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Rock's Reality Newsletter - Volume 1, Issue 3B - Tuesday, September 10, 2024 |
"If you missed either of the first two editions, let me know. I'll be happy to send either or both to you again. I know it's a lot to read, but please take the time to do so. There is some really important and valuable information below. Please read, click the links, and let me know what you think." Thank you! - Rock Riddle Lots of Photos to be added - please check back . . . - or see them all Now HERE: https://portal.emailnetworks.com/vm.cfm?i=14EBF6B9AAE5C1F33947229F28C3AFBA IMPORTANT REMINDER: You're invited to SUNDAY'S EXCLUSIVE EVENT! I want to remind you again (yes, it's that important!) You are invited! Please join us this Sunday, September 15, for an extraordinary 4-hour event and training. Three amazing instructors, including a US Secret Service-Sheriff Department Advanced Firearms-SWAT instructor, will be teaching a unique “Firearms in Film and Television” live event in Studio City, California. Although originally designed for actors, producers, and directors, non-entertainment industry people also find the 4-hour training to be eye-opening, fascinating, educational and empowering.
3 Instructors and Only 12 Students! To ensure that all participants receive the finest individual instruction, there will be three instructors and a maximum of twelve students. The professional training tools we use look and feel like real handguns – but they 'shoot' only a low-powered laser in a reactive arcade-style environment. You will be amazed at what you learn in only four hours. Actors will learn to be absolutely believable, totally credible and safe on the set. People who own or are considering purchasing a firearm will come away from this session with clarity and understanding. This truly is one of the best and most important events you will ever experience. We Must Be Our Own First Responders! With domestic and 'imported' violent crime accelerating at an alarming rate, there are millions of law-abiding people considering their options for self, home, and family security. All of us have smoke detectors in our homes and most of us have at least one fire extinguisher. Why? We know that calling 9-1-1 will result in a firetruck arriving in 5, 10, 15, or 20 minutes. If there are other 'more important' fires, the time can be considerably longer. With our own fire extinguisher(s), we can fight the fire. We can slow it down or maybe even extinguish it. However . . . Did you know that, statistically, you are 40 times more likely to have criminals break into your home to potentially do you harm than you are to have your home burn? The average national police response time is 11-20 minutes - sometimes much longer - sometimes not at all. Yes, we've all heard the expression "When seconds count, law enforcement is only minutes away." We must be our own (and our family's) first responder. This 4-hour training will give answers to those who are considering the "be your own first responder" scenarios. So, yes, it's a fantastic firearms training and firearms safety class - and it's a LOT more. Please join us.
My Gift to You! Click the Eventbrite link below. You'll be pleasantly surprised to see how low the fee is for this unique event. Use the promotional code “ThankYouRock” (without the quotation marks and with no spaces) for a BIG additional discount. Complete information, including 23 photos and a video, is HERE. Tickets are available at the link. I know many of us are reluctant to click links in an email. If you're like me and would rather cut and paste, here’s the url: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/certified-firearms-course-for-actors-producers-and-directors-tickets-923299472577 Future events will be listed here: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/hollywood-success-marketing-and-public-relations-1369849289 Please visit the link. There’s an amazing amount of information there. Although there are very few tickets left, please feel free to share this information with a friend – after you have RSVP’d. Thank you! One final thought concerning this live event. If you’re out of the area, it’s definitely worth your time to drive or fly in for this one. Yes, it's that important!
"I'm Back!"
Last week I was in North Carolina for a few days. I took care of some business matters, worked with a couple of students, visited my 100-year-old mother, and took care of an internet connection challenge there. Even though I solved the challenge, I had a Spectrum technician come out and check my work. It's amazing the amount of assistance, knowledge, and inside information you can receive by simply being friendly to people. Because the technician felt appreciated and comfortable with me, he shared some interesting information. "I suggest you buy your own router," he told me. "Spectrum buys tons of routers at the very lowest prices they can," he continued. "Buy a good router and take that one back to Spectrum." We discussed the pros and cons of the best routers. I called the local Best Buy. Not totally surprisingly, the local Best Buy phone number was answered by someone in the Republic of the Philippines. I was assured that the router I wanted was in stock locally. It wasn't, but I made friends with the manager at the NC Best Buy who suggested another, superior router. I installed it and it's working very well! Back to the NC Spectrum technician for a moment. I asked him about fiber. "Oh, our company doesn't offer that here yet," he told me. "But your competition does," I offered. He looked quickly to his right, then to his left, as though he wanted to make sure nobody else could hear what he was about to say. "There's no question," he told me. "If you have a choice, go with fiber." Being friendly and treating people respectively is a win-win situation. The fact that doing so oftentimes opens doors - and creates occasional discounts - is simply the 'icing on the cake.' This reminds me of one of many conversations I've had with my doctor. I remember him asking, "So, Rock, I'm not going to be able to sell you those shots, am I? Oh, well, there goes my Pfizer commission." Then he would quickly look around, lower his voice, smile and say, "You don't need that. Personally, I wouldn't take it." I get special consideration and discounts simply because I'm nice to the sales person, manager, etc. If that's of interest, let me know and I'll discuss it in more depth in a future newsletter. And, of course, it will be in my upcoming "Simply Wonderful" book.
