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30+ DAYS IN BETWEEN POSTS NOT CUTTING IT.

There's something about thinking about something to write and then there's actually doing it. Right now, I tend to do very well with the former, and I'm having heaps of trouble with the latter. Take for instance, this past week. All kinds of cool things happened, but I was powerless (aka LAZY) to actually get up the nerve to go to my computer and write. I think it has a lot to do with my set up right now. I got a newer monitor some time ago, and that went on the "newer" P.O.S. machine we got with Vista. I told my gif Vista sucks, but she gave me the old, "Well, everybody will soon be using it, so having it now will help soften the learning curve for later." Oh really? NOBODY wants, needs, or uses Vista by choice. Microsoft also stopped giving people the option to get new computers with XP instead. Lemme tell ya folks, it's a TOTAL hog. My other machine (The one I'm using right now) is a Linux Mandriva machine and it runs like buttah. It has half the RAM as my Vista machine and runs three times as fast. I'm still learning how to do a lot of stuff, but most of it is pretty straight forward and easy.

Of course, my Linux system got usurped for the new monitor, so I'm trudging along with an old 19" CRT monitor. It's not the best, but it gets the job done. Which brings me to my next point. I like my Linux system, but hate the monitor. I hate my Vista system, but the monitor rocks. And no, I've already been warned not to change the monitor because my gif uses the Vista system, so that's not a solution. Remember I said I don't like the enviornment my computers are in? I gotta come up with somethign better and more condusive to harness my creative juices. I used to have a laptop, but I don't want to be on the couch coding web sites. I think the solution is to get something like this - something (gasp) more like my cube at work. I want to get either two monitors (like at work - 22" & 19") or just one large (24"+) monitor. I can get two 19" monitors for about $400.00, and one large one (26"+) would run about $700.00 and up. Obviously, getting dual 19's would be more cost effective, but what about space?

My thought is have a dedicated work area for myself. Something away from what my current set up is like, so when I go there - its to work - period.

In the meantime, I'm going to use my Linux machine to do my web development stuff. Hopefully ti will be adequate to do what I want. If not, I may have to man up, get a new system, and a TON of software. The big three are Dreamweaver, Photoshop and Adobe Flash. OF course there are lower cost alternatives I can use when I'm running a Windows OS, but if you want to build the best, you should have the best - right?

Enough of my bantering about my puters - now for the good stuff.

This week I had dinner with my Dad. We were supposed to go hit a bucket of balls, but it got too late too fast and so we settled for dinner at Fuddruckers. It was a great time and my Dad never ceases to amaze me. I swear the time we have together is so precious for me. I always learn something new from these stories, and I'm glad he's comfortable telling them to me. As I've said before, I've never really known that much about my Dad, so hearing these stories are just so awesome. When I was growing up, it was always about me and my sister, he never sat around and bragged he was making millions of dollars doing what he was doing - he always focused on us and left whatever stories about his life to the side. Now, I'm finally getting to hear these stories and its absolutely amazing for me.

After dinner we were riding back to my parents house and he started telling me how he got involved in computers and how it was really an accident. He had spent several years at the University of Minnesota working on an applied mathematics degree and then trasnferred to St. Cloud State to finish his degree. One day his roommate came in and asked him if he knew anything about computers. Now, this was in early 1970's so computers was something nobody knew about. He told him nothing and then his roommate asked him if he wanted to learn something and said St. John's (down the road in Collegeville) was giving a class on computer programming. They took the class and didn't think much of it till several months later one of their Calc teachers asked if anybody knew anything about computers. Of course they both raised their hands and soon they were teaching classes and showing everybody how to program. Pretty funny huh?

He also told me another story about how he fumbled his way into sales - which is pretty funny as well. Now, I know today my Dad is an all star salesmen and could as one person said about him, "He could sell gum in the lockjaw ward at bellevue hospital", he'e THAT good at sales. In the mid 1970's, it was a different story. He was working for Control Data Corporation at the time as an analyst. You should also realize Control Data was one of the first companies to sell super computers. One day, of his golf buddies Bob Larson (who later went on to open several Neveda Bobs Golf shops) asked him if he ever considered going into sales. HE said not really, but he knew the guys who were in sales, were driving all the BMW's, Csdillac's and Mercedes out int he parking lot and he wouldn't mind making enough money to buy a new car. Well, within a day, his manager called him and told him he was now a sales person and to move his stuff out if his analyst office and into his new sales office. Then he was told he get the files from Bob for the accounts which were in his territory. After doing this, he kinda sat on his hands, not knowing what to do since nobody told him. He went back to his manager to ask me what he was supposed to do. To whcih his manager responded by yelling at him to call the accounts, go meet with them and then try and sell them some equipment. He thought to himself, "What the fuck did I just get myself into." Even funnier? He was working for several months before they sent him to an actual sales training class. The other trainees were shocked to know he already had his territory (for several months) and was already doing a lot of what they were being trained to do. He was the rock star of the group and everyone grilled him for what it was really like out in the field.

Of course the rest is history. He went down as one of the most successful salespeople in the companies history and landed several of the largest contracts. His single largest sale was to then energy company NSP (Northen States Power) now Excel Energy, for $42 million dollars. It took over 6 years to close and was a groundbreaking software advancement for them and many of the components of the system are still in use today.

In any case, it was a great dinner and his stories are always well worth the $20.00 I put up for dinner.

Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't say I'm glad I got out of sales a few years back, but was thinking about the movie Glengarry Glen Ross. It's the ultimate sales movie and just shows how brutal being a sales person can be. I'll always be proud of the achivements of my father. He was an amazing sales person in his prime and funny, he continues to ply his trade, even now, in his late 60's.

This is the scene that crashed a thousand sales careers before they even got started - and yes, I've had some manger's like the one Alec Baldwin portrays amd I've known evern more sales people just like him.

ENJOY this one boys and girls and remember: COFFEE IS FOR CLOSERS!!!





I have a TON more to cover, but for now, this is good enough.


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