"A Sense of Urgency"

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.