A Year of Change

A week from today is Christmas! Hard to believe. We have so much to do professionally and personally. Hopefully in the next 3 days I’ll get close to a million dollars worth of orders in. Around here we have lots of wrapping and some last minute shopping to do. Some gifts we ordered are due to arrive December 23rd, just in the St. Nick of time. See what I did there!

Lori is off today and we were going down to take Dixie to see an assisted living place but the highway will be closed due to rock mitigation. Both boys have more finals today. I think it’s English and then tomorrow is Math which wraps things up. They’re both out at 10:30 today as they only have one test and then are done Friday at noon.

We do need to go down and meet our builder and finalize some choices. We’ll be cutting some things here and there to save money as we need to find another $50,000 to finish the basement. Ugh.

Jag had a great birthday. Lots of fun, lunch with Lexi and a few nice presents finished with sushi from Nobu to go for dinner. The cake we bought sucked so it’ll go back to Whole Foods today and Lori will make him a spice cake. Lori is working out at 7 and I’m going around 9 after I take Ty to school as Jag can go a little later. That is it, time to start the cars. It was 12 below here yesterday morning but didn’t feel all that cold. Must be getting use to it. God Bless.

Today Jag is 18! WOW, just WOW! It’s hard to believe he’s 18 and for that matter, Ty is almost 16. As they say, where did the time go. As you all know, Jagger is one amazing kid. We’re really proud of him and can’t wait to see how he changes the World as he’s one of those special people who will actually impact the life of millions in some way.

Today is the second day of Finals and then we’ll probably get sushi to go so the boys can continue to study. I headed down early and accomplished a lot before picking Lori and Dixie up around 4:15. It then took me about 90 minutes to get to Wadsworth and Hampden to Greg and Jae’s where Dixie will stay until Friday. Then it was up the hill with Lori and a quick stop at the grocery store which put us home about 8:30.

Today is more of the same with me heading to Denver and Lori to work as it’s clinic. We’re in a rush so time to go. Have a great day and text Jag a HB if you have a chance, God Bless.

Lori and Dixie arrive around 4 this afternoon so I’m headed down early to get a bunch of errands wrapped up. The boys have finals today as I’ve said before. Yesterday we studied, well I didn’t but you get the point. 9 days until Christmas and 1 day until Jag turns 18! Still can’t believe that one, it’s surreal. I picked Mojo up some pills yesterday morning on my way to the gym. Hope they help, really!

No time to mess around so that’s it. Hope everyone is well and taking a breath to enjoy the season. More to come…… God Bless.

Traffic that is. Hard to believe that so many cars full of people actually come up to the mountains on the weekends. On the way down to the airport was not as crowded but we did run into a closure at the tunnel due to a semi that decided to ignore the law and go up the pass without chains. We were stuck for about 90 minutes which made Lori miss her flight. She ended up getting on a flight at 1:30 which was 4 hours later. The Cdot guy who we talked with said the guy didn’t even speak English.

After dropping Lori around 11 am I headed into town to buy a few gifts before heading home. I knew if I headed straight home I’d hit a ton of traffic. Waiting didn’t help much. The roads were pretty bad by the time I hit Frisco and I just made it over Vail Pass in time. It was closed going east bound when I came down. They should have closed it west bound too as it was bad but I’m sure glad they didn’t.

I brought the boys some food and finally went to bed around 10. About an hour later Jag called to tell me he thought one of the dogs went to the bathroom. Sure enough I rushed down the stairs to see what was the matter (see what I did there?) and found runny dog shit by the couch. I went to get some paper towel, vinegar and other cleaning stuff and slid across the floor on some more shit I didn’t see that I stepped in! I could have gone down but luckily didn’t. At least he got off the couch but did splatter some on it so I scrubbed it with vinegar too. Harley stayed far away from things thankfully. Mojo is getting old and can’t move around like he use to.

