Monday, October 28, 2013

Last Day of Market


Wow, today is the last day of Quilt Market.  It has been several years since we were last here with a booth.  This year at least the name tags identified attendees with buying power for their companies.  It is still amazing how many people think they should be able to purchase one piece at wholesale pricing.  But my thanks to the staff of Quilt Market for helping us identity buyers from the lookers and retail customers. It made for directing the conversations in a right manner easier.

We came to Quilt Market to sell a new store program.  Initially very expensive, but has the potential to save the individual store hundreds of dollars each year.  Look for a full scale roll out of this program in the coming weeks with subtle changes.  We also came prepared to sell to the consuming public.  We have been able to pick up several new stores and a new overseas distributor.  That makes the Quilt Market part of the trip a success. The retail business we have done in two days has paid for the booth and most of our other expenses so that makes the whole endeavor a success.  Of course that means I will probably be back sooner rather than later and will be looking at Spring Market.

I have been able to find several new products that should be complementary to our current product line up and I have had time to review some older products we have not carried in several years.  Some of those will be added back into our lineup of products.

Tonight is tear down for many.  I am going to dinner and worry about setup for Quilt Festival on Tuesday.  Tear down is still a week away.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Milwaukee to Santa Clara

 

Here I sit in Santa Clara wondering why my recent trips to the west coast have been a little more difficult than normal.  If you don’t understand review my blog about the trip to Tacoma and the flight to Seattle to go to Portland.  Enough said on those two trips.

Today is Tuesday and I left Sunday morning from Milwaukee 5:50 early morning flight on a United flight to Houston.  To do that I need to be up at 2 o’clock to leave at 3 o’clock to check in and go through the TSA check in.  Which in itself is not too bad but I did not get to sleep until midnight and then overslept and woke at 3 AM.  So now I am tired and late and if I hurry I can still make it because I built in a little extra time.

Check in at General Mitchell Airport went well I was even Pre checked in by TSA even though I have never applied for it. I guess they mixed me up with another Jim Simons (the really rich one).  So much for government efficiency, it’s a good thing I am not a bad guy.  We took off for Bush International on time, arrived on time and called to tell everyone on the west coast we were leaving on time.  The calls were probably the big mistake.  We did grab a breakfast sandwich and eat it while we were waiting to taxi out for takeoff.  Everything is going just great, but…… 500 feet out from the terminal we stop and the Captain announces a medical emergency and we have to go back.

By the time they got the gentleman off and restocked the medical supplies used we had used up an hour.  Ok I had still built in a little extra time and we would still arrive in Sacramento in time for dinner. 

The flight went great, I got to watch two movies I have been waiting to see and they only cost a $110 each, but that made the flight free.  We arrived in San Francisco and the plane is late and they have been telling nervous passengers that some flights had been held but they would have to hurry.  The plane pulls up to the jet way but they can’t find anyone to move the jet way against the plane.  That simple task takes almost 15 minutes.

We are finally off the plane in the International Terminal and we have to walk over to Terminal 3 to get our checked bags then walk back to the International Terminal to catch the BART Train to Richmond.  We are going to miss the last train I had hoped to catch to Sacramento.  Oh well there is another train about anhour later but I need to call and tell everyone I will be late.

We get to Richmond and we have to wait for the next train.  About half way through the wait they announce the train is delayed.  OK this is getting serious. We have not eaten since 8:30 in the morning, there is nothing to eat at the station and the train is late.  Five minutes before the delayed train is supposed to arrive it is cancelled and we are told to wait for the next train.  Another hour and 45 minutes.  We are going to be seriously late.  More calls. I am really hungry since it is now 4pm in a time zone 2 hours later than the one I started in. I have slept only 3 hours in the last 36.  So I am looking down every street I can see from the train depot and I spot a deli.  I am out of there and get a sandwich, chips and cookies to split with Patricia. 

Four hours after I had planned to arrive in Sacramento we arrived, and my brother and his granddaughter were waiting for us.  Finally things are coming together.  Dinner is waiting, but one of my nephews had to leave to be at his job early Monday morning.  The good news is we finally caught up with him today and he was able to have lunch with us. 

And here we are in Santa Clara ready to set up early tomorrow.  Maybe things will get better. I would say they can’t get worse but they might if I do.  It will be a good show.