SmartAlec GPS Adventure Guide

Today, while listening to the Dave Ramsey show (2 hour podcast, 3 seg), Dave shared a very inspiring nugget called the “American Creed” that he remembered before dawn as he woke up a bit frustrated with the world.  Here it is as I’ve copied it from Dave Ramsey’s website,

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Click to listen to Dave Ramsey speaking and reading \”The American Creed\” by Dean Alfange

I Do Not Choose to Be a Common Man

The Honorable Dean Alfange was an American statesman born December 2, 1899, in Constantinople (now Istanbul). He was raised in upstate New York. He served in the U.S. Army during World War I and attended Hamilton College, graduating in the class of 1922.

It is my right to be uncommon—if I can.

I seek opportunity—not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me.

I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed.

I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia.

I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat.

It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act for myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations and to face the world boldly and say, “This I have done.”

By Dean Alfange

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*Originally published in This Week Magazine.
Later printed in The Reader’s Digest, October 1952 and January 1954.

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As a entrepreneur that knows the hardships of breaking away from the herd, I found this extremely inspiring Read More…

Posted under Can I Quote You?, Ideas

Wow, I look around my desk and I see hard drives, usb drives, 5 flash drives, disk readers, recorders and all the cables that connect them to my computer.  What is all this stuff for you might ask?  Well, I’m a creative junky that likes to make stuff and save stuff…maybe I’m part digital pack-rat too.

If you are like me in the slightest, you have a little addiction to staying ahead of the curve and staying informed, then you should take advantage of a few major tools on the web.  I admit that I am about as new to using most of them as a freshman just coming into college but I actually think they can be extremely useful for business and personal interest.

iGoogle

If you want to stay informed and organized you should consider getting a ‘igoogle’ account.  If you don’t already know it, Google is the largest search engine in the world, DUH! They specialize in keeping tabs on the web and they want to share everything with us.  An igoogle account is such a great tool for me for watching trends and staying informed on someone or something in any part of the world.  One of my favorite uses of ‘igoogle’ is the home page.  You can create your own style and only use the ‘gadgets’(widgets or little tools that do things like tell you the weather or show you the top stories on MSNBC) that you prefer.  There’s tons of them.  I personally watch for the weather, news, quotes, calendar,

Another favorite of mine is “Alerts”.  This google product allows you to be alerted anytime Google finds what you are looking for on a website.  This can include a mention of your website, blog or maybe a key subject matter.  I use it to keep updated when hotlinks are made to my website, but more importantly I use it to be made aware when hotlinks are made to my business competition’s website. (example:  link:www.smartalecgpstours.com) It helps me stay ahead of the curve and be alerted when the ‘word of mouth’ buzz is building for me or against me.  How awesome is that!  Read up on Alerts…they are well worth it.

Finally.. of course is using the ‘RSS Reader’.  It was only a short time ago that the idea of an RSS feed was a little scary but I’ve discovered the advantage.  It’s another type of an ‘alerts’ that make you aware of new stuff added to a specific web page or blog.  If you want to understand RSS feeds more, check out this great blog of a friend of mine.  He’s a teacher and it will help you understand.  Use the RSS feed on the upper right hand side of this blog to get updates from this blog sent to your e-mail or maybe your brand spankin new ‘igoogle’ account.  I’m sure I’ll shoot to the top of your favorite blog list soon!

Get connected to the web and use tools like iGoogle.  It’s a huge resource and can be a great way to stay informed without all the extra junk that comes with CNN’s home page.  Get connected to the world…but only what you want, when you want it.

Nothing Adventured, Nothing Gained

Posted under Tips and Tidbits, Web Tricks