March 11, 2005
Carole had to man the phones today all by herself. Sam is out sick and Brittany is on her way to Rocky Point. Carole is real good about keeping notes of calls and giving me a temperature check on our readers and how they found us, etc. Here's this morning’s report:

"Monica Flores from Moreno Valley, CA called and subscribed today. She has been reading her brother's issues and decided she needed TW."

"Edward C Osborne from Hollywood, FL—retired history teacher—found TW at Barns & Noble and really liked it. He said the Gunfight at the OK Corral is of particular interest and the Third Annual Travel issue is great. He ordered two t-shirts and will be coming to AZ in April and wanted to have them for the trip."

"Karen Dailey called because she has not received the bill for the subscription she gave to her brother for Christmas. She said he loves it and she doesn't want him to miss any.”

Carole and I went to lunch today at China Joy ($20 cash, includes tip, we went dutch, or should that be Norwegian?).

We have a modest, but very successful method of getting True West in hotels. Basically, I stay in a hotel and leave a magazine in the room. Ha. Actually, we have about four hotels we stock and one of them is the Quality Inn in Flagstaff. I called up there today to see if they'd like a box of our travel issue but the manager wasn't in. However, Nina at the front desk said, "We love the magazine. Bring them up here!" Makes you wonder if they're even making it to the rooms, but with a response like that, I don't care.

File this one under Blog-headed Behavior:
I got a call from Professor Paul Hutton today who confessed he gets worried about me if I don't post this blog in a timely manner. Scary, eh?

I’m still wrestling with the Papago Station painting. What started out as a small impressionistic scene, has ballooned into a major epic-midnight panorama complete with telegraph poles, baggage on the landing, the gas lights of Tucson in the distance, the Catalinas (with the distinctive needle in the middle distance) and the station manager “flagging” down the freight train which is just picking up steam as it climbs out of the valley. Not to mention Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Texas Jack and Sherm McMasters, bristling with shotguns and rifles as they secure the perimeter. I’ve done ten studies so far! Ridiculous. Welcome to my world, the world of 24/7CADD (Around-the-Clock Complete Attention Deficit Disorder).

Here’s a true story (according to an Email from Carole) about Charles Schwab, president of Bethlehem Steel, and Ivy Lee a consultant who was given the challenge by Schwab: "Show me a way to get more things done with my time." Schwab agreed to pay him "anything within reason" if Lee`s suggestion worked.

Lee later handed the executive a sheet of paper with the following plan:

"Write down the most important tasks you have to do tomorrow. Number them in order of importance. When you arrive in the morning begin at once on No. 1 and stay on it until it is completed. Recheck your priorities, and then begin with No. 2 ... then No. 3. Make this a habit every working day. Pass it on to those under you. Try it as long as you like, then send me your cheque for what you think it's worth."

That one idea turned Bethlehem Steel Corporation into the biggest independent steel producer in the world within five years.

How much did Schwab pay his consultant? Several weeks after receiving the note, he sent Lee a check for $25,000, admitting it was the most profitable lesson he had ever learned.

Sadly, Lee blew the money on coke and whores, but his grandson Alvin Lee did have a brief fling with glory when he gigged at Woodstock I in the marathon-speed induced-rendition of "I'm Goin' Home."

Parts of this story have been made up, but then, it came in off the internet so what else is new?

“Either control your own destiny, or someone else will!”
—John F. Welch, Jr.