November 29th Karen's Birthday!!

The Monday after Thanksgiving and it is my sweet wife's birthday. Let me tell you about shopping for the birthday presents. First, it was that virtual catalog we get in the mail and there is that teal, 3 piece, satin lined outfit. Now that is an easy one for one husband to get that charge card out, find their website, type in all the stuff they ask, and Fedex left her present last Friday morning. No fighting the mobs at the mall, let your fingers do the walking through the 'wish book'. And she gets or will get exactly what she wants.

Are we too old for surprises? Never! Wednesday before Thanksgiving, real early, we were having her Honda serviced at Sears and there we were, with time on our hand, and the mall was open at 8:00am. I took my sweetheart up the escalator in Sears to the appliance division for a look around. But there is method in my madness!!!?? Me...No!

Karen makes cookies! Now I don't mean just a few, she makes 'huge' batches, multiple 'huge' batches of cookies of various flavors and these are part of her holiday giving. Now, I look more closely, and she is doing this with a hand mixer (having burned out the windings in the table top Mixmaster!)

We are wandering around in the appliance department when I pick up a box and take it to the cash register! She soon notices my actions and curiousity got the best of her. "What have you bought?" (as she turns the box around to read the label). Kitchenaid Classic table top mixer, blender, everything. WoW! I have always wanted one of these but never felt like we could afford one! Afford? What is wrong with $219.00/now $199.00 and with a $30.00 gift card and a $10.00 rebate! Now that is down to $159.00. But when I get the receipt, the cost is down to $129.00. It is "ON SALE" at $169.00, the day before Thanksgiving 7-11 am Sale. Now I said "WOW".

Many batches of cookies later, it is Monday morning and I have been treated to ginger cookies, and ice box cookies and several batches of each. We have cookies for gifts, take to the office, snack anytime, and homemade no less. The house smelled so great and the Kitchenaid never breathed hard, no matter how thick the batter was. It walked though the thickest dough like a hot knife through butter. Hum!

Happy Birthday Karen. She has opened her cards this morning and we are having coffee and cookies together almost as we speak. Have a wonderful week from the Nutter family in Birmingham, Al, in the good old USA.

 

Tachometer and why I cannot drive w/o one!

I have no idea when they started putting tachometers in cars coming off the American assembly lines, do you? I know the German and Italian built cars of the 50's and 60's, all had tachs in them.

I will work backwards on my cars with tachometers and why they meant so much at time. I am a performance geek of sort and someone who wants to wrench the last mile out of a gallon of gas, now that it is close to $2.00/gal. I have an older car I inherited from my mother with almost 100k on it but worth more to me than I could sell it for. I keep it for 2, no 3, big reasons. No car payment would be first. The 2nd and 3rd reason is 25/26 mpg in town and 33/36 mpg on the interstate. It is an Oldsmobile Cutlass (3300 V6) with supposedly a 4 speed automatic, the 4th being over-drive. The tach shifts down about 500 revs at about 50 mph, indicating a high speed torque "multiplier" that gives the car virtually "5" forwards. That said, the faster you can get into the that virtual 5th gear with the fewest rpms, the more miles per gallon you get. WoW! Physics 101. At 70 MPH in drive, it takes 2,450 RPM. When it shifts into overdrive, the RPMs drop to 2,100. Then there is that "torque mulitpler" and you don't feel anything, just a drop in RPMs to 1,750. Now you are "maxing" out that high priced gasoline. I don't know if I would know all this without the tachometer, do you?

Karen's Honda also has a tach and we each have learn the optimum revs to let the engine and transmission shift at the most economical time. She gets about 28 mpg here in town and have gotten 40 mpg on the interstate without the A/C. Her's is only a little 1800 4 banger and the A/C is a real drag on this engine when engaged. On both our current cars, it cost us about 3 mpg if we are using the A/C. Again the tach helps her opt out those last drops high priced petrol.

The other GM cars I owned with tachometers were not necessarily there for economy. The 3rd or 4th car back was a 442 Oldsmobile, with a 455 cubic inch engine, 4 barrel Holly carburerator, and 4 speed manual transmission with Hurst shifter. It had 60 wide Goodyear lettered tires and could out-drag just about anything around at that time. Mine 442 did not have the racing stripes down the hood and trunk, only the SX emblem on the side under the Cutlass logo. So this Olds "appeared" to be a sleeper, as some, or I should say many, thought it was the garden variety Cutlass until they saw my tail lights in their windshield. A sweet car, and believe it or not, if driven at a reasonable speed without putting your foot in the carburator, it got 15 mpg in town and 18 on the highway. Gas then was maybe 4oc a gallon, so economy was not my primary concern. And I was a lot younger then. The tach then was to get optimum performance, and not to red line any of my shifts.

