Hopefully it's coming to an end...

Another crazy day on my brother front. I woke up to a few emails forwarded to me from Al that my brother sent him around 2 am in the morning, he also called and left a sluring voicemail.

Sent: April-14-11 2:17 AM
To: Anolan
Subject:

You are a selfish guy Nolan!

Sent: April-14-11 2:20 AM
To: Anolan
Subject:

I made you rich. You forgot what you came from! You are so phonee

Sent: April-14-11 2:24 AM
To: Anolan
Subject: Fw:

Gloves are off. Buddy

When I saw the emails I thought "typical, Bob was drunk last night" and didn't think much of it. It's sad, it's normal for Bob. They really upset Al. Al and Bob were best of friends and Bob scorced the earth doing it. Al ended up talking to the receiver about Bob's shinaginans and concerned that Bob's mental health is not sable and he needs to be controlled. I thought it was a good thing to do, Bob is coming apart at the seams and getting him out of the building and away from creating more harm and conflict would be best. The receiver decided to leave it and just watch him carefully. Truthfully, they don't care, they'll be out shortly and all they care about is dollars and cents, they don't want to get into any politics, it's not their issue.

I ended up calling Bob this morning and he was fine, he was hungover and called into work and told them "he was sick and couldn't come in, if you know what I mean". The guy who took the call knew exactly what he was talking about. Bob knows there is no value to going in, they will just take his vechicle and keys. I can tell he is now a beaten man.

He told me the offer he put in for the GB and Dave's division was not accepted and was told they are putting out a tender that will be open to all and close at 4 pm tomorrow. Bob's may throw in a low ball bid, but he knows in his heart it's over.

I had a long talk with him and told him that Al is now working for AG. Bob said he was happy for Al and sounded like he meant it. I told him I'm looking forward to working with Al. On one hand Bob is sincere about wanting Al to do well and on the other he resents Al's success. He feels Al made the money off his back by requiring low pricing. I told Bob that Al is smart and it was "you" that gave the pricing, "you" had control, "you" could have said no. Then Bob agrees and five minutes later gets on the "it's the other guys fault".

Bob also said he's realized that no one who works for you are your friends, they don't care. I told him "of course not, why should they be, it is an employer-employee relationship and if things go sideways, it's human nature that people look out for themselves. Nothing wrong with that, it is what it is". I then told him to expect some people outright being rude to him and treating him nothing like they did when he was the boss. I told him I had a few people that acted like my best buddy when I was the boss and even though I sold the business and everyone kept their jobs, they acted rude to me afterwards. It was an interesting lesson.

Bob is done with the printing industry. He's talking about suing the reciever for a mistake they made, he hasn't checked with a lawyer and he's still delusional. I asked him how he'd pay for it and he thinks because it's a large accounting firm that the lawyer will take it on continincy and they would pay him something to go away. I didn't say anything, I read the court order and the accounting firm represents the courts and assumes no liabilites or responsiblities.

The sad part is Bob has alienated all those that were close to him. He scorced every relationship work and shareholder wise in the name of trying to position himself to save himself if the company was purchased out of recivership. Not that it's being liquidated, he has no income and no supporters. He's mentioned it a couple of times that he'll probably just move on to another industry.

I told him that he needs to take some time off and decompress, that he needs it in order to get his perspective back. Later in the day he told me that he spoke to the guy who was trying to buy the company from recivership and he told him the same thing. Bob asked the guy if he had any openings and the guy told him that he thought highly of Bob during this whole process and you never know and take a couple weeks off, relax and we can talk later. In my estimation, it's all a nice way of saying no.

Bob's reputation in the City of Winnipeg and the Print Industry is toast. Winnipeg is more of a large town, lots of gossip and everyone knows someone and the Print Industry in Winnipeg is even worse.

I spent 2 hours sitting in the YMCA parking lot talking to Al, then to Bob, then back to Al. I could tell Bob was near giving up, last night was his big "I'm getting drunk, it's over", in his druken stupor he did drunk stupid stuff.

Bob told me that he called a friend of his to see if he wanted to go drinking, the guy said, "Bob, it's 9:10 am?!" Bob replied, "yeah, but it's 11 am somewhere". Around noon, Bob let me go, he had to have a shower and met one of our cousins for lunch.

After my discussions with Bob and Al, I went swimming. I kind of felt a little relieved after the conversation. I can see the end is near. I've said to Al and all the others that my work is going to begin soon, it's began already. There is only one person that can help Bob and that's me. He has no friends, he doesn't speak with my parents (not that they would be a good guide), he needs to work, he has no future plans, he has a disfunctional family life and relationship with his kids, and soon the reality of the situation will hit him with full force.

