R. So cryptic. It’s Roberta, but Robbi to Sandy and Rob to most of my friends. I’m 59, currently weigh the most I have ever, but went through a radical change ten years ago that caused me drop 60 lbs and I think I can do it again. Need to. I’m working on a couple of film projects that are going to require some public events that I am simply not prepared for at the moment.So between yesterday and today I worked in the “brawn” area: I’m just a mile from the beach so have re-instigated my walks, either on the surfline if the tide is out, or up on the boardwalk if it’s high tide. Yesterday and today were both board walk days. An hour each late in the day to avoid the sun. That’s about three miles each at my usual speed. I can do better on a treadmill, but I don’t work up the sweat like I do down at the beach. It’s so deceptive. There’s a breeze, but the humidity is killer. My life skills and experiences have included canoeing, camping (I can rough it in the woods), sleeping under blazing security lights in an urban environment, riding a bicycle, a little bit of cooking (I do a mean white pad thai), and have a little German and high school French occasionally floats back to me, and I can drive a stick shift. I want to try my hand at one of those airplane simulators! Sandy’s already done it!
THE VIDEO: I just thought of how to begin it…
Since we met at Lucasfilm, I think that we start it like the “scrolling roll-up crawl” at the beginning of Star Wars. I’m sure Prashant can figure it out, but just in case, here is an Adobe Premiere Pro tutorial on doing it!
It would go something like this:
(John Williams Score crashes in)
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…
our heroines met in the Lucasfilm internship program…
This is Rob typing, because Sandy is an intellectual property lawyer
and as soon as she sees that I’m doing this, she….
(sound of a “needle scratching off a record” – like this – Screen goes black)
Me saying: “Robbie! What do you think you’re doing?”
Rob: “Oh come on. It’s all about the visuals…I’m just having a little fun…”
Me: “SIGH…”
Next starts my background/photos (with overdub by me), then R’s background/photos (with overdub by R), then…
When it comes to our background “together,” again, the screen goes black, Williams score fades back in (at about 3:45 mins, per the John Williams score linked above, where he is conducting), “scroll” starts with wording about us meeting at Lucasfilm, and you hear me in the background shouting “R! HEY! STOP THAT!” and the “needle scratching off a record sound” again…
HERE is an example of what the scroll “looks like” – Since we only get 3 minutes I think we cut out ANYTHING but the front crawl part (though we could potentially start where it says STAR WARS, call it CYBER FRIENDS or something in that script.)
OK I’m really laughing at this idea. Hope R likes it. This is only Day 4. All I have read says that the application and the video are the most important – we’re going to have to have some video of “us” in it – but I think this will really really make the judges laugh.
Well, I’ll be darned…Feng Shui is on our side (by “accident”…?)
So.
I have this super duper detailed feng shui calendar (goes down to the hour of when to do or “not to do” things). This is what the whole RocketSpeedMarketing.com thing was about – I was doing the SendOutCards side, the feng shui master was doing the feng shui side. It just didn’t work out for whatever reason – but if you’re curious you can go there to see what I’m talking about.
ANYWAY – so I was “compelled” to text R on Thursday August 29, 2013 at 12:23 p.m. about this whole “365 Days to Amazing Race” idea.
I was just getting my office back organized today for the first time in months (H got my new notebook tied into my sound system, screen, etc. – THANK YOU…) – and I found the feng shui calendar. I haven’t used it in forever – bad me, it was expensive enough – so I opened up that time and date with a little trepidation.
GET THIS….
August 29th is the ONLY “green” day since August 21st through tomorrow, September 2nd (that’s another green day). “Green” days are the “best days” to do things. Moreover (could I make this up?) – the time of 11 a.m. to 12:59 p.m. is one of the 3 best “hours” of that day.
August 29th was an Excellent/Risk day – heck, so “Excellent” to start a “Risky” Adventure?
Yeah baby…
The Positive Influences are Virtue, Growth, and Advantage.
I can see those playing out on TAR, can’t you?
Potential Negative Influences include Potential Disaster, Petty Arguments, Guilty As Charged, Wilderness, Upheaval, and On Guard.
Pfffffft. Amazing Race, much?
The HOUR I texted is the time for – get this – Good Question and Wealth Accumulation. “Good Question” means that it’s the right time to pose a question to someone else when it will be received well. Here is the actual definition:
“Good Question: The key to unlock the door to your success is to ask the right question. This hour is unsuitable for nothing. It is suitable for working with your coach or mentor; seeking answers to challenging questions; asking for a raise or a promotion. It is also ideal for making deposits into accounts such as savings or other “accounts” that you would like to accumulate over time (monetarily/skills/etc.). This is also a great time for commencing work that could ease the accumulation of wealth and fortunes, which is tenfold if “Wealth Accumulation” is also in the hour. Though it’s also a good day to “unlock” wealth, the key is asking for what you want, then taking action in that path.”
Now, granted, R didn’t receive my text (she’s changed carriers), but that actually doesn’t matter, it’s when the action is initiated. And Wealth Accumulation – well – can you say $1 million – ? (Note also the comment about Wealth Accumulation in the Good Question definition – !)
Tomorrow (Monday) is a Favorable/Close day, so if I can get out from Labor Day celebration stuff, it means it’s a good day to “Close open things” and such. Gotta get some law work off my desk, pay bills, etc.
And then Tuesday the 3rd is a Favorable/Establish day – in other words, the day to start a new habit, etc. The best time for this is actually from 9-10:59 a.m. and from 1-2:59 p.m. I guess I’m calling Crossfit then and making my appointment to do the “On Ramp” Class with them for when H is gone . . .
