EOC Week 4: There's An App For That

Most people with pets now a days get them microchipped. We do this so that if they happen to get out of the house other people can pick them up, take them to their closest animal hospital and have it read to hopefully reunited them with their families. Or if by some misfortune they get picked up by animal control and taken to the animal shelter. But what if it didn’t even have to come to that. What if there was a chip that they put into your pet that had a tracking device that with one visit to the app store would let you be able to located them on a maps system so you could go pick them up the moment you realized that they were missing. Or, if someone had stolen them you would be brought to the house of the person who had taken them.?

Now there’s an app for that…

The moment the chip is put into them, you download the app, register your pets chip with the app and it then links them with the phone app. You then use the program to track them if they are lost or stolen. Not only that, but there is an option that if your pet gets out it notifies an internet website that the pet is lost or stolen. That way other people could just go onto the website and see any pets that were reported missing if the animal is picked up by someone before you get the chance to pick them up, or before you realize that they were off on their own little adventure while you were at work or vacation. I know it would be useful to me, seen as my little bugger likes to take off out the door quite often. For a small annual fee this extremely useful app could be yours. So if you’re a pet owner, please make sure to give Pet Tracker a try.

EOC Week 3: My Demographics

Week 3: Making Money For Good

Everyone that owns a dog needs a leash. So why not buy one that gives back to our furry animal friends that we love so much? I’m not talking about any regular leash that you can go to PetSmart and buy, but one that is made for people with active lifestyles that need something tough and rugged. Plus a lot of the ones that you buy in stores do give back to our furry animal friends. Kona Leashes is one of those companies that gives back. For every leash that you buy they donate 11lbs of dog food to animal shelters all over the United States. Just recently they donated over 600lbs of dog food. The story behind the company is pretty interesting. One day the founder of the company went camping with his dog Kona. After making the long trip to where he was going he came to the realization that he had not brought a leash for his beloved friend.  He then had to make a leash from what he did have for his pup. He had to make do with what he had to make the leash out of which was climbing rope and a carabiner. It worked out so well that a light bulb went off in his head and KonaLeashes was born. All their leashes are made with climbing rope and carabiners just like the one he made for Kona while out camping. Not only that, but they use customers pups as models for their products. So next time you’re in the market for a leash for your dog. Please think about buying one from a company like KonaLeashes that helps animals buy feeding them. 

Week 2 EOC: Boston Consulting Group - Video Games

STAR
The stars in the video console world for me are would of course be the array of phone games that are offered right in the palm of your hand. Mainly because a lot of people, myself included just don't have the time to sit around in front of the TV playing video games for hours. But with the phone games we are free to play them while at work, on lunch breaks, and even sometimes while sitting at an extra long red light.

CASH COW
The cash cow in my opinion would be the new Xbox. Mainly because it connects your cable box into the system into the console so you can watch TV and do other things like check your email on the side bar. Plus like Dan Tennant from TopTenReviews stated "there’s something very relaxing about coming home after a day’s work, sitting down in front of the TV and turning it and your Xbox on with the simple voice command, “Xbox On.” http://www.toptenreviews.com/
QUESTION MARK
The question mark for me would be the Playstation 4. From what I've seen it doesn't have that many new perks that would make me want to upgrade from the 3. Not only that, but according to IGN " owners have also had to deal with recurring service problems. Sony’s new system is selling incredibly well, but still seems to be searching for that one magical exclusive game." http://www.ign.com/
DOG
The dog of course is the Wii U...sorry guys, you lost us at the Wii...there's no coming back from that. Just like Trusted Reviews stated "The future looks bleak". http://www.trustedreviews.com/

