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The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. It was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, passed by the House on January 31, 1865, and adopted on December 6, 1865.
- Lets look at the tenants of slavery
- Little or no freedom, free time, or fulfillment (not much fun) Perform unpleasant tasks for the master or be chastised
- Compensation based on value to the master not determined BY the master
- Minimal control over schedule or workload
Aside from the most glaring and obvious difference, CHOICE, there is really not a lot of difference between slavery and working a job. Both are equally unfulfilling (research shows up to 90% of corporate America comes home from their job feeling unfulfilled.)
So then, why do millions of people choose to stay stuck in an occupation that they don’t like? Why would someone in their right mind choose to subject themselves to turmoil and bull shit of answering to a master. We are not dogs! We are eagles that are designed by the Almighty to flourish and soar!
To me the only thing more pathetic than the millions of people who still actually do live in slavery in third world countries and such, with the foot of oppression on their necks and their faces in the mud, are the millions of people who live in freedom, yet choose to lie there with their faces in the mud regardless of the fact that there is no foot of oppression!
So, why do people choose to work for someone else?
Here are 10 reasons:
- They are ignorant to the fact that they already have 99% of what is required to become an entrepreneur. They think they need a lot of time, money, education, or other circumstances
- They grew up in a “normal” home where working for a master is considered “normal.”
- They don’t think that they are special or they don’t have anything unique to offer the world (this is obviously bullshit)
- They lack the circle of influence and thus lack motivation or inspiration (Maybe they stopped dreaming so long ago that they are now on auto pilot and don’t even realize that they live in a box)
- Their degree, which no doubt was awesome and expensive, is something they decided on as a teenager… or worse yet was decided by their parents and now they feel obligated to do something with it
- They are led to believe that their master cares about them (this is obviously BS as well. Your boss doesn’t give two farts about you and don’t think for a second your job wouldn’t be outsourced to India if it could be; you’re in denial
- They have bills to pay and a mortgage. (I say sell the house, simplify your life, downsize and stop trying to keep up with the Jones’. I just bought a house and it’s a pain in the neck and a huge hassle. Who needs that?
- They have to put their kids through college. My kids will never work for anyone else or I will die. That’s why I won’t be sending them to college–that way they will be forced to become an entrepreneur!
- They enjoy their job (entirely possible I suppose, but I highly doubt it)
- They don’t know their options! They have yet to learn about PRO!
In fact, this last point, is why I am sending you this email. My personal mission in life is to WAKE people UP to the choices that EVERY individual has so that they can live the life of their dreams. Now! In real-time. In THIS lifetime.
It’s time to quit your job and hire yourself folks. Not someday. Today.
Get baptized in the river of failure so you can blossom in entrepreneurial blessings. That’s what this is about… Don’t let fear keep you safe and in your comfort zone. have some faith in yourself and jump off the ledge. You will surprise yourself. I did.
How badly do you want it? Can you taste it? Can you feel it? Are you ready? It’s GO TIME! JUMP!
If you believe every individual has the choice to change their circumstances, share this article with your PRO leads and applicants!
Happy Cinco de Mayo,
Jay Kubassek
Posted: May 5, 2011
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#1 New York Time Best-Selling Financial Author World Leader In Personal Financial David Bach Partners With PRO U
From the Desk of Jay Kubassek
Dear Friend,
As you already heard, CarbonCopyPRO, aka PRO, has formed a brand new education platform for small business owners and entrepreneurs called PRO U. Built on a million dollar platform featuring the latest in space repetition learning, the mission for PRO U is to become the world’s most powerful way to get bite-sized access to some of the most influential and powerful business and thought leaders in the world. It is all in an effort to EMPOWER you with the skill sets and mindsets required for successful business and living.
PRO U features instructors and business leaders like Simon Sinek, author of the run-away success book Start With WHY, and Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, the world’s foremost authority on leadership development according to Forbes magazine. It features courses that teach the best practices in Sales, Team Building, and Service used by over a dozen Fortune 500 companies. (You can visit myPROU.com to see for yourself.)
