ELLIE'S DAD

Jerry Leiber

2011-08-24T13:21:00.002-05:00

With the passing of Jerry Leiber yesterday, I thought I would share a paper my son Joseph authored (with a little help from Dad)last year for a language arts project. I read the book "Hound Dog" along with my son and learned so much about these two wonderful artists. Of course, my hat is also off to Nick Ashford, who also passed yesterday............"Ashford & Simpson" - what a wonderful pair of artists they were and boy did they ever influence my musical tastes? Who knew that they wrote "Let's Go Get Stoned" by Joe Cocker?

“Hound Dog”
Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller
By Joseph Gaul

I was struggling to decide how to approach this project when my Dad asked me about it and made a suggestion – “you are a British citizen by birth and have spent more than half of your life living in the UK and Europe, so your cultural orientation is as much British as it is American.” Then he suggested I read a book called “Hound Dog”, an autobiography by two Jewish kids out of New York City who moved to Los Angeles at roughly the same time and became famous for writing in the black genre for groups like the Coasters, the Drifters, Sam Brothers 5, DiMaggio Brothers and Dion and the Belmonts. They also produced songs for the likes of Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Del Shannon, Ben E. King, Charles Brown, Melvin Sparks and a host of other musicians during the 60’s, 70’s and on up to today. But it all started with Hound Dog, performed first by Big Mamma Thornton and later Elvis Presley, who truly made the song famous.
Okay, so I know what you are thinking. How on earth is this lad going to link his cultural heritage to two Jewish songwriters from New York/Los Angeles? So this is where it gets interesting. You see, my Dad did not recommend the book just because he thought I’d enjoying reading Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber’s life stories, but also because the music that they had written had deeply influenced his life. My Dad was born in rural North Carolina and had it not been for the radio and “Cousin Brucie”, a DJ out of NYC who hosted WABC’s teen-oriented evening shift in the 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. slot, he may well have ended-up a Country fan for life. But this particular DJ played a mix of diverse musical genres of the time (late 50’s and 60’s) including Motown, soul, pop, hard rock, and surf music. Then, in August of 1965 he introduced America to the Beatles during their historic Shea Stadium concerts.
My Dad was hooked, and that may very well explain his vast collection of Cassette Tapes, Compact Discs (Nearly 4,000 at last count) and Vinyl LP’s, some dating back to the late 60’s, and all in pristine condition. My Dad loves music and while he can’t sing a lick, he does appreciate multiple genres, especially the groups that came with the “British Invasion”. Starting with the Beatles in 1965 and closely followed by groups such as the Rolling Stones, the Dave Clark Five, Freddy and the Dreamers, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, the Animals, Herman’s Hermits, The Troggs, Donovan, Chad & Jeremy, Peter and Gordon, Manfred Mann, Petula Clark and lots, lots more.
Okay, okay. Still looking for the connection – right? Well, who do you think influenced those chaps from the British Isles? Yes indeed! Mr. Mike Stoller and Mr. Jerry Leiber, whose music had reached across the sea and deeply, impressed the likes of Paul McCartney, John Lennon and Mick Jagger, just to mention a few key players.
So my link to Hound Dog, as a loyal subject of her majesty, the Queen, is that Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller helped to start the British Invasion, which hit my Dad like a ton of bricks and gave him an intense desire to spend some serious time in the United Kingdom, which he did in the 1990’. And while living in the UK, my Dad met my Mom, who is rather younger than my Dad, but also a person who loves music and that may have been one of the biggest attractions for both of them as they started the process of dating in the summer of 1992. Dad’s musical collection, which had grown substantially in the five years before he arrived in the UK (Dad lived in Tokyo during those five years and spent a ton of money building out this CD collection) fascinated my Mom and my Dad very much enjoyed introducing her to the R&B sounds of the 60’s as well as Motown, which is undoubtedly my Dad’s favorite genre.
Interestingly enough, my Mom’s Dad and Mom, who are about fifteen years older than my Dad, also remember the British Invasion and how the Beatles changed the musical landscape in England. Remember, before the Beatles, we were happily listening to likes of Pat Boone, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Tommy Steele, Guy Mitchell, Nat King Cole, Bobby Darin, Perry Como and Tony Bennett, just to mention a few. And they were all wonderful singers. But they weren’t the Beatles or the Dave Clark Five or the Stones. Music changed forever with Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane, and my Dad changed from a kid listening to Eddy Arnold, Glen Campbell, Charlie Rich, Hank Snow, Ferlin Husky and other Country greats, to a kid who was desperate to go to New York City and see the Beatles live, a dream he almost realized one evening while visiting his sister in Brooklyn in August of 1965, but alas, it was not to be. But that’s another story for another day.
The key here is that I would not have been born in the West Midlands of England in April of 1996 had it not been for my Dad’s intense desire to live in the UK, which stemmed in large part from the British Invasion, which was influenced by the music of two kids raised in New York City who met by chance in Los Angeles in 1950 and ended-up being inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1985 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. Their roll call is staggering – from Elvis to John Lennon, Leiber and Stoller created a wonderful portfolio of timeless music that endures generation after generation.
As for this kid from the West Midlands – well, I’m just grateful that they inspired my Dad to put England on his “Bucket List”. Oh yea, I’m also very grateful for his musical collection as well, which will be mine one day!

What is Customer Experience

2011-03-15T12:32:00.006-05:00

For the past 2.5 years I have been gainfully employed as the SVP of Sales for Market Force Information, a firm that provides customer intelligence solutions to business-to-consumer companies, giving them the business intelligence they need to delight their customers. We enable our clients to SEE their business through their customer's eyes; to ACT with confidence and make the right decisions to GROW the bottom line.

So how do we do all of this? Well, we evaluate the customer experience from two viewpoints: first, the customer's perceptions and second, the operational realities that create those perceptions. (Remember these two because we are going to return to them shortly.) Finally, we identify actions required at the store level to improve customer loyalty and financial performance.

Okay, so let's talk customer perception. Not too long ago I was visiting our local GameStop, which is located in that small shopping complex just off of Roswell Rd. by Atlanta Ballet and Public's. You know the one - the one right between Papa John's and Starbucks. I was with my 12 year old daughter (Ellie) and she was looking at the "SIMS" line of games, but unfortunately at the ones that were age inappropriate. Brian, the store manager, helped me to convince Ellie that the games she was looking at were in fact not appropriate and confirmed that no other parent was buying those games for their 12 old daughters, or sons. He aligned with me and was my partner in helping me to keep my daughter aligned with the right level of games for her age. What do you think my perception of Brian and GameStop are as a result of that experience?

Another example: I walked into my favorite Panera Restaurant this morning at 6:30 a.m. to purchase a cup of coffee and a pastry. Pretty early in the morning, but I was met with the biggest smiles and hello's that you could ever imagine. Now I go in there on a fairly regular basis and I can tell you that this morning was no different than the first morning I walked into that restaurant over two years ago. They simply choose to be extraordinarily friendly and as a result I always find myself walking out of there with an equally huge smile on my face. What's that customer experience feel like?

You see, I've become very aware of what happens when I walk into a store, a restaurant, even my Doctor's practice. Let me give you an example of a retail store where my experience is often driven by one single individual. Joesph A. Banks on the corner of Weicua and Peachtree is a pretty typical men's retail clothing outlet where bargains and discounts are often the order of the day. I don't purchase a lot of things there, but I really like this one chap who always treats me like an individual, who always takes the time to chat and catch-up on family and how things are going with business. Yes, he is there is make a sale and he can always depend upon me to purchase from him, exclusively. I walk out of the store if he is not working at the time I visit. Two years ago during the Christmas season I purchased a leather jacket for my son Joseph. The jacket was $700 marked down to $450. I also purchased a couple of casual suits for myself, but when I went to check out I discovered the bill was significantly less than I had anticipated. Why? Because my favorite retailer (let's call him Andy) had slipped in an extra 50% off coupon on the leather jacket. Did he have to do that to close the sale? Was I even expecting him to do it? No, but in exchange for being a "loyal" customer (another term we need to examine)Andy took the hit on the sale. Guess where I still go today for my casual suits, and who I still exclusively deal with when I go into the store? An exceptional customer experience is what Andy strives to provide to every one of his customers, and believe me when I say that there are a cadre of customers who only deal with Andy when they visit that store.

So customer experience is both personal and emotional. It's that feeling you get in the bottom of your stomach when you know that you are being treated exactly as you want and expect to be treated when you frequent an establishment. It's the person in Starbucks who knows what you typically order when you walk in the door. It's the bartender who knows your favorite drink. It's that guy at the Marriott Courtyard in Louisville, Colorado who always remembers your name and always has the room you like to stay in reserved for you!

Notice I haven't mentioned any unpleasant experiences. Why? Because we all have them and they are just simply too easy to focus on. I would rather you focus on the outstanding experiences and think about how you nurture those experiences. Do you fill out the web survey and tell the company that you had a great experience? I do, every chance I get. I look for names and try to write them down so I can specifically call out an individuals extra care. We live in an "Experience Economy", but we often fail to appreciate the extra attention and care it takes to make an experience exceptional. Interestingly, we are equally reluctant to take the time to articulate unpleasant experiences as well, as least not to the stakeholders that care most about understanding what happened. Instead, we post to Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Linkedin, etc. We tell our friends and business associates, but we don't complain to the landlords.

So at Market Force we help the landlords understand what is happening inside of their retail stores, their restaurants, their banks, their petrol stations and their motion picture theaters - we evaluate the customer experience from the perspective of the custoemr and then we examine the operational realities that created those perceptions; for example: were the toliets clean? Were the staff smiling and helpful? Was the popcorn hot? Was I offered a receipt? Did the young woman walk me to the asile that contained the product I had just inquired about? How long did I wait in the queue? Was my food hot when it arrived? How long did it take for a server to appear to take my order? Was my favorite ice cream in stock? Was the water clean when I went to clean the windscreen on my car? Operational realities!

So why am I rambling on about customer experience? Because it's important that we don't dismiss postive expereinces as being unimportant. You are loyal to certain businesses because of the experiences you enjoy when you visit those establishments. Why do people stay with the same Doctor for years? In fact, the reason that I go to Holy Spirit Catholic Church instead of the Catholic Church that I first attended when I arrived in Atlanta is down to the fact that my family and I find the "experience" at Holy Spirit more satisfying. It's not a spiritual thing, but the sense of community and belonging at Holy Spirit is powerful, and that is the experience that makes it more comfortable for us. And that sense of loyalty we feel towards Holy Spirit is something we share with every new Catholic we meet who is moving to our community. The same goes for you because loyalty drives word of mouth as well as return business. That is why it is such a powerful driver in business today. As Jeffrey Gitomer said in his book, "Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless!"

Tragedy in Tucson

2011-01-13T16:05:00.003-05:00

Listening to President Obama last evening was an interesting experience, especially since I was surrounded by my British wife and her parents, who are visiting us at the moment from the West Midlands of the UK.
On first reflection, I thought the President did an amazing job of keeping the focus on the victims and those around them that displayed remarkable courage under fire. He could have taken the opportunity to point fingers, to assess blame, to campaign for gun reform, etc. Instead, he spoke like the leader that this nation wants him to be. Marcus Buckingham wrote in his book, “The One Thing You Need to Know”, that “Great leaders rally people to a better future”. I believe that is exactly what President Obama attempted to do last night. He spoke about this country in terms that resonate with me and I suspect many Americans. We are a much better nation than we have acting over the past few years and we can raise the bar again if we collectively decide to put the rhetoric and divisiveness aside.
I remember as a child listening to President Kennedy’s inauguration speech. As he addressed those nations “who would make themselves our adversary”, he offered not a threat, but a request that we all look for “what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems that divide us.” He said that “civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof.” It is a speech that transcends time and one that I keep printed and close to me because I believe Jack Kennedy demonstrated extraordinary leadership that day in setting out a course for the future with a clear vision around what he believed this nation needed to do over the coming years.
Barack Obama is not Jack Kennedy – but that isn’t the point. Our President attempted last evening, under the most tragic circumstances, to reset the tone. To ask that we all take a moment to pause, to reflect on the dialogue, and to move forward with conversations that heal and not wound. Can we do it? Are we willing to take a step back and look at what happened in Tucson and agree that we don’t want to ever raise the discourse to a level of violence?
We don’t know what caused that young man to go off the deep end – to reach a mental state of mind that motivated him to purchase a gun and then randomly kill and wound a dozen innocent bystanders. I can’t point my fingers at Sarah Palin or anyone else and say that person was responsible for this horrible event. Nor can you, although many of you will try.
The point is not to dwell on what occurred, but to think seriously about what can be done to prevent another occurrence; i.e.: how do we as a nation raise the bar on how we engage one another? Throughout the history of our government, people have disagreed, and yet they found ways to communicate. Tip O’Neill, Ted Kennedy, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, George Bush Senior, Ronald Regan, Bill Clinton are just a few who come to mind. These are/were men who believed that compromise was not a sign of weakness, but the normal “give & take” expected of a government leader. What drove us to the current environment of “take no prisoners?”
Of course, I would be remiss if I did not at least mention the issue of guns; especially given I was surrounded by folks who long ago gave up the right to own handguns to ensure the safety of the majority of Brit’s. Yea, I know the argument. “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” But when over 14 million plus guns are sold in the U.S. in 2009, which is more than 21 of the worlds standing armies combined, and over 14 billion rounds of ammo are purchased and stockpiled, you got to wonder if this is exactly what our founding fathers envisioned when they wrote the Bill of Rights!
Amendment 2 of the Bill of Rights, which was written at the same time as the Constitution, reads that “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” I certainly understand the context at the time the Constitution was written – we would fight another war with the UK in 1812 and it was won by citizens bearing arms. The West was won by citizens bearing arms. Jessie James and his gang were defeated in the streets of Northfield, Minnesota by citizens bearing arms. In fact, our history is filled with stories about courageous men and women who defended their homes and the homes of their neighbors. Guns are part of our history – no doubt. But do they have a place in our current history, especially when millions of them are finding their way into Mexico and literally arming the drug cartels there?
I don’t pretend to have the answer. I grew up with guns. I got my first single shot .22 cal when I was 11 or 12 years old. There were four boys and we all had rifles and shotguns and there always seemed to be plenty of ammo on those occasions when we actually fired our weapons, which actually wasn’t very often. We will spend hours in the woods or down by the river, but mostly guns were just something we carried because it was sort of cool to do so. We played lots of war games when we were kids and sometimes we would remove the bolt and use our rifles as our war guns. Don’t forget, I was born just 5 years after WWII ended and there was lots of surplus army gear to be had at the local Army Surplus Store. We had helmets, uniforms, tents, first aid kits, c-rations…………the store was like a warehouse and you could buy just about anything there for a buck or less. The guns were just part of our playtime, although we had all attended gun safety courses and would get our ears boxed severely if we did anything to violate the basic rules.
Vietnam and nine years in the Marines eventually took their toll and I lost my fascination for guns. I don’t own any today and haven’t since the day I got out the Marines in 1976. I can’t say I’ve ever missed them or felt a need to have one. Just not part of my personality I suppose. When I used to take Joe to the annual Scout camping trip where the kids got to shoot all sorts of older weapons, I never had an urge to participate. The old timer who used to bring the guns to the river for the Scouts to fire once asked me if I wanted to shoot a few rounds from an M14 he had on the table. He had heard that I was in the Marines in the late 60’s and knew that I would have qualified on the Rifle Range with the M14. I just smiled and said no thanks. He looked at me for a few moments and then moved on the next adult in the line. But I think he knew what was swirling about in my head and he understood.
If it were up to me, we would ban the sale of all handguns starting yesterday, and we would require all rifles and shotguns to be maintained at gun clubs. Not practical of course and it will never happen. Still, it would be nice to see some tighter regulation around the requirements for acquiring a handgun – things like requiring a permit, requirements for gun safety courses, background checks, registration of the serial numbers, etc. I would also like to see a requirement that anyone who purchases a handgun must first demonstrate that they have a secure place to maintain once it gets to their home or office. And finally, only folks with a need to carry a gun would be given a permit to do so, and carrying a gun without a permit would result in a significant fine and jail time, depending upon the circumstances.
Okay, enough of that rant.
Back to Tucson, and what we are going to do to raise the level of discourse. How would you suggest we get back on track? Love to hear your thoughts.

2010 - A Year in Review

2010-12-29T15:13:00.001-05:00

2010 – A Year in Review
Just a few days remaining before we put a lid on the year 2010, the first year of my sixth decade running around this planet in this body, which seems to be holding up remarkably well given the abuse it has taken over the years. I will remember it as the year that my Ellie started her transformation from a young girl into a young woman, and the year that my Mom made her transition from life on earth to what I sincerely believe is a peaceful and joyful union with God. Suffice it to say that I miss my Mom and I think of her constantly – last night I was having a snack with Joe and Ellie at the food court in Phipps Plaza before we entered the movie theater to watch “True Grit” and Ellie said something that created this tremendous visual image of my Mom. But as I tried to explain it to them, they just looked at me with puzzled faces because they could not grasp the image that sat so vividly in my mind’s eye. Oh well, I suppose that is natural given how much longer I had spent with my Mother over the years. I just hope the kids don’t think I’m having some weird flashback from the 60’s!
Anyway, back to 2010. So much happened this year across so many spectrums – geographical, political, financial, ecological, religious – where to start? I suppose the key player from my perspective has been the continued financial meltdown for so many people across the globe. People have lost their jobs, their homes, and in many ways, their very identity. So many of us think about ourselves in terms of what we do for a living, who we work for, how much money we have invested and what’s going on with those investments – where our kids go to school today and where they will go to school tomorrow. We create these identities that are tied to money and material belongings, and suddenly all of these creature comforts are removed from our lives. People are living with relatives, with friends, in their cars and on the streets. People are reduced to worrying about where they are going to find the next meal for their children and all the other worries that used to keep them up at night have evaporated along with any concept of stable employment or a right to work. Companies are sitting on hoards of cash, not hiring…………..just sitting on the sidelines waiting for some financial miracle to occur, some sudden recovery of the housing market, the job market, the global market. Just sitting and watching instead of being the initiators, the creators of that miracle. As I’m sitting here writing this missive, I received a note from a friend in NYC who has just been turned down again – a brilliant young woman who well educated, is well traveled, who has incredible experience across a multiplicity of disciplines, and yet she can’t get a job! What’s does that say about our future when an extraordinarily talented thirty-four year old woman can’t find a position in NYC? What part of Economics 101 don’t people get? If we don’t create jobs that create paychecks that get spent in the economy that create jobs that create paychecks, then this thing is never going to get kick-started! Hell, you don’t need a PhD in Economics to know that people have to work to survive and if corporate America doesn’t stop sitting on the cash and start investing in our national future, then there will be no national future. Don’t even get me started on China and how far ahead they are in so many areas, but especially Education.
We continue to fund two senseless military engagements that are bleeding us of essential funds needed to help launch a nationwide recovery. We just reconfirmed a tax concession for the wealthiest one percent of the national wage earners who allegedly create employment, which is why we reconfirmed the tax concession for them as well as others who could have easily withstood the reinstatement of the Clinton era tax rates. Remember the Clinton era – the one where we had a significant budget surplus and the unemployment rate ran in the mid-four percent range. The impact on me would have been around $7,000 on an annual basis, which isn’t a small amount of money – about $136.62 a week, but a tax rate that I would have gladly accepted if it would help the country get on track.
What happened to the concept of “asking not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country?” Isn’t there anyone left who still believes that this country represents the best possible form of government available to us today? Are we all so jaded and so insular that we can’t see that there are times when the needs of the many outweigh our own individual concerns?
I know, I know – you think I sound like a bleeding heart liberal, or worse, a socialist who wants to divide everything equally regardless of personal effort. But folks, I’m not either. I’m a moderate conservative and what I trust with all my heart is my faith in God, my faith in my family, and my faith in this country.
These are serious times folks and we need serious measures if we are going to pull ourselves out of this misery. We need corporate America to take those cash reserves and invest in America. We need government leaders who have the courage to stand up for what is right, not just what is politically expedient. And we need to take this year and put it behind us – far behind us!
I don’t know if we have elected leaders with true courage. I guess only time will tell, but hopefully these new leaders along with those leaders returning for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and longer terms will understand that time is not on our side at the moment. We need decisive action and we will be evaluating every move, every decision, and every vote.
In 2012 we will be electing a new national leader or reconfirming our faith in President Obama. Two years is a very short time, but we can do some much as a nation if we make up our minds to turn this situation around. What are you willing to do?

Customer Experience Matters

2010-10-21T13:56:00.005-05:00

I recently made arrangements to rent a car from a second tier agency; i.e.: not Hertz, Enterprise or National. The rate seemed particularly appealing and given I needed it for a week during one of my jaunts to Denver; I figured I would give them a try as I’m always trying to save the firm a buck if I can.
I arrived at Denver International on time having been upgraded to first class by my friends at Delta. My bag was on the carousel by the time I had navigated the train to baggage claim and so I walked to the rental car bus island in a pretty chipper mood.
All of happiness slipped away however as I listened to the rental car agent describe the terms and conditions for the car I had arranged. First, I was “upgraded” to a mid-size although I had reserved a compact. There was no conversation or rate adjustment – I was simply told that I would be in a mid-size and quoted the rate, which was of course higher than the rate I had arranged through our corporate travel agency. I was then asked if I need to take the toll road. I replied that I did and was told that a toll pass was $32 for the week, even though I would only be on the road twice during the week. The cost for a one-way journey from Denver to Boulder is $8.00, which means they were charging me twice the fee. Enterprise by comparison charges a tiny admin fee plus the cost of the toll and adds the charges to my credit card after they receive the bill from the state.
I was then provided a multiplicity of terms and conditions, all designed to add to the overall cost of the rental car. For example, I must provide a receipt for petrol from a station no further than ten miles from the airport or incur incremental charges. If I return the car more than a day early or a day late I incur an additional charge of $25. If I do this or do that, then there are incremental charges. It was the most incredible dialogue and for a moment I thought that surely Ashton Kutcher was hiding behind the wall and I was being “punked”.
As a Senior Vice President with Market Force, a firm that focuses on helping some of the world’s largest Business to Consumer companies identify the most important issues associated with customer experience, I am constantly tuned in to my own experiences, and this one truly rates high on the all time worst customer experience list.
So what is the recipe for a good customer experience? How do you ensure you provide an experience that encourages your guests (notice I did not say customers) to not only return and do business with you again, but also tell their friends and colleagues to engage your services, purchases your products, etc.?
Well, I'm fairly certain that it does not begin with an agent who is paid a minimum wage and could care less about your experience. It also does not begin with policies that are punitive and designed to extract the maximum amount of cash from the unsuspecting guest.
After my own experience, I went into Goggle and explored the number of complaints against this firm and wasn’t surprised to find that there were a fair number registered. From overcharging for insurance coverage that wasn’t requested to insane charges for petrol, this firm has done it all.
The Business-to-Consumer environment is extremely competitive, especially the rental car market. I am especially fond of Enterprise because of their focus on the customer experience – I can honestly say I have never had a bad experience with Enterprise. Their prices are always the most competitive however and so like any consumer I shop around from time to time to find the best rates. Unfortunately, this time I managed to shop myself an unfortunate set of circumstances, but I can correct this next time by eliminating Dollar Rental Car from the list of companies that I will engage going forward.
Bottom Line – Customer Experience is the only thing that matters if you want to stay in business in the B-to-C world. How you measure and manage it is critical to customer loyalty, and customer loyalty is critical to your financial success. It isn’t rocket science, but some firms just don’t get it!

A Comcast Experience

2010-06-29T12:46:00.003-05:00

Most folks who know me also know that I work for Market Force Information, a leading Customer Intelligence firm headquartered in Boulder, Colorado. Well, actually, the headquarters is in Louisville, which is just outside of Boulder, but Boulder always seems a tad more impressive. A good deal of Customer Intelligence is wrapped around the customer experience, and the customer experience is based on the customer's perception of the experience and the operational realities that create the experience.

I want to share a story about my customer experience with Comcast, including my perceptions of the experience and the operational realities that created those perceptions. It is fundamentally a story about gross incompetence, which may or may not surprise you depending upon how much interaction you have had with Comcast. For those folks that I have spoken with who have Comcast as their Internet, cable television or telephone service provider, this story is not particularly surprising. For folks who have not engaged Comcast, they are mostly amused by the comedy of errors that have beset me and my family as we have struggled to finalize our service installation. I suppose when I think about the overall experience I also have to laugh at the comedy, but I can assure the frustration is not funny and the time that I have had to invest with Comcast trying to sort out the situation has also not been amusing. Still, when you are dealing with the Three Stooges you have to laugh a bit even though it is painful to watch them.

So my story begins nearly six weeks ago when I decide to cancel my DirectTV contract and move to Comcast cable TV and VOIP to go along with the Comcast High Speed Internet Service that I'd been enjoying for several years. I made the call into the sales department, spoke with an absolutely delightful young lady by the name of April and arranged for three television points to be installed along with the VOIP service. It was explained that porting the existing home telephone number from AT&T with take a couple of weeks, but we found a Saturday that worked for my schedule and finalize the arrangements. So far, so good.

On the Saturday in question, the service technician who had been scheduled to visit my home called me to ask me what he was actually going to be doing when he got to my house. Okay, I said: "Don't you have a service order?" "Well yes sir, but I just wanted to confirm with you." Okay, I thought.....this isn't that strange and so I explained what he was supposed to do. He then explained that there were no VOIP modems available and therefore he would be unable to install that service. Okay I said, how about coming over and installing the television cable service. "No problem, be there in 30 minutes", which he was, but of course without the right equipment or tools, so he ended up doing a rather terrible job and it was obvious he was in way over his head. Of course, it didn't help that he could not get his supervisor on the phone or that his dispatch kept calling him wanting to know why he had not checked-in, what happened with his previous visit, and when the hell he was going to make his next appointment. The net/net is that he left without finishing the job, but promised someone would call me to set-up another appointment to address the gaps. Oh yea, and he also managed to un-hook our Internet service while he was in the garage, which he freely admitted when he returned much later that day after I spent over two hours on the phone with Comcast fighting to have someone return to address the Internet outage. He said he was never told there was Internet service at our location - of course I had told him that morning, but it clearly wasn't on his service order, which he shared with me. In fact, there was nearly nothing on that service order, which is why he called me to begin with; i.e.: he really didn't know what he was supposed to do when he arrived at our home.

Days go by and no one calls, so we call back and to make a very long story short, we have now had two additional service calls and we still don't have the VOIP service and the cable is still running across the floor in the den and the cable point in the home office still doesn't work and no one at Comcast seems to be able to sort things out. I have written to their VP of Customer Service, and his message reader appointed an "Escalation Person" to my case. He/she sent me an email asking me to contact him/her, which I attempted to do about 30 minutes ago, but without success. Voice Mail rules at Comcast and he/she had not updated his/her voice mail since June 18th, which gave me considerable confidence in this person's ability to fix things.

So I just don't get it! An initial problem or two is not the end of the world, but this has to be the most incompetent group of people I have ever encountered in over 30 years of working in the technology sector. They can't spell Customer Service and to give anyone at the firm a title that suggests they actually understand the concept of customer service is simply self-serving and ultimately stupid because they don't have a clue about what it takes to serve customers. And the sad part of all of this is that I don't even know any anyone really cares. The service technicians slam customer service who slam sales who slam the whole eco-system. I had a technician stand in my house and tell me that he completely understood my frustration with Comcast because he was equally frustrated with their lack of process and quality management. Wow! A service technician slamming the firm really gave me tremendous confidence in my decision to switch to Comcast.

So, the saga continues and eventually I'm confident that either the service will be sorted or I'll cancel everything and start over with another service provider. But I'm still baffled that in today's economy companies like Comcast still don't get it.
Can anyone explain Comcast to me?

