We Don't Walk Slow

4 Mar, 2014

Email Like A Pro

By Tom Stortz|2014-03-04T08:52:21-05:00March 4th, 2014|My Brain|0 Comments

I send a good amount of emails and pay close attention to how people compose them. I remember taking a class in college called Business Communications and at the time I thought it was the dumbest course. As I think back, I’m pretty sure this laid some guideline to how I construct emails. It’s fair to say that there isn’t one right or wrong way. This email will breakdown specific parts of an email.

The Value of Positioning

Evan, who works for Comcast, believes in a theory that people subconsciously, or maybe even consciously, put the most important people first to start a chain. For example, Lebron James would be my best friend, AI is a person I hang out on the weekend, and I attended Kobe’s wedding but rarely see him. It’s worth pointing out that this is not an exact science and yelling at people for putting you in the 5 hole probably isn’t a good idea. Just something to consider.

Greetings

When I was away Jeff was manning my email address. He did a fine job but there is something funny I noticed when someone else writes emails posing as you and that is that people have very different writing styles. For instance, Jeff’s opening line was “Hey Joe,” followed by the body. When I saw this I chuckled because I wondered if anyone else that I transpired with over the years would pick up that I’d never do this. My greeting is standard and 99% of the time is the person’s name followed by a comma and then paragraph spacing that leads to the body.. Tom, I’ve seen people use dear, hello, or most commonly nothing at all. I personally will use nothing at all in a reply but never nothing to start one.

The Body

I treat emails as a more formal document than a text message. This means I’ll use less profanity and keep out inappropriate thoughts. You never know who is reading emails when you send them to another’s work so it’s better to play it safe. One thing for sure is that I’m completely turned off by people who don’t treat emails with respect. If you type words with extra letters, misspelling, other colors, and all caps, I can’t take you seriously. Why so serious?

The Signature

A signature is important for an email address. I get genuinely perturbed when people don’t have their contact info in their email. If I need to contact you, where is the first place I’m going to look if I don’t have your info? Your email. A name doesn’t suffice anymore. I want your name, business name, and a phone number at the bare minimum. Fax number, email address, website, and physical address are not bad ideas either. A picture and awards that you received are probably going overboard but I’ve considered something like this. I like the contact card from the UPS example above.

Reply All

Please never reply all with something that isn’t pertinent to all. People will hate you for this.

I know other people must have some funny ones?

3 Mar, 2014

The Less Routine, The More Life

By Tom Stortz|2014-03-03T21:51:41-05:00March 3rd, 2014|My Life|0 Comments

Back to the routine. I have mixed feelings for sure. It’s nice to be comfortable within a day to day but I can’t get this sense of round and round out of my head. Thanks Rust Cohle, “Time is a flat circle and we are trapped in eternity, doomed to repeat our lives over and over again.” This quote goes a little bit more macro than my scenario but similar premise. Off topic but if you aren’t watching True Detective, you are missing one of the finer TV series of our generation.

I spent 10 days traveling around different places and everything had a new excitement to it. I plopped down into a foreign country knowing virtually no one and had a life experience that I’ll never forget. It was exhilarating learning about a different culture, seeing new places and people, and getting out of the glass ball known as America. Having someone tell me, “America is on its own island”, helped put things in perspective. The people of America only care about America and our Gov’t sticks its nose in all international matters for one reason or another with no clue from the people. How many Americans do you think could locate Ukraine on a map?

There were many things I preferred in Europe including laid back, friendly, incredibly intelligent people for one. There was a kindness from the people that I don’t always feel in the States. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to communicate with the locals but I did notice one amazing thing in Cologne that I particularly identified with, there aren’t fat people. People take care of themselves. This obviously isn’t an all encompassing statement but the morbidly obese are far and few between. I spent one day in Vegas and was repulsed by the slothfulness of Americans. I’m not talking 10 or 20 pounds either. People who take care of themselves tend to have a higher standard in things they do.

