Catching up

Hey!! We're both feeling really guilty that we haven't updated the blog in days. But there are reasons for it. In this last week or so, we've just pretty much been back to "normal life", even though we're living in Arizona in an RV.

Since the holidays are over and all, I've really started focusing a lot of effort on my business and all the hard work has paid off. But, it means that I'm working an average of 8 hours a day over the last week. I know, I know. Wah...right? Everyone works 8 hours a day, Nellie, put on your big boy boxers and deal with it!

That's exactly what I've been doing . . . and quite honestly, I'm loving it. My business is growing quickly as referrals start getting out and about. I have to thank my friends Jim Brands and Dave D'Avanzo for that. Jim gave my name and contact information to an electric utility in Gig Harbor, Wash., and because of that referral, I'm going to provide some media training and newsletter consulting to them. Also, because of a group that Dave invited me to present my business in front of, I gained a new client -- another electric utility in Idaho Falls!

Anyway, since neither of us has blogged since Sunday, we'll play a little catch-up tonight. Dawn said she'd blog tonight, too . . . so if you haven't already read her post, be sure to check back later.

By the way . . . please read all of my post, because there's a pop-quiz at the end.

MONDAY:
Still basking in the glow of the Seahawks making it to the Super Bowl (which as you know, I'm thrilled about), I got right to work with a couple of projects for PhoenixLaw -- an article for their e-newsletter and research for a media distribution list I'm building for them. Later in the day, I also worked on some marketing and promotional projects for All American Deli & Ice Cream in Vancouver mall. I also did a little work to promote my own business and some new-business development. During our lunch "break", we went to one of the events for "Southwestern Week" here at the RV Resort. It was pretty neat, actually. Kind of a 'bring your bag lunch' thing where the resort provided drinks and entertainment. A family of Indians was the entertainment, and they were really fun to watch. They showed us some different Navajo dances and played several different native songs. This particular family has been invited by the U.S. government to perform for people at our embassies in Eastern Europe. I also found out today that Marc Connelly of R/C Unlimiteds is going to refer my company as the new editor/publisher of the newsletter for the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum. This is pretty cool for me because not only would it be a third paying newsletter client, which continues to be a growing business line for me, but it's the Hydroplane Museum . . . which I really like and believe in.

TUESDAY:
This was a big day for Noslen Communication. I got a call from my friend Jonathan White at Peninsula Light Company in Gig Harbor, Wash., who wanted to know exactly what kind of work I was doing these days since going out on my own. We spent several minutes talking about everything we do, and then he asked me if I would be interested in coming up to Gig Harbor to provide some media training and some newsletter consulting. Of course I'm willing to do that, since it's exactly the kind of work we're doing! Anyway, I told Jonathan I'd work up a quote and general description of work for him and we'd go from there. I put in a 10-hour day today, working on everything from media list research and design of a print ad for PhoenixLaw, to direct mail and flyer design for All American Deli & Ice Cream; as well as spending some time putting together that quote for Jonathan, as well as other administrative and business development stuff.

WEDNESDAY:
Today was pretty much another big day for my business, as Van Ashton from Idaho Falls Power called in follow up to a couple of e-mails he and I had exchanged a couple of weeks ago. Today, we reached an agreement on some work that my company could do for them. It includes designing newspaper ads and writing scripts for radio spots. The main messages are energy conservation and safety with electricity. Did more work for All American and more for PhoenixLaw. Today was only a 9 hour work day, though. Today at lunch, we again went to the Activities Center here at the RV Resort and saw the same Indian family do more performing. Different dances and different songs and stories than they did on Monday. And lunch was really good: Southwestern Chili. Yum! I also have to publicly thank my webmaster, JS Webworks (my mom's company). She did a bang-up job of getting my website switched over, even though it took about five hours of her time . . . nice 'welcome home from your vacation,' huh? Thanks a million, mom!

THURSDAY:
It was yet another day of lots of work. It was pretty much the same clients, with the addition of thinking about what I can do for Idaho Falls Power. Today, I also got the final approval from Peninsula Light for the media training and newsletter consulting that I'm going up there to do for them at the end of February. All in all, it was a great week for my company. We got commitments for tons of work from All American, and new clients in Peninsula Light and Idaho Falls Power. We're both REALLY excited about the work I'm getting lined up with. I spent most of the evening putting together my travel arrangements for my trip to Gig Harbor. Somehow, we still managed to get in a trip to Costco, which we'd needed to do for quite some time. There were a couple of other errands, like a trip to the bank and a stop at the grocery store that needed to be done as well.

FRIDAY:
I didn't get a lot of Noslen work done today. It was a day in which we took time to do some of the stuff we needed to do -- like laundry. Once I finish this blog update, I'm going to do some more work for several clients. While we were waiting for our laundry, we hit golf balls at the practice nets, and sat around reading. (Yes, I actually read . . . thanks to Brooke and Luka getting me a book called The Best American Sports Writing of 2005. It's a great compilation of sports writing submitted for judging and put into a book. The story I started today was about Pat Tillman, a star pro football player who, after the attacks of September 11, actually turned down a $3.6 million contract from the Arizona Cardinals (his only pro football team, after he played at Arizona State University in college) in order to join the Army Rangers with his brother and go fight in Afghanistan. One of my favorite quotes from Tillman in the story was (just after 9/11), "I play football. It seems so unimportant compared to everything that has taken place. A lot of my family has gone and fought wars, and I really haven't done a damn thing." Two years after he and his brother enlisted in the Army, Tillman was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan. Ironically, the "friendly firefight" was between two groups (which had become separated) of his own platoon. The Tillman brothers were in separate groups. Long story short, it was all kind of ugly. At lunch today, we celebrated the end of Southwestern Week, as the big event today was "Frosty", the white bull they brought in for us to have our pictures taken with/on. I actually got up in the saddle, which was kinda fun. Dawn has a picture of me on Frosty, which she'll probably post later. There's a picture of her next to the bull above.

Tonight, we went out to dinner at one of the local joints. Olive Garden. ;) We can't help it . . . we do have some of our own favorites. Hey, last Friday we had dinner at one of the local Mexican joints! :)

So . . . Now that I'm finally done catching you all up, here's the quiz.

Show of hands: How many of you actually thought any or all of this was interesting? :)

Regardless, we do very much appreciate those of you who continually check the blog, only to find we haven't updated it for awhile. We just don't want to bore you guys too much with what we think of as our "regular daily life". Maybe we're wrong. Maybe just the fact we're doing all this as snowbirds is interesting in its own right. But seriously, thanks you guys, for reading. We always love the comments you send when we do post. So please keep the comments coming.