Now Appearing in an Extended Engagement! Join David Robison as he takes you into his world and his daily life of reviving a stand-up comedy career. Prepare for side trips exploring the "art" of salesmanship and business ethics and his experience with Multi-level Marketing. Enjoy some frequent detours describing his observations on life. Read the exploits of this self-proclaimed Renaissance-man and blooming blogger as you go
On The Road With Dave.
If you read any of the Quixtar Opportunity Zone blogs, or Chuck Lia's "Speaking Of Amway" blog or even "On The Road With Dave"--you might have read comments from a lady named "Bridgett".
Bridgett is a Quixtar-affiliated Independent Business Owner and her comments can be funny, thoughtful, and to some; infuriating. Her comments even led to her being invited, along with me and others, to Prague last March for a meeting with Alticor's Communications team.
At the meeting, I suggested numerous times to Bridgett that she should start her own blog--even if it wasn't Quixtar/Amway related. Bridgett had some issues with the idea that mostly revolved around maintaining a certain amount af anonymity.
I received an email from her over the weekend announcing she had decided to take the plunge into the blogosphere. Normally, I wouldn't link to a new blog until the author has posted several weeks of blog entries; but since this could be some breaking news for other bloggers writing about the Quixtar/Amway business; I felt that since she let me know, I should go ahead and let my readers know.
Although, she will still probably maintain some anonymity, I think her new blog will be an interesting stop in your daily Internet surfing.
"The Lord's Prayer is 66 words, the Gettysburg Address is 286 words, there are 1,322 words in the Declaration of Independence, but government regulations on the sale of cabbage total 26,911 words."
Back in May, Beth Dornan at Inside Quixtar announced a contest to rename her blog based on the eventual name change of Quixtar North America back to Amway. Inside Quixtar would be an obsolete name. Prizes for the contest winners would include an Artistry or Nutrilite sales kit to the best suggestion and Artistry Essentials skin care or Simply Nutrilite samplers to the four runnersup.
Many suggestions were submitted and in the end the winners were announced.
First and foremost, The name has to include Amway Global or Amway...you need it for Google searches. "Inside" is a given. "Inside" is YOU. So unless someone else in one of the Global markets already has a Inside Amway blog, then you should take it.
Even though you'll be blogging about "Inside Amway" as it relates to the gang at Grand Rapids; you'll still be speaking about Global related topics as well.
If you give the blog another name, then you have to include a sub-title heading with Amway in the line, so the blog can be searchable easily by title.
Example: On The Inside: Views From Amway USA
From The Inside Out: Amway Global From North America
The Insider Blog: Amway Global
Just thinking off the top of my head.
Dave
PS: Stay away from "On The Road With Beth" although Bob, Bob, Bobbling Along With Beth has a catchy sound to it.
I'll await the variation Beth actually will choose, along with the rest of you.
In the meantime, I'd like to thank the Academy and my fellow nominees, I'll take the Nutrilite Sales Kit, please...engraving is not necessary.
Okay folks, here's a couple of stories that tie together in the end.
First story--My just-turned-two-years-old grandson and "his Dave" have this game we like to play. We roll a ball back and forth and about every fourth roll I will take the ball and hide it under my shirt and say, "Where'd it go?" and hold my hands up.
My grandson will get this sad look on his face and say, "Ball" real pitifully and then he'll pull it out from my shirt and laugh. We'll then start rolling it back and fourth again and then he'll grab the ball and hide it under his shirt. Holding his hands up and looking confused as to say, "Where'd it go?"
I'll get a sad look on my face and say, "Where's the ball?" I'll then grab him and get the ball under his shirt and we both laugh. We'll play this game for a while.
Second story--My last stand-up comedy performance went pretty good. I have this "bit" in my act where I turn to the audience and ask them, "How do I look?" Their reaction and answer determines my next "bit."
At my last performance, a particularly attractive woman in the audience gave me a good compliment as I was onstage. Let's just say that it increased my ego two-fold and the expression, "I'd do ya" was used.
The Tie-together Story--I returned home from that performance riding a pretty good high. I got paid. I did okay on stage. I got a compliment.
Greeting me back home was the family and my daughter and grandson came over to the apartment. I was sitting on the balcony with my grandson and daughter and I was regaling her in my triumphant performance when all of sudden my grandson gets a really sad look on his face.
I say, "What's wrong, baby?"
He pats my stomach and says "Ball", and holds his hands up.
Nothing like a reality check from a two year old. "The Dave" needs to do some sit-ups. Out of the mouths of babes comes the all time best heckle.
If you're interested in how my last stand-up comedy performance went; then go check out Comedy This Exit to read about my "Father's Day" weekend performance at The Smoking Moose in Anniston, Alabama.
Back in August of 2006, I wrote a scathing rant about the IP Casino and Resort in Biloxi, Mississippi. You may recall, "The Imperial Palace Casino Sucks!"
Today, I received another comment from an IP casino patron about his experience at the casino.
Anonymous said...
"I and my BOSS decided to have a father's day supper of crab legs and enjoy a bloody mary at the Palace this evening. Another customer complained about our language, and the manager along with three security guards acompanied us to the front door. This after paying $18.99 per plate for two buffets. I will never allow my money to inconvenience them again. Richard. Biloxi MS."
But, that comment did not spark today's entry at "On The Road With Dave"; somebody named Paco Hope did.
Paco gave his opinion about my experience at the IP Casino back in February 2008. I just discovered his blog entry today.
Paco wasn't exactly kind to my writing style, my rant, or my opinion about my experience. He felt, as another commenter at my original entry did, that I wanted to make trouble.
Paco summarizes:
"So, in summary, two points:
Set your expectations right. Mississippi is not Monte Carlo. Ten dollars in slots play does not get you James Bond treatment. If you show up to a popular restaurant on a Saturday night without a reservation, you will wait. Casino employees with shitty lives, shitty paychecks, and shitty jobs may actually be rude sometimes. Amazingly, some of these folks are really decent and rise above every excuse to be rude and are really pleasant. Still, if you catch one on a bad day, don’t be so shocked. It happens.
People deserve second chances, even when they do rude things. There was no value in berating or confronting that cashier. There is no value in boycotting a casino based on a single unpleasant night. There is no reason your wife deserved rude treatment just for asking a simple question. She deserved a second chance, and so does everybody else."
Paco makes his case, and I don't believe that he is a "nut-job", either; (he mentions that people who rant often come across as "nut-jobs" in his article).
It seems over the past few weeks that I have had little time to do anything other than work my "8-5" and pray for a weekend to do anything.
I can't specifically recall the things that I felt were taking all my time, but I just seemed not to have any hours left at the ened of the day to enjoy.
In the past, blogging was a top priority. I HAD to get something written in my blog everyday. Something would be amiss; if I wasn't able to blog--life would be unbalanced. And maybe that's one of the reasons the last week has seemed unbalanced. I simply wasn't logging in to Blogger and venting to my readers. (If I still have any)
This is not to imply that life has been sucking since I last blogged; just that I haven't made time to blog about life.
So, today I plan to organize my thoughts on recent events, news, and topics in my life and offer you my commentary in the coming days.
On the "Comedy" scene; I was recently contacted by a booker completely unsolicited--which is a good thing and proves my Internet existence is working. I also will be in Anniston, Alabama next Saturday at The Smoking Moose. If you live in North Alabama, come check out the show.
Full Details of the show will, of course, be written at "Comedy This Exit" after the performance.
Anyway, thank goodness it's the weekend; and I finally have some time to write.
