Expiration Date!

."Motivation will almost always beat mere talent."   Norman R. Augustine

In the grocery stores, all of the products come with expiration dates or "Best By" dates. In either case, it is put there to remind us that at a certain point ,this product is not as fresh as it once was, maybe not as effective as it once was, and certainly at some time in the near future should be replaced. Lately, I am feeling that I need to check my own "best by" date. It's not as if I am no longer useful, effective or viable. I just get the feeling that maybe, just maybe, my freshness or potency may not be what it once was. It's a weird feeling. I see others my age who spend there days regurgitating tales of days and times gone by with anyone one who will listen to them. That's not who I am. I still go to work every day, and I mean every day. I still feel useful and effective. I think I still contribute. Yet more often than I care for, my beliefs, my way of being, my values just don't seem appropriate in the world I find myself living in. This is what leads me to question whether I may have outlived my shelf life. One thing I am certain of, there will be no going back to the "good old days" or for that matter, the values that came with those times. For better or worse, the world has changed and the one that I grew up in is gone forever. I use the phrase "for better or for worse" without judgement. Far be it from me to put my thumb on that scale. I know what I am comfortable with, however, that doesn't mean my way is the right way. I just know that way too often in today's world I find my values and beliefs at odds with what is considered the norm of today. Maybe the yoke of my life experiences has me becoming stale, past my best by time. One thing I am certain of is that it's making me a bit uncomfortable, and that saddens me.

Keep Telling the Stories! 2023

 

A Win for the Home Team!

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."   Martin Luther King Jr.

The last time the Giants won a playoff game was in 2011. Yesterday, I watched the game with the same core group I did back then. In 2011, our game day refreshments included a couple of pounds of pounds of pastrami, a mountain of chicken wings, a crock pot full of chili and an array of chips and dips, enough for a small army. On Game day in 2011, I would don my 3x Giants hoody and a pair of sweatpants. Although warm and comfortable it was anything but fashionable. Sweat pants and a hoodie were my common dress in those days. 11 years later, I still have that sweatshirt. I wear it occasionally when I am feeling a bit lazy and have no concern as to how my clothes look on me. It fits me like a large tent nowadays. Rarely will you catch me wearing sweats out in public anymore. 2011 was over 130 pounds ago. Although nowhere near my ideal weight goal today, this sweatshirt reminds me of just how bad things once were and how much things have changed. We still had chili yesterday, albeit a vegan version served without the rice. I didn't wear my 3X tent to watch the game. It's not a "tradition" I need to keep alive. It is a reminder of where I once was, how far I have come and how much I can accomplish when I set my mind in the right direction. The Giants team of yesteryear has now been replaced by a newer version. So it is with the giant who once wore that 3X hoody. A newer version of the old me. Exciting times ahead once again!

Keep Telling the Stories! 2023

Change is Inevitable

 

I attended my first Halloween Show in March of 1996. Walking into the Rosemont Convention Center was overwhelming to say the least. At the time, I had no idea of the magnitude of this event. Row upon row of vendors, each one with multiple booths, spanning the length and width of the entire facility. Enormous barely describes what I experienced that day. In 1996, this show was dominated by independent and regional retailers, looking for the latest and greatest of what the manufacturers had to offer. Over the next few years, the show grew even bigger as did my opportunity in this industry. Happily I found my niche helping new manufacturers gain entry into the Halloween marketplace. Year after year, my team grew and grew. The Vasa Sales army would show up with a dozen helpers not including the nation wide network of independent sales reps that I cobbled together into what was at the time unprecedented in the industry. Alas, change is inevitable. Nothing lasts forever. Large national chains started acquiring smaller regional stores. 1 or 2 buyers now controlled what 15 or 20 once did. Independent retailers found themselves struggling mightily to hang on. Change was upon us. Like any good rollercoaster ride, the uphill climb would eventually lead to the whirlwind down hill race. All I could do was hold on tight and hope to not get thrown off the ride. In the end, that ride eventually came to a halt and I found myself sitting in a motionless car. The opportunities once afforded to me were gone. The ride was over. It was time to move on to the next ride. Yesterday was day 1 of this year's smaller version of what once was "The Greatest Show on Earth". The industry, and the Halloween show itself has survived albeit in a much contracted version of it's former self. Do I regret not being there? Not in the least. Do I miss the glory days of times gone by? Absolutely! More importantly, I am glad I had the foresight to realize what was changing around me and adjusted my presence on that landscape. Change is good! Painful at times but always a good thing!

