She Understands!!!!!!!!!

I have stated many times throughout my blogs and at store level one very important thought.
I try to create a environment that inspires happiness, relaxation, spirit, or whatever it takes to make it a pleasurable experience. While everyone has to be treated different, I only hope I am able to make my customers understand what my store is truly about. Some people do get it while many others never have and never will. There is one woman who I think understands my store better than anyone else. Elizabeth Carson. Between her spirit, nature, and general demeanor, she emulates the true Hilton's Haven experience. This became even more evident today when she handed me the following letter copied here in its exact text.
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A Note to Make This World A Better Place!
To those of you who can't find anything nice to say:
I recently moved to the Laurelhurst district from Gresham, and still, every day, I drive to Hilton's Haven to get a Rockstar energy drink. After reading the latest posting on the window, I was VERY compelled to write this. If you don't have anything nice to say, Don't say anything at all! There are a plethera of Seven-Elevens and Plaid Pantry's in Gresham and Portland, but yet you choose Hilton's Haven for a reason. For me it's the friendly service and the price. If you want to complain about something, think before you speak: These guys are working hard so that my life is a little better. Why would you want to give them a hard time? Do you want me to come to your work and complain to you? No! so, please let up on them.
Oh, and on a side note: I am a young female feminist, and "rule #5" makes me laugh. Part of feminism is being proud of being a woman and being proud of your body. Think of it this way: my chest has the power to put men in a trance, now go out and use your female power to do what you please. And if you're a guy, just admit you'd want to see a chicks chest if you had the chance! Friend and Supporter of HH's since 2005!
Elizabeth Carson
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I just wanted to say thanks for understanding what my store is about, but more importantly, thank you for being a part of making it what it is. Without people like you, I would never enjoy coming to work each day. You make it all worthwhile!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just feel like bitching!!!

Every once in a while you just feel like bitching. While I really don't have a lot to complain about, I decided to whine about some of the things that have pissed me off in the last month. There is no rhyme or reason, just random thoughts. First of all, the next girl who offers me a pinky swear runs the risk of losing it. Evidentally the universal definition of a pinky swear does not apply to females. Second of all, I'm sick and tired of people saying, "I haven't seen you in a while, where have you been? I work close to 60 hours a week inside and almost live at the store, to which they reply, "well I moved to the other side of town." I don't know why, but that really chaps my hide. Third, if you are coming in for a job, please don't bring in a irritating, obnoxious, friend with you. NOT SMART!!!!! Fourth, telling me to "keep the change" when it is a penny, "I'm a big tipper," is funny the first time, not every fucking time you buy a cup of coffee, which is every morning, five days a week, four weeks a month, twelve months a year. JOKE OVER!!!! Fifth, no kid should ask for a dum dum the day after trick or treating. Sixth, when I get mad at you for throwing your Black and Mild wrapper in my parking lot at tell you,
"that is real fucking classy, maybe I should throw my trash in your car" please come up with a better excuse than "I'm sorry it's just habit." Seventh, when I ID you in your car, and you don't have it, please don't check your glove department, then your center console, hoping a magic license might appear. In the last 6 years, no one has pulled one out of there, and I don't see it happening anytime soon. Eighth, and I apologize for the insincerity of this one because I understand and feel bad for everyone who has watched prices go through the roof in there life, but please don't tell me what you used to pay for a pack of Chesterfields when you were a kid, because A: I've heard it a billion times. B: I have no control over the prices C: the store owners were also running of a higher margin in "Those Days" and D: It's always a boring conversation. I promise to spare you all a recap of game five of my last tennis match in exchange. Ninth, My desire to have your business greatly diminishes when you tell me" You Have To Drop Your Liggett Prices 30cents(why the hell does my keypad have a dollar sign and not a cents sign. This must be a true sign of our current economy, evidentally cents aren't even worth wasting a key on. However I have NEVER used this funky pointless sign on the #6 key) if you want to keep my business. Sorry about the digression but as I get older I tend to forget what it is I want to say so I have to get it out immediately before it goes away. Tenth and final bitch for this session.
For the love of God, if your ex-girlfriend screwed you over hard and left without giving you any reason, move on.... What the hell good could possibly come out of talking to her. SHE LEFT..SHE LEFT.. SHE LEFT..catch the drift. Anyway I truly enjoy listenening to you whine every day. MOVE ON..MOVE ON..MOVE ON!!!! One final thought. I have been waiting to do this for a while now. ^ Oh that felt good!! Now I understand the value of that key.