"A Sense of Urgency"

2010-03-02T14:21:00.006-05:00

A couple of years ago, John Kotter published a book entitled “A Sense of Urgency”, which I recently found on my bookshelf and managed to read over this past weekend. I was particularly struck by the relevance this book has to the current debate around a National Health Care Program. Mr. Kotter describes true urgency as a “gut level determination to move and win, now.” He describes the enemies of true urgency as complacency and a false sense of urgency, which is typically driven by anxiety and anger. He also notes that a sense of complacency results in avoidance, and a false sense of urgency drives a lot of unproductive activity; i.e.: busy work that usually results in frustration and resentment.
Like many Americans, I tuned in to President Obama’s Health Care Summit held in Washington last week, and I must admit that I was equally unimpressed with both sides as the “conversation” evolved during the course of the day. My primary reaction to the debate was that I felt there was a genuine absence of “true urgency” as defined by Mr. Kotter. There were indeed many references to various data and so-called facts, but both political parties failed to tell a compelling story that reached out to all Americans.
Instead of looking for the compromises that could deliver some immediate wins and begin to establish credibility for a broader program designed in the spirit of what serves the national interests over the longer term, both parties held to their ideological self-interests and ultimately gained very little, except perhaps to reinforce their helplessness and inability to advance the national interests, which is ultimately why they were sent to Washington.
I suspect Mr. Kotter would find an interesting case study for his book by dissecting the Health Care debate – complacency by those who would do nothing, and a false sense of urgency by those who would follow the path towards measures that would frustrate the masses and accomplish little in the sense of true Health Care reform.
Americans face an impending crisis with Health Care increasingly absorbing more and more our GDP. But as Mr. Kotter points out, there are upside possibilities in every crisis, but one must be selective and apply great care to avoid creating a false sense of urgency, which ultimately sends people running about doing things that produce limited results.
In the final analysis, it’s incumbent upon all Americans to communicate their dissatisfaction, and their real priorities to the folks that represent us in the Senate and the House, as well as those that sit in the Executive and Judicial branches. How do we most effectively help them to understand that we want them to assume a “true sense of urgency?” First, by communicating where you want them to focus, and second, by directing your political contributions only to those elected officials who demonstrate they are listening by behaving accordingly. Campaign contributions speak volumes to those who wish to remain in office come this November.
The technology community in Georgia have had to find a true sense of urgency over the past two years as we have weathered this economic storm. Hard decisions have been taken in the wake of financial realities – priorities have been carefully reviewed over and over again. Some firms have assumed a bunker mentality while others have been more aggressive, seizing opportunities as they have surfaced. But all understand that making the wrong decisions could result in financial disaster.
Perhaps it is time for our national leadership to follow our example. Perhaps it is time to set aside party ideologies and focus on a select list of national priorities, because the decisions made over the coming weeks and months could very well dictate the financial health of this nation for years to come.
Assuming a “true sense of urgency” that creates a national determination “to move and win, now” must become the national agenda and I urge everyone to join me in communicating that message today.

Reflections on a Winter Day

2010-02-04T16:23:00.005-05:00

I was sitting in the West Midlands of England just before the New Year, enjoying the tranquility of my wife's parents home, and was drawn into a period of reflection about the year that had nearly finished. Overall, it was a very positive year, especially with respect to my career, which has improved dramatically since I joined Market Force in the Fall of 2008 as a Sales Consultant tasked with improving the sales environment and driving significant improvement in the acquisition of new business and the retention of the existing base of customers. In April of 2009 I accepted a full time position as the SVP of Sales along with what I perceived at the time to be a fairly stiff sales target, especially given the team's 2008 performance and the changes I had made during the previous six months.

Well, we blew through the Board target before Thanksgiving and the Team target in early December. The final numbers put us significantly over target for the year with a very healthy pipeline of new business opportunities entering 2010. All in all, it was an amazing performance turned in by a very talented group of professional sales associates, ranging from young and relatively inexperienced to highly seasoned. There are of course a few superstars, but what would a sales organization be without some superstars?

So how did I manage this stunning turnaround? Good question! Unfortunately, there isn't a simple answer. Is there ever? Changing the fortunes of a sales team that has experienced several years of less than stellar performance coupled with a number of changes in the Sales Leadership position doesn't happen overnight. Change takes a subtle mix of aggression and patience; knowing when to makes moves related to personnel, compensation, sales targets, metrics, and all the other swirling pieces of the sales puzzle.

How do you know when to push one button versus another? Sorry, I can't give you a blueprint because Sales Leadership is an acquired skill - acquired after years of getting it wrong more often than right; after working with the best and sometimes the worst; but most often you're surrounded by people who are completely out of place........people who simply don't have the talent or the passion to "carry a bag" (sales speak for being a quota-bearing sales person)...........why do otherwise very talented people allow themselves to fall into jobs that they dislike and can't ultimately get their minds around?

Okay, back to the original thrust of this dialogue; i.e.: how do you create a successful sales organization? I'm not being coy when I say that the answer is complex and the details of each success are as different as the fingerprints on your hand.

You start with talent.....everything follows talent. Like the man said: "you have to have the right people on the bus." Don't underestimate the importance of securing the most talented team you can find, keeping in mind that not all talent comes fully baked on day one. At the same time, some folks need to be helped to understand that a bad fit is a bad fit and change for them is an immediate priority, both theirs and yours! Don't spend a lot of time fighting your intuition....make the changes that feel right and move on with all the other important issues that lie ahead.

Once you've selected your team, lay out the metrics. Metrics are the key to building any successful team. Measuring every aspect of sales performance from the outbound activities through sales closure - what we affectionately call the "Waterfall" - is the next most critical step in shaping the team. Establish standards for performance, coach the team to those standards (the entire team), and track and measure relentlessly. Good things come out of metrics! Trust me on this one. There isn't one successful Sales Leader out there who doesn't apply standards for sales performance, establishes metrics to track those standards, and drives his/her team towards exceeding those standards each and every day.

Okay, so you have the folks in place that set the stage.........you have established solid metrics and have the tracking mechanism in place to consistently and accurately gauge performance. Now is the time to find a training partner, someone who will work closely with you to tailor a training curriculum that focuses on your team's performance needs, and not some off the shelf program that's designed for the masses. Establishing standards of performance requires a framework that the entire team understands and adopts. What's the best sales performance training program? It's the one you select, you reinforce on a daily basis, and you embed in your organizatinal DNA..........you stick with it when everyone wants to introduce their favorite training partner to you.

I'm quite fond of a firm in Dallas, Texas - Acclivus Corporation - and one of their top independent consultants, Charles Gottenkieny. I've been working with Charles and Acclivus for over twenty years and I've established a relationship based upon trust and results. We've worked across multiple organizations and we've had various degrees of success, but our results thus far at Market Force certainly rank at the very top. I won't go into the details of everything we've done over the past year, but suffice it to say that finding your trusted training partner is another critical element in building a successful sales organization.

Let's see: A talented team; Standards, Metrics, Tracking; a well laid out sales training curriculum.........what else is needed?

For me, it's the environment, or what many folks fondly refer to as the "Sales Culture." Building a sales culture that celebrates success, that is geared towards success, and fundamentally leads the business every single day is the most important role for the Sales Leader. Sales professionals operate at maximum efficiency when they are placed in an environment designed to support their success. The sales compensation plan needs to be an integral part of that environment; i.e.: you pay people to be successful and you don't begrudge them those earnings. This is one area where don't want to be frugal. Fairness and honesty are also equally important. The key is establishing a reputation for paying for success, which will serve the organization in multiple ways, but especially in your new talent acquisition efforts.

Recognition is another massively important element in the mix. Sales professionals are by nature egotistic. They crave recognition and it is the Sales Leader's role to ensure that recognition is forthcoming. People often talk about the sales hero's within their firms, but how often do they, or you, treat them as hero's?

This brings us to another key point. What is the role of the Sales Leader? First and foremost, the Sales Leader is charged with creating the Sales Culture. He/She is primarily responsible with creating an environment wherein selling happens and is celebrated. It is not his or her job to assume the role of the hero. The best Sales Leaders that I know are relatively modest folks. They shamelessly promote their superstars, quietly coach their under-performers, and constantly strive to stand between their team and any organizational issues that might impede the ongoing success of the team. It's surprising how many organizations create sales barriers! The Sales Leader needs to be the filter that screens the sales organization from all the noise and distractions and allows the sales professionals to focus on closing new business, which is what they are paid to do. A bit of advice here - if you find that your sales team is spending less than 90% of their time engaged in core sales activities; i.e.: prospecting, business development, and closing, then stop what you are doing and reassess everything. Sales should not be doing the marketing function, nor should they be editing contracts or writing operational briefs. Focus your sales professionals on selling!

Beyond these four foundation strategies there are an endless array of collateral strategies and tactics that can be applied depending upon your individual circumstances. But get these big four right and you exponentially increase your opportunity for creating a successful sales organization.

So, let's recap:

1. Start with the best talent.

2. Set performance expectations by defining the right metrics, establishing measurements and a mechanism for consistent and accurate tracking.

3. Find a solid sales performance training partner and create a tailored program for your team. Then implement that program with commitment and enthusiasm.

4. Finally, establish a sales culture that rewards performance and keeps the sales team focused on selling and pushes everything unrelated to new business acquisition to one side.

This folks is my recipe for success. Thus far it has served me well. Market Force has just experienced a banner year and if January is any indication, then 2010 is going to continue down that path. Oh there will certainly be new challenges, including the higher expectations that follow any successful year. We will also want to continue to find new ways to delight our existing clients, ensuring that they not only remain with us in 2010, but also grow as we continue to innovate and develop new methodologies for measuring and understanding the discipline of "Customer Experience"

Winter Is Upon Us - What Happened to the Fall?

2009-09-03T13:44:00.007-05:00

Yes, we are winding down 2009 and will soon be heading into the holiday season. The NFL is full swing and the NBA just started the regular season. Baseball is winding down with only one playoff series remaining, albeit an important one to this Yankees fan. How did all this happen so fast? It seems like just yesterday I was looking at Carolina's basketball schedule for January and thinking it's going to be a long year. I guess the old adage about time passing faster as you get older has a ring of truth to it for me today.

Why so melancholy you might ask? I don't know to be honest. I just can't put my finger on it. Things are great at the office. I love the job and I'm working with an amazing group of folks, all of whom are brighter and younger than me. Hmmmmm. Could that be it? No, at my age, everyone is brighter and younger!

Perhaps today's cover picture provides a hint. After all, my Ellie is now in middle-school. She is in 6th grade, but that can't be because just yesterday we put her on the bus for her first day of 1st grade. She has grown so much over the past five years and pretty soon she won't be my little girl any longer. She will be this young woman who will no longer want to hang out with Dad on the couch in the evening. Of course, that is the dilemna that every Dad eventually faces, but perhaps because I see it happening so clearly I'm letting it hit my age meter a just bit too hard. Hmmmmmmmm. No, it's not really that either, although it's clearly an influence.

So, what is it that makes the end of a year so difficult? It can't be the impending onset of the holiday season since it is my favorite time of the year. I love the idea of wearing sweaters and taking long drives to places where the leaves are changing and painting the sky with wonderful colors and amazing scenary. I love sitting outside during the cool evenings, although I must admit there are times when I think that would be so much more enjoyable if I could have a smoke while I'm there. Oh well, that's never going to happen again. Hopefully!

Okay, so I don't know exactly what's up with me and my current mood, but I do know that it isn't really bad or sad or negative. It is just this sense of passing that seems to be haunting me at the moment. It's as if I missed something or I forgot something!

Anyway, I'll figure it out eventually. Meanwhile, I'm back and thinking about how I need to post everyday from now on if I really want to have a viable blog. I also purchased a new camera and plan to take even more photo's for the blog, so all good news ahead!

Building Doors

2009-07-20T09:19:00.005-05:00

The famous comedian Milton Berle once said; "If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door." Well, that is what I've been doing since my last post on April 3rd. Really? April 3rd? Amazing!

Oh well, it has been a tad busy, but I must admit that I've been having a delightful time. I had forgotten how much I enjoy being a sales leader. Are we blowing the targets out the door? Well, not completely....not yet anyway. But we are doing very well given the economy and the struggles we have had with finding the right balance of hunters and farmers. Plus of course, that famous quote from Zig Ziglar; "Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no trust" applies as well. Sometimes it is really difficult to qualify the opportunity and the firm presenting the opportunity in a way that justifies the investment and commitment required to win the client's trust and faith, not to mention the business! Relationships matter today, probably more than ever and tools like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc. are really starting to find traction with senior executives across the country. I've been with LinkedIn for as long as I can remember and have had a paid subscription since they first introduced the model, so I'm a tad amazed sometimes when folks ask me if I use it and if it adds any value. Duh!

Seriously though, anyone not connected in today's market economy is going to struggle. David Nour, a well known social networking strategist and one of the foremost thought leaders on the quantifiable value of business relationships, writes extensively about the importance of having a relationship-centric strategy in his new book, "Relationship Economics: Transform Your Most Valuable Business Contacts into Personal and Professional Success". But how can you have business contacts if you are not connected and getting connected happens both on-line and in person, although I have a propensity for doing it in person because I like to meet folks up-front and personal. I think shaking someones hand is still the best way in the world to get to know them. I do on-line networking and I'm reasonably good at it with nearly 350 LinkIn connections, but there is simply no substitute for meeting someone face-to-face and having that eye contact. So much is learned in so short a time!

Family has been good for most of the year. Joe is really progressing and although we struggle with his new eating habits (ever since that drug in late '08 he has struggled with his weigh and appetite), he is enjoying the summer. In fact, he is currently hanging out with his Aunt Mary in Akron, Ohio after spending just under a week with his big brother in Northern Virginia. Mom and Dad miss him and even his sister has noted a strange absence around the house. Perhaps it's that teenage boy smell that seems to follow him around like an old dog who's afraid of being left alone. Then again, maybe we don't miss him after all!

I would love to find some small opportunity for a long weekend before school starts again, but it isn't looking good at this moment. We have visitor's arriving from Europe next week on the same day that I head out to Boulder for a Board meeting. I get back on the same day as Joe arrives and then we're off again for something or the other and then school starts. Bummer! I need a break! Perhaps I can steal away for a short weekend with my brother Joe. Nothing to do by chat and drink some wine during the evening's, but I can get by with that for a couple of nights.

Anyway, hope everyone is loving the summer. I must take some pictures of the kids before they both stop being kids! Meanwhile, a view from the United Kingdom.

Made The Switch

2009-04-03T12:21:00.007-05:00

Hey there folks. Yea, I know. I haven't been very active as of late, but then I knew this new gig was going to eat up a good deal of my time. I just didn't realize that it was going to absorb as much time as it has this past quarter. Still, it is pretty darn nice to be locked into a gig that actually has you getting up in the morning with a spring in your step and a smile on your face. On the 1st of April I made it official and joined Market Force Information as the Senior Vice President of Sales & Strategic Accounts. Patrick D. Gaul, Inc. is going to take a backseat to Market Force for the forseeable future and while the decision to make this change wasn't entirely easy, it was not as difficult as I had anticipated. As I told a mate of mine last night, it feels good and I'm really excited about this year. I sincerely believe that a good attitude is a precursor to a successful venture and this truly feels like it is going to be a successful venture.

Anyway, as I noted, I've been really remiss in posting of late and I intend to try to address that deficiency over the coming weeks/months. So much has happened and I've not written about any of it! It's so easy to let things drift away and I absolutely must get this blog back in shape.

Meanwhile, I have to get back to work. Being a SVP actually requires a rather serious investment of my time each day and I have to be careful to keep my day prioritized. Otherwise, I find myself up at late at night or early in the morning catching up with the previous day. Not good for a guy who likes to sleep 8 hours a night if he can make it happen.

GTS '09

2009-03-03T08:05:00.002-05:00

Here we are, waiting to start the Georgia Technology Summit. Todd Bell, the CIO of Verizon Wireless is introducing the day and our keynote speaker, Tom Friedman. I'm really chuffed because I was the guy who first raised the idea of inviting Tom to join us today. I first encountered Tom in 1989 when I read "From Beirut to Jerusalem", which fascinated me because at the time I was managing sales operations in Israel, Egypt, Turkey and Lebanon.

Another reason for being truly excited today is the fact that this is the largest gathering of technologists in Atlanta since the last Prayer breakfast. Cool!

Focus

2009-01-12T16:52:00.002-05:00

Today started out on a less than thrilling note. After getting up early with less than a full night's sleep (don't know why, but I've just not been sleeping very well for the past six weeks), I got dressed and headed off to the office thinking I'd get an early start to the week. Unfortunately, I managed to leave my laptop in my home office and only discovered that I was without it when I got to the office. So, back in the car to drive home, pick-up the laptop and head back to the office. Of course, by the time I headed back I was knee deep into rush hour and so what I had hoped would be a quick run into the office and an extra hour of productivity this morning turned out to be 50 miles in the car and an hour of driving.

So here's my question. Am I: a.) getting old? b.) simply absent minded? or c.) lacking in focus? I wonder because I'm finding that more and more these days I'm struggling to stay on top of everything that comes my way and that has never been a problem in the past. I could juggle 10 things at the office without ever completely dropping anything, although I obviously had to prioritize those ten items. Now, I just seem to lose the plot and in the process I find that I lose track of one or two items that I'm suppose to be tracking. Nothing major mind you. Usually it's the small things that get misplaced, but it is nevertheless disconcerting and I'm guessing it's the beginning of the end for the "never say no" kid! That's right. I'm now going to have to actually figure out what I have on my plate before I take on any additional chores, either at the office or at home. I've even gone so far as to start recording my top priorities for each week so I can track my progress against them. I even got someone helping me by reviewing at the end of the week my progress against the top priorities and trying to analyze what is occurring when I fail to achieve them. Good! I like the discipline of thinking through what needs to get done and then actually tracking them to ensure completion. I suppose some folks might think I'm being a tad silly taking this approach, but I'm of a mind that if you are struggling with something you should ask for new ideas and accept help if it is offered. What do you think?

I can't write anymore about the situation between Israel and Gaza. It is just too horrific to think about and every time I do get focused on it I'm not certain who I get more angry with, the Israeli's or Hamas. They are both so bull headed and so determined to win at any cost. I get the rockets constantly falling into the south of Israel as being totally unacceptable, but I also get that fact that Israel has been using economic measures to starve Hamas out of Gaza and that those measures have in fact damaged the economy in Gaza to the point that people don't have even the basic necessities. Two wrongs never made a right and I fear in this case both sides are unwilling to compromise or seek outside help. Israel isn't winning any points with the rest of the world with images of wounded children pouring into CNN and Fox News, nor is Hamas likely to seek an end given the damage Isael is creating for its brand with these tactics. It is all too sad to think about, yet it lays heavily on my mind having spent so much time in Israel over the past six years. I love their country and the Israeli people and I know for most of them this is not the way they would prefer their lives to be conducted, but I guess sometimes you have to confront the unpleasant directly, even if it isn't your preferred course of action.

Violence in Gaza

2008-12-28T10:02:00.003-05:00

While some of us have been celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and the message of love and peace that he brought to this world, others are continuing to walk the road of hate and violence.

"270 Die in Ongoing Israeli Strikes on Gaza" - msnbc.com
"U.S. Blames Hamas for Attack by Israel" - The Associated Press
"Hamas Unlikely to be Toppled" - The Associated Press

And the list of headlines continue as Israel retaliates against what they have described as "almost daily rocket and mortar fire from Gaza that intensified after Hamas ended a six-month ceasefire a week ago." The truce began to fall apart in early November after Israel sent troops across the border in a raid on Gaza. Since that time there have been multiple rocket attacks on Israel fired by militants in Gaza.

The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is supposed to be in control of the West Bank, condemned the attacks, but is in no position to stop Hamas. In fact, once his four-year term ends next month it is clear that Hamas will pay no attention to President Abbas, not that they heeded his counsel in the past.

And Hamas promises to strike back with rockets and suicide attacks in the "cafes and streets" of Israel. The violence will beget more violence and unless the United Nations or the Arab League can somehow step in and mediate a ceasefire this latest escalation is likely to continue unabated for the near term. I leave the United States out because it is apparent from everything being said by the Bush administration in its last days that they do not have the stomach for any further intervention and clearly blame the situation entirely on Hamas. Of course, nothing is being said about the humanitarian crisis that has been taking place over the past four to six months as Israel has intentionally starved 1.5 million Palestinians through their blockades and other border controls. I do not say that this is justification for the rocket attacks, but I think it is important to remember that there are always two sides to a story. I also think it's important to point out that given the current situation, it is likely that a number of innocent children are going to be killed in the coming days and weeks.

The photo's coming out of the Associated Press in the Middle East make me want to cry. The violence has to stop and someone has to lead the effort to stop it. I don't know if President-elect Obama is prepared to engage given everything that is on his plate and I'm not even certain the U.S. should be engaging. Where is the European Union in this crisis? The United Nations? Where is the Arab League?

My Sunday morning has been sad indeed as I have scoured the news for updates on the situation. There seems to be no end in sight!

State of the Blogosphere

2008-12-26T13:11:00.007-05:00

Technorati's State of the Blogosphere 2008 report is now available on their website (www.technorati.com) and provides some very interesting insights in the world of blogging. For instance, as of August, 2008 there were 77.7 million unique visitors to blogs in the U.S., 41.0 million to Facebook, 75.1 million to mySpace and a total internet audience of 189.9 million. There have been 1.33 million blog records indexed by Technorati since 2002, 7.4 million blogs posted in the last 120 days, 1.5 million blogs posted in the last 7 days and 900,000 posted in the last 24 hours, or at least those were the stats when the report was published. Bloggers turn out to be both educated and generally affluent with three out of four bloggers have graduated from college and 42% having attended graduate school. "They skew male, and more than half have a household income of over $75,000", according to the report. There are five sections to the report and worth the 20 to 30 minutes you may spend reviewing it.

On the 22nd of December, Forbes.com published the "400 Best Big Companies" report. It covers both American and foreign corporations that have a significant presence in the U.S. Each have at least $1B in revenue in the most recent fiscal year and a stock price of at least $5 per share and positive equity. Forbes selected these 400 from a list of 1,000 candidates that fell into the parameters described and used a fairly straight forward set of criteria, which you can deep-dive on the Forbes.com website. There is also a very neat pivot table that allows you to dice them just about anyway you'd like just in case you were preparing some prospect lists for 2009. Might as well chase the successful firms with a bit of cash because right now I'm not certain a lot of the companies being served are going to make through 2009. It's a tough economy and companies are scrambling to figure out what works and how to keep the customers loyal, which is exactly why I joined Market Force Information in early October.

Market Force is the leading Customer Experience Information & Insights Partner for multi-location businesses, and that really means three things for Market Force and our clients.........first, it means that we evaluate the on-site experience from both the viewpoint of the customer's perception and the operational realities that created those perceptions. Second, we solve two business problems for our clients; i.e.: the tie between the operational performance, customer satisfaction and financial performance; and the need to drive operational improvement to the store level. Finally, we provide business improvement and decision support tools to help our customers manager their investments in customer experience. As I said earlier, customer loyalty is going to be critical for a lot of companies in 2009 and if they cannot articulate the operational realities at the store level then they are going to be among the losers. Management has to know what is happening at the "moment of truth" when a consumer engages a shopping experience........what happens when you walk into any store? You evaluate everything (rather consciously or unconsciously) from the moment you enter the store. Did someone greet you? Were you able to get assistance in a reasonable time frame? Were the associates on the floor friendly and courteous? Were the dressing rooms neat? Were the bathrooms clean? Think about it. Every aspect of that in-store experience registers with you and determines the likelihood of you returning and spending money again. And what about referrals? When is the last time you blasted some store or experience for the reasons I just mentioned? Understanding the operational realities and how they tie to customer perceptions and ultimately financial performance is the key to being successful in 2009, and that is what we do at Market Force Information. It's a very cool company and I'm really enjoying my time there. You can investigate the firm at www.marketforceinformation.com

Lakers knocked off the Celtics last evening and as I told a friend this morning, if it couldn't be the Hawks then my next most favorite team would suffice. I know it is only a December game and there is a lot of season left, but it did my heart good to see those Boston fans crushed. Now, if only Dallas can get out of Philadelphia with a win tomorrow!

Christmas Shopping

2008-12-22T13:36:00.004-05:00

So I head out yesterday in the early afternoon with instructions from Kate to relax and unwind. The only problem is I'm headed for the shopping malls and I'm supposed to "relax and unwind". Sure. That's relatively easy when you have all these completely insane people driving around in 2 ton vehicles thinking they own the road and carparks are the equivalent of NASCAR racetracks. Case in point: I wander over to the Joseph Banks store on Peachtree........you know, the one right across from Dick's Sporting Goods. I reckoned that that there are a number of stores that I can visit simply by parking by J. Banks. It was fairly easy to get into the lot as I approached it from the Peachtree entrance and there was no traffic. Unfortunately, that's because all the traffic was in the carpark and everyone was scrambling to find a space. So I eventually eased my way to the very back of the lot and sure enough I drove right into one of the three remaining slots. I got out of the car and started to walk back to J. Banks and was nearly run over by this mad woman who was talking into a phone with one hand, to her passenger with the other hand and therefore must have been driving with her knees (assuming she did not have three hands). How close did she really come to hitting me? Well, let's put it this way. I've had near death experiences in Vietnam and this wasn't of that scale, but it sure as hell was close.

I walked into J. Banks and immediately regretted being there. It was a zoo. They had this crazy sale that gave you two free items for each item that you purchased at full price. Really nice dress slacks for $140 or $46.66 per pair......sports coats for $500 or $166 each. It all seemed reasonable, but of course the numbers are a bit tangled, especially when you think of the other sales they have during the year and realize that you purchased two of the same sport coats last fall for roughly $150 each on sale and the same brand of dress slacks for $30 per pair, again on sale. Anyway, given it was a madhouse and since there was no way I could get any service in less than an hour, I made the decision to pass on the famous Joseph Banks sale.

Okay, off to Boarders. Same story, different store. Lots of items that we don't need on sale and very long queues at the check-out register. Off I went thinking Dick's Sporting Goods would be the way to go...........wrong again!

Anyway, I was back home in about 25 minutes and had spent not a dime in any of the stores I visited. Sorry guys. I know the retailers are having trouble, but you got to give a person a fighting chance to spend a buck before that actually happens.

So, on-line to the Apple Store for some gift certificates that could be delivered via email, to Amazon for some gifts that would be delivered to the house no later than the 23rd and a few more gift certificates that I could print on my home printer. Sixty minutes of shopping on my home computer and everything was done and I was pretty relaxed at the end. I had a Jack Daniels and Coke sitting beside me during my shopping experience and while my bank account took a fairly hefty hit, at least I wasn't a complete zombie, which is exactly what I would have been had I stayed in those stores. I don't know..........do we really need stores anymore? Could we completely do away with storefronts and sell everything on-line? Who knows? Perhaps that is where we will ultimately end up if this economy keeps tanking.

Anyway, hope your Christmas shopping experience was not horrible and you were able to find everything your little heart desires.........only 2.5 days left before Christmas. Better get out there, or on-line, whichever works best for you!

So in closing, I'm adding a special picture that I treasure. It's from the little town that we lived in while I was posted to The Netherlands. The town is called Leiden and it is quite special. Thought you would all enjoy seeing it once again.

Back in Atlanta

2008-12-13T12:32:00.007-05:00

I landed at Hartsfield-Jackson last Friday evening at 8:15 pm after a mostly uneventful flight. In fact, the only remarkable thing about the flight was the number of "large" passengers trying to squeeze into those tiny spaces that Delta calls seats. Okay, so I'm a tad biased here. I think really over-weight passengers should be required to purchase the equivalent of 1.5 seats instead of making the rest of us suffer the overhanging flesh. I must admit that I was mostly fortunate in that I had an aisle seat and the guy in the middle seat was a reasonably sized chap. He had a thing about the seat rests though. You know the type, They sit down and immediately stake out both seat rests. I think it's a response to having been relegated to a middle seat, almost as if they need to make a statement that even though they are sitting in the middle seat, they aren't second class citizens. Of course we all know that anyone stuck in the middle seat is either an infrequent flyer with no influence, a frequent flyer who forgot to check their seat assignment, or someone who just got a bad draw on the day. It has happened to me on a number of occasions and all I can say is that while it isn't fun, it isn't the end of the world either........that is, unless you get stuck in a middle seat on the direct flight between Atlanta and Tel Aviv. Now that was a bummer!