When this all happens it will be my mission to help him get back on his feet. I'm not going into this thinking I can change him, that's not possible. I just want to support him and be a shoulder to lean on. I'll do my best to guide him, I just know that he's not wired to change. I'm not going to fool myself on what's possible, if I did, I'd go crazy.

There is still one other world of hurt that could come down on him and I really hope it doesn't. It won't solve anything, it won't fix anything and it won't help fix him. I just hope the genie is not out of the bottle. I know what he did was only based on survival and not for personal gain. The net result would have been the same regardless.

On the training front, my swim was excellent. I only have 21 days until IMSG and only 2 weeks of real training left. I want to make the best of it and have not been holding anything back. I did 150 x 8 and the 100 was hard, with 50 easy on a 1 minute rest. The eight 100's were between 1:33 - 1:36 per 100. I also ended the last 500 meters with 5 x 100's and they all were around 1:45 to 1:46 per 100 and that was after doing 2500 meters of swimming.

This morning I got an awesome email, it was from a MASSIVE photo book account in the United States, the largest and they need a Canadian supplier for some programs they run. I talked to the guy after the swim and it turns out that he too grew up in Winnipeg and he hit it off perfectly. The specs he gave me are huge and he agreed to give me his target pricing, neither of us wanted to do the quote and negotiate dance.

I still haven't heard from Wayne. Last week they said they had a plan and wanted to meet with me this week. Typical. I can't tell you how much this bugs the shit out of me. In one respect, our next conversation with be interesting when I tell him that I'm close to landing this large account. I'm also waiting to hear back from a couple of pricing proposals I sent out this week. I reiterate, I can't tell you how much this bugs the shit out of me. It's now been over 2-months of talking and no counter offer from these guys.

I think it's going to work against them, they probably want me for some serious management duties, I gave them a proposal for a business unit and I know it would be a lot of work. I'm now thinking I should just set up a sales commission role, like the deal Al set up, and I can do just as well over time with much less headaches. Al keeps telling me to jump on my pogo stick, I'm not so sure. I may have shot myself in the foot, but I sent this email tonight.

Hey Guys, I wanted to keep you in the loop that another division of Shutterly contacted me today. They have some direct mail programs they are currently doing from the U.S. and they want to set up a Canadian supplier to produce it for them, it's very sizeable and regular work and year round, specs below. It turns out that Brent is a former Winnipegger and we ran in similar circles before both of us moved away, we hit it off great and baring the unforeseen, I don't see any concerns in closing it. I was able to get him to commit to giving us target numbers that they would be looking for and it seems the timing could be fairly immediate. I'll keep you in the loop.

I'm also meeting with a large system's integrator early next week, they are working with Loblaws for a uniquely tailored photo book project for 1400 locations in the chain. Loblaws has accepted the initial project proposal with pricing and it's now moving to the closing stage. Loblaws is prepared to put BIG marketing bucks behind this project, the concept is designed around new born babies and he explained it to me and I think it's very innovative, it has legs. I'm getting together with him give samples, pricing and a tour. It too looks very promising. BTW, I got the lead from Pixami.

Also, let me know when you guys would like to get together to continue our conversation. It's been close to 9-weeks since we initially spoke and the uncertainty is starting to weigh on me, I'm concerned whether or not this is going to happen. Please don't take this as lack of interest , or negotiating ploy on my part, it's not, I just want to be up front. I still very much would like to work with you guys, especially now with Al now on board, we work well together and it would be like old times, lots of closing, lots of fun. It's just that I want to know if this is going to happen or I need to start looking elsewhere. I'd really like to bring this to a conclusion, as I'm sure you do as well. I know you guys are busy, any time you could set aside would be appreciated.


B

Back to the training front, I did my first speed work on the bike for the season. It was a good ride, very windy and was the first ride I averaged over 30 kph. Which is really good considering the first and last 15 minutes are warm up and cool down.

I did notice I'm starting to crave food a little more than I'm used to, I haven't succumed to any junk food, nor beer. Talking about beer, it broke my heart when I talked to my brother on the way home from work. He answered the phone and he was sitting by himself at Boston Pizza having a beer by himself. He said he had lunch with Barry and then drove around the City for a while and then stopped for a beer. I can tell the reality is starting to hit him. I wanted to shed a tear. 

Today's picture of the day is of my brother 2 years ago when he was at the Pig & Whistle yelling at me and Alice that I should come work for him. The other picture is of him when he went 3 months with his back out and drugged up and not at work much. It was around a similar time frame. 

Tempo Swim - 1:09:09 / 3000 meters

Speed Bike - 59:37 / 30.23 km / 30.42 kph