This is pretty weird. I really felt compelled to send this text. I’m not saying that there’s magic to this – but as most Chinese would not DARE to do something without consulting the feng shui calendar – who am I to argue?
Crazy. Cray-Cray.
DAY 4 of the Amazing Adventure…
Well, I’m actually up at 5:30 a.m. on a day that we were supposed to sleep in . . . this whole thing is eating my head 😉
The first question I had was – what can you bring with you on The Amazing Race?
The second thing knocking around my head is the 3 minute video.
I actually think that the way the video should go is 1 minute R, 1 minute me, 1 minute “us.” I think the minute that’s for us as singles should be “how we got where we are.” James’ comment about “lawyer, pole dancer, Ironman” sort of got me to this thought.
My story line pretty much goes like this: I was super shy as a kid. My mom will even tell you that I wouldn’t go into the sandbox, without her getting in and showing me it was OK. In college, I really got sick of this person, so I copied a girl that everyone liked – her mannerisms, what she ate, how she laughed, how she talked. (The interesting part about that is that she was super bad in school and a decade later we happened to get together and I told her this and she got teary-eyed, telling me that I was always the “one who did well in school,” etc. and she had either not gotten her degree or barely did – she left UC our junior year – and she couldn’t believe I would “pick her.”) Anyway – as my story is going past, there are photos – they have to be pretty quick, 30-60 photos as there is a minute. Maybe a video clip from ABC-TV when I was on for my book. Maybe a clip of Tim and my vodcast (maybe from the blooper reel?)
Then when it gets to “our” 1 minute, I think that we show what I mentioned before – typing, then the Facebook message comes up – I wonder if R has any photos of the two of us from back then? (I can’t imagine – I don’t. Maybe a photo of the group – ??) I think that the only photo that I have of the 2 of us “doing” something that isn’t posed – which isn’t really “us” per se – is one where you can see R shooting the video for our wedding – it’s either in the film or it’s one of my wedding photos.
Then we do perhaps a Skype clip where we’re talking to the video about why to pick us. But we can maybe “reveal things” that we wouldn’t know, because we don’t know each other “in person” all that well (e.g. me saying “R – I snore. Bad.”)
I can’t think of any couple in all the Amazing Races (though I haven’t seen all of them) that have a “backstory” like this and I think it could be compelling. We have to figure out how to “style” this – because the first page of your video needs to basically say what you are (a la what they would put on the front reel of Amazing Race – “Joe and Moe, brothers,” “Cindy and Sally, FBI Agents.”) I think it has to be something like “20 year cyber-pals.” We’ve stayed friends – via the Internet – longer than many of the contestants have been adults. (Most, likely.)
Back to the first question – this is the website I found:
http://www.aboutjatyler.com/amazing-race-rules.html
People put a LOT of effort into these things – dang! This one doesn’t really say “what you can have in your backpack” (just what you can’t have). OK one more try:
http://boards.independenttraveler.com/showthread.php?4282-Frequently-Asked-Questions-About-Amazing-Race
Nope, not so much….
http://amazingrace.wikia.com/wiki/Rules_and_Penalties – ok this answers one question – if you go somewhere cold, they will provide you with the clothes, etc. you don’t have to pack them. (ONE BIG QUESTION ANSWERED! – That could take a lot of room!)
This one looks promising, but it’s old: http://www.tarflies.com/article.php?_f=detail&id=29 – yup, pretty good. Although we know that you can’t bring PDAs, maps, etc., it looks like basically it’s a 35 lb weight limit, and you want to only bring things you can bring on a plane so that you don’t have to check your bag. So that would leave out some things you might “want” to bring (though I think you can bring a Swiss Army Knife now on a plane…)
Yup, this is the best link by far – as it says, “Keep checking the CBS website vigilantly because after it’s announced, you only have 4 weeks to get the full application in.” As I said though the above is old, but it has a LOT of good information.
This is a good paragraph point (also from the above):
“…Nor can they bring written notes of that sort. (Although according to TAR1’s Brennan, nothing stops you from memorizing that sort of stuff right before you leave, and then writing it all down in a blank notebook as soon as possible after the Race starts.)”
Ah-HA, here is a good one regarding “what you can bring” – again, this is ages old (seems like a LOT of these were written in 2006 – interesting!) – but this has got to be at least “mainly” still right I imagine:
http://forum.realityfanforum.com/index.php?topic=8121.0
I think that one of the things that would be very important would be a GOOD ALARM CLOCK that is VERY VERY LOUD (laugh) – since no one can wake you up if you oversleep. You get 12 hours from when you check in before you have to go again – man, make it on the show, START TESTING ALARMS (laugh)!
This site stresses that overpacking is the BIGGEST issue. One of the (male) racers said he was prepared for anything including a suit and tie in his clothes – I think that as a girl you are luckier as you can pack a “packs down to nothing” black dress and some black dead-flat sandals and you’re good. My supposition would be that the best shoes would be sneaker-type shoes – or one pair like that one pair of Keen’s. Question would be whether they should be more “hiker/sneaker” combo shoes (like I recently purchased) or “all-around” sneaker shoes? Still searching on that one. The site also stresses that the “most important thing” is the right backpack with lots of straps (makes sense) – light, etc. I can see that.
