A Day (or Two) in the Life of Scott Hanno

Finally life is back to normal after that National Sales Meeting that started on Wednesday ....... I think that Montie was ready to find a new Daddy if it went on any longer! And the meetings started with a reception and dinner on Wednesday night after working all day, then it was meetings all day Thursday and then dinner that night, then meetings all day on Friday and then a boat cruise dinner Friday night. Yesterday we had meetings all day and then our awards banquet last night and didn't get home until right around midnight. And while it was alot of work on behalf of the hotel in pulling everything together, I think that just about everything went as perfectly as it could have.

My presentation thing went ok on Friday afternoon and it would have been much easier if I only had to do one one-hour session but there were three sessions back-to-back repeating all of the same information that made it so difficult. I did ok though and held my own but don't think that I'd want to do that on a full time basis any time too soon. On our cruise on Friday night it was one of those nights where it had been raining off and on, and by the time we got on the boat it was really windy and foggy, was even worse when we got back at around 10pm and couldn't see your hand in front of your face. We also had a really good speaker on Saturday morning who was in charge of turning Harley Davidson around back in the 80's and turning it into what it is today - and what they did could be applied to just about any business. He even came in the meeting room riding this big-ole-hog, it was really neat how they pulled it all together. Then for the afternoon we played games that were meant to be a team-building thing, more of just games to me but they were somewhat ok. Oh, and they went all out on the dinner last night and was this "beach theme" - think that they must have spent at least two days setting up the room for it.

I'm just glad that everything is over with at this point and it's back to work in the morning, except I'm about a week behind with my normal work I think. I'm beat too, and still working on getting over my cold but I think that it's just about gone but I swear that my nose has been running for the last week non-stop. At least I feel fine, can't quite talk and am all stuffed up but I'm thinking that it should be all gone in another couple of days. I guess that's about it for tonight though, been a while since I last wrote and now hopefully you'll know why. Have a great start to your new week, and I'll talk with you all again sometime real soon. Good Night!

posted by Scott @ 10:24 PM

Hey everyone, I'm feeling a little bit better tonight - still have the sinus issue and a couple of coughs but I certainly feel better than I did yesterday ....... at least I don't think that I still have a fever and I'm starting to get my balance and hearing back :) Not too bad of a day although it was certainly busy, but what's new right? And nothing really new to report either, the cold weather is back and was only maybe 60' today and mostly cloudy although we did see the sun for a couple of minutes - and think that it's 40' or so tonight. I'm just glad that I'm not up in Central NY ..... actually I kind of miss it but I'm sure that it would suck after about a day.

Still working on my presentation for Friday and I'm starting to run out of time as the games are going to begin on Wednesday and then I won't have time for any of it. But I think that I'll still be ok as long as I don't think about it - heck, it is just like another one of my Sales Strategy Meetings isn't it - except I have to stand up in front of 30 people at a time - wait, I wasn't gonna think about it!!!!!

Just dropping a note to say that I'm still alive, at least it was a short lived illness although I never get sick - so I'm not really sick, I just have a runny nose is all. Have a great Tuesday and I hope that my friends up north are enjoying playing in the snow - make a snowman for me why don't ya :?) I'll talk with you later - have a great week. Good night for now - and I hope that all is well.

posted by Scott @ 10:32 PM

I think that I am slightly ill with sinus issues that won't quit. Plus I didn't sleep half of last night as it was thundering and lightning like crazy and Montie was freaking out at about 3am - panting like he was going to have a heart attack and it was all from the stress of the thunder. But I was probably up with him until sometime around 5am and he'd even crawl all the way under the covers to the bottom of the bed and I could still hear him breathing like crazy. I think that we both fell asleep sometime after that but it certainly was short sleep weekend the last couple of days.

