Well, after a crabby and tired Monday at work I'm back in the swing of things. It was a long weekend with early mornings at our press event near Olympia, Washington. We arrived on Friday and pinned it to get everything prepared in time for the editors and our 2010 offroad presentation.
It was a typical overcast and misty skies in Warshington (the preferred pronunciation from my co-worker Tom, formally from the state). The event was a success and all of the editors, from all accounts, like the 2010 models.
Tracy managed to hit up the outlet malls in Carlsbad and kept her spending under $1,000,000, which is neat. I did get a nice shirt from the Gap as a just because gift. Naturally, I really liked it and I wore it yesterday! While I was busying working away on Sunday, Tracy cleaned the apartment and went grocery shopping at Target. I'd say I got the better end of the deal there. She only spent $2,000,000 at Target. Hard to stay under that level when you shop there.
We've got a more relaxing weekend in store this go-around. After talking last night the only things we must do is go to the beach to test out our new beach chairs and head to the Melting Pot for dinner. Tracy's friends Jeff and Maria may make a stop done for wine tasting on Saturday, though, and it would be great to see them.
Not much else to report. I did find out that I'm out for the work trip to Idaho, so I guess Tracy and I will have to coordinate a trip there when my parents plan on visiting.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Busy Month Ahead
It looks like work is picking up more so than normal if that's possible, as I will have to balance deadlines and travel over the next month. This weekend I'm off to Seattle / Tacoma for our 2010 KTM and Husaberg offroad model press launch. Thankfully, it's a short Friday to Sunday trip.
After a two weekend break I head to Indianapolis for Moto GP, the biggest road race in the U.S., and our annual dealer meeting. This year's dealer meeting is a solid three-day event from Monday to Wednesday, with the Moto GP the weekend before that I'll be attending representing K
TM. The plan is to hook a ride with a Regional Sales Manager from Indy back to Minneapolis on Thursday and fly Tracy up for another weekend in MSP over Labor Day. We'll have to see if flights are affordable of course.
Then, it's a weekend break before traveling to Idaho for our Adventure Rider Rally. In case anybody is wondering, that's the bike my dad "rides". Long story, not that entertaining. I'm hoping to piggyback that trip with a short visit with my grandma and four uncles in the area. I won't have time to visit the fifth in Southern Idaho. If I can work that out, I think it's pretty fortunate I'll be able to see a lot of family over two weeks time piggybacking off work trips.
If we can't get Tracy back to MSP over Labor Day, I really want her to join me at the Rider Rally in Riggins, Idaho so she can meet some of my crazy uncles. We'll see how it all plays out here this week.
I better get back to work or my 11-hour day might end up being 12.
After a two weekend break I head to Indianapolis for Moto GP, the biggest road race in the U.S., and our annual dealer meeting. This year's dealer meeting is a solid three-day event from Monday to Wednesday, with the Moto GP the weekend before that I'll be attending representing K
TM. The plan is to hook a ride with a Regional Sales Manager from Indy back to Minneapolis on Thursday and fly Tracy up for another weekend in MSP over Labor Day. We'll have to see if flights are affordable of course.Then, it's a weekend break before traveling to Idaho for our Adventure Rider Rally. In case anybody is wondering, that's the bike my dad "rides". Long story, not that entertaining. I'm hoping to piggyback that trip with a short visit with my grandma and four uncles in the area. I won't have time to visit the fifth in Southern Idaho. If I can work that out, I think it's pretty fortunate I'll be able to see a lot of family over two weeks time piggybacking off work trips.
If we can't get Tracy back to MSP over Labor Day, I really want her to join me at the Rider Rally in Riggins, Idaho so she can meet some of my crazy uncles. We'll see how it all plays out here this week.
I better get back to work or my 11-hour day might end up being 12.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Wiens Winery and Hardhats
Here's a photo stream from some recent fun at Wiens Winery in Temecula and the following fun at Hardhats bar. Tracy's new Canon Powershot A2100 IS works amazing and has a 12.1 megapixel capture and 6x optical zoom.
If you don't see captions during the slideshow push the up arrow key on your keyboard after you expand the slideshow.
If you don't see captions during the slideshow push the up arrow key on your keyboard after you expand the slideshow.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
My Own Intern
Today I was given the final go-ahead to hire my very own little intern. To get the process rolling my co-worker Hinz and I called the local college in Menifee that offers a degree focus in visual communications.
I'm pretty much swamped here at work. You could say the boat is taking on water and my pail to bail it out has a hole in it. Or, I'm neck deep and the waves are splashing up over my nose. Or, I'm the lone horse and I have no time to drink. Enough with the analogies. What it all really means is between product management and graphic design, there's no time in the day to breathe. So, I pitched the idea of an intern a month or so ago and everybody has finally warmed to the idea.
Apparently my design skills have been ramped up about 50 notches the last few months as I'm now responsible for all of the product brochures (Three total at 28 pages each). It's a huge undertaking because I'm not just responsible for design. That's right ... I'm technically a "Marketing Product Manager", so that means I have to write the copy and headlines too! We run a small marketing department here that's for sure. The other two people in my department, Christy and Hinz, help with the copy during the rough draft stages and usually a few things get changed.
Along with the model line brochures, I'm responsible for all of our magazine ads, any promo flyers, modifying and creating Flash ads, creating dealer ads upon request (which average about 4 a week) and any POP (Point of Purchase) material for our dealers. It can get pretty overwhelming at times because that's just the graphic design aspect. This is where the intern comes in. If we can land somebody who can take just the dealer ads, flyers and a few Flash ads off my plate I might be able to come up for air again.
