the goings

It’s been a few weeks since my last update, lots to tell.  Remember that huge walk my store was having?  Well it happened and here I am 2 days later finally getting back into a groove again.  I have put in about 100 hrs the last 2 weeks in order to get the store up to par for every store manager to walk in and inspect.  It’s pretty cool to have store managers taking pictures of things you’ve done and sent it back to their store to duplicate what I’ve already done.  Several local store managers brought their own people back in order to see what the store and departments are supposed to look like.  I feel very proud but exhausted.  The good news in all that mess is that they let me keep my overtime pay, which rocks!  My body however will probably not recover for a few more days thanks to my varied schedule.  Tomorrow Laura and I are going to go get contacts, woo hoo!  It’s been something we’ve been wanting to do for months but haven’t really gotten around to it. So at dinner tonight we decided we’d go.  Also I’ve really had the desire to take pictures lately but haven’t really done it because i’ve misplaced the digital camera and i haven’t used any film camera’s because it’s expensive to process unless you go digital that is.  So I think i’m just going to start carrying one of the disposable camera’s left over from our wedding (hope they are still good!)  As always thanks for reading.

It’s been a long road..

At work lately we have been slammin’ busy, it’s not just the normal day to day stuff because my store is set apart from the others. In the greater metroplex their are a lot of home depot’s, but mine is different. We have hand a lot of management changes because we are considered a high volume and basically considered an excellent store. Every year we always get selected to participate in some new trial for a new system they want to roll out nationwide. I’ve probably seen every form and every system change the way it has been done at least 3 times. It’s frustrating but of course you have to do it and then provide feedback and information accordingly. The downside to all this is not the changes at all but it’s that the store is constantly visited by VP’s and such trying to come in and see how efficient the changes are. The managers I work for think it’s wonderful that we are constantly selected for this kind of work, and I agree with them because I think it’s cool to be on the cutting edge of the market. However it’s hard to motivate people who don’t see it that way to constantly change and force them to stay up with the pace of being at least 3 steps ahead of whatever is coming next. Basically what i’m leading up to here is that right now my store is undergoing some major overhauling because of a couple of major VP walks that are coming up. We just had one yesterday that went of smoothly with about 250 visitors from other stores and on the 3rd we are having another one with every store manager in the Southern division of Home Depot. Needless to say I will be super busy but I’m excited about it because that means my managers and my store is doing something right because they could have chosen anywhere and they chose us. As always thanks for reading.

How the days fly………………

Way to go Tech, thank you for hiring a new coach with a chance of taking the team and the school to a new level. Welcome Coach Tuberville! I’m a fan I have to admit and i’m very interested to see what the new era in football is going for you and Texas Tech. Many of my readers out there are Tech fans/Tech Alumni and I hope you too are on board with the new Coaching administration. The whole mess has been plastered all over sports center to the point where I can’t even watch ESPN because that’s all they want to talk about. It’s time to move on and enter a new and exciting era and forget about Leach and Ruffin. We appreciate all they were able to do while at Tech but it does no good what so ever to stage a “rally” a month after they were fired.
On a lighter note I’ve really tried to keep up with blogging a lot more lately and I think i’m doing a pretty good job of it myself. It helps me to kind of clear my head a bit and remember to share with all of you what’s going on here. I use google reader to keep up with everyone all the blogs I read because it ’s a one page program where I can get all the updates at once. Is it wrong of me to want to take some of the “baby blogs” out of my regular reading???? Don’t get me wrong I’m sure someday I’m going to do something similar and I appreciate them wanting to share. I just don’t have the “fever” and get a little tired of seeing babies all over the place. If that sounded mean I apologize and just blame it on the lego pirate ship that just fell off my shelf and hit me in the head.

As always thanks for reading!

What’s next………

It has been an insane day for me as a fan of Texas Tech Athletics.  No matter what happens I believe in the power of the Scarlet and the Black and know that this will work out somehow.  However I do have a plan!  Actually it’s more of a tag team plan with help from my wonderful wife Laura.  So here’s the plan, never give up never surrender!  Ok, that is part of it but truthfully there is some speculation out there at who the next Tech coach will be.  The shortlist is as follows with the thoughts regarding what we believe to be the top 3.

Sonny Dykes –  The coaching son of former Texas Tech head coach Spike Dykes.  Probably a heavy favorite as regards to the older generation of Alumni and probably the favorite of the administration and current offensive coordinator and quaterbacks coach  at the University of Arizona. If hired I’m not sure he would bring a lot of change to the system because he was one of Leach’s former assistants and would provide a similar offense. This could be interesting because Arizona has been able to play at a pretty serious level the last few years but there isn’t a lot of overall experience here, however there is potential.

