Art O’Connor

Well, the day I have been looking forward to is finally here. Tomorrow I am leaving the Peach State. Basically what is happening is, there is still more work to do here but it will not be ready for another 2 weeks. We really need to get started in our territory. The downside is we did not bill as much as we were hoping but it was time well spent as I got a real good handle on the machine and the process of lining up work. I still have some last minute busy work to take care of in the morning but I should be back in SLC by Sunday. I am supposed to go to NIN with the goddess on Tuesday so, come Hell or high water I will be there. Last week I spent the week doing some cold calling in Columbus and the Atlanta area. It was really good for me to practice my presentation and learn how to talk with thses construction guys in their language. I did close a few deals that Sammy will benefit from, it is all good as he said he would send us half of the proceeds from the work I got for him. He (Sammy) has been great to work with. He has never been to Las Vegas so our plan now is to meet there for New Years and (hopefully) celebrate the launch of a successful business. This is my big chance and I intend to make the most of it.

One thing I will miss about the South (other than the BBQ) is the accents. Last week I had a really interesting conversation with one of the safety guys on a job site who happened to ride bikes. It went something like this:

Barefoot Hillbilly – Y’all got some high heels out thar in Utah?

(When he said high heels I thought he was talking about women, since we were talking about bikes I thought this was kind of weird.)

Me, slightly puzzled – Yeah, I guess we do.

Barefoot Hillbilly – Yew oughta go up ‘round Dalton we got a mess of ‘em thar.

Me, slightly more confused – Well I saw a lot at the restaurant I was at last night.

Barefoot Hillbilly, now as confused as me – Boy, whut in thee hell you talkin’ ‘bout? Me – I don’t know what are you talking about?

Barefoot Hillbilly – Heels! Heels! You know whut y’all ski on heels!

I am going to miss this place.

Well we got off to a flying start which was a nice suprise.  Now we are having to work a little harder.  The good news is it looks like I might be heading back west sooner than expected.  We still have another week at least of work lined up, after that I may be gone. 

I am in Columbus Georgia tonight.  Driving around this state has been pretty cool.  Today I was in Plains Georgia, Home of Jimmy Carter.  My batteries are toast on the camera so sorry no pics.  Thanks to the heroic efforts of The Wolf there is now a photo gallery.  I will post some pics over the next few days.  I am getting to really appreciate Mapquest.  That site has been a lifesaver for me.

I have on stop to make here in Columbus tommorrow and after that I am off to Hotlanta.  Today I was at an office talking to these to traffic and safety guys.  One of them leaves the room and the other asks me if I have accepted Jesus as my personal savior.  I told him that if he was my personal savior that would pretty much take up all his time.  He did not think it was funny.  To bad he never heard my old phone message.

Well I am still in Georgia and from the looks of things I may be here for another month.  A few minor hiccups aside things are going very well.  The machine is working well and we have tons of work lined up here in Georgia.  Sammy (the guy we bought the equipment from) has more work here that he can handle so he has asked us the help him get caught up.  He has so much work that it looks like we may be able to totally pay off the equipment before we even leave Georgia.  That would be sweet.  I was scared to death to leave my job and do this but now I know I made the right choice. 

I have been lucky in the fact that I have been able to travel around the country a lot in the past and I must say the more I travel the more I appreciate Utah.  I miss it and I miss my friends, I hope I get back soon. 

Yesterday i finally hooked up with a group ride here in Brunswick.  About 12-13 people showed up and i got to ride some of the local routes.  The pace was pretty quick and we did some climbing on the only hill in the county, a huge suspension bridge!  This thing is massive, it has about 300 feet of vertical, that and the ocean breze makes for a suprisingly hard climb.  Not Little Cottonwood hard but better than nothing.  The ride started and finished at a pizza place so after the ride we all sat down for some slices and brews. 

Anyway sorry for the lack of updates, still working on getting the gallery up.

Thanks for reading, Art