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The Speed of Insanity By Bob Cox What started out as a spirited weight loss challenge between yours’ truly and my beloved wife Diana became an odyssey that played out along the frantic streets of Los Angeles. Like the state of California, Diana and I have set about on dozens of inspired (and failed) attempts to trim the ugly fat from our excessive ways. Ours was a spirited quest to lose weight, not gain fiscal responsibility. To make sure our latest plan wasn’t foiled by yet another order in the drive thru lane, we came up with some very compelling incentives to stay the course over the four and a half week adventure. After several minutes of deep and inspired soul searching, I came up with the perfect reward for 35 days of junk food deprivation: tickets to the Lakers game in Los Angeles. To say that I’m a diehard with a vengeance Lakers fan is like saying that Charles Manson needs a group hug. When they lose games, I lose sleep, not weight. So, I asked Diana if she was willing to go to a game with me if I managed to drop down into the 170’s by losing 12.9 or more pounds by V- Day, the day we scheduled ourselves to leave for our 13th Anniversary vacation. Much to my surprise, since she hates sports even more that I love them, she answered with an enthusiastic YES! In the spirit of true sportsmanship, I felt compelled to reciprocate by asking her what incentives she needed to stay on course with her weight loss goals. When I suggested an extravagant shopping spree or a luxurious cruise, something she’s always yearned to do, she turned me down! She announced with supreme confidence and unbridled excitement that she would lose 30 pounds and her reward would be for me to give up following sports for 30 days. That meant no T.V., no newspaper and no conversations with my son Bobby… nothing! With every other weight loss attempt, I’ve always been morally supportive, but since this one actually threatened my fragile grasp of the wide world of sports, my competitive juices flowed in a G-rated version of trash talking, “There’s no way you’re going to come close to losing 30 pounds in 30 days, so I will take your bet and enjoy the game!” I quickly felt the heat of Diana’s competitive nature when the pounds began melting off her faster that a stick of butter on a sizzling summer street in Sacramento. I found myself taking more and more breaks during commercials of our favorite T.V. programs to catch up on the latest news on N.B.A. T.V. in the spare bedroom. Like a heroin addict craving a fix, my hands would tremble with anticipation as I keyed in those familiar three numbers (4-1-6) on my trusty little remote controlled wand. After one too many unexcused departures and a few nasty evil eyed stare-downs from the Goddess of weight watchers, I finally became aware of the severity of my plight. That’s when I took my first giant step forward for everyone who has ever struggled with an inner demon. I walked into the living room, looked Diana square in the eyes, apologized for my transgressions and said, “Hi, I’m Bob and I’m a sports-aholic.” At the end of the latest and greatest weight loss challenge, we both made progress but fell a bit short of our weighty goals. In the spirit of true sportsmanship, Diana insisted that we go to the game to celebrate our accomplishments and hard work, even after I rejected her generous proposal several times for not meeting my goals. As a gesture of good faith, I resolved to give up sports cold turkey for 30 days after returning from our whirlwind adventure in southern California. Fortunately, she turned down my offer, so now I really owe her big-time! For the first time ever, we left for our vacation on time, arriving in L.A. shortly after noon, thus missing the famously nightmarish 4 GO FOR IT May 2011
Friday afternoon gridlock on freeways that eat out-of-towners for dinner. When we arrived at the hotel two hours before check-in, the concierge offered to let us in early for a $50 fee. Consulting my inner penny pincher, which took all of a split second, I answered Diana with a resounding, “No way! Let’s find some place to eat, I’m starving!” Our good fortunes of congestion free travel came to a sudden stop along the boulevard they call Wilshire, where your sole purpose in life becomes dodging potholes the size of miniature canyons and avoiding overly aggressive commuters who careen through intersections like bulls through the streets of Spain. Drivers in L.A. live according to the Silver Rule, “Do onto others before they do unto and all over you!” When we arrived at the restaurant, the rigor mortis that had gripped my neck like a vice had just given birth to a screaming nine pound headache, a familiar adversary who always greets me at the end of every road trip into Los Angeles. “Welcome Bob, to the speed of insanity. Now, shut up, take the wheel, suck it up and drive like your life depends on it, because down here…it does! After three Excedrin, some good food, a