Sounds like a real downer Amp. Hopefully you'll appreciate a new identity soon. It's no fun looking at the past for identity. Been there, done that. Just holds you back.

I avoided the RVP visit :) Preparing for my flight to Cali tomorrow morning. I fly to Houston for a lay over then a 4hr flight. My seat was booked in the back middle seat. At 6'1" I was not looking forward to that! So I spent $70 to upgrade to what is really a normal seat coded as "Premium Coach" and I managed to score an aisle seat :)

It's going to be low 60 out there. I'll be just a couple miles from Newport Beach. I'm planning to rent a car so I can explore. I'll have 2 nights free. I suppose I could mingle with other GM's as there will be a couple dozen there. But I really don't feel like it. I'd rather cruise the shoreline. Maybe find a neat place to eat dinner.

I'm using "Turo" which is like Airbnb but for cars. I'm looking to rent a 2013 Mustang for $32/day with 300 free miles or a 2014 BMW class 3 for $35.

Lots of really good deals.

You're probably getting hit with the winter storm SG. It hit me yesterday. Got a few inches out of it. They was followed by a cold front which sparked lake effect snow off lake Erie for another few inches. Between the two, we got a foot of snow. Super pretty. I love the stuff. In fact, I saved my arrends yesterday until it started snowing heavy :)

Alright guys. Be safe. Make today count because tomorrow will just be today again. If you want an awesome tomorrow get a jump on it by having a great day today.

Peace

Have a great trip Inc. Hope it goes well!

I've signed up for a painting group. I used to paint before my kids were born so I'm going to try to get back into it. It's something I used to find very relaxing and I want to do something creative which allows me to disconnect. Running used to be good for me in that regard (disconnecting) but I'm not sure I'll be able to do that anymore. Friday was the first day and the 3 hours flew by so I'm looking forward to next week!

Hope you guys are keeping well! Have a great week!

It's great that you are taking up painting again Amp! It sounds like a nice alternative to running.

"Premium Coach" sounds like an oxymoron Inc. Missed the RVP visit-that's funny. It's cool that you are planning to see the sights in California. Hanging around with other management types just means lot of drinking. My last conference out of state with fellow management types, I went to dinner with a handful and then retired back to my hotel and got a good nights sleep while most were out late partying. Don't miss those days at all.

We just had a three day panic of people hoarding food like they would be snowed in for a month. The storm basically went north of us, and we just got a ton of rain. The governor banned commercial vehicles from the highway for a day, so we missed a couple of deliveries. We are pretty picked over now. It's a whole 11 degrees this morning, with minus 20 chill factor. 65 degrees sounds good Inc. Have a good time. California is so immense. I spent two weeks out there years ago and barely scratched the surface of things to see.

I took my daughter to see a jaw dropping acoustic guitar player last night, Tommy Emmanuel, Aussie guitarist extraordinaire. He somehow can play harmony, melody and rhythm all at the same time. I'm certain that you guys, Amp and Dee, are familiar with him. If you get the chance, go see him. Being far more musically knowledgeable than myself, I am sure you guys would be impressed with his amazing techniques. He will be touring England and the Netherlands in a couple months, then will be playing a couple weeks in Australia.

Crowd was mostly in the 30-60 range, with a smattering of older hippies thrown in. It was nice seeing music in which everyone was there to be awed by the artist, and not to party. I hope my musical 13 year old daughter will remember this night for the rest of her life, even if she is tired in school today!

Tommy Emmanuel is absolutely amazing! So jealous you got to see him live!

I learned to play his version of Day Tripper. Took me a month and not even half as fluent as him!!!😂

I used my accumulated gift cards and bought myself a guitar yesterday. I picked up a Yamaha FG 800. It really was the best sounding guitar in my price range. The action is much lower than my beater guitar, the fret board more narrow like an electric guitar, and the strings are lighter. And the sound is amazing to my ears. It will make chord change practice more enjoyable!

I used to have a Yamaha 12 string. Great sounding guitar. I stepped on it and totalled it one night when I was drunk.

Hope your Yamaha experience is smoother than mine was, SG. Mine really was a good guitar and there's nobody to blame for its premature demise but myself!

I can't imagine how you must have felt after trashing your 12 string while drunk. I am sure that even that did not make you think that perhaps you had a problem with drinking. I always wrote things like that off as just "really bad luck" or fate. Did you ever buy another 12 string Amp?

