Doing Business

In my forty years on this earth I have owned a number of businesses and I have worked as an independent for a number of companies.

Starting at the age of eight to about the age of fifteen I sold Christmas cards, baked goods, candles, candy and even jewelry from FingerHut. That last one didn’t turn out too well. The friend with whom I partnered spent all the money he had collected from our customers and never ordered the jewelry. Yeah, he had to pay it all back.

I remember going to the library and getting how-to books on everything from worm farms to macrame. I had grandiose ideas as a kid. It was the start of my burgeoning entrepreneurial spirit that lives today.

I am now a successful Wedding and Portrait Photographer in the Virginia Beach, Virginia area, but I haven’t gotten to where I would like to be yet. I am still setting and working to achieve new goals.

With the advent of the Internet and the accompanying technologies, starting a business is easier, but getting the business name and face out there takes just as much time as it ever has. I have to constantly pass out my business cards and flyers and business information to all who have the slightest bit of interest in photography services. But I wouldn’t change a thing. I love the hustle and bustle of doing business.

Susannah’s First Trip to the Beach

My niece turned 22 today. We met down at their new apartment near the Virginia Beach boardwalk to celebrate her life. She is married and enjoying it with her husband and best friend.

We decided to go down to the boardwalk and get something from Dairy Queen. Susan and I had forgotten Susannah’s stroller, so we drove down a bit earlier, parked at one of the parking garages and walked down while carrying Susannah in our arms.

We sat at one of the boardwalk benches to enjoy the cool ocean breezes and introduce Susannah to life in Virginia Beach when a woman walked up to us.

Seeing a couple with a newborn down at the beach was a bit unusual, so that was sort of expected, but I noticed right away that she was the homeless gal who actually helped pose one of my portrait models the year before. She got right into my photo session then and she seemed to be in a better frame of mind then. Now I could tell that she was probably a bit tipsy or drunk or something. I don’t know, maybe not, but she was slurring her words. She had on a t-shirt that had seen better days and baggy shorts.

Through a clear slurring of her words, she told us a number of stories about her family and things that had happened to her family. To my shame, I just didn’t trust what she was saying. I have no idea if any of it was true, but I still felt bad about feeling that way.

My wife is such a kind person that she spoke to this gal and treated her with such kindness and compassion. I was skeptical of her stories. My wife asked if we could pray with her for her family. We lifted her and her family up before the Lord, and we will continue to do so. Because of my wife Susan, I have more compassion for that woman.

I look at this homeless gal and I look at my niece and I see such radical stories. How did it happen to Terra that she is living on the street now? Has she ever been offered help? Has she ever been to drug rehab? Does she have a drug or drinking problem?

I am thankful for Katie’s growth as a woman and wife, but I am also thankful for Terra, the homeless woman I met. Her life is just as valuable as anyone else’s life. And I would love to see her lifted up and out of the mire of her life. Lord, I pray that she would get the help that she needs through whatever means necessary. Amen.

My First Overnight Trip…

My day job calls for travel about once a month overnight travel down to northern Florida. I don’t mind it too much, but I was glad to not go anywhere far in March, the first month of our daughter Susannah’s life. And Susan has been glad that I didn’t travel during that time either. It is a whole lot of work…for two people!

I have learned a lot with regard to traveling and traveling light. When I go on my work trips, I take one piece of luggage and my laptop. I actually broke the rules by bringing my camera bag with me in February. What a pain! The security staff pulled me all apart because of my camera bag. I have learned my lesson and I am not doing that this time. I will take my portable hard drive and place it my carry-on piece of luggage, I will have my laptop, and that is it. They’ll still tear me apart I’m sure, but at least it won’t take as long.

What Will She Be Like?

I would love to know right now what kind of personality Susannah will have. That way I can already start preparing for how best to encourage and strengthen her as a person. Yes, there are many different types of forecasting software for the financial and corporate world, but nothing for humans. Or are there?

There are some helps in this arena.

I can look at myself and my wife. Who are we? What are our personalities? And how to we act around Susannah? My wife is the more balanced one and I work on that in my life. I can tend toward chaotic.

I can read personality books. There are some great ones too. “Parent’s Answer Book”, by James Dobson is one good one.  “The Birth Order Book”, by Kevin Leman is another good one.

I can look at how Susannah is acting and reacting even now as an infant.

And I can read the most important personality book of all: The Bible, God’s Holy Word. In it are the words for life.

Maybe I don’t need fancy human forecasting software after all.

With Great Gifts Comes Great Responsibility

I have wanted to play golf now since the beginning of Spring. I am itching to get out there and walk the fairways, smell the fresh cut grass and watch a flop shot drop so quietly on the green. But I have to remember: I have new responsibilities now. I have not only my wife to take care of but our new daughter Susannah to care for.

I have wanted to buy some new golf clubs since I bought my last new set in 2001. I feel like it is about time to replace and get a “new-to-me” set of irons. But again, now that Susan is taking care of Susannah and doing the job that is the most important job for our family right now, I have to watch everything that comes into the household as income.

I want I want I want! Stop it, Ted. Always got to beat down the “old man”.

Timeshare Experiences

Susan and I got a call from a timeshare company in Williamsburg, VA called Parkside Resort. They offered us two “free” round-trip tickets and four pieces of luggage to listen to their presentation. Why not?!

