If I weren't laughing I'd be crying

I have a profile on Linked In; a professional social network for those in business. In the early days of being a part of Linked In as I would talk to colleagues about it and encourage them to check it out I would tell them that it was like having an online resume that is working for you 7/24 and kept the world informed about you and up to date on what was happening in your business.

Part of putting together this "resume" is checking your spelling and making sure your grammar is correct and not writing things that might be construed by anyone as unprofessional. Well, I was checking out some updates by people I know and found a couple I found amusing and am sharing them here.



Holy Cow! How bad did he hate that job!



I just loved the irony in the second post!




Why do I suspect that these two friends will find mistakes I've made to exact revenge! All in good humor, take care.

real purpose

I have so many things going on in my life that I find it extremely challenging to justify having a blog, especially one that no one follows. Instead, I have decided that it will simply serve as an online diary for me. Perhaps one day it will be uncovered by a future descendant of mine.

This past weekend was the Relay for Life for the middle school students in the Central Bucks School District. A lot of money was raised and in the 5 or 6 years of its existence it has now surpassed over a million dollars in funds raised; I am really impressed by this number and the group that has motivated the kids to get behind this.

Each year for the past 4 years my wife Chris; a cancer survivor for the past 5 years has been active in this event starting with our daughter Amanda in 7th grade. Normally, Chris is not terribly emotional (I always jokingly refer to her extreme German genetics as the cause of this) but she has become emotional about this event. Now I know that whoever is reading this could very easily say "DUH, of course she's emotional" and I understand and acknowledge this point BUT, she is someone who was embarrassed at being called a "Survivor" she would tell me that she only did what anyone would do, she had the cancer removed...end of story. No matter how many times I would tell her that she made the hard choice, she did what so many other women would not. She opted for a mastectomy with re constructive surgery when all of the doctors (including docs from Penn and Hopkins) told us that a mastectomy was probably more than was called for in her situation.

A little history here: she discovered a lump, she had the requisite scans and then a biopsy and then began the march to see doctors, quite a few of them and to gather opinions. Chris' matter of fact outlook on all this was "take them off (her breasts ) and give me new ones!" I can remember seeing the look on the face of each of the doctors we met with who all thought her statement was over the top. What woman would willingly sacrifice her breasts? None of them had ever met a woman like Chris and she is one in a billion...following this statement while the docs would angle their heads as if they had heard something incorrectly Chris would follow up the last statement with "I am done having kids, I breastfed them both. I don't need them anymore." and then "I don't want to spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder wondering if the cancer is going to come back. Take them." Her argument was a compelling one, no question. She didn't understand at the time; and I'm not sure she understands to this day how courageous a decision it was that she made. Give me my life on my terms and in exchange you can take my breasts...I marveled at how; to her, this was a simple decision. I still do. She had places to go, people to see, things to experience and a life to live and cancer to her was just another bothersome impediment to her being able to do so. It is important that I also mention that the cancer that was spotted in the scans was only seen in one breast and that it was very early on. Most, if not all the docs suggested that Chris undergo some radiation, take some Tomoxiphin and that her chances of recurrence were low (I don't remember the actual number but I think it was about 20% chance of recurrence and about 1/3 of the recurrences were fatal). Chris would look at them and respond; "I have a one in 5 chance of recurrence and 1/3 of them are fatal? I don't like those odds. Take them off and give me new ones."

After the surgery and the reconstruction we met with the Oncologist at Penn for a follow up a month post surgery. I still remember when he walked in, sat down and
looked at us for a moment without saying a word. He then looked at Chris and said "you were right to do what you did." These may not have been the exact words but this is what I heard and we both looked at him now with greater interest as he then proceeded to tell us "your breast material was dense, it is hard to photograph and scan and be 100% sure that we are seeing everything. There was more cancer than we suspected and the other breast {which showed no signs of any cancer} actually had quite a bit hiding behind the dense material." He could have knocked both of us over with a feather at this point.

I don't remember Chris' exact reaction, but in my imagination I remember her crying. Not out of a sense of joy, or remorse or fear but out of redemption. She had been told by everyone; friends, family, doctors, everyone....that she should do what the docs told her (radiation and drugs) and call it a day. After all THEY were the experts! She was redeemed now, she trusted her gut and made the hard choice and she now had confirmation that she was right.

She now has her life, she does not have to look over her shoulder because cancer doesn't linger there anymore. Her chance of recurrence is ZERO, it can't scare her, hide on her, or surprise her again. She has won this war and each May she commemorates her victory with helping our kids fund raise and participate in the Relay for Life. Each May she wears her purple shirt, as a survivor. She gets her picture taken with the other survivors, she walks the opening lap and she smiles and is at times she's emotional as little by little the realization of the fact that she made the hard decision, the tough choice, the informed choice creeps into her thoughts, just a little and just for that moment...she denies herself the self-indulgence of such thoughts the rest of the year. Because; she has things to do, places to go and people to see.

Each year the Relay reminds me that my wife is my hero. Although I sat with her and supported all of her decisions I didn't have to make them, she did, and for making the ones she did, with the courage she showed; she is my hero. I don't know if she'll ever see this or read it and I am sure that if she does she will correct lots of what I write here :) but these are my recollections and what I write I do with love, respect and admiration.

The Sky is Falling...but for who?

This past week brought the news that Myer-Emco, a specialty retailer in home electronics has ceased operations. In an interview with CE PRO Magazine company CEO Jon Myer made a number of statements regarding why this happened to a company annually regarded as one of the tops in the specialty retailing market. The stated reasons by Myer included the credit crunch, the huge dip in the economy, and unfavorable terms with many vendors as well as his claim that "this market isn't coming back".

He states that pre-wiring homes for customers like Toll Brothers died; he also claims that 45% of the companies business was in flat panel TV's and that people want simple do-it-yourself solutions like Sonos and will not continue to pay for advanced and more expensive integrated systems. What Myer doesn't say (and apparently didn't realize)is more important to integrators than what he does say.

The market for pre-wiring homes for large production builders has been a loosing proposition for years. Integrators realized this nearly 10 years ago, even at the height of the building boom. Flat panel TV sales have been an eroding market as well, many integrators don't want to touch them, you can not profit from these, note to Mr Myer: Don't make a a loss leader responsible for 45% of company sales, especially when your vendor terms put you even further behind the 8 ball. He is right, people do want simple DIY solutions like Sonos; but not all people, not even close.

The failure of Myer-Emco is a failure to respond to the market, it was a failure to alter company culture and lead the market as a high profile integrator or leave it. Integrators of home systems have known this for a long time. Selling, designing and understanding integration systems is something NO specialty retailer has done successfully to date just like Home Depot has yet to turn out a design for and build a custom home. It doesn't mean the market is dead; it simply is isn't done well or understood by specialty retail. As an integrator I take no joy in seeing a large high profile specialty retailer bite the dust, they are good for integrators and help raise public awareness about what we do. I take no joy but based on what happened at Myer-Emco I am not surprised.