So I leave you with two things 1. Leave a comment here, today is the last day to enter to win Coming Ungluedby Rebeca Seitz.

2. Music always can brighten my sad dump days so it has been awhile since I posted a video.  Jason Mraz can make anyone happy, and I often wonder if I could just eat him, he is so yummy looking.  Enjoy!

Stumble it!

At one time or another each of us has had to deliver bad news to a customer.  Sometimes it's your fault, sometimes not.  Here are some examples: 

• You made a mistake describing a specification or capability, leaving the customer angry and in a difficult situation.
• You've lost an existing customer to one of your competitors.  Another customer will be unnerved and concerned.
• An article or analyst report critical of your company has been published.
• There have been problems with your products or services that were made public.
• A key executive of your company has resigned.
• Your company has been hit with a shareholder lawsuit.
• You've just found out that a project with a customer will go over budget.  The customer doesn't know yet.
• Your company has or will shortly announce a financial loss.

I've seen sales leaders (and CEOs) build significant credibility with customers by the way they handle these adverse situations.  The way you deliver bad news can become the foundation for a deeper, more trusting relationship with your customer, if done right. 

When faced with situations like these, you have three choices:  (1) Not discuss the issue with your customer, (2) improvise, or (3) create a plan and execute.

Should you even consider not discussing the issue?  Your customer will likely learn about the bad news from someone in their company, from the media or worse, from your competitor—one whose intent in is to discredit you.  That leaves you little choice.  You'll need to take control of the situation.

Improvising is a bad choice.  These situations are far too critical for making things up on the spot.  There is too much risk of things getting worse.

That leaves the third option.  So, here is a step-by-step plan for delivering bad news:

1. Assess the situation. Before you can communicate the news effectively, you must consider many things:
   • What impact will the bad news have on your customer?
   • To whom should you be delivering the news?
   • How might they receive it?
   • In what position will this leave you?
   • How will it impact your customer? Who will be embarrassed or hurt by this news?
   • What resources will you need to convince your customer that the situation is contained or under control?
   • Depending on the situation, how might you help your supporters within your customer's company save face?
   • If a meeting is going to take place face-to-face, or on the phone, which members of your team should be present, if any. 
2. Communicate to your customer the purpose of the call or visit. "Jim, I have some information to share with you that is not what you are expecting to hear." Here is where you can position yourself as having the courage and integrity to do the right thing and, at the same time, set yourself apart from your competition: "I want you to hear this information first, from me. I'm going to give it to your straight."
3. Confess and tell your customer the bad news. "Jim, I just found out that I provided you with inaccurate information. We do not currently have a standard interface to your existing warehouse management system. It is important that you hear this information now, from me."
4. Empathize.  "Jim, I know how you must feel.  I know if I were in your situation I'd be disappointed and angry and would feel exposed, having publicly sponsored my company as your vendor of choice."
5. Apologize. If you or your company has done something wrong, now is the time to apologize.  "I am truly sorry this happened." Don't dilute the importance of this statement by saying anything else. Give the customer a moment to absorb your sincerity.
6. Explain how this is going to impact them. "Jim, this will potentially push the project completion time back by a month. It will not impact your total cost of ownership, although there will be a bit higher initial cost. However, I'm still certain that even with this minor setback we're still the right choice for your company based upon your requirements." You continue, "I know we'll have to work a bit harder now to prove that, but I'll do whatever it takes." And, "I know that your IT manager, Sam, is going to be angry with me and my team because of this, however, I figured out a way to make this a bit easier on him."

Continued tomorrow.

I wish I could have some note of solace for Democrats but there isn't one, really. The GOP did a great if dastardly job when they called out Obama for calling out his race, and the "celebrity" meme was right out of the old turn-your-opponent's-greatest-strength-into-a-weakness playbook and has worked to devasting effect.

A few things of note though. Firstly, it's important not to get too caught up in the give-and-take of polls and who's up/who's down day in and day out. It's like judging a baseball player over how many hits he got in one game instead of looking at an average for the season. Also, Obama still has a huge advantage in money on hand, enthusiasm, and ground forces, which leads me to believe that if they can keep this thing close until October, they'll be able to squeeze something out on election day

Good News: However, I discovered that I can get decent FM Radio reception on my MP3 Player.