Anyway, getting back to the weight issue. Have you noticed how many seriously overweight airline passengers there are these days? I even spied one in an exit row not long ago on a flight between Atlanta and Denver, which made me really nervous given the possibility of that person being able to respond quickly in an emergency. The airlines seem to be completely oblivious to the situation as they do absolutely nothing to help out. There was this totally overweigh lass on the flight between Denver and Atlanta on Friday evening who could not possibly fit into a normal size seat (not many of us "comfortably" fit) and despite a number of passengers suggesting that something be done the flight attendants carried on and acted as if it were unimportant/of no interest to them. The lady stuck in the middle seat finally resolved the issue by finding an empty middle seat several rows back and was able to avoid being crushed for the 2 plus hour flight to Atlanta.

Of course this rant could lead to another litnany of grievances with the airline industry, but I'll spare you for the moment. Suffice it to say that flying in this country just continues to become more and more complex/unpleasant/difficult, plus down right aggravating!

Update: December '08

2008-12-09T09:47:00.008-05:00

I had a brief conversation with my sister Mary over the Thanksgiving holiday and she reminded me that I had not posted anything on my blog since Joe was in the hospital. Sorry folks! As always, my intentions are honorable, but my travel/work schedule has absorbed much of my time over the past two months.

First, an update on Joe. The very good news is that the new medication has kicked in and things have really improved for both Joe and our family. He seems to be a much happier child these days and more balanced in his attitude towards school and life in general, although for a 12 year old school is pretty much all there is in life since that is the primary source for friends given our neighborhood. He is still heavily committed to Karate and recently acquired his first stripe on his Purple Belt, which means he only has about 130 to 150 more classes before he tests for his Blue Belt. If he stays committed to the process then he is on schedule to have a Black Belt just before his 18th birthday. He is also playing basketball again this season with the St. James team and thankfully Greg Maxey is still coaching these kids. Joe has been with him since he was eight years old and just loves to participate, which Coach Maxey makes certain that he and all the kids on the team get to do every game and practice. Joe may not be the most talented offensive player on the team, but he does play tenacious defense and opposing teams hate his swarming style; i.e.: I think because of the Karate he has quick hands and is able to get his hands on the ball often, which creates problems for players who handle the ball carelessly. And finally, there is Scouts, which is also a source of enjoyment for him. He actually went on his first camping trip this past fall without Dad and seemed to have a great time on his own. That was a big deal for him as he has experience anxiety in the past when he ventured out on his own. So the net/net is while we continue to struggle with lots of different things related to Joe (schoolwork and homework being the two most pressing at the moment), he seems to have gotten past the weekend in the hospital and we feel that we are making forward progress. The picture shows Joe at the most recent Shotgun Merit Badge weekend. He only fired about 10 rounds this season, but he hit two clay pigeons and was pretty proud of himself. I'm confident that next year he will be even more eager to test for the badge.

As for me, I'm enjoying a week in Boulder. We had about 4 to 6 inches of snow yesterday and as I looked out of my hotel window this morning I could not help by think how beautiful everything looked. Although it was still dark, the mountains seem to shine with the whiteness of the freshly fallen snow and everything seemed so peaceful. It was truly a breathtaking view!

I love the new company (Market Force Information) and being back in mainstream sales. I just recently agreed to assume responsibility for all new business sales in 2009 including upselling the existing base. This means that I have ownership for retention, program expansion and new business growth across the entire firm next year (actually, that responsibility officially fell on my shoulders yesterday). I haven't deserted Patrick D. Gaul, Inc. as yet, but if all goes well in April I'll have to make the decision to go full time with Market Force and put my firm on hold or complete my current engagement and move on to other opportunities. A difficult, but nice dilemma to have on my plate in the current economic environment.

So there it is.........Joe is progressing on most fronts. I'm pretty darn happy with just about everything related to my new role and Kate and Ellie seem to be getting along a tad better after having a Mother/Daughter weekend in Orlando with Applause for Kids. More on that later.............

Challenging Times

2008-10-11T17:22:00.005-05:00

It started well. A new job with lots of exciting opportunities and my first trip to the Colorado Rockies to spend some time with the executive management team. All seemed sort of right with the world as I sat in the conference room at the Happy Valley Ranch just outside of Boulder. I really enjoyed the profession approach to team building that was being taken and I was learning much about myself and the men and women that I will be working with over the coming months and hopefully years. We were nestled well up the mountains at nearly 9,000 feet elevation and while the air was thin, it was clean and crisp and Thursday morning was absolutely delightful with that briskness that one can only experience in the mountains. Then, on Thursday evening as I sat in a restaurant with the rest of the management team enjoying a glass of wine and a lovely meal, my mobile phone rang. It was Kate and she was really upset.....crying and it was all I could do to understand her with the noise in the restaurant. Something about Joe and the hospital. I rushed outside so I could hear her and after managing to get her to calm down I learned that Joe had been admitted to a Behavioral Health Clinic that evening as part of a strategy that his psychologist, psychiatrist and doctors all agreed would be best to address the most recent challenges we have collectively encountered with Tourette's. I'm calm now, but at that point in time all I wanted was to be home with Kate and Ellie and to get to the hospital to see Joe. After finishing my conversation with Kate I walked back into the restaurant and shared what was going on with the CEO. He asked me if I wanted to go home that evening and I said that I did and he was on the phone to his Executive Assistant and with an hour a flight had been arranged from Denver to Atlanta on the red-eye, which would put me back into Atlanta at 5:30 a.m. on Friday morning. I finished my meal and some colleagues drove me to the Denver airport and I arrived back at the house around 7:00 a.m. on Friday morning.

Seeing Joe for the first time in that environment was incredibly difficult and I immediately understood why his Mom was so upset the night before. It is called a Behavioral Health Clinic and it's designed to work with a wide range of behavioral health issues, both with kids and adults. The rules are hard and patients are treated with a certain level of objectivity as opposed to compassion. The nurses are a bit hard-core and conversations are candid and very direct; e.g.: your son cannot do this, or that, or go there, or have this in their possession. Joe was beside himself last evening when we visited and he desperately wanted Mom and Dad to take him out of that horrible place. How do you tell your son that having him secure in a place like that is the best way to get him to a happier place in his life? How do you tell him that everything is going to be okay when every instinct tells you to pick him up and carry him out as quickly as possible?

The facts were relatively straight forward. Joe needed to switch from one course of meds to another and during the transition he would experience significant anxiety and distress and having him go through this process in the care of professionals was the best option for him and for our family. The Doctors told us that it would take between 3 and 7 days to complete the process and if everything went to plan Joe would emerge a happier child and the most recent episode of Tourette's would subside significantly. All good stuff, but all horribly frightening for a 12 year old lad.

We were with him again on the Saturday for an hour and while he wasn't as distressed as the previous evening, he was still clearly unhappy at the thought of staying another night. He kept telling me to make certain the Doctor released him on Sunday evening, which I knew wasn't going happen since the Doctor wasn't scheduled to see him again until Monday morning. And even then it could take several more days before he would be ready to come home.

Scary stuff, especially when you know there isn't a bloody thing you can do to change the course that the process needed to follow. But hopefully this new approach will work as advertised and our Joe will grow into a healthier state, both emotionally and physically. This most recent escalation of the Tourette's has worn him out and he needs some time to relax and be a 12 year old kid instead of hanging out in a Behavioral Clinic. We won't know for for awhile, but I know Joe has lots of prayers coming his way from friends and family and I know God is listening and watching over him. Still, it would be nice if he could catch a break. It seems so much has been placed on his shoulders so early and I can't imagine what it must be like at school where he is ridiculed and taunted by his peers.

I could write for a week about the school situation.........the teacher who told Joe to "stop it" because she had not taken the time to read his IEP and the stupidity that most of his peers display when they take an extra moment to tease him and make him feel like he is somehow inadequate because he has Tourette's. I can't quite figure it out, but it's obvious that this is a cruel world and Joe is going to have to get tougher if he is to survive. We can't depend on the school because the teachers are either incapable of grasping the full extent of Joe's challenges or they simply don't care.

Time will tell if things are going to change for the better. Meanwhile, we are motoring forward in hopes of a better tomorrow. With God's help we will get there soon.

Last Day

2008-10-03T10:57:00.009-05:00

For those of you who follow my adventures, this is my last day with the firm that I joined just over 15 months ago. It has been a really interesting experience and I've met so many wonderful folks. Part of me doesn't want to accept that I won't be in touch with them everyday, but as I said in my previous post, transitions are unavoidable most of the time and I'm really looking forward to my my next great challenge.

That challenge is going to be working with a firm in Boulder, Co. and I'm on a plane next Tuesday morning to get things started. What a great little town Boulder is......beautiful mountains everywhere and just the nicest people. In fact, they are so nice, you would think they are from the south!

I went to the HiTech Prayer Breakfast this morning. In case you don't know this event, it is the largest networking event in Atlanta. There were nearly 1,500 folks there this morning and the line-up included Rollin Ford, the CIO of Walmart, an impressive guy who told a wonderful story about Trust, Relationships and Accountability, which he described as the "pillars" of his life, both personally and professionally. I suppose the most impressive aspect of this event is the sheer number of technology professionals who are there to openly acknowledge their relationships with Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. I'm not talking neo-con's here. I'm talking about men and women from every aspect of technology, from software to telecommunications, from interactive marketing to voice recognition, from "C" level to hourly associates, all gathered to acknowledge the impact that God has on each and everyone of us.

I sat next to this delightful chap who is a senior executive with a local software firm and throughout the program I watched him scribble notes on 3x5 cards as he listened intently to the speakers. Indeed, as I scribbled right next to him I also observed many folks at the various tables doing the same thing. The event began at 5:59 a.m. and lots of these folks had gotten up at 4:30 a.m. to attend, but you could not find a sleepy eye in the house. Everyone was so engaged and attentive.....now, if only I could get that much attention at the Georgia Technology Summit next spring!

Polly Harper has been trying to get me to the HiTech Prayer Breakfast for the past five years, but for one reason or the other I have not been able to attend. I am so pleased that I made it this morning and I know in my heart that next year I'm going to find a way to be involved with this program. Thanks Polly!

I think the most powerful personal experience I took away was the importance of placing your trust in God. Our family has been struggling the past two week with Joe, our 12 year old son. Joe was diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome a couple of years ago and very recently we began to see a significant increase in the visible symptoms of the disorder. He has developed a facial tick that causes his face to screw-up and his head to jerk from side to side. It is the most visible manifestation of the disorder to date and of course it is creating all sorts of problems at school. 7th graders are without mercy when it comes to kids who are "different" and Joe feels that pain everyday as they talk behind his back, point at him and laugh and otherwise behave as 7th graders. Of course this doesn't make it anymore comfortable for Joe, but you know, I believe God has a plan for Joe and while this may not turn out to be his favorite part of that plan, I know that God's plan for Joe is going to wonderful at the end of the day. As I bowed my head this morning and prayed, I asked God to continue to watch over my son and to give him the strength to work through the next few years because Tourette's only advances in severity during puberty. I know that Joe is going to need a lot of strength and encouragement from his family and friends, but he is also going to need a personal relationship with Jesus Christ to help him hold his head high while others gawk. I sincerely hope that I can help him find that relationship over the coming weeks and months and I know that I won't be alone in that effort because if needed, I met nearly 1,500 folks this morning who would come rushing to my aid if asked. That is the power of Jesus Christ. I remember Paul's letter to the Philippians wherein he explains that his imprisonment has served to advance the word of the Lord and that folks should not feel sorry for him. Hopefully Joe will someday look at this time in his life as the time he found the inner strength and put his faith in the Lord ahead of the personal anxiety he is currently experiencing.

Life is a Transition

2008-09-24T11:15:00.005-05:00

I look back over the past two years and I'm amazed by how dramatically my life has changed since I left my position at the Web Hosting firm that I originally came to Atlanta to manage. Now, 21 months after starting Patrick D. Gaul, Inc., I find myself headed for another adventure and I must admit that I'm more than just a tad excited about the opportunities that having my own company have provided for me. Do I miss the stability of working for a firm with all the benefits? Yes, sometimes, especially when I write that check every month to Blue Cross/Blue Shielf to cover my company's health care plan. And I definitely often wish someone else was buying the ink cartridges and paper for my printers, not to mention the other stationary and office supplies that one needs everyday to run a business. You don't think about those things when they are provided out of a stationary cabinet, but when you buy them yourself day in and day out they suddenly become a fairly large item on the annual expense budget.

Anyway, I was thinking this morning about transition and how we experience transitions our entire lives. We transition from children to adolescents, from adolescents to teenagers, to young adults, to adults and then on to middle age and beyond. Live is a constant series of transitions and intermixed with these chronological transitions are all sorts of life experiences including college, the miltary, marriage, divorce, marriage, divorce, marriage (I may a tad unique in this area), children, grandchildren, etc. Life is just a melting pot of experiences and transitions and through it all we are suppose to maintain some sort of balance and perspective. I don't about you, but the whole process seems a bit buggered to me. I'm still grappling with the concept of maturity! Someone recently asked me "when did you become an adult?" How do you know if you've actually made that transition? Is it based on marriage, children, financial security? Heck, I'm headed hard towards 60 and I still find the concept of maturity difficult because so much of me is still drive by a youthful attitude and spirit! I like life and I love to have fun and to be a free spirit. I think if I did not have so many responsibilities with my family and my life I would be living somewhere quite remote, very distant from the urban sprawl that I now inhabit. Buckhead is so not the real world! I don't know how we ended up there, but I think it had something to do with the schools, especially Sarah Smith, which is quite close to where we live........great public elementary school! And Sutton, the middle-school isn't really that bad; unless of course you are one of the middle-schoolers attending classes each day, in which case it is probably horrible. I remember middle-school and they aren't happy memories. So many things happen between the ages of 11 and 13 and most of them are not fun..........it's an awkward time in a young person's life.

Okay, so I'm rambling a bit. I guess I don't really have a major point to make here. I'm trying to stay away from the politics for the moment and don't even ask me what I think about this bailout. $700B! Amazing and the more our government leaders warn about doom and gloom the more the markets respond. Doesn't anyone remember how to pitch a positive spin on things these days? Why couldn't there be reassurances instead of all of these guys (who should have been watching the shop all along) spinning the darkest scenarios possible? Like I said, I need to stay away from it for the moment. My blood pressure might just spiral out of control if I deep dive the details of this latest plan.

Dallas Cowboys lost yesterday. Now that's a disappointment! Not only will I have my brother giving me grief (you know, the one who roots for the Redskins), but I'll have Daniel on the line in gleeful spirits, which is more than I can stand on a Monday afternoon.

Is Anyone Else Bothered By The Noise?

2008-09-15T12:53:00.004-05:00

Have you noticed that the more the Obama/Biden - McCain/Palin teams say, the less we know about what they hope to achieve if they're elected? Obama/Biden have clearly decided that the high road isn't going to get them to the White House and so it seems that they too are settling comfortably into a "war of slurs and innuendo" rather than a substantive debate around the issues facing our country and the global community.

Let me ask you this.........if you were a political leader in another country watching and listening to the noise around this election, would you be impressed? Would you think America is once again ready to take the helm and assume leadership around such critical issues as Global Warming, Terrorism, Finance, Nuclear Disarmament, etc.?

And no, I'm not going to pick on Governor Palin. The Lord knows that there are far better equipped political pundits capable of slinging mud her way. I will say that I think she is seriously unprepared for the road ahead and if I were John McCain, she would be doing quite a bit of studying over the next few weeks and very few interviews. I said that she would be the "difference that makes a difference" to a colleague right after the announcement and by that I meant that she would cost John McCain the election. After listening to her speech at the convention I offered that perhaps I spoke too soon, but after listening to the interview she did with Charlie Gibson I'm fairly certain my initial observation was correct. Can you really gear-up for a Presidential election in less than two months and be credible? Even if she is as smart as some folks have made her out to be (and I think there is a difference between being smart and being politically savvy), she was no more prepared to accept McCain's offer than John was to make it in the first place. He should have had Charlie Gibson vet her and he wouldn't be in this predicament. Oh well, if only he had hired me to advise him.

Sorry folks, but are we really going to go through all of this crap again; i.e.: the mudslinging, attack ads, negative publicity, dirt digging kind of politics that have defined the past two Presidential elections? How do we actually take some measure of control in this election? Aren't we "the people" that these men and women are supposed to be representing? How do you take a guy who was raised by a single Mom and had to use food stamps to feed her kids and turn him into some elite "uppity" character? How do you take community service and turn it into a negative. Dr. King has be rolling over in his coffin right now.

What can we do to start a grass roots movement to take back the political process around the Presidential election? I have a thought..........let's call it "Americans Decide.Org". Let's make it more about the process and less about the pundits. Force a debate around the issues and force platform presentations that clearly define what one would do should on be elected to the post. Heck, you wouldn't hire a top-notch consultant and not ask for a proposal of some sort. Would you? Why should we treat the Executive Office any different? Anyone can run as long as they have a serious plan to take the country forward. Let us decide who we think is serious and who is the fool. Makes sense to me, but then of course I'm just another one of those lost conservatives struggling to find some meaning in all of it. I still well in Obama's camp, but my goodness he needs to get back on track.

Meanwhile, a photo from Uncle Joe's over Labor Day. Joe just got his first "Air Soft" in honor of Governor Palin!

Back to School

2008-08-10T13:03:00.011-05:00

Tomorrow morning Joe and Ellie start back to school. Where has the summer gone? It seems like just yesterday they were boarding a plane for the UK, but that seemed to fly by, especially since I had the opportunity to join them for a few days (let's call it a working holiday). I was on my way to Tel Aviv via London for a business meeting and managed to divert myself to the West Midlands for five days. I arrived on a Saturday morning from Atlanta via Paris to Birmingham and then had a delightful evening with my Kate's brother Julian, his wife Sarah and their three children; Grace, Abby and George. (Pictures are being posted) A bit too much wine and some very early scotch made Sunday a bit of a blur, but I managed to hang on and we visited some friends and drank a couple more glasses of wine before I called it a day. Monday through Wednesday were filled with short visits here and there to say hello to old friends while I occupied Michael's office (that's Kate's Dad) and spent multiple hours each day preparing for the latter part of the week. Still, all in all it was fun and London was a whirlwind for two days before flying off to Israel on the Saturday. Another five days there and I arrived back in Atlanta the morning after Kate and the kids returned, which explains why they were standing at the top of the escalator at 6:15 a.m. waiting patiently for Dad to arrive. Seems they had all been up since about 4:00 a.m. anyway, so why not meet Dad at the Airport. We headed off for the Landmark Diner and breakfast and then home, a quick shower and I headed off for the office where I spent most of the day. I am getting rather good at getting off planes after long trips and working. It's not my favorite activity, but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do!

We were then joined my son Patrick and his two kids (Ashley and Patrick the 3rd, affectionately known as PJ) and they spent two weeks with us before heading back to Northern Virgina. He took our Joe and Ellie with him and then Kate drove to pick them up, spend some time with Jim and Becky (my brother and his wife) and then off to Ohio for a visit to Grandma and my sister Mary and her family. Kate definitely got some windscreen time on that trip!

They all arrived safely on Monday afternoon and this past week was another 50+ hour ordeal although I can't say it wasn't productive. As summer winds down we are beginning to see activity start to increase and hopefully that will spell a good September/October from a sales perspective.

Anyway, that is the really quick update. School starts tomorrow and life will get back to some semblance of normality, or at least that is our hope. Meanwhile the world is crashing down around our shoulders and with this latest hot spot in Eastern Europe I'm very concerned about things. But I'll hold those concerns for the moment and just share some photo's from our 2008 Summer.

"Leadership is a Journey"

2008-07-09T09:49:00.003-05:00

I borrowed the title for this post from Ralph de la Vega, the President & CEO of AT&T Mobility, who was the guest speaker this morning for WIT's "Leader in Focus" Speaker Series held at Maggiano's in Buckhead. An impressive group of business leaders convened to hear Mr. de la Vega speak about his incredible journey from being a happy child growing up in pre-Castro Cuba to a displaced 10 year old boy in Miami living with family friends while his parents struggled to find a way out of Cuba after the Castro revolution. For over four years he was in the care of another family that he had never met before arriving in Miami, mostly out of contact with his parents, siblings and relatives and finding it very hard to adapt to being a kid in America in the early 60's. He told an amusing story about his first meal being a peanut butter sandwich with a glass of cold milk, the first glass of cold milk he had ever experienced. He noted that while he had learned to love cold milk, the peanut butter and jelly experience was not one of his fonder memories. I can relate since my British wife constantly shakes her head every time I make myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I suppose it's an acquired taste, but you got to love the cold milk!

Mr. de la Vega then talked about his journey through the American educational system and how he nearly found himself agreeing to strive for less than he knew he could accomplish by accepting a high school guidance counselor's advice to focus on becoming a mechanic instead of an engineer, which was his true desire. But thanks to his Grandmother, a former teacher in Cuba who arrives in the nick of time, he is set on the right path and realizes his dream of becoming that engineer and ultimately he becomes the engineer running one of the largest multinational enterprises in the country.

It was an incredible story to hear, but what really impressed me about his chat this morning was his focus on the kids in Georgia and the issues we face with an increasing and alarming rate of high school drop outs. Across the state the high school graduation rate is not much above 60% and when you deep dive the numbers in the inner city that rate falls somewhere between 40% to 45%. Couple these statistics with the reduction in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) studies and an almost ingrained expectation of failure among the inner city kids and you have a recipe for a national disaster as we try to compete in the 21st century. How many engineers will China graduate this year? India? How about the USA? It is a staggering differential and one that needs to be raised to the highest levels of our government and addressed now. Outsourcing is a reality that is not going away and the key for this country is to possess the intellectual capital to move to the next stage of our evolution, which is to become the country of innovation and imagination. You cannot achieve that goal without Mathematicians, Engineers, Technologists and Scientists. It's impossible, and the real danger lies in the fact that many of kids today are not being given the incentives to even look at these fields.

I remember reading a book years ago entitled "More Like Us", written by James Fallows, a former speechwriter for Jimmy Carter. Published in 1989, it was a thesis on how to compete with the then emerging threats from Asia. Although considered somewhat weak by many critics, the one thing I took away from this work was his analysis on how other cultures arriving on our shores seemed to be able to maximize the opportunities that accompany the "American Dream", especially the Haitians who he pointed out had an impressive rate of college graduations among the second generation and an equally impressive rate of new business starts among the first generation. So why is it that a refugee arriving on a boat from Haiti can find the resources to build a life in this country, start a business, send their children to college, and become productive members of our society while the kids being born in our inner cities cannot find the the same opportunities? Fallows argues that it is a matter of an "ingrained expectation of failure" among the inner city kids that does not exist with the kid stepping off the boat from Haiti, or the plane from Cuba, in the case of Mr. Ralph de la Vega. They find opportunity in adversity and they never allow anyone to dictate what they can or can't become, which was a strong theme running through Mr. de la Vega's comments this morning. His "Four Pillars of Success": Have a Winning Game Plan; Take Risks; Overcome Obstacles and Recognize Opportunities resonated with the audience as did the principles he suggested were fundamental to leadership (Integrity & Credibility; Attitude & Teamwork; Excellence and Vision. Mr. de la Vega is an extraordinary example of what can be achieved when someone "Dreams Big & Believes in Him/Herself".

In closing, Mr. de la Vega talked about AT&T Aspire, a $100M program aimed at getting kids excited about education. He also mentioned the Junior Achievement Job Shadowing Program and how we can all help to connect our classrooms with the real world. I came away inspired by a man who has clearly taken the obstacles in his life and turned them into opportunities, but hasn't forgotten his roots or the struggles he went through to be where he is today.

Back!

2008-06-10T14:54:00.003-05:00

Okay, I know that May 5th. was a long time ago and that I never even got around to writing anything about Game 7, which was so long ago that no one remembers that the Hawks actually took the Boston Celtics to 7 games before losing the first round of the Eastern Conference Championship Series. But things have been complicated and life has been a bit strange lately. Besides, I'm dieting and I never have anything worth saying when I'm dieting because I'm too busy being hungry. Got to lose some weight though because my trousers are getting really tight and I hate looking like the guy who just had the big pasta dinner when he should have stuck with the salad. Know what I mean?

The difficult stuff? Well, for starters, Mom moved into a facility up in Ohio that caters to people her age. It was an emotional roller-coaster for everyone, but especially my sister Judy who has watched over Mom the past nine years and who would have probably done just about anything to avoid having to participate in such a decision. But Mom is nearly 90 years old and the level of care required has increased year on year and it finally reached a point where she could no longer bear that burden alone and there just wasn't enough support from the rest of the family (including yours truly) to make it feasible. Everyone had legitimate reasons why they could not take Mom into their homes for any lengthy period of time......mine was that with two children approaching their teens we simply did not have the bandwidth to accommodate a person with Mom's needs into our lives, as harsh as that sounds to most folks. The federal government certainly doesn't help that much although with Medicaid she is entitled to a space at the Ohio facility and according to Mom it is a pretty decent environment; i.e.: not your traditional nursing home. It is actually a rehabilitation center and they have a small group of seniors that live there. Mom gets physical therapy everyday and is finding that she can walk better, although I think it takes it toll on some days and she finds herself a bit weary. Hell, you go to physical therapy when you're 90 years old and you might find it a bit taxing as well! Anyway, thanks to our sister Mary, who lives in Ohio and who found this facility, things seem to be working out for the best. She and Judy sorted the details and coordinated the move, and with some financial assistance from my brother Jim, the move happened in early June. We'll have to wait to see it it continues to be as successful as the first week plus appears to be......I know everyone is holding their breath in hopes that Mom really does adjust and finds it to an acceptable place to live. God, I hate the idea of growing old!

On other fronts, the business role continues to be quite challenging with the current economic environment. I remain committed to advancing the business, but I don't know how long it will take to affect a real turnaround and that is always problematic when you are working for someone else. I see some signs of improvement, but not enough to stand on my desk and shout for joy, if you know what I mean.

Joe continues to improve, which is great news. The latest drug that his doctor prescribed seems to be having a very positive effect on his behavior and his general attitude towards life, and we are hopeful that this is a path to some level of stability down the road. He (and Kate) certainly deserve a break from some of the frenetic emotional roller coaster rides that have been indicative of the past year. Too many ups and downs wears on a person and with Kate bearing the brunt of the daily engagements it has been especially difficult on her. The cost continues to spiral upwards and we are now spending between $1,200 and $1,500 per month on the doctors and the drugs with almost zero support from our medical insurance. Of course the COBRA finally ended and I purchased a plan from Blue Cross/Blue Shield that costs us over $1,500 per month and still no help with Joe's condition. It is as if no one wants to recognize that kids suffer from ADD, Tourette's or OCD. Lose a limb and BCBS is right there with a check, but get a neurological condition and they just don't want to know. Is health care on my presidential agenda for November? You're damn right it is and whoever I vote for had better put forward a plan that makes sense.

Can you believe what's happening in this country at the moment? I purchased petrol yesterday and the cheapest I could find it on my route home was $4.07 a gallon at a Kroger's on Roswell Road. Most of the stations were in the $4.09 to $4.29 per gallon for regular and over $4.50 for the super premium levels. It's insane. The cost of petrol is up 95% since January of 2007.......95%! How crazy is that? And don't tell me it's about supply and demand. There are some traders out there making a serious buck for their clients on the backs of most Americans and the guy we got running the head shed doesn't have clue. It's scary folks that we put such an idiot in the White House. All of us who voted for him deserve to have our hands smacked severely for being so stupid. What were we thinking?

I'm completely at a loss as to which direction to go now that Hillary is out of the race, and I suspect she is completely out of the race. I can't imagine for a moment that Barack and his team want her baggage along with Bill, who proved to be a complete and utter disappointment during her campaign. What would they do with Bill if they offered her the VP slot? Besides, I don't think she really wants any part of Barack or his administration anyway. Bide her time and wait to see if the guy folds during his first term, which is very possible; i.e.: another Jimmy Carter. On the other hand, if he lays out a plan that makes sense even if it means higher taxes for awhile, I'm going to find myself taking a serious look. The more I watch John McCain the more I find myself thinking about Richard Nixon. I know I've said that before, but take a look folks. He really is starting to look and act like Nixon in the 1972 election. Too smug and far too condescending for my tastes. I thought I'd find myself voting for him a few weeks ago, but a few weeks can make a huge difference in this election and right now if Barack lays out a plan for achieving his objectives and that plan has substance I'm voting for the guy. Scary, right? My niece will be painting herself blue and running up and down the streets of San Francisco shouting "My Uncle Pat voted for Barack"!. Okay, maybe she won't go the blue paint route, but if I vote for Barack she will definitely start to believe in miracles. Hell, even I would have to believe in miracles if I vote for the guy, but who says a leopard can't change his spots? I've seen enough of neo-conservatives to last me a lifetime and while John McCain is far from a neo-con, his sound bytes seem really in tune with the current administration. Anyway, like I said......a few weeks in this election and things change.

