Great Dell Family Day and New Visitors Coming...

The Dell Family Day turned out great. The weather was fabulous and there were lots of Dell families there to enjoy all the fun. There were carnival type games, three different types of blow-up jumping things, great food, tattoos, Bingo, cotton candy, a Magician and many other things I cannot remember. And, if anyone got bored with all that, there was the lake to swim and dive in. Pam did a great job of pulling it all together, even after being sick with the flu and out of work for the two weeks before the big event.

She had a very hard time getting Dell employees to volunteer to help out for the event. But, Pam's daughter Jaz and her husband Brad flew in from the SF Bay area to help and they did a great job. Jaz did tattoos for a while and then took over the Bingo calling. Brad spent the whole day doing tattoos. The tattoo booth was busy the whole day long with many folks getting them everywhere they could. I also helped with all the work that needed to be done to make it a great event.

Before the big event, we took Brad and Jaz out to eat at the new Canyon Crest restaurant with their great canyon views and afterward the event took them to Johnny Carinos. Both were great places to eat and we had big fun during their very short weekend visit.

I ended up playing pool this Wednesday - the first time in three weeks. I was rusty and didn't do very well and was home by 8:30. I will have better luck next time...

We are expecting new visitors this Sunday. Nephew Michael and his wife Susan are flying in for a few days before they go to Montana to visit Susan's family. This will be their first time here and we are planning on catching a few big ones and showing them all the attractions here in Twin Falls. It will be great seeing them. They adopted two children in the past few years and have been pretty tied down enjoying their new family life.

I also wanted to say that the email I sent out of the news cast featuring me as a new darkhorse presidential candidate was a hoax. I know it looked real and all, but it was just an Internet funny. It was sent to me by Mike Miller in Kalifornia and I sent it out, getting a lot of feedback about whether or not it was real...

Well, I am still recovering from the ravages of the flu and upgrading computers and building my needle inventory. I also finally fixed the outdoor fountain after many unsuccessful attempts. I just couldn't find the right repair materials until this last time, I hope.

I must go now, as I have a lot of campaign stops to make before the weekend here in DaHo...

Recovery from the Flu and The Dell Family Day...

Pam has fully recovered from the Flu and has been back at work all week. She comes home pretty tired, but all is well. She is in charge of the Dell Family Day Picnic this year. It is being held at Dierkes Lake this year. Its a beautiful little lake that has public swimming, lots of grass and trees, nice facilities and lots of parking. It should be a great place for the event. Pam has been going crazy trying to get enough of her fellow Dell'ites to volunteer to help with and staff all the activities that she has put together.

I, on the other hand, am still having flu fun. I didn't go to play pool again this week as I just couldn't make it. I am getting better now, but its been really nasty for way too long.

I finally did find some labels that will work on my needle tubes and they just came in last night. They are pretty expensive, compared to other labels, but they are also waterproof, which should be a feature since they are for fishing. And, I did get in my order for all the parts to build my base stock of 30 units of each product. I have been doing the prep work on them and letting them cure for the past few days while I am recovering.

We had all the carpets cleaned yesterday. They did a great job but the prices have really went up. The last time we had them done it was about $200 and this time it should have been over $330 but Pam talked them down to an even $300. The cats hid out while it was going on and were pretty irritated by the wet carpets all of last night.

Pam's daughter Jasmine and her husband Brad are flying in from the Bay Area this weekend to help out with the Dell Family Day event since Pam is having so much trouble finding local help. Plus I think Pam wants to show her off to the Dell folks.

Well, I have lots to do and not much strength to do it all with, so I must start working on the needles and removing all the little blue blocks from under everything in the house here in DaHo...

Flu and Crown Molding wrap up...

We have both had the flu, or as the doctor calls it "The virus that is going around". Pam has had more symptoms than I have, with the almost constant coughing, congestion and head aches. I, on the other hand, don't have the intense symptoms she has had, I just feel bad. It has been going on for almost two weeks now.

