Well, it has been a while since I've taken the time to sit down and write up something for my blog, and in that time things have changed quite a bit for me. I am on the road more literally these days, logging 1,000 miles a week on the Prius driving to and from a new job. I have completely changed hardware for my Road Warrior support system, including a new cell phone and phone number, new computer (I lost lost of old stuff including some contacts, so if I ask for your info, that is why), new email address for work, and a host of new co-workers. But more on that in a moment.
In brief, I now work in Salem, Oregon. This is a city about 250 miles south of my home in Snohomish. Judy, Marilyn, and the cats and dog will continue to live in this wonderful house close to the kids and grandkid, and I will commute. This means I depart on Sunday evening, stay with my dad and Rose in Gresham, OR (3.5 hours drive) and then make the final 1 hour trip on Monday morning. I will be in residence in Salem Monday through Thursday, typically departing 4:45 or so for home. Last Thursday it took 5 hours, door to door, to get back. Without traffic it takes 4.5 hours, so I lost just a little time in Portland, but Seattle was clear sailing.
My new job is as the VP of Sales and Marketing for West Salem Machine (www.westsalem.com). They make machines that grind, chip, chop, crunch, and mill all sorts of waste materials including wood and bark, plastic, yard wastes, municipal wastes, pallets, construction debris, corn stover and wheat straw, and lots more. They have a very good reputation for making strong and durable machines, selling them at a competitive price, and standing behind them. They have not had anyone in this particular position in the past, with the owner and General Manager sort of doing the selling and marketing in their free time while running the company. They needed someone to help them and here I am. I have known the company and these guys for many years, and we are all old friends. So far it is working out very well and I am pleased. I have a small staff in the office, and one remote guy who works for WSM and lives in Bangkok, Thailand.
I gave notice at BRUKS and spent a week in Atlanta off-loading my projects and information. The BRUKS people think that WSM is a good company, and they often include WSM equipment in their system offers. There was one project where both BRI and WSM were bidding, and I have stayed away from that one so there is no conflict of ethics involved. Other than that the companies are very different - WSM is much more like Acrowood in that they make the machines, and BRI didn't make anything directly.
I felt that it was important for me to be working from the home office rather than remotely, both because a Sales Manager needs contact with the daily activities of the company and because my remote office environment at BRUKS kept me too distant from the flow of information that is vital to being involved with a company. With salesmen and support people reporting to me I needed to be at hand to have the impact the company needs me to have. I have already jumped into some manufacturing issues that I dealt with in the past, and am making contributions here and there beyond things that are strictly sales. Wood handling machinery is what I do. It is god to be back in close contact with the sounds and smells of making machinery.
So that is the big news on my end and how I see things going for at least the rest of the year. I will have evenings to spend blogging, and I hope it works out that way. I am taking my bicycle and golf clubs with me this week, and hope to do some evening riding or ball driving. I am staying in hotels for the three nights I need them. I book on Hotwire.com and can find decent (not great) rooms for $50/nite. It doesn't take much to make me happy, I suppose. Long term it might make sense to rent a room in a house or rent a studio apartment, but this is OK for now.
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