Nothing much left to report although in reality a ton of stuff has happened over the past 6 weeks. I'll try to get back in tune with my writing over the coming days and make a serious effort to have something positive to say about life, the universe and the pursuit of happiness.

I'll close by posting a photo of Joe and his Godfather and our good friend, "Uncle Charlie" Gottenkieny at a basketball game (where else folks?)

Game 7

2008-05-05T11:34:00.002-05:00

Well folks, Friday night was an incredible evening and the Hawks pulled in the largest crowd in the history of the franchise in Atlanta. It was a tight game with the Hawks pulling it out at the very end with some outstanding play from Joe Johnson and Al Horford. The arena went wild and the whole town was talking on Saturday. Unfortunately, yesterday afternoon did not turn out quite the way we had hoped as the Celtics absolutely thrashed the Hawks in Boston and put the dream to bed for this season. Oh well, but what a storybook series and even though we lost badly yesterday, it still took the mighty Celtics 7 games to put us away. I'll therefore not take any grief from any Boston Celtics fan. Imagine. The best team in the NBA having to play 7 games to put away the Hawks! With Cleveland, Detroit and the Lakers waiting in the wings, I would not be so sure of the future and I sure as hell would be counting my lucky stars to have won the final game so convincingly. At least that puts some lustre back into their reputation.

Should have some pictures soon from the night and next season should be a blast assuming we get some help on one or two key positions.

Game 6: The Hawks vrs Boston

2008-05-02T12:45:00.003-05:00

That's right and who would have ever imagined that our Atlanta Hawks would have actually taken the Boston Celtics to 6 Games? Well, if I'm honest, certainly not me, and I suppose I owe the team an apology for not having more faith. Even worse, I missed games 3 and 4 at home and will now have to settle with attending game 6 this evening. After the beating we took in Boston on Wednesday night, which gave the Celtics a 3/2 lead, I'm not certain that we can recover and force the series to a 7th game, but I'll be there to support the team and hopefully we can find the right combination of players and plays to make things work out in our favor. I do think we are going to need a break-out performance from Marvin Williams and some outstanding bench play if things are going to work out for Atlanta. Moreover, I do think there is a strong possibility we can pull off the upset, but it's going to be difficult and even if we don't walk out with a victory the team can hold their heads high having beat the season's best team two out of six........let's just hope it doesn't work out that way and we end back up in Boston for a Game 7. That would be magical! By the way, the guy in the blue sweater and tan trousers with the white hair is none other than yours truly.....and if you look carefully to the left, you see a kid in a red shirt dancing in the asile.....yep, that's Joe!

Masada

2008-04-02T07:56:00.004-05:00

In the latter part of March I traveled to Israel to attend a global conference for the firm that I work with today and after a night in Tel Aviv, a morning in Jaffa and a absolutely scary ride to the Dead Sea with my boss, we set up camp at a hotel positioned right on the Dead Sea. Although it is an extremely rugged environment, it is quite lovely in many ways and my eyes were constantly being distracted by the wild beauty of it all.

On the second afternoon we ventured to Masada, a site of "ancient palaces and fortifications in the South District of Israel on top of an isolated rock plateau, or large mesa, on the eastern edge of the Judean desert overlooking the Dead Sea. Masada became famous after the First Jewish-Roman War when a siege of the fortress by troops of the Roman Empire led to a mass suicide of the site's Jewish Sicarii fugitives when defeat became imminent." (Credit to Wikipedia).

So there we were, standing at the base of this big rock and everyone getting ready to walk up the snake path, which is the more complicated of the two routes to the top, and despite my advancing years I reckoned I give it a try once again. I had, after all, scaled the beast in early 2000 while working with another firm in Israel. How hard could it be to do it 8 years later? Well, the answer my friends is that it proved extraordinarily difficult and after huffing and puffing for nearly 45 minutes I finally allowed reason to take command and I retreated back down the path to the safety of the base camp. I was of course a bit embarrassed as I was the only one of those that attempted to reach the top to retreat. But I knew at a certain point that while I could have probably made it to the peak, I was seriously risking a heart attack if I did so. My rate rate was a steady 150 to 160 and I was as red as a beet. Like I said, common sense prevailed and I elected to opt for the healthier option.

So, how did I come to this point? After all, less than 8 months ago I was about as healthy a 57 year old as you could find on this God's green earth. I was hitting the gym at least 2 hours every day and getting in plenty of cardio and weight training. I was down to a relatively trim 197 lbs and I was even slipping back into 36" waist trousers, although they were admittedly a tight fit. Still, a far cry from the 38"/39" trousers that had been haunting me earlier in the year.

Now, I'm back to being tight in my 38" waist suits and I can't tie my shoes without losing my breath. Hmmmmm! Could it have something to do with the fact that I'm working 10 and 11 hours a day, 5 days a week and often a half day on Sunday? Could it be that I have this work/life balance completely haywire again? Could it be that I've sacrificed all the hard work that I did in late 2006 and through the first half of 2007 for the sake of a paycheck?

I had a long conversation the other day with a young lady that I used to work with in years past and we were comparing notes. You know. Careers, spouses, children, where we are today compared to where we wanted to be all those years ago. And I discovered that I really don't have a very strong grasp on what's important to me these days. Two great kids who get ignored by Dad in the evening because he is too tired to engage them. A wonderful wife who feels alone and distant from her husband through no fault of her own........and a Mom, who only lives 45 minutes away, but does not get to see her grandchildren nearly enough.

Okay, so I've come to this discovery (like it's the first time I've been here)and once again I've got to make some critical decisions about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I'm not certain what path I will follow, but I know that the path I'm on at the moment is not the right one and that things have to change. Perhaps it is as simple as getting the work/life perspective more balanced, or perhaps a more radical change is in order. I've always been passionate about any engagement I undertake and so I sort of understand why I've made such a commitment to my present situation. I want to succeed and I want to be recognized for being successful But at what risk........"What does it profit a man to inherit all the riches of the world if he loses sight of his soul?" (apologies for the literary license with the Lord's words, but you know what I mean)

Stay tuned folks as I traverse this journey that confronts me. I don't know where it will ultimately take me, but I know that I must take it if I'm to find the peace that seems to constantly eludes me.

Out of the Closet

2008-02-27T09:15:00.004-05:00

I guess it is time to come out of the closet and admit that I have now officially contributed to Hillary's campaign on two occasions, the most recent being earlier today. My daddy must be dancing on the clouds to think that his boy has seen the light and moved away from the dark side; i.e.: the Republican Party. Of course, there is a slightly dark lining to this otherwise wonderful tale of conversion. You see, I'm attracted to Hillary because she is the most conservative candidate running for the office of the President of the United States (in my most humble opinion). I know she still has a mighty mountain to climb if she is going to wrest the nomination away from Barack, but I'm hoping that by some miracle she does pull it off and gets to run against John McCain come next November. I think she will do well on the experience side and I think that she is more politically savvy than Barack, who will (I think) get his ass handed to him by John McCain.

My conversion has been slow and the transition from a Republican to an Independent to a publicly acknowledged Democratic leaning voter has not been easy. I'm still conservative at heart and I still resonate with many of the values espoused by the Republican Party, but unfortunately the Republican Party that I knew and loved under Goldwater and Regan has twisted itself into some neo-religious base of extreme right-wing enthusiasts and I simply can't find a place for myself within the Party. I suspect I'm not alone.

Anyway, there it is.......everyone now knows the truth. I'm no longer the right wing conservative in the Gaul family. In fact, I don't know if there are any true right wing conservatives left in the family (at least two brothers-in-law don't count,,,,,apologies to Roger and John).

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

C

SoCon '08 Photo's

2008-02-09T18:45:00.000-05:00

Later that evening.............

2008-02-09T17:52:00.000-05:00

I left right after the 1:15 p.m. break-out session ended.....not because I did not enjoy Laura McGrath and the group that attended her program, but rather because I had developed the most painful headache. I think I was just networked out......you know, a long week with the firm coupled with Friday night and then I was at the conference early to set-up the Tescom table.......the hours just seem to grind you down after a bit. I put in over 60 hours this week before I headed for the dinner on Friday night. Unfortunately, this seems to be a trend right now and I really need to get off the treadmill for a bit before I become a crispy critter.

Anyway, I really enjoyed today. Laura reminded me of my niece Katy.....both are English Majors.....about the same age......probably came out of Grad School about the same time.....Katy is teaching at a private school in San Francisco and will most likely go back for her PhD before too long. Laura did a very nice job despite the fact that we kept going off on subjects that had almost nothing to do with strategic web writing. Bring a course in town Laura and I'll attend!

So, what an event! I met some great folks over the past 48 hours and really learned a ton about video blogging, video marketing, video editing, video, video, video. Mostly from my friend Amani Channel (www.myurbanreport.com), who I met for the first time at this conference last year. I also learned a lot from Brad Fallon, the CEO of Free iQ (www.freeiq.com). He has to be one of the brighest chaps I've encountered in a very long time. Don't know him or his business? Well, get to know him because he is going to make a name in the social media space and you'd heard that first at www.elliesdad.blogspot.com. Right?

So, it was a good conference..........not as good as last year overall, but then that's sort of expected; i.e.: you can only have an original experience once! I know that sounds stupid, but last year was original......this year had a different mix of people..........I don't know......it wasn't as original!

Strategic Web Writing

2008-02-09T13:24:00.000-05:00

1:15 p.m.

Break-out Session I: A very bright young woman (Laura McGrath) who is an assistant professor of English at Kennesaw State University is leading a discussion about strategic web writing..........we are currently focused on keyword strategy and I`m about to get us back on point because I did not come here to learn about SEO......done that, have the textbook.

Okay, we`re back on track........anyway, I think we are heading back to the primary topic.

More later..........

SoCon08

2008-02-09T09:15:00.000-05:00

So here I am at Kennesaw State University attending SoCon '08, the social media conference of the year in Atlanta. I`m sitting next to my good friend Alan Urech and cannot imagine a better way to spend a Saturday. Tescom is one of this year's conference sponsors and I'm also therefore representing Tescom today.

We have a great group of folks here today and I'll be reporting back with some pictures and more details about the conference later today.

John Edwards Drops Out & I'm Faced With A Hard Decison

2008-01-25T13:11:00.000-05:00

I must admit that I'm disappointed that he did not do better than a distant third place. John had some very interesting ideas and I think he was focused on a lot of the right issues. Perhaps his personal social position is life made it difficult for folks to accept that he was in favor of the average American, but the authenticity in his voice made me think he was for real and given the personal tragedy that he has experienced I think he is certainly able to relate to the average guy on the street. One thing about tragedy; it puts everyone in the on a level playing field.

So it is down to Barack and Hillary on the Democratic side of things and I guess it is McCain leading Mitt Romney with Mike Huckabee sucking up the rear and hoping like heck that something gives on Super Tuesday.

Gosh folks! What does it say about this country when the only option left to a conservative Republican is Hillary Clinton? I can't even begin to tell you why Romney isn't in my books (blogger.com has space limitations you know) and I sure as hell will never vote for another conservative Christian............Rudy is gone as well although I don't think he has officially withdrawn as of this afternoon. I can't see through the smoke and mirrors that Barack is using and an endorsement from Ted Kennedy was the kiss of death from my perspective..........anyone who openly courts the endorsement of Ted Kennedy is outside my zone of tolerance. That leaves Hillary or a write-in vote for myself, which is of course always an option.

McCain you ask? Nope, I can't go for a guy who wants to stay the course in Iraq. Someone has to be willing to make some hard decisions there and the only person I've heard thus far making any sense about that situation is Hillary; i.e.: get out as soon as we can without screwing things up anymore that they are today and with the lives of our troops at the forefront of any decision to withdraw. That actually makes sense to me......a lot more sense than just sound the retreat, which is what Barack is advocating. No, I have to go along with Hillary on this critical issue and while I don't necessarily agree with her on everything else, we aren't that far apart at the end of the day.

I know I'm really out on a limb here, but it looks like Hillary is my candiate now. Oh Lord, pray for me!

Feeling the Love

2008-01-14T16:44:00.000-05:00

I had no idea that anyone outside of my immediate family and a few close personal friends actually read this blog and so I was a bit surprised to receive a few emails and the one comment regarding my entry on the situation with Joe. To everyone who sent their good wishes and prayers I send my heartfelt gratitude. To Jen, my hero for her ability to find the love within herself to navigate a situation significantly more complex than my own, I am especially grateful for your encouragement and kind words. You made my day so much better and put such a smile on my face........thank-you.

As for you Giants fans, you can all go to Green Bay and freeze your little tushes off because I'm certainly not following the playoffs after yesterday. Is it really in doubt any longer? Yea, I know......the Giants gave New England a hard time a few weeks ago, but that before all the injuries and quite frankly I just don't see them getting past Green Bay........but what do I know? I didn't see them getting past the Cowboys!

The Hawks beat-up on Chicago yesterday and I was there with Kate's Dad to take in all the joy that a big win for the Hawks brings to my heart. Now, all we have to do is win about another 25 or so games the same way and I'll be absolutely on top of the world! We will see, but ever the realist when it comes to the Hawks I'm not holding my breath. I see signs of great things to come, but a lot of the same old problems arise too frequently for me to be completely sold on the turnaround as yet.

When is that next primary? Is it Michigan or South Carolina? Do they and Nevada really matter with Super Tuesday looming in the near future? Rudy seems focused on Florida, New York, California, etc. Is that a better strategy than spending money in these early primaries? My Republican soul is literally torn by the possibility of voting for a Democrat again, but I think I'd rather my President was getting his or her jollies in the oval office with an intern than by sending thousands of kids to Iraq to face possible death or dismemberment. Did you know that the last time that this country faced so many traumatic amputations in one military conflict was the American Civil War? Any for what? The dollar isn't worth squat........oil is running at or around $100 a barrel.......our economy is on its knees and we are either in a recession or so damn close that most economist can't tell the difference. Forty plus million Americans are without health care........our educational system sucks and anyone who can afford is opting out for private education, which is creating a brain drain and making public education a joke.......and finally, we are so worried about political correctness that a sports commentator can't make a ha/ha on the radio these days without getting suspended and fined. What happened to our sense of humor America? What happened to the days when any public personality was fair game as long as it was funny or had some humorous context........and I'm not talking Dom Imus here.......he wasn't funny on any level. But the Tiger lynching comment was funny and I don't get the uproar! Hell, if I had my way we would put a sniper in the rafters and gun down quite a few athletes on the opposing teams that come into Philips Arena.......you know, a knee shot here and there and the next thing you know those teams would provide the proper respect for the Hawks.......now I suppose I'll get banned from Blogger for violent comments..........no you idiot, it's humor.......besides, I know you can't get a gun into Philips........maybe a bow and arrow though.........okay, enough of my rambling.

Anyone seen a good movie lately? I'm desperate for a good flick. Tell me what to go
see!

Finally, the "A Town Dancers", courtesy of a recent game at Philips........they are actually a talented group of young ladies. Of course, being married to a dancer, my interests are purely academic.

A Lesson in Ticks

2008-01-10T13:54:00.000-05:00

Spent this morning with a psychologist discussing our Joe's continuing struggle with Tourette's Syndrome. For those of you who are not familiar with this condition, the symptoms include both vocal and motor ticks, which can be involuntary squeaks or other sounds coupled with frequent jerks or involuntary muscle spasms. Tough for anyone to deal with, but especially for an eleven year old in his first year of middle school, where some of the meanest people in the whole world hang out. It was only our first meeting, but this lady specializes in this particular disorder and in the brief hour that we spent with her she open our eyes to a number of realities that we probably had been shielding ourselves from over the past several years. It is the first step in what will most likely be a long journey, but I'm delighted that we finally took that step and I sincerely hope that this is a new beginning for Kate and I as we strive to help Joe meet the challenges that this odd and frequently bizarre disorder creates for him. It's a dark day, overcast and dreary. My soul rests heavily at the moment as I think about this morning's meeting and all the struggles and challenges that face Joe as he continues his journey to adulthood. He is such a lovely lad and it just isn't fair that he has to deal with Tourette's, ADD and a sprinkling of OCS just to make things even more complicated. The doctor talked about genes and the confluence of my family and Kate's family genes and how they all combine to create that perfect storm that creates these challenges for Joe. Did you know that 1 in 100 male children are born with Tourette's Syndrome and 1 in 200 female children are also affected? Add ADHD, ADD and OCS and no wonder we medicate our kids, although in fairness the Doctor pointed out that the U.S. ranks 11th in the world in the medication of children and not number one as most folks would believe. I don't know if that made me feel any better given the meds that Joe has to take everyday. How do you get an eleven year old to understand that he has a condition that isn't a whole lot different than diabetes in terms of the medication and overall symptoms when he is the subject of ridicule and harassment by his peers? I suppose the good news is that this Doctor did give us some confidence that we can learn to help Joe cope better and that there are lots of kids running around leading perfectly normal lives who endure the same issues day in and day out that Joe faces. Unfortunately however, there are no shortcuts to the promised land and in the interim we are going to have to continue to deal with a school that is more focused on talking than helping and teachers who see Joe as a problem instead of an opportunity. I guess I sound a bit depressed and I know I have to get over it because at the end of the day everyone has to deal with something and it isn't going to help Joe if I'm hanging my head low. Besides, he's a great kid and things are going to be fine.......really! I just wish the sun would come back for a bit.

Meanwhile, the Hawks managed to pull off a surprise victory last evening over the Cleveland Cavaliers despite LeBron's 31 points. The difference: well, last night we saw balanced contributions across most of the bench, especially from Lorenzen Wright, the veteran center who added a lot of defense when it was needed most and more importantly, a lot of maturity to the floor when the young players were going completely off the rails. Am I still disenchanted with Coach Woodson? Yep! Do I think we can still do better at the head coach position? Yep! Do I think that one game is going to change the entire season? Nope! But it was an impressive victory and I'm pleased to be back at .500 on the season. I was most pleased however with the contributions the seasoned players made last night because while we do have a lot of youth energy, sometimes old age and treachery can make a big difference.

Still thinking about Hillary's victory on Tuesday. My brother Jim and I had a chat last night and he said that he welcomed McCain's potential nomination by the Republican Party because McCain wants to stay the course in Iraq and he thinks that position will be his undoing. I agree. We need to get out and so far Hillary is the one running who seems to have a fairly decent grasp of what it will take to withdraw for that engagement. Barack's fairly tale about immediate withdrawal is just that.....a fairly tale and McCain's position is just going to get a lot more kids killed. Perhaps that is the connection to Nixon I keep seeing in my head. Old men seem quite willing to send kids to war and even though John served his country honorably, maybe he has forgotten the sacrifice the parents make every time they bury a son or daughter. We don't need this conflict......it's draining this country and tearing us apart. Never thought I'd say this, but it came down to McCain and Hillary I'm afraid I'd actually have to vote for her because I can't support anyone who supports the insanity of our involvement in that conflict. It didn't make sense when we started it and it sure has heck doesn't make sense now.

Anyway, a picture of Joe and Ellie on Christmas morning. Everytime I look at it I have to smile and think how great it is to be a kid.......well, most of the time anyway.

Winners & Losers

2008-01-09T08:26:00.000-05:00

It would be a tad remiss of me not to take a moment to reflect upon last evening's election results given my propensity for ranting about politics in this country over the past year. I was attending the Thrasher's game at Philips Arena as the guest of Stuart Harvey, the President of Nova Information Systems (thank-you Stuart for a lovely evening), sitting in an upper-deck suite (they are so nice!)and following the elections more closely than the game, which unfortunately the Thrashers managed to lose by a score of 4 to 1.

Anyway, just before the game I was asked by one of the other guests who I thought would win the primary on the Democratic side and I said that I thought it would be a very close race between Hillary and Barack with Barack winning by a narrow margin. Well, at least I got the narrow margin bit right. What a surprising turn of events and what's makes last evening's results even more interesting is the assertion by Mr. Clinton that the press was riding Hillary unfairly and trying to force a certain result that was not necessarily obvious to him or most of her supporters. It turned out that perhaps he was on target and makes me wonder what we can believe going forward about the primaries and how the press presents them to us. Someone should start a grassroots news community focused on gathering real street level information on the pulse of the nation in each of these state primaries. Okay, I know that someone probably has already done so and I'm just behind, but if anyone knows of a really good site to follow I'd love a recommendation. I just don't think I can sit through another evening of CCN or Fox News. They just make me want to scream!

Was I okay with the results? Well, to be honest, I think so although I have to say that the more I listen to McCain the more he sounds like Richard Nixon, which isn't an entirely bad thing, but it is a bit weird when you listen to the guy.

I'm still not certain who I will support at the end of the day, but Edwards is starting to grow on me and I plan to investigate his proposals in more detail over the coming weeks. I can't imagine voting for a Republican, at least not any of the ones currently running. I think they need some time in the penalty box and four years sounds just about right from my perspective.

Barack has to come up with something more concrete than hope if he is going to attract the moderate conservatives...........I'm well passed the time when brilliant public speaking alone qualifies a candidate for the White House.......tell me what you are going to do. What are your 3 to 5 Key Performance Indicators for the first six months that you are in office and then I'll tell you if I'll support your efforts to get elected. No one has really done that as yet. Yea, I know, he is going to get us out of Iraq. Sure he is and that pink elephant flying over the sky at the moment is just as real; i.e.: what are your realistic targets for the first six months?

Anyway, Hillary surprised the hell out of everyone I think and in a lot of ways I'm pleased that she is still well in the hunt. I think she raises real issues and while I'm not a fan nor do I expect to support her bid for the oval office, I do like the debate she creates and after all, I did vote for her husband a couple of times despite my otherwise Republican soul. Hillary is good for this election and I'm personally delighted that she remains in contention.

Hell, even Ron Paul got 8% last night. A true dark horse if ever there was one!

Finally, I'm off to a Hawks Game this evening. They have lost four in a row and primarily due to the guy center in the today's picture; i.e.: Mike Woodson, my nomination for the worst coach in the NBA at the moment. Why? Because he can't win! Lots of talent and no excuses this year and he still can't win.....not the games he is suppose to win, not the close ones he should win, and with the exception of one or two games early in the season he isn't pulling off any upsets either. The Hawks are headed back to the cellar and the good Lord knows that I'm not looking forward to the ride. Of course, I still have the advantage in that the Cowboys are still in the show unlike those Steelers and Redskins fans. (Yea!)

It Was The Day After Christmas.............

2007-12-26T10:18:00.000-05:00

And all through the house, not a creature was stirring, except for Dad who had to get up bright and early and head for the office. It will be a quiet week since much of the business community in Atlanta are operating with skeleton crews. We have a total of 7 associates in the office today including myself, which makes for a very quiet day allowing me to catch-up on emails and the backlog of work that sits on my desk. It is also a great time to get organized for the New Year. Much to do in 2008and so little time left to get prepared.

So, how was Christmas for everyone? We had a relatively quiet affair although the days leading up to Christmas were rather busy. Last Friday morning I was out of bed at 5:30 a.m. and by 7'ish we were off to North Carolina. It was originally scheduled to be a solo trip, but Joe and Ellie decided on Thursday evening that they also wanted to visit Uncle Joe and while I don't really know if Uncle Joe was fully prepared for the Company, we had a great time and really regretted having to leave on Monday morning. Joe and Ellie were mostly well behaved (as much as you can expect from an 11 old lad and his 9 year old sister) and really enjoyed spending time with their Uncle Joe. Joe is of course my brother's namesake and has a strong bond with my brother. I came out of the bedroom on Monday morning just before we headed back to Atlanta and the two of them were sitting on the couch having an in-depth discussion about my brother's health. Joe had overheard my brother and I discussing his health and he decided to make a few inquiries of his own to make certain he understood what was happening with his Uncle Joe.

The trip back to Atlanta was uncomplicated, with relatively light traffic until about 35 miles outside of Atlanta and then we hit both construction and wall-to-wall traffic. It took us just over an hour to travel that last 35 miles while the rest of the journey took around five hours. The total journey is roughly 390 miles, give or take 10 miles, which means that I drove 355 miles at an average speed of 71 miles per hour before hitting the wall just outside of Atlanta. I put the cruise control on 75 miles an hour and just sat back and guided the car home. We stopped a couple of times, but speed was the priority and so we kept our breaks as brief as possible.

Once we arrived back at the house we had about three hours to rest before heading for the Christmas Vigil Mass at Holy Spirit. It was the children's mass and both Joe and Ellie were participating in the service. Ellie led the congregation in song throughout the Mass and Joe was asked to carry the wine and water to the altar just prior to the communion service. Joe looked quite proper in his new sports coat and did an admirable job considering the number of folks sitting on chairs in the middle of the aisle (the church was packed, as it almost always is for this Mass each year). Ellie was quite articulate with the exception of the word "Liturgy", which she just could not pronounce to save her life. Mom and Dad were of course most proud, as were her Grandparents, who are visiting us from the UK.

Christmas morning arrived far too quickly. I was out of bed relatively early to put on the Turkey and start the prep work for the big meal. We had a very traditional dinner with all the trimmings. I did most of the cooking and even helped with the washing-up afterwards. Everyone seemed to be content with their presents, especially Ellie's Dad, who got an Apple iTouch, which he wanted very much. Yea!

So now we are moving through the rest of the week looking forward to the weekend and the New Year. I think 2008 is going to be outstanding and I'm really looking forward to accomplishing a lot next year. A new job with a great company....a wonderful wife and kids.........and we we sold our house to a developer......can't ask for much more.

Hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year. I'll post some Christmas pictures next time around, but meantime a shot from a recent Hawks game. We are 3 games over 500 and ranked 4th in the Eastern Conference. This year is shaping up to be an exciting time for loyal Hawks fans.

Meanwhile, 50 days later........

2007-12-13T15:49:00.000-05:00

Yea, I know. I promised not to drop off the face of the earth and then I quit posting for nearly two months. All I can say in my defense is that I've been busier than a one-armed paper hanger and that is absolutely the truth! Just take a look at this lovely photograph. Do you know where that was taken? Herzelia, that's where......and where is Herzelia? Israel.......and how long does it take to get to Israel from Atlanta? Too long if you ask me, especially since I was the guy sitting in the economy seat on Delta. Did I have a wonderful time? Well, yes, but it was work, at least it was when I wasn't swimming in the Mediterranean.

On another front, we just finished the Quality Leadership Executive Southeast Awards this week and that was a rather satisfying event. I was privileged to do the opening remarks and Richard Warner (Think Georgia Business and other PBS Shows)was the Master of Ceremonies. Tescom is a co-founding sponsor for the event and both TAG and the Atlanta Quality Assurance Association were engaged as well. The whole thing was put together by the Executive Alliance, which is led by Marci McCarthy, the CEO and Mary Lou Heastings, their President. The venue was the JW Marriott at Lenox Mall and it was a most delightful day and evening. Some really neat folks attended..........it was a smaller event with about 140 registered guests expected, but that was pretty good given I know there were at least five other events that were happening the same evening. Most of them were Christmas Parties of course. Or should I call them holiday parties? Hmmmmmmm! Do I really want to take up that discussion today? No, I'll pass. I reckon folks can call them whatever they want, but for me it will always be the Christmas Season and I'll be celebrating the birth of Christ until the day I die. Sorry. Blame it on the Christian in me!

Speaking of Christmas, hope everyone has finished their shopping and have their gifts wrapped and ready for the Christmas Tree......there we go again....what else would we call it? The Holiday Tree? Anyway, did you notice that the Christmas/Holiday decorations starting going up the day after Thanksgiving? What was that about? How can a store start putting up decorations for the next holiday when the turkey from the previous one is still sitting in the frig? It just seems that we start this season earlier and earlier and although I know it is an old and somewhat worn gripe, I think we have lost the meaning of Christmas and the holiday season. There. I said it! I feel better and now we can move on more interesting conversation.

