My wife is way hotter than your wife.

So Becky and I stayed at my parents house for Christmas and while we were there my mom said that there were some boxes that I needed to take home with me. We packed them up and brought them home and when we got home we started going through all of this fun stuff that I had in the three boxes. We came across several envelopes of pictures from college when I thought that I would start a photography hobby. I have a lot of pictures of old buildings and cars but the fun find were the pictures of Becky and I. We came upon this picture which is one of my favorites. Becky is so HOT in here tie dye tank top sitting next to the Snake River in Centennial Park. No wonder I married this smokin babe and why I told her after our first date that she was "drop dead gorgeous". The only thing that I am wondering at this time is why she has such a problem with me wearing tie dye now? I have said for along time that Becky tricked me while we were dating with her save the environment talk and hippie tendencies. Regardless she is hot and I love her and this picture is going with me to work. Oh yeah!

All is not lost!

I decided not to blog about the BYU v Arizona game for obvious reasons. I was not happy about the outcome and felt that I had been lied to by a couple of wins that I thought were signature wins. Come to find out BYU is not the team I thought they were and I think that a lot of work is going to have to be done during the off-season otherwise we could have a very mediocre season next year with a senior heavy team that has tasted success.

On the other hand I have been holding out that TCU would beat BSU and make my bowl season at least half way decent. Tonight that dream became a reality and I can go on living in Boise. It wasn't the most pretty game but it was a hard fought and very exciting game. I am happy with the results but have come to the realization that BSU is a better team then I had thought. The big result is that I really think that TCU is the best team in the MWC and I don't know how they lost to Utah.

Going forward I can now look to next season and hope that BYU can find what they need to dominate the MWC next year. Also NFL playoffs are right around the corner and Hockey starts on NBC in January with a game at Wrigley field, that's right they will play that game outside on a baseball field similar to what they did last year in Buffalo when it snowed the whole game. I am excited to get out of the NCAA football season the way I did, it could have been a lot worse.

BYU v Arizona Tonight

Living in Boise has been tough because the radio personalities usually only talk about BSU but this week they have been talking about the Las Vegas Bowl and BYU v Arizona. They all have been saying that BYU is going to lose and lose big. It has been a rough week for BYU sports in the city of trees this week and I have been feeling it. They all have made some good points yet I don't think that they have watched the games like I have and have seen that fire that BYU has had in some games. I really feel that BYU could come away with a big win that could really help to make the season a success and catapult them into next year. Arizona has been good and lost some close games after looking stellar. It was the Pac-10 though and they were not very good this year. So I am going to say that BYU wins this game 31-21 and Max is able to throw at will. If Max doesn't show up then this game goes the other way and it will be a rough night in Boise tonight and I will be looking forward to Hockey coming back to NBC in January. Here's to a great game tonight.

GO COUGS!

Office Pranks

We have pulled a few office pranks the last couple of years that I have worked at The Idaho Statesman. These are a few of my favorites and the ones that I came up with and instigated.

This one is a favorite of mine. I did this one to Kevin again after we took his Billy Buttons. He ticked me off one night so I stole his favorite mug and took it home. Becky and I tried and tried to get it to fit in a bowl that we could fill with Jell-O so it would be completely covered but we didn't have any so I ended up filling the cup with four packets of Jell-O and one cup of water. The result was a very firm cup of Jell-O the next morning. I took the cup back with me and put it on Kevin's desk. He didn't notice until about 9:00am when he went to get his coffee. It was funny to watch him because he thought it was full of Mountain Dew at first and touched it really slow. When he noticed that it jiggled he turned it upside down and it didn't come out, it was so funny. It sat there for a couple days because he was being a baby and wouldn't go wash it out. Finally he did and it took a lot to get that Jell-O out out of there.




