Welcome!
To those who don't know me-I am a 52 year old owner of an independent advertising sales representative firm for print/electronic advertising in both consumer and B2B channels. I'm in an industry that has been ravaged by the current economic downturn and is also going through rapid change as the digital revolution is in the process of making formerly standard marketing practices obsolete.
As a result of these changes and the tough business climate I am beginning the process of making major changes in my business and my family's lifestyle. I've been married to my wife Flor for 11 years and and the proud parent of my 10-year old daughter Natalie. My wife is a rock-a native of Mexico that I met in Mexico City airport on the way to Cancun who has done a wonderful job of raising my daughter while I've been able to make a comfortable living that is now threatened-a fact that has become more evident with the recent loss of a key title after 10 years due to a sales downturn and the publsiher's need to offer human sacrifice when the owners of this major B2B publisher called for someone's head on a stick.
As a result of three years of rapidly declining income and now the loss of this title we are facing the possibility of selling our house and either renting a house locally or starting over out of state, with the Phoenix/Scottsdale area possibly being the best area where I can reduce our family's overhead and give us the financial breather we need to restructure and save for both our daughter's college education and our pending retirement (if it ever comes at all)-provided I can get insurance coverage. My wife, a Fulbright scholar with degrees in both chemical and industrial engineering, is now looking at a more practical career as a certified English/Spanish translator, and will be taking the California state written test in September, and the oral test in January. The federal test comes next June=not a minute too soon as we really need the income.
This blog will chronicle my observations in this process, the observations I make as I try to maintain my income selling ads in the titles I have left, and comments on the events of the day from a practical, conservative perspective. In this process I will visit many places on the west coast, both in big cities where I will feel like I am in enemy territory, affluent suburbs like the one I presently live in, and rural areas I visit on sales trips up and down the West Coast-and try to present how ordinary people are seeing the events of the day and dealing with the attempted transformation of the United States into something few of us recognize-a government where things are dictated from elites from the top down rather than one that is governed from the bottom up. The passage of the heath-care bill despite 60% plus opposition is the first time in my lifetime that I have seen a major domestic initiative pass without popular support-and as such is the first time I have felt what it is to be "ruled" rather that "governed".
I'll also occasionally comment about my interests outside of my work, restructuring our family finances, and family life, such as soccer (a big fan of the LA Galaxy and the US Mens National Team, and whatever teams in Europe hire Americans), golf (I wish I could play more), college and high-school football (a big fan with no real rooting interest but one who has a low toleration for USC alums who generally think they are something special)
Welcome aboard!
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