The Hawks are still struggling with getting to .500, but I don't suppose that comes as a surprise to anyone. They have been struggling to break-even for years now and I'm beginning to think that isn't going to change this season unless they get rid of the coach and find some less selfish players. Josh Smith is a pratt and needs to go to another team while we can still have some say in the trade. Anthony Johnson is too old to run with the team and he needs to go as well. Trade Sheldon Williams and Salim Stoudamire for a more experience point guard that can act as a true mentor to Acie Law, and find a real center......please!!!!!

Okay, I'll post more soon, but in the meantime, everyone drive safely as the traffic this evening is really wicked!

Why You?

2007-10-24T14:55:00.000-05:00

I read an article on RainToday this morning that struck a chord in me and has had me walking around ever sense trying to come up with the answer to a question posed in the article, which was......."Why, given all the competitive alternatives in the marketplace, should anyone buy from you?" Wow! What a question! Do you have an answer?

The article (which can be found on wwww.raintoday.com was written Kevin Dervin, the owner of KPD Marketing and creator of the ABCD Growth Marketing System (no, I don't have a clue either) and is one of many interesting articles that can be found on RainToday. If you're interested in lead generation and demand marketing, it is a treasure chest of information and insight.

Okay, so back to the question. I've been walking around the office asking various associates how they would answer if asked and the range of answers is pretty interesting. They include some fairly traditional responses, none of which really differentiate the firm, and one or two unique twists; e.g.: one sales person responded that he was the reason they should buy from us. Funny as it may seem, I don't think he was far off the mark with his response. Given a set of reasonably equal capabilities, what does differentiate Company A from Company B? The answer is often the people, the attention to detail, the sense of confidence that is created during the sales process and the execution of the delivery. Human beings are instrumental in all these areas and human beings relating to other human beings are most often the compelling reason for doing business with one company or another.

Allow me to give you an example. This past Monday evening I went to Phillips Arena to watch the Hawks play the Washington Wizards. I invited Traci Fenton to be my guest. You may remember that I mentioned her in an earlier post. You can find everything you need to know about Traci at www.worldblu.com. She is a very bright young woman and I thought that since she recently moved here from D.C. she would enjoy a chance to watch the Wizards play our Atlanta Hawks. Anyway, Brad Hamacher, the senior sales executive with the Atlanta Spirit who stayed on my case and got me to renew my season tickets, met us at the door and escorted us to the Club so we could grab a quick bite before the game. He later visited us just after half-time and brought a cap (Hawks of course) for Traci and explained to her that now she is living in Atlanta she needs to be a Hawks fan. Traci loved it and she certainly had a delightful time. Now, would she have had just as good a time if Brad had not met us and gone to that extra effort? Probably. But she is going to remember that he made the effort and she will have that hat hanging somewhere in her condo reminding her of how much fun she had at the game and I'm guessing she will go to another game or two or three this season on her own or with friends. Brad made the difference that night and so when my sales guy tells me that he is the difference, I think he is right. A professional services company has to live or die on its delivery and its delivery is based on the skills, attitudes and knowledge of its associates. It seems intuitive when you think about it, but he was the only one who made that point.

Anyway, a great game won by the Hawks in the final seconds (102 - 99) and they are now 6 & 1 in preseason with one game remaining. Looking good! By the way, that good looking guy with the white hair in the blue shirt looking some worried (the game was real close) is none other than yours truly and this shot actually made the Hawks home page. Cool, as Ellie would say!

The Power of One

2007-10-18T08:24:00.000-05:00

I had the pleasure of hosting a table at the Excaliber Awards on Wednesday morning at the Intercontinental Hotel. It was a wonderful event, chaired by Brian Shield, the CIO at the Weather Channel. Having chaired a couple of these events I know all too well the potential challenges that can occur during the event, especially the ones surrounding timing. Brian and his planning committee along with Frank Baia and Susan Stottlemeyer did an absolutely stunning job in this area. The event started on time and finished bang on schedule almost to the second.

The winners were Sequoyah Regional Library System in the small company category, Solid Source Realty in the mid-size company category, Southern Company in the large company space and the Georgia Aquarium in the creative category. Congratulations to all the winners, and to all the companies that did not win, but made the list of finalists.

For me, the most special part of yesterday's event was the chance to listen to Debora Wilson, the President of the Weather Channel, speak about the journey that the Weather Channel has been on for the past 25 years. The Weather Channel began as an idea hatched in the head of television weather reporter and presented to Landmark Communications, Inc., a privately held media company. Today, it is one one of the most admired firms in the United States. Debora spoke about how technology and the Weather Channel had grown together and the role that technology has played in allowing the vision to become reality. But perhaps the most striking part of Debora's presentation was her comments regarding the "power of one", the power of one person to make a difference. She was clearly very passionate about her belief in this concept because she had witnessed it in her tenure with the Weather Channel. She spoke very fondly about one individual that she believed had driven significant growth through his personal commitment to the success of the business. It is, in my humble opinion, the most important concept for every person entering any field of endeavor to grasp. Why? Because when you wake up every morning believing that you personally can make a difference, then the world has endless possibilities. More importantly, you can make a difference. I tell folks here at Tescom USA that each of us must contribute more than just our presence to make the business successful. We must commit to "being the difference that makes a difference" as my good friend Charle Gottenkieny always used to tell me. It's an incredibly powerful perspective for an individual to hold. Just imagine. Everyone associated with your business believes that they have the potential to create a positive impact on each and every day. Wow! How incredible would that be? Google operates on that principle and so should every firm in America. But it starts with you believing in you! Debora Wilson reminded me how important the "power of one" can be and that evening during our all-hands meeting I referenced her presentation during my comments to the team. In fact, I referenced her comments to introduce our Associate of the Quarter Award and talked about how the winner embraced all the tenets of self-belief and empowerment. Thanks Debora for sharing your vision with all of us.

A Rite of Passage

2007-10-15T12:51:00.000-05:00

I sat there thinking about the young man who recently walked into his high school and shot four of his classmates before turning the handgun on himself and ending his life. How many times have we heard that news flash in this country over the past decade?

Yet, there I was with Troop 370 of the Boy Scouts of America, watching the children work towards their shotgun merit badge. We were tucked away deeply in the woods of central Georgia on a private reservation of about 7,000 acres. Our kids, ranging in age from 11 years old to about 16 years of age, were shooting clay pigeon targets using various gauges of shotguns provided by the parents, almost all Dad's, many of whom had served in the Armed Forces over the past 30 years.

Safety was the rule of the day and there was no nonsense in the approach to this exercise. Carelessness has tragic consequences when guns are involved and no one wanted a tragedy to occur during their watch. There was also a fair amount of teaching happening as well. Americans do pride themselves of how well we shoot, and no where is this more evident than in the Southeastern States. We grow up with, and around guns. We are taught to respect the potential damage guns can inflict. We own them, collect and trade them, and even sell them in a huge private market.

So why are we so fascinated with guns? Is it merely our early heritage as some would have us believe? You know.....you've heard the stories......early settlers fighting for survival......patriots fighting for freedom......the plot being essentially that guns have made us the independent nation that we are today and cannot be restricted less we restrict those freedoms so hard won.

But why do private citizens have to own guns? Shouldn't a standing Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard, not to mention the Guard and Reserve, be sufficient to to make us all sleep safe at night? And how many of us are truly required to own guns for self protection? Indeed, I know lots of folks who own guns, but I've never known anyone who ever needed to defend themselves with a gun, and that includes some fairly tough neighborhoods in D.C. So, do we purchase and own guns just because we can? Do we think of guns the same way we do fine china or rare stamps?

My Katie is British and the whole gun thing is completely beyond her. The British banned handguns years ago and while shotguns may be owned, they are almost always kept at a gun club instead of the home. Katie would argue that the UK has not gone to hell in a hand basket since the ban, and statistics would seem to support this assertion. Street crime did not rise significantly, nor did home break-in's. Folks just don't seem to be concerned that they are without the "fundamental right to own and/or bear arms".

Anyway, my Joseph took his turn, firing about 2 rounds after about ten minutes of instruction. He then decided that he did not want to continue. A combination of too much instruction/coaching coupled with the recoil from the 20 gauge banging into his shoulder. Oh well, I'm sure his Mom was pleased and since I gave up guns a long time ago (9 years in the Marines and a tour in Vietnam gave me all the experience I'll ever need (or wanted), there was no pressure from Dad to go out and shoot his quota (50 rounds per lad if they wanted to go the distance). Now, for the sake of clarity, we do own a pellet pistol for rodents and snakes and Joseph has a BB gun that he uses for target practice, but we don't own any "real" guns nor is there any likelihood that we will going forward.

I suppose there is no conclusion here. The kids all seemed to enjoy themselves. The parents also enjoyed the day and all in all, there were probably about 2,000 rounds fired. No one was hurt and a number of the lads won their shotgun badges. We had a fun evening and sped away away yesterday morning early so we could get back in time for the Hawks/Portland game.

Still, I think about that child walking into that school and spraying the place with bullets and I wonder about the gun argument and ask myself if we are having the right argument. Perhaps we should have a fundamental right to own and bear firearms. Perhaps it is a tradition that we need to hold on to to ensure a proper perspective on liberty. I can deal with that and I can agree that we don't need to spend a lot of time trying to figure out what our Founding Fathers really meant when they wrote the Bill of Rights. What I cannot abide is this total disregard for the fact that lives are being taken everyday with handguns procured by kids far too young to own guns. Perhaps it is time to re-craft the discussion to include some fundamental safeguards to go with the fundamental rights! The NRA has directed the Boy Scouts of America to no longer label guns as weapons. They are now to be labeled firearms, as if weapons hurt people and firearms don't......stupid distinction if you ask me.

Why can't we draft a set of laws that allow for gun ownership, but require some fairly heavy gun registration requirements; e.g.: having to appear personally at your local police station and having your fingerprints run against the national register.........having the serial number of the gun registered........having the police visit your home and give you some tips on protecting the security of your firearms......and finally, anyone who wants to purchase a firearm of any description must attend a mandatory firearms safety course for a least 10 to 15 hours including some range work to help one understand how to fire the weapon safely. Does any of these requirements impose a undue burden on any law abiding citizen? I don't think so and I think it is about time we got serious about sorting how the gun problem in this country.

Tent Frames & The Hawks

2007-10-12T13:25:00.000-05:00

I dropped by REI late this morning on my way back from our Georgia Technology Planning Committee Meeting to see if they could help me sort out the frame for my 2 person tent (purchased from Dick's Sporting Goods about 18 months ago and never actually used). I managed to break a pole right at the seam of a joint and was hoping the folks at REI could help. Unfortunately, it is just one of those breaks that can't be easily fixed and will most likely require my purchasing a new frame for the tent. That's a bugger because Joe and I are heading off for another venture with the Scouts this weekend and we need a two person tent. So, I purchased a new one from REI and got a really good price plus my REI membership discount and the comfort in knowing that REI stands behind all of their products for the life of the product; all of which is great, but why can't I buy a kit to repair the bloody thing? That is the key question for me and it doesn't seem to matter whether I buy it from Dick's or REI because the nature of the construction of the frame lends itself to irreparable damage and there just doesn't seem to be anything one can do to change the situation. In other words, the product has a fundamental flaw in it and no one seems to mind all that much. Andy at REI (a super young man who is most helpful and genuinely interested in helping you make the right purchase decisions) doesn't seem to be all that bothered and Dick's doesn't seem to be all that bothered even though they sold me the product. It's just disturbing and given the cost of camping equipment these days (when I was a kid we went to the army surplus store and got everything you'd ever need for under $50........and it lasted) I'm upset that there isn't a replacement plan for every tent frame and at least spares on hand for the most popular models. Hell, give me the option of buying a spare and save me from all this anguish. Please!

On another completely different note, I attended the first home preseason game last night between my Atlanta Hawks and the Charlotte Bobcats and I'm happy to report that the Hawks are now 3 & 0 with wins over the Orlando Magic, the Miami Heat and last night's victory. Dare I say anything positive about this team after all the negative observations I had last season? I suppose that given I renewed my season tickets I've demonstrated some level of confidence in this year's playoff potential Moreover, after last night's performance (Josh Smith's pouty behavior aside) I even find myself believing the drivel I used to convince myself to purchase season tickets again. It was a strong performance by a remarkably young team with Al Horford and Acie Law showing that they intend to make a difference this year. Joe Johnson was back and in great form with 25 points including a few 3 pointers from downtown. Now, if only we could get Coach Woodson to sit down for ten minutes and actually let them play an up and down game, we just might find out how good they really are...........Go Hawks!

Exceptional Selling

2007-10-11T14:11:00.000-05:00

"Exceptional Selling, How the Best Connect and Win in High Stakes Sales" is a wonderful book by Jeff Thull, Author of "Mastering the Complex Sale". I had an opportunity to revisit his book this morning when I was trying to articulate a point to a colleague about "good enough" versus "remarkable" We all know that Seth Godin constantly stresses the importance of being "remarkable", but do we really incorporate that concept into our daily management focus? I mean, do we look at what we produce in the context of "is that remarkable", or do we just allow the pace and urgency of our daily work lives to influence us to allow "good enough" to pass us by and get released, posted on our web site, sent to our customers, printed as a brochure, etc. Why isn't "good enough" good enough? Why does everything have to be "remarkable"? After all, remarkable is darn hard and if one is pressed with a commitment to produce/release by X date, then isn't "good enough" going to get us there and we can always do "remarkable" the next time?

I guess I'm old fashioned - or perhaps new fashioned........I'm not really certain. I just know instinctively that "good enough" isn't going to win in today's market and that while being "remarkable" is indeed difficult and it is unlikely that you will achieve it every time, striving for "remarkable" should always be the target and that you should never accept less from anyone including yourself.

Okay, that was my one key thought for the day. Now go back to work and have fun!

Performance is Reality

2007-10-10T11:39:00.000-05:00

One of my earliest "management" hero's was Harold Geneen, the CEO of International Telephone & Telegraph from 1960 to 1977. During that period, Hal led the growth of ITT and took it from a $750M dollar firm to a $16 billion dollar firm while net earnings grew from $29 million to $560 earnings, a compounded annual growth rate of more than 20%. Net earnings grew at least 11% in 15 of those 17 years and ITT acquired 350 firms and created over 200 new profit centers. When Hal retired in 1977, ITT was the ninth largest industrial company in America.

So what was his secret? In one of the books that he co-authored in the late 80's called Managing, he noted that the best way to manage a business was from back to front; i.e.: you started with the end goal in mind and then worked backwards through all the steps required to achieve that goal. In his mind, the goal wasn't a target or an objective. It was in fact a commitment and everyone in his organization worked towards that commitment because achieving anything less than the commitment was failure in his eyes. He held people accountable and he did not accept excuses. In fact, he is well know for having said that, "I think it is an immutable law of business that words are words, explanations are explanations, promises are promises-but only performance is reality." I've always remembered reading that quote and I've repeated it over the years to more folks than I can remember. I think that is one of the reasons technology got into such a rut in the late 90's and early 2000's. We stopped forgetting that performance is reality and everything else is essentially noise. Harold Geneen was a tough leader and he was relentless in his pursuit of the commitments established for the firm each year. He accepted responsibility for delivering against those commitments and he expected his management team to do the same, and if they couldn't deliver, then he found managers that could and he found them quickly.

As we begin the process of building our 2008 business plan, I am reminded of the lessons I learned from Harold Geneen all those years ago and I'm filled with an energy that comes from both optimism and resolve. Moreover, I'm filled with a sense of purpose and commitment. I think it is the only mindset that you can have if you are going to be successful. Resolve to be successful. Resolve to achieve the commitment. Resolve to be relentless in your pursuit of the commitment. Lead the team and remember that "performance is reality" and forget everything else!

Web 2.0 & Maggiano's in the Morning

2007-10-09T09:13:00.000-05:00

So what on earth could he be talking about? Maggiano's in the morning and Web 2.0 sounds like a strange combination unless of course you were attending the panel discussion this morning sponsored by Pink Magazine, Melia Design Group, Nimbus Software and Interface Guru and wanted to understand how you could leverage Web 2.0 to create successful on-line business strategies. Moderated by Daryn Kagan (darynkagan.com), the panel discussion was interesting, fun and certainly informative. I never knew "usability" was a discipline until someone asked what characteristics they should be looking for in a potential "usability" employee. Did Cia Romano (CEO and Founder of Interface Guru) actually say to look for an anthropologist? Hmmmmmm. That's a twist I hadn't considered before, but it makes absolute sense when you think about what a "usability" expert contributes to the business. Brad Fallon, CEO of Smart Marketing, Inc. may have pulled the biggest smiles when he noted that the three great discoveries of mankind were fire, the wheel and affiliate marketing. Genevieve Bos, the co-founder and publisher of PINK magazine dazzled the audience with her iPhone and crackberry (do you really need two form factors Genevieve?)and her insights on understanding not only who your users are, but how they want to engage content and what content do they want to engage. Finally, Paul Arne from Morris, Manning and Martin gave an interesting brief on some of the liability issues that on-line media companies face in today's environment. As noted during the recent Georgia Tech Security Conference, Web 2.0 has "created numerous new attack vectors" and we all have to be vigilant in safeguarding access to our personal data.

I met some very interesting new folks this morning, which is always a treat. Traci Fento, Founder & CEO of WorldBlu, Inc. (www.worldblu.com) is a new transplant to Atlanta from Washington, D.C. Her firm helps companies to create democratic work environments and I was really intrigued with our conversation. I also met Zenobia A. Godschalk of ZAG Communications and had a delightful chat about Web 2.0 security issues as well as the lack of VC funding in Atlanta at the moment. Kevin Howarth from TechLinks and I sat together and it was fun catching-up with him this morning as well. All in all, a good solid networking event with some great content. Great location and well executed.

Finally, my sincere apologies to all for failing to post for such a long time. As some of you know, I have been working as a consultant for Tescom USA for the past several months. But what many of you may not know is that I recently accepted the position of VP of U.S. Operations for Tescom and I'm now focusing all of my efforts on building Tescom's brand and reputation in the Southeast. It is a great firm and I'm delighted to have been asked to join the global management team. I'm off to Tel Aviv shortly for my first global sales conference and I know it is going to be fun meeting the international team and learning what is working across the globe with their operations.

I will sincerely try to post more often now that I have my feet firmly planted at Tescom. Meanwhile, hope everyone has a delightful day.

Wednesday Morning

2007-09-12T06:37:00.000-05:00

Arrived early as I normally do each morning. The drive is actually relatively pleasant given the traffic is quite light at 6:30 a.m. when I leave the house and staying in routine, I stopped at Starbucks for a coffee and quick glance at the New York Times on my way out the door. I only actually purchase the paper on Friday and Saturday and occasionally on Sunday if I can find it. There use to be a wonderful spot at the intersection of Piedmont and Peachtree called "Joe Mugg's", which carried all the major papers on a Sunday morning. We used to go there after Mass, get a coffee and pastry and sit and read the Sunday papers. It's a shame that a city like Atlanta doesn't have a decent newspaper. The Atlanta Journal Constitution is quite small town for a metro area approaching six million in population. You would think we could get attract a paper with some weight, but I guess newspapers in general are rapidly disappearing across the nation and given we only have two remaining national papers (USA Today and The Wall Street Journal), it isn't surprising that no one wants to invest in anything other than internet driven solutions. Still, I long for the comfort of a newspaper with a decent editorial section.

School is in full drive now and both Joe and Ellie are up to their usual tricks; i.e.: not wanting to keep up with their homework and class assignments. I don't know if I have the energy for middle school given how much work they are piling on Joe. Poor kid is absolutely lost at the moment and if we can't get him organized I fear he will have a very depressing year. Ellie is less absorbed at the moment, but remembering how 4th grade went for Joe I imagine it will get more intense as the year rolls on.

Weather is still quite humid although the heat has come down a few degrees over the past two weeks. Still, it is quite uncomfortable at the mid-day and will probably remain so for another month or so. I expect it to start getting cooler towards the later part of October if last year is any guide.

I'll post again soon on the political landscape.....just too tired after yesterday to rant and rave about my favorite idiot in the White House. Boy, I've come a long way in the past few years! (A long way to the left that is.........)

Have a great day folks and enjoy a photo of Kate, Joe and Ellie with the Brooks during their visit to Scotland. The Brooks were our neighbors in the Netherlands and Simon, Elizabeth, Emma, James and Timmy are all lovely folks. They live in this absolutely lovely slice of heaven that was dropped into Scotland. Our best wishes to them as always.

August

2007-08-25T20:46:00.000-05:00

It seems like just yesterday that I posted, but when I opened my blog this evening I realized that nearly a month has passed since my last entry. August seems to have just blown past me. I guess because I've been working a fair amount of hours and school started back a couple of weeks ago, which of course means that Kate is teaching again and between her teaching, my working, the kids activities and trying to have a life I just let my blog kind of drift away from me. Sorry folks. I can't honestly say that I'll do better, but I will try to post with a bit more frequency.

After the Gaul Family Reunion things started to settle back down here in Atlanta as we prepared for the new school year. We did manage a brief visit to Nashville and had a really good time. What a fun city! We went to the Grand Ole Opry, President Jackson's home, the Opry Hotel and just walked a bit on market street. The kids both got cowboy hats (a must in Nashville) and Kate seemed to enjoy herself for the most part. There were a couple of tense moments. I think when you try to pack so much into a couple of days it is inevitable that you will find some tension rising to the surface. For me, it was the kids being the kids and for Kate is was me being me because the kids were being the kids. Oh well, we did manage to sort it all out with a family conference and got back in one piece.

I've been really struggling with the situation in Iraq and I'm so angry with things that I just don't know what to say anymore. I think I'm mostly angry with myself for voting for that jerk in the last election and for believing that he really did know what he was doing when he sent our kids to die in the Middle East. I can't help but believe there are a lot of folks just like me wondering how we could have been so wrong. I noted that the conversation at the recent family reunion was quite different than it was three years ago. We are a mixed bag when it comes to politics with Liberals, Conservatives and some Independents. But the Conservative element that was fairly vocal three years ago seemed pretty subdued this time around. With the possible exception of one or two retired military chaps joining us as Father Joe's guests the Conservatives were all of the same mind; i.e.: the guy in the White House today is not the guy we thought we were electing in 2004. I haven't made my mind about the next election, but I'm going to be significantly more open minded than I have been in the past. We need a change in direction and I'm looking for that change agent, but haven't found him/her as yet. I suppose we still have some time left for a real leader to emerge and I'm praying that one does filter to the top. We got far too many issues not to get it right next time around.

Anyway, enjoy what's left of your Saturday evening and a few snaps from the Nashville Trip.

The Gaul Family Reunion

2007-07-29T17:58:00.000-05:00

We arrived home just over an hour ago after spending two nights in Fayetteville, North Carolina, the site of this year's Gaul Family Reunion. A fairly decent turnout although some favorites were certainly missing this year. None of Mary's kids were able to make the journey and their absence was quite noticeable. On the other hand, all of Judy's family arrived and it was great to see all of my niece's and nephew's.....the regular ones, the "great" ones and the "great, great" ones. My brother John traveled from Ohio as did Mary and Roger.....a long journey for a short weekend, but that is what being part of a family means sometimes. My brother Jim and wife Becky (Becky's celebrated a birthday on Saturday) were only able to spend one afternoon and early evening with us, but he still make the drive from northern Virginia and we all were very grateful. Judy and John drove up from Atlanta via Raleigh where they stopped to see their kids and grandchildren while Kate and I traveled from Buckhead with our kids while my oldest son Patrick made the same journey with his children and his friend Colleen after spending a week with us here in Atlanta.

We all had a delightful time and there was plenty of food, beer, wine and music. I tried to be Mr. Chef, but after not being able to keep the incredibly large grill arranged by my brother Joe (who was hosting this blast at his home) lit long enough to get anything cooked, a couple of old hands at grilling took over and I headed out with my camera and video cam.........I'm beginning to think that I make a better photographer than I do a cook; or at least an outside grill cook.

There will be more notes on this past weekend, but I guess I'd better get upstairs and make a cup of tea and relax a bit before the work week starts. I'm most relaxed however after spending a weekend with some of the finest people I know in this world. I'm truly blessed to have such a wonderful extended family and it is always great to hang out with them, even if it was for only a brief moment.

Pictures include a snap of (reading left to right) Joe, John, Mom, Jim and myself, all the grandchildren, my brother Joe and his namesake and my son Joseph and finally my brother-in-law Roger relaxing with a cold one. I fear that he and I had one too many cold ones on Saturday evening, but that's another story for the naked city.

Family Reunion

2007-07-26T22:02:00.000-05:00

This weekend is the annual Gaul Family reunion, a nationally recognized event that brings folks in from all over the nation for a day of grilling and chewing the fat. I don't really know how many will make it this year as we are all getting a tad older and traveling has become more problematic this year. Suzanne, John's wife is recovering from an illness and probably won't make it although John is going to try to get coverage and head down from Ohio for the weekend. Mary's back is giving her fits, but she left this afternoon with her husband Roger and our Mom, who is currently staying with Mary for the summer. Jim and Becky will arrive tomorrow evening and Judy and John are either already there or won't arrive until tomorrow afternoon. We've made the the trip to Sam's Club and there are lots of burgers and hot dogs waiting to hit the grill. The beer needs to be iced as does the wine, but all in good time.

It is not a regular event in that we don't have one every year. They usually take place every two or three years. The last one was in North Carolina in 2004 and we celebrated my brother Joe's 60th birthday and Mom's 86th birthday. Both are three years older this August and although Mom keeps saying that she won't make another one she always seems to hang in there for one more. Hopefully and the good Lord willing, she make this one and a few more as well. Relatives on my Mom's side seem to live longer than the average American. 90 year old Stricklands are not that unusual these days. My uncle is 92 years old and Mom will be 89 and my cousin is also well into her 80's and they all have sharp minds given their ages. I know I'd be delighted to be 92 and still able to carry on a serious conversation about the economy and the political scene, which is exactly what my Uncle does when I visit him.

Anyway, a great week with the new job. They are wonderful people. Really passionate and truly engaged. I'm enjoying working with them and hopefully the contract will be extended for a bit longer and I can continue to enjoy working with them. It is truly exhilarating to be getting up in the morning and driving to an office and hanging out with exciting, fun people. I honestly don't thing you can ask for much more in life than a good family, good health and a job that you enjoy. I am truly blessed!

Have a great weekend folks and I'll check in with you after the festivities. Meanwhile, a bit of Harry Potter and his slick sister witch!

Back To Normal

2007-07-16T19:30:00.000-05:00

Well, the family is back home from their seven plus week adventure to Europe, assuming of course that you include the UK in the European frame of things. I suppose now that Gordon Brown is in charge you will see a rapid departure from the lap of GWB and a bit more functional autonomy being asserted, which is fine with me and about damn time! This photo however comes from Leiden, our favorite town in the Netherlands and where we lived for nearly seven years.

Joe has grown over the summer and Ellie has come back with a right proper little English accent. She even picked up a bit of the Birmingham twang just to give Mom a twinge or two. She actually does it quite well and could easily be one of "those girls" I would meet on my occasional trips in Birmingham. Of course, I never met anyone that I wanted to have a long conversation with much less anything else until I met her Mom, but that is probably a story for another day.

I saw Shelby whatever his name is on national news this evening......he has one of those YouTube questions for the candidates........an interesting guy even if he is a Democrat. I tried to find him on www.adonkeyandanelephantwalkintoabar.com, but he wasn't there unless of course he is the one who likes crack and enjoys turning down requests to be his friend.

Just got interrupted by my brother Joe who has recently discovered the joys of Windows Instant Messenger Video......we chat now just about every night and it is kind of cool that this retired 60 plus year old catholic priest is finally moving into the 21st century. He does IM, Video and we are about to introduce him to Skype once one of us visits him in North Carolina and loads it on his computer. He doesn't do these things himself you know.

Anyway, I hope Shelby's question gets asked because it is a good one. He asked what the plan is for after we leave, which means that he and perhaps lots of other folks understand that it is just as important to have a plan for leaving as it would have been to have a plan of going there in the first place. (And we all know that sure as hell didn't happen!) I still think we can stop this thing if the people of America get off their collective asses and make their voices heard. Hell, if an old Republican war-horse such as myself can see the error of his ways, then there has to be hope for the nation at large. But you can't just "rage against the night", you have to participate in the process......you know, write your elected officials and make your voice heard.

