Island Art Gallery - Hyatt Waikiki
Saturday December 27 was a very special evening for The Island Art Galleries as they filled the entire Hyatt Waikiki gallery with art painted by the famed Makk family.  Eva Makk, her husband Americo Makk, and their son A.B. Makk are all artists in their own right and have over 45 years of professional experience and accomplishments.
Americo Makk was born in 1927 in Hungary. He studied art at the Hungarian National Academy in Budapest and won a scholarship to Rome, where he won the Vatican Portrait Award. He and Eva were both appointed Professors at the Academy de Bellas Artes in Sao Paulo, Brazil. There they became official artists of the Brazilian government. In 1962 they came to New York City to escape Brazil’s political instability.

Me and Eva by On Wings
I was excited to get a picture taken with Eva next to her painting, “On Wings” which has hung dominately in my home since 1991. I saw it in the window of a gallery one day, walked in and bought it. Later I learned that Eva was born in Ethiopia. Her father was a diplomat, and her mother was an Hungarian baroness. She began painting at age four, studied art in Paris and graduated summa cum laude from the Rome Academy of Fine Arts, where she met Americo. Together they painted huge murals while in Brazil and once spent thirteen months in the Amazon jungle on a painting expedition.

Masae, A.B. and Eva
In the photo above you see Masae, Eva and her son A.B. who was born in 1951, while she and Americo were living in Brazil. A.B. began exhibiting at the age of five, when he was called “the little Picasso”, for his then cubist style works. He graduated high school in New York City and got his degree in psychology from the University of Hawaii. Masae brought along her Makk Family book “A Vision of Life” and had it signed by the entire family, including Sylvia; wife of A.B. and an artist as well.

New Masterpiece
Americo helped Eva unveil her latest masterpiece, and then went on to show new works by them all. This was a memorable evening finely presented by the team at Island Art Galleries.

Unexpected Signing
I was really taken by surprise when three girls visiting Hawaii from Greece popped in and presented me with copies of Retail Selling Made Easy to sign for them. They had just got the book from a retailer that hired them for seasonal work while here on vacation. This world is really shrinking.

Traffic is Traffic
I snapped these photos of the Ala Moana Shopping Center parking lot at 2 PM today (12/26). This is one of the few times that I have seen more cars than on the 4th of July when masses park there to watch the fireworks. The fireworks today are in the stores with retailers offering ridiculous discounts to attract buyers and move out old merchandise.

Boxing Day
Then there are the customers returning or exchanging gifts. There’s so much of this going on in Canada that today is called “Boxing Day” where people box up the gifts they got and head to the malls. To my way of thinking it doesn’t matter whether they are bargain hunting, exchanging or just plain shopping, one thing is for sure; people do have mmoney and will spend it when motivated.

Cut-Cut-Cut Your Throat
Too many retailers are killing one another by playing the “discount game.” Oddly enough some of my most successful retail clients are those that do not discount at all. They maintain their credibility and profits at the same time. If all you want to do is rid yourself of old merchandise, donate it to the Goodwill. You are in business to make money, and to sell things at a loss just to get traffic doesn’t make any sense to me. If you are losing money on what you sell, you cannot make it up in volume.

“What do you want for Christmas?”
I am the toughest person I know to answer that question. The reality is that if there’s something I want, I probably already have it. Well, just about anything. Masae isn’t that much different. Suprising her is a real challenge. I don’t dare buy her clothes or jewelry as my opinion is not likely to match her taste and if she goes along it’s not a suprise. What a dilemna this is a couple of times a year.
This year she suggested something real unique.Since we have both upgraded from vegetarian to vegan recently, she said, “How about we go to the Whole Foods Store and buy the ingredients needed for a dinner, and then our gift to each other will be the time spent together preparing the meal as a team?”
I’m no cook, and Masae doesn’t really like to cook, but the “time together” part sounded cool as that’s the one thing I don’t seem to give very much of to anyone, making it valuable. So I went to Google and searched for vegan recipes. We agreed on “Totally Awesome Tacos” and then we went to Whole Foods and had fun buying the ingredients pictured above. The recipe is below, and when done I will post a photo of the finished product at the end of this post. If this works out, gift buying in the future will be easy and delicious.
Totally Awesome Tacos

Ingredients (vegan version):

    1/2 cup chopped onion
    1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
    1/4 teaspoon salt
    2 cloves garlic
    1 15 oz can kidney beans, light red
    3/4 cup water
    1/4 cup nutritional yeast
    1 packet vegan taco seasoning

Directions:

1) Saute onion in olive oil til brown.
2) Add green bell and garlic.  Salt if you like. Saute 3-5 min more.
3) Add in beans, water and 1 packet of taco seasoning.
4) Let simmer until reduced, stirring occasionally.   While stirring, smash up the beans as much as you like (use a potato masher to get them fairly smooth).
5) Stir in nutritional yeast.
6) Place into taco shells and top with your fave toppings: avocado, tomato, lettuce, veg sour cream, etc…
Also, makes an awesome chip dip or layered bean dip.  Enjoy!
Serves: 2-4
Preparation time: 15 minutes

Tearful Task
Chopping onions will indeed bring tears to your eyes.

