Immortality Made Easy

Even though it was only two months away, no one thought Jack Kamen would live to see his 85th birthday. His son, Rick, found himself wondering, “Why would Dad want to stick around? He’s not having fun.” 

Which gave him an idea. Maybe, somehow, that’s exactly what he could give his father for an early birthday present. Fun.

But what’s fun for elders? Rick figured gerontologists, caregivers, and loving children of aging parents must ask themselves that question a few times every day. It’s easy to create fun for kids. Give them toys and teach them games, and they have fun playing. Adults keep on right playing, albeit with toys and games that cost a lot more.

Jack Kamen, Father of Rick Kamen

And elders? What do they do for fun?

Rick mulled over that puzzle for about a week. He watched elders, and thought about what it’s like to be 80 or more years old, searching for clues. And then one day, he saw a wise old soul smiling. What do you think that elder was doing?

Storytelling!

Rick got it. That’s how people who’ve lived a while and seen a lot have fun. They reflect on the beauty of their pasts, and they tell their stories.

It’s also how they help people who haven’t racked up as much life experience. Not by lecturing and teaching and instructing and demanding, but by anecdote and fable. By gentle example that lets the listener infer the moral of the story and do with it what they may.

Rick remembered that elders naturally tell stories, and that in the culture and custom of many societies, storytelling and storylistening happen naturally. Was there a venue for this in modern U.S. culture? Rick didn’t think so.

Rick Kamen, Author and Founder of Heirloom Stories

He did know his understanding of what fun is — for all people, at all ages — had changed forever. Fun, Rick realized, is that good feeling people get when they’re engaged in certain behaviors that are programmed into human beings for a very good reason: to help the entire species.

Fun, Rick proposes, might be what motivates us to do the things we do that help humanity.

Kids help humanity by learning, so play is fun.

Adults help humanity by being productive, as well as reproductive. So those behaviors are fun for them.

Elders help humanity when they distribute wisdom – especially to kids. So that’s fun for elders.

Not to mention that exquisite silver lining around the cloud of growing older, namely that even though we lose many abilities as we age, storytelling is one that improves as the years go by. And who doesn’t love to do things they’re good at?

So that’s how Rick gave his father the gift of fun. Storytelling. It was the perfect early birthday present.

Rick called his dad up, as he often did. But this time he steered the usual conversation about the usual stuff in a new direction. “I know you grew up in a world that can’t happen anymore. Why don’t you tell me some stories from those days? I’ll write them up for the grandkids.”

Instead of saying, “Yes,” Jack launched right into a story.

The story was wonderful, Rick recalls, but even more wonderful for him and his family was seeing the the joyful impact storytelling had on their beloved patriarch’s mood. His voice and spirit sounded ten years younger. As he shared the highlights of his life, Jack was having fun again for the first time in a long time.

That first story led to another, and then another… and eventually a book called Heirloom Stories from the Harnessmaker’s Son.

Jack lived another seven years. Seven precious years that let him leave a legacy of written stories that will entertain and educate his descendants for centuries.  They would have carried his genes into the future, of course. But thanks to Rick’s gift of fun, Jack’s descendants will also carry with them Jack’s own thoughts and images of the he led. That’s as close to immortality as you can get.

When he died in 2005, Jack didn’t know that, even more than the priceless stories, Rick cherished the additional years some genuine fun had given his father. The health benefits of storytelling were profound.

So Rick didn’t stop there. He gives the gift of fun to English-speaking elders anywhere in the world by interviewing them by phone, putting slices of their lives in writing, and preserving some Heirloom Stories® for their descendants.

Learn more about Heirloom Stories® at http://HeirloomStories.com or call Rick at (858) 273-1111.

Taxpayer Cash Machine Is A Banker’s Dream-Come-True

If the Fed buys $186-million worth of toxic commercial mortgage-backed securities for a barely-profitable hotel that might have been sold to a subsidiary of the seller, from lenders who might also have been owned by the buyers of the hotel, and the sale price was over $1.3 billion, and (less than two years later) the hotel is $1.2 billion in debt, and the hotel is not making payments, and lenders are planning to foreclose and take ownership, and the Fed is saying nothing about the $186 million they chipped in, does anybody need to be audited? Alan Grayson suggests maybe so.