And yesterday was dang warm, I drove to the mall in the late afternoon and the thermostat in my truck said that it was 78' out at one point and wasn't all that much cooler today - saw my first frog (or should I say toad) yesterday and wondered if that was a sign that spring was right around the corner. Didn't do all that much this weekend though other than get my haircut and buy a new pair of shoes, plus work most of yesterday :( We've got the National Sales Meeting that kicks off on Wednesday evening and lasts through Saturday night so I hope that I'm feeling better by then - and if nothing else at least I don't have either Sales Strategy Meetings this week. It should be an ok couple of days to start out the new week, but then who knows what's going to happen after that.

Good night, I should have slept all day but didn't - cleaned the house and shopped for groceries even though I've felt like crap for most of the day. My brain isn't functioning so I'm going to end this here and call it a night - talk with you all again on another day.

posted by Scott @ 10:37 PM

It was another beautiful day in PCB again, near 70' temps and bright and sunny ...... think that makes four in a row but I'm starting to loose track! It's suppose to rain this weekend though, go figure that one huh :( It was an ok day though, nothing too much out of the ordinary although I was having a hard time getting anything done - I swear that I could just sit at my desk and do nothing else but answer e-mail and that would keep me busy for 10 hours a day. And I'm starting to get wore out with these two Sales Strategy Meetings a week and being two days in a row, just when I make it through the first one I'm all ready late getting ready for the next one. Plus that means two nights of homework doing nothing else but I'm over that at this point although I'm not quite ready for # 2 yet.

The highlight of my day was that my new monitor arrived and is sooo sweet, was tracking it's progress on UPS.com the last couple of days and originally it wasn't suppose to arrive until tomorrow. But they always seem to do that and then reschedule it at 7am on the day of and then it's out for delivery. I was kind of worried about leaving it at my front door though so I was going to run home when I saw that it changed to "delivered" status but it never did and the guy didn't show up until after I got home and it was close to 6pm by then. And it was a good thing that I didn't come home to check on it as he told me he wouldn't have left it if there wasn't anyone to sign for it - anything in a computer box is like that I guess. And even though I didn't have time tonight to mess with it I just had to hook it up, but it was about an inch too tall for my shelf on my desk so I had to drill holes about an inch below the lowest one and then got it to fit perfectly. I love it and the more I use it the better I like it. The amazing thing is how thin and light it is - my old one must have weighed 50 lbs and is at least 2 feet in depth - while this one is 15 lbs and about three inches deep, it's amazing how much technology has changed in just the last few years. Still not sure what to do with my old monitor though - kind of afraid to sell it cheap as I don't know how long it'll last from here.

Other than that I've got alot to do this weekend as next weekend will be shot, rescheduled my haircut due to it and also need to finish up my presentation. Other than that no major plans and guess that I'll play it as it comes along, who knows it might even be a nice weekend. And I guess that I'll watch ER for a bit and then call it a night - and I'll be back on another day, I'm just not too sure when. Good night from Florida and I'll talk with you again sometime soon. Oh, and have a GREAT weekend!

posted by Scott @ 10:25 PM

So far so good this week and it's almost half way over ..... well in another 16 hours or so it will be! And it's been such an awesome weather week it's hard to remember it being so cold, it's been close to 70' the last two days and the sun has been shining, I just wish that it was like this every day! And with our National Sales Meeting coming up next week with all of the hotels in our company coming for the Sales Celebration they have been ripping the resort apart and putting it back together again - and bet that they must have bought $20k in flowers alone that they are planting all over the place. Paint, paint and more paint - gallons of that stuff going down all over the place too! It certainly is starting to come together though and the place looks great - can't say that I've ever seen the hotel looking better than it is all ready and they aren't even done yet!

And that reminds me of the Rally, it'll be one long week next week as it kicks off on Wednesday with a dinner and reception, then classes all day Thursday and Friday with a dinner cruise on Friday night, then a team building event Saturday morning and then the grande finale Saturday night with another big dinner and awards celebration. I'm in charge of doing one of the seven breakout sessions on Friday afternoon and while I'm certainly not looking forward to it, I just won't think about it until that morning. And dang if I'm not going to be eating well for those four days - they are going all out on the menus too.