So I ask myself the question, why do I live here? The easiest answer is because I grew up here and I know people in this area. The thing is, I’m not stapled here. Maybe I’d live a different, better life in another part of the world. I think the answer lies in the saying, “the grass is always greener on the other side.” Meaning that if I were to move to another area, I’d work into a similar routine just somewhere else. This unavoidable routine is both the best and worst parts of life.

I need a routine to have structure and complete tasks. It allows me to make sure I maintain personal hygiene, educate myself with books and video, exercise, or have time to myself to “be happy”. When you are thousands of miles away, this doesn’t come as easy and sometimes not at all. Balance is one of those words that is perfect to use in just about any scenario because balance is a good goal to achieve. What I want to take away from these above points is to always be doing different things and forming new relationships to keep things fresh. The same is an evil in life that lurks quietly but is extremely dangerous.

3 Mar, 2014

Austria Bound – Part 2

By Tom Stortz|2014-03-05T15:18:52-05:00March 3rd, 2014|My Life|1 Comment

Train Travel – 2/22/14

The Koln Train station was enclosed by a arched roof.

I was awake at 6:30am on a Saturday morning knowing I had a train to catch. I took my bag on a 10 minute walk to the train station which was directly next to the infamous Dom. I paid 175 Euro for a train ticket to Innsbruck, Austria which was a 7 hour ride with 2 transfers. I got to the Koln train station and had to wait about 25 minutes for my delayed train.

When I boarded the train I sat in a seat that was a single by itself next to the window. I was comfortably reading Bram Stoker’s Dracula when a woman tapped me on my shoulder and started speaking German. I looked at her like she was from another planet, shook my head no which felt like a reasonable response, and then in English she told me she had reserved this seat. I was not one to argue so I stood up and looked for another seat. Everything was taken so I started standing in between the two cars. After a few minutes someone who worked for the train knew I was a foreigner and offered me a seat in first class which I spent the duration of the trip in.

A view of the town in Innsbruck, Austria. Population 100,000+.

I got to Munich and had missed my connecting train so I had to figure out what to do without having much guidance. I ended up getting on the right train and had the same situation at the next station with missing my connector because my first train ran late. I was able to successfully get on a train that made about 20 stops to Innsbruck. When I arrived I met with the person who invited me to Innsbruck and he showed me around the city and we drank a few beers. There was a huge glass tower with a bar at the top floor which was a sight to see.

Notice there is only a glass pane on the right side. Huddled shower anyone?

The scenery is unbelievable and it was like nothing I’ve seen before. We then drove about 25 minutes away to a smaller town which was the home of the manufacturing facility that I was visiting. The hotel I checked into was incredibly Austrian. The shower was a bit unique as well (picture aside) but the room was very nice. I showered up and got ready to meet up again for some dinner. We went to a laid back bar that served burgers so that was convenient. We drank a few beers and called it a night at about 11.

Skiing On The Glacier- 2/23/14

Amazing views from the Alps

This was the day that I was most fearful for, skiing on the Alps. I’m not much of a skier and my last trip resulted somewhat poorly so needless to say I was a bit worried going 10,000 feet up. Fortunately the person I was going with was a ski instructor so that helped. He took care of all the normal procedures like rentals and we were set to go. With his thoughtful tips on holding the poles, putting on the skis, and general movement tips, it was nice to finally have some guidance. By no means was I good, but I was able to get up and down the mountain successfully on runs.

An outdoor bar in the middle of the glacier. Bumped EDM and was awesome.

The views were unreal and I was having a blast. There was a bar in the middle of the mountain that had an open roof and was blasting EDM. It was freaking awesome and we were having a great time. This scenery produced by far the best pictures I had from the trip. After skiing we had a drink of hot wine at a place that blasted German polka music which wasn’t the friendliest on the ears. I was back at the hotel at 7 or so and fell asleep for an hour before I got up and walked around the small Austrian village a bit to get a feel for the area. It gets quite cold at night. I went to sleep at around 10pm.

Touring the Town – 2/24/14

Today was the day where I went touring some of the manufacturing plants in this Austrian town. There was a slight language barrier but everyone treated me with the utmost respect. I learned a whole lot and will take this knowledge back to the States and hopefully do something with it.

