Last blog entry I mentioned that I was going to go to the GPS or Global Petroleum Show; well I did. In the past these affairs have generally been rather boring and unfruitful. But this year seems to be different. I hadn’t been there five minutes when I ran into a candidate I had placed once before who introduced me to the Engineering Manager for a very large company who I had been looking to do some business with in the past; unsuccessfully. Now I’m not saying the guy gave me an order but now I know who the hiring Manager is (a key in my business). After that meeting, I went to meet a colleague of mine in the Round Up Centre; we met at another very large oil industry worldwide player’s booth. While we waited for the International Sales Manager to show up we chatted up a young sales engineer from Texas who filled us in on their product offerings, did a demo and let us know that he’d heard he could make more money in Canada right now than in the US market. Anyway, the point of telling you all this is that showing up at this show was a good thing. Let me explain.

Humdrum kind of day today except for the World Cup of Soccer. Gee, the games have been really good. Even if you don’t understand or play soccer getting caught up in the nationalism of these games has been infectious. I loved the game between the Japs and the Aussies. The Japanese were winning 1 nil with about 12 minutes left and then the Aussies connected for 3 relatively quick goals, there first ever in world cup final matches. What a show! The later in the day the US got thumped by the Czechs which was kind of expected by everyone except the US. Oh well. Finally, the Italians played the Ghanans (is that where Whoopie Goldberg’s character on Star Trek: The Next Generation came from?) No? Oh, well it was fun watching the Italians hang on and use their diving and acting skills to perfection. Great fun. Speaking of great fun…

I forgot to mention that when you have a home office you get to see all the wildlife in your neighborhood. Just after those kids came home from school they noticed something odd on our front veranda. You got to check this out.

If you’re like millions of North Americans you have a home office that you tell people you work from. But can you really work from home? Especially if you’re like me and have young children or a gorgeous young wife who’s completing her Masters program? I think you can but it’s hard? Here’s why....

A crotch rash from running too much that is!!! Seriously, the shorts I was wearing somehow unbeknownst to me starting chafing the inside of my legs (yup, crotch area) but being a trooper I kept going. I didn’t realize it at the time but later taking a shower was when the painful realization showed up. And, to make sure it really was a running rash, I ran two more times on Thursday and Friday to ensure myself rash to end all rashes. It kept me away from running this weekend.