I looked at an old Tony Robbins video and this is his number one key to success. I believe it to be at the source of just about all success. I am sharing it because I am a team player and by helping others it is returned to you. :)

The key to personal power is the ability to take action, decide, and follow through on the action. If the results do not turn out as desired, learn something from the results and take a better action next time.

Simple, but true.

I added up the views on all the videos I have personally uploaded to youtube, and in total they are now over 2,500 views. I find that very pleasing since that means thousands of times people have been interested in seeing and hearing something I posted. I really have no way to promote them, so people must have searched for them on their own. (With an occasional exception like my quiz room videos which I posted a link here). One video got no views other than the single one I did, and a bunch get several hundred views a piece. It's nice to share music and videos in a way that I never previously thought I would have an opportunity to do so. This is one of my first ever:

Youtube - Video

Most times rain is an annoyance. It is not fun to be caught in the rain, or to drive in it. But there is on occasion, magic to be found in being caught in the rain. Back when I was working at Citibank, two girls from my office gave me a ticket to a tennis match. They didn't really like me much but they had an extra ticket that they couldn't get rid of. So I went. I get to the stadium and there are the two girls from my office, and a girlfriend of one of the girls. It was a bit awkward but then I thought hey I am the only guy with these 3 girls, and as David Lee Roth once sang, I ain't the worst that they've seen. So I started chatting up the girlfriend who I had never met before. She liked the attention and poof, I had a new friend!

Then, it being a hot August evening, a thunderstorm started. The tennis match was stopped and soon we were headed back to the parking lot. I happened to bring my umbrella, and I soon found myself sharing it with my new friend. It was raining so hard that we were pressed up against each other under the umbrella, and then this girl said to me, "Sam, get closer". It was a scene straight out of this song:

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Tony Robbins, the motivational coach, has a new TV show starting tonight on NBC. It got mixed reviews in the newspapers, but I have bought his tapes and I believe in his methods.

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I started reading the Bible only recently after I began watching Joel Osteen on TV. This particular passage I keep running across, either hearing it being said or opening the Bible and finding just this passage. In fact as I write this I just opened to this page. I think this is a story about the power of faith and belief.

Matthew 9:20-22

And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood
for twelve years came from behind and touched His garment.

For she said to herself, "If I may only touch His garment,
I shall be made well."

But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said,
"Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well."
And the woman was made well from that hour.

For a certain friend on Spinchat.

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Godspeed my friend.

Nobody dances with a lamp better than David Byrne.

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instead of the genius that he is.

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I was donating some old clothes to charity today, and I found my train ticket from when I was on the Long Island Railroad Massacre from 1993. I was on that train, I got off the stop before the gunman started shooting, and I heard the gunshots as the train passed by. I don't know if I ever expressed gratitude for being spared that day, but looking back, I do.

From wikipedia on the gunman Colin Ferguson:

Shooting
On December 7, 1993, Ferguson purchased a ticket at Pennsylvania Station in New York City and boarded the third car of the east-bound Long Island Rail Road 5:33 evening commuter train to Hicksville, along with 80 other passengers. Ferguson, who sat on the western end of the car,[12] was carrying his handgun and a canvas bag filled with 160 rounds of ammunition.[5][13] As the train approached the Merillon Avenue Station, Ferguson drew the gun, dropped several cartridges on the ground, stood up and started opening fire on the passengers at random. During three minutes of gunfire, Ferguson killed six people and injured another 19. Initially, some passengers mistook the gunshots for caps or fireworks, until a woman shouted, "He's got a gun! He's shooting people!"[12] Ferguson walked east on the train, pulling the trigger steadily about every half second. Several passengers tried to hide beneath their seats, while others fled to the eastern end of the train and tried to go into the next car. Ferguson walked down the aisle of the train and shot people to his right and left as he passed each seat, briefly facing each victim before firing. The New York Times later wrote the motions were "as methodical as if he were taking tickets".[12] Ferguson repeated over and over, "I'm going to get you" as he walked down the aisle.[13]

Other passengers farther away in the train did not realize a shooting had occurred until after the train stopped. As a crowd of panicked passengers fled from the third car into neighboring cars, one man appeared annoyed by their unruliness and said, "Be calm", before they forced a train door open and fled into the station.[12] Two people were injured in the stampede of passengers. After the train's engineer was informed of the shooting, he decided against opening the train doors right away because two of the cars were not yet at the platform. An announcement was made ordering conductors not to open the doors. However, one conductor climbed out of a train window and opened some door of the third car from the outside so panicked passengers could escape.[10] Ferguson emptied two 15-round magazines during the shooting. While reloading his third magazine, somebody yelled, "Grab him!"[12] Passengers Michael O'Connor, Kevin Blum and Mark McEntee tackled Ferguson and pinned him to one of the train's seats.[13] Several other passengers ran forward to grab his arms and legs and help hold him down. While he was pinned, Ferguson said, "Oh God, what did I do? What did I do? I deserve whatever I get."[12] Andrew Roderick, an off-duty Long Island Rail Road policeman who was picking up his wife from the train, boarded the train car and handcuffed Ferguson.[13]

