As someone who loves nature, and loves to see animals in their natural environment, I feel really fortunate for some of the opportunities I’ve had to travel the world and see things I thought I’d only see on TV.  One of my dreams has always been to dive with Manta Rays in their natural setting.  Manta Rays can grow up to 25 feet from wingtip to wingtip, and can weigh up to 5000 lbs.  These gentle giants are plankton eaters.  They open their huge mouths to take in large amounts of water, and filter the water out of their gills, catching the plankton in the process.  They’re very gentle, and curious about humans.As I’ve traveled over the years, I’ve traveled to many places where there were opportunities to see Manta Rays, with no luck.   It was by luck that I finally had my first opportunity.  I took my first ever vacation to the Hawaii Islands.  I visited Kona, Hawaii.  I really had no knowledge of Kona…I’ve heard of Kona, but nothing specific and I had no expectations.  When I arrived, I quickly found out how beautiful Kona really is.  I wanted to book a Scuba Diving trip, and after doing some research on  diving companies, I settled on Kona Honu Divers.

When I visited their dive shop, I found out that they have a Manta Ray dive that is world-famous, and is consistently rated as one of the top 10 dives in the world.  As it turns out, Kona is the only place in the world where Manta Rays have been conditioned to come to certain areas to eat plankton and play with divers.  Quite some time ago, one of the major hotels placed spotlights on the ocean floor, shining towards the surface, and they found out that the lights attracted plankton, which the Manta Rays LOVE.  So I had booked the dive and couldn’t wait for the experience.

Once we arrived at our location, it was still light out and we went for a dive just to explore and see what the area had to offer.  The Manta Rays don’t normally show up there until after dark, so after our first dive we returned to the boat and waited until then.  The winds really started picking up, and the boat was rocking around quite a bit.  We were getting a little concerned because the weather was not that great, and they had no sighting the previous two nights.  I was starting to get a little bummed out, and we were about to give up when someone shouted they saw a fin come out of the water.  We immediately put on our scuba gear and got in the water.

I was BLOWN AWAY.  As soon as I got in the water, there were two huge Manta Rays waiting for us.  They were swimming large circles from the bottom of the ocean to the surface, looping over and over, and so close to us.  Their large mouths were sucking in huge amounts of water, and they would swim right at us with their mouths open, turning away at the last moment, brushing against us.  Finally!  I was in such awe of the amazing, giant creatures.  I couldn’t believe that I was really there.  After about 15 minutes swimming on the surface with the Manta Rays, it was time to see more.  This video shows what we saw when we got in the water:

We dove to the ocean floor, about 35 feet deep, and formed a circle around the spotlights anchored to the ocean floor, shooting towards the surface.  Because of the weather, there was a strong back and forth current, making it harder to stay in one place, so we grabbed onto rocks to enjoy the show.  The first video above shows the amazing scene we were witnessing.  There were 9 of these amazing Manta Rays circling and swimming everywhere.  They were brushing us with their wings, circling around us, coming from all sides.  It was really a surreal experience…I felt as if I was watching a sci-fi movie.  Most of them were around 15-20 wide, gliding through the water with such amazing grace.  Along with the spotlights from each of the divers, and the little fish everywhere, it was a lot to take in.

This is one of those experiences that really cannot be explained with words, or with video for that matter.  It’s something you have to experience in real life to fully understand the impact that this will have on you.  I’ll just say that it’s one of those moments that really changes you, your outlook on life, your appreciation for all of the creations on this earth, and your desire to be part of those things.  I hope everyone will be able to share in this experience at least once in their lives.

I’d also like to say that I’ve been scuba diving in a lot of places around the world, and the guys at Kona Honu Divers were as professional as they come.  If you make it to Kona, you HAVE to go on the Manta Ray Dive, and I really recommend going with Kona Honu Divers.  I’m not affiliated with them in any way, just a satisfied customer.  Also, thank you to Louis B. for shooting and editing the videos.

With today’s rising gas prices, we all are searching for ways to save money and be more efficient with our fuel consumption. More and more of us are also starting to think “green.” One positive thing to come out of the recent rise in gasolin prices is the public awareness to conserve fuel, start thinking about alternative energy sources, and to think about the effects that our tremendous appetite for fuel is having on the earth.

One company is onto something big. I was driving by the local Home Depot, and I had to do a double take when I saw 30 to 40 goats, along with a goat herder, and their company banner…”We’re going GREEN using goats”.

Really unusual to see this in the city. Well, it looks like their doing a great job trimming the weeds, without using any fuel. I guess it get any greener than that!

