One year ago, the world lost a great man.
Mike Brown never complained about his cancer. He opened every conversation asking "how are you?" and never once telling you about his cancer or the hurt it was causing him. Truth be told, if you didn't know he had cancer, you'd never know.
I met Mike back in 2003 through hockey. Mike and his wife Jeanette had a small get together at their house before an event I was working in Phoenix. My boss and I were invited and over the course of that evening, I felt that I could not meet two nicer people.
After that weekend, I kept in touch with Mike and when I started my own business, he included me in as a vendor and working with Mike was a dream. It was always nice to catch up.
I delivered product to Mike's event in 2010 without a problem and 6 weeks after the event, I thought it was weird that Mike hadn't sent a check. I called and emailed without a response, and finally, one day, Mike calls to tell me he was "on vacation" and that he was sorry for the check being late. Sure enough, 2 days later, I had a check, but deep down, I knew what being on vacation meant.
A few months went by and I was on Twitter the night of July 16, 2010, when I read a post from @Panger40 (Darren Pang) that in short, said that Mike had passed away. Not sure what was worse; knowing that Mike had passed or reading it on Twitter.
Regardless of that, one thing I did know, is that quite possibly the nicest person I'd ever met in my life was no longer with us.
A few nights later in Scottsdale, a celebration in honor of Mike's life was held. You see, Mike planned this party. Mike didn't want people to mourn his death, although, many of us, in our own way, do. Mike wanted people to tell stories, Jimmy Buffet and The Rolling Stones playing, some beer and alcohol being consumed. Most of all, Mike wanted the people that surrounded all aspects of his life to come together and have a good time in his memory.
And what happened? Mike pretty much got his wish. Despite not wanting people to shed tears, they are natural. But boy, some stories were told, music played, beer consumed! And you know that Mike was looking down, laughing at the stories of him arguing at the first tee about what his golf handicap was and the opposition trying to call bullshit on it, only to have Mike fire back with "look, I have stage IV cancer, there is no stage V", and he'd not only get his way, but then go on to rule the golf course. We laughed, cried, and enjoyed life that night, almost a perfect night of what Mike wanted.
Mike never made cancer a pity party. However, he did encourage everyone to live their life to the fullest and to live each day without regrets.
One year later, I miss him, but, I'll never forget him. And although I haven't been able to change certain aspects of my life to be able to fully embrace living every day without regret, that day is coming sooner than later, and I'll be able to thank this wonderful man for that.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Teams
Why do we continue to support our favorite team, despite all of the personnel changes, good or bad, yet, when a band changes a member, many leave their support?
No right or wrong answer I guess, but, when it comes to bands, people take this shit seriously! I've just always wondered why these similar situations are treated so differently?
No right or wrong answer I guess, but, when it comes to bands, people take this shit seriously! I've just always wondered why these similar situations are treated so differently?
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Hypocrites
Hockey is an elitest sport. Of all the sports, hockey has made its way out of the middle class.
In order to play hockey, one must go to the store and buy every piece of equipment from head to toe. Even if you're just playing roller hockey, in order to be "safe", you still need a helmet, stick, gloves, shin guards, elbow pads, and skates. It's not like baseball/softball, basketball, football, or soccer, for example. Those sports, you go to the store and you buy:
baseball = bat, ball, glove
basketball = ball
football = ball
soccer = ball
So why is it that when large hockey stores decide to manufacture and bring in their own branded hockey product from Asia, in order to bring down the price of hockey equipment down, they are chastised?
What these stores are trying to do is provide privately branded products to the masses at lower, affordable prices. Part of that is the hope that doing this will allow more parents to afford hockey equipment, which will bring more and more kids to the sport.
I hear people complain that hockey equipment is so expensive and yet, they complain that these stores are creating their own products. Manufacturers such as Bauer make great products. There's no denying that. However, they make product in order to make money as a for-profit business. They mark it up for profit in selling them to retailers, who buy and mark it up for profit in selling to the consumer.
Say a product costs $100 to make. Company X, who employs people like many other companies, takes that cost and will want to make a 40-50 profit margin. What is profit margin? Well, the best way to explain it is that many companies, manufacturing or retail, do their calculations based on markups. This is not the same thing as margin. This is often a source of confusion - but only because percentages are difficult until you understand them.
With margins, a 50% margin means that half the selling price is profit. In markups, that is a 100% markup (you have added 100% of the cost price to make the selling price). With margins, a 100% margin is only possible if the cost price is zero.
