Sugar Free Cookes

Being on a low carb diet means no sugar. If you're into cookies and ice cream it's pretty much a shock to the system to go without. Carol found these sugar free cookies which are delicious considering there is no sugar in them. Last night, I was eating some of these cookies and on the back of the package was the background story on how these cookies came to be.

These cookies were invented to solve a problem for its founder. The founder has diabetes and created recipes that he could eat. Started off developing a recipe for a sugar free cone and then later developed sugar free cookies. Now, you can find these cookies in just about any store.

As I was reading more on this company, I came across something that I thought was interesting.

Joseph's Cookies is a socially Responsible Company that offers lifetime employment for its dedicated Team Members....

This company has two things going for it.

1. The creator was also a user of his product. The passion shows up in the result.
2. Employees are stakeholders. The passion shows up in the result.

I'm sure there are other products that are just as good - maybe. I don't think I'll try them because I like what's behind the product. This company has soul.

Finally Published!

I just heard that a couple of my pictures will be featured in an upcoming magazine that's due out in October. One of the pictures will be on the cover. I can't release the details just yet on what magazine. I'm sure it will be very strange to see one of my pictures in a magazine. Nevertheless, it's a milestone for me and I'm excited.

This never would have happened if my wife wouldn't have basically held a gun to my head and told me to get serious about photography. It's a blessing to have someone who has more faith in you than you do in yourself.

I've received emails from several folks asking when PictureForLife.net will be coming back. It will be coming back. Since I've been selling several pictures to photo buyers and agencies, I've been having to spend what little spare time I have on building a stock site for commercial buyers. I hope to have that completed in the next month. Then, I'll get back to work on the website.

It's All About The Light Bulb

A good read is Death By Meeting by Patrick Lencioni. Since Jeff and I had four hours to kill on our way home from St. Louis, we decided to tackle this subject. Originally, it was about meetings but then we couldn't agree between meeting hell and project management. So, we decided to tangle them up together to see what happens.

Warning: This Blog Post is meant to poke a little fun at our two favorite subjects. It's meant for entertainment purposes.

Adventures in Phoenix, AZ

Source: Flickr

Spending a couple of days in Phoenix, AZ. This week, the temperatures have been averaging 105ºF. Yes, it's a dry heat but so what. It's still hot. We made the trip to beautiful Sedona where some remarkable landscapes just take your breath away.

Phoenix, AZ is probably one of Carol's favorite places to visit. However, she seemed to be changing her tune based on the temperatures.

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This is probably one of my favorite Photographs I've taken. This photo was achieved using a 11-18mm lens with the bottom third of the focal point aimed at the sky. This made the mountain seem longer than it was. I was only about 100 yards from the foot of this mountain.

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Adventures in Farnam, Nebraska

This week, we spent a couple of days in Farnam, Nebraska visiting my parents and sister. Every time I visit Farnam I can appreciate the purpose of small towns. At the same time, small towns are slowly disappearing from America's landscape. It's hard for small towns to keep the young folks from returning. Farnam is no exception. Over ninety-five percent of the population is over sixty years old. The leadership of Farnam is struggling trying to come up with new ways to re-vitalize the town.

This is not what you think.


Source: Flickr


Last week, I get this package in the mail. I open it up and I see this book. At first glance, it was kind of freaky. I thought to myself...."when did I write a book. I don't remember writing this but I could have, I guess". Then, I opened up the pages and they were just blank pages. A local office equipment supply company had sent me this book. Needless to say, this got my attention. I opened it up and read the inside sleeves which was personalized for me.

I'm not a marketing guru but I thought this was an innovative approach to get me to notice this company. I did call the representative who sent me this book and told him that I thought this was very cool. The bad news is that I didn't purchase the copier he was selling. Too bad, if he was selling camera equipment I would have bought everything he had to sell.

Finally, about three years ago I started writing a book called "Click This". It should be out on the bookshelves in about thirty years or so.

Trivia Question: What do FileMaker and the rock group Kiss have in common?

Answer: The amount of abuse I've taken over the years for being a raving fan of both.