Six passengers died from their injuries during the shooting

The train ticket I used that night:

The train schedule showing the train (5:33 on bottom of picture):

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Reference: hi
Sent: July 22nd, 2010 20:17

hi baby im really horny right now i want to here you ******* off and i want you to lick my pink ***** and my **** aswell..im using a short number, coz i used to be a model before and i have a lot of stalker.... i want to get rid of them baby.. just text AVIONA and send to 35338, and afterwards, type in YES and send it to 35338 again. do it carefully and i'll wait for you! any pics you ask ill just call you back when i got your message baby.

This is a great collaboration with Bernard Sumner of New Order, Johnny Marr of The Smiths, and Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys.

Electronic - Getting Away With It

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I don't understand the fanaticism some have for them, but this is not a just a good song, it is a great song.

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This is a great day to be alive.

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Time for another update of my friend's recording. The video now has 5,100 views in 3 months. I did a little research, and found that the video is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in NY.

http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2009/lookingatmusic2/b.html

Also, this recording is on the soundtrack of a movie about the artist Basquat called "The Radiant Child" which opens this Wednesday.

Dominatrix - The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight (Remastered)

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"Sunny" is the name of a song written by Bobby Hebb. It is one of the most covered popular songs, with hundreds of versions released. BMI rates "Sunny" number 25 in its "Top 100 songs of the century".

Hebb wrote the song after 22 November 1963, the day U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated and Hebb's older brother Harold was killed in a knife fight outside a Nashville nightclub. Hebb was devastated by both events and many critics say that those events inspired the tune. Others claims Bobby wrote the song for God. Certainly, events influenced Bobby's songwriting, but his timeless melody, crossing over into R&B (#3 on U.S. R&B chart) Country and Pop (#2 on U.S. Pop chart), together with the optimistic lyrics, came from the artist's desire to express that one should always "look at the bright side" - a direct quote from the author. Hebb has said about "Sunny":

"All my intentions were just to think of happier times – basically looking for a brighter day – because times were at a low tide. After I wrote it, I thought "Sunny" just might be a different approach to what Johnny Bragg was talking about in 'Just Walkin' in the Rain'".

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Depeche Mode - But Not Tonight

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But I did better in college. Ya, kind of much better. Not just in the top half of the class. Not just the top quarter of the class. Not just the top 20 per cent. Not just top 10 per cent. Not just top 5 per cent Actually I came in first in my college graduating class. Yes, first. I am not bragging, in fact I haven't really mentioned that almost ever to anyone except on a my first few interviews after college. In a way it worked sometimes as a negative, people perceive you to be a geek, or are jealous. So how could I turn around my grades from bottom of the class in HS to first in college? I was the same person but I liked college much better, and I built on some early success in my first few college classes. then I started believing that I could ace every class, and I just about did. I thought graduating first would make many things happen. It didn't really. Sometimes I felt like I should have had more success, but I came to terms that it didn't really matter. After a year or two in the job market, my college grades made almost no difference, and I did OK anyway.

I did think that my grades would impress a girl who I was falling in love with in college. It did attract her to me, but not in the way I had hoped.

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I have to admit, this is a recording of a female artist, who I have NOT kissed. But I might if given a chance. :)

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This is the speech that Jimmy Valvano, the college basketball coach, gave in 1993 as he was dying of cancer.

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The album version.

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There has been almost no rain in the last month, grass has turned brown and many trees are shedding their leaves in July! Pictures of leaves on the street taken today:

Here is a brief history of how I got a certain video of a recording by a friend of mine uploaded to youtube where it is closing in on 5,000 views in 3 months:

First I put a comment on a youtube of the recording which didn't have the actual video. The guy who posted it wrote me this message:

MemoriesofStarckClub has sent you a message:

Dominatrix
Howdy Martin,
So you know Claudia Summers - what a small world. I have been looking for a copy of the original video of this song, the one with Dominique Davalos in stockings and fur, but no one seems to have a copy of it remaining. If you come across it please let me know.
Thanks for the comment,
Kenny
You can reply to this message by visiting your inbox.

I happened to know where the original video, which was not on youtube, was somewhere else on the internet and sent the guy the link. That evening he took the video and posted it on youtube:

MemoriesofStarckClub has sent you a message:

Re: Re: Dominatrix
Martin,
OK, the remaster had been posted to my channel. Please feel free to share whatever memories you like about Claudia in the comments.
Thanks again for your help,
Kenny

I wrote him back and mentioned that I was glad he got it on youtube, but it hadn't been posted before because of copyright issues, but I guess he knew how to get around them. This is what he wrote back:

MemoriesofStarckClub has sent you a message:

Re: Re: Re: Re: Dominatrix
Copyright issues can be tricky, you just got to know how to use the law in your favor.

