Something Magical Happens on the Dance Floor

I have nothing but heaps of praise for Wendi Baity’s hip hop class on Monday nights at Moorpark College! This class has been such a great experience for me as both a dancer and as a social experience. Having done mostly partnered dancing for the last six years, this class was a definite stretch for me. I am very grateful for the spirit that Wendi brought to this class. She has been an incredible inspiration for me, not just with hip hop, but with all styles of dance.

Wendi infuses this energy into her class that became so abundantly clear at the end of the semester dance performance this evening. The monday night class is packed with students from all walks of life. Everyone in that class has an amazing story to tell. They are all great people.

When we all hit the stage, something magical happened. Wendi had been asking for more energy throughout the entire semester. All that energy came onto that stage tonight. It seemed like everyone just lit up on the stage! It was an awesome experience to see and also to be part of. I’m looking forward to the funny 80s piece in tomorrow’s dance performance.

I Want a Blank That Makes Me Happy

I heard it twice today, “I want a job that makes me happy.” You can replace job with anything, and it is probably one of the most common statements you’ll hear. I’ve certainly said that phrase many times before. I even think I’m so lame that I said “I just want a relationship that makes me happy.”

Call it age, losing my best friend to suicide, or supreme enlightenment, but I really don’t need or want something that makes me happy except for myself. That’s not to say that I don’t get happy when I ride my motorcycle or when I am dancing or when I’m hanging out with my family and friends. Those and so many other things make me happy. However, I am happy regardless. The work that I do is work that is exciting because I make it exciting. The hobbies that I pursue are exciting because I make them exciting. Because I am happy, what I have in my life becomes happy.

Knight Rider Ratings Won’t Keep It On-Air. But Don’t Count It Out Yet

After having slept through most of the 2 hour premiere of the new Knight Rider on NBC last night, I was about to say it would have one season of life. That was until I paid closer attention to the sponsors: Ford and Microsoft.

The new K.I.T is a Mustang. Depending upon what happens to sales of the mustang over the next television season, we can expect Knight Rider to be back because Ford will be willing to pay for the show.

Microsoft has considerable interest in NBC (MSNBC). Depending upon how well Ford vehicles with Microsoft’s Sync system sell, you can bet that Microsoft will be willing to help pay to keep the show on their television partner, NBC.

In much more simple terms: Knight Rider is an infomercial for Ford and Microsoft. I’ve tried this before on a much lower budget when I produced a television talk show starring Christine Eads. It is a brilliant idea if sales pan out for Ford and Microsoft.

Is Microsoft on the verge of creating the modern equivalent to Soap Operas? Will we call them Sync Operas? Stay tuned to NBC and Knight Rider to find out!

If Everyone Watched The Big Idea…

What would happen if everyone in America watches The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch on CNBC? First, there would be a run on the cable companies because you can only get CNBC on cable. Second, fellow blogger Tony Iovino would take his $600 check he’ll receive from the Federal government in May and actually cash it to invest it into a new invention (and he would start using the vastly superior WordPress blogging system). Third, the US economy would flourish.

Today, Bush signed his stimulus package, creating checks for millions of people in our economy. Lots of people love to complain about the symantics of the deal. Call it welfare. Call it a rebate. Call it what you want, it is our Federal government giving money to people that live in America.

Using some of the people I’ve seen on The Big Idea as an example, what those $600 checks have the potential to do is generate billions (yes, you read that correctly, BILLIONS) of dollars in revenue/income for Americans. How? Well, you should watch The Big Idea. The show has featured scores of people who have started their business for little more (sometimes even less) than $600. These people has created jobs, used resources that support other businesses, and made people a lot of money.

Sure, if everyone who receives a check goes a spends it on a toy at Walmart, it won’t do much for boosting the economy. However, let’s have a little fun with the math here. 130,000,000 Americans are going to receive a check. If even 0.1% of the people who receive checks become Donny Deutsch success stories, we are talking about generating $130,000,000,000 of revenue for the US economy over the next year! That’s correct, just one-tenth of one percent of the people who receive the checks need to become Donny Deutsch success stories for the checks to pay for themselves in just two year. One-tenth of one percent. That is about the same as a run-of-network banner advertisement on ValueClick!

Think You Are Not Entitled to Overtime?

Think again! Gotovertime.com has compiled a list of common reasons we think we are exempt from overtime:

• Paid on a Salary
• Paid more than $95K
• Supervise two people
• Comp time given for overtime
• Only clocking 40 hours
• Not clocking in and out
• Not paying for travel time

Chances are you’ve fallen into one of these traps. I know plenty of people who have. Most of which are computer programmers. For some reason people in IT seem to really be disgruntled by the amount of work they provide, the amount of value they provide to the company, and how little they are compensated and valued by their employer.

Guess what IT folks? You’re rights to overtime are changing and not for the better. Here’s a bit of news to help you feel even more upset about your unfair treatment at work. Of course, you’ll probably just sit there and complain rather than do something about your unfair treatment. Good luck with that.

oooooooor… Do yourself a favor and be the first guy at your company to must up enough guts to make a difference for all the people in IT who have been taken advantage of before you’re rights to overtime are whittled away to nothing.