J'Espere

So, in case you were wondering- we sold our house!! Yay! Cheers for us! We actually sold it a while ago, but I think we were in such shock over actually signing paperwork that I have been unable to process and talk about it. Towards the end of September we were kind of settling into a routine of our house being show ready, of having to wait a while to sell our home, about the market bouncing around the way it does, blah, blah blah. Then someone came along who wanted our house and we were "YAY!" then I said "OH MY GOD! WHAT HAVE WE DONE?" and M. said "See? I told you this would happen?" I guess I was thinking that the buying end of a house would be much simpler than the selling end. I thought we would walk into a home, I would clap, M. would nod his head and suggest an area for his drumkit and recording equipment, we would sign the paperwork, close on two houses in one day and be in. Yea, no. We started looking seriously. And it turns out that there is n...

Today someone very close to me took advantage of early voting and voted for Pat McCrory for Governor of North Carolina. I stood, taking it in, breathing deep and finally asked "Why?" The answer? "He's a business man." This is true. He is a businessman. The downside is that he isn't a very good businessman. I'm using another North Carolinian as an example. Jim Goodnight. Jim Goodnight is the owner of SAS, one of the world's largest software companies. He's also the richest man in North Carolina (I have nothing to back this up, I think I've just heard it). His employees, upon becoming employees, go through rigorous training, work strange hours sometimes, and have unlimited sick days. Yet the turnover rate is less than 4% per year, and the average employee takes 2 sick days. THe focus is on longevity. Getting someone in there for the long haul. The best way to keep an employee for the long haul is to work really hard at the beginning in tra...