My first performance car was a "goat" to the unlearned. Gas, Tires, and Oil, or Pontiac GTO. This I had in 1965, 389 cu. inch engine, 4 forwards, Holly carb, and positive traction rear end just as I had in the Olds some 7 years later. It too, was a honey, just a dream drive that put your back on the seat in a heart beat and loved to fly. I up graded the tires as I did on the Olds to Goodyear 60 Wide, with white lettering. I only had it 4 years as Nursing school made it necessary to get a car with some economy. I bought a Volkswagen, brand new, paid cash, but what a let down from the GTO to a 4 banger with no room at all. But that is life! We do what we gotta do! The tach was so necessary for this car as it jumped into the high revs so fast, you could red line (over rev) without realizing it. Tires, about 10-12 K on the rear...at best.

Hope you enjoyed my car stories, and would enjoy to hear your and your love. I guess they are a married man's mistress! Enjoy!.....Jeff Nutter

Thanksgiving at the Bright Star Restaurant

It was something I wanted to do for my sweet wife! I wanted to have someone else prepare the turkey and dressing, do the shopping, the cooking, and the cleanup and really treat my darling to a special Thanksgiving with just me. Was I a little selfish in doing this? Maybe a little! But let me tell you about my favorite restaurant that makes some of the best food in the Southeast.

The Bright Star Restaurant in Bessemer, Alabama, USA has been there for over 100 years. When I was growing up in Bessemer too many years to count, my mom and dad introduced me to the Sarris family and this Greek family's special talent in making the best food around next to your mother or grandmother. It is now owned and managed by the 3rd generation of the Sarris family, or Jimmy and Nicky Koikos. I grew up with the Koikos boys and graduated from Bessemer High School with their sister Helen.

Karen decided she wanted a late lunch or early dinner, so we timed our arrival for 3:00 pm. There was a spill over of people waiting, some choosing to stand outside as the weather was moderate and the rain had finally left us. They were serving number #94 and I was given #25, so I ask Karen if she was up to the wait of maybe up to an hour? She smiled and said "Of course I am!"

We soon were meeting friends from Bessemer, Eddie Dunlavey and his wife and Gus and Kathy Koutralakis that own and operate Pete's Famous Hot Dogs in downtown Birmingham. Soon Karen and I felt right at home seeing many folk we had not seen in years. Jimmy was working the front and soon ask Gus and Kathy their number and immediately sat them in a nice booth for two. It was maybe 5 minutes later, Jimmy came up to me and ask what my number was and how many. We followed the waitress to a booth right behind Gus and Kathy. Nice to be good friends of your favorite restaurant when he takes my #25 when they are calling out #5 or #6!

The waitress got our drink and appetizers ASAP with Nicky bringing us our 3 pieces of homemade pie. "We are running out of some desserts!"...Thanks Nicky, enough said. Karen chose shrimp and Greek potatoes and salad, whereas I had the traditonal turkey and cornbread dressing with turnip greens and homemade fried corn. That with hot rolls and cornbread we had a real treat. The waitress soon ask us if we wanted coffee with our pie and soon we had piping hot cofee with my lemon icebox pie and Karen's chocolate almond.

We each shared a bit of our desserts with each other and Karen brought a pie of homemade cheesecake pie home for later. We had a fine time, great food, great time with friends and this time, we let someone else clean it up. Believe me or not, it was under $50 (fitty) bucks for this wonderful meal for two....Worth every penny!

 

Good you are Not Retired?

I am sure you have had a doctor retire or move his or her practice in your lifetime where you have to search for a new specialist. You have. Oh, you have not. Well, let me tell you about my doctor of 38 years closing his practice and my experience with his successor.

I had a neuro problem back 38 years ago, no really 41 years ago, and I have seen the same neuro specialist all these years. He knew me inside and out and what I needed really without my telling him. Now I am losing that relationship of all these years and starting out new with a new one that does not know me from Adam's housecat.

I am a planner and a plotter and before my doctor closed his doors, I went by the office of my new one and got a new patient packet, an appointment, and all the good stuff you really need to do before you see him. I had him covered like the morning dew when I saw him last week for the first time.

