This morning I was awakened by a strange thing. My wife's alarm clock. It was 6:45. As I lay there wondering what to do, it occurred to me.... Today is my day off. Marcy is going to work! Ever since the first few weeks of our marriage, I can't remember a time when Marcy had to go to work and I didn't.
I'm not sure how I feel about this.
I guess we have turned a corner in our lives. As it turned out, I got out of bed about the time she was closing the door behind her, made waffles for the kids and then got dressed and made my way out the door to go take care of some errands.
I went to Costco and picked up a prescription for her and then delivered it to her at work. Another strange happening. She was so cute at her desk, wearing her pink Polo shirt with company logo on it. Again, a strange happening - she told me to "go ahead - check out the place". So, as she stayed at her desk initially, I started introducing myself to her co-workers. A nice, yet I am afraid, crazy bunch of women.
My usual Kestner charm fell on deaf ears and blind eyes. I could hear the crickets!
So, after a brief pause, I excused myself out of the den of females and went back to work.
It was an interesting, different day.
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Weekends - for what they are worth....
Last Thursday, I brought our travel trailer to work with me. After work, I drove up to one of our favorite camping spots to make sure I would a have a spot to park over the holiday weekend. Got the best spot in the camp! Stayed the night there and commuted into work the next morning. (I was actually closer to work at Palisades than I am from my home.) And this would be a theme for the rest of the weekend. Best of both worlds, I say.
Saturday, Marcy brought the family up to get the trailer truly set up and get ready for the holiday weekend. I joined them after work, and we had a great campfire.
On Sunday, we woke up with our only intention being to drive into Jackson Hole, WY for the day. We got to Jackson just in time to see the street sweepers cleaning up all of the horse apples after the Independance Day parade. We walked the boardwalks around town for a bit, ate a very expensive McDonalds meal and decided to go see the Tetons. So, we drove north of Jackson and just kind of ended up at the south gate to Yellowstone Park.
Well, if you are that close, you really only have one option, right? So we entered the park and drove to Old Faithful. We caught the 5:23 showing of the geyser, toured the newly remodeled lodge and left for camp at about 5:45. At about 8:45, we arrived back to camp, and I set about BBQing the pork ribs that had been marinating. After a great meal, we all went to bed.
Monday am, I went in to work. After an un-eventful day at work, I went back up to Palasades. After dinner, I took Zach over to see Ben at Camp Little Lemhi with the troop. We stayed until well after dark and came back to our "camp".
Tuesday was my day off, and Zach and I went back over to Little Lemhi for the day. He earned his Indian Lore Merit badge, and got a partial on his leatherworking. We went back to our camp, ate dinner, and Marcy and the kids left for home. I stayed for one more night, and Wednesday, I hooked on to the trailer again and brought it to work with me. (Nice to work for an RV dealership.)
I guess that if you can't take a lot of time off in a row, make the most of it! I truly lived what I am selling. I look forward to more of the same at other times this summer. I am also glad summer finally arrived here.
Saturday, Marcy brought the family up to get the trailer truly set up and get ready for the holiday weekend. I joined them after work, and we had a great campfire.
On Sunday, we woke up with our only intention being to drive into Jackson Hole, WY for the day. We got to Jackson just in time to see the street sweepers cleaning up all of the horse apples after the Independance Day parade. We walked the boardwalks around town for a bit, ate a very expensive McDonalds meal and decided to go see the Tetons. So, we drove north of Jackson and just kind of ended up at the south gate to Yellowstone Park.
Well, if you are that close, you really only have one option, right? So we entered the park and drove to Old Faithful. We caught the 5:23 showing of the geyser, toured the newly remodeled lodge and left for camp at about 5:45. At about 8:45, we arrived back to camp, and I set about BBQing the pork ribs that had been marinating. After a great meal, we all went to bed.
Monday am, I went in to work. After an un-eventful day at work, I went back up to Palasades. After dinner, I took Zach over to see Ben at Camp Little Lemhi with the troop. We stayed until well after dark and came back to our "camp".
Tuesday was my day off, and Zach and I went back over to Little Lemhi for the day. He earned his Indian Lore Merit badge, and got a partial on his leatherworking. We went back to our camp, ate dinner, and Marcy and the kids left for home. I stayed for one more night, and Wednesday, I hooked on to the trailer again and brought it to work with me. (Nice to work for an RV dealership.)
I guess that if you can't take a lot of time off in a row, make the most of it! I truly lived what I am selling. I look forward to more of the same at other times this summer. I am also glad summer finally arrived here.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
life in the R.V. business...
