Day 13

Good Morning Folks,

Well, two weeks down, three to go. Really 14 business days, as if my schedule holds true, I will return on Friday June 29th. We will see.

I write this from my flat on a sunny and warm Sunday evening. It is 8:45 and the sun is full force, I couldn't have asked for better weather. In fact, today I got my first real good suntan. I worked out in a business park where they 4 sets of 50 steps about 10 feet apart. I spent the whole day there. There are some fit people here, but perhaps no one more tan. The gym that I found wanted a 3 month comittment, so I am resigned to lifting everything in my apartment. Barstool curls, tricep pushes on the armchair, and counter top shoulder presses were the order of the day. I do have 25lb barbells in the office, but the offices are glass, so you can imagine the eyesore it creates for the rest of the office.

Crickett is on the tele, and I cannot figure this out for the life of me. It is such a grand sport, and I wish I understood, but I am also trying to figure out soccer and rugby. It is just so different from baseball in every way, so much going on, and so much scoring.

I called my Dad earlier, to wish him a Happy Father's Day...he got a kick out of that one, evidently, Father's Day is next week. He was in Margate, said it was windy and overcast, and you can imagine how much I hated to hear that ;)

I did pick up a new cocktail. I had read about it in the United States two weeks before I came to the UK. It is called "Cava" and it is a real fruity champagne-and I believe it is from Spain, but not sure. Kind of a Pinot Grigio with bubbles. Not the most masculine sounding drink...understood, but after I drank about a bottle of it, I immediately went and lifted weights for an hour, and that kind of evened everything out. I was at an outside table last evening in this great part of town where there about 4-5 lounges in a very nice "alley", and no less than 8 bachelorette parties came pouring in, and to see a U.K. bachelorette party is very different. These parties are like all out events that apparently start very early, posess outlandish themes, are attended by everyone including what appear to be grandmom's, and are raucous to say the least. If you are planning on marrying an English girl, beware...what happens in this very nice "alley" appears to stay in this very nice "alley." I am no saying don't marry her, I am just saying beware.

My sales call on Friday was an interesting one. There were like 6 PHD's in the room. And, it became obvious to me very quickly that they were looking for the predictive results of the skills assessments, norms to compare them to, etc. They are just so predisposed to presonality assessments. It was an interesting tug of war, but in the end I believe we will win this one. I need to go on many more of these, as we penetrate this H.R. space, as it is a different meeting, and actually provides us a great opportunity to educate on another type of assessment and just how it contributes to the selection process. They are far less familiar with skills assessments than you might imagine. It is a land ready to be conquered.

Tomorrow is a very exciting day, as I meet with H.R. in Piccadilly. We are putting together the new job descriptions. On Wednesday, the full team will be back, and we should begin shaking and baking under the new plan in the U.K. This is a BIG week.

As far as Philly goes, the results are in for May, and we put up $840K. So, we need $910 in June. Handsome Phil hit is 70K, and Jonesy has 100k on the hook this week. If he can convert and everyone can exceed goal, we will do this. So, put forth all of the effort you can, as it is crunch time.

I miss you all, very much. Have a great day tomorrow.

JV