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Francis Ouimet & Eddie Lowery, 2 names that means nothing to you and neither did for me until yesterday.

I met these guys on TV while watching a movie called The Greatest Game Ever Played. But my blog post is not about the movie itself but from the lessons that came out of it and you will most probably understand what i am writing after watching it.

Francis DeSales Ouimet (May 8, 1893 – September 2, 1967) was an American amateur golfer, who is frequently referred to as the “father of amateur golf” in the United States. He won the U.S. Open in 1913, and was the first non-Briton elected Captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974.

Edward Edgar Lowery (October 14, 1902 – May 4, 1984) was an American caddy, amateur golfer and businessman. Lowery is best known as the 10-year-old caddy of Francis Ouimet during the 1913 U.S. Open, held at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, which Ouimet won in a playoff over Harry Vardon and Ted Ray.

When you have a dream, pursue it no matter what
Francis had a dream of being a golf player but he was from a poor family and golf was was a gentlemen game, but he had his chance and never gave up on his dream, he kept practicing in his room at the light of a candle and keeping his little brother awake after midnight, he held to his dream.

Try, fail, try again
He tried and he failed, he asked his dad to borrow him 50$ back in 1913 and he promised him that if he does not make it to the final, he will totally drop the idea of being a golf player and will get a decent job to bring back home a good wage. But at one point in time, he broke his promise to his dad and went back on the golf field one more time to pursue his dream, he could not let go his dream.

Never let down those who supported you
Francis was honest and loyal to his little friend Eddie. Eddie supported Francis blindly and gave him little hints that pushed his morale higher and higher. During the last round of the US Open, the organizers wanted that Francis gets a elder caddy boy to replace Eddie and informed Eddie before telling Francis and here was when Francis did not give up on Eddie and kept him as his close caddy and asked the organizers to never talk to his caddy. A lifetime friendship was born.

Your mum and dad will always be there for you
Francis’s dad was against this golf thing from day 1 and he was even angrier when Francis decided to participate in the US Open after refusing the 1st request, but he knew that this was his dream, even one night his dad asked him when all this was over to find another place to live. But the big surprise was when he won the US Open in 1913, his dad was there supporting him. Family will never let you down.

Only a few bread items remain on the shelves at the Waldbaums grocery store as Hurricane Sandy approaches on Oct. 28 in Long Beach, N.Y. (Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

A man shops for groceries by flashlight at an East Village grocery store in New York City on Oct. 30 as New Yorkers cope with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. The storm left large parts of New York City without power and transportation. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images)

Flooded homes in Tuckerton, N.J., on Oct. 30 after Hurricane Sandy made landfall on the southern New Jersey coastline on Oct. 29. (US Coast Guard via AFP/Getty Images)

A parking lot full of yellow cabs is flooded on Oct. 30 as a result of superstorm Sandy in Hoboken, N.J. (Charles Sykes/Associated Press)

Boats cluster together at a marina in Brant Beach, on Long Beach Island of the New Jersey shore a day after superstorm Sandy blew across the New Jersey barrier islands on Oct 29. (Clem Murray/Philadelphia Inquirer via Associated Press)

Source: Boston.com

L’appel de l’ange

Dans leur téléphone, il y avait toute leur vie…

New York. Aéroport Kennedy. Dans la salle d embarquement bondée, un homme et une femme se télescopent. Dispute anodine, et chacun reprend sa route.

Madeline et Jonathan ne s étaient jamais rencontrés, ils n auraient jamais dû se revoir. Mais en ramassant leurs affaires, ils ont échangé leurs téléphones portables. Lorsqu ils s aperçoivent de leur méprise, ils sont séparés par 10 000 kilomètres : elle est fleuriste à Paris, il tient un restaurant à San Francisco.
Cédant à la curiosité, chacun explore le contenu du téléphone de l autre. Une double indiscrétion et une révélation : leurs vies sont liées par un secret qu ils pensaient enterré à jamais…
Amazon.com Link

18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done

18 MINUTES clearly shows how busy people can cut through all the daily clutter and distractions and find a way to focus on those key items which are truly the top priorities in our lives.

Bregman works from the premise that the best way to combat constant and distracting interruptions is to create productive distractions of one’s own. Based upon a series of short bite-sized chapters, his approach allows us to safely navigate through the constant chatter of emails, text messages, phone calls, and endless meetings that prevent us from focusing our time on those things that are truly important to us.
Amazon.com Link

The Zappos Experience: 5 Principles to Inspire, Engage, and WOW

ZAPPOS. The name has come to stand for a new standard of customer service, an amazing online shopping experience, a great place to work, and the most impressive transformational business success story of our time. Simply put, Zappos is revolutionizing business and changing lives.

