Strip it Down

Feeling overwhelmed?
Voices in your head getting you worried or depressed ?
Strip it Down ... What is most important to you ? And especially- WHO is more important to you ?
Answer that and strip away the rest of it - the noise- the negative- the pressure.
Most times our pressure is self inflicted and most times it is work related or because we allow what “others” say or do to get in our heads.
Strip it Down
It is NOT about the money or the titles I promise you it is not.
The best way to get even or revenge to those that hate or push or want to create their own clicks is to not allow THEM to effect you- do not let them win. You have the power all along so use it, remember who and what is most important to you and focus on that.
Being Rich is having less and wanting less and living in the present!

62

I have been on this earth 62 years today !

I really do not remember much of the first 10 years and spattered memories of the next 5 or so.

Growing up mostly in the 60’s and 70’s I remember walking to the candy store about 4 miles from my home when I was very young, like 11 or so. I walked to a catholic school for the first to third grade also about 4 miles from my home. We played a lot of outdoor sports in the neighborhood, we had woods behind us so we also built a lot of tree forts, we would go to our friends on the street and knock on doors to come out and play and spent many hours just sitting on the front steps or someone’s picnic table. A friends dad had a garden so some summer days we would sit on his picnic table in his back yard and pick a tomato, wash it off  under the faucet and eat it like an apple...delicious! 

We would have fights, makeup and someone would fight again, we slept out in back yards in tents and under the stars. My friends had dogs and they went everywhere with us, bandit and Teddy.

We had our first beers out in the woods and some experienced sex , at probably too young an age in some of outdoor forts in the woods.

We played card games, mostly pitch, high low jack but poker and rummy too sitting outside on picnic tables.

We listened to Sox on the radio sometimes in our yards and played home run derby in a cemetery of all places, they had a huge field in between tomb stones.

Scouts came into my life at 11 and I stated in till I was 16, making the rank of Eagle and loving going camping, my Eagle project was planning a 50 mile hike and picking up trash along the way.

My first job was dishwasher for Newport Creamery at 16 and I met my first girlfriend there and bought my first car, a 1967 convertible Camaro I bought from my Aunt, wish I had it today.

My next job was stocking shelves at a shoe store below the Newport Creamery, I worked both jobs for a while. The manager of the shoe store and I got along very good and he gave me a shot at selling shoes at around 17 years old , at 19 I was his assistant manager and at 21 I became the youngest manager of the retail store Baker Shoes for the Edison Bros chain.

It was at Bakers that I met my wife, Lisa, she worked at the clothing store across from my store, she came in to make believe borrow a screwdriver to check out my assistant but kinda liked me instead, we were married 5 months after that and we are going on 39 years.

Retail was going to start opening on Sundays and I refused to work Sundays, thought that was a day for family and we wanted to start a family so after 3 successful years at Bakers I left for Honeywell to dispatch servicemen for heating and air conditioning buildings in the New England area, had a great supervisor and learned a lot but the branch was in East Providence RI and the home office was in Minneapolis and I preferred to work for a place that the owner actually knew me, I did not want to be just a number. 

Enter Paul Arpin Van Lines, in 1985 I joined Arpin as a dispatcher , moving household goods across the country. I worked my way up eventually to Senior Vice President of Operations, when I started they did around 7 million dollars a year and when I left in 2016 they did over 100 million domestically... it was a fun ride and I made many friends all over the country.

Lisa and I married in 1981, 2 kids that had no money and no idea of the future , all we knew is that we loved each other and enjoyed being with each other, we bought our first house ( with no money) in 1982 and had our first child, Jillian in 1983 followed by our son in 1988.

We loved each other and danced and read books and have nothing but great memories of the growing up years, fast forward and today Jillian is married to a wonderful man, Joe, and have beautiful son Gus. My son is married to a beautiful lady, Angela and have the cutest son, Luca and a baby girl on its way.

I still enjoy spending time with my wife and my family and my Sundays!

Not bad for having no plan - I am living proof that if you believe in love and trust and always try to do your best and help others - anything is possible.

I love my Life

I love my Wife

Enjoying the Ride 

Kind

Always choose Kind
Questioning what to do ?
Worrying about how to answer a contentious email ?
How do you react to the hate?
Always choose Kind !

Dirty Laundry

I make my living off the evening news
Just give me something-something I can use
People love it when you lose,
They love dirty laundry

Well, I coulda been an actor, but I wound up here
I just have to look good, I don't have to be clear
Come and whisper in my ear
Give us dirty laundry

Kick 'em when they're up
Kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up
Kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up
Kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up
Kick 'em all around

We got the bubble-headed-bleach-blond
Who comes on at five
She can tell you 'bout the plane crash with a gleam in her eye
It's interesting when people die
Give us dirty laundry

Can we film the operation?
Is the head dead yet?
You know, the boys in the newsroom got a running bet
Get the widow on the set!
We need dirty laundry

You don't really need to find out what's going on
You don't really want to know just how far it's gone
Just leave well enough alone
Eat your dirty laundry

Dirty little secrets

Dirty little lies
We got our dirty little fingers in everybody's pie
We love to cut you down to size
We love dirty laundry

We can do "The Innuendo"
We can dance and sing
When it's said and done we haven't told you a thing
We all know that Kraft is king
Give us dirty laundry!

Lyrics by Don Henley

Who are You ?

If you had to sum up Who you Are - what would you say ?
A friend
A dad
A teacher
A husband
A wife
A mom
I would help that most of you would not sum yourself up or describe yourselves as a great worker or employee.
Being good at your job and doing your very best is essential to growth but it should be the summation of YOU or who YOU are.
Your work is a part of you, a part of your life and it should give you the opportunity to help others and know other people and allow you to learn more about yourself through the people around you and how you approach your responsibilities.
All of that helps create YOU but at the very end - how do you want to be remembered?
Who are you ?

See Below

I have a few “pet peeves”  in business

One would be people that do not answer a email or text , that is just plain disrespectful. You should answer every correspondence in a timely manner, if you do not know the answer or are too busy for a complete response at least let the person know that you have received their inquiry and are working on it and will get back with them shortly... and then be sure to get back with them.

My other “pet peeve” is - See Below...
That is when someone forwards you a email chain and simply says- SEE BELOW-
Now you are suppose to start reading from the bottom of the email chain to read all exchanges to piece together just what you are suppose to be looking for.
Can you get more lazy?
At least summarize at the top what it is exactly you are asking or wanting help or answers on, if you want to send the email chain for content fine but please do not just FORWARD with -
See Below.

These are both plain common courtesies in business and in life.
Take the time to be a good partner or co employee or just a respectful person, we are all busy and have days that can get away from us so do not use the excuse of you were too busy.

Everything is habit... get in exercise of good habits and stop being lazy !

My choice

Because it is my choice to not try to yell louder then you does not make you right or me weak.
It is my choice.
Too many people today think that bullying means you are tough or believe if you make fun of somebody you can “win”.
I happen to think that it just makes you look weak and small and I chose to not play in that sandbox.
I absolutely enjoy a debate, a civil conversation on any subject, Music, history, politics, sports and much more , what I do not enjoy is the my way or the highway attitude.
Debate is good, listening to people you may not agree with is good , what is not good is drawing lines and if you cross it you are the enemy.
Humans are tribal to begin with, I get it but befriending other tribes is not only smart , it is essential to being a better you.