Keep Telling the Stories! 2023

 "Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."

 

Robert F. Kennedy

The start of week #2 of the new year. As I intimated in a post last week, 2023 has begun with a "quiet" start. And I don't mean in a good way. As I do every Sunday morning, I ran numbers for the week today. As expected, they were less than stellar. As this is the beginning of the second full year of being open, I now have the ability to look back and compare week to week year to year. No surprise when I looked grooming was down (significantly) and retail was up(pleasantly). In the end, week to week comparisons were basically flat which I suppose one could consider a god thing. One could consider not losing ground a positive. I am not "one". Moving forward does not mean walking in place. It gets me no where! The good news is, not having fallen backwards leaves me in a position to build with out having to recapture what ever ground we may have lost. Goals, or more appropriately, targets I had set for 2022 fell way short. The only real choice for moving forward is to reset. I can't magically just get to where I had hoped to be. Bemoaning shortfalls is an absolute waste of time, energy and resources. My focus is now on reevaluating and establishing new progress markers. These missed goals are by no means any kind of failure on my part. There are no coulda, woulda, shoulda's here. What is here is the opportunity to make some course corrections and add whatever is needed to my tool bag to make the positive changes I am looking for. Simple enough! I have no time to dwell in the cursed house of woe is me, other wise known as loserville. You have to love the fact that there are always lessons, and always opportunities to grow! Pretty cool huh! Shavua Tov! (which is how we say "have a good week!")

Keep Telling the Stories! 2023

"You can not do a kindness too soon, for you will never know when too soon will be too late"

 

-Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Things here at the shop are a little tighter than I would like (major understatement!). I can't put my finger on exactly why; the weather, the economy, a slow start to the New Year or more likely a combination of many factors. I am confident that this is a temporary, albeit annoying, turn of events, however it has left me a bit stressed out. My response to this was to have eaten a bowlful of obnoxious topped off with a healthy portion of sarcasm today. Admittedly, that's a very ugly way to be. It accomplishes nothing. Still, I haven't been able to stop myself. I am hoping that writing about it will allow me to see just how silly this is and move past this place I am wallowing in. Not that sarcasm is anything new to me. In my family, it used to be the primary avenue for communicating. I (we) have gotten much better over the years, however in times of stress, it is easy to fall back on bad behaviors. For some that means drinking, overeating or drugs. My opiate of choice is obnoxious sarcasm. Awareness is the biggest part of overcoming this pattern of abuse. Luckily, I am totally aware of how I am acting and will be able to stop quickly. In the meantime, I may just want to leave interacting with others on the back burner as much as possible.   Shabbat Shalom!

Keep Telling the Stories! 2023

 "There are a hundred valid reasons why something can't be done, but only one reason, Commitment, why it can."

Jonathan Lockwood Huie 

Responding to yesterday's email, a friend commented on the picture of the Keep Telling the Stories mug, saying "still my favorite mug!" My response back was "mine too!" I created this mug as my 2019 Holiday mug. It was inspired by a dear high school friend, at a time when life had landed some big blows on me. It was a message shared with my friend by his Rabbi and he passed it on to me, for which I am eternally grateful. So the message became a mug. Unbeknown the launch of my latest mug offering, our world would soon come to a screeching halt when shortly after the New Year set in, we found ourselves in Covid lockdowns. The message and the mug were quickly relegated to the back shelf as like everyone else, I found myself trying to cope with what was happening around me. A month or so into the lockdown, I lost yet another dear friend. His death fueled the spark that ignited the fire that indeed, it was so important to Keep Telling the Stories. The mug now became my mantra. At a time when human interaction was challenging at best, I found myself even more determined to Keep Telling the Stories. And not just repeating the same old stories, but creating new ones as well. My mindset became building upon the collection of tales that are the essence of who and what I am. 68 years on this planet has to mean something and sharing those experiences serves to preserve the meaning of why we are here. It's called our legacy. Keep Telling the Stories has been my mindset ever since. It is also my biggest dream, that someday Keep Telling the Stories might become a movement. I was watching a YouTube video the other day of Country Joe and the Fish at Woodstock. At one point the camera scanned the sea of humanity that was in front of the stage. All I could think of was imagine if all of those people were wearing "Keep Telling the Stories" t-shirts. Wouldn't that be something! For now, that dream will have to wait. For now, I'll just Keep Telling the Stories. After all, I truly believe that if you look hard enough, all stories have happy endings.

Keep Telling the Stories! 2023