Well hello everybody, nice seeing you again! It has been a while since I have posted anything, so thought I would give an update.
First of all, R.V. stands for Recreational Vehicle. So, they are not considered a necessety, but you would be surprised by how many people we see every day. I would guess that our 4 sales people meet with about three sets of customer's each and every day. That means I look at the ability to buy a R.V. atleast 12 -15 times a day. If they qualify, it is my job to get them financing options. When they do decide to buy, I do all of the paperwork with them, coordinate funding through the banks / credit unions, and process the paperwork to our controler who sets up accounts payable / receivable and coordinates service.
I am lucky that at least at the moment, I enjoy working with everybody I am in contact with. The company is well respected, and has a great presence in the community. Things are going well. It remains to be seen if it will be a profitable venture, but to date, things are going well.
Thanks for all of the well wishes...
First of all, R.V. stands for Recreational Vehicle. So, they are not considered a necessety, but you would be surprised by how many people we see every day. I would guess that our 4 sales people meet with about three sets of customer's each and every day. That means I look at the ability to buy a R.V. atleast 12 -15 times a day. If they qualify, it is my job to get them financing options. When they do decide to buy, I do all of the paperwork with them, coordinate funding through the banks / credit unions, and process the paperwork to our controler who sets up accounts payable / receivable and coordinates service.
I am lucky that at least at the moment, I enjoy working with everybody I am in contact with. The company is well respected, and has a great presence in the community. Things are going well. It remains to be seen if it will be a profitable venture, but to date, things are going well.
Thanks for all of the well wishes...
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
A carefully chosen path...?
As I have eluded, there are some changes coming in the Kestner household. These new ideas and career thoughts have been in the works for awhile, but now is the time to act on them.
Many of you know that Marcy is finishing up her schooling and will be looking for and/or has found work working as a medical coder. There is no illusion that she will be making dynamite money out of the gate, but the opportunity is there, and she has found something that she will enjoy doing.
Many of you also know that I have done construction related work for all but 2 1/2 years of my married life. I have loved my career until recently. The economy has taken a downturn, receivables have been a pain to collect and payables have been a stretch to pay. Add to this mix that my body is starting to break down, and we have a recipe for hard times. I do not heal like I did when I was younger, and my body is always in pain due to soreness and such. I have had some employees over the last few years off and on, but having them do the "heavy lifting" has left me with more headache in management and less productivity due to the lack of lead flow. I am not blaming The President, Congress, customers, employees or anyone else - I am just stating the facts as they pertain to me.
Marcy has been urging me to do something else for awhile now. She doesn't want to be married to an old broken down goat in a few years and with divorce out of the question, I have to give my body a rest.
I have found it difficult to "move up" within the Costco structure as Costco policy places a large amount of weight on seniority. To get into a job responsibility there that would pay well enough to call Costco my career as well as work full time could take 4-6 years. I don't have that kind of time to wait. Too bad I didn't take the opportunity to work for them back when I was graduating high school - they are a great company to work for.
At any rate, I have been looking for a good career choice that can pay the bills, while letting my body take a break. I have had 2 resumes out for about a month now and have interviewed for 2 positions. I was number 2 for the first interview I had. Then, my phone rang from a company that I didn't expect. I had talked to the local manager about one opportunity, but the call came from the main store in Idaho Falls regarding a job opportunity I didn't expect. I interviewed the next day and was offered the job the day after that. Negotiations have been pleasant, and I feel that the company has given me a fair pay plan.
They see in me a sincere person with a hard work ethic. I see a lot of faith from them offering me the Business Manager / Assistant Sales Manager position at Bish's RV in Idaho Falls. I was a customer first and frankly that is when they started looking at me.
....Let the adventure begin......
Bish's RV Sales is the #1 retailer of Jayco trailers in the region and also one of the largest RV dealers in general in Idaho. 2010 has proven to be an "up" year for RV purchases regionally, and now is a good time to go back into retail sales. I will have to earn the respect of the sales staff from a position of management, which will be a challenge, but I look forward to working in the financing world once again. I believe that Bish's is an ethical company - if they hadn't been, I would not be a customer, let alone an employee. I will be starting this new life June 5th.
Closing my construction operations will be a bittersweet moment. I still have some loose ends to tie up before I am completely out. Thanks be to all of my past paying customers. Thank you to Costco for working with me and my schedule.
I am grateful for this opportunity to learn and grow.
There you have it - let the grumblings begin!
