Tree's, Ocean, Shopping and the Tennis Championship.

A big thanks to Aaron and Kelly Booker from Hardlines (http://www.hardlines.com/) for showing Jenifer and I around Bellingham Washington (http://www.bellingham.org/).

Aaron showed us around his town. From his office to the property that he owns. We took a hike in the forest (HTG3 guys, this counted as one of Aaron's exercise commitments made) we also took a beautiful drive along the coast. What a great day. Thanks Aaron.

I also had time to get Jenifer to the Mall. I had to make sure that I fufilled my commitments.

Last, I did bring home the Wii Tennis championship to Kansas. It was a whooping put down. Aaron needs to get practicing.

The lesson of today that Kelly was very clear about is that Aaron spends too much time at work when he is at home. I am very similar to Aaron. It is important that when we get home to be home both mentally and physically. Thanks Kelly, point well taken.

Vancouver Canada

What a great experience. My third trip to Canada. I have to be honest, it was my least favorite. You have to take it into perspective! The first trip was to Calgary then and drive to Banff (See http://www.banffnationalpark.com/) one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. The next trip was to Niagara, Niagara Falls and then John Daly's course Thundering Falls. (See http://www.thunderingwaters.com/).

It was definitely a LARGE city. The one thing I did learn about sales this trip was that there is a market for anything. I had the chance to look in and see a Ferrari F4 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enzo_Ferrari_(car)) listed as the the world's fastest naturally aspirated car. Then I saw the Lamberghini Murcielago (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamborghini_Murci%C3%A9lago) which I found out these two cars are listed in the top 10 fastest cars in the world. The price for a Murcielago is base above $300,000 and for a Enzo is above a $1,000,000 (YES THAT IS Million $'s).

My point is, there is a market for anything! Don't think that solutions are too expensive just because you cannot see the value yourself.

Looking forward to time in the car?

I have to admit that I am looking forward to the drive to Denver this morning. 5 hours in the car does not usually get described as "fun". However I get to do it with Jenifer this time. We don't get to spend a lot of time together alone. This will be time that neither of us will have to get the kids ready, be working in the yard or any other thing.

Do you spend time with your significant other "Alone"? Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in the stream of life without actually living it. Do me a favor and spend an hour today living.

IHOP Bad service will ruin you for a long time.

Looking for different places to eat, I ate at IHOP twice last week. The first time they were out of what I really wanted (Chicken fried steak and eggs) then it took 45 minutes to get my meal. In addition my drink went empty, we saw the waitress twice and the food was cold. The second time I went with Joddey and Mike from the HTG3 group. Food was on time but we had to ask for refills and it was clear that the waiter was working too many tables.

So I will not be returning for probably another 6 months to see if they get new management or fix the issues. It proves that you can have good food but bad help and a person will not return. I think the same can be had with the IT industry. You can sell the best products in the world, however if you deliver it late, in a poor manner or over promise and under deliver customers will go elsewhere. One thing that the food industry does not have to worry about is the Internet is not going to change your business much. People are not going to order their food from Ebay. (I may be surprised)

I am not a huge McDonalds fan, however you can go pretty much anywhere in the world and get the same experience. This keeps people coming back. In addition they own the kid market. As a parent, I understand the power this has.

The first game of the year!

The "Hall of Fame Game" Redskins versus the Colts!. I love Football! I am not sure what there is about this game versus Baseball, Basketball or Hockey.

You have to admit that the league is very well ran. It is a team sport. Sure there are individual stand outs but mostly you cheer for teams. The fantasy leagues add another aspect to this game.

Players are hero's. Like Joe Montana, Jerry Rice (OK I am a 49ers fan) and Jeff Garcia. Today's players like the Manning brothers are all around good role models. What a great sport.

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL! (PS John Madden please retire I don't need people to restate the obvious. I got it the first time!)

Its HOT

Went golfing at 7 this morning. By 10 it was in the mid 90s (As was my game and I wasn't done) Does the heat cause people to go a bit stir crazy? I have recently heard of a lot of people changing jobs. One of my neighbors lost 3 people in one day!

It amazes me how quickly people change direction. In jobs, marriages and school. By no means do I believe you should stay in one place if it is a bad situation. However I do believe the consistent path will pay dividends. If that is in investing, don't jump ship due to a temporary down swing or if it is because you see one blade of grass on the other side of the fence.

Sales should get easier as you stay in the same place.
1. Better product knowledge
2. Better knowledge of internal people
3. Leveraging long term customer relationships.

Just to name of few.