Week One EOC: My Voice

When I was an teenager my family moved my sister and I into a log cabin up in the middle of the Redwood forest in California. We were pretty secluded and had to find ways to entertain ourselves. One day it was raining outside so we were stuck in the house. Seeing that we were miserable my dad started going through his record collection and put on a record. I remember stopping whatever I was doing at the moment as soon the first song started playing. What was this kind of music I was hearing? It sounded so different from the country music my mom had always played for us. Turns out it was grunge rock from the late Kurt Cobain. I was instantly hooked. Hearing that album actually changed my life. From that point on I wanted to know everything about music. I would listen to songs over and over again until I knew every single lyric. I would break it down in my head a different way every single time to hear every single different instrument.
Fast forwards a couple years to when I worked in a little pool hall called Mr. Ques in Lancaster California. I knew our boss very well, and he knew my love of music. When he started booking bands I would always work the beer booth, which was awesome, because I got to watch the shows for free! After every show he would take me aside and ask me what I thought of the band, and whether he should have them back. Now, they would always bring their own sound guy, so a lot of my decision would be based on that. I mean who wants to hear a live band with crappy sound?! No one! Especially not me. So if I couldn't hear the band cause the singer drowned them out, or I couldn't hear what the singer was saying because the band was entirely to loud, I would tell them I didn't like them. Even worse, was if the band couldn't play their instruments, or the singer sang completely off key. Doing this for about a year fueled my love of music even more.
I never really had one kind of music that I didn't like. Just bands and/or artists, because of this many of my friends would always send me their music to listen to, and want to know what I thought of it. Now, anyone who knows me, knows that I'm an extremely honest person when you ask me my opinion. So, if I didn't like it I'd let them know. Whether it be the music itself, the lyrics, or any kind of combination. Yet I never thought about getting into any kind of sound engineering or audio production. That was until I moved to Vegas...
One night I went to a club with my friends and was approached by a gentlemen that was here for CES. We started talking about audio technology and he told me that he was a lyricist. Which of course I laughed at, just for the simple fact that the city is saturated with "music artists". The next day he sent me some of his stuff to listen to, and it was really good! We kept in touch once he left for Austin and he continued to send me his music to listen to. Some of it I liked, and some of it I didn't. After about a year of him sending me his tracks to critique he asked me how I wasn't involved in the music business in some way, shape, or form. A light bulb went off...why hadn't I? It was my first love, my main passion, so why? While still in the military I started looking for tech schools for audio production. Every one that I tried to get into the GI Bill wouldn't pay for because it was just a tech school. Till one day, one of my DJ friends posted a post on Facebook about how he was going to the Art Institute of Las Vegas to look into their Audio Production program. Within a week I made an appointment to go in and check out the school and their program. I was ecstatic to find out that the GI Bill would pay for it! After years of searching I had finally found a way to go to college for what I loved, and get a degree out of it.
I am now coming up on my first year enrolled in the school and am happy I made the decision to enroll. I have already learned so much, and met people that have helped me to not only love music even more, but respect how hard it is to run the equipment to make it sound good to an audience. It has forever changed every live show that I have been to, or will go to in the future. I am constantly looking to see how many microphones they are using, what kind they are using, where they are located on what instruments. Sometimes I even catch myself watching the sound engineer more than the actual band that I paid to see. It has also made me agree to go see artists that I wouldn't normally go see, just to see the difference in how their sound is set up.
I can not wait to graduate and travel around the world with an artist,  and give the audience the best sound that they can possibly get.

Week One EOC: Great Customer Service

 When I walk into a retail store within 5-10 minutes if I don't have someone acknowledge that I'm there I will walk out. Walking around the Galleria Mall I did this at least three times before walking into Buckle. When I walked in there I was immediately greeted by two different employees, and asked if they could help me find anything. Which turns out I was in need of new jeans. Finding jeans that fit correctly have always been somewhat of a challenge for me seen as I'm pretty short. They walked me other to their jean wall and quickly were able to show me ones that they thought would fit someone of my height. Now even though the jeans there are way more expensive compared to every other store that I had walked into, I stayed and bought multiple pairs. Why? because the customer service was great, the people were friendly, and I could tell that they really enjoyed their jobs. Even when I got to the counter they continued the excellent customer service by asking me if I would like to have them see if a pair of boots that I wanted (that weren’t there in my size) were at another store. Which of course I did! They called a couple surrounding stores and found a pair for me, then took down my information and contacted me when they were there for pick up. Since then whenever I go to the mall I stop there to see if there’s anything I like, even if I’m not really at the mall for clothes shopping.