Dean Barlow Blog » Business and work

I think it is more widespread than imagined

Dean — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 15:32:35 +0000

A few years ago a good friend of mine died of some form of cancer. At the time no one told me exactly what the cancer was, but I’m beginning to think it was Mesothelioma because he ran a cement company. I’m thinking that because I just found out that there is asbestos in insulation, roof shingles, cement, brake linings, flooring products, and textiles. The “textiles” part really worries me – because “textiles” generally refers to fabrics. Does that mean carpets and fabrics?

I really didn’t realize that asbestos was in so many products that we come into contact with on a daily basis! And I just found out that the symptoms often don’t surface until as many as 30 to 50 years after the exposure to the asbestos!

With the baby boomers were born, there was a massive housing explosion that created a lot of these products to be put into the general population. I think that the repercussions are yet to be fully seen.

Doing business with family

Dean — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 02:35:44 +0000

On the surface, one would think that doing business with your own family would be a good way to get started in business. After all, families are supposed to be supportive of each other, right? There is another saying, though, that the prophet is scorned in his own village. I’m sorry to say that my wife’s family appears to be the type of family where they will not be supportive of each others efforts and will not do anything to give each other a break. That is really sad, and makes it very difficult for anyone to become successful. Family members should not be haters, and yet it seems as if that is exactly what is going on here. Very sad, really.

Moving

Dean — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 20:35:48 +0000

Thanks for the post from Sylvester Campbell

The list of things that need to get done before moving is seriously getting longer and longer. I know that I sort of take on that responsibility since I am a homemaker and my husband works out of the home, but he is going to have to help me with some of this list or it just isn’t going to get done in time. The things at the top of my list today are to research New york energy rates and find a list of day-cares that I am going to check out when we go for our house hunting trip. I really am excited about this move, but I do wish that I could crawl in my bed and just wake up when all of this work is done! I just want to wake up and be in my new home with everything unpacked and my children in their new schools. This is not my first rodeo, I have done this plenty of times. I know in my heart that it will all get done and work out, I just need to start my to-do list!

Just when we thought spring was here

Dean — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 19:37:28 +0000

We woke up to snow flurries this morning. I was rather surprised since it was quite warm out yesterday and I really thought that spring was well underway. I didn’t listen to the weather report yesterday! I was quite surprised that it continued to snow all morning long, too. Usually when it snows around here it is only for an hour or two. I had to drive in to town, and the roads were just icy enough to be dangerous. The roads had not been sanded or prepared for the weather at all, so I guess the DOT was caught by surprise too!

There were several cars off of the road, having slid into the ditch. Whenever I see that I think to myself that the people were very lucky that they didn’t lose control while they were driving across one of the many bridges on that road. That is always something I worry about with my family when the roads are slick like that. The bridges around here don’t even look like bridges – they just have guard rails on the side of the road, and I worry that any car going at the posted speed limit of 55 could easily crash through the barriers and end up in the river or the bottom of the ravine. I don’t trust those guard rails much at all.

That’s just plain wrong

Dean — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 23:27:12 +0000

When I go to an automotive service center that specializes in oil changes (I won’t name the chain, but it IS a national chain) that gives out $5.00 coupons online good towards an oil change, the local service center needs to honor that coupon. Last week I took my truck to the local oil change service station and had them perform their oil change. When they rung me up I presented them with the $5.00 coupon. The cashier told me that they had already totaled up my work and it was too late to give them the coupon. Too bad, so sad!

I don’t know about you, but I think that is totally bogus. I don’t know why I just accepted that instead of insisting that they re-ring the sale. Sometimes I’m just too nice. When I went home and told my wife about it, she was very upset that they didn’t give me the credit, and couldn’t believe that I just accepted it. I guess if it happens again I’ll be a little bit more assertive and ask for the supervisor. I’d rather get them upset than get my wife upset with me.

Can we have a little respect here please?

Dean — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 01:10:46 +0000

This morning I went to a networking meeting in town at a local restaurant. During the meeting different people were supposed to stand up and talk about themselves for a minute or two so we could learn who was there and what we do and what we are hoping to get from the meeting. During most of the meeting there was a busboy nearby stacking dishes very loudly. It almost sounded like he was throwing them around, the clatter was so very loud. I was extremely tempted to yell at the guy to quiet down. I really don’t know how he could have been any louder if he had tried. If that happens next week I think I’ll complain to the manager. There is no need of that.

Everybody needs medical insurance

Dean — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:11:50 +0000

Several years ago there was a television show that I liked to watch called “30 days.” One of the episodes was about the producer and his wife trying to live on minimum wage for thirty days. As part of the deal they had to rent an apartment, furnish it, find jobs, get to and from those jobs and make ends meet for an entire month. One of the things that had to do was act as if they had no medical insurance during that period of time.

There were a couple of times during that time period that they did go to the hospital’s emergency room, and because they had no medical insurance they ended with a huge bill that they were going to have to try to make payment arrangements on. I was quite impressed with the television show and how that episode in particular highlighted the need for everyone to have medical insurance because medical care is very expensive, and beyond the reach of many of the people in the working class.

Moving Here

Dean — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:58:37 +0000

Posted by Von Battle

When I first moved here I watched way too much TV. Like, way more than any normal person should reasonable watch at any given time. I didn’t really have any friends and I got so many exciting new channels from www.expertsatellite.com that I really didn’t have any reason to want to go out – it was like, why would I leave home when my best TV friends are right here? That plus the fact that my job is just ridiculously stressful and I felt like I was always walking into a minefield when I got in in the mornings and by the time I got home I was totally drained…I feel much better about work now though since I got my promotion and talked to my boss and I’m even starting to make friends thanks to all the work happy hours. My next goal is to meet some people I DON’T already work with but I’m taking baby steps, you know? I can’t do it all at once and I’m working on it one thing at a time.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Dean — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 03:07:23 +0000

This guest post from Werner Rogers

The Thanksgiving weekend is one of the biggest of our whole year and this year was no different. They started this thing called Small Business Saturday and that really drove a lot of people out to the store which I was really appreciative of that. Thank goodness a few weeks ago I went to www.bank-card-processing.com and had cleaned up the back room to make way for all the extra shipments we got in but you know, I guess that’s all part of the crazy days around the holidays. Business is still booming right before Christmas and I’m thankful for that and all the time I’ve had to prepare. My store is doing well despite the economy and I think that’s something to be proud of so you know, I’m going to keep on keeping on, as my dad would say. I think at this point I know what makes a successful entrepreneur and that’s all that really matters for me. Life is good as it stands and it’s only looking to get better at this point!

Behind the scenes

Dean — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 00:10:40 +0000

One of the things that always interests me is looking at “behind the scenes” equipment and props. So yesterday when my wife and I dropped in to visit her folks at their shipping store I was interested to see them getting ready to load their van with their trade show exhibits equipment. I had forgotten that they go to a lot of trade shows to promote their business!

Betty exclaimed that we were right on time to help them load up the directors chairs and table top display while she went into the storage room to find the new table covers she had just got in. Fortunately this trade show is only about two miles away from their shop, so they don’t have to get up too early tomorrow morning to get to the Expo Center to set up their displays. They gave my wife and I two free tickets to get into the trade show, but I don’t know if we’ll be able to get back there to attend or not.