We went this past Saturday up to Williamsburg, heard the presentation and we were honestly impressed. We were quite close to signing up because I really like the whole timeshare idea and the price for vacationing over the long haul gets to be pricey anyway. Why not get a deeded piece of property to go along with a vacation? And with an affiliation with RCI, we can go just about anywhere. We could get into a Orlando vacation home, a Swiss vacation property or anything in between if we wanted. Alas, we decided that with a new baby daughter, we needed to hold off on the big purchase and wait a bit longer. We had prayed and asked for God’s guidance, and He gave it to us. We chose to wait. We will do it at some point, but not yet.

One good option is going through ebay to get a timeshare from a reseller. You can pick up a timeshare for very cheap.

What Should I Do With My Life? Play Golf and Bond with Dad!

It was April of 1996, a year after finally achieving my Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Music, and I was still unsure of my direction in life. After all that schooling and spent money, I still didn’t know what I could really do with my degree. I was frustrated and wondering and I needed to take my mind off my present situation. Easter weekend was upon us, so I went home to Cadillac, MI to hang out and have dinner with my family.

My dad and I had an interesting relationship. If we talked about anything other than golf or gambling we would butt heads. This was one of the good weekends. Since it was Masters weekend, we were in hog heaven and getting along handsomely. We were watching the final round of the Masters, the year of the colossal collapse of Greg Norman. Nick Faldo won that year, but all I can remember is how difficult it was to watch Greg Norman fall apart.

Unlike Greg, this was a very good weekend for me because I felt accepted by my dad. Not just because we were communicating well, but because of what I decided to then and there.

“You know, I wonder if I could get into the golf business. You know, just work in a shop and get into the business side of golf.”

My dad seriously shocked me. “That is a good idea. You should look into that. That is a great idea.”

Wow. My dad never thinks my ideas are good let alone great.

A week later, I had a job as an Assistant Golf Professional at Maple Hill Golf Club under Jim Ransberger outside of Saginaw, MI. Crazy, I know, but I just began making the calls starting Monday. I hunted down the job, and with God’s help of course and I got it. I was pumped up!

That winter I headed down to Orlando, Florida to continue my golf career. Rodney and Tina Porteous had made the move down there earlier that year, and they offered me a room for a month until I got on my feet.

I knew I was not there for Disney. No Kissimmee vacation for me. I was there to work and continue my new golf career.

After working for a month and a half with a Rent-A-Center place, I got the call I was waiting for. I interviewed with Metro West Country Club and got the job. I was there to pull carts out in the morning and push them back in the evening and carry clubs for the players to the first hole and pick up range balls, but I was excited. What an opportunity!

Three weeks into the job I got a call from Chad, my oldest brother. I knew that whenever I got a call from him something was wrong. He said our dad had been diagnosed with liver cancer. It was the third time he had gotten the hideous disease, and that was the last time. He died April 29, 1997.

But I hold dear the time my dad and I bonded over my golf career. He was so very proud of me because of that, and I was like a kid again relishing in his love and encouragement. That last year with my dad was the best year I ever had with him and for all the garbage we went through, it was worth it to get to it.

I Need a Stick of Memory

Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to boost our memory banks like we do with computers? Slap an extra stick of memory into the back of my head and I am good to go. I find that as I get older, and as I gather more and more memories, I find that I have to scramble a bit more to remember certain things. Names of people that I have known for years slip my mind. Of course, when I do not see the person for a year in between, I guess that has something to do with it, but I hate that!

I used to work for Reynolds Web Solutions as a Web Designer, and Steve was the owner of an ecommerce software company. He ended up working with us for almost two years and I got to know Steve pretty well. Others knew him as “the smoking man”. He spent a good amount of time in front of the building smoking.

Steve left Reynolds and I didn’t see him for about two or three years.  He shows up at my cubicle three or four months ago and I can’t remember his name. “Uh, Um, hi, how you doing!?” He knew I had forgotten his name. I know I hadn’t seen him for a long time, but that drives me crazy!

If I could just buy some computer memory for the human mind, that would be nice.

Emergency! We Have No Batteries!

Being a new Dad, I am thinking more and more about the safety of my family. Before I was married, of course it was only me. I was worried about only me, and that was not too much. Life is radically different now. And I love it!

Have you ever had an occasion where you needed your cell phone desperately, but your cordless phone battery went dead? Do they call it a cordless phone anymore? Well, anyway, I have faced the situation recently. I was off somewhere for a couple days, I had forgotten my charger and I did not have a spare battery for my phone. I had to make a call and then shut it off. I do not like having my phone off. There is no way to tell who is calling. Drives me nuts.

Yes, I am a techno-junkie. I am a product of the Internet and instant contact society. I actually love being in constant contact for some reason. I may have to get therapy for that.

What about other spare batteries for your camera, important medical equipment, flashlights or all the other variety of items that need batteries. Living near the Chesapeake Bay of Virginia, we get storms. Sometimes hurricanes. I want to be prepared when the time comes.

Saving Our Pennies and Nickels and Dimes and Quarters

I am not sure when I decided to make it a habit of throwing my loose change into a jar and letting it accumulate, but I have built up quite a heavy canister of change. I used to first separate the pennies from the other coins to make it easier when I went to exchange them. And pennies are just a pain. Yes, I know that they are still a necessary evil, but they are a pain nonetheless.

My dad was a shop teacher for 29 years, but he also taught high school classes in working with metals and welding. I remember one of his projects was a simple metal container in which to save coins. The interesting feature? No holes from which to retrieve the coins. My dad made one for himself and when the container was full, he pulled out his hacksaw and cut off a corner. It worked. He would have enough in coins for him and my stepmom to take a weekend vacation.

I would like to get a coin sorter for my coins so when my bucket is full, I can quickly just sort of them out. And I won’t have to pay a percentage of my treasure to the coinstar people, not that there is anything wrong with that…:)