But this is not why I am writing you today. I am writing you about our most recent addition to the family. #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Automatic Millionaire®, David Bach…
Over the last 15 years, David Bach has inspired and empowered millions of people around the world to take action in order to Live and Finish Rich®. One of the most prolific financial authors of our time, he is the author of 13 consecutive national bestsellers, including two #1 New York Times bestsellers, “Start Late, Finish Rich” and “The Automatic Millionaire.” In all, his Finish Rich books have been published in 15 languages, with more than seven million copies in print worldwide. In fact, David has more consecutive bestsellers in the personal finance category than anyone in the world. (Yes, that includes authors like Suzy Orman and Robert Kiyosaki!)
David can also be seen each Wednesday on the Today Show’s “Money 911” segment on NBC, and has been a frequent guest on Fox News, CNN’s Larry King Live, CBS’s Early Show, ABC News and CNBC. In addition, he’s been profiled in The New York Times, BusinessWeek, USA Today, People, Reader’s Digest, Time, Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal. And besides being featured as a financial expert on Oprah.com, he has contributed to Smart Money Magazine, Yahoo Finance, and AOL Money. He also recently partnered with Equifax on a mission to help one million Americans pay off $1 billion dollars in debt!
HOW THIS ALL STARTED
David and I connected a year ago at a retreat for entrepreneurs in New York City. I told him about my dream to create 100 millionaires with PRO, and he told me about the millions of people he was reaching with his books and TV programs, like Oprah’s Debt Diet Series (http://www.oprah.com/contributor/david-bach).
Before long, we realized that if we were to combine our efforts and expertise, we might really accomplish something big. We began to discuss what is now our master plan to help one million people with ordinary incomes Finish Rich®!
David, of course, has already inspired and empowered millions of people—people like the McIntyres, whose real life story actually inspired him to write The Automatic Millionaire®. It has long been David mission to help people do MORE with what they have, regardless of their current income.
But this would be a WHOLE new program. It would be based on the proven principles from The Automatic Millionaire®, and aim to dramatically reduce the time it takes for you to reach the point where you can comfortably retire and Finish Rich®. Not only would it help them save and do more with their present income level, it would also help them MAKE more money so the process can be accelerated. (The McIntyres, for example, retired in their early fifties with a net worth of close to $2 million. Not bad considering their household income was never above the $50,000 per year range.) We also wanted to create a program that our affiliates at CarbonCopyPRO could sell, allowing them to MAKE MORE MONEY and further accelerate the process.
So after a year of hard work we are finally ready to launch this brand new program powered by PRO U:
Think about it for a second. What if you could cut the time before you retire down from 20 to 30 years—what it normally takes on a regular income—to just 15 or 10 years? What if you could cut it down to 5 years or less?
You deserve to know. In fact, I would venture to say that you cannot afford to ignore the opportunity to see what we have created.
SAVE THE DATE
World Premiere of AMI
9:00 pm ET
February 16, 2011
On February 16, 2011 at 9:00 pm ET, you will have an opportunity to see exactly how we plan to help one million people with ordinary incomes FinishRich®.
If you are an affiliate, you will also have an opportunity share this special presentation with your list and customer base. This is an opportunity of a lifetime and likely the most valuable 60-minutes of 2011 for you and the financial future of your family.
IN THE MEANTIME
Over the next few days we will be sending out a lot a stuff… There will also be a special webinar for affiliates Wednesday Feb at 8:00, stay tuned for details on that as well.
In the meantime, be sure to connect with us on Facebook for all of the latest news and updates! (Facebook.com/AutomaticMIllionaire) and we will see you on the call!