The sad part of the whole graphic design angle is I'm partly if not majority responsible for crushing an entire company that was once at 70 people in that of Arras Group ... our previous marketing / communications agency. The Arras Group had a head count of 70 when I started and is now at 5 or 6 people strong. I guess that's what happens when you become difficult to work with at times and you don't cut your rates in a down market. I estimate I've taken over $600k of business from them this year. I truly wish I was joking, but I'm not and it's probably even higher than that. From what I know we were their largest account. But we haven't passed so much as a dime on to them in the last six months. On the back end of the whole Arras Group collapse is me feeling guilty for people suddenly landing in the proverbial unemployment line. I guess I did what I had to do to keep myself valuable in a rough economy.
Lest we not forget, graphic design is only a portion of my job duties. In three weekends I'll be presenting all the new KTM offroad and Husaberg dirt bikes to the media in Washington. This obviously requires presentations and prep. After that it's our dealer meeting in Indy in late August. More presentations and a lot of front end grunt work for that one.
Needless to say, an intern can't come knocking soon enough. Who knows, doors might open for said intern if this market ever turns around.
I'm pretty much swamped here at work. You could say the boat is taking on water and my pail to bail it out has a hole in it. Or, I'm neck deep and the waves are splashing up over my nose. Or, I'm the lone horse and I have no time to drink. Enough with the analogies. What it all really means is between product management and graphic design, there's no time in the day to breathe. So, I pitched the idea of an intern a month or so ago and everybody has finally warmed to the idea.
Apparently my design skills have been ramped up about 50 notches the last few months as I'm now responsible for all of the product brochures (Three total at 28 pages each). It's a huge undertaking because I'm not just responsible for design. That's right ... I'm technically a "Marketing Product Manager", so that means I have to write the copy and headlines too! We run a small marketing department here that's for sure. The other two people in my department, Christy and Hinz, help with the copy during the rough draft stages and usually a few things get changed.
Along with the model line brochures, I'm responsible for all of our magazine ads, any promo flyers, modifying and creating Flash ads, creating dealer ads upon request (which average about 4 a week) and any POP (Point of Purchase) material for our dealers. It can get pretty overwhelming at times because that's just the graphic design aspect. This is where the intern comes in. If we can land somebody who can take just the dealer ads, flyers and a few Flash ads off my plate I might be able to come up for air again.
The sad part of the whole graphic design angle is I'm partly if not majority responsible for crushing an entire company that was once at 70 people in that of Arras Group ... our previous marketing / communications agency. The Arras Group had a head count of 70 when I started and is now at 5 or 6 people strong. I guess that's what happens when you become difficult to work with at times and you don't cut your rates in a down market. I estimate I've taken over $600k of business from them this year. I truly wish I was joking, but I'm not and it's probably even higher than that. From what I know we were their largest account. But we haven't passed so much as a dime on to them in the last six months. On the back end of the whole Arras Group collapse is me feeling guilty for people suddenly landing in the proverbial unemployment line. I guess I did what I had to do to keep myself valuable in a rough economy.
Lest we not forget, graphic design is only a portion of my job duties. In three weekends I'll be presenting all the new KTM offroad and Husaberg dirt bikes to the media in Washington. This obviously requires presentations and prep. After that it's our dealer meeting in Indy in late August. More presentations and a lot of front end grunt work for that one.
Needless to say, an intern can't come knocking soon enough. Who knows, doors might open for said intern if this market ever turns around.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Here Comes the Twins!
We just purchased our first set of tickets from Stub Hub for the Twins vs. Angels game this Friday. Terrace box on the visitors first base side Row A. Tracy is all about a Circle Me Bert sign, so we'll try our arts and craft skills Thursday night. We also plan on going to the Saturday night game, but we aren't so sure about a Sunday day game.
It's been super hot here lately. Here's what the last five days looked like: Friday: 98, Saturday: 101, Sunday: 103, Monday: 106, Tuesday: 102. Sadly, we're starting to get used to it. I'm still biking about 25 miles five times a week, but I have to be really selective on what time I go!
On a different yet related note ... we are planning on going to the Angels vs. Twins game at the Metrodome Saturday Aug. 1. Right now it's Jason & Carrie, Paul & Kristine, Brad & Kristi and the two of us. It's not a couples thing. Anybody who is interested in going to the game should let me know by Tuesday of next week at the latest. I plan on ordering a group of General Admission tickets in the upper deck.
We can't wait to see everybody. And we actually wouldn't mind seeing a thunderstorm or two. You start to miss those after a while.
It's been super hot here lately. Here's what the last five days looked like: Friday: 98, Saturday: 101, Sunday: 103, Monday: 106, Tuesday: 102. Sadly, we're starting to get used to it. I'm still biking about 25 miles five times a week, but I have to be really selective on what time I go!
On a different yet related note ... we are planning on going to the Angels vs. Twins game at the Metrodome Saturday Aug. 1. Right now it's Jason & Carrie, Paul & Kristine, Brad & Kristi and the two of us. It's not a couples thing. Anybody who is interested in going to the game should let me know by Tuesday of next week at the latest. I plan on ordering a group of General Admission tickets in the upper deck.
We can't wait to see everybody. And we actually wouldn't mind seeing a thunderstorm or two. You start to miss those after a while.
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