and will shut down to let it happen as quickly as possible and maybe, just maybe I’ll find there was a software upgrade that took place during the reboot or at least I’ll be functioning again.

It really feels good not to be sick.

Dad & Me with Paul Buyan in Braynard MN

That’s how I feel most days.  But it isn’t as bad as it might sound.  As long as Dad is still around I’m still the son of one living.  I remember when all my grandparents on both sides of my family were alive.  A diverse group.  All unique in their own ways.  All providing something at various times in my life.  My Dad’s dad was someone I never had many moments with one on one.  There was one; only one.  I was 10 and sitting on a pile of dirt made from the addition being added to our house.

Grandpa Smith was there visiting and for some reason he came over where I was and talked.  I was amazed.  He never talked to me, or for that matter he never talked much to any of the grandkids.  So I never felt like it was something to do with me, but a part of his character and nature; he just didn’t talk to kids.  But this time he talked to me,  I guess because I was the only one around.  I don’t remember how the conversation started or how it finished but I do remember us talking about history.  Do you find that funny, that the first and only conversation between a grandfather and grandson would be about history?  He remembered his grandfather talking about the War when he was growing up.  The Civil War, yes, the Civil War.  There was this instant connection between someone I knew and what I thought was ancient history.  He talked about the first automobile and seeing the first airplane.  Seeing a motion picture for the first time and what it was like to live through the turn of a century, the 20th century.  My grandfather was born before 1900.  My dad was born in 1922, he grew up during the Great Depression.  So did my mom, so did everyone during those years.

Grandpa Smith was the first person I ever saw who had died.  He went back to the earth many many years ago.  But I was young and it didn’t seem to have much of an effect.  Except in my young mind I thought; “there is only one generation between me and . . .”  As aunts and uncles have passed away over the years the thought would pop up for a second or so.  Then last year Mom died, and suddenly the thought was larger and lingered longer than ever before.

Dad In Golf Cart

Dad has had a couple hard years, but he isn’t only older than dirt he is a lot tougher.  He’s a Depression Kid, he survived and fought in World War II.  He is my champion, my hero, my shield.  And when he had returned to the earth, I’ll be the last generation, or the next one how ever you want to see it.  In a way I guess it is a role I’ve been preparing for all my life.  My Dad has been the role model for this position in history for a very long time.  I’m not ready to take that position just yet.

I wonder if my Grand kids think I’m older than dirt.  I know one thing, in a few years I’ll tell them about the time I sat on a pile of dirt and talked to my Grandfather about his grandfather who lived during the Civil War.  That should get either blank stares or looks or wonderment and maybe embed a generational memory for when they are the Last or the Next generation.

The Coupon

Not everyone thinks the same way.  I know what you’re thinking, STOP IT.

In my pursuit of life observations I had one thrust upon me this past week.  Ok, it wasn’t so much thrust as it was observed by me as a witness to a teller at McDonald’s struggling with a hole punch.

My first thought was “Bad coupon Design”  who thought this thing up that put the location for the whole punches where a hole punch couldn’t reach it.

It wasn’t until a couple of days later while thinking about this post in the shower, Yeah, I think in the shower, it has caused many a nick of the razor and I have to make a note not to think so much and pay attention to the sharp object in my hand.  Geez, yes I shave in the shower, no I don’t use shaving cream, it is for economy.  I’ll explain later.

It was during that moment of pain it struck me, this wasn’t so much a case of bad design as a designer making an assumption about those using the coupons.

The designer assumed consumers would use the free one at the top first.  This would expose the punches for the coupon above and below.

But what if the consumer (this would be me) started at the bottom and got the first card punched all the way and used it for the free one.  This now removed left the top one and the one in the middle.  This caused the issue with the hole punch.

It was my intention to use the last two coupons are “Free” coffee.  This way I paid for 4 drank the 5th free, paid for 4 more and drank 5th and 6th free.

If the designer had put the coffee cups at the bottom making the middle coupon identical to the middle coupon it wouldn’t matter how the consumer used the coupons.  The hole punch could reach all locations.  The way it is if the consumer doesn’t tear off and use the top coupon there is no way for a standard hole punch to be able to reach all locations on the middle card.

And the Point ?

Think about it!

Yesterday I was looking at the tool ads for Tucson when I ran across this one.  It will disappear when the “stuff” is sold.  It shouldn’t, it should be memorialized as a great ad.  So it won’t pass out of existence when the “stuff” is sold here is the ad which I’m sure will disappear soon.  Such “stuff” won’t last long.

Man Stuff For Sale

$416 worth of man stuff!
Treat your man or yourself because life’s no fun

BONUS!
I’ll throw in this new, never used Colibri pocket watch that was $115
but you’ll have to pay my full asking price, $99 for everything
I know, I drive a hard bargain

You’ll get:
Black Marble desk set ($95)
2 small, working tape recorders ($45)
Brown worn out Brighton belt sz 36 ($55)
12″ Stanley tape measure ($8)
BMW silver keychain
new snooz alarm ($15)
2 padlocks w/keys
cell phone case
2 small black leather notebooks
“Fight Club” lighter ($15)

and what man doesn’t want to impress his friends
with his own remote control fart machine with over 15 different farts?
Control farts remotely up to 100 feet away!
I’ll even give you batteries! ($20 value!)
What a great icebreaker at parties to get the mood going!

