Fall is fast approaching up here in the northwoods. The burning bush in my yard has started to turn red, trees are slowly beginning to shed their leaves, the weather has turned considerably cooler and the rain has started to pick up again. To keep it in perspective, fall is in fact my favorite time of year. As much as I love hot summer days, I love even more being able to put on a sweatshirt and not be hot. I love being able to sit in my chair at home with the windows cracked while the cool air rustles my wind chimes outside. Fall is a season of change and I think that is one reason I like it so much. I rely on constant change in my life to keep it challenging. I get board easily, I can’t sit still very long and I get restless if people can’t keep up with my pace.
This has been a long summer for me at work and not necessarily in a bad way. I average about 50 hours a week or more if it’s needed during the summer months. My selling season is from late April to late September. I need to keep focused and I need to keep a fire under not just my own feet but my employees feet too during this short season. If I don’t, I can’t reach my goals for my department. This has been a good year for reaching my goals at work as it has been for the other departments as well. We’ve all done better than expected and that keeps things going in the right direction. That also means however that I have to consider the future. The better I do year after year, the better I am expected to do the following year. Keeping up that momentum is critical to my success both as a leader and manager but also for my own self fulfillment. I’ve been able to score some important political points this year which allows me to get help when I need it and make decisions that impact both my career and the careers of my employees. I have the freedom to make decisions and also the support to defend them. That’s important in retail. Fall will be a season of change for my department at work. That’s all I can say here.
As the title of this post implies, I’ve been thinking about Mountains and Chasms lately. And not because there are days when jumping off a mountain is appealing. In a couple weeks, the folks and I are headed out west on a road trip of epic proportions. Not only will we be driving 12 hours down to Iowa to visit Sarah, Brian and Christopher, we will then be driving another 12 hours west to Colorado for 4 days to see the Rocky Mountains at Rocky Mountain National Park. I put emphasis on the driving 12 hours bit because thats the one part of the journey that I’m not looking forward too all that much. Thats a LONG time to be in a car with anyone, especially when it involves driving through some of the most boring countryside on earth. Alas, airplanes are expensive and we don’t yet have high speed rail in this country so I have no choice but to just suck it up and find something to do with my time in the car perhaps I’ll just sleep.
Anyhow, I’m very much looking forward to seeing Iowa again and even more I am looking forward to finally seeing the Rocky Mountains up close and personal. I’ve flown over them many times but never had the chance to see them up close. I am sure that I’ll be taking tons of pictures and I’ll upload them all to my photography web site. We are staying in Estes Park which is right on the edge of the National Park and I’m praying that the weather is going to be cooperative. As of right now, we are planning a day trip down the Trail Ridge Road which is the highest continuous highway in the country. It crosses the Continental Divide and sweeps through some of the most impressive vistas you could find, all on a road with hairpin curves and steep grades. I found out yesterday that sadly, much of that road has been under construction this summer so we may hit some delays along the way. Doesn’t matter as I’m sure the view will take some of the stress out of that. I’m still debating on paying for a photography tour. I’ve found a few groups that offer “Photography Safari’s” through the park, going off road in Jeeps and back into the depths of the National Park. Would cost me about $100 for a 4 hour excursion. I’m not so sure I’d see anything on those however that we could not simply find on our own traveling in our own vehicle. We’ll see. I’ll post more once I figure out what I want to do.
So, stay tuned. As we progress into fall and then into the long cold winter up here in the northwoods, I’m quite sure my writing will increase again. I’ve been pretty quiet this summer on this blog. Some of that is on purpose, some of it is because I work too much. For now, I hope everyone is having a good Labor Day holiday.
