The Balance of Work and Family

Work has finally started to slow down. I hired a new employee to relieve my new accounts lady from her heavy workload and the new girl seems to be doing well so far. I was pretty successful last week in coming home every day at 5pm, but this week I've had to catch up from leaving early last week. However, there's less of a time crunch now, just a lot of work. We had a broker come in from Florida yesterday who is firing us as a manager but retaining us as a subadvisor, which basically means we do everything we've always done except send out quarterly statements, but we're losing $50,000 in revenue per year! He's our 2nd or 3rd largest broker at $25 million. Frustrating, but if we didn't agree to only "subadvising" we'd probably lose him entirely. He's a real nice guy and I actually agree with what he's doing, so I'm not too upset. It's a business move on his part to better streamline and simplify his business model. He's a West Point graduate, former Army Ranger and infantry drill instructor who has shaken hands with Ronald Reagan and George Bush, Jr. We had some very interesting conversation at lunch!

I accidentally double-booked appointments yesterday with a salesman from San Francisco who was coming in to give me a presentation on his portfolio management software. I had to call at the last minute and push it back an hour, which meant he had to reschedule a later flight last night. I felt bad, but the guy said it happens all the time so he is used to being flexible and making last minute changes. It was a productive meeting, so I hope he feels it was worthwhile. I think he does, since we may hand over $60,000/year for his software if we decide to go with his product! HA!

I called one of the "higher ups" at our biggest custodian (FiServ) last night to touch base with him and find out the status of a big project they're working on for us, and he asked me if I would be interested in joining their "Alpha Board". It's a small group of Operations managers from institutional money management firms like ours who meet at least once a year in Denver to provide FiServ some meaningful feedback on how they can improve their business. It's actually a big deal to serve on that Board, so I was very excited!! They will fly me to Denver for these meetings and put us up in a nice hotel, feed us lavishly, have meetings and provide entertainment like snow skiing or something fun like that - and they pay for everything! How cool is that?!

Anyway, sorry to go on so much about work. I'd really prefer to be at home more - I live for the weekends! Especially in a few weeks when our pool opens (May 27th). I also can't say enough about how much I am enjoying becoming close with all of our neighbors. That is something I've always thought would be cool. We all hang out and watch out for each other. One neighbor came over and treated some ant beds in our yard - we mowed our next-door neighbor's house who doesn't have a lawn mower yet - another neighbor borrows our stuff to do his yard - another neighbor called the other day to make sure they closed their garage door - our kids go back and forth to each other's houses - there's just a strong sense of community now, and it's awesome!

Caleb is sooo close to crawling. I've been play-fighting with him recently and he really enjoys that, which is a good thing. I plan on keeping him roughed up to help him identify with his masculinity since he'll grow up with 4 women in the house, plus all their friends who will come over all the time! I really hate only being able to see my girls for 2 hours or less each night, but I guess that's just the way it goes. Last week when I forced myself to go home at 5pm every day, a new perspective was realized. Work is obviously a high priority as the sole financial provider for my family, but my family is also a high priority. However, when 5pm rolls around and I'm looking at a stack of work...at that moment in time, what is the bigger priority? Staying an extra 30 minutes to an hour to finish up some stuff that can be done tomorrow...or standing up, walking away, and giving my family that extra 30 minutes to an hour? My goal is to ask myself that question every day at 5pm and try to act accordingly. Sometimes I will need to work later, but sometimes, it will be ok to leave at 5pm and finish work the next day...or at home that night when everyone else is in bed.

Here's a few quick and random thoughts before I go to bed:
*I'm still excited that Favre is returning one more year.
*I still can not believe that Royce Gracie is coming back after 10+ years to fight Matt Hughes in UFC! Unbelievable!! May 27th...watch it!
*I had hoped Elliott would get voted off American Idol tonight. I thought the final three would be Chris, Taylor, and Katherine. No worries though, Chris will be extremely successful!
*If you have a knowledgable opinion about "soul sleep", send me an email with your thoughts!
*Is today's rate hike the last one Bernanke will impose for awhile or will the near term economic data ahead cause him to continue manipulating our economy, succumbing to further inflationary fears?? I tend to think we're safe for awhile.

Good night!