Aha here is another one, though obliquely related to TAR:
http://adopttaiwan.wordpress.com/2011/03/16/packing-in-amazing-race-style/
Here is Phil K’s “12 Travel Tips” that it refers to, from 2006 (what IS it about 2006?):
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0511/whats_new/amazing_race.html#travel_tips
I LOVE THIS (from the above article):
“Perhaps the most exceptional thing about The Amazing Race is its inviting worldview. “It seems like all we ever see of the rest of the world is the aftermath of a natural disaster, war, or someone who hates us, burning an American flag,” says the expat New Zealander Keoghan, who resides with his wife and daughter in Santa Monica, California. He adds, “Our President is constantly warning people about all the ‘evildoers’ out there. It’s no wonder some Americans think they’ll be safer staying home.”
TRUE TRUE TRUE. I think that is HUGELY important, and maybe it’s one thing we mention in our video. I think especially now, this would “Play well.” Also they talk again and again and AGAIN about “this is a relationship show” or “the thinking person’s reality show.” That’s gotta be what is stressed – not the $$ or the travel.
This is also a GREAT QUOTE: “…or what the show really delivers is a spot-on satire of the breakneck speed at which Americans travel.” Ha!
In reading that link, GET A LOAD of #7! Holy cats!
#11 is a great idea (regarding panhandling if you lose your money). If you can panhandle from other travelers they are more likely to commiserate. Interestingly, I would think (I mean, think about it) if you are there panhandling with a camera and a sound person at your side, you’re going to be considered differently than a “usual” panhandler 🙂 “The departures terminal is your best bet” – clever. And better than arrivals, because if someone is departing they are “going home” so they are more likely to be more loose with their money than someone who has more money, but “wants it to last” for their holiday in that foreign land.
Okay, well here is a link to the backpacks recently used: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_model_arc_teryx_backpacks_are_Katy_and_max_using_on_amazing_race_2013
Now I’m searching on Bing instead of Google, here is another website (this one didn’t show on Google at all but was first on Bing – interesting):
http://www.amazingracefanwiki.com/page/The+%22Real%22+Rules
This one’s a pretty good packing list! (Huffington Post travel writer): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/la-carmina/amazing-race-style_b_2207344.html
Also Huffington Post – packing tricks from the Goth Team: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/la-carmina/watch-5-packing-tips-from_b_1217565.html – wow I don’t remember these 2 but they had ONE backpack between them? Now THAT is a GREAT idea! (How did I miss them? Maybe I have “mental pause”)
World Race Packing List and Video: http://hannataylor.theworldrace.org/?filename=wr-packing-list-video Wow this was just posted a couple days ago. It’s obviously not TAR because they’re bringing electronics, etc., but it has makes and models of things, which I think is muy bueno (especially as this is from 2013!) This is “big pack plus day pack” but it has a lot of electronics. Video at the bottom. Interesting regarding bringing a Bible, I actually like the idea. Good reading there – I once told someone if I was allowed ONE book on a desert island, that’d be it – you could be entertained for years with one. (Meant with no disrespect!)
DAY 2 & DAY 3 on the Amazing Adventure . . .
I’m a day behind on posting, so I will do Days 2 and 3 together.
Yesterday (Day 2) I looked up the Amazing Race Wiki. You can find it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amazing_Race
Here are the teams for this coming season (23): http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/amazing-race-season-23-teams-615327
Here is the application: http://www.theamazingracecasting.com/howtoapply
This is going to be the key part: Short Bio of Team (Up to 70 Words), focus on Relationship Positives and Negatives (plus the video). We can get Prashant to make the video look great – but how to work it? Our story: We met when interns at Lucasfilm and hit it off – maybe because we were at least 10 years older than anyone else in the program! 🙂 R went back to be a minister on the East Coast. I was a “big firm” lawyer. I moved on from there to in-house, then having my own law firm, plus 3 books (about being a Bond Girl, and about Passive Income), getting married. R moved from East to West Coast, need to get the rest of the story. We kept in touch via email. This was back in 1993 or 1994 (can’t remember which) so we’ve been friends for HOLY COW that means 20 years but we haven’t really “seen one another” more than a handful of times in person (definitely less than 10 – even when we were at Lucasfilm). I’m pretty sure that’s right. We knew when we met we would “rescue each other out of a Mexican jail” – funny how you know that sometimes when you first meet. R came up and video’d my wedding – I helped fund her first pre-Kickstarter-esque movie.
It’s an odd story, that’s for sure.
That’s enough for Day 2. Day 3 – walked 2 miles, inner thigh still hurts when I try to run. Thought a lot again about Crossfit. Depressed at being in such terrible shape, even though I’ve run a bunch of marathons in the last year. I think I said that in the last post. My shoulder still twinges, and of course, I’m “over 50” (how’d THAT happen?) Talked with Robert about getting another “functional fitness” assessment and he said he’d videotape me (now how depressing will THAT be?!) Need to work on strength.
Here are the “requirements” from the last Amazing Race “intake” in San Francisco:
Click to access amazing_race_affiliate_eligibility_requirements.pdf
Yes I know I should be using snazzy embedded links, but right now just trying to get this all down in one place. This really is more by way of a “running diary” than anything else (and for me and R to keep track that we’re each doing something for the next 365 to try to get ourselves there).
As for the video, here are some great links to consider when the time comes:
The Casting Director on what she’s looking for:
The Amazing Race Casting Video (what makes a great video – and here we go, can’t be longer than 3 minutes. Is that 3 minutes each or together? DANG if together that doesn’t give us a lot of time! Yup – just read it – 3 minutes together. Yikes!):
http://www.theamazingracecasting.com/Video
One thing these stress is don’t say how much you need the money; how much you want to travel; etc. I think that we have it there. I think that, instead, we stress that every show has to have the folks that try really hard but don’t make the cut. Not everyone can be #1, and we’d love to be #11! That might be a really funny way to play it. I think that would get their attention. However, you do have to be competitive and strong-willed, but maybe we can play up the “Old age and treachery will always win out against youth and skill” angle too. Think about this . . . Could be hilarious.