All my best,
Jay Kubassek
Co-Founder and CEO
PRO U | CarbonCopyPRO
Posted: February 8, 2011
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How the Internet fosters trust, community and–if you’re lucky–friendship and a free place to stay…
Six years ago, when I began working on what is now CarbonCopyPRO, I wasn’t consciously thinking about the new explosion of collaborations and virtual communities fostered by the web. I was acting out of instinct and a desire to help others pursue the kind of success that I’d achieved from a pretty organic place. My intentions where quite pure, and primitive. Monkey see–monkey do. (Maybe I should have chosen MonkeySeeMonkeyDoPRO, buts that’s a different topic:)
Anyways, since then, countless articles have been written about the rise in sharing, renting, lending and cooperative labor of all sorts made possible by the interweb. Back when our grandparents were young, it was normal to stay with friends and people you knew when going on a trip, rather than paying $200 a night for a mediocre hotel room. (Or $475 if you are coming to NYC!) People hitchhiked and borrowed tools from their neighbors. But gradually, a culture of paranoia seized the country, created in part by industries that want you to rent new cars and store your stuff in expensive storage containers instead of sharing it or giving it away.
The web is changing all that. MeetUp, Twitter, Facebook, CouchSurfing, eBay, SnapGoods—sites like these have brought people together over the web. But more importantly, they’ve created opportunities for people to meet up and collaborate in person. Online communities are a great thing, but they work best as gateways to personal interaction and, with luck, friendship.
An article in the Times a few days ago, titled “Neighborly Borrowing, Over the Online Fence,” addressed this topic. Increasingly, the author writes, start-ups are basing their business model “around allowing people to share, exchange and rent goods in a local setting.” The common theme in the businesses featured is that they allow consumers to share goods, instead of demanding that they buy them.
As one expert cited in the article says, “Paradoxically, the Web is moving us back to a human-centric business model.”
What is the binding factor in this new movement? Trust.
Before you invite somebody to sleep in your spare room for $40 a night (as people do through the room-share site Airbnb.com), the web allows you to vet them through eBay comments, Skype, email, etc. Brilliant! But once the trust is in place, and a person’s reputation established, it’s possible to take the next step.
While reading the piece, it occurred to me that this is what we’re doing at CarbonCopyPRO. We’ve created an online network of driven, creative, intelligent people who, through web conferences, interaction, and technology-assisted interactions, have gained one another’s trust and respect. They feel comfortable sharing their thoughts, business strategies, and personal advice with one another. Eventually, they meet each other in person at conferences and meet-ups around the world, and learn about each other’s lives. And at the end of the day, they’re left with a solid, supportive group of friends and hopefully in a harbor of sorts where the tide is lifting all the boats simultaneously.
(Ok, this past part may be a little optimistic, we all have to earn our own success, but you get the point.)
All the best,
Jay Kubassek
Posted: September 14, 2010
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We’ve all seen the image at one time or another. It’s a dragon, or serpent of some sort, seen in a circle swallowing it’s own tail. Admittedly, the first time I saw the thing, it was prominently adorned on the forearm of a rather chipper bartender in Kansas City who smelled remotely of Pine-Sol, cigarettes, and spoke of themselves in the third person…But, I digress.
This is actually the image of The Ouroboros. A mythical, symbolic creature, used throughout antiquity by various philosophers, religions and psychologists as a representation of entirely too many things to list here!
But I do prefer one of the oldest interpretations, by our dear old buddy Plato. For Plato, the Ouroboros represents the ultimate manifestation of “self-reliance.”
An entity that he describes as: “…(for) the Creator conceived that a being which was self-sufficient would be far more excellent than one which lacked anything.”
Now, this mean looking thing is certainly not going to be voted the official mascot of entrepreneurs, but it could certainly make a darn good case. The beast is seen to feed on itself, as the entrepreneur must look inward for the fuel of motivation. It’s cyclical nature is not unlike an entrepreneurs need to be flexible, and continue to refurbish their methods, strategies and efforts.
Bottom line, as entrepreneurs we are both friend and foe to ourselves. One hour we can be our greatest asset, the next our worst enemy. It is only the belief we hold in OURSELVES, that decides which side of the fence we fall on.
Believe.
All the best,
Jay Kubassek
Posted: September 3, 2010
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So there’s this road. It’s your road. Not in the sense that you own it per say. But that it’s just…yours.
There’s EXITS behind you. High School. First Job. First Girlfriend. First Boyfriend.
You can see all of those pretty clear in the rear view mirror.
Despite the fact you’re driving in the opposite direction, they all seem to be right… there…. Strangely still crystal clear.
