MONDAY - Work Day in Maui

 

View from my room

4 A.M.  that's the time I woke up this morning.  Hawaii is 4 hours earlier than home; so 4 am seems fitting.  I made sure I did my daily Wordle puzzle and then I got to unpacking.  It was still dark out so I couldn't see the ocean, but I could hear it.  One of the perks of the trip and for being a Centurion dealer (sell Hunter Douglas exclusively) was a gift of Maui Jim sunglasses for both Dave and I.  We had actually received this gift a few years ago on a Bermuda cruise so this time we picked out glasses for Jess and Joe (our kids).  Ben, Dave, and I would have needed to add prescription lenses to them to make them workable for us, but Jess and Joe don't.  These were the ones we could choose from.

Maui Jim Sunglasses

Off to breakfast with Hunter Douglas.  They have a  breakfast set up for us each day.  I met a lady at breakfast who had traveled from New Jersey.  She said she was in bed at 5:30 p.m. last night.  However she woke up about 1 a.m. and grabbed her phone to look at it.  She inadvertently hit the SOS button (iphone).  911 calls her back and asks her what her emergency is.  She explains she hit the button by mistake.  They ask her where she is, etc.  She reiterates that she is okay.  A few minutes later there is a knock on her hotel room door and 4 armed officers are there to check on the situation.  Oh my, it still makes me smile to think about.  Anyway we had a nice buffet of food to choose from and then we walked around the grounds before the business meeting.

Breakfast (fruit/eggs/bacon/sausage)

Breakfast setup

The ocean

The grounds

Then off to a business meeting.  The first 1/2 was a gentleman named Ron Thurston (author of Retail Pride).  He was joining us via Zoom and he talked about business strategies.  Now I appreciated his talk, but I tell you what.  I'm pretty sure I know what our job could be if we ever stop selling window coverings.  Everything he talked about, Dave has done in growing his business.  I don't think I used to really understand what a "consultant" was until recently.  I think Dave could absolutely be a consultant for others in the window covering business.  One takeaway I had from his talk was that he believed that brick and mortar is making a bit of a comeback.  After being cooped up inside for two years, people are looking for that in person setting to connect again.  We were all given a copy of his book "Retail Pride."

The second half of the business meeting was previewing products that are releasing later this year and that was all very exciting. It's just really nice to be a part of a company that has such high quality products.  I got a photo of the room when our General Manager was up on stage.

Hunter Douglas Business Briefing

Lunch and the afternoon was "free" time.  We walked down the beach path to the hotel where our kids are staying and we all ate lunch together.  They definitely have a lot more food and shopping options about a mile down the road.  I really wanted a Mimosa, but then as he gave it to me, I saw this other drink and I was like WHAT is that.  They called it some kind of volcano drink, but it was basically a strawberry pina colada.  So here I am two-fisting it.  (Don't worry, I drink about once every two months if even that and then it might be one beer.)  I won't go crazy. (Smile)

The gang

Mimosa and a Volcano drink- YUM

Lunch - salad

Dave and I walked back to our hotel afterwards and we were quite hot from the humidity.  We each took a small nap and now we head to a Welcome Dinner sponsored by Hunter Douglas.  Should be a great evening.  Tomorrow we are off to the National Park!