The Zappos Experience takes you through—and beyond—the playful, offbeat company culture Zappos has become famous for. Michelli reveals what occurs behind the scenes at Zappos, showing how employees at all levels operate on a day-today basis while providing the “big picture” leadership methods that have earned the company $1 billion in annual gross sales during the last ten years—with almost no advertising.
Amazon.com Link

This morning, I stopped at a traffic light in Beirut, and while taking a look at my right, i just spotted the shoe of this stranger sitting in the back of a truck with its opened doors, and without any second thought, I picked up my phone to shoot a photo without looking at the face of the man wearing it.

The following seconds, felt like ages, I had a million of thoughts inside my head, who is this guy? how old is he, what does he work, why is he sitting at the back of this truck, where is he from, where is he going, why is he wearing this old, very old shoe, how are his feet taking the cold weather, the rain, is he married, does he have kids and mainly why life is so unfair?

We have everything and we are not happy.

We wear the latest brand name fashion clothes, we buy the most comfortable shoes, we pay the monthly salary of this guy for a pair we like, we live in the luxury and warmth of our homes, we eat whatever we feel like, we drive our cars to work, we have our smartphones, our laptops, our tablets, we are connected 24/24 to the internet, we know whatever is going on the other side of the planet from the comfort of our beds while lying on a very soft mattress, we spent hours under the hot water, buy a different hair shampoo than our body shower gel, use a well known fragrance brand to mark our entrance to the office, and… and… and…, and an endless number of luxurious things we do in our lives AND sometimes we wake up and we are not happy with what we have.

I kept wondering during those long seconds, why this man cannot have what we possess, part of it or all of it, is not he human enough to enjoy things we do enjoy in our everyday life?

And then, the truck moved on the green light, while getting away, I moved my head up to look at him, he was wearing a wonderful smile on his face with a cigarette in his hand, a smile that said million of things back, maybe he was telling me he was so happy having that shoe and thanking God he was not barefooted! I guess he was in his mid-50s.

Unfortunately the truck moved left and I was going to the right and lost him, after few minutes, I wished the truck was branded so i can know where to find this guy again and buy him a decent pair of shoes.

And one more time, thank you God for everything I have!

In the last few years, supermarket shoppers became more shrewd and have more expectations from all food retailers and in return they assume retails will help them save money in 2012 by offering higher quality of private label products with every day low prices.

In my opinion, 2012 will be the year of consumers switching from international brands to private labels and in some cases, the other way around, because of the information surplus they have in hand and mainly because of quick and fast access to prices through their smart phones and retailers apps which are also becoming very trendy and will keep on pushing forward next year.

Also strong social media reach in the US and main Western European markets is giving shoppers an immediate power, credibility and an increasing authorization over brands and own-brands.

According to Nielsen’s second-quarter survey in the US, 61 percent of e-reader owners are women, up from 46 percent in the third quarter of last year. Meanwhile, men make up 57 percent of tablet owners, which is down from 61 percent in the third quarter. Smartphones are used equally by women and men.

The new package is made of 100% recycled cardboard and uses the back of the “original” battery package as the front for a larger canvas, which is why there isn’t a need for a clear plastic case to hold the batteries anymore.

Source

Toys”R”Us, the American toys giant, intends to enter the Polish market. At present, the company is looking for suitable locations and is commencing recruitment of staff for key positions. The retailer is interested in stores of between 1,500-2,500 m2, not including storage space, and in locations situated in shopping galleries.

The company has not yet revealed the details of its expansion strategy for the Polish market, but it will disclose more information in the summer 2011. At present, Toys”R”Us operates a chain of 1,560 stores located in 33 countries.

Although the entry of a global player is an important event to the Polish toy market worth PLN 2bn (€0.5bn), Smyk, the current leader on market with 68 stores countrywide, is not afraid of competition.

According to Magdalena Dabska, the marketing director of Smyk, “during more than 10 years of experience the chain has managed to establish very strong foundations for its business and won millions of faithful customers”. A good example is the opening late last year of the first Smyk Megastore, Smyk’s most diversified store concept, which offers toys, children’s clothing, accessories for infants (including an expanded selection of pushchairs and prams, car seats, and beds), school stationery items, as well as books and multimedia.