Book Review - Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike

About Phil Knight

Phil Knight is best known for being the co-founder and former CEO of Nike, multinational corporation that is engaged in the design, development, manufacturing and worldwide marketing and sales of footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories and services. Phil is a philanthropist giving away millions each year to support health care, higher education, and other causes, primarily in his home state of Oregon. He also the author of Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike.

Overview and Thoughts about the Book

In Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike, Phil Knight takes the reader on a front seat ride through his journey from borrowing $50 from his father to start a shoe company to creating one of the most profitable retail brands in the world. As many others have said before, including Warren Buffet in his 2016 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter, "Phil is a very wise, intelligent and competitive fellow who is also a gifted storyteller."

In a time where Adidas and Puma dominated the shoe market, Phil Knight and his business partner and coach Bill Bowerman overcame tremendous odds to create a company to compete on the same level. Phil takes us through with tremendous detail his business negotiations with not only the Japanese manufacturers, but his bankers, employees, how he met his wife, and even chalks up a couple life lessons he's learned along the way.

“What if there were a way, without being an athlete, to feel what athletes feel? To play all the time, instead of working? Or else to enjoy work so much it becomes essentially the same thing.” —Phil Knight

He reveals his secrets of how he become a successful entrepreneur. In the early days while working on Blue Ribbon, Phil juggled working firstly with Price Waterhouse, and then Coopers & Lybrand. Then became an accounting professor at Portland State University (PSU). The reason he did so was so that he could stay on his feet or in effect somewhat hedge his bet against his business, while growing his business at the same time. But, he quickly quit both to focus on shoes.

As someone who has been more curious about how businesses thrive and build competitive advantages, Phil offers enormous insight using Nike as somewhat of a case study. He had a great business partner in Bill Bowerman who was constantly inventing and improving shoes for his Olympic athletes. In addition, his extreme passion for sports and shoes helped him get through the ups and downs. By combining constant innovation from feedback from athletes on the highest levels, athletic endorsements, and shrewd manufacturing tactics, Nike became what it is now today.

Final Word

While Shoe Dog is largely a book about Phil Knight and Blue Ribbon becoming Nike, towards the end of the book Phil parts with some encouraging life lessons over his seventy plus years. For those that are less business oriented, these alone are noteworthy tidbits. He like many other successful individuals highly recommend that men and women in their mid-twenties not settle for a job or a career. Instead, find a calling. The fatigue and disappointments in life will be easier managed and your highs will be much more gratifying. Overall, this is an entertaining and contains a lot of useful business lessons.

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Best Way to Improve Your Memory in Under Five Minutes

Have you ever wondered how someone is able to memorize a shuffled deck of cards in less than 20 seconds? Chester Santos is a memory expert and best known for winning the 2008 USA memory championship. Recently he spoke at Google to share his tricks and tips on how to memorize names with faces and recall an exorbitant amount of words in a short amount of time.

Last Friday, you and your friend may have meet a new person at a party. Two weeks later, one of you is describing to you the person the both of you met, but neither of you can recall the person's name. Does that happen to you often?

It is much more difficult to memorize a person's name then it is to recall how a person looks. The reason is because humans have naturally evolved to recall pictures better than words. When you first meet someone attempt to involve more of your senses.

For example, you just met Blake and she has gorgeous blue eyes and brown hair. In your mind, over exaggerate those features and create an mental picture of her. Maybe in your mind you see her with cartoonish large blue bead-like eyes. Maybe she was wearing perfume that night. Encode in your brain the floral scent. When you shake her hand, remember what that feels like. Alright, I think this might start to get a bit creepy. But the whole idea is really to engage all of your senses and use your imagination to exaggerate the situation.

We remember unique and unusual occurrences in life more easily than the standard routine. For example, if all of a sudden an elephant dropped in to the seat right next to you from the sky, you would probably remember that for the rest of your life without even trying. 

Let's try a memory exercise called the story method. By the end of this exercise, you will have been able to recall perfectly the following list of words in the same order as listed: monkey, iron, rope, kite, house, paper, shoe, worm, envelope, pencil, river, rock tree, cheese, and quarter. No joke!

Really see and experience this happening in your mind. If you come at this exercise with your open imagination, you'll be able to commit the list of words into your memory a lot easier.

