Ely Rosentock from Crastinate.com shows us how we can terminate our contract without paying the early termination fee (ETF). This video tutorial shows you every counterargument that phone rep will use against you and how you can refute it.  This is definately good info and I recommend everyone to watch it (even if you’re carrier is not verizon)

Source: http://crastinate.com/2008/07/27/video-tutorial-how-to-get-out-of-your-verizon-contract-without-an-early-termination-fee/

“Birthdays was the worst days…” - Biggie

And when I get some more time, I’ll blog about more shit. Until then, Cheerio motherfucker. Bye.

Check out the site live: http://www.myspace.com/ecarlomusic

Cheers!

And yes, I know the blue side looks real busy with all that text but… I do as I’m told. The gift and the curse of the designer.

Oh… and we can’t forget about the bottled hot water for dehydrated babies….

—

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”

“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problem.”

“If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide.”

Mahatma Gandhi needs no long introduction. Everyone knows about the man who lead the Indian people to independence from British rule in 1947.

So let’s just move on to some of my favourite tips from Mahatma Gandhi.

1. Change yourself.

“You must be the change you want to see in the world.”

“As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world - that is the myth of the atomic age - as in being able to remake ourselves.”

If you change yourself you will change your world. If you change how you think then you will change how you feel and what actions you take. And so the world around you will change. Not only because you are now viewing your environment through new lenses of thoughts and emotions but also because the change within can allow you to take action in ways you wouldn’t have – or maybe even have thought about – while stuck in your old thought patterns.

And the problem with changing your outer world without changing yourself is that you will still be you when you reach that change you have strived for. You will still have your flaws, anger, negativity, self-sabotaging tendencies etc. intact.

And so in this new situation you will still not find what you hoped for since your mind is still seeping with that negative stuff. And if you get more without having some insight into and distance from your ego it may grow more powerful. Since your ego loves to divide things, to find enemies and to create separation it may start to try to create even more problems and conflicts in your life and world.

2. You are in control.

“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”

What you feel and how you react to something is always up to you. There may be a “normal” or a common way to react to different things. But that’s mostly just all it is.

You can choose your own thoughts, reactions and emotions to pretty much everything. You don’t have to freak out, overreact of even react in a negative way. Perhaps not every time or instantly. Sometimes a knee-jerk reaction just goes off. Or an old thought habit kicks in.

And as you realize that no-one outside of yourself can actually control how you feel you can start to incorporate this thinking into your daily life and develop it as a thought habit. A habit that you can grow stronger and stronger over time. Doing this makes life a whole lot easier and more pleasurable.

3. Forgive and let it go.

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”

“An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”

Fighting evil with evil won’t help anyone. And as said in the previous tip, you always choose how to react to something. When you can incorporate such a thought habit more and more into your life then you can react in a way that is more useful to you and others.

You realize that forgiving and letting go of the past will do you and the people in your world a great service. And spending your time in some negative memory won’t help you after you have learned the lessons you can learn from that experience. You’ll probably just cause yourself more suffering and paralyze yourself from taking action in this present moment.

If you don’t forgive then you let the past and another person to control how you feel. By forgiving you release yourself from those bonds. And then you can focus totally on, for instance, the next point.

4. Without action you aren’t going anywhere.

“An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.”

Without taking action very little will be done. However, taking action can be hard and difficult. There can be much inner resistance.

And so you may resort to preaching, as Gandhi says. Or reading and studying endlessly. And feeling like you are moving forward. But getting little or no practical results in real life.

So, to really get where you want to go and to really understand yourself and your world you need to practice. Books can mostly just bring you knowledge. You have to take action and translate that knowledge into results and understanding.

You can check out a few effective tips to overcome this problem in How to Take More Action: 9 Powerful Tips. Or you can move on to the next point for more on the best tip for taking more action that I have found so far.

5. Take care of this moment.

“I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present. God has given me no control over the moment following.”

The best way that I have found to overcome the inner resistance that often stops us from taking action is to stay in the present as much as possible and to be accepting.

Why? Well, when you are in the present moment you don’t worry about the next moment that you can’t control anyway. And the resistance to action that comes from you imagining negative future consequences - or reflecting on past failures - of your actions loses its power. And so it becomes easier to both take action and to keep your focus on this moment and perform better.

Have a look at 8 Ways to Return to the Present Moment for tips on how quickly step into the now. And remember that reconnecting with and staying in the now is a mental habit - a sort of muscle - that you grow. Over time it becomes more powerful and makes it easier to slip into the present moment.

6. Everyone is human.

“I claim to be a simple individual liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility enough to confess my errors and to retrace my steps.”

“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”

When you start to make myths out of people – even though they may have produced extraordinary results – you run the risk of becoming disconnected from them. You can start to feel like you could never achieve similar things that they did because they are so very different. So it’s important to keep in mind that everyone is just a human being no matter who they are.

