Minnesota

This weekend I was in Minnesota. This was my first time "actually" visiting Minnesota. I've been in the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport before, but that doesn't count.

Rodger and I were in town for the National Association for Campus Activities (NACA) Northern Plains Regional Conference. We were selected to perform/present during the Training Showcase. Things went great and it looks like we'll be spending a lot of time in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa this Fall. The students at the conference were great. I have to say thank you to Justin, Mark, Margaret, The Mario Princesses, All the Wisconsin schools and the ladies who laughed at/with me and Rodger in the booth. We took a lot of great photos, but my camera had some issues (battery died!). If anyone who attended the conference is reading this, please e-mail me the photos so I can post them on the Blog.

Rodger and I also managed to make it to the Mall of America. It used to be the largest mall in the world. The place has an amusement park in the middle. I did have enough battery power to get some photos at the mall.

I'm on the road again this week, so the blogs will be a little slow, but keep checking in for more stories and photos.

Have a great week!

Upcoming Schedule

I'll be busy traveling/speaking in April. If any of you happen to be in these areas, please stop by!

April 3-5 St. Paul, Minnesota NACA Northern Plains Regional Conference (9 AM Friday)

April 9 Hamilton, New York Colgate University (7 PM)

April 23 Kirtland, Ohio Lakeland Community College (6 PM)

Back to Vegas

18th Hole at the Wynn

The Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay

Use the Force Frank!

Scott and I at the M&M store

Ummmmm........

Paris

Last week I flew up to Las Vegas for a couple of days to visit/hang out with my friend Scott. Every year he picks a place to travel for his "Spring Break." It usually involves going to Vegas. He invited me and a few other people, but I was the only one who could make it.

I hope you liked the photos. Sorry no interesting "Vegas Stories." We're pretty boring when it comes to the "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas." Other than a lot of people watching, not too much exciting to report. Just a couple of days of relaxing and recharging.

New Shoes

Do your feet hurt? Do your legs ache? How about your back, how does that feel? It's amazing how a pair of shoes can help or hurt with the questions I just asked.

Kelly went to the foot doctor the other day to have her feet checked out. The doctor gave Kelly a list of things she should do and avoid doing. The most important thing on the list of to do's was the type of shoes to buy/wear.

I'm sure there are more shoes out there, but here is the list of recommended shoes from her doctor. The tend to be a little more expensive than most, but you can find many of the shoes if you shop around on the internet or some of the discount shoe stores. The doctor recommended buying shoes that offer good arch support. I'm sure there are other good shoes out there. These are just the ones on the foot doctor.

Athletic  Shoes - New Balance, Asics, Brooks, Adidas, Nike Air

Women's Dress Shoes - Nurture, Clarks. Clarks Indigo, Ecco, Born

Sandals - Merrill, Birkentstock

Men's Dress Shoes- Rockport lace up shoes with vibrum soles

Over the counter arch support - Power Step

GI Joe the Movie

This post is for anyone who grew up a fan of the comic, toy and cartoon GI Joe. The producers of "The Transformers" movie are making a live action film for GI Joe. The movie comes out August 2009. Click HERE to read more and see a photo of Snake Eyes.

Applebees Commercial

Yesterday I was in the gym working out with Kelly. We were on the eliptical machines and watching television. Then I noticed the people on the television looked familuar. They were the main actors from the Applebees commercial I worked in. Before I could look for myself the commercial was over. Today Kelly was watching some of her taped television shows when the commercial came on again. I thought the tv was live when I said, "There I am!" (Bad English) Kelly didn't see me, then she remembered we were watching a tape. She rewound the tape and paused. There I was clear as day!

So, the next time all of you are watching tv and see the new commercials for "Applebees Perfect Portions" look in the right corner of the screen behind the mother and daughter and you should see my smiling face.

I'm working on getting a copy of the video or some still shots from the production company. When I get them, I'll post.

Happy Easter to everyone! For those of you on Spring Break already...ENJOY! For those of you just starting your Spring Breaks....ENJOY!

Back Home!

I'm back in Arizona and it feels great! It's even better when my girlfriend (Kelly) is off from work the entire week for her Spring Break. The weather this time of year is GREAT in Arizona. We've been enjoying the time off by enjoying the weather. We're working out, hiking and going to Spring Training games. The spring training center for the Seattle Mariner and San Diego Padres is right down the street. Here are some photos to share with everyone! Enjoy!

Sun Devil Stadium, Arizona State University

Ichiro Suzuki 

My last two weeks!

I went back to Ohio about two weeks ago to speak and catch up with my friends. Many of my friends in Cleveland are like family. They've done a lot for me and I don't have enough space on this blog to type the stories. It was great to catch up with everyone. Here are some of the photos from my trip. Robyn, Sael, Raul, Ramonita, Catolina, Mary, Martha, Rich, Mike, Teresa, Brian, Rodger, Robert, Debbie, Tony and Scott; it was great seeing you again! Keep in touch!

