Travel Log - Star date 20080126

This week was spent at home at the corporate mothership. Our department focuses on helping our store Team Members execute our key initiatives. My ASE certification served me well on several occasions, and I had a chance to use my selling skills twice to move the business forward.

Big Girl's basketball team improved to 2-1 with a 13-2 victory. Big Girl, the smallest kid on either team, grabbed a rebound and did a good job of bringing the ball up the court and finding her teammates.

Plane, train or automobile: None.

Mission: Sell more parts, have more fun.

Number of human interactions: Too numerous to count. There is a core group of 4 of us that bring our lunch everyday and soup seemed to be the meal of the week with temperatures getting into the 40s only one day.

State(s) visited: Virginia

City visited: Roanoke

Interesting fact about this city: See a previous post for details.

Halpert says: 1 week out of 4 so far... Why do they call you Travel Man?

Travel Log - Star date 20080119

Plane, train or automobile: Drove the trusty company vehicle through slush, sleet and snow.

Mission: Special Task Force for the company. About 15 of us had to visit 60 stores within two weeks to collect information and interview Team Members.

Number of human interactions: 3 Store Managers. I know that on the job performance is 70-80% environment, and these store visits bore that out. All the managers knew what to do, and one of them had the resources to do it. The other two either lacked the resources or had other initiatives prioritized ahead of the purpose of this visit.

State(s) visited: Tennessee and Georgia

City visited: Knoxville DMA and Chattanooga DMA

Interesting fact about this city: Chattanooga has a TON of stuff to do for families (Lookout Mountain, Rock City, Incline Railway, Ruby Falls, Riverwalk, Tennessee Aquarium, etc)

Halpert says: Glad to finally be on the road!

Big Girl's basketball team is now 1 - 1. The first game was a victory for Big Girl's team (16-7). This week, my head coaching debut resulted in a loss (11-14) - I guess my philosophy of defense and taking care of the ball hasn't gotten through.