Most Liked Business Blogs (303)

I know there is a rock band with the name Nine Inch Nails abbreviated NIN where the 2nd N is backwards, kinda like the backwards R in Toys "R" Us. Anyway, with all the music videos I've seen, I have no clue what they look or sound like!
The catchy logo and sound always stuck in my head. (note to self: do some band research)

This blog is about excessively long fingernails.

I remember reading a news story (a few years ago) seeing a woman's photo where her acrylic fingernails were at least 3" long. She had some amazing paint job that looked like an airbrush technique you'd see on a customized racing motorcycle.

The woman had a job working for the county and was cited for the (excessive) length of her nails. Aside from the constant distraction from customers always commenting about her nails, they were a hindrance to her getting her job done. She refused to cut them and risked losing her job.

There was no medical reason nor 'handicap' that would legally allow her to have nails so long, she was seeking an attorney to defend her case against the county.

Unfortunately, I didn't see a followup story to her plight, so I never got to hear about the outcome. Either way, it 'could' have been newsworthy so others would understand the power of dress codes, especially when working for government agencies.

Two weeks ago, I was in downtown Miami having dinner at a restaurant and saw a woman with a 'Medusa' braided hairstyle that could easily have been 20 pounds of hair down to her butt. She was wearing a uniform with the ID 'County Corrections'
Logically (in my mind) that was a hazard and shouldn't be allowed. She puts herself in harms way should an inmate decide to tug on her (fake) locks and make a break to escape.

It's my thought and my blog, but I'm surprised the county would allow her to have such a vanity style that could be devastating to her and put the liability on the county for allowing such a situation.

Next blog subject: Fat cops, fat cops... whatcha gonna do!
(sung to the tune of bad boys)

..pR } pattern Recognition, McPeeps.

Pivot point of American History: 12/25/1776........ Trenton, battle of
.. Batter UP ! Elysian Fields................. 1846....... Hoboken
Samuel Colt goes into production.........1836...... Paterson
Strong Concordance debut................... 1890..... Madison
Jackson's Proper Names....................... 1909..... Neptune
..[ augmenting Strong ]
Light bulb, phonograph........................1886ish.... Menlo Park
kinetoscope, kinetograph, k..-phone.. 1890 ish... Orange
motion picture One } ........................... 1903........ Milltown
..[ great train robbery) budget; $150
Radio Astronomy born.........................1930ish....Murray Hill
.. fake ] Alien Invasion............ 10 /30/1938........ Grovers Mill
Point Contact Transistor invented...... 1947..... Bell Labs [ Murray Hill
[ nerve cell of the modern world ]
... Gun control baby arrives................. 1957.... Milltown
who in 3 short years bec0mes agent bob........ South River
.. IDEAL X [ oil tanker stuffed w/ 58 trailers*
of goods ] maiden voyage ) ) .............. 1958..... Newark to Houston
* the logistics of 'containerazation' now supplies 90%
of everything Amerika uses.
...OVER 600 Diners [ the League Leader.
the state bug of New Jersey: Ye honeybee } obviously......
...1588. Garden
...3027. State } Strong radio net.
.. 4615. deep... ) standby, eYe have not yet begun to write.

After a lot of teeth gnashing and hair pulling, I finally broke down and phoned my bookkeeper to ask her to do my books for the past 18 months.

Yes, I'm way behind. No I haven't filed my taxes for last year. I absolutely hate bookkeeping and have had lots of good intentions this past year to input everything. So many, in fact, I have a personal road to hell, already paved, I'm sure. ("The road to hell is paved with good intentions"). Don't know who said that.

After sitting down in front of my bookkeeping program and trying again to figure out what goes where, I finally broke down and phoned the bookkeeper to ask her how much she'd charge to get me caught up. It wasn't nearly as much as I thought it'd be. With a huge sigh of relief, we agreed she'd come and get my stuff next week, take it home and get my books done. Right up to the current date. YES!

And after that, she'll do them on a monthly basis, because I just don't want to be bothered with it. For the cost, it's well worth it for her to do it. And then it leaves me time to do the things that I'm good at and like to do.

