NO, I HAVEN’T STARTED A FUND-RAISER . . . (so why are you slinking away from your monitor and grasping your wallet so tightly, there . . . ?!)
Nope . . . don’t need any more money! In fact, I do hope that you know that the CONTRIBUTE tab on the MENU MAR that takes you to a page covering that topic is for the reader’s benefit - not mine! If you don’t get that - and if too many others don’t ‘’get it,'’ I’m gonna drop that page altogether.
For clarification: Lots of what we do around here is like . . . well, like Letterman’s Show: Although he’s gotten away from it in recent years, the original premise that made his show unique was that he made a point of taking viewers ‘’behind the scene.'’ Gave them a peek at how the nuts ‘n bolts things work on a teevee show. I’ve always done that from the very start - back in 1962.
When I was first learning how to write, publish, market and so forth, it occurred to me that probably there would be many others who had a similar curiosity. Hence, whenever I’ve mounted a fresh marketing campaign or published a new book, newsletter, or whatever - I’ve always tried to ‘’let the reader in on what’s what.'’
It’s also called ‘’ breaking the fourth wall'’ - mostly in stage productions - although I’ve used the device in a couple novels, as well - most notably, with ‘’The Enchanted Cottage'’ and ‘’Class Prophecy: Murder!'’ But per usual, I digress . . .
Back on point(!): I would appreciate your assistance with my current project - adding at least 100,000 new ‘’regular visitors'’ to this site - by Christmas. ’tis simple, I think: If you like coming here now and then - and I hope that’s more NOW than THEN(!) - just tell a friend or two about us and give ‘em the URL (WWW.DAXRICH.COM)
Tell ‘em that I’m trying every which way from Sunday to increase the frequency of NEW posts: Right now, it’s every Monday morning. But I’ve asked the DAX elves to put on an extra night-time shift so we can churn out fresh product a little faster! Methinks, once a week is minimal, whilst twice a week would be nominal - but thrice a week, PHEnomenal!
We have had a number of bloggers and other fine individuals tell US how they enjoy the site - and believe me, to any writer, who spends all his or her time velcroed to a keyboard, that is terrific - but the ultimate goal for all of us who do this sort of thing is to know there’s a vast audience out there to (hopefully) benefit from the words . . . and that means LOTS of folks who in turn, translate to ‘’hits,'’ ‘’unique visitors'’ and all the other terms peculiar to the world of the Internet or, as I think of it, sometimes, the ‘’nether world!'’
Anyway, from hearing from others like yourself, I’m sure that you’ll help me ‘’spread the DAX RICH word'’ so, I am herewith, officially, thanking YOU in advance! And remember, any time you want to send me a personal message, the email is: Letters@DAXRICH.COM
Meanwhile . . . start your trollin’ & scrollin’ with these features:
DEAN’S RANT: Why WWW.COM (sometimes) = WEIRD WEB WOES COMPOUNDED!
HEALTH BOOSTERS: Well . . . Nuts To You, Too!
OTHER VOICES: Beamer Bummer! Tiny Crashes Cause Total Losses!
PONDER THIS: If You Find Your Life Boring . . .
SHORT TAKES: Watch It Grow -’tis Stimulating!
DAX YAX: I’ll Drink To That!
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DEAN’S RANT: Why WWW.COM (sometimes) = WEIRD WEB WOES COMPOUNDED!
Previously, we have discussed various and more or less expected ‘’problems of infancy'’ as regards the birth and toddler stage OF the Internet but here, I don’t wish to address the more obvious of those (the shake-out of hundreds of DOTCOMS, the massive loss of consumer confidence, the pervasive presence of porn, and so on) - we’ve already done that!
One very sad consequence of the pervasiveness OF the web is that the once-proud art of letter-writing seems to have all but disappeared. Almost right up to the end of the 20th century it was still fairly common to receive a well-thought-out, well-written (or typed - just as good) meaningful letter from one’s friends, relatives and business associates.
The popular e-mail (which I love as much as anyone else) seems to have all but wiped that out. Now, ’tis fine for one to substitute the e-mail format for the letter, BUT I now see a new trend - and I am certain of it: People are rapidly getting away from both reading the e-mails that they receive as well as properly (or in a timely fashion) responding to their e-mail messages.