lengthy bathroom break and 30 minutes away from the steering wheel, I was feeling like a human being again. That’s when Diana and I began to discuss our plans on getting to the game later that night. When she suggested either riding in a town car or taking a taxi, I got another smack down from my inner penny pincher, who happens to sounds exactly like Jack Benny, minus the violin. Jack screamed out, “Are you crazy, look how much money you’ll save by driving the three measly miles to the game and parking in the economy lot!” Fortunately, Diana, plus an ounce of common sense and my vanishing headache overruled Jack, so for the first time in my life, we arrived at the game via the assistance of another driver. Come to find out, the well dressed driver was a kind, soft spoken and well educated man who was born in Korea. He studied several languages in his lifetime, so when I asked him what language was the most difficult to learn, he exclaimed, “English by far. One day many years ago, I was in McDonalds and I couldn’t speak English very well at the time, so I pointed at the menu and said I’ll take the number 1 meal. The young girl said very quickly, “fa-hear-ar ta-go? I told her I didn’t understand what she said, so she said it again, exactly the same way, “Fa-hear-ar-ta-go?” I told her, I’m sorry I don’t understand, never mind, I’ll just take the number 3! I realized later that she was asking me if I wanted to eat here or to take the meal with me! Another time, I went to dinner with a friend who taught English in Korea. After several minutes of conversation, the waiter asked my friend if he was a vegetarian. He didn’t know what he meant, so he replied, “No, I’m a Korean!” Well, by then, the three of us were roaring with laughter as we arrived at the stadium; on time and free of stress. That delightful experienced happened because I finally decided to let go and trust a true professional to take the wheel. As I sit on top of the toilet in the tiny bathroom hotel, pecking away at the ebony keyboard in the wee morning hours while Diana sleeps soundly, I know that life is good…very good. The fact that the Lakers prevailed 112-104 has nothing to do with my happiness…uh oh, here we go again! Bob Cox is the founder and publisher of Go For It Magazine. He can be reached by phone at (916) 266-3115. His email address is coxrobert@comcast. net. Go For It Magazine is owned and operated in Rancho Cordova, CA. Copyright © 2011.
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Shapelier Lips: Is lip augmentation for you? Soft, pouty, kissable lips. Models flaunt them on magazine covers and actresses view them as tools of the trade. As Goldie Hawn’s character in the movie “First Wives Club” pointed out, full lips convey an image of youth and sensuality, and nature’s deficiencies can be augmented through surgery. The desire for youthful, shapely lips is causing women today to seek facial plastic surgery procedures to enhance the fullness of their lips. Lips are also an important feature for conveying your feelings. As people age, however, the lip line begins to descend, causing thinning of the red lip (lipstick bearing part of the lip) and loss of the upper lip crest known as “Cupid’s Bow.” Several techniques are available for maintaining a pleasing lip contour. Some facial plastic surgeons augment the lip line with injections (fillers), such as Restylane®, Juvederm® or fat taken from other parts of the body. These techniques are easy and effective, but the results are only temporary and require periodic repeats or touch ups. A more permanent solution is a surgical procedure called lip advancement. In this procedure, the facial plastic surgeon makes an incision at the border of the red and white lip (the part of the lip below the nose), a strip of the skin is removed and the red lip is advanced up for a
greater show. The scar is usually imperceptible once fully healed and the results are very gratifying. As an alternative, sometimes the incision is made just below the nostril in the natural nasal sill. Another procedure that is quite effective for those patients that have a thin, flat lip is the technique of implanting a well-tolerated, neutral material. In the past, Gore-tex, a processed connective tissue and inflatable balloon like devices have been used. PermaLip® is a new FDA approved facial implant that is made of soft silicon that has a very natural feel. It is relatively easy to place and should it at any time be any problem with its aesthetics, it is easy to remove, replace or abandon. It can be done under mild sedation with local anesthesia. There may be slight bruising but most patients are back to normal activity within a week. Best of all, this is a permanent solution to enhance the shape and fullness of your lips. What may ultimately be the procedure of choice for you is best determined by consultation with a facial plastic surgeon experienced in lip enhancement procedures as well as the desired esthetic look you want to achieve.
