A Year of Change

Yesterday, whether you knew it or not, 99 countries computers were hacked. This involved over 45,000 computer systems from the National Health Service in the U.K. to Fed Ex here at home. A ransomware virus was used and ransom demands were announced. This shows just how fragile we are as a society. If these same people wanted to, they could have just shut down all computers for who knows how long. Apparently the World has no clue on how to secure their computers which just about everything in our lives are dependent on. Not a real good feeling.

Now I don’t want to be a pessimist, but with that wacko in North Korea and our Pres who can’t stay off Twitter (why doesn’t he just shut the hell up!) and World financial markets in turmoil, artificially propped up by fiat (fake) money, and terrorists who want to destroy us and our way of life, and our politicians who are so misguided that they insist on fighting with each other instead of fixing what’s wrong in our Country, I’d say we’re in a bit of a pickle! (always wanted to say that) So, you’ve heard it before and it may sound like the boy who cried wolf, but you must now, today, or as soon as possible, buy some extra food, stash some cash at home, keep your gas tank always halfway full, and store some water. There’s a lot more you can do but that’s a good start. I’d also stay close to home this summer if you can, for at least the next few months. I’m hoping things don’t ramp up too fast as I’m gone until the 25th, ugh. Now to the day…

Yesterday Lori worked until about 5:30. I picked the boys up at 3 after a quick trip to Denver. After work Lori took Mojo up the hill where he ran off after a deer. Needless to say, that extended her walk. Ty scored 100% on his quiz in Science, it was on the woman’s menstrual cycle, what fun. Jag had a bit of a rough day after school but has been playing a game on line with his friends and is fine. Ty and Max from school are filming a movie for Mandarin class today and he’s dressing up as a Panda Bear. We ordered a $25 costume from Amazon that arrived yesterday.

Today Lori, Jag and I are headed down the hill for haircuts for those two and a few errands. We’ll then stop by my Mom’s to celebrate Mother’s Day. We should be home by about 7. I’d better get moving so have a good weekend, God Bless.

We still can’t fix our coffee machine. We both tried several times yesterday but no such luck. Right now we’re splitting the last instant coffee pack we have and then I’ll jump in the car and head to the store. What a bummer!

Lori worked until 7 last night. I’ll bet she has over 55 hours this week which is an average of 11 hours a day. It’s going to be sunny today and much warmer than it has been. After today both boys have like 9 days of school left. I of course am gone for 8 of those.

Tomorrow we’re in Denver for haircuts and some shopping which is mainly picking up Jag’s sports coat, pants and shirt for Prom. I’ll probably pick up a few last minute things for my trip and then we’ll be back up late afternoon. Sunday we’re going down to have lunch with my Mom. We’re going to head to the gym soon so time to run. Have a good, enjoyable sunny Friday. GBX3

This morning we came down to find our espresso machine broken. Not sure what’s going on but it keeps saying clean drawers which are already clean. In any case the bottom line is it won’t make coffee! Thankfully I have some Starbucks Via in our supplies so we can make our morning pick me ups. I really don’t know how to fix this as it seems calcified inside and if so, is kaput. I was telling my Mom yesterday, every single day, there’s some unexpected expense. We were talking about suitcases as I need a mid sized one and believe it or not, a basic suitcase that can handle the rigors of international travel is close to $1000! Earlier this week, new windshield, $500, coffee machine, $800 and up, and on it goes. Good God, how does one survive these days.

It’s warming up today with 70’s in the forecast. Dr C’s wife asked Lori to go to a dinner/party for the clinic last night as he was stuck in surgery, but when she called me I told her to just remind them she worked 11 hours on Monday, 12 on Tuesday and 10 yesterday. She took my advice and made it home around 6. Guess I’ll run so we can get moving. Mother’s Day is coming up soon! So get ready all you mothers! I hope you do something for yourself that’s fun, GB.

Thankfully my meeting was postponed. The two guys from Argentina couldn’t make their flight so I do not have to fly up to Seattle today. This is such good news on so many levels. For work, it gives me three extra days before I’m off to Europe and personally I need the three extra days to get things done around here. I’m not sure when we’ll reschedule but it’ll be soon.

Lori had an 11 hour day yesterday that started at 6:30am. Today she has one at 8! I’m telling you, even though she’s paid pretty well for what she does, she earns it! Not just because of the long hours but because of all the things she manages. From doctors, to patients to employees to the doctor’s wife, she juggles it all. Then you have the clinic as a whole, like other teams and doctors and management at the clinic which she too manages to get the most for her team. Throw in insurance companies, referring physicians, and lots of businesses that interact with the clinic and she’s a busy girl. She too needs a break. We’re pointing out to the boys that surgeons get a lot of time off, and after all, that’s what life is all about, time.