Yesterday I had thought that I was done with that business plan of mine and then my boss brings me like 10 pages that he needs me to add more comments to and says that he needs it by the end of the day so that he can overnight it to Corporate last night, that certainly wasn't one of the highlights of my day. But at least I think that it is gone now - at least until next year and then maybe we'll complete it before we do the budget so that it matters a little bit.

All is well though, I'm in a really good mood tonight and the office if finally coming together and think that the new peeps are going to be all right ...... another week and things should start to get back to normal - good thing too as we're on the verge of starting the Spring Break Zoo! That's about all I've got tonight, just checking in and watching another episode of Kingpin - seems like it's one every other night lately. Good night and Happy Hump and I'll speak with you on another day. Later Gator - don't eat all of the mashed potaters!!!

posted by Scott @ 10:26 PM

Ahhh, what a weekend. At least yesterday was a productive day, mowed my front lawn and applied my crab grass preventer, then washed the truck and installed the new bra for the Explorer that came on Thursday. Today wasn't quite as productive but I did get the house cleaned and most of my homework done and now I guess that I'm just about ready for a new week to begin. The weather wasn't too bad but also wasn't too good - yesterday was better than today but it rained in the evening Saturday night and then again just about all day today. Oh, and it's still a bit chilly in in the evenings, down to the mid-40's and up in the high 50's but it actually felt pretty good yesterday.

I did my taxes on Friday night using H&R Block on-line and took me about 15 minutes to enter everything, still had to ask a couple of questions and I'm waiting for them to get back to me. They usually answer me within a couple of days and then it'll be all set and then I'll approve them and wait for the refund to hit my checking account. Nothing out of the ordinary this year but the interest and property taxes on the house saved me about a grand in additional refund and I was able to write off a grand in stock losses that I sold and that also helped. And with my refund I decided that I would order a new monitor for my home pc - and have been watching the prices on the flat screens and found one yesterday that I really liked and it's a Dell 19" flat screen with all of the bells and whistles, if you want to see it you can click here. I was going to wait until my current one died and think that it's getting close - some days there is this blue tint to the whole thing that flickers between blue and normal ...... I just hope to have the new one by this weekend.

My biggest moment this weekend that ticked me off was that I went to Walmart tonight and did the normal grocery shopping, but when I got half way through the check out process I realized that I had left my wallet at home. So they kind of set my stuff aside while I ran home and got it - luckily it's only about 10 minutes away but still wasted a half hour of my day. At least I'm sure that I won't be doing that again any time soon, still ticks me off for doing it in the first place. I also watched a couple of movies this weekend and watched Basketball Diaries on Friday night and the Lord of the Rings on Saturday night - and dang if I were a kid and watched what Leo went through there is no way that I would try drugs and after watching the Hobbits for three hours on Saturday there wasn't even an ending - was waiting for the "to be continued" thing to pop up on my screen.

I think that the week ahead might be a fairly normal one, I don't really have too many pressing issues or deadlines to meet so it should be just business as usual, guess that I'll find out soon enough. Not too sure what the weather is suppose to be but guess that it doesn't matter anyways as I really don't even see much of the daylight hours working all day. And I guess that's about it and all is well with me - and hope that it's the same with you. I'll talk with you again someday soon, take it easy till the next time. Night!

posted by Scott @ 10:27 PM

Well, another hump is done and if I'm not glad for that .... as a couple of more days and it'll be over for another weekend. And I'm beat, actually I was beat on Monday before it even began but guess that it hasn't been all that bad a week looking back at it. Work has been crazy and my trainees are slowly coming along, a couple of more weeks and they might be able to hold their own - it's more the ones that have been there a while that I'm more worried about. And I'm on schedule for my first Strategy Meeting tomorrow, but I have to run out for my dental appointment in the late morning so I hope that I can pull it all together in time.