Listen carefully from about 7:00… I think he’s saying that 1) The Fed relieved JP Morgan of a $186- million toxic loan that helped pay for a $1.313-billion purchase of an over-appraised, barely profitable (see articles below) hotel. 2)  The lenders of the remainder borrowed for the buyout foreclosed on the borrower/s in 2010 and are now “moving in” to take over the property. 3) We don’t know what happened to the Fed’s (our) $186-million interest in it, because we don’t audit the Fed.

The storyline Grayson is talking about might be easier to follow after you read the articles linked-to below. But I think he’s saying…

…in 2007, a foreign company (Westbridge partnered with Citgroup) wanted to do a leveraged buyout of the Red Roof Inn (”a liability … secured only by this modest hotel chain of limited profitability, being sucked dry already by its foreign owners”). “Wall Street” came up with half a billion dollars for the $1.313 billion purchase, $186 million of which was set up to come from “entities” created specifically for “providing money” for this LBO “so somebody could end up controlling the Red Roof Inn other than the people who originally owned it.” (It appears the people who originally owned it were a company called Accor, which according to Westbridge’s description of itself on LinkedIn, was and probably still is one of three parents of Westbridge, the company that bought the hotel with partner Citigroup. In other words, Accor sold the hotel to a subsidiary of itself and Citigroup.)

Is Grayson saying Bear Stearns held the $186m note after the hotel was sold? I think so. I think he’s saying Bear Stearns held the $186m note, and the plan must have been to immediately sell it, but when markets collapsed in 2008, the note for the loan on this sinking company became an even hotter potato. I think he’s saying that when Bear Stearns went out of business, JP Morgan negotiated with the Fed for ownership of Bear Stearns’ assets and liabilities. But JPM didn’t want liabilities like the Red Roof Inn, so the Fed “assumed responsibility” for it. That is, the $186 million Bear Stearns note for the LBO was moved to the Fed’s books. I think “assumed responsibility” means they paid JP Morgan for it. Actually, we (the unwitting benefactors of the Fed) paid for it.

This was accomplished via a corporation set up by the Fed called Maiden Lane. (Maiden Lane II and Maiden Lane III were also formed for the Fed’s purchase of AIG liabilities.)

More about Maiden Lane: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-us&q=%22maiden+lane%22+federal+reserve&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

No surprise that the Red Roof Inn soon failed to make payments (see WSJ articles below). And now (April-May, 2010) “the major creditors” are “moving in” to take ownership. (The Fed, a $186m-major-creditor, apparently is not “moving in.”) Citibank (a subsidiary of Citigroup) is mentioned as one of the major creditors.

But… “Not a single word from the Federal Reserve” about the Fed’s share in the property.

With no way to find out because we don’t audit the Fed. We also don’t know if banks are “moving in” to own lots more companies whose liabilities went on the Fed’s books when they “rescued us from financial disaster.”

A bill the Senate just passed to “audit the Fed” is, I think, limited to simply making public the names of banks that received Fed money. Bills that would initiate an actual audit have not been passed.

By the way, is that Nancy Pelosi in the background? Interesting to watch what happens behind Grayson in this video.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wall Street Journal June 2009 article on the Red Roof Inn and the LBO in 2007:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124578596153843175.html

“In 2007, Red Roof was acquired from Accor SA for $1.3 billion by a group led by Citigroup Inc.’s Global Special Situations Unit and including hotel manager Westmont Hospitality Group. (Westbridge is “managed by” Westmont. See below.) The deal left Citigroup with a 79% stake in Red Roof. This month, Red Roof’s owners missed scheduled payments on four mortgages with 131 Red Roof Inns pledged as collateral. All told, Red Roof’s properties carry nearly $1.2 billion in debt, including mortgages, mezzanine loans and other notes.”

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Wall Street Journal April 2010 article on the Red Roof Inn’s $367 million default (this is the article Grayson refers to in the video):

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703763904575196492743696902.html?KEYWORDS=red+roof+inn

“Red Roof Inn Inc., a hotel chain popular with business travelers on a budget, defaulted on $367 million face amount of mortgage debt, the latest hotel casualty in an industry that has been hard hit by the recession.

“In the latest examples of this, budget-hotel chain Red Roof Inn Inc. and real-estate investment trust Innkeepers USA Trust face losing hotels to their lenders as they scramble to get new terms on past-due debts.”