Every Day Above Ground is a Good Day! I've been back in the Redlands, CA area for a few days now. I bought a higher-end powerful router for my home here. I installed it. The Spectrum router is now on the counter awaiting it's final trip back to Spectrum. Disconnecting the Spectrum router and installing the new tp-link Archer 11000 went fairly well. Except it took eight of my security cameras offline. The six Deep Sentinel cameras are back online today thanks to the assistance of a friendly, knowledgeable and highly qualified senior technician (Sean). Deep Sentinel is the company with live guards monitoring your home constantly, talking with the bad guys at 100+ decibels, preventing crime, and receiving quick response from law enforcement. The live guards have stopped at least one home invasion here as well as several thefts - and more! If interested, let me know and I'll share more personal experience with the company. I can even share video of the actual attempted home invasion and the law enforcement follow-up.
Rental Car Drama, Airport Security Search, Interaction with Law Enforcement
Rock Riddle at the controls of an aircraft considerably larger and more complex than his Grumman Tiger I'll bring you up to date on my latest trip. You may find this of interest: When I arrived at RDU (Raleigh-Durham, NC) International Airport, I took the shuttle to Hertz Car Rental. My reservation had been made two months prior and was confirmed. After waiting in a very long, excruciatingly slow-moving line for well over half an hour, finally I made my way to the counter. I did as I had done over a hundred times before. I handed the counter lady my drivers license, reservation confirmation number, and credit card. "That's a debit card, We need a credit card." the lady said. "Just use that one. I know you block $500 extra, but I prefer to use that card," I responded. "No, we need a credit card. Otherwise we cannot rent you a car" was the response. I asked for her manager who told me the same thing. Apparently a confirmed reservation meant nothing. I asked for the manager's manager and, again, was told that I needed a credit card. "There are thousands of dollars on that debit card. I have another two thousand in cast in my pocket that you can hold if necessary." I handed him my business card. "Oh, that's who you are," he said, seemingly impressed. I got a lot of apologies and "I would if I could" statements, but he couldn't help. I smiled and said, "Well, I've been kicked out of better places than this . . . point me in the direction of your closest competition." I walked across the road and down the street to Enterprise. Nice, accommodating, friendly, and very helpful staff - all of them! Suffice it to say that I will never deal with Hertz again. My go-to car rental is now Enterprise!
On Wednesday, I turned in my Enterprise car, made a slight detour past the Enterprise counter to say goodbye and thank you to the staff and management. The shuttle driver seemed happy to see me and loaded my luggage onto the bus. "I got a few people on their way, but if you're pressed for time, we'll leave right now," he said. I was the only person on the bus. I had about two and a half hours before my flight would board, so we sat there and talked for about five minutes before others joined us. I checked in at the Southwest ticket counter. While filling out my little declaration form, a lady came out from the back, looked at me, and said, "I know you!" "Does that mean I won't be able to fly today?" I asked with a half smile. "As long as TSA is okay with you, I am" she said. She proceeded to explain to the other employee who I was. I'm always flattered when that happens. A third lady said, "You look familiar. Have we met?" I looked at the other two ladies, then back at her and responded. "I don't think so . . . you would have remembered me." Everyone smiled and I headed to the departure gate. TSA must have been okay with my checked luggage. As usual, they didn't come out and ask me to unlock the container inside - although I always hope they will. Going through airport security is an adventure. I have a procedure for securing everything before it goes through the machine. Occasionally, there will be a spot or two showing on the machine that scans me and I an agent asks if he or she can check by feel those areas. "Absolutely," I usually say. "If I like it, can I go through the machine a second time and get patted down again?" Even the most serious of agents usually break character and smile. Oh, yes. Then comes the opportunity for an agent to pull one or more of the trays to the side to do a secondary search. This happened in Raleigh. Surprisingly, it was not my carryon bag. It was the tray containing my shoes, belt, and jacket. I watched as they swabbed and x-rayed my dress boots. They must have looked suspicious. Yes, the same dress boots that have successfully gone through airport security nearly a hundred times before. I talked with a couple of the TSA agents. I must have gained the trust of one who answered my respectfully-asked question, "A lot of what you do is for show, isn't it?" "Yes," he said, "but we also find and stop some very interesting items." That was an interesting conversation. I had a 2 1/2 hour layover at Dallas' Love Field. I walked up and down and all around as I usually do, stopping to say hello to some interesting individuals. Even though it was still very early, I ended up at my departure gate. There was a very large Southwest Airlines mural taking an entire wall. Unfortunately, right in the middle of the mural, there was a flat screen TV covering a small