TommyLog – Clara’s Going to Nationals!!

You did it, You did it, YOU DID IT!! What an amazing accomplishment! You did IT!! To think here is little Clara in end of 6th grade, coming to mom and dad asking if she could join the dance team. “The dance team we thought?” You hadn’t taken any dance in your life. You didn’t’ even know any dance moves…at all. But you had a plan. You knew the extra time it would take; you knew you would need to study extra hard and at different times to make room for practice. You knew it would cost money and had a plan to pay for uniforms, costumes and competitions. Your practiced and practiced and practiced and as a member of Chuting Stars you rocked it. You couldn’t even do the splits or kick above your shoulder level, but look at you now? You rocked all the competitions and then JAM… you were the best in the state!

Now high school, you are a superstar inside and out. Your mind is top notch as well as your body. Top match, top GPA, top netflix watcher ☺

You tried out for the Little Chute High School dance team and made it!!! Competition after competition, we watched you get stronger and stronger. Kicks getting higher and higher. We watched you get grow from you little girl to you beautiful young lady.

Each and every time I watch you dance, I get teary. I know I’m a wimp, but the passion you have for dance shows and that’s why YOU ARE SO GREAT! I love being your dad and I love watching you soar!
Congratulations!!! I am so proud of you!

I LOVE YOU, Dad!

TommyLog TECH – Verizon 4G LTE Rocks #VZWBuzz #AD

TommyLog TECH – Verizon 4G LTE Rocks #VZWBuzz

So as I try to fit the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 into my digital lifestyle, one of the features that I immediately found I’m falling in love with the most is the mobile hotspot. Verizon 4G LTE is simply amazing!  An example of this was a trip I took to western Wisconsin last week. My daughter Clara was in the state dance competition in La Crosse Wisconsin. The drive from Appleton La Crosse is three hours. I used my Galaxy Note 3 as my Wi-Fi hotspot for the entire trip. About 45 minutes into the trip, my AT&T signal dropped off. I had no service. Zip, zero, nada! Not true with Verizon 4G LTE. It worked all the way through. Both my son Tommy and my son Drew were streaming Netflix and YouTube the whole way.

For those of you who are interested, six hours worth of Netflix and YouTube streaming is about 8 GB worth of data. The more you know! ☺   While I was at the local Buffalo Wild Wings, I happened to run a speed test on the network. I got over 65 Mb download speed — WOW!! The network speed on my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is totally “Tommy Approved”!!

For more information on how to get your very own Samsung Galaxy Note 3 from Verizon, Here’s a link http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/device/smartphone/samsung-galaxy-note-3-black

[DISCLAIMER — I’m one of the cool kids who has been asked to play with and test technology for Verizon. They asked me test and share my thoughts. All my words are original and my own.]

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TommyLog – Generous Tips

Had a very good friend in New Jersey right a blog post on tipping. 10% tip, 15% or 20%?? I am very passionate about tipping.

When someone takes the time to serve you should always take good care of him or her. Robert Wegman who is the late CEO and founder of Wegman’s Super Market Chain in Rochester New York is quoted as saying “I have never given away more than I’ve gotten back.”  I love that quote and I love what it stands for. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2005/01/24/8234048/

Basically Robert is saying that taking care of other people only comes back to your benefit.

My grandfather Robert Clifford had a similar experience. He was a frequent visitor to New York City. Grandma and grandpa used to always buy our Christmas gifts from New York City. They would stay at Hotel on Park Avenue I don’t know if it was the Park Plaza but let’s pretend it was. Grandpa always used to take good care of the Bellman. He tipped him very well. On one such visit when grandpa went to check on his room, come to find out that he never had a reservation and the hotel was full. Once he found out he didn’t have a room, he turned to the bellboy who had been tipping very well. As he told his story, the bellman took care of him and found him a room after he was told that there were no rooms at this hotel.

How well do you tip? Do you tip the bare minimum or do you tip more? Comments below.

Here’s a link to the inspirational blog posting on Tipping http://typertist.wordpress.com/2014/02/14/tips-15-20-andor/#comment-181

TommyLog TECH – Samsung Galaxy Note 3 First Look #VZWBuzz

TommyLog TECH – Samsung Galaxy Note 3 First Look #VZWBuzz
Okay kids, so I got this cool new Samsung Nalaxy Note 3 from Verizon and ask me a test. You saw it in my boxing video here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTSTdUm4rEY now let’s take a look one of the big key features of this thing. Today the thing I want to focus on is the size. This thing is just massive. The Galaxy Note 3 has a 5.7-inch screen. Compared to the iPad Air, which has a 9.7 inch screen, the iPad Mini with a 7.9-inch screen, and the iPhone 5S with a 4 inch screen… you can see the huge difference. Clearly the iPad’s are tablets, but lines are blurred between phone and tablet with the Note 3.

I’m not trying to get very technical here with regard to the sizes and weights. It’s all about what you can see and what you feel — that makes the real difference. Here with the Galaxy Note 3 the extra screen real estate is just significant. All the screens are beautiful and the Note 3 is no exception.

Of course the other big elephant in the room is the operating system in the phone runs. My daily driver, or iPhone 5S uses the IOS and Samsung galaxy three uses android 4.3. There are so many differences in OS’s here, learning a new one…well lets just say its different. More on that in subsequent videos.

For more information on how to get your own Samsung Galaxy Note 3 from Verizon, Here’s a link http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/device/smartphone/samsung-galaxy-note-3-black

[DISCLAIMER — I’m one of the cool kids who has been asked to play with and test technology for Verizon. They asked me test and share my thoughts. All my words are original and my own.]

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TommyLog – So Cold Outside!

This Wisconsin winter has just been brutal. This morning it was -10°F outside. That’s just way too cold for anybody. I’m not much of a skier so I don’t enjoy that outdoor activity and to be fair I’m not really a big winter outdoor guy. I don’t like cross-country skiing or snowshoeing and I get cold too quickly want to go sledding. That’s no fun. I don’t really own all the special outdoor gear you need to survive in    -10°, snow pants, heavy winter boots, heavy ski gloves. I don’t got it!

I want to tell you a story about my first scoutmaster, Peter Lounsberry. He was just awesome. Mr. Lounsberry was a Green Beret in the Vietnam war. He was an Army something and his job was to jump out of military helicopters. In college, Mr. Lounsberry was on the Army football team and play defensive end. This guy was just HUGE!! His arms were bigger than my thighs and his thighs were bigger than my entire body. For fun, his football friends used to go to all-you-can-eat buffets and get kicked out because it would eat so much. Then after they stuff themselves they would go outside and turn full-size cars in their parking spots. They just pick up the car and rotated 90°. They thought that was fun. Well while we were on a winter camp out. We were staying in a area it was so cold that the thermometer hooked to my zipper burst in the middle of a night. That’s how cold it was.

So I done the outside winter stuff, I just not up for anymore.

What do you like to do outside when it’s this cold? Do you like to eat bugles? I love bugles.