National Fresh Squeezed Juice Week – You Can Just Squeeze the Change

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Admin

Nothing beats fresh! Nothing!

Most people may not know it, but this week celebrates National Fresh Squeezed Juice Week. Odd, I know – to have a week dedicated to celebrating the joys of squeezing your own juice. When we received an email from one of our Members about it (thank you Deb K. from Florida), we kind giggled. But the more we thought about it, the more it made sense. And after a little research we discovered that the National Fresh Squeezed Juice Week was definitely worth mention!

Sure, you can run to the store and grab your favorite vegetable or fruit juice right off the shelf, but it seems to me that you aren’t really getting what you pay for. in fact, you are paying more and getting less.  You aren’t really getting the pure juice – you get the preservatives, sugars, and other additives that can even cancel out the healthiness of your beloved concoction. Not to mention you are paying for the water, bottle, costs of manufacturing, transportation, and the company’s costs of marketing the juice.

So the idea of a better way seems like something to consider – fresh squeezed juice is fresher, less expensive, and healthier (just like our air filter subscription service). In fact, when you drink fruits and vegetables you absorb up to 80% more of the nutrients. In addition to all the health benefits to drinking fresh squeezed juice, it’s a great way to detoxify your body. With just a little practice, you will find that it really doesn’t take that much time or effort. Plus, squeezing your own juices is friendly to environment – no containers to throw away and no manufacturing carbon footprint.

In the same way you have changed how you have your home air filters delivered with the Fresh Air Club, take a moment to consider changing the way you think about your juice – from your ordinary bottled juice routine to the quality of freshly squeezed juice at home. Get a juicer – it’s worth it!  Not only will you save money, you will be making a change that will benefit your health in the new year!

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Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant Teaches Us Integrity Still Means Something!

Posted on January 12, 2011 by Admin

We Win As a Team.

At a Touchdown Club meeting many years ago, Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant told the following story:
 
I had just been named the new head coach at Alabama and was off in my old car down in South  Alabama recruiting a prospect who was supposed to have been a pretty good player, and I was having  trouble finding the place. Getting hungry, I spied an old cinderblock building with a small sign out front that simply said  ”Restaurant.” I pull up, go in, and every head in the place turns to stare at me. Seems I’m the only white fella in the place. But the food smelled good, so I skip a table and go up to a cement bar and sit. A big ole man in a tee shirt and cap comes over and says, “What do you need?”

I told him I needed lunch and what did they have today? He says, “You probably won’t like it here. Today we’re having chitlins, collard greens and black-eyed peas with cornbread. I’ll bet you don’t even know what chitlins are, do you?”(small intestines of hogs prepared as food in the deep South). I looked him square in the eye and said, “I’m from Arkansas , and I’ve probably eaten a mile of them. Sounds like I’m in the right place.” They all smiled as he left to serve me up a big plate. When he comes back he says, “You ain’t from around here then?”

I explain I’m the new football coach up in Tuscaloosa at the University and I’m here to find whatever that boy’s name was, and he says, “Yeah I’ve heard of him, he’s supposed to be pretty good.” And he gives me directions to the school so I can meet him and his coach. As I’m paying up to leave, I remember my manners and leave a tip, not too big to be flashy, but a good one, and he told me lunch was on him, but I\ told him for a lunch that good, I felt I should pay. The big man asked me if I had a photograph or something he could hang up to show I’d been there. I was so new that I didn’t have any yet. It really wasn’t that big a thing back then to be asked for, but I took a napkin and wrote his name  and address on it and told him I’d get him one.I met the kid I was looking for later that afternoon and I don’t  remember his name, but do remember I didn’t think much of him when I met him.

I had wasted a day, or so I thought. When I got back to Tuscaloosa late that night, I took that napkin from my shirt pocket and put it under my keys so I wouldn’t forget it. Back then I was excited that anybody would want a picture of me.  The next day we found a picture and I wrote on it, “Thanks for the best lunch I’ve ever had.”