And I think it’s important to remember that we are all human and prone to make mistakes. Holding people to unreasonable standards will only create more unnecessary conflicts in your world and negativity within you.

It’s also important to remember this to avoid falling into the pretty useless habit of beating yourself up over mistakes that you have made. And instead be able to see with clarity where you went wrong and what you can learn from your mistake. And then try again.

7. Persist.

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

Be persistent. In time the opposition around you will fade and fall away. And your inner resistance and self-sabotaging tendencies that want to hold you back and keep you like you have always been will grow weaker.

Find what you really like to do. Then you’ll find the inner motivation to keep going, going and going. You can also find a lot of useful tips on how keep your motivation up in How to Get Out of a Motivational Slump and 25 Simple Ways to Motivate Yourself.

One reason Gandhi was so successful with his method of non-violence was because he and his followers were so persistent. They just didn’t give up.

Success or victory will seldom come as quickly as you would have liked it to. I think one of the reasons people don’t get what they want is simply because they give up too soon. The time they think an achievement will require isn’t the same amount of time it usually takes to achieve that goal. This faulty belief partly comes from the world we live in. A world full of magic pill solutions where advertising continually promises us that we can lose a lot of weight or earn a ton of money in just 30 days. You can read more about this in One Big Mistake a Whole Lot of People Make.

Finally, one useful tip to keep your persistence going is to listen to Gandhi’s third quote in this article and keep a sense of humor. It can lighten things up at the toughest of times.

8. See the good in people and help them.

“I look only to the good qualities of men. Not being faultless myself, I won’t presume to probe into the faults of others.”

“Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men.”

“I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.”

There is pretty much always something good in people. And things that may not be so good. But you can choose what things to focus on. And if you want improvement then focusing on the good in people is a useful choice. It also makes life easier for you as your world and relationships become more pleasant and positive.

And when you see the good in people it becomes easier to motivate yourself to be of service to them. By being of service to other people, by giving them value you not only make their lives better. Over time you tend to get what you give. And the people you help may feel more inclined to help other people. And so you, together, create an upward spiral of positive change that grows and becomes stronger.

By strengthening your social skills you can become a more influential person and make this upward spiral even stronger. A few articles that may provide you with useful advice in that department are Do You Make These 10 Mistakes in a Conversation? and Dale Carnegie’s Top 10 Tips for Improving Your Social Skills. Or you can just move on to the next tip.

9. Be congruent, be authentic, be your true self.

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”

“Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.”

I think that one of the best tips for improving your social skills is to behave in a congruent manner and communicate in an authentic way. People seem to really like authentic communication. And there is much inner enjoyment to be found when your thoughts, words and actions are aligned. You feel powerful and good about yourself.

When words and thoughts are aligned then that shows through in your communication. Because now you have your voice tonality and body language – some say they are over 90 percent of communication – in alignment with your words.

With these channels in alignment people tend to really listen to what you’re saying. You are communicating without incongruency, mixed messages or perhaps a sort of phoniness.

Also, if your actions aren’t in alignment with what you’re communicating then you start to hurt your own belief in what you can do. And other people’s belief in you too.

10. Continue to grow and evolve.

”Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.”

You can pretty much always improve your skills, habits or re-evaluate your evaluations. You can gain deeper understanding of yourself and the world.

Sure, you may look inconsistent or like you don’t know what you are doing from time to time. You may have trouble to act congruently or to communicate authentically. But if you don’t then you will, as Gandhi says, drive yourself into a false position. A place where you try to uphold or cling to your old views to appear consistent while you realise within that something is wrong. It’s not a fun place to be. To choose to grow and evolve is a happier and more useful path to take.

I actually got into a heated argument with my psycho drill sergeant friend the other day because he was getting annoyed with my bitching on some of the workouts. So it was like listening to him bitching about my bitching. It’s been a long time since I worked out. I lost a lot of strength, energy, stamina due to my personal issues that I was dealing with (which involved many restrictions). But my strength and energy are starting to come back. Problem with him is… he is impatient and has a bit of an anger problem. ROFL. I use to work out with him in the past and he didn’t complain like this. I remember going at my own pace. I remember one time when I was going up in weights and he even asked me if I were sure. I know the limitations of my body and what I can or cannot do - and right now, it’s playing catchup. But now it’s not just him and I working out. We also got another person with us so things are a bit different. The routine is different, more things are involved and to be honest, my stamina is not where it use to be. But we worked it out after arguing a bit in my cubicle. I am trying, I haven’t skipped out on any of the workout days… we been going 5 of 7 days per week.

So what else has been happening? Manny hit #500 and the Boston Celtics are in the NBA finals. I’m also getting some good results from my new trial contact lenses. Oh and work… Things are starting to slow down finally. I swear my head was going to explode there with all the things that were going on. I scheduled vacation time between June 9th - 13th so hopefully I can get my sanity back.

