Q: Hey look! There’s a red bi-plane. Did the Red Baron fly a bi-plane or a tri-plane?

A: I think it was a bi-plane. That’s what Snoopy always flew.

Answer here.

13 years ago today Jamey and I said “I do,” and we haven’t agreed on a single thing since. Seriously though, today is our wedding anniversary and I’m more sure than ever that I couldn’t have picked a better woman.

A poorly exposed picture of us in the OC California from this past weekend

Rather that post a big long redundant boring diatribe about Windows Vista, I’ll just refer you to Sam’s post. It’s pretty much everything that I would have written anyhow.

When I was 8 years old, our family business was still small and struggling financially. Earlier that year, my dad flew to New England to try to buy the rights to a new brake design with a $10,000 check in his pocket; the most that we could afford to pay. The trip was a success and he bought the design. After engineering our own ideas into it and building a dedicated manufacturing line, Tapco introduced the “Professional” series of brakes. Later this series name would be shortened to “Pro”, but it’s still an active product line.

He used his own image in ads and brochures, so by that time my grandfather (ever the self-promoter) had made a name for himself in the industry. To introduce his new product line, he decided to create a marketing campaign based on two generations of our family. The ads would have a double meaning. He chose me to be featured in the ads with him.

With the promise of a new catcher’s mitt upon completion, I had my first (and only) modeling job. It was a neat opportunity and an experience with my grandfather that I’ll always treasure.

The photos were used in brochures and full page ads that were run in all the trade magazines. After that, my grandfather and dad would bring me to tradeshows and have me talk to customers while operating the brake (which I was pretty good at, as long as I was only using 12″ long pieces) in order to demonstrate how easy it was to use. That experience proved to be invaluable when I was much older and working as a Regional Sales Manager for the company. I was able to operate the brake better than any of my sales reps. At 8 years old, in my mind I was famous!

(Click for a lot more detail)

Side Note: When attending a tradeshow or convention, to promote himself, my grandfather would always have himself paged over the loudspeakers, “Windy Marsh from Tapco please pick up a white courtesy phone. Windy Marsh, pick up a white courtesy phone.” To this day, I still think that’s brilliant.

Part I.

I’m feeling pretty good about Jettisoning Vonage right about now. Click here to see why.