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December 2010 (Extreme Edition)

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December has been crazy. Sometimes I like it crazy. But sometimes I wish time would just stop and everything would disappear so I could catch my breath. Sometimes you get what you wish for… 

I got a reprieve from my phone about a week ago. I don’t use a case to protect it- I don’t drop my phone often and when I have it’s always been from a sitting position. While I was climbing out of a borrowed car my phone slipped off my lap and onto the ground. I have done the exact same thing before and I got a light scratch on the screen and a nick in the casing. No suck luck this time. The screen completely shattered (this was from a drop about two feet high onto asphalt). I had the phone repaired but it took five days. I literally felt the quality of my life plummet. There was no way to be connected with things and I felt unreachable and disassociated from my life and work. Unpleasant to say the least. But more surprising, after getting my phone back the feelings I had didn’t go away. It definitely bears more investigation. 

 

At any rate, I have (obviously) switched to the iPhone. It’s been an amazing companion and has simplified (complicated?) my life. I really like Apple’s OS and, aside from the fact that they have banned Flash, don’t have any serious issues with the phone. And no issues with ATT for that matter (glad I got locked into the unlimited data plan before they did away with it though!). Iphone? That’s my phone.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah… December…crazy.  Work gets incredibly busy with all the holiday orders coming in. I don’t want the order volume to change and it would be ungrateful to complain , but I wish there was was an easier way to get everything done. Still, overall I’d day we’ve done remarkably well.  We have an amazing team at work and this year wouldn’t have been possible without them . So, “thank you” Aaron, Alise, Amanda, Ammon,  Anna, Apana, Chad, Fran, Jake, Jane, Jim, Justin, Mark,  Levi , Ryan and Robot Bob. All of you are awesome!

People who don’t work in retail must get a lot of time off. Everyone’s got something special planned for December. I love the events, but I wish I had more time for them (although I haven’t been sick at all this winter and that’s been wonderful!).  We’ve been to some great parties, ginger bread house competitions, movies, family gatherings and there’s a ton more to go to.

Yeah, sometimes I wish time would just stop and everything would disappear so I could catch my breath. I’d better be careful though. Sometimes you get what you wish for… 

Posted December 19, 2010

2010 Home “Improvements”

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Once in awhile we wish we could go back in time and change a few things. A light switch here. Speaker wiring there. An additional electrical socket, a few more bedrooms, a whole different house. Just sometimes. But the truth is, we’ll be here for awhile (it would e a shame to uproot our kids). So, may as well make the best of it! We’ve done a lot o little makeover projects this year. Forgot about the return on investment- these improvements are just things to make us more comfortable.

Fran enlisted our neighbor, an interior decorator named  Stacy Slaney, to redesign our Master bedroom. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. The redesigned room is warm, comfortable and elegant.

Here are some pictures I borrowed from Stacy’s website. I like them better because they show the before & after. It’s a definite improvement!

Stacy also added  highlight walls in the kid’s rooms (pink in the girl’s, blue in the boys’).  She  also painted a wall downstairs in the kitchen/dining area with a dark sage.  The new colors really add a depth to house. Who knew painting a few walls could feel so good?

And heat tape. We did it for you. Each year water freezes in our gutters and starts to drip onto the entry walkway. This results in a thick patch of ice affectionately dubbed “the porch of death.” We finally did something about it. The heat tape melts the ice on the front portion of our roof and runs all the way through the front gutter system. Fingers crossed. We also had and electrical socket added on the eve so we could plug in Christmas lights. We should have done that when we built the house…

We also fixed our driveway (again). Around here most of the driveways were poured by Hadco. With a few exceptions they are all falling apart. Initially we complained so much that Hadco re-poured our driveway at cost (I think that was supposed to be a secret, but it was still a rip-off  so who cares?). Within a year it was falling apart again (not to mention sinking). So, this time we used a company called RepairCrete to resurface and seal the driveway. Fran had them do the front porch in red with a snazzy texture. It really turned out great. Now we’re anxious to see how this holds up during the winter. Is it too much to ask for a good driveway?

RepairCrete, Roof Heat Tape

Also of absolute riveting fascination:  ceiling fans!  The red one went in the basement (in place of a can light).  The other fan is in the office. It’s always too hot or too cold in there so a fan helps us regulate the temperature.  Man, I love ceiling fans.

