Joke submitted by FOCM member Bill Moody, a Yuman and a Kofan of high standing, whom I hold in some type of regard:
since i got a smart phone i dont wear a watch anymore. In fact i tied all the watches together and made a belt. it was a waist of time.
On August 18, an FOCM happy hour (er, I meant to say, “networking) event was held at San Jose’s Tacos & Tequila at 7961 Skyland Ridge Parkway in Raleigh, NC. The reason: my friend Joanna Williams was in town on business. Also present at this event were: Gail Fowler, Vince Hoefling and Bill Newcomb.
Gail and I first met in the late 1980’s – we were working at Burroughs Wellcome Co. I believe we met at a business team meeting for the life-saving medication Digibind. We later worked together again at Quintiles and then again at ICON. Here’s the photo of the magic moment frozen in time.
On August 2, while I was up in the Cary, NC area (a place I’d lived for about 23 years), I stopped by Ashworth Drugs at 105 W Chatham St, Cary. This pharmacy has been in downtown Cary, probably since the 1960’s. Started by Ralph Ashworth and now run by his son Paul.
So why is this post in here? I first met Paul in Los Angeles in the mid-1980’s. I was working as a pharmaceutical salesman for Burroughs Wellcome Co. Paul was hired in North Carolina where he’d been working as a pharmacist in his father’s store. He requested a territory out west. We were in the same sales district, district 79.
When I moved to Burroughs Wellcome’s HQ in RTP, NC in 1987, I went to meet his father at the pharmacy. Several years later, Paul moved back to his hometown. This is a photo from that day. When in Cary, this is a place to stop in to see what used to be commonplace in pharmacies – a food counter, with about 8 stools and two booths, serving hot dogs, hamburgers, BBQ sandwiches, sodas.
It was a typically beautiful September day in Yuma, Arizona. The sun was shining, as it does 300 days of the year. (Side note: why in the world is Yuma, AZ not the the solar energy capital of the world?!?)
Captured in the photo below is Yuma’s own: Bill “Willie” Moody receiving his FOCM Membership card. Yes, he received it in September, but one of the foundations of FOCM is patience. His patience was being tested and he has passed. He is now entitled to all the benefits therein. (As a dues paying member, he would have even more benefits, come on Bill, it’s only $20, well he did pay for my lunch so that kinda counts, well he also paid for my brother’s lunch, so that kinda counts. Turns out my brother has developed quite the skill of having others pay for his lunch.) Bill owns and runs Robert J. Moody Appraisers, doing real estate appraisal services. I have known Bill for probably 45 years. We first met at First Presbyterian Church Sunday School in Yuma, AZ.
This event took place at Burgers and Beer located at: 321 W 20th St, Yuma, AZ. Many members of the A.T. Pancrazi Real Estate Services Company were witnesses to the ceremony. A.T. Pancrazi Real Estate is the premier commercial real estate firm serving Yuma, Arizona and the desert southwest.
Another series of quotes noted and shared here completely out of context from the meeting in which they were heard.
The breast that’s on the table right now.
– Jason King
I will keep my mouth shut.
– Andreas Dreps
Propel the slides.
– Ian Mansfield
Holy toledo, that was good.
– Deb Williams
She looked like a deer in the headlights.
– Pete Nieto
I’d better not see any pants coming off.
– Andrew Smith
Check back for more postings. If your name is mentioned and you’d like it removed, please email me at chris@focmnetworking.com and I’ll give your request strong consideration and may even might possibly act on it. Seriously, though I will remove it if you want me to.
Background: This all started at a US Sales meeting and in order to stay focused on what was being said, I started writing down the business cliches, like “let’s circle the wagons”, “let’s table that”, “always be closing” and then count how many times they were said. As I began paying attention, I would hear a phrase that was appropriate for the context in which it was said, but wow, it sure was amusing to see the phrase just sitting there by itself. That lead me to put them into a slide show show so the phrase was seen in its purest form along with the person who said it. As this practice became known, the slide set became the unofficial and humorous wrap-up presentation, kind of a summary of the things stated over the course of the meeting.