Now let’s go a whole buncha years down the road. Now we have black players at Alabama and I’m back down in that part of the country scouting an offensive lineman we sure needed.  Y’all remember, (and I forget the name, but it’s not important to the story), well anyway, he’s got two friends going to Auburn and he tells me he’s got his heart set on Auburn too, so I leave empty handed and go on to see some others while I’m down there.

Two days later, I’m in my office in Tuscaloosa and the phone rings and it’s this kid who just turned me  down, and he says, “Coach, do you still want me at Alabama ?” And I said, “Yes I sure do.” And he says OK, he’ll come. And I say, “Well son, what changed your mind?” And he said, “When my grandpa found out that I had a chance to play for you and said no, he pitched a fit and told me I wasn’t going nowhere but Alabama, and wasn’t playing for nobody but you. He thinks a lot of you and has ever since y’all met.” 

Well, I didn’t know his granddad from Adam’s housecat so I asked him who his granddaddy was and he said, “You probably don’t remember him, but you ate in his restaurant your first year at Alabama and you sent him a picture that he’s had hung in that place ever since. That picture’s his pride and joy and he still tells everybody about the day that Bear Bryant came in and had chitlins with him…”

“My grandpa said that when you left there, he never expected you to remember him or to send him that picture, but you kept your word to him and to Grandpa, that’s everything. He said you could teach me more than football and I had to play for a man like you, so I guess I’m going to.” I was floored. But I learned that the lessons my mama taught me were always right. It don’t cost nuthin’ to be nice. It don’t cost nuthin’ to do the right thing most of the time, and it costs a lot to lose your good name by breaking your word to someone. When I went back to sign that boy, I looked up his Grandpa and he’s still running  that place, but it looks a lot better now. And he didn’t have chitlins that day, but he had some ribs that would make Dreamland proud.  I made sure I posed for a lot of pictures; and don’t think I didn’t leave some new ones for him, too, along with a signed football.

I made it clear to all my assistants to keep this story and these lessons in mind when they’re out on the  road. If you remember anything else from me, remember this. It really doesn’t cost anything to be nice, and the rewards can be unimaginable.
Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant           
*********************************
Editor’s Note: Coach Bryant was in the presence of those few gentlemen for only minutes, and he defined himself for life. Regardless of our profession, we do define ourselves by how we treat others, and how we behave in the presence of others, and most of the time, we have only minutes or seconds to leave a lasting impression. We can be rude, crude, arrogant, cantankerous, or we can be nice. Nice is always a better choice.

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3 Things To Change To Improve Your Health This New Year

Posted on January 10, 2011 by Admin

It's a fresh, New Year. Make it a healthier one, too!

We hope that you all had a safe and fun holiday season, as well as made some promising New Year resolutions! Considering this is the start of a new year and there are many things that you can do to improve your lifestyle, we decided to come up with three different ways to improve your health in 2011 and get on the right track early.

Fast Food Friday

We aren’t going to tell you what to eat or to trade out your bag of chips for an apple or anything like that. We know that you like your chips just as much as we like our Fast Food Fridays!  We know that it hard to just change your eating habits all at once – no matter what anyone tells. To take a different approach, our team came up with the concept of Fast Food Fridays in an effort encourage everyone in the office not to eat fast foods until Friday. Then we all compare just what we had for lunch (who spent the least, or ate the healthiest, or the un-healthiest) – which is always kind of fun! You would be surprised at how much of a difference that has made in how healthier all of us eat during the week.

 Two other ways you can eat healthier is be more aware of what you are eating through label awareness and try something new or different that is a healthier choice.

 First, it is important and beneficial to your health to know what you are putting into your body. Label awareness and reading the fine print can really make the choice for you and what you are putting into your body. Do ingredients like high fructose corn syrup, caramel color and phosphoric acid sound appetizing? Not really, but those are the top ingredients of Coca-Cola. We aren’t saying that it’s going to change your mind about chugging a Coke at 4 in the afternoon, however it is something to definitely want to think about and to know what you are putting into your body.

