Riding Reno: The Ladies of McCarran Boulevard

15 Wednesday Sep 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in About Reno, Branding, Lessons of Life, Passionate People, Public Relations, Random, Recreation, Rotary, Sports, Travel

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Bicycling, Bike, Bike ride, biking, Blogging, Blogs, exercise, Keira Knightley, Lady Gaga, mountain bike, Nevada, Public Image, Public Relations, Reno, rider, riding, Rotary, Rotary District 5190, routes, Shakira, Sparks, Taylor Swift, Touring, workout

by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

This summer I started riding a bike around Reno, Nevada. Because I live close to McCarran Boulevard it is usually the primary feature of my route. McCarran is a four lane artery circling Reno; however, most of the 23-mile ring road has a wide shoulder and is a good option for a rider looking for a workout. Because it makes a circle a rider can complete the entire route, or it can be divided up into four sections that offer different challenges and levels of workout. Solely for my entertainment I have labeled each section with a female star’s name that reminds me of the section.

I should point out that I use a borrowed 15 year-old mountain bike, which creates significantly more resistance than a more contemporary road/touring bike, or even a hybrid or commuter bike…and yes, it is a pansy excuse. For a hardcore rider who loves hills, the terrain of McCarran will hardly seem challenging, but for me (and my borrowed mountain bike), the western sections of the route are more than enough of a cardiovascular workout.

I tend to NASCAR my route, so my description of riding McCarran Boulevard will be a route that is counterclockwise in each section of the circular route. The four sections are bisected by Interstate 80 and Virginia Street.

Shakira's first hill

SHAKIRA
Northwestern McCarran Boulevard
At 3.5 miles, the Shakira section is the shortest of the four McCarran quarters. It starts at North Virginia Street and after a slight downhill offers the second highest continuous elevation gain (175 feet in 1 mile) of the 23 mile route. That seems tame for most experienced riders on narrow tire touring bikes, but on a summer afternoon or evening the climb is into a stiff headwind. Combine the climb and wind with a hot day and a rider can lose a pound or two thanks to Shakira.

The first hill flattens out on top to a slight downhill followed by a second smaller hill with a 80-foot elevation gain that puts the rider at the top of Shakira section. From here it is all downhill for over a mile to I-80; however, this is a heavily congested area with multiple shopping campuses on both sides of McCarran. While Shakira has nice broad shoulders, she also has a lot of cross traffic in the last mile.

Shakira has great shoulders

Shakira is ideal for a short cardio workout. For a quick ride I typically hit northwest McCarran and then continue into the next section of McCarran to 4th Street and return home on surface streets.

LADY GAGA
Southwestern McCarran Boulevard
This was the first section of McCarran I named…I was listening to a Lady Gaga song during the climb … and the name stuck. It is the longest and has the most challenging terrain of the four sections of McCarran.

From I-80 and west McCarran, Lady Gaga continues to drop in elevation from Shakira past 4th Street and down to the bridge that crosses the Truckee River. Once she lures you in with fun downhill she then begins a 575-foot elevation gain over the next 2.8 miles to the highest point on McCarran (5160 ft.) To add insult to injury, a significant portion of the climb turns the rider to the southwest and into the afternoon headwind. Workout junkies might fall in love with the challenge of Lady Gaga, but for others it might feel like a ‘Bad Romance’ as you are pedaling over a mile up the hill into the wind and round a left curve only to find there is still more hill ahead.

Lady Gaga takes you for a ride

Once at the top you can congratulate yourself because you have conquered the biggest hill in the circuit. The next phase of Lady Gaga is a 600-foot mostly downhill ride for over two miles. The downhill ends at Lake Street and the remainder of the 7.1 mile section is relatively flat as you head east to South Virginia Street; however by reaching the valley floor you also have returned to a high traffic area.

Lady Gaga has great ...uhm,..shoulders too!

The paved shoulder on the Lady Gaga section is excellent for most of the route; however, the division between bike route and car lane is ill-defined in the flat area between Lake and South Virginia Streets. It is unfortunate that just as the car traffic becomes heavier the bike route designated area on the shoulder disappears.

Taken together, the total 10.6 miles of the Shakira and the Lady Gaga sections offer 1) a great workout, 2) great bike lanes, except as noted and, 3) great views of the Reno Valley (yes I’m aware no one refers to it as the ‘Reno Valley’.) I should note that most riders will pick up considerable speed on the downhills of these ladies and I have experienced strong side gusts on the downhill at the beginning of Lady Gaga. I have never been concerned that I would be pushed out into traffic; however, some caution in gusty winds is advised.

The narrow shoulders of the Keira Knightley section

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY
Southeastern McCarran Boulevard
Having covered the 10.6 miles of the western half of McCarran, one might easily dismiss the Keira Knightley portion of the McCarran experience; however. the 6.0 miles has a unique challenge, just not the kind bike riders normally seek. From South Virginia Street, the traffic is heavy due to the collection of shopping campuses and other commercial activity in area. Initially there is plenty of paved area for riders to avoid close encounters of the automobile kind; however, the paved shoulder keeps shrinking until there is little or no shoulder after you pass Longley Lane.

I would advise that the rider have some type of mirror to track the traffic behind them and, of course, a helmet is necessary in any riding environment. Most of Keira should be considered highly hazardous riding with shoulder conditions that are uncharacteristic of most of McCarran.

The other notable characteristic of the Keira section is its flatness. At Virginia Street the elevation is approximately 4450 feet and it drops over down to about 4400 feet at Longley Lane then stays within 15 feet of that elevation for the remainder of the section.

Like the real Taylor Swift, the final section of McCarran is a tame experience for most

TAYLOR SWIFT
Northeastern McCarran Boulevard
I have named the last section of McCarran, Taylor Swift. It is a 6.3 mile section that has some narrow shoulders at the beginning and a few minor elevation changes in the last half of the section. Overall the Taylor section has about a 250 foot rise but it levels off for the last mile before North Virginia Street. Taylor is a high traffic area for the first mile or so, but once past Prater Way the surrounding area becomes primarily residential. The other area of note is near the I-580 (US 395) and North McCarran interchange. In addition to the activity around the on/off ramps of I-580, there is major commercial activity for almost a mile on either side.

Like the Shakira section, the elevation gain occurs when the rider is facing west, which is the direction the wind comes from in the afternoon and evening. If you start your ride at the beginning of the Shakira section then you might discover that the last few miles on the 23-mile ride will remove any guilt you might have for the nice level ride of the Keira and first half of Taylor sections.

I have done the ride in two hours of ride time, but I would allow for two and half hours. For hardcore riders/racers it is probably an hour and a half ride or less. I like Shakira, Lady Gaga, Keira, and Taylor because they offer fewer intersections than normal city streets and a great riding area for most of the route. If you find yourself in Reno looking for a nice ride with views of the city, you can’t go wrong with the Ladies of McCarran; however, the best views, and the best workout will be with Shakira and Lady Gaga….is that a surprise to anyone?

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Selling Watered-Down Beer: The best spin campaign in advertising

10 Friday Sep 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Business, Communication, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Ethics, Management Practices, Passionate People, Public Relations, Random, Rotary, The Tipping Point, Traditional Media

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advertising, Beer, Blogging, Customer Loyalty, Executive Management, light beer, lite beer, Management Practices, Marketing, New Business World, Public Image, Public Relations, Publicity, Re-Imagine!, Selling, Value-added

by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

It is one of the best spin campaigns ever sold in the age of advertising. Few people would ask for diluted beer, but mega brewers have managed to make the ‘light’ in light…or lite beer seem like a health drink instead of one of the most clever advertising sell jobs in history.

Have you ever wondered what makes light beer, light? It’s a question most people don’t ask, but they should. Don’t get me wrong, making light beer usually is a different brewing process than brewing regular beer. Different enzymes are used to breakdown the carbohydrates, which helps reduce the calories; however, in the end the prime ingredient in most light beer is….water. Light beer is, at least in part, water-down beer. Of course, mega-brewers don’t put it that way. In fact, they go out of their way to avoid the subject, but to achieve any significant reduction in calories, some water must be added. One brewer’s motto is, “It’s the water, and a lot more,” but with their light beer the motto should be, “It’s the water, and more of it.”

One ad campaign that amuses me is the brewer that touts ‘only 64 calories’ with their light beer. I’m not an expert, but from my research, the only way you can get down to 64 calories is to add as much water as possible while retaining a beer flavor. That demonstrates the power of advertising. To create a product that people pay more to get less. Never underestimate how advertising can disguise the reality of a product and create an impression that the product has more value added by giving you less.

Lets not tell wineries about this. We don’t need light wine.

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Rotary@105: Grieving Change

07 Tuesday Sep 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Book Review, Branding, Business, Club Leadership, Communication, Crisis Management, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Information Technology, Internet, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Membership Recruitment, Membership Retention, Passionate People, Print Media, Public Relations, Random, Re-Imagine!, Relationships, Rotary, Rotary@105, Science, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, The Tipping Point, Traditional Media, Website

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Acceptance, Anger, Bargaining, Blogging, Blogs, Book, Change, Club Members, Customer Loyalty, Denial, Depression, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Executive Management, Facebook, Grief, Grieving, Grieving Loss, History of Rotary, Internet, LinkedIn, Loss, Management Practices, Membership Recruitment, Membership Retention, New Business World, On Death and Dying, Paul Harris, Public Image, Public Relations, Publicity, Re-Imagine!, Rotarians, Rotary, Rotary Club, Rotary District 5190, Rotary International, Social Media, Tradition, Twitter, Value-added

by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

On October 16th, our Rotary District (5190) will hold the second annual Public Relations (PR) seminar. It is a difficult topic because PR is a vital component to all aspects of Club operations, especially Membership recruitment and retention; however, for very ‘human’ reasons many members/clubs may not ready to listen to many of the key concepts because they are not ready to face the reality of the current situation.