My membership is now cancelled!

Fight of the week!

Two nights ago a customer came up to the drive-thru window, ordered HIS smokes and read the stores "rules" while waiting for his change. These rules have been in the window for close to two years with virtually no objection from anyone. Most all my regulars are aware of them especially the infamous rule #5. After four serious rules about no checks, coupons, or alcohol through the window, I threw in rule #5, which states exactly " women must flash in order to receive there change." Let me clarify that this is the only rule that is not strictly enforced. Why? Because it is a joke, a big fat joke. Nothing more than trying to add a little humor a page full of rules inacted to make the store more profitable and the clerks jobs more enjoyable. Anyway some male came inside after reading that and made an absolute scene. In the meantime he almost managed to get his ass kicked Gresham style. He whined about rights to everyone who felt the only rights being violated were him interfering with them trying to buy stuff. I only have one message to him and society in general. Please pick your battles carefully as often the outcame will not make it worthwhile.
Other thoughts for the last few weeks. Thank you to pheasant girl for getting me the giant burrito from Rico Taco. There is no greater feeling than going from a miserable day of working from open to close dwelling on many irritating facts then to having a beautiful young girl come in and chat with you and then go get you lunch. It is truly appreciated and will be recipricated in the future. I sure am glad to have football back on. I don't pull off the whole hunting and cars conversations real well, (and telling most men about the great approach shot I made right before a put away volley just doesn't get that same respect.) Also a special thank you to my regular doubles partner for playing so well this last weekend. We finally won our first tournament together, which was important to both of us. It bothered me that I enjoy playing with him the most, but my results are absolutely fantastic when I play with other partners. In the last two years we are 16-12 together with one tournament win, while I am 12-1 with other partners including two tournament wins. All I know is I would never switch because I enjoy playing with him so much more than anyone else.
Madison has been doing well. She been receiving an amazing amount of homework in Algebra, which keeps her really busy. Our lifelong sheltie, Andrew, was diagnosed with cancer, which has been hard on everyone. He is fifteen dog years old, so it wasn't a huge shock. Otherwise all is well except for the fact my last hire turned out to not be such a good one. Good person, just wrong time of life to be hiring her. MY BAD. One final thought... I am so friggin tired right now, I really wish I could take two days off and disappear only to be found later sleeping in a tree house
with a pile of back issues of any magazine in the world. Nothing in this world has to make sense, it only cuts down on the fustration of explaining things when it does. Good Night!!

BC well represented!

I just finished a tennis tournament earlier this evening, and was reminded why I love this game so much. Although I didn't play consistantly well overall, I truly enjoyed my last match.
The player was from British Columbia and traveled all the way down to play in this tourney.
First of all, I like the fact that when you check the computer for his record, it doesn't show anything. On top of that no one around here has ever played him, so you have no idea what to expect. The first thought that popped into my mind was how cool it is to travel five hours to play in a tourney and have a beautiful girlfriend make the trip with you. What a lucky guy.
As the match progressed I truly enjoyed conversation with him and never once felt a bad call was made. His sportsmanship was immaculate and his behavior was very genuine. He really gave British Columbia a good showing. After he beat me 6-4,6-3 I actually felt really good about my loss. VERY RARE! I realized how much I need to learn to generate pace off a kick serve, as well as on groundstokes. Our final conversation was very refreshing ending up with his encouragement to visit him up in B.C., which I will. Anyway my final thought before he left had switched to what a lucky girl that was to be with such a nice guy. Thank you for a great match and more importantly, thank you for making the game as enjoyable as it is.

Fallen Angel

Approximately two months ago a young girl came into the store and asked if I was hiring. Unfortunately I had literally just hired someone only a few days earlier. We talked for a while and she left an application in case the other person didn't work out. I promised her I would not hire anyone else without talking to her first. I really liked her personality and thought that she would be a great fit for the store. When I got home that night, I was really bummed that I had hired the other person, and proceeded to write an emotional blog concerning my feelings. I noticed the girl had read my blog and even bothered to post a comment.
My blog included a personal promise to her about the hiring and a bunch of info that probably would be better left unsaid considering I had only spent 5 minutes of my life with her. I had formulated so many opinions in such a short time, that I had to question my thought process.
I ended up erasing everything on the thoughts that maybe after a few more times in the store I would have a different opinion about her.
Well I hired her today and I feel so good. While time will only tell if I did good I do know one thing for sure. NO MATTER WHAT LIFE THROWS AT YOU, JUST REMEMBER TO SMILE...
IT'LL MAKE YOUR BUTT CHEEKS TINGLE!