This joke was a great one because Kevin and I put it together while Landon was on vacation. Landon had a rock garden that we would mess with all the time and he would get so upset. It was really funny to watch him come in and see that we had put G.I. Joes in his rock garden fighting like it was a desert battle. The one time we got dinosaurs and put them in there with mini trees and more rocks. We also took all the sand out of it and just put the rocks in, that time was really funny. It was so funny that while he was on vacation we thought about what we could do to this rock garden. It took us a couple of days but finally it came to us, we would go buy a mini rock garden and shrink everything that he had so it looked like it had shrunk. This was the result and when Landon returned he thought it was pretty funny although he wanted to know where his rock garden was.


This prank wasn't the best thought out one but it used all the pieces from the other times that we had done things so it was pretty funny for us. This is Landon's desk and as you can see he has his rock garden in the corner with a bamboo plant. He left for the afternoon so we took everything that we had put in his garden over the last few months and glued them to his desk. It doesn't seem that funny but think about coming back to your desk and seeing all of this stuff and laughing because you have seen it all before. Then you go to pick it up and you find that they are all glued to your desk and you can't just pick them off. Also Landon is a neat freak so not only did he spend 45 minutes cleaning them off he also spent an hour scrapping glue off his desk. It was very entertaining for Kevin and I to listen to him swear at us for a couple of hours.

The Sales Meeting

This week at The Idaho Statesman the sales staff is going through a huge three day training that is supposed to be full of amazing new ideas. As I sat through the first day I thought of how I have been through countless hours of these types of trainings and they are all the same. A sales funnel or a sales pipeline, it's a numbers game with how many people you see against your sales close rate, listen to what the client is trying to tell you, don't let the appointment get out of your control, don't forget your sales "toolbag" etc, etc. These meetings are fine and they can get you excited to get out and work but mostly they are lame.

When entering a sales meeting you will notice that the tables are arranged in a variety of ways. Sometimes in a square sometimes a semi-circle regardless there is never enough seating and someone is always on the end and can't see. You will also notice that there is some sort of prize table. In my case this week it is full of office equipment and tickets to our suite at Qwest Arena. I have been to many meetings where they throw out company shirts, can cosies, mini balls, and various other items to keep you feeling like you made the right decision in coming to this meeting today. You will notice that they have set a place where everyone is going to sit, laid out with what you will be going over and usually a pen. In my case this week the pen is not provided, I guess that we are feeling the affects of the economy.

Everyone is going to sit at these tables except for management, they are obviously better than the rest of you so they are going to sit away from the common folk as to not get head lice, whooping cough, or a case of "non-management"itis (symptoms include befriending the staff, showing you care, not holding yourself on a pedestal, and increased morale which causes problems because then the staff is excited and the fear tactics don't work). The management usually sits against a wall or stands so that they seem cool and part of something that you are not. You will envy them if this is your first sales meeting, but if this is your 10th you probably know all about how your manager told you that they were going to fight to get every last commission dollar for you because "it helps their commission as well" but when it came time for commissions they sided with the company on why you brought in a business spending $13,000 a month but they are only going to pay you for half. It makes sense they can only pay you 50% on that because what happens when they stop spending, then you are going to want the company to take that 50% off of your goal right? We'll see about that.

There are all kinds of different people in the sales meeting. Those who are answering questions because they want everyone to know how smart they are. There are some who are going to throw out answers that have already been given but they say it differently and get praised for this new idea. There are even some who want to relate everything to an experience they have had like no one else has come across this experience before. These last people will be the ones standing on the wall in a few months. Those experiences are what management is looking for. Something that shows you have been to battle with a client and come out victorious. Lastly there are those who have been to these meetings a million times and feel that grown adults don't need to chant in unison the catch phrase of this meeting. These very same people are the ones that will sit back and observe the surroundings and see that there are those that think they are better. Oh sure they will listen and be polite but they are noticing that there is a distinction between these groups of people. They realize that you the instructor didn't really mean it when he/she asked who is your manager and then said (in that voice that you know is mocking you and they are trying not to laugh) "you are". This last group of people notice that everyone in the room just brightened up thinking that "yes, I am my own manager" but try not coming in on time and see if you are the one who disciplines yourself. I am guessing that you are not the one telling you that your production is low.