Right behind you, when you look in your Rear View mirror.
But… you can’t really make out the EXITS ahead. They’re not foggy, but blurry. Threes look like Eights, Eights look like Threes. You flash the brights in hope of a little help. Doesn’t get any better.
It seems that you just have to keep moving forward, and trust that You’re road…is well You’re road. I guess you have to Believe in Yourself, right?
But every once in a while, on you’re road, there not just an exit, but an Intersection. New ROADS appear.
Right banks, hard lefts, sharp rights…..There are EXITS along these roads too.
You can’t really make those out any better than the one’s in front of you now, but then again, you can clearly see what’s behind you on the road you’re currently on.
Do you want more EXITS like the one’s in your past? Or are you willing to take a hard right onto a NEW ROAD. And see if you can’t leave something better in your rear view.
After all it is YOUR Road, remember?
———————————————-
Every day entrepreneurs around the world, take new roads to higher places. I look for my next intersection everyday. A chance to improve, to perform, to create, to assist, to grow.
Stay positive, keep the rear view where it belongs, behind you.
All my best,
Jay Kubassek
Posted: August 9, 2010
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The author C.S. Lewis, best known for his timeless classic The Chronicles of Narnia, wrote a remarkable little satire in 1942 called The Screwtape Letters (great name huh?). The book is formed by a series of letters from high-ranking demon named Screwtape, to his young nephew Wormwood, a junior demon, about how to properly and successfully tempt the “Patient” (human beings in this case).
Despite what seems like a rather dark undertone (after all it’s demons we’re talking about here), Lewis spurs great heights of humor with each page, and presents some incredibly enduring and poignant insights about human life.
In one of the latter letters, Screwtape describes to Wormwood the inner workings of man very interestingly. Says Screwtape: “Think of your man as a series of concentric circles, his will being the innermost, his intellect coming next, and finally his fantasy….(what) you must (do) is keep on shoving all the virtues outward, till they are finally located in the circle of fantasy.”
Will. Intellect. Fantasy.
I should say it’s not my intention now, nor in the future, to lecture about what is or isn’t virtuous. That is obviously and absolutely not my place.
However, I do think this passage spotlights an important point for entrepreneurs, or anyone for that matter, which is: whatever we want to achieve, whether that’s a more virtuous existence, business or individual goals, the PURSUIT MUST BEGIN INTERNALLY, WITH OUR WILL.
- Will: We already know we are more likely to achieve something we are passionate about. We have a different level of energy and motivation. We CARE more. This is the station we should be pulling our 18 wheelers full of goals into for fueling. This is where our goals become habits.
- Intellect: Almost inevitably, when we are confronted with a situation that is difficult, frightening or uncomfortable, we begin to over-analyze the issue. We intellectualize the situation into the ground and only end up sort of mentally chasing our own tail into exhaustion. Now, this is not to say our intellect isn’t a big part of our problem solving strategy, because it is. But…we have to know when call on our intuition and trust ourselves for that last bit of guidance.
- Fantasy: The final frontier. We all know too many people who perpetually live in this space. This place is littered with sentences that begin with stuff like: “I hope to one day-”…” It would be nice if-”… “If only I could (blank)”… The challenge for entrepreneurs is to keep our goals out of this realm. This is a realm of INACTION. Where “hoping” and “wishing” instead of DOING reign supreme.
Nevertheless, we live in a world where there’s always someone trying to tell us or sell us, usually both, that their way is the right way, the only way, the best way, the fastest way.
Advice is a wonderful thing, and the most successful people I know are always the most willing students, but at the end of the day, I think it’s important to remember that any real growth, any lasting sustainable change, always comes from within.
All my best,
Jay Kubassek
Posted: July 15, 2010
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Luck:
Pronunciation: \ˈlək\ Function: noun
1. a: a force that brings good fortune or adversity b: the events or circumstances that operate for or against an individual
2 : favoring chance; also: success
3: to prosper or succeed especially through chance or good fortune—usually used with out
4 : to come upon something desirable by chance —usually used with out, on, onto, or into
Lady Luck. We all know her. Celebrated in song, and in film. Wished upon us at the start of a journey or challenge. Prayed for, when we think we need it most. But seriously, what exactly is “Luck?” Beyond that, how does one become “Lucky?”