Anyway, nearly 9:30 p.m. and I must retire. These 5:30 a.m. wake-up's are kicking my ass! Have a good night folks and think about what I've said........if you don't know who to write, then take a look at the donkey/elephant website and they will help you figure it out. It is time to get active!

Early to Bed, Early to Rise

2007-07-10T06:53:00.000-05:00

The world is a very different place at 5 a.m., which is exactly what time I've been waking up over the past two plus weeks since I started my contract. What's even more interesting is that I'm going to bed between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. and that has to be a record for the midnight kid. Heck, I almost never even thing about going to bed until at least midnight and more often than not I'm still sitting up reading at 3 a.m. I can't tell you how many times I've slipped into bed at 3 a.m. or later and just stayed there as Kate got up to get the kids ready for school. Oh well, those days are long gone and somehow I don't think I'm going to miss them. I've really enjoyed the past couple of weeks........you know, getting up, putting on a suit with bright shinny shoes and headed off for work. Makes me feel like a kid just starting the school year!

I see that our President is still defying the odds and ignoring just about everyone on just about every issue. I noted he is still quite popular in Albania however and possibly he is considering his options for after the next election. Albania could use another Dictator and boy does he fit the bill.........speaking of Bill, where is that boy? I haven't heard much from him recently and would have thought he would be center stage for the Live Earth concerts, but perhaps I just missed him because I haven't been watching that much TV the past few weeks although I have certainly been catching up on my reading, especially reading technology articles about the space I'm now occupying, but more on that later.

Just purchased a new book called "Buzzmarketing, Get People to Talk About Your Stuff". It is written by Mark Hughes, the CEO of the consulting firm Buzzmarketing and the host of the syndicated radio talk show, The Buzz Factor. An interesting read so far and I'm especially enjoying his insights into American Idol, the program that for me shows us the way towards future political elections. Come on, why not? We line them all up on Tuesday night and have them give a 2.5 minute campaign brief and you vote on the most talented lad or lass and over a period of a few months we can get to the final vote. The winner gets a makeover by the political equivalent of Clive Davis (now, who would that be I wonder) and the runner-up gets to be the VP, regardless of his or her political affiliation. In fact, that really should be the way we elect the two positions.....no more tickets........you run for the spot you want and so we could end up with a Democratic President and an Independent VP......I don't think we will end up with a Republican anything come next election.

Okay folks, have a wonder day and we will chat with you soon.

No, I Haven't Dropped Off ................

2007-07-02T15:51:00.001-05:00

The face of the earth despite the many assertions to the contrary. I have however signed my first major contract as Patrick D. Gaul, Inc. and collected my first paycheck for that engagement, which has been deposited into my own corporate bank account. All very neat stuff for an entrepreneur and hopefully it explains my unusual absence from my blog. I was initially working to close the opportunity and now I'm working to deliver against the contract, so my days have been rather filled and getting back into the routine of getting up in the morning, putting on a suit, and driving to an office as opposed to waking up, putting on a robe, making a cup of coffee and heading to the basement, has required some adjustments. First, I'm waking up at ungodly hours..........this morning it was just after 4:00 a.m., although in fairness I did go to bed at just after 9:00 p.m., which means I had seven hours of sleep and that is probably about an hour or two longer than I normally get on some mornings. The big difference now of course is that I cannot just rollover if I stay up to some ungodly hour because I got interested in a film at midnight. Still, it is good stuff and I'm enjoying the work, which I shall have to keep relatively quiet for the moment because I have certain commitments to the client.

On the political front, I have officially changed my status to Independent and no longer refer to myself as a Republican. I'm now officially a conservative Independent, although I suppose my previous affiliation still influences some of my thinking relative to government and how it should be run. I just cannot in all good conscious continue to belong to a political party that has completely ignored the values of democracy that this country holds so dear and continues to do so everyday. Even today our "President" defied the Rule of Law by commuting the sentence of Scooter Libby, the White House Advisor who was convicted of lying to the Grand Jury about the CIA operative leak. He was convicted in a court of law by a jury of his peers and gets a "get out of jail free" card from the President. The prison term was excessive according to George, but he is still being punished because he has to pay $250K and be on probation for a bit.......like $250K is a serious fine for the likes of Libby! How much more of this can the country tolerate? When will the American people wake up and realize that we have a dysfunctional government? What will it take to motivate this country to do something about the situation? Unfortunately, I don't see a real leader emerging from the ashes to lead us out of this quagmire. It is pretty much the same old tired group of politicians vying for the top spot and pretty much the same group of tired old senators and congressmen and women holding down those spots. Where is the new blood? Why can't the same group of Americans that come together to nominate the winner of American Idol show-up for a vote on national unity?

I don't know about you folks, but I'm ready for a change, and I mean one hell of a serious change!

Interviewing & Dating: Is there really a difference?

2007-06-12T17:13:00.000-05:00

So I've been interviewing with this one firm for the past two to three weeks and have come to the conclusion that interviewing is a lot like dating, in that at the end of the day you ultimately want to get closer and have a good relationship......or at least that's true assuming you aren't just out for a brief encounter in which case interviewing is nothing like dating because you would never put yourself through it for a one-night stand. Too much work for too little gratification if you ask me.

I actually have three opportunities that I'm currently engaging and all three have very positive aspects with some minor drawbacks just to keep things balanced. The one that I'm interviewing for is here in Atlanta and that makes it particularly attractive. One of the other positions is in NYC and while it pays very well and is with a top-notch company, the idea of moving to New York is hard to digest. Still, it's a great job and I'd be working with someone that I respect immensely.

The last opportunity is also here in Atlanta, but a contract position that would only last about 6 to 9 months. Again, it pays very well and I'd be working with an old trusted friend and there could be some collateral benefits from working the contract in that I would get serious exposure to a firm that I would like to work for in North Carolina should the opportunity arise. This gig could provide that opportunity.

So, all good opportunities and I'm just going through the process of determining which one is best for me and in which one I'd deliver the most value. I like to think that the two most important issues in any situation are as follows: one, you have to be having fun and two, you got to make a contribution. The absence of either is sufficient to make me want to run away. Does that make sense?

Okay, so back to work. I need to prepare for my next interview. Yep, it's a lot like dating!

The Man in the Moon

2007-06-04T23:42:00.000-05:00

I remember the first time I saw the film, primarily because Reese Witherspoon was so young. I looked it up and it was released in 1991, which is sixteen years ago and that would have made her 15 years old playing the part of a 14 year old. Good casting if you ask me. She was great and the film took me back to 1957 when things were so much simpler and life was in so many ways easier; or at least upon reflection it seems today that 1957 was an easier time.........I don't know, perhaps not for my parents who had a 3 year old, a 5+ year old, a 7 year old and a 9 year old plus Joe and Judy, who were 6 years older and 9 years older than me respectively. Judy was would marry that year at the age of 16.......different times indeed!

So why bring this movie to your attention? Well, I suppose because it reminded me of my first love. Her name was Sandra Wood and she lived across the street and she was the first girl I ever kissed........there's a first kiss in this movie as well. They are special you know and you never forget your first kiss. Plus there was tragedy and heartache and we had plenty of that in '57 as well. My Mom had cancer and Dad was lost. I broke my foot that year and had my appendix removed as well.......We moved several times and I remember being constantly frightened......funny how memories come back to you.

Anyway, good movie. You should watch it!

Lazy Saturday

2007-06-02T18:23:00.000-05:00

I've been absolutely doing nothing today except for a bit of reading and a few minutes of exercise. Nothing wrong with me except perhaps I'm all alone and feeling a bit sad with Kate and the children in Europe for the next six or seven weeks. I need to get up early tomorrow and get some things done including visiting Mom, who is also leaving for the summer to visit my sister Mary in Ohio. Everyone wants to get of Atlanta during the summer, but we are in fact having a fairly nice summer with the exception of the smoke and smog and pollen and screwed-up traffic. We could also use a bit of rain as the grass is turning brown and we dare not water it given the restrictions on watering at the moment.

Watched "The Queen" a short while ago. Great film! Kate and I were living in England when Diana was killed in the auto accident in Paris. We had just woken up and were laying in bed having a cup of tea watching the morning news, except there was no morning news, only a running commentary on Diana. I had just remarked that they should leave the poor girl alone when it dawned on us that something was horribly wrong with the way they were speaking about her; i.e.: in the past tense. The screen then flashed two dates (born and died) and we realized that we were witnessing history. I always liked her even though I knew she was a bit of a drama queen and enjoyed the press whenever it could be used to her advantage. She was hounded however and I suspect that somehow the press did have a hand in the accident. Ten years she has been gone and her lads seem to be growing up to be decent chaps. I think Harry has actually matured since he entered the forces and he seems to be growing into his role in life on his terms. I don't know if they should have kept him out of Iraq, but I'm glad they did even though as a former U.S. Marine I can understand his disappointment at not being given a chance to serve. Wars are where soldiers learn their trade first hand and it is a bitter pill for Harry to swallow. I think he would have created a very high risk for his comrades and for that reason I think it was probably the best decision.

Still reading Al Gore's new book. I'm very impressed and warming more and more to the idea that he just might be the right guy to put in office in 2008. I even spoke with a fairly well heeled Venture Capitalist today at a local bookstore who noted that even though he is a Republican he thinks Al is growing more popular and that no one has really taken off in either party as a national leader. I could not agree more. My thoughts on Hillary are well known. I don't dislike her, but I think she presents far too many problems for the Democrats and that Bill's potential role makes things even more complicated. I don't really like any of the Republicans that are running and I'm getting less and less enamoured with Newt. Too much baggage from my point of view although I do like a lot of his conservative thinking.

Okay, nothing more worth noting this evening.........except our neighbors mentioned that they are having a baby this afternoon. I don't think it was planned, but they seem happy and I guess that is all that matters.

On Individual Human Nature

2007-06-01T21:34:00.000-05:00

"The poet E.E. Cummings wrote, 'To be nobody but yourself when the world is trying its best night and day to make you somebody else is to fight the hardest battle any human being will fight.' No matter how many forces try to make you be like everybody else, the scientific truth is that in all of the earth's history there has never been another person exactly like you, and there never will be again! (Quoted from page 289 of "Get Out Of Your Own Way" but Dr. Robert K. Cooper.)

A good solid read filled with wonderful ideas and thoughts for the soul. This note goes out to my son Joe who is in Europe with his Mom. Remember everyday how special you are and how much you are loved!

On-Line Again

2007-06-01T21:03:00.000-05:00

I just realized (with the help of my sister Mary and brother Joe) that I have not posted in over two weeks. I guess that birthday just kicked the heck out of me; what with me being so much older and getting more feeble!

Anyway, sorry for drifting away. I have actually been having a relatively good time since my last note to you folks. I am in the process of examining three job opportunities while they are in the process of examining me. Fair enough I suppose...........we all want to get it right and we all want to make a good decision.

Joe got his first stripe on his green belt just before he took off to Europe with his Mom and Ellie. (See photo above.) He also graduated from elementary school and is off to middle school next term..........(look up again for the photo's). Smart kid, that son of mine! I guess he takes after his Mom.....you know, good looking and smart too.

Reading Al Gore's new book, "The Assault On Reason". Never thought I'd say this, but he makes a lot of sense and I think I actually regret not voting for him in 2000. I guess a lot of conservatives are feeling the same way at this moment if they would be honest with themselves, which is why I'd like to see the guy put his hat in the ring. I would vote for him because I've gotten to know him over the past eight years and I realize that he was the perfect example of a book being judged by its cover.........it was a tragic mistake for the whole country and given what I've learned about the Florida results, it was an election that should have been clarified by the real voter count and not a Supreme Court decision to hand the election to Bush. I know this will come as a shock to a lot of my family and friends, but while still a conservative I am tired of this administration and I'm tired of hearing the American body count on television every evening. We need to stop this bloody war and I am so disappointed in the Democratic Party for backing down to Bush..............okay.....I admit I've been on the fence for far too long..........but I've seen the light and I realize that we can't win this thing given our current approach. We need to change and we need a leader to has the credibility to lead change............Gore has the credibility unlike most of the folks who have entered the race thus far. I think we have had enough of the Clinton's and Bush's and need some new blood. I like Gore because he seems genuinely not interested in running and the good Lord knows we need someone with just a bit of humility at the moment.

Anyway, I've now posted and will try to resume doing so regularly. Life is too short to do otherwise.

Goodnite Folks.

May 18, 1950

2007-05-17T23:33:00.000-05:00

It doesn't seem like it was 57 years ago when I arrived in this great big wonderful world, but time sure does have a way of sneeking up on us. 12:35 a.m. and I've received three e-cards, one from my sister Mary and her family, one from Raj, and one from the Web Hosting Forum (thanks guys).

You see, the problem is that if I could have my way I would never celebrate another birthday.....actually, I dont celebrate them. My wife and kids do and I guess I'd be a real jerk if I did not at least pretend to be enjoying the fuss and bother. The strangest part is that I have felt this way since I was old enough to know what a birthday was about....I've just never like them and have on many occasions completely ignored the fact that it was occuring. That's an option when you are single, but not when you are married with young kids.

A pivotal year for sure.........don't know what the next year holds for me, but I'm healthy and feel great. I have so many blessings and I just can't complain about any of the challenges because I know in my heart the good Lord is watching over me and that makes everything else relatively unimportant. Under His watchful care and protection my future is going to be just fine.

Happy Friday everyone!

Update from Philips Arena

2007-05-16T10:46:00.000-05:00

I was invited to join Mike Woodson and Bernie Mullen this morning for breakfast and a chat, along with about 15 other Hawks season ticket holders. It was a very nice gathering although I don't think most of us walked away with a stronger sense of where the team is going this summer. We know that Management thinks the team is headed in the right direction and that they want us to continue to support their efforts by renewing our season tickets. I spoke with probably five or six of the attendees after the breakfast and they all said essentially the same thing; i.e.: that they would not renew until after the draft and if it meant losing their seats then that was okay with them. I guess that is where I'm at as well although I have the added strain of figuring out how to justify them from a financial perspective given the past several months. Still, it's great entertainment and with the right team on the floor it could be an exciting year. Go Hawks!

But think about it from a business perspective for a minute. I have a product and at the end of the day it really is entertainment, or at least that is what I think of professional sports. I go to NBA games to be entertained and that "entertainment factor" is raised significantly when my team wins the game. I can deal with losing to better teams as long as my team played with heart, but the "entertainment factor" is dramatically reduced when my team loses over and over again and often through what you could only term as stupidity; i.e.: they play badly, make amateur mistakes and lose close games that should have been won except for these inconsistencies.

So now I want to take that product and market it to the community. How do you convince people to pay thousands of dollars each season to watch a losing team? Mike Woodson may very be a teaching coach, but his win/loss record is horrible and I'm amazed that the has been retained for another year. I can't say that I'm an expert on the game of basketball. I like to watch the game, up close and personal if possible. But I do have a fairly good sense of the value of a product that does not perform in the market and that is certainly the Atlanta Hawks today. I don't know, but I think that I might have made a stronger effort to convince my core customers to hang with me that Mike and Bernie did this morning. We all left with an NBA basketball having had some bacon and eggs (the basketballs were not signed.....I think that would have been a nice touch) and the eggs were a tad runny. I don't think anyone left with a burning desire to go home and write a check and that is what I would have been pushing for were I the sales guy running the show.

On a another note, Patrick D. Gaul, Inc. is fairly close to signing it's first contract as a company. Can't say much about it due to Non-disclosure, but suffice it to say that I'm excited about the opportunity and I think it could be the start of a very nice relationship for my company.

Anyway, more later from the streets of Atlanta.........

Has It Really Been Eight Days?

2007-05-08T22:37:00.000-05:00

Gosh, I thought I had posted something over the last week, but obviously not since the last post was 29 April. Oh well, can I please plead an insane schedule and the weekend from hell? It all started on April 28th when I travelled to my sister's home just outside of Atlanta to spend some time with my Mom while my sister and her husband attended their daughter's college graduation ceremony. Their daughter is a late starter, or finisher, depending upon your perspective.......but finish she did and my hat is off to her given she is also a Mom and working part-time. That takes a lot of commitment and Rachel (that's my niece) has demonstrated that she can do just about anything when she sets her mind to the task.

I was relieved on Wednesday, the 2nd of May in the late afternoon by my brother Joe and my sister Mary. Yes, it is true, it takes two to replace me. Of course, my sister Judy would argue that it takes three to replace her and the good Lord knows she is absolutely right.

This past weekend Ellie performed in both the Wizard of Oz (Toto again by popular demand) and Annie where she had three or four roles including playing Rooster, the brother of the evil woman who runs the orphanage. What was her name? Ellie was quite entertaining and had moments of brilliance along with a few seconds of silliness. Oh well, what would be the point of being nine years old if you can not be silly now and again?

After Annie on Saturday morning we rushed to Centennial High so we could support Kate in her year-end ballet recital. I did a bit of parking management, handed out programs, coached some late arrivals and basically did whatever Kate needed me to do. That is what husbands are for from time to time. Joe worked the concession stand and was very helpful. You know, he turned eleven on the 27th of April and is growing so fast........it won't be long before he'll not want to spend time with Dad, but until then I want to cherish all these special times together because it makes me aware of just how special a lad he has become in the past few years.

We then rushed home, showered, and put on our formal attire for the Digital Ball, which was held at the Georgia Congress Center. What an amazing evening! The entertainment was spectacular. I saw so many folks that my headed actually started to spin at one point. Anyway, more of this event in a later post because I really want to do it justice.

Sunday morning was about church and then a short visit with my Mom and by brother Joe before heading for the Buckhead Garden Club's Annual Spring Party. It was a blast (some pictures above for your viewing pleasure)and before you could say "Bob is your Uncle", Monday had arrived and another week is on its way. By the way, I ran into Phil Kent, who I had met at last year's Christmas Party. He is an incredibly interesting chap and has a new book coming out very soon, which you can find on his web site......www.philkent.com. Please do take a look and whatever you do, don't buy it on his site because I'll have it on offer on my site very shortly. Sorry Phil, I need the Amazon Affiliate Points.

Busy, busy, busy. I promise to write a more sane missive tomorrow, but just wanted to update everyone and share some photo's from this past week.

Cheers and Goodnight!

PBS Special Today

2007-04-29T19:42:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I get it. Essentially, we were led down a path by the Bush Administration that could only end up in our invading Iraq. The majority of the media, politicians and military leadership all allowed President Bush to convince them that he was right and that for various reasons (another 9/11, stability in the Middle East, oil revenue, weapons of mass destruction)it was this country's responsibility to sort things out over there. George Tenet said absolutely nothing that I'm aware of that would would have led anyone to believe his intelligence community was being used by the White House although others clearly questioned the reports, especially in Europe where I was living at the time.

All in all it was a very interesting report, but entirely based on a lens looking through the rear view window. I don't think that I learned anything new and while it was historically relative, it didn't show me how we are going to fix this situation. Where's the solution? I got it that Bush manipulated things and I got it that most everyone was unwilling to stand up and argue the toss, but what I don't get is how we are going to address the realities facing this country. Saying we have had enough and don't want to play anymore isn't a solution anymore than believing that the situation can be reversed with more troops. Neither Party is looking at this problem with a solution oriented lens.

Reality 1: Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey and Israel are all participants in one fashion or the other and all have to be involved in securing a settlement.

Reality 2: George Bush and his administration have no international credibility and cannot lead the region to a negotiated settlement. This is a lame duck President, nationally and internationally.

Reality 3: We cannot, as a nation, continue to incur the costs of this conflict, either in terms of the lives that are being lost or the financial burden it is placing on us in the years to come.

Reality 4: While the politicians pose and position themselves for 2008 our troops are dying and more will die if we don't end this thing.

Reality 5: We can't just pull out of the region and leave the Kurds and Sunni's to fend for themselves. I don't want that much blood on this country's hands. Do you? Plus, what do you think Iran and Syria are going to do once we pull out?

I read a comment that Hilary made with respect to Bill's role in her administration should she be elected. Well, I don't think this country will elect her (that is not to say that I don't think she is qualified to be President....I just don't believe she will get elected), but I do think that her plan for Bill is intriguing. In fact, I think it is exactly what we need right now along with Jimmy and George Sr.

Hear me out here folks. Bill and George Sr. have formed quite a comfortable working relationship through their efforts on Katrina. Jimmy would have immediate credibility with the Arab world based on his balanced view towards Israel. Put the three together and ask them to help the nation find a way out of the crisis. Give them global standing to at least negotiate for the country and send them on a mission to get us out of there. I know it sounds a lot like that film with the old astronauts who traveled to the asteroid to save the world by blowing it up before it entered our atmosphere, but don't completely dismiss the analogy. Perhaps some elder statesmen without an immediate political agenda is exactly what we need to find a solution. And while Bill is obviously connected to 2008 through Hilary I don't think he would refuse to participate and be part of the team that negotiates our future in the Middle East. Moreover, I think he may be the brightest of the three and perhaps the most intelligent President we have seen in a very long time. He has national credibility (no one really thinks his personal affairs are especially important anymore given the current administration....do they?)and certainly global credibility!

Worth a thought anyway because I haven't seen a single plan without serious drawbacks on one level or the other and time is getting short folks. We need to find a solution that works for all the parties engaged in this conflict.

Finally, I have to apologize for not staying the course and moving away from politics. I just believe that sometimes you have to say what you feel even if there aren't that many folks listening. Thinking out loud is good for the soul.

No Clear Winner........

2007-04-26T21:42:00.000-05:00

All the pundits have declared that there wasn't a clear winner. I liked Joe Biden, John Edwards, and that mean old man, whoever the hell he was. They all seem to have found religion and are absolutely certain that they were either: a. Right to oppose the invasion, but equally right to vote to fund it, or b; They were wrong to vote for it and it is a mistake that they will take to their graves, or c; She was misinformed and therefore has nothing to apologize for and is not going to apologize.

I suppose the reality is that one of them is probably going to be in the White House in 2008 and that he or she can't do a whole lot worse than the guy currently in charge. Still, I can't abide the way they are attempting to manage the Iraq debate and I can't believe that we are going to walk away once again from a situation just because it is politically expedient to do so. There will be countless lives lost if we withdraw suddenly just as there were countless lives lost in Vietnam after we left as well as Cambodia.

Okay, enough said on this issue. I never intended this blog to be politically focused and I'm not going to take it down that path now. I've said my piece and starting tomorrow I'll get back to writing about things that don't cause my blood pressure to jump off the meter.

Sleep tight folks.

Today, Again.............

2007-04-25T21:47:00.000-05:00

Watching Bill Maher at the moment (remember that you need balance to ensure you have perspective)and also just thinking about the fact that the House passed the "We Have Declared Defeat in Iraq" bill today. Sorry. I'm a former Marine as many folks know and I find it difficult to accept a group of politicians that think the way to build their political fortune is to participate in the downfall of this country. Shall we go ahead and line up the aircraft carriers so that we can heave the helicopters off the sides once they have evacuated the flag and few remaining politicians?

I'm a pretty reasonable guy most of the time and I'm also a very practical person who isn't afraid of reality. No, it isn't going well in Iraq and I have serious doubts about the current administration's ability to lead us out of this horrible situation. But I can't abide sacrificing our country's honor for the sake of political expediency. Can we just stop the shit politics and have a reasonable discussion about what to do about this situation that most of the politicians in office today voted to engage? I'm not siding with Bush here folks. I siding with America! It's not personal and it is certainly not meant to offend anyone.

If you had a company in trouble then you would want to consider all the possibilities and make the most prudent decisions about the future based on what is best for the whole company, not just the shareholders or the employees or the Board. It's the same way in this situation. It isn't just what's best for the troops or what is best for either political party. What is best for America folks? Have we really had a decent debate about "What's Best For America"?

Sunday Afternoon

2007-04-22T17:40:00.000-05:00

It's been one of those funny weekends where you sit back on Sunday afternoon and wonder what you accomplished. We went to Sarah and Glen's last night for their first Bar-B-Que of the year and to celebrate Glen's birthday. Glen is the CEO of a major division of a Fortune 500, but you would never know it by the way he behaves; i.e.: he is unassuming, seems to put his ego aside at these gatherings (I suspect he is a tad different at work) and is just a genuinely nice guy. I always manage to have a delightful time, drink far too much and wake up wishing I'd been a bit more careful. I also wish I had taken my camera as it would have been nice to get a few pictures for my diary.

Anyway, after a late breakfast I sat down at desk and I'm still here. I've been working on finding a job as it appears that Patrick D. Gaul, Inc. is not going to be as financially rewarding as I had first hoped, at least not the short run. After reviewing the bank balances I recognize that I am going to have to jump back into the market, which is really okay since I've had a good break and I'm really rested and ready for another opportunity. I'm leaning towards a senior sales position as opposed to finding another CEO opportunity because at the end of the day it is what I really enjoy; it is what I'm talented at doing; and it is a role that has always provided enormous satisfaction. Finally, and probably most important, I like selling. I just created a Squidoo Lens, which you can find by going to www.squidoo.com/successfulselling. It is is my sidebar of links. Take a look and be sure to leave a message about what you think. I'm really interested in any feedback.

Tough week with the Virginia Tech coverage dominating the airwaves. I think sometimes you just have to give folks some space, and this is one of those times. I pray for the families and hope the good Lord gives them comfort, and I pray that no one makes any assumptions about Asians because the kid who did this evil thing was born in South Korea. He was obviously a very sick person and it is so unfortunate that no one was able to do something to help him. I do believe however that we need to think seriously about how guns are purchased in this country and make a concerted effort to create a rigid set of standards that are applied on a national basis. We should require a license to own a gun and that license should be no different from a drivers license in that certain criteria must be met before the license is issued. You know, having to go to a "Department of Firearms Safety" and register for a course in gun safety before being allowed to purchase the weapon would be an interesting approach. It might slow a lot of people down and cause a bit of grief with the gun lobby, but it might also give us an opportunity to observe someone before they are handed a weapon capable of destroying human lives.

Nothing on the political front worth discussing this week. I'm learning more about John Edwards and liking what I'm learning, especially some of the things he has written recently about the environment. I saw Tom Friedman on this morning's talk shows........I think he is coming out with The World Is Flat, Version 3.0. He had some very interesting things to say about the environment and has a documentary coming out this week on the Discovery Channel. I need to record it assuming I get the Discovery Channel.

Hope all is well with everyone and that your weekend was not as unproductive as mine, or Joe's for that matter. Poor guy just couldn't keep his eyes open.

Ellie's Nine

2007-04-17T22:37:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to Ellie, who turned nine today. She and I enjoyed the last Hawks game of the season together and we had a delightful time, which was made all the better by the fact that the Hawks actually won the game. They beat the Pacers 118 to 102 and had four players with over 20 points. Wow! Now if only that had happened about 10 or 15 times more during this past season we would be headed for the playoffs instead of the showers. In fairness to the Hawks management, they did answer my email and we agreed I would wait awhile before finalizing my decision about not renewing my season tickets. They indicated that there would be some changes made and asked me to wait a few months. I guess they are holding my seats until that time, but given where I've been sitting I suppose they reckon they can always sell them to someone else if required to do so.

Anyway, Ellie had a fun time and managed to get a Hawks sweat shirt to go with her Hawks bear. It was after all her birthday and sometimes it's okay to spoil them a little bit.

Could not watch anymore coverage on the Virginia Tech tragedy........so many angles being played out with the gun control lobby using it as a platform for pushing their agenda while the NRA pushes back and reminds us that "people kill people, not guns". I think we we ought to be focused on the victims and not the lobbyist in DC pushing political agendas. But as long as it is on the burner, my position remains the same. We need very strong national standards for registration and a wait period during which there is an actual background check conducted. I might even go as far as to say that there should be an interview conducted by someone from the local authority to ensure a person wanting to purchase a handgun is eyeballed by someone other than the guy trying to collect his cash. How someone can walk into a store and walk out with a 9mm and 50 rounds of ammunition is beyond me. "He didn't say why he wanted the gun" is what the store owner said when interviewed. I don't know folks, sometimes don't ask, don't tell isn't the best strategy. Bear with me here. I'm not saying we should ban handguns, but we should be very prudent about the acquisition process and do our best to understand who is buying them and why. Finally, I think the "people kill people" thinking is probably right, but giving those people easy access to guns just facilitates the act and doesn't make sense.

