A Year of Change

Today we’ve organized a big tasting for our team in three cities around the Country. This is a first for us as we’re letting the team have a say in picking the wines for next Spring’s pre-sell. To save money, I’ll just be here in Eagle Colorado in my office joining on my computer. Should be a good event.

Yesterday I was down and up in good time. After meeting Toby at the warehouse to load him up with 40 cases of wine, and loading another 28 into my truck, I drove down Broadway to look at a 2005 Porsche at the dealer. Ezzy, one of my guys, just gave me the keys and said it’s down in the basement. They know me well enough to let me just go down there alone. The basement is the floor under the dealership with probably 100 cars in it. The car is a nice 2005, cobalt blue 911 that’s super clean for about $30K. Might go look at it again. You might remember, I passed on a 2024 911 I had built in mid-November as with the economy the way it is and the uncertainty of next year, I wasn’t comfortable with spending $140K on a car. This one though, we might take a chance on. Earlier in my life, I had a 2006 and it was a great car. We’ll see. Lori and I are down having lunch with Jagger tomorrow and might look at it again.

Ty is trying to figure out what to do. He and Maddi might move in together. I think that it’d be good for him as then he’d get a taste of what it takes to manage his own life and pay his own bills. Something needs to give as he’s sort of stuck in a rut. Being 19, we get it. He and Maddi wanted ski passes so Lori managed to get one, even though the date has passed of when you could buy one. We’re paying half and Ty has to pay the other half. It’ll be good for them to get outside more. Afterall, we do live in freakin Vail.

Think we’ll hit the gym before my call. Dr. B. has been texting from Nepal and the conditions there are brutal. From the food to the living conditions to anything we take for granted, it’s a big step back in time for sure.

Yesterday I dropped 15 cases of wine to the Sheriff for our donation to all his employees. I’ll go buy the gift cards today, $25 and a bottle of red and a bottle of white for each of the 90 employees. Doesn’t sound like a lot but with 90 employees, that’s all we could afford. James and I will go give them to the Sheriff to give to his employees on Thursday. Not sure when he’ll give them to them. He was super appreciative. Didn’t know today was Colorado Gives Day or something like that. Just a coincidence.

Time to go, have a great day, be well, stay safe and God Bless.

Not too much snow here, barely covered the windshield on the truck. Not sure about the high peaks as Vail Pass was closed yesterday. I’m going to try to get to Denver this morning, as long as the roads are open. I’ll check the Cdot cameras before I go.

Ty went to Maddie’s, or should I say, her parents’ house last night. Jeremy, (her dad), and Maddie are also trying to get to Denver to clean out the remaining stuff from her apartment. Ty will head home this morning.

Lori is off, or should I say, will work from home. That’s about it, a couple weeks until Jag and Tom’s birthdays. Have a great week, God Bless.

As of now, 5:30am, we only have an inch or so of snow outside. Hope it stays that way. Looks like Vail Pass might be closed but we’re ok down valley. We’ll take it.

Ty works at 7 so we’re up early as usual. He does have Monday and Tuesday’s off but we’re up on those days anyhow. So, no rest for the weary, or whatever they say.

Big football game at 11am. Really hope we win. Yesterday we didn’t do much. It was cold outside even though it wasn’t snowing. We thought about going down to Broadway for the parade, but I went to pick up Ty from work instead.

Not sure if you saw, but the UN is calling on all Americans to reduce meat consumption. Looks like we’ll be having steak for dinner. The govt. wants you eating meat grown in a lab. Bill Gates and others are behind this! Don’t be fooled. Kamala Harris just announced a new 3-billion-dollar climate fund. We’ll be giving that money to nations across the World. Just so you understand, that’s YOU who is giving money to countries, which by the way, will use it for whatever they want. Probably to enrich their corrupt leaders. God, please stop the madness.

Time to go, all this crap is ruining my Sunday morning, God Bless.

Not much snow, just a dusting. Tonight we could get a good dose. Hope it misses us. Yesterday we ran to Costco and did some stuff around the house. Ty was off early and home midafternoon. He works at 7 this morning.

