And There Was Much Rejoicing…Yeah.

Rants and Raves - No Comments » - Posted on March, 19 at 5:45 am

Woke up bright and early today. So early in fact, that I’ve been up for almost an hour and the sun still isn’t up. That’s how early I got up. And why, pray tell, am I up this early? Well it’s because I’m attending yet another seminar today (and tomorrow ) up in El Paso, TX and this time I don’t even want to go.

At the last seminar I attended, there were a lot of deals and discounts for upcoming related seminars and conferences, one of which was right up my Mother’s alley. She’s fed up with her broker as he lost her a shit load of money recently, and at the Get Motivated Business Seminar, one of the speakers introduced a website that allows for easy stock management. It sounds like an awesome website, but it’s a subscription thing and you have to attend a conference and do an online course before you’re allowed to play around with it. All of which costs money. On average, to gain access it’s almost $3,000. Yeah, unless you’re doing some serious trading, got money to spare, or making a big investment in this endeavor it’s not one just anyone is going to use. However, those who went to the business seminar can get in on the action real cheap – $99 dollars cheap.

So yeah, my mother really wants to go and since she can bring a guest, guess who got volunteered. Yeah, me.

So up I am to make me sandwiches so I have food to eat and pack some baggies of chips in my purse too. I am kinda irked right now though. It’s my face, I’m trying a new cream and still I wake up with oily as hell skin. My forehead, it was so icky. But for once the rest of my face wasn’t all dried out in the morning. Small favor, I guess. Honestly, I don’t care what sites like http://www.bestfacecream.net say, I am convinced that there is just no facial cream/wash/rinse that can combat my ever so picky and mutinous skin!

So yeah, my skin is irking me, I’m up when I’d rather be asleep, and going to a seminar I really don’t want to go to. Joy. I will admit to considering purchasing stocks now as a result of this upcoming seminar. But, I know I can’t buy much, maybe one or two shares in a single stock or something, so I can’t see this really benefiting me any. My mother, on the other hand, completely different story there.

Salutations and thank you for visiting! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or sign up to receive email notifications when new posts are added.

Posted in Rants and Raves | No Comments »

Thoughts and Photos from the Seminar

Work - 1 Comment » - Posted on March, 17 at 7:07 pm

Well, I had planned to write a post about the Get Motivated Business Seminar I attended on the 9th of this month sooner, but I kinda misplaced the usb cord for the camera and it seemed too weird to write about it and then post a post of nothing but pictures later down the road. So here it is, belated of course, but all in one instead of chopped up.

Thankfully, there were no bag searches and the event staff were not enforcing the “no outside food or drink” rule of the Don Haskins Center because, oh my goodness, was that place packed. There were over 10,000 people in attendance that day. Concession stand lines and restroom lines were crazy. And then there were the prices of the concession stand foods. I was so glad I brought my own food! There were some good things about such a large crowd though; there was a chance for networking, I myself took a ton of resumes with me in the case that I might be able to pick up some jobs, and the energy was just incredible.

Since my ticket said “Executive Seating” I thought I’d be on the floor in front of the stage, turned out I was in the stands, but I did manage to get a seat near the stage and in the second row to boot. I was right there. I wished I had brought my tape recorder though as there were a lot of interesting topics discussed throughout the day and what slides that the speakers used tended to not stay up very long at all. Alas, I was a good girl and didn’t bring it. Mostly because I thought I was going to be front and center, and thus, more visible to the people on stage and the event staff.

I ended up carpooling with some small business owners from Las Cruces (never met them before) and my Mom attended as well. I kind of wished I had gone by myself instead of joining them though because they ended up wanting to leave early. There were two speakers left, and wouldn’t you know it, the two speakers I really wanted to see were the ones I had to miss; Rudy Giuliani and Mike Price. I did get to see Laura Bush though, as she spoke right after the lunch break, and Rick Belluzzo was the first speaker of the morning so it wasn’t a complete loss there. I saw two out of the four I really wanted to see speak.

I took a lot of photos, but most of them came out way too dark because of the lighting. It had the atmosphere of a concert, what with the lighting and pyrotechnics that occurred when guest speakers came out. The lighting stayed dim as well when the speakers were on stage which made note taking sometimes difficult. The best time for pictures was (usually) when the speakers were talking because the lights would brighten. Of course, since the slides would go so fast and the speakers themselves talked fast, I didn’t exactly want to stop in the middle of note taking to take pictures.

Leon Patillo, a former lead singer for Santana, performed a couple of times on stage. Rick Belluzzo, former of Microsoft, started the morning off and was followed by Ruben Gonzales, a four time Olympian, who was very funny. Dr. Robert Schuller, who I found to be very entertaining and full of wisdom, succeed him and was quickly followed by Krish Dhanam and Tamara Lowe. After we got back from lunch former first lady Laura Bush took the stage with a very heartening speech. After Mrs. Bush was Bob Catell, Zig Ziglar, and then John Smith.

Zig Ziglar was an utter disappointment in my book. I’d never heard of the guy before that day mind you, however, people sitting all around me couldn’t help but comment on how excited they were to hear him talk. Well guess what, he didn’t talk. Not much really. Apparently he suffered from a fall a little back and it affected his memory as well as walking. He did try to give a little speech but his daughter, who was supposed to be “assisting” him, seemed to hijack it and act as though here were senile and incompetent, in my opinion, which just irked the hell out of me. I hate it when I see people treat the elderly like that. In any case, after maybe five minutes of this they showed clips of Zig Ziglar’s speeches throughout his career.

To be frank, for all the fuss over hearing this guy speak live, after watching those clips, I didn’t see what the big deal was.

I have to say though, that was the most exciting and fun seminar I have ever been to before. I walked away feeling highly motivated, I took a lot of information that I could apply right away as well, and over all just really enjoyed the experience.