He is in his middle 40's I would guess, and loved my records and information I put on the new patient form, right down to the pills I take, name, doseage, everything. A paragraph or summary of all tests I have had over maybe the last 6 or 8 years and the results. WoW...was his comment! If you know me, how could I do anything less!

He told me right off that if what the other doctor did was working for me that he "was not going to reinvent the wheel!" He told me he took a conservative approach to recommended therapies and treatment and gave me a short talk on the benefits I got from now working part-time having tried retirement for 2 years and that was not for me.

He said,,,"It is good a man has something to make him get up each morning, some tasks or work to do, something that demands his attention and time. It is the best physical therapy you can get and if you work for someone, it does not cost anything, but pays you each week or month, however they pay you."

He looked at my tests, took my blood pressure (112/68), listen to my heart and lungs, did the neuro stuff about following his fingers, peripherial vision, etc. He then checked circulation in my neck, and all extremities. "Good" he said. "Now how often do I need to see you, 3 months, 4 months, 6 months?"...He's asking me. I told him to keep me on a relatively short leash as my migraines have a way of interrupting my feeling of well being from time to time and he needed to know about it...."OK, lets go with 4 months and call me IF YOU NEED TO COME IN! WE WILL SEE YOU THAT DAY".

I like him! Oh, he took a lot more time than I can write about but I was impressed. Something about conservative approach to me and my needs and being there for me really was what I needed in this, my first visit to a new neurologist. Thanks Doc, looking forward to seeing you again....in 4 months....Jeff

Marchello Frazier Escapes, Life Without Parole

I am reading the paper a day or two ago and there is a picture of a man I got to know up close and personal. Marchello Frazier was one trial back in July and I was the jury foreman on this capital case.

I will not go into detail but this is one lucky man. He went on a 5 day crime spree beginning with the murder or execution of Mike Williams, shooting him in the head while he slept. Mike was 19. Mike had taken Marchello in after his family had kicked him out and he rewarded Mike with killing him, stealing his car, and ransacking Mike's home of anything he could pawn.

The state showed where Marchello drove to Pleasant Grove, a suburb of Birmingham and killed Mary Morgan with the same gun, leaving behind prints and Mike's car, and stealing Mary Morgan's Cadillac. Marchello then drove to Ga, and kidnapped a lady, locking her in the truck of Mary's car and steal her car. He then drove back from Georgia to Tuscaloosa, Alabama where he locked a manager of a storage business there and stole his Ford Explorer.

Mike then drove to Birmingham and picked up his girl friend and went to the movies. After taking her home from the hotel, sometimes in the early am, the Birmingham Police found the stolen SUV in the motel parking lot and where Marchello Frazier had checked in using his own name paying with cash. He had the gun and keys to three of the cars he stole, all in the night stand.

I was foreman on the original jury and we found him guilty of killing Michael Williams and the vote was 8 to 4 for life without parole. The jury was unclear on this verdict as there was some question about the "life without parole" part of the verdict, if we chose that! They brought us back into the jury box and Judge Petro explained that the verdict meant, should we give him that sentence, that Marchello Frazier would "never" walk out on the street again in this life. Oh, these are my words and I don't know the legal jargon, but the jury was then satisfied that this was the proper verdict.

I was one of the 4 that voted against life w/o parole. I can write this now as Marchello Frazier has pleaded guilty to killing Mary Morgan to avoid the death sentence and a judge in the Bessemer Cut-off gave him a second life without parole.

Marchello is a lucky man. The jury (in my unlearned opinion) lost the direction of the judge as our decision must be solely based on the "evidence", not anything else! Not the lawyers, not anyone, just the evidence and that alone must direct our decision. Emotions came into play in the final day of the sentencing phase of this terrible week. Marchello is a lucky man as his mother and sister swayed the majority of the jury to save his life. Now the state and you and I will pay probably some part of $60,000/year for the next 40 to 50 years for Marchello to be housed in one of our maximum security prisons in Alabama. Marchello, you are a lucky man!

 

Scambled Eggs and Toast

Yumm! I was starving not having had breakfast yesterday Saturday. Mom is 90 and a cereal person but that is not always my fare to start the day! "Mom, how about a hot breakfast...scambled eggs, toast, OJ, and coffee?" No, she said, "I'd rather have my cereal, juice, and coffee. Augg!

I am fixing breakfast and she wants cereal! I would rather suck on the box! "Mom, you need a good hot breakfast on this rainy blustery day...and so good for YOU!" "OK!"

I fixed (prepared) hers and my breakfast, 5 scrambled eggs with a dash of milk, and buttered toast and the kitchen soon was smelling just great! She had gotten up and now was in the kitchen watching me cook for her.