Lots of snow out there. Ty shoveled a bunch with me last night. He had a good pow day (that’s what they call powder) on the mountain. Jag studied which they’ll both be doing today as tomorrow they have their foreign language and science finals. Lori lands around 4 so we won’t get home until at least 8. I’m headed to the gym and afterwards will stop by the vet to see if I can get Mojo some pills. That’s it from here, hope everyone is well, God Bless.

It snowed almost all day and then again at night. When we left yesterday morning I saw the plow down a couple buildings but when I came back, he hadn’t plowed our driveway. I called the management company and they said they’d send him over. By the time he arrived, I had shoveled most of the driveway.

We’re leaving at 6 for the airport in snow hoping to get Lori to Denver for her flight. I’m then going up to pick up a check from a store that sold something for me and then I’m headed to Cherry Creek for some quick Christmas shopping. I need to kill some time in town as otherwise I’ll be sitting in traffic with all the people headed skiing.

I worked out hard for 2 hours. I’m sure I’ll be sore today. Christmas is right around the corner and I’m getting most of the shopping for the boys wrapped up. Lori will be pretty easy as am I as we’re not really getting each other much. Just a few small practical things. I do need to get packages out next week to Robi and Robert and then Annette. Dixie will be here of course, from Monday on until the 27th when Lori takes her home.

Lori got a nice raise and a nice bonus. She always deserves more than she gets but she’s paid pretty well as she should be. I’m super proud of her. She always jokes, not bad for a girl that doesn’t have a college degree! She also advocated for her team and they all too received bonuses based on her recommendation. The clinic Christmas party is tonight but I won’t be going without Lori. Heck, I’m not even big on going when I do go with Lori so why would I even think of going without her, right?

Ok, that’s a wrap for today. Make it a good day, and God Bless. Check this out!

Looking outside this is the first “real” snowstorm we’ve had so far this year. It’s not so much the amount as we only have 5 or 6 inches so far, it’s the wind and the fact that we’re just in the beginning of this storm. It’s supposed to snow through Sunday or into Monday. Lucky Lori isn’t flying out today as the tunnel is closed right now and she wouldn’t be going anywhere. They say tomorrow will be actually worse but we’ll see as the weather guys have been right for a few days so I’m betting their wrong tomorrow. I was up at 5:30 to go workout with Stacey my trainer but she just called and said she has a sick little girl. Just found out Vail Pass is closed too. Looks like a great powder day on the slopes.

The boys are working hard preparing for Finals Week. Mojo is outside on the deck where he likes to be and Harley is at my feet. Aspen was nice yesterday and I was in and out in good time. It’s also Friday the 13th, whoo hoo. Just finished shoveling snow so we can get the cars out and the plow in. Now it’s time to get the boys up!

Have a good day, be safe and be happy, God Bless.

Well, another successful jaunt. I was gone for 32 hours with the mission to secure about $100K in orders but came back with $400K, BAM. Not to pat myself on the back but so when the kids read this many years from now, your dad was really good at his job, ha.

My meeting started at 9 and by 10:45 we wrapped up with a good plan for 2020. It took an hour and 45 minutes to get back to San Francisco but we were in no hurry as my flight was delayed an hour. Hans, my guy in California and I decided to stop for a quick lunch on the waterfront at Waterbar, one of our top accounts. We had a dozen oysters, Dungeness crab cocktail and a roasted lobster before he dropped me for my flight. On the way home I had a guy next to me hacking away with a bad cold or something. So for the next hour and 45 minutes I sat with my head turned to the right to avoid him. Hopefully I won’t get sick. We landed at 6:30 and by 9 I was home.

Today I’m off to Aspen after working out. I need to get some laundry and grocery shopping done too as with Lori’s schedule and the kids, there’s not a lot of time for her to do any housework.

That’s it for today, time to get going. Lot’s to do as it’s December 12th! When we were kids this was the start of St. Nick Night where we’d put a shoe outside our door for 12 nights waking each morning to see what tiny gift Santa brought us. If you were bad you could get a piece of coal but Mom would use a stick or a rock if she wanted to send a message as there wasn’t any coal. I think once or twice she did use a bbq briquet. Luckily we usually received a small piece of candy or a dollar or an orange. Mom was great at always thinking of us in her own small way. She never missed an opportunity to try to make us happy, especially during the holidays but year round as well. Not sure if we’re still doing that here with the boys almost 16 and 18. Hard to believe they’re that old! Life goes fast, God Bless.

