Officially...Day #1...10 hours straight and counting

Wow...if you have never owned your own business, lemonade stands included, it is hard work.

Today has been glorious.

Many people are to thank:

Nate Avila, CD - Saint St., just awesome work.

Brand Wright, Pres - Saint St., way to keep me in check. Hard work.

ELOW, Brother of CLOW, way to be smarter than smart. And bustin my chops. Now go run a golf course and love that niece of mine - hi Laurendo.

Megan Parker, Chief of Staff and Jack of Jacks and mother to Brooklyn - Saint St., thanks for coming on board. Wow...lots of work.

Tim Pilgrim, near and dear friend, awesome guy, average arm at 3rd base - thanks for being the smartest of the group of smarties...seriously smart. Motivatingly smart. MIT smart...take that Rico and BBaker.

DLOW, Mother of ELOW and CLOW and crazy like a fox...you made them, and they are a handful...but we love you and BLOW nonetheless....next time, no club throwing allowed. Also, B's and a 3.0 was a joke. Too low.

The men and woman of 14/Four...for Spokane...it just doesn't get better. Nate and Jared, thanks for letting me finally take that Jeff. Safe travels to the bosses looking for dev help in CR...

And finally, Barack....stay healthy...stay focused....don't let them win....don't let them change you...grow into your role, but fast....you have two years starting tomorrow....run, don't walk...make us proud....leave re-election up to us...run our nation....and please, please...hire only the best...smart, sensible, experienced leaders...leave the friends and family hires for the last two years (7-8). We are here for you.

Saint St. day 1:

1. We launched a website and wrote and designed 80% within 24 hours of launching. So if your agency says, "I need six weeks and 75k," that's a big crock of bullshiz.

2. We pitched a global endorsement deal to Gatorade and Pepsi on behalf of a friend...a new friend...a friend who will win more gold gloves, support his local peeps in Venezuela and continue to rock as a man, husband, dad and all around great chap.

3. We drafted, reviewed and submitted press release #1 - sent it to all the playas...thanks for the editing support....and I'm glad MLOW left for a few minutes so I could turn the 7.1 up to 85%...windows shook.


So today was fun...tomorrow?....

Saintst.com

CLOW

ahhhh BofA...how art thou I love thee....

Here she is. My first official blog post. Now I've participated in forums, adding a comment or two here and there (usually in the context of markcomm, CGM, Husky Football, bad politics, good restaurants, bad service, salacious storylines---TMZ, Perez, anything Gawker---and sometimes helping to promote the Boys & Girls Clubs or Big Brothers/Big Sisters. 

But now is time. Time to live and share. The lessons of CLOW. Wow. Where to start.

How about a little story about a recent day I celebrated while working in Manhattan. 

It was a Thursday after what seemed like a never ending series of meetings with clients and peers and bosses. Good times, lots of successful relationships being established or further entrenched. But what happens when the good times turn sour. And by sour, I mean chasing the theft of your cellphone (which has more than a fair share of IP living on it) by having someone then steal your identity via your BofA check acct.

So I roll with it. My company T-Mobile phone gets jacked. Ok. Then some other knuckleclucker goes off and runs up an obscene strip club bill later that day, then chases that expense with heading to T-Mobile to buy himself a new piece of technology to whisper sweet nothings into. So I head over to T-Mobile and buy myself a replacement phone. Here is where the story gets real interesting. And by interesting, I mean stupid and bizarre and frustrating thanks in large part to the inability of T-Mobile and BofA to get their shit together. 

The punchline to this drama---and I will leave out most of the knitty gritty particulars--- is to keep your eye on the ball. When travelling, don't put things down on the counter in a bathroom or on the bar stool next to you in the swank hotel lobby bar if you actually want to leave with it. Stupid.

And, never, and I mean never, expect to get smart, traditional customer service from the BANK OF AMERICA if you actually live and bank in Washington State yet need to access your account from New York City. I personally would help pay for BofA to overhaul their CRM system so when I travel to NY, Chi, LA, LV, PHX, Portland, etc. that it doesn't take 2 hours to fix a simple problem. Way too much stress. One hour with a banker named Irvica (thanks, you were great), chased by one hour dealing with no less than four tellers (two Sr reps, two trainees). This took place during lunchtime in midtown in a two teller window BofA. The line which formed behind ran out the door. People were not pleased. I was not pleased. Especially after one teller ---after asking me "why are you so excitable"---tells me she "can't find my money." Nice. Our world and nation's economy is tanking, someone just stole my identity and ran up a $1200 splurge, and you can't find a five figure amount of my hard earned savings in your computer. 

Deep breaths got me through that exercise.

So, the lessons:

- keep your eye on the ball. If you're moving so fast that you start leaving things behind (credit cards, cell phones, six-irons, etc.), slow down. Believe me, it's cheaper to "walk a little" than just run full steam through life leaving a wake.

- don't expect to ever get good service at BofA. Never. Pathetic. Really. Get the database thing fixed. Please. You are BANK OF AMERICA. The states did not secede. They stayed together and we even added a few. So if you go out and add a bank or two, especially the size of Seafirst, add them to your systems. Really. Your clients who actually bank with you will appreciate the effort. 

-NY, NY - great place to visit, great place to work hard for a few days. But run to the airport as fast as you can and return to the quiet and tranquil and familiar of home. 'cause this place is full too much crazy, too many vices, and too many things that force you to take the eye of the prize!!!

CLOW