What a week!

Wow, talk about a tough week!

I was out-of-town all week this week training new salespeople in Cincinnati. This was a great, exciting task that I was looking forward to and very excited about being picked for. However, I had been gone 3 days the previous week too, so I knew this was going to be tough because I love being with my family. Not to mention it that most of our kids had been sick for the past week. There is NO way I could maintain a travel schedule like this anymore.

So, after I completed my second full day of training, I linked up with my buddy Joe, all the way out from California. It was great timing that we both happened to be in Cinci at the same time. Joe and I have been best friends for almost 12 years, all the way since rooming together at West Point. Now with me living in SC and him in CA, we only see each other two or three times a year.

At 11:30, Melissa calls me up crying so hard she could barely talk. She let the dogs out and they had run away again. Aaahhh! It HAS to happen ONLY when I'm out of town. We had the same thing happen in December when I was out in Arkansas. When we were telling our friends Randy and Tina about it, Randy insisted that Melissa should have called him to help. So, after my buddy Joe told me that I was the one who needed to call, I called up our good friend Randy.
Melissa called me back about 15 minutes later and the dogs had been returned. Thank you God!

So after hanging out with Joe for a few more minutes reviewing his sales pitch for the next day, I decided to hit the hay for a full day of training in the morning. However, when I was getting ready for bed I felt a little bit off. I woke up in the morning now feeling good at all. I figured that my buddy Bob at the new sales rep training had given me his cold. So, on my way to the office I stopped at Walgreens to start my Dayquil/Nyquil regimen.

So drugged up, I began to conquer my day. Unfortunately, my day soon began to conquer me. I was so miserable as I was role playing sales calls with my group. For the last 2 hours of the day, I was feverish and shaking nearly uncontrollably even though I was wearing my coat zipped up all the way. So, I decided to get into bed as quickly as possible, get some sleep and soldier through so I could teach the next day.

After an incredibly miserable night of attempted sleep and sweating through all of my bedding five times, I knew that there was no way I could make it to the office. I was pretty sure it was strep given my history, and I knew I needed to get to a doctor soon because of how badly I felt and how baldly strep kicks my butt. So, I caught a cab and rode 25 minutes to the nearest clinic where the doc confirmed the strep. She also told me that I needed to stay away from people for the next 24 hours after giving me a shot that wasn't in my arm.

So, I began my ride back to the Westin in the most disgusting taxi that I have ever ridden in. The driver was smoking, the cab was filthy, and both smelled horrible. As I was riding back to the hotel, I started to think about the empty room laying ahead. Nothing like being sick with strep, alone in a empty hotel room, in a cold, snowy city 600 miles from home.

I wish that ended the week, but it didn't. It's getting late though, and I'll have to finish this post later.

One approach to talent development....

So, there I was in Charleston at my annual team meeting. We had just endured our first day of meetings, and it wasn't too bad. My boss's boss, Mike, (our team leader) takes our sales team, about 25 people, out to dinner at a really nice restaurant to celebrate a really great fiscal year year.

So after dinner, we have our annual informal team recognition. Mike begins telling us how much he really appreciates everyone's efforts this year and yada, yada, yada.

Next, he gets around to recognizing the new team members. So, he comes to my table and starts talking about Lauren, a cute 22 year-old female, two years out of college. He talks about her background, her past achievements, and then he says, "I'm really looking forward to Lauren's contributions to the team. She has a lot of untapped potential....and we're going to tap it!"

No! He didn't just say he was going to tap it! But he continues, "We are going to tap it and get all we can from her." I thought I would die! Thank God I was a plebe at West Point and can maintain my bearing through anything. I saw my finance manager and shopper research expert in the corner dying a silent death of laughter. Oh, how much torture it was not to die laughing, but I knew he'd never let it go or forgive me.

Lauren, who definitely is more hip than Mike, no doubt understands the connotations and is blushing. For a 40ish out-of-touch male, he apparently assumes that the embarassment is from the public recognition, not the fact that he said he was going to "tap it" in reference to her.

The funny/sad thing is that Mike continues to make statements like this and is completely oblivious to what he says. That dinner is a running joke in our office and an unending source of entertainment as we make veiled references to those comments during our many, many team meetings.

