How'd You Like To Have Your Work Meeting Here?

For the next few weeks I'm going to post on this blog what I've been writing to promote Bob's Vertical Challenge. For the past few weeks I've done the same (mostly because I haven't had time to write a Friday blog post due to the show my daughter and I have been in...), but it is writing and one of the reasons I keep a daily blog is to make sure I write something everyday.

As far as my question in the title, I'd LOVE to have a meeting at Snowbasin, in winter, on the slopes! The place was a blast when I learned to ski on that mountain over 35 years ago, and it is simply beautiful now. Today I'm trying to reach the business people and offer them an alternative to the boring business meeting. Just click on the title of the post to see the original entry. Join us on the slopes! It'll be fun!

Think Of It As A Strategy Meeting At 10,000 Feet…

Posted on December 21, 2012
 

Imagine going to work on a winter’s day next February. You’ve got a strategy meeting scheduled. It begins at 9 a.m. As the meeting starts a box of day-old doughnuts stairs up at you from the conference table, but you look outside, outside to the mountains where the snow-covered peaks call out to you, beckon you to respond.

This could be one way to conduct your February meeting, or you could ditch the drab colored walls and stale pastries and join us–join us in the mountains on Tuesday, February 26th, 2013 for the 6th Annual Bob’s Vertical Challenge! Have your meeting with us at one of the nation’s premier skiing destinations, Snowbasin Utah. Award your best salespeople, or better yet, sign up multiple teams of four skiers/snowboarders and take on the mountain! Each team that finishes the Vertical Challenge will have skied/snowboarded 100,000 vertical feet in the Greatest Snow On Earth!

And when you do enjoy a fantastic day on the slopes networking and getting to know co-workers and contacts alike, the best part of your time participating will be the help you’ll be giving to deserving kids. All proceeds of Bob’s Vertical Challenge go directly to the Scoutreach program of the Trapper Trails Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Each year many scouts miss out on life-changing experiences due to a lack of funds. You can help these great boys learn more about the world around them, and, more importantly, more about themselves.

Please consider swapping that boardroom for a ski lift and time at the lodge–all for a great cause. For more details, please contact Andrea Abbott at: aabbott@knoxcap.com, or call: 801-447-4200. Imagine–a business meeting like you’ve never had before!

Larry Correia, An Opinion...

Today I came across a blog post from an author of fantasy novels, Larry Correia. I read one of his novels earlier this year. From the picture below you can imagine what Larry wrote about in his blog...guns. Today my co-worker and I had a brief discussion about guns (like probably millions of other people have done in the past week...). After we spoke, I wasn't looking for a blog post about guns, but I found it, and I read it.

I don't get too political on my blog. I figure there's enough people writing political blogs out there that my opinion is not really needed. The reason I'm writing about Larry's post is because it taught me something, and not what Mr. Correia might have intended.

What I learned in Larry's blog is that there's so much I don't know about the guns, gun control, and gun laws. And I thought I did. I grew up in the western United States. To put it simply, it's gun country. In my house growing up we had guns, shotguns, rifles, even hand guns. My father was a cop and even scored the first perfect shooting score in the history of the state of Idaho (he was given a gun as a prize...). My father passed away when I was young and we never discussed the issue, but I felt I understood what his position on the issue would have been.

I would consider Mr. Correia an expert on the subject about which he writes. He's put in time and earned the title. Of course many people don't agree with his opinion, but his knowledge shouldn't be dismissed just because it's unpopular. Would people who had an opposite opinion than that of Mr. Correia even read what he wrote? I think it would be helpful if he did. Of course, this is just my opinion. Whether or not I completely agree with him is not the point I'm trying to make. It's just that the society should be open enough to consider what he has to say.

Larry's post is rather long, but if you're interested in reading it, you can find it: HERE. If you read it, you may consider his point of view disgusting, insightful, or flat-out wrong. I thought it was educational.

Happy Anniversary, Christmas Carol...169 Years And Still Going Strong

According to Wikipedia (and other more reliable sources...) 169 years ago today, 19 December, Chapman and Hall Publishers published Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol." Tonight me and about 40 other friends performed an adaptation of this classic work. During the show I snapped a couple of pictures.

 

While surfing the interwebs I also found an interesting website from The Telegraph. "10 Things You Never Knew About Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol." You can access the site: HERE. There's details of his actions while writing the story, things he did while performing it on stage, as well as information about the story being involved in a piracy lawsuit (in which Dickens won...), and other interesting facts. Check it out--it's fun.

I know I've written so much about this production my daughter and I are doing this month. Doing a show like this requires so much time, but, as with anything we do in life, the more you put into something, the more you get out of it. Each time I do a show, I have so many fun memories. Writing about them and taking pictures helps preserve these memories for me, and hopefully, for others.

Today, and the anniversary of this wonderful story, I just wanted to say something about the man who made not only this show possible, but so many other literary classics. Thank you Charles Dickens! For everything!

Are Thrift Store Items More Valuable?