There were some downsides to the seminar though. I didn’t much appreciate the fact that some of the speakers seemed to think that religion and “god” were the answer to a lot of personal problems people might have. Even when they attempted to be non-offensive to those who might be atheist or agnostic they still came off condescending. Tamara Lowe and John Smith were perhaps the worst. I still recall Smith’s off-hand remark of how atheists and agnostics put their faith in “cat hair and crystals” while talking about the necessity of faith. In my opinion, at a motivational BUSINESS seminar, deragatory comments on people’s beliefs have no place there. You don’t have to be Christian, Muslim, Wiccan, or Jewish to have a business and succeed. So bringing in heavy connotations of religion doesn’t fit and since this is all about motivation, one shouldn’t be talking down to part of your audience either.

Other than that though, I really did enjoy the seminar.

Posted in Work | 1 Comment »

Does This Make Me A Bad Person?

Ramblings - 1 Comment » - Posted on March, 16 at 5:37 pm

I can’t help but wonder if I really am the “insensitive bitch” that some people seem to think I am.

I can’t remember if I posted about it here on my blog, but a while back my mom was let go from her job for [essentially] attending a seminar that she needed but that her office wouldn’t pay for. It caused a whole lot of drama and then a few weeks after the incident she was let go for supposedly stealing clients from the bookkeeping/tax preparation office she worked at. Considering the fact that the “manager” there actually does this all the time, and that my mom had never done this to begin with, well it left a bitter taste in the mouths of those who knew what had happened.

My mother gave them nearly ten years of devoted service, working at reduced pay because supposedly they couldn’t afford to give her a raise, putting up with the bitchiest attitudes I have ever seen, and for what? Honestly though, I thought it was for the best. She could get a chance to really put her skills to work and leave the stress and headache from that office behind her.

Yesterday though my mom got some interesting news. One of the local businesses that is a client with my mom’s old workplace went in to pick up their payroll from them only to find the office closed with a sign saying that they were closed due to a death in the family. Talk about unprofessional! You do the books and payroll for several different businesses and just because there was a death in your family you shut everything down and give no notice? Hell, not everyone that works there is related to the family that owns it anyway. There were quite a few people upset, needless to say. One of whom tracked down my mom’s new office through mutual acquaintances and brought their payroll to her to do for them. Now that was hysterical.

After hearing about it though my mom was curious as to who had passed away and called to ask me to see if I could find it online. Turns out it was the owner and my mom’s old boss who passed away. She had apparently been sick (cancer I think) and passed away on Saturday. My mom was all teary-eyed when I relayed this information to her and commented on how she would have liked to talk to her one last time because she was “such a wonderful person”. She then seemed puzzled as to why I didn’t sound affected about her death.

Seriously, the woman was a bitch, plain and simple. I don’t see why I need to shed tears over her death. I don’t even understand how my mother could still think kindly of her after the shit they put her through. That’s not to say I’m glad she’s dead or anything like that, I just don’t, for lack of a better word, care. I honestly didn’t feel anything upon hearing she was dead, sort of like how when you glance at the obituaries in the paper, see no one there you know (hopefully), and then move on. Honestly, it was like seeing a stranger there, I didn’t really feel anything.

But apparently I’m being a bad person for not mourning her passing. My mom also wanted to attend the service for her and give her condolences to the family. She was apparently all set to go and was digging through her closet, pulling out the odd bits of clothes in there in order to find something that would look appropriate for a funeral. Apparently, aside from a pair of black tuxedo pants and a dark gray blouse, most of her clothes (though professional) are far too cheerful for a funeral. Thankfully a few of her friends talked her out of that. I can just imagine how that would have turned out had she gone.

My mom, too nice for her own good.

Posted in Ramblings | 1 Comment »

Business Seminar Tomorrow!

Work - 2 Comments » - Posted on March, 8 at 10:11 pm

A few weeks back I got some interesting mail for once. Aside from the plethora of magazine subscriptions that have found their way to my mailing address, the million and one averts for lawyers (Damn Texas and their policy of selling lists to lawyers), and [interestingly enough] even adverts forcheap life insurance, I also received information for a seminar that was interest to me and I could afford it to boot!

Normally tickets for the Get Motivated Business Seminar average around $100+ dollars (actually I think it was closer to $200) and so I’ve never even considered going before. It’s just never been in my price range. However, this year, they reduced the prices and the pre-registration prices were ridiculously low so I couldn’t let the opportunity pass.

The seminar is going to be held at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, TX tomorrow from 8am to 4:45pm, so it’s going to be a long day. I hope to learn a lot and have a good time as well. The guest speakers I’m most excited about are Rudy Giuliani, Laura Bush, Mike Price (UTEP Football coach), and Rick Belluzzo.

Video and audio recorders aren’t allowed, so sadly I won’t be uploading any interesting clips to the blog but I will be posting an over view of it and my thoughts tomorrow after I return. We can take cameras though so I will probably post a few pictures.

I’ve finished getting everything I need for tomorrow ready and will be going to bed soon so that I can get up early enough to drive up to El Paso, get a parking space, and get checked in at 6:45 when the doors open. I even packed my purse with some snacks and bottled water already! There will be a break for lunch and the concession stands will be open and offering sandwiches, salads, and the typical fare you can expect (popcorn, hot dogs, nachos, ect) but I’d rather not have to buy my meal from there. You just know concession stand prices are outrageous, not to mention, the lines will be long. I’m in the executive seating (floor seating by the stage) so I can just imagine what the lines would be like by the time I got to the top floors where the concession stands are. So not going to fool with that. Hopefully they don’t search bags and confiscate outside food and drink.

Posted in Work | 2 Comments »