"C" is for Coupon

Oh happy day!  I love coupons, and yesterday I received a $5 coupon in the mail for the Wal-mart Neighborhood Market where we buy all of our groceries (except for fresh veggies, which I try to get at the Cherry Street Farmers Market).  The Wal-mart was recently remodeled, and they added a deli and more self-checkout stations.  They also brought back Morning Star products and Soyrizo and took down what seemed like an entire aisle of Ramen Noodles.  Overall, a huge improvement.

Now I can't make any outrageous claims about how well Wal-mart pays its employees, what kind of benefits they get, or whether or not the store is liable for "Wal-mart feet," but I can say that they provide food for me to purchase at a very reasonable price at a location that is practically walking distance from my house.

Thanks, Sam!

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"C" is for Conference Calls

Since I work at home, I spend a significant amount of time on conference calls each week.  Today's conference call really took the cake though.  Here are some tips on how not to run a meeting:


1.  Notify participants less than 24 hours in advance.
2.  Make the meeting mandatory for ALL employees.
3.  Do not set up a conference line for employees working remotely.
4.  After staff begs and pleads, set up the conference line and distribute it to employees about 1 hour before the meeting.
5.  Do not email PowerPoint slides or handouts in advance but reference them extensively during your presentation.
6.  Allow people on the phone to type, cough, and shuffle papers while you're trying to conduct the meeting.  Under no circumstances should you ask employees to use the mute function on their phone so that others can hear.
7.  Allow people who are attending the meeting in person to ask questions that cannot be heard over the phone and answer them as if everyone knows what you're talking about.
8.  Do not ask if anyone on the phone has any questions.
9.  Abruptly end the meeting and do not indicate if employees on the line are free to hang up.

Happy conferencing!

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"C" is for Competition (Part II)

GOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL!

The Dead Horses scored their first soccer goal last weekend.   The guys only had one sub, but they played a great game.  Several players took shots at the goal, and one of John's actually went in!  I'm sure the guys were happy to be playing a little more offense this time.  See "C" is for Competition for a recap of the last three weeks.

Here are some photos Cayla has taken of the boys in action.   Her shots turn out way better than mine--I've got a few more years learning how to use the camera.

Chris

John

Juan

Justen

Kyle

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"C" is for Competition

Some of the guys from the kickball team decided to join an indoor soccer league this summer. They're playing soccer under the Dead Horses name, but apparently kickball skills do not translate well into soccer.  The major difference is that there's no alcohol involved, and they spend way too much time running.  The guys forfeited the first soccer game three weeks ago because our kickball team was floating the river.  (Read about the float trip here.) The second game the score was 0-10.  The third game was also 0-10.  Thank goodness they stop keeping score after 10.

John

Juan

For a minute yesterday, I thought one of our guys had confused fútbol with American football.  I didn't get a photo of Ryan tackling the opponent, but this was his face about two seconds after. 

The opponent very obviously hit Ryan in the head with his fist, but the ref didn't call anything.  This wasn't the first time, and Ryan had had enough, hence the tackle.  Here's where the guy jumped up after being tackled and started swinging again.  Ryan and the rest of our team steered clear of his flailing arms while his teammate held him back.  We have no idea why the he was such a jerk--they were up 10+ goals.

Cayne

Erwin

John calls for a sub

I wish we were the home team

Sweaty boys after the game

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"C" is for Camping

We recently floated the Illinois River and camped with friends from our kickball team, the Dead Horses. We started the trip bright and early around 6:00 am on Saturday morning.  A few people met at our house to pile in the Tahoe, so we could caravan to Tahlequah.

Our coolers and camping stuff ready to go in the car.

We arrived in Tahlequah with plenty of time to set up our tents and get rafts.  After an hour or so of waiting, we finally loaded the buses with our coolers for the 6 mile trip upstream.  For those familiar with floating the Guadalupe in TX, it's the same concept in OK except we use rafts instead of tubes.

We rode full size buses, but I saw this setup when we arrived, so I snapped a shot before we drove down to the campsite.

We found the perfect campsite and unloaded our stuff.

The boys discussed the game plan/stood around and threw the football.

Campsite all set up.

Chris and his pup, Lexi

The group

We didn't take the camera on the river for several reasons, so fast forward seven hours, and we're back at the campsite.  Some of the guys collected fire wood to make a huge fire.  We ate BBQ, hotdogs, and smores.  Some crazy biker gang was camping near us with classic rock blaring most the night.  They came over to our site several times to invite us to their party and make sure we were having a good time.  Late that night we heard yelling and a loud commotion from their area.  Next we see flash lights chasing a naked guy and someone screaming about someone's nephew.  Then we heard the frisbee golf hole clang as the naked guy ran into it at full speed.  Apparently he got up and ran away, but it must have hurt badly.  It made for some good entertainment and conversation from our side of the camp.

Michael tended to the fire.  It was HUGE!

The fire was almost too hot to roast marshmallows.

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