Jeff Jasper's Blog

Or, maybe the question should be, do you have a vision for your future? Do you have a Vision for your business future? If you can't visualize where you'll be how will you ever get there? I think a lot of Americans have lost this habit. Our fore fathers, I believe had a vision of a better life in America. Really owning the vision and then setting out with goals to get there. Today, I believe most of us lose our vision after we leave school. Getting to caught up in life and not on where we want to end up. Many of us set goals annually but are they really going towards a Vision? Recently, I was reminded of Alice in wonderland who walking down the road came to a fork in the road. Not knowing which fork to take she asks the cat in the tree "which fork to take?" To which the cat responded "Where do you what to go?" Alice replies with "I don't know." The cat replies "then it doesn't matter." My comment is, does it matter your goals if you don't have a vision of where you want to end up. Maybe with a new year starting as well as a new decade you might consider your visions.

Looks like my city Albuquerque ranked in the upper third of the 100 ranked for best bang for the buck!

And, they wern't even considering the fabulous weather we have as well!

Most Americans once they reach middle age are on some sort of medical prescription. A lot are simply maintenance type of drugs like statins for cholesterol control. And there are those of us who either don't reside in the perfect body and or we've made it less than the perfect body by how we've used it.

The point I wanted to address is that most of us really haven't given a lot of thought to or realized that not all pharmacies the same. They all get the drugs from the same couple of wholesalers. And they are all held to the same way of filling the prescriptions. But what they charge is up to them. And, for many charge they do! How many Americans price shop their Prescriptions? More today than before but all in all not many! Pharmacies that are part of large Big box retailers are by far more economical! They are covering their cost of operation in numerous fashions. And a lot of people aren't aware that membership retailers like Costco will sell prescriptions to the general public. What sets these retailers apart from the rest is that they typically sell whatever they do for a fixed amount over their cost. Drugs included. In many cases this difference alone can be thirty, forty and even more percent less than the standard pharmacy. Costco even has a program for their members that don't have health insurance where they will sell the drug at even a lower price, just to be a good neighbor! 

For me, this difference amounted to a monthly cost at my local pharmacy of $144. which I was able to obtain at Costco using their programs for $53. per month. This for me was a massive monthly savings! I only wish I had check this difference out years ago!   

It's no secret that Real Estate / moving ranks right up there with death and divorce when it comes to stress!

I know from experience as I have moved my residence 8 times in the last 8 years and experienced a divorce! What has kept me healthy is dropping my weight and two sisters who come from the medical field and keep me posted on the latest news. For example, we started discussing one night after the barrage of news bites on H1N1 and wondered is it really as bad as the say. and if so by how much? Well, you decide the CDC does not know exactly how many people die from the seasonal flue each year, more.

I am at a point in life where one of my concerns is my prostate health so my sister again sent along an article that states Red, Processed meats linked to prostate cancer, more.

Recently, I had the occasion to have a prostate reduction procedure, Fun - not. Actually it wasn't as bad as I feared. Well the procedure required a pre op physical and the results, my weight and cholesterol was not of my liking or my doctors. Basically, I followed my normal path of procrastination and put the procedure off. While I delayed I also stopped alcohol, sodas and ice cream. Actually sodas were not a problem! Nor was alcohol, I just substituted pomegranate juice. I really like ice cream! Did I mention I REALLY like ice cream or at least did. Now I eat fresh fruit cocktail for a late night snack. It's cold sweet and satisfied my late night hunger. Well a little over two months later when I really couldn't put the procedure off any more the redo of my physical showed that my weight was down 20 pounds and my cholesterol was down roughly 50 points! I did increase my walking some but the real kicker was what I consumed or didn't. And now, she sends me another article where they state Low Cholesterol may prevent some Prostate cancers, More.

And one final thought, there are two countries that advertise prescription drugs, the US and New Zealand. Advertising isn't cheap and every third commercial seems to be for a drug I can't buy without a doctors prescription. It seems to me the whole prescription industry could save a ton of money and maybe our cost if we made advertising illegal. We did for cigarettes and alcohol why not drugs?

Life has gotten so much easier or has it? With todays scanners (my favorite is Scansnap) one can reduce mountains of paper work receipts etc to a mere hard drive. Its so easy to email documents from memory. Print duplicates save tons of photo's and yet have them at your disposal within seconds.

But what happens when a disaster happens? Do you have time to unplug during that lightning storm, or flood, or tornado, or fire or ....? A few years ago I went out and purchased a backup drive that had it worked properly would have saved me tons of time, money and frustratrion for a few of those disasters. A few! Today I use an online backup service. It takes probably about 15 minutes to sign up and costs about $3.00 per month for virtually unlimited backup storage. Remember that's about $36. / year or less than ½ of a tank of gas for relief!

All one has to do is just stop and do it!

Many years ago, my father in law was in a major car accident. My wife swung by the office to pick me up and the whole family to include the dog headed out to the hospital. Hours later, we arrived at our home exhausted and drained to a vandalized home. What they didn't take they destroyed!

We lived in a quiet upscale neighborhood but it happened.

We had insurance but for what? Really, when you think about it what's in the hall closet, the cabinet, the desk? Sure you'll remember a couple of items but months after you've turned in your claim you'll remember the real treasure that was there - too late!

Tragedies occur every day! The lesson to be learned is to take a camera once a year and photo the home, open the closets, drawers, etc.  and shot photos of everything!

Years ago I wrote this for a publication and suggested that you take the roll of film (remember?) and put it undeveloped in the freezer. Most freezers would survive a typical fire. That publication paid me a minimal sum to republish that article for several years.

By today's standards the idea still works just upload the photo's to a photo web site. Cost is minimal only a few moments of time, the savings in frustration alone can be immense.

As then, I suggest you do this annually. Pick a date and do it every year! My date was always Independence Day. Independence from at least one area of potential stress!

Life has gotten so much easier or has it? With todays scanners (my favorite is Scansnap) one can reduce mountains of paper work receipts etc to a mere hard drive. Its so easy to email documents from memory. Print duplicates save tons of photo's and yet have them at your disposal within seconds.

But what happens when a disaster happens? Do you have time to unplug during that lightning storm, or flood, or tornado, or fire or ....? A few years ago I went out and purchased a backup drive that had it worked properly would have saved me tons of time, money and frustratrion for a few of those disasters. A few! Today I use an online backup service. It takes probably about 15 minutes to sign up and costs about $3.00 per month for virtually unlimited backup storage. Remember that's about $36. / year or less than ½ of a tank of gas for relief!

All one has to do is just stop and do it!

The internet started off as flat text communication. Then came enriched text and photos and now today its Video! Let's face it we are a visual society! And now today we can save the gas and tour the homes while at home! This is the future and we're there! Check out a tour or two!

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