Bad News: Every station I can find is either playing Hey There Delilah or country music.

Okay, I exaggerated, I spent at least 3 hours listening to 97.5, (Ben FM or something along those lines) but still, anyone know any good radio stations?

Other than that, I've got nothing to blog about. I'm currently in that "Too depressed about school coming soon to want to do anything summerish" state, so I likely won't talk about anything semi-interesting until September.

INB4 VIDEO KILLED THE RADIO STAR

 This will more than likely be a topic I'll be doing pretty frequently. Here are two articles from the same publication (St. Pete Times) that contradict each other.

First, let's rip the band-aid. The bad news focuses on the builders, building starts and permits (nationally). Yes, they've slowed down, but we're still building right? There's quite a bit of comparisons to the 80's and 90's for such a short article, but then again isn't that when things were "normal"? Robert Toll (Toll Brothers) makes a cameo in the article saying things are "dismal" and then using some odd metaphor. It's no secret the luxury home builders are feeling the crunch more-so than most.

Happy Time! GTAR does a good job here of leaking every bit of positivity they can proclaiming a higher number (5% increase) of sales in Tampa Bay than the previous month. There's no breakdown of exactly what types of homes are selling (short sales?) and just when we're ready to jump on the "love train" the article manages to commit a major party foul by reminding us that "The top July for sales was 2,932 homes in 2005. This year's showing is 54 percent below that peak."

Yeah, we know. We were there. Thanks.

St. Pete Times: Home building activity, confidence drop in unison; Tampa area home sales post July rebound

(Un)happy reading.

They were actually really sweet about it. They said that it was in no way a reflection on me or my work, and that they are very sad to be losing me, but that the company is about to go through a massive re-structure, and that the home-working initiative, being so new was requiring too much dedicated support to be viable.

They said that they would like to remain in contact with me, and when there is a brighter outlook for the business, that they would like to look at taking me on again.

Reading between the lines. They were not expecting my manager to get pregnant and take maternity leave; and since the support for the homeworking scheme totally revolved around her-they cannot continue without her-as they are already too thinly spread. It needs the attention of someone who knows the business sector and their company well. Add together the timing of it coinciding with a rough patch for the business financially; and I guess we (the home workers) were an easy cut to make.

I am gutted. I actually cried. I tried not to, but I couldn't help it. Both of them looked awful, and said that they would take me back without a second thought if I was ever open to it when they have the right opportunity available again.

They even both hugged me as they left. I actually felt quite sorry for them; as they are both lovely people who just had a horrible job to do today.  My mum had to make a large number of people redundant recently, and I know it wasn't easy. My mum was going home, crying about what she was having to do to these poor people; then once she had finished making all these poor people redundant, her company made her redundant too!

Hi 'Manager'

I just wanted to say thank you for all of your help and support. I appreciate that you are a very busy guy, and that there is only so much support you could provide me with on a remote basis; especially with 'my-ex manager' on maternity leave and the work force spread so much more thinly.

I am absolutely gutted, and meant every word of what I said about this company. I have never worked for such a lovely company, and would relish another ‘bite at the apple’ if that opportunity arises. My personal email address is 'xxx' and my personal mobile is 'xxx' if that chance ever does present itself. 

I appreciate that what you had to do today was not easy, and I am sorry I made it harder for you by getting so upset.

Many thanks again,

'Partner'

He replied as soon as he must have got back to the office with this email:

Hi 'Partner'

Thanks for your nice email.  I am just sorry that it did not work out and we were quite serious about re-visiting things at a later date.  I will keep your contact details handy and let’s see what happens over the next 4 month period.  You did not make things harder for 'HR lady' or myself we are just very sorry that it did not work out as anticipated.  Hope all the building work goes to plan

Thanks

'Manager'

The job market is not a good place to be right now. I have had some really lovely emails from my colleagues (now ex-colleagues), which made me cry even more.