The only things I have to do from now until next Tuesday is print out all my bank statements, and download all the reports from Amazon and PayPal.

That's another thing I finally made a decision on yesterday. I closed my seller account on Amazon, fed up with their heavy handed bs on how I run MY business. I've told them numerous times, I don't work for you! With not only monthly fees but now they say 15% fees on every item sold, which seems to be more like 25%, I finally had enough and closed my account. I have my own website, and if people really want the product, they'll do a search and find my website. If not, I don't really care. I'm into other things now.

I have no problem paying PayPal the fee they charge to accept payment, but I'll be damned if I'm going to pay Amazon for them to dictate to me. Some other sellers have said the same thing about Amazon. They might be good for the buyers, but they treat their sellers like garbage. So bye-bye Amazon.

I've managed to get some small things caught up that have been nagging at me for weeks. I still have a bunch of photos to edit from the week I was with the architectural photographer, but now that these other things are done, I can do that without the pressure of "I should get this other thing done".

Yay! Now I can refocus on the things I like to do, knowing that these other things are taken care of. Yippee!

A few years ago I stopped to see an old friend. He commented that I was driving a Korean car. My reply was "Korea is the new Japan"
If consumers can purchase less expensive products from another source, they will. Maybe with hesitations at first, but eventually... they will.

I remember cheap Japanese transistor radios. It wasn't the fault of the Japanese. It was the American companies designing/engineering inferior products and having them shipped here. They only made what they were instructed to make.

Same with all the low-end products made in China. They were brought here by American corporations and now the markets are flooded with low-end products made in China.

I'm in the kitchen cabinet business and have to deal with competitors who provide products made in China. Recent tariffs on Chinese made products will soon affect what and how many of those Chinese manufacturers will survive.

We are already hearing stories of Chinese companies who are relocating manufacturing facilities into their neighboring country Vietnam. Everything goes... all the machines, finishing materials, hardware... all the way to the processing of lumber... grown in Vietnam!

What once was Chinese cabinets will now be Vietnamese cabinets... without the tariffs.


"Vietnam, it's the new China"... and you can quote me on this.

Part of my job used to be field manager for projects I sold. That means visiting construction sites... places where construction boots are required by OSHA. Optionally, hard hats depending on the work being performed.

As the workload increased, it became more difficult to visit every project as much of the time was spent traveling to and from the office to each project. Last year, we hired someone to handle the field operations. His responsibility (in addition to taking measurements for the cabinets we were contracted to provide) was to make sure the other trades did what we needed for a smooth project.

My guy is on vacation and two new projects of mine are moving along quickly. The general contractor needed my help as the electricians and plumbers are at the 'rough-in' stage and needed direction. The means I had to be there in his place.
I keep tools for the job in my car... measuring tape (several) laser level, angle finder, red spray paint, heavy black marking pens and steel toe work boots.

I arrived on the jobsite around 9am and had a set of cabinet drawings for each room. I went around marking lines (usually on the floor) for the center of the sinks, make notes where they have to put wood to support the cabinets and drop wires for electrical connections. Most everything went as planned with the exception of a few pipes coming up from the concrete slab that were nearly a foot off the mark and interfered with the location of the dish washer and sink cabinet. That's when I got out the red spray paint and marked the correct location.

Considered a normal adjustment in this business, the General Contractor will bring in a company to cut away some of the concrete so the pipes can be moved. I met the electrician and plumber to show them what I needed to change to make the layout work.

By 11am I had answered all their questions, measured everything I needed and marked all the locations for cabinetry. It was 97 degrees Fahrenheit when I got to my car (dripping with sweat) and I didn't bother changing back to regular shoes. I clumped clogged and stomped around the office all afternoon and didn't get those boots off until I got home around 8:30pm. My feet were aching from that ordeal and this morning I can still feel some pain from those steel toe work boots.

For those who don't know... OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) is a government agency that sets standards for worker safety. Most jobsites are strict about workers following safety regulations established by OSHA.

...who led a trivial life.

