One Year Ago

First time I realized how dire my mom's condition was.

Strange Kindness

When I needed to pay for street parking, a stranger offered to give me her pass that still had an hour on it as she was leaving.  

The Effects of Old Age While Still in My 20's

Last Saturday I tweaked my lower back.  This is the 2nd time over the past three years :(

When I was 15 I was involved in a pretty bad car accident on 580 East bound.  My family's Mazda MPV spun 740 degrees before finally stopping facing the opposite freeway 580 West bound.

Over the next 6 months I had chiropractic treatment and till today I can crack my spine by just twisting.  I got an x-ray about three years ago and found out I have mild scoliosis, so that may add to my weak back.  For as long as i can remember my lower back has given me problems - yup even when I was a kid.

Maybe I worked myself too hard over the last two weeks.  Adding Yoga and not properly doing the moves could have messed me up.  I do my best to remain core tight but I'm sure these workouts add too much stress on my back.

Nurses Strike: How This Relates to Buy Local

It seems so simple to prioritize people before profits. 

If you aren't familiar with why nurses are on strike read this great article from Berkeleyside: Nurses' Strike Draws Cheers and Honking Horns.  Corporation is mentioned in that article.

We all should know by now that Walmart only hires part-time employees so that they don't have be responsible for providing benefits.  That means all they have to worry about is paying their part-time employees minimum wage.  That's it! A company responsible for producing billionaires only has to worry about paying the lowest wage legally allowed to a working human here in America.  In fact, they teach their employees how to apply for government aid:

Walmart fails to provide a livable wage and decent healthcare benefits, costing U.S. taxpayers an annual average of $1.02 billion in healthcare costs.

But hospitals are not retail stores and we don't have the flexibility to "shop" elsewhere.  However, if citizens can show limitless support for these nurses, then our voices cannot be ignored.

As for Walmart, why do we continue to support a corporate with a CEO that makes more per hour than their employee makes in a year.  Let's make a more conscious effort to shift local and cultivate a community that buys local.

Failed McDonald Cone

Tasted like buffet soft-serve : - (

Profits Will Prevail Despite Moral Ethics of An Early Founder of Tobacco

One of the genius advertisers in the early 1900's was the son of James Buchanan Duke (Duke University!), founder of W. Duke & Sons - one of the first major tobacco companies.

Second-hand smoke kills, but with an ad like this, who cares?

His name is James B. Duke and he knew that sex sells.  He created trade cards (ancestor of pokemon, sports collectible trading cards) that were inserted in cigarette packages.  Multiple series were created - Civil War Generals, Coins of All Nations - for collection but the most popular were women (mostly unknowns but some were actresses) scantly dressed.

Tobacco will eventually kill or at least disable you, but as long as sex appeal is used in advertising... who cares?



Taken from Duke Library: Emergence of Advertising in America

October 17th, 1894

[JB Duke, NY]

My dear Son: -
I have received the enclosed letter from the Rev. John C. Hocutt, and am very much impressed with the wisdom of his argument against circulating lascivious photographs with cigarettes, and have made up my mind to bring the matter to your attention in the interest of morality, and in the hope that you can invent a proper substitute for these pictures which will answer your requirements as an advertisement as well as an inducement to purchase. His views are so thoroughly and plainly stated that I do not know how that I can add anything except to state that they accord with my own, and that I have always looked upon the distribution of this character of advertisement as wrong in its pernicious effects upon young man and womanhood, and therefore has not jingled with my religious impulses. Outside of the fact that we owe christianity all the assistance we can lend it in any form, which is paramount to any other consideration, I am fully convinced that this mode of advertising will be used and greatly streghten [sic, "strengthen"] the arguments against cigarettes in the legislative halls of the States. I hope you will consider this carefully and appreciate my side of the question. It would please me very much to know that a change had been made. 

Affectionately, your father,

        [W. Duke]

In this letter, you can see that James Buchanan Duke had some morals - at least guided by a reverend and his Christian faith.  He understands the impact these forms of advertisements have on young man and womanhood.  

But morals don't lead to maximized profits and unfortunately we are stuck in this world where emotion trumps intellect.  And we all know how high on emotion sex is.... what's your favorite sex charged ad?

Iron Man 3 - Message Regarding Big Oil

There's so many messages in films that go beyond the surface of what the movie is about.  After watching Iron Man 3, I still keep thinking about Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) referring to BIG OIL.  As the primary antagonist of the movie, does his message encourage sympathy for BIG OIL?

