Life with the Two Crazy Dogs

I know for sure the finance department in my company uses some sort of project management software.  I talk to a financial analyst once in a while when I walk passed her area and I do notice all this fancy software.  She told me once about some software the department purchase to manage their projects better and the time it saves working on them.  A project management software encompasses several kinds of software.  For example they are quality management, scheduling, communication, cost control, budgeting to list some of them.  

ProActive Software has two project management softwares for businesses: ProWorkflow Management and Prowork Flow Enterprise.   The ProWorkflow management software assist in managing projects online where it would raise workplace efficiency.  It helps with time and task management, timesheets and time tracking, reporting, billing, pricing and project teamwork.  It is easy to implement and use as well.  The Prowork Flow Enterprise purpose is to help bigger companies that require better platforms for further growth in their businesses.   It helps companies to manage their teams and groups, and manage their time management even better. 

Here is the press release for further information:

There is nothing like walking out of a shop, satisfied with your purchase, product in hand knowing that you have a face behind the sale.

The Internet in some ways has taken that assurance away from the customer and with the masses of choice only a mouse click away the thought of purchasing a product or service online can be quite daunting.

However, the software as a service (SaaS) industry in New Zealand is fast moving from futuristic idea to current day reality and companies offering SaaS are looking for ways to maintain the personal service which has been a big part of historical software sales.
ProActive Software has found great and personal service to be a key part in their success on the global stage.

CEO Julian Stone says customers have said they’re surprised to get such personal service when dealing with ProActive.

He says “Don’t make sales, build relationships. This is a necessary part of the SaaS business model. Look after your customers as they are the foundation of the business. It’s important to keep customers happy month after month to retain their business.”

Customers of their core product www.proworkflow.com, have told Stone that their dealings with people at other software companies, often based in the US, have been rude, lacked callbacks, with slow email responses, making many customers wary of using SaaS where they had little ability to have personal contact with their supplier.

However, Stone says when customers come across a company with good service, they tell people.

Stone has attributed ProActive’s excellent response time with sales and support enquiries to their customers satisfaction. When customers build their business on our servers and use our code they must know we will be there if something needs attention.

An average enquiry for ProActive, from point of contact, to response is typically 15-60 minutes, where most of ProActive’s customers had said average response times for other software companies was usually measured in days, not minutes or hours.

“If you want to make a sale, sell a good product. If you want to grow a business, sell good service. We’ve found that most referral sales now come in as a result of ProActive Software’s service,” Stone says.

As Stone says “ProActive have built their SaaS company they have always kept service as a top priority, knowing their focus would continually be tested and be drawn onto product development and administration.

ProActive Software knows it is extremely important to keep the level of service constant and high “Customers don’t care that we have ten times as many customer to look after, they don’t care we are on someone else’s problem, they want the high service level maintained - so as we grow we automate, simplify, and when necessary bring in additional resource a bit before it is really needed. It takes a while to build a reputation of not letting down customers, it does not take anywhere near as long to lose it,” Stone Says

It’s the time of the year again for mid year reviews.  Mine was actually two months late but it was alright.  It gives me more time to think what I want to discuss with my boss.  I told my boss how bored and unchallenged my job is right now.  I was not surprised that she noticed that, too.  I told her my job is getting too mundane and I need a thorough understanding of Affirmative Action.  I even told her I snooped around the EEAC and OFCCP websites to learn more about this complex subject, however, those two websites did not help much, and she agreed they are not helpful.  She then told me that she will register me for an affirmative action training with Berkshire Associates out in Maryland.  Yeeeehahhhh!!!!  That would be so awesome, I get to go out East.  So, I checked out the training schedule which turns out to be a two-day training on Thursday and Friday in January, 2008.  My plans are spend the next day or two touring DC and take the train to NYC and return to Minneapolis on Sunday or Monday! (Take a day of vacation.)  That would be just what I wanted. Did it perk me up?  Hell,  yeah!!