Apart from ingredients, consider how many calories and what a “serving size” actually entails. Also, check the package and make sure you know the difference between food products labeled “light” (must contain 50% less fat or 1/3 the calories of the original product), “reduced fat” (must contain 25% less fat per serving) and “fat free” (where the food must contain .5 grams of fat). It’s important to recognize these differences and base your choices on what best suites you.

Lastly, change it up this year by trying something new or that you haven’t had in a really long time. You never know what you are really going to enjoy unless you give it a chance and you might be surprised by the outcome. By trying different things and making different choices, you can open your world up to a lot of food opportunities that might not only be healthier, but also more enjoyable!

Get Some YOU TIME that will make you feel  healthier!

This isn’t the part where we lecture you about joining a gym or walking an additional 15 minutes a day or anything like that. What we really encourage that you do is take a little more time out of your day for yourself.

Whether you take 10 to 15 minutes in the morning over a cup of coffee or 10 minutes in the evening lying in bed, find a way to capture 10 minutes out of your day for you. Think about everything you have accomplished as an individual, where you really want to get to in life and how you are going to achieve those goals. Being healthy is really about appreciating yourself and giving yourself the right amount of time and credit to reflect on those things – you can even do that while taking a walk around the neighborhood!

Imagine what you could discover out of 30 minutes a day. It doesn’t always have to be just about you either, take 10 minutes with a spouse, loved one or friend when you don’t need the solo-time and really discuss and talk about who you are as people, and not just the day-to-day questions of “did you pay bills?” or “is the laundry folded?” Really make more out of your conversations and the people that are involved in your life, 10 minutes at a time. Discover, learn and grow. 

Take a Deep Breath of Fresh Air

Now is the time to really change the way that you think about your indoor air quality, your home air filters, and what you are doing to improve what you breathe in. There are plenty of articles, news stories, and evidence to support how unhealthy indoor air quality can impact your health. We are asking you to really consider this and make a change in 2011 – not just read or discuss. Really change the way you change your home air filters.

Keeping your indoor environment healthy will only provide improvements to your health and lifestyle as well as benefit all of those living inside your home – even including your pets! Now is the time to improve on the quality of the environment that you are living in – all by just have your home air filters delivered and changed on a regular basis. By improving your indoor air quality using superior air filters, you’ll improve your health! That means fewer doctor’s appointments for illness, allergies and even asthma.

What it really comes down to is that it is time to change the way you think about the air that you breathe.

Welcome to 2011! We are looking forward to a great year serving you as our Members. We hope you make it a great year!

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9 Things You Can Set Up Automatically To Reduce Stress and Save Time (and Money!)

Posted on November 30, 2010 by Admin

Time-Savers Become Money-Savers!

Ever wish that you could set all of life’s chores and demands on auto-pilot? It definitely sounds like a good way to help alleviate stress and clear up a little more free time to spend on enjoying some extra “me-time” or with family. Although life isn’t simple enough to set up everything automatically, here are 9 different ways that you can put life on auto-pilot that will help clear up some additional time, perhaps take a knot out of your back and safe a little money doing so!

1. Go paperless and set up automatic bill pay

Every month, like clockwork, a plethora of bills comes into your mail box. The amount of paper can be overwhelming and hard to deal with: sorting priority bills, filing them away, keeping a list of what still needs to be addressed. Sometimes it feels easily to just through the stack to the side, however this can lead to forgetting to pay bills and accruing late fees.

By going paperless you can save time and energy since statements are delivered to your e-mail. You can easily sort and file statements, and in some cases, set up auto-filing through your e-mail. This also helps reduce storage space in your home and allows for easy electronic searches if you need to go back and access any of these documents, saving time and energy. Also, there is an added bonus: security. By being paperless, it helps to decrease the threat of becoming a victim of identity theft. Setting up automatic bill pay or just paying online can help eliminate late fees and interest charges. By making payments on time, you can improve your credit score and lower the interest rate of future investments. Also, you save time and money in reducing the costs of writing checks and trying to get them in the mail in time.