Another personal dilemma was about my career path… recently there was another opening in my company for a database analyst. Was I interested? Somewhat - It was a bit tempting and I can do database work. Why was it so tempting? Most likely the pay. I did some homework on salary.com and saw the pay difference. But hey… what’s an extra $20,000 anyways? haha. I had a chat with my friend lani about it and she agreed on my decision to not apply for it. Why? Well, I look at it like this… I like what I currently do (it’s challenging and i learn new stuff frequently especially with all this web 2.0/3.0 movement), I like my boss, my boss speaks highly of me (to the CEO and other big shots), he knows my potential, he knows I bust my ass, he got me what I asked for (in terms what how much I’m worth - let’s just say another 30% hehehe), he lets me leave early sometimes, I can wear anything I want to work, people don’t invade my space, i can listen to headphones while I work, and there are many other reasons. But mainly, I’m happy at the moment. If I switch to become a database analyst - I would get paid more but I would have a different boss, I would sit there and do more monotonous tasks, and things probably wouldn’t be the same. Yes the money would be nice but I’m sure I can reach that salary range in due time. I’ve only been with this company for a year and a half now and my work speaks for itself. It was quite a ride though, my brother’s best friend works for another dot com and wanted me to apply with his company. Then my friend introduced me to his co-worker who works for Channel 2 (WGBH Boston) who was looking for someone who does my kind of work. But you know what? I’m not ready to leave my company yet - maybe when I realize that I can’t go any higher, I might go elsewhere but for now… Thanh is pretty content. And do you wanna know why I’m so good at what I do? It’s because I know a little bit about everything - not only you get a marketing guy but you also get a developer, a good researcher, and someone who is business oriented. Those are a powerful mix. So I conclude this blog entry with…. I rather be happy and get paid less than unhappy being paid more. If you feel different… you can talk to D… (Who’s D?) Deeeeeeeez nuts!

That night, I met up with the boys at Good Times Emporium where we caught the celtics game (they lost game 6). Although the celts lost, we had a pretty good time. It was a hilarious night because my boy Junior has got to be one of the funniest people on earth. I ended up bringing my camera in there before the night ended and took some great pics. Junior was making a ton of people crack up. He went from hitting on the cute waitress, changelling some white girls (to a dance off) on the dance dance revolution machine, to riding those 25 cent machine horse rides - the dude is entertainment. I’ll attached some pics later. We also played our favorite punching bag machine - Junior maxed out (at 922) after a few tries and after faking like he totally missed the bag, acting like he was stretching, and doing pushups to amuse the crowd. I ended up with like 860 as a max and I even made my knuckle bleed. Nobody makes me bleed my own blood. Hahaha (dodgeball). Then we went to Chinatown that night at Chau Chau City since it was like I dunno 2:30AM Maybe? Man has that place became ghetto… This place use to be a great place back in the days but man…. this place is filled with cops now. There was a table of black dudes (known coke dealers - how do I know? My friend arrested them before) - Well they were mad loud and the restaurant managers told them to leave, and one of them knocks over all the plates and other stuff on the table - then they started throwing chairs down the stairs. Yeah… It’s definitely ghetto now. With all the damage that goes on there, no wonder why our fucking ginger and scallion lobsters cost $60. That’s bullshit. Then I drove home and went to bed. ZzZzZzZZZzZz

Saturday - Woke up at like 3ish PM. I made plans to go to the 5th Wit in Boston with a few friend but ya know… plans change. Especially when everyone was still sleeping. Hahaha. So I decided to go with my brother to the gym to do some cardio - I kinda felt guilty about the late night meal. Man I haven’t sweat like that in a LONG time. Holy crap. I did cardio till I pulled my left calf muscle. It was only an hour but I coulda kept on going but I couldn’t move my leg for a good 5 minutes. I gave my brother some of that NO Shotgun stuff and he said when he got on the machine, his heart rate was already at 114. But I got home and spent Sunday at home relaxing because it been really busy at work.

What the hell… I’ll tell you about Monday as well. Fuck it.

Worked on Monday. Headed to Boston Sports Club at 6PM. Worked out with my boys Tionne and Den for a good 3.5 hours - I haven’t done so many damn sets in such a long time. We did like 4 sets of everything. Chest (flat, incline, decline), Biceps, and Triceps. All in all, we did well over 30 something sets with at least 10-15 reps (I think Den did 15-20 reps). But fuck… was I sore after. The scale showed that I lost 2 lbs. But I’m sure that’s just water weight. I really think something is wrong with my right shoulder though. Towards the end, I had a hard time pushing - It looked like my left arm was working but my right arm wasn’t. And I’m a righty so something is going on with me. So I ended up going down some weights because it’s all about control and finishing your sets. Don’t cheat yourself like my boy Tionne who thought he counted to 10 when I counted 8. Hahaha. I was so clowning him. Boys being boys. I got home close to 11PM and made myself a whey protein smoothee with soem glutamine otherwise I would be fucked today at work. I can feel some pain today but I know tomorrow it will hurt even more.

Pics coming soon. Check back later!