My friend told me when she and her husband decided to start up their restaurant, they were having a tough time getting the funds for their small business.  It is not easy if you do not have sufficient monies to start your dream business.  Some had to borrow the funds from their parents, other family members, or even friends.  To obtain a Business Loan, EZUnsecured.com can help out your funding dilemmas.   They can aid all small businesses to achieve their goal in acquiring unsecured loans, line of credit, and credit cards as well, that do not necessitate any collateral.  Additionally, the application process is fast and easy, and top up with great customer service, your path to a successful venture is underway. 

I saw this article on MSN yesterday which really shocked me when I saw those costumes. 
These costumes are totally making little girls vurnerable to pedophiles lurking out there.   I suppose many mothers are dressing up their girls of 8 and above or younger than 8, and sending them  for contest, modelling and acting.  Dressing them up and loading them with makeup at that age is asking for trouble, in my opinion.  Won’t these girls grow up needing more attention and be more materialistic?

I wonder how much parents will spend on Halloween costumes every year excluding what they need to buy for the kids school clothes.  In the article, it says parents will spend around $2 billion for costumes exceeding the amount in 2003.  I bet you many young girls are looking for the Hannah Montana look for this Halloween. 

I can’t fathom why parents will allow their kids to dress up like those on the article.  They are utterly not suitable for children.  There are too seductive and won’t the kids grow up with this stigma in them that they have to worry about body image, how pretty they look and how might create problems for the parents when they kids are older? 

Well, that’s my thoughts…..

Thanksgiving is only a month away and Christmas is just about 2 months to go.  Calling family and friends during the holiday seasons is a norm.  I, myself place calls to my family members during these times of the year.  I have been using a prepaid phone card to place all my overseas calls and it is the most convenient thing ever invented!  PhoneCardsAvenue.com is a site that offers cheap and affordable phone cards online.  Currently, there is a promotion for its line of phone card programs where if you will receive a 3% cash back for every purchase you make with them.  PhoneCardsAvenue has all the calling and phone cards you need.  You will find the list of countries your callers are from on the front page of their website.  There are even choices for purchasing cards specifically for calling cellular phones.  I will be looking to purchasing one or two cards oon for my calls home.

Both DB and I wanted to go for Van Halen’s concert held on October 25 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.  We saw it advertised back July.  We asked SD and BF, they wanted to go, too.  In the end, we all had to read, hear and watch the reviews on TV, radio and papers.  Per ticket  coz $100+.  Crazy.  It was way too, too spendy for us.  It seems like it was hell of a concert.  Everyone who called in to KQRS station were raving how good it was coming from a group of 50-something souls.  DB was looking forward to it, but we thought we could use that money on something else.

I once wrote about a coworker who had the LAP Band surgery.  Well, of course, after the surgery, she lost about 75 pounds from a 5′1″ frame.  Yes, she is as tall as I am.  She is now a nice 118 pounds great looking lady, however, she still needs to get most of the lose skin off her.  She did a tummy tuck a  year after her LAP Band surgery.  Tummy Tuck UK is a way to remove loose skin.  The procedure is simple.  For a mini tummy tuck, the surgeon will make an incision diagonally the lower abdomen, whereas the full procedure the incision is done across the lower abdomen and an additional one in the region of the belly button.  I have to say my neighbor’s cousin brother had his done and it work so well for him.  He looked so much more leaner and sexier.  Although he had to pay for it without insurance coverage, he had no regrets doing it.  The same with my coworker, she said she enjoys life better after the tummy tuck procedure.  Tummy tuck is not just for females, it is for men, too.

I was getting my passport, birth certificate, IC (identity card) and my flight info into my folder and all of a sudden I remembered my Green Card.  I looked in my backpacks (I have 2 backpack I interchange for work) and it was not there.  Looked in my old wallets, not there.  Not in the  drawers either.  Looked in the box full of of scrapbooking stuff, not there.  (I tend to put other junk into the box fullof other stuff when I can’t find a place to put them.)  It was still not  there.  By then I was freaking out.  I really need that card to get in and out of the country.  The word CRAP kept spitting out.  DB yelled out to me that I need to get going for my appointment.  As I was going out of the house, I looked in my wallet, phew….it was right there.  I remembered then I put it in my wallet to make copies for the bank and also checked the expiration date.  What a relieve.  I didn’t want to make a trip to INS and get a temporary I-551 stamp.  That would be a pain in the ass when I get back in the country.