section. I thought it was esthetically displeasing. When I noticed what was showing on the screen, it became even more irritating. Let's just say it was what is generally considered to be the purveyor of extreme political propaganda. Was I offended? Well, mostly I was irritated. Mind control and PsyOps (Psychological Operations) are alive and well, and unfortunately most people don't think for themselves. Always question everything. Whatever you believe, look at and argue the other side. Research. Your truths may change. Mine do and will likely change several more times in the future. Remember to ask the question "Why?" I pointed out the screen covering a portion of their mural to Southwest agents. "To whom do I complain?" I asked. They thought the city of Dallas TX controlled the content - and that the city had an office in the airport. I walked quite a way before I arrived at the Dallas Police central area. I said hello to two wonderful officers there. They were both wearing mourning bands on their badges. I asked them about the wall and the really unusual choice of networks for an airport in Dallas, Texas. "A ton of people moved to Dallas from California. It's not what it used to be. Need I say more?" the first officer said. "So they brought with them exactly what they moved out of California to get away from?" I asked, in a slight state of shock. "Yes, Texas is still Texas," the second officer added, "but out of state people - the newcomers - are destroying some of the large cities." We talked for about half an hour. We talked firearms and training and about the Firearms in Film and Television training we do in Southern California for the Entertainment Industry. I asked them about the mourning bands on their badges. Three officers had been ambushed and shot. One died. That was a difficult portion of our conversation. We had a little contest to see who could tell the worst joke. I felt good walking back to my gate. I had brightened up those two officers' day. It was like three strangers bonding. I hope I see them again. For sure, I will look for them when I'm at Dallas Love Field again. Next week I'll have a lot more to share with you. In closing, let me encourage you to PLEASE REGISTER for Sunday's 4-hour training. It is an extraordinary experience and a wonderful learning opportunity. Look at the first paragraph at the top of this newsletter and click the link. I sincerely hope to see you Sunday. Below are a few items from last week's newsletter I wanted to share again with you . . .
THE PREVIOUS BOOK
“My last book outsold ‘Harry Potter!’” Years ago, I wrote a book about success in Hollywood (“How to Become a Magnet to Hollywood Success”) that became an Amazon.com #1 Best Seller in its category. In fact, it even outsold ‘Harry Potter’ when 'Harry Potter' was the best-selling book of all time – for just over an hour on Amazon.com. The book's success was in large part due to the marketing of the book. Marketing is one of the major keys/secrets of success!
THE UPCOMING BOOK A great number of friends encouraged me for over a dozen years to write my life story. Even though I’ve been in the public eye for most of my adult life, off-camera I’ve always been a private person. To open my public and private life to the world was quite a challenge. For those who have waited, I expect to have the book completed and published early next year and possibly as early as the holidays this year. I guarantee it will be worth the wait! THE BOOK WEBSITE A challenge I have is reducing the “Simply Wonderful” book down to 800 pages or so while including all that is pertinent to the story. Even if the book ends up as two volumes, it will be necessary to leave a lot out. The plan is to have a website that accompanies the book containing hundreds of photos and videos. It will also contain video interviews with many of the people mentioned in the book. And, if anyone’s recollection differs from mine, I will invite that person to share his or her version of history either in an online article or a video interview. The book and the website will continue to evolve.
TWO SPECIAL REQUESTS
PRIVATE FIREARMS INSTRUCTION I usually avoid discussing anything that can be construed as political. Self-defense and firearms are, unfortunately, political. In this case, however, I think the subject is important enough to mention it here. I am an excellent firearms instructor and competitive shooter. I am based in Southern California, and I teach mostly at private ranges here. Whether you’ve never touched a real gun or whether you’re a pro, I have a lot I can teach you. Email me with “Firearms Training” in the subject line. My fees for private instruction are about 40% less than most ‘advanced’ professional instructors, and I’m a considerably better instructor than most. If you’re far from Southern California but seriously interested, consider scheduling 1-5 sequential intensive private training days and driving or flying in for the training. Limited training in other states is also available. Just ask. Use TheRealRockRiddle(at)gmail.com for the fastest response. Thanks.
Please let me know how you liked this newsletter What did you like? What did you not like? What would you like to see included in the next issue? Please remember to RSVP for September 15th. I sincerely hope to see you there. Again, the promotional code "ThankYouRock" (without the quotation marks and with no spaces) will get you a substantial discount off the already low fee. Thanks again and all the best! Rock Riddle, President Hollywood Success Marketing & Public Relations  |
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