Well, just after midnight and I promised myself I would start going to bed a tad earlier than I have over the past few weeks. I often find myself reading at 3:00 a.m. and wonder why I'm tired in the morning. I need to find a more engaging role for myself so that my days are more fully occupied; i.e.: I need to find a job. It has been interesting working on my own, but not very satisfying financially.

Mom had a good visit with the Doctor yesterday and seemed to be somewhat more alert and cheerful today. I think it will take her awhile to recover and they need to get her meds sorted as well. We have a family reunion planned for early August and everyone is hoping that she will be well enough to attend. These family gatherings have become a tradition over the past decade or so and Mom enjoys seeing her grandchildren, great grandchildren and her great-great grandchildren. It's a treat when we have five generations sitting around the garden enjoying the feeling of belonging to the clan. I know we won't have her around forever, but we pray that she will be with us as long as possible.

Hope everyone has a wonderday day tomorrow.

Okay, It's Official. I'm Running..............

2007-04-15T20:00:00.001-05:00

Yes, after much debate and careful consideration, I've decided to announce my candidacy for the position of President of the United States. You can find my formal posting at www.u4prez.com, where I posted my announcement this evening. Now all I have to do is raise 40 to 50 million dollars, get several thousand signatures on a petition and I'll be in the hunt. I reckon the worst case scenario is I end up as Vice President to one of these "front runners" who want me out of the game so I don't steal a lot of votes. Of course, that won't happen easily as they have to prove they can actually beat me first. Stayed tuned as I'm certain it will be a close race once I get a few million under my belt.

Meanwhile, Mom is out of the hospital and on the mend, albeit slowly. She is after all nearly 89 years old and bouncing back does get harder as the years advance. I spoke with her this afternoon and while she was not having a great day, I did manage to solicit a laugh or two on the subject of children. There has also been emails flying all over the place as our family discusses the latest episode and tries to determine how we engage the situation if things do get worse. The good news is that we are all living longer through the miracle of modern medicine. The bad news is that we are all living longer through...............I'm reminded of something Rosalynn Carter said awhile back: "There are four kinds of people in the world: those who have been caregivers; those who currently are caregivers; those who will be caregivers; and those who need caregivers". My sister Judy and her husband John have been remarkable caregivers over nearly a decade since they agreed to have Mom live with them and our family has done a respectable job of trying to contribute whenever and however possible. It makes me wonder however about those families who don't have the ways or means to help out or even a primary caregiver to lead the charge. We are all getting older and unless one is taking exceptional care of one's health the future could be quite murky.

I wrote a firm letter to the Hawks management today and basically told them that I had lost confidence in their ability to build a successful franchise and that I would not be renewing my season tickets. No response as yet.

I see Mr. Imus bit the dust. Good! Now, let's get a few more of these creeps off the radio waves and perhaps we can lower the hate index a bit, assuming of course that there is a hate index. I mean, we have a doomsday index and environmental gauges...........why not a hate index that measures the tension between the various races in America? I'd be willing to bet that sucker is in the red zone at the moment and bouncing on the "would you believe" zone. Is there actually anything wrong with being polite to one another? I mean, it's okay to disagree and actually it is a pretty healthy sign that the constitution is still alive and well when we disagree. But do we have to call each other so many names in order to validate our point of view? I don't know about you, but my Mom used to wash my mouth out with soap if I used the wrong language as a child. Perhaps that is how we should manage these radio and television shock commentators..........

Okay, must run to watch the Soprano's. Last season you know. Everyone have a delightful evening and I hope you each have a very successful week.

Tuesday Afternoon

2007-04-10T17:03:00.000-05:00

Spent a couple of hours with my Mom at the hospital today. She seems to be recovering from her Easter Sunday asthma attack, which of course did not occur until we had departed for home after having spent an otherwise delightful afternoon with my sister Judy and her husband John, and my brother Joe who had driven down from North Carolina. I'm informed their Sunday evening was a bit more exciting than mine, but then Mom is nearly 89 years old and these things do happen on occasion. The good news is that she is on the mend and should be home soon.

Could not help but notice all the ruckus over Don Imus and his stupid remark. I have never listened to the guy myself or any other political "shock jock" for that matter. I find them all boring, but I don't think the insults that they spew over the waves are only relevant if you listen to them. Remember that old saying about the tree falling in the forest when there is no one around to hear the noise associated with the fall? You know, is there still a noise if no one is there to hear the sound? The play on that of course is the infamous; "if a man is alone in the forest and there is no one around to hear him when he says something, is he still wrong?" Now, let's take this one step further and ask if a conservative or liberal talk show host spews some insult across the radio waves and there is no one listening, is he or she still a jerk? Some folks have suggested that the market should determine what happens to Mr. Imus. Me, well I think he should be fired and the FCC should ban him for at least a year! In fact, I think we need to insist that he is fired and inform the sponsors of the network that if he isn't fired then we will boycott their products until he is fired. The fact is the market isn't you or me, it's all those right wing fundamentalists who listen to him and think that what he said was actually okay because he meant no real harm. Hey guys, you know that myth about our personality changing as we get older? Well, the reality is that it is just that, a myth and nothing is going to change the deep-seated bigotry that resides behind his remarks. Imus is not a good person, he is a racist and a bigot and this country needs to start setting some serious rules and guidelines for these folks. Where is the Commissioner of the FCC? Forget the network because they are only going to want him back because this ruckus is going to make him more popular allowing them to sell more advertising and make more money. The FCC needs to take this decision and they need to take it now and send a message to the whole bloody political radio community.........but then of course this is only my humble opinion.

Speaking of taking action. I see the Hawks finally took some action against Josh Smith's foul language. I just wonder why it took so long for them to recognize that this kid has a real problem with controlling his anger and his mouth. He is a spoiled child who gets angry when things don't go his way and he uses the "F" word all the time even though there are kids in the stands less than 20' from him. I am absolutely delighted that they are fining him $40K and sitting his rear on the bench. Of course it doesn't matter at this point in their season and they can take this stand without doing any harm to what is already an embarrassing season. I wonder if they would have taken the same action if the team were in contention for a playoff spot? Oh well, guess we will never know the answer to that question.

Finally, someone asked me for the link to the folks at Clifton StrengthsFinder.......you can find out more about this amazing field at http://sf2.strengthsfinder.com/research and also at http://sf2.strengthsfinder.com/faq. To learn more about the books you can go to http://sf2.strengthsfinder.com/learnmore.

Have a nice evening folks.

Self Reflection

2007-04-09T16:28:00.000-05:00

Over the course of the past few weeks I have been delving into the science of positive psychology, which is "a framework, or a paradigm, than encompasses an approach to psychology from the perspective of healthy, successful life functioning". The topics include optimism, positive emotions, spirituality, happiness, satisfaction, personal development and well being. Have taken the "StrengthsFinder" assessment, I have identified my five most dominant themes of talent and having read several books on the strengths movement I was ready to sit down and examine the results. Surprisingly (or not), I found that my five dominant themes (there are thirty-four in all) of talent actually resonate with my thinking about who I am and what I do well. Talent, by the way, is defined as those recurring patterns of thought, feeling or behavior that you can productively apply. Strength is defined as "consistent near perfect performance of an activity". The idea is that once you identify your talents you apply knowledge and skills to build strength and by focusing on building strength you become a more successful person. You are strongly encouraged to avoid focusing on your weaknesses as excellence is only achieved by developing strengths.

Okay, so I have my five dominant themes (Adaptability, Empathy, Communication, Learner and Intellection........the rank order is relative, but only slightly and certainly not enough to matter according to The Gallup Organization, the firm that stands behind much of the work done in this area) and my challenge now is to determine how I can build on this knowledge and leverage it to ensure that I seek roles that allow me to maximize my strengths. Actually, this is good stuff and it makes sense. Why should we spend all those hours focused on improving our weaknesses when in reality they are often not weaknesses at all, but rather just areas in which we don't have any talent? Take Empathy for example: according to my assessment, I have a talent for sensing the emotions of those around me. I have always described it as being sensitive to the feelings of others, but let's not split hairs. On the other hand, I have worked with numerous colleagues over the years that had absolutely zero time for emotions or the feelings of others. In fact, they often criticized me for me too sensitive, for caring too much, or not being more aloof. On the other hand, I have also worked with folks who sensed that I possessed this talent and would use me to gauge the temperature when we were about to launch a major project that had organizational implications. I have also on occasion acted as a buffer between a boss who did not have a talent for empathy and others in the organization who had to interact with him or her. I don't think I have ever thought about it as a talent per se, but now that I understand that it is indeed a talent I can nurture it and use it in combination with my other talents to become a better person.

I know that this is rather deep for a Monday afternoon, but the whole approach is consistent with one of my other talents, namely that of being a "Learner", which means that I love to learn and that for me the process is more exciting than achieving any specific outcome. Reading about this particular theme of talent really helped me understand why I have always been so comfortable with having never completed any of the degree programs I engaged; i.e.: it has never been about the degree. It has always (for me) been about the process of learning. I always feel the best about myself when I'm striving to learn.......when I reading a history book or studying the science of search engine optimization or learning about film editing......it often doesn't matter what it is that I've decided to learn about as long as it interests me on some level. The fact that this talent can also be strength doesn't surprise me, but confirming it through learning absolutely delights me.

Okay, so the message for today is that perhaps you too should learn about your talents and think about your real strengths before you allow some well meaning HR department to send you off to work on your weaknesses. Remember, excellence is achieved by maximizing our strengths and that a strength is "consistent near perfect performance in an activity"!

Spring Break Update

2007-04-03T10:44:00.000-05:00

The NCAA Champions were crowned last night and my congratulations to the Florida Gators. Of course I had Carolina beating them for the National Title, but since Carolina could not stay the course I'm delighted that my second choice turned out to be the winner. (You ever notice how a Carolina fan can find goodness in almost any outcome?)

I got a note from the Hawks last week reminding me that I had not made my initial deposit on season tickets for the 2007/2008 season. Let's see: the Hawks are 27 & 47 with 8 games remaining and they are showing no signs of actually thinking they are an embarrassment to the city of Atlanta. The coach is a joke and management continues to draft 6'9' small forwards as if you could actually compete in the NBA with a group of small forwards. We have one pick in the draft this year.......mid-first round if memory serves and given their record it is extremely doubtful that they would actually draft anyone of consequence. Nope, I'm finished with the Hawks. They can give my seats to another fool.

Went to Holy Spirit last night for the monthly meeting of the men's club and listened to Dr. Michael Johns, the Executive Vice President of Health Affairs at Emory University. Dr. Johns is also the Chairman of the Board for Emory Health Care and the CEO of the Woodruff Health Sciences Center. He gave an interesting and frequently amusing presentation about the state of health care in this country and to the surprise of absolutely no one in the room he surmised that it sucks. At the end of the day, a lot of groaning and moaning about the current administration, previous administrations and government in general. A few tirades about the admin costs associated with health care, some comments about it being okay to get health care from a drug store and finally the conclusion that we need a national health care solution. You know, I am certain that Dr. Johns is an incredibly intelligent and caring individual, but last night he did not present anything close to an intelligent road map for achieving a solution and quite frankly I was disappointed. Using Japan as a model of national health care efficiency because they have lower administrative costs, people live longer or because they have a lower infant mortality rate does not reflect the differences in diet and national attitudes towards compliance for the greater good of the nation. I'm not saying that there aren't lessons to be learned, but it is somewhat of an "apples and oranges" comparison. I prefer the approach advocated by Bill Novelli, the CEO of AARP in his book 50+, where included working to transform health care not only by demanding quality care (Dr. Johns did not mention the tens of thousands of patients who die each year because of medical errors) and lower pharmaceutical costs, but also by engaging in healthy lifestyles and preventive care. Mr. Novelli also advocates the concept of performance based pay for health care practitioners, something the physicians' lobby seems to strongly oppose. Living a healthy life requires daily focus on one's diet and regular exercise. It is hard work and as a nation we seem disinclined to accept these realities. You only have to visit a local elementary school and look at the number of overweight children to understand the root of the problem. Our kids are focused on computer games and watching TV and simply do not get out and run about the way I did as a child. Yea, I know that everyone believes their generation was healthier, but in my case we really did spend most of our waking hours outside running around playing games, swimming in the local pond or riding our bikes. Our hero's were Tarzan and Hercules and we all competed with each other in races and other feats of physical endurance or strength. It's a different world today for most kids, including mine unfortunately.

Anyway, for me the way to begin to seriously address health care in this nation is to focus on raising healthier kids and living healthier lifestyles. I would institute a national health program for every child under the age of 16 that is funded by a national insurance tax indexed to income and that everyone pays, no exceptions. The next step would be to create a national physical fitness program that is tied into private health insurance and which rewards participants with lower premiums; i.e: the healthier you are the less it costs for you to participate in private health care. Finally, I like the idea of companies creating wellness programs that provide employees access to the underlying infrastructure required for exercise and fitness. It could be a corporate membership that is tax deductible, a small facility with exercise equipment, or a fitness program that includes counseling and guidance on diet/nutrition and exercise. The primary focus is on creating a healthier population and while these few steps do not solve the national crisis, I think they would go a long way towards addressing some of the underlying problems. Raise a healthier generation and your health costs will be reduced. Make sure kids are getting the right health care while they are growing up and you will have have healthier adults. Given adults incentives to be healthy and create a national buzz around fitness. I know it is a throw-back to the JFK era, but perhaps we need to be a bit retro if we are going to get to the root of this crisis.

Basketball Fever

2007-03-25T10:48:00.000-05:00

I'm off to Philips Arena in a few minutes to watch our Hawks take on the Dallas Mavericks (are you watching Charlie?) after which I shall rush home to watch the Eastern Regional Final featuring Georgetown and Carolina..........go Tarheels! It doesn't seem like 25 years have passed since Carolina knocked off Georgetown to win the National Title, but then I guess that is just the way it is with time.

A couple of thoughts to keep you occupied: first, I found an interesting political social space at www.adonkeyandanelephantwalkintoabar.com. Not too many conservatives registered, but they welcomed me and it seems like a nice group of folks who are genuinely interested in the political landscape.

Second, what do you think is going to happen with the situation between Iran and the UK? I have a very bad feeling about things and suspect than unless Iran releases the 15 British Marines they captured at sea last week the tension in the Middle East is going to significantly increase. I would not put it past the Brit's to take some very serious action if Iran does not back off of its current position. Tony Blair is not in the mood for fooling about and he will be pressured to be aggressive in this situation. Watch this space closely as it may be the key to the next major escalation in the Middle East.

Finally, what is up with all of these job boards? Can't they find an easy way to allow a person to post a bio and CV without having to cut and paste and edit to fit a particular format? I am registered with The Ladders, Blue Steps, Blue Chip and started to register with snagajob.com this morning, but gave up after realizing that it is going to take more than a few minutes to get everything populated. Hell, they don't even have an option for registering education outside of the States. We need one global board that provides an easy to post format that accommodates whatever style you want to present yourself in, even video if you'd like.......actually, that isn't a bad idea........video resumes are hot right now and putting them somewhere besides You Tube would be great!

Okay, must run, but everyone have a delightful day and remember to root for Carolina.

Ramblings on a Friday Afternoon

2007-03-23T13:17:00.000-05:00

I started reading a book last evening after all the basketball madness that I had picked up several weeks ago and at 3 a.m. this morning I finally made myself put it down and went to bed. The book is "Get Out Of Your Own Way, The Five Keys to Surpassing Everyone's Expectations" and it's written by Robert K. Cooper, PhD. His website is https://www.robertkcooper.com. I won't go into any detail except to say it is an interesting read if you want to know more about how your brain works, both for you and against you.

One chapter was entitled "To Get Out of the Box, You Have to See the Box" and explains how your brain works in adverse circumstances. I could not help however relating the title of the chapter to much of what is happening in the world today and especially with the current administration. Another quote from the book came from the writer Walker Percy who said that a tragedy of our modern life is that everything is interesting, but nothing becomes deeply important. We watch John & Elizabeth Edwards talk calmly about a form of cancer that cannot be cured, but hopefully managed for some years to come if Elizabeth responds well to the various treatments ahead of her. But they probably won't grow old together and she probably won't live long enough to truly enjoy her Grandchildren. We watch the evening news and see the tragedy called Darfur with hundreds of thousands killed and nearly three million displaced persons. We read every morning about the latest U.S. Military casualties and think how awful it must be for the parents of those brave men and women who are killed and maimed. But do we truly see the Box and are these things deeply important to us?

I have spent most of my life being a Conservative and with a few exceptions that has meant being a Republican. You know, the Party of Lincoln, Goldwater and Regan. I'm struggling with that label this afternoon, perhaps more so since any other time in my life with the possible exception of the early 70's.

Okay, sorry for being so deep this early in the day and without even the benefit of a glass of wine. It just seems that we are living in a very difficult period and I sometimes want to climb to the top of the house and scream, "Does Anyone Care"? Of course I don't because my neighbor would probably call the fire department to have me taken down and away.

Okay, Carolina and USC tonight and then hopefully on to the regional final against Georgetown if my guess is right. I went to the Hawks game on Wednesday and had a chance to see a healthy Shaq play a really solid game. The Hawks were never really in it after the first period although they did make an attempt late in the 4th period and cut it to 3 before Miami surged back ahead. Still, an enjoyable game and fun to watch.

I'll sign off now as I have to drop my tickets for tonight's game off with a friend. I decided to stay home and watch the Carolina game instead. Go Tarheels!

A Political Comment

2007-03-20T18:18:00.000-05:00

Just listened to President Bush respond to the political fallout arising from the firing of 8 U.S. Attorney's and in particular to the demands of the Democratic led Senate for White House Staff to appear and provide testimony under oath or else they may very well issue subpoenas. President Bush called it a "partisan fishing expedition" and made it clear he would make every attempt to block subpoenas should they be issued. Hmmmmmmm. Does this President sound like the guy in the White House back in the early 70's? Does this war feel like a war we were fighting back in the early 70's? Is this President going to spend the final 21 months of his administration embattled and at odds with the legislative branch of our government? Have we, the people, lost all sense of reality as we continue our daily lives as if none of these issues really matter? What does it say when more people called in to vote for the two finalists on American Idol last season than participated in the last general election?

At the end of the day I don't know if there really is a fire around all the smoke flowing out of this story and on at least one level I don't think I care because the term of the appointment is entirely discretionary. These attorneys serve at the convenience of the President, which means that he can fire them at any time and for any reason. I'm not certain I get the point that the Democrat's are making with allegations of them being fired for political reasons. Hell, they are political appointees and while perhaps it isn't fair or just, it is within the construct of the legislation that served to create the appointments. Moreover, if memory serves, there have political firings throughout the course of our history and some were quite famous; e.g.: Archibald Cox in the infamous Saturday Night Massacre (gosh, there goes that early 70's analogy again).

What does disturb me is that we have serious issues facing this country. A war in a foreign land where our young men and women are dying everyday. A war that no one seems to be able to find a way out of without creating even more instability, both in Iraq and potentially across the entire region. We have a housing market that is poised to crash around our proverbial ears. Our government has created a national debt that our grandchildren will be paying in years to come. We have essentially no political credibility on a global basis and our children cannot get decent health care across much of the nation. I don't care if 8 U.S. Attorney's lost their jobs for failing to investigate Democrats or because they were investigating Republicans. I do care that our three branches of government would appear to be dysfunctional at the moment and that the vast majority of the American people would appear to be apathetic about the entire situation.

I don't usually get very political unless of course I'm hanging out with my brothers Joe and Jim and then I do it just it just to watch the fireworks. But listening to our President this evening and to the members of the Legislative Branch who commented afterwards, I can't help but feel we need a grass roots movement on an unprecedented scale to take back control of this country. I think you could probably take the whole bunch of them and throw them all out and replace them with some intelligent middle-level managers from a cross-section of industries and get a much better result. I'm not a big fan of Neal Boortz, but he threw out some stats this morning on his radio show about government spending over the past 6+ years that were astonishingly frightening in terms of the dollars being spent.

I guess I'm saying that I recognize that I have to take personal responsibility for getting involved in changing the current state of affairs and I hope that you will do the same. I think we are all going to have to get involved if we what to find true north again.

PodCamp Atlanta

2007-03-17T16:46:00.000-05:00

So I got up at the crack of dawn this morning and motored on over to the Miller-Ward Alumni House at Emory University to attend PodCamp Atlanta. For anyone who is unfamiliar with the protocols associated with an "unconference", I would strongly recommended attending one soon. It is refreshingly different from the more traditional conferences hosted by the likes of TAG and AIMA, or even TechLinks for that matter. Very relaxed, very informal and very informative........I walked away this afternoon with 7 pages of notes and all sorts of wonderful new insights into PodCasting & Video Blogging and met some truly interesting folks. Registration was accomplished via a Wiki and early in the registration process someone changed the status classified as "attendee" to "participant" and I think that communicates the ethos of an "unconference". You don't go to listen to broadcasts from various professionals. Instead, you go to engage in a dialogue with colleagues across multiple disciplines who have in many cases extensive experience dealing with the issue(s) that you dealing with everyday. At the same time, there are just enough neophytes that you don't feel like you are in the wrong place; i.e.; everyone is welcome to participate and I think that perhaps having some of us neophytes in the room actually creates a more balanced dialogue. I could easily envision some of the participants taking the conversation to a level of detail that I would find most disconcerting. But because the protocols allow for crowd moderation it never seems to travel very far down that path. Moreover, the crowd also tends to take folks back to point if we start losing sight of the topic that we all came into the break-out session to discuss at the onset. All in all, it is a relaxing atmosphere filled with opportunities to learn new things or just revisit some things you forgot.

I'm not certain that I can remember all the folks that contributed to the program development, but I would certainly want to say thanks to Penny Haynes of 1st Podcast Publishing, Amber Rhrea of the Georgia Podcast Network, Rusty Tanton of the Georgia Podcast Network, Josh Hallent of Hyku (our kick-off moderator) and all the other participants and moderators that contributed to making today so enjoyable. You know, you come out of some of these events and you feel drained and dread another day. I walked this afternoon invigorated and can't wait for tomorrow! Now, if only I can remember to take my cameras I'll feel less like a neophyte.

Okay, I have to go watch Carolina kick some ass! Go Tarheels.

Back on Air 2

2007-03-12T15:28:00.000-05:00

Okay, now I've really gone astray given I haven't posted since mid-February. My heart has always been in the right place, but it has been really difficult to find the time to keep up with Ellies Dad while simultaneously working on the Technology Summit and trying to build a client base for Patrick D. Gaul, Inc. Someone has to pay the mortgage and given there aren't going to be any checks arriving unless I generate some business I have had to set my priorities accordingly. Still, it's a shame since I enjoy writing and I do want to promote my blog in concert with my business. I guess I'm just going to have to make the time going forward to do both!

Business is advancing slowly, but advancing. I have a couple of serious leads and with a bit of luck I reckon they should evolve into paying customers over the next few weeks. I'm also keeping my eyes open for possible C Level opportunities, but nothing concrete thus far. Of course I haven't really been doing much in that area since I wanted to give myself some serious time with the concept of building my own business and it's a bit hard to do both at the same time. It sort of screws up your priorities during the day.

Okay, so what have I been doing over the past month. Well, first I finished up my work with TAG on the Technology Summit and I must admit that it was a fairly successful effort. A few tactical errors on the day with the timing garnered some adverse comments and we failed to provide for wireless access, which was more of an oversight than anything else. I think the content was super and most of the comments I've received directly or have read would suggest that is the case. I got to spend some time with Chris Anderson one-on-one and he seems like a very down to earth chap given his current status in the global technology community. We had a number of things in common; e.g.: we are both married to Brit's.......we both have children in about the same age range and we have both had our share of CEO challenges. I like the guy and I think he gave an outstanding presentation. I also got a nice autograph for my collection. Check out this video, which was done by a young man that I met at SoCon '07.......http://myurbanreport.blogspot.com/2007/03/hi-tech.html. The young man is Amani Channel and his V-Blog focuses on community news other than violence and crime..........you might say he is on the long tail of community news.

On the family side of things it has been a busy year. Joe recently completed his transition to the Boy Scouts and he appeared in the School Musical as part of the chorus. He is growing by leaps and bounds I'm guessing he is going to be fairly tall........his older brother is 6' something (he won't tell me and he is too damn big to hold down and measure).....Joe may even be taller when the growing stops. Check out his picture taken before the musical.......there is also a scout pic for your viewing pleasure.

Anyway, I promise to start posting on a consistent basis and hope everyone will forgive me for being out of touch for so long. Cheers.

Just 13 Days Away

2007-02-15T10:10:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I'm the world's worse at keeping things up to date. I dropped by this morning and realized I had not posted for nearly a month and given all the things I've done since mid-January it is not nearly as difficult to understand as one might believe. I've been a busy chap.....between the Georgia Technology Summit, looking for a new role, trying to build my own e-marketing consultancy practice and entertaining Kate's Mom and Dad who have been with us since the 19th of January it is no wonder I have not had time to write. Oh yea, I also managed to attend SoCon07 last weekend out at Kennesaw State University. That was an unique event and I met some extraordinary people whose interests ranged from video & print journalism to e-marketing. I got some cool insights into video editing and managed to find a software package that even I can navigate.

The Summit is 12 days away and we are really beginning to bore down on the table sales and individual registrations. Our objective to is attract at least 800 attendees and right now we are about 150 short, so our efforts really intensified this morning. You can find out everything you need to know to attend at www.tagonline.org. Go to the events section and look for the Georgia Technology Summit.

Okay, must get back to work. Will publish again very soon. Meanwhile, a photo of Ellie as she dressed up this past Sunday for our dinner guests. Eight going on twenty!

Mid-January Already

2007-01-17T22:40:00.000-05:00

It seems like just yesterday that I was packing my office and moving on with my life. Now, nearly three months later, it is difficult to assess what has transpired in the interim. The holidays just seemed to fly by and the Technology Summit is only five weeks away and I still don't have a definitive lead on a job although it would be fair to say that several things are incubating at the moment and anyone of them could pop relatively soon. American Idol is back and we have now had four hours of mindless auditions and more commercials that anyone could have imagined could be packed into two programs. My shoulder is killing me (I should have had that operation last year and it would be nearly healed by now) and to make matters just a little more complicated I managed to screw up my back yesterday while attending a Leadership Program at Georgia Tech. I find those auditorium seats most uncomfortable after about 4 hours and I was there from 7:00 a.m. to just after 6:00 p.m. Great program however and now I just want to go back to school. I suppose that is one of my strengths......I'm incredibly curious and have this passion for learning new things. I suppose one would describe me as a generalist. I'm not particularly skilled at any one thing, but my range of skills allow me to slot into any number of positions and at the end of the day that is how I've managed to survive all these years. My Dad used to say it was important to know something about everything and to never be afraid to get your hands dirty. He used to tell me to be open-minded, be curious, and be myself. Smart man, my Dad!

Hawks have won three in a row and are now 13 and 21 on the season. They aren't the worst team in the NBA, but they are certainly still in the cellar. But lots of games left this season and if they can get healthy they are going to surprise a lot of teams.

My weight loss program is moving along. My New Years goal was 25 pounds and I have lost 8 pounds as of this morning. I purchased a rice cooker and I'm doing a lot more stir fry's and curry's. I also made a commitment to stop drinking until I reach my goal. Seventeen days today and not a drop of red wine..........you know I really want to lose the weight if I'm willing to give up red wine!

Spent much of today re-writing my CV and will be writing a cover letter tomorrow morning. Lunch with an old colleague and then it's an afternoon of working on the Summit sponsorship drive followed by basketball practice. Life's good and I'm surrounded by a lot of love. I hope your life is equally cheerful.

A lovely view of the Virginia Mountains as I say Goodnight.

Oh, What a Night!

2007-01-10T22:36:00.000-05:00

Just got back from the Hawks/New Orleans game and we got blown out, 96 to 77. Tough loss coming on the back of last nights game against Indiana (why did we trade Harrington again?). Oh well, it's official. We are having another rebuilding year and will probably get into some book of records for having the most rebuilding years in a single century. Gosh, they really looked bad tonight. Heck, even the Knicks looked better tonight.