Why, I don’t know, but increasingly, this old scribe has become extremely frustrated and angry with a goodly number of people whom, heretofore, I corresponded with - in some cases, for many years. It seems that if I write to someone (via e-mail, that is) it is likely that I will not receive a reply for many days or even a week or two.
If or when a reply is received it will not address any of the specific questions or other issues that may have been raised in my original message. Generally, that which is written is done so without a scintilla of equal thought or dedication.
I don’t know about YOU, but when I am simply ignored - I get royally ticked! This has happened with the aforementioned litany of friends, relatives and business colleagues and has happened so much and so often that recently, I have curtailed - darn near ended - any and all such personal communiques with . . . everybody! I can literally count ON ONE FINGER the one and only person whom I can be relatively assured will respond quickly to an e-mail if I send him one. Just one. That’s it.
Here’s the silly part - quite ridiculous, actually. Some of the e-mails that are not answered in a timely fashion involve a fair amount of money - in one case, over $500,000.00 - in another, about $25,000.00. That’s money that those people and/or their firms will never see - only because they screwed up and failed to either read or respond to their e-mails.
In a horribly worsening economy (and we are IN one, my friend) it seems just plain asinine (to me) that anyone would conduct their business in such a willy-nilly fashion so as to cut themselves off from revenues of that magnitude.
In any event, here’s what I suggest to you if you are now doing any sort of communicating via the terrific (and free!) e-mail system we have now operating throughout the world:
First, do NOT tell anyone your e-mail address unless you are willing to commit to:
1. Actually CHECKING your cotton-pickin’ e-mail account at a minimum once every day. (We do every single waking hour!)
2. You are prepared and capable of responding to each e-mail - concisely, articulately, thoroughly and PROMPTLY!
3. No one (not even overly critical MOI!) expects everyone to be ‘’letter-perfect'’ and totally free of errors (only very special people like me can do that . . . oh come on, ’twas a FUNNY!)
But, do try to spell as well as possible by either rechecking your message before hitting the send button or better still, run it through the ISP spell-check: It’s fast, free and usually catches the glaring errors.
Several people with whom I (used to) maintain an e-mail exchange have claimed that their ISP (Internet Service Provider) has somehow screwed up or they are unable to access their e-mail account, etc. Baloney! IF one actually has such problems with any frequency (and I simply do not believe it - not nowadays - most all of those early bugs were long ago eradicated) then, GET ANOTHER ISP!
Heck, if you don’t want to pay for one - we have told you often enough how to get one or more for 100% free! There’s simply no reason to suffer the incompetence of ANY ISP - with so much competition begging for your business!
Some people are, I know, ‘’computer-phobic.'’ I certainly was until S.E. dragged me into the technology back in 1991, I believe. Well okay . . . if you number among those who flat-out do not wish to join those who are enjoying, using, profiting from and otherwise capitalizing ON the technology, that’s fine.
But if so, do not pretend that you are and/or give out your e-mail address knowing full-well that you will never open the darn thing let alone respond! That’s just a modern-day form of making and then breaking a promise!
NEVER-EVER send any sort of an ‘’attached file'’ to anyone who has a brain. No one will even consider opening an attached file these days: Thousands of deadly e-viruses abound - and many enter computers via those nasty attachments.
It is very costly, frustrating and a big waste of time when your computer crashes - for any reason - but especially, if only because some unsuspecting sender of an e-mail has unwittingly passed along a virus THEY picked up along the way. It’s kinda like having sex with strangers. (DAX-IDEA: Invent a ‘’cyber condom'’ - and get rich!)
If you want to send a long message to someone via e-mail - send a long message. If your server has byte limitations, send two or three e-mails if it’s that important. (Usually, it is NOT: Most attachments are lengthy, poorly written jokes, stories and such). Don’t forget that Peter Post Office is still in biz (as of this writing, at least) and for 39 cents you can send a heck of a lot of words to any of the fifty states or its possessions.