Great basketball game last night. We were shorthanded with a couple of starters out but still beat the Phoenix Suns, love it! Another game tonight against Sacramento.

Today after working out, I’m going to try to wrap some presents. Michelle, our neighbor, loves to wrap and said she’d wrap all of ours for me, but I’ll do a few. Talked with our guide in Alaska yesterday and thought we were set to go but the price went up over $10k per guy! I emailed him back last years contract and he came down half but I don’t know, probably not going to happen with Cary anyhow. Might have to find someone else for us to go with. Kind of a bummer.

Weather permitting, I’m headed to Denver Monday to get a bunch of wine including the wine I’m donating to the Sheriff’s Department. Our cigar group is giving all 90 employees a couple bottles of wine (wine from me) and a City Market gift certificate. Hoping to give each employee about $30-$40 dollars but we’ll see how much we come up with. A few of the guys don’t have any money to donate so I need to wait and see what our total is. James, Marty, Mark and I will probably go see the Sheriff on Wednesday or Thursday to give him the gift cards. I’m dropping the wine Monday or Tuesday or whatever day I pick it up as no way I’m unloading 18 cases into my garage and then loading them up again.

That’s it, time to get moving. Need to dust off the car and shovel the driveway. Have a great day and God Bless.

The snow finally came. Not much outside but apparently the highway is closed due to an accident or something. I need to get outside and clean off the truck and warm it up.

Yesterday we made it to Aspen a little after 10 in the morning. We dropped Tom to set up for the tasting and then Lori and I did some shopping. We headed back for the tasting around 12:30 and were there for about an hour and a half. We made it home just after 3 and then Lori was off to meet Addy and Riley and I headed to meet the guys for cigars. The girls went to some place where they make their own pottery. Lori made a platter. Giess it’s being baked at the place first before she picks it up.

We both left for home around 6:30 and were home by 7. Ty hitched a ride home with a coworker and was here when we made it home. Today we’ll stick close to home with the weather.

That’s it for the day. Enjoy the day and the weekend. Take care and God Bless.

Well, we got our Rolling Stones tickets, six of them. You don’t want to know how much they cost, but they were not cheap. We’re much closer this year, row 19! Guess they mostly sold out on the pre-sell. Robi and Robert got theirs too. I bought four extra tickets for company incentives.

Yesterday was Annette’s birthday! I forgot to put it in the blog, sorry Annette, that one was on me as Lori reminded me the day before. I got you mixed up with my Partner in Seattle for some reason. You two don’t look anything alike, ha! Hope it was a fun day.

Tom and I had a great tasting in Vail yesterday and will be in Aspen today. I’ll pick him up after dropping Ty and then we’ll pick up Lori around 8 and head over to Aspen. Lori and I will leave around 2 as she’s getting together with Adriana and I have cigar night with James. Tom is staying in Basalt near friends and flying out of Eagle tomorrow. Should be a fun day.

They say a little cold front is coming in tonight. It has been cold up here but without the snow which is fine with us. Hopefully the El Nino winter means less snow for us. So far so good, knock on wood.

Time to get going. 5:50am and I need to be on the road in 45 minutes. Have a great Thursday and God Bless.

Before a few stops in Denver, I headed to Tom’s to pick up our Christmas cookies. Guess he made something like 800 cookies, if I heard him right! After that, I headed up the hill. I made it home around 1 or so which is good time.

Today the pre-sell for Stones tickets go on sale. My code came via email yesterday. Think I can buy them at noon my time. Then I’ll head into Vail to meet Tom, who works for me, for the 1pm tasting. He flew in from California last night. Tomorrow morning I’ll pick him up and we’ll drive over to Aspen where we’ll do the same thing from 1 until 4. I won’t stay the entire day as he’s staying with a friend in Carbondale before flying home Saturday morning. We’re in the middle of a reset in Colorado as the distributor changed everything up nationwide. I put Tom in charge of the market as we now have like 80 salespeople which are too many for me to manage.