Ruffin McNeil – Current Defensive Coordinator and Interim Coach for the team. He would bring a lot of passion to the team and could really help keep the Tech team at it’s current level.  Nearly 30 years of some impressive assistant coaching roles, he stated in a press conference today that he was very interested in the job and would be happy to take it.  Could provide a little more focus on the defense for the future and would probably be supported by not only the University but also the current coaching staff.  Needless to say I believe this would probably be the more affordable option for the school.

Tommy Tuberville – Someone I’m not entirely familiar with but has shown interest in getting back in to coaching.  This is probably the most decorated coach in the mix and previously coached at  Auburn University.  Definitely the caliber of coach that could take Tech to the next level.  Could also provide a new defensive outlook for the school instead of offensive which could really help that age-old debate between SEC vs BIG 12 on who’s the strongest conference.    It would also finally pull Texas Tech out of the “system” and really give the athletes a chance and going onto the next level which could really help in recruiting out of the Texas market. Tuberville is without a doubt my vote because I really feel that Texas Tech would have to change radically in order to succeed now and it would also provide an outside element that the conference isn’t used to which could really help push Texas Tech past the University of Texas, Oklahoma State, and University of Oklahoma in the BIG 12.

As always thanks for reading.

For the fans…………

Mike Leach was fired today by the Texas Tech University administration.  It was ugly and it has happened.  I believe this is a crucial time for Texas Tech for Alumni, Fans, and for the school.  Nobody likes to see their coach fired and this one will be broadcasted for years to come and it will take a devastating blow to the University.  It will also cost a lot of other people their jobs in the higher administration including but not limiting to the Athletic Director and all of the coaching staff.  I believe that Texas Tech has been set back at least 3 years as far as football goes.  The President of the University will be under heavy criticism and will select the AD to step down soon because of the circumstances in which Mike Leach’s firing took place.  The school will be paying Leach the money for the rest of his contract due to wrongful termination.  Therefore taking away from what ever coach comes into place next.  If the AD doesn’t go then the next coach will be under constant criticism because of the circumstances in which the firing of Leach took place.  Leach helped to bring Tech to a higher level of play not only in the Big 12 but also in the NCAA.  Replacing him will not be easy or cheap if Texas Tech wishes to stay at a higher level.  So the remaining money that Leach will be owed and the cost of both a new AD and new coaching staff will not be an easy task.  The only way Texas Tech will be able to salvage anything from this chaos is to start clean with a new athletic administration.

Thank you Mike Leach for making me believe again in Texas Tech football, good luck to you in you future endeavors.  We wish you the best!

It’s been awhile.

Happy Festivus!

That’s actually an old Seinfeld reference for those of you that don’t get it.  But thanks for being patient with my lack of blogging lately, it’s funny how I like to read yours but actually forget to post on mine.  Laura is doing great she’s finally starting back at work this week and is getting some of her appetite back after the surgery.  In case you didn’t know Laura had her gallbladder removed the week before Christmas.  Then we’ve been traveling out to the West Texas area to do the whole family holiday celebration snow storm-a-palooza.  It was great seeing the fam’s and enjoying some down time for a change.  Then the snow came, it was really wonderful to have but scary to drive on. It took us 3 hrs to do a 1 and 1/2 normal drive and couldn’t see a thing while driving due to the blowing snow.  I think we saw 30 cars and 20 semi’s along the ditches off of the road.  One of the semi’s had 2 trailers and slid off of the road, I found out the next day that particular truck was actually my uncle.  No worse for wear but definitely glad we stayed in Lubbock an extra day to let it all melt and to let the traffic clear out.  All in all it’s been a busy 3 weeks so thanks for waiting for me to update.  It’s sad that today I was actually inspired to blog a bit because I saw someone blogging in a movie.  Great movie if you have the chance it’s Julie & Julia.  As always thanks for reading. Bon-appetit!

Rant and Rave

It’s been far to long but a ton of stuff as been going on so we’ll start with the good, then the bad, and maybe even the ugly.

Good
At the house we’ve been busy with work stuff and purchased a treadmill and bo flex which we are super excited about. Then of course we had this whole thanksgiving thing that most of you participated in so happy post turkey day to you! Also both of our families traveled up from west texas to come meet us for turkey day and for an incredible experience at “the death star”, “jerry world”, or as most of you call it “cowboys stadium”.

Bad
Things have been insane for Laura and I with our work schedules and now we are seeing each other about every other day. Should improve quite a bit with Laura’s new project she starts tomorrow, most of the time we haven’t seen each other we’ve actually been with our families while they were here. It’s really hard trying to balance time with work and 2 families with me working retail, needless to say i’m tired!

