Go There!
I attended a seminar recently where we were all asked to close our eyes and visualize being at our favorite place. When we opened our eyes the moderator asked some of us to tell about our “favorite place.” One guy said, “Out on the ocean looking back at Diamond Head, Downtown Honolulu and Waikiki.”Another said, (with great emotion) “The bleachers at a UH football game, cheering and sharing high fives with the stranger sitting next to me.

At My Desk
I was hoping that I wouldn’t be asked about mine. Maybe I thought I would have been ridiculed or disbelieved, but the place I “went to” was my desk. This exercise caused me to take a good look at myself and ask, “What happened?” There was a time that I had six California Angels season tickets and at that time I would called being at “the game” my favorite place. At another time in my life I would have quickly said, “Catching waves at Queens Surf Break.” Others were, “Pruning in my garden” and “Going to a concert” and “Walking on the beach.”
Since that seminar I have thought about many past “favorite places” and asked myself if I would really rather be at my desk than any of those other places, and the answer is, “Yes.”
The reason is simple; it’s because that’s where I can reach the most people in the shortest amount of time.
What’s Your Favorite Place?

Looks Aren’t Everything

I have heard that many people are not buying the new iPhone4S because there is virtually no difference in the appearance than the iPhone4. I guess this means that people will not know that they have spent a few hundred extra bucks to get the latest Apple has to offer. I say, “So What?”

It’s what’s on the inside that matters. I have had every iPhone that has come down the pike, and without exception each one was a major improvement over the former model. The iPhone4S is no different, it just looks the same. Put your ego aside and begin to enjoy Siri, a much better camera, twice the web speed and much more. If you are waiting for the iPhone5, you may be waiting a very long time, and with Steve gone it may never happen at all. Get upgraded today; you will be glad you did.

To See It, CLICK HERE: 

Be Amazed!!!

And it Shows
My recent flight on Hawaiian Air from Honolulu to Los Angeles was wonderful. The return trip was quite different.
Things that were the same;
-The Airline
-The Airplane
-First Class Seat
-The Time of Day

Things that were different;
-The Crew

The flight attendants going from HNL to LAX were pro-active and friendly. They remained noticeably focused on passengers. The curtain between the first class cabin and the restroom stayed open, and they repeatedly checked to see if passengers had any needs.

Going from LAX to HNL was different. They were cold, reactive and indifferent. They stayed sequestered behind the curtain and only came out when they had to. They seemed bothered when I passed through “their space” en-route to the restroom. On one occasion I overheard two of them gossiping about management. I stopped and asked, “Are you a mainland based crew?” They seemed surprised by my interruption, and answered, “Yes.” I just said, “Aha.” As I passed though the curtain I looked back and saw two pair of “deer in the headlights” looks as I closed the curtain behind me.
Little things make a big difference, and a reflection of the “Aloha Spirit” can be the biggest of all.

Tick - Tick - Tick
The five minutes before you are supposed to be somewhere can be stressful or calm, and you get to decide which it will be. Needless stress is unhealthy, yet too many people experience it by simply arriving someplace at the last minute or even worse, late. Arriving at the last minute can leave you breathless, perspiring and stressed, with no time to mentally prepare. When you arrive late your reputation is tarnished, and depending upon the situation, lost business as well.
When you arrive just five minutes early, those five minutes can be spent relaxing and preparing for what you are about to do. I have this little “trick” I play on myself. I keep my watch five minutes fast. Although I have done this for many years, and I know well that it is fast, it still works. When I do arrive at the last minute (by my watch), I go, “Whew” and relax.
Try It! Life is too short to be stressed, and even shorter if you are.

How Did THIS Happen?
10 short (very short) years ago I had yet to ever touch a keyboard of any kind. In my day, boys didn’t take typing in high school, and I still cannot type. When “retiring” to Hawaii 30 short (very short) years ago I was determined to stay that way. When my first employee brought a desk top computer to work in about 1986, I told him to take it home; that this was no place for games.
In the past 10 years I have had no less than five different desk top computers, about the same number of lap tops, and three or four Palm Pilots. Somewhere along the line I went from PC to MAC, starting with iPhones 2, 3 and 4, then MacBook Air laptop and recently the iPad2.
This week my 27″ MAC Solid State desk top computer arrived, and on October 7th I will be ordering my iPhone 4S. This phone has a feature called Siri where you can ask questions verbally and get answers all without typing. YEAH! To see this amazing phone and what you can say to Siri; CLICK HERE:
At least I don’t have to wonder what I’m going to be to doing during my next “retirement.”