I never know how mom is going to eat but sometimes it is difficult to get her to eat enough. I split the eggs between us, really giving her the lion's share of the 5 eggs. I placed the hot buttered toast on her plate and with a dash of delicious grape jelly. She and I said our blessing and she started. At first she picked around on the eggs, like there was something wrong with them. I had lightly salted the eggs and just a dash of pepper.

The scrambled eggs and toast were delicious to me and I was soon through. She began eating with a little more gusto and soon was asking for another hot cup of coffee. Then she had eaten almost all her toast and I buttered two more pieces and gave her one and another helping of grape jelly. She was eating now like a soldier coming in off of field maneuvers. WoW!

"Jeff, will you get me another cup of coffee to finish my meal". Before it was over, she had eaten almost 3 eggs, 3 pieces of toast, a glass of orange juice, and 3 cups of coffee. I was so pleased I had insisted on the scambled eggs and toast. She soon was dressed and we sat on her deck and talked and I wrote a few checks to pay her bills.

What a good breakfast to start the day for her. I feel so great when I find something she likes and don't have to worry about her nutition for my part of the day....Scambled eggs and toast like she prepared for me when I was growing up too many years ago around the same table in the same breakfast room...A good life experience and one I will remember....

 

DAY OFF

I remember when working or when I could really dedicate a day as a day OFF! I remember in years past, what that day meant to me and my family. It was getting all the errands run, chores done, cleaning the house and the yard, and opening up the weekend to time totally evolving around my children. Ah, what good memories.

I don't know how much my kids appreciated that time but it was time for math team, football practice, piano or cello practices and "their dad" was there. I know their mom would have liked to have been there but nurses or RN's work all kinds of hours and shifts and that usually involved working weekends. Oh, sometimes the weekends were her choice as they paid a higher per hour rate for weekends and nights. So this meant she had to sleep during the day or rest for those weird shifts, but it helped pay the bills.

I think at times how much my 2 boys appreciated all we did for them growing up. Dad here, did not make huge amounts of money but in my 42 years, I never missed a payday. Not ONE! I know that may not be much to brag about but when you have bills to pay they can pile up big time when that paycheck is not direct deposited each friday. I think now how much a company car meant to me. WoW! I took it for granted for 40 plus years with someone else paying the repairs, gas, upkeep, insurance, and replacing when I wore it out. Now these expenses are coming out of my pocket and I figure now that company car alone was worth over 10K a year to me and my family. Their mom made more disposable income as it is now with my wife Karen, Jeff pays all the bills and car insurance enabling her to pay for things for the house, clothes, and groceries we generally each pay about 1/2. So much of her salary is saved as is some of mine.

I am rambling all over the page today and did not stay on the subject at all, did I? Today is Saturday and it is another day of taking care of my mom, soon to be 90. It is about a 1/2 day, 7 days a week as I find no one else has the time Jeff has? But she is mom, enough said.

I will not bore you with more of these disconnected subjects this morning. I am so blessed with good health, a loving wife and extended family on both sides. My Clark family thinks of me as one of the kids, a great feeling included in great family. Talk later guys and gals....
Jeff N from Vestavia Hills, Alabama, USA...."W".

What's Wrong With Dirt Roads?

I grew up in the 50s and 60s and my parent home, my home, was on a dirt road. I really don't remember when it was paved but do remember it had sidewalks and gutters even though it was a 'dirt' road.

I was young then, and that dirt road represented home, a haven, a place to play safely and you definitely did not have to worry about traffic. If you did have a car occassionally, it was almost always someone you knew and we waved and we each knew each others name. Maybe this is why I don't regret growing up on a dirt road and if we were poor, I did not know it.

My dad always went to work each day and mom did not work until I was maybe 10 or more and had been in school for 3 or 4 years. Home to me on that dirt road, was safe house that I never worried about anyone breaking in and if someone pulled up in the driveway, it was a relative or a friend. We kids stayed at each others homes and we played together, road bikes together and all this we did on an "old dirt road".

That road coming from school or town or work was the way home. The things that dirt road led me to my family's safe haven in each of our worlds. It lead me to a homecooked meal at breakfast, lunch, and supper (dinner to you city folk) that satisfied the soul. We had pork chops and gravey, fried chicken, meat loaf, salmon crockets, or maybe ham and biscuits and gravey. There was always dessert and it was homemade pecan pie or coconut cake, or my favorite, devils food cake, or a chocolate cake with white icing...I can taste it now.