I noticed a Subaru in front of me the other day and I realized that backwards it spells:
Urabus
U r a bus
Oh sure, I know that all politicians during elections shade the truth and mislead, but I think Harry Reid’s behavior is despicable and his behavior is why Americans mistrust our elected officials. He has no shame, yet he represents that he is a good member of the Mormon church. His bold-faced lie that Mitt Romney hadn’t paid taxes for 10 years was known to be incorrect, yet he said it anyway on the Senate floor where he is protected from libel. Then on CNN in the past couple of days, he is asked about it and he just smugly says, “Romney wasn’t elected was he” – no apology, just the admission that the lie was worthwhile as it kept the opposition out of the White House.
The previous post in “networking” was submitted by Bill Dupere. Bill and I first met in 1987 when we worked together at BurroughsWellcome Co. in RTP, NC. Here’s a picture of the two of us from June 2014 on our way out to breakfast. The satchel he is carrying is actually a Left Ventricular Assist Device, which takes over some of the functioning of his weakened heart, caused by a heart attack. Modern medicine is truly amazing.
We all know the degrees of separation phrase: 6 degrees of separation as described in Wikipedia as:
Six degrees of separation is the theory that everyone and everything is six or fewer steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person in the world, so that a chain of “a friend of a friend” statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps. It was originally set out by Frigyes Karinthy in 1929 and popularized by a 1990 play written by John Guare.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_degrees_of_separation
In the pharmaceutical clinical research industry where I have spent the past 19 years, I think we’re all 2 degrees from each other. The example below, if I’m counting correctly, is an example of a 4, maybe 5, degrees of separation. My friend, Bill Dupere recounted this story to me several months ago:
Two and half years ago Bill hired Heather Elser, PhD. She later started dating, and then got married to Jason Smith, DVD in February 2014. In late spring, Jason’s boss, Wally Diehl, retired from his veterinarian practice. Wally sold the practice to a veterinary “roll-up” practice management company, VCA and Jason took over day-to-management of the practice. Wally then turned around and contracted with VCA, Jason Smith, for part time veterinary services.
Wally moved to the coast, Surf City, NC where he has other business interests at the coast including, boat dock rentals and boat rentals.
Meanwhile, Bill suffered a heart attack and is unable to resume his responsibilities as COO with QOL Medical. Dr. Heather Elser, who used to report to Bill assumes day-today responsibilities for Clinical Operations at QOL Medical. Bill now supports Heather in these duties—in effect Bill now reports to Heather for certain projects.
Bill and his wife Elizabeth (Liz), own a waterfront townhome at the coast in Surf City, NC. Bill’s neighbor, Greg Isenhour, is a serial entrepreneur and serves as General Contractor for the townhome development in which Bill and Liz’s own a townhome. Greg is also into property management. One of the properties that Greg manages is the building where Liz works at Builder’s Mutual Insurance Company (BMIC). Greg also used to serve on the Board at BMIC.
So in effect, the Dupere’s live next door to the person who helped start Liz’s company, and who both serves as GC and property manager. Greg does a great job tending to and looking after the properties he is responsible for.
Greg is in also business with Wally (retired veterinarian, see above) who is a principal in Topsail Island Boat rentals. Greg leases Topsail Island Boat Rental boat slips in the Dupere’s townhome waterfront community, which is to the right side of their townhome complex and the boat storage facility is immediately adjacent on the left side of the townhome community.
One day, while Wally is walking down the dock, Bill and Liz are upstairs on the 4th floor of their townhome on the deck overlooking the sound.
Bill yells down: “Do you know Dr. Jason Smith?”
Wally stops dead in his tracks, chuckles, and says, “Do I know Jason Smith (in a rhetorical fashion and tone). Of course, he is now my boss.”
Bill chuckles and yells down a second time, “Do you know Dr. Heather Elser?” to which Wally answers, “…of course, why do you ask.”
Bill replies, “she is now my boss”
Dan Schmitt, John Ketchum and I used to work together at Burroughs Wellcome Co. In June 2014, we managed to get together for a dinner while John and I were attending ASCO at the McCormick Convention Center. We had a great time, lots of laughs, re-telling old stories and creating new ones. We haven’t changed a bit. We did put in some gray hair coloring so those of you who used to work with us wouldn’t feel so bad, except Dan forgot to do so.