In an earlier post I mentioned how my “man room” had become the new laundry room. Well, the laundry room finally became a mud room. Classy Closets came by and whipped us up a set of shelves that would put Ikea to shame (and don’t get me wrong- I love Ikea). It’s really nice to have a place to come in and take off shoes  and jackets. Plus there’s a ton of storage space for tools, cleaning supplies and what not.

And here’s a fun little side project. We redid our floors in granite. Okay, you got me. It was granite laminate. And it was Claire’s dollhouse. Fran disassembled it and moved it into the basement. Before reassembling it she wanted to recover the floor (you can clearly see why!). The project ended up taking three hours and I did my usual grumbling and complaining. This is a big dollhouse. Now we need to paint the  roof red. Or maybe just “lose” the roof.

And that’s about it for 2010 home improvements. In some ways it’s nice to stay in the same house for so long- you get settled in and you can start to make changes you want. And if you’re going to stay for a long time you don’t need to worry about resellability as much. Do things you like becuase you want them.

Posted December 05, 2010

Work: Store Update

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I really wanted to get our store finished before Cyber Monday hit. No such luck. Despite our bet efforts we didn’t quite make it. But I’m really excited about our progress!

We pushed our counters up closer to the door to make a more normal size store. This makes the area feel less intimidating and it keeps customers in the right area (believe me- if you don’t corral them they wander off to restricted areas and grope the products without shame).

We also started building out more shelves. There will  be about five times as much storage space  in the store once we’re done (we basically turned two thirds of it into a “classy” warehouse). Figuring the design took a long time and then building the shelves is taking even longer. I want to give a shout out to everyone at work who helped on this- I couldn’t have done it without you guys!

We’ve made some more progress that I will post in the upcoming days. I’m afraid that actually finishing the store will have to wait until there is a holiday lull. Or, possibly until next year. I hate waiting.

Posted November 29th, 2010

And then Cam was gone (?)

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The first Monday after Thanksgiving has been dubbed “Cyber Monday.” It’s the day that people typically start their online shopping. It’s real people. It’s very real. I just barley survived it. Sadly this marks the potion of the holiday season where the work is endless, the customer are relentless and it’s a mad race against the count down clock of Holiday doom. I love it and I hate it. Overall it was an amazing day for our company in many ways.

In any event, I typically disappear for about a month while we shovel our way through endless holiday orders. Time is sparse (ha, like it wasn’t before) but this year I’m determined to keep my head above the water. So far I haven’t slept at work, I haven’t gotten sick, we have our Christmas lights hung, the tree is up, our shopping is done and I’m cautiously optimistic that we may survive.  Maybe this will be the year that December doesn’t destroy me. Fingers crossed!

Posted November 29th, 2010

Other Fun Stuff…

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While I was in Disney Land I found this sweet  picture of Donald Duck as Boba Fett. Some things are just made to go together. Chocolate and peanut butter, milk and cookies and Star Wars and Disney. Anyone familiar with my hobbies will know that I collect “art” (for lack of a better word). The store at Disney Land wanted too much for the print so I got it on eBay and then had it re-framed. I have nowhere to put it, but I thought I should share the awesomeness.

A couple of months ago  I decided I should start reading again. It had been nearly a year since I polished off any books (the Twilight series was the last thing I read).  I decided to to start with  William Goldman’s “The Princess Bride.” I enjoyed the book. It fleshed out a lot of areas I felt the movie skimped on. Goldman’s humor is hit and miss, but works for the most part. The story is not quite the fairy tale the movie makes it out to be. Worth a read for sure.

The second book I read was Orson Scott Card’s “Pastwatch.” I’d had my eye on this book for a couple of years, but had never made the time. It’s a very well written account of what is essentially an alternate history. Some parts of the book are very intellectually disturbing and I enjoyed the way Card challenges our current complacency with acts of horror buried in the past. Another book I’d recommend (I generally enjoy Card’s work).

I’m current reading Tony Hsieh’s book “Delivery Happiness.” It’s an entertaining a history of his involvement with Zappos and the the creation of their well regarded business culture. So far so good.

