This just in - ‘12 Days of Christmas’ will cost you: $87,403

Partridge, pear tree prices decline, but gold surge pushes up index

Making one's true love happy will cost a whopping $87,403 this year, a small increase from last year, according to the latest cost analysis of the items in the carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas."

That's the grand total for the single partridge in a pear tree to the 12 drummers drumming, purchased repeatedly as the song suggests, according to the annual "Christmas Price Index" compiled by PNC Wealth Management.

The price is up a mere $794, or less than 1 percent, from $86,609 last year.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34196840/ns/business-small_business/

Merry Christmas to all!

(Copyright Gospel Communications International, Inc - www.reverendfun.com) used with permission

Don’t just thank ...

Here's another thought-provoking entry from Jeffrey Gitomer's blog:
(http://www.gitomer.com/articles/ViewPublicArticle.html?key=ajcdMibak3PuHBNsCWoRTA%3D%3D)

It’s likely you will be with family over the holidays. Great times. Reunions. Happiness. Tears of sadness and joy. Great food. Gifts. People you love. People you kind of love. And did I mention great food? Most people (not you of course) celebrate by adding to their waistline during these times. But I’m going to share a major strategy.

Whether it’s Thanksgiving or Christmas, families will gather and talk about old times. Growing up, vacations, past holidays. They all start out, “Remember the time that…” and they go on to tell a funny or poignant story. THESE STORIES ARE GOLD.

These golden lessons and stories are all around you, and many of them fit your selling situations, and relationship-building process. Real stories authenticate you. They make you more human, more approachable, more relatable, and even (if the story is right) more trustworthy.

First get the stories rolling:
• Start by asking folks to tell their most memorable story.
• Then ask about best times or best lessons learned. Ask people for stories where they learned lessons from mistakes, embarrassing moments, funny responses, and successes.
Listen with the intent to understand (don’t interrupt):
• Listen for incidents where a lesson was learned.
• Listen for funny events or responses that are yours to retell at the appropriate time.
• At the end of the story, ask questions or request the person to elaborate or fill in missing details.
• Look for the reaction of others. It’s a hint as to how your customers may be impacted.
•Take notes. Don’t let the lessons, the lines, the humor, or the any of stories get lost in the heat of the moment. You will NEVER remember everything without taking notes.

As the stories are being told, listen for the lessons behind the endings:
• Lessons from parents, teachers, siblings.
• Lessons you learned as a child. Playing with others, school, winning, losing, getting hurt.

Often the lessons are the result of something extreme:
• The time you got into major trouble.
• The game winning score.
• The fire, the illness, loss of a friend.

Once you have the story, and can see how it applies to your life-view.

Every story I tell conveys a lesson or makes a point. Many of the stories I tell make people laugh. Many have been collected from holiday gatherings. All of my stories are personal to me. They are original.

The secret to storytelling is your enthusiasm. If you’re talking to one, or one hundred and one, each person must feel like you’re telling it for the first time, even though you may have told it 100 times before. The passion will lead to the emotion of what you want to convey.

Now that’s something to celebrate.

Tough Monday?

Try these puns


1. The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.

2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian .

3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.

4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class, because it was a weapon of math disruption.

5. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.

6. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.

7. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.

8. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.

9. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall.. The police are looking into it.

11. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

12. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other: 'You stay here; I'll go on a head.'

13. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

14. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: 'Keep off the Grass.'

15. The short fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

16. The man who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

17. A backward poet writes inverse.

18. In a democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism it's your count that votes.

19. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

20. If you jumped off the bridge in Paris , you'd be in Seine .

"Unfriended"

Listen (MP3)
Listen (RealAudio)

Does this resonate with anyone???
(Courtesy of Garrison Keillor/A Prairie Home Companion)

I've been unwanted before it's true
And uninvited a time or two
Today I'm feeling unusually blue
I've been unfriended by you

The hourly updates on your activities
Your joys, your pain, your sensitivities
All of the parties you have attended
No, I've been unfriended

I had twenty-nine friends, an old high school buddy,
A couple of guys from Adult Bible Study,
Neighbors, and cousins, a high school classmate,
And then one morning I had sixty-eight.

The list of your friends: 3000 and growing
Three thousand folks who think you're worth knowing
You're a popular person, you don't need me
You've got Carla and Nicholas Sarkozy

Unfriended, where can I go?
Back to the people I used to know.
The women at church, the guys at the bar,
They could try to unfriend me but I know where they are.

I offered you friendship when I saw you online
I thought you'd become a true friend of mine
You posted a comment, I thought we were close
But now I am toast.

I feel like I'm back in my high school cafeteria
And I get the cold shoulder and I'm sent to Siberia
And no one will talk to me, nobody, none,
I once was befriended but now I am Un.

How could you do it, just delete my name?
I'm not a left-winger, nor an old flame,
I'm not a stalker and you're not a star,
But now I'll expose you for the jerk that you are.