Sneaky and Underhanded

I was posting on my wife's computer and she decided to be sneaky and post on my blog while I was unaware. Here's what she thinks is funny to post on my blog. OBTW, better watch out:


I like to wear women's clothing. Sometimes when my wife is out, I go through her closet and try to find something that will fit. Unfortunately, her bras aren't big enough for me to wrap around my thick chest and I haven't figured out a way to buy myself one without drawing suspicion to myself. They'd probably just snag and pull out my chest hairs anyway. I also sneak into her makeup bag. Once I had to race upstairs to wipe off the blood red lipstick because she came home early. I blamed the red stain around my mouth on that Cinnamon Crest Whitening Expressions toothpaste. She lauged at me. I was just relieved she didn't suspect a thing. I know I shouldn't tell my wife about my darkest secrets by posting them on the internet, but I just can't bring myself to tell her in person. I'm afraid she will leave me, and I just can't afford the child support and alimony now that we have five children. Children - I now have 5 of them I have to hide my secrets from. The crazy thing is, if you are still reading this, you will now discover that my wife is trying to teach me a lesson about blogging. Never EVER log into your account and leave it up on your wife's computer. There is just no telling what she will post on your account. There is a Sign Out link at the top right of the page. Try clicking on that, and then your wife won't be tempted to post silly things about you on the internet. Oh yes, and one last thing. My wife loves me very much!

No kidding, he really said it

OK, so I'm 3 sentences in to a very funny story about what happened during my team meeting in Charleston and all of a sudden screeeeecccccchhhhhh.....I can't publish what happened at work. What if my boss's boss were to read this? Would he get pissed off? Would it hurt my career? So painful! Ack! So, what do you post outside of what could get you in trouble? Isn't it the stuff that gets you in trouble that's fun? Ah! So much bottled up inside and now that I finished my 27 page communications audit, I actually have time to blog. Well, this is going to take some thought as I'm waiting for the pizza to come. Can't wait to tell you about "tapping it".

OK Enough Already

Yes, I should post more frequently.

Yes, I am entertaining and you want more of me.

Yes, I'm dang busy, so stay off my back! (j/k)

So, what is keeping me busy? Is it working on my second masters degree? Is it my five kids? Is it making huge sales? NO! (well, I am preoccupied with all of these things, but they aren't what's keeping me from posting)

What's keeping me busy? It's dropping those pounds that I've managed to pack on in the past few years. After enough calls of "Thar she blows", "Yo, lard butt" and "Is that a man or a manatee?" I've decided to drop some weight.

After a couple (that's being generous to me) of fitful starts, I seem to have momentum going. I talked to one of the guys at my office about trying to get in shape as we were having lunch together last week. So, he admitted to me that he really wanted to lose weight and then he challenged me to a contest. We agreed that the first one to lose 20lbs would buy the other's greens fees. Well, within 3 days of the contest, we have 2 more guys entering the contest. The cost of losing this contest has increased significantly!

So, can I pass on the desserts? Can I push away from the table when my wife serves up a great meal? I don't know, but I do know that I don't intend to lose this contest, so I've started working out at lunch with a guy from my office. I may be short on will power when it comes to eating, but I can work out on a regular basis. Hopefully, that will be enough.

So, my journey towards not being 28% more man that I was in college begins.

Who am I?

That's a great question. Depending on your relationship with me or to me, you would probably have a different answer.

If you work with me, I'm an aggressive salesman who is on fire right now.

If you are one of my professors, then I'm a student who's eager to please and always pushing the envelope.

If you are my wife, I'm a loving husband who loves unequivocally but irritates her to no end with a frequency she'd like to see decline.

If you are one of my 5 kids, then I'm Dad, Daddy, or the Old Man.

But who am I? Sometimes that's hard to define. I'm a little bit of what everybody sees and a lot of what they don't. I've been shaped and hardened by events that have made me into who I am. At the same time, I've shaped myself through will, determination, and effort through years in the military and a childhood that was a cupcake compared to the military.

So, why do you care? I don't know, and franky, I don't care. This blog is about relating the events of my life in a way that makes sense, and if you do read, it should be entertaining.

I've got a great life, a great wife, and I'm on the move. Stay tuned for the ramblings of a father, veteran, salesman, erudite, master of sarcasm, husband, and active participant in life.

Slim