Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Deals For Everyone in US
One of my favorite new deals is this one: $49 for a Two-Night Hotel Stay for Four (40+ Cities) and $50 Restaurant.com Gift Certificate! http://tonie.moolala.com/deals/deal/QT4G443/vacation-getaway-destinations/?pid=YFJT451&cid=Q5DWAX9
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Three Flawed Notary Practices That Put You At Risk
Flawed Notary practices can put you at serious risk. No matter how
urgently a document needs to be notarized, or how demanding a client or
employer is, violating the essential rules of notarization leaves you
exposed to lawsuits. Here are three of the most egregious practices to
avoid:
Notarizing without the signer being present. Notarizing without the signer being present is prohibited in all U.S. states and territories. Any request to notarize a signature where the signer isn’t present to verify his or her wishes is an open invitation to fraud — and leaves the Notary to bear full responsibility against allegations of negligence resulting from the signer’s absence.
Failure to identify a signer. Every signer must be identified by the Notary according to statutory rules. A signer lacking satisfactory evidence of identity is not safe to notarize for — without satisfactory evidence of identity, the Notary has no way of knowing whether the signer is an impostor posing as the person named in the document.
Allowing someone else to use your seal. The Notary’s seal must remain under the Notary’s control at all times, and only the Notary is authorized to affix the seal impression to certificate wording. Allowing an unauthorized person to use your seal is against the law and enables falsification of documents — but if your seal was utilized, you can still be held responsible for any problems resulting from letting another person use the seal.
http://www.nationalnotary.org/Media/notary_news/three_flawed_notary_practices_that_put_you_at_risk.html
Remember it is illegal to do webcam notarization for over 28+ states already with more ligation & laws being put into effect everyday that passes.
Notarizing without the signer being present. Notarizing without the signer being present is prohibited in all U.S. states and territories. Any request to notarize a signature where the signer isn’t present to verify his or her wishes is an open invitation to fraud — and leaves the Notary to bear full responsibility against allegations of negligence resulting from the signer’s absence.
Failure to identify a signer. Every signer must be identified by the Notary according to statutory rules. A signer lacking satisfactory evidence of identity is not safe to notarize for — without satisfactory evidence of identity, the Notary has no way of knowing whether the signer is an impostor posing as the person named in the document.
Allowing someone else to use your seal. The Notary’s seal must remain under the Notary’s control at all times, and only the Notary is authorized to affix the seal impression to certificate wording. Allowing an unauthorized person to use your seal is against the law and enables falsification of documents — but if your seal was utilized, you can still be held responsible for any problems resulting from letting another person use the seal.
http://www.nationalnotary.org/Media/notary_news/three_flawed_notary_practices_that_put_you_at_risk.html
Remember it is illegal to do webcam notarization for over 28+ states already with more ligation & laws being put into effect everyday that passes.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
(Reuters) - Nearly 12 million Americans were victims of identity theft in 2011, an increase of 13 percent over 2010
Another headline other day:
(Android Security issues) 5 million of Android devices got infected by virus, security giant Symantec says.
The above has been a well known issue with androids since the release.... with so much ID theft via phones why are folks not paying attention?
Here are a few tips:
From Javelin to avoid becoming an identity fraud victim and mitigating losses:
-
Password protect your home and mobile devices. Avoid exposing personal
information that can be used by someone else for identity verification.
- Be careful about the apps you download. Only download through a service that monitors the apps, such as iTunes.
- Share information carefully when you are on a public wifi network.
-
Monitor your credit cards by checking their use online or reading the
statements carefully. Quickly report to your credit card issuer if you
see any suspicious transactions.
-
Take data breach notifications seriously. If your data has been
accessed, consider subscribing to a credit-monitoring service, which is
often is offered for free for a year by the company that had been
breached.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~and more Tips from me:
1. Lock your screen with a pin code or password. While this seems simple, anything that provides an extra layer of difficulty for an untrustworthy user is beneficial.
2. Install and enable remote services. All major smartphone operating systems (Blackberry, iOS, Android, Windows Mobile) can be enabled with some or all of these features: remote lock, remote wipe, and even GPS location (for finding where your phone went) are available in many cases. This goes hand in hand with No. 3.
