What would you be willing to do for a $500k/year job?

I'm not planning on blogging about every lunch meeting that I have with clients, but a conversation that I had with a prospective client the other day proved too good to pass up.

I sat down with my client around noonish on Wednesday excited about partnering his organization with our services.  We spoke a bit about the Christmas season, the hustle and bustle of not having enough time and what our respective families were planning on doing over the next week.

After asking a series of pointed questions about his business operations over our delicious lunch, my client opened up further about the sectors and clients that they serve, their internal operations and their sales staff.  As a smaller subsidiary organization, their sales staff was small, but tenured.  He described his top sales guy as thus:  This man lived and breathed his job.  He worked long hours, saw his family very little, yet made a healthy living.  I asked, prying a little, what kind of 'healthy living' did he make.  He said with a straight face:  "upwards of $500,000 per year."  "Really," I said and instantly the cogs in my head started to churn...even hum a little.  "Yeah...He's been with the company for over 30 years and is looking to retire soon."  My face may have gotten a little red, white or green (who can tell, it's Christmas!)  For some reason, the movie Tommy Boy started playing in my head.  I started thinking further about what a move like that would entail, what sacrifice it may demand, what benefits, long-term and short-term, a move like that would make in my life.

That got me to thinking today.  What would you be willing to do if someone offered you a job that paid upwards of $500,000/year?

Pixie Pop Appreciation

Wednesday night, my wife expressed some exasperation about Thursday.  "I've got Gabe and Rowan's Christmas parties at school; I've got 300 cake pops to make; I've got a ton of running around to do; Martha Stewart and I are brainstorming to solve the problems of the world's homemakers @ 4pm, ect, " she said.

"Well, I guess I could call off work...Would that help?"  That simple question would prove a daysaver for my lovely bride and a whole new perspective for me.

Rarely do I get the opportunity to spend time alone with my youngest daughter Rowan.  Between the demands of the older kids, Rowan somehow gets less 'daddy time.'  Mainly, in part, because she's just the littlest voice out of the 4 kids.  I recognize this and am trying to work on spending more time with my little Tweety Bird; so, taking the day off and having the opportunity to go to her preschool's Christmas party was a treat for both of us!  

I sometimes forget how cute 4 year olds are.  When I arrived at the school, the kids were sitting on the 'listening rug' 'listening' to a story from Mrs. Putnam.  I snuck in and Rowan didn't see me; she was in the front row looking up bright-eyed at the story book.  I picked a mini-seat at one of the round tables where there lay a litany of goodies waiting to be devoured.  When Rowan turned around after the story and saw me there, her little heart sprang with joy--and so did mine :)  We spent the next 45 minute eating our reindeer sandwiches, cookies and Christmas chocolates together.  She's cuter than I can describe.

Flash forward a couple hours later.  My wife and her business partner were in our kitchen preparing their Pixie Pop( https://www.facebook.com/#!/pixiepopshop ) orders for their customers for the week.  After being an observer for a while, I asked invitingly,"Is there anything I can do to help?"  Boy, was I in for a 'treat.'  After a long washing of hands, I was subsequently instructed over the course of the next couple hours (8 to be exact) to roll balls, help decorate snowmen, reindeer, santa clauses and to add meticulous details to what seemed to be limitless Pixie Pops.  By 11pm (when we finished), I was exhausted and wondering how my wife does this day in and day out.

Okay, I've figured it out: my wife is an amazing woman.  If you ever get to know her, she's better than what you expect.  She always surprises me about how good she is.  She's sweet and kind-hearted.  She's thoughtful.  She cares about people, especially her kids.  She endlessly gives of her time freely to better others.  She serves without regard for recognition.  She's fun to be around and has a warm, approachable personality.  Needless to say, after 8 hours of Pixie Pops, I was Pixie pooped; but I certainly learned, even if it was in microcosm, how much my wife does on a daily basis and how much I appreciate her unrelenting goodness.

Eat yourself into friendship...

