This post is a little off topic from my parenting discussions.  However, I read this letter and it made me cringe to think that what we own can be taken away from us in a heartbeat.  Hopefully this will remind us of the importance of a true free economic market and give us the motivation to stand up for those who have been wronged.

This letter was published in a local Florida newspaper about a profitable Dodge dealer who was told he’s not allowed to run his own business anymore.

My name is George C. Joseph. I am the sole owner of Sunshine Dodge-Isuzu, a family owned and operated business in Melbourne, Florida. My family bought and paid for this automobile franchise 35 years ago in 1974. I am the second generation to manage this business.

We currently employ 50+ people and before the economic slowdown we employed over 70 local people. We are active in the community and the local chamber of commerce. We deal with several dozen local vendors on a day to day basis and many more during a month. All depend on our business for part of their livelihood. We are financially strong with great respect in the market place and community. We have strong local presence and stability.

I work every day the store is open, nine to ten hours a day. I know most of our customers and all our employees. Sunshine Dodge is my life.

On Thursday, May 14, 2009 I was notified that my Dodge franchise, that we purchased, will be taken away from my family on June 9, 2009 without compensation and given to another dealer at no cost to them. My new vehicle inventory consists of 125 vehicles with a financed balance of 3 million dollars. This inventory becomes impossible to sell with no factory incentives beyond June 9, 2009. Without the Dodge franchise we can no longer sell a new Dodge as “new,” nor will we be able to do any warranty service work. Additionally, my Dodge parts inventory, (approximately $300,000.) is virtually worthless without the ability to perform warranty service. There is no offer from Chrysler to buy back the vehicles or parts inventory.

Our facility was recently totally renovated at Chrysler’s insistence, incurring a multi-million dollar debt in the form of a mortgage at Sun Trust Bank.

HOW IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CAN THIS HAPPEN?

THIS IS A PRIVATE BUSINESS NOT A GOVERNMENT ENTITY

This is beyond imagination! My business is being stolen from me through NO FAULT OF OUR OWN. We did NOTHING wrong.

This atrocity will most likely force my family into bankruptcy. This will also cause our 50+ employees to be unemployed. How will they provide for their families? This is a total economic disaster.

HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN IN A FREE MARKET ECONOMY IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA?

I beseech your help, and look forward to your reply. Thank you.
Sincerely,

George C. Joseph
President & Owner
Sunshine Dodge-Isuzu

Before you ask, yes, this guy is legitimate:

SUNSHINE DODGE INC 840 SO HARBOR CITY BLVD 41373 DT
MELBOURNE, FL 32901-1999
GEORGE C JOSEPH

I am republishing a story I received in a forwarded email, though I have removed the Comic Sans font and cheesy graphics.  This is a story about how you can choose exactly the kind of day, and life, you want to have.  You can go though life complaining and making excuses for your life, or… You can make a change.

Harvey Mackay, tells a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point.

He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey…

He handed my friend a laminated card and said: ‘I’m Wally, your driver. While I’m loading your bags in the trunk I’d like you to read my mission statement.’

Taken aback, Harvey read the card.

It said: Wally’s Mission Statement:
To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.

This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!

As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, ‘Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.’

My friend said jokingly, ‘No, I’d prefer a soft drink.’

Wally smiled and said, ‘No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.’

Almost stuttering, Harvey said, ‘I’ll take a Diet Coke.’

Handing him his drink, Wally said, ‘If you’d like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.’

As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card, ‘These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you’d
like=2 0to listen to the radio.’

And as if that weren’t enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him.

Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he’d be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him
with his own thoughts.

‘Tell me, Wally,’ my amazed friend asked the driver, ‘have you always served customers like this?’

Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. ‘No, not always. In fact, it’s only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day.

He had just written a book called You’ll See It When You Believe It . Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you’ll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, ‘Stop complaining!
Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don’t be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.”

‘That hit me right between the eyes,’ said Wally. ‘Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy.. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I
did more.’

‘I take it that has paid off for you,’ Harvey said.

‘It sure has,’ Wally replied. ‘My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I’ll probably quadruple it.
You were lucky to get me today. I don’t sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can’t pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.’

Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. I’ve probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call.. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn’t do any of what I was suggesting.

Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles.

How about us?

Smile, and the whole world smiles with you… The ball is in our hands!

A man reaps what he sows. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up… let
us do good to all people.

Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar

It may sound strange, but there’s a lot of people out there that think it’s hard to find a great gift for the dad in your life.  I say that’s crazy.  If you stick to the seven main gift food groups you’ll be sure to get him exactly what he wants.  Here’s the secret for gift buying, a gift is best when it’s something the recipient wouldn’t go out and buy for himself.  Don’t go into Christmas morning with a gift for dad and then, “TADA… it’s a new shirt for work!”  That’s the equivalent of a guy giving his wife a mop.  Now if you stick a new shirt under the tree, that’s fine as long as it’s not the ‘big gift.’

Now, Here’s the seven main ‘food groups’ of gifts. Stick to these and you’re gonna knock his socks off (note that socks are not on this list).

Gadgets

If it’s shiny, has buttons and solves an everyday problem; then you’ve got a surefire great gift.  Perfect example is the digital photo frame, such as the one shown here.  My wife got me one just before our daughter was born as a gift and I use it every day.  It’s easy to update the pictures of  our rapidly growing family, is a great little showoff in the office, and saves me from having to have countless frames and old pics laying around.

Digital Photo Frames at Amazon.com

Outdoors

Connect with the caveman in your husband or dad and get him something for the great outdoors.  Yeah, most likely it’ll never get used and if it does, not for the right purpose.  It will give him something to play with in the garage and likely lead to thoughts of a family camping trip.  A perfect gift for dad in the outdoors gift group is a magnesium fire starter like the one shown here.  It’s perfect for starting a fire quickly without matches.  Yes, like I said, he’ll probably never use it, but it’s an awesome stocking stuffer.

Fire Starters

Sports

Nothin’ says lovin’ like a regulation New York Giants football helmet.  Unless your man is a Dallas Cowboys fan… Then you might want to consider a can of tennis balls or a nice apron.  Really though, any kind of sports gear or his favorite teams jersey, hat, gear, etc is a perfect gift.  Though a word of caution: Make sure you do your home work on what he likes.  If you’re buying him a jersey, make sure you know what player he likes.  Also, and this is important, the more authentic the better.  If it’s just a cheap imitation, his buddies will spot it in an instant.

Great Gifts for the Sports Fan

Tools

“Wow, this is the perfect Christmas gift and I can’t wait to get up and do the dishes.”  Which is what you’ll hear when he opens up a Gerber or Leatherman mulit-tool this year.  That’s because you just satisfied the 4th gift giving ‘food group,’ which is the unexplained need for a new awesome tool.  You’ll also get this response if he just opened anything from Dremel.   Here’s an important fact about tools, stay away from those cheap 101 piece tool sets you find at Target, Wal-Mart or your other retailer.  They scream, “This may be a cheap screwdriver, but I’m the real tool.”

Multi-Tools at Amazon.com

Entertainment

This one is easy, get dad a cool entertainment device.  This includes a cool universal remote like the Harmony One by Logitech, a gaming console such as the PlayStatio3 (reviewed by the Rogue Parent here), Ipod Touch or if you’re awesome you can go with a giant LCD TV.  Why do dads like this stuff so much?  Why is the sky blue?  It’s simple, in reality, dad’s have very little control over life and an awesome piece of entertainment gear gives them full control over their viewing/listening options.  And yes… we can watch Blues Clues on it.

Electronics Shopping

Debauchery

Sometimes dads need to have some dad time, which is where a gift of fine spirits and cigars are needed.  Again, like the sports gift group, you want to pay attention to quality.  It’s better to get a nice small bottle of Talisker single malt scotch than a big bottle of something you found at a grocery store.  Odds are the dad in your life has a brand they like the best but couldn’t afford on a regular basis.  That’s the one to get.  Since a quiet time on the porch with a glass of fine spirits and nice cigar are so rare, go with the quality.

Toys

Kinda simple, just because he’s all grown up doesn’t mean that he doesn’t think toys are cool.  Might I recommend a remote control car or Nerf dart pistol.  I’ve been seeing remote control construction equipment a lot lately on our trips to Costco and would love to be able to rule our daughter’s sandbox with a massive construction project.  I know you’re thinking getting your dad a toy is silly, but trust me on this one.  No matter how old dad may be, it’s always cool to nail a big jump with a remote control car to hit the bull’s eye with a nerf dart from across the room.

Cool Toys at Amazon.com

WARNING: Non-Parent Content: Time and time again my co-workers and I talk about how many great band names are out there for the taking in Photoshop.  Yeah you won’t find names like Red Hot Chili Peppers or The Rolling Stones but you will get some hidden gems like Gaussian Blur.