These sales meetings all seem to be the same. They are implemented to get a sales person focused and excited about working and overlooking the things that have made them upset for the last 4 to 5 months. They are instituted to make the sales person think that there is NEW information that they need so they can get out there and close the deal. Really the information is the same across the board and these meetings don't come close to covering what a good sales person already knows. Sales people need to build relationships with there clients so there can be trust. Most of managers out there want to tell you how to do things yet they haven't been in the field in years. The best manager I have ever had was my dad. He continued to work in the field and train. He knew the problems that were going on out there because he was having the same problems. He was and still is a great sales rep who could see what you were going through and understand better then any upper management. He didn't use scare tactics to get you to sell or close the deal. He just helped you to become a great rep yourself all while running his own business. For that dad I am grateful. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to work with you and learn from you. Without your guidance and training I would not be where I am today. Thanks for all you have done and continue to do for me.

Simply having a Wonderful Christmas Time

I realize that I have some hippie tendency's but this one I have to blame on my mother. When we were younger she worked at Shopko. We use to go in and see her there and I remember doing a lot of shopping there as well. During Christmas they would play Christmas music that was traditional and contemporary. Shopko would play their music on some type of a rotation and A Wonderful Christmas Time by Paul McCartney would play frequently. My mom started to love that song so she bought a CD that it was on and brought it home so we could listen to it there (as we were going to Shopko to listen to it before). This song has become my favorite Christmas song and when I hear it I am reminded of that Christmas and all the Christmases since. We have started calling it the Vipperman Christmas song and we all love it. It is my families ring tone on my phone and it is the first song on my playlist here. Hopefully my siblings will comment here about their favorite memory of this song so you all can get the full effect of how we feel about this song.

It's Christmas time!

It is Christmas time once again and one of my favorite things about Christmas are the holiday movies. It seems that Thanksgiving ends and on every channel there is a Christmas movie on. It is so great because some of these we don't even own and probably never will. Here are some of my favorites that let me know it is Christmas time.

A Christmas Story

one of my favorites

The Santa Clause

I love this movie

Elf

One of the best movies ever!

Home Alone

CLASSIC!
How The Grinch Stole Christmas
How can you not like this one?

BYU, Boise State, and Bowl Games

Well after the loss to Utah I have not wanted to think about BYU football but I am dragging myself to the computer and am going to give you my two cents about where they should go. I am bummed that it looks like BYU is going to the Las Vegas bowl but really I am more upset that the LV bowl is for the conference champion and TCU is by far the best team in the MWC this year yet they are going to end up in San Diego. I really think that TCU should be going to Vegas and BYU going to San Diego just because BYU doesn't deserve the better bowl game (my thinking is that Las Vegas is better than the Poinsettia Bowl) and TCU does. On that not I think that TCU will kick BSU's trash if that is who they end up playing. I am not prepared to say that BYU will even hang with Boise State after the loss to Utah and TCU. I have said before that BSU has entered into to a pact with the devil and so they cannot lose therefore I think that it would be a tough game for BYU. After seeing TCU play this year though I don't think that there is anyway that Boise State can keep up with TCU's speed.

Boise State has spent the past week trying to get Ball State to come to Boise for the Humanitarian Bowl and today Ball State said that they were not going to do that. I think that is smart, Ball State should not have to play BSU on their home field. I think that a neutral site would be better. That being said that game would still be a blow out with Boise State winning by at least 21 points. I hate Boise State and I don't want to be telling anyone what they should be doing but I don't think that playing a non-BCS team in a crappy bowl game is the way to gain respect. It would be better for Boise to play in the Humanitarian Bowl against a BCS conference team like Florida State than to play a ranked Ball State. I am sick of people here in Boise saying that BSU needs to play Ball State pitting two undefeated teams together. That is a great idea but it gets you nowhere. Really the best idea is to play TCU in San Diego since they are ranked higher and would give BSU a lot more respect if they beat them (which they wont, see above). I am just saying that everyone needs to stop being so stupid and look at what is best for the team in the long run not which team they can beat.