Our lives revolved around our meals together I think. Funny too, I don't remember mother ever asking me or my brother what we wanted for dinner or supper. I guess that is why I eat everything today because mom and dad put a little on my plate even if I objected. After a few meals with that mystery something, it began to taste good even to me. You can cook for me today and like then, you do not have to ask me what I want. I was not brought up that way!

So that dirt road leads most folks my age down memory lane to some wonderful and innocent times. We did not have gangs, or driveby shootings as who would drive 5 miles out of town and then up a dirt road to shoot at someone. We locked our house at night but it was always unlocked during the day and we all came and went as we pleased and I don't remember having a key as a young man. I don't remember drug problems or kids fighting or hurting each other except on rare, very rare occassions. We did live in some innocent times on that 'dirt road'.

I look around today and maybe, just maybe, asphalt and concrete are the causing of many of our social and behavioral problems today. Schools complain today about lack of disapline, but the disapline I learned was at my dad and mom's knee, not at school. If you messed up at school, you were in twice as much trouble when dad got home from work, so we behaved ourselves.

I hope I have caused a few chuckles as I remember dirt roads in my life. Maybe we need to build some more dirt road away from the cities, towns and shopping centers and see if the simple life is really like I said it was. No, not really, as we cannot go back in time. I was just fortunate to grow up in a very innocent time and the dust made me who I am. Do you think anyone told us we were not well off because we lived on a dirt road...? No! We really had it made.... ...Jeff

Primary Caregiver

Ring! Ring! Your phone rings and you jump! It is 10:30pm and you are IT! It is the lifeline she has around her neck and she has pressed the alarm button and does not answer her phone! Your life, your rest, everything now gets put on hold as you try to discern what is happening and how to solve the problem. The alert is sent by satellite to somewhere in Mass, and they their job is to see that that the subcriber is OK!

I am the oldest son and 2 sons my mom has and I stepped into the breech over 3 years ago to take care of her when she came out of the hospital after getting over a bout with pneumonia. I is now some 3 1/2 years later and I am truly finding out what it means to be the primary care giver for someone.

Your life is totally on hold! Your life revolves around the hours and days it takes to take care of someone soon to be 90 years old. But she is my mom and I really don't know how to be any different from what I am. But do I think about driving into the sunset after empting my savings account of all the cash and going until the money runs out. You bet! I would not be normal if these thoughts did not flash across your mind on occassion.

Sometimes I would like to put me and my wife first. When I do, well, there is a an expression here something about a fan, but I don't use that kind of language. But my wife and I lost a son some months ago (my stepson) and I really, would really, like to put her first in my life for a time and I did when my stepson died recently. But when I took this week off to be with her family and take care of his final affairs, you would have thought everyone else's world was coming to an end.

Now it is some 5 months later and just as before, others find all the excuses in the world not to visit or take care of this beautiful lady. I really believe they (brothers, sisters, others) think she can take care of herself? Not in a heartbeat. I go each morning and fix breakfast, help her with her meds, stay until she dresses, pay her bills, fix her Rx for a week, clean house and bathrooms and sometimes cook. What scares me as no one else knows how to do this.

I do have pm paid caregivers who come at 2:30pm or so to relieve me so I can have some part of a normalcy to my life and time to recover and recreate so I can come back tomorrow. I have tried the 24/7 of taking care of her but found myself one day this side of a hospital stay...again the doctor pulled me out for a week and again it went into the proverbial handbasket.

Step up and be the primary caregiver! But don't be surprised if your friends (and relatives) stop calling as they are afraid you might, just might, ask them to do a shift or two with this lady. I am thankful my health is good and I can do this. A little, just a little help along the way would be nice. But they think a 30 minute visit on Sunday or during the week is caring for this lady....Try doing a 5 to 8 hour shift, just once, and find out what real work is all about.

This sounds like I am complaining but I am not....It is just a reality check of how people are when it comes to taking care of someone. Some of us have it and some don't. I thank God each day for strength for that day and that day alone....Each day is a Gift,,,sometimes called "the present!"

Writing A Friend In Prison

His name is John. I worked with John for years and then in the news one day 2 years ago, there is a news flash where a man is killed, and there is my friend John arrested at the scene. I live in another town in the state some 100 miles away but talked to friends of John about what happen.

It appears John and his estranged wife were having an argument when he was returning their children and there was a boy friend of hers at her apartment. They had words, both had been drinking, and a shot rang out and the boy friend was killed. That really is all I know as John pleaded guilty to a lesser charge agreeing to plead guilty to a manslaughter charge. He is now in prison here in the state and serving up to 20 years. He is eligible for parole in 10-12 years or less with good behavior.