Fouad Kaady and Gerry Spence

Often in life I wonder on whether It's better to fight a battle for the possibility of justice being served, or just swallow a little pride and move forward. Most of these decisions are trivial in the spectrum of life. However some people do have the worst case scenario thrown at them forcing the decision to remain with them forever. I think that is the case with the shooting of Fouad Kaady a little over a year ago. The only reason I am back on this subject is because the family just hired a World Famous, first class, high-powered Lawyer in Gerry Spence. While it is tough to tell the true motive of the filing of the lawsuit, one can assume it is either about the money or about forcing the authorities to be held liable.
While I was not at the scene of the crime, I STRONGLY believed the process in which they had to decide the officers level of guilt, if any, was greatly flawed. I was subpoened to give my statement and answer any questions the jury had regarding what I knew about that day as well as other facts relating to his lifestyle and what he smoked. I realize I was one of many people to testify, and I was a borderline irrelevent witness, but one thing became crystal clear to me as I left the room to go home for the day. There was no way on Earth those officers were going to be found guilty. The only people in the room during my questioning was the jury pool and an attorney(I believe District) for Clackamas County and myself. I don't want to come off sounding jaded over the system because it is the only system to protect me, but it really disturbed me that no one was able to question me who had Fouad Kaady's best interest in mind and the person directing the questioning was working for Clackamas County just like the two officers involved. The economic ramifications for Clackamas County were and still are beyond my comprehension. They were well aware of the size of the Kaadys family as well as the amount of money behind them. Fortunately for the county they had complete jurisdiction over the hearings and were able to dodge a huge bullet. Unfortunately for them I think they just ran into a major brick wall at full speed in that of attorney Gerry Spence. His biography is unblemished. He has not lost a jury trial since 1969, and has more million dollar verdicts than any lawyer in United States history. He also is the author of 13 books.
Anytime you have an Attorney with that strong of a record, virtually untouched in the courtroom, along with an EXTREMELY touchy subject, as well as a lot of ambigous details, it is safe to say a settlement will be offered very quickly. At this point I think the Kaadys were so injustly served by the last hearings that they will fight it to the end, more for the idea of holding someone accountable. All I can say for sure is I can guarantee you the Sandy Police Department and Clackamas Count Sheriffs Department got really quiet upon hearing the news of the new lawyer.

What makes the store what it is

As a few people in this world, and I mean a very few people, know my store is and never will be a normal store. While there is a really fine line with operating a profitable business, a pleasurable business, and a legal business without crossing the lines. I want the world to know if the owner truly cares anything is possible. It is easy to get caught up in the funner parts of the business, unfortunately a balance must remain to keep the doors open. I realize for every girl who flashes me, some drunk will come along and threaten to kill me if I don't sell him a beer. Life goes this way as well. We for the most parts control our destiny as long as we are paying attention to all aspects of life. I am sure one is wondering where I am going with this. I do have a point.
My store is MY HAVEN. It is a place that allows me to provide a future for my daughter, to teach her about life while she is there with me in the morning, a place where I can experience all walks of life in a 1000 square foot radius. It is a place where I can be myself, where I truly don't care what others think of me, a place where all ages can appreciate what I try to make of it. A place where all my inner self can come out. It doesn't have to make sense. It doesn't have to be cool, nor does it have to be politically correct. All it has to do is bring an ounce of joy to someone elses life and it served its purpose. With all this in mind an example of how I operate must be told while it is still fresh.
For the last week or so this girl has been coming in to whom I told a story about how I almost ran over a pheasant walking across the street early in the morning. Evidentally this story brought much joy to her as she always talks and laughs and asks if I hit any pheasants lately. She noticed my endless amount of empty packs on the ceiling and thought it was so cool. The next day she comes in borderline demanding to have one of her packs put up on a special isolated area. WOW back up girl. That is not how this store works Missy. This store works on earning a piece of its soul. Once you do that, then I will make you a special area way more endearing than you would ever come up with. While you have already slowly crept into my heart with your livliness, I have yet to feel that one sign of the fact that you truly understand what this store is about. While your pack might be a trophy to you. For me, it will represent far more. It becomes a special moment whether I ever see you again or whether you become a true regular.
Just so you know someone can earn a place in my stores soul with one minute of there presence, while some may shop here forever and never get it. That is my decision. I know you will get it, I am just not sure you understand what I am asking for. I simple terms I need a little piece of your soul shared with the store. Sorry for getting so esoteric with this one, but like I said earlier,
THIS IS MY HAVEN!!!!!!!!!!!!