See a monkey in your mind and this monkey is dancing around and making it's noises. The monkey now picks up a giant iron. The iron starts to fall, but a rope attaches itself to the iron. Maybe you feel the rope it feels sort of rough. You look up the rope and you see the other end of the rope is attached to a kite. The kite is flying around and you reach up but it is out of reach. This kite crashes to the side of the house. Really see it smash into the house. This house is completely covered in paper. A shoe appears out of nowhere and it starts to walk all over the house. The shoe smells pretty badly and you look inside the shoe and see a worm crawling around. The worm jumps out of the shoe and then jumps into an envelope. A pencil starts to write all over the envelope. The pencil jumps into a river and there's a huge splash for some reason. The river is crashing up against a rock. The rock flies out of the river and smashes into a tree. For some reason the tree is growing cheese. Each piece of cheese shoots out a quarter.

Now try and recall the list of words. Much easier isn't it?

Three tips on how to recall anything quicker and more accurately

1) Engage all of your additional senses including touch, feel, smell, see, and hear.
2) Use your imagination to exaggerate the mental picture
3) Create an unusual and interesting story with the words you are trying to recall

Use your imagination to help you remember better.

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Lessons in Making Drinks - Three Basic Ice Shapes

Understanding the Importance of Ice in Alcoholic Drinks

Many people underestimate the importance of quality ice in alcoholic drinks. Ice plays a huge role in a well-made drink as not only does ice control temperature, but also the dilution of your beverage. Different types of ice will dilute your drink at different levels and similarly the temperature will change at different speeds. There is nothing worse than a drink that was perfect two minutes ago and now sitting warm in your hand. Use the correct ice, so this doesn't happen to you or your guests.

Tip #1 - Keeping ice in the freezer with food for too long will result in the ice absorbing food flavors. Toss unused ice every couple days.

For drinks meant to be sipped like Macallan Scotch 12 Year, Dewar's, Manhattan, or an old-fashioned you require larger ice cubes. Ideally, you'd want a ice sphere or block that fits snug in your lowball glass. That way the drink dilutes slower and as a result the temperature of the drink remains in that perfect temperature for longer periods of time. Stay classy my friends, drop a sphere in your glass.

For tall and narrow Collins glasses, use rectangles of ice that are about an inch thick and four inches long. This works well for drinks such as the long island iced tea as the ice melts slowly. Not to mention the presentation is impeccable.

Some cocktails require fast-melting ice and shaved ice spears helps the dilution of the drink. Such drinks may include the Mojito and mint juleps.

One way to have your drink stand out is by using flavored cubes. In fuse your cocktail with ice flavored ginger or even watermelon. Depending on how much you want your drink to be flavored, you can freeze complete ice cubes of watermelon juice or dilute it with water prior to freezing. Whether they add a bit of spice in ginger or sour in lemonade, flavored cubes will without a doubt bring your drink to the next level. This is a sure way to impress your friends and significant others.

Tip #2 - Always use filtered and warm water when making ice cubes. They will be far more translucent.

Quick Pairing Tips

1. Watermelon cubes generally work with most white spirits such as tequila and rum.
2. A pairing of citrus and a bit of sugar goes well with gin or vodka.
3. Should you fancy darker alcohols such as whiskey or dark rums, try that with a bit of ginger or apple.

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Sporty Maserati Ghibli Sedan

An Affordable Maserati Ghibli

Finally, Maserati releases an affordable vehicle to the general "upper" middle class U.S. population. The sporty Maserati Ghibli 4-door sedan is named after the Arabic word for hot wind from the Sahara Desert. The new Ghibli is the third generation with the previous two being made in the late 60s to early 70s and then again in the 90s. Maserati's decision to revive and revamp the Ghibli series is their attempt to compete against high-end sport cars such as the BMW 5 Series, Audi 6, and Mercedes Benz E-Class.

"The range comprises the sporty 410 HP Ghibli S version, also available with Q4, the 330 HP Ghibli and, last but not least, the versatile but exciting 275 HP Ghibli Diesel."

Unlike Maserati's previous models, they are targeting a slightly "younger" consumer with this car. As such they've included fifteen speakers distributed in across the entire car including the dashboard, doors, and rear shelves. The system boosts a generous 1,280 watts amp. This is Maserati's play into becoming a new volume leader. They forecast that they will be able to sell about 50,000 units a year.

The Ghibli comes with an either a 3.0 L twin turbocharged V6 or 3.0L turbodiesel V6 engine and an 8-speed automatic transmission. Maserati estimates that the Ghibli can do 0-62 MPH in roughly 5 seconds. Furthermore, this is the first time Maserati has offered a diesel engine in their vehicle.

Base pricing of the Maserati Ghibli is around $66,600 to $75,000.