Ugly
Alright so most of you that read this are Tech fans so you will understand what i’m about to say. It’s really hard being a Tech fan! I’ve been one nearly all my life and this is one of the hardest years that I have been a part of. I personally got to see 3 games this year, 2 in Lubbock and 1 in Dallas. Every game I’ve seen I honestly could not tell you what team was going to show up. In the Mike Leach era I have seen some changes but this year has just changed my perspective due to massive inconsistency. Who’s the QB? How many interceptions will this one throw? Do we know how to tackle? I mean come on these are basic fundamentals of the game and here we are rotating 3 qb’s based on injuries and about a bazillion interceptions between them. I now fully understand the power of the turnover! The positive side of this horrific season is that we will still make a bowl game, somewhere! It’s likely going to be the Alamo bowl with wishful thinking however with Tech anythings possible.

As always thanks for reading!

the new stuff

The last few weeks have been a little crazy with the Kirk family. You of course have probably already heard my awesome news from the CEO of Home Depot, if not please see previous post. We have been all over the place starting with the Kansas State game a couple of weeks ago in Lubbock, we were able to get some tickets from family and decided to make the trip. It’s rare for us to do something like this because we always have to board the dog and that’s an extra $75 for a weekend. We had a great time stopping in to see some family and check out a terrific football game. By the time we got back we were just zonked and didn’t really do much the rest of the week. Last week was a little crazy for us too because Laura had to fly to New Mexico for 3 days and I flew into Lubbock. The timing was great because she flew home the day I flew out. However the hard part was that we didn’t see each other for a week. But I flew home for some family hang out time which was long overdue. While I was away Laura took a weekend for herself off the grid. I think the only thing that would have made the weekend better was not having the dog around. All in all we are doing good, Laura heads out tomorrow to go make her trip to see her family for the weekend while I hang out at home at try and scare some kids on Halloween. So as always thanks for reading, and Happy Halloween.

The most amazing thing………..

Alright on Tuesday of this week I was at work doing my thing and around 11′ am we get this call that a man named Frank Blake is walking one of our sister stores.  Frank is a pretty important guy because he happens to be the CEO of Home Depot.  My first thought was if he’s at that store he will defiantly be coming here.  So I’m thinking ok how much can I really do because I’ve only got  few minutes and well it is what it is.  So I finished up a bay that I was working on and clean up some in my area and head to our receiving department.  As I walk out I find a couple looking for something in our flooring department so naturally I stop to help them.  As I’m helping them I decide that in order to finish their project they are going to need something in the paint department so I start to take them.  As I turn and follow then I find Frank standing behind me and he said, “that’s a great job you’re doing there”, so I said thank you Mr.Blake then he responds “you can call me Frank”. Which means he listened in to some of my conversation with those customers.  So now I know he’s in the building, time to give everyone the heads up because he was sneaky and came in through our garden area and not our main entrance.  So now I’m really pumped that he’s in my store and that he was able to shake my hand and tell me great job.  Everyone in the store automatically steps up their game now because they know he’s here and kind of gravitate towards him, I already got to meet him so as I’m traveling back to my department I find several more customers that all need my help because the other associates have gone to meet Frank.  So in the end I encountered Frank 5 times at completely different areas of the store so before he left he gave a compliment to my manager about me saying “that guy is incredible he’s all over the store providing excellent customer service”.  My manager tells me that she responded with “that’s just the way Allen is in our store, we are lucky to have him”.  The thing I’m struggling with I know that there isn’t really a higher compliment that I could get in the store from anyone because he is “the guy” in charge.  Sometimes when I think about it I want just explode with happiness, then other times it’s a humbling thing knowing that I am a true Orange Blooded person working for a great company.  Home Depot is a really great company and I enjoy working for them and it’s a unique culture all to itself and they like to call on their employees to “Live the Orange Life”, and I like to  think that I’m doing that.

Thanks for reading.

Rain Rain Rain

It’s been a fun couple of weeks since I last updated everyone.  Laura and I are in a healing phase right now because we have both been sick the last month on and off, it’s YUCKY!!!  So we really haven’t been all that exciting, so sorry no real exciting stories or anything.  Laura’s first deadline is tomorrow so WOO HOO I get to see her for the 2nd consecutive weekend!!!!!  We are actually going to Grapefest in Grapevine, should be fun.  If you’ve been before do you have any “must do’s” for us?

So it’s been raining a lot, in fact it’s kinda freaking me out.  Mainly because our roof leaks a little bit (great rent house right?)  Luckily since it’s not out of control rain nothing major has happened.  However I think it’s on like it’s 5th straight day of rain which is all kind of nuts, and they say it won’t end for a few more days.  See back in West Texas I had never seen anything likes this because it rains for about a day at the most, then dries up and goes away.  Here I’m going to say that I may actually have to purchase rain boots because i’m getting freakin tired of trekking through parking lots with wet shoes and socks.

Yeah for the start of football season, GO RED RAIDERS, GO COWBOYS!

Thanks for reading.