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Hotel industry news web site September 2007 article on the sale of Red Roof Inn by Accor to Citigroup and Westbridge,

http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2007_3rd/Sept07_RedRoof.html

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Hotel industry news site April 2010 article about Red Roof Inn default:
http://lhonline.com/distressedinventory/foreclosures_reveal_red_roof_inn_distress/
“The leveraged buyout, for almost 250 company-owned properties and a franchise system with more than 90 locations, was financed largely by debt sold to investors as commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS).”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Westbridge Europe is a hospitality industry investment fund managed by the Westmont Hospitality Group, one of the largest privately owned organizations of its type in the world today.

“Formed in 2006 as the European arm of Westmont, Westbridge Europe is headquartered in London. It currently operates 24 hotels in seven European countries and employs some 1,600 staff. The mostly franchised hotels operate under the Intercontinental Hotel Group brands of Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Express by Holiday Inn, and the Accor brand Mercure. Westbridge Europe is continually monitoring the hotel industry for opportunities in both investments and partnerships.”

Copied and pasted on May 11, 2010 from http://www.linkedin.com/companies/westbridge-europe

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Note: Accor was the seller of the scarcely profitable Red Roof Inn to Citigroup and Westbridge for $1.313 billion. Accor is listed in Westbridge’s Linked-In account as one of the three parents of Westbridge. Which, if true, means Accor sold the Red Roof Inn to Citigroup and one if its own subsidiaries, Westbridge. Citigroup and Westbridge bought the hotel with a loan from “Wall Street” that included the $186m Bear-Stearns>JPMorgan>Fed note.

Grayson says Citibank is one of the lenders that’s repossessing the hotel. Does he mean Citigroup? If he means Citibank, then the lender was a subsidiary of the buyer, Citigroup. So, if I’ve got this straight (and I’m not sure I do), wouldn’t that be like me being an owner of the mortgage company I borrowed money from for a house?  But if he means Citigroup, then one of the purchasers was also the lender, and is now repossessing (as lender) the property it bought (as purchaser). Right? This can’t be right. Either I don’t have my facts straight, or I’ve twisted some conclusions, but I don’t know where I’ve gone astray and would really appreciate hearing from somebody who can clarify.

Who is Alan Grayson?

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“Mr. Grayson has filed dozens of lawsuits against Iraq contractors on behalf of corporate whistle-blowers. He won a huge victory last month [March 2006] when a federal jury in Virginia ordered a security firm called Custer Battles LLC to return $10 million in ill-gotten funds to the government. The ruling marked the first time an American firm was held responsible for financial improprieties in Iraq.” – The Wall Street Journal, April 19, 2006

In the words of Senator Dorgan, there is an “orgy of greed” in Iraq. Vice President Cheney’s old firm Halliburton gets billions of dollars in no-bid contracts. War profiteers run wild, stealing millions from both US taxpayers and the Iraqi people. Corrupt corporations plunder Iraqi reconstruction funds, sabotaging the war effort. And the Bush Administration does nothing to stop it.

Everyone is concerned about the War in Iraq. Alan Grayson has done something about it.

Alan has taken on the biggest corrupt defense contractors, and won. His work on behalf of taxpayers has been recognized and applauded not only in the Wall Street Journal, but in the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, CNN, 60 Minutes, the BBC, and newspapers and magazines in dozens of countries around the world.

Alan’s Background

Alan and his wife, Lolita, have five children – Skye (12), Star (8), Sage (6) and two-year-old twins, Storm and Stone.

Alan grew up in “the projects” in the Bronx. He heard the squeal of the wheels of the elevated trains, every five minutes, all day and all night. At the age of 12, he took the subway to school, by himself. At the age of 11, a bully threw him under a moving bus. He lived.

Six years later, he took the standard test for 12th graders in New York. Almost 50,000 students in the Bronx took that the same test. Alan received the highest score.

Alan was accepted to Harvard College. He cleaned toilets there, and worked as a night watchman. He graduated in three years, with high honors.

Then he went to graduate school at Harvard. In only four years, he received a law degree (with honors), he earned a master’s degree in Government, and he finished the course work and passed the general examinations for a Ph.D.

After graduate school, Alan worked as a judge’s assistant at the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. He worked with Judges Ginsburg, Bork, Scalia, and Starr. He then joined Judge Ginsburg’s husband’s law firm, where he represented government contractors.

In 1990, Alan left the practice of law, and started a new business – IDT Corp. Alan was the first President of IDT. Today, IDT is a Fortune 1000 public company, with $2 billion a year in sales. Alan took his profit from IDT, and invested it in many other small companies. Today he owns between one and ten percent of a dozen different public companies.