To understand the resistance to the topic I need to refer to the 1969 book by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, On Death and Dying and her model of the grieving process. Her book became a major work in the fields of psychology and counseling for decades and while many experts now reject the idea of ‘stages’ of grieving, her model serves to remind us that people are influenced by their emotional state and some information will not be easily accepted when change intersects with tradition.

On Death and Dying by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

In the book, Kübler-Ross proposes that the grieving process involves five stages that help us recover from personal crisis back to a more balanced life where the incident or loss does not rule our lives and influence our decision-making. The stages are: 1) Denial, 2) Anger, 3) Bargaining, 4) Depression, and finally, 5) Acceptance.

So what is happening in Rotary that would cause a member or a club to be in crisis? Two issues come to mind.

Membership in Crisis
First, Rotary has been battling a significant membership issue for almost 15 years. For example, in 2005, Rotary Zone 23 (now re-zoned as Zone 25) had 568 clubs consisting of 33,921 members and five years later (2009) Zone 23 consisted of 33,304 members in 588 clubs. While the number of clubs had increased by 20, total membership had decreased by over 600 people. This is only about a two percent loss over five years; however, the problem is that, 1) this has been a consistent trend for most of the last 15 years, and 2) every Rotary International President for the last nine years has pushed for increased membership as part of the key programs for his year.

The facts are simple: Rotary is bleeding membership and clubs are getting smaller (in Zone 23, an average of 3 members smaller over five years.) In seven years Rotary has brought in 1.2 million members…and lost 1.2 million members. Membership in North America, and many other western countries is on the decline. If current trends continue, over the next 15 to 20 years many community Rotary clubs will shrink until they are no longer relevant and then disband. Many small clubs are already facing this problem today and have less than five years to solve their membership crisis.

A New Business World
The second issue is external to the Rotary club. Business and communication is undergoing a rapid change and all the rules are changing. The Internet and, in particular, Social Media have challenged how business operates in a world where one person can be heard by millions, and if that person is talking about your product or service you have to be plugged in and listening or be lost in ignorance of what your customers and potential customers know about you. This new world demands personal involvement, yet many people (especially older business people) don’t want to be forced to participate in Social Media tools that put them and their company up for public scrutiny. There is a growing division between older professionals that tend to reject Social Media tools and younger professionals that tend to accept them. Guess in which category most Rotarians fit?

Action Obstructed by Grieving
Public Relations offers potential solutions to both issues. By becoming aware of the Club’s public image (how non-members perceive Rotary) the members can adapt their PR plan to maximize the value of the club projects and programs to help non-members understand the purpose and scope of Rotary. Members can also be aware of behaviors and information that reinforce negative stereotypes that non-members may have about Rotary, then avoid situations that might damage the reputation of the club. PR can also help members understand and adapt to the Social Media tools and use them to the best advantage for the club…and their business.

The problem is that discussion of these solutions is premature when someone is grieving. It is akin to telling the man who just lost his wife that, “there are plenty of fish in the ocean.” The combination of scrambling to understand a new business environment while facing a slow bleed of Rotary club members has many Rotarians in the one of the stages of grieving.

For some it is the first stage: Denial:

Stages of Coping with Loss

“There is no membership crisis. The world is the same today as it always has been. Our club is fine, we’ve been around for decades and we will continue to be here for decades to come.”

For others it is Anger:

“This is our club! We don’t need to change, if someone wants to belong to our club they need to change to our way of doing things! Don’t tell me what to do, I’ve been around a lot longer than you! Most of our members aren’t even on Facebook!”

For some it is Bargaining:

“We need QUALITY members, not more members. What help are we going to get to make these changes? How do you know this will work? How do I know this is not just a waste of time?”

And for some it is Depression:

“….”

Of all of the stages, a club should fear depression the most. Apathy and membership are never good combinations; however, for some members who are overwhelmed by change, the depression over the issues will open the door for them to quietly leave Rotary. In some cases, a member who is entrenched in tradition may not be able to accept change and leaving Rotary is the only option, but hopefully we can be aware that grieving change is part of the process and present the message in a way that will help members to the final stage of grieving, Acceptance.

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I mow my lawn because…

17 Tuesday Aug 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Business, Club Leadership, Communication, Crisis Management, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Employee Retention, Ethics, Government Regulation, Higher Education, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Membership Recruitment, Membership Retention, Passionate People, Public Relations, Random, Re-Imagine!, Recreation, Relationships, Rotary, The Tipping Point

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Agent Smith, Blogging, Blogs, Club Members, Customer Loyalty, Executive Management, HR, inevitability, lawns, Management Practices, Membership Recruitment, Membership Retention, movie, mowing, mowing the lawn, Mr. Anderson, nature, Neo, New Business World, overcoming the odds, parenting, Public Image, Public Relations, Publicity, Re-Imagine!, Rotarians, Rotary, Rotary Club, Social Media, The Matrix, Value-added

by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

Mowing the lawn is a futile task.

It’s like Agent Smith said to Mr. Anderson (Neo) in The Matrix as he held him as the subway train rushed toward them:

Do you hear that Mr. Anderson? That is the sound of inevitability. It is the sound of your own death.

That is what my lawn says to me everyday as it smirks and says, “Do you hear that Mr. Kiser? That is the sound of inevitability. It is the sound of nature winning.” It doesn’t stop with the grass. Everyday we face the battle against the march of time. We live in a reality that will always have the last word…and last laugh. We cannot win….

: Agent Smith: The sound of inevitability

…but I don’t see it that way.

I mow my lawn and I do it as an act of defiance. Yes, it is going to grow back, and yes, I could spend my time some other way than weekly harvesting my valueless grass, but that would be giving up.

We can have small victories. We can defy the odds and make nature work for her ‘inevitability’. Yes, the grass will grow, but look at my lawn and today… it didn’t win. The day belongs to me and my lawnmower. Take your inevitability and chew on it, Mother Nature, because today I own you.

In the past few years I have noticed that many people have given in to Agent Smith. They see only the inevitability. Everything will only lead to failure, so why try? The only problem is that everything great that humans have accomplished have been done by defying inevitability. bridges, tunnels, interstate highways, monuments, dams, water systems, sewer systems, powerlines,….the list goes on. It is in our nature to defy nature…and win….even if it is only for today.

Whether it is the start of a new school year, greeting the 833rd customer of the day, inviting the 18th prospective new member when the first 17 didn’t join, planning the fundraiser…again, walking around and talking to the employees for the third time today, or convincing someone that a new creative idea really can work, we beat the odds and make inevitability wait and that’s why we exist.

Beating inevitability

So I will continue to mow my lawn…until Alexander is old enough to do it.

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Nevada I-580: An Interstate by any other name

13 Friday Aug 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in About Reno, Branding, Communication, History, Lessons of Life, Passionate People, Public Relations, Random, Travel

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395, Blogging, Blogs, Highway, I-580, I580, Interstate Highways, NDOT, Nevada, Nevada Department of Transportation, Public Image, Public Relations, Publicity, US 395

by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

I’ve lived in Reno, Nevada, USA for 15 years and one thing that has confused me is the identity of main north-south freeway through northern Nevada. To most it is known simply as ‘395’ and it is the only north-south freeway between I-5 in California and I-15 in Utah. When I first moved here I sometimes mistakenly called it I-395 because it is a freeway (access only by on or off ramps); however, the ‘395’ is officially ‘US 395’. Recently I learned that the road does have a federal designation, which is Interstate 580 or I-580; however, no where on the freeway can you find signage for I-580. Why?

For decades Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) has been working to upgrade US 395 into a north-south freeway from Hallelujah Junction north of Reno (in California) through the communities of Reno and Carson City with the ultimate plan to continue it south of Carson City. The Federal designation for this upgrade has been Interstate 580 or I-580. According to one source, at one point in the 1980’s signage was put on the section of I-580 in Reno; however, for unknown reasons it was removed. Thus, Reno has an Interstate that is not identified as such, and is still known by an identifier associated with highways.

Signage for I-580 doesn't exist

One thing I have learned in living in Reno is that there is a strong sentiment among ‘natives’ to hang on to the past, and an even stronger dislike for the Federal government. My best guess is that there is reluctance of renaming the freeway by its correct designation for fear of upsetting the natives. I know at least a dozen people who would say something to the effect of, “I don’t care what they say, 395 is 395, and you can’t make me call it anything different!”

I actually don’t care what designation it is given, but it is an Interstate and I’m interested in how long it will take before it is referred to by its correct identifier. Rumor has it that once the link between south Reno and Washoe Valley is complete the I-580 designation will be finally given to the Interstate, but I’m not holding my breath. Nevada schools are consistently the worst in the nation, so learning new things is not a popular sport in this State.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by confusion over I-580. Nevada has a long history of avoiding reality. Just try using the correct pronunciation of Nevada (Ne-va-da) and you will have every native acting like they invented the Spanish language and tell you it is pronounced Ne-vad-duh.

That pretty much says it all.

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Physics in 2010: The more we understand, the less we know

27 Tuesday Jul 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Book Review, Higher Education, History, Lessons of Life, Passionate People, Print Media, Random, Relationships, Science

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Blogging, Brian Greene, Fabric of the Cosmos, General Relativity, Physics, Quantum Physics, Re-Imagine!, Relativity, Special Relativity, The Elegant Universe, Theory of Relativity

by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

Several years ago I decided to update my limited knowledge of physics. I took my high school physics class in the early 1970’s and it was taught by a man who probably learned physics 20 years before he taught me, using a textbook that was a least 10 years old. Needless to say, I was out-of-date before my crash course in 21st Century physics.

I read Brian Greene’s book, The Elegant Universe, and his follow-up book, The Fabric of the Cosmos. I found that even though Greene’s did an excellent job of writing for the common person, my brain would still hurt while trying to grasp the concepts of String Theory, Special Relativity, and General Relativity.