A neat pic I shot with a plane and gorgeous sky backround.

I went for a run into the mountains after the day’s work and sensed that my trip was coming to an end. At a high point in the mountain there sat a bench and this bench overlooked the entire village. At that point I realized how different my States environment is compared to this one and just took it all in. I wish I had my camera because it was the best scenery I had witnessed. I went back to the hotel and ate an Austrian meal at the hotel and headed to sleep because I had a 6:30am flight from Innsbruck the next day.

Travel Torture – 2/25/14

That skier is a bit small comparatively. Swiss and Italian borders in the distance.

This was a pure travel day. I was up at 4:45am and showered up and had all my items prepared. I had a cab picking me up at 5:20 and when I went to get him, the front door to the hotel was locked and there was no one around. This wasn’t good. I ended up going out an emergency exit and traveled to the airport.

Security was simple in Innsbruck and an hour long flight arrived me in Frankfurt. I spent a few hours in the Frankfurt airport before getting on a plane to Newark. I watched Captain Phillips, We’re the Millers, and Bad Grandpa on the plane to pass the time.

Once in Newark, I ate some food and felt relieved to be back in the States where I could communicate once again. My plane arrived on time and I was off to Vegas. This 5 hour flight was tough because I wasn’t tired and I did my best reading Mark Twain’s Prince and the Pauper to pass the time. I touched down and was completely exhausted. I got to the Luxor, checked in and fell asleep at 8pm.

Viva Las Vegas – 2/26/14

I woke at 4am feeling energized and decided to go for a run. I ran about 3 miles down the Las Vegas strip and then 3 miles back feeling great. I was a little bit early for sunrise but there weren’t many people on the street which was nice. I showered up and had a nice meal at the hotel before walking around a bit to the other hotels. I finally got a chance to see the Aria which was a first. I also visited a couple Vegas stores in the Mandalay Bay shops and was feeling like an American tourist once again.

The roofing show in Vegas went as expected as I’ve done it for about 5 years now. After the show I ate a burger and had a few beers and a shot which hit me harder than I thought. I got back to my room at 5pm and fell asleep until about 9. I woke up and decided to play some poker at the Bellagio until 3am. I also managed to drop 250 bucks playing blackjack in a session that had me crying mercy after about 20 hands. I ate late night McDonald’s nuggets and went to bed.

Pooped – 2/27/14

A small victory against the house.

I woke up feeling fine but not my finest. I couldn’t tell if I was hungry or not so I walked out to the strip and ate an overpriced slice of pizza and chugged 2 bottles of water. My flight was at 3pm and I was ready to go. I went to the show for a few hours and headed to the airport.

I was supposed to get a flight from McCarran to Denver and then to Philly but an hour delay of the Denver flight caused me to miss my Philly connector. This made me change my plans and my only option was to get a midnight flight to Philadelphia. It was 3pm. I spent 9 hours in the airport which was highlighted by a slot spin that netted me 329 bucks. I forgot to tip the cashier but felt pretty happy because it made up all my losses from the previous night.

Philly Finally – 2/28/14

I was getting stir crazy in the airport but eventually got on the plane to take me home. I arrived at 8am in Philly and kissed the ground. I was pretty excited to be back because I had just had so much travel time that I was looking forward to some relaxation. I slept for a few hours and am making some attempts to get back to a proper schedule. I suppose it will take a few days.

Final Thoughts

After leaving the country for the first time I think it will make it much easier to do it again. You realize that it’s not that difficult and it’s an invaluable experience. I’d like to spend more time seeing more places. I received many invitations to visit other businesses around Europe and I hope to travel again in a few months. I would make a greater effort to learn the language because you feel like an outsider without it. 3 months of off and on learning was not enough. Either way, I had a great time and thank all the people who made it possible.