Interesting time in Atlanta

Rodger and I with Brian from last seasons "Biggest Looser"

Debris in the street outside of the hotel

The Westin Hotel

Closed off downtown streets

This past weekend I was in Atlanta with Rodger for the APCA National Conference. Rodger and I were at the conference to perform in the Speaker's Showcase. The Conference is four days of various performers showcasing there talents to a crowd of college students and several branches of the United States Military. The students and service units are there to book performers to come to their campuses or installations.

Rodger and I were selected to perform and MC the speakers showcase. We literally pulled our hair out for trying to figure out how to condense our speech/show into 15 minutes! We didn't know if we should just give a sample of what we do or condense the everything into 15 minutes. We decided to go with option number one.

The first night of the conference was Friday. We didn't have to speak until Friday, so Rodger and I networked with some other performers and shook people's hands in our agency's booth.  Our friend Matt offered to give us a ride back to our hotel. While walking to his car, we noticed a storm approaching. While leaving the garage, Matt and I talked about all the lightning and strange looks of the sky. This was about 9:30 PM.

Rodger and  I went to the Renaissance Hotel at the Atlanta International airport for dinner. When we arrived we saw reports on the television of storm damage at the Georgia Dome. Soon after that, a really bad thunder storm arrived at the airport. The rain, thunder and lightning was amazing. One bolt of lightning hit the airport and soon after, the entire airport went black. The busiest airport in the world was completely black! No runway lights, nothing. The hotel and restaurant we were in shook several times. The tvs went out too. About 10 minutes later, the airport came back online and the tvs came back on. Thats when we saw the television reports of the tornado that hit downtown Atlanta. One block away from the garage we walked to. One block away from the conference hotel. We spent the rest of the night watching the news reports, making phone calls to other performers and our agent, and practicing for our showcase.....just in case we still performed.

We woke up the next morning to find out parts of downtown were closed but things at the conference were still a go. Half of the conference hotel was without power when we arrived. I took some pictures of the damage downtown and heard stories from students who were downtown when the storm hit. We missed the storm by 10 MINUTES! Rodger and I taught some early morning workshops and got ready for our sound check and performance.

During our practice we tried option number one. That didn't go so well. One of the other speakers (Matt) who is a co-worker and friend told us, " I don't get it!" That was great input on his part. So, Rodger and I scrapped our plan and went with plan number two. We had two hours to redo our slides and walk through things. There is nice clock on stage to let you if you go over on time and if you go too long they will cut your microphones, so the pressure is definitely on.

Everything turned out great and we really enjoyed ourselves on stage. The students and service people told us they really enjoyed our message. We were really excited about several of the speakers and other performers telling us "Wow" and "You two were great!" We also like the fact that we finished at exactly 15 minutes! We have to thank Matt for being a very honest friend and helping us with our showcase.

Here are a few shots of downtown Atlanta, the debris in the streets and our performance.

Upcoming Travels

I'm here in Ohio digging out from the March Blizzard of 2008. I hope you enjoy the before and after photos of the over two feet of snow that got dropped on the state.I'm in town to see a few friends after speaking to a Charter School in Euclid, Ohio. Ohio is just one of my stops of over the next couple of weeks. Here is my upcoming schedule of appearances and lectures:

March 14-16 - APCA National Convention, Atlanta, Georgia

April 3-5 - NACA Regional Conference, St. Paul, Minnesota

April 9- Colgate University, Hamilton, New York

April 23- Lakeland Community College, Kirtland, Ohio

Interesting Video on Education

Happy Birthday Melissa! / Ohio Blizzard!

I'm stuck in Ohio for the GREAT BLIZZARD of 2008! Most of my friends here in Ohio are blaming the snow on me, or saying "Welcome Home!" They tell me this is payback for moving to Arizona. I took a few pictures this weekend, so I'll post them soon.

I have a internet connection so I have a few "Happy Birthdays" for friends and family.

My sister Melissa celebrated her birthday on Wednesday! Happy Birthday Melissa!

I also have to say Happy Birthday to my friends Dave, Mary and Sael!

Golf Coupons

I know many of you really can't think about golf right now, but I thought I would post this information for the people who have the "itch." My best friend Scott showed me this website a few months ago called Golfcoupons.com. If you go to the site and sign up for a free membership; you are eligible for free and discounted coupons for golf courses, driving ranges and lessons all around the country.

Gift the site a shot or maybe sign up and get a few coupons for a friend or family member as a gift!

Mini Vacation

The University of Phoenix Stadium

Downtown and Uptown Phoenix

My experiment with the panoramic function on my camera. Click the photo to see a larger version of the picture of the Phoenix Valley. I hope you enjoyed the pictures from my min vacation to Thunderbird Park in Glendale, Arizona

I'm always telling people to take a mini vacation. They respond that they don't have the time or money. I respond that you can take 5 minutes just to get away from things and call it a vacation. We all have crazy and busy lives. Sometimes we just need to take a few minutes for ourselves to get away!

Vacation - An extended period of recreation, especially one spent awry from home or in traveling.