Why Ex Yay Zee. This is my contribution to society.

It all started with W. Phonetically: "double you". That's three syllables, right?

How many other letters in the English alphabet have three syllables? And how did U get a monopoly? I'm sure that I've scratched the surface of some vast conspiracy here, but I digress...

I'm changing the name of the letter W to "why". One syllable. And then to avoid confusion, changing the name of the letter Y to "yay". Why Ex Yay Zee.

See how it rolls off the tongue and with two fewer syllables for your poor, battered tongue to stumble over?

Just think of the countless hours wasted by having to teach kids those extra syllables. If time is money, this could save trillions!

I don't want much. Maybe a small statue erected in my honor...in Times Square!


You're welcome.

Woke up, cleaned up, made coffee...and all before noon. I keep asking myself when I'm going tone down this hectic lifestyle, but for the moment it suits me.

I sometimes weigh my wants against my needs and the sum against my overall contributions. Then I get high and play video games.


This morning, I was walking past the building manager's office and decided that I'd give up one of my prized drawings to be sacrificed to the Crayola Gods. I hope her son has fun with it! (I'm only crying a little
)
She was happy to take it, and only asked that I sign it first.

I think I'll sleep-in tomorrow.

All the people on our planet can be divided into two groups. There are those who will believe everything that researchers say and those who know that researchers will say anything to please their sponsors. That is the only way for them to stay in the game. You keep the sponsors happy.

Likewise, you get two kinds of researchers; no matter what field they’re in. Firstly you get the researcher who is funded to find the truth. He does not set out to prove anything. He collects the evidence and will not reach early conclusions. When he’s done, he will look at all the evidence that is available and base his interpretations on that. He was hired to find the truth and he tried to do just that.

Then there is the researcher who is funded to prove or disprove something. He will twist or shape even the most insignificant finds into evidence to prove his point while he will ignore – and even suppress – anything that would defy his purpose; no matter how conclusive that evidence may be. He was not funded to prove the opposite and it would be financial suicide to submit a negative report to his financier.

Then how do we know the difference? Who do we believe? Well, look at the sponsor; see what interest he may have in the outcome of the exercise. What does he stand to gain or lose by the outcome?

But this kind of selective evidence gathering is not confined to scientific research. We get it in almost every industry from archaeology to simple market surveys, and nowhere is it more prominent than in the news media. Just listen to how different an Arab TV station and an Israeli TV station will describe the same bombing incident; one would think they’re talking about different events. Once again it is a matter of who pays the wages.

So, a little advice from me; don’t believe everything that researchers say. First, look at who’s to gain or lose by the outcome and who is funding the venture. It goes about big bucks for the sponsor and is the bread and butter of the researchers.

As usually, you don't have to pay me for this valuable advice. I render it as a free service in order to promote a better understanding of data manipulation misrepresentation.

Just go out and do it today; whatever!

Most retailers allow buyers to return goods with no questions asked.
I heard from one store manager regarding electronics, on return when they inspect and cannot find anything wrong with the product it will be sold as 'open box' discounted with full warrantee as long as the product appears new, has all the packing, manufacturers instructions and the product hasn't been registered/original warrantee card was mailed.

I've purchased many products that didn't live up to their claim and had a full refund from the store they were purchased from.

Most of my computers were 3rd party refurbished that last for years. I have one recent purchase that stopped after a few hours. (note to self: get a return authorization and send it to the service center) The tech support help step-by-step couldn't revive it, so it's got to go back for repair/replacement.

Off Lease Only is a volume car reseller in Florida with thousands of cars online to shop from. I went a few weeks ago with a friend and he had a pleasant experience shopping and making a purchase. No pressure, their fees are clearly posted. Loan and extended warranty were easy to choose. I see they have a remorse policy... yes, it's conditional but if you are unhappy with your purchase, you have some return options.
They advertise on many venues, but much of their business is by referral.

No one wants to hassle with a store to get a refund and vendors cannot afford bad publicity... so they have little choice but to make it win-win for both parties involved!


Thanks for reading my blog!