One of Aldrich's motivation for the bad things he plans to do is because of BIG OIL.  I'm torn: is the message a slap on BIG OIL or since it's coming from a bad guy, maybe its reverse psychology?

Free Write

Wow, the last time I posted was the day before I turned 29.  So this is the first article I'm going to publish as a 29 year old.  

I can't figure out how to keep up a blog.  I believe bloggers have fun sharing their thoughts and have the skill to craft an article efficiently.  Many of the article I type for I LOB Resources takes about two hours and it's still not considered well-written.  

There's the idea that my pursuit of perfection prevents me from typing.  I have an imaginary critic looking over my shoulders.  Rather than typing I choose not to - am I scared?  The answer is yes.  I've had this problem since I was a child.  I don't like losing - no one does - but I choose to NOT do something rather than attempt to succeed.  

My therapist encouraged me to just type away.  Don't worry about what others will think.  Be confident in my thoughts and ideas - free write.  This is what I'm attempting yet again on this blog.  Just type, type, type.

Why worry about that imaginary critic?  So much content goes through the Internet.  My typo won't make or break my reputation.  Often times, I feel like I have a great topic to write about, but since I can't get myself to start typing, the ideas I have for the topic fades.... then it's gone and I never had a chance to write it.  

With that said, I'm still addicted to Clash of Clans.  Here's a funny village design from one of my clan mates:

The Last Year in the 20's

I can't believe so much time has passed since my last post.  I don't know how people blog... they must love to type.  Every time I think of a topic, I get excited but once I'm front of my laptop all the excitement is gone.  

So here I am, the last day before I officially enter the last year in my 20's.  I must be getting old since I actually sat down to participate in a slot tourney....

But what should I type about?  So many things are popping in my head but when my fingers are set to type it, nothing flows.  Maybe I should just do an update of everything that's happening for I LOB.

I've been meaning to be more open on this blog just because I need a "release."  I hit rock bottom July 2012 after my mom fell ill.  Now that I'm getting better things are really picking up for the company I've been trying to start since September 2011.  

It's March 2013 so a lot of time passed since the initial idea.  I wanted the company to be called Savee (save + savvy) but now it's I LOB.  I LOB stands for Independent Locally-Owned Business.  As you can see I love to pun words because its.... fun.

We went from a team of 5 to 3.  The two that stayed are my girlfriend B and bestfriend J.  I believe we are on to something meaningful.  People I talk business with often ask:

How are you going to make money?

My response:

blank stare - well we have a mobile tech (J) 

The reason I can't answer how we're going to make money is because this company was built on doing social good.  I've already lived the high life - bought dream car, not so dreamy home and splurged - but now that it's been 2 years since I made legit income, I don't really care about making money.

Sure we need to be sustainable... I'm not worried.

Why?

Once we submitted our paperwork to Sacramento, I told the team that I have no excuse but to start approaching business owners.  So the first business owner we needed to connect with is a printer.  We needed business cards but one way we are planning to help I LOBs is by providing them with signage.

Of course we are targeting print shop owners who are socially responsible and are proud to be locally-owned.  I targeted two in Dublin/Pleasanton but got no interest - not sure if it's racial, or I look young and therefore a person not to take serious.  Then I visited one in Hayward near B's house.  It turns out the owner is Filipino... Jackpot right?

I walk in and the guy tells me that it's his son that handles business card inquiries.  Well his son isn't around, so I ask him when he will be:

Next week.

That was that....

The 5th owner I approached is random because I was visiting my sister in Union City.  I did some Yelp searches - based on location - and found 4 different print shops.  Somehow I decided to call Action Litho.  The owner himself picked up and told me to come over and swing by.  It turns out the address on Yelp is for correspondence only so I'm glad I picked up the habit of calling before going.

When I arrive at the address it's a residential area.  So I'm confused as hell... but then Warren Grayson the owner of Action Litho opens his door and welcomes me in.  It turns out he is in transition - moving to a new facility closer to home in Hayard.

Long story short - B, J and I got free business cards and have access to an owner who understands what we're about to do.  Warren is now an asset we have and together we'll be making positive change in the Bay Area.

There's more to update but this post got way too long.  

