Eleven years ago, Jim came home from work with the news that he was headed to Orlando, Florida for a conference. We decided that it would be fun if the boys and I tagged along and took advantage of the fact that his company was providing a stipend for Jim’s accommodations and flight: the trip as a whole would be less expensive for us personally. The plan was that I would take the boys to the Disney parks during the day and Jim would join us there in the late afternoons when his sessions were complete. We decided to surprise the boys and not tell them about the trip until…
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Mix It Up
This morning, I got up at an ungodly hour (3:00 a.m.) to drive Jim to the airport because he’s off to Arizona for a week-long bicycling camp. This week he’ll be riding around fifty miles each day, in the mountains and through the desert. The last time he attended Desert Camp was about four years ago, and he’s been chomping at the bit to get out there again so he’s pretty excited. I’ll miss having him around (I kinda love him, you know?) but I’m thrilled for him because he works really hard and this getaway was just what he needed in this frigid, depressing, blizzard-filled, miserable, okay, rather spring-like…
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On Knowing When To Make The Leap
I feel the need to start this post with a disclaimer: I usually don’t bring up religious stuff here unless it’s of the general variety. In relaying this particular story–which has an element of religion included–I want you to know that I am not trying to push my religion on anybody, and hope that you will just find it interesting. Years ago, I was selling health club memberships full time. I had been an employee there for a few years and worked part-time in different departments before landing in Membership. My full-time status came as a result of Jim having been let go from his job in the economic turmoil…
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The Little Author That Could
“How’s the book going?” It’s a question I get all the time from friends and family. While I appreciate their interest very, very much, I nearly always give the short answer: “Great! Thanks for asking!” The long answer is–frankly–really, really long, and I can’t just say half of it and expect the person I’m answering to fill in the blanks, so the short answer has to suffice under normal circumstances. Here is the long answer, though, in case you’re wondering: My book, considering it was published just last spring and I’m doing the bulk of the marketing for it myself, is doing pretty well for where I’m at on my…
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The Warning
Due to the fact that every single day I get a bunch of hits on this post from searches like “I don’t want a dog but my kids do”, “how to tell your child no dog” (ahem, how about saying “NO DOG”??), and even “how to get rid of my dog”, I feel the need to start this post with a disclaimer about how what I am about to share here is meant to be funny. If you are a regular reader you will already know that, but if you get here on a random search, please know that my trouble-making dog is very well-loved. Thanks for your time and…