Tip #3

Hurricane Tip #3: EVACUATIONS.

If the word to evacuate is given do you know where you are going? When should you evacuate?

Don't wait until the word is given to come up with the answer. Plan your escape route and tell someone. Know where you are going and how your are going to get there.

Use Mapquest.com to plot out all the gasoline stations and dining facilities along the way.

Remember, make a copy of the route and information to put in your car, the other to a family member or friend out of your area.

Lastly, when it comes time to go...stick to your planned ROUTE. Do NOT deviate from it unless you tell the person who you sent a copy to first. That way everyone knows what the latest is.

Be careful if you have to leave. Remember to pack what you essentially need to include all your important papers.

Hurricane Season Tip #2

Tip #2: Get your survival kit ready (if you are staying home).

• Battery Operated or Hand Crank Radio/TV
  
• Flashlights (w/spare batteries)
• Emergency Candles (and lanterns for candles)
• 2 Weeks supply of food (you chance to try that Astronaut Ice Cream)
  
• Water 1 gallon per person per day x 2 weeks (1 person = 14 gallons, 2 people = 28 gallons, you get the picture)
• Charcoal (only for OUTDOOR USE) & GRILL (excuse to buy a new one)
• Lighter Fluid (4 uses per plastic can)
• Fill bathtub with water to use to fill the toilet tank ONLY!!! should the municipal water pressure be low.
• Anything that makes you feel comfortable (i.e., a blankee, a book, iPod)
  

another post soon.

Are You Prepared? It's that time of year, again.

Hurricane season is set to begin next week and are you prepared? Everyone has seen what the weather has been so far this year: Late Winter Blizzards, Tornadoes everywhere (even in places they normally aren't supposed to be that bad: Del Rio, Texas & Enterprise, Alabama), Flooding Rain, and today 3 inches of snow in Butte, Montana. Well if that is any indication of what is yet to come, then we got a long summer ahead.

So, now is the time to get ready. Throughout the holiday weekend I will be posting some helpful tips for everyone to get ready for the start of the Hurricane Season. I will start this off with the first tip.

Tip #1: Back up all your data. That's right, go into the season knowing that your data has been backed up. No matter, how you do it, just do it. If you need help on how to do it, drop me a note I will help.

the dip (an update)

Well, I picked up my copy of The Dip by Seth Godin this past Monday night. I put off reading it for a day as I was going on a day trip today. The plan was for me to drive 2.5 hrs to our destination and a friend would drive the 2.5 back. It was then that I was going to read. Well plans change, it ended up with me driving all 5 hours. However, when I got home I did manage to read the first 13 pages. So my update will be on those first 13 pages.

WOW!!!

Seriously, Godin starts off with a body slam and a DDT to the mat with his latest writing. He shook me to the core when he slammed my favorite all time NFL Head Coach Vince Lombardi. He starts of by telling us that the famous quote "Quitter never win and winners never quits" is bad advice. OK, Seth you got my attention with that one. He sets up the book nicely, but on page 13 he gave me fuel for my fire in what I feel is the most powerful line so far of his book, "If you're not going to put in the effort to be my best possible choice, why bother?"

This is going to be a GREAT BOOK. More reports from the frontline to follow.

Egg of the Phoenix

Christina Baldwin, educator and public speaker, said "Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix."

Can she be anymore right? Change is most definitely an opportunity for something new. It is the time for a personal change. A time to seize the opportunity and become someone else, that someone you always wanted to be. Now I could sit here all day and night and mutter something cheesy, yet profound. But I won't, I will just leave you thinking about that awesome quote. It sings.

Till next time.

Mergers and Acquisitions breeds Mediocrity

Sometime over the past week, I either heard in a podcast or read it somewhere about how when companies merge or acquire one another, one of the companies takes on the other's rules, policies, and procedures. That's a great idea, that way everyone is on the same sheet of music.

Well there is a problem, there are organizations that are not undergoing an M&A but for the sake of change or even to make an already bad situation better start to take on the look and feel of other companies/organizations. While this may appear to be a good thing, it actually ends up doing nothing for the organization that wanted the change or needed to get out of a bad situation.

This is because they are not changing anything. They are not being innovative or creative, they are only doing what the other guy is doing and to the other guy, its the same old thing that they have always been doing. Therefore, this means that while it may work in an M&A situation, it won't in a critical change situation in fact it just means trading in old mediocrity for new mediocrity and is that a good thing?

Seth Godin does it again

This week, world famous interrupter, Seth Godin publishes his next book, The Dip. It is probably his first true self-help book. The 800CEORead.com website states, "Every new project (or career or relationship) starts out exciting and fun. Then it gets harder and less fun, until it hits a low point - really hard, really not fun. At that point, you might be in a Dip (which will get better if you keep pushing) or a Cul-de-sac (which will never get better, no matter how hard you try). The hard part is knowing the difference and acting on it."

It goes on to say about the book, "The Dip is a short, fun-to-read book in the tradition of Fish, packed with powerful ideas and a graph that changes everything. It will forever alter the way people think about quitting - and success."

This sounds great and who knows it might just work with me. If this book is anything like what Fish offered, then we have a sensation. However, we'll now have to wait and see if the proof is in the pudding. I will post a review after I get my copy.

What is my name?

I just got a phone call. You know those phone calls, solictors. Even though I am on the NATIONAL DO NOT CALL LIST, they still call. When I tell them that my number is on the DO NOT CALL LIST they tell me that they are exempt because they are raising funds and not selling something. Always a loophole...Well, not today.

The home phone rang and I answered by saying "Hello" twice there was a silence, that should have tipped me off. That silence is the voice recognition system deciding whether you are you or your answering machine. Well some male voice comes on and starts to ask if he can speak to Mr. GER-ABALDA (what was that?). It was at this point that I told him as politely as I could, "If you cannot say my name right then you do not need to speak to me, good bye" *CLICK*

ATTENTION EVERYONE:

• if you can't say a name then don't make the call.
  
• If think you are going to have problems a name ask for help
• If there is no one that can help then make the call but say you are going to spell the name of the person you are asking for, it won't make you sound weak to spell a name.
• You will sound weak of you can't say a name properly.

How about showing a little respect, you might have had a chance to say your script before I would have hung up on you.