Twenty years ago, Alan helped to found the Alliance for Aging Research, to help promote health and a good life for older people. The motto of the Alliance is “Living to 100 – and Loving It!” Alan has served as an officer of the Alliance for two decades. He also supported the work of Arnold Palmer Hospital for many years.

In the ’90s, Alan returned to the practice of law. For many years, he represented honest government contractors. Over the years since the beginning of the Bush Administration, however, he has seen the bad drive out the good. Fraud and corruption among government contractors grows and grows. The Bush Administration did nothing to recover the stolen money, protect the taxpayers, punish the thieves, or even safeguard the U.S. troops using and wearing defective equipment and supplies. And so Alan found his calling – like an Avenging Angel for the taxpayers and soldiers, he has sued the war profiteers in the name of whistleblowers, and forced them to disgorge their ill-gotten gains.

Source: http://www.graysonforcongress.com/page.asp?PageId=2

Duart Maclean

Self-Enquiry: The Direct Path to Self-Realization

26 Minutes To A Powerful Tool

In an ingenious distillation of ancient and modern wisdom (including that of Sri Ramana Maharshi), Duart Maclean gifts us with articulate insights that lead to a very powerful tool for spiritual discipline. 

To listen to it, go to http://www.rebirthing.ca/conferencecalls.html and click on ‘Self-Enquiry: An Introduction.‘  Be prepared to wait a minute or so for the MP3 to download.

Duart is a genuine yogi, highly respected spiritual teacher, and accomplished master of enlightened living. He and his wife Lyse LeBeau are Canadians who journey to various parts of the world learning, discovering, and humbly sharing their awakened state.

Two of their books are available here: http://www.rebirthing.ca/

“This awakening to the Self is not something conceptual.  It comes with a letting go of our limited and erroneous notions of what we are and a complete surrender of our egoistic tendencies.  Such a transformation is a complete internal revolution, which touches every fiber of our being; it cannot be obtained by reading books, although books can be useful allies on the path.  It also cannot be reached by changing the external circumstances of our life.  Abandoning our families or quitting our jobs to lead a monastic life is unnecessary, because the real work is entirely internal. ” -Duart Maclean on Self-Enquiry

David Kaestner To The Rescue

David Kaestner is more than an excellent mechanic. He is thorough, reliable, and extremely busy. He did not give up on my old car until he fixed it. He solved an enormous ongoing problem for me. And I could afford what he charged! Highly recommended.

David Kaestner In A Flash

Background: Worked as a mobile mechanic in the San Diego area before enlisting in the U.S. Army, where he worked as a mechanic on army vehicles. Has a lot of experience in construction and carpentry. Works as a volunteer firefighter on weekends. Grew up in the San Diego area.

Current: Highly recommended mobile mechanic services in San Diego, and sometimes beyond.

Contact: (858)213-7528

David can provide references from a long list of loyal customers. (Add your comments to this SpotLight!)
Vince: Volvo, Head Gasket   
Brian: Sentra, Brakes
Jeff: Golf, Brakes/ Bumper Repair   
Ayza: Camry Odyssey, Brakes
Lona: Civic, Brakes, Fuel Pump   
Lorin: Civic, Brakes   
Greg: Extera, Safety Inspection
Kathryn: Mitsubishi Diamante, Brakes   
Yaakov: Astro Van, Brakes and Body Repair
Jeremy: Sonata, Brakes
John: Eclipse, Brakes
Nicole: Jetta, Brakes
Roy: Lexus, Brakes/Lines
Dan: Audi, Radiator
Kelly: Civic, Head Gasket Replacement
Dan: Honda, Element Brakes/F- Oil Pan Gasket
Meric: Honda, S Brakes, Trany Flush, Oil Change, spark plugs, fluid change, check engine light
Chris: Scooter Idle Ajustment   
Andrea: Saturn, Brakes, Check Engine Light Diagnostic and Repair, Oil Change

Joy riding! Bernie Baird-Browning drives the golf-cart for a video shoot at her Malibu cottage.

You step into another world at Small Wonders, the amazing educational toy store on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Rolling Hills, California. The place is a work of art that’s a world of toys, as unique and spirit-lifting as its owner and creator, Bernice Baird-Browning, who discovers fun treasures from merchants all over the world.

