Friday, October 31, 2008

Daylight Savings Time

The days will now get shorter. This has a good side and a not so good side.

The good side is that I will get one extra hour of sleep, for now.

The not so good side is that we lose daylight a lot sooner. It will be dark by 5:00 P.M.....bummer.

I'm a summer gal. I love the sun and the heat. I love that daylight arrives at 5:00 A.M. and doesn't end until 8:00 P.M. Nice, long, beautiful days.

Fall and Winter offers a time to bake. I love to bake. Cookies, cakes, pies. I don't cook during the summer. At least not in the kitchen. We barbeque and grill during the summer, rarely using the stove. But my stove gets a workout during the Fall and Winter.

I hear there is rain in the forecast. Good thing, maybe it will get cool enough to turn on the oven.

So, once again, we say goodbye to Summer and hello to cooler weather, hectic days of holidays, and one extra hour of sleep.

Vikki

Sunday, October 26, 2008

You've got to see this

If you haven't signed up for a Twitter account, you're missing out on a lot.
The following was posted on Twitter and I had to share it with you.

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/cc65ed650d

Vikki

Monday, October 13, 2008

Who's #1?

I'm sitting here watching the Dodger game. I am an avid Dodger fan. I am an avid Sports fan. I love football (SF 49'ers and SD Chargers), and of course, the Anaheim Angels. Yeah, yeah, I know the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Whatever...they will always be the Anaheim Angels to me.

We're in a "who's number 1?" season. Everyone wants to be #1. Take, for instance, the ball game. I knew once the Dodgers acquired Manny Ramirez, we would end up in the Championship game.

We had the Summer Olympics this summer. Everyone wanted to win Gold. They even had a tally at the end of each day to see which country had the most Gold, Silver and Bronze.

Everyone wanted to be #1.

Now, we're in the home stretch of the Presidential nomination. What a year, don't you think?

Personally, I love Presidential election years. I love the Conventions, the Debates, the commercials. I especially love election years, because the vote for women became a reality only 88 years ago this past August 20th.

Can you believe that? Only 88 years! In 2010, we celebrate 90 years of having the vote. I don't know about you, but I am going to PARTY!!

When we go to the Polling Stations on November 4th, we are completely equal. Everyone's vote carries the same weight. I could be voting and in the next booth could be Arnold Schwarzenegger; you never know, it could happen. Yet, when Arnold the Governator (as we affectionally call our Governor), votes, his vote doesn't carry any more weight than yours and mine.

I'm not concerned by how you vote, nor am I here trying to sway your vote. I am concerned that you get out there and vote.

My dad once told me, "you can't complain about how things are if you don't vote". I think we've all heard this at one time or another. I find myself telling our son Anthony, the same thing.

I made sure my family was registered to vote as soon as they turned 18. I registered everybody. And I call everybody on election day to remind them to vote. I'm a real nuisance.

My husband was not registered to vote when I met him. Oh no! No way could I be married to someone who does not exercise their right to vote! Yep, I registered him too.

If you're not registered, you still have time. October 20th is the deadline. I hope you exercise your right to vote and make it to the polls that day.

I told my husband I was going to sign up to work at the polling place on November 4th. Do you know that the only thing he was concerned about was that I didn't sign him up with me. He actually said, "only you right?". Yeah, only me. I'll get him to come with me someday.

Who's #1, I don't know. But we'll all soon find out. Will the Dodgers go all the way, I sure hope so. As for the other, well, we'll see at the end of the day on November 4th.

Vikki

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant relationships

I have said many times how very proud I am of the group of individuals who are the American Association of Virtual Bankruptcy Assistants (AAVBA).

From the beginning of this venture, I vowed to have a group that would work together for the greater good.

We were going to be an organization that epitomizes professionalism, ethics and solid relationships. And not just with each other, but also with the attorneys we work with.

The VBA industry is a relatively small community. So is the Consumer Bankruptcy Attorney community. If we say or do something good, everyone knows about it. By the same token, if anyone uses derogatory language or berates someone in the VBA community, word will get back to whomever is the target.

This was evident at the Fall Conference in South Carolina. Word got around that there was a new Exhibitor that provides a service most Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys can use that will make running their law firms much easier.

The new Exhibitor was AAVBA.

We were swamped all weekend by attorneys who wanted more information about how using a VBA could help them run their offices more efficiently. And we delivered.

Word was out that this was an organization that could very possibly be the answer to the problem most solo practitioners struggled with. The problem being they (the attorneys) needed an extra hand in their law firm but were unable to pay a full time staff. Enter the Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant.

I have never made claims that I had anything to do with the formation of the Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant. I will take credit however, for having the idea of getting VBA's in front of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys.

And the idea of marketing on behalf of the AAVBA members is also my idea. Something that has never been done prior to the formation of AAVBA.

There are other marketing ideas that have been exclusively mine, but we won't go into that.

But not all the ideas came from me. Because of my relationship with my fellow AAVBA members, we have been able to implement ideas I could never have come up with.

And when those ideas are utilized, the VBA who comes up with the idea is given credit. Although, sometimes in my hurry to do things, I will forget to write down the name of the VBA. Sorry! And when that happens, I will still give credit to the VBA by mentioning the idea did not come from me.

I believe we have the first class organization that we do because our focus is building relationships and building businesses.

Our conversations are about the business, not about each other.

If an issue arises that must be addressed, it is addressed to the AAVBA membership. No one is ever exposed. I do not believe in publicly humiliating anyone. After all, we've all made mistakes.

If a problem arises with an individual, I speak personally and privately with that person. It begins and ends there. No one ever knows what happens and most times the members are not even aware there is a problem.

Besides, there is never anything that cannot be addressed and handled professionally without destroying the relationship.

I believe that by spreading rumors and talking about each other in a negative light creates a negative environment. For anyone who is part of this organization, knows I will not tolerate any negativity. Like my mother used to say, "if you can't say something nice, say something vague". it was meant to bring humor in a difficult situation.

Thankfully, I have never had to say "something vague" about our members. I know straight up, most of our members are in AAVBA to grow their businesses and to help others do the same.

There is another saying which goes like this, "ignorant people talk about each other, intelligent people talk about matters of the world".

Have you ever been in a conversation where someone is talking about another person you do not know? What did you do? Did you walk away? Or did you become part of the conversation? Did you believe what that person was saying about this other person? Without confirming the story? Or did you believe this person simply because you felt they would not talk about anyone in a negative manner unless it was true? Or did you bother to confirm it?

Where I grew up, if someone said something about somebody, that person would bring the two people together and ask them who said what. This way, there was no misunderstanding. Each person had the opportunity to say face to face what they had to say directly to the person they were talking about.

Needless to say, there wasn't too much gossiping going on. You never knew when you would be asked to confirm what you were saying. So you better have had your story straight and also the facts to back it up. It kept everybody honest.

Build your relationships. Don't destroy them. When there is an opportunity to clear something up, do it immediately. And remember, judge slowly. Don't believe everything you hear unless you have the facts to believe it.

Vikki