 

Writing Block It

Well, next week will be my last session with Daniel.  It's still very difficult to just let my mind flow. Just keep typing rather than criticize every aspect of every word I choose.

It's a struggle and sometimes I wonder why I have to deal with it.

Everytime there's something interesting that flows in my head, when I get on a computer to type it out... it's just not there.

Still props to HealthPAC

Cheers to Daniel and good luck with his PhD

Free Carrot Cake from Panera Bread

Signed up and got my free pastry!

High Tech Chabot College

Chabot has a 32" LCD screen my class for announcements. That's how I found out my class is cancelled after a 30 minute drive from Dublin.

Back when I first started college (2002) class cancellations came in the form of paper taped on the class door.  Email was available, but professors/teachers would rarely send one out for class cancellations.

Maybe in a few years students will get a notification sent to their smartphones right when a professor/teacher notifies the school. 

Technology - advancing life. 

Poison Peeps

Have your read about the shelf life of peeps?

Have your read about the way peeps digest in your body?

Talk about poison!

How do companies get approved to sell these things? 

Mental Endurance

First post with the Acer A500 i bought for $175.  Blogger app is similar to iOS version.

After my ass got handed to me 3 years ago at the half marathon over the Golden Gate Bridge, I got addicted to running.  After my injuries healed, i ran at lrast 3x a week!

I hate running when it's cold however, so i haven't been out for a run in quite some time - 4 months?  All my workouts have consisted of Insanity.

I finally went for a run today, but had a difficult time running more than 1 mile straight.  Physically i felt fine; wasn't grasping for air; no cramps but why couldn't I keep going?  During my peak running days, i could run 4 miles straight!  I feel more fit now since i can handle max Insanity. 

Max Insanity is a 60 minute workout but it focuses on going all out for 30 sec to 1 minute intervals.  I ran 8 minute miles today and when i see the mile marker, I just had to stop. 

While I can blame the interval nature of Insanity, there is a pure cardio workout that keeps you moving for 40 minutes straight.  So I know I can keep moving for more than 8 minutes.  However, the pure cardio workout makes you do a variety of workouts.  My inability to keep running after an 8 minute mile was basically boredom.

The same movement over and over, just keep running forward.  To change things up I would alternate the pace I ran - aka fartleks.

Still, despite my best efforts I couldn't be an energizer bunny.... keeps going, and going, and going.  I'm glad I ran about 4 miles, but it was frustrating that I had to keep taking breaks.  Lesson learned: confuse your body and do different excercises.  Insanity does have multiple excercise workouts, but they borrow the same move from each other. 

I got too used to the way Insanity trains my body physically.  Often you overlook the mental aspect of excercising.  Running or more accurately, jogging, takes a lot of mental endurance.  Now that it's getting warmer, I hope to mix it up  a bit more and not solely rely on Insanity.

Mental endurance - no matter how fit you are, without it you won't get far.

ILOB Notes: How a Small Discount Can Make Such a Difference

I saw this article on Yahoo titled "Unusual message on mom's restaurant bill."

To sum it up: her kids behaved so well she received a $4 discount.  The total bill was $58, so the discount was enough to cover the tax charge.

$4 off might not seem much but it's all about how your customer feels.  What a wonderful investment by the restaurant owner:

The discount isn't restaurant policy though Sogno di Vino owner Rob Scott said that he tries to reward good behavior when he sees it.

Independent owners take note!  You have complete control of how your run your business - make decisions like this and you will reap the rewards.

The Customer Service Experience with AARP UnitedHealthcare

Today had a very frustrating moment after my parents and I arrived at the Social Security office in Hayward at 12:15pm just to find out that they close at noon on Wednesdays.  I guess I should of checked online before we left home but I was rushing because I woke up late and my mom has been waiting all morning.

In the end though, if I didn't drive out with my parents today, I would probably not have called AARP to cancel my dad's supplement plan.  

If you're unfamiliar with how Medicare works, it covers most of your medical bills (80-90%).  Therefore you are encouraged to pay for a supplement plan to cover any remaining costs that Medicare doesn't cover.  AARP in partnership with UnitedHealthcare has such a plan - my dad currently pays $215/month to have this "emergency" insurance.  That's $2,500 getting drained from my dad's social security every year - that means my dad gets 49% of his social security benefits every year.

After calling the # located at the back of my dad's AARP card, they have to transfer me to UnitedHealthcare and the representative Ariana helps me through the process.  She puts me on hold to find out if I can get reimbursed for the payment that was taken from my dad's checking account yesterday 2/5/2013.  

