Appreciative of Appreciation

I’m always amazed at how nice everyone is in this industry. I know, by now I shouldn’t be so surprised.

I was reminded again today at Varment Guard in Columbus, Ohio. I made the short, two-hour drive with a couple of my colleagues at PMP magazine to attend the company’s annual Vendor Appreciation Brunch.

I can’t thanks the folks down there enough for inviting us down. Getting out of the office and visiting PMPs is the highlight of this job.

As part of the event, Varment Guard had some animals brought in from the Columbus Zoo.

I’ll post some pictures of them a little later today, I simply wanted to quickly say thanks to Varment Guard for the appreciation. We appreciate all that you do to help this fine magazine.

Views of the Big Apple

Tuesday’s Business Leadership Cruise in New York was a one-of-a-kind event that provided valuable business information to PMPs, amidst and awesome scenery. Cruising up and down the Hudson River, attendees were able to learn from Norm Cooper, Dean Stanbridge and each other as they enjoyed the sites of New York City.

Sure, most in attendance live and/or work in and around New York. But, as more than one attendee told me, sometimes they don’t have time to appreciate the stunning sites of the city from the Hudson River.

I certainly had a nice time, soaking in all the sites and getting to know PMPs. Especially Andy Linares, owner of Bug Off Pest Control Center, who did a fantastic job of putting this event together.

I beg you to please excuse the “shakiness” of the videos. After all, I was filming this from a boat that was rocking back and forth

The Statue of Liberty

The USS Intrepid

The Brooklyn Bridge

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Just the Beginning

Well, the NPMA Biggest Loser Contest is officially over.

This past Wednesday in Washington D.C. at NPMA PestWorld 2008, the official weigh-in took place. Back in July, when the contest first started, 16 people signed up.

At the final weigh-in, only four remained — yours truly was one of them.

While I fell just shy of my goal, I did manage to lose 25 pounds — which was good enough to take second place. I actually lost the most weight in the contest, but since it went by percentage of your body weight, my percentage was slightly lower than the winners.

The reason I titled this post, “Just the Beginning” is because even though the contest is over, it was only the beginning of my lifestyle change and my goal to lose even more weight than I already have.

Total Weight Loss to Date: 25 pounds

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