Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Great start to the year

After our 2009 Olson family review and 2010 goal setting, I printed out all our major family goals and posted them in a conspicuous location in the home office. What is "in sight" is definitely in mind for me so this was a great way to keep us focused on what we are trying to accomplish this year.

Our number one goal was to buy a sailboat...and we did! It's a beautiful Hunter sailboat that we found down in Maryland, US. We happened to be in the right place at the right time and got exactly the boat we've been looking for....actually, far more than what we were looking for, and for only slightly more than we were looking to spend (okay, maybe quite a bit more...but trust me, it will be worth it!)

In the process, I somehow managed to write an ebook on how to import boats from the US to Canada. After doing my own intensive research, I realized there was no quality resource out there to help people through this process so I used our experience, web resources, written sources and the experience of industry professionals to write the "definitive" manual on importing boats from the US to Canada. The final version is ready to go and can be found at www.importingusboats.com. Please buy a copy and help me pay for my dockage this year!

We're now revving up the marketing machine and doing a lot of learning in the process. It's incredible how much technology has changed in the past few years...and how easy it is to get left behind. Ana and I having fun figuring out all these new marketing mediums which didn't even exist only a few years ago.

We took a trip down to Maryland to inspect the boat and made a vacation of it. We were gone for a week and visited some great places - Annapolis, Washington, Atlantic City and New York City. Of course the kids were along for the adventure as well as Ana's folks and we really had a fun time, probably because it was such an unexpected trip; the original plan had been to go to Florida for a sun holiday but when the boat opportunity arose we speedily adjusted plans. The highlight was definitely Annapolis and Washington, D.C. - in particular the Smithsonian museums which we visited in the capital. The natural history and airplane museums were truly a wonder and something we're very happy to have seen. It seems that the best planned vacations are sometimes the vacations where you have no plans. Try it and see!

We also just returned from a Family Day long weekend trip to Saskatoon to catch up with the Olsons.  It was a weekend of visiting, eating, drinking and staying warm indoors.  Nothing too strenuous or adventurous, just a great visit with the family.  Visiting Saskatchewan in the middle of February is reserved for the suicidal, mentally insane, or lonesome ex-Saskies.  In case you weren't sure, I'm in the last group.

An excellent start to what promises to be a wonderful year.