Business, Ideas, and MouseMingle

For many years I’ve said that social platforms are for social networking, while LinkedIn is for business networking. And while I’ve preached that for a very long time, I haven’t always practiced it. I’ve relied on my personal network and phone calls. However wonderful my network is, they are either sick of me, have golden handcuffs, or just aren’t interested in business the way I am. Ben Franklin created the “Junto” when he was a printer (also called the leather apron club,) so that like-minded people could sit …

Google has Eaten Microsoft’s Lunch

I worked at Microsoft for many years in the mid-1990s and late 2000s. I was a Microsoft fanboy. I got especially good with the Microsoft Office suite, and could do just about anything faster than most anyone I knew. I had all the keyboard shortcuts down, was great with Microsoft Excel formulas, could format anything in Microsoft Word, and was a master with Outlook, Publisher, PowerPoint, and even did a lot with Access. Then, Microsoft completely messed up Office with their “ribbon” toolbars. They drastically changed – or …

AVOID Using Verizon Business

DO NOT USE Verizon Business! The current year is 2015. Websites and technology has been an integral part of business for at LEAST 20 years now. Yet this year, in setting up a Verizon Business SIP / VOIP line has been one of the most challenging, frustrating, and annoying processes I have dealt with in a long time. First – their “Resources” or “FAQs” are ALMOST useless. They refer to other processes, but don’t link to those processes. And when you search for those processes or words in …

Capital One Banking is Not To Be Trusted

Capital One Bank says they have “delivered” four “bill pay” checks, but the people have never received the checks. When asked how they know the checks were delivered, they told me they had delivery tracking on the checks. However, they cannot, or refuse to give me the tracking numbers – which means, they are lying. Furthermore, another check, from 4 MONTHS ago, they say was never delivered – yet the bank kept the money and did NOT inform me that the check was ‘lost in the mail.’ How …

Why I moved to Marceline, Missouri

I grew up in Southern California, and spent a lot of time at Disneyland as a kid. After spending many years in software development at places like Microsoft and Sony, I started my own technical consulting business, which gave me the flexibility to work at Disneyland for fun as an adult. During my time at the Park, I was an attractions host, then I worked in Guest Relations, where I became a Tour Guide, giving the 3.5 hour “Walk in Walt’s Footsteps” history tour of Disneyland. I studied …

USAA Credit Card Fraud

When USAA doesn’t care about their customer’s credit cards being used for fraud, it concerns me. I’m not surprised anymore by bad customer service, but I AM surprised when a financial institution doesn’t care about fraud. In this case, I’ve got a customer (or fraudulent scammer) trying to use a credit card with a different name and city on their card, than what’s on their customer profile. On one hand, I want to provide a potentially real customer access to my service – but on the other hand, …

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