The crown molding job is all done finally. All the painting, caulking and touch-up work is now completed. It really looks great. It is hard to visualize how it looked before. With the 10 foot ceilings we have, it really 'tops' it off...

I did go play pool last Wednesday in the 8-ball tournament. I wasn't feeling well and did horribly. I got beat twice and was home by 8pm.

I have been working on a couple of new distributors for my needles and that is going well. In my spare time I have been trying to find some new product packaging labels. The ones I was using from the little Brother label printer just are not sticking well. They keep coming loose from being wrapped around the 3/8" tubes we use for the needles. I have finally found some regular printer labels that seem to work. I had to get them longer though so they would overlap onto the other end of the label when on the tube. That overlap seems to be enough to keep them sticking and not coming loose. I have spent hours working on that little issue.

My next big challenge is making up a completed stock of our needles to have ready to fill orders. I plan on making up an inventory of about 30 units of each product so I could have someone else fill orders if we were on vacation or not able to do it ourselves.

Well, that is about all my flu riddled brain can handle right now here in DaHo...

Crown Molding, Credit Cards and a Brown Out...

Well, the Crown Molding story consists of some of the worst and best news. The really bad news was that the camper folks that we had come down to do it didn't know anything about it, or working with numbers at all, and we spent a day figuring that out. So while I was at Home Depot getting more stuff, Pam worked out a costly deal with them and they went away. I was so glad to see them go as I was in very concerned that something really bad would happen before they left. This was another expensive lessen on how things that sound too good to be true, usually are...

The really good news is that our friend Storm came to our rescue and did the whole thing to two days, last Sunday and this Saturday. He works long hours in his real job and we are so grateful to him and his family for stepping up in our time of need and finding time in his schedule to get this done. And, he is a true expert at it. I am still amazed how he can figure out all the saw settings and measurements so accurately. It is quite a talent and he is one of the best. Our many thanks to him for his friendship and great work and too his family for putting up with this emergency.

Now, we have to finish it all up and do all the painting, but that is something we can handle. I really thought I could do the crown molding job after a few lessons and some observation, but its a lot more difficult that I expected - and with my lack of upper shoulder muscles on the right side, I have almost no stamina doing any type of overhead work.

On the business front, I have been learning about Internet marketing, meta tags, and setting up a merchant account so we can accept and process credit cards. All big fun and very time consuming stuff. We still have to get our first order online, so that should be 'exciting' when it happens...

I have started contacting other potential distributors of our products, and am working on gathering some new products to sell, from other sources, that complement our needles. The next step is to get this all going on EBay to help bring in more business and gain market exposure.

Pam has been sick for a few days. Some sort of nasty coughing chest congestion and generally feeling rotten. She went to the doctor and its not Strep, but it is real nasty whatever it is. I have also gotten a touch of it, but ever since becoming a Lary, I just don't get any of the head and lung issues that I always use to get. I just feel horrible and loose whatever strength I have left.

I did go down and play in the weekly 8-ball tournament that I won last week and got "Brown'ed Out". There is this couple that play often, the Browns. They are both very good. I started off playing Rodger Brown. He had to spot me six balls and ended up winning 30 to 9. I really only had one shot in the match, except for unfruitful break shots and he would run the table each time. So he took me out of the winners bracket. Then, I played a few other folks and beat them. But, then towards the end of the tournament, I had to play his wife, who's name escapes me right now, and I had to spot her six balls - Which would have been no problem usually. But, it just wasn't my time to beat her, I guess, and lost by a couple of points, taking me out of the losers bracket and the match. So, I was "Brown'ed Out" of both brackets and the tournament...

I figure we should be able to finish all the painting, caulking and touch-up work by next weekend and finally be able to put the house back together again with all the new crown molding, which will really look great when its all done. I must say that it has been one of the biggest hassles I have encountered in all of the remodeling stuff I have gotten involved with anywhere, but especially here in DaHo...