Bf was wonderful, he had an incling too when he opened the door and saw 2 of them and no keyboard (even though he'd been convinced I was only paranoid last night), so he sat right beside me, and put his arm around me, and fetched me a tissue when I needed one. He has been great. I haven't stopped crying yet. I'll end up with a massive headache too now :(

To save time when looking at short sales you may want to only consider short sale listings where the listing agent has already negotiated a short sale with the bank. If the bank has not already reviewed the file and made a decision on price you shold be prepared to wait up to 90 days while the short sale process takes place. During this period the lender may stack many offers, do Broker price opinions and consider all their options. To help eliminate the competition of multiple offers you may want to consider working with a listing agent that has a short sale negotiator on his team or has out-sourced this tedious process. Its possible you can negotiate with the seller that they do not take back offers. This in effect will eliminate your competition. The good news with patience you can get a great deal. To help increase the odds of a great deal its possible to only focus on those properties that are pre-disposed to be a great deal. Many properties will have multiple loans . If a property has a large second loan and a first loan you have a much higher probability of getting a large discount on the second loan. It is not uncommon to get have the second loan reduced to .10 cents on the dollar! Assett managers realize that the second is not worth saving because of the cost of foreclosure, holding cost etc. To save time and get results on a short sale ventures,

surround yourself with a team that has experience in this arena. Tucson real estate is  an excellent time for  investors to enter the market. Short sales are a great way to help prevent foreclosures.

Now, you may ask, what can I do to counter this online, network driven, omnipresent availability of bad news

Well, the answer is simple, you look for a smile.

This isn't to negate what's out there, or have us put our heads in the sand and try to wish the bad news away. On the contrary, when we find ourselves increasingly depressed, discouraged and emotionally downtrodden, it can have a limiting effect on our capacity to effect change in the world, to even believe that change is possible. And without that energy, that focus, or even that tinge of optimism, it becomes difficult to take a first step toward creating good news.

Again, find a smile.

So, here's the good news; Smiles are Everywhere! Get up, get out the house and go somewhere. The park, the street, the mall, the beach, the grocery store and rest assured you'll find a smile. Sure, not everyone is smiling, but they're out there. And almost always you'll be able to find a smile on the face of a child, or a new parent. When you see these smiles just appreciate them. Don't analyze or contemplate what they mean, just embrace the smile and the fact that there are moments of joy and elation that each of us experience for an endless array of reasons.

And last but not least, finish reading this post, get up off the couch, or from behind the desk and give someone a smile. After all, it's very good news.

Doctor of Good News
*oh and if that doesn't make you smile, watch this video. Trust me, you'll smile. But first, riddle me this, is a jeri curl good news?.

I had heard the term "algebraic topology," so I should have had some inkling, but it still hit me like it was out of the blue. What am I getting into?

I learned this bad news from Rob, who was perusing the book I checked out from the library, "Topology: A First Course" by Munkres. (Rob had suggested a book by Weeks called "Shape of Spaces," which is written at a high school level, but unfortunately, it was checked out of the college library until the end of September. I've placed a hold, but I obviously have to start somewhere else.) It turned out that Rob was carrying the second edition of "Topology" around in his bag--a bad sign for my chances of understanding it.

"Oh," he said upon seeing the book, "that's not the same as what I was talking about last night. That's point-set topology."

"What were you talking about?" I asked, aghast. Dredging my memory I pulled up: "Algebraic topology?"

"No, that's something else. I was talking about low-dimensional topology."

Argh.

On the bright side, "Topology" has an entire chapter on the foundational math designed to catch students up to the level they'll need to be at to understand the material. Munkres also assures the reader that very little math knowledge is assumed, though a background in... "analysis or 'rigorous calculus'" will definitely aid one.

Dang it. Dang it. Dang it.

Well, I'm off to learn a little "set theory." This will help, right?