Now you know how John got there! I hac never written anyone or known anyone in prison and can only imagine how bad it may be. I began writing John over a year ago and one night my phone rang. "Jeff, this is John!" I took the collect call, not expensive, but they limit them to 10 minutes. We talked like he was down at the 7/11 down the street and asking for directions. I was so pleased and relieved to hear his voice.

I am sure the calls are monitored and all we talked about was mutual friends and others that had ask me about John. He told me he was a Bible Study 3 times a week and goes to Church on Wednesday and Sunday. He said his belief and His strength is getting him through this. I told John to please feel free to call me anytime and he gave me a new mailing address. We parted and I felt great knowing my letters meant something to him during these tough times.

I wrote the warden and ask about what things I could send John that were within prison rules. I was cautioned not to send anything with metal in the mail. Not even a paper clip or staple. I have sent John stationery, stamps, a 2004 calendar and recently a 2005 one. It is hard sometimes finding things that have no metal, so the calendar had plastic rings at the top.

I have a 3 ring folder and have all of John's letters filed away. He told me several times in his letters over the last year or so "Jeff, things were not as they appeared. One day when we can talk face to face I will tell you!" I know everyone says prisons are filled with innocent people. But there was or is somethings in John's letters that are so heartfilled that I am sure there are things he CANNOT say in a letter.

I try to write John a letter every week or 10 days so he knows someone out here is thinking about him and his welfare. I was in the service 4 years and anytime away from home, letters are just so, so welcome about news from home. It is hard to make myself do this sometimes, but I know how much the letters are appreciated by a lonesone soul. "John, I will write you again today!...that is a promise!"...Jeff

I'm Changing Car Insurance Company!!!!

I am sure each of you have watched the TV commercials about the guy trying to get car insurance and he talks about all the wrecks he has had. Something about "Wreck-tember" was his reference to September and his many wrecks. Now is that the insurance company I want my cars with if you are going to give insurance to this highway idiot?

That insurance company was Nationwide and they are telling his, "Sure, sit back down, we can help you get insurance!" Then last night I am watching the tube again and State Farm shows a young lady having two accidents in the same day and her insurance agent is her friend and "oh, here darling, we are paying for your accidents (and the other cars you hit), don't worry."..What is wrong with these two events?

My dad told me something once as a child that has stuck with me all these years and I quote, "Son, when someone gets something for NOTHING, then someone else PAYS SOMETHING, and gets NOTHING!" In any business it is called underwriters. When Joe Blow tears his car up continually and YOUR insurance company keeps him, then you are that person paying something and getting nothing.

The bottom line is that the auto insurance premium for the safe drive inches up, underwriting the wrecks of the bad driver your carrier continues to carry on the books. I don't want to be a part of this action or company thank you. I expect my insurance company to use reasonable guidelines where accidents are concern and when someone show a tendency to be a somewhat reckless then I expect them to suffer the consequences of their actions. State Farm and Nationwide had best think twice about continuing these tendencies as I am only one person who chooses to air my opinion. The silent majority don't say anything, the just ACT!

 

Authorized Dealer

Authorized Dealer of What? Not really anything! Except the perishable foods company I work for and retired from after 42 years in the sales game. I tried full time retirement for about 2 years and decided this was not ME.

I was the Authorized Dealer of our products to some key accounts in Birmingham, Alabama and made a deal with the company they could not turn down. My company had called me several times over those 2 years asking if I was interested in working a couple of days a week. But the deal was all in their favor and did not favor this "authorized dealer" that managed some part of our business for those many years.

I had lunch with the powers that be but still no agreement. My wife told me a time later to write them a contract and find out how bad they want you back. We worked on the proposal for 2 nights and I called the VP one morning and told him to check his email for a .doc attachment and see if this met his needs. I got the shortess email reply I had gotten ever! "When can you start?"....End.

So here is your authorized dealer again managing ONLY a major warehouse in Birmingham and working mostly from my office at home. Nice. Amazing how much business you can do by phone, email, fax, post-it note, and snail mail. Give a reasonably smart person a good job or task and he will figure out a way to do it easier and in a shorter time span if you leave him alone.

I am now self employed, brokering my time back to the company at a rate I can live with. That with an expense check each week, I am enjoying selling again. Thanks for reading this far as this is my first post and new at this. Later.....News at 11:00...Jeff