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It is hard being on the road over 200 nights a year...away from your family, isolated in many ways. It definitely isn't for everyone. This blogs represents the thoughts of just one such person. Read along and find out if the road is for you.
This is my new blogchalk:
United States, Georgia, Gainesville, Unity of Gainesville, English, John, Male, reading, RE Investing. :)
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Friday, January 09, 2004
The week goes on, the week goes on…
It is Friday morning and it is snowing here in Charlotte, We will see how the day goes.
This is one of those unusual 12 day work weeks. And although it is Friday, I still have till next Friday till I come home.
Still, the next couple of days figures to offer as much pleasure as work and is something that I have been eagerly looking forward to.
So far, this week has been pretty good. And as luck would have it, it looks like I will be back for one day next week as well. My schedule is looking pretty tight for the next 6 weeks or so. Business is getting better seemingly for Da Company.
While good for Da Company, it is keeping me away from home and from my ultimate goal of my real estate investing. Nevertheless, it hasn’t stopped me from making some offers on a few properties by email. I guess I am just anxious to get home and put up those bandit signs. That along with some other marketing I am doing in targeted neighborhoods is my ticket out of here.
I spoke to my Dad last night. His health still isn’t great, but the good news is that his brothers want to help him with a new vehicle. That is great news because I thought I was going to have to shoulder the expense myself.
You know, it is mornings like this when I don’t have much to write about that the road gets lonely for me. But it is what it is, so that is enough for now.
Blog on!
posted by John Panico at 6:36 AM
Thursday, January 08, 2004
Big WooHoo!
I just got an email from my boss at Da Company. She says the company is going to pay for the flight that I paid for out of my own pocket to get to Platinum on Delta. Doubly cool. I am getting $200 back and upgrade/Crown Room privileges for the next year.
This is getting to be a great week. Maybe I should play the lottery.
Blog on!
posted by John Panico at 7:02 AM
Call it the law of averages… :)
Or maybe calling it living right and drinking milk! I am in Charlotte for a Wednesday through Friday engagement. That in itself isn’t that big a deal. Don’t get me wrong; Charlotte isn’t a bad place to lay your head for a few nights.
But as usual, I digress….
When you are on the road as much as some of my co-workers and I are, it isn’t all that unusual to be at the upper level of an airlines’ or hotels’ frequent user program. Accordingly, there are some privileges that go with spending so much money (and more importantly, time) patronizing their services. More often than not though, they will tell you that they are supposed to do something for a customer of your loyalty, but they rarely do follow through.
Until this trip at this particular hotel. When you are at the Diamond level with Hilton, they are supposed to upgrade you if they have the room. (They are supposed to do some other things that are even easier, but rarely happen either!) Well, here I am in the middle of downtown Charlotte, and I got a great suite (complete with a separate living room, wet bar, adjoining king suite, complete with a hot tub).
More than anything, that tub is going to be the highlight of the trip. I am sure that the fact that I have ended each evening with a great soak contributed greatly to sleeping well. (Sometimes in life, it is the little things that make us happy.)
Lots of thoughts running through my “alleged” mind at the moment:
- WooHoo – My bandit signs are in! That is the great news! (Bandit signs are those 18x24 signs that tell folks “We Buy Houses – Any Equity/Any Condition”) The bad news is that I am not going to be back home for another week and won’t get them out and about until another 10 days from now.
- I have one of my customers who openly hinted that she wanted to “trade out” services. Although this woman is hot with a capital T, I am going for the money. But it did my ego good. Were it not for the motorcycle accident, maybe… (Nah!)
- For some reason, my energy level is up, but my follow through to do work after hours is down drastically. I have some stuff that I really should be working on (actually completed), but just don’t have the motivation for it presently. Maybe, it is the after holiday blahs for things work related. Usually, I am in bed early, but this week I have been up past midnight and am continuing to wake up at 5:30. Go figure.
- Working on my: Letter to God. Every year at my church, we do this exercise of things (affirmations really) we want to see change (either situations or behaviors) over the next year. This is a powerful exercise that seems to embed in your sub-conscious after you go through the exercise of writing them down, putting them in an envelope and then the church mails it back to you in November. Last year, among other things, I wrote a check to myself for $20,000 (representing how much I wanted to have in extra savings that if I wanted/needed to, I could cash) I remember Jim Carrey doing that early on in his career in the amount of $100K. It was pretty amazing when I opened up the envelope sometime in December and had actually hit the mark. Now, I am trying to focus on how big the check should be for this year.
It is currently about 6 AM and the temps are in the mid-20’s. Why do people choose to live in this type of environment? I must be getting old. I can’t imagine living in the cold in places like Wisconsin or Nebraska. It is bad enough that I have to visit and drive in these places. But living there is just not in my thinking anymore.
They are saying it is going to snow here tomorrow. Oh..what fun. But the customer has told me they aren’t coming in if it does snow, so go figure.
Enough for now.
Blog on!
posted by John Panico at 6:39 AM
Monday, January 05, 2004
On the road again…
Let’s try this again. I tried to post this earlier today, but something happened and I lost it. And since it was one of those times that I actually went straight to blogger, I didn’t have anything to copy and past back to get it posted just in case of such an occurrence.
I am back on the road again, this time in North Carolina. I am actually feeling better. The headaches are pretty much gone, although my body is still hurting.
This is the first real trip since Christmas week and leaving after that much time brings about mixed feelings.
When you spent as much time on the road as I do, you really start to live a double life. One in that other than Da Company dictating where and when you go someplace does afford you a good bit of freedom. The other is when you stay home for more than a few days and have to adjust to life at home.
Make no mistake about it, they are two different worlds! A fact that is even more exaggerated when you are home for more than a couple of days. Then you are caught between what Da Company wants you to do and your family/friends wanting a piece of you as well. And neither really thinks about what effect their demands is having upon the other. All they care about is that they want you to do this or I want you to go here/do that with me. It can be a very trying experience.
But still, having experienced a few days off makes you wonder what life would be like if you were home all the time…
I mean, how would life be???
Could you get used to the routine?
Do you want to give up that much independence or can your family make changes to your habits?
All good questions that I am looking to get answered this year!
Enough for now.
Blog on!
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