SuEllen recently brought to my attention a book written by a woman who stresses ‘’e-mail etiquette.'’ One of the things she mentioned was the frustration of asking several questions in an e-mail and then having only one (or none) answered in the response. She suggests that only ONE question per e-mail is asked.
She actually recommends that a person send a separate e-mail for each question they might have! Oh, how utterly stupid! If we, as a country, or as individual computer users have become that dumb - then, let’s just trash the whole thing and give it up! Following that ditz’s method, here’s how a simple Q & A e-mail might look:
Dear Contractor: I have some important questions regarding our proposed project, as follows: What will be the total cost for your work? Note: Next question to follow in next e-mail.
Dear Contractor: What will be the time frame for this project: When will it be totally completed? (Sorry - that may be TWO questions - I’ll send a follow-up e-mail on the second part - just so you are not confused).
And on and on. Look: If you receive an e-mail with several questions, there are a couple good ways to respond so that both you and the sender understand the full communication. Simply run off (print) a copy of the sender’s e-mail, and as you prepare your response e-mail, scan the original and make certain you ARE responding to each question.
A faster way is to reduce the current e-mail’s screen on which you are writing and review the original e-mail. You can reduce each, enlarge the other - go back and forth - quite quickly and accomplish all that. Still, be sure to print off a hard copy as originally suggested - ‘’just for the record.'’
That alone puts you at a greater advantage over 99% of all other e-mailers. Most do NOT keep a hard copy of their correspondence. Maintaining copies of both sent and received messages helps ‘’refresh one’s memory'’ or make a downright LEGAL point regarding what was said, or promised, or whatever - due to that stored hard copy. (That habit has saved or made ME a bundle over the years!)
The best way to correctly respond to an e-mail that contains specific questions (or even comments that you feel should be addressed) is to copy the body content of the original e-mail, paste it onto the text portion of a fresh e-mail form of your own, and then separate the individual thoughts and text using a different type style or size or even color (or all three variations) placing your answer directly below each question.
Your sender will thus receive a synopsis of their OWN original e-mail (very handy to a busy person - it stimulates their memory) and you can be assured that you have thoroughly addressed each and every issue raised. This will save you and the other person much time because no one will have to go back again (and again!) restating a question that was not addressed.
I know that I’ve mentioned to you before that I started ‘’writing'’ when I was seven years old. My first ‘’novel'’ (novelETTE, actually) was called ‘’The Wilson Twins Mystery.'’ ’twas written on an ancient L.C. Smith, jet-black, manual typewriter. I kept that old thing for decades:
At one time, it reposed in the lobby of our world headquarters with a four-color cover of one of the Derek DAX Adventure/Mystery books popping up from the carriage. (Was never certain just how many people who saw that ‘’got'’ the concept).
Anyway, I treasure the tons of letters that were exchanged between myself and my paternal grandparents (the maternal ones were long gone by the time I was a-writin’), my children, my parents, (my father used to respond with letters typed on an endless roll of yellow typographical paper from the old machines in the daily newspaper pressroom where he worked for fifty years):
Often, those letters would be as long as 20 FEET and one time, nearly 40 FEET! My older brother and sister would also write often.
You know, aside from one’s considering a career as a professional writer, it is also a well-rounded person who cultivates the art of writing simple but informative letters to others. Some of my most memorable (and successful) life-events have revolved around the ‘’written word.'’
Two examples: Long ago (and far away) when I was 16, I worked for a small chain of movie theatres. I was newly married, had the first child on the way, and was earning about $50 a week.
I calculated that in order to survive and feed the family I would need twice that amount. I had talked with my ‘’boss'’ about taking on further chores, but had gotten no response. Finally, I sat down at my trusty ol’ L.C. Smith and banged out a letter to the fellow wherein I carefully detailed all the additional chores I was willing to assume and the fact that I would require $100.00 to do them.
This (I knew) would save HIM a fair amount of money as I would be doing the jobs of several others. He could ‘’see'’ that in the letter - whereas, (dumb-ass that he really was!) he could not when we only spoke of it. I got the income I needed at the time, plus valuable experience in various fields of marketing, ad writing and such, as well.