This is the guide for Amazing Race Australia, but has some great tips:
http://au.tv.yahoo.com/the-amazing-race-australia/about-the-show/article/-/10030299/
I actually see us cutting together a video with the 2 of us on either 1/2 of the screen. (Prashant can do this for us). I also see us working (they say they like that), emailing each other, maybe a “shot over the shoulder” where one of us is on the computer and in the bottom corner, the other’s message on Facebook pops up…I think that is really something that would get their attention. That will be different. That can also be one of our “this could be a real problem” things – e.g., what happens when we’re 4 weeks together? We don’t really know whether we’ll drive one another crazy, though we’ve known each other for 20 years! (NOTE: I snore, R!)
Here are a bunch of videos that say that they got callbacks (I understand from my cousin Robin that Chris and James – our cousins – got to the semis apparently – so I need to contact them and see what they sent!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4aJXQ79yxI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqNFZwNdjtE
Tips on how to get on Amazing Race (from a couple who didn’t get on, but has a lot of “why we did not get on” to their blog):
http://www.radicalparenting.com/2009/12/21/7-tips-on-how-to-apply-to-the-amazing-race/
Great overall explanation of what’s involved:
http://brucepena.hubpages.com/hub/The-Amazing-Race-So-You-Want-To-Be-A-Contestant
In the above (really very good) the “Skills, Attributes, and Hang-ups” is VERY GOOD. I can drive a standard car (and I could brush up on how to drive a motorcycle – I have a license but it’s about 20 years old!) I’m not strong AT ALL and don’t know about R – my guess is, not so much. I remember some of the skills needed in a couple of the last years and they DEFINITELY required strength. That’s part of doing this 365 day thing – I really want to have somewhere to say “Yes, I am working on that” and then record it. As for languages, I do okay in German, I do okay with French, I have taken Japanese and passed a fluency test in 1993 (!!! Before most of the contestants were born !!!). One thing this says that an all-female team has never one, and one with the contestants over 46 has never won. That’s OK. I’d like to do the best we can but I don’t have the actual thought we’d WIN. I just think it would be a blast to TRY.
Yeah Yeah Yoda, “There is Do or Not Do, There Is No Try.” Shut the F up. LOL!
It also says that you shouldn’t have too many hangups (food related issues behind high on them . . . wonder if being allergic to fish and to peanuts is going to axe us – ??? Hell I’ll eat crickets but don’t wipe me out with a flounder frittata LOL). Also says that you’re likely to do stuff at heights (we know that – R can do it LOL) and also must know how to swim WELL. I got that, not sure about R. I was thinking about that. I wonder if you can bring swim goggles?
This makes me want to get Lasik next year even more . . . .
Need to practice paddling a canoe. We can do that. I remember paddling with H and we went around and around. Yeah, I need to practice that. 🙂 Says you have to practice both together and separately – I guess if we get on, R is going to have to come up here and we are going to have to get some practice in!
I really wonder if they would take us if our “game” is that we have been friends for 20 years but haven’t really seen one another more than a handful of times, in person.
This article was good for comic relief:
http://www.travelfreak.com/2012/09/28/my-experience-auditioning-for-the-amazing-race/
I think that’s enough for today. Well, almost. The closest Crossfit Gym to me is TJ’s down on the Miracle Mile. I don’t feel particularly “ready” to do Crossfit, since before I went to the Vienna Marathon, I did a month (3x/wk) with a Crossfit coach from Tam Crossfit and I SUCKED. I mean suuuu-uuuuucked! It was seriously pathetic. HOWEVER, I do believe this is the best workout to get you strong, and I think strong is what we need.
Here is the website for TJ’s: http://tjsgym.com/sanrafael.html
I think that I have to call them tomorrow, as one of my Day 4 things to do. It’s pricey, and I don’t have that sort of “throw around” cash. I also am already a member at the JCC, and Robert (the functional fitness guy) has said I should work out with him – and he’s likely right. The interesting thing with Robert is that he said he’d do a video of the workout – which could be SUPER helpful, if I were to do it at home. I have to explore all options – I like the Crossfit idea because my friend Kat does it, and it’s a “group” of people. She’s at Tam CrossFit, because apparently when she joined the Crossfit community, she had dated a guy at TJ’s, plus she liked the (female) owner at Tam Crossfit better. TJ’s is just SO much easier for me to get to – if I am really motivated I can walk or run up and over The Hill to get there. I’d have to drive to Tam Crossfit – or it’s a long run (I did that when I was training with the trainer there).
You can see how expensive it is here – http://tjsgym.com/gettingstarted.html – 4 “private sessions” for nearly $300 – ?? Lord almighty.
Here is another Crossfit in my area (Crossfit Marin/Corte Madera in “The Cave”) – that one is definitely a drive for sure: http://www.crossfitmarin.com/ – they don’t seem to have an email address but here’s their number: (415) 927-1630 (“call to schedule your 5 required sessions” before you start). Aha – found their email. I sent them a plaintive email. We’ll see what they say.
Here is the website for Tam Crossfit (This is where Kat works out): http://www.tamcrossfit.com/crossfit-schedule-pricing/
They have “On Ramp” classes – 3 classes for $75. Ok that is WAY BETTER than the pricing (mentioned above) at TJ’s. (No idea what The Cave costs). They have M/W/F classes at both 9:30 a.m. and at noon (though if I keep going to Yoga at 1:30 that doesn’t work so well on Mondays). It’s $180/month if you get 6 months – so that’s less than Greg’s House of Steel was (I paid $100 less there and I still was paying more than $180/month).