5 am in Santa Rosa California. I woke up on and off from 2 or so as I went to bed around 9. I have a small headache from working out on Monday which kept me up a bit. My flight was uneventful and on time.

Ty won his game and scored a few times including a buzzer beater at the end of the game! Mojo was fine and I dropped Harley at daycare to make it easier on her and Lori. My flight is at 2:19 but maybe I can make an earlier flight as my meeting is over at 10.

Here’s some big news, yesterday we finalized our joint partnership with a German company we call RM for short. This is a strategic partnership where they invest money over a 3 year period and then have first right of refusal to buy us at a minimum price. It’s much more complicated than that but that’s the short story. We should receive our first million dollars today. Before anyone gets excited, that goes into the company, not our pockets, ha. Anyhow we’ve been working on this for close to a year and now it’s done.

It’s warm here, like Spring with rain showers. I don’t know how people live here or why they would live here. Oh well, that’s it, time to go, have a good day, GB.

This morning I’m leaving around 10 for the airport. My flight to San Francisco is at 1:30. I’ll be home tomorrow at 5. The news of the day was Jag rolled his ankle playing ball. His x-ray was negative so he’ll heal up in a couple of weeks but he has a swollen sprained ankle and is on crutches and wearing a boot. Always something. At least he doesn’t have to worry about studying from late night games in Keensburg this week. Ty has a JV game here tonight at 5:30. Lori will go.

I had all the carpets cleaned yesterday and in the middle of the night Mojo somehow moved everything we had used to barricade him off the stairs and came up. We had to coax him downstairs just to be safe. His back legs are not moving well at all. I’ll pick up some pills at the vet for him before I go. He’s been on CBD but I guess it’s not working as well as we thought it was.

Lori has clinic and has to go early so she can return the ice machine she borrowed for Jag by 8. I just took the dogs up the hill. It was cold in gym shorts. It’s 6:50 now so time to get the boys up and moving. They could sleep through a rock concert. A week from today Jag is 18, wow. Time to get moving, have a great day and God Bless.

It snowed a bit more and looks pretty outside but it is only 4:32 in the morning so kind of hard to see. I woke up and headed downstairs to get coffee only to step in a pile of dog shit from Mojo. Not the hard nice kind either, enough said. It was also on a few stairs giving us about 5 different places to clean up. Unbelievable.

Last night I found out one of my Partners, Josh, is sick with the flu. Knowing this and now with having the clean up and hopefully get carpet cleaners out here, I’m skipping Seattle. Plus I need to wait for the plow to get out of the driveway. I should be leaving in 30 minutes for the airport but will instead just fly to San Francisco tomorrow for my Wednesday morning meeting. Must be God’s way of telling me not to go, ha.

Yesterday afternoon we headed out to get our little tree. The snow was deep and we found a cute little Charlie Brown Scotch Pine that’s about the same height as Jagger. It’s small but really feels like Christmas. Lori and I were at Home Depot and thought about getting a fake one but she texted both boys and they were adamant about going and cutting one. This made us both happy as there is a Christmas Spirit after all! While trudging through waist deep snow Ty found a pan, a plate, a bucket and a half a bottle of Makers Mark Whisky buried in the snow. Not sure how he found it, maybe he stepped on something as it was buried deep. Must have been from someone who was camping or something.

Today is Dad’s birthday, Happy Birthday! Dad was born in 1928 so he would have been 91. He passed away on August 16th, 2010. We sure miss him and Mom of course too. Hopefully they’re having a fun day upstairs.

The dogs want food but they’re not getting it for another 30 minutes or so as after they eat I walk them and cannot walk them in the dark. It’s a big week at school as next week is Final’s Week. That’s it, have a great day and God Bless.