To understand why margins are higher, imagine an item that costs $50. If you sell it with a margin of 50% - that means fifty percent of the selling price should be profit. If you sell it at $100, half the selling price is profit - margin 50%.
If you sell the same item (cost $50) with a markup of fifty percent, you add fifty percent of the cost price. Fifty percent of the cost price is $25. This makes the total selling price $75.
A fifty percent margin is higher than a fifty percent markup.
So, back to our example. It costs Company X $100 to make a product and they want a 40-50 profit margin. So, $100 at a 40 margin becomes $166.67, and 50 margin becomes $200. They most likely set a price to their retailers at $200 and they will create a discount program based on total volume purchases, that will bring the price of this product down to $170 (15% discount).
Dealers then mark up the product for their standard retail profit margin, which is most times at 40, for a sale price of approximately $333.50. Here, everyone makes money. The manufacturer makes their cut and the retailer makes his.
These larger retailers that bring in their own product, they source a similar product, with, in many cases, similar performance characteristics. What they don't have is a name brand and distribution beyond their own location(s). What they do have is a price $133 less instead of the name branded Company X product, that in many cases, can be bought at the same store and is usually located on the wall next to the private branded item.
Some of these larger stores offer an unreal guarantee! "Try it for 30 days, and if you're not completely satisfied with the performance of this product, return it to us and we will fully credit the original purchase price (excluding shipping), no questions asked!"
So why not try it? Why chastise it? Why complain that prices are so high when one doesn't want to give these products a try? Why be a hypocrite and complain that hockey equipment prices are so expensive?
Will these items work for everyone? Maybe not, however, it might be something to look into, and, at the same time, just might bring more people into the greatest sport in the world!
In order to play hockey, one must go to the store and buy every piece of equipment from head to toe. Even if you're just playing roller hockey, in order to be "safe", you still need a helmet, stick, gloves, shin guards, elbow pads, and skates. It's not like baseball/softball, basketball, football, or soccer, for example. Those sports, you go to the store and you buy:
baseball = bat, ball, glove
basketball = ball
football = ball
soccer = ball
So why is it that when large hockey stores decide to manufacture and bring in their own branded hockey product from Asia, in order to bring down the price of hockey equipment down, they are chastised?
What these stores are trying to do is provide privately branded products to the masses at lower, affordable prices. Part of that is the hope that doing this will allow more parents to afford hockey equipment, which will bring more and more kids to the sport.
I hear people complain that hockey equipment is so expensive and yet, they complain that these stores are creating their own products. Manufacturers such as Bauer make great products. There's no denying that. However, they make product in order to make money as a for-profit business. They mark it up for profit in selling them to retailers, who buy and mark it up for profit in selling to the consumer.
Say a product costs $100 to make. Company X, who employs people like many other companies, takes that cost and will want to make a 40-50 profit margin. What is profit margin? Well, the best way to explain it is that many companies, manufacturing or retail, do their calculations based on markups. This is not the same thing as margin. This is often a source of confusion - but only because percentages are difficult until you understand them.
- Margin
The percentage margin is the percentage of the final selling price that is profit.
Markup
A markup is what percentage of the cost price do you add on to get the selling price.
With margins, a 50% margin means that half the selling price is profit. In markups, that is a 100% markup (you have added 100% of the cost price to make the selling price). With margins, a 100% margin is only possible if the cost price is zero.
To understand why margins are higher, imagine an item that costs $50. If you sell it with a margin of 50% - that means fifty percent of the selling price should be profit. If you sell it at $100, half the selling price is profit - margin 50%.
If you sell the same item (cost $50) with a markup of fifty percent, you add fifty percent of the cost price. Fifty percent of the cost price is $25. This makes the total selling price $75.
A fifty percent margin is higher than a fifty percent markup.
So, back to our example. It costs Company X $100 to make a product and they want a 40-50 profit margin. So, $100 at a 40 margin becomes $166.67, and 50 margin becomes $200. They most likely set a price to their retailers at $200 and they will create a discount program based on total volume purchases, that will bring the price of this product down to $170 (15% discount).
Dealers then mark up the product for their standard retail profit margin, which is most times at 40, for a sale price of approximately $333.50. Here, everyone makes money. The manufacturer makes their cut and the retailer makes his.
These larger retailers that bring in their own product, they source a similar product, with, in many cases, similar performance characteristics. What they don't have is a name brand and distribution beyond their own location(s). What they do have is a price $133 less instead of the name branded Company X product, that in many cases, can be bought at the same store and is usually located on the wall next to the private branded item.