Bernie married a doctor before the age of 20, and raised two brilliant kids who’ve launched successful careers of their own. So she’s also a grandmother-made-in-heaven! Can you imagine the thrill of dashing over the meadow and through the woods to such an enchanting place?

And just as in a fairy-tale, Bernie met—or rather re-met—her current husband Ralph Browning at a high-school reunion in the late 1990s, and they’re living, traveling, and prospering happily ever after!

The source of Bernie’s passion for joy and fun and letting kids learn as they play might come from having started school in first grade. She longed for kindergarten ever since, so maybe skipping it was the twist of fate that led to the blessing Small Wonders is to the world. There, where everything has been so carefully searched, selected, and displayed by a mother, grandmother, businesswoman, and grownup kindergartener, you’ll find yourself warmly embraced in quality, charm, and just plain fun.

Fun, in fact, sums up Bernie Baird-Browning in a word.

AN EXCERPT FROM ROB’S BOOK, Pronoia Is The Antidote To Paranoia: HOW THE UNIVERSE IS CONSPIRING TO SHOWER YOU WITH BLESSINGS

Have you ever been loved? I bet you have been loved so much and so deeply that you have become jaded about the enormity of the grace it confers. So let me remind you: To be loved is a privilege and prize equivalent to being born. If you’re smart, you pause regularly to bask in the astonishing knowledge that there are many people out there who care for you and want you to thrive and hold you in their thoughts with fondness.

Animals, too: You have been the recipient of their boundless affection. The spirits of allies who’ve left this world continue to send their tender regards, as well. Do you “believe” in angels and other divine beings? Whether or not you do, I can assure you that there are hordes of them beaming their uncanny consecrations your way. You are awash in torrents of love.

As tremendous a gift it is to get love, giving love is an equal boon. Many scientific studies demonstrate that whenever you bestow blessings on other people, you bless yourself. Expressing practical compassion not only strengthens your immune system and bolsters your health, but also promotes self-esteem, enhances longevity, and stimulates tranquility and even euphoria. As the scientists say, we humans are hardwired to benefit from altruism.

What’s your position on making love? Do you regard it as one of the nicer fringe benefits of being alive? Or are you more inclined to see it as a central proof of the primal magnanimity of the universe? I’m more aligned with the latter view.

Imagine yourself in the fluidic blaze of that intimate spectacle right now. Savor the fantasy of entwining bodies and hearts and minds with an appealing partner who has the power to enchant you. What better way do you know of to dwell in sacred space while immersed in your body’s delight? To commune with the Divine Wow while having fun? To tap into your own deeper knowing while at the same time gazing into the mysterious light of a fellow creature?

Get the book here.

• ceaselessly sees truths that habit and culture make most of us wholly blind to,
• leads revolutions in thought and lifestyle that (if we’re lucky) actually have the credible potential to transform us all into a species of happy beings,
• magnetizes an entire community of like-minded truth- (and beauty-) (and joy-) seekers who, like little lost lambs from a scattered herd, have been wandering, nameless and leaderless, for years,
• commands superior talent not just in literature but also in music,
• and prolifically — every single day — churns out art and philosophy of the highest quality.

But Rob Brezsny does.

Rob Brezsny Sees

It’s true, too, that genuinely unique beams of original light have been known to be overlooked by most of their contemporaries, praised by some, and scorned by others (maybe people who have either never attempted to do anything difficult, or have tried, given up, and, whining all the way, settled for the mediocrity Brezsny’s genius inspires us all to free ourselves from).

Rob Brezsny is one of the most talented, far-sighted, creative people of our day, and we wouldn’t be surprised if what he hasn’t done yet proves him to be one of the most creative, admirable, joy-inspiring people ever.

Amen!
Om!
Hallelujah!
Shalom!
Namaste!
More power to you!

The clear, bright sound of brass penetrates the rooftops, windows, and walls of every house in a tropical neighborhood just north of San Juan.  It’s Soñando Con Puerto Rico, a song many of the island’s inhabitants have been singing by heart since childhood. It radiates from the home of Humberto Ramirez, the prolific trumpet and flugelhorn player who’s headlined with such jazz greats as Herbie Hancock, Tito Puente, Freddie Hubbard, and Paquito D’Rivera.

 “I can blow my horn like a crazy man,” he says, “and my neighbors don’t mind.”