Here’s their Getting Started page: http://www.tamcrossfit.com/get-started-now/
I think that this might be the cheapest Crossfit around . . . Hmmmm. Maybe I need to revise my thoughts on TJ’s v Tam. (TJ’s is closer, but if the “On Ramp” sessions are more than 300% as expensive dot dot dot)
Here’s their video: http://www.tamcrossfit.com/best-of-the-bay/
It looks like there might be an “On Ramp” starting on September 7th. If I could do the 3 classes while H is away, that might not be a bad idea. OK, I guess I will ask Kat.
And that is enough for Day 3!
POSTSCRIPT: I messaged James, and he said that he and Chris did one of the “show up” calls for Amazing Race – they were told to submit a video, but never did. When I said that R and I were thinking of applying, he said “Lol well play up your ironman/ pole dancing/ lawyer and you never know!! I’ll be rooting for you.”
I forgot about the pole dancing….
DAY 1 on the Amazing Adventure . . .
Yesterday was “Day 1” on the “Amazing Adventure.”
After I did the Ironman in 2010, I promised “The Great Is” that if s/he got me over the line in time (you must finish in less than 17 hours – I was 16:58:51), I would volunteer now and again. I volunteered the next year, because my running “partner” Pukin’ Steve (see previous posts!)’s wife Kathy was doing the race. I had a BLAST. I volunteered again this past Sunday, because she was doing it again – and she got a personal best, though she had broken her big toe in three places, 4 weeks before the event!
(She’s amazing.)
There’s nothing quite like watching first-hand the whole “thrill of victory, agony of defeat” thing to get you going again.
I have gained A LOT of weight in the past while – likely meno-you-know-what (hey, I like to keep thinking I’m 29 years old…so I don’t like to use that word), “good livin'” and all that. I am in the middle of a “diet bet” right now, in fact, and am 14 pounds down from when I started, but I have about 23 to go. Yes, I gave up alcohol, except for the week I was just in Kentucky, and that has helped – but in actuality I gotta get back exercising.
I have done a number of marathons in the past year – Nike, California International, TInkerbell, Vienna (Austria), and am signed up for another one in October – but I’m really pretty much out of shape. I am not fast, I’m just steady. And I haven’t done anything else, so I have pretty good legs, but that’s about it.
For the Amazing Race, that’s gotta change.
However, since I have pretty much been sandbagging on working out since my last marathon a few months ago, I had to get started again. So yesterday, I went to the gym, and walked on the treadmill at 3.5 for 1/2 hour (so about a mile and a half), then did a 750 yard swim (about 1/2 hour). Yes, I told you I was slow.
I walked on the treadmill because I managed to pull a muscle on the inside of my leg when I was in KY, and I wanted to take it slow. No, I didn’t pull it when I was helping out at Ironman – I pulled it when out on the Bourbon Trail. As a friend said, you know how it goes on the Bourbon Trail, as you get farther along it, the floors just seem to get wavier and wavier. Yeah, what he said.
So that’s what I did on Day 1. I did it, I feel good. Today (Day 2) I plan to get the rules of the Amazing Race and post them here. But I gotta split now and get to work.
For Days 1 and 2, I told my friend R – who was fighting this idea – that she could just get us some phrases in two different languages that we might need. So that’s what she’s done. I’ve posted them below. So that’s Day 1 (Swahili) and Day 2 (French) for R.
I will get more creative with pictures, fonts, and all that jazz at some point. But I wanted to get this party started.
Here’s R’s stuff:
DAY ONE: Swahili (50 million speakers in Africa) – phrases we might need:
How do I get to: Je, ninkwenda
+The bus station: kytuo/steshen cha basi
+The train station: kytuo/steshen cha treni
+The airport: Unwanja wa ndeji
Thank you: Asante – Asante sana (sgl) Asanteni (pl)
**A is pronounced “ah” as in father.
**E is pronounced “eh” as in “say” (or like the Canadians exclaiming eh)
**I is pronounced like “ee” as in “see”
**O is “oh” as in “so”
**U is “oo” as in doom
**nd is “en d” both n and d are pronounced. Endayjee
DAY TWO: FRENCH – Approx 29 countries in Africa speak French officially. Phrases we might need:
How do I get to: Comment puis-je obtenir de
+The bus station la station de bus
+The train station la gare
+The airport la aeroport
Thank you Merci
And R’s final comment: “We have to be careful that you’re not the brawn here. LAUGH.”
My answer – if I’m the brawn, we’re SO going to be the first to go. Then again, every reality show needs cannon fodder 😉
What? A post?!?!?!
Yeah, yeah.
So, after the Ironman way back in 2010, I went on to other things – got a couple more books published, yadda yadda. I also started my blog over on DreamChoosers.com – but that’s more tied to my book Passive Income 101.
It seems fairly unlikely there aren’t any readers here any more, but that’s okay. I am going to be using this more on the “personal diary” side, but you can come along if you want!
A friend of mine who I shall call “R” to protect the guilty asked me now about two years ago if I’d like to be on Amazing Race with her. At the time, I hadn’t heard of Amazing Race. We’ve gone back and forth for a few years (I bet it’s more than two) about this whole thing. First I was injured, then she was, blah blah blah.
I challenged her yesterday that for every day for the next 365 days that we do “something” that will move us along the path towards at least being able to APPLY to The Amazing Race.
So what I’m going to do here, like when I was training for the Ironman back in 2010, is to just keep track of what we’re doing.