Thanks for the hype I appreciate the efforts to get the word out.

Peace,
Kenny

And that is my contribution to this minor youtube success:

Dominatrix - The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight (Remastered)

Youtube - Video

"Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert."

Is still getting a few views, and is now over 100 views.

Youtube - Video

"He who would love life
And see good days,
Let him refrain his tongue from evil,
And his lips from speaking deceit."

of some relatives of mine when they were young. Most of them have now passed away but what struck me was how happy they were when they were young (or younger). Like they had every dream still in their future. Many of them had troubles in their life, or were just worn down by life itself. Kind of sad, but it reminds me to keep renewing your dreams.

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Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.

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Edit: A few minutes after I posted this, I heard on the radio that youtube is doing something called "Life in a day". Synchronicity once again.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100707/en_nm/us_youtube

That is pretty warm.

This is my experience with a psychic medium named George Anderson. Back in the 80s I used to hear him on a radio station where he would do readings for callers and would relay messages from dead relatives. His accuracy seemed to be very good. When my father died suddenly, I decided to make an appointment to see him, and the first one he had available was a year later.

The only information George Anderson had about me was my first name and telephone number. He had a regular job at the time and was doing readings on a part time basis from his apartment. The night of the appointment I drove out to see him and he lived in a small co-op apartment complex on Long Island. I think the cost of the session was about $50 for the hour, and now he charges over $1000.

George Anderson's method is that he gets messages from the other side using an approach he calls "automatic writing". He scribbles in a notepad very quickly while giving information from the other side. The first thing he asked me was if someone close to me had passed over. OK, that is sort of an obvious question since that would be why about 99% of the people would come to see him. I said yes, and asked if it was a male. Again yes, but that was a 50-50 probability. The next thing he said was startling and the accuracy convinced me that he was legitimate. What he said was that when my father passed over, he was greeted by 2 people named Mary and Salvatore. Those names just happened to be the names of my father's parents. There was no way George Anderson would have known that and I can imagine he could have guessed thousands of name combinations and not gotten the right ones. Those were the first and only names he mentioned that greeted my father.

The rest of the session provided some general information but mainly seemed to say that my father was alright and that things were going to be OK. He also mentioned another name of a relative of mine who passed over, an uncle of mine named Alphonse. Again, the odds of him guessing a name as unique as "Alphonse" are quite small.

At the end of the session, I made another appointment, but it was for about 2 years later. I kept that appointment, but it was nowhere near as good as the first one. Maybe after making contact, the spirits move on to another world. I don't lnow.

I did find a video of him on youtube, and he looks the same as he did in the 80s.

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Not every summer seems to have one, but I think this is the one for 2010.

Katy Perry - California Gurls

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What more can I say? Plenty, but I won't. :)

Dominatrix - The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight (Remastered)

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In the day when I cried out,
You answered me,
And made me bold
with strength in my soul.

Delight yourself also in the Lord,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

I am comment #162:

http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2010/07/03/nyregion/03sodatax.html?sort=oldest&offset=7

Yay I was able to post this without copyright problems.

I Feel So Good - Richard Thompson

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The youtube viewers like this video second best of all the videos I posted, with 42 views now. It includes different mixes of the song that are on the 12 inch single. The actual music video of the original record is now closing in on 4,000 views in less than 3 months. Quite spectacular.

The songs I uploaded:

Youtube - Video

So far, the youtube world likes this video of mine the most, with 45 views. One of my favorite songs ever, and I love the nonsensical intro and the power opening notes. And I can't say that I have never felt like expressing the emotions in ths song. From an original vinyl copy:

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Youtube blocks so many songs that I have to look for older, obscure ones, and even then they are sometimes blocked. I uploaded this song from a new wave compilation. It got 15 views in a day!

Scarlett & Black - You Don't Know

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Isaiah 61:3

"To console those who mourn,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit
of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of
righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He
may be glorified."

The Pretenders - Stop Your Sobbing

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I took this picture in February. I think winter sunsets are more dramatic than summer ones.

Girl next to him with a glove not exactly helpful.

http://deadspin.com/5576040/yankee-fan-on-cellphone-catches-ground-rule-double-with-his-face

I don't know but I would guess she is. The bigger question is why she doesn't just say so rather than have the administration put out denials? I guess it is a matter of practicality that they feel she would have a harder time of being confirmed. I don't think her sexuality should have any bearing on her confirmation, but it would be wrong to portray her as straight if she is not. She may be straight but I think the evidence suggests otherwise.

http://gawker.com/5535425/is-supreme-court-nominee-elena-kagan-really-a-lesbian

My point is not that there is something wrong with her orientation but that denying it is wrong.