Today was a good day in a lot of sense. I brought in my 50th birthday....first without my dad....but I know he was with my in spirit....miss you dad. I did however, hit the gym at 6:00 am for a good cardio workout and came home for a good breakfast and then hit the Neon plant early before the heat overcame me. Had lunch with my brother....worked some more....and dinner with my family and mom. Got a great report from my sister regarding my Nephew's Leukemia and I am ready to crash. Got a full week next week and I am looking forward to my ONLY week off during the 4th of July week. My family will invade the beaches of Daytona, Florida for some R&R....Keep my mom on the prayer list.

49 and Holding

Today is June 21st.....This is the last day of my forties......ouch....Tomorrow morning when I wake up, I will be 50 years old. Since I took the last ten years off, I will start my next half century off with a good lift and cardio at the gym. Perhaps I can begin to get myself in some sort of shape for the coming years and what lies ahead. The last 10 years in the neon business has been an adventure to say the least. With the emergence of LED being the king pin in channel letters, neon opportunities have shrunk considerabely. My business model however, has enabled me to carve out enough money to survive. I still get a considerable number of requests for custom neon signs and fortunately for me, there are just not that many folks out there who still do this kind of work. Last year, I shipped signs to ALL 50 states. That was a first. This year we have shipped to 36 states and still have a half a year to go. Perhaps we can repeat last year. Gotta scoot back to the plant.....keep those orders coming.

All Alone.......

Well it's been a long time between posts and three weeks and two days since the death of my father. Although my dad fought a tough fight with Lung Cancer, he like many others before him, eventually found the tough road to Heaven. My life hasn't been the same since he was diagnosed three years ago and certainly not the same since May 27th. I will celebrate my 50th birday Friday. There are already a lot of firsts.....I celebrated my first Father's Day on Sunday....with my dad.....and I will celebrate my first birthday without my dad on Friday. I suppose one day I will once again begin to look at the Sabbath Day as a time for celebration, but for the time being, I still see Sunday as the day my dad died. I hate to dwell on such a tough time, but quite frankly it does me good to express how I feel. Shrinks say reflection is a good thing. I have been walking around in a fog long enough, and tomorrow I will try and take the first step toward celebrating the investment my father made in me and try not to grieve so much. Those of you who stopped by and read this post, send up a few words of prayer for my mother. She and dad would have been married 53 years last week. This is the first night she has been by herself since Dad's death. My siblings and I will take good care of her.....We promised Dad we would.

Another Day in Which To Excel

Today is Monday......ouch....came way to fast. Gonna spend time in the plant today doing routine clean-up. Perhaps I can feel better about going to work with a new look....When in production, there just is not enough time to clean up as you go. Today then, is another day in which to excel.

Neon - My Escape

While the neon business has dramatically shrunk over the last two years, it still provides me with some sort of therapy. I really enjoy spending time in my plant piddling. I have never been one to sit still and retirement is something I don't think I will ever be interested in doing. My business model is pretty narrow....I specialize in custom neon signs. In other words, I take your idea and turn it into a reality that glows. I don't keep any stock neon signs. 10 years ago, the neon sign market on Ebay was pretty darn good. I would make signs from scratch and had very little difficulty selling them. Today, I may list 10 signs and not get a bid on any of them. Something has got to change in our economy that will spark folks to spend. Rising fuel costs have drained any extra money from my household and I can't help but believe it has done the same for everyone else.

Marvelous Monday

While most of the working world get's one more day off, I will begin my new year on the job trying once again to survive the January after Christmas.....geez, what a long month this will be. I hope the economy improves so we can get things back to more solid ground. The Dogs play today at 1:00 against Michigan State....thank goodness for radio....won't miss a snap. Got a number of projects to wrap up today and tomorrow and then I will be pretty much caught up.....not a bad position to be in, but me without stuff to do is not a good thing.

Oh well, here comes the coffee fix. Come on 2012, let's get the party started.

2012.....A Year of Uncertainty

I started this blog back in July of 2011 with the hopes of updating it daily with news and insight into the wonderful world of Neon. Like most things in my life, my intent was good, but I failed miserabley in keeping it updated. Perhaps I can do a better job of that this year. Let's hope so. My father continues is battle with Lung Cancer and the year couldn't have ended any worse....my 13 year old nephew was diagnosed with AML Leukemia. He just completed his first 10 day cycle of chemotherapy and his first two weeks of a very long hospital stay at Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksoville, Florida. I am praying that he and my dad can both whip this horrible disease.

I begin 2012 like most of you with a short list of resolutions that I will try and keep. My list includes daily exercise of some sort and magnitude.....any would be more than I got in 2011. It also inlcudes just trying to trust God more and quit trying live this life by myself. Seems as though I try and fly solo too many times. I also plan to try and spend more time with my family and to be a better husband and father to two wonderful kids.

I hope all of you have a Happy New Year. May 2012 be the best year yet.