It’s 6:08am now and Jag didn’t sleep well. He ate a bunch of crap last night so it’s no wonder. But that’s what kids do, eat crap. We had a little rain but nothing like the hail in Denver. It’s supposed to warm up the next few days which will be nice. Time to run as I have another parking ticket of Lori’s I need to pay. She is a repeat offender and even though the clinic reimburses her, it’s a pain. GB

Lori needs to be at work early for a 6:30 am meeting so the alarm went off at 5. Tomorrow I need to be on the road by this time unless I go down tonight. I haven’t decided yet, we’ll see how the day goes. They had bad hail storms in Denver with windows and windshields smashed so maybe I’ll just get up early and drive down as they’re expecting more of the same today. No point in having my truck sit out all night in a hail storm. That’s one good thing about the mountains, we hardly ever see hail up here.

I made it back from Denver by about 3 and after dropping Jag at home and running down to Eagle, I went back and picked Ty up at school at 4:30. We then baked some chicken and watched a movie called A Dog’s Purpose which was really good.

Today I have lots of prep work for my meeting tomorrow and then on Thursday will meet with what looks like will be, our new partners from Argentina. We’re branching out into South America and it’s a huge project that will dramatically change who we are as a Company. It’s a really good thing though that should add $5 Million or more in sales to our bottom line.

If as it looks now, we postpone our Hawaii trip, we might end up at the 4 Seasons in Jackson Hole Wyoming for 4 or 5 days. I have a potential Italian estate that has been after me to meet, who will be going there in early June. A year or so ago I took care of a guy and his wife from Dallas who were huge Bocelli fans and were headed to Italy. They were celebrating their anniversary and I don’t remember how they made their way to me, but I went out of my way to make sure they had a great trip and were able to visit and meet the Bocelli’s. Anyhow, that man is the head of HR for the 4 Seasons and told me if I ever needed anything at all, to let him know. So we’ll see if we can get hooked up, otherwise we won’t be staying there as rooms are about $1000 a night! More to come on this.

Watching the news I’m glad I left Denver when I did. The hail was huge and although I hit a little rain, leaving at 1 or so, I had no problems. I would have been really pissed off if Lori’s brand new windshield would have been smashed!

Time to run as Lori’s dry cleaning is still in the car and I think I’ll go to the gym before getting the boys up. Have a great day and GB.

And so it begins, about 3 weeks of travel. Tomorrow night late, I’ll head down to Denver for my 8am flight Wednesday to Seattle. Then it’s home Friday for 3 days until I’m off again until the 25th.

Both boys have lots of work and 3 weeks, or a bit less, left of school. Summer will be here before we know it. Lori’s windshield is getting fixed this morning and then I’m getting my haircut in Denver around noon. Long way to go for a haircut but it’s hard to find a good stylist these days.

Hard to believe it’s May 8th. Before you know it, fall will be arriving and then you know what’s after that. Think about it, September is like 100 days away! Doesn’t seem like too long does it. Live, love life! It goes fast! I can’t believe the kids are 13 and 15. As the old saying goes, where does the time go? Time to run, have a great day, God Bless.

Sounds like a country song right? Well, in fact, it is. The point is how are you living your life? More on this later.

Yesterday Jag and I took off for Denver around 8:30 am in search of a suit for Prom. We first stopped at the mall and hit a few stores and finally ended up at Nordstrom where we managed to get him a Hugo Boss coat and a nice pair of pants and a white shirt. He picked out a tie and a pocket square in grey to match. All should be ready by next weekend. Hope it lasts more than 3 months but I doubt it. I won’t even go into the cost as it’d give you all a heart attack as it almost did me!

We also found Jag a new pair of jeans and a shirt he wanted and then stopped by a store where I get clothes as I had a pair of shoes on hold. His jeans are white with rips on them and look just like Balmain jeans from Paris which, are you ready for this, sell for $1500 a pair at stores like Neiman Marcus, Saks and Barney’s of New York! Now first off, $1500, are you kidding me? I don’t get the ripped jeans thing but then I’m sure my parents didn’t get the bell bottom look either. Anyhow we found the exact same jeans for a few hundred bucks at another store. Don’t get me wrong a couple hundred bucks is still a lot for jeans, especially ripped ones, but in fact, Lori’s and Jag’s non ripped jeans all cost about $180 now anyhow. Personally I get mine at the cowboy shop for a mere $35. So Jag saw these and really wanted them so I bought them, along with a faded jean shirt he could layer over his t-shirt, as that’s what dad’s do. The young clerk told Jag what a cool dad he had, ha. It must be the “in” look as the manager at my men’s store, which is very chic and high end, told Jag how great and cool he looked. Throw in picking up a package a Neiman Marcus for my Mom and exchanging Ty’s Casio watch and we ended up at my Mom’s by 2pm. We visited for 30 minutes and then headed up the hill. Jag fell asleep for the ride home and we arrived by about 4pm. I then bbq’d some steaks and ribs for dinner.