I’m going to add a Category of “Amazing Race” but no tags. I don’t think that 300 days or so from now someone could swoop in and just use our page to get themselves ready – but I do know that with my Ironman postings, a lot of folks wrote to me and it ultimately got to the first page of Google if you put in “Ironman” – which I’d rather this didn’t.
So – enough said – here’s to an adventure and to “Team Ruthless”! (I just pestered the crap out of my friend R to commit to doing this, and she just said I was “ruthless” – so I think that’s our team name!)
MLM Due Diligence: Insidious Enticement
If you’ve been in network marketing for any amount of time, you will have likely come up against the idea of “Enticement.”
“Enticement” is illegal. The standard “enticement” example is showing someone your big wowzah check or super duper weight loss, and making them imagine that your check/weight loss is typical; they can do it without any effort; they can retire in a second; etc.
You can Google “enticement” and “MLM” and get lots of info on this subject.
But there is another sort of “enticement.” It’s all about NOT showing someone your results!
This only works, of course, if it’s about the money. If you are in a weight loss MLM, and you try to tell folks that you lost 100 pounds using your Weight-B-Gonez product while lying on the couch snarfing down fast food, they can look at you over the top of their spectacles and see that, um, NO, you’se lyin’, Porkchop.
When it comes to money, people do it all the time. It’s what I like to call “insidious enticement.”
Let’s say that your sponsor is only making a couple thousand dollars a month (maybe even only a couple of hundred dollars a month!). Now, granted, that might seem like good money to you right now – but perhaps they are “implying” that by “doing what they did/are doing” that you can have an income where you can ‘fire your boss,’ ‘wake up when you’re done sleeping instead of to an alarm,’ ‘live larger,’ and all the rest.
Could you “fire your boss,” if you were making what they are actually making?
When you ask your sponsor or potential sponsor how much they make, how big their “downline” is, how many customers they have, how long they’ve been at this/how many years they’ve been in the business, how many hours they actually work the business (at the beginning, and now), and how much of their $ is tied to their actual “work efforts” versus “residual”/cashflow income, they’ll often clam up, and sagely state: “Oh, it’s ILLEGAL for me to show you my check, or tell you any of that.”
Hogwash. This is still “enticement.” And it’s actually a more insidious kind.
If you ask your sponsor how much he or she makes, I would tend to bet you that they are making a lot LESS than you imagine that they are. If you ask your sponsor to lay out the hours that they work per week, how long they’ve been in the biz, the amount of distributors/customers that they have, their weekly/monthly income, and the “split” between “money for time spent” income (e.g., just like your “job”) and “residual” income (e.g., “money while they’re sleeping”), you can make an educated decision about the choice of this business over another business. It is exactly like “looking at the books” if you were considering purchasing a “bricks and mortar” business.
Granted, it’s not exactly the same as that. They’re not selling you “their” business – as would be the case if you were considering taking over the local Laundromat or hardware store. But by trying to get you into their business, often potential sponsors are misrepresenting the business by what they are not saying.
I sometimes uncharitably think that the reason so many people shout and holler and rail against high dollar earners showing their checks is that they don’t want to show their measly checks!
Interestingly, many folks state that one should not “show a check,” based on the idea that if you’re at your “real job” and standing around the water cooler, folks don’t go around and ask what each other is making. Also, many network marketing professionals state that if “someone is asking what you are making” in an MLM, you “haven’t explained the compensation plan well enough.”
I don’t agree with those statements. First of all, network marketing is supposed to be a level playing field. Unlike the “standing around the water cooler” example, everyone is supposed to be able to get to the same place by doing the same things. You’re just trying to figure out what that really means – which is Due Diligence. Moreover, though it’s true that if you “explain the compensation plan well enough,” your prospect should be able to figure out how to get to the dollar figure they desire, that’s like saying that a bricks-and-mortar establishment “should” make a certain amount based on statistics – not on fact.
And remember – the person that you’re talking to will get paid something for you joining them. They have a vested interest – perhaps in hiding what they “really make” so that you will join them, which will help them make more.
I joined an MLM and did my homework. I asked my sponsor (let’s call him Joe) to run through what his check was, and how he got to the amount he got weekly (for his work efforts in the MLM/recruiting/etc.) and monthly (as “residual income”). Interestingly, my sponsor didn’t really understand the compensation plan, so I wound up going through and explaining where he could make more money by changing where he put his efforts! But I could literally tie the compensation plan, numbers, and the rest together. That MLM changed its compensation plan, and most everyone’s check (mine included!) went down by about 60%. However, folks are still out there touting it as a way to “retire” – as a way to have “5-5-5” income versus “40-40-40.” (“40-40-40” income means you spend 40 hours a week for 40 years at a job, and retire on about 40% of your annual income – “5-5-5” means that you work 5 hours a week for 5 years at an MLM and retire with 5x what you would in a “regular job” – sometimes referred to as 3-3-3 or 7-7-7.)
I think that this is disingenuous.
If you’re already spending a lot of time in a network marketing business and “just can’t figure out” how you’re not able to even come close to “firing your boss,” then make an appointment with your sponsor and get them to “show you the money.” Look at what they are making, and how many distributors they have, how many customers they have, how many hours per week they put into the business . . . in short, do your (belated) due diligence on the business that you’re planning to “retire” on. Get the black and white facts behind what your sponsor is intimating he or she makes. You might be very surprised.
And no, it’s not illegal for them to run through their numbers with you – especially if, in fact, they are making a lot less than their language “hints” that they are making.