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Top 5 Pictures of the New Masterati Cars

Masterati Cars

Masterati is headquartered in Modena, Italy. We all know they make luxury sport cars, so I can skip the introduction of Maserati cars. But, for some time I’ve been puzzled by what each car model was built for. Which Masterati model is the convertible and which is the sedan?

Lexus, BMW, and Infiniti - We see them on the streets all the time. For BMW, we see the three series, five, six and seven. It’s relatively easy to determine the different luxury tiers. The higher the numbers go the bigger the car. In the states, Infiniti’s most famous model is the G series. Lexus has the IS series, LS and ES. If you are looking for a luxury car, you mind as well go big or don’t even bother.

The fact of the matter is Masteratis show up less often, which makes them more appeal to me. Here are some photos and you can make your decision on which Maserati is your dream car. Personally, I’m going to go for the GranCabrio convertible.

How much does a Maserati cost? While the prices on these may be steep, you could buy a used Masterati for about $50-80k with less than 50k miles. This is about the price of a higher tier BMW, Lexus, or Infiniti.

Masterati has three main models with variations:

GranTurismo Range (Base MSRP $135,000)

- Grand Tourer

- 4.2L V8 Engine

GranCabrio Range (Base MSRP $135,800)

- Convertible version of the GranTurismo

Quattroporte Range (Base MSRP $126,250)
- 4 Door Saloon
- 4.7L V8 Engine

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Latest New Sport Car - Subaru BRZ Model

Can you believe that the Subaru BRZ car only starts at approximately $25K?

What other cars are in its price range? The Ford Fusion is around $23k, Honda Civic is $23k, Hyundai Sonata GLS is $22k,  Nissan Altima is $24k, and Toyota Camry is $24k.

Highlights

1. 2.0-liter DOHC engine 4-cylinder
2. MPG (city/hwy) - Up to 25/34 
3. 17 x 7.0-inch 15-spoke dark gray-finished aluminum-alloy wheels with machined accents 
4. 215/45 R17 87W summer high performance tires 
5. Voice-activated GPS navigation system 
6. USB Port 
7. Auxilliary audio jack

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You Are The Apple Of My Eye ( HD 720P ) - FULL MOVIE - 那些年, 我們一起追的女孩

那些年, 我們一起追的女孩

青春是一場大雨。即使感冒了，還盼望回頭再淋它一次。任誰都曾有過的年少輕狂，那個班上每個男生都暗戀的漂亮女孩，一堆莫名其妙、荒唐惡搞、胡鬧打屁的匆匆日子，然後，青春就悄悄地逝去了。

Adolescence is like a heavy rain. Even though you catch a cold from it, you still look forward to experiencing it once again.

Everyone has those impetuous times, the time when every boy likes the same girl in class, rushing days with mischief and pranks.

Then, youth departed without a sound.

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Starbucks Pick of the week App - Golfplan with Paul Azinger - Codes

Update as of 6.24.12, I found an extra code: 73YT6K7LT7AX

The new App ‘Pick of the Week’ is out! Finally an app that I can actually use - Golfplan with Paul Azinger.

Golfplan is sold for $4.99 in the Apple App Store. See below for description taken from the Apple Store.

"A revolutionary advancement for golf!"

Featuring 29-Year PGA Tour Pro and victorious Ryder Cup Captain - Paul AzingerGolfplan will improve your game and lower your scores!Golfplan provides personalized tips, drills and instruction based on your Golfshot game statistics. If you don’t already use Golfshot for the iPhone and iPod touch, you can download it for free, or choose your own Golfplan categories. Golfplan enables you to "Practice with Purpose."
Training Categories Include:
Driving - 16 videos
Greens in Regulation – 15 videos
Short Game – 10 videos
Bunkers – 9 videos
Putting – 13 videos
Paul Azinger provides tips, instruction and drills especially designed for amateur players. Your handicap level will determine the difficulty of the assignments presented to help improve your game where you need it most.

Have at it! Three free codes!

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Justin Bieber & Ashton Kutcher - Punk'D

Punk'd ended in 2005 and now Ashton Kutcher and Justin Bieber are bringing it back. I'm an Ashton Kutcher fan. I've followed up on That 70s Show and now on Two and a Half Men.

Each week there's a new host. That way people don't catch on and suspect they are being Punk'd before the prank is over. The first week Justin Bieber is hosting. He pranks Taylor Swift! Check it out below.

http://www.mtv.com/videos/punkd-season-9-ep-1-justin-bieber/1681856/playlist.jhtml

Oh and supposedly Justin has a new single 'Boyfriend'.