Another time when my writing ability really came to the fore: Sixteen years ago, newly divorced for the third time, I had no desire whatsoever to become part of the ‘’dating scene.'’ So, I wrote an ad captioned ‘’WIFE WANTED! No Children, please!'’ I went on to detail what a fine person I was(!), placed it in the local newspaper and ‘’got SuEllen'’ for all my trouble and $400.00 for the ad. She read it and was somewhere between being ticked off that someone would have the audacity to write something so bold and being flat-out curious about the sort of person who WOULD!
Man, you should have seen some of the other responses I got: ‘twould boggle your mind! Just one observation in passing, though: Why would a woman think that a man - any man, but a total stranger, in this case - should just blithely take on the lifetime responsibility for her AND her brood of snot-noses which he had none of the fun producing . . . hmmmm??
Perhaps, the true and once-honorable art of letter-writing IS now dead, but methinks, we’d better not totally kill off its cyber substitute - e-mail - as we must have some sort of written word exchange or our society will quickly be reduced to communication no more literate than, ‘’Duh!'’ and ‘’Been there, done that.'’ (Or, whatever the heck THIS is): ‘’Phat!'’ What IS that, anyway?!
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Did you know that if you just can’t get enough of the blog you’re reading right NOW that there’s a wealth of additional such blather all over this site: Naturally, you can go to the ARTICLES tab on the MENU BAR and get some ideas . . . but also, when you get to the bottom of THIS page, just hit the ‘’Previous entries'’ link and you’ll find entire sets of admixture pieces just like this one!
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OTHER VOICES: Beamer Bummer! Tiny Crashes Cause Total Losses!
A number of DAX-DOERS own and drive BMWs - as well as Cadillacs, Lincolns, Mercedes, Rolls-Royces or a nice Lexus model, of course. Indeed, we’ve had, by actual count, a half dozen new BMWs in our stables over the years - including a factory-fresh white convertible P.C. received as a high school graduation gift, plus a 5-series sedan she and husband got as a wedding present.
However, if you’re considering a new one at this time, pay heed to the essence of a recent article in AUTOMOTIVE NEWS which states:
Owners of the new model year 5 and 6 series (BMWs) should drive with great care. Even slight damage to the front of the car may result in a total loss. Insurance companies are writing off even lightly wrecked cars. It seems that the front end is built with high-tech aluminum, rivets and glue and are difficult or impossible to repair.
The front structure is so light (only 100 pounds) and built to such close tolerances, that if it is bent more than 1 millimeter in a crash, it must be totally replaced - it cannot be bent back into place. Body shop owners must pony up $100,000 for special training and tools and many refuse or are unable to do so. Obviously, insurance coverage costs have been driven up, as well.
A DAX note: We loved all of our Beamers (I kept my own little {bright red} convertible a dozen years!) BUT I do recall that we could get the oil changes at only a couple places, as BMW purposely requires a special instrument to do the job - and that also proved too costly for most oil change shops.
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PONDER THIS: If You Find Your Life Boring . . .
It has been my experience that when you just sit around by yourself doing nothing much other than twiddle your thumbs, little gets done except some practiced thumb-twiddles. Life is peaceful, safe, but very boring. Conversely, when you jump into life and get really involved with others around you - in both your personal and business lives - everything gets hectic, people lie and cheat and break promises and seldom ever follow-through on much of anything, but at least . . . life is anything but boring!
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HEALTH BOOSTERS: Well . . . Nuts To You, Too!
Many people (me, especially!) love crunchy, salty snack foods and when trying to maintain a certain weight - or even more so, when trying to lose weight - potato chips or whatever a person’s ‘’vice,'’ can be a tough one to avoid. Well, you might want to try something that has worked well for me - and there’s good scientific data to underscore its value, too!
NUTS TO YOU!
(And FOR you - and me!) Love ‘em - and they are really quite healthy for us, as well. Particularly, certain nuts such as almonds, walnuts and even the lowly peanuts (which purists hasten to remind is NOT a nut at all, but a legume. Well, legume THIS!) Nuts are low in saturated fat and help to significantly lower the ‘’bad'’ (LDL) cholesterol but has no effect on the ‘’good'’ (HDL).