The answer is simply "NO"

Confused, upset and annoyed, I let it be and allowed her to finish cancelling my dad's account.  After taking care of other things, I realize that I'm still bothered with the refusal to refund my dad's payment despite only a  day has passed by.

So I call AARP again and give Ben (service rep) the details of what happened.  He advises that I immediately ask for a supervisor once he transfers me to UnitedHealthcare.

I do what Ben says, and the new UnitedHealthcare rep: Kaye runs me through the standard protocol then asks why I'm seeking a supervisor.  She informs me that the supervisor has already left for the evening but she will look into my dad's account and figure things out.

Kaye cancelled my dad's supplement plan 11/30/2012 - the day before my dad's Medicare went active.  Now my dad will get reimbursed over $500.

I didn't track how much time I spent on the phone, but man... for $500 I'll go through that any day.

It's probably protocol that customer service reps deny refunding a person unless they are persistent.  

Sigh....................

Impromptu Day: The World of Print

Wow! What a day!

As an entrepreneur, you don't have a set schedule and things often come up - all you can do is enjoy the ride.

I met an awesome business owner a few weeks back while looking around for a place to print my business cards.  I'll start with the two print shops I visited in Pleasanton: Alpha Omega Print & Imaging and Chromagraphics.

While Alpha Omega Print & Imaging was rather a "normal" experience - meet owner, shake hands, take business card, take postcard with pricing, leave - Chromagraphics has me quite stumped.

Chromagraphics was the first print shop I visited in Pleasanton. When I arrived at the facility, there was no one around, so I just looked around the front desk to find information or figure out how I can get help.  Only about 5 minutes passed before a lady came out from their office located on the other side of the facility to greet me.  I explained what I needed and she brought me over to their office.  She took notes and I know I gave her the correct email address.  A week passes and I don't hear from her, so I figure why not be the one to initiate communication - all I'm seeking is a quote.

Aside from sending her an email, I went ahead and filled out their online contact form.  After allowing a couple more days to pass, I realized she made the decision to shrug me off as a "not so important client."  I shouldn't even say client because we never really did anything besides wasting her time to give the details of the services I wanted to pay for. 

Moving on, I remembered the very first print shop I visited in Hayward: On Time Signs.  The first contact at this shop was weird.  I looked them up on Yelp and noticed that the owner was Filipino based on the information given on their website.  I was excited considering the potential to make a connection and maybe collaborate on a deal.

All I can remember from that meeting was the owner telling me that his son runs the business card portion of the business and that he'll be back:

Next week.

That was that and I told myself, well I won't be back next week. This came true, however, with uneventful experiences in Pleasanton, I eventually came back 2 weeks later.

The son was within my age range and so we easily broke the ice and got down to what I was looking for.  Basically 3k business cards total.  He showed interest in the fact that I'm planning marketing campaigns for independent locally-owned businesses.  The only complaint I have during the visit is his lack of ability to show he is an expert in what he does.

I have no doubt he'll produce exactly what I want, however he didn't even come close to conveying that message to me.

So all of these visits led me to the owner I'm currently working with.  Here are some of the pictures I had the opportunity to take today as I explored the world of print.

 

Signing Your Soul

You commit to do something most are expected to fail at.
You add an aspect that supersedes the value of profits.
You grow passion for a movement that will make a dent on inequality.

You said before 30
I'll pull that stapler off you

YOUR promise... YOU held true

- Thank you healthPAC

The Impossible

During the film the 74 year old lady tells Timothy that knowing which stars are dead or alive is impossible. 

They had the conversation because the old lady had no one to sit with and found the boys alone.  The main guy (Ewan McGregor (sp?)) leaves his two young sons in the care of a random stranger....

Would you make the same decision?

That picture I'm sharing was taken right after the random stranger told him she lost his two sons because someone took them and wouldn't allow her to come along.

The Art of Service: Learn From a Receptionist

I accompanied my dad to the doctors office today.  Since it was my first visit, I had no idea where the restroom was. 

After I thanked the receptionist for pointing me towards the right direction, she held her palm out and with a big smile said:

That will cost you 25 cents

Its a doctors office, there's no need to go beyond what's required.  If only all people who held service-oriented customer-facing jobs has a similar sense of humor.