We’re trying to figure out a date for our Christmas party, but James is playing in Saudi Arabia December 14th. He told me about this a couple weeks ago but it was hush hush until all was finalized. They’ll be the first metal band to play there which is a big deal. It’s our annual Cigar Fellowship party so we’ll work around his schedule. It’s a busy month but we’ll figure it out, even if we do it after Christmas.

Ty works at 7 so we’re back to our old routine. Cool up here but no snow. Lori is pretty much off for the next 2 weeks with everyone in Nepal. I’m sure she’ll still work from home. Bozo is in Colorado today, kind of remarkable they haven’t replaced him yet. I’m sure it’s coming. Not sure what the Dems are thinking as even the American people are not stupid enough to vote this guy in again, one would think, ha.

That’s it, time to go, have a great day and God Bless.

Headed down the hill today. I had to go yesterday too as a load of wine came in that I needed to pick up. This morning I’m getting my haircut at 10:30 and then have a few stops including Tommy’s who made his annual Christmas cookies for everyone. Lori loves the peanut brittle.

Jag is doing well. So is Ty. Maddie came over yesterday and spent the night. They’re too funny. Lori is in Vail today working with Dr. B. as her two PA’s are trekking in Nepal. Dr. B. leaves tomorrow. Lori has like 200 hours of PTO that doesn’t carry over. No way she can use them all, but she will take some time off.

The weather is cool but no new snow. Think we might get a little Thursday. It’s been great having the heavy snow hold off as late as it has this year.

I think our code from The Rolling Stones Fan Club comes today so we can buy tickets before everyone else. Robi, want to come up? If so, let us know. It’ll probably be the last time they tour.

We went to sleep around 8 last night and finally had a good night’s sleep. We did wake up at 5 but that’s a good 9 hours of shut eye. We both needed it.

That’s it, have a great day, do something nice for some random person today. You’ll be surprised how good it’ll make you feel. It’s even better when you do it anonymously. Take care and God Bless.

Broncos won again, that’s five in a row! The Nuggets also got back on track. It was a fun day for sports. Now we begin a busy last week of November. Lori works today and tomorrow and then Dr. B goes to Nepal Wednesday until the 12th. I’m in Denver tomorrow and then have industry tastings in Vail Wednesday and Aspen Thursday. Then Friday is December 1st! Before we know it, it’ll be 2024. I clearly remember December 31st, 1999, and being on a beach with Lori. Life goes fast, enjoy.

Ty worked and then hung out with us for the remainder of the day. Maddie didn’t make it over as I think her parents didn’t feel like making the drive. Don’t blame them.

Tomorrow I need to try to get a few more Christmas presents. I’ve been shopping online but need to get a few gifts in person. That’s about it, have a great day and week. Until tomorrow, God Bless.

Last week of November starts tomorrow depending on how you look at it. Some say the week starts on Sunday. In any case, December is right around the corner.

Jag and Ava took off yesterday afternoon to beat the traffic and the snow. Ty hung out with Maddie all day and made it home around 10:30 last night. It’s 5:45am now and we’ll leave for his work and the gym in 45 minutes. Lori and I have sort of a busy week. She is in the office Monday and Tuesday while I’m in Denver Tuesday and then have a tasting in Vail Wednesday and one in Aspen on Thursday.

Had some snow on and off yesterday but not a lot of accumulation. Just enough to cover the cars a bit, and mess with the roads a little. Cold temps will hang around for another 24 hours and then it’ll warm up into the 30’s and 40’s for the week. Afterall, it is the end of November.

We were going to go to the Bronco game today but are just too worn out from the weekend. It’ll be much warmer watching it from our living room. Hope we win, need to keep this thing going.

I read that the majority of people in the Country want age and term limits on politicians. What a novel idea! Problem is, the politicians, who would need to vote to change the law, will never vote to kick themselves out. It’s pretty easy to see who they put first. Here’s a hint, that would be themselves! What a mess. Don’t worry though, things have a way of working themselves out. It would just be so much nicer to do things the easy way.

Time to get everyone up. Have a great last Sunday of November and God Bless.