3. Back up your data. Either through a product that offers this functionality, or simply by copying your documents, pictures and info to your computer. This can save you in the event of a lost, stolen, destroyed, or otherwise non-functioning phone.
4. Use encryption where available. Though not offered on every platform, if you can use it, you should. Even in cases where you lock your phone, the data on your device storage can, in some cases, be accessible unless it is encrypted. This includes external memory cards, such as SD cards, installed in the device as well.
5. Use Antivirus. The mobile malware landscape is developing more quickly now than ever before, due to increased reliance on smartphones for everyday tasks such as banking, paying bills, and managing finances. As a direct result, malware writers will likely show an ever increasing interest in gaining access to your money.
Friday, January 27, 2012
The Importance Of Character....
In Leadership From The Inside Out, the late Kevin Cashman makes a powerful distinction between character, the essence of who we are, and persona, the external personality we have created to cope with our everyday life. A leader who leads through character is guided by authenticity, while the one who leads from persona is guided by image.
The former has trust and compassion as foremost guiding principles, while the latter is concerned about fear and self-interest. The leader who leads through character is focused on creating value and contribution rather than winning at all costs. Such a leader values openness and inclusion, shunning control and exclusion, the hallmarks of the leader who is driven by image.
Here are a few tips to inspire you in your leadership journey:
1. Make values actionable
Living your values every day is an important aspect of character in action. Companies go through considerable expense having consultants craft value statements that, unfortunately, end up being nothing more than motherhood statements hanging on the wall in the reception lobby. Prevent this from happening by making values actionable. “We value open communication” is vague and left to interpretation. Consider what happens if you clarify this by adding: “There are no sacred cows in this team.”
2. Be known as a promise-keeper
In The Leadership Challenge, authors James Kouzes and Barry Posner consider “Model the Way” through personal example and dedicated execution, as a foundational practice for admirable leaders. One way to put this into action is to keep your promises, to do what you say you will do. No matter how small the promise is, no matter who the promise is made to, strive to keep your word. While events may well prevent us from honoring commitments we made, don’t let a commitment slip by without getting back to people to let them know why you can’t fulfill your promise. Resolve to handle your word as precious currency and watch how your value rises in everyone’s eyes.
3. Don’t take shortcuts in quality
As Henry Ford put it: “Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.” Do you preach to your team that quality is an important value, yet when there is a crisis, you find yourself telling people to take shortcuts at the expense of quality in order to get the order out the door? Every time you do this, it erodes your authenticity in the eyes of your constituents. Eventually, when you speak about quality, they will discount it as lip service.
4. Be consistent in your dealings with others
Do you treat some people in your organization or team better than you treat others? For example, do you unwittingly complain about a member of your team to other team members? While we can easily slip into such behavior, especially when we are tired and frustrated by the day’s events, consider that this chips away at your integrity as a leader.
5. Audit your decisions
At the end of every week, get in the habit of going over each decision you made. Did your focus on the bottom line cause you to forget the impact on some people? Did your biases affect the objectivity of your actions? Are you proud? Do your actions reflect positively on you as a person of character? What could you have done better? Every action we take, no matter how small, has our character stamp on it.
According to Biology Letters’ “Cues of being watched enhance cooperation in a real-world setting,” one of the reasons we are more civilized when we know we are being watched is due to concerns about our reputation. Reputation is the quality or character that other people attribute to us; it’s the surface layer. It’s our carefully crafted profile on Facebook; it’s the multitude of recommendations that are posted on our LinkedIn profile.
Character, on the other hand, is what is deep inside us; it’s who we are on a daily basis, when things go well and when things go wrong. It’s who we are in the boardroom as well as in our living room. We have reason to be proud when both reputation and character are a mirror image of each other. Abraham Lincoln put it this way: “Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” Bruna Martinuzzi President, Clarion Enterprises Ltd
_____________________________________________________________________
My whole point in posting this was to make folks think about who they are recommending and why? Is it someone or company with Character and Integrity? or is it someone you just met and liked but have no real knowledge of their company or character.