I’ve also got my eye on a couple more business books but with the holidays coming up I’m afraid my reading time will be pretty limited. Still, I’m going to try to find time to squeeze in something. I had forgotten how much fun reading can be.

Posted November 20th, 2010

Physical Store Required

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The year was 2003. We had been running BladePlay for a few months and we wanted to get into some higher end cutlery. Our first two picks were Benchmade and Kershaw. We called them both and one of their first questions was, “Do you have a physical store?” We didn’t, and so our efforts were temporarily stonewalled. Later that year we moved from my home into our first warehouse in Orem, UT.

One of the first phone calls from the warehouse was to Benchmade. “Yes, we have a store.” The warehouse was 900 square feet, about 100 of which was a small front office. That office was “the store.”  Benchmade sales were brisk and things were going well.  And then one day our Benchmade rep, Campbell, called us. “Hey! I’m about fifteen minutes from your store.”

Fate was on our side that day. We had a customer in the warehouse at that very moment (Vaughn). With his help we literally carried the warehouse shelving into the front office and set up a “store.” We threw a desk in the corner and Jim manned the phone. “Browse!” I commanded Vaughn as Campbell pulled up.  As I opened the door to welcome Campbell the phone rang and Jim took the call. Campbell eyed our setup with warranted suspicion. There was a tense moment and then he finally shrugged. The store was good enough.

So why a store? Lost of brand name companies require that you have a physical (brick and mortar) store in order to carry their product line. Campbell explained that, in Benchmade’s case, it was a mechanism to ensure brand integrity. Benchmade doesn’t want people selling their knives out of a garage. Additionally, if you have a store it gives you a certain credibility. I can certainly see that angle. As an established knife retailer I’ve actually come to appreciate this requirement. It’s a barrier to entry. One layer of protection for those of us in the business already. But the walls are coming down.

Not all brands care if you have  a store. Many are readily available through distribution networks or from the manufacturer directly. And with Internet shopping become such  a dominant force many companies that “require” a storefront don’t really check anymore. Part of me wishes they would. I enjoy an equal playing field. A guy selling out of this garage doesn’t have the overhead of a guy who runs a full on store (my overhead is nearly $4000 a day). Still, despite the drawbacks of a store, they are really cool. Which brings me to our new store.

 We moved to our current location last July (2009- you can see the store we threw together here if you’d like). It wasn’t until this past week week (November 2010) that we decided to finally get things finished up. A store gives you power. It gives you legitimacy. It gives you bragging rights. It’s a lot of work, but I really think when we’re finished it’s going to be beautiful. The design came together pretty well. Once it’s finished I’ll be sure to post more pictures (some before and after).

I was reading “Delivering Happiness” the other day. I smiled when Tony was explaining how shoe manufactures required companies to have a physical store. Zappos ended up buying a local shoe business so they could carry the brands they needed. Our store has been a great tool. But when we allowed it to fall into disrepair it didn’t seem to matter (except to our egos). Maybe we’ve outgrown the need for a store (our brand has become reasonably well respected), but we’re going to have one! Stay tuned.

Box Cars & Drive in Movies

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You can read more about the kid’s Box Car Drive in adventure on Fran’s Blog (and see more pictures too).  Fran did a great job on these little cars. I hope one day our kids realize how lucky they were/are to have their mom. I did help paint the cars after the kids went to bed. The kids are kind of lucky to have me too.

Posted November 14, 2010

The Cornbelly Stalker

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Right before Disney Land we participated in our annual tradition of going to ConrBelly’s . We hit up this Thanksgiving Point attraction every October with a group of our friends.

Our agenda is eerily similar each year. Run around  for a bit, go through the “no left turn” mazes, pretend we’re going to play dodge ball, go through the corn maze, start throwing corn at each other, make bad corn jokes/puns (it’s a salt and buttery on the ears), give up and cheat our way out of the maze, go on a hay ride, play on the slides, and then curl up in the fetal position.

I confess that sometimes it seems like going will get old, but once I get there I have a great time. Sure, there’s some stalking and the conversation gets a bit corny. And someone always tries to cob a feel in the maize, but the corn jokes get butter and butter each ear. Good friends and corn… that’s all a man really needs to be happy. Shucks.

Posted November 09, 2010