Done Deal - Let’s Eat
We all like to look back at a job well done. I go to the table with a newfound appreciation for the cook in the house.

Yummy!
I can now attest to the quality of the recipe above. We WILL do this again. No photos of the “dessert” that followed (the dishes). Merry Christmas.

No Waiting
I felt a bit sorry for the Ala Moana Santa Claus this year as I saw him sitting there all alone most of the time with an empty knee. I remember the lines being very long throughout the entire season. What’s happened?

Same Day - Apple Store
Meanwhile at the same time that I snapped the shot of Santa Claus I took this one from the doorway of the Apple Store. As I look down on the parking lot at 9 PM this evening (12/23) the place is packed. People are shopping.
I don’t think we can count on Santa Claus to fill our dreams this year, we will need to do it ourself with creative efforts and positive thinking.

No Service; No Wait; No Customers
Lex Brodie’s is one of the few reamaining gasoline stations in Honolulu that will “fill it up” for you. They won’t check the tires or clean your windows, but they will pump the gasoline. As I approached their Queen St. location yesterday I noticed the line for gasoline going out into the street. I’m one of the few people I know that still likes (even insists on) service, and I was low on gas, so I got in line. As I sat there waiting (working on my iPhone) I was thinking that business must be real good, I saw two people in front of me get tired of waiting, pull out of line and drive away. I am sure they found gasoline somewhere else. I am also sure that Lex Brodie’s didn’t know they lost those two customers.
As I got into the driveway I noticed something new; they have added some options. You can serve yourself (only) in one lane and use another for cash only. It was interesting to see that the cars waiting in line were all for the credit card lane WITH service. That’s the way they all used to be. The other two lanes were not only empty, but everyone wanting service was forced into one lane, thus creating the wait, and lost business. My next thought was, “I wonder who came up with that idea?” After that, I thought, “I wonder how much longer it will be before the service line is gone forever, along with a lot of customers who can pump their own gasoline at any number of other ‘No Service’ stations?” I will continue to insist on and be willing to pay for true service.

If You Are One, Contact Me
There are always people looking for a job, and always people in need of an employee. If you are either of these two, and not currently employed by a Success Dynamics client, send e-mail to me.
Ron
-Three Students From Chile Available Until February 23
These three girls are squeaky clean and willing to work as much or as little as needed. They have working Visas and proof of health insurance. If I had a retail store I would hire them in a heartbeat. To meet any of them, CLICK HERE to reach me by phone, or send a secure message with your e-mail address included.  

The “Famous One”
A while back I was honored to sign a copy of Retail Selling Made Easy for my friend Wally “Famous” Amos at his Kailua Chip and Cookie store.

Wally and Christine Amos
I was honored again recently when Wally invited Masae and me to attend the grand opening of his all new Chip and Cookie store at the Royal Hawaiian Center in Waikiki.

The Famous Wood from Hawaii
One of the things Hawaii is known for is Koa wood, which grows almost exclusively on the Big Island of Hawaii. Success Dynamics client Hawaiian Accessories is famous for making unique souvenirs and gift items from this rich, hard, red wood.

Holiday Shopping In Hawaii
A film crew showed up at the Hawaiian Accessories store in the Outrigger Hotel last week to shoot a spot on famous places to shop for holiday gifts in Hawaii. They had just left Chip annd Cookie. Click RIGHT HERE to see the interviws with Wally “Famous” Amos and Patty Sherman, Hawaiian Accessories sales manager.

On Call
Star salesperson Sheri Layosa was asked to be there as well; at 7 AM. She was there, but they ran out of time before getting to her, so I promised that I would show her here anyway.

A True Shining Star
Sheri may have missed the video shoot, but she didn’t miss tying for the most Star Days on the Hawaiian Accessories Morning Report with 18 Star Days out of 20 days worked. Now that’s consistency. Here she is being congratulated by Hawaiian Accessories owner Curtis Wilmington and me.

You’ve Come a Long Way Baby
The headlines in today’s Honolulu Advertiser announced:
“Hawaiian Telcom Files For Bankruptcy”

“One Ringy Dingy…”
I’m sure that I date myself when recalling the days that Lily Tomlin portrayed that hard core woman working at the Phone Company who had full control over your communication. Deregulation changed everything. As a monopoly, the one and only Phone Company thrived. But when things became competitive we saw numerous phone companies now in competition with one another. The Carlyle Group in Washington D.C. acquired Hawaiian Telcom in 2005 from Verizon Communications Inc. They did it with borrowed money, and have now chosen to file for Chapter 11 protection rather than pay the bill.

“Hi Mom”
The once powerful Phone Company has taken hard hits from its own offspring; the cell phone. Along with free enterprise comes competition, and there’s few industries more cometitive today than cell phone companies. Innovation is on the fast track and I don’t see how the old phone companies will ever be able to keep up. I see more and more people opting to use cell phones as their principle at home phone, and then there’s Skype, where you can talk free over your computer. I haven’t paid for a long distance call since getting it. Watching this all play out is going to be very interesting.