So, this is what happened. I have an odd-shaped cell phone, and what I mean by that is the phone is regular shaped (rectangular...) but since it's not an iPhone, a Galaxy, or a Droid, there are not a lot of quality phone cases out there. Sure, there are a million of them at the Dollar Store (I ended up buying one...), but when you pay good money for a phone, you want something that costs more than a dollar to protect it.

Unless, of course, you are lucky enough to find the perfect item at a thrift store, which I did a few months ago. I remember thinking when I saw it sitting among other "stuff" on the thrift store shelf that I was indeed fortunate to have scored such a find.

Which brings me to last Sunday night. I was running an errand (actually handing our holiday hams to families in the neighborhood, or as one of my good friends called them "the inactive hams," which is another blog post all by itself...) and when we were done, I noticed my phone case was missing. I made a call earlier and just put the phone in my pocket. The case on my belt dropped off when we were visiting people who weren't home. I drove around to the various homes we visited to see if I could spot the case, but I couldn't see a small black item in poorly lit areas at night.

Losing the case bummed me out a bit, and then I asked myself, why? It only cost me a dollar at the thrift store. But what was its real value? I could always use my original dollar store phone case again until I found another nice case at the thrift store. I might get lucky again, but it's rare to find one as nice again.

To me the rarity of the item established its value. The cost was a secondary consideration. So thrift store items have the possibility of being worth more than you'd think. The good news...the morning after I got in the car and saw the case at one of the homes we visited the night before. I'm glad the phone wasn't in it...someone drove over it with their car.

Clearing The Path...

There was a break in the storm today so I took the opportunity to clear the path leading to the community winter sledding hill. It was needed. As autumn wound down I pulled a couple of rather large sunflower plants and it was my intention to put them in the trash.

Needless to say, it wasn't done and the first big storm hit with no access to the hill. People improvised which could have proved disastrous. The area the people chose had several large rocks hiding under the snow. We're lucky no one got hurt.

So I knew it had to be cleaned and today was the day. 30 minutes and a couple of scratched arms later I had a nice tidy bundle of once hindering twigs and branches stacked to the side. Good thing...it began snowing an hour later. We're ready for the crowds--bring on the snow!

Karaoke Night...

I remember the last time I went to Karaoke Night at the theater three years ago. It was strange. After our show had ended, we got together and people got up and sang, mostly show tunes. I remember sitting there thinking how strange it was that all the singers participating had all these songs memorized that they could just sing them at the drop of a hat. Then again, the singers were so talented and have done many, many shows that maybe they could just sing songs at the drop of a hat. I wanted to join them, but I just didn't have anything ready. I wished I could be like everyone else.

Fast forward three years and another Karaoke Night was announced. This time, I found out more about how Karaoke Night functioned. You see, this time before Karaoke Night, we were told for those who wished to participate, we were to come with a minus track of the song we wanted to sing. Now it all made sense. The first time I didn't know the performers had rehearsed and practiced and came prepared. It was like a light was turned on and I was no longer in the dark.

Since it bugged me last time, I decided I wanted to sing something this time. Last night I did thanks to my friend, the talented Mr. Todd Wente. He and I were in a show the summer of 2011 and we sang a song from that show. I was never nervous singing the song in front of an audience when we did the show, but last night, it was a different story. The people in our casts are so talented...singing for them was a tad daunting. Thanks to Todd (who found the music for us...), I think it went pretty well.

Thanks to everyone who stayed after last night's show. The songs were fantastic and you made me not only understand Karaoke Night, but let me take the stage with you.

The Decorating Elves...

"Hey," my mother-in-law said as my wife and I prepared to drive away from her house a few weeks go. "Maybe your kids could come over and decorate while we're gone." It had been established earlier that our kids would put up my in-law's Christmas decorations. It's a family Christmas tradition that's only a couple of years old now.

"Yeah..." we said. "That would be a good time to do it." And so my in-laws left town for the weekend and we invaded their house. Since we decorated last year, I thought decoration this year would be a piece of "fruit" cake (so, so sorry for that...). It turns out, it wasn't as easy as I thought i would be. Last year, the in-laws were there to help out. This year, we were on our own.

We brought up the tree from the basement and retrieved all the boxes from under the stairs. As we opened up box after box, I came to realize that they have a lot of decorations and finding places for everything was going to be a challenge. For example, they have a very cool lighted red chili peppers set, and I thought I remembered it hanging in their kitchen. Well, I saw a place above the sink where I could hang the clump of lights. I had to remove the dish scrubbing brush but it looked good. I worried that my mother-in-law needed the brush to be in that specific spot--it was a silly thought I had, I know, but some people are particular about things...

Eventually we found places for most of the decorations. When we were done we returned the boxes to the basement, unplugged all the lights and left. We had to wait until the in-laws returned until we found out if our efforts were acceptable.

Not only were they acceptable, I have it on good authority that the results were very well received. In fact. they loved it (even the hanging lighted red chili peppers...). Mission accomplished.