The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene

Some of the things I’ve learned:

The Speed and Time Connection
Speed and time are connected and they have an inverse relationship. The faster a person, let’s call him ‘Bob’ goes, the slower time flows in relation to an observer, let’s call her ‘Audrey’. It’s important to note that 1) Bob or Audrey won’t see the change in the passage of time unless Bob returns to Audrey and, 2) the time difference isn’t noticeable until Bob gets near light speed (670 million miles per hour.) If Bob took a quick one hour trip at 99% of the speed of light he would find that upon his return Audrey will have spent 54 days waiting for him. I would advise that you just accept this concept because it’s the explanation that will make the brain hurt.

The Speed and Mass/Energy Connection
This is where things get interesting. Mass has a relationship with speed. The faster an object moves, the more mass it has, but like the time/speed relationship, it isn’t really noticeable until you get near light speed. The important thing to note is that mass grows to infinity as the object reaches light speed, which means it would take and infinite amount of energy to make the object go faster than the speed of light, which is not possible. Thus an object can’t go faster than light speed.

Here is what I find most interesting. Everything is in motion..the Earth is revolving and orbiting the Sun, the Sun is orbiting the Milky Way Galaxy, all the galaxies are in motion, etc., therefore, everything we can see, feel, and detect (i.e., everything that has mass) is traveling at a speed. If we could figure out the absolute vector and velocity for an object and send it in an opposite vector perfectly matching its forward velocity (i.e.; decelerate it) the object would drop to zero speed. Would that mean that it would lose all its mass and that time (for the object) would pass at an infinitely fast rate?

Gravity and Space
This is where things get fuzzy. Imagine a movie screen. Now imagine the movie screen is invisible unless light hits it. Now imagine that instead of the light reflecting off of the screen surface, the light causes the material of the screen to compress and concentrate in the areas where light hits it and the material reacts the strongest to the brighter the light. A flashlight would cause some compression, but a laser pointer light would cause a higher compression. Still with me?

The universe is made of an invisible, undetectable material that reacts to energy and mass. The greater the mass the more the fabric of space concentrates (gravity) causing a deformation in space/time that influences the path of other objects of mass and can influence the path of even electromagnetic energy, like light. Gravity is a component of the fabric of space/time and yet we, as of yet, cannot determine what gravity is in a physical sense. We can see the result of gravity, but we still really don’t know gravity.

Matter, Mass, and Strings
Scientists can no longer perform experiments on the elemental matter of which everything is made. It is just too small. Atoms are giants in the new world of physics. Protons and neutrons are made of quarks and quarks and electrons are made of vibrating strings that exist in multiple time/space dimensions. Experimental scientists have had to give way to mathematicians who are able to sort out this micro-micro world, often by mathematically proving what the strings can’t be, based on what we already know.

It is unsettling for many that we have gone beyond easy experiments and analogies to understand this bizarre new world, but the simple fact is that unless you want to become a scholarly mathematician and learn all the proofs and formulas, you have to accept the work of those who are capable of seeing reality through numbers as easily as we see the fly on the fruit. If it makes you feel any better, most of us don’t how to perform brain surgery, and yet we accept a professional neurosurgeon understands what he or she is doing when they perform brain surgery. Physics reached the level of brain surgery in the 1960’s and now they have gone way beyond it.

What’s Next?
I don’t know what we will be able to do once the secrets of String Theory are fully understood. Once we understood Relativity we realized that we could make a bomb that was more devastating than we every had imagined possible. We also learned we could create new elements out of other elements. I suspect that String Theory will open new opportunities that will again go beyond our imagination, both wonderful and terrible. For now, I just marvel at the fact that everything consists of little strings of energy, including the hands and the connected mind writing this, as well as the eyes that read it. Amazing.

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Rotary PR: Disrespecting the Club President is a PR/Membership issue

11 Sunday Jul 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Random

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Blogs, Club Members, Club President, Customer Loyalty, Disrespect, Dissatisfiers, Management Practices, Membership Recruitment, Membership Retention, Public Image, Public Relations, Publicity, Rotarians, Rotary, Rotary Club, Rotary International, Rotary policies, Value-added

by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser - Rotary Public Relations Chair - District 5190

Some Rotary clubs have a major problem. It starts with a few good-natured jabs at the President and everybody laughs. Then a few more jabs. And everybody laughs. Soon you have seven or eight members trying to one-up each other on criticizing the President and then it becomes a free-for-all. It all seems like it’s done in fun, but what message does it send internally to your members and externally to club visitors?

It seems to be a Rotary club tradition to give the Club President a hard time, but a visitor will likely see excessive ribbing as unprofessional and when the President is humiliated in public it may become uncomfortable for guest to even be in the room. The ‘fun’ behavior can and will become the basis of the club’s public image to non-members.

Ask yourself these questions the next time club members are having ‘fun’ at the expense of the President:

Who is doing the ribbing (males or females, older members or younger members, etc.)?
Is the ribbing done in kindness, or is it mean?
If you were the Club President, how would you handle/feel about the ribbing?
Does the ribbing reinforce the public image that Rotary is a professional organization for all ages/genders or an old man’s fraternity?

But what internal message does it give to the club members?

Many clubs find it difficult to recruit a member to be Club President because of the time and energy required. Add the weekly humiliation to the significant responsibilities of the role and it is easy to understand why many members pass on the job. It also may lead some members to grow weary of constant sophomoric behavior and add to the dissatisfiers that will cause them to leave the club.

(See Dissatisfiers: Why John Quit)

Rotary clubs do not have to be a sober, somber environment, but they do have to be professional. Members should be aware that ‘fun’ has its limits and that not all ribbing is ‘good natured’. But if certain members feel they must be disrespectful of the President, then let their pleasure be profitable for the club….I would say a $5 fine per incident would be a starting place.

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Foul Play: FIFA shows what less regulation offers to business

29 Tuesday Jun 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Ethics, Government Regulation, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Public Relations, Random, Rotary, Sports

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2010 World Cup, Blogging, Blogs, deregulation, Fair Play, Fédération Internationale de Football Association, FIFA, Football, Foul Play, Game, Government oversight, Management Practices, New Business World, Officiating, Public Image, Public Relations, Publicity, Referees, Rotary, Soccer

by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

Up until today the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (better known as FIFA) believed in fate, not fair play. In FIFA soccer (better known as football) four referees are charged with monitoring non-stop activity on a ‘pitch’ that is a larger field than the USA’s National Football League (better known as the NFL) The position of FIFA has been that mistakes have been ‘part of the game,’ but today they announced that they would study the problem….which begs the question, do they know what the problem is?

Compare FIFA officiating to that of the NFL where seven referees focus on plays that take place in short time segments of action (a typical play takes 15-seconds or less.) In addition, each play is usually contained in a small area of the field. The result is that NFL referees are so reliable that they rarely make a mistake…but if they do they are backed up by instant replay.

Occasionally, the losing team will say that an NFL referee cost them the game, but in reality few have a legitimate argument to base the outcome on anything other than the players on the field and the leadership on the sideline. Officiating in the NFL creates an environment of fair play for both teams, that’s the sole reason for their existence.

FIFA's View of Sports Officiating

In South Africa the 2010 FIFA World Cup is being played and not only are the referee’s making mistakes, they are determining the outcomes. But up until today, FIFA liked it that way. Somehow the sense of fair play is optional under FIFA officiating and the skills and dedication of the players is secondary to keeping the matches subject to the whims and errors of the non-players on the field. The situation is so bad that this year’s winner of the World Cup will likely owe a debt of gratitude to some FIFA ref that helped them win a game in the ‘knockout’ rounds. No team can fully claim credit of superior gamesmanship because of the excessive, gross errors made by the referees. I do not fault the referees, because four people cannot possibly track all the action on the field for 93 continuous minutes (90 minutes? Who are they kidding?) In FIFA, foul play reigns supreme because of a lack of regulation.

A Lesson For Business
This is a good lesson for those who preach that less regulation is good for business. We have seen what happens when government is stripped back to allow business to do as they will to their customers and the market. Too little regulation leads to foul play. It always has, always does, and always will. Greed is bad, but that is what reigns supreme in unregulated business. Business ethics become an unacceptable expense in unregulated business. Good business people are forced to abandon their ethics or get out of the industry in unregulated business environment because of their competitors who sacrifice fair play in order to win at all costs. Whether it is an exploding oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico, a lead-based paint on a child’s toy, or unsustainable lending practices that will eventually destroy an economy, the cause is a lack of government oversight.

Whenever I say this to one of my conservative acquaintances they immediately quote me some instance that they heard from some source of an example of government abusing power. Yes, there are bad inspectors and absurd rules and laws that increase the cost of doing business, but I’ll take an occasional problem with government oversight to the perversion that unethical business people always devolve into when government is not there to protect us from greed. Regulated business is fair play for all and that’s what has made American business great.

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To Believe in the Better Me

22 Tuesday Jun 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Ethics, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Passionate People, Random, Relationships, Social Media Relations, Tom Peters

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Blogging, Blogs, Mythology, Purpose of life

by Paul Kiser [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype: kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser and Family

I have a friend who was recently dealt with one of those unfair blows that we get in life. My friend is handling it well; however, even though the act was unfair, most people would still ask, “Did I fail?”

What you need to know is that this friend reminds me of a younger version of me. This person is crazy enough to view the world with a vision that sees through the masks of false conventions and questions behaviors, rules, and ideas that are silly, immoral, ignorant, or are just plain wrong. We are the type of person to tell the King that he’s wearing no clothes and then continue by telling him what he should be wearing. “Just because.” or “Because I say so!” are not good enough reasons for people like us, and that makes us a target to those who think that unquestioned obedience is a sign of strength.

(See Article on Becoming the Target)

PR Pro and fellow blogger, Jules Zunich, recently mentioned that she was a Purple Cow, which was a reference I didn’t get until she explained that author Seth Godin has written several books that promote the idea of being remarkable and indispensable; however, by standing out like a Purple Cow among the black and white cows, as Jules puts it “…certainly makes them a target for not fitting in.” Standing out doesn’t sit well with some people, especially with people who thrive on hierarchy.

