Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Enjoy your time with Family and Friends!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Zoo Adventures!

I've been heading to the zoo a little early the last couple of weeks to explore and take a few photographs. The zoo is busy before opening. Animals are fed, counted and exhibits are cleaned before guests arrive. All of this activity makes the animals more active too. Here are a few photos from my "before opening Zoo Adventures."

Miscellaneous

I got a hold of Rodger's camera on the last trip and here are a few miscellaneous pictures from our speaking this fall.

Off to a show at Trine University

The Trine University Cottage

Hybrid Parking in Chicago

Me and the Prius outside of Ikea in Chicago

The Bad Bad Apples meet the Tigers Mascot.

Wisconsin

(Wisconsin Lumber Yard)

Last Friday I was in Wausau, Wisconsin for the Wisconsin Technical Colleges Fall Leadership Conference. Rodger and I had a great day with the students. They really made us feel like Rock Stars. The all day conference kept Rodger and I busy speaking and working with 175 students from six of the states Technical Colleges. We really enjoyed the t-shirts the made for the conference.

I got a chance to see my first snow of the year. I couldn't wait to get back to Arizona. On the way home Rodger and I got to see the Green Bay Packers in the airport. They were heading to Minnesota for a game with the Vikings. There were some definite fashion do's and don't be several players. When I finally got home to Arizona, I ran into Ozzie Guillen (the manager of the Chicago White Sox). While I was noticing all of the sports players, I got noticed by someone. People always tell me I know everyone, but I didn't expect to have my name yelled out in the middle of the Green Bay Airport. Thank you Kristy from Franklin University for remembering Rodger and I!

GRANITE PEAK SKI AREA

Granite Peak Ski Area offers downhill skiing in nearby Rib Mountain. The 700-foot (210 m) mountain is the highest skiable mountain in the state and offers the second highest vertical drop in the Midwest. It first became a ski area in 1937, when Wausau residents cleared six runs by hand, installed the nation’s longest ski lift and built the chalet with stone quarried nearby.

Congratulations

My good friend and partner in crime when we speak welcomed his fourth child into the world. Congratulations to Rodger and Melanie! They welcomed a baby girl into the world on Monday. Her name is Sonja Olivia.


Here is a picture of his baby girl.

Speaking Season coming to an end

I'm sitting in the Phoenix Airport getting ready to board a flight to Wisconsin. I'll be speaking with Rodger in Wausau, Wisconsin on Friday. We will be speaking at North Central Technical College. We'll be conducting a leadership conference for 200+ college students from Technical and Community Colleges in Wisconsin.

This will be my last planned speaking job for 2008. It's been a good year and I look forward to a GREAT 2009. As of now, look for me in Akron, Ohio and Austin, Texas when 2009 starts.

SCORE

This past weekend I had the opportunity to participate in a workshop given by a great group of people. The organization is called SCORE. They are known as the Counselors to America's Small Businesses.

Score is a non-profit organization that offers free and low cost workshops for small business owners and anyone looking to start a small business. Their are local chapters across country.

With the tough financial times, I learned this weekend that a lot of the workshops offered by SCORE are good for the everyday non-business owner. There are workshops on how to get loans, how to market yourself and basic business principals.

In 2009 I will turn my speaking, entertaining and modeling in a small business. I would like that business to last for a long time ,run properly and efficiently.

For more information on SCORE click on the link below. More information on my business will be posted in the next few weeks.

http://www.score.org/index.html

Who am I voting for?

Election Day

This morning I woke up a 5 AM (Kelly woke me up) to head over to the local polling location to be a part of history. I went out to vote. Every time you go out to vote you are a part of history. I arrived to the polling location at 5:30 AM to discover 30 people already waiting. It was a diverse group of people in both age, race and ethnicity. I was even asked "Do you speak English" by one of the election workers. I laughed on the inside. The lady just wanted to know if I wanted if I wanted a ballot in English or Spanish. It took me twenty minutes to vote on my "paper ballot." That really surprised me because I've used a voting machine in Ohio the last four times I have voted. When I left I noticed the line was about an hour plus wait.

I had friends wait over two hours to vote this weekend. My grandparents in their 80's went and voted early. My mom, brother and sister waited in the rain in Florida. It's nice to see people finally taking the time to do what so many people world wide value and many times fight over......the right to vote. I met a group from Brazil last year and they told people how it's manditory to vote in their country. They said you risk be hired or fired if you don't vote! Wow!

I hope everyone takes the time to go out and vote. It's really important. Choose a candidate that you really believe in or agree with their goals and aspirations. It's not about what your friends or family believe in, it's about what YOU believe in. So choose the candidates that best reflect your beliefs and aspirations.

You can see I feel that voting is important. I had a friend who wouldn't talk to his co-workers on Election Day if they didn't vote. Voting is important, hopefully the country will really make it important in the future by either giving people the day off or giving people time off to vote because of the long waits people have to go through.

I leave everyone with this. A former boss of mine had a great comment years ago when he was asked why he voted. -"I like to complain. If you don't vote, then you can't complain."

Happy Anniversary

Kelly and I have been dating for over two years now. Time flies when you're having fun. Every October we've agreed to celebrate by visiting Northern Arizona. Our very first trip/romantic weekend was spent in Northern Arizona, so ever year that is were we'll go to celebrate our anniversary.

We visited Flagstaff and Sedona. Both areas are very beautiful. We spent our time in Flagstaff walking the streets and did some hiking at the base of Mt. Humphrey (12,600+ feet tall, tallest point in Arizona). The sign near our hike said that the altitude was 9,200 feet. We were breathing a little heavier than normal.

For dinner Kelly made reservations for us at the "Cottage Place Restaurant." We were given our own private romantic spot for two. The meal was great. It came out in five separate courses. We had crab cakes, salad, butternut squash soup, hazelnut crusted pheasant with rice and vegetables and pear flambe for dessert. The owner/chef came out to talk to us. His name was Frank, so that made for good conversation. He let us know that the menu is changed monthly to give people seasonal varieties to pick from. The wine list is very extensive too.

For more information on the Cottage Place Restaurant, go to their website for more information
www.cottageplace.com

We finished our two day trip by walking around Sedona window shopping at the art galleries.