Create a Business Continuity Plan - wikiHow

How to Create a Business Continuity Plan

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is the least expensive insurance any company can have (especially for small companies, as it costs virtually nothing to produce). Unfortunately, many companies have never taken the time to develop such a plan.
Here you will see suggested steps and considerations, in an abbreviated way, for small companies to create a BCP that will improve their chances of continuing operations during or after significant disasters. Development of a BCP for larger companies is not within the scope of this document.
Business Continuity Plans are sometimes referred to as Disaster Recovery Plans (DRP) and the two have much in common. However a DRP should be oriented towards recovering after a disaster whereas a BCP shows how to continue doing business until recovery is accomplished. Both are very important and are often combined into a single document for convenience.

Steps

1. Document internal key personnel and backups. These are people who fill positions without which your business absolutely cannot function – make the list as large as necessary but as small as possible. Consider which job functions are critically necessary, every day. Think about who fills those positions when the primary job-holder is on vacation. Make a list of all those individuals with all contact information including business phone, home phone, cell phone, pager, business email, personal email, and any other possible way of contacting them in an emergency situation where normal communications might be unavailable.
   
2. Identify who can telecommute. Some people in your company might be perfectly capable of conducting business from a home office. Find out who can and who cannot. You might consider assuring that your critical staff (identified in Step 1) can all telecommute if necessary.
   
3. Document external contacts. If you have critical vendors or contractors, build a special contact list that includes a description of the company (or individual) and any other absolutely critical information about them including key personnel contact information. Include in your list people like attorneys, bankers, IT consultants...anyone that you might need to call to assist with various operational issues. Don’t forget utility companies, municipal and community offices (police, fire, water, hospitals) and the post office!
   
4. Document critical equipment. Personal computers often contain critical information (you do have off-site backups, don’t you?). Some businesses cannot function even for a few hours without a FAX machine. Do you rely heavily on your copy machine? Do you have special printers you absolutely must have? Don’t forget software – that would often be considered critical equipment especially if it is specialized software or if it cannot be replaced.
   
5. Identify critical documents. Articles of incorporation and other legal papers, utility bills, banking information, critical HR documents, building lease papers, tax returns...you need to have everything available that would be necessary to start your business over again. Remember, you might be dealing with a total facility loss. Would you know when to pay the loan on your company vehicles? To whom do you send payment for your email services?
   
6. Identify contingency equipment options. If your company uses trucks, and it is possible the trucks might be damaged in a building fire, where would you rent trucks? Where would you rent computers? Can you use a business service outlet for copies, fax, printing, and other critical functions?
   
7. Identify your contingency location. This is the place you will conduct business while your primary offices are unavailable. It could be a hotel – many of them have very well equipped business facilities you can use. It might be one of your contractors’ offices, or your attorney’s office. Perhaps telecommuting for everyone is a viable option. Wherever it is, make sure you have all the appropriate contact information (including people’s names). If you do have an identified temporary location, include a map in your BCP.
   
8. Make a "How-to". It should include step-by-step instructions on what to do, who should do it, and how. List each responsibility and write down the name of the person assigned to it. Also, do the reverse: For each person, list the responsibilities. That way, if you want to know "who is supposed to call the insurance company?" you can look up "Insurance". And if you want to know what Joe Doe is doing, you can look under Joe for that information.
   
9. Put the information together! A BCP is useless if all the information is scattered about in different places. A BCP is a reference document – it should all be kept together in something like a 3-ring binder. Make plenty of copies and give one to each of your key personnel. Keep several extra copies at an off-site location, at home and/or in a safety-deposit box.
   
10. Communicate. Make sure everyone in your company knows the BCP. Hold training classes – mandatory training classes – for each and every employee whether they are on the critical list or not. You do not want your non-critical staff driving through an ice storm to get to a building that has been damaged by fire then wondering what to do next.
    
11. Test the plan! You’ve put really good ideas down, accumulated all your information, identified contingency locations, put your personnel list in place, contacts, service companies, but can you pull it off? One thing you will definitely learn in the test is that you haven’t gotten it all just exactly right. Don’t wait until disaster strikes to figure out what you should do differently next time. Run the test. If you make any major changes, run it again a few months later. Even after you have a solid plan, you should test it annually. Pick a day – let everyone know what’s going to happen (including your customers, contractors and vendors) then on that morning, act as though your office building has been destroyed. Make the calls – go to the contingency site.
    
12. Plan to change the plan. No matter how good your plan is, and no matter how smoothly your test runs, it is likely there will be events outside your plan. The hotel you plan to use for your contingency site is hosting a huge convention. You can’t get into the bank because the disaster happened on a banking holiday. The power is out in your house. The copy machine at the business services company is broken. Your IT consultant is on vacation.
    
13. Review and revise. Every time something changes, update all copies of your BCP. Never let it get out of date. An out-of-date plan can be worse than useless: it can make you feel safe when you are definitely not safe.
    

Tips

• All critical personnel should keep a copy. It's not a bad idea to keep one in your car.
  
• Prepaid cell phones are an inexpensive option for emergency communications.In some disasters cell phones don't work so considering a satellite communications system may protect your ability to communicate.
  
• The binder you use for your BCP should be very distinctive – bright, neon orange is a good color.
  
• Keep your BCP out and visible so everyone sees it frequently – that way the idea of business continuity will stay on everyone’s mind.
  
• Have a weather plan for your employees with a number they can call to get an update on conditions. Look into some of the new Internet phone services with a voice mail message.
  