Ramirez is somebody who performs nights and records days for weeks on end. A while back, the day after the final mix of his Portrait of a Stranger CD, his calendar was booked solid. He flew from San Juan to L.A. to squeeze a performance into a 17-hour stay, then was off to Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Cleveland, sometimes also magnetizing impromptu appearances by other pros in town.

Four years of arranging and trumpeting with Willie Rosario’s Orchestra in Puerto Rico led to a 1986 Grammy nomination for the work he did on Rosario’s album, Nueva Cosecha.  It also led to steady business with tropical jazz musicians, including Cheo Feliciano, Roberto Rohena, and Luis Enrique, and Latin pop artists such as Danny Rivera, Lucecita Benitez and Jose Feliciano, among many others.

Awards include Gold  and Platinum Records, Apex Golden Reel, and a 3M Visionary for producing. Back in 1992, he went to Sony Music with his own, independently produced Jazz Project—the title of the CD and the name of the band he still works with—and was the first artist signed to their then-new label, Tropi-Jazz, followed by Tito Puente, Giovanni Hidalgo, and others.

A composer, Ramirez was, so to speak, born with a brass trumpet in his ear. That is, his father’s house guests and colleagues were the likes of Chino Gonzalez and Tito Rodriguez. Musical Director of the San Juan Orchestra, Humberto’s dad dashed his son’s dreams of reaching stardom in the NBA by taking the boy, who would one day grow to a towering 5′8″, with him to work. On his twelfth birthday, Humberto went to his father and asked for the flugelhorn that had been promised to him whenever he was ready. At age 14, Humberto performed professionally for the first time with some of the members of his old man’s orchestra. “What I am today,” he says, “what I know, what I have accomplished, is because of my father.”

Portrait of a Stranger, strangely enough, features some very familiar Caribbean pieces: Felipe Rosario-Goyco’s Madrigal and Bobby Capo’s Sonando Con Puerto Rico, Ramirez’s original jazz arrangements of traditional Puerto Rican folk songs.

He makes no secret about who the “stranger” in the portrait is. “Inside of every human being is someone strange,” he admits, not excluding himself. “There will always be things you can’t know about yourself.”

Portrait of a Stranger was the first time Ramirez included vocals. One was by Latin pop star, Lunna, the other a duet by Gilberto Santa Rosa and Tony Vega. Ramirez also orchestrated for big band, which he loves, with a tribute “To The King,” Tito Puente, and an arrangement of the American standard, My Funny Valentine.

Guests on Portrait of a Stranger  include Dave Valentin, Russell Ferrante of the Yellowjackets, Mario Rivera, Ignacio Berroa, Oscar Cartaya, and Willie Rosario. The remaining performers are “Jazz Project,” the musicians who played on both of Ramirez’s previous CD’s, so they’re no strangers to Ramirez’s style, including the almost pioneering effect of combining strings with standard Afro/Latin/Caribbean sound. The strings on another one of Ramirez’s CDs, Aspects, are so lovely, they get you thinking he might be tapping into the time he spent studying film scoring at the Dick Grove School of Music.

If you can get out to the big city any time soon, chances are you’ll be able to hear what Humberto Ramirez is working on live.  If not, you just might hop over to the island instead and catch a sound that couldn’t be more at home than the clear, bright soul of a native son’s trumpet.  The neighbors “don’t mind.”

See that photo? It’s a picture of success. Your success. Because you might say your success is Lorna Riley’s business.

The world discovered Lorna’s sales talent when she was in the middle of a career in education and raising a family. She was put to work – first on a sales team, and then, when she broke all records in closing deals, in managing that sales team.

So, a trained teacher, Lorna did it “by the books.” That is, taught the way she’d been taught to teach. Break it down into elements, spool it out in rational order, start with the fundamentals, prepare thoroughly, speak clearly, and keep it interesting.

What resulted was a massive collection of original training material, and Lorna flying around the country delivering fun, funny, intensive, and effective week-long courses in sales, customer service, and management.

She designed coordinated systems on those topics, with extensive (over a hundred or more) sets of modularized lessons on each, and used them in: 

• in-person training (which earned her a CSP, the most prestigious certification in the country for professional speakers),
• published audio recordings (about such topics as time and memory management, and the three most important skills for creating success), and
• a series of books (like 76 Ways to Build a Straight Referral Business, ASAP!, Quest For Your Best, and Off the Chart Results for Organizational Development).

 And that was just the beginning!