1 lg pewter “Key to Success” ($15)
a black velvet bag with (3) nice Tungsten tournament darts ($45)
plus a new pkg of Harrows radical flights system ($15)

**New Nite Note ($20) with 2 extra nite note paper pks ($14)
Nite Note has a built in light with a
built in pen that writes upside down
You can:
* Write a vivid description of your dreams to bore your friends with
*4 a.m. and can’t sleep? Keep a record of your hopes and goals, even your “to do” list
* Tell that special someone how you feel
*jot down something important in your sleep!
*Keep track of late night harassing phone calls

Some tasty booze recipes on a silver ring
Duracell battery charger for 4-AA’s ($15)
Tasco binoculars, 7×35 wide angle model 318 (LOL) (an unbelievable $25 value!)
Autopoint silver pen ($14)
1 leather ashtray

Act today! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity!

I will delete this when it’s gone

Man Stuff

Bonus Stuff

I might have to check on Craigslist more often. There is some pretty cool stuff on this list. I can see now why so many people shop on craigslist. Where have I been? Don’t Answer That!

Great Day to be Dave

Today isn’t bad, but tomorrow is even better.  Why?  because tomorrow, thanks to an economy that sucks, “Guys Named Dave Eat FREE at Famous Dave’s”

That’s right, tomorrow I eat free.  I don’t know what I get to eat at Famous Dave’s but whatever it is I don’t have to pay for it.

I have eaten at Famous Dave’s before, not because I was famous, or because it was my place.  No I ate there because the people I was with didn’t want to eat at McDonald’s.  Go Figure.  Famous Dave’s it was.

I found something I could eat, that wasn’t too spicy, or hot.  I like the water there and the lemon they put in it isn’t bad either.

Not a fan of the little bitty ears of corn which are actual ears of corn chopped up into four small ears of corn and sold as an “ear of corn” when anyone who ever raised corn knows an ear of corn isn’t 4 inches long and blunt on each end.

But I’m not going to complain about it.  Tomorrow I eat free at Famous Dave’s.  I won’t get famous for it.  I won’t be famous because I wrote this either.

I was actually going to write this post on another blog, but was warned that if I did and too many Dave’s showed up at Famous Dave’s it might be crowded.  Yeah, like there are a lot of guys named Dave in Tucson, LOL, what a thought.

Therefore, I’m putting this post here, where no one reads it that lives in Tucson (or probably on this continent) and most certainly not anyone named Dave.  I also know if you are thinking about changing your name to Dave so you can eat free tomorrow, forget it, it takes at least a week to get it change to Dave, I know.

Anybody remember “Fred, eats FREE day”.  Be patient someday your name will come up and when it does hope you are living close enough to the place to be able to eat FREE.

What a day  it will be, Transformers in the morning and FREE Lunch.  Hey, who said there’s no such thing as a free lunch?  Bet he wasn’t named Dave!

That's Not a Thumb

I’ve got two chapters left to read in “Rules of Thumb” by Alan Webber.  It has 52 chapters, one for each week.  They aren’t long, about 4 pages each.  Mr. Webber (not as in the grill)  used to be with the Harvard Business Review and he started some business magazine I had never heard of called “Fast Company“  “Fast Money” or something like that.

His life has been reduced to a bunch of 3 X 5 cards of which he picked 52 as the basis for this book.

I’ll read it again after I finish it for the first time through tomorrow.  The second reading will get annotated and I’ll even make note of the couple typos I found.

No 3 X 5 Cards but Some Thumbs

I have Rules of Thumb myself.  I never wrote them down, and there aren’t 52 of them.  I usually don’t even remember them till I have broken one of them and paid the consequence.  Once such recent violation involves the “the chair” which is not the centerpiece for the For No REal Reason Badge.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about what to do with the next decade coming up.  I’ve decided the best course of preparation involves being ready to go and do when the time and opportunity presents itself.  This translates into a forth simplification.

If you want a good thought provoking read I would suggest “Rules of Thumb” and when you get the book be sure to buy a pack of 3 x 5 index cards.  You’re going to need them.

Postscript

I’ve finished the book.  Now on chapter 2 on the second read.  Chapter 1 should be read again every 5 chapters.  We need to be reminded often to drive out fear and enjoy the journey.

The Badge

Upon request, don’t ask why, I have created the For No REal Reason Badge.  You can proudly display this badge on your blog for no real reason.  This means you don’t need a reason to put this badge on your blog or website for that matter.

There are no black hat SEO features in the badge.

If you look at the badge backwards or upside down there are no hidden messages.

If you display it upside down, change will not fall out of the chair.

On a happier note, lint, cracker crumbs and toenail fragments also will not fall out of the chair.

There is a story behind the chair in the badge.  Since you can’t look behind the chair you won’t know what that story is.

Maybe someday I’ll turn the chair around and let you see the story.  NAH!

In need of a badge? Any old badge will do?  Then we have an any old badge for you.