(Catch Jules Zunich’s Blog by clicking on this link)

My guess is that my friend has been questioning what could have been done differently because in any negative situation there is option of not participating, thus avoiding any conflict. Drawing on my own experiences I can imagine there is a mix of anger, frustration, and self-doubt, all emotions that wear us down and can be more destructive than motivating.

The difference between my friend and myself is that over the years I have tried to stay embedded in the journey of life. Focus on what I do today and know that conflict will occur. When conflict does occur I will fight the battles I need to and walk away from the battles that have no value to me. My attitude towards life involves a mythology where I hold the hope that at the end of life there is a Better Me.

Signs of life

I don’t believe in mythological deities, but I do subscribe to the idea that in the end of life (or time) everything I’ve done (both good and bad) will be apparent to all, and likewise I will know all that was said and done (both good and bad) by others. In this mythology I hope that the Better Me can help guide me through the conflicts of life, but it will be my choices that will determine how proud or ashamed I will be in the end.

It is a mythology that has given me comfort and motivation to try to do the right thing, while not getting too hung up on those who misuse their power or authority, because I believe their actions will only reflect on them, not me….or the Better Me.

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Starbucks One for Breakfast

24 Monday May 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Random

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by Paul Kiser

Starbucks One - Reno, NV @ Keystone & I-80

Shhh! Be verwy, verwy quiet. I don’t do product endorsements, but I’m excited about this and I have to tell someone. I’ve got two secrets that we can’t let anyone else know about.

First, my favorite Starbucks (Reno, NV, USA @ Keystone & I-80) is going to add hot food to the breakfast menu on Memorial Day. Breakfast sandwiches have been available at some Starbucks locations for sometime, but my home office location, known in my GPS as Starbucks One has not offered them…until now…or maybe more correctly starting next Monday, May 31. I’ve eaten other breakfast sandwiches and I usually pass, but I love the Artisan bacon and egg offering, so now in addition to my morning Chai tea and afternoon brownie habit I’ll be eating breakfast sandwiches. Something tells me I have to figure out a weekly schedule of when I’ll have the sandwiches or else I’ll burn out on them quickly.

Second, and this is important to keep quiet, this Friday, May 28th, they are sampling the sandwiches for free from 7 AM to 9 AM. Yep, I’m skipping my Friday morning Rotary meeting for free food.

Thanks to Stacia and Co. at Starbucks One for adding breakfast sandwiches and for creating a great third place to be…….I’m just going to leave that participle hanging there.

See you on Friday!

The Tipping Point Explains How Twitter Works

20 Thursday May 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in 2020 Enterprise Technologies, Book Review, Communication, Customer Relations, Customer Service, History, Information Technology, Internet, Lessons of Life, Public Relations, Random, Re-Imagine!, Rotary, Science, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, The Tipping Point

≈ 1 Comment

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40404, Bloggers, Blogging, Blogs, Earth Science, Jack Dorsey, Lightening, Malcolm Gladwell, New Business World, Public Image, Public Relations, Publicity, Rotarians, Rotary, Social Media, Social Networking, The Tipping Point, Thunderstorms, Tweets, Twitter, Wikepedia

by Paul Kiser

Paul Kiser - CEO of Enterprise Technologies, inc.

People will often to say to me, “I just don’t get Twitter.” What people have to understand is that Twitter functions like a thunderstorm in the world of ideas. In the summer, air (including water vapor) heats and rises. The water vapor in the air is wrung out of the rising air (water vapor condenses to water droplets) and clouds form. For reasons not exactly understood, a discharge of electricity leaps between the positive and negative regions. FLASH! BAM! A thunderstorm is born.

Like a summer thunderstorm, 40404* provides the environment for ideas to flash across the Internet. Jack Dorsey, the Chairman and one of the creators of Twitter eludes to this ‘electricity’ when explaining how they arrived at the name:

Ideas: Lightning on the grassy plains of Twitter

“…we wanted to capture that feeling: the physical sensation that you’re buzzing your friend’s pocket. It’s like buzzing all over the world. So we did a bunch of name-storming, and we came up with the word “twitch,” because the phone kind of vibrates when it moves. But “twitch” is not a good product name because it doesn’t bring up the right imagery. So we looked in the dictionary for words around it, and we came across the word “twitter,” and it was just perfect.

(*40404 is the SMS Code for Twitter – Read more here)

I was re-reading The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell and he compares mass social events/phenomenons to epidemics. He offers three factors that are common to all mass social behaviors.

The Law of the Few
The Stickiness Factor
The Power of Context

Note that Gladwell’s book was first published in 2000, six years before Twitter was launched, but his three factors perfectly describe the workings of Twitter. The Law of the Few suggests that a few ‘extraordinary’ people tend to trigger mass social events. In the case of Twitter, we have users who the ability to attract masses of followers that fan out information to their followers, who continue the ‘retweets’ to their followers. A few people who have a large impact and influence throughout the world.

Not every tweet or URL of a blog, becomes a ‘Viral Tweet’ but those that do have a Stickiness Factor. They hit upon an idea or thought that causes an emotional reaction among other users, which leads to the final factor of The Power of Context. A Tweet that races across the Twitter world like lightning manages to ignite something that has been brewing in a person’s mind…more specifically brewing in the minds of many people, but somehow the Tweet or blog is the perfect polarity to cause a reaction in mass.

That is why Twitter is like a thunderstorm in the world of ideas. It provides the conditions and media for ideas and thoughts to leap out of one mind and into millions…in the flash of …well, enough with the analogy.

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Signs of the Times

19 Wednesday May 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Communication, History, Lessons of Life, Membership Retention, parenting, Passionate People, Random, Rotary, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations

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Ads, Billboards, Black Eyed Peas, Blogging, Blogs, Buddhists, Facebook, Imma Be, Management Practices, Membership Retention, New Business World, Nike, parenting, Public Relations, Rotarians, Rotary, San Francisco, Signs, Social Media, Social Networking

by Paul Kiser

Last weekend we took a short vacation in the Bay area (Pacifica/San Francisco, CA, USA.) During the trip I took notice of signs along the way and it struck me that they might say more about us…than to us. Here are some signs of note:

: Do you want to be Smart or Stupid?

Obvious Choices
This sign on Market street in San Francisco spoke a truth that you can’t argue with…but does it need to be said? In politics and entertainment we definitely see who has balls and they do seem to gather a following, but maybe it’s time we celebrate intelligence. The great outcome of social media is that people are looking deeper than just short, catchy statements that gain a “Right on!” from those who are wowed by a deceptive turn of phrase.

In politics it seems the more outrageous the idea the more excited some people get about a candidate. I’ve watched people become incensed over very sound ideas to solve our most significant problems and those same people then praise politicians that spew out hate for everything that has made our country great. I hope that this is a phase that we outgrow soon…before the ballsy people destroy all that we stand for as Americans.

: The pen is mightier than the sword

Write On!
I hadn’t seen this Nike ad before. It is in the Union Square area of San Francisco and if Nike is speaking of the explosion of Social Interactive Media then I agree!

Before the Internet and Social Media tools a small group of editors controlled who could have a voice and be published. Now new and raw ideas are being openly expressed in millions of independent blogs. Some of us could use an editor, but the beauty of this New World of communication is that the reader is the editor…it is democracy in its purest form.

: A great future is coming…today is still under construction

We’re Not There Yet
Some people seem easily frustrated that we never get ‘there’. We are in a world where change is constant and the road is always in a state of being improved. Satisfaction is the most temporary of all human feelings and people who do not understand this fact will always be deceived by bad politicians and religious fanatics who promise a perfect tomorrow if we only do exactly what they tell us.

Buddhists promote the idea of being and I think that is a great attitude to have to survive this world. Take advice from the musical group Black Eyed Peas. To me the title of one of their latest songs says it all: Imma Be. Yes the world is always changing but that is what makes it exciting. Take a break from time to time and then re-engage and have some fun!

Greet the day and be open for new possibilities

Arms Wide Open
Yes, I had to get my four year-old in on this blog. In Union Square he thought he could catch a bird. He actually knew that he couldn’t, but that did not dissuade him from trying.

I hope that he can maintain a sense of wonder and never let those that think it can’t be done hold him back from trying. There are people in this world whose sole function is to be a naysayer. These people infest anyplace where past success has built up an organization. They constantly destroy all new ideas and creativity in the name of ‘preserving the traditions.’ Don’t ever believe it! The only way to counter their negative attitude is to ignore them and move on.

Lots of choices, but where do we want to go?

Where to Go?
It doesn’t have to be confusing. We only need to remember that life happens. Today is tomorrow’s history and we choose which signs to follow to get there.

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America’s Hostile Takeover of Mexico

12 Wednesday May 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in About Reno, History, Lessons of Life, Random, Rotary, US History

≈ 37 Comments

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Alta California, Arizona, Blogs, California, Colorado, Hispanic, Illegal Immigrants, Immigration, Mexican Cession, Mexican Immigrants, Mexican-American War, Mexico, Nevada, New Mexico, Nuevo Mexico, Texas, US/Mexican Border, Utah

by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

Arizona recently passed a law directed at people of Mexican descent in an effort to rid the State of ‘non-Americans’. For many Americans this topic is centered on claims of how ‘illegal’ immigrants are responsible for stealing jobs, increasing crime, and threatening to destroy almost every aspect ‘American’ life. If you want to find the person who has a raw nerve about the issue of Mexican immigrants (legal or illegal) one only has to say, “Press one for English” and that person will launch into a tirade about illegal immigrants and how they have destroyed ‘our’ country.

It is easy to forget that less than 165 years ago the United States of America “obtained” 55% of Mexico’s territory at gunpoint. The Mexican-American War was not a war as much as it was a mugging. It is now recognized that most of the rationale for the declaration of war by the United States on Mexico had little to do with defending US citizens or property and a lot to do with our designs on seizing northern Mexico. We had offered to buy much of the land prior to the war and Mexico rejected it, but after the war we paid fifty cents on the dollar.