1 Mar, 2014

Sprechen Sie Englisch? Part 1

By Tom Stortz|2014-03-05T15:17:16-05:00March 1st, 2014|My Life|0 Comments

Pre Germany Trip

The feeling I had prior to boarding an airplane to Germany was uncertainty. Will I be able to communicate properly without knowing the language fully? Will I be able to get from place to place without getting lost? Will I fit into the culture seamlessly? Many questions flowed through my mind and even though I wouldn’t describe the feeling as nervousness, I wasn’t exactly comfortable.

I had about 4 months to prepare for my European trip so I had ample time to get ready. A few major items that were helpful in advance planning were exchanging dollars for Euros, a European converter for their outlets, and obviously my passport. Clothes were like any other trip and I only traveled with one bag that weighed under 50 pounds and a small carry on. The night before I was already completely ready to go and had no last minute preparations.

It Begins – 2/18/14

What the seats on an International flight look like.

On Tuesday morning Jeff drove me to the Philadelphia airport where I drank a Lager and had a cheese steak wrap at an overpriced airport bar. The flight to Dulles was on time and my flight to Frankfurt was also without delay. There were all sorts of nationalities on the flight to Frankfurt and the PA had already been mainly converted to German which gave the feeling like, “you’re really doing this.” The plane had plenty of new movie releases to choose from and I watched This Is The End and Blue Jasmine which I thought sucked. 8 hours in the air is a long time and I think I got an hour of sleep.

Willkommen Thomas – 2/19/14

The ICE train that can travel at 140+ MPH.

Due to the time difference, I arrived in Frankfurt at 7am on Wednesday. I got off the plane and cleared German customs which was the simplest process I’ve ever been through. I had bought a train ticket ahead of time from Frankfurt to Cologne where I would be staying. I retrieved my bag and started a trip that had me following signs to the train station. I didn’t know where to go and ended up asking a DB info desk for some guidance. He pointed me in a direction and I then had to ask another info booth where to go and he gave me completely different directions than the first guy. They both spoke broken English. I found a train that was headed to Koln and asked an attendant if I was boarding the right train. She spoke practically no English and in German told me something. I had no idea what it was and boarded the train, hoping she’d stop me if I was wrong, with fingers crossed.

The Rhine, my first landmark when I arrived in the city of Koln.,

The train was fast paced and I read Bram Stoker’s Dracula for the short trip. I got off at the Koln train station with absolutely no idea where to go. I remember from an earlier conversation with one of my European buddies that I had to cross the Rhine river to get to the city of Koln. I was able to spot the Rhine and started wandering aimlessly across a bridge. Locks were attached to the fence to symbolize everlasting love. I saw a few where names were crossed out which was entertaining.

The incredible Dom Cathedral in the German city Cologne.

A huge cathedral like structure appeared and I gathered that this must be the Dom that everyone was talking about. I was expecting a DOME. I used my google maps to put my hotel location in and started walking towards it.

I found the hotel and wasn’t able to check in until 3pm and it was only 11am. My purpose of the trip was a roofing trade show and I took an educated guess that Messe meant expo so I headed back to the station which had signs for the show. At this point I have been awake for 24 hours straight.

I was starving when I got to the show and started my first experience with making a purchase. I chose a baguette that cost 5.90 Euro and I had a 10 Euro bill. It was a buffet type deal and I successfully exchanged a 10 Euro bill for 3 coins. This process is more nerve racking than you’d think if you’ve never done it before. For 7 USD the baguette had no meat and was a complete rip off from what I’m used to but these were convention prices.

The bigger button flushes more water than the little.

I’m not going to go into the business nature of my trip but I will note that it’s difficult to communicate when people don’t speak your language. Everyone says that most people speak English but this is easier to say than the reality.

The show ended at 6pm and I trudged to my hotel room. The hotel receptionist spoke my language and checking in and getting to the room was no problem. My first impression of the hotel room is somewhat comical. First things first, you have to put your room card in the slot to turn on the electricity. The toilet has two buttons of which I wasn’t sure if one was going to shoot water up the chute. Neither did. Either way I was able to shower, unpack, turn on the TV and then fell asleep. It was about 7pm but I was completely drained from the day and slept like a baby.

Life in Germany – 2/20/14

Thousands of locks along the bridge that leads across the Rhine to Koln.