Many of you know that Marcy is finishing up her schooling and will be looking for and/or has found work working as a medical coder. There is no illusion that she will be making dynamite money out of the gate, but the opportunity is there, and she has found something that she will enjoy doing.
Many of you also know that I have done construction related work for all but 2 1/2 years of my married life. I have loved my career until recently. The economy has taken a downturn, receivables have been a pain to collect and payables have been a stretch to pay. Add to this mix that my body is starting to break down, and we have a recipe for hard times. I do not heal like I did when I was younger, and my body is always in pain due to soreness and such. I have had some employees over the last few years off and on, but having them do the "heavy lifting" has left me with more headache in management and less productivity due to the lack of lead flow. I am not blaming The President, Congress, customers, employees or anyone else - I am just stating the facts as they pertain to me.
Marcy has been urging me to do something else for awhile now. She doesn't want to be married to an old broken down goat in a few years and with divorce out of the question, I have to give my body a rest.
I have found it difficult to "move up" within the Costco structure as Costco policy places a large amount of weight on seniority. To get into a job responsibility there that would pay well enough to call Costco my career as well as work full time could take 4-6 years. I don't have that kind of time to wait. Too bad I didn't take the opportunity to work for them back when I was graduating high school - they are a great company to work for.
At any rate, I have been looking for a good career choice that can pay the bills, while letting my body take a break. I have had 2 resumes out for about a month now and have interviewed for 2 positions. I was number 2 for the first interview I had. Then, my phone rang from a company that I didn't expect. I had talked to the local manager about one opportunity, but the call came from the main store in Idaho Falls regarding a job opportunity I didn't expect. I interviewed the next day and was offered the job the day after that. Negotiations have been pleasant, and I feel that the company has given me a fair pay plan.
They see in me a sincere person with a hard work ethic. I see a lot of faith from them offering me the Business Manager / Assistant Sales Manager position at Bish's RV in Idaho Falls. I was a customer first and frankly that is when they started looking at me.
....Let the adventure begin......
Bish's RV Sales is the #1 retailer of Jayco trailers in the region and also one of the largest RV dealers in general in Idaho. 2010 has proven to be an "up" year for RV purchases regionally, and now is a good time to go back into retail sales. I will have to earn the respect of the sales staff from a position of management, which will be a challenge, but I look forward to working in the financing world once again. I believe that Bish's is an ethical company - if they hadn't been, I would not be a customer, let alone an employee. I will be starting this new life June 5th.
Closing my construction operations will be a bittersweet moment. I still have some loose ends to tie up before I am completely out. Thanks be to all of my past paying customers. Thank you to Costco for working with me and my schedule.
I am grateful for this opportunity to learn and grow.
There you have it - let the grumblings begin!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
I'll tell ya when I can!
For those of you that have patience issues, I am responding to some of the comments I have seen on this blog. I am not meaning to leave you hanging, but due to contract language, I can't go into details on what is coming. Just know that it is time to start using my brain, knowledge and management skills vs. my tired, failing body. I will be able to make a general announcement after Memorial Day as per contract! It's good. I promise!
Friday, May 7, 2010
Medical insurance - what a blessing!
As of May 1, 2010, the David Kestner family is covered under a full medical insurance plan due to my part time employment with Costco.
May God bless Costco!
Marcy is getting the care that she desperately needs and I had my eye exam today - compliments of Costco optical. One of the benefits of being an employee is that the exam was free, and the glasses came to less than the $150 maximum paid for by insurance - so they were also FREE!
The down side - I have become more near sighted (I think that is what is called when you can't see distances so well anymore), and ...... I am a good candidate for ..... bi-focals. (What the crap?) I am NOT doing that this time, but will have to consider it next time. What happened to just having astigmatism? Anyways - All soon will be mended due to hard work ethic (thanks dad for the example), and a great company to work for.
Maybe someday I will learn how to post photos of my new look......
Ciao!
May God bless Costco!
Marcy is getting the care that she desperately needs and I had my eye exam today - compliments of Costco optical. One of the benefits of being an employee is that the exam was free, and the glasses came to less than the $150 maximum paid for by insurance - so they were also FREE!
The down side - I have become more near sighted (I think that is what is called when you can't see distances so well anymore), and ...... I am a good candidate for ..... bi-focals. (What the crap?) I am NOT doing that this time, but will have to consider it next time. What happened to just having astigmatism? Anyways - All soon will be mended due to hard work ethic (thanks dad for the example), and a great company to work for.
Maybe someday I will learn how to post photos of my new look......
Ciao!
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