I’ve been called lucky more times than I could count, or ever want to for that matter. At a marketing event a couple of weeks ago I was asked: “But really man…mufflers in Topeka Kansas 6 years ago…to this? No way! You’ve got to be the luckiest guys ever! I need to take you to Vegas!” Charming fellow, but I couldn’t help but laugh at this guys’ enthusiasm. It was like he found a gold-plated rabbit’s foot wrapped in 20’s or something.
I told him: “First off I don’t gamble. I only bet on myself, that I can control! And second…you make your own luck, you’re not born with it. If that was the case I would’ve been successful a lot sooner than 6 years ago!” I knew he had probably heard that before; it’s not uncommon to hear people say that we make our own “luck.” But for some reason he actually paused, and seemed to think about the actual words. Maybe it was the sincerity with which he heard it, or maybe how I said it (since I really did mean it), but something dawned in him. He looked at me blankly for a second, then he simply responded: “You’re right. I guess I just haven’t been looking.”
“Luck”, at its base, is the essence of opportunity. Circumstances, decisions or relationships that present opportunities for our benefit. So how does one go about recognizing these things? My Vegas (almost) road-buddy hit it right on the head. We have to open our eyes, and Look.
“Lucky” people don’t have any mysterious or magical skills; they are simply adept at noticing, creating and most importantly, ACTING upon chance opportunities. They act on Intuition and are Optimists. They remain Open-Minded in times of struggle or uncertainty, and they maintain this Mindset constantly. If you think about it, simple reason would say: the more opportunities a person encounters (or creates) the more likely one is get favorable results. Right?
Everyday, it becomes easier for us to interact with one another. Ideas, energy and passions are exchanged and discussed. Ideas become reality. And People are actively creating the lives they wanted, helping those in need, inspiring those who are lost. Now, are all these people just “lucky”, or is something else in play? You tell me.
All my best,
Jay Kubassek
Posted: June 18, 2010
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The World Cup. It has begun.
Every four years, the eyes, ears and hearts of billions turn to soccer. It’s not simply a tournament. I think it’s sort of a like a pageant of humanity. A global display where passion illuminates more of what we have in common, that what we don’t.
One cannot really speak about this World Cup without acknowledging the significance of it’s location, South Africa. The first cup on African soil. A place where they say the earth has turned red from bloodshed and tears, in an effort to UNITE.
South Africa, as the host nation, has chosen to underscore these games with the classical concept UBUNTU. Ubuntu (who’s origins are the Bantu languages of southern Africa) is a humanist philosophy that focuses on people’s allegiances and relations with each other. It is called the essence of being human.
Ubuntu is about our interconnectedness; how we can’t live in isolation. Yes, Facebook and Twitter have done great things to bring us closer together, but at the end of the day it’s not how we get to each other, but how we treat each other once we get there. The technology of our age now asks that we extend those principles to the Internet. Our communication, our leadership and our commerce. The trust necessary for a collective prosperity. There’s a cool Zulu maxim which I will probably never be able to pronounce that goes: “umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu.” It means a person is, who they are, through others.
“A person is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.”
-Rev. Desmond Tutu
Open to others. Available to others. Affirming of others. Words to live by. Could we? For perhaps just one week? A day? An hour perhaps?
As the FIFA World Cup continues to capture the imagination of billions across the globe, we can’t help but beg the question: “if something as small a soccer ball can unite the world in celebration and peace, what else can we do?”
Hmmm…..
All my best,
Jay Kubassek
Posted: June 16, 2010
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I never was what you would call an avid reader. I enjoyed it, found it to be an entertaining escape at times. But it wasn’t until I began my journey as an entrepreneur, I realized that the continued education I needed to get ahead, wasn’t going to magically come to me via osmosis (although that would be pretty sweet). It was going to take reading. A lot of reading.
The digitization of modern communication has put the written word front and center in our everyday lives. We are constantly texting, tweeting, emailing, bbm’ng, g-chatting and the like. I swear we probably write more with our thumbs than the rest of our hands! We all understand that our ability to effectively articulate our thoughts, solutions, expertise and sentiments are cardinal elements of any entrepreneurial business. Everyday we’ve got to create blog posts, ad copy, auto-responders, headlines, sub-headlines. All of which are crucial elements contributing to our success.
The process of improving how we communicate is invariably different for each person. But regardless of how it happens, it’s really just about
doing it. You can’t work on your swing if you don’t go to the cages right? I was given a cool little book this past Christmas called The Elements of Style that has helped a ton with those annoying little grammar principles we often forget. Things like: its vs. it’s, when to use among vs. between, and all the dreaded rules about punctuation.
So… since I missed out on having a tweed-laden professor in corduroys with a constellation of crumbs in his beard teach me all these golden nuggets of grammar, I have this handy little text which I recommend.
It’s funny when you become a parent, and it’s time to help with homework, you realize school’s never really out. Keep improving everyone.
All my best,
Jay Kubassek
p.s. I found it online here: http://www.crockford.com/wrrrld/style.html. But I would say grab it on Amazon so you can refer to it more readily when you have questions.
Posted: June 9, 2010
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Tax season has passed. (thank God) But the life of an entrepreneur is not seasonal. In the infancy of any business, the accounting and management of the company’s finances can be the make or break component.
Here’s a couple of tax exemptions to keep in mind for the coming year. Obviously, doing something for a tax deduction isn’t good business sense, but it seems smart to add to your action items if you’re just getting started.
PLEASE NOTE: Obviously I cannot give you tax advice but I can tell you some of the things that I personally do:) Please consult a CPA before making any tax decisions! I always like to know what the parameters are and usually err on the conservative side. The last thing you want to do is attract the ire of the IRS by setting off their pretty little red flags.
Home Office: If it’s a room for storing the rusty Bowflex you can’t seem to get rid of, and the kids softball gear, that would be a “no.” But if it isn’t, glory be! I personally write of a portion of my mortgage, utilities, rent, insurance, etc. Talk to your CPA about this one… it’s a biggie.
Gifts: Sending your sponsor a nice bottle of scotch? (hint) This can be included up to $25 bucks per gift. (It adds up.) Again, check with your CPA to see how laws in your state, province, or country rule on this.
Legal and Business Expenses: Setting up your LLC, filing with the state etc. I write it all off.
Travel and Meal Expenses: I save all receipts from meals that are business related. My accountant like me to write the name of the client and nature of the meeting on the top… I stuff these in my wallet and collect in a shoe box in my office in case the tax man wants to see them. I also deduct mileage, tolls & parking fees. (Track the odometer start and finish for each trip) where your going and why. I always err on the low side and never try to push the limits with travel deductions. This is one thing the IRS looks at closely as there are a lot of people working the loop-holes.
Philanthropy: Goodwill. Red Cross. I always save the receipts and hand over to my CPA at the end of the year. With the tax bracket I am in (close to 50% all included) a $1000 donation to the Red Cross is really only costing me $500! Give away, and give often! Here are some of my favorites: http://www.jaykubassek.com/causes
Software: Adobe, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Mac software, whatever. Save your receipts… Even magazines (online or otherwise) can be included.
Cell Phone, Internet service, Land Line (Skype): If it’s used for your business, it’s PARTIALLY deductible. (Only the portion used for business purposes.)
Loan Interest: If it’s from a relative, well I can’t help you with that one:) you’ll have to make sure it conforms to IRS (or your local governments) rules.
I find that if I do the little things throughout the year, it saves me a heck of a lot of time at the end. Not to mention the bill from my accountant is less painful. Needless to say, I rest assured that I am not OVER paying as a result of laziness on my part.
Again, please be sure to get yourself a good CPA to consult you on this stuff. As an entrepreneur, this is just one of the many little annoyances you will have to tolerate.
All the best,
Jay Kubassek
Posted: June 3, 2010
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