 2. Set-up an online calendar

One of the biggest benefits of setting up an online calendar is the availability that you have to access it at all times, especially if you have a phone with internet access. Most e-mail accounts have this service available already, so you don’t have to invest much time in trying to find the service online and worry about an additional cost. This helps if you need to make a schedule arrangement last minute without worrying about if there might be a conflicting event or wasting time trying to get back to wherever your have your calendar located. With an online calendar, you can also set up reminders, especially for important events that can alert you 30 minutes or 3 hours ahead of time. They are beneficial for group planning as well, especially in the family for reminders of kids’ soccer events, special dinners and birthdays.

3. Set-up timers to water the lawn and plants

When you set up timers to water the lawn and plants, you don’t have to stress about the time investment to get the task done or forgetting to water altogether, especially if you happen to go out of town. Plus you don’t have to make further arrangements to make sure the task is done if you are not available to do it yourself.  Also, when you set up a timer, you don’t have to worry about over watering (and potentially drowning) your plants. You’ll be able to save money due to water conservation (up to 60% less water used with a timer!), which equals a lower water bill each month.

 4. Have groceries delivered

Having your groceries delivered, especially the key essentials, can save time, energy and money. By going online and clicking which groceries you desire, you can save the time of trying to find them within the store, as well as the gas getting to and from. Plus you can have groceries delivered at your convenience: within a few hours or on a certain day. You don’t have to worry about forgetting anything either.

5. Tweet local news, traffic and weather

Signing up for Twitter can allow you to stay one step ahead when you tune into your local weather, news and traffic. The best part is that it helps keep you informed on the go and can be accessible to your convenience. By having weather updates, it can decrease the stress of worrying about if you’ll need a jacket or umbrella. Also, nobody likes sitting in traffic, so by knowing before you go allows you to take a different route home if need be.

6. Install a timer thermostat

Did you know that by properly installing and using a timer (or programmable) thermostat in your home is one of the easiest ways you can save energy and money? The benefits of having a timer thermostat allow for you to control the settings of both heating and cooling to adjust for when you are home or not. You don’t have to worry or stress about accidentally leaving the air conditioning on. Also, you can adjust the settings to different temperatures for when you are home and active or when you go to sleep.

7. Having your air filters delivered

One of the best things about being a member of the Fresh Air Club is that it allows you to not have to worry about remembering the last time you changed your air filter and how grimy it may be when you finally do remember. Having your air filters delivered to you is the reminder itself to change it out, quick and easy. By frequently changing your air filters, you are also saving money on your electricity bills since your air conditioner doesn’t have to work as hard to pump out air, plus saving money on not having to make trips to the store, let alone the stress of having to remember the sizes you need when you get to the store. Better yet, by changing out your air filter, you are improving your indoor air quality, health and overall living environment: particularly when you keep your air filters clean!

8. Automatic coffee maker

One of the biggest advantages of having an automatic coffee maker is that it frees up time in the morning that allows you to get other activities done: helping the kids get ready for school, getting ready for work or eating breakfast. Apart from having to set it the night before, it is does help eliminate one less morning stress you have to deal with. Plus, most automatic coffee makers have the function of self-turning off, just in case you forget to on your way out the door, you don’t have to worry about it running without supervision.

 9. DVR has changed the way we watch TV

Having and using a DVR can alleviate stress by being able to record or pause TV programs and watching them at a more convenient time for your schedule. Watching a scheduled recording allows you to free up additional time by skipping over commercials. You can easily access multiple shows recorded, decide if you want to keep programming and watch as many times as you like. 

Remember, every moment of your day counts so make the most of every day by eliminating the tasks that can manage themselves!

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An Attitude of Gratitude on this Thanksgiving Day!

Posted on November 24, 2010 by Admin

We wish you and your family a wonderful Turkey Day!

The Team at the Fresh Air Club is thankful for so many things. This week in our team meeting we highlighted some those to one another as a way of sharing, as a team, those unique things that have impacted us individually and as a company. Our thanks to Angela, who suggested we share those on our blog. So here they are.