Highly Classified Trade Secret!!!!

I will start with something that I am not sure will go over well but as always, do you really think deep down I care? I live with the assumption if my customer does not appreciate my ways than the store will probably be better off without them. With that out of the way it's time to get something off my chest. I can not possibly tell everyone what a pain in the ass cigarette promos are. The vast majority of my customers want them, and most of those want more than they normally buy. With this in mind, I am always on the immediate defense when a new customer comes in and asks "do you have any specials? 99% of the time the answer is no. The main reason to me is I don't have enough to take care of my loyal customers so why should a new customer walk in and make that share even less. Having owned stores on the East side for over 13 years now I have come to get a pretty good read on the "bottom feeders." I named these people this because they drive around town and only shop at a the store with the lowest price. Thrifty, yes. Do I have any desire to have their business. NO. While I know it's still a sale, it takes away from my ability to take care of the people who take care of me rain or shine.
Just an example of how scarce promos can be. Last week, from RJ Reynolds, I received a total of 8 cartons of Buy one get one free(bigif) turkish blends. I can think of probably 15 customers who would buy all 8 cartons. Each carton saving about ten dollars. According to my contract I have to put them on display. Very rarely do these last one business day when I put them all out. This is why I save the majority for my best customers. While there is literally no limit to the # of (BIGIF) cartons I would buy if I had a say, I dream of the day I go a whole week without having to Lie about whether I have any. Years ago there was an abundance of tobacco money, unfortunately due to the lawsuits and government regulations the promos have decreased significantly. Now that everyone is thouroughly bored I want to say If you every get a whole carton of promos from me, you should go home, smile to your kids, and realize you must be doing something right in this world.

The power of Irony!!

Today was actually a very relaxing day. I took my daughter out to Hood River for the afternoon and we just goofed off all day. We had a great time with most of the exitement coming later in the afternoon. We had dinner at a nice restaurant at about 5pm and decided to sit outside to enjoy the warmth and great view. Unfortunately a few yellowjackets shared in the desire to consume our chicken wings as well. I told Madison not to agitate them as it will only make matters worse. She continued to be paranoid about them and then asked me how bad it hurts when they sting you. Being diabetic I told her the shots she gets hurt worse, which may have been a mistake because she has built quite a tolerance for them. We finished and left home when I decided to take the Washington route instead, going out of the way, but seeing more new stuff. While exploring a hill that might possibly have a nice view of the Gorge, a young deer walked right in front of our car. My window was down and he then walked literally 6 feet from my window giving both of us a great shot. Wow. what a great finish to our day.
Upon arriving at home Madison went upstairs and got on the internet. Being hot inside she opened up the sliding door and then came back inside and sat down. The next thing I know she comes running down the stairs freaking out while fighting back tears. She tells me her leg really hurts and shows me some small thing that came out of her leg. I immediately recognize it as a bee stinger and tell her she just got stung on the leg. She shows me her leg and thats exactly what happened. After doctoring her leg up I tell her that at least whatever stung you died shortly after and is probably on the floor in the room. We search for a little bit when I find a dying young yellowjacket. Somehow this doesn't appease her the same way it did me as a child and even still today. I got stung in the neck about a year ago and remember thinking, yeah this hurts but at least I survived the battle.

How Embarassing!!!!!

Wow did I make a complete ass out of myself. One thing I pride myself on while working is trying to go a little extra to make certain customers feel special. 99% of the time it goes real smooth, but boy did I mess up on that 1% this time. One thing I occasionally do is very carefully open a pack of cigarrettes, slide in a note of encouragement or perhaps a joke or whatever I feel will make a difference in that persons day into the pack, and carefully reseal it to its original form. I have gotten so good at this that you would never be able to look at the pack and see that it was doctored. And I don't even touch the cigarettes themselves. After doing so I hide that pack until the person comes in and give it to them acting as if everything is normal, always a complete surprise to them. Well this time, after doctoring the pack I hid it behind a row of cigarettes the we NEVER sell a pack of, knowing they will never be seen. HUGE MISTAKE. The tobacco rep for the slow cigarettes came in checked all the codes on her products, found that pack of Marlboro lights and put it in front of the Marlboro rack causing them to immediately be sold to a random customer. About a month went by of me wondering who the hell got that pack by mistake. Considering the note was borderline pornographic in nature I prayed it did not get into the wrong hands. The original recipient would have laughed hysterically because of the inside joke, however anyone else would probably not know how to take it.
Yesterday a customer came in handing me a coupon for a free pack of smokes. I informed him I don't take coupons when he told me he got it because Philip Morris sent it to him after he mailed my note and the pack of smokes back to the company. He thought the note was put in their at factory level(which I took as a compliment). He seemed shocked and confused when I told him it was me and the pack was meant for someone else. I now have to wander if Philip Morris is doing a internal investigation or if they just threw the note away. Either way I want to apologize for causing them to give away a free pack because of my mistake. Hopefully I didn't hurt their bottom line.

