Back to Bloggin'

From Gene:

Back from of a vacation in La-La Land and settling in for the New Year.

First of all, Terri & I will both be posting blogs in the future. Hence the "From Gene" at the top.

The new year started out great with news that 4 schools that had used us in the past and went to competitors are coming back. We really appreciate their loyalty and look forward to working with them again.

We had to make a change today. Because of the high amount of fraudulent checks, we've stopped taking eChecks. We always thought this would be a great way for customers who don't like using credit cards. Unfortunately, we shipped a lot of product that never got paid for. And guess what? They don't respond to phone calls or emails. Go figure.

I'm getting ready to go back in for eye surgery in early February. I suffered a detached retina back in July of last year. The surgeries went pretty well but I developed a fast "growing" cataract that left me legally blind in the left eye.

Of course I had to get my driver's license renewed this month. They do a short, cursory eye test. "Read the top line" (I closed my left eye and read it perfectly). "Now tell us what side the light is on" (Gee, if I don't see it I'll just say the left side. But I did see it on the right side.) "Fine, you pass".

Let me be clear. I don't have any problems driving, just using the right eye. But you have to wonder who else is out there.

Anyway, the surgery should return my sight to close to normal. Looking forward to getting it done.

Back at work, we've changed our Homework Packs for this year. We're getting rid of all the "generic" products we've used and just went back to our core brand name products like Crayola, Elmers, Fiskars, Ticonderoga. It's been pretty clear that moms want quality for their kids.

Until next time. Gene