Today, FileMaker released FileMaker 9. This release is probably one of the biggest releases FileMaker has done since Release 5. I use both FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Server Advanced. One of the major improvements in the server release is the integration capabilities with Oracle, MySQL, and SQL Server. The server also implements server side scripting which will give it some pretty powerful DTS capabilities. Server also allows you to build relational data models using FileMaker's modeling tool. Once the database is modeled, you're ready to go. You can modify the schema and add fields to it. However, these fields are not injected into the SQL database. FileMaker will store the data in its file repository. This will be useful for building you're own functions. If you haven't used FileMaker's custom function capabilities; they're very powerful and easy to develop.

I'm excited about this release and there will be more posts coming soon. I've got big things planned.

Ryan Street Magic

Here is Ryan performing street Magic.

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Is This Next?

Is This Next?
Originally uploaded by camminges

More and more consumers are dumping their land lines and just using their cell phones as their main point of access. I stop putting my work number on my business cards. I use my business mobile number instead. I rarely use my business phone. Why? My cell phone has become the gateway to and from the rest of the world. Having text messaging and an Internet browser all wrapped up in a cell phone gives me the basic tools I need to interact.

Customer access channels such as online chat, secure email, and interactive wikis are experiencing phenomenal usage rates. Personally, I prefer to utilize these types of channels in lieu of picking up the phone and calling the 1-800 number. Who's got time to wait and navigate through all the phone trees?

Adoption rates by corporations building these access channels are skyrocketing. About two years ago, FORUM Credit Union implemented an online chat system for its members. The usage went through the roof in a short period of time. They were seeing 200-300% increases every month.

The challenge in adopting all these service channels means that disparate systems are also being created. Another silo in the abyss of silos. Member service systems need to find a way to integrate with these new channels without a member service representative logging into another system. One less icon on the desktop will make member service representatives very happy.

New Diet

This week my wife and I decided that we were going to start focusing
on our health. We started a diet. This also includes us exercising.

Here is how its going so far.

Monday - Decided to postpone starting diet to Tuesday.

Tuesday - St. Louis visiting Carol's mom. She makes me an apple
pie. I eat two pieces.

Wednesday - Carol & I go for a bike ride. About half way through, I
get sick because I am out of shape. I throw up on the side of the
road. Our legs are now jello. We spend an hour in the hot tub
recovering.

Thursday - I have lunch with some co- workers. I have fat chicken
sandwich with sweet potato fries. Yummy! My wife has almonds. Not
yummy! My wife I and go grocery shopping. We're depressed because we
can't buy anything we like. Except cheese. We bought lots of
cheese. I will be living off cheese for the foreseeable future. I
go for a bike ride. I don't throw up. Woo! Woo!

Friday - I'm snacking on some Atkins snack bar that tastes like card
board.

Stay tuned.......

Leads Stinkin' Up The Place?

For the past couple of years, credit unions have been implementing lead and opportunity management processes and systems. Here is my take on the evolution of our credit union's system thus far. Please feel free to challenge me if I've missed anything.

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1. Just get a lead

That's right! Just get a lead. Any ole' lead will do. Incentives will be paid for leads. Employees are expected to scan for opportunities. Not just opportunities for new checking accounts, savings, etc but for mortgage, investments, and insurance products and services.

Once the lead is generated, the employee's job is done. It's up to someone else to get the business.

2. Need Quality

Departments processing the leads were complaining about quality. They were wading through the stank to find sweet smelling quality leads. To reduce the smell, incentives were based on quality leads.

3. Cross Selling

Systems were created to help employees cross sell products and services. This was the perfume. If an employee can smell, they can cross sell. Incentives are not adjusted.

4. Management Dilemma

Should employees really be paid to help generate business? Isn't that a part of everyone's job?

5. CEO Question

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What's the ROI on the incentives being paid? How much business is the credit union getting from leads?

#4 and #5 are often overlooked or dare I say....IGNORED. In order to truly calculate an ROI, monitoring systems would have to be built. I.T. folks are saying that this is virtually impossible. Especially, given the number of disparate systems an average credit union operates.

Are your leads stinkin' up the place? Our leads were and we decided to start over. We've built a system that is all about efficiency and is based on Web 2.0 standards. Additionally, we're building a monitoring system that will track how the leads are performing. We like happy CEO's.

iWIFI

Obviously, you can browse the Internet using the Safari browser on AT&T's EDGE network. It's not broadband but it will get the job done. However, if you want to speed up the connection, the iPhone does support WIFI. I connected to my wireless network at home. All of sudden, I was browsing the Internet at broadband speed. Nice!