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Melanie Iglesias Flip Book

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Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

Crazy, stupid, love. 

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So Sleek..Porsche Boxster S Black Edition

My 2005 Nissan Alitma SE 3.5L V6 just hit 110,000 miles. Though I've heard some of these cars are capable of running upward towards 200k miles, it is time to look at alternative options. Among which includes the luxurious Porsche Boxster S Black Edition. Limited to 987 cars and ranging from $65k to $68k, my chances of purchasing this car are slim to none. Comparatively speaking, I purchased my used Nissan with 50k miles for $15k. Should the government decide to do away with the income tax and for whatever reason I survive without shelter and food for a year and a half, I should have enough to buy the Porsche. That being said,  this is still a ridiculously sleek car. That alone, regardless of the price, is worth a consideration. Tell me this isn't a bad ass car?

Quick Stats: 

V6 - 320 HP

0-60 in 4.8 Secs

Manual/PDK (6-speed, 7-speed)

20MPG - City; 26 MPH

  

                                      

   

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Ellie Kemper

Just watched the latest 'The Office' episode. Ellie really looks good. She has an awesome personality and she is funny. Enuff said!

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Acura TL Commercial with Ashleigh McIvor and Calvin Johnson - UPDATE: Similar music to Teddy's Cello from Hangover 2

More times than not, car commercials have great music. This is especially the case with luxury cars. Acura's Calvin Johnson, NFL Football player, commercial was no exception. I can't quite place my finger on where the cello music is from; it must be an original. But, it sounds very similar to the prelude to 'Bach - Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major BWV1007 - Mov. 1-3/6'.

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Kate Upton Teach Me How to Dougie [Video]

Not sure what all the fuss is about...Oh, I see..

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Girl Walks into a Bar (Free Featured Film)

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Nissan 370Z Roadster & Nismo 370Z

Luxury Autos not so far out of reach...

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The Money Chase - Inside Harvard Business School

First of all, be warned, these CNBC documentaries are just media propaganda. More praise for a school that is already prestigious.

Nonetheless, the title caught my attention, The Money Chase – Inside Harvard Business School. I will say, however, that I did take away from the documentary the need to develop a knack for solving problems. At Harvard, they do this by simulating real life issues high level executives are facing or have faced already– case studies.

What you and I can do to simulate a similar experience is read about them. Put yourself in the CEO's situation and determine how you would approach the issue and what actions you would take to solve the issue at hand. Perhaps even discuss it with some of your colleagues.

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Notes from Into The Wild

Into The Wild is story about Chris McCandless' experiences after graduating from Emory University. Instead of taking the conventional route after graduating college, Chris left his upper middle class family to "LIVE LIFE".

[Chris was] an American wanderer who adopted the name Alexander Supertramp and hiked into the Alaskan wilderness with little food and equipment, hoping to live a period of solitude.

Notable Quotes:

"I read somewhere... how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong... but to feel strong."

"[written into book] Happiness only real when shared."

"Mr. Franz I think careers are a 20th century invention and I don't want one."

-Christopher McCandless

Despite all this jazz by Hollywood, which is extremely convincing while you are watching the movie, I was disappointed to discover that his journey may not have been as remarkable as was presented in the film.

Alaskan Park Ranger Peter Christian wrote: "I am exposed continually to what I will call the 'McCandless Phenomenon.' People, nearly always young men, come to Alaska to challenge themselves against an unforgiving wilderness landscape where convenience of access and possibility of rescue are practically nonexistent [...] When you consider McCandless from my perspective, you quickly see that what he did wasn’t even particularly daring, just stupid, tragic, and inconsiderate. First off, he spent very little time learning how to actually live in the wild. He arrived at the Stampede Trail without even a map of the area. If he [had] had a good map he could have walked out of his predicament [...]

This just brings me back to reality. I was really feeling this movie, but this romanticized Hollywood movie probably isn't what it is all cracked up to be and the above passage helped me see that. Still, there's got to be more than life than working that 9 to 5.

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Watch Batman - The Dark Knight (2008) Full Movie

Dark Knight or Batman!

The "The Dark Knight" has just grossed $300 million in sales in 10 days. Eclipsing the previous speed mark of 16 days set by "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest".

IMDb- The Internet Movie Database shows that users are ranking "The Dark Knight" an average of 9.4/10 stars. In my opinion, anything over 7 stars is considered a good movie. That has been my experience.

Trailers don't do the movie justice. You have to watch the full movie.

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