I awoke at about 7am and got breakfast from the hotel buffet. Breakfast here was just like in the States and standards like eggs, bacon, sausage, cereal, and fruit existed. There was an orangish colored multi-juice that was fucking awesome and I had about 7 glasses. After breakfast I went for a run down a nice path along the Rhine river which was beautiful. There weren’t that many runners when compared to America but I did notice the Germans walk at a much faster pace. I’m a fast walker in casual setting by American standards but I got passed multiple times my locals.

The weather was 50 degrees and perfect for mid February. I was planning on wearing khakis to the show but remembered from the day before that I hadn’t seen many people wearing them. I ran a quick Google search and came up with a site that said wearing khakis is a huge American move and you’d stand out completely, just wear tightish jeans.

An example of a booth at the tradeshow. Bars are set up where people drink alcohol.

I spent another successful day at the trade show and you can see by the picture that it’s more or less a party with alcohol aplenty. Afterwards I had a conventional German dinner with the people who invited and took care of me in Germany. We had good conversation and I learned various details about the German culture and other interesting tidbits.

American culture brings movies, TV, Coke, Google and Apple to Germany
Germans are not into gambling like in the States
Germans love their vehicles and leap at the chance to drive fast
Not much crime and few guns

SauerBrauten is the dish that we ate.

The food was pretty good and the picture is exactly what we ate. It was some beef, red cabbage, and potatoes. I was not a big fan of the schnitzel. The beer washes it down nicely. I know that Germany is known for it’s beer but unfortunately I didn’t get to try too many flavors. This was one of the few things that I didn’t get to experience that I would have liked to.

Kolsch, the local beer of the Koln.

The beer in Koln is called Kolsch and it’s what everyone drinks. If you don’t order something else, you get Kolsch. Ein Bier, bitte! They also don’t stop bringing the Kolsch until you tell them to stop. Another interesting fact I learned about Koln is that they still find bombs that didn’t explode from the World Wars in their areas which is scary. Also Koln and Dusseldorf are rivals and locals says the best thing about Dusseldorf is the motorway back to Koln. After dinner I was pretty tired and hit the hay.

Fitting In – 2/21/14

At this point I was starting to feel more comfortable in my surroundings. I knew the layout of the city and almost started to fit in. I had a second attire issue when I wore a pair of jeans that were looser fitting than the style. People’s pants fit snugly around their bodies and I changed my jeans to another pair in order to fit in better. Also, these shoes weren’t exactly common which I was sporting.

At the trade show I met the daughter of one of our main vendors and we hadn’t seen each other for about 25 years. She remembers the most unsafe station wagon my parents used to own where the back seat would look out the rear and the window would slide down completely which you will never see anymore. She is very nice and we had good conversation in English which was appreciated. After the show I said my farewells and had a traditional German meal with some other colleagues. After dinner it was about 10pm and I had to catch an early train to make my way to Austria which is the second part of my journey and will be continued in part 2.

: Only a 35,000 Euro Rolex

: The vastness of the Dom from the inside.

: Germans don’t have a pleasant sounding language for music so Grouplove is needed.

: Justin Beiber is big everywhere

18 Feb, 2014

Auf Wiedersehen

By Tom Stortz|2014-02-18T10:24:03-05:00February 18th, 2014|My Life|1 Comment

The Germany Alps

I head out of Philly today at 1:45pm on a plane to Dulles, and then a few hours later from Dulles to Frankfurt. I get to Frankfurt at 7am German time where I have a ticket to a high speed train to take me to Cologne. It was 71 Euros in case anyone was wondering and travels 200 miles in 1 hour. In Cologne there is a famous Dome which I’ll post through Instagram when I get there and you can see that updated on the feed to the right. That will mark my arrival.

I’ll have my phone and have limited data through 4g but when I get to the hotel, I’ll be able to connect to the Wi-fi and communicate with ease. I wrote in a previous post not to contact me but I was only half kidding. I don’t plan on spending much time in my room or on the phone as I have a lot to do in a little amount of time. I plan on taking a good amount of pictures and learning as much about the culture as I can. It’s really a whirlwind of a trip.

