Focus 24-7

My Results – Speedtest by iPingTest

focus247 — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 02:53:38 +0000

My Results – Speedtest by iPingTest

via My Results – Speedtest by iPingTest.

Filed under: Activity, Business

Hot Air Balloon(s)!!

focus247 — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 05:47:43 +0000

It was a beautiful night in Hudson Wisconsin for the ‘21st Hudson Hot Air Affair’ event! The temperature was in the lower 20′s, a slight breeze, but not enough to impact the Moon Glow. This was my second experience at this event and each time the size, and beauty of the balloons always amazes me. I was asking one of the emcees’ for the event how many balloons there were this year and he said 26- then corrected himself and said 25. One caught on fire, so there are only 25. I only hope the fire was when the pilots were on the ground yet! I’ll be scanning the local papers to see if i can find more info.

All Lit up- Hot Air Balloons

Filed under: Activity, Family, Personal, video Tagged: Hot Air Affair, Hot Air Affair 2010, Hudson WI Hot Air Affair

New Reality Show…. Is this considered positive Branding?

focus247 — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 03:55:50 +0000

A new Reality Show that looks to be promising is scheduled to launch after the Superbowl. An interesting way to showcase different positions within a company, but it made me wonder if that is the visibility a company wants. Do you think this would be considered positive branding? I will be one of the many of millions of people watching this one!

Posted in Personal

dad crawls into crib

focus247 — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 04:13:05 +0000

Ever have that day when all you need is a hug and someone to hold you as you fall asleep….

Baby and Father in the Crib together!

Makes you smile doesn’t it.

Posted in Family, Parenting Tagged: baby crying, baby needs hug, dad crawls into crib, dad sleeping in crib

Body Language-Kevin Hogan

focus247 — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 03:20:11 +0000

I was listening to some of my past podcasts, you know the ones that you save with the best intention to go back and listen to them again. Well, today i did it… I went back to listen to my mentor; Kevin Hogan. I met him years ago at a training seminar on hypnosis. Then throughout the years, he has taught me that it isn’t about mind control, it is about understanding the mind.

Take Body Language for example- understanding how others talk with their body has amazing results. Where you get the sit in a meeting can make a difference with the person leading the meeting. Should you wear cologne or not? He recommends no- you just don’t know who you could offend if you are going for a sale. He has a great website with incredible amounts of information, I would recommend taking a look!

Posted in Body Language

Top 5 things to do if you are in a car accident

focus247 — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 05:13:00 +0000

My Sat was going well, really well until it started snowing harder and there was a white blazer trying to change lanes at 11:14am, while she was on her cell phone, can you guess what happened next….

She was trying to change lanes, spun out in front of me and i watched in slow motion as she crossed 3 lanes of of the highway coming right at me. I couldn’t do anything except try to brake and Wham! I hit a 2001 White Durango in the driver passenger door. The Durango spun and hit my drivers side window. I think i smacked my head on it- either way, the glass shattered all over my lap. The next thing i know, i am pinned up against the guard wires on 35W by 88th street (next exit was Cty Rd D).

I am glad that my daughter wasn’t with me. Thankfully, i was going to pick her up.

After making several phone calls, including 911- the state troopers arrived and we took care of the paperwork. A good group of guys that had to attend to over 200+ accidents due to the weather.

Here are the top 5 things to do in case you are ever in a car accident (after making sure nobody is hurt):

Call 911
Get the name of the other driver, DL #, License Plate and info of any other occupants. Share your info too.
If there are any witnesses, see if they will provide name/# to you.
Take pictures of your vechicle and theirs.
Call your insurance- Make sure you have the info card in the car!!

Thankfully, nobody was seriously hurt. The advil is helping with the sore neck and back.

Posted in Personal

The 2 minute pitch

focus247 — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 04:33:21 +0000

I was sitting on the couch, flipping through channels and i came across an infomercial. It was like a car crash, i checked to make sure nobody was hurt, but i just couldn’t look away.

Thankfully, the phone rang- i had to get up to answer it. That call saved me 4 easy payments of $19.95 (+shipping & handling)! There had to be some reason i was sucked in to the depths of… “The Infomercial!”

I found it! “How to pitch anything in 2 minutes.” Are you selling a new idea to your boss? Trying to get that new gizmo that your significant other won’t approve of? Try this technique and it is sure to pull them in and buy whatever you are selling.

Demonstrate enthusiasm- if you don’t want it bad enough, then don’t even bring it up.
Find a personal connection. People buy items from people!
Tell me about the benefit of that feature, not just that the new thingy doesn’t have sharp edges!
How will it make my life easier, more productive, give me extra time to do the things i like!
Then, as the saying goes “Learn Something new Everyday!” Let me tell you teach you something new (this item reduces greenhouse gases, due to the new blah blah blah…)

Good Luck on getting that new idea across, and don’t forget to wear your best tie or suit that day. You will feel so good, who could say No!

Posted in Business Tagged: 2 minute pitch, Business, Communication, presentation

Music to keep you going

focus247 — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 01:07:34 +0000

Thanks to DJNautikat- Always finding the right mix of music to keep me going on these late nights. Find her Mixes here http://www.mixdepot.net/NautiKat
Enjoy…

Posted in Personal Tagged: DJNautikat, Music

The death of the newspaper…

focus247 — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 18:03:47 +0000

There was an article in the The New Yorker recently by Eric Alterman on the death and life of the newspaper. It brought about an interesting generational discussion with a group of co-workers who are all Gen Y’ers. I asked the question to them and how they get their news. It turns out that none of them get the newspaper, whereas I get the Sunday Paper only. They choose to pick their topic of news on the internet- or have alerts sent to them directly vs flipping the pages of a paper to ‘see’ what might capture their attention.
By choosing their own information to read, are we creating a generation of non-rounded individuals that are ‘experts’ based on the intensity in which they receive information and how they choose it?
I think i am fairly tech savy and have way too may RSS feeds to manage on a weekly, daily basis of information i have chosen to follow. Hopefully, i am getting the ’roundness’ of information when i get a chance to read the Sunday paper….

So, do i think the newspaper will die? The old business model sure looks like it has died as papers are now online- the invention of digital readers (the kindle) and uploading your paper before you could get it at your doorstep certainly has helped break the business model.

The newspaper isn’t dead with this generation, but the model will change with Gen Y, Z or I. Get creative newspapers- we are finding new ways of getting the information we want…

Travel website tips

focus247 — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 03:58:14 +0000

The past few weeks, actually for the past few months- this winter has been pretty rough. Go figure, i purchase a house from an apartment where i didn’t have to do any manual labor with shoveling, scraping, more shoveling… to one of the snowiest winters in quite sometime. I am ready to talk about “Global Warming” after this winter! Bring it on.. =)

I have been researching where can i get the best flight deals- i cannot stand the way our airline pricing structure is where one person can get a flight to the same location for hundreds of dollars less. Why?? Because they have knowledge! Knowledge is the key and i am driven by educating others.. so here are my favorite and functional travel sites:

www.kayak.com: good broad search of flights and pricing.

www.farecast.com: Farecast will give you a guage if you should wait or book. It also has a great feature if you just want to go somewhere that it will search ALL citiesfor the best pricing.

Don’t forget to always sign up for the hotel saver programs. I must have a card from every hotel chain. They have gotten me perks just about every time i stay from bottles of water to a full out dessert tray ‘welcoming me’.

Do you have any favorites that you would like to recommend?