Pioneer Corp, electronics manufacturer announced today that they will no longer manufacture their own Plasma TV panels, and they will start purchasing panels from outside suppliers.

I say it’s a sad day because I think Pioneer makes the best flat-panel available today (comparing all Plasma TVs and LCD TVs).  The Pioneer Plasma TVs, especially the Elite line is, in my opinion, has the best picture quality of any Plasma or LCD TV available today.  The only TV that I thought was close was the Fujitsu Plasma TV, which late last year announced they are out of the consumer Plasma TV market.

Their reason, as was the reason for Fujitsu, is that they’re losing too much money on Plasma production.  I’m not sure if they will be able to have their panels manufactured like they are currently manufacturing them, but I’m sure that they since they are purchasing them from other companies that they will be different. 

Their electronic processing is also a very important part of their performance, and other manufacturers are making very good panels, so hopefully they will still produce a great product.  Time will tell.

It seems that the LCD market is slowly killing Plasma TVs.  I’m still a big Plasma TV fan, but I have to say that LCD TVs are really catching up in their quality, and the newest LCD TVs have been very impressive.

The Consumer Electronics world changes so fast, that as LCD TVs catch up to Plasmas, new technologies such as OLED are coming out with an absolutely amazing picture.  I guess we’ll always be one step behind the game!

Well, I find myself listening to so much music these days and thinking “this stuff is so unoriginal (sucks),” or “what happened to the talent,” or “they just don’t make music like they used to.” I guess that means I’m officially old now!

But today a friend emailed me a youtube clip of a girl named Charice Pempengco, a 14 year old girl with an absolutely incredible voice…I was blown away and couldn’t believe it. I thought there was no way that’s really her voice. But it is and it’s amazing. And not just a great voice, she’s a true performer. She knows how to work her audience. There’s no doubt about it to me, she’s a star and I can’t wait to see great things come from her. Here’s the clip my friend shared with me. If she gave this performance at the Apollo Theater, she’d bring the house down!

Wow! The show looks pretty funny too

Vicci Martinez is a friend of mine from Tacoma, Washington. I’ve known her since she was a little girl, and I’ve had the pleasure of seeing her perform over the years. I’m not sure how well she’s known out there, but in Tacoma and Seattle, she’s very popular and has a huge following. She’s now in her early 20’s, but she’s been performing in public since her early teens. She performed on starsearch, and opened for BB King, Sting and Annie Lenox and many others, as well as performed with some great musicians.

Vicci writes all of her music, and she also has such an amazing voice and a HUGE stage presence. If you ever get the chance to see her live, you’ll see what I’m talking about. And it’s so nice to see her keep her artistic integrity and do things her way. Here’s a couple clips of her performing live.

Vicci’s a true talent, and hopefully you’ll get a chance to see her and pick up her CDs. I’m sure you’ll be seeing a lot of her in the future.

While I don’t know Ms. Pempengco, I can say that her tremendous passion comes through in her voice and her stage presence. And I have seen the years of hard work Vicci’s put in and her passion for her music is unbelievable. These girls are not only incredibly talented, but they are true performers, and true inspirations.

So I guess it’s one of those things that you can go round and round about, trying to debate if the lack of customer service these days is blamed on a lack of Customer Loyalty, or just a change in culture, or pressures felt with price competition.  Maybe it’s all of these, and I’m sure there are other factors that influence this as well.

Regardless of the reason, there are still companies that believe in providing great customer service, and are able to balance that with competitive price.  I think it’s actually more of a mindset…providing poor service is easy to do, especially if you have the attitude that ‘they’re getting what they paid for.’

I was lucky enough (or unlucky enough, depending on your point of view) to be raised in a culture that placed a huge amount of emphasis on customer service, and that has stayed with me to this day.  I think there is still such a thing as customer loyalty, although definitely harder to find these days.  Because of customer service, I have been fortunate enough to have a large following of loyal customers over the years, and many of these customers have become my good friends.  And I know that my experience will dictate what I say to my friends.  If I have a positive experience shopping, I will definitely tell my friends and make a recommendation.  If I am treated poorly, I will make sure I tell my friends also…I truly believe that if I receive poor service from a company, I should do whatever I can to let my friends and acquaintances know about it so they don’t have to go through the same thing.

So as consumers, we can do something to make sure that customer service doesn’t leave the American culture.  We can buy from stores that provide excellent service, and we can recommend those shops to our friends and families.  We can also tell our friends and families when we are treated poorly by a company so that they don’t give their business to that same company.  It’s really a shame to see these companies prosper when they continue to treat people poorly.

