Thanks for stopping by the Consumer Friend side of the street.  Please do visit again.

5 Stars for Craig Fenton’s speaking and writing course:

http://www.learnpublicspeakingskills.com

One of the ways reviews often lose credibility is if the writer does it with a selfish purpose (promoting something they receive commission on) and not with the consumer’s benefit as the primary goal.

That is why I choose to educate without compensation. Craig Fenton the rock and roll author of books on the Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship as well as a lecturer with a one time member of the Grateful Dead and a famous rock photographer has recently released a guide to better speaking, writing, and self-confidence called Painting My Room In A Colorful Way.

I have often been perplexed if speaking is a verbal word why so many products are only using the written. Painting My Room In A Colorful Way contains a book, audio files, email, and actual phone coaching. The contents clearly show Mr. Fenton’s desire to give the customer the optimum results. The majority of the population would find Mr. Fenton’s product advantageous for work, school, interviewing, or building personal self-confidence.

I often find those that sell books or audio products are talking down and not to the customer. It is obvious from the way Mr. Fenton supports the product after the sale that he is rooting for each individual to succeed. There are many exercises that think outside the box and that was a refreshing change. How many times do you purchase something and the contents only differ by the author’s name.

The idea behind the program is to take the customer through various steps of the speaking and writing path and tear down the walls of inhibition and improper habits. He includes over 650 words that are commonly mispronounced, tricks on improvisation, preparation, relaxation, slang terms that can severely limit your message, memory building, and what has to be the largest assemblage in one place a reverse dictionary. Almost 3500 words that can be looked up by the improper and correct spellings. You don’t get the meanings but it is a priceless tool.

Too many people feel when the sale is made their job is finished. Mr. Fenton coaches you all the way through with email and phone instruction. Part of the contents of Painting My Room In A Colorful Way is Mr. Fenton coaching you on the telephone (at his expense) so you are able to get the proper guidance both via the written and oral word.

The entire course was never work. It actually made me eager to see what was coming next and practice what he already afforded me. If you are or want to be a speaker or get involved in communications, a student, a manager, salesperson, a parent, or a writer, the contents will give you the road to the finish line. You only have to bring a pen, your voice, and the desire to achieve.

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From the Consumer Friend side of the fence thanks for being here.  Come back soon.

Welcome to the Consumer Friend part of the neighborhood.  Thanks for visiting and please stop by often.

There is a lot of talk in sports about a player that has water on the knee.  It isn’t only athletes that suffer.  Millions of people throughout the world have or had the condition.

If you want some great information about the topic please visit the link I have included above.  There are no sign-up forms or offers for you to buy.  As you are aware the goal of this blog is to provide information.

Feel good and if you are having discomfort please don’t let it go.  You should never have to be in pain.

From the Consumer side of the road I wish you a great Wednesday to come.

Welcome to the Consumer Friend side of the street.  Thanks for visiting.

The average pack of cigarettes is currently 5.01 nationwide.  Let’s make it an even 5.00.  If you smoke 1 pack per day you are spending 150.00 a month or 1800.00 a year without any benefit to the body.

How about making this the best time to quit.  Since a tough economy means cutting back why eat out less or deprive yourself of a few great classic rock CD’s?

http://www.quitnet.com/qnhomepage.aspx

http://www.smokefree.gov/

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3048036

Check out the above resources and make today the day you do the right thing.  Feeling better and saving money are a great team.

You can do it!

The Consumer Friend wants you healthy in 2009.  Thanks for visiting and please come back soon.

With all that is going on with General Motors and Chrysler and how it impacts so many lives I thought there may have been an interesting article today on Yahoo.

It talked about 1700 General Motors dealerships may have to close as part of the restructuring plan.

Where was the beef to the article or even the tires?  Nothing was pointed out what the compensation would be to the owners of the dealerships or if there isn’t compensation could that trigger a set of lawsuits?  There was brief mention that there are competitors that would consider a purchase of the Hummer and Saturn divisions of General Motors.  How about names or even a rumor?  Not one mention.

The article contained as many good words as a mime.

Thanks for stopping by the Consumer Friend place and do visit again.

For the weekend the Twitter universe was rocked with 2 worm attacks.  Doesn’t say much for the security patches but that is another story.  This is simply to pass on the site to trust if something needs to be known about a current technical situation with Twitter.

http://status.twitter.com/

One of the ways the creator of the worm (will not mention name or anything that feeds his ego) gets it to spread is buy sending messages that tell somebody click here if you have the worm.  It then infects more and the domino effect comes tumbling down.

Next time there is a Twitter situation please be careful clicking and posting until it is resolved.

It never hurts to change passwords every so often.

Good news I was able to say all that in more than 140 characters.

Thanks for visiting and please stop by often.

Early Saturday morning a little after 1AM to be almost precise the talk show host Tony Page at all sports WFAN 660 AM Radio, New York City could have opened with the Yankee victory of Kans City, the tough Mets lose to Florida, the upcoming hockey playoffs, or the poor performance this year of both local pro basketball teams.

Tony would take the opportunity to put the sports on hold for a few minutes so he could tell the listeners what he has for about 15 years.  As long as he has been on the radio he always says “No drinking and driving.”

