I'm sitting in my office and I receive an email from the from the assistant to Dr. Joe Vitale. Vitale? That name sounds really familiar. I pull up his website: mrfire.com. Yet, Dr. Vitale goes far beyond his website. He has a blog: mrfireblog.com. But there is even more. For those of you who have seen "The Secret", you will recognize Dr. Vitale as one of the several powerful contributors to this transformational film.

Dr. Vitale has written dozens of books (and multi-media products) on marketing, positive manifestation, and empowerment. He is a best selling author as well as a best selling eBook author on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. This is merely a glimpse into the success of Dr. Vitale. Given Dr. Vitale's background, you can understand why I am beside myself when the next day starts off with him telling me that he loves the copy I wrote for the Gadget Universe Gravity Defyer shoes.

I've been pinching myself all week. It's hard to fathom that a master of marketing would have such great compliments for my copy. I enjoy writing, so to have my work validated by someone like Dr. Vitale is a phenomenal compliment and a tremendous professional accomplishment. The pinching stopped today when I received an email from Dr. Vitale and checked out his latest blog. I have my interview with him Monday morning at 8 o'clock! Early bedtime on Sunday for me.

Here is Dr. Vitale's original post regarding the copy I wrote for the shoes. I am so excited about my accomplishment! Adding to the recognition from Dr. Vitale is the recognition from consumers. The Gravity Defyer Shoes are outselling the next best selling product in the Gadget Universe catalog by 2 to 1, and they are the fastest selling new product in the history of the catalog. Keep a lookout for a new version of the two-page ad coming to SkyMall Q1 of 2007. A single page version of the ad is being prepared for my 2007 magazine campaign.

technorati tags:copy, copy writing, marketing, shoes, gadgets, work, gift ideas, advertising, SkyMall, gifts, success, sales, top seller, best seller, accomplishment, magazine

Blogged with Flock

I'm not sure what was in the air around teachers during the early part of 1994. During the same time as the letter below (1994), I had a teacher argue with me over whether one private citizen could sue another private citizen for violating his "civil rights". The evening after I argued with my teacher in front of the class, I spoke with my father regarding this subject.

My father was going to the law library that evening anyway, so he took a little extra time to find me the exact law regarding this particular subject. Clearly stated in the letter of the law was the term "color of state". This term essentially means that civil rights violations apply to the state and local government and government agencies, not an average citizen like you or me.

I brought in the copy of the law that my father had made for me and handed it to my teacher. He apologized in front of everyone and then thanked me for taking the initiative to follow through on the pursuit of education.

Well, this wasn't the case with the teacher at some school in some town, who knows where? Just take a look at this letter posted on entensity.

Entensity.net - Post Images

I had to do a double take when I read this. WHAT!?! My favorite part is the second to last paragraph:

Although he was correct, Alex's actions show a blatant disregard for authority, and a complete lack of respect for his school. In the future, Alex would be better off simply accepting my teachings without resistance.

Honestly, this is impressive. I give this teacher the honorary 1994 lame a$$ of the year award. Thank gawd for kids like Alex. Thank gawd that there are people who are not willing to just listen to an arrogant teacher who believes that we should simply accept his/her "teachings without resistance." Thank gawd that we have people who are willing to stand up to authority figures who are clearly in the wrong.

While this is a rather trivial issue (especially since the great metric takeover never took place), it is an excellent example of the arrogance of some teachers. By no means am I suggesting that all teachers are like this. As my example from my own schooling shows, there are teachers who are willing to support the pursuit of education rather than their own ego and control issues.

Damn! Now I need to go find my inner peace. This kind of stuff really gets me riled up. I hope Alex's teachers brought this letter to the principal's attention. If that didn't work, I hope they brought it to the super intendant's attention. If that didn't work, I hope they brought it to the state board of education. If that didn't work, I hope they stated civil unrest in whatever town they were in! Alright, I think I've vented enough. My inner fields of daisies have been found. :-D

technorati tags:education, teachers, metric system, arrogance, authority, civil unrest, board of education, school

Blogged with Flock

A few questions are raised by this short film. First, how far is one willing to go in order to have what is wanted in life? Clearly, the Kiwi has gone beyond what is ordinary in his life in order to achieve a goal. In fact, a singular goal that he is willing to sacrifice his existence for. A goal that he clearly feels is his innate right as a bird to have but cannot because he does not have the faculties in which to experience this.