And as a business, we can also strive to continue to provide excellent customer service, and if we’re not providing the best service available now, we should take steps to improve our service so that we can provide world class service. 

It’s something we have to work on as a nation, because the last thing we want is to have great customer service disappear.   

I left off by saying that maybe this is a self-induced problem, and maybe it’s also a question of Customer Loyalty, not just Customer Service. 

What I mean by a “self-induced” problem is that it seems like consumers in America are choosing to purchase their goods from whichever store has the lowest price, and that nothing else matters.  Many stores sell their goods at extremely low prices, especially online stores.  Well, there’s a cost involved with providing great service, and a great environment, whether it’s online or brick and mortar, and it can be difficult to balance great service with the lowest price.  Some can pull it off, but most can’t manage to do both and stay in business.  Many stores sell items at a very low cost because they have nothing else to offer, and they have no intentions of taking care of you when your item breaks, or when you have a question about how to make something work, or your item does not do what you thought it would and you’d like to exchange it for something else.  Speaking to someone that knows what he’s talking about and is happy to help walk you through something, or dealing with a company that wants to make sure you’re happy with your purchase, these things have a definite value, but consumers have devalued these items in favor of the lowest price.

This causes companies to have to scale back and they’re not able to provide the customer service you deserve.  Or the company has to have their products manuctured overseas and it’s not built to the standards we deserve and expect, but if they don’t do that, they can’t afford to stay in business.

It’s no doubt that consumers will tell you that they want great customer service, but their buying decisions tell you otherwise.  Then people don’t understand when they receive terrible service, or when the toy they purchased for their child makes them sick.  That’s what I mean about customer loyalty.  As consumers, we can support those companies that provide great service.  There’s still some companies that offer great service, although they are definitely fewer and fewer.  If we continue to shop based only on the lowest price, then this trend will continue and customer service will be gone.

I’m not suggesting that we owe it to a company to give them our hard earned dollars.  But I also think that if we become 100% focused on finding the absolute lowest cost, that we’re supporting the growth of companies that will continue to take advantage of people by offering terrible service, and that we will be left with no stores that can offer great service.

I spent the majority of my time in retail working for a retailer that was focused on customer service.  We had a very large base of loyal customers that would not shop anywhere else because they would rarely find the same level of service and knowledge that they found at our store.  We started getting people coming in with prices from Ebay and other unknown internet companies, wanting to get these items for the same price, and we just couldn’t match many of those prices, because after the purchase, they’d want us to go to their house and set things up, or they’d want to spend a lot of time showing them how to use their new equipment, etc.  You just can’t afford to do that as a business if you’re not making any money on something…but that’s the climate we’re in now, and slowly the company started closing stores.  The last store I worked at that we closed has been in the same location for over 20 years, and customers were coming in that were so sad to see us leave, and they were asking ‘where will I shop now?’  For many people service is still important, but many people just don’t want to pay for it, and that’s where the tough part comes in.

Is it possible to provide great service and low price, and still be in business?  Sounds like a good place to leave off, and we’ll talk about that next time.

Remember the days when someone would tell you their story of a bad customer service experience, and you’d be shocked that they were treated like that?  You’d think, “how can a company treat you so bad…there’s no way they’re gonna stay in business treating customers like that!”

Well, think about your recent experiences dealing with a company’s customer service department.  It seems that these days, you’re shocked when you’re treated with great customer service, and you’ve come to expect bad service as the norm.

Just to be sure I’m not the only one that feels this way, I asked many of my friends and they all felt the same way.  It’s a sad statement when we, as a nation, have come to expect bad or mediocre service as the norm, and we’re pleasantly surprised when we receive great, or even good service.

Over the last couple of years I’ve had the pleasure of traveling to Japan, and I have to say the service there is amazing.  It’s just in their culture, like it used to be in our culture.  I can honeslty say that I’ve never had a bad experience at a restaurant, shopping, or any other experience where I was dealing with a company as their customer.  People will really go out of their way to help you.  You’ll really be shocked to hear I even witnessed great service at their government offices (if you’ve ever been to the DMV, you can understand why I say that).  It used to be like that here, but it’s becoming harder and harder to find.

Is it too late for us to change our culture back to one of customer service?  Why has it gotten so bad?  I think it’s a self-induced problem. Maybe the issue is one of Customer Loyalty, not Customer Service. I’ll explain more in part 2, but until then, I’d love to hear your comments.