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Kickstart Today
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Friday July 4th 2008: Issue #937
Kickstart Today is published three times each week for opted-in
subscribers only. Publisher: Martin Avis. Your comments are
always welcome – to respond to anything you read here, please
click ‘Reply’
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Greetings!
It is a stunningly lovely morning here today. We have a clear
blue sky, wonderfully fresh-smelling air and a perfect,
not-too-hot temperature.
I know everything has an image of Britain being always under
cloudy skies and pouring rain, but we get our share of ‘Oh, What
a Beautiful Mornings’ as well!
It isn’t a day for business, so Kickstart is a more relaxed,
weekend-ready beast this morning!
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I’m probably talking to a much reduced number of Kickstarters
this morning because most of my American friends will be taking
the day off and enjoying their July 4th holiday weekend.
Why they’d want to celebrate kicking out the Brits, though, I
don’t know.
If you are an American and you have made time for Kickstart
today, happy holiday!
And if you are not, and it is business as usual for you, then
happy Friday!
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I had to get up early today to take my car in for its annual road
worthiness checkup (called the MOT here in Britain), so I
combined that with a trip to the doctor to pick up a new
prescription and a visit to the dry cleaner.
Before that I answered about a dozen emails from Kickstart
readers and took some photographs of the work in progress of my
new pond.
Now it is 8.30 am and I think I might have a spot of breakfast.
Mind you, after all this early morning activity, a mid-morning
nap might be welcome!
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Delia and I went to see the new movie ‘Wanted’. Its billed as
having ’strong, bloody violence’ and is an 18 certificate (the
highest we can have here), so we expected it to be almost
offensively gory.
Yes, the film is littered with people’s heads exploding from
being shot with high-powered bullets, but oddly, neither of us
found it offensive at all!
I don’t think it is that we are become immune to movie violence –
I still stand by my view that the recent Rambo film went too far
in that respect. ‘Wanted’ somehow got away with it because the
whole tone of the movie was almost cartoon action. The movie is
based on a series of graphic novels by Mark Millar and the
director captured the essence of that genre really effectively.
It was over-the-top, certainly, but the movie had a good plot and
a great cast and just worked.
Both of us really enjoyed it and came out having been entertained
for a couple of hours.
It didn’t hurt that Angelina Jolie was at her smouldering best,
Morgan Freeman was as godlike as ever, and James McAvoy turned
out to be very effective, if unlikely, action hero.
I feel a series coming on – and can’t wait to find out what the
reluctant anti-hero will do next.
Recommended.
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We are all quick to complain about bad customer service, but once
in a while really good service needs to be highlighted.
We bought a small table and two chairs from a local garden center
(Ruxley Manor, in Sidcup). The came in two cardboard boxes and we
waited at the checkout while a warehouseman went off to get the
items for us.
When we got home we found that we had the two chairs in one box,
but the other contained a small bench instead of the expected
table.
I phoned the garden center and was put straight through to the
warehouseman who apologized profusely and asked if I’d be home
for the next hour.
Shortly after that he turned up at my front door with the table.
Rather than put me to the inconvenience of taking the erroneous
item back, he went the extra mile (literally) and drove in his
own car to me.
Mistakes happen. That’s life. It’s how you deal with them that
sets you apart.
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XSitePro2 Review
I’d like to quote Kickstart reader John Stanley, who posted on my
forum today about his recent purchase of XSitePro2 (not, as it
turned out, through my link!):
“XSitePro2 is like a Christmas gift in July.”
“I purchased XSitePro 2 over the weekend, and I feel like a small
boy with a new electric train.
“I have printed out two of the three manuals so far, and they are
both models of excellence. Somewhere in my checkered past I did
some technical writing, and like the rest of you I have also been
exposed to some truly dreadful technical writing.
“The manuals are shining examples of what good technical writing
should be all about, and I have started working my way through
the Tutorial Manual.
“I am now convinced that even foggy, grouchy old John will be
able to get a web site up that is maybe halfway functional. Keep
your fingers crossed for me. I have been in such a good mood that
Sue is looking at me curiously, wondering what on earth has gone
wrong.”
You can still get $100 off the regular price of XSitePro2
(although I don’t know for how much longer) from my link here:
http://www.urlnex.us/xsitepro
And if you’d like to sign up for the excellent webinars that they
are running to explain the features and benefits of the new
version, the link is http://www.urlnex.us/xspwebinar/ – there is
one today and another on Sunday.
#~#~#
My veggie garden is doing great. It’s AMAzing how fast you can go
from a lawn, to a market garden!
I’ve taken a few pictures if you are interested – they are at
http://www.kickstartdaily.com/gardenpics/
There are a couple of snaps of the new pond too (the ones I took
earlier this morning.)
#~#~#
A movie director, in the days of silent films, was having
problems with getting the visual gag right of a man slipping on a
banana skin.
He asked Charlie Chaplin for advice:
“Do I show the man first, then the banana skin, or do I show the
banana skin, then the man? Either way the gag lacks surprise.”
Chaplin thought about it and replied,
“Show the skin, then show the man. Then show the skin again, then
show the man stepping over the skin and falling down a manhole.”
Now that’s thinking outside the box.
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The Quote of the Day
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Sydney Smith said,
“When you rise in the morning, form a resolution to make the day
a happy one for a fellow creature.”
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Today’s Power Thought
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A while ago I wrote about ‘pink elephants’ – those unintentional
phrases that we use that make our listener think the opposite of
what we intend.
There is another mode of speech that I have called ‘maybe
muttering’ that is equally as destructive.
This time though, the dAMAge is done inside of us rather that in
the minds of our listener.
Let me give you three examples. You’ll see what I mean right
away:
“I should make a to-do list today.”
“I ought to make a start on my business.”
“I must write this report.”
See the problem? The ‘maybe mutters’ have crept in. In each case,
great positive statements have been hijacked by a single word. A
word that let’s you off the hook.
Should, might, must, ought, want are all ‘maybe’ words. They are
words that redefine a positive intention into a mere possibility.
Banish that kind of woolliness from your thinking and your
speech!
Get into the habit of using positive, doing words in their place.
‘I will’, ‘I am’.
After all, who do you think is going places – the person who says
‘I will succeed today’ or the one who apologetically says, ‘I
should succeed today’?
Don’t let ‘maybe muttering’ slow you down.
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The Foolproof, No-Nonsense,
Kickstart Guide to Making Money Online
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*** Catch up with parts 1-26 of the Foolproof, No-Nonsense,
Kickstart Guide to Making Money Online at http://imkickstart.com
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Fascinating Facts
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Apparently only 55% of people know that the sun is a star.
We can now boast that 100% of Kickstart readers know it!
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Products you may enjoy AND make some money with!
by Martin Avis
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