Now I know this is far away from parenting, but if you’re in a band with a bad name, here’s a list of great names, all taken from Adobe’s Photoshop.  I’m also offering these up under Creative Commons so if you like it it’s all yours.  In fact, if you’re a band and you use one of these names, I’ll post one of your songs here!

So without delay, the best band names of Photoshop…

1. Gaussian Blur
2. Color Halftone
3. Despeckle
4. Gamut Warning
5. Desaturation
6. Quick Mask
7. Step Backward
8. Angled Strokes
9. Vector Mask
10. Diffuse
11. High Pass
12. Auto Levels
13. Histogram
14. Color Burn
15. Hard Mix
16. Gradient Overlay
17. Satin
18. Anti-Aliased
19. New Style
20. Polygonal Lasso

This list is just the begining of some great hidden band names in Photoshop.  Leave a comment down below if you’ve got more.  Also, if you choose one of these great band names, I’ll post and promote your new “Photoshop Inspired” band here.

I’m sure to hear, “don’t throw her that high” or, “hon, you’ll pull her arms out of socket,” when my daughter and I are playing in the living room.  Now I’m always very safe with our two-year old little girl, but I do play with her in a much different way than my wife does.  I’m pretty sure that it goes back to the caveman days where the father was preparing the children to be tough and ready to make it on their own.  That or a lot of cavemen just had really bad tempers.

Either way, when my wife plays with our daughter it’s a much different experience than when I amp up the excitement.  Here’s the top five ways that dad play is different than mom play…

Reason #1: Playing Catch

I introduced our little girl to the great game I discovered in college, Fanball.  The rules are pretty simple, you sit around a room with a ceiling fan and throw a ball into it, when the ball shoots our in a random direction, the person closest has to catch it.  Our little one loves the excitement and tries to hit the fan too.  If it’s Fanball or a game of catch in the yard, playing catch with dad is important.  I’ve never seen my wife try to play Fan Ball with our little one, but somehow I doubt they have.

Note to readers, in retrospect Fan Ball was a bad idea, one of those ideas you wish you could un-think.  Your kids will love it, you’ll have a great time, but something will get close to breaking.   Also, your kids won’t know the right and wrong time to play Fanball, which can be problematic when visiting anyone with a fan…

Reason #2: Playing in the Yard

In general I think dads tend to push the limits a little more than moms.  This works out well since they are able to learn structure and safety as well as how to take a risk or two while developing creative new ways to play.  In the yard, I’ve found that my daughter wants to do just about anything that I can do, as evident in this picture (Note to Child Services: the mower wasn’t running).

When we’re on the playset, I also push her a little higher on the swings too.  I think that goes to the natural need for guys to test the limits.  It’s the same way when you’re on the interstate and try to see the speedometer hit 90 or 100.

Reason #3: Pool Time

Here’s the third way dads play different than moms. I’m more likely to push our little girl a little more to try to swim on her own.  I’m always very safe and want her to learn that she can take care of herself in the water.  As a former ocean lifeguard, I feel that I know my way around H2O pretty well and want my daughter to be both a great swimmer and aware of the dangers around water.  Bottom line, I want to train my little one to rock it when she’s at the pool and get comments from other parents like, “wow, she’s like a little fish!”

Reason #4: Tool Time

The garage is often known as the man’s domain where we keep the tools and trinkets that make us think that we’re more than just a weekend DIY guy.  For a little kid, it’s the coolest place in the world with some of the scariest looking tools they’ve ever seen.  My daughter loves to be in the garage with me when I’m building or fixing something.  You can actually see her little brain working to try and understand how screwdrivers, saws, spray paint, drills and other tools work.

Why is this important?  Because you can be sure that my little girl is going to know how to hang a picture, change a car battery, fix a widget or you name it when she’s all grown up and off at college.

Reason #5: Male v/s Female Play

I’m no psychologist, if fact i had to use spell check to just write the word.  But what I do know is that  my wife does a better job teaching interpersonal skills, fine motor skills, and (yes I know) hygiene.  I like to think that I excel a little more in the creative thinking, athletics, spacial awareness and those kind of cool skills.  Hey, what can I say, it takes a dad to show their kid that they can kick a ball on the roof and try to catch it when it comes down.  What does all this rambling mean?  It means that for a well-balanced child, they really need to experience both forms of play.  A dad and father needs to be there to share what he does and how he plays with his children.