These Days

I believe that there is a country song with the same title of this post that puts a positive spin on the phrase "These Days". I think I should go to listen to it, because "These Days" the majority of the day is spent wondering what the hell did I do to get treated like dog shit. I just don't get people "These Days". I guess it has a lot to do with the corporate culture that has permeated into pretty much every aspect of business...you know Screw everyone else, I need to look good on the next review. I guess the title of "National Regional Supervising Sales Engineering Manager IIV-VI" is what everyone is after "These Days". I admit, It would look good on an email signature.....you know because that's the only way of communicating "These Days". Good thing too because spitting that out over a actual phone call could be a bit of a tongue twister.  Being a sales rep sometime stinks because we are at the bottom of the pile. I for the most part feel I am good at my job, but it seems that there is something that I am missing "These Days". Maybe I should sell my soul at the crossroad like Robert Johnson and all this would be an afterthought. Wait! Never mind.  What ever it is, I have shit to do at 4:30 Every weekday. Sometimes 3:30pm. Or Noon. Also I just might on a whim take a few weeks off this summer to head to the beach. That's the good part about being a sales rep that is really, really cool.  Vegas. That's pretty cool too.

I need a vacation.

Snow Day and The Last Few Weeks....

Today is Presidents Day. It also happens to be my first Snow Day of 2015. We received about 4-6" of snow overnight and was welcome to see. After last years horrible abomination of a winter, this is just the right amount. Sam had the day off school so they don't burn a snow day...Good for the camping season starting off without delay. (Edit-Because I can never sit down long enough to write anything, this post is now into day 2. As luck would have it, Sam's school was called off for the weather. I must have cursed it by putting it in writing above)

Two weeks ago we went to the St. Louis RV and Travel Show down at the St. Louis Convention Center. The kids are at that age that they wanted to climb in everything and test out both the salesmen's and my personal patience level. Fortunately, we didn't stay to terribly long. However we all found a new model that I would almost be willing to sell my soul for. Open Range RV makes what amounts to the best model that would fit our family for years to come. Not that I don't like our current RV,but once you hit a certain point things can start feeling more residential. Leather sofas, Corian counter tops, 40" HDTV and a walk in shower.....Plus....Plus.....Plus a separate room for the kids with their own well...everything. I love it. Period. Oh did I mention...an outside kitchen complete with running water and a beer box? This thing is awesome. Now just to figure out how to tow and pay for this monster. More to come on this. 

While we are on the topic of campers....I purchased this nice little LCD TV from a neighbor who was unfortunately relocating. Got it at a great price and now for the first time we have a TV in our bedroom. I honestly don't like it. The thought was that we could use it camping as an outdoor TV. If It walks off or gets ruined who cares. That might let you know the kind of price I paid for it.....Yep it was a great deal. Watched the NFL playoffs in the Garage on it as the photo indicates below. Good old free TV works pretty much anywhere.



This week I spent some time on the road in Kansas. Turns out the Coleman Company was founded there and actually still employees people to manufacture their line of camping equipment. Naturally, after spending years traveling this area and never stopping in to their factory store, I had to waste some time there. Ended up purchasing the below "Beach Shade" and a single burner propane stove for our trip to FL this year. Doing a shrimp boil inside a RV is not a wise thing unless you intend to sell the RV to a Cajun alligator hunter. Some cooking smells are better left to the outdoors. We will see how well this burner does. More to come on this.




Valentines day dinner a day early. Locally sourced from our neighborhood Marsala's Market. Turned out great. Recommend to anyone. If they don't have what you are looking for, just ask what they have in back. It's a gem of a place I should use more often than I do.

Another little perk about New Town is the events and things that go on all year long. Some we make, some we don't. This weekend was Mardi Gras and if you know anything about St. Louis you would know that our celebration is one of the biggest outside of New Orleans. I am sure there is a reason for this but I apparently did not care enough to find out why. Our little town put on a craw-fish boil that really had a great turnout despite the weather. My oldest loves craw-fish, or "crawling fish" as he calls them.  Funny how a 5 year old would rather get elbows down on some craw's over Ronald's chicken nuggets. He is defiantly our kid.  I think its a great thing that we live in a community that cares enough to do things like this. Every time we take part in one of these events it cements our decision to live here.