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Convert your HOME into a SANCTUARY Beautiful & Affordable Windows by Alco Siding & Windows Inc. By Bob Cox to say no to. The workers who performed the installation were friendly, professional and A few years back, I got hooked on H.G.T.V., extremely thorough. The appearance of our the Home and Garden Network. My wife Diana house was strikingly noticeable. would likely assert that obsessed would be the When I’d come home from work, I always more accurate verb, as I watched every show, looked forward to admiring the stunning over and over, especially Flip This House. The exterior of our beautiful home, and especially hosts of the show made the art and science those windows. That would last until I walked of house flipping look so fun and profitable, I into our house, which was converted into a meat decided to go for it. It only took a few days of locker by my hot blooded wife, who I swear hard manual labor to realize that I was in way is 50% polar bear and 100% Eskimo! Within a over my head! few minutes, I came out of the “sweatbox of I learned that the experts who claimed another scalding hot Sacramento Summer day” that whatever time and investment you think and straight into the arctic tundra. Despite the it will take to get the job done, then double frigid indoor temperatures that converted it, were wrong. For me it was closer to three my extremities into icicles, amazingly, our times the investment and three times the energy bills were almost nonexistent. Those duration to complete our project! When it was windows really kept in the cool and locked out all said and done, I had a newfound respect and the noise of our neighbor’s noisy dogs, who appreciation for the strength, skill, stamina and only barked twice a day, morning until night! patience that’s required for those who make a Steve Hawkins, the owner of Alco Windows Best of all, Diana and I eventually settled our living in the home improvement industry. & Siding with clients Tim and Lisa of Fair climactic incompatibilities and agreed to set the Looking back on the experience, I did make Oaks, CA. thermostat at 73 degrees, which was just warm one very sensible choice when I called my friend enough for me to thaw out and cool enough Steve Hawkins, the owner of Alco Siding & for Diana to avoid another dreaded boil over! Windows Inc. In one “pane” free day, they replaced all the ugly I eagerly took the opportunity to catch up with my old old single pane aluminum framed windows and the old sliding friend Steve the other day to thank him for all he did for our glass door with beautiful new dual pane windows and at a price family. Here’s how our conversation went. that was too irresistible for this penny pinching do-it-yourselfer Q: Tell us a little about your company and what you did before you started Alco Siding & Windows Inc.? A: I started in the industry back in 1980, hanging siding in the Midwest. I was asked to move out here to California by a siding manufacturer to be an installer, so back in 1988 I moved out here to California. As I got older though, I decided that I couldn’t climb ladders like I used to do, so I went into estimating. In 1998, I took over the business of Alco Siding and Windows. At that time we were doing strictly residential siding and windows. We’ve grown quite a bit since then and have branched out into doing patio covers, kitchen remodels, bathroom remodels and a lot of commercial work. We have also been doing a lot of apartment rehabs. We go in and renovate the entire exterior of the apartment complexes with new windows, entry doors and siding. We have won awards for our siding installation through some of our vendors. We currently are an elite contractor for Mastic, which used to be Alcoa and are currently the only elite contractor in California and Nevada. I just received my master contractor’s certification for CertainTeed fiber cement. We do quite a bit of fiber cement projects along with stucco and just about every type of exterior cladding. Q: I’ve never heard of fiber cement, what exactly is that? A: It’s a fiber cement board that goes on and looks just like wood siding. It won’t rot or peel and it has a 50 year guarantee on it by the manufacturer. If you use the pre painted stuff, it’s also has a 15 year warranty on the paint. They also have all the fiber cement trims that will match, or contrasting colors already pre painted, and those also carry the same warranty. The vinyl siding industry carry’s a manufacturer’s lifetime warranty with a 50 year transferable. The new stuff nowadays is all insulated, so it does add R values to the home for insulation purposes. Q: What were your thoughts and feelings when you purchased Alco Windows? 8 GO FOR IT May 2011
A: I was scared. It A: We’re not a high was a new adventure pressure type of people. for me because I was We’re very basic and never really a business we enjoy our jobs. We owner up to that point, want to make sure our and to be honest with customers are satisfied, you I never had any so we don’t receive aspirations to be one. any payment up front. However, the old owner When we’re done with was very convinced the job and you are that I could continue on 100% satisfied, then with the business and A beautiful home before becomes a true work of art after. Who wouldn’t want to come home to this? that’s the only time we 14 years later, I’m still receive payment. Unlike here. It’s worked out real well for me. I love my work. Everybody a lot companies, we even wash your windows when we install around here is like family and I still employ the same people as them. When we are done installing your home improvement when I started the business. We enjoy our work around here, project, whether it is kitchen, windows, siding, etc., there will we really do. We enjoy each other’s company too. We are very not be any mess. proud of our work and in my opinion we have the best installers in the industry. Q: Is there anything that you do that really separates you from your competitors? Q: Jennifer, your office manager said there were a lot A: Attention to detail. I try to visit all sites and see all jobs. of great deals that you guys were offering. Could tell us a Our customers are our most valuable commodity. They mean little about them? everything to us. We have some great referral plans out there A: Sure, the manufacturer is offering a free upgrade from now and so do the manufacturers. If you refer a customer, not double to triple pane, and that will also include double low only do you get a $50 gift card, so does the new customer that E glass, which will drop the U V values to way below federal you referred. standards. Federal standards are .35 and this will bring it down to .24. According to the data, triple pane windows offer about Q: How’s business? a 50% savings off your heating and cooling expenses vs. single A: Even in the downturned economy, we still continue to pane windows while dual pane windows will average about a climb. We’re expanding our business and we are getting into 35% savings off your heating and cooling expenses according more kitchens, bathrooms and walk in tubs now. We’re doing to PG&E. more and more landscaping too and concrete work, including stamped concrete. Sunrooms are a pretty good ticket item and Q: Don’t you also have an extra bonus offer with $30 Continued on page 10 off per window? A: Yes, the manufacturer is offering $30 off per window and we are matching that. Also, on jobs over $3,000, you can get a $500 coupon as well. Q: So you save per window plus you get the extra $500? A: Correct. The incentives that are out there for replacing your windows are really good right now. There really is no better time to do it. With the downturn in the economy, the manufacturers are making very attractive incentives for the consumer. Q: So more “pane” more gain! A: Exactly (laughs). Q: What do your customers love most about working with you?
