Two Weeks Later

Whew! it's been awhile. Life has been busy this summer and gotten in the way of adding to this blog. Here's what's happenin'...

Since my mom had her license taken away, I've been going to her place once a week and taking care of the bills as well as other stuff to get her taking her meds in a timely way, doing some grocery shopping and meeting with her social workers and nurses who come to the house to do an assessment of her condition and needs. (Of course mom can't figure why these people come to her place because "she doesn't need anything.")

Anyway as we get our ducks lined up for her to be able to stay in her home, I've been preoccupied with that. Along with calling people and introducing them to our new "Leisure Travel Consultant" business and encouraging them to see the kinds of trips we'll be going on for wholesale prices. See - http://www.aiello.worldventuresdreamtrips.com/ (click third icon down on left labeled "what") Also, to learn about the business side of World Ventures, they watch http://www.aiello.worldventures.biz/ (click button #2) time has been fleeting.

Those two things, plus singing with the Bogmeisters at two events since my last entry along with weekly practices and preaching two of the last three Sundays has kept me going.

Then there is conversations with Kerri and ogling our new granddaughter, Kate. Sending photos back and forth and hearing about how she's growing all round out our lives very nicely.

I just finished reading The Dream Manager, by Matthew Kelly. It should be a must read for all "managers" and people who want to grow both personally as well as in your professional life. It's a fast read and a profound one as well. GET IT, you'll be glad you did.

Dee and I ordered a new laptop computer from QVC and it should finally arrive this week. It's an HP - 17" screen with 4 gig of ram, and 500 gig of memory. Also comes with a blue Ray DVD player and other perks. should be nice.

We're also considering changing our finished basement around some. We've been using it as it was originally set up using the TV cords and speaker cords where we found them. However, we think we'd like to turn things 90 degree angle and use a different wall for the TV. At the far end of the room. It would allow us to have a larger space for television viewing and allow more people to watch it comfortably at the same time. We had two guys come out from "Control Freaks" to give us an estimate and see if it could even be done without bashing through wall or ceiling. They were very helpful and reasonably priced. We'll likely do it as they've suggested. Then we'll have to get come new furniture to go with the new arrangement. (We've been using stuff that we brought with us from NJ and was more suited to the set up there.) We stopped at Room Concepts on route 19 and found some items we thought we could live with, but want to measure and see how the TV looks gains a different wall.

Lots happening but tomorrow Dee and I get to finally go to our own church together and sit in a pew after several weeks of missing our place due to various scheduling conflicts.

An update on life, family and stuff

Our Greater Cranberry Men's Chorus (bogmeisters) sang the National Anthem (barbershop style) on Saturday in Cranberry.( Click photo to enlarge.)

I picked up a couple of more books on Network Marketing - Question Based Selling is actually pretty good, and Your First Year in Network Marketing. They both given me a wider perspective of the ways our business has been run over the years.

What I like about being a Leisure Travel Consultant with World Ventures is that it offers a system of how to invite people to the various presentations. And that someone else actually makes the presentation. My job is just to invite them to either an evening event where a business overview is given in 30 minutes and testimonies are shared by people who've gone on the trips and are making good money in this part-time business, or to a luncheon where the overview is given (as well as testimonies), or to invite them to look at the online overview at http://www.aiello.worldventures.biz/ . The travel industry is exploding right now and 43% of all online ecommerce is travel related. It's a 8 Trillion dollar industry! And there are 10,000 baby boomers turning 60 every day. Many of whom want to travel more for less money. That's what we offer. It's the right industry at the right time (and I don't have to store anything in my garage (vitamins, candles, baskets, juice, cosmetics etc.)) Just point people to my web site and interest other people on this great opportunity to make some significant $ from home part-time. And of course go on these dream trips from time to time ourselves. at ridiculously low prices.