Make that three!

Folks, I have a new record. I just started a blog for the third day in a row. However, I am a little upset with myself because I have a lot of stuff that needs to be taken care of instead of writing this. Oh well. I am just relaxing to a bottle of Green Apple Smirnoff after an extremely busy day. I went down to the store for a short period of time to stock the cooler before the weekend. After finishing I helped a few customers in the window before going home. One of which was a young girl who was having"boyfriend issues." She needed a couple of single cigarettes and was going to go have a drink. Trying to cheer her up I gave her something very special. While she may not realize the actual implications behind my gift, she actually received something I consider close to GOLD. A pink bic lighter. I sell close to a 100 bics a week and actually see a pink lighter maybe 3-4 times a year. They are always saved for a truly special moment. Her eyes told me now was one of those times, hopefully she understands. If not I'll probably come across another one in a few months. Often peoples values are really mixed up because to me giving that 99 cent lighter up was a lot harder than giving up a $100 beer neon or
something else of more value. While I don't even know the nature of the issues I am pretty sure they pale in comparison to most of the problems I deal with everyday. However, a lot of customers have a knack for drama, and seem to know I am always willing to listen and offer support. Good Luck to her and the next 20 customers who will share their problems with me tomorrow. Hopefully I'll find a 99 cent item that soothes my soul as well. Until then I'll just live vicariously through others.

Pearls before Swine

First of all, congradulations to Andre Agassi. At the age of 36 he knocked off the 21 year old 8th seed at the US Open. The majority of society has no comprehension how tough it is to compete at that level of tennis at his age. There is a reason very rarely does a player crack the top twenty in the world after the age of thirty. He won that match with the help of a cortisone shot in the back for his sciatic nerve problem. Tennis tears the joints apart forcing the vast majority of players to retire before the age of thirty. Anyway I am just truly impressed.
On another note my daughter has introduced me to the comic strip "Pearls Before Swine." It is absolutely hysterical. She goes to work with me in the morning and has the funnies out before I can even get the store open. The nice thing is I always know she will bring the newspapers in.
There are many charactors will very distinct personalities. Most of the strips are borderline controversial(right up my alley). I always appreciate someone willing to take a stand. It is definitely worth it to learn the charactors and check out the strip. It's kind of a cross between The Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes.
For anyone wondering my tennis team finally lost in the Pacifac NW Sectional Championships.
We won the first round, but lost the second to the team that eventually won the whole tournament. Kudos to them as they were a great team. We lost 4-1. They then won the finals 5-0. It helped soften the blow a little.(VERY LITTLE). Maybe next year. I am just proud to have advanced the farthest our team ever has in its over twenty year history. Good Luck to the Amy Yee Tennis Center out of Seattle as they play for the National championship in Hawaii.

Good Luck Chris!!

I decided to post one lone blog for Chris. He worked for me for only a short period of time, but managed to touch me in many ways. First I wanted to say I really feel for the situation you are in with the child and your ex. First piece of advice, you have to do what makes you happy only because if you are not happy your daughter won't be either once she figures out how you have really felt. Second of all, the saying "nice guys finish last" could not be more appropriate with you. I'm partially assuming based on your stories, that you have totally been taken advantage of by your ex, and will probably continue back on that path. You need to figure out how to take care of the kid and not feed her manipulation of you. Just remember the picture of how she treats you will always be seen by everyone else leaving you to fight for respect that you should already have for being a responsible parent. Please do your part and make the mother do hers as well. Do not try to overcompensate for her actions as it will only lead to her creating more work for you.
Enough lecturing, now I want to wish you the best of luck in your new career. Life has and will continue to throw you curve balls, you can either learn to him them, or keep trying a new game until one is always easy to handle. I'll miss the chats with you, but I know you will be back. You seem to enjoy driving back and forth so I'll know you won't stay away too long.
Thank you for introducing me to the IPOD. Your help and patience with that was awesome. Thank you for being such a caring individual. Thank you for quickly picking up what Hilton's is really about. Many people and workers never have or did get it, although your mom might have helped you understand it a little earlier than you otherwise would of. She is one person who figured it out quicker than anyone I can remember. Kudos to her as well. Good Luck in Cali.
Be Good, stay caring, but most importantly............LEARN WHEN TO BE TOUGH!!!!!!!!!!

SORRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally I got internet up and running at my new place and have so much to share. First and foremost without a second thought, Happy Birthday to my daughter who officially became a teenager today. She had a great bowling party at Rockwood Lanes with a bunch of her friends.
She also had the pleasure of having the principal of her school sing Happy Birthday to her. She has always been bummed because her birthday falls in summer each year. She is a WEB leader at school this year which means she gets to help the new students adapt to the overwhelming introduction to middle school. It's a great program for both the new kids and the kids chosen to represent their school. As always I am so proud of her.
I just finished going one month without either television or the internet at my house. I think next time I'll just choose to go without my liver, as this was a lot harder than I imagined. Boy do I have a lot of make-up work to do. At least now the convenience of having it in my room will cause me to better keep up with all the things I use it for, especially this blog. I know I have a lot of mending to do. I appreciate everyone being so polite about my lack of entries. I debated about whether to start with a huge blog, or a bunch of seperate ones considering there is so many different topics I need to discuss. I chose the latter of the two and promise to add a new one everyday for at least one week straight, including two tonight. Thanks Again!!!!!!

Tennis update

While I know this subject bores the majority of you, there are a few people out there who truly care. The last update mentioned that the team I coach made the playoffs. We were one of 8 teams to qualify for the Nothern Oregon Usta Sectional Championships. For the first time in my clubs history our team actually won the whole tournament. We now go on to play against 5 other teams to decide the Pacifac Northwest Championships. We play Yakima Tennis Club first round and Amy Yee Tennis Center out of Seattle second round. If we win both we play in the finals against either Anchorage Alaskas club, Courthouse in Salem, or Valley Tennis Club out of Washington. The winner of this tournament gets to play for the National Championships in Hawaii. Not an eay task, but anything is possible. One side note. While playing in junior tennis tournaments down in San Diego, I had one player who beat me in four seperate tournaments. It use to drive me crazy seeing his name in the draw, especially in early rounds. I now live a thousand miles away and never heard his name since..... Upon looking up information about the players on the team we play first round, I found out he is the head coach for their club. Small world. It's just nice to be given another chance to get even.

Memories!

This one just might get extremely sappy, but way too many thoughts came into my mind today that needed to be shared. First of all, I had a wonderful day with my daughter. I took her down to the Blues Festival at Waterfront Park and had a great time. While I know she doesn't truly appreciate the artists I know she will remember the event years down the road. One thing that is really funny with her is her ability to remember the most mundane occurances associated with a much larger event. I now find myself wondering what she will remember twenty years later about this day. My guess is feeding the Canadian Geese off the deck and the porto potty trucks coming to empty the bathrooms. She'll probably also remember that we parked on the third floor at the parking garage located on 4th and Columbia. Maybe with the refreshment of the internet she'll be reminded years from now that there were some pretty good artists singing as well.
While watching fireworks with her in the backyard, I couldn't help but think about my favorite 4th of July memory, one that will never be erased. When I was young(unsure of Age) I visited my grandpa in Missouri. He took us to a firework stand and proceeded to buy endless amounts of explosives as if there was no possible way to buy too many. I just remember him feeding off my brothers and my excitement as the more he picked out the more excitement we showed. I later came to believe our excitement at the stand meant way more to him than the expolsions themselves ever would. We went back to his farm and proceeded to blow them up for a real long time. I am not sure any 4th of July will ever match that one.
The point of the two stories was quite clear to me, but one that many people fail to understand. Often in life we try to create memories, carefully executing every last detail. However, most fond memories are created simply by the fact that the people involved were actually together just being themselves. I don't think anything tickled my grandpa more than
seeing my brother and myself happy. Wherever we went he always made sure we were treated as royalty. I have since come to appreciate the amount of effort he went through to make us feel special. If ever there was a person I wish I could of spent a lot more time with he would be the one.