Meanwhile Lori went for a hike and her and Francesa happened upon a mother moose and her calf. Luckily they took a quick picture and backed away slowly without incident. They had a good two hour hike up Meadow Mountain and were done around noon. Then she started cleaning the house while Ty did some homework.

Now to the title of today’s post. Driving up I was listening to a country station on the radio and one song was Live Like You Were Dying. On the surface, people will say, “yea, I do”, but do you really? I don’t remember all the lyrics but they centered around doing things you never thought of doing because you found out you were soon dying. I know, I know, it’s a country song but anyhow, it went on about being a friend that a everyone would like to have as a friend, forgiving people for things you’d never consider forgiving them for, being a little nicer to everyone than you’ve ever been before and more. Hopefully you get the point. If you don’t, just think about the title. If you knew you were dying in let’s say a month or a year, how would you change the way you live? I’ll bet everyone of us would be a different person, right? And hopefully the person we would all become would be a better person than who we are now. Anyhow just something to think about as you never know what tomorrow will bring. I’ll try to find a happier country song for tomorrow!

Have a great Sunday and God Bless.

Yesterday Lori had a steroid shot in her shoulder which seems to have cut her headache by at least half. Apparently she has a bunch of bone spurs and bursitis in her shoulder where she had surgery. Hopefully the shot of cortisone will fix things otherwise it could be back to the OR for her. In any case, we’re thankful for the relief, but she did warn me with a wink last night that there were a ton of steroids in the shot! (steroids tend to make one cranky!)

This morning she’s going on a hike with her friend while Jag and I head down to Denver to take advantage of the last day of Friends and Family at Neiman Marcus. This gives us a 25% discount and he needs at least a sport coat and probably pants, for prom on the 26th, and it ends today. With me traveling, this is the only day besides tomorrow that we can get him fixed up. Throw in the 25% discount and today’s the day. I called some tux rental places and no one has anything that’ll fit his long lean frame, ugh.

Last night we went to sushi for Lori’s birthday and then both boys stayed in town to go see Guardians of the Galaxy II at the movies. I guess it was good. I have some work to do over the weekend and both boys do too in their rooms. I’ll also take a stab at the house once we get back from Big D.

It’s supposed to be warm up here and really warm down in Denver, about time, right? It’s now 5:30am so I guess I’ll get moving, wish my gym opened at 6 but they don’t until 8 on the weekends. What’s up with that?  Have a great weekend, GB3.

I’m headed back to Denver today as I have a sales meeting from 1:10 until 1:25. Sure is a long way to go for 15 minutes but that’s how it works. Lori had a good birthday as the girls at work got her flowers and she received lots of well wishes. We had cake which was a real treat but it sure was rich. Today Jag has an ortho appointment around 3:30 and I think Lori might have to take him as I don’t know if I can get back up here in time. Tomorrow she’s going on a hike with a friend at 10am and I’m determined to get things cleaned up around here. The house is so dusty in some places like under the beds and dressers and on top of anything that’s above eye level. Sounds like a fun weekend huh.

We think Lori’s head and neck are getting a little better. She thinks it has something to do with her shoulder so she’s getting an injection to see if that helps. Things are starting to get busy around here. Next week I’m off to Seattle and then to Europe the following week. Then before we know it, it’ll be June. It’s 6am now so I’d better get moving. It’s Cinco de Mayo which is Mexican Independence Day which basically means lots of beer and tequila and drunk people. Not really our cup of tea anymore.

Glad it’s Friday and we have a couple days off. Time to run so I can get the boys moving. Oh, Jag scored 95 out of 100 on the college entrance exams in English comprehension and structure and 93 out of 100 on something else. Next Tuesday he’ll take one more to see if he can get into DE (dual enrollment) in Math too. Have a good weekend. GBX3

Today is Lori’s birthday, whoo hoo. We have a busy day around here. I’m off to Denver, Jag has college exams at 6pm, Lori has two meetings and Ty has school. It’s nice up here befitting Lori’s birthday. She really doesn’t want to eat any cake but the boys insisted I get one so I ordered up her favorite gluten free cake from a great bakery in Denver. We had Chinese food last night and I shouldn’t have eaten it but boy was it good. Even though I was at the gym yesterday, I probably still gained a few pounds.

I need to leave in an hour so I’d better get moving. Lori’s car gets dropped off first and then it’s across town to the distributor, then to the mall, then to Arvada and then Golden and then up the hill. I need to get back up by 3 to get the boys. I think we’re going to dinner tomorrow night since Jag has tests at 6pm tonight. In any case, Happy Birthday Lori!

GB,GB, GB