Bill Havens, former Mr. Clean, motivational speaker

Back in 1985, when I first enrolled into DeVry Institute of Technology in Columbus, OH, one of the first things they provided to new students was an inspirational talk by a guy that for all intents and purposes I could remember only as being Mr. Clean for Procter & Gamble, and that his message was entitled "The Winner's Bounce." One thing that never stuck with me was his real name. He was known as Bill Havens, and this was his job. Thanks to a scan of one document dating from 1987 from North Canton, I finally found out his name.

He was based mainly in Central Ohio, but thank goodness he was hired to do a motivational speech in North Canton. Part of his talk involved 2 tennis balls, another point I remembered. He was good. I was motivated enough to finish my first term at DeVry with a 3.96. Various conditions contributed to my eventual failure in my 2nd term, and eventual withdrawal and a 2nd attempt at enrolling at another technical college in Columbus so I wouldn't have my student loans (meant for DeVry) come due right away. This wouldn't pan out as my room mates' plans also didn't come to fruition along with me, and since we ended up not being able to afford staying in Columbus (none of us had our own transportation), we moved home. I eventually enrolled in a local college and graduated with an Associate with Distinction (amazing difference of results due to a stable environment).

Thing is I never forgot his motivational speech. In fact, my experience with the world having been so limited at the time, I thought he was the only person doing motivational speeches. At any rate, time moved on from the mid 1980s. Mr. Havens went on to keep on doing his thing. Eventually in 2007 he even launched a website and a blog about his speeches. He posted a lot during 2007 and 2008, but oddly enough he doesn't have any posts after 2008. His main business website unfortunately is also gone, but still lingers in the Internet Archive. I wanted to find at least one video of this guy.

Unfortunately, I also found out he passed away October 12, 2014. I wonder what happened between then and his last blog post. Either 2014 or Oct 12 2008, the other date in time when October 12 was a Sunday, but info from a post on Facebook indicates 10/12/2014 was when he passed. He was only 79. You can find out about his other accomplishments, like being a football coach, but he did a great job as a motivational speaker. Well, at least his daughter continues his work.

First post of the new year, eh?

First post of the new year! So what's new? My computer services business is official. I have a vendor license and the name registered with the State of Ohio. So now I can charge sales tax. I have a page for my business on Facebook.

I found out I was a living heir to some gas and oil rights to a property in West Virginia via my mom's side of the family, extending past my grandfather to some "relatives" I had no idea I was related to. It's a part of the family that my grandfather never spoke about if he did know, but the lady from Chevron I spoke to said that he probably didn't know. I know quite a bit about my grandmother's family, my father's on his mom's side, and a little on my father's family on his father's side. So it may be no wonder that we knew nothing about my grandfather's family. I'm told that he was born in Southern Ohio which is very near this tract of land I located.

All I know is that if this was in Ohio, it would have been taxed on property taxes, seized for non-payment, and then sold at auction. I guess the laws in West Virginia are different in that you can sell the surface land but retain some of the oil and mineral rights in perpetuity. For once, a relative of mine managed to hold onto something and not lose it.

I also now own 24 Monster High dolls, with the Foreign Exchange Draculara in her Japan-inpsired Shi-Boo-Ya outfit.

The extreme cold these past 2 weeks was not conducive to working on computers. Some Sailor Moon Crystal chips I bought got a 2nd box sent that I was not charged for when I got on the online retailer's website to ask them to "make me feel like I got a good deal" when I commented on how much I felt cheated when I found out how much they sold in Japan vs the markup on their site. I am truly humbled in that they'd send me another box like that. They are the 2nd retailer for Things Otaku or Japan related that has earned my business. They do listen. I will shop carefully to make sure the price they're asking for is reasonable, and sometimes it is.

The spindle motor in mom's Zenith DVC2200 DVD player went bust, so I ordered an exact model replacement online. Hopefully it will survive the trip here and work. I think the coldness that invaded the house these past 2 weeks may have contributed. It was made in May 2000, so getting 14 years out of it was pretty good, but still... The Toshiba DVD player I got says it was made in 2007.

I also have a mouse in my kitchen gadgets drawer (currently empty) that I'm going to name Gan-chan, based on the rat / mouse from the Oh My Goddess Small Things are Handy TV anime. The reason for that is I was going to see if I could discourage Gan-chan from getting into my drawer by putting a few Wasabi Peas into the drawer and see what happens. I put 3 in the drawer and in the morning I found they were gone.

Wow. So I tried again with 5 Wasabi Peas but I sprinkled some Morton Hot Salt around them this morning. A few hours later THEY were gone, too! So Gan-chan loves Wasabi Peas, eh? So I put 2 more, but still in the area of the Hot Salt to see if it was coming back. I'm sure by this time Gan-chan has some of the cayenne pepper dusting that's in Hot Salt all over his body and right now is having an unpleasant experience licking that off itself.

So if these recent 2 peas also disappear, I'm going to make him take on the Cinnamon Challenge, and dust the entire bottom of the drawer and see what happens.