Blog categories | FOCM Networking

Article on Civility in Arizona

I saw this in the October 19, 2015 issue of The Weekly Standard; written by Cita and Irwin Stelzer. It has to do with the civilized behavior of Arizonans (my home state) as compared to where they moved from.

” We never thought we would find ourselves stocking a pantry in Arizona. But now that Phoenix is our winter base, there we were, on line at the deli counter of a supermarket….. After waiting awhile, we realized we were a take-a-number queue. We … got number 61. … a customer who’d arrived after us, but taken a number promptly, was called, she nodded toward us and told the clerk, “These people were here before me. They just forgot to take a number. So serve them first.”

This reminded them of a trip 40 years earlier to Phoenix and Mr. Stelzer had taken his 10 year old son to a Phoenix Suns game. When Adam came back from getting a hot dog, he said, in amazement: “no one pushed me!”

As they’ve stayed in Phoenix, they’ve encountered “have a nice day”, “have a blessed day” from store clersk and waitresses.

“Disconcerting as it was to us East Coast types, we decided that what we were encountering was civility, and we were noticing it because we were accustomed to its absence in Washington, (DC), a place we had recently fled.”

the ….. are where I shortened their original sentences to make for a shorter post. Where I have quote marks is where I quote their article directly.

Raleigh FOCM Networking Event

So there I was, up in Raleigh, NC again for meetings and a FOCM networking event was organized. The date, June 30, 2015; the location: San Jose Tacos & Tequila in Brier Creek Shops.
San Jose Tacos & Tequila

A big group showed up. Michelle Jacobson, after more than a year on FOCM Membership probationary status, received her Membership Card. And as it turned out, I also had neglected to capture on camera Sarah Meister’s card ceremony. Sarah has been a member in good standing for quite a while and a frequent attendee of events. The first time FOCM event attendee, John Icardi received his card. John and I hadn’t seen each other in quite a while and ran into each other on a plane, I think, or at a conference and reconnected.

In the group photo (L:R): John Icardi, Pippa Wilson, Renee Brown, Peter Payne, Nick Macaulay, Christina Alexander Smith, Mike Markowitz, Gayle Grandinetti Mark Mickunas, Michelle Jacobson, Denee Oakley, Vince Hoefling, Rosina Maar Pavia and event organizer.

FOCM Networking Group June 30, 2015 — FOCM Networking Group
June 30, 2015

DIA 2015 Networking

It was a hot few days in June 2015 when FOCM Networking went to Washington, DC for the annual Drug Information Association annual convention. In a stunning, at least to the more seasoned veterans of attending DIA social events, the performer at the ERT and TransPerfect party was Snoop Dogg and Doug E Fresh. I was shocked to see co-workers of mine excited beyond my belief and rushing the stage and singing all the words to his songs!!! These are people I thought were pillars of their communities, respected scientists and project managers and they knew all the words to these songs!!!

Former ICON co-worker Mark Eberhardt got his FOCM Card, Casey Piccirillo who I worked with at YPrime got her card, as did Jennifer Brown in a re-do from an earlier photo (she may have lost her original card). Allen Wooten went to high school with my daughter. The YPrime crew on the last day of DIA were looking surprisingly chipper.

Jon Hunter, Bryan Clayton, Adam Blackburn, Chelsie Smith

Statistics Aren’t they Great?

So one thing that’s great about statistics is that they are what they are. Sure they can be tweaked to put a point forward but in the case below the numbers are what the numbers are.

The Clinton’s – Making Money

Saw this and had to share – kinda funny right?

So we have Hillary running for President who has basically been a government employee for the past 25 years and her net worth is $31,000,000 and Bernie has been a government employee for about 40 years and his net worth is $530,000. What did she do to get that much money?

Gave speeches for $225,000 each
In 2013, Hillary received $9,680,000 from her paid speeches
Salary as a senator ~$174,000/year for 8 years
Salary as Secretary of State $186,000 for 4 years

The Clinton’s – out of touch with reality. I loved how she couldn’t work the turnstile on the subway, she’s not driven a car in 20 years, of course, she feels our pain and understands Americans who struggle and knows what they need (dripping with sarcasm). Just go away, please.