If you’re considering entering into a network marketing business (or any business!) then get the facts from the outset. The person that is talking to you about the business might be new at it themselves. If that’s the case, they can show you the compensation plan, show you what they plan to do, and show you how they believe it will make money, given the comp plan. But if they are not new at it, then there are facts and figures that you can actually look at (just like for a “regular” business!) to help you make your decision. If they are making a ton of dough (I’m telling you – they’re probably not), then be sure that you ask for the FAQ from their MLM that will state the “average” income of someone at their level in the business. Every MLM is required to make this information public.
But if they’re not making a ton of dough, then at least you know the truth before you proceed.
I still personally believe in network marketing/MLM as the best way for a “regular person” to get a business going, and to learn and understand how to run a business. It’s also the business that has made the most millionaires out of regular people without any special background. But I’m just tired of how many people seem to be out there hooting and hollerin’ about how great their business is – and then, when asked for the particulars, hide behind the “enticement” banner.
Perhaps MLM is right for you – perhaps the one you’re already in. Perhaps a different one.
Perhaps it’s not worth the time and effort to you, once you really get the facts and figures.
Perhaps you love the products so much, that a little money tied to introducing others to those products is super.
Great. But just remember one thing . . . get the real facts. Don’t take someone’s hyperbole for truth – especially when that “hyperbole” is them hiding the ball from you, telling you they “can’t” (as the old movie goes) Show You The Money.
It’s just as much of an “enticement” to talk big about something that isn’t really that big than it is to show something big that isn’t the average experience.
Enough said.
It’s time for a Spring Clean!!
Spring cleaning can be totally overwhelming – but there’s a systematic way to go about it. The second Chapter of my book fEmpowerment: A Guide to Unleashing Your Inner Bond Girl (and the companion Playbook) has over 70 pages of more detail than I can go into here – but hopefully this article will give you a start!
First of all, you need to make a contract with yourself to go through every single drawer, cabinet, nook and cranny of your house, purse, office, etc. this month or next. (OH NO, says you! OH YES, says me!) It’s important to touch every single thing in your space, and be sure you love all of it. Block off chunks in your calendar for 30 days in a row. You probably won’t need all of them – but you need to block in that immovable time, just in case. I’ve outlined Calendaring in a previous post…and when I say “make a contract” I really mean print something out with a date on it, and sign it. Be accountable. (I’ve written about that here, too!)
As an aside, I’d like to share that I read an article that if you sort while listening to music that you can actually sing to, it will be easier and you’ll be more ruthless. Why? When I was in the Marine Corps, they taught us that in an “emotional” (read: frightening) situation, if you sing words to a tune, it keeps both hemispheres of the brain occupied, so you don’t have “room in your head” to be scared. If you just hum, you still have your left hemisphere coming up with “fearful words” for you – if you just speak, your right hemisphere will conjure up fearful pictures. My guess is that when doing sorting, it’s probably the same. Your emotions don’t kick in so much when you hit an item that you 
know you need to get rid of, but still feel tied to (example: A stained, ill-fitting blouse that you wore at a special event). So crank up some tunes, and sing, sing, sing!
If you have kids, and/or a partner, have them help out, and make it Fun. The goal here, remember, is to touch everything. Anything that hasn’t been used or loved in the last year goes in a pile on the floor. If you’re working with kids, this is a great way to teach them about Charity – reminding them how Wealthy they are, and how Wealth has nothing to do with what they have in their closets. Materialism in children is taught and encouraged, or at the very least allowed, by parents. It’s better to have one truly loved teddy bear than a bunch of beautiful but dust-gathering dolls, games, and as they grow up, shoes, T-shirts, and the like. (Did they learn that from you…?) If you teach your kids that their Wealth is their awesome selves, then maybe the house will be a little less cluttered, and your bank account a little less strapped. (Consign, consign, consign!) And the way to start is by you taking on this reality first, then expanding it to those you love.
It’s usually easiest to start in the kitchen or bathroom. There is always a bunch of stuff in cabinets that you bought but didn’t eat or use. Do you really want to put that in/on your (or your kids’) body? Get it all out of your cabinets and if an item is not open, it needs to go to a local shelter. Right now, shelters are in such tough straits… I recently took some foodstuffs in that were open, but they still took them gratefully. And when you re-stock, be SURE to either circle the “sell by” date, or put the date you purchased the item on it. (I keep laundry markers in my kitchen/bathroom for just this purpose.)
The same goes for herbs and spices, flour, condiments, vitamins, and cosmetics. Everything loses its vitality over a certain amount of time – and if the flour in your cupboard was from making a batch of brownies before you were married, it’s gotta go! Purchase things as you need them. A great way to do this is to snap a photo on your phone of a recipe’s ingredients list, then purchase just that amount of each ingredient from the bulk bins at your local store. As you likely know, Whole Foods has just about every herb and spice you could want in bulk.
Now, someone is sure to say, “But, we need to have 20 days’ worth of canned goods in case there is an earthquake/flood/what-have-you.” If that’s really why you have a pile of soup gathering dust in the back of your closet, I still ask you – when did you buy it? Do you really want to be eating something out of a can that you bought two years ago (and was probably canned way before that)? Eee-yew. Keeping enough for 20 days means cycling through that food. Remember – when you take all those random items to the shelter or charity, get a receipt – it’s deductible! (and ItsDeductible.com is a fabulous free place to keep track of all these items for next year’s taxes.)