The company has a tremendous training and support system in place. Conference calls a couple of times a week if you choose to listen in and even offer questions when you have them; training sessions locally every other week, video training online, a great manual and workshops every month in a different city around the country. The acceleration workshops are where the action is and Dee and I look forward to going to one soon. The last one was in Las Vegas and there were 1500 people there learning how to grow the business. The one this month is in Denver. Good stuff.

Our Bogmeisters sang on Saturday at the Cranberry Cup Ceremonies. There were a couple of thousand people there. It's a fund raiser for a needy family in the area. They brought the family in on a fire truck with sirens blaring and lights flashing. Afterward we went to some of the businesses in the area to get ads for our concert program. While doing that we sang at some of the stores to customers. Fun.

On the home front my mom is back home. She'll see the visiting nurse today. And on Thursday the social worker will be there with us. We'll begin learning what services she qualifies for and how she's doing. She is no longer allowed to drive her car. I plan to be with her more often as we work through these changes. And the fact that Faye and Jan have experience in this area (navigating insurances and the social work maze) is very helpful as we proceed week by week.

Our granddaughter Kate is doing well and turns 16 weeks old tomorrow. Although we only saw her for a day last week before heading home, it was worth the trip down to spend time with her and to allow Kerri and pat to go out on a date knowing Kate was in good hands.

Helping People Help Themselves

Wow it's been a week since my last entry. Living sure gets in the way of making entries. I managed to play about 27 holes of golf last week, and hope to go out tomorrow with Russ and some other guys at Aubry's. I've not played there, but I've read about it.

We did sing the National Anthem for the Pirate game on Sunday. That was an awesome experience. We did well. It seems the crowd held of cheering until we sang the very last note and chord before they cheered. (It seems they often start to yell and cheer before groups finish the song - but not on Sunday.) Several people said "That's the way the National Anthem should be sung." Cool.

We're getting ready to host an open house for our new business venture at the Sheraton Four Points on Thursday night. (Several of us are part of a team.) It's going to be quite an event as we give away a dozen or so "free cruises" to the people who come and like what they see and hear.

Today I went to the Cranberry Networking event sponsored by the Chamber and lined up two more people to attend. It's a win/win event as people learn about the great trips at wholesale prices and also about the great business opportunities for people to do on a part-time basis. They can create a supplemental source of income with a little effort on their own time schedule. And there are lots of training materials to help a person get started. We're loving it. check out www.aiello.worldventures.biz if you want to see and hear more.

I've been reading two new books: Never Eat Alone is one on relationships; Thank God It's Monday! is about having fun in the workplace and how to create a culture of fun where you work. So much fun, in fact, that people look forward to going to work on Monday! HA! Good stuff.

Another Beautiful Day

Here are some photos of Kate that Kerri sent yesterday. I thought you might enjoy them - we sure have.

Last night was our final practice before singing the National Anthem at PNC Park on Sunday for the Pirates vs. San Francisco Giants game. We'll have about 30 guys singing. A once in a life time experience for sure.

My sister Jan and her husband Mark have stopped by en route to Chicago for the evening. It's always good to see them. They have their new beagle, Dixie, with them. She's a sweet natured gal with lots of personality. Bonz is trying to befriend her. They'll head on out this morning for home.

Catching Up

Here is a recent photo of Kate.

Saturday was a good day as we recouped after having company for three days. It was great seeing old friends again. Today Dee and I both worked. My work at the golf course was cut short as the rains came in the early afternoon. However, I got in about 7 hours.

I've been listening to the training CDs called Drive Time University by World Ventures. Good stuff with an abundance of insights and good ideas. Also the book "Nave Eat Alone" by Keith Ferrazzi has been enjoyable. The subtitle is "and other secrets to success, one relationship at a time." Good stuff about listening and connecting with people so that you can help them get what they want in life.