Nuts are rich in monounsaturated (type) fat (the healthier kind OF fat), fiber and phytochemicals including plant sterols and saponins. These are important allies in your fight against heart disease and surprisingly, nuts have virtually NO cholesterol!
Finally - and this comes from the result of a major study by the Health Research & Studies Center In Los Altos, California - nuts are NOT necessarily fattening! Volunteers (why didn’t they ask ME?!) ate 3 1/2 ounces of almonds every day for a full month and did not gain an ounce, and dieters who ate a few nuts before meals lost as much weight as those who did not - because the snack tends to blunt one’s appetite.
Wow! Love modern day research: Now, I can have a handful of almonds, a glass of wine and . . . say . . . do we have any positive research laying around here on CHEESE????!!
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WARNING! Some kids love strange pets - such as lizards, snakes and turtles, but according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention there is a significant risk of salmonella from having those creatures around where kids can make close contact. Ideally, if one washed their hands thoroughly and never stuck their fingers in there (own) mouth it might not be a problem but . . .
The CDC says that some 90% of all the aforementioned creatures DO carry salmonella and that is a nasty disease no one wants: Fever, stomach cramps, severe diarrhea - even death. Now, they are also adding meningitis to the list as it was found to be the cause of death in a five-year old recently.
Just get the kid a little puppy or kitty. Of course, now that I think about it, CATS also carry a potentially deadly disease - cannot recall at the moment the name of it - but we reported on THAT a year or so, ago, too! How about a Furby? I got one for Christmas a few years back - he’s a blast!
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GOT A CUT ON YOUR FINGER? CRAZY GLUE IT!
Soon, standard wound closure may be little more complicated THAN that: A new product called DERMABOND replaces traditional stitches and/or stapling and is essentially, a medical version OF Crazy Glue! It is said to be waterproof and prevents infection far better than other means of closing wounds. Plus a big bonus: No pain from needles, thread or staples.
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Just a very QUICK word about smoking: Today, 9.25.06 marks the 14th consecutive year of my personally having quit smoking. When I say ‘’quit'’ I mean that after September 25, 1992 no smoking materials or apparatus of any kind has ever touched my lips! I had smoked all my life - starting at age four behind the barn with found cigarette butts - and escalating to very intense, nearly ’round-the-clock puffing on pipes and cigars around age 14.
My reasons for quitting are not important - suffice to say, however, that I am here to write these words ONLY because I did in fact quit when I did. How about YOU? Are you still trying to give it up? Or, have you only given up on the thought, let alone the fact of quitting? Well, no sermon follows my query, BUT it may surprise you to learn that there is an effective way TO quit that costs you nothing - no pills, potions, or having to join groups or team up with other pathetic types who have no will power.
The entire program is set forth in the November issue of PERSONAL SUCCESS - THE NEWSLETTER if you are a subscriber. If not, we also publish a popular low-cost report that is available from the DAX STORE (tab on MENU BAR above) - called, ‘’How To Quit Smoking, Period.'’
’nuff said other than perhaps, this: Within the past three months two people in my sphere have died from smoking: My longest-living friend and mentor, Roger Dean Rose, and my brother-in-law, Graydon. Before that, my brother Wellington, grandfather and great uncle. My best friend of all time, Hameed, died of heart failure which was probably exacerbated, if not caused, by his pipe and cigar smoking, although his habit was considerably less insidious than my own.
As we speak, I know of two additional people in my sphere who are well along in the nasty process of dying because of a lifetime of smoking. So . . . do what you can - do what you will . . . but keep on smoking and you’ll pay a high bill . . .
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SHORT TAKES: Watch It Grow -’tis Stimulating!
$$$: Go over to the SHORT TAKES category on your left there - and scroll down to the very bottom of the page!
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DAX YAX: I’ll Drink To That!
‘’When we drink too much, we get drunk. When we get drunk, we fall asleep. When we fall asleep, we commit no sin. When we commit no sin, we go to heaven. So, let’s all get drunk and go to heaven!'’
-Brian O’Rourke
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