I put it down to "really bad luck" at the time, of course... I never got another. Not yet anyway....

Tommy's a great guitarist. I knew his brother better - met him a couple of times. He was great too but sadly no longer with us.

D

Hello guys! Just a quick check in.

Inc, did you have a good time while out in California? Hopefully, you missed the brutal cold hitting us now. It was zero here this morning!

Amp, I think of you every time Brexit news hits the airwaves. The parallels between are countries are unbelievable. I hope your business is doing well. Are you planning to hopefully make a go of it again next fall?

Not much going on here except trying to raise two teenagers and strumming my guitar in my downtime.

Take care!

Well, it's going ok here. Business is solid this year. Not going to make us rich but turning a small profit which we're hoping to build on. A few ups and downs. Had a tough week this week. A student made a complaint about one of the teachers. I spoke to everyone involved and other kids in the class and I don't think there's anything in it but the parents got quite aggressive and threatening. I don't always love my job!

The guitar player in my band's wife came out as an alcoholic last week and, as I'm the only other alcoholic they know I was asked over for a chat. Pretty tough. I was a helpful as I could be but, as you guys know, this is a long road. Hope she makes it. A bit sad.

January!!! Always just that bit too long! Nearly done now though :)

Cali was overall good. Sure wish I could have spent more than one day there. I had many more hours in an airplane or an airport than I had on the ground in Cali. Didn't help we had delays with our first flight since something was frozen on our plane.

SG... Yay! You got a guitar! Sooo cool man. *High Five*

Amp.. Yay! Your baby is turning a profit! Sooo cool man. *High Five *

Inc, are you all pumped now after the big meeting? Did the big boys roll out a new plan to combat Amazon? Sometimes, I wonder about the expense to fly so many people across the country for a day of meetings. Smarter folks than us making those decisions I guess!

Honestly? Meh.

Amazon? Gonna be tough, but I think Staples can hold it's own as they
take advantage of niches. Unfortuntaley, I don't see that as a viable long term solution.

I thought the same on travel. They flew out 106 GM's. Just the stores that are low profit. My plane ticket was $600. We also got our own rooms (HR issue apparently) at a very nice hotel. Prolly $100 per night corp rate? Food. X 106 + all field support (DM's and up where there) + Corp peeps. Suuuper expensive.

At least my company buys all of our office supplies from your company Inc. I love actually seeing everything that's available in your store, things you didn't know you needed until you see them. Where I live, we used to basically have an office supply store in every shopping center. Now, the nearest is probably five or six miles away, and I live in a densely populated white collar area. I hope your company can hold its ground.

Amp, those kinds of situations must be so emotionally draining. I hope things move along and the truth comes out for all to see.

We actually hit 65 degrees here yesterday. It was magnificent to feel the warm sun on my face for a few minutes, especially after surviving zero degree temps last week. Probably won't see that warmth again for months.

Have a good day all!

Hey guys. I'm at the social security office trying to get some paperwork in order (the joys of being self employed) so I thought I'd check in in my phone while waiting for my number to be called.

I've recently discovered a new area for personal growth which I'm really enjoying. As a teenager and young adult I was quite a keen painter. I was always quite good at art and drawing, but never quite good enough to consider it professionally. Last weekend I went on an art course with a local painter called Cecilio Chaves. He does a lot of roof top and street scenes in my local area. I was amazed at what those of us on the course were able to produce with (actually not too much) guidance from a professional. Even people who had never painted anything before achieved really good results. I'm very excited about this weekend because I'll be able to dedicate a bit of time to painting!

A few years ago I would just have been looking forward to getting wasted without the obstacle of having to keep it tight for work! How far we have come :)

How's the guitar going SG? And the keyboard, Inc? I seriously think we should put a track together in which we all play. We can record our parts from different parts of the world and put it together in a studio. Maybe See could do the bass! Just need a sober drummer! 😊

That's sweet Amp! How cool is that!
Keyboard...it's in my way more than anything :/ At this rate, I would sign me up for the drums and look for a keyboard player ;)

Yea SG...Staples was split up when it went private. The most profitable portion is Business Advantage. Staples is the #1 business supplier in the world I believe? Prolly wrong. Too tired to look up. Either way...BIG business. I have faith that they'll keep retail as part of the plan because the stores can ride the wave created by Staples Business Advantage.

I am confident we'll see more store closings after 2019 though. Maybe during the year? The message from corp is "2019 is critical".