Mexico 1847

There is a reason why the northern borders of California, Nevada, and Utah fall on the same latitude of 42 degrees North. It is because that was the northern border of Mexico after they won independence from Spain. Until 1847 the sovereign country of Mexico owned the land that is currently claimed by the States of California, Nevada, Utah, southwestern Wyoming, western and southern Colorado, southwestern Kansas, the pan handle of Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Before the US takeover, northern Mexico consisted of Alta California, Nuevo Mexico, and Tejas. Many of the names of the geographic features, such as the Colorado River, retain the Mexican name still today.

How We Took Northern Mexico
After Mexico won its independence from Spain it allowed settlers to immigrate into their country, providing they agreed to become Catholics and abide by Mexican law and policies. In what is now Texas, the Americans moved into Mexico and then objected to the laws that outlawed slavery, restrictions on what crops could be grown, and becoming Catholics. Eventually the Americans declared their independence from Mexico in 1836 and a minor war ensued.

Mexico had few resources with which to fight the white illegal immigrants and restore Mexican law. After a few minor defeats the Mexican government stopped sending their army to battle with the trespassers; however, they never relinquished the land to the Texans. The white illegal immigrants then claimed to be an independent country known as the Republic of Texas. Knowing that Mexico would eventually gather enough resources to reclaim the land, the immigrants then petitioned the United States for statehood and protection of the US Army. In 1845 the United States accepted Texas’ petition to become a State and sent troops to secure the territory.

US States that occupy Mexican land (in white...ironically)

Mexico objected to the occupation of Texas or ‘Tejas’ with U.S. troops and in 1846 attacked Fort Texas. In response the U.S. Congress, under a doctrine of ‘Manifest Destiny’ (i.e.; the United States was destined to control the land from the Pacific to the Atlantic) declared war on Mexico with the intent of not only securing the Texas territory, but California as well. Meeting little resistance the United States occupied northern Mexico, including California by January of 1847 and by September had captured Mexico City.

The United States then dictated the terms of Mexico’s surrender with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The treaty forced Mexico to ‘sell’ most it’s country to the United States for $15 million, half of what had been offered before the war.

As we consider the issue of immigration ‘reform’, it would be helpful to remember that it was the United States that aggressively took the land from Mexico in the first place and that ‘Manifest Destiny’ was a disguise for the conquest of northern Mexico.

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Car Dealership Re-Imagines Customer Service

30 Friday Apr 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Passionate People, Public Relations, Random, Re-Imagine!, Rotary, Tom Peters

≈ 3 Comments

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Auto, Auto Dealerships, Camry, Car, Car Dealerships, Carson City, Carson City Toyota, Nevada, New Business World, Public Image, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!, Recall, Rotary, Starbucks, Tom Peters, Toyota, Value-added

by Paul Kiser

Car Dealerships: A Scorpion on the Fox’s Back

The world revolves around certain truths and we hold these truths to be self-evident. One absolute truth is that interactions with a car dealership will leave the customer feeling soiled, dirty…robbed. It’s bad enough to buy a car from a dealership, but then to have to go back for regular servicing is rubbing metal shavings in the wound. Bad customer service at a car dealership is a fact, like the sun rising in the morning, or traffic lights always being red when you’re late for a critical appointment.

Paul Kiser - CEO of Enterprise Technologies, inc.

Last year we bought a car and admittedly the experience was not what I expected. I attributed the unusually positive experience to the fact that we had our loan pre-approved through USAA and to already completing an Internet search for the car we wanted. The dealership we finally did business with was located in Carson City, Nevada and they were willing to close the deal over the phone (and fax)…with no haggling. I gave them the results of my search through USAA and they found a car with most of the features, gave me a price that was close to what I expected and we were done. It was a freak situation.

However, regular servicing on the car would still force us to go back to the dealership, so despite our positive experience, I set my expectations appropriately low for return visits. I should note that our car is a Toyota Camry and yes, part of the service I had done this week was the accelerator assembly recall work. I didn’t get upset about the recall. Cars are incredibly sophisticated systems and I’m amazed that we don’t have more problems. I know other people are outraged, but honestly, if this had been a problem with GM cars we would have all said, “GM cars still suck.” But because is was Toyota, we all had higher expectations.

I am confident that our Camry is a quality product, but experience has trained me to expect the dealerships to behave like the scorpion who stings the fox. The story is about a scorpion hitching a ride on the fox so that both of them can cross a river, but partway across the scorpion stings the fox, dooming both of them. In one version of the story, when the fox asks why the scorpion stung him he answers that it is in his nature. Likewise, bad customer service is in a car dealership’s nature.

Carson City Toyota: Do They Not Understand? Their Supposed to be Bad!

On Monday I called to make an appointment. They asked me when I wanted to bring it in. “Thursday,” I said, expecting a response that this week was booked, maybe next week. Instead he responded, “What time do you want to bring it in?” This guy had to be new, because he didn’t understand how the game works in the auto service world. He apparently didn’t know that the customer doesn’t schedule the appointment time. The dealership always schedules the time and they always manage to find the most inconvenient time of the day to drop the car off. But I wasn’t going to tell him his job so I said, “10 AM?” He said, “That will work fine.” Now I knew this guy was not only new, this was probably his first day.

My plan was to go in and drop off the car and go to a Starbucks for the rest of the day. They said it would take three to four hours, which is car dealership speak for six to eight hours. I hoped to drop it off and get out of there as quickly as possible. Most car dealerships can be scary places and the Service Waiting Area is usually a modified storage room with an old TV that is tuned to Fox News or a Soap Opera.

Carson City Toyota just prior to opening the new location.

I knew that Carson City Toyota had just moved into a new facility and I expected to be a new version of the same old thing.

My first shock was that instead of parking the car outside and turning over the keys to some overworked and poorly paid clerk at a counter, this dealership has a huge, fully enclosed car drop off area. I pulled my car inside and the service person immediately met me, introduced himself (Greg), asked all the questions, looked over the car, and then took me to his office to enter in all the information needed to pass to the service staff. I decided that he must be the new guy I talked to on the phone because he was entirely too attentive and efficient for a seasoned car service professional. He confirmed it would be three to four hours for all the work to be done.

I told him I was going to walk to the nearby Starbucks and he said that would be fine, or if I needed a shuttle somewhere he could have me dropped off. He showed me how to go through the new building to get to the front but as he walked me into the heart of the dealership we came to the ‘Waiting Area’.

A Waiting Area for VIP’s…the Customer?

I looked over the room and thought, “Mother of God!” This was not what a Waiting Area in a car dealership is supposed to be! The waiting area was the size of two or three Starbucks. There was a floor to ceiling stone wall with a fireplace and a large flat screen TV. In front of the wall were 12 or so sofa-type chairs with a desk-like arm on the side, all facing the fireplace/TV wall. To one side was a cafeteria-style refreshment area with a variety of coffee/tea offerings and free small pastries. I was impressed!

I walked through this beautiful tiled lounge area only to discover that I had only observed half of the waiting area. On the other side was the mirror image with another 12 or so sofa-type chairs. The only difference was that instead of a refreshment station along the wall they had installed a laptop computer counter with power outlets and bar stools. They even had free WiFi!

Carson City Toyota is a car dealership that obviously values their customers and treats the customer with kindness! What is wrong with them!

I was committed to my Starbucks Chai Tea, so I walked the block to the store and settled into my normal routine. At three hours on-the-dot Greg called and said, “I’m sorry Mr. Kiser, but they do not have the car ready yet.” Yep, he’s new. Rule No. 1 in the world of auto service is that you don’t keep the customer informed because if you do it once, the customer will expect it all the time. I told Greg that I was settled in and it was not a problem. He told me he would call me when it was ready.

A little over an hour later Greg called me again and said that the car was almost ready. I wrapped up what I was doing and walked back to the dealership. When I got there I learned that my car was being washed…at no charge. I settled the bill and a few minutes later my car was ready for me…parked as close as possible without driving it into the waiting area.

It’s been 24 hours and I’m in still in awe. One thing I know is that the experience we had last year when we bought the car was not a fluke. Customer Service is not an accident at Carson City Toyota.

For decades Tom Peters has been preaching about things like ‘taking care of the customer’, ‘creating a new paradigm’, and rising above the customer’s expectations. Peters wrote the book on Re-Imagining the business. It appears to me that Carson City Toyota has read the book and is writing their own chapter.

(This blog was not paid for, nor solicited, nor approved by Carson City Toyota.)

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Aristotle’s General Rules of Social Media

27 Tuesday Apr 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Communication, Ethics, Information Technology, Lessons of Life, Passionate People, Public Relations, Random, Re-Imagine!, Rotary, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, The Tipping Point

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Bloggers, Blogging, Blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, New Business World, Public Relations, Publicity, Re-Imagine!, Rotarians, Rotary, Rules of Social Media, Social Media, Social Networking, Stereotypes online, Twitter

by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

We learn the rules as we gain new experiences

Most people would not walk up to a stranger on the street and say, “I’m so f*&king happy! I just got laid!”; however, there are many people who might say this, or some other inappropriate remark on Facebook, Twitter, or more likely, MySpace. It sometimes can be easy to think that writing online is his or her online diary, but the reality is that when sharing your thoughts on Facebook or Twitter, you are sharing to the general public, and those thoughts will be recorded for all time. Unfortunately, there are no rules of etiquette, except that abusers (as defined by other Users) can be identified and the operators of the service can ‘de-member’ them.

(Blog – Social Media: What is it and why should you care?)

However, Social Media (SM) is the ultimate democracy in that it is self-correcting. On most Social Media tools members choose who they want to ‘friend’ or ‘follow’, so if someone is offended by the posts or practices of another member they can stop including them in his or her circle of friends. That is why there is significant peer pressure to abide by the unwritten rules.

