We’re loaded and rolling...

These are the words that every logistics manager likes to hear.  Doors are closed, logs are done and the truck is headed down the interstate.  

That’s sort of how I feel about this blog.  We’ve been ‘kicking the tires’ about trying to do something like this for awhile now.  But, finally, after some mild debate, a bit of indecision and definitely way too much procrastination, we are rolling.

It’s been over a year ago when we had our friends over for dinner.  As usual, the group of us, two sets of parents and our kids, were all crowded around the big kitchen table, which was squeezed in our little kitchen.  Some of us were sitting, all of us were ‘stuffing’ and talking and laughing and doing everything else close families do together, when my friend did what all good friends do or should do, and that is tell us that our house was ‘all wrong.’  She meant the furniture and how we were using this part of the house.  In her opinion it could be so much more conducive to the type of gatherings we enjoyed together.

If only we had an island, maybe a few stools around it so some of us could sit and talk while we  finished cooking, extra surface area for the snacks and drinks.  Yes, I could see it!  And just like that…(It’s a GOOD thing this was a GOOD friend because I had a GOOD amount of dust that surfaced.)

After a quick exchange of ideas, within a relatively short period of time (not counting the 5 hours of vacuuming...kidding) we were done.  The rooms were dismantled, furniture moved, and the big table was now in the center of my family room.  And I LOVED IT!  

Except, no island...

Sometime down the road I will write about how we put an island together.  And I mean ‘put together.’  I definitely had grand ideas to begin with, but there was a ‘grand’ price that accompanied my ideal island.  In the end, however, with a little creativity, lots of work, and input from our friends and family, we ended up with a great piece of furniture.  Now my husband’s biggest worry is how he will move it, if and when the time comes...if I can’t part without it.

But here’s the best part about the end of the story…at least this ‘part’ of the story.  I have been amazed at how this one alteration or addition in our home has changed and enhanced our family life.  The island has been a ‘children magnet.’  When we have family or friends over, it is the center of much activity, thought and discussion.  Any time we are home for any period of time, this is where most of us are (and sometimes ALL 6) at the same time….

So what does all of this have to do with a blog on a logistic company’s web site?

There are lots of parts to my business...fruits, vegetables, reefer units, driver logs, dispatches, rates, claims, weather, pulp temps, and so on.  But the one piece that ties everything together is the ‘people part.’  And if having an island in my kitchen has taught me anything, it’s that people have a lot to talk about and will talk about if they have the place to do so.  We all have ideas, opinions, plans, issues, jokes, interests, concerns etc that at some point need to surface and get ‘thrashed out’  as my dad used to say.  In the right environment, things can be said, ideas put forth, criticism handled, problems solved, and people and their interests ‘lifted up,’ so to speak.

So here it is, first one.  It might last a little while or long time.  There are so many issues, concerns and great people stories in both industries (produce and transportation) that it seems like there is enough stuff to talk about for a long time.  Either way, there will some ‘talking’ happening here, even if it’s with myself.  But I’m used to that….

Safe travels….now put ‘er in the wind!