We are thankful for…

Our Members: If we named them all individually, I am sure we would have some serious privacy concerns, lol! We are thankful to all of you who have joined the Fresh Air Club over the last two years – from our friends and family who were our first Members to our most recent that joined the Club yesterday – we truly value your trust in us and your business! (and yes, your air filters will still be on-time even though we will be fat and happy!) Your  feedback and ideas have been a large part of our continued growth and success as America’s favorite air filter delivery service.

Our Friends,  Advisors, and Partners: We are honored to have the close relationships that we do. We can’t thank you enough for your vision, foresight, and ideas that have improved and challenged our air filter delivery service. A special thanks to our legal counsel – Eric, you have been invaluable through-out this process. All of you have helped make this model a success – from our manufacturing to delivery to recycling. We all thank you for helping a dream become reality.

Those who serve in our military: We are proud to be Americans. Taking nothing away from any other country where we love to visit, we are just grateful for our own! We are grateful for those who are willing to sacrifice and serve our Constitution, and who wear the uniform of our Armed Services. We also thank all of those at the USO, Wounded Warriors, and other great organizations that we support who help these men and women in some of their greatest time of need. We also extend a special thanks to our friends in law enforcement, fire, and healthcare – your service is as inspiring as it is heroic.  May God bless you and your families!

Our good health: As a team this year we have been blessed with good health. (Someone actually joked it was because we all change our air filters regularly – and that may be true – lol.) The blessing of good health has extended to our families, even through some moments this year when we thought things might have looked ominous. Thank God. We hope the best for everyone in the coming year!

Fast Food Friday: Yeah, we all laughed about this one, too! But it’s true. We love sharing in the moment of “cheating” on our health kick diets every once and awhile together. Please forgive us, but we really are thankful (I think that was actually said with a mouthful of cheeseburger).

Teachers: We have been honored this year to meet a number of educators through-out the country when talking about indoor air quality education! It’s not an easy job and certainly for not enough pay. We are especially thankful for some of the teachers each of us has had – a few of us had some fun stories to tell that certainly brought back memories. Great teachers make all the difference, and we are all still learning. Thank you for teaching the next generation of civic and business leaders.

Facebook and Twitter: Oddly enough, these two social media networks have been instrumental in helping us better communicate with each other, Members, Partners, and friends. As Marc so eloquently said, “without those two, keeping up would be a daunting challenge.” We are also thankful for everyone who helps us share the word about indoor air quality, health, energy savings, and environmental stewardship. (Some of us are wondering if this means we are all getting iphones for Christmas? Ya know, to better communicate?!?)

The challenges of 2010: Because they’ve made us stronger as a company and wiser as a team. More importantly, they have made the good times even better.  A great company is made whole by individuals who choose to invest their time, money and goals in it. We want to recognize the amazing  group of people and partners that not only chose to join the Club, in one way or another,  but who challenge us to make it better. The number of improvements over the past two years can be attributed to meeting the challenges with a “CAN DO” attitude. As a result, we have a better service and a brighter future. We are looking forward to a great 2011.

Each other: To the shipping team, we can’t thank you enough for all the hours you put in to making sure every shipment and billing is 100% accurate. You certainly hit the mark this year – WOW! You asked for extra stuffing – you got it! To the marketing, business development, and communications team, Angela, Britney and Kristin, you guys all deserve some extra pumpkin pie! Thank you for your efforts at trade shows, events, and with our Partners. To the web team, all we can say is “we’re not worthy!” We kept asking  “can we?”, and you kept saying “Sure!” You guys are certainly on Santa’s “Nice List”. We are thankful for CEO and President – whose humble spirit and tenacious leadership continues to drive us to accomplish all that we have and will! We have a great team, and we are certainly thankful for that!

And for you! Thank you for taking the time to read this! We know the Black Friday Ads are calling your name – but thank you for taking the time. We hope you and your family have a great Thanksgiving holiday. And if the mood strikes you, let us know what you are thankful for!

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