How Rules are Formed in New Media
Historically, when any new method of communicating is established the rules of the media are created by the people who use the media. It is a system of experimentation where new concepts are tested and those that work become the unwritten rules. A good example is Western theatre which was formalized by the Greek civilization. The Greek playwrights established the characteristics of comedy and tragedy, but it was later observers, like Aristotle, who saw patterns in the different genres of plays and put these ‘rules’ down in writing for others to understand and follow.

Social Media has started out in the same way, with the Users creating unwritten rules and observers trying to identify and discuss those rules. The difference with the Social Media tools is that everyone has different pet peeves, which means the rules vary from User to User. Still, by using personal experiences and listening to the experiences of others it is possible to identify general traits and rules of Social Media.

User Types
There are some stereotypes that seem to find a home in one or more of the online social networks. Here are a few:

Sit-Down Comic – This person has posts about everyday life and can often find the absurdity in her or his life to present to others. For the older crowd, think Erma Bombeck and for the younger crowd, think Paula Poundstone as examples.
The Informer – This person typically posts informative items on a topic and may provide links to blogs or websites that elaborate on the subject. Often this is the person who wants to establish/brand themselves as the expert on the subject and uses SM to gather a following of believers.
All About Me – This person is not at the level of humor of the Sit-Down Comic but tends to have a running dialogue about his or her life. It would be easy to identify this person with the teenage girl, but to varying degrees you can usually find people of both genders and all ages who fall into this category. To most, this User can be annoying; however, her or his circle of friends is often compact and consists of other Users who want to hear the diary of a friend.
Pollyanna – This person seems driven to spread good cheer to all. Typically they quote others, but the quotes are always positive and uplifting. However, if the posts are used a vehicle for the person to preach and pray online then the User risks being unfriended by those who are not as zealous.

Some photos should just go away

The Photo Op – This person loves their camera, or at least photos. Often they are one of the other stereotypes I’ve mentioned, but they like to dress their posts with pictures. It can be great if they are a good photographer showing interesting photos…or bad if it is all pictures of them in varying states of embarrassing or incriminating poses.
The Observer – This is the most mysterious User. They never comment or post, they just read other User’s posts. In some ways they can be creepy if they are male, but bizarrely okay if they are female.

There are some stereotypes in SM that are often seen as bad or annoying. They typically have a high loss rate in friends/followers:

The Hoser – This person floods the network with posts. Sometimes it is for a short period of time each day (an hour or so) and sometimes it’s for multiple times during the day. This is the person who wants to dominate the conversation. It may be that these users just need to be loved, but my money is that they just need therapy.
The Political Nazi – This person has an opinion and wants everyone know what that opinion. It can be appropriate if all of their friends are like-minded, but if not, their connections will soon shrink to just the like-minded.
The Salesman – For most, the fastest unfriend/unfollow is the Salesman. People like the Social Media tools because they want to connect to real people, and not to someone trying to sell something. I’m amazed by people who just don’t get that SM is not a billboard for their use, but everyday someone tries to Amway/Mary Kay their friends or promote their service.
Tally Ho – This person believes that quantity of friends=success, and so they are driven by getting the most friends or followers. They will do or try anything to get their numbers up. They are a number Ho.
Prime Time Host – This person creates the impression that they are the person in charge and you are on his or her show. They tend to be online and connected all the time, ready to make comment on anything. They have a life….and it is spent watching you!

Typically a user of SM does not fit into one single stereotype, but is a combination of many online personalities. Regardless of the characteristics of the User, the unwritten rules have more control over all User types. These rules are mostly common-sense concepts.

Aristotle’s General Rules of Social Media

Chart 1 - Social Appreciation Scale

Overposting and/or Underposting – This is when a User is too visible or not visible enough on the media. On Chart 1 is a best guess at what turns Users on, or turns them off regarding the volume of posts by other Users. There is no good way to measure this value in the real world because most people just react when they’ve seen too many posts from one person and unfriend them. I would guess that an average of one or two posts an hour is near the ideal. Too few posts and a User becomes invisible, and posting excessively makes a User is too visible. The scale is a 1 to 10 rating with 10 being the ideal.

Be Interesting, Be Fun – It’s one thing to inform people, but if all your posts are a lecture delivered in 48 parts, then you become boring. Crossing over different stereotypes throughout the day makes for more interesting reading.

NEVER, EVER, EVER SELL on Social Media – Be the expert, inform, but anything that smacks of advertising will be interpreted as spam.

Age Mismatches – It’s okay to follow or friend younger or older Users, but older Users need to be restrained in commenting on younger Users posts. It will always be interpreted as creepy regardless of the intention. Yes, you have wisdom, but younger people don’t care to have another father or mother watching over them and it’s more likely to be seen as a sexual come-on.

Be Real, but Not Too Real – It’s okay for people to know your political and religious opinions, but they should be showing like a bra strap and not like exposed underwear. Passion is great, but it is exhausting and uncomfortable for others. The same goes for emotions, unprofessional conduct (drunk photos) and mating behavior (sexy talk, photos).

It’s Forever – Jimmy Buffet has a song that refers to a tattoo as a “permanent reminder of a temporary feeling.” That’s a good way to think about the Social Media. Anything written online is there to stay…forever. That scares many people, but if you just remember that your online self is just an extension of who you are in a public place like a mall or church, then you can keep your comments and emotions in perspective.

Social Media is the most empowering personal tool that has been invented since the automobile. It has the potential to change a person’s life…for better or worse. For years, the Social Media as been making or breaking the public and political figures that we all look up to, or down on. Companies and governments are being heavily influenced by the impact of SM. It is hard to overstate what tools like Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are having on our lives, but the people who participate will have an advantage over those who don’t and those that participate need to know the rules.

More Articles

Social Media 2020: Can You Make Money by Blogging

15 Thursday Apr 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Information Technology, Lessons of Life, Public Relations, Random, Re-Imagine!, Rotary, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations

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Bloggers, Blogging, Blogs, New Business World, Public Image, Publicity, Social Media, Social Networking

No.

Social Media 2020: Did Women Legitimize the Social Media?

14 Wednesday Apr 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Information Technology, Lessons of Life, Random, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, Women

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Facebook, Internet, LinkedIn, New Business World, Re-Imagine!, Rotarians, Rotary, Social Media, Social Networking, Tom Peters, Twitter, Women

Here’s a question for you to ponder.

Would Social Interactive Media (SIM) be where it is today if women hadn’t put their stamp of approval by becoming active users?

: Did Women make Social Media acceptable to the World?

I’m not talking about numbers, because 60% of Facebook users are women, so it’s obvious that they have had an important impact in the volume of users, but I’m talking about legitimizing it for everyone else. I don’t want to get into stereotyping, but as George Clooney’s character in Up In the Air said, “It’s faster.”

Consider that, with the exception of having sex, most men need a reason for becoming involved in an activity. Men don’t shopping; they go to a store to purchase. A man may say that he plays golf just for the enjoyment of the game, but don’t let anyone kid you, a man’s golf score can make or break his day.

Women, by contrast, don’t need to have a reason to go to the store or play golf. They can find pleasure in just doing the activity. For a woman, life doesn’t need justification to be enjoyed.

Now look at the Social Media arena. I often find that men are the most phobic when it comes to participating in Social Media. They mistrust and fear it. Often the comment is, “I just don’t understand what the purpose is!” And there lies the stereotyped gender difference. Men need a reason (and they tend to leave their participles dangling.)

Women don’t need a reason. The format of sharing information and ideas is in their comfort zone and that’s all they need. Women are accustomed to be judged by others, so they don’t fear being judged online. Women are also better self-monitors, so they know how to control their emotions when they post and tweet.

I believe that it was the acceptance of Social Media by women that pushed it into the mainstream. Now, men are just trying to keep up…and trying to find a justification, a ‘reason’, to explain why participation in Social Media is important….hmmm…how’s that working out for us, guys?

Other Blogs on Social Media and Public Relations

Social Media 2020: Public Relations 2001 vs Social Media Relations 2010

Social Media 2020: Who Moved My Public Relations?

Publishing Industry to End 2012

Who uses Facebook, Twitter, MySpace & LinkedIn?

Fear of Public Relations

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn…Oh My!

Does Anybody Really Understand PR?

Social Media 2020: Who Moved My Public Relations?

12 Monday Apr 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Information Technology, Management Practices, Public Relations, Random, Rotary, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Blackberry, Newspapers, Promotion, Publicity, Spencer Johnson, The Publicity Handbook, Who Moved My Cheese

Paul Kiser - CEO of Enterprise Technologies, inc.

Twelve years ago the book, Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson was published. It gave us fable about mice and men and how each handles change. In the book Johnson’s mice discover the cheese is all gone and immediately begin to search for a new supply of cheese; however, the when the humans discover the cheese is gone they assume someone has moved it and become angry because they saw themselves as victims of change.

I think we can apply this lesson to the field of Public Relations. Some are handling the massive changes in the field with acceptance and are adapting to the new paradigm, but some are taking a more human approach and seeing themselves as victims.

The new social media like Facebook, Twitter, and blogging are seen by some as evil, corrupt, and useless. Some business people feel it is unfair that people are making purchasing decisions from information they glean off the free social media sites when they are paying for advertisements to influence them. Some in the traditional media (newspapers, commercial TV, radio, etc.) may feel it is unfair that their sources of revenue are abandoning them for inexpensive promotional tools on the Internet. It’s all soooo unfair.

Someone moved Public Relations and it’s just not right!

I mention this because a few weeks ago a friend let me borrow a book called The Publicity Handbook by David R. Yale and Andrew J. Carothers. It was published by McGraw-Hill in May of 2001. In the nine years since it was published the field of Public Relations was moved. What we knew and understood about communication and media in 2001 has little to do with the world of communications and media of 2010, and the speed of change seems to be accelerating. Consider just a few of the changes since 2001:

Newspaper Circulation: Down 21% from 2001 (55.6 M) to 2009 (44.0 M) and newspapers lost over 10% in 2009 alone.
Newspapers Closed: 105…in the first seven months of 2009.
Social Media Sites: MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, etc. all started after 2001.
Blackberry Smart Phones: 2002

So what can a book on publicity have to say that has any value in today’s environment?