Some of these larger stores offer an unreal guarantee! "Try it for 30 days, and if you're not completely satisfied with the performance of this product, return it to us and we will fully credit the original purchase price (excluding shipping), no questions asked!"
So why not try it? Why chastise it? Why complain that prices are so high when one doesn't want to give these products a try? Why be a hypocrite and complain that hockey equipment prices are so expensive?
Will these items work for everyone? Maybe not, however, it might be something to look into, and, at the same time, just might bring more people into the greatest sport in the world!
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Father's Day
Father's Day is a special day for me. Since I'm not yet a father, I celebrate the day, not only for the man I call "Dad", but, for my mom as well.
You see, many many many years ago in a land not so far away (approximately 39 years ago and 82 miles), my mom decided she'd had enough and left my dad. My "natural" dad is what I call him, sperm donor is what my darling wife has named him.
My mom eventually met this great guy, started dating, and when I was four, they married.
Truth be told, I have a really hard time calling him my step-father or step-dad. Why? Well, he's never treated me any different than my two brothers; yes, brothers, not step-brothers. He praised us all the same when we were deserving and he kicked our asses all the same when we were deserving.
When I was seven, my dad legally adopted me. I took his surname and am really glad I did for a number of reasons. First, because he was my dad. He provided for me, he took care of all us kids, he took care of my mom, he raised me. Second, my previous surname was a royal pain in the ass to write (too long for a then seven year old). Last, the name was constantly mispronounced and misspelled. However, I didn't know the best part of changing names until many years later.
It wasn't until I got older that I realized how great of a person my dad is, and how my mom, being so brave back in 1972 to leave someone so abusive, was.
Having this great man come into our lives is the greatest gift my mom ever gave me, or for that matter, us.
Happy Father's Day, Dad! Have a great day and don't let mom tell you what to do! It's your day!
Happy Father's Day, Mom! Don't tell dad what to do or eat today and thanks for giving me such a great dad!
You see, many many many years ago in a land not so far away (approximately 39 years ago and 82 miles), my mom decided she'd had enough and left my dad. My "natural" dad is what I call him, sperm donor is what my darling wife has named him.
My mom eventually met this great guy, started dating, and when I was four, they married.
Truth be told, I have a really hard time calling him my step-father or step-dad. Why? Well, he's never treated me any different than my two brothers; yes, brothers, not step-brothers. He praised us all the same when we were deserving and he kicked our asses all the same when we were deserving.
When I was seven, my dad legally adopted me. I took his surname and am really glad I did for a number of reasons. First, because he was my dad. He provided for me, he took care of all us kids, he took care of my mom, he raised me. Second, my previous surname was a royal pain in the ass to write (too long for a then seven year old). Last, the name was constantly mispronounced and misspelled. However, I didn't know the best part of changing names until many years later.
It wasn't until I got older that I realized how great of a person my dad is, and how my mom, being so brave back in 1972 to leave someone so abusive, was.
Having this great man come into our lives is the greatest gift my mom ever gave me, or for that matter, us.
Happy Father's Day, Dad! Have a great day and don't let mom tell you what to do! It's your day!
Happy Father's Day, Mom! Don't tell dad what to do or eat today and thanks for giving me such a great dad!
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Common Courtesy
When the fuck did people lose this? Maybe they never had it... Did they miss those days at school when it was taught? Are their parents such assholes that they never taught their children to be decent human beings? And what does it say that here you are, an adult, and you have your head screwed on backwards?
I'm the first to admit...I come off rough. I say things in a tone that make people say to themselves "what an asshole." And that's fine, there's many people in front of you, so, take a number. But one thing I do know is that I practice common courtesy.
If I am at Costco and say you're are looking at a suitcase, I'm not going to step in front of you, remove the suitcase from the rack, and put it in my cart to have a closer look at it. You'd probably want to punch me in the head if I did something like that, or, at the very least, tell me off. Right?
One thing I can tell you is to this day, my parents would kick my ass if I didn't show common courtesy to someone else.
So I'm left wondering...where did our common courtesy go?
I'm the first to admit...I come off rough. I say things in a tone that make people say to themselves "what an asshole." And that's fine, there's many people in front of you, so, take a number. But one thing I do know is that I practice common courtesy.
If I am at Costco and say you're are looking at a suitcase, I'm not going to step in front of you, remove the suitcase from the rack, and put it in my cart to have a closer look at it. You'd probably want to punch me in the head if I did something like that, or, at the very least, tell me off. Right?
