Messages from November 2007

posted 11.28.07

Three days and counting.  Your December 1st deadline is Saturday and my mailbox has not been even close to full.  Keep in mind that your items are supposed to BE HERE by Saturday - NOT POSTMARKED on Saturday. 

I have had several requests to e-mail ad information and that is perfectly acceptable.  Please keep it in a simple format so that I can open it (PDF, JPEG, Word, Excel, etc.)  If you have any questions about what format will work, just give me a call.

I will be out of the office next week for several days so if you need anything, call before Monday or make yourself a note and hold on to it until I return.  I won't be checking phone messages or e-mail while I am away.

posted 11.21.07

Please pay attention to the amount of postage you are using to send in your Dodge raffle tickets.  Postage is calculated on size AND weight.  If your envelope is bulky, it is going to cost more.  Anything that comes to me postage due will be returned.  I'm sure it sounds minor to you, but try waiting in line at the post office for twenty minutes because someone didn't apply enough postage.  It is very frustrating.

posted 11.20.07

I know I've used this excuse before, but it is so hard to stay inside and work when the weather outside is so nice.  Well, we all know that is about to change ~ dramatically. 

I can't wait for Thanksgiving to get here.  Not for of all of the wonderful food ~ because I can eat good food any day ~ but for the family time we get this week.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend with your families.

The December 1st deadline is one week from this Saturday.  Please call if you have any questions about what you are required to turn for fundraising items.  Believe me, I know how hard it is to keep everything straight; especially for first-year members.  It is okay to call to make sure you are doing everything correctly.

 

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Mikey

    

posted 11.7.07

This past week has been really nice and relaxing.  There wasn't any pressure to hurry and finish up one rodeo because we had another one in a few days that I had to get started.  I've had time to do things that were pushed aside for 3 months because there just isn't enough time to do everything during peak rodeo season.  It is nice to finally get them crossed off my "to-do" list.

Just because we aren't having rodeos doesn't mean there isn't still work to be done.  The spring schedule has to be set up, there are tons of things to do in preparation for the Finals, your fundraising items are due in a few weeks and I have a LOT of filing to catch up on.  In the middle of all of this, I am remodeling/creating an office so that I can get all of this paperwork and office equipment out of my bedroom.  My wishful thinking tells me that I will be more organized once I have more room and a "place for everything and everything in its place."  We'll see.  But I am looking forward to the process.

I received an e-mail this morning that I wanted to share with everyone.  Hopefully it will make you think about how you treat people and how your actions could affect someone you don't even know ~ it certainly gave me something to think about.

Your Parachute

Charles Plumb was a US Navy jet pilot in Vietnam .  After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile.  Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist Vietnamese prison.  He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience!

One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, "You're Plumb!  You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk .  You were shot down!"

"How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb.

"I packed your parachute," the man replied.  Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude.  The man pumped his hand and said, "I guess it worked!"  Plumb assured him, "It sure did.   If your chute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today."

Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man.  Plumb says, "I kept wondering what he had looked like in a Navy uniform: a white hat; a bib in the back; and bell-bottom trousers.  I wonder how many times I might have seen him and not even said 'Good morning, how are you?' or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor.  Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent at a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn't know.

Now, Plumb asks his audience, "Who's packing your parachute?"  Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day.  He also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy territory -- he needed his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, and his spiritual parachute.  He called on all these supports before reaching safety.

Sometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important.  We may fail to say hello, please, or thank you, congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them, give a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason.  As you go through this week, this month, this year, recognize people who pack your parachutes.

Enjoy the warm weather while we still have it.  Winter will be here before you know it.