Z Gamblin Man Dot Com

If you have a dream, make sure you stay focused on that goal. Never let anyone deter you from pursuing your dream. If you don’t follow through, you will regret it for the rest of your life and wonder what if. Don’t listen to people who tell you it can’t be done. The world is full of naysayers who for a variety of reasons will tell you that your dream is impossible to realize. Some are just jealous, some are just pessimists who see the world as a cold and scary place. Surround yourself with people who share your enthusiasm. If you do, you will stay in a positive environment. Friends will reinforce each other’s goals. As the saying goes, “reach for the stars but keep your feet on the ground”. It may take some time so as you move toward your goal, do keep a  healthy lifestyle. You don’t want to reach the promised land but be unable to enjoy it.

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Strikes are rather rare in the US. Not like Europe where strikes are a way of life. It’s always the same one striking. Most likely the bureaucrats who don’t believe they have enough privileges as it is. In the US fortunately, strikes are a mean of last resort. It seems that in Europe they have more strikes but they don’t last long. Here in the US, when there is a strike, it tends to last quite a long time.

Currently there is a strike by the Writers Guild of America against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The Writers want better residual distribution on programs distributed via the Internet, video iPods, cell phones and other new media. The last strike between these two parties lasted for 22 weeks in 1988. Some argue that the writers got the short end of the deal regarding DVD sales. They don’t want this to happen again since it appears that all medias will eventually converge on the Internet.This strike is not just between the two parties. It involves all the persons who work on the movies and TV shows. According to a study just released, a strike that last just as long as the last one could cost the Los Angeles area economy 380 million dollars.

In a strike, it is usually the one who can hold out the longest that wins. How long can the writers stay out on strike? How long can the producers keep on rerunning old shows or putting on reality type shows? The real loser in this strike might just be both parties if the public realizes that it can live quite well without these forms of entertainment. The only winner is going to be the Internet. This is where most of all the original content is being produced these days.  

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Good service is hard to find these days. Whether you shop at a big department stores or a small convenience store, service is almost non-existent. Ever found yourself in a store all by yourself except for the cashier? Forget about getting some help or answers to your questions. Retailers have done a very poor job educating their staff on the fine etiquette of customer relations. When there are salespeople around they tend to ignore you. Sometimes you wonder if you have just become invisible. How many of you are greeted by someone when you enter the store? You’re about to pay for the item and the phone rings. The salespeople ignore you and start talking to the person on the phone for what seems an eternity. The correct procedure is to ask the person on the phone to hold on until the client in the store has finished his/her transaction.

Ever been waiting in line at the pharmacy and no one acknowledges you. How hard is it to say “Hi, I will be right with you after helping this customer. The opposite of being ignored is just as bad. You have a salesperson jumping on you the minute you enter the store. They don’t leave you alone the whole time you’re in the store. Wouldn’t it be nice if instead of following you around the salesperson simply said: “Hi, let me know if you need any help” said with a smile and just leave me alone but discreetly check from time to time if I need any help. I am sure we all have a favorite story about incompetent salesperson. The worse one I witnessed told a woman who was buying a dress “You really can’t afford this”

It’s no wonder that internet sales are skyrocketing. No need to deal with surly salesperson and you can shop from the comfort of your home or office. Perhaps brick and mortar stores are doomed to extinction. The lack of good service will no doubt hasten this trend.

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There seems to be a general misunderstanding among the general public regarding internet taxes. The following information applies to the United States. On November 1,2007, President Bush signed into law the “Internet Tax Freedom Act Amendments Act of 2007″. This law prohibits state and local government from taxing Internet access and electronic commerce. The act will now expire Nov. 1, 2014. What this means is that your state, county or city cannot add a tax to your internet ISP bill as they have done on your telephone, gas and electricity bill. 

This does not mean that the internet is a tax free zone. Even though you may not be charged a sales tax when you buy online, you may still be liable for that sales tax. If you wonder why some retailers charge you a sales tax and others don’t, here is the reason:  If an online retailer has a physical presence in a particular state, such as a store, business office, or warehouse, it must collect sales tax from customers in that state. If a business does not have a physical presence in a state, it is not required to collect sales tax for sales into that state. This rule is derived from a 1992 Supreme Court decision which held that mail-order merchants did not need to collect sales taxes for sales into states where they did not have a physical presence. If your state collects sales tax, you are required to pay the tax to your state if the internet retailer did not collect it. When you pay a tax directly to the state it is called a “use” tax rather than a sales tax. Most likely you won’t find the state coming after you to collect this tax. However, if you buy a car or boat online, you may get a friendly letter asking you to add this tax on your tax returns. It is estimated that California loses about $1 billion in lost tax sales each year due to the internet.

As more and more people use the internet to shop online, you can expect states to put pressure on Congress to write laws that try to overturn the 1992 Supreme Court decision. States collect about $150 billions each year from sales tax. These taxes pay for schools, the police, the building of roads, parks and other services.   

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For those who wonder how real those reality shows truly are, my friend Adrien went on “Parental Control”. Please read below his experience on that show which can be seen on Empty V.

Since most of you haven’t seen my clip of my appearance on MTV’s Parental Control, I will describe my experience in being on that show.  For those not familiar with Parental Control, it is a reality show. The premise is that the parents are not happy with the boy or girl their child is going out with. So they try to pick someone who they think is better than the current boyfriend/girlfriend by interviewing various candidates. Each parent chooses one person who then goes on the date with their son/daughter. At the end of the show, their child decides if he/she wants to stay with their current paramour or will choose the new date.

Someone who works at the MTV studios in Santa Monica contacted me via MySpace to ask me if I wanted to be on the show.  I answered in the affirmative and was asked to call the MTV studios to schedule an interview. Two weeks later, I went into the MTV studios in Santa Monica for the interview. First I filled out a form regarding questions about myself. Then I did a short video while an MTV producer asked me questions. A couple weeks later, I got a call back from MTV saying that the producers of the show liked my video and wanted me to be on their show.
A month later, I showed up very early in the morning in a studio in Culver City. I climbed up the stairs and found myself in a small office.  I introduced myself and was given a sheet of paper with questions on it. These were the questions that the parents would be asking me during the taping of the show. MTV told me to write out my answers and get familiar with the questions. This way when the parents would be interviewing me, I wouldn’t freeze on the spot and would appear to be relaxed.  An hour later, I went downstairs to make up and waited to be called onto the set. It was a really strange feeling standing just outside the door ready to be on camera. Just like déjà because I had watched many Parental Control episodes. Once seated in the chair facing the parents, they started asking me questions. The whole interview took about 15 minutes. This resulted in being onscreen for at least 30 seconds…Once the interview over; I went back upstairs to get my appearance fee. Everyone thanked me and I was given a date when the episode would air. Overall it was a pleasant experience.

In case you wondered, the parents picked two preppie looking guys. How many of you say the parents should have picked me? As to the term reality TV, you must know that the show is produced on a sound stage and not a real living room. If you say something that the producers don’t like, they’ll stop the cameras and tell you what to say or how to say it. I’d say about half of the things that I said were scripted and half were real. In a future, I will put up the video of my appearance on the show. Make sure to log back on this blog or better yet, subscribe to it so you don’t miss any posts.

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