My Inbox: An Interesting Story

I don't usually like these heartwarming stories, but this one is truly
interesting...

In 1986, Mkele Mbembe was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from Northwestern University. On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed, so Mbembe approached it very carefully.

He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant's foot and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it.

As carefully and as gently as he could, Mbembe worked the wood out with his hunting knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot.

The elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments.

Mbembe stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away.

Mbembe never forgot that elephant or the events of that day. Twenty years later, Mbembe was walking through the Chicago Zoo with his teenaged son.

As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Mbembe and his son Tapu were standing. The large bull elephant stared at Mbembe, lifted its front foot off the ground, and then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly. All the while staring at the man. Remembering the encounter in 1986, Mbembe couldn't help wondering if this was the same elephant.

Mbembe summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder. The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Mbembe's legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.

Probably wasn't the same elephant....

Launch: Church of Saint John

CWS is pleased to announce the launch of a new website for the Church of Saint John the Evangelist. The church was the first Catholic Church in Rochester. It was founded in 1863 by Rev. James Morris and still exists at it's original location downtown.

The new website features a variety of valuable information for visitors and parishioners, including mass schedules, a calendar of events, community information, and even a photo gallery.

St. John's Block Party is July 14th and features Sister Hazel as the headliner. This annual event is for families, seniors, singles, and everyone interested in coming together for a celebration of harmony, humanity and peace. Tickets go on sale June 2nd.

It was a pleasure working with the Church of Saint John and we hope they enjoy their new home on the web.

Live Debt Free w/ Dave Ramsey

Every now and then I get on a personal mission to make the world a better place. Over the past few months, I have been listening Dave Ramsey on my iPod. He has a very popular radio show syndicated across radio stations throughout the country. It's not yet in our area (hint, hint) but he has a commercial free podcast available for download on iTunes.

So what's so great about this guy?

He swears off debt and suggests you pay cash for everything. Let me say that again, everything. The 100% down plan when you want to buy a house. Credit cards don't exist. If you want a new car, you can buy one once you have saved up for it. Actually, new cars lose 25%+ of their value in the first 3 years so he would never buy a new car, even if they offered 0% financing. To simulate the effect of how much you're losing on a new car, Ramsey suggests you "throw a $100 bill out the window on the way to work every day".

He goes on to illustrate that the average car payment in America is $374 per month. If you were to drive a quality used car (that you paid cash for) from age 25-65 and invested that $374 in a growth stock mutual fund (averaging 12%), you would have over $4 million dollars when you retire. Yes, that's 4 MILLION dollars. Do you really need that new car now or could you sacrifice to build so much wealth that you could give cars away later? It does make you think.

It takes extreme dedication and sacrifice to ignore the "I want it now" mentality that we've been told is normal by banks and credit card companies. They have sold us so long and hard on Home Equity Loans, Debt CONsolidation Loans, car loans, and credit cards that we can't even imagine life without them. Even worse, nearly every student now exits college with a student loan, sometimes for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Is this any way to start your new life, with a heafty loan payment?

Dave Ramsey made me think twice about how I manage my money and I urge you to read his book or listen to his podcast (the iTunes version is commercial free). He will change your life and the way you think about money, I guarantee it. I have purchased several copies of his book specifically for others to read. If you'd like a copy let me know.

We're Alive and Kicking

It's been over a month since our last communication... and we feel horrible about that. It's kind of like when you forget to call your mother for awhile. You keep remembering that you need to call, but something more pressing seems to come up. We're sorry about that and promise to make it up to you real soon.

To bring you up to speed, here's what we've been up to:

Lyle:

Lyle went on vacation last month, which started a work overload at our office. (Yes Mom, it's all his fault). He was gone for nearly 10 days traveling the country and having a great time with his wife Sarah. His shoes are nearly impossible to fill, so we've been busy catching up ever since his big trip.

Alan:

The Walk America walk was a huge success. We had a fantastic turnout of over 600 people and raised lots of money to help save babies. It was very cool and Carson has agreed to continue to be the Ambassador for the March of Dimes Chef Auction later this fall. We look forward to helping this great cause as much as we can.

Ryan:

Ryan just finished another year of college and continues to get smarter by the minute (or at least that's what he tells us). Needless to say, we're happy to have him back on staff full-time for the summer.

As a company, we have some really exciting projects in development. The Rochester Downtown Alliance is set to launch in just a few short weeks (keeping Josh busy). In addition, we're starting or working on web projects for The Wing House, Chocolate Time, Dean Riggott Photography, the Mayo Civic Center, Mayo Clinic, ABPMR, Custom Alarm, and Tru Tain (to name a few). Look for launch announcements about these companies in the coming months.

As if that wasn't enough to keep us busy, we continue to expand our video production business with several projects in the works for the Rochester Convention and Visitors Bureau. Graphic design and logo development continues to be an expanding part of our business, so as of this week we have added a new section to our website.

Now that we've "gotten back in touch", we promise to call more often. We'll have more updates, marketing suggestions, and website tips in the very near future. Well, as long as Lyle doesn't take any more vacation. :)