Visiting with Friends from Out of Town

It has a been a busy week. Our friends Jim and Susan Merel are here from NJ. They were active members of our church there in Linwood. We went white water rafting with them on Wednesday. Just a perfect day weather wise, and we had an awesome time. I never thought I'd go and do such a thing since I'm not a great swimmer. However, the guide we had in our raft was an awesome guy. He helped us navigate the rapids in fine fashion. Susan fell out once, and the rest of us managed to stay in the raft. There were about 50 people on the trip. About 8 rafts (with 4 people in them) and lots of two-seater kayaks called "duckies."

At first it was a bit intimidating, but as we got into it, we were more relaxed and had a better sense of what to do. I actually found myself looking forward to the next set of rapids and rocks. They guide would serve as the rudder of the raft and we'd paddle as he instructed. There were only two rafts with guides, the rest of the people chose to do it without a guide. Upon looking at the video afterward, I saw that our decision was a good one. Just about every raft capsized at least once.

Afterward we headed home and fund a place to eat in Uniontown. and headed home. the Laurel Highlands White water company did well by us. We rafted the lower riber there at Ohiopyle. It's a category 2-3 in difficulty. That means it descends about 17 feet every mile. Our trip was about 8 miles long and lasted about 4 hours. They had lunch for us midway. It was deli sandwiches and lemonade or iced tea. Adequate. And though Dee was very apprehensive at first, she was heard to say - "Yes, I'd go again."

On Thursday we took our friends to the Strip District in Pittsburgh and visited many of the shops there. We had lunch an a small Italian restaurant called "On the Strip". Very authentic. And then rode the Monongahela Incline to the top of Mt. Washington to see the panoramic view of the city's skyline. Crystal clear day. We walked in to some of the restaurants like Buca and the one in the old train station just to see the decor.

Susan was so take with the old train station, that she suggested we come back there for dinner. We did and it was superb. We sat facing the city at night. The Smithfield Street Bridge was all lighted up as was the city in general. It was a delightful evening of wonderful food and time to relax and visit with old friends.

Today they head back to NJ. Dee goes back to work, and I will be meeting with some friends for lunch. We both work tomorrow (Saturday).

Our 38th Anniversary Day

On Tuesday Dee and I celebrated our 38th wedding anniversary. We began the day with a lunch at Sesame Inn in Station Square followed by lessons' on the Segway (a 1 person electric powered personal transportation vehicle). If you've seen the movie Mall Cop, then you know what I'm talking about. Here's Dee just prior to getting on her yellow Segway. Our lesson was about 25 minutes long riding around in the Station square indoor mall. That was to prepare us for the "tour of Pittsburgh" on our personal vehicles as a group. However, rain prevented that from happening, so we didn't get to go outside. But what we did was fun and we learned we could do it. (The guy gave us our money back.) We walked around the mall, and I discovered that I could use the free wi-fi there to check my email. I had a message from a Bogmeister asking for the phone number of a new guy. I didn't have it, but I called my new Concierge service and they sent it via text message to my cell phone. Then I send that to the Guy who asked for the number. So Cool.

Then we went outside and the rain had stopped, but threatened throughout the next hour with nar a drop. We walked across the Smithfield Street Bridge and went into Macy's and then Saks. Afterward we walked to Market Square and had a coffee at Starbucks. That was followed by a walk to Point State Park where we sat and watched the boats in the rivers and the water fountain spray into the air.

While sitting there, I got out my new Itouch, and discovered that Pittsburgh has an free wi-fi internet service. I signed on. Then I called our new Concierge service and asked for the phone number of the Georgetown in, the address and asked them to send me the menu via email, which I can receive on the itouch. Almost instantly, It was there in my hand for the reading.

We decided to not go there, but rather, we took the subway back to Station Square and then drove to The Church Brew Works for a nice dinner and then headed home. A lot of walking, but a lot of fun. Nice Day.

This is my sister Faye in our kitchen working with her Itouch.

On Thursday my sister flew in from Philadelphia to spend a few days with my mom. I picked her up at the airport and brought her to our place. It was the first time she's been here. We had a great visit chatting, checking out Dee's place of work, and touring our new home. Then we took her to Monongahela for a couple of days with mom. Faye heads back on Sunday morning.