Random Update!

As always it has been a while since my last blog. Therefore, I am going to spew out many random happenings in the last three weeks. First of all Madison has two days of school left until she goes into 8th grade. Her mom and I went to parent teacher conferences last week and left fairly happy. As always she did absolutely great in her schoolwork. We were informed she was chosen among 30 or so other 7th graders to take high school algebra in 8th grade. This will have lots of additional homework hopefully making next year a lot more challenging. Ironically Madison achieved the exact same score on the state science test as at the beginning of the year. Not a good sign of what she learned this year. At least she understands the term going through the motions. This should be the last year she can skate by doing almost nothing.
The tennis team I coach and play on officially made the playoffs. We won our division out of 8 teams and finished seeded second out of the 24 teams in the Northern Oregon section of the USTA. Playoffs start Friday at 7:30 at West Hills Tennis Club. I won my second doubles tournament in a row last weekend, quite possibly the strangest match I ever played. One of the other players through a fit over what he perceived as a bad call. He defaulted the match and walked off the court when we had match point.
My regular doubles partner got married over a week ago in what was possibly the classiest wedding in the history of mankind.( We have played together for almost three years now) ironic sidenote, during this tennis season, he got married and I got divorced. HMMMM.
One thing I realized after my divorce is how much I miss my old animals on a daily basis. Andrew the sheltie hurts the most. He was about as loyal of an animal as you will ever find. I've only seen him a couple of times and I cried both times I left. I never knew how each animal owned a small piece of my heart.
My daughter and I started a couple of planter boxes at the store. One has flowers and the other has herbs. Chocolate mint sure does smell good. It's hard not to rub a little on my fingers every time I walk by. Okay it's starting to get a little too fruity here so I'll throw in a quick thought to change that.
What a stud!!!! Steelers quarterback goes into a windshield, on his motorcycle, without a helmet, spends seven hours in surgery and loses a bunch of teeth. Now that's a real man!!!
or idiot if you ask me.
There now you are somewhat updated.

Thank You:

Earlier today an older gentleman came in and possibly gave me the best compliment I could ask for. I hope there was no sarcasm in the comment, because if there is I am about to make a complete ass of myself. After completing his transaction and thanking him, he told me (paraphrased for lack of memory) that he enjoys shopping at my place and thought my personality added to the experience. In my eyes I very rarely feel people understand how hard I try to make my store a better experience for all who shop here. I feel I do my best to try and make every generation, race and walk of life feel equal. I bend over backwards often at my own expense and go well beyond industry norm to take care of my customers. I could create an endless list of stuff I 've done for customers that would amaze anyone, but by no means is it about me personally. I do what I do to create a better life for everyone who crosses my path. First and foremost is my daughter. There is absolutely nothing in this world that means more to me than her. (yes mom and dad you are both tied for second) While it is very hard to appease society(no thanks to the Bush administration), I firmly believe in doing so one person at a time. In doing so I sometimes forget to take care of myself and that basic needs to keep me healthy.
I stay in shape physically and somewhat mentally, but I don't do a good job of pampering myself. For some unknown reason I hope it will just fall into my lap, like this gentlemans comment today. It's the little things that keep me going. Sometimes you don't realize how much you are missing until you experience it.
After finalizing my divorce a few months ago, I swore to myself I would work on making both my daughters life, my life, and the stores "life" better. One thought I will probably never get over is that my marriage failed. While I received the most beautiful daughter possible from it,
I left with a bunch of guilt. I do know that everyones life who comes across my path will be better from this point on, I do wish I had the last ten years back to try again. Basically the purpose of this blog, even though I digressed, was to thank that certain customer for feeling what it is that I am trying to create. You may be the only one, or there might be many more, but you did a great job of showing it.