Speaking of losers, I hear our beloved President was on the air tonight suggesting 21,000 more troops will fix the problem and our boys and girls will be home by Christmas. You notice he is starting to look more and more like Johnson and this conflict is beginning to look more and more like Vietnam? I'd have the conversation with Syria and get my troops out of Dodge City as soon as it could practically be accomplished. If I were a Democrat I would let Kerry lead the push to get out.......okay, he's has his own issues, but courage is not one of them. He had his ass in the grass with the rest of us and at least he has some credibility when he speaks about war and combat. The good Lord knows that neither Bush nor Kennedy know anything about courage or combat.

Anyway, had a delightful meeting earlier today with two incredibly bright chaps who have lots of great ideas for growing their business and just perhaps a number of businesses in the process. You know, I love the enthusiasm and fearlessness that young entrepreneurs bring to the game. I hope I can help them and I know I can learn from them............sweet!

Speaking of sweet, a pic of my Kate from the Christmas Holidays.

2007-01-09T19:48:00.001-05:00

Your might be wondering why this kid looks so laid back and comfortable. Well, it's nearly official. I signed the Articles of Incorporation today, paid all the filing fees, and shipped everything off to the appropriate Georgia State government office and by early next week I shall be the proud owner of my own company, Patrick D. Gaul, Inc. True, it's a rather small company at the moment with only one employee and two shareholders (Kate and I split the 1500 shares between us), but it is my company and all I can do is grow from here. I've got a couple of angles I'm working and I reckon if I do eight months of contract work this year and spend the other four focused on building my business I should be able to pay the bills and keep things running. Kate is very close to taking a position with the Atlanta History Museum as their Events Fundraising Manger and between the two of us we ought to be able to keep this family afloat. Wow! I can't believe I'm seriously considering not going back to corporate America and a nine to five gig..........well, actually I've never worked a nine to five job in my life, but you know what I mean. It is a huge decision and even though I had breakfast this morning with my favorite headhunter....sorry, executive recruiter, to discuss an opportunity, my mind is certainly pushing me towards an independent role. Guess the financials will really drive the final decision this year, but I like the fact that I'm gearing up for what eventually has to happen anyway given my age and the current job market.

I saw this afternoon that Teddy Kennedy is threatening to cut off the funds to President and in doing so prevent him from deploying more troops to the frontlines (are there any frontlines in Iraq?). Should result in a very interesting constitutional battle since Bush is the Commander-in-Chief and the initial troop deployment was approved by Congress, which means the Commander-in-Chief gets to determine where to deploy those troops and when. Of course, Teddy is such a hero himself....you know, swimming all those miles to save that poor drowing girl. Good thing he was able to get his support team in town before he visited the police station or he might just be getting out on parole instead of telling the country what we should do in Iraq. Lord, I hate that guy! I suspect the Democrats would have been better off letting another senator take the lead on this one. Teddy just raises too many issues with conservatives and detracts from the real conversation....or at least that is my opinion and we all know about opinions.

Anyway, off to AARP to sign-up for my senior discounts. I'll check in with you folks tomorrow.

2007-01-09T19:48:00.000-05:00

Back on Air

2007-01-08T21:02:00.000-05:00

Some pictures from the holiday for your viewing pleasure.

Happy New Year everyone and apologies for the extended holiday. I've been enjoying some wonderful time with family and friends and just didn't feel the urge to write or even read a heck of a lot if the truth be known. Father Joe joined us for Christmas and then my oldest son surprised me over this past weekend with a sudden appearance at our front door at 3 a.m. in the morning. He said he took a wrong turn and found himself in Atlanta and thought he might as well drop by and say hello. Given it's a ten hour drive from Northern Virginia to Atlanta I got to believe he at least thought a bit about it before jumping into his truck. Oh yeah, he also arrived with his new friend Colleen who turned out to be delightful and we loved every minute she was here. Bring her back soon!

So, from top to bottom we have: Father Joe with Joe and Ellie, Mom, Kate, Joe & Ellie, Patrick Jr., Joe and Mom, The family with all my kids, my kids again and finally Patrick & Colleen.

Today started my real efforts towards finding a new position. I met with a number of excellent recruiters during December and there are a few possibilities starting to incubate......nothing firm as yet, but there still isn't any hurry and I'm anxious to make a good decision, not one born out of necessity. I've still got a few months before that starts to become a driver.

Went to hear Jim Geiger speak this evening at the monthly meeting of the Holy Spirit Catholic Men's Club. Jim is the CEO of CBeyond and a member of the parish. He gave an inspirational talk filled with lots of humor and life's lessons. A very pleasant chap who unfortunately has quite a bit of disdain for old BellHeads, which obviously doesn't make me a candidate for his firm. While I certainly understand his bias having quite a bit of disdain for old BellHeads myself, it is unfortunate that I'm at the age where I now fall into that category..........23 years with the AT&T family is all most folks see even though many of those years were with relatively small elements of AT&T in far away countries helping to forge their global presence. Still, the label of AT&T reeks of big company and it is hard to get folks past labels sometimes.

Reading a new book by Don Tapscott (one of my favorite authors) and Anthony Williams entitled "Wikinomics". About a third of the way through and having a real problem putting it down. Fascinating stuff.........a must read for any tech enthusiast. It is about mass collaboration and how it is changing everything.

I promise to get back on track and start posting regularly now that the holidays are finished. By the way, did everyone see that article about "LinkedIn" in the December issue of Business 2.0?

Christmas Eve

2006-12-24T22:21:00.000-05:00

Father Joe is with us this year and it has been really wonderful to spend this much time with him. As a catholic priest I doubt he has had an opportunity to relax this much during the Christmas season. As I watched the priests running around just before today's 4 p.m. children's mass, I thought of my brother and how hard he has worked his entire life. I don't think retiring because of his illness was an especially easy thing for him to do, but I believe now that some time has passed he is easing into retirement and starting to enjoy the freedom it has created for him. I know that he still has to be careful about his health, but he looks good and has even stopped smoking, which is something we had all been praying he would do. It is good to be with family anytime, but at Christmas it just seems so much more special. Mom and my sister Judy and her husband will join us tomorrow for a traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings, which I will cook. That is another one of my favorite traditions.......Dad cooking Christmas Dinner. Or is it my wife's favorite tradition? Hmmmmmm.

Anyway, all the presents are wrapped and the children have just slipped off to bed and I'm getting ready to shut down for the night as well. However, I wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and I hope that Santa brings good tidings for the New Year.

Good night & God Bless.............

Anger Management

2006-12-18T20:36:00.000-05:00

Joe had his fist real fistfight this past week and I'm still fuming about the situation. He was at Scouts and after his den meeting he went outside to play with a few of his friends and came home with a bloody nose and marks of his face that were obviously made with someones fist. The kid who attacked him is much larger than Joe and has a serious issue with anger. He plays for the basketball team that I help to coach and having observed him for several weeks it is clear he gets angry easy and has a vicious temper. While I'm normally in the club that says it is better for the adults to stay out of these things and let the kids sort the issues, I'm having a real problem remaining neutral. Probably because I know the kid's Dad and I would have expected some level of dialogue about the situation. Instead, he basically avoided the issue and did very little to impress upon his son the importance of not beating the crap out of other kids just because he's having a bad moment. It's also kind of sad since Joe was one of this kid's very few friends.....I say was because Joe has decided to take a serious break from the kid and not play with him until at least February, which hopefully will extend further into the year.

To his credit Joe tried to avoid the fight initially, but stood up for himself and by all accounts defended himself very well given he was fighting someone much larger. Why is it that we always remember our first real fight? Mine was with a kid named Joe Butler, whose Father was a boxer in the military and his Dad had taught him how to box quite well. He hit me square on the nose in the first 30 seconds and then while my eyes were watering he beat the living hell out of me. It was embarrassing and painful and I vowed that day that I would learn how to fight properly, which helps to explain my entry into the Marines a few years later.

I watched the Nuggets/Knicks brawl on TV and I think Stern was a tad lenient given the circumstances, especially with the coaches who both need a swift kick in the rear. Joe and I go to see the Hawks pretty regularly and it is bad enough with Josh Smith using the "F" word for all to hear whenever he gets upset, but I sure as hell don't want Joe to see these guys punching each other.........hell, whatever happened to the concept of professional athletes acting as role models for our kids? We pay them millions of dollars and the best we can expect is for them to say "F It" whenever things don't go their way............

Anger is a bad thing and we all need to learn to take a breath, to walk away, to count to ten as my Mom used to tell me when I was a kid......I'm proud of Joe for having defended himself, but I'm sorry his first pugilistic affair had to be with a so called friend............it's confusing when someone turns on you. I suppose it is a good life lesson in some respects, but tough when you are only ten.

Truly Remarkable

2006-12-09T15:16:00.000-05:00

This morning I joined Kate and Joe to watch Ellie's performance as Toto in the Wizard of Oz. Produced by the wonderful staff at "Applause for Kids", a local program associated with The Atlanta School of the Performing Arts, it was a truly remarkable performance by twenty great kids. These kids rehearsed for two hours every Saturday for 12 weeks to deliver one wonderful experience for their parents and special guests. Ellie has been attending this program for nearly three years and she consistently improves with each performance. Today was especially challenging because as Toto she had a predominately non-speaking part (aside from a few barks here and there), spent much of the program on padded knees following Dorothy around (played to perfection by Parker Whitlow)and had to try to avoid being kicked as she maneuvered around the various dance routines. She was amazing and everyone said she absolutely stole the show. I of course agree, but then as Ellie's Dad I have little choice but to agree. Jennifer Salberg, the founder of "Applause for Kids" is a professional actor who had a dream about creating a school of performing arts for children and made that dream come true with Applause. She has a powerful personality that projects confidence and enthusiasm and engenders those traits in the the children that attend her programs. She and her very small, but very talented staff create four Broadway shows simultaneously, training 80 children over 12 weeks and delivering four shows over a 24 hours period (one last evening and three over the course of today). In addition, they promote "Curtains Up" a program focused on 45 foster children in Conyers, Georgia. The performances are all being held at the Northwest Presbyterian Church, a lovely venue and great for Jennifer since her school was muscled out of it's Roswell Road location by Ace Hardware earlier this year. Hats off to all the children and Jennifer and her team for a super show.

Sorry For The Recent Absence

2006-12-05T15:47:00.000-05:00

Hi Folks: I'm truly sorry for having been absent the past week or so and I'm guessing you are all tired of looking at that poor deer. The truth of the matter is that I've been really busy the past week with all sorts of interesting projects. I have been trying to hook-up two good friends on a potential financial arrangement; i.e.; one is looking for money and the other helps folks find money. I've also been helping with the Georgia Technology Summit, which is progressing quite nicely and we are now entering the sporsorship phase of the event. That is where we put on our fund raising hats and go out and find firms that want to sponsor the Summit. Finally, I managed to get over the Monastery of the Holy Ghost in Conyers, Ga. with my good friends from NeboWeb and we are looking to help the good Brothers there redesign their website. The Monastery was very impressive, especially when you realize that it was built entirely by the Monks who arrived in the mid-40's using the most basic tools coupled with lots of sweat. It is intensely serene as you would expect, with a retail store that sells Catholic books and articles, but also fruit cakes, fudge, and bonsai trees. Visit www.trappist.net and explore the Monastery on line and then jump into the car on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon and drive to Conyers to visit. I promise you will not be disappointed. Finally, caught a game the other night and someone asked me just how close my seats were to the action, so I thought I'd take a camera and give you some sense of being on the floor.

Ohio Tradition

2006-11-28T21:23:00.000-05:00

I'm not particularly in favor of hunting, although as a child growing up in rural North Carolina guns were certainly part of the process and nine years in the Marines gave me lots of opportunities to handle some fairly serious weapons. I don't object to hunting and I know that my Sister and her family have created a tradition around Thanksgiving and deer season. They dress everything they kill and they eat vension year round. Thiswas my nephew's first kill of this season and one of many that they managed to land this year. That is relatively unusual from all accounts. I have heard of seasons past when no deer were taken or at most one or two, so this season seems to have been quite productive. I think for my sister Mary and her family the real joy comes from the gathering of relatives who visit them each Thanksgiving to partake in the this Ohio tradition. I have never managed to join them so far, but who knows? Perhaps next year with a camera instead of a gun.

Competition

2006-11-23T10:24:00.000-05:00

Okay, I admit it. I'm a basketball fan! ACC, NBA, PAC10, SEC, BIG10, it just doesn't matter. I'm hooked. My favorite teams in order are UNC/Chapel Hill, the Atlanta Hawks, the Lakers, Georgia Tech, Virginia and the Chicago Bulls. Carolina and the Hawks rank over all the others and I'll root for them on any given night. Of course they don't always win, especially the Hawks, who have had a couple of disappointing seasons to say the least. But with season tickets and two seats on the floor I can't help but enjoy the game, win or lose. You see, I just like the competition. Basketball to me is like a lot of things we encounter in life. It has incredible highs and some fairly serious lows......it is a game of strategy and tactics and knowing when and how to deploy your bench. It takes confidence to play the game and it takes courage as well, especially when you are hurt and not feeling your best. And of course it is a game that mostly depends on the five guys on the floor playing together as a team. Superstars are welcome and often needed, but it is the team that consistently wins the day. Last night I watched Carolina play Gonzaga at Madison Square Garden and although Carolina jumped out to a commanding early lead I could see that it would not last because they weren't playing as a team. Carolina is blessed this year with an incredible group of talented young men, but it was Gonzaga, a team without its top two stars from last year that played like a team, remained patient and walked in the locker room at halftime with the lead, a lead they never surrender in the second half. So the 22nd ranked team in the nation knocks off the number 2 ranked team. Competition! I love it.

GTS 2007

2006-11-20T16:41:00.000-05:00

One of my primary interests over the past couple of years has been the Technology Association of Georgia (www.tagonline.org), an organization that works hard to promote technology companies in the State and provides numerous opportunities to connect to like-minded individuals across multiple disciplines through the TAG Society's. The CEO Boot Camp that I attended last week was sponsored by TAG and it is representative of the kind of leading edge developmental programs that TAG initiates on an ongoing basis.

I am also honored this year to chair the 2007 Georgia Technology Summit. We have an exciting line-up planned for February 28, 2007 at the Cobb Galleria. The program will include top-notch speakers including Rich Demillo, the Dean of Computing at Georgia Tech and former CTO at HP. We will also have Chris Anderson, the Editor & Chief of Wired Magazine and author of the best selling book, "The Long Tail". We will be presenting our Lifetime Achievement Award to Jim Blanchard, the Chairman of Synovus, in recognition of his many accomplishments. The Top 40 Innovative Companies in Georgia as judged by a distinguished panel will be on hand to discuss their companies and the Top 10 will present during the program. We will also hear from the winner of this years Business Launch Competition (REACHMDConsult) and finally we will be previewing a special report on the state of technology in Georgia. Like I said, an exciting line-up and the planning committee is delighted to have it all come together before Thanksgiving.

Wow! What an accomplishment. Of course, most folks don't realize what it takes to put together a program like GTS 2007 since they think it must be organized by some professional group that TAG hires. Well, that isn't quite how it happens. In fact, the planning committee is comprised on a number of senior executives from the technology community who volunteer their time and talents to drive a creative program that both educates and entertains the guests. GTS 2007 is the largest fund raising event for TAG and to be successful we must deliver a program that inspires people to sponsor and attend. Think that's easy? Well, it isn't and tomorrow I'll tell you a bit more about our journey that started in early 2006 and still has many days ahead. Meanwhile, everyone have a wonderful evening. Ellie needs some help with her homework and so Dad needs to sign off.

Oh yeah, the funny looking hood in the pic? Well, that is none other than that infamous character Frank Baia, best known as the voice of god at most TAG events. Frank, the leader of Global Speak generously donates his time and talents to many different interests. In this photo he is doing time for Jerry's kids. He is just one of the technology executives that consistently supports TAG.

Saturday Night & Ellies Out and About!

2006-11-18T20:50:00.000-05:00

Yes, that girl on the right is definitely my little angel. This was taken at a ballet recital last year. Of course she is much cuter now and naturally more grown up since she 8 years old going on 20...........anyway, she is standing right here next to me and needs to go to bed, so Daddy is going to finish this up and take her upstairs so she can get ready for a good night's rest before Mass tomorrow. Busy week ahead with Thanksgiving and Ellie said to tell everyone to have a happy Turkey day!

Basketball & Scouts

2006-11-16T19:55:00.000-05:00

An interesting day spent mostly on catching up on expenses from my previous employment. Need to get them done and in the system before the end of the month, but the Lord knows I hate paperwork, especially expenses. Why can't they invent a credit card that allows you to record everything automatically so you don't spend hours and hours trying to figure out all the details of each item? I guess I'm just going to have to learn to do these things on a regular basis.

We had basketball practice tonight and the real coach showed up with his son, who can drill it from about 15 feet out and is pretty darn good on the boards. I could see the difference almost immediately in the way the kids responded to his approach, which was far more disciplined than mine. Moreover, the practice was more effective and the kids played much better during the scrimmage. I guess it helps if you know what you're doing.

Afterwards we all walked across to the boy scouts Fall Festival. Our boys are all cub scouts, but they graduate to the boy scouts next year and we are getting them ready for the big move. It occurred to me as I wandered around chatting with all the Dads and Moms who had organized the Fall Festival and the Dads who had just coached basketball that this really is a wonderful community. I chatted with Frank Bell, the CEO of Intellinet, who was doing his duty for the evening and Leigh Mayerson, the guidance counselor at Sarah Smith (who also happens to be the real coach I referenced earlier)and so many others. People working together to ensure our children have all the opportunities that we were given......and it does take a community to make it happen. It makes me proud to be a part of this neighborhood.

The photo is a shot of the approach to the Wintergreen Winery just outside of Charlottesville, Virginia. A great place to hang out and drink some wine!

CEO Boot Camp

2006-11-15T00:01:00.000-05:00

After midnight and I'm just finishing up with my review of today's material. Was it worth the price? Absolutely! Don't know what I'm talking about? Well then, go to the TAG website (www.tagonline.org) and explore events and read about the CEO Boot Camp, or just wait until later in the week and I'll tell you all about it. Bottom line? Best program I've attended in probably 10 years..........practical, concise and most important it is real-world advice from a guy who has been there, got the video and written four books about the experience. Check it out folks. It is WTPOA! (Worth the Price of Admission)

By the way, the canal doesn't have anything to do with this post. It's a photo from our home town in the Netherlands (Leiden), home to Rembrandt and one of the largest teaching hospitals in Europe, plus a center of excellence for the care of patients with leukemia. I thought I'd share it with you this evening because quite frankly I'm a bit homesick.

Southern Living

2006-11-13T20:54:00.000-05:00

Have you ever spent a few hours in Social Circle, Georgia? Well, if you did, it was because you love southern cooking and you don't mind wandering around a few antiques shops. The Blue Willow Inn is one of Georgia's finest restaurants, operating out of a home that was built at the end of the 19th. century. It is family style dining with all the wonderful foods that most of us never properly learned to create from our Mom's, with of course the exception of myself, and my sisters Judy and Mary. They can still do cornbread the old fashioned way. We all learned to cook fairly early in our lives and with seven brothers and sisters it was important that at least some of us could take care of dinner while Mom and Dad worked most evenings to pay the mortgage and keep us in school.

The Blue Willow Inn, Social Circle, Georgia. About an hour out of Atlanta on I20 East, it is the place to be at Sunday lunch time. Make a reservation and then plan on visiting the shops on Main Street. It is a delightful experience and having been on numerous occasions I can attest to the fact that it just gets better with each visit.

Correction from Sis.........

2006-11-13T16:38:00.000-05:00

Received a brief note from my sister who lives in Ohio. She wrote to correct me because my running around the front garden here with a blower does not truly represent a serious effort at gathering leaves. Her husband Roger obviously has a entirely different approach to the situation. I stand corrected Sis.

Christmas Already

2006-11-12T21:41:00.001-05:00

I had to spend some money today and given the circumstances, I wanted to make certain that I got the best possible deals. My first stop was at Joseph Banks where I heard that they were having a 50% off of everything sale. Hmmmmm......found it kind of hard to see any real bargains. It looked like they had marked everything up by 75% and were offering discounts on items that would normally sell for far less. No real bargains there. I then popped over to Lowes to get a blower........Kate was desperate to see the lawn and drive cleared of all the leaves and our petrol blower got blown up by the last gardener who put unleaded into it instead of a oil/petrol mixture. The prices were a tad high, but after a bit of discussion I was able to purchase a demo model (it had never actually been used, but was out of the box on the shelf) for 40% below retail. I then spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning the front garden and believe me, there were a lot of leaves!

I have a great week lined up with CEO Boot Camp on Tuesday and Wednesday and lunches on Thursday and Friday. I'm also planning a dinner on Tuesday evening. I got a lead of a job that sounds like a good match with my skills and will be pursuing that over the rest of this month. I set myself up in the garage with an office and got hooked into the wireless network and while it is a bit odd sitting in the garage it is comfortable and except for the occasional really big spider it isn't all that bad.

Anyway, what's up with all the Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving? It's a bit weird and absolutely too soon. Shouldn't someone tell them that we don't want Christmas in November?

Happy Birthday Marines

2006-11-10T19:26:00.000-05:00

Today is the 231st.birthday of the U.S.Marine Corps and tomorrow we celebrate Veteran's Day. As a former Marine and a Vietnam Veteran, I am reminded of that period in my life. I am also reminded of the young men and women who sacrifice so much today to protect our country. My time was important to me, but it is time to focus not on my generation, but on today's kids who are serving with honor and integrity. When you wake up tomorrow, please remember our sons and daughters serving across the globe and do something constructive to help them. We owe them so much and we need not forget them during the coming weekend and every weekend to follow. Be proud of them no matter what how you feel about Iraq or our reasons for being there. They are the real hero's!

What a Week!

2006-11-09T09:22:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I had the Men's Club meeting on Monday evening and then on Tuesday evening I attended an invitation only CEO dinner at Yum & Ross Arnold's home in Mid-Town Atlanta. Their home is quite impressive and has a very comfortable lived-in feeling. You know, sometimes you go into a big house and that's about all it turns out to be........a big house. This was a home, warm and friendly with lots of pictures and an air of children and family. I loved the way they catered it as well. Instead of pulling in a bunch of stuffed shirts they arranged to have food delivered from Whole Foods, put it on their own dishes and served everything buffet style. Again, there was a sense of familiarity with everyone sitting on couches and chairs, eating and really getting to know one another. I sat with Kelly Gay and Patrick Taylor and by the time we had finished our meal I knew more about Kelly and Patrick than I would have ever learned at the Hi-Tech CEO Council or TechLinks "Let's Do Business" or any other networking venue. Not that any of the networking venues are ineffective.........it was just that extra feeling of comfort that comes from being in someones home and feeling welcomed. After the dinner we had sat together with coffee and dessert and discussed a number of critical issues that were submitted prior to the event by all of us. All in all, an outstanding evening. I got lots of advice and lots of reassurance from everyone about the job situation and while no one offered me a job, I did get a number of suggestions and tips that should serve me well in the coming weeks. Hat's off to Yum and Ross for a lovely evening.

Holy Spirit, Georgia Tech & The Men's Club

2006-11-06T21:04:00.000-05:00

I was asked earlier today by my good neighbor, Dave Denning to attend this evenings monthly meeting of the Men's Club of Holy Spirit Catholic Church. Although Katie and I have been members of the parish for about three or four months (having escaped from Christ the King), I have not had an opportunity to participate in the Men's Club. Dave, a former pilot with the Navy and currently a senior pilot for Delta called to suggest we go together. The guest speaker was Dan Radakovick, the relatively new Athletic Director of Georgia Tech. Well, I thought it sounded like a wonderful opportunity and jumped on it. It turned out to be an absolutely delightful evening. Dan was charming and graciously answered more questions than I think he might have anticipated from a Catholic Men's Group. I met a wonderful group of men of all ages and decided on the spot to join the group and attend other meetings going forward. One important lesson that I've learned over the years is that the last thing you want to do when you hit a wall is to hide your head in the sand. Get up in the morning, get dressed like you mean it and get out, even if it is only to a Starbucks or a Boarders with wireless access............what's important in this situation is not that you are unemployed.......what's important is that you don't fall into in any traps or start feeling sorry for yourself. Me, I'm a Hawks fan and for the moment we are leading the our division...........go Hawks!

Change Equals Opportunity

2006-11-05T20:10:00.000-05:00

I packed my office this afternoon, said goodbye to a few folks, and made my way back home with the accumulation of three plus years of odds and ends, lots of books and a few awards picked-up along the way. I can't honestly say that I was sad or felt really bad about the situation. You see, over the years I've come to realize that everything happens for a reason and the good Lord has a plan for me and while I may not completely understand it, I trust that it will work out for the best. I've already been pinged a few times with some ideas from different folks. I'm looking at a franchise that would allow me to leverage the past few years of living the Internet experience and I may consider doing some project based worked in the new year on a temporary basis just to clear my head and do something different. I'm at peace with the situation and comforted by knowing that I have lots of talent and lots of opportunities ahead of me. Change always brings opportunity if we just take the time to find it.

50+

2006-11-02T23:10:00.000-05:00

Did you know that two-thirds of all the people who ever reached the age of 65 are alive today? Did you also that the fastest growing segment of the population is those 85 and over?

There are 78 million baby boomer's, the oldest of whom just turned 60 this year and the youngest 42. One baby boomer reaches the age of 50 every 7.5 seconds, which adds up to 4 million every single year

You can read about the 50+ revolution by picking up a copy of Bill Novelli's book, "50+...Igniting a Revolution to Reinvent America" with an interesting forward by Steve Case. Bill is the CEO OF AARP and therefore has an interest in those of us that have qualified for the 50+ club.

I'm 56 and Kate is 41. We have have an 8 year old daughter and a 10 year old son. I have more iTunes than any parent I know and I am constantly impressing my kids by introducing them to artists that recorded 20+ years ago. But you know what? They like the music and they think it is cool, which of course is very cool! Who knows, Kate and I may not be done with having kids yet. Heck, my Dad was 60 years old when I was born and he was 65 when my brother Jim was born. My Mom was 29 years younger than my Dad and we just never thought much of it until he got into his 80's and because of his heart condition he went downhill pretty fast and died at the age of 83......he was a devout catholic and a democrat and while he wasn't necessarily the greatest or best Dad ever, he was my Dad and I loved him. Age never seemed to bother him and he worked harder at 83 (he had a massive heart attack at work at the age of 83 still putting two kids through college) than many of the kids that worked in the firm I just left. He never moaned about the injustice of the system.....he just constantly tried to figure out how to make the system work for him. He was an entrepreneur before anyone knew what that word meant and he was respected in the community. I was proud to be his son and now that folks are beginning to recognize that age is not a factor in life the way it was in the 50's, I am reminded of that hard working man who got up everyday and somehow managed to support and educate seven kids. Jack Gaul was his name and he remains my role model for life! Born in 1889 and orphaned at the age of 11, he left school and went to work to support his Aunt and Sister. He was a self-taught man and an avid reader. Gosh, he read everything and was so current that I was often amazed how he could engage any conversation........he worried far too much during my time in Vietnam and the greatest hug I have ever received in my life was the night I got back and my Dad embraced me. He was both proud of me and thankful that I was home without any major damage. That was the Christmas of '69. Patrick Jr. was born in July of '72....his first grandson with the name Gaul......he died less than a year later, but not without holding the next generation of Gaul's and I think that made him very happy. I hug my grandson, Patrick David Gaul the 3rd and I know what my Dad felt..........

Time to Calibrate

2006-11-02T08:21:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I left my former position with the hosting company and joined the ranks of the unemployed in Atlanta. It was a timely move for me and will allow me to have some time with my family while I consider my options and think about about what I want to do next. We have a move coming up in early December and there is lots of packing to be done. I'm going to attend a CEO Boot Camp being held in mid-November that is being sponsored by the Technology Association of Georgia. Should be an excellent refresher for an old dog like me. I also want to continue to do some writing, catch up on my reading list and enjoy a glass of wine in the evening. I plan to free lance for some local firms and most importantly, I intend to wind down and relax. Managing a business has its own unique set of challenges and over the past three plus years I've had my share of those challenges. Every so often it's good to take inventory, examine where you are versus where you want to be and sanity check the findings. I'm grateful that I have the luxury to approach the situation in such a balanced manner.