Lorna has now turned the whole spectrum of that knowledge, experience, and educational material into an online training system, enhancing it with all the added benefits of the internet.

Lorna wanted to provide people on sales, customer service, and leadership teams not just with a way to learn the training skills they need to succeed, but also with a systematic plan that enables you to take responsibility for that success. Your own, and the entire company’s. (Clear proof of her management experience, isn’t it?) So hundreds of Lorna’s carefully crafted lessons are structured into what’s called a Managed Accountability Plan. They can be watched, tracked, assessed, and reviewed on line.

“Chart Learning Solutions delivers high-impact performance results that train & retain sales, customer service, and leadership talent. Through our unique blended solution, we build a culture of continuous improvement, common language, guarantee accountability, and foster meaningful dialogues between employees and managers to ensure skills and behaviors meet business objectives. Chart’s Sales Cycle “Managed Accountability Plans” (MAPs™) saved GMCR over $3.5M and are required for all their “AFH” sales people. With our on-demand on-line courses, we create continuous learning accountability, enhanced employee/manager relationships, build a common language, integrate a unified sales, service, and leadership process among a geographically dispersed workforce, reduce costs, and produce measureable results. This is achieved with Chart’s blended eLearning multimedia tutorials, online quizzes, Application Activities, Accountability Application Meetings, Goal Action Planners, on-line reporting, coaching guides and live Coaching.”

Any description of Lorna Riley would be completely unfinished if it didn’t include a bit about one of her one-of-a-kind works of art: The Movie Lover’s Cookbook aka Reel Meals. It’s a coffee-table cookbook with page after page of photographs of unforgettable eating scenes from world-favorite movies — next to the recipe for what they’re eating in each “reel meal”!  (What comestibles did the Marx Brothers clobber each other with in Duck Soup? What hors d’oeuvres did Audrey Hepburn dine on in Breakfast at Tiffany’s?)

Lorna wrote and produced this gem pre-internet, when specific photos from specific scenes in movies were really hard to get your hands on, and even harder to get legal rights to use. Tragically for lovers of cool things, it’s a classic that’s out of print now. Just had to mention it because it might be the best example, beyond her success as a success guru, of the brilliant creativity Lorna cannot keep a lid on.

Scott Magers, former professional baseball coach and highly successful CEO, introduces Action Heroes, the world’s most powerful internet marketing training team. According to YouTube, it’s “an extensive, intensive, detailed, broad, deep education in every aspect of internet marketing. Continous training, not just a weekend seminar. Dedicated experts and fellow students are working together to monetize the internet!”

Scott Magers is a father, husband, personal trainer of star athletes, and very successful businessman.  Now, as the co-founder of PitchIn, an international on- and off-line  social/business/charity network, Scott is also busy creating “a world that works for everbody, with no one left behind.” Read more about this amazing guy here..

Strong Qi, Gentle Flowers

Kayoko Yoshikai is one of those people who’s always running into her pals when she’s out and about. Even in big cities like San Diego.

And not only is she a friend to many, she’s also a business owner, an athlete (judo expert), a mother, a daughter of zen-master flower arrangers, a descendant of Samurai, uncommonly wise, and extremely busy.

Grownups used to tell her she was a “strong-qi” child. Surrounded by flowers, she’d transform her parents’ garden and the living creatures she met there into adventurous companions and playmates. (Some things really don’t ever change.)

In the same way still waters run deep, she’s quiet. So when you pause to listen to Kayoko, delightful stories about her remarkable life start to unravel. Conversation with her will probably be enhanced by some excellent, gently-imparted suggestions from her knowledge of health, wealth-building, and spiritual teachings.

To network with her is to increase your community by big numbers. One of her current projects is helping to pioneer a large, extensive, international on- and off-line business/charity/social network, which is scheduled to launch in the fall of 2009. (I’d ask her about it if I were you.)

This just in: THE WILD SIDE OF KAYOKO YOSHIKAI!!!

After a very successful career as a veterinarian with charisma and intuition his four-legged clients couldn’t resist, Herb Tanzer was tapped by major TV networks in New York to host a show about animal care. Instead, he became a life coach. Herb wants, and actually creates, a world that works for everybody. Now he lives for doing whatever he can to let you, help you, and show you how to be the cause of a life your unique brilliance deserves. Like no other coach, Herb Tanzer brings a broad understanding of spirtuality to the mundane task of everyday success strategy. Herb’s web site.

Herb dares you to dream: