Own Lumber Liquidators Laminate Flooring?

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If you own Lumber Liquidator’s laminate flooring, you might want to listen to the report by CBS’s 60 Minutes (above). Anderson Cooper tells consumers that the flooring they bought at Lumber liquidations, according to their tests across the country, are made with formaldehyde and are exceeding indoor air pollution levels designated by the EPA.  Some samples 20 times higher than what is considered safe and acceptable.

I find this story so interesting because in the last month, I was in the market for a new wood floor, and I went to Lumber Liquidators to look at their products, and my experience at their store really raised my eyebrows. I ended up not buying their product because I simply didn’t trust them. While I wasn’t looking at laminate flooring, I was looking at hardwood floor. And several of the products I was interested in (red oak) were not available. I waited three weeks and checked again, and still no stock. That was a bad sign considering the store was totally empty on my visit. I was the only customer.

I even called the retailer a couple of times to find out when they’d get more product in, and they told me they didn’t know. You don’t make money without a a product on the shelves to sell. And it certainly wasn’t flying off the shelves with no one in the store.

Of course they said they were happy to order me what I needed, but I saw a huge downfall in that offer. If I had a bad batch, I was going to stuck in a loop waiting for more orders, and what if the orders didn’t match, or had quality issues. I saw my project turning into many months of hassles without much effort. I saw a lose/lose scenario before I even started.

When I asked the store clerk if I could return boards that were defective, he told me no. They would only switch entire boxed bundles. Without inventory, it was a deal breaker. I also found that they had bad reviews online in the middle of doing my homework. Upon finding out, I called the store and identified that I saw that they had bad reviews. I asked them how they would stand by their product if different quality issues arose and they said that no one had returned a box of the product I wanted in over two years.

I didn’t buy it for one minute after reading dozens and dozens of bad reviews, and seeing a video of YouTube of the exact problems encountered.

Naturally, I decided to go elsewhere. They had a handful of red flags that told me not to buy their product before I saw the 60 Minutes report.

Now seeing Lumber Liquidators in the news and watching the owner talk, I am confident I made the right decision not to trust Lumber Liquidators. Seeing the the owner talk to Cooper, I do not trust him.

Blake Seylhouwer Takes Stand

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Blake Seylhouwer, a former radio host, says he “accidentally shot at” his wife in the testimony above. He says he didn’t mean to cause her harm, but the bullet from his high-powered rifled sprayed shrapnel and bits of concrete when it hit their driveway injuring Beylhouwer’s wife, Misty.

Misty testified that she believes her husband Blake fired at her on purpose.

When I watch Blake above, I don’t believe him whatsoever. The amount of clues he gives off in a short amount of time is staggering.

What Does Your Profile Picture Say About You?

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(First published on LinkedIn February 13, 2015)

One of the key elements of a LinkedIn profile is a photograph. Photographs can be very revealing about a person. They can reveal if a person is happy, approachable, confident and professional. Or they can do the opposite. They can convey negative emotions, a threatening pose and show an unprofessional side. I suggest you chose your photo wisely because your photo does matter.

When people join LinkedIn, you assume they want to make positive connections, so I am always stunned when I see a professionally accomplished person putting up a photo of themselves that shows a negative, threatening, or unprofessional image. I can’t help but think they don’t realize the messages they are sending.

No one wants to reach out to a grumpy face, or a face that is looking down upon you (contemptuous). Or worse, a face that looks threatening or ominous. People will turn away.

So to aid people, here are my guidelines on how to submit a photo with a facial expression that will communicate a positive vibe for you:

  1. Make sure your picture shows you relaxed and comfortable
  2. If you are happy with yourself smiling, post a photo of you truly feeling happy or positive. This is the best profile picture you can post!
  3. If you don’t like to smile or its not natural for you (that’s okay!), post a neutral expression, but make sure there are no negative undertones in the photo
  4. Avoid negative undertones in a photo:
    (a) Looking down your nose
    (b) Forehead back, chin forward

    1. (“a” and “b” above both denote arrogance)

    (c) Tension in your face

    1. i. Lines in your forehead
    2. ii. Tense or tight lips
    3. iii. Squinting or glaring eyes
    4. iv. Eyebrows pulled down
      1. (ii-iv are suggestive of anger)

    (d) Frowning or down turned lips
    (e) Drooping eyes, heavy eyelids or heavy face

    1. (d) and (e) are signs of sadness, can suggest lack of motivation

    (f) Upper lip pulled upwards without a smile
    (g) Nose wrinkled and pulled upwards

    1. (f) and (g) are signs of disgust

None of these elements in number four above are going to signal positive traits about you. But by far the worst offenders I see are those who post pictures of themselves making the contempt expression, which is a half-smile. A contempt expression is a universal expression identified by scientists that is expressed by all people. So if you are human and feel contempt, you will make this expression regardless of where you live on the planet, what your race or ethnicity is, what language you speak, etc.

And while we all make contempt expressions–it’s a fact of life–I do not recommend putting a photo of yourself in your profile expressing this emotion. It is a very negative emotion which can signal a looking-down-upon-others attitude, an attitude of superiority as in “I’m better than you”, or in a low level situation a complete disbelief and disregard for what a person is hearing or seeing.

Here is an example of a contempt expression for you.

contempt

And here is a link to another one.

If you are going to take the time to publish a profile of yourself on anywhere on the web, put your best face forward!

Brian Williams Contradictions

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Many of you inquired about my thoughts on Brian Williams when the story broke last week. Williams was giving tribute to a retired solider at a New York Rangers hockey game at the end of January when he said he was in a helicopter that was hit by RPGs in Iraq in 2003.  When the soldiers who were there heard his tribute, they realized his story was inaccurate, and hence the story broke last week.

I normally would have commented, but I unfortunately threw out my back shoveling during Chicago’s blizzard, had to cancel a three day class, and was subsequently in a lot of pain and on my back. And when people are in pain, they don’t think clearly, so I refrained.

Williams said at the Ranger’s hockey game, “The story actually started with a terrible moment a dozen years back during the invasion of Iraq when the helicopter we were traveling in was forced down after being hit by an RPG…Our traveling NBC News team was rescued, surrounded and kept alive by an armor mechanized platoon from the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry.”

Feeling better now, and looking at the story again, I don’t think people need much more information now nor do you need to be a lie detector to see the truth. Williams clearly is caught telling different versions of the same events–yes, events–in his life now.  Over and over again. It’s truly troubling.

CNN put together a good video here showing some of his contradictions. It can’t be disputed that something is amiss.  Furthermore, in the video by CNN, Williams seems to actually take delight in duping people.  Do you see it?

It’s very sad to see someone so respected for doing an a good job sabotage himself to this degree.  This can happen for multiple reasons. The few that come to mind initially are because they love the ego-boosting attention that comes with impressive stories (ooh, wow, OMG, you are amazing, how do you do it?), or because they get joy in thinking they are smarter than others and no one will notice (it becomes a game).  What other motivations do you think one would have to conflate stories like Williams has?

 

Bobbi Kristina Brown: Who Found her?

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Reading the news this morning, I see a report by MSN that says Bobbi Kristina Brown’s boyfriend’s friend, Max Lomas, is the one who found Bobbi Kristina unresponsive.  Not her boyfriend, Nick Gordon.  I find that odd–especially if Gordon was home.

According to the article, it says that Lomas let a cable guy in the home, showed him around and according to Lomas’ attorney, it was the cable company that prompted Lomas to seek out Bobbi Kristina. When Bobbi Kristina didn’t respond, he went in to check on her and found her unresponsive. He then screamed for Gordon.

That seems odd, doesn’t it?

What guy friend seeks out the girlfriend when his friend is supposedly home?  Especially in a master bedroom (I’m speculating) and bathroom?

What guy opens the bathroom door on his friend’s girlfriend? Wouldn’t the normal reaction be to have the boyfriend check on her first considering he is supposedly home?

Where was Gordon that he couldn’t help the cable company, or call for Bobbi Kristina, but that he was reachable by screaming?  I mean he wasn’t in the master bedroom (guessing that is where Bobbi Kristina was)–so where was he?

There are some flags here that I’m really curious about. I’d like to hear the answers to these questions.  I’m not saying there is anything conclusive but my eyebrows are definitely up!

If the 911 call comes out, or if her boyfriend Gordon or friend Lomas speak out, please let me know.