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Convert your HOME into a SANCTUARY Continued from page 9
we are starting to get more into those. We also design them as well and do a complete install; pour the concrete, do the electrical, etc. Eventually, we plan on putting in a roofing division, and that could happen this year. Next year, we may entertain doing solar. Q: The fact that you can do just about any home improvement project is really great news for consumers. They can hire you to do the entire project and you’re 100% accountable. It sounds like you have the integrity to stand by all the work you do. A: Absolutely, and on all of our jobs we offer lifetime guarantee’s on the install. We make sure it’s done right the first time. It’s very important. It’s not that we don’t want to come back and see our customers, but we’d like to come back, have coffee with them, and talk about the next project they want us to do instead of having to worry about complaints (laughs). Q: Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers? A: Just that we’re very excited about the future at Alco Siding and Windows. It’s a very friendly environment and it’s very important from all of our standpoints to make sure our customers are always number one. Editor’s notes: For more information about Alco Siding & Windows Inc., visit their office at 10255 Old Placerville Road in Sacramento, log onto their website at www.alcohis.com or call (916) 362-1400.
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Carmichael Community Calendar
MAY 2011
May 1: Sun. 8 am to 1 pm. GRAND OPENING of NEW Farmers Market at Carmichael Park. Market open every Sunday through the fall. (916) 484-7000 May 11: Wed. 5:30 to 7:30 pm. Chamber Mixer at El Papagayo Restaurant. Networking, raffle. (916) 481-1002 May 14: Sat. 10 am to 5 pm. Day of Peace Health and Wellness Faire at Carmichael Park. (916) 485-5322 May 14: Sat. 4:30 to 8 pm, Taste of Carmichael Wine & Food Festival presented by Kiwanis Club of Carmichael. La Sierra Community Center. $35/$40 at the door. (916) 481-0196 May 19: Thu. 7 pm to 10 pm. Carmichael is being honored at the River Cats at Raley Field. Special Carmichael celebrities & guests. Tickets $15. (916) 342-2084 Visit www.BobsPocket.com/Carmichael for more info and other events. Enter our drawing for gift certificates valued at over $100! This Calendar is brought to you by:
*Visit www.BobsPocket.com for links, resources and Bob’s bio.
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FO
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Win a Mother’s Day Smile Makeover! Up to $10,000 in FREE Dental Work From Dr. Andrade & Dr. Montalvo Sweepstakes Prizes: Grand Prize: The Ultimate Dental Health Makeover package consisting of cosmetic and restorative dentistry, periodontal therapy, endodontic therapy, oral surgery or applicable services.
For the month of May, Dynamic Dental wants to do something very special! We will be running the first ever Dynamic Dental’s 2011 Mother’s Day Smile Makeover. If you are a deserving mom or would like to nominate a deserving mother, then you may enter our Mother’s Day Smile Makeover.
Additional Comments: Please send all entries to Dynamic Dental 9833 Horn Road, Suite A Sacramento CA 95827 or e-mail at dynamicdentaldds@gmail.com or Facebook us at Dynamic Dental. Please send along your name, picture, phone number and e-mail.
To enter Dynamic Dental’s 2011 Mother’s Day Smile Makeover Contest: Send us your picture and a short story telling us about yourself and what winning this gift means to you.
Start Date: May 1, 2011
We will be choosing one deserving individual and will do up to $10,000.00 of free dental treatment.
End Date: May 31, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. Entry Frequency: 1 per person.
Eligibility: USA, 18+
Dynamic Dental 9833 Horn Road Sacramento, CA 95827
(916) 368-2500
www.dynamicdentist.com
Dr. Andrade and Dr. Montalvo with son Noah and daughter Ella Luz.
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Folsom Blvd. Horn Rd.
Bradshaw Rd.
Open Saturdays • Hablamos Español
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HWY 50
Emergencies & Walk-Ins Welcomed!
Winner: The winner will be chosen by a committee selected by Dynamic Dental. The winner will be announced in the July 2011 “Go For It” article. All dental work will be completed by Dr. Andrade and Dr. Montalvo and the winner’s final smile results will be showcased in the May 2012 Issue.
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