You know it's inevitable that we will meet
In real time on an actual street
I'll be so cool — OMG — how sweet.
And I'll look away as I press delete.

Unfriended
Unfriended, boogers on you
You and all the friends you knew
Have just been unfriended too

10 Reasons Why You Need a PC Oscilloscope

1. COMPACT & PORTABLE By integrating several instruments into one small unit, PC Oscilloscopes (PCOs) are lighter and more portable than traditional test equipment. When used with a laptop computer, you can carry a complete electronics lab in the same bag as your PC.
2. USE YOUR PC DISPLAY The display of a traditional oscilloscope is limited by the physical size of the oscilloscope, and may only be a single color. With a PC Oscilloscope your computer controls the display, so not only do you get a full color display, but the display can be the size of your monitor, projector or plasma display.
3. BIG SIGNAL STORAGE Signal storage is limited only by your PC’s storage capability PC Oscilloscopes store the signals that you are measuring directly on your PC. With the power of today’s modern PCs this gives you vast storage capabilities. Along with allowing you to record lengthy signals this also lets you save signals for reviewing at a later date.
4. SHARING IS GOOD Captured waveforms and instrument settings can easily be shared with others Need to show your customer or colleague the signal you have captured? Just save the waveform and email them a copy. They don’t have a copy of the oscilloscope software? No problem – just export it as text, an image or in a binary format for use with third-party software. If they want to set up their equipment to run the same test, simply send them the oscilloscope settings too.
5. FREE IS GOOD Unlike a traditional DSO, with a PC-based oscilloscope new features and improved functionality can be added at any time with a simple software update. Free software updates means that a PC Oscilloscope is one of the few things that can actually become more powerful and useful with age.
6. ANY PC WILL DO PC Oscilloscopes are external devices that are connected to your PC using the ubiquitous Universal Serial Bus (USB). Virtually every laptop or desktop PC sold comes with multiple USB ports so there’s no problem using your PC Oscilloscope with either a desktop or a laptop PC.
7. HIGH SPEED USB 2.0 can transfer data at speeds of up to 480 Mbit/s. Using USB 2.0 PicoScope PC Oscilloscopes give you incredible performance with fast screen updates and the ability to stream data.
8. ALL-IN-ONE Our PC Oscilloscopes come complete with the hardware and software in one package so there’s no compatibility problems or complex set up procedures.
9. DATA-SCHMATER Using PicoLog you can transform your PC Oscilloscope into a data logger that can log data over extended periods of time.
10. ALL-IN-ONE (AGAIN) When you buy one of our PC-based oscilloscopes you don’t just get an oscilloscope: you also get a spectrum analyzer, meter and data logger. Some models even include a built-in signal generator or arbitrary waveform generator. So with a Pico PC Oscilloscope you really do get a complete test and measurement lab in one cost-effective unit.

Now see what we have here!

A bunch of hot air?

Readers of this blog will remember that I appreciate the writing of sales guru Jeffrey Gitomer (http://www.gitomer.com/articles/ViewPublicArticle.html?key=ajcdMibak3OwZBkVc0yjvQ%3D%3D ). He has a comment on company mission statements this week. He thinks that mission statements should be replaced with Customer Promises that simply state what we are committed to in our customer interactions and relationships. Things we do because we intend to do them.

“They are NOT goals. They are NOT missions. They are NOT hype, or marketing drivel (like your mission statement). They ARE promises TO customers, AND commitments that WE have made to ourselves, and deliver to everyone we connect with.”

Here are some of his suggestions (and Saelig responses):

Customer Promises and Commitments (that are all about the outcome)…
• We will be friendly. (Yes!)
• We will be professional. (Yes!)
• We will be helpful. (Yes!)
• We will be proactive. (We try hard on this one - informing customers in case of shipping delays, obsolescences, etc.)
• We will be knowledgeable. (Yes – this is a challenge for products from over 100 companies, however, so we sometimes defer to the manufacturers for in-depth answers)
• We will be easy to do business with. (Yes!)
• We will provide the highest quality products. (Yes!)
• We will do what we promise. (Yes!)
• We will keep you informed as we progress. (Yes!)
• We will maintain great attitudes toward service. (Yes!)
• We will earn your loyalty with quality and value. (Yes!)
• We will serve memorably. (Yes!)
• We will be on the leading edge of technology. (Yes! We’re constantly searching the world for new products)
• We will be an expert resource for you. (Yes!)
• We will use CREATIVITY and VALUE to differentiate. (Yes!)
• We will be committed to earn your loyalty. (With integrity!)
• We will treat all customers the same – LIKE GOLD. (Yes!)

Incidentally, he also states: “If you answer your phone with ‘press one, press two…’ you automatically lose. No matter what you do, every customer hates you before you say a word. Is that true? We have a phone system that asks customers to select 1 or 2 for Sales or Technical inquiries. I’d be very interested to hear if that is a problem for our customers.