Do all German girls look like this?

I’m only gone 10 days of which well over one day is spent in the air, train, or car. People seem to think that fatigue is something to worry about on a trip like this but I’m not sure where that comes from. I intend to sleep on the plane and spend 20 hours a day awake. Who has any good stories about sleeping? Either way it’s going to be quite a trip and hopefully one of many to come. As in, I have such a good time, I can’t wait to go back and schedule more vacations to foreign lands.

My studying of German was fairly weak because I spent the first month or two not using DuoLingo. Once I got into the DuoLingo program, I progressed much faster. I sound like an American when I talk and it takes me about 5 seconds to figure out what each word means so if anyone is talking faster than that, I’m in some trouble. Either way my go to phrase is going to be, “sprechen sie Englische?

The great thing is that I’m pretty flexible in my schedule and am pretty much winging it. I have a tradeshow to attend for the first 3 days which is why I’m going but after that it’s all getting to know the people we do business with. Quite the opportunity if I do say so myself. Like I wrote before, don’t bother checking back because I won’t be posting (although I suppose my Instagram or Twitter feed may have updates in which you should just follow me). My return is 2/27 and my guess is I’ll have a 3 or 4 part trip report that I’ll compile over that weekend. I’ll probably be posting links to the entries everywhere so if you are a regular reader, you’ll know when I return and am posting again. I honestly expect them to receive major blog traffic as I know what I’m doing now and I know what to look for. Posts of this caliber only come around so often and I expect to knock it out of the park which means it may take me a while to write them. Either way, check back at the end of February.

Chances I meet Minka from Eurotrip?

15 Feb, 2014

SideWindered At Blue Mountain

By Tom Stortz|2014-02-15T09:52:52-05:00February 15th, 2014|My Life|0 Comments

Blue Mountain

I decided to go to Blue Mountain to get some experience skiing because the plan when I head to Austria was to go skiing in the Alps. I think I’ve gone skiing about 3 times over the course of my 30 years on the planet. Needless to say, I would be mince meat on the Alps without some warm up.

The weather attempted to deter us but Jeff, Evan, and myself woke up early on Friday morning and headed off to Blue Mountain in the Pocono’s. We made a pit stop at Wawa on the way their where I downed to Sizzlis and they were delicious. We were one of the only sedan’s making the way up the mountain but we made it safely. For $99 dollars, we were able to purchase tickets and equipment. We were ready to go a half hour after we arrived which was pretty good. Only noteworthy story at this point was that I put my boots on the wrong feet and when the guy who was handing out skis looked at them, he asked me, “are those comfortable?” Type I skis for me.

Jeff is a pretty experienced snowboarder and Evan had gone a decent amount when he was younger so we had a decent range of talent. We started off on Burma Road which was green. Unbeknownst to me you are supposed to wrap your poles around your hand, I got one planted in the ground and lost it on the first run. This also caused my ski to fall off which got us off to a rocky start. A little girl, maybe 6 years old, handed me my pole as she came up behind me. I didn’t feel embarrassed at the time but in hindsight, this is pretty pathetic. Getting my ski back on took forever as well so Jeff was down the mountain while Evan waited for my tard self to get it together. We eventually made it down as things improved.

After a flawless run down Burma road, we decided to tackle a few intermediate hills. I was getting better after each run but would still probably bite once or twice depending on the situation. After a non spill run on a blue square, I was flying high. We met Jeff at the lodge and ate a bit before getting back out again.

The lines for the lifts were non-existent which made this the perfect day to do it. Also the weather was perfect as it wasn’t too cold. The 3 of us actually did a few runs together which was pretty fun. Jeff and Evan had a little bit more balls than me and did some freestyle hills which had a few tricks.

At one point I didn’t want to go down a freestyle part of the course so I went to the right in unknown territory. These decisions usually don’t work out and I was confronted by the steepest hill I’d ever encountered. I basically fell down the entire time it but I made it safely.

