In Kneed Of Surgery Again

In the winter of 1987, this Hollywood Dad blew out his knee downhill skiing in northern Michigan. Although the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) was damaged, I proceeded to have arthroscopic surgery on that knee twice over the next couple years and rehabbed it back into shape on my own. Eventually, in 1999, I had reconstructive surgery to repair the ACL using a piece of my patella tendon. Well, after 12 more years of wear-and-tear, the ACL is still good, but I incurred some slight meniscus and cartilage damage. That was all fixed yesterday with my third arthroscopic surgery. All seems to have gone well and I am now on the mends.

On The Road Again

I am working from the YRC Worldwide corporate offices in Overland Park, KS this week again. This is my fifth trip to Overland Park this year. This week I am working on a special project with our CMO; but hope to also spend some time with some of my fellow marketing colleagues this week as well. I always enjoy a little face-to-face time with the "other half" of our corporate marketing team (the other half, of course, are based in Akron, OH). Word of my trip must have leaked because our stock is up over 40% today! :)

Totally California Campaign

This past month we launched a new, integrated marketing campaign for Reddaway, one of the regional transportation companies in the western U.S. that is a part of YRC Worldwide. This was the first really complete marketing program I was able to lead in the past year or so given budget cutbacks and organizational unrest. It's a pretty cool program that was supported with a highly analytical business case. The external portions of the campaign include print advertsing, online display ads, paid search, a microsite website, a promotional offer, print collateral, targeted email campaigns, a customer rewards program and a number of other tactics that all support the overall strategy of growing Reddaway market share to, from and within the state of California. Now, just hoping to see some results as the program runs throughout the year.

San Diego Conference

The past few days I was attending the Transportation Marketing & Sales Conference (TMSA) in San Diego, CA. The actual conference was at the Rancho Bernardo Inn. The facility was beautiful and I was able to get a little bit of golfing in (shot a 91, good for me). The weather was very mild staying between 50 and 70 degrees pretty much the whole time I was there. I was also able to spend some quality time with my former boss as well as a little time with my current CMO. The conference provided some good mental stimulation and the two keynote speakers, Bill Butterworth and Joe Calhoon did a real nice job.

Spring Poker Fest Results

Eight players showed up for this weekend's Poker Fest #22. And as is the custom, one man was left standing with most of the loot (almost $1k). That man was Stevage. This was his second Poker Fest victory and I am sure it was much appreciated after last year's "deer-crash" incident. Also on hand were Gentleman Jim, OJ Hall, Breakfast Dan, Buffalo Mike, Red Eye Dave (this year's beer wench), Rooter Bill and, of course, Hollywood Scott. The weather was so beautiful, we even played part of the tournament outside. Additional activities included table curling and Kentucky Derby wagers (not serious poker wrestling, thankfully). Here is a very short highlight reel. Already looking forward to Poker Fest #23 this fall.

Back in KC Again

I have been working out of our Kansas City office again this week. One of the projects I am helping spearhead is developing our "Town Hall Live" internal communications channel. This is a pretty cool channel that will allow us to stream live and recorded town hall meetings over the Internet so that all of our employees can interact in these quarterly (and soon to be more frequent) company events. The image shown here is the login screen which presents the content in a sort of "virtual campus" type of environment. Our first big event will be in a couple weeks when after we release our Q1 2011 earnings. After that, we'll use this channel to help communicate other major events to our employees (like the re-launch of our Time-Critical services). Nice to be in the thick of things here in KC, but looking forward to get back home too.

Back Home from KC

Traveled back home today from Kansas City, Missouri. The YRC Time-Critical Partnership Meeting (see short video clip I took with my phone of the Sprint Center stage) seemed to go well and I got to meet a lot of new YRC folks (in person) that I talk to over the phone with frequently and via email (and I found a very cool, huge cigar lounge called "The Outlaw" near my hotel last night as well). Looks like a new assignment has me going back to Kansas City next week again.

YRC Meeting at the Sprint Center

This week I am in Kansas City for work meetings as part of the relaunch of our YRC Time-Critical service portfolio. We are calling this our YRC Partnership Meeting because some of our "final mile" partners have been invited and are sponsoring, i.e., paying the bill, for a portion of the meeting. The event is at the Sprint Center which is also home to the College Basketball Experience. The venue is actually pretty cool. I couldn't resist snapping a couple photos - one of the 2000 MSU Championship Banner with coach Izzo on it. Mostly light meet-and-greet fare tonight with sales, marketing and operations leaders across the company. More substance tomorrow.

Poker Fest #22

Put together the following "teaser" video for our upcoming Poker Fest #22 that will be held this spring in Barryton, MI. Gentleman Jim will be hosting as always, and we hope to have a good turnout this year after last year's disappointing attendance (after a near-record-setting 2009).