Akan tetapi, semua itu hanya impian doang.
Aku kalah. Aku gagal. Aku tidak berhasil memperoleh pengakuan itu.
Aku tidak bisa menciptakan satu kebanggan atas diriku sendiri.
Huf. Payah emang! :(

Tapi, seperti kata orang. Kekalahan itu adalah kemenangan yang tertunda.
Oke. Aku coba untuk berbesar hati. Mencoba menerima keadaan.
Mungkin emang belom saatnya aku menang. Mungkin emang karyaku belom pantas untuk disejajarkan di antara karya-karya para pemenang itu.
Sedih itu pasti. Kecewa apalagi.
Mudah-mudahan di kesempatan yang akan datang, aku bisa mendapatkan kemenangan itu. Aku bisa mendapatkan pengakuan itu. Dan aku bisa menorehkan satu kebanggan di hatinya atas diriku. Amiinn.
:)

To me, some of the eruptions on the topic are reminiscent of "Reefer Madness" or promos for "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers." And that's why I didn't want to write about them, and still don't really want to write about them. Because I am in a screamy kind of mood as it is. There's nothing new I could possibly add, except for maybe a loud ANGIE ZAPATA SHOULD STILL BE ALIVE.

And yes, I believe that many people in the feminist community hate people like Angie Zapata, though they often hide said hate behind sugary bemusement and/or doe-eyed earnestness. This"if trans people only knew their place, they'd be alright" mentality that makes my blood bubble and steam.

Angie Zapata, a teenager, is dead because someone decided that her place was in the grave. Think about it.

Yah. Mau gimana lagi dong? Tadi gw buru-buru banget.
Mana ga enakan sama Laras lagii :(
Makanya ga bisa mampir di rumahnya bentar.
Emang niat nya cuma mau ngasiin hp aja terus pulang kok.
Huf. Kenapa sih mesti dibesar-besarin gitu?
Iya iya. Gw yang salah! Udah. Terserah. Mau diapain juga. Terserah.

Hej folket!

Mina första dagar i Stockholm har gått snabbt förbi. Jag har varit upptagen 24/7, med undantag från igårkväll - då en liten toffla valde att skjuta upp vårt möte i sista stund. Orkade inte ens bli irriterad. Springer på ärrenden och träffar den ena efter den andra. Är redan lite mör!

Fick äntligen tag i J igår, efter över en veckas upprepade försök. Men är man ute i skogen och leker är man tydligen inte kontaktbar. Dumma träd!

Har blivit kidnappad, firad, fått tråkiga nyheter, kalasat, fikat, gått (!) på stan, blivit examinerad av doktorer, shoppat presenter, fotat, ätit en massa god mat, alkoholiserat min kropp mer eller mindre varje dag, bubblat en massa i telefon, kramat på några av mina bästa vänner, lekt med barn, besökt gamla arbetsplatser och mer därtill.

Vem har sagt att man ska ta det lugnt på semestern..? ;)

No need for concern. I'm sure the media would have the same low key reaction if the shooters had been black and the victims Republican. Same no big deal. . . except the U.S. would be in a state of martial law.

If I wanted to hear guidance and opinion on the Russia-Georgia debacle, I'd fish a mongrel cat out of the trash-bin and listen to its theories before I'd listen to these two. What does the President of the Republic of Burundi think about this situation? His opinion ought to matter more.

And so it is always with this world.

P.S. PLEASE folks, don't e-mail me with things like, "but [Ukrainian president] Yuschenko is taking such a courageous stand against the Russians! Aren't you proud?" I freaking LOATHE Yuschenko. He's a privileged, pompous git who doesn't even have enough sense to keep his smug-faced lout of a son out of the tabloids for an entire week. My fellow Ukrainians might not agree, but that's my line, and I'm sticking to it.

Good Morning, 3000 People were Just Beheaded in North Afghanistan, We Hope you have a Wonderful Day

Every time Americans pick up a newspaper...  Not likely... Every time adult Americans turn on their television they are most likely flipping channels looking for the easiest to follow sitcom.  Sometimes, every so often they will accidentally turn on the news.

The first time 95% of Americans flip through the news they have never watched it before.  The first story they see is most likely something like this:

• 3 Year Old gang raped to death by gang of Mexicans
• African country of Ginnea massacre, 10,000 dead
• Jewish house wife murdered & dismembered by serial killer
• Black man arrested for robbing bank and shooting 10 tellers
• White supremacist guilty of rape, murder and mutilation of Asian transsexual

The examples are very off of the truth.  The American news seems to make the number one story the most horrendous, vile, despicable crime which kills the most people.