Sidewinder is the middle blue that goes back and forth

Sidewindered

At that point I’d probably give the day a high 8 fun factor if we quit there. Naturally we decided to do one more run and decided on the course Sidewinder. We had done it earlier in the day and I fell a time or two but it wasn’t horrible. For whatever reason this time was different. There were some bumps to start it and I gained too much speed too fast and bit it. My ski fell off and I was unable to get it back on. For what it’s worth, I wasn’t even lifting up the part on the ski that had to be down so no wonder it was impossible. Jeff hits me right in the head with a snowball during this process which was a complete dick move but he did help me get the ski back on after feeling bad about it. After I got the ski on, I fell again but this time I hurt my ankle and the ski fell off again. This was turning into a nightmare. I ended up walking down the hill and basically feeling like a pussy and it pretty much ruined any good feeling leaving the day.

Either way I’m glad I did it and for about 90% of the time it was a great time. Fortunately I’m not seriously injured and we made it out and back with no issues. My one remark from this trip is, “if your ski falls off while your on a hill, you’re gonna have a bad time.”

13 Feb, 2014

I laughed

By Tom Stortz|2016-11-03T15:14:43-04:00February 13th, 2014|Videos|0 Comments

Top Comments:

He knows exactly what he’s doing.

Someone’s getting paid hourly.

This is a visual representation of me paying my student loans.

That cart holds all the fucks he gives.

12 Feb, 2014

A Letter To The Readers

By Tom Stortz|2014-02-12T21:50:43-05:00February 12th, 2014|My Life|0 Comments

Attn: Blog Readers

These next few posts will be the last you hear of me for quite some time. I leave for Germany on Tuesday the 18th and will be away until Thursday the 27th. This blog will not be updated throughout this period of time. There is no point to check the site as I promise you there will be no updates. I contacted Verizon today and set up international calling but it’s relatively pricey and will only be used when I have to so don’t call me. I will be able to check email and reply as I also purchased an international data plan but don’t email me. I won’t be completely aloof but don’t contact me.

Either way my intent is to come back with a kick ass entry of a European adventure that should be awesome. I’ll take notes throughout the days and make sure I don’t miss a detail. I will have pictures galore and act like an asshole tourist. It should be the best entry of my life and I’ll make sure I live up to the highest blog standards. Don’t forget about the site though during this hibernation as time will move quickly and I’m sure you’ll get by without the daily dose of rnningfool. Countdown of 4 days.

12 Feb, 2014

Coincidence? I think not.

By Tom Stortz|2014-02-12T08:34:32-05:00February 12th, 2014|My Life|2 Comments

Yesterday was a weird day. One of our wholesalers held a convention in Lancaster and I attended. I left Philly at around 9am and got there less than 2 hours later traveling east on 30 for most of the drive. Along the way I stopped at a Wawa to get gas and as I was outside filling up, the song “Hold Me Now” by the Thompson Twins was playing on the speakers above the pumps. Oddly enough, my FirstWave station on XM was playing the same song. I confirmed that the two speakers weren’t on the same stations and left shaking my head.

Don’t get me wrong, Hold Me Now, is a great song with over 850,000 Youtube views, but the timing of this is unbelievable. Two various stations, play a song that was made 30 years ago, at the same time, while I’m sitting there to notice it. This has to be one in a million. I left the gas station wondering if this was some sort of a sign and that I should be looking to hold anything in sight.

Tanger Outlet’s in Lancaster

I arrived in Lancaster early for the show and decided to get a few new articles of clothing for my upcoming European adventure. I will note that the pricing of these outlets is phenomenal. These aren’t your typical outlets where even though they are called outlets, they have normal pricing. Things were heavily discounted. I got a brand new style pair of Puma’s for $45 bucks, 2 nice Calvin Klein button downs for $35 dollars each, a pair of pin stripe pants for $35, a Jos A Bank bomber jacket for 70, and some knitted boxers and plain white t-‘s for $40 bucks. The boxers and t’s seemed expensive for what that’s worth but I got about half a dozen of each. I was completely satisfied as the goods are all high quality.