So many times in life we pass the day away with no real thought other than to make sure everything is taken care. No thought of how we are affecting others with our decisions.....
Let's start the new year with a bolder vision of who we truly are both in the professional and personal venue. By bolder vision, I meant take your expectations of 2012 and go ahead and increase it by 10%. Sit down and find out why you hamper yourself with the constraints we put on ourselves everyday because we do not have this or that. If we put away the negative thinking and do a weekly "Character" check of our decisions I truly feel 10% is a no-brainer to achieve in a yearly basis.
Tonie Boaman, Dash Notary
The former has trust and compassion as foremost guiding principles, while the latter is concerned about fear and self-interest. The leader who leads through character is focused on creating value and contribution rather than winning at all costs. Such a leader values openness and inclusion, shunning control and exclusion, the hallmarks of the leader who is driven by image.
Here are a few tips to inspire you in your leadership journey:
1. Make values actionable
Living your values every day is an important aspect of character in action. Companies go through considerable expense having consultants craft value statements that, unfortunately, end up being nothing more than motherhood statements hanging on the wall in the reception lobby. Prevent this from happening by making values actionable. “We value open communication” is vague and left to interpretation. Consider what happens if you clarify this by adding: “There are no sacred cows in this team.”
2. Be known as a promise-keeper
In The Leadership Challenge, authors James Kouzes and Barry Posner consider “Model the Way” through personal example and dedicated execution, as a foundational practice for admirable leaders. One way to put this into action is to keep your promises, to do what you say you will do. No matter how small the promise is, no matter who the promise is made to, strive to keep your word. While events may well prevent us from honoring commitments we made, don’t let a commitment slip by without getting back to people to let them know why you can’t fulfill your promise. Resolve to handle your word as precious currency and watch how your value rises in everyone’s eyes.
3. Don’t take shortcuts in quality
As Henry Ford put it: “Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.” Do you preach to your team that quality is an important value, yet when there is a crisis, you find yourself telling people to take shortcuts at the expense of quality in order to get the order out the door? Every time you do this, it erodes your authenticity in the eyes of your constituents. Eventually, when you speak about quality, they will discount it as lip service.
4. Be consistent in your dealings with others
Do you treat some people in your organization or team better than you treat others? For example, do you unwittingly complain about a member of your team to other team members? While we can easily slip into such behavior, especially when we are tired and frustrated by the day’s events, consider that this chips away at your integrity as a leader.
5. Audit your decisions
At the end of every week, get in the habit of going over each decision you made. Did your focus on the bottom line cause you to forget the impact on some people? Did your biases affect the objectivity of your actions? Are you proud? Do your actions reflect positively on you as a person of character? What could you have done better? Every action we take, no matter how small, has our character stamp on it.
According to Biology Letters’ “Cues of being watched enhance cooperation in a real-world setting,” one of the reasons we are more civilized when we know we are being watched is due to concerns about our reputation. Reputation is the quality or character that other people attribute to us; it’s the surface layer. It’s our carefully crafted profile on Facebook; it’s the multitude of recommendations that are posted on our LinkedIn profile.
Character, on the other hand, is what is deep inside us; it’s who we are on a daily basis, when things go well and when things go wrong. It’s who we are in the boardroom as well as in our living room. We have reason to be proud when both reputation and character are a mirror image of each other. Abraham Lincoln put it this way: “Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” Bruna Martinuzzi President, Clarion Enterprises Ltd
_____________________________________________________________________
My whole point in posting this was to make folks think about who they are recommending and why? Is it someone or company with Character and Integrity? or is it someone you just met and liked but have no real knowledge of their company or character.
So many times in life we pass the day away with no real thought other than to make sure everything is taken care. No thought of how we are affecting others with our decisions.....
Let's start the new year with a bolder vision of who we truly are both in the professional and personal venue. By bolder vision, I meant take your expectations of 2012 and go ahead and increase it by 10%. Sit down and find out why you hamper yourself with the constraints we put on ourselves everyday because we do not have this or that. If we put away the negative thinking and do a weekly "Character" check of our decisions I truly feel 10% is a no-brainer to achieve in a yearly basis.
Tonie Boaman, Dash Notary
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