One thing I can tell you is to this day, my parents would kick my ass if I didn't show common courtesy to someone else.
So I'm left wondering...where did our common courtesy go?
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Confused...
So, all of these people have come out to say that they have seen or know for a fact that Lance Armstrong has taken performance enhancing drugs or masking agents. Interesting stuff to say the least.
Despite all the upgrades in technology to be able to catch somebody using these drugs, there's just one thing I can't seem to get past. After so many years and 500+ controlled drug tests, how could Lance Armstrong, not one time, have tested positive to a test? Could he really have bribed and paid off that many different people along the way? Is it so far fetched to believe that he DID bribe and pay off people?
On the other side of the coin, what does it say that Armstrong hasn't come forth and sued Floyd Landis, Frankie Andreu, and now Tyler Hamilton for both libel and slander?
And what does it say about the U.S. Government, spending millions and millions of tax payer dollars and for what, trying to indict Armstrong for something that allegedly took place in other countries? I mean, they did such a great job with Barry Bonds, why not continue to roll the dice...
Despite all the upgrades in technology to be able to catch somebody using these drugs, there's just one thing I can't seem to get past. After so many years and 500+ controlled drug tests, how could Lance Armstrong, not one time, have tested positive to a test? Could he really have bribed and paid off that many different people along the way? Is it so far fetched to believe that he DID bribe and pay off people?
On the other side of the coin, what does it say that Armstrong hasn't come forth and sued Floyd Landis, Frankie Andreu, and now Tyler Hamilton for both libel and slander?
And what does it say about the U.S. Government, spending millions and millions of tax payer dollars and for what, trying to indict Armstrong for something that allegedly took place in other countries? I mean, they did such a great job with Barry Bonds, why not continue to roll the dice...
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Derek Boogaard
I think back to when I was in high school. Nobody knew what the Internet was, or at least, nobody outside of Al Gore. LOL
Today we have a different life then we had 24 years ago. 24 years ago, my parents told me how different things were 24 years before. Today, computers, cell phones, a relentless 24 hour news cycle that brings us breaking news, along with facebook and twitter, are all the norm.
And that's how many found out about Derek Boogaard, aka Booogeyman; twitter. Derek was an NHLer, played for the Minnesota Wild and more recently the New York Rangers. Last night at 8pm local time, I came back to my office to finish up two jobs, and while running one job, I decided to check Twitter on my phone. The first tweet, from hockeyfights..."RIP Derek Boogaard."
I thought to myself "could this be right?" and I ran into the office and got online, only to find out that unfortunately, it was true.
Back in the day when I was a pro hockey rep selling equipment to hockey teams and their players, my biggest fear was that we develop friendships outside the rink with quite a few players and what happens when the "pro athlete" that we know passes away? Suddenly, the story gets personal and cuts deep.
That player, Derek Boogaard, he was never my client, but, he was my buddy Ron's client, Ron's friend.
The story is the death of a good person who happened to be a professional athlete. The story is of a son...a brother...a friend. The hockey world takes these things personally, especially to a guy known more for his fighting on the ice than his soft, gentle, funny side off the ice.
RIP Derek Boogaard...
Today we have a different life then we had 24 years ago. 24 years ago, my parents told me how different things were 24 years before. Today, computers, cell phones, a relentless 24 hour news cycle that brings us breaking news, along with facebook and twitter, are all the norm.
And that's how many found out about Derek Boogaard, aka Booogeyman; twitter. Derek was an NHLer, played for the Minnesota Wild and more recently the New York Rangers. Last night at 8pm local time, I came back to my office to finish up two jobs, and while running one job, I decided to check Twitter on my phone. The first tweet, from hockeyfights..."RIP Derek Boogaard."
I thought to myself "could this be right?" and I ran into the office and got online, only to find out that unfortunately, it was true.
Back in the day when I was a pro hockey rep selling equipment to hockey teams and their players, my biggest fear was that we develop friendships outside the rink with quite a few players and what happens when the "pro athlete" that we know passes away? Suddenly, the story gets personal and cuts deep.
That player, Derek Boogaard, he was never my client, but, he was my buddy Ron's client, Ron's friend.
The story is the death of a good person who happened to be a professional athlete. The story is of a son...a brother...a friend. The hockey world takes these things personally, especially to a guy known more for his fighting on the ice than his soft, gentle, funny side off the ice.
RIP Derek Boogaard...
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