Quite a bit. The Publicity Handbook is a good foundation for anyone who is trying to learn the basics of the field of publicity and I it is a book I would recommend; however, for me, it gives a measure of how much has changed in the past nine years.

Next — Social Media 2020: Public Relations 2001 vs Social Media Relations 2010

Other Blogs on Social Media

Publishing Industry to End 2012

Who uses Facebook, Twitter, MySpace & LinkedIn?

Fear of Public Relations

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn…Oh My!

Does Anybody Really Understand PR?

Rotary: The Man in the Yellow Hat as the Ideal Club President?

07 Wednesday Apr 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Crisis Management, Human Resources, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Membership Retention, Public Relations, Random, Rotary

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Curious George, Management Techniques, Membership Retention, Rotarians, Rotary Club

Paul Kiser - Public Relations Chair - Rotary District 5190 (Northeast CA/Northern NV

The Man in the Yellow Hat seems to be overwhelmed by the adventurousness of his pet monkey, better known to the world as Curious George, but at closer inspection George’s owner has a style about him that allows the little monkey to have the freedom to be creative, while not stifling his enthusiasm. It is a model that could help every Rotary Club President understand that individual members need the freedom to fail if a club is to be successful.

If you are blessed with a four year-old you probably have some screen time with the Public Broadcast Service (PBS) young children’s programming known as PBS Kids. Among the many children’s programs offered by PBS Kids is the Curious George series that began in 2006 and based on the Curious George books.

Most people over 50 may remember Curious George from the seven children’s books written from 1941 to 1966 by Margaret and H.A. Rey. In both the book series and the PBS Kids program the owner of Curious George is the Man in the Yellow Hat (let’s abbreviate that to MITYH) who is never identified by a name. (A 2006 animated movie did name him, but I’m not going to acknowledge that feeble attempt to put a name on a character that the original authors intentionally left unnamed.)

What I find fascinating is the relationship between Curious George and the MITYH. For those who have not watched the PBS Kids program, The MITYH and Curious George live in a flat (presumably in New York) and George is the MITYH’s pet monkey. As an animal owner he would likely be arrested for not controlling his animal. George is often left alone for vast stretches at a time and he always get into mischief when the MITYH is absent. Fortunately for the MITYH, it seems that the cartoon world has no Humane Society or ASPCA to interfere with the relationship between a man and his monkey.

(Link to PBS Kids)

Curious George - Monkey making mischief

If you watch the show you will see a pattern of disaster that is always preceded by the MITYH leaving the flat and saying, “Be a good little monkey.” George then proceeds to solve a problem, understand how something works, or tries to be helpful, which always results in a mess. What is surprising is the tolerance level of the MITYH and his neighbors and friends. They always seem to understand that George will be George and all is forgiven. At the end of each episode George has a new understanding of how the world works and all problems are fixed and everyone ends up happy.

So what does this have to do with a Rotary Club? First, let me be clear, I’m not trying to infer that Rotarians are a bunch of monkeys…although I have been involved in some meetings where it seemed that the behavior of the members could be best described as Simian in nature. Rotarians are all human and typically a creative group of people. But because we all come from a business-related background our first thought as a Club President is to ‘manage’ the members. I would suggest that it is not the best strategy.

As volunteers, Rotarians represent a vast resource of knowledge, skills, and creativity that is unique in the world. Few organizations can put together the quality of people that Rotary attracts without offering significant compensation and benefit packages. Rotary’s only asset is its members, but it is an asset that is more valuable than gold regardless of the current market price.

But our members are an asset, not a commodity. Each day as a Club President is a gift. The Club President represents a group of people who belong to the Rotary Club simply because they want to be, and not because of any quid pro quo. It is a mistake to belief they belong because they want to be managed.

That is the magic of the MITYH’s style can be applied to the Rotary Club. He doesn’t try to ‘manage’ his monkey. Indeed, the MITYH acts as if it his pleasure to be able to simply be associated with George. Sometimes it almost seems that he intentionally finds reasons to leave George alone to explore his world and create mischief with the understanding that all will work out in the end.

Often the MITYH is embarrassed by George’s actions, but his embarrassment is short-lived, and never does the MITYH decide that he needs to control George more to save face. Nor does the MITYH decide that George must become more involved and assign George to a committee. The MITYH offers opportunities and then walks away. Never does he judge or attempt to manipulate…but he is always there to help clean up.

The Man in the Yellow Hat has a style that is unique in a world that values and teaches ‘managing’ other people in order to achieve his or her goals , but I think we could all learn a lot about working with talented volunteers from the example of empowering without fear of failure. Our members deserve no less.

Other Paul Kiser Rotary Blogs

Rotary@105: Our 1st Rotary Club Dropout

Rotary Public Relations and Membership: Eight Steps to a Team Win

Rotary: All Public Relations is Local

Best Practices: Become a Target!

Fear of Public Relations

Positive Harm Part II: Downs and Ups

06 Tuesday Apr 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in About Reno, Lessons of Life, parenting, Random

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Doctors, Healthcare, Nurses, Renown, tonsillectomy

Play Surgery before the big day.

Yesterday our 4 1/2 year-old son, Alexander had his tonsils and adenoids removed. In Part I of this story

(See Positive Harm to Our Son Doesn’t Feel Okay)

I talked about the concerns of harming our child in order to make him healthier and our efforts to prepare him for the experience. It is impossible to know whether that preparation was good or bad, but we certainly have seen the downs and ups of the experience and the problems of too much knowledge.

The Downs of Surgery Eve

On Sunday night we did another session of play surgery before bed and then just before he went to sleep I reminded him that there would be some pain after the surgery and that we would be with him until he went into the OR. That was probably a mistake. Alexander woke up just before 1:00 AM crying. He said his throat hurt, then his ears, then his head. His Mom took it at face value, but he didn’t have a fever and at times the pain was only the throat, so I was more suspicious. He was clearly scared and violently battled to stay with Mom and wanted me to stay away.

We were able to get him to sleep in 10 minute chunks, but he always woke up crying. To me it was clear he was terrorized by the thought of going to the hospital in a few hours. Needless to say, none of us slept the rest of the night.

Mood Recovery Before Surgery

Alexander at home a few hours post op

At the hospital he fell asleep in Mom’s arms in the waiting area and got about an hour in before we were moved into a pre-op room. When he woke up he was still in a foul mood, but he wasn’t crying. In the pre-op room I decided to see if I could get his mind off of the surgery. He had been given a stuffed duck during his tour of the surgery area the week before so I began flying ‘Quackers’ around the room. That got him to laugh and lifted his spirits some.

A Boy Rests

The staff at the Renown was aware of his fears (I got the sense they had experienced one or two patients with a similar concern) and they all worked to help him get his mind off of the surgery. Nurse Toni, (the nurse that gave us a tour of OR the week before,) checked in on him, and his pre-op nurse (I can’t remember her name) did a great job of asking him questions and involving him in the conversation. By the time the anesthesiologist came in Alexander was no longer focused on the surgery and he continued to talk directly to Alexander…and listening to him. By the time the star of the show, Dr. Jenny Van Duyne, entered the room Alexander was ready to hold court. When it came time for Alexander to go to the OR, he had no problem taking a wagon ride away from Mom and Dad.

The next 45 minutes were blessfully short and when Dr. Van Duyne came out we knew everything went as planned. She explained that he had one very large tonsil and she put in one stitch to keep the back of the mouth symmetrical, but everything else looked good.

Recovery Room Down and Up and Down

Post surgery was no cake walk, but the important note is that it was after the surgery…meaning the scary part for us was over. Alexander was groggy and hurting post op but he did what he need to do. He drank liquids and rested. Again the Renown staff did great. Nurse Kim was his post-op nurse and she kept close tabs on us and did not hesitate to give pain meds if she thought they were needed.

If either of us had felt that Alexander wasn’t getting the best care we could have been difficult parents for the staff. We were both exhausted and feeling very protective; however, I don’t remember any time where I felt that Alexander was being neglected. Alexander did his part by drinking water, eating two Otter Pops, and he even went potty.

All was going as planned until we were ready to leave. Just as I picked Alexander up he lost his cookies, or in this case his Otter Pop. It could have been a lot worse but Nurse Kim had made sure we had the emesis (sick) bag at the ready.

Roller Coaster at Home

Alexander - 26 hours post op...vacuuming

Since being home we have dealt with the challenge of getting Alexander to take his medicine (which tastes horrible), vomiting right after taking medicine, sleep in four-hour stints at night, and a really sad and hurting boy. We have also experienced a boy who wants to vacuum and clean the furnace air filter. He feels good for about two hours at a time today and then he doesn’t. Hopefully, each day he will feel stronger.

Our journey is long from over, but we are able to see that doing positive harm to our child was for the best. We know that he will sleep better and feel better. In hindsight I would have not discussed the scary parts of the surgery as much. The pain is best dealt with at the time it hurts, not feared before it happens.

Other Paul Kiser Blogs

Census 2000 VS Census 2010

Who uses Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, & LinkedIn?

Publishing Industry to End 2012

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Oh My!

Positive Harm to Our Son Doesn’t Feel Okay

03 Saturday Apr 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in About Reno, Lessons of Life, parenting, Random

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

adenoids, boys, hospitals, parenting, pediatrics, Renown, surgery, tonsillectomy, tonsillitis, Tonsils

Alexander prepares for 'play' surgery

On Monday we will get up early and take our four and a half year-old boy, Alexander, to Renown Hospital in Reno. He is basically healthy…that is when he doesn’t stick a plastic bead up his nose,

See Blog Post

but he snores and is awaken at night because his tonsils have grown too large and block his airway when he sleeps. He also has a persistent cough at night that comes and goes. We are confident this is absolutely necessary as his Dentist (Dr. Stoker), his Family Practitioner (Dr. McCarthy), and two Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Specialist have all agreed: Tonsils Must Go.

