old man winter…

is pissed off and taking it out on new england. he felt neglected up until now and has come back with a vengeance. it’s cold up here. with the wind chill, it has been around -15 at night. i can’t get my apartment warmer than 59/60 degrees. yikes!

the first week on the job has been good. i’ve been sitting through many training classes in merrimack and portsmouth (yes, there’s a portsmouth office. no, it has nothing to do with me aside from training.) i’m refreshing my mind with topics like microsoft licensing, backup tape libraries and enterprise security. lions and tigers and bears, oh my.

i feel well supported by my boss and the organization. yippee! i’m anxious to hit the road and start making an impact. what does this mean? i’m chomping at the bit to get some appointments and to start selling. i realize i’m not there yet, but it’s coming soon.

i received all of the noteworthy equipment for someone in my role - laptop, cell phone, etc. by the way, i may go through another cell phone number change. thanks in advance for your patience with me and my constant number changes

what else? oh yeah. fred is home from the hospital. he and mom received good news recently. the scans found no additional cancer in fred’s body. i think that’s right. whew! fred still has a long road ahead of him with chemo and recovery. again, thank you for your prayers and keep holding fred’s health in the highest consciousness.

one more thing. my morning commute is almost exactly one hour from door to door - portsmouth to merrimack. as time goes on, i’ll be on the road and i won’t have to be in the office every day. i’ll let you know if i plan on moving west.

stay warm and take good care of yourselves and each other.

much love!
greg

p.s. - the commute to merrimack is just over one hour. 260 miles in two days. i'm exploring my options on moving west. stay tuned.

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i'm alive. my first three days of work were good. i'm definitely in corporate america. pros and cons. keep praying for fred. peace.

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sunday night stuff…

mom called earlier today and said fred was moved to the cardiac unit due to some heartbeat irregularities. apparently, this happens in 15% of the cases of this kind of surgery.

she called back tonight to let me know fred is doing much better. i will appreciate your continued thoughts and prayers for fred. i’m sure mom will, too. thanks.

it’s an exciting afc championship football game right now. the colts just tied it up. WOOHOO!!! GO COLTS!!!!

i start my first day on the new j-o-b tomorrow. i’m excited.

peace and love,
greg

saturday morning musings…

i’ve been reaching out to people this morning. the reaching out feels really good. in this way, i know i’m being what i want to see in the world…people connecting with each other.

sometimes, however, i want/expect to be reached instead of reaching out myself. what can i say? i have that in me. part of me wants to be in everyone’s ‘top 5′ like the cell phone commercial. luckily, that part of me doesn’t rule the roost.

in other news, i spoke with mom. fred is doing well in recovery from his surgery. thank you for your thoughts and prayers for fred. keep ‘em coming

while i’m cleaning and doing laundry, i’m struck by the music i have playing. specifically, i’m listening to antje duvekot. i saw her in concert with ellis paul last week.

she absolutely blew me away. her voice is amazing and her songs are rich with meaning for me. one song struck me that night and continues to strike me this morning.

‘judas’ is the name of the song. here are the lyrics:

judas iscariot is kicking up seashells and he is cursing
he’s being tortured by the roaring in his mind
that won’t surrender the scene
and even here alone in the dark, a thousand eyes are burning
holes into his heart
holes into his heart

jesus, he was the schoolyard martyr
was every mother’s perfect son
not like judas in the back of the schoolbus
invisible to everyone

well, there was lots of love between
joseph and mary
joseph was the head coach at the high school
and they were living down on judas’ street
they’d be pitching sundays in the grass
and usually judas’ father would be drunk off his ass

last night judas’ father
threw his son against the wall
and that’s how you learn to become invisible

and it may well have been any day like the rest
but the tape shows him moving
and he’s standing in the hall
he’s never felt this alone before
he’s walking through the door and it’s springtime

judas iscariot is kicking up seashells and he is cursing
and if he stands here long enough maybe
he will turn to stone and wash away
he won’t find the bullets
on that fated morning
and he will wake up from this dream

jesus, he was the schoolyard martyr
was every mother’s perfect son
not like judas in the back of the schoolbus
invisible to everyone

i think about the biblical story of judas. i think about the kids from columbine as ‘judases.’ i think about how we create ‘judases’ in our society by helping people to feel more invisible.

my thoughts immediately went to compassion for judas. no one wants to hear judas’ story. to most, he’s simply a traitor and a betrayer. period. end of story.

when i think about this, i understand more about my own judgment. how often do i discard someone’s story because i’ve already judged them? yeah. that hits home.

i didn’t mean for this to be a moral tirade. i went there. ahhh well. forgive me.

find something that stirs you up today!

peace,
greg

sales training…

i’m excited for monday. maybe it will go just like this…

if you're the praying type, please consider adding fred, my mother's husband, to your prayers. he's going into a scheduled surgery today. thx.

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polar bear pic…

i was forwarded one picture with indisputable proof of my participation in the 2007 polar bear swim. this is it

i’m the jolly fellow with belly full of jelly in the black trunks and black bow tie. i outlined myself in blue. please hold the chris farley from saturday night live and chippendale comments.

as i mentioned before, the bow ties were in honor of a man who participated in the first polar bear swim at the ripe, old age of 84. he wore a bow tie every day and had passed away recently.

notice the fire department (?) swimmer i circled in red. there were two of them there to ensure our safety. luckily, no one utilized their services that day.

also notice wonder woman. i told you she swam in her full regalia. she’s workin’ the outfit hard.

the event was a fundraising effort for the portsmouth rotary club. proceeds go to a number of local charities. i put in $50. if you’d like to make a donation, send me a check made out to “The Portsmouth Rotary Club” and i’ll forward it along.

stay warm!
greg

starting next monday…

i’m an employee of pc connection in merrimack, nh. i join the organization as a business development manager. yippee!!

this is an outside sales role supporting inside account managers out of merrimack. basically, i’ll be working to help these account managers close business by meeting companies in person.

i’ll be working in the eastern half of the usa. the territory covers all of the states east of (and including) michigan, indiana, kentucky, tennessee, alabama.

i’m way excited and ready to get started. it should be an interesting re-integration into corporate america. i’ve been in the world of small business flexibility for a while.

fyi, pc connection is a $1.67 billion, publicly traded company. maybe i need to start watching ‘the office’ to learn more

merrimack is just over one hour away from portsmouth. i’ll make the drive through february. i may look into moving. i was told i won’t have to report to the office on a regular basis once i get up and running.

i’ll feel it out and make a decision after the first month-plus of being there. i need to be close enough to merrimack to make it there when needed.

to prosperous times,
greg

polar bear swim…

call me crazy. i went and jumped in the ocean today at the 4th annual polar bear swim. i had the privilege of swimming with 25-30 other brave souls — men and women both.

i didn’t have a photo laureate with me, so i asked a few people to step into the role. hopefully, they will send embarrassing pictures of me very soon. of course, i will share them with you.

i must say, it wasn’t that bad. the air temperature was around 45 degrees. the water temperature was somewhere around the same. it was an easy year.

i love the human spirit. people dressed up for this event. one woman was dressed as wonder woman. she arrived with three men in tuxedos in a limousine. she swam in her costume…golden lariat and all. the men dressed down to some union suit underwear outfits. great fun.

all of the swimmers wore bow ties in honor of a portsmouth rotary member who died recently. he had participated in the first three swims, starting at the age of 84. i was happy to sport the cheesy bow tie in his honor.

when the pictures come in, i’ll post a link here.

warming up,
greg