In case you were not aware major league baseball pitcher Nick Adenhart in his early 20’s had his life ended the other day (I believe a couple of other innocent people as well) when an alleged  drunk driver hit Nick and the other passengers.

Once again lives are torn apart, families in tears forever, and the problem continues. Our sympathy to those that lost somebody special.

http://www.wfan.com

See if you could leave a message for Tony and tell him how it takes a great man to always look out for others.

From the Consumer Friend World Headquarters thanks for stopping by and please visit again.

Welcome to the consumer side of the street.  Thanks for visiting.

Us old-timers can recall the days of under 15 channels between UHF and VHF even in the largest metros.  I can’t recall anyone ever thinking out loud how they wanted or needed more.

Enter the Cable/ Satellite World.  Today I was on the phone with the provider of the television service and they told me that for no extra charge because of a bunch of bundled services I can now have 878 channels to watch.  My reaction was this sounds great.  Maybe I should have said this looks great.  Especially knowing the price is right!

Then I reflected on the conversation.  In my youth I would watch a lot of television.  Today with more choices I hardly turn it on (excluding sports).

It still seemed to be a thrill in some regard to know that at the click of the remote I could watch over 800 channels or non at all.

Choice is grand, even if an old consumer doesn’t use it.

Glad you were part of the visit to the Consumer Friend side of the street.  Please return soon.

The political parties all have their thoughts on stimulus packages.  How about the government takes some of the zillions that went into the pockets of the greedy of the greedy and makes sure every home has 2 computers.

Why two?  Have you ever had one break down?  The frustration of getting tech support on the phone (especially if it is free) could be the first reason.  After talking with the customer service for 3 hours 7 minutes and 48 seconds today to attempt to get a friend’s computer working again it was determined it needed a new part.

Enter scene 2.  The new part has to be shipped 2 day air.  The friend has no computer and can only hope when the part arrives they made the proper determination.  However with the Consumer Friend Plan there would be a back-up machine all smiles and ready to boot up.

Think of how this would stimulate the economy.  Millions of computers would have to be built and sold (creating jobs), more software would be sold, more tech support needed and so on.  Before you know it there would be a growth in the job market.

Even if the computer stimulus would only cover the first 1000 dollar, you could still get something decent, or add on to it.

From the consumer side of the road thanks for visiting and please stop by again.

On the east coast and very possibly throughout out great nation the Post Office will have a change of hours coming.  Awhile back the majority of Post Offices extended the hours of operation Monday-Saturday.  It was a pleasant event and something any consumer could applaud.

Many of the branches that once opened at 8AM and closed at 4 or were 9-5, extended their weekday hours until 7PM and Saturday instead of shutting the doors at 12 or 1 they conducted full business until 4.

On a warm and day great for early April I walked into the Post Office this past Saturday and was greeting with the news.  We all know the financial trouble that the Post Office appears to be in, so it was not a move that is shocking.

There were three choices the Postal Service had with the budget crisis.  They could have kept the extended hours, reverted to the former, or if a town or city has enough postal activity let 1 branch per x number of square miles keep the additional hours.

The answer is?  It looks like the last option will be in place.  Some of the branches in your community will keep the extended hours.

It was a great convenience while it lasted.  The more hours the less the lines and the happier the consumer.   Maybe down the road there will be a way to keep the post office and the consumer from having any blues.

From the Consumer side of the street thanks for visiting and please drop by again.

Welcome to Consumer Friend’s world headquarters.  Thanks for visiting.

There was a time in a universe way back when talk radio was light years above the sub-standard output we hear today.

You would think that the modern conveniences would have enhanced the product but it isn’t about the gadgets of this millennium but what the powers at play let happen.

Rewind to the early 1970’s when one of the first talk radio stations in the country WMCA 570 AM, New York City dared to be different.  At a time when AM radio was dominated by music they went another route.  Excluding afternoon personality Bob Grant (yes the voice known to millions) on the right and overnight host Leon Lewis who represented the left, the rest of the staff came from the middle.  That was brilliant!  Why?  Good question.  If you only get information from the left it is obviously tilted in their favor.  If you receive words from the right they obviously have their own slant.

Since the bulk of the programming came from the middle of the road the listener could get both sides of the coin to make their own determination on the issue.  What made WMCA a great listen was also the voice that mattered were that of the callers.  Today the bulk of the hosts even if they are in their first month of broadcasting feel the need to be condescending and care more about the sound of their own voice than the listeners who pay their salary.

WMCA is long gone.  In fact the call letters have been changed and obviously the format.  It should be preserved in the time capsule for those that had the pleasure of listening and learning from the middle.  It’s a shame that their tapes aren’t available for listen around the globe.  Those in the older demographic would smile and those on the younger section of the map would understand all that glitters isn’t gold.

If the left heard more right and the right more left maybe the nation would better work together to achieve what is right for the citizens and not their own political agenda.

In a free society the individual has the ability to make a choice.  If Jane wants to go left and John right, and their kids somewhere in the middle that is the beauty of the system.  If the information being ascertained isn’t from a level playing field the status-quo remains in full force.

WMCA this Coca-Cola’s for you.

Thanks for spending some of Sunday on the Consumer side of the street (located in the middle of the block).