Play Surgery to Prep for the Real Surgery

Still, it is getting harder to shrug off that this surgery is going to hurt him and there are always risks and complications that can’t be anticipated. Parents may not be required to take the Hippocratic Oath (First, Do No Harm), but even so, it’s instinct for most of us, and when we turn Alexander over to Dr. Jenny Van Duyne on Monday morning we will be asking her to hurt our son. Yes, in the long run he will be better off, but that doesn’t change the fact that when he comes back from surgery he will be injured.

Our Play Operating Room

Ironically, I was pushing for us to have him checked out and to have this surgery done. I had my tonsils out when I was around six and I was eating crackers the next day. My older brother Mike had his done around the same time and as a teenager he had a much harder time recovering from the surgery. Of course, that was back in the days of rusty, old surgery instruments when doctors sharpened knives with a leather strap…okay, it wasn’t that bad, but it was almost 50 years ago.

Post Play Surgery Recovery Room

It doesn’t seem that the surgery has changed that much and the recovery time is one to two weeks, so this is not an overnight hurt that will be better the next day. We also know he gets worried and scared in unfamiliar situations, so we took him for a tour of the Operating Room last week and Nurse Toni did a great job of reassuring him. He’s also watched a DVD over and over that was produced to help children overcome their fears of this surgery. Finally, we’ve been practicing the before, during, and after surgery with me as the doctor (complete with poofy shower cap) and him as the really good patient. So far, so good, but Monday morning will be the final exam for all of us.

I was thinking that this was going to be harder on Mom than Dad, and in the end I will likely push my fears aside for Alexander and Mom, but it still feels odd….I don’t know, maybe it’s just the poofy shower cap.

Other Paul Kiser Blogs

Census 2000 VS Census 2010

Who uses Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, & LinkedIn?

Publishing Industry to End 2012

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Oh My!

Census 2000 VS Census 2010

02 Friday Apr 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Lessons of Life, Random

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2010 Census, Census, Economic Crisis, War, Y2K

While there is much more discussion about the 2010 Census than is really necessary, and while I still can’t figure out why a mailed form is any more secure or accurate than doing it on the Internet and saving a few million trees, there is one thing that is significant to me. What has changed in 10 years.

The 2010 Census Form

Ten years ago things were pretty good. We had hope of a great new century and we had all survived Y2K…remember, planes were going to fall out of the sky, banks were going to lose all the data, and anarchy was going to descend. But it didn’t happen and life was good.

Then came the election of 2000, 9-11-2001 (planes did fall out of the sky), War in Afghanistan, War in Iran, Space Shuttle Columbia exploding, Enron, a deteriorating economy, $4 billion/mo. in Iran, a tsunami that killed approximately 250,000, Bush re-elected, Hurricane Katrina, the Surge, $4.00+ gas prices, the economic disaster, massive job cuts, home values plummeting, banks failing, and a Republican party trying to sabotage America so their failures don’t look as bad….and we were worried about a computer problem?

This decade brought fear and hate to a new level in the world. It may be remembered as the worst decade since the 1960’s for unhappy people and negative world events and yet we all survived, somehow.

Alexander Kiser October 16, 2005

But the Census doesn’t count events, it counts people and on that score things were pretty good. The 2010 Census will report three new lives: my son, my granddaughter, and my grandson. It will also show that both my daughters married in this decade. It will also report one less life, my mother, and there were other losses, but for the most part they were people who lived full lives.

I can’t say that this decade was a great decade, but personally it was a good decade and that’s enough for me.

(Another Recent Paul Blog: A Better Parent, not Perfect.)

Gibbons Announces Prison Voucher Program

01 Thursday Apr 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Fiction, Random

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April Fool's Day

Carson City, NV April 1, 2010
Unassociated Press

Governor Jim Gibbons announced a new budget reform plan and said he will call a Special Session to push through a Prison Voucher program that will give each prisoner $35,000 to be incarcerated at the prison of his or her choice. The Governor said, “We spend between $30,000 and $40,000 per year for each prisoner in this State, so I just split the difference.”

When asked for clarification the Governor deferred to his newly appointed Chief of Staff, Roxy Jones who explained that this will be similar to a school voucher program. Prisoners will be allowed to choose a prison and a voucher will be sent to that prison allocating $35,000 for the room, board and all related care of the prisoner. When Jones was asked what qualifies as a prison she responded, “Gee, if you media people don’t know what a prison is I’m not going to be tricked into telling you!”

Governor Gibbons Press Secretary, Bambi Smith, then stepped up to say, “We are here today to talk about Governor Gibbons plan to fix the State budget problems, not answer questions about meaningless details.” Smith was then asked if a prisoner used the money to stay at a private prison she responded, “Of course! Private enterprise is always the best solution.”

When asked if that meant anyone could rent a warehouse and call it a prison, Jones said, “That is the free enterprise system, but remember, the prisoner gets to choose, so the prison will need to be attractive enough to make prisoner want to stay there.” Jones was then asked if that meant a gaming property could define a section of its rooms as a prison and she deferred that question to the Governor’s Budget Director Heidi Ledger. Ledger said, “We have had a problem in this State with falling gaming revenue, and while our thought was to have church-run private prisons, it would solve the gaming revenue and prison budget issues to have gaming properties convert some or all of their rooms for the prison voucher program.”

Jones stressed that the government is unnecessary in a free market and we need to start using private enterprise to replace government as it has been done in many other countries. When asked if Somalia is one of those example countries Jones replied, “Exactly!”

Nevada to be Pronounced Correctly

01 Thursday Apr 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Fiction, Random

≈ Leave a comment

Carson City, NV April 1, 2010
Unassociated Press

Nevada Tourism Chief Brian Douglas announced that effective today Nevada would be pronounced ‘ne-va-da’ and not ‘ne-va-duh’. Douglas said that the Spanish pronunciation is recognized worldwide and the local pronunciation is simply wrong. Douglas went on to say, “We spend way too much time trying to teach the rest of the world how to say Nevada incorrectly and it just makes us look stupid.”

Governor Jim Gibbons was not available for comment because he was at a press conference; however, his spokesperson, Bambi Smith said that the Governor had not been made aware of the decision to change the pronunciation to ‘ne-va-da’, but she didn’t she didn’t see it as much of an issue as the Governor didn’t spend much time in that State.

The impact of the change is not widely understood as there is apparently no legal ramifications regardless how the State’s name is pronounced. Douglas did say that his staff would be using the correct, Spanish ‘ne-va-da’ in all verbal communications and that training sessions would be held on the correct pronunciation of Nevada, Moana (mo-na), and Harrahs (ha-raz).

A Better Parent..Not Perfect

29 Monday Mar 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Lessons of Life, Random

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

bead up the nose, boys, children, Growing pains, parenting

I’m a better parent…not perfect…just better.

Alexander and his plastic bead

Yesterday our son, Alexander, was supposed to be resting. Resting is a new thing because at 4 1/2 years old he is not always able to take a nap. When his Mom went in to check on him he was whimpering and then she saw his face covered in blood. She called me and by the time I got there he was crying. She asked me to get him down from his bunk bed (yes, at four he wanted to move to a big boy bed, and it had to be a bunk bed.) I did and after several, “What happened?!?” questions, we learned that he had stuck a plastic bead up his nose.

Now if I were a young parent my next statement would be something along the lines of:

“What the Hell were you thinking!”

But I didn’t. Instead I searched the bed to see if possibly, and mercifully, the bead was not up in his nostril, but rather was just on the bed somewhere. After a thorough search we learned it was nowhere to be found. The realization began to sink in that a plastic bead that he had found outside that day…after laying in the dirt for decades…was up in his sinus. As a young parent my instinct would be off to the ER, but rather we decided to wait. By this time he had calmed down, the bleeding had stopped, and his Mom and I decided that this was no longer an emergency.

The Bead of Shame

At this point we began to explain to him that when things like this happen he needs to call for us rather than try to fix the problem himself…a good parent thing to say, but to a 4 1/2 year-old it was like explaining the real definition of Socialism to a member of the Tea Party. Still, it was a better parent thing to say than sentences that began with, “Don’t you ever…”

This morning we were able to see it with the help of a..a..a nose-looker-in-thing and made a couple of attempts to suck it out with a…a…a nose-sucker-thing..I don’t know what they’re called…I’m male remember. After no success in extracting the plastic bead we called his Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor, who, coincidently will be removing his tonsils next week. They set up an appointment for tomorrow. We were resigned to have to sheepishly go into the doctor’s office and try to explain why a little boy would be allowed to have a plastic bead in his possession.

Happy boy, happier parents

However, this afternoon he was ‘sniffling’ and we told him to blow his nose, lamely hoping that bead would come out and this would become a good story to tell his girlfriend when he was sixteen, when behold, the bead came out!

We are trying not to think about all the bacteria on the bead when it went up his nose, but the fact that it came out was the best news that we’ve had in a long time. As for any four-year old girls out there who may be dating my son in twelve years, be forewarned, you’ll be hearing about the bead-up-the-nose story.

I said I was a better parent…not perfect.

3rd From Sol

~ Learn from before. Live now. Look ahead.

Category Archives: Random

Riding Reno: The Ladies of McCarran Boulevard

Selling Watered-Down Beer: The best spin campaign in advertising

Nevada I-580: An Interstate by any other name

Physics in 2010: The more we understand, the less we know

Rotary PR: Disrespecting the Club President is a PR/Membership issue

Foul Play: FIFA shows what less regulation offers to business

Starbucks One for Breakfast

America’s Hostile Takeover of Mexico

Car Dealership Re-Imagines Customer Service

Rotary: The Man in the Yellow Hat as the Ideal Club President?

Positive Harm Part II: Downs and Ups

Positive Harm to Our Son Doesn’t Feel Okay

Census 2000 VS Census 2010

Gibbons Announces Prison Voucher Program

Nevada to be Pronounced Correctly

A Better Parent..Not Perfect