Onward to the next coincidence. I’m at the show and everything is pretty low key which I expect from something held near Amish country. At 5pm there is a dinner which I was giving a ticket to. I only knew a few people at the show of this pretty tight knit group where everyone knows everyone and decided to eat dinner by myself. I sit down at one of the tables and eat rapidly to not have to be a loner for too long. As I was eating, a woman of about 45-50 sits down next to me asking me if I’m sitting alone. I welcomed her to the table and we began talking.

To start the conversation I jumped to a conclusion based on her company’s location and name that we’ve sold our line of tools to her. Naturally I was confused with another customer with a similar name and came off like a moron to start but that’s what you get for assuming. Either way she brushed it off (she sold paint if you catch that one) and she told me about her business and how well she was doing with Facebook. I said I have 100 likes, she said she has 22,000.

Turns out, this woman was the owner of a company that was started in 1816 and she was the 5th generation. If you know anything about me and our business, our company started in 1853 and I was the 5th generation. Here are the stats on businesses that last this long, “The Family Firm Institute says only 12% of family-owned businesses stay viable into the third generation, and only 3% are alive at the fourth-generation level and beyond.” So here I am again overcoming unbelievable odds to meet this person. If there were say 300 people who attended the show that day, I met probably the only one who would spur this blog post. I would say this was easily less than 1% shot of meeting this random person who has such a similar business experience as me.

Considerations, if I ate with someone instead of choosing to eat by myself, this would never have happened. If I ate at a different time. If I didn’t go back to get a slice of prime rib I would have left before she got there. Meeting her made my day and trip. If I did nothing else that day other than meet that woman, it was a success. We shared family stories and various ideas on maintaining the longevity of a business. It was wonderful and I came out of it with more ideas I would never of had sitting at 210 Vine St. That’s why people are the most powerful source of information. Knowledge is power. Coincidence is an even higher power.

10 Feb, 2014

Where Are the Charitable Donators?

By Tom Stortz|2014-02-10T21:39:11-05:00February 10th, 2014|Celeb, My Brain|4 Comments

That’s Cheep Cheep from Mario if you don’t know,

Yahoo! — Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, were the most generous American philanthropists in 2013, with a donation of 18 million shares of Facebook stock, valued at more than $970 million, to a Silicon Valley nonprofit in December. The top 50 contributors made donations last year totaling $7.7 billion, plus pledges of $2.9 billion.

Am I The Only One Seeing This?

Most people would read that he contributed a billion dollars and think that he’s giving away a ton of money when in fact this is a drop in the ocean to a guy like Zuckerberg. He doesn’t even deserve to have the picture I created above because he’s actually the most generous. The billionaires around him are the real culprits! Remember the number $7.7 billion dollars in contributions from the top 50 contributors. That’s not even the 50 wealthiest which means some of these chumps don’t donate at all. Here is a chart of the net worth of the top 10 Americans which will hopefully put this number in perspective.

2014 Wealthiest Americans

Mark Zuckerberg came in at #20 with an estimated net worth of $19 billion. Wrap your mind around this, if we combine the net worth of the top 50 people in America, they have a combined $997 billion dollars of wealth. Round off to 1 trillion dollars and now what do you think about the top 50 contributors donating $7.7 billion dollars? IT’S LESS THAN 1% OF THE TOP 50’S TOTAL WEALTH!!! Absurd would be an understatement. I know you don’t get rich by giving money away but you’d think that at some point that enough is enough.

I Must Be Missing Something

Power to the People

I’m sure that this can’t be reality and I’m well aware that net worth doesn’t equate to free cash flow to donate to charity but this scale is so far gone that society won’t stand for this much longer. The poor are going to start to rebel Hunger Games style once people realize what is going on. It’s truly unfair how the world is run by the top 1% and the lower classes have little choice but to bend over and take it. It’s why the Gov’t exists, to crush any opposition. I’m all for capitalism and when you put in hard work and create something that changes the world for the better, you deserve to be compensated but these numbers don’t reflect philanthropy properly. Can someone maybe give me an idea of what I’m missing?