"Understand"

One thing or possible theme in my life, is the feeling of not being understood. I don't expect people to, nor am I actually sure there really is something to understand. One thing I do know for sure is I have a certain environment I want my store have. To "create this environment" I go only on my gut instinct. More often than not it may be illogical, but at the same time I know deep down inside whether it is how I truly want it. To maintain this feel along with a respectable level of income derived from it, I must pay close attention to areas of concern. One area which might be the toughest is the hiring of a new employee. This is definitely the area that seems to irritate more customers than I feel is fair. Whenever I lose an employee, I am bombarded with people that want to work here. The problem lies in the fact that no matter who I hire, I am going to get my fair share of "looks" that I don't deserve. Just so everyone knows,
I base my hire on four main factors. While there is no scientific method to guarantee a great employee, I feel I have developed I very good understanding of who will, and who would not work out. So people know my four main factors are as follows:
1. Job history. The type of jobs you work as well as how long you stay with each of them.
2. Responsibility. Do you maintain multiple jobs, drive a nice well maintained car, go to school
and work at the same time, take good care of your child, etc. Or have you lived the same
carefree existance for quite a while without getting any further ahead in life. I've always felt if you have a hard time managing your own life, how are you going to manage mine?
3. Most important and hardest to explain is whether I feel you have the personality to maintain and add to the aura of my store. I believe stongly in chemistry and the fact that one wrong addition can ruin the whole balance. Depending on what I feel is missing determines who my next hire will be. While I chose Jenny over many well qualified applicants, I do not for one second feel I made a mistake. With her I saw spirit, determination, responsibility, and she was looking for a second job. Only time will tell as to whether I was right, but I am very happy with my decision.
4. Last really tiny factor, but worth mentioning, I try to hire people who are not tied to current or ex employees. Often they come in biased or problems seem to arise more often than not. Just history, nothing more.

My Vacation!!

Two weeks ago my daughter and I went on a vacation to Missouri to see my mom, brother, his wife and his two children. First of all they are possibly the two cutest kids I have ever seen. Both mom and dad have a great set of genes, so these should be pretty good peoples. My mom was my mom. She will never change. Thank God! She is possibly the most real person you will ever meet. There is nothing fake about her. I truly appreciate knowing she will always be herself. My brother looked real good as well. I spent most of my younger life worrying he would be a punk, yet he turned out to be an amazing person. He is such a good father. However I can tell you he is about to get the ultimate lesson in patience. As different as we are in lifestyles, deep down I think we both really think the same. As with myself, I truly felt he always thinks of others first and himself last. His wife is an absolute peach. She takes her role as a mother so seriously, which is so important. So few people realize there really is no room for error when it comes to raising a child. My mom's farm really was a great place to get away.(however I am addicted to showers). I enjoyed seeing wild turkey, deer and more varieties of birds than I ever imagined on her property. Her town was very quaint as well. Definitely a few steps back in time. I suppose it wouldn't be fair to only share my positive thoughts, so I must share my negative ones as well. I HATE TICKS!!!!!!!!!! I flew back to Portland and immediately took a nice long hot shower. Guess what I had an effing tick on my back thigh.(he should of at least shared in the cost of the airline TICKet.) Wow where did thst cheesy moment come from.
Next gripe would be the lack of a good beer selection anywhere(Sorry BUSCH). The final thought will probably have severe ramifications for me at some point in life, but it is only my thought so take it with a grain of salt.
My Aunt, uncle, and cousin visited the farm for a few hours while we were there. My aunt is permantly handicapped in a wheelchair and requires constant help from others. She is possibly the sweetest person I have ever met. She made every effort to be a part of the event and I truly enjoyed my conversation with her. One of her daughters came as well. She recently moved to Missouri to help with her mom as well as help herself. She appeared to be near the brink of a breakdown. While I can only imagine what she goes through she is way too young to be going through this. She is absolutely beautiful, intelligent, and young, and has everything going for her if she chooses to fight hard enough. I just worry she will get herself caught in a no win situation which is what it now appears to be. I think she is stuck between the love of her mother and the love of her father while not being able to respect both. The final observation is what is going to hurt. TO ME, my uncle appeared to be very self centered, very much sheltered from everyone else and simply going through the motions. While I understand I have no right to formulate an opinion on such a small amount of time, I do know my uncle is not the type of person who would make my life better by being in it. I know he has been through more than I ever will, but noone ever said life was going to be perfect. I hope he takes a long look at his daughter and her path and realizes, that he is probably the only person on this planet who can help her right now. Personally I will be sick to my stomach if she ends up having a hard time in life because of this. Hopefully she will spend a lot of time with my mom while there. My mom will help her out in so many ways that I'm pretty sure she isn't going to get with her parents. I apologize if this causes any problems but I am only sharing this because I truly care about you all as a family. While I may have issues individually, there is no reason everybody can't be taken care of one way or another. Synopsis. Terry, be strong. Tera, Take care of yourself, for you are an amazing woman, and Johnny, take a good look at what is truly important to you. Love to Everbody!!!!!!!