Today, I had lunch with a client (name withheld) to talk about how partnering with my organization would not only help solve a ton of their company's current issues, but would provide an incredible value proposition to the development of their staff.  The man I had lunch with was the consomate professional; intelligent, business savvy, incredibly knowlegable across competencies and very social.

He walked into the restaurant just as I was about to be seated.  From the moment we sat down, we talked...and talked and talked.  After our appetizer of black bean soup (with cilantro & a dollup of sour cream), we talked more.  Somewhere in between the Cobb salad bleu cheese crumbles and his glass of Coca-Cola, we solidified a partnership...I wager a friendship.  We spoke further about our families, his company's infrastructure, my son's disabilities, his company's new EDS system implementation, his plans for Christmas, our potential solutions to some of their issues.  You see the pattern. 

But something odd occurred as he ate his key lime pie and sipped his coffee.  For a brief moment, I saw into the complex life of this dad of 3/Corporate Director of LD/husband/on-the-side marriage prep counselor.  In the complex waves of life, there are those moments that seem to explain something that you can't put into words.  I know it sounds weird, but I felt like after a nice 90 minute lunch that I had known this man for my whole life. 

We shook hands a couple times before we both went to our respective cars and left to go back to our respective places of work.  The lunch meeting that we had was a success.  I was able to reestablish and solidify a relationship with a company that we'll be partnering with for the next year on multiple projects.  But more importantly, I feel wiser having met another really good human being trying to do what's right in his 'world.'  The world may be falling apart around us, but wow, there still are really great people trying to hold this place together.

What does a Catholic Christmas Program and Michael Jackson have in common?

I'm not Catholic.  My grandparents on my mother's side, my in-laws and my sister-in-law are.  I've been exposed to Catholicism most of my life, mainly from working in a festival booth during my summers from when I was 10 years old till about my 16th year of existence.  I used to work for a man named Walter Griggs who always had a hint of b.o. and typically had flem crusted on the corners of his mouth.  My mother and I would work his 'Dog Race' on the weekends and I'd make about $200 for 3 days of work.  Not bad for a 12 year old needing cash.  I digress.  Most of my experience with Catholicism was influenced by all the church festivals that I'd work at.  The pungent smell of that dog race and spilt beer comes to mind immediately. 
This week, my sister-in-law invited us to go to St. Mary's Church Christmas Program.  I thought, well, I've been to a lot of church festivals... So, today we went.  I loved it!  The church was gorgeous, the people were well dressed and the music was beautiful.  They broke up the program with scripture reads and musical interludes and solos.  It was really festive and I think we've found a new tradition.
Yeah, I'm not Catholic and I never will be (I'm a Mormon for crying out loud), but I really enjoyed the Christmas spirit that I felt tonight in that beautiful church.  It was a lot better than one of those polka/beer tent/bingo night extravaganzas of past adolescent memory.  So, thank you sister-in-law for inviting us!  It was very special.

**Side note** When we arrived, they handed out candles for the first part of the program to which they were lit and we sat there by candlelight for the first 20 minutes of the program.  During that time, my son Jude was holding the candle (stellar parenting skills on my part, I know).  He managed, during the 5 minutes that he was holding the candle, to cinge the front part of his bangs, not a little.  Afterward, his siblings, once they found out about his Michael Jackson incident, started singing made-up songs about this hair being cinged on the way home.  Funny memory for sure.

From this angle you notice 2 things: First you notice that Jude's mouth is missing another tooth.  Second, you can see his cinged hairs in plain view.

My new found justification for blogging...

After a ton of flip flopping, I've decided that I need to start blogging.  My reasons are simple:

1. I'm jealous of my friends that have started blogging with success--true story
2. I come across fun, crazy, inspired and unbelievable pieces of information all the time that I want to share in one place, not Facebook
3. I want to start a small cult following
4. I need a way to document & communicate who I am at this stage in life to my kids, like a makeshift journal
5. I need a place to put all my random thoughts & feelings before the scrutiny of others-- I'm a glutton for punishment

Disclaimer: This will not be the best blog you've ever read.  However, my hope is that you surf away a little different than when you surfed in.