If you are sorting through your cosmetics, be particularly aware that the “open life” is no more than three months. So if you have an unopened wand of mascara in there, it’s likely still good – if you have one you opened and only used once, not so much. Lotions are particularly susceptible to air. Once again, I date these items with a laundry marker to keep myself honest. Marin Abused Women’s Services takes all unused makeup, shampoo, samples and the like with great gratitude. (And while we’re at it, Humane Societies want old newspapers, veterinarians want old towels and sheets . . . there are lots of these tricks in my book J )
If there are items that you just don’t believe you can get rid of but don’t need “right now,” put them in a garbage bag and staple it closed, putting a date a year from today on it. If you haven’t opened it by then …pitch it without opening it! If you reach in and get one thing in that year, fine – but no fair re-dating the whole bag by virtue of using that one 
thing!
When you put things away, there are lots of tricks – too much to go into here. Like putting all the matching linens in your closet into one of the pillowcases, giving you “pillow packs” with all the matching linens together. Or turning the hangars around in your closet and re-hanging them “the right way” only after you’ve worn the item. This will make Spring Cleaning next year a snap. You won’t be able to lie to yourself about when you bought or whether you’ve used an item. It will all be dated, turned-around, or the like.
Sometimes it’s hard to get our men to do this adventure with us. Men often have “trophies” of “bygone days” in the house. You may, too. Do you have books that you read in college, trophies from sports you don’t play any more, photographs that you don’t really see? In general, this is “indirect bragging.” Do you have books in your bookshelf so that people will look at them and say “ohhh, loooook, she is so smart.” I had a friend who had a number up on her fridge, for a race that she actually did not run! It’s tough, but if you’ve got this as part of your clutter makeup, it’s time to stop living in the past, and start living in the present instead. (And stop the bragging – it’s unbecoming.) While you’ll hopefully have luck enlisting your family in this project, remember – you’re not doing it for them. That will just lead to all sorts of drama!
I’ll just leave you with one example of how to get the right mindset to get this done. Let’s pretend that your honey came up to you and says, “Hey gorgeous woman, light of my life, I want to pack all our stuff up, and move to Buenos Aires for six months. [Or Paris, or Cinqueterre, or New York, or…] We just need to bring our essentials, then pack up what we want to get back into when we come home.” Take a breath, and imagine this. (And while you’re at it, listen to any excuses that your inner Fear-Thrower comes up with and shoot them down: It’s going to be fine with your kids’ soccer coach, your boss, your mom, or whomever else.)
The point of this exercise? Storage is expensive – as is shipping your stuff off to Argentina. So you have to divide up all your things with that in mind. First, pack the stuff you can’t live without for six months. Remember though – you are going to a fully-furnished house. Next, pack up everything you’re going to put into storage because you won’t need it for six months, but you’ll definitely not be able to live without it when you get back. Then, get rid of the rest.
Okie dokie, so now imagine you’re in Argentina doing the tango with your honey, and you find out that the storage unit was hit by an earthquake, and only half of your stuff survived. What are you super hopeful made it?
You see what I’m getting at. If you envision this exercise, and start going through your house this way, you’ll find stuff that wouldn’t have even made it to the storage unit. Clothes that aren’t fashionable/are stained/don’t fit; pictures you never look at; books you’ve read; toys your kids have outgrown. After that comes stuff you want to keep (so it went to the storage unit), but it really isn’t irreplaceable or necessary. Books you loved and want to re-read “some day”; furniture; ribbons from races; old toys; pots and pans. You didn’t want to pitch it, but in the end, it’s OK that it’s gone (though a little painful). Next there is stuff that actually is irreplaceable – the stuff you hope the earthquake left. Scrapbooks; your grandmother’s silver; a particular drawing 
by your child; a favorite sculpture.
And remember, you have with you what you believed to be Necessary for six months. Perhaps your grandmother’s antique brooch and her recipe for butterbeans; clothes you love; toys your kids love and play with…you get the picture.
You know what I’m going to say now, right? You have to be ruthless about anything that’s not irreplaceable or necessary/loved. I know it’s painful, but everything else is either silent bragging or extra dusting. Granted, things like pots and pans and furniture are necessary – but how necessary? Do you really only use two pots and one pan? Why do you have 20 then?
And if you have things someone else would love – give them away! It’s a huge charge to do this. Either physically give a friend something she’s admired, or do what my husband and I have done – we have a big “gift bookshelf” in our atrium with things we love to see but ultimately want to part with. People are shocked when we make them “take something with them” when they leave. If something means too much to you to go to a nameless recipient at a charity – then give it to a recipient with a name, instead!
Everything in your space should be at its “highest and best use.” For example, if you have an antique violin that no one plays and is in good shape, what about donating it to an orchestra, then going to hear it? If you have something you ”can’t” get rid of because it was given to you, offer it back. The funniest part of this is that often the giver doesn’t want it either – but that allows you to move it along to its “next best use” without feeling guilty! It only gets harder with time – I had birthday cards from my grandfather in a box – just a card with his signature – and it was a lot harder to throw them away because he has passed on than to throw out birthday cards I received from friends this year. You don’t want this to be the situation with the “monstrosity” armoire that you and your husband haven’t “figured out” how to give back to your mother! Just do it. Once she’s gone, it will be next to impossible.
My Dad once said to me that you can’t fill your glass with champagne if there’s beer in there. Spring cleaning is the time to pour the beer out, clean the glass… and allow the “stuck” energy from items that are just taking up space circulate to their next best use, leaving room for new, fabulous energy!
Cheers!
Accountability!!!!
Below is a “down and dirty” video about my Fempower(R) accountability process!
It’s based on the SendOutCards Daily 8. I did it in my actual office. I show you my actual process. Not edited…I did say “down and dirty” right?
Three team members have asked me about this in the last few days – so I thought I’d show what I talk about! I hope that this will motivate you to try it – having a system is a huge part of getting things done!
Take a look…