Summer must be on the way

This past weekend was a busy and fun one! Dare I say summer is on the way?

As noted in the previous post, Sean, Ed, and I golfed in the MCD Open and took first place honors in their scramble tournament Friday evening. I can think of one or two worse things than starting the weekend a little early with some golf. Afterwards we all met at Jethro's Bar and Grill where Jay proceeded to dish out the door prizes and awards. Did I mention I had the world’s best patty melt there? Mmmm.

Saturday started out early as Laura and I hit the LifeTime Fitness for 45 minutes of cardio. We were trying to be good and rev up the metabolisms in leau of the day's activities. Vroom! Vroom!

Jill and Jeff invited a bunch of us over to their place for a little BBQ in the afternoon. It was really nice to see everyone after being virtual shut-ins for most of the winter. I was especially happy to finally meet Hannah, Chris and Katie's daughter. She is absolutely cute beyond words – nice work, you two.


Chris and Katie's oldest, Caleb, and Jay and Beth's youngest, Nicholas, became fast friends while playing together in the backyard. Somehow the playset became a ship sailing the seas with sharks surrounding them – I love that about kids!


Nick was the proud owner of his mom's golfing trophy from the tournament the evening before and would not part with it. Caleb created his own trophy from a TruGreen yard sign. Crafty Caleb, who knew?


The older boys, Ian and Jacob, spent their time in the basement playing games on the Nintendo Wii. Oh, they resurfaced when the chow was ready, but quickly resumed the gaming. You have to admire their dedication and persistence. Right?


The Stanton family pooch, Cleo, got into the act by playing a little baseball with Jeff. This particular pitch resulted in an inside-the-fence home run and Jeff was pulled after only one inning. Better luck next time, kid. Pack your bags, you're going back down to the minors.


Laura and I really enjoyed seeing everyone, filling up our tummies with some great food, and look forward to seeing everyone in another month at the annual Stanton summer party at the cabin.


Later that evening, Laura and I attended a wedding reception for friends that were married several months ago in Mexico. We met Amy and Dewey out for a few pre-reception cocktails. The girls chatted and got caught up while Dewey and I kept our eye on the U.S. Open at the bar. Go Tiger!


The reception was at Dellwood Hills Golf Club in White Bear Lake, MN. The bride, Tiffany, greeted us at the reception entrance where the girls visited and listened to all the juicy details of the wedding and recent life thereafter.


While the girls mingled inside during the reception, Dewey and I stepped outside to admire the gorgeous course. C'mon. Was there really a choice? You might as well dress us in metal pants and turn on a gigantic magnet. It was a perfect evening for golf, but it just wasn’t in the cards (deep sigh).



Sunday was a little less busy, although I did get to golf with Sean, Jay, and Ed at Cedarholm again. Not one of my better games, so we'll just leave it at that.

Isn't it great that summer seems to finally be here?

1st place

Sean, Ed, and I played in a golf tournament this evening at Island Lake Golf Center in Shoreview, MN. Our buddy, Jay, was the coordinator - it was his company's tournament, Medical Concepts Development (MCD).

Island Lake Golf Center is a nice 3-par course (par is 28) and we played a scramble format. Our group won by shooting one under - we shot a 27 - amid strong wind and minor drizzle.

We won super cheesy trophies!

Sweet.

The next chapter

Our friend, and former colleague, Jodie, is leaving Minnesota to pursue a career opportunity on the east coast. Being from Pennsylvania, it was always part of her plan to eventually move back east to be closer to friends and family, however that plan moved up on the timeline quicker than she ever imagined when she recently accepted a position with General Electric (GE).

Jodie made a huge impact while working at Achieve. She had new marketing ideas on a daily, if not hourly, basis, and was not afraid of taking on new challenges. Her enthusiasm was contagious and her personal stories hilarious.

It was Jodie's idea to bring all of our advertising and promotional efforts in-house. Our team of Jodie, Erin, Jaime, Mark (our fearless leader), and I developed concepts and materials rivaling (and surpassing) those we had hired agencies to do. The portfolio of our work was the largest the company had ever seen.




The decision to bring everything in-house had a profound impact on me and my career. It opened my mind to new possibilities, pushed me to learn new skills, and really unlocked my passion for creativity and bringing ideas to life. Every completed project increased my confidence. It really changed my life!

For that, Jodie, a sincere and heartfelt THANK YOU! We had the best team ever.

Jodie has started a new blog The Davis's - The Next Chapter to help keep us all connected with her and her husband, Andy. I'm really looking forward to seeing where their journey takes them!

Why don't they just use a gun?

When I left for work this morning, regular unleaded was going for 3.85 a gallon. When I came home, regular unleaded was feeling a little deprived so it jumped to 4.09 a gallon.


Are you kidding me?

During the summer of 1987 I had a summer job delivering pizzas. After a long night driving all over the northern metro area, I stopped to fill up my tank. The price was .99 a gallon. For some reason I was musing about the future (yeah, I know, friggin' pepperoni), thinking "Boy, wouldn't it suck if gas was, like, $3.00 a gallon?" Then I tried to do the math, which I'm sure wasn't even close to being accurate at 2:00 a.m., but I knew it would be a lot.

Yeah.

Today I filled 'er up (had about a 1/5 of a tank left).

My pizza money flowed into my gas tank.