Of course, this is not the complete fault of news agencies.  The American people are the reason why the news broadcast such ridiculous wastes of time stories.  Stories to install fear in American people who are already known as weak minded cowards.

News that matters to the average person's life is delegated to the last 3 minutes of the average American news broadcast.  What if there was a channel which broadcast the most important news in the average person's life?

There is Such a Channel

It's called reality.  The American people are so wrapped up in their own pathetic existence they fail to open their eyes and try to use their underdeveloped, brainwashed pea which has replaced the glorious human brain in their head.

They would be free to see that black people shooting Mexicans, killing the innocent but clueless Asian bystanders while white people look from the hills.

They will see Mexicans stab each other over a run down, urine and human feces covered urban city street.  They will see homeless people with mental problems roam the streets when nobody cares.

They will see good as well.  They will see good people intermix with bad people and create this mess which is called America.

The sad fact is that most people never see this good.  Why?  Because they get their dose of reality from such terrible sources as the republican government controlled fox news and the sensationalist CNN and the other host of American news channels on TV, even TMZ.

It cannot be denied.  The blindness and low intelligence of the American people have created the news, which is one of many things on the list of 58 reasons to hate America.

HERE'S THE FULL STORY

On Friday, August 15th, Frank Kern's going to be launching something BRAND NEW.

He's taking a serious risk with this one and time will tell whether it's a MAJOR SUCCESS or an EPIC FAIL!

He wants to send you a package ... a BIG package ... 9 DVDs and and over 140 pages of reports shipped right to your door ... for free.

This is a blatant bribe to get you to try out his Mass Control MONTHLY program, which has never been offered to the public before.

(Previously, the only way you could try this was by buying his sold out Mass Control Course for $2,000.)

NOTE: HE IS NOT GIVING AWAY THE ACTUAL MASS CONTROL COURSE

He'd get his ass kicked by his customers (and I'd be at the front of the queue with my steel toecaps on, everyone else, take a number)

However, THIS STUFF IS ALL NEW

You'll get full details about it on Friday.

And lemme tell ya, the stuff you get in MCM is AWESOME, life-changing material.

(I ain't gonna show you anything else otherwise Frank will kick MY ass!)

More updates on this as I get them.

Laterz

The Mass Controller

P.S. If you haven't seen these new videos yet, you need to.

Video #1: The 3 Magic Steps
http://www.masscontrolgiveaway.com/a/?p=mighty&w=1

Video #2: BAD NEWS
http://www.masscontrolgiveaway.com/a/?p=mighty&w=2

The third video is coming out later today ... and according to Frank, you're gonna get a brand new video each day all the way through Saturday. Cool!

One weekend we had a dinner at church - I think it had something to do with a missionary conference. The Church Ladies served ham and after the dinner was over, they gave my parents the leftovers. Which were plentiful (and which happens to pastors a lot).

Plentiful, enough, in fact, to last our family throughout the week. My mom broiled, fried, creamed and did everything she could to make each meal seem different.

One Friday night we were invited to a new family's house for supper. We sat at an elegantly set table in their elegant home and the lady brought in an elegant platter of ...

"Oh," said my dad, "I sure am glad that isn't HAM. I've had enough ham this week to last a lifetime."

I was about 14 at the time and I could see IT WAS HAM and I know my mom ALSO could SEE THAT IT WAS HAM..

"Craig ... Craig ...," she frantically whispered. "It IS ham."

My dad quickly explained about the missionary conference ham.

But the damage was done.

Dad had about twenty-one servings, attempting to prove that he SINCERELY liked the lady's ham.

And the family kept coming to church and even got to the place where they could laugh about my dad's blunder.

Arriving on the border on Saturday, Vladimir Putin declared it was unlikely now that South Ossetia would reintegrate with the rest of Georgia.

This is precisely the outcome Georgia was trying to avoid.

Does anyone reeeeally think that South Ossetia is going to reintegrate with Georgia after all of this? Or is the BBC banking on most of its readers being utter morons?

I have more on the Russia-Georgia conflict, and am hoping to publish accounts from Georgians as well. Please let me know if you want to contribute.