Yesterday I took my mini vacation to a local park. There is a hill (western description) or mountain (eastern description) at the park. You can see most of the valley from the top. I hiked up to the top and took a few pictures of the valley and the sun setting. I was only away from home for about 45 minutes, but it was definitely recreation. I took my mind away from work and life. I felt relaxed and ready to tackle my next challenges.

Next time you're head is full, you're a little down, a little worn out; take a mini vacation to get away from things. Find a place that relaxes you and helps you refocus. 

Cheap versus Financially Smart

Every time we turn on the news there are reports about how bad the economy is. Fears of a recession. Interests rates. Government spending. It can be pretty depressing. I read an article today in the USA Today and it made me want to blog.

A few years ago I went to Australia.I literally had just a backpack, a weeks worth of clothes, my laptop and a camera. I was there for over 5 weeks. When I returned, I noticed all the "un-needed" items around my place. I also started to look at my finances. I realized there were so many things I wanted to do in life and I had a lot of clutter holding me back.  I started working on a plan to improve my finances and get rid of all the unnecessary items in my life. After being without luxury items for so long, my feelings about life, wants vs. needs started to change. I began reading books and talking to people.  I have a cousin who is really good with his money, so I turned to him for advice. A lot people considered him cheap. I learned he was ahead of the game.

I started to recognize how in America we really aren't taught about money and smart purchases. I started selling off a lot of stuff in my place. It removed a lot of clutter and cleared my mind. Why did I have DVD's that I only watched once? Why did I have all of those "what if items?" You know "What if family comes over, I'll need _____." "What if my friend needs that?" What if 20 people show up for dinner?" It's amazing how many coffee mugs a person who doesn't drink coffee can collect.

My finances are far from perfect. I have issues with the evil credit cards and college loans. I still have a lot of "housekeeping" to do. But I'm happy I got started "cleaning" over two years ago. You see everything in the news (and you talk to people) and you start to realize that a lot of our culture has caused our problems. We're taught calculus and advanced math in grade school, but no one teaches us about interest rates, credit cards and saving.  We're not taught about purchases being an investment versus just something we buy. I'm currently reading Suzy Orman's book "The Courage to be Rich." She talks about looking into purchases as an investment. Is that how we think about things in the USA?  Do we think of the long term or just the impulse of the moment.

Orman talks in her book about our mental feelings about investment. When it comes to an investment, we recognize there will be time, energy and money involved. We consider the finances of the investment. The sad thing is we don't think the same way of something we just "buy" or "purchase." Do we really think about the time and energy involved to earn the money we just spent on a impulse buy? Do we think about the hours we worked to buy that cup of coffee or DVD that will sit on our shelf and gather dust?

Kelly and I recently went out to test drive a Toyota Prius. Most people will say the car costs too much because of the initial price $23,000 -$30,000. We looked at the car as an investment (just like a home). The next car we get, we plan to keep until it dies, not just the normal five years. We would spend 50% less or more in fuel. The government gives yearly rebates on your taxes and the maintenance is cheaper and less often. We started to realize this would save us money. Of course with the financial times, the interest rates and the prices; we are not ready to make a purchase. The car is something for the future. This story just proves the point of my one of my friends. You can actually save money be spending more upfront. We focus so much on the upfront price we don't look at the long term effects (investment). You have to ask yourself, "If I buy quality now(I might spend a little more), will is save me more money in the long run?"

That brings me to the end of todays blog. There're all of these reports about American's cutting back on their spending, all the financial troubles people are in, excuses of people being taken advantage of. I see this as a time for people to better educate themselves, their friends and their children about finances. The struggles this country is going through is a great opportunity for people to look in the mirror and realize we've been living above our means for a long time. The United States is often referred too at the "Richest Country on Earth." I guess we thought the riches would never run dry. I, just like everyone else is learning how to better look at my finances. Everything in the media is talking about and educating people on smart financial decisions. Why weren't we doing this years ago or in the schools? There are articles and tv shows on how to stretch your money. People used to laugh at me for going to TJ Maxx, Walmart, Marshalls, wholesale clubs and Burlington Coat factory. Now I'm reading stories about people who make six figures shopping at the same stores. I didn't go out to eat and always cooked dinner. Now their are cooking shows all over tv. 

Good Luck to everyone in these tough financial times. I hope we all learn from whats going on now and realize we can't change the past, but there is still a lot we can do with our future!

When you get a chance, check out this article I found on USA Today's website.

TSA and Airport Security

I do a lot of traveling and it amazes me how the security at each airport can be so different. In todays world, I don't mind the extra security, but it would be nice for the standards to be consistent.  Some of the items I've seen people "accidently" get past security is amazing. At the same time I can have my bags double checked and taken apart in one city and have no issues with the same bags in another city. I was reading the USA Today and came across this article that may explain some of the reasons for the inconsistency. 

USA Today article on Airport Security

Marcus Engel Video

A few months ago I got to meet and work with a really inspiring individual who happens to be a speaker. His name is Marcus Engel. We're become friends via e-mail and comments on each other's blogs. I read his blog often and I have added a link to his blog on mine. Today I went to read his blog and saw he has a new video. When you get a chance, please watch the video below or go to his website......www.marcusengel.com