And I think that my biggest accomplishment today was that I think that I finally figured out Office 2000 on my new pc - it's only been a month and a half when I first started getting error messages and my MIS person finally got a registed copy of it so that I could try and install it again. But every time I installed it it just reinstalled the bad version and yesterday my Palm wouldn't even synch and had things all messed up. I finally tonight uninstalled the entire program and went into the registry and deleted any mention of the program and then reinstalled it and I think that it's now as good as new. I have been really having error issues the last couple of days - couldn't even do my stuff this morning as I couldn't even e-mail files there for a while. But before I left work tonight all was working perfectly, so I'll just keep my fingers crossed that it works as well tomorrow. And the humorous part is that my MIS buddy couldn't even give me any advise as to how to edit the registry - it's a delicate procedure but I'm not afraid!

There is really nothing else new to report though other than work as that's all I've been doing for the last ....... weeks. I still have my Natl Sales Rally presentation to get ready for and that's only two weeks away and haven't really even started to think about what I'm going to present - but if I don't think about it it's not so bad. I haven't really finished up that stupid Business Plan either but did about all that I could - and if no one asks me for it than I'm not going to tell them how much I've completed ...... it's wasn't my best work but just hope that it goes away someday soon.

I think that the rains are suppose to move in tomorrow too and stay until at least Saturday, and the cold weather has moved back in but hopefully it'll only be around for a short time, might make for a sucky kind of weekend. Oh, and I ordered a bra-thingy for my Sports Trac on Monday and might have that by the weekend - still have to figure out if I can use it with my bug shield or if I'll have to take that off instead - but I've seen one other truck that has it and love the looks of it. I'm just hoping that it's a breeze to install - not too sure yet.

I guess that I'll call my bro and see what's up with him - he was in Atlanta last week when I called him so I'll see if he's home tonight. So, I guess that means that I'll talk with you another day ........ one of the days closer to the weekend! Good night and sleep tight, or good morning/good afternoon - whatever time it is for you I hope that you are well reading this. Talk with you again sometime soon.

posted by Scott @ 10:30 PM

Well, it looks like another one bites the dust ...... the weekend at least! And man, what a beautiful one it was at that and think that it was near 70' both days, didn't do a whole lot outside but it certainly did feel nice. I did end up giving the Monto a haircut yesterday and that took me a couple of hours - not the prettiest doo that I've seen but I guess that I did ok. He wouldn't really let me touch his feet so I left them looking a little bushy, but even those kind of fit his style just a little bit. I also gave him a bath with isn't the most fun that I've had but think that he is looking mucho better because of it. If you want to see what his haircut turned out like you can click the hairbag and hopefully that will give you an idea. I had to take his picture when he was sleeping though as he freaks out at the flash - and he must have been rather beat as he didn't even bat an eye when I took it.

I'm thinking that it might be a half way normal week but I guess that I'll have to wait and see, spent alot of time this weekend trying to get caught up but still haven't finished my business plan thing. At least I don't think that I have any extra meeting this week but guess that I'll see. That reminds me that I have a dental appointment for a cleaning on Thursday morning, so I'll see how my Sonicare tooth brush did for me again. Oh, and my first boss from when I was a teen called me tonight and told me that he and his wife were planning on visiting in another month or so, not sure why they want to spend five days here but who am I to question them. I also need to find them rooms in Orlando for another five days after that, I just hope that it's not a busy week in the City of Magic.

Nothing else really to report though, I haven't started my taxes yet but think that I have just about all of the paperwork that I need to do them - now I just have to try and find the time to sit down and do them. I'm just hoping that I don't owe this year but guess that I'll have to do them and see where they turn out. I guess that's about it for tonight - Boomtown isn't on but this new show Kingpin is on in it's place ...... not too bad so far. And I hope you have a great week, I'll try and make the best of it no matter what comes my way. Good night for now - talk with you again sometime soon.

ps - and I forgot to mention the Columbia tragedy and at first yesterday morning I thought that they had only lost contact with the shuttle and didn't think anything about it, didn't put two and two together to realize that that wasn't a good thing and a few minutes later I hear that all was lost - my thoughts & prayers go out to those pioneers for doing what they do and the risks that they take doing it. I just hope that it doesn't put an end to the missions as I think that they are the kewlest things we've got going! God Bless them all.

posted by Scott @ 10:28 PM