The best two-line jokes

Submitted by the most tenured FOCM Member, my womb-mate for 9 months, Jon Matheus

Parallel lines have so much in common.
It’s a shame they’ll never meet.
My wife accused me of being immature.
I told her to get out of my fort.
Women only call me ugly until they find out how much money I make.
Then they call me ugly and poor.
How many Germans does it take to screw in a light bulb?
One, they’re efficient and not very funny.
What do you call a dog with no legs?
It doesn’t matter; it’s not going to come.
Someone stole my Microsoft Office and they’re gonna pay.
You have my Word.
What’s green, fuzzy, and if it fell out of a tree it would kill you?
A pool table.
I went to a really emotional wedding the other day.
Even the cake was in tiers.

Want to hear a word I just made up?
Plagiarism
Why do cows wear bells?
Because their horns don’t work.
What did the pirate say when he turned 80?
Aye Matey.
I took the shell off my racing snail, thinking it would make him run faster.
If anything, it made him more sluggish.
Someone stole my mood ring,
I don’t know how I feel about it.
I tried to catch fog yesterday,
Mist.
Why does a chicken coop have two doors?
If it had four doors it would be a chicken sedan.

with an additional one submitted by Vicky:

What do you do with a dog with no legs?
Take it for a drag

Gecko for Peace

I spotted this gecko flashing the Peace sign, while dining with Don and Carol Lewis at Nicola’s in Wilmington.

Fifteen dollar minimum wage

So I see this article on the LA Times site about the $15 minimum wage and they open with:

The people who stand to benefit most from minimum wage hikes across California are low-income adults, most of them household breadwinners, according to an analysis by UC Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education.

A law proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown would gradually lift the statewide minimum wage from its current $10 to $15 an hour by 2023. About 800,000 workers were already promised raises to $15 in several cities that passed their own minimum wage hikes, including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Santa Monica.

Unfortunately the people (low income adult household breadwinners) they say will benefit will only benefit in the short term. Artificially raising wages will lead to unemployment of those people are trying to help. Doing things to help the economy will better serve everyone. Reduce strangling regulations on businesses so they can have the time to make upgrades to their business and improve services. I fail to understand why people don’t understand how harmful this minimum wage increase will be – either prices will go up making it difficult for low income people to buy goods and services and/or businesses won’t be able to afford to hire people or will lay people off.

Let’s say you own a frozen yogurt store and you net $50K per year as your net income. You have two employees that you pay $7.50 per hour and each works 30 hours per week. They both make $11,250/year, so you’re paying $22,500/year in wages. Now the government comes along and says you have to pay $15/hour. If you continue as before, your wage expense is now $45,000, making your net income as the owner is now $27,500. What can you do?

close the business
lay off one employee
double the price of the yogurt

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-minimum-wage-raise-20160330-story.html

May 2015 Networking Outsourcing Conference

On May 27-28 found me staffing the YPrime exhibit at Arena International’s Outsourcing in Clinical Trials East Coast meeting in King of Prussia, PA. There were many FOCM members attending and proudly wearing the FOCM Sticker on their name badges. Six people received their FOCM membership cards: Ellen Bloome, Elizabeth Van Etten, Linda Mooney, Eric Monroe, Rachel Daniel and Michele Ross.

Mike Jones & Heath O'Neill — Mike Jones & Heath O’Neill (in the background)

FOCM Event and Card Ceremony

On May 6, 2015 while traveling to San Francisco for a client meeting, I ran into Tom Gottschalk (also a North Carolinian) with Rx Solutions who was also going to San Francisco. So, of course I invited him to the FOCM event I was having at TasteVin Wine Bar & Bistro in San Carlos, CA. TasteVin is one of the “recommended businesses” (see tab on FOCMnetworking.com home page). TasteVin is owned by FOCM member Sue Simpson.

Tom received his FOCM member card in a very solemn ceremony. Just visible under his FOCM card is the FOCM sticker in the window at TasteVin (located at 890 Laurel St. in San Carlos).

Witnessing this event were FOCM members: Claudia Kunzler, Cindy Howry and Sue Simpson.

TasteVin Wine and Cheese — TasteVin Wine & Cheese FOCM Event

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