Jeff's Blahg

Since I bought the Macbook Pro 3 months ago I have enjoyed playing with one of the cool software programs that comes with it called Photo Booth. The Macbooks come with a built in iSight camera on the top, to be used for video conferencing and using it for, well, a photo booth. They have some cool effects that you can apply to the pics as well… which makes it even more fun. Below are some of my favorites pics we have taken:

The AlarmTrax product has *officially* been rebranded to SecurityTrax. SecurityTrax is an online application used by ADT and Monitronics (and others) Dealers to track all their customers, etc. The change has already taken place… including URL changes.

For those of you that perhaps own a business with product names, trademarks and the like you know how brutal it can be to change something like this. It really stinks because we were getting some really good name recognition going… however, we needed to make the change now rather than risk future problems with the AlarmTrax name.

Also, we just added another company to …SecurityTrax… (just doesn’t sound right yet!).

Here I am in Albuquerque… 3rd time in 2 months. This time is for the MWC Indoor Track & Field Championships. I will be coaching the heptathletes today (Friday) in the vault. Tomorrow is the main pole vault competition. We brought 4 vaulters to the meet… all of which should score points, which is 1st-8th place.

I brought the family on this trip so it should be pretty fun. Sydney has flown before, but never while old enough to really care. She had a blast yesterday and did great on the plane. She gets really excited to help me coach . It was also Allie’s first flight ever… and she did great as well. We will be flying back tomorrow night late, through Phoenix.

I need to book a ticket today to Portland, Oregon for next month. SafeTrax is attending the Oregon Governor’s Occupational Safety & Health Conference held the 12th-15th.

Wow – what a week it has been. I have been attending the WFLO (World Food Logistics Organization) Institute in Norman Oklahoma – Home of “OU” (Oklahoma Sooners).

The last four days have been filled with intense classes ranging from ‘Ammonia Safety’ to ‘Attitude in the Workplace’. The quality of the classes, as well as the instructors teaching them, was excellent. Not coming from a PRW (Public Refrigerated Warehouse) background like everyone else there, I was leary of what I was getting myself into… but quickly discovered the classes were in part tailored for people just like myself. Very cool.

I did some other very important things while I was here… like try out a new steak house each night. Here are my reviews:

• Kuna Ranch: Best ribeye I have had in a while. Atmosphere was very nice too. It was this Hawaiian themed place that had coconut in even the butter… yummy. 5 of 5 stars.
• Saltgrass: My least favorite of the 3 for the quality of the food… which surprised me since it came highly recommended (thanks alot Kim!). The atmosphere was fine – almost identical to a Lone Star. 2 stars.
• Santa Fe Cattle Company: Steak was pretty good really… but was out shined by the bread w/ honey-butter. My weakness.. like kryptonite to Superman. The atmosphere was unique to me – very casual w/ peanut shells all over the floor… like everywhere. 3.5 stars.

I also went to a women’s OU basketball game while I was here. It was pretty cool because the nearly sold out the arena for the game… most people I have ever seen at a women’s basketball game. Of course, they were playing rival Texas. OU won the game by about 20.

Well, I am happy to be headed home tomorrow. Being back w/ the family will be great. From what I have gathered Sydney can’t handle too much more of me not being around anyway.

Alot has been going on… that is an understatement. Its been hard to find time to do much of anything outside the required regiment. Anyway, some cool things that have happened:

• HiValley is now an LLC. No more sole-proprietorships for me!
• Added 2 new AlarmTrax customers.
• Travis is taking over day-to-day operations of AlarmTrax.
• Kristie and I did our estate planning. I suggest you do this if you haven’t already.
• Been coaching the vault at BYU.
• Still can’t find a decent house to buy.

I am in Albuquerque right now with the track team. The vault is tomorrow at 11 AM. We should do very well… but hey, we always say that. After the meet tomorrow I fly to Oklahoma City (via Denver) to spend the next week at the WFLO Institute:

Established in 1965, the WFLO Institute offers a three-year program, with three and a half days of instruction each year devoted to helping warehouse and food distribution professionals better understand the many facets of the PRW industry. Nearly forty classes are offered at the Institute, divided among seven tracks—Facilities Management, Finance and Productivity, Food Science/Food Safety, Human Resources, Logistics Management, Risk Management, and Warehouse Technology. Whether you’re in operations, administration, engineering, human resources, or some other area in the industry, experience how the Institute can broaden your understanding of all aspects of the PRW business.

This is for SafeTrax. There will be some great networking possibilities for us while there… since everyone there (minus existing customers who will be there) can really use our services. Sandie and I are going as well as my Dad. I try to post some exiting highlights from the week.

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