The next question is what has it for us to want something so bad that we are willing to sacrifice our existence in order to have it. Yes, the animation involves a flightless bird who will stop at nothing in order to have the experience of flying. It is just a bird and just an animation. Yet, we human beings kill ourselves regularly in pursuit of the same "innate desires". Literally, he has sacrificed his life in order to have the experience that he could not have from birth. Yet, he feels strongly enough about this desire to fly that he is willing to kill himself for the experience.

In his pursuit of flight, the kiwi was already dead. His entire life was spent pursuing something that he felt was his innate right of which he was robbed, having been born a kiwi, a flightless bird. Rather than being happy with what he does actually have in life, he focused on his wants so much that he became blind to the fact that he was ultimately going to kill himself.

None of this makes the kiwi, or humans, in pursuit of an innate desire bad or wrong. But it does raise the question for me as to where I am killing myself off in my pursuits of my innate desires. This short film is more than just a cute commentary on a flightless bird. Yes, kiwis are cute. I've seen them up close and personal. They are adorable birds. However, this animation (cleverly disguised as a cute film) is a powerful representation of just how insane we can be in our pursuit of our "innate desires".

technorati tags:philosophy, kiwi, new zealand, innate desire, psychology, religion, bird, flight, suicide, sadness, happiness

Blogged with Flock

Researchers studying chimpanzee mating preferences have found that although male chimpanzees prefer some females over others, they prefer older, not younger, females as mates. The findings uncover a stark contrast between chimpanzee behavior and that of humans, their primate cousins. The basis for this difference may lie in the fact that whereas chimpanzees participate in a relatively promiscuous mating system, humans form unusually long-term mating bonds, thereby making young females more valuable as mates with greater reproductive potential.

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I always knew humans were closely related to chimps, but this really hits home. I've always dug the older women. I never really knew what the reasons where. At times, I thought it was because women were like fine wine, but I now realize that it is because of a primate trait. What can I say! I inherited it :-D

technorati tags:chimp, older women

Blogged with Flock

This is an update to my blog from the other day: A Depressing Day in Blogging. As is evident in my latest blog (I've sold my soul to the devil), I am able to blog to Wordpress with Flock again! What's great about all of this is that I simply went onto the Wordpress.com forum and posted the information necessary for the folks at Wordpress to resolve the problem. I know that others supported them with information as well, but I do know that my contribution helped.

It's this kind of support that is the reason that I believe everyone should have at least one WordPress blog. Sign up today! Even if you have another blog on another service (like me on blogger and me on livejournal), WordPress is friggin great!

technorati tags:blogging, WordPress, flock, customer support, web browsers, blog editor

Blogged with Flock

It's not quite the same as the Last Samurai or Last of the Mohicans. Yet, I feel as important as Tom Cruise and Daniel Day Lewis. This afternoon, I purchased the final ticket for the US Open Swing Dance Championships this Thanksgiving weekend! Yes, the very last ticket available. Now, I know that there have been some tickets floating around the Internet, and there were rumors that Sonny Watson had some, and then it was Jack Smith. I followed those leads, and those tickets were gone too!

Sure, I don't have the best seats in the house. In fact, it looks like I have one of the worst seats in the house. I'm on the right side, front row. You might be thinking, "First row is great!" Just looking at the seating chart, I'm not so sure about it. Still! I've got a friggin ticket! This means that I get to see all the great performances by the Super Stars of swing. I wonder if So You Think You Can Dance Season Two winner, Benji Schwimmer, will be there?

Of course, there are also the myriad of workshops available to Platinum ticket holders such as myself. Workshops with swing dance greats such as Mary Ann Nunez, Robert Royston, Jordan & Tatiana, and Parker & Jessica. Then there are all the crazy competitions and all the open dancing. The schedule is packed full of great dancers. Now, I just need to get myself a hotel room.

Tags: US Open, Swing Dance, dance workshops, Thanksgiving, west coast swing

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