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.
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?
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!
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.
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!
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.
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..........
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.
Today is "All Saints Day", a Catholic Holy Day of Obligation, which means you are supposed to go to church. We did this evening and stayed for the church supper afterwards and it was actually quite nice. Holy Spirit, our church in Buckhead does that every Wednesday evening and we are trying to go as often as possible given it conflicts with Joe's karate lessons. So we can't go every week, but every three or four weeks seems to fit our schedule. During Mass I was listening to the prayers being offered.......you know, for the recovery of the sick, hear our prayer.. For the well-being our our troops and first responders, hear our prayer, for leadership that actually thinks, hear our prayer. I'm guessing that in Boston, a very Catholic and Democratic city that many Catholics were inserting the additional plea that John Kerry keep his mouth shut for the next week.........well, Karl Rove promised a miracle and John certainly did deliver it. What an absolute idiot! Sorry, but there is no way he can spin what he said into anything except what he said.........so he has now apologized after waiting about a day too long, has a lot of Republicans in arms when they were going to sit out this election...........that John Kerry shut-up until the election is over, hear our prayer!
Netvention just reported that there are now 101.4 million websites across the Internet, up from 50 million in May of 2004 and 18,000 in August of '95. Wow! Over 100 million websites......now, you know what's funny about that number? I read recently that the average life cycle of a website was less than 60 days and from my experiences as the President of a hosting company, I can tell you that there are a significant number of folks that purchase websites on a whim and never even build them for all sorts of reasons, but mostly because they just lose interest.Some folks just don't have the technical instincts, even when a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get)site builder is included in the hosting package. Some folks go to the trouble of building something, but didn't really know what they wanted to do with the site to start and they lose interest. Then there are those who build them and don't do anything to give the site visibility on the Internet, which is the same as abandoning it. What's the point of building a website if no one is going to actually see it? So, my point? We may have over 100 million websites sitting on servers across the globe, but what percentage of those sites are every actually visited. Now add the complications associated with the hosting industry. In the U.S.alone we have over 15,000 web hosting companies in business, but the top 10 have nearly 60% of the market. So now, we have web hosting companies that aren't seen hosting websites that aren't seen.........the lesson here folks is that it is hard to be seen in a crowd and you had better know what you what to do before you launch the site and if you really need to be seen you have to engage an expert to make it happen. Buying Google AdWords is not going to get you on page one on Google, and if you aren't on page one of Google you better be on page one of something or else you are wasting your money. Want to know how to be seen. Go to my links, click on neboweb and talk to some experts.