Warnings

• Do not rely on a fireproof safe to store your computer media. Fireproof safes are designed for paper; a CD, DVD, floppy disk or a magnetic tape will melt. Get a media safe for those items. Better yet, store data off site!
  
• Do not make pirated copies of important software. Even if you can do that (often you cannot) they might not work, and you could create serious legal problems for yourself. Contact your software vendor if you don’t understand your options.
  
• Do not distribute your plan to people that don't need to have it. Your plan will contain sensitive and secure information that could be used by a disgruntled employee for inappropriate purposes.
  

Related wikiHows

• How to Develop a Risk Management Plan
  
• How to Prepare to File an Insurance Claim in the Event of Disaster
  
• How to Make a Disaster Plan for Your Family
  
• How to Be an Effective Project Manager
  
• How to Create a Business Plan
  

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Home Organization

OK: I said in my previous post that I had info on home organization.

I'll start with a bit of history - the "back story."

When Katy and I got married, I moved into her house, a 2 bedroom, 1 bath bungalow in south Minneapolis. About 820 sq ft, unfinished basement, detached 1-car garage, fenced back yard. We did a few small improvements and maintenance items (rain gutter, roof repair, ceiling repair, floor varnishing, things like that), then we sold the place and bought a house in Brooklyn Park with more than double the finished square footage, and tons of storage. Over the years, we acquired more furniture and stuff, and when we moved again, we were overwhelmed with the stuff we had to pack and move! But no worries: we were moving into a larger house! Right? WRONG! Though it had more finished square footage, it had tons LESS storage - and we were splitting at the seams.

So, we had to move AGAIN, to a house with more storage and more square footage. But even so, it still had lots LESS storage than our Brooklyn Park property. That's where we are now, and we've been there almost two years - and still haven't unpacked a lot of stuff because there isn't any place to put it.

OK: enter a home organizer we invited over (whose name and company website we're not sharing, because she was extremely confrontational and it was not a pleasant experience), who shared a few high level ideas and dropped the name IKEA.

So we visited the local IKEA store and browsed...and bought. So far in the past month, I'd estimate we've spent close to a grand there, but the storage space it's bought us is...well, Katy half-jokingly said it would "save our marriage." (At least I THINK it was half joking...)

In the sun room we moved games and toys off a Target storage shelf (designed more with the garage in mind) and onto a piece of furniture...with more shelf space. In fact, we purchased a few items where the kids could put their clothes, where we could put our tapes, CDs, DVDs, books, our other books, the rest of our books, and our remaining books.

I posted an "after" photo (sorry; I wasn't thinking far enough ahead to include "before" photo) of the sun room storage (more photos in later posts). Admittedly we have a ways to go - but if you knew where we'd been, you'd congratulate our progress!

What's the point of this post? Jeez: if you're struggling to find stuff, or struggling to find places to put your stuff, or both, turn loose of some dough and make a few storage changes in your house. It's calmer here now. Really!

Good luck, and blessings.

Contract Update

Well, here we are about halfway through the six-month contract at Aviva Life Insurance and Annuity in Des Moines. Seems to me like I've been able to get a lot done in the first three months, but there certainly is lots left to do!

Not sure what the company's plan is for this position: don't know if they're going to bring me on full time or extend the contract, or if they'll decide they can get along without a Change Manager - or with me.

For my part, I hope they decide the role is required and that I'm fulfilling it well - I think I am doing fairly well in it, and I'm learning a ton!

The downside, of course, is the commute - driving down here Sunday night, sleeping alone in the apartment each night, driving back Thursday night and working from home Friday after work is starting to take a toll on me. Mostly because I lose essentially two evenings a week due to the 7-hr round trip.

The iPod is invaluable to the commute - updating it on iTunes, then plugging it into the car-charger/FM transmitter to listen to podcasts and music over an unused FM frequency seems essential to my well-being and all-around sanity. Katy suggested I use her iPod, but then it would be out of her hands the whole time I'm in DSM. And then I received one of my own in a manner I would never have imagined.

More later - I have a great post on organizing the home!

TTFN

The ITIL experience

Ever since starting at my new employer in Des Moines, I've learned just exactly how much I have to learn. Well actually, I can't say that. Because I'm sure I don't yet know how much I have to learn. I'll just say I've learned how much I don't know. Hmmm. Guess I can't say that either, because it's simply restating the previous....

I've just learned that I have a lot to learn! How about that?

I think I'm pretty good with the process analysis, but only mentally - for some strange reason, they want what I know in my head to be reduced to writing! Now I'm a pretty good writer, but if you ask me, I could use a little help. Like when I was asked to document the Change Management process and put it into an SOP format, for example.

I know the ITIL process; I know what has to happen with a Change from initial request, through the approval, through deployment, through closure. I know what has to be documented for testing, validation and back-out. I know if the change fails it has to trigger a post-implementation review, and that if it's cancelled it isn't necessarily a failed request.I know that the requester can't approve the change. I know the developer can't push to production. I know the tool has to be configured so that people can't make material modifications to their requests after submitting them for approval. I know there has to be some sort of infrastructure discovery component associated with the Change Management system, else changes will be deployed without an associated RFC.

But to put all that stuff into an SOP document?? Daunting, to say the least. After it was all said and done, the SOP doc I submitted was 29 pages!

Sheesh! I didn't think I had it in me!

See ya.

In Des Moines

Well, things have taken a turn for the better. At least for the employment...

I received an offer a few weeks ago for a position in our neighboring state to the south. Yes, it's a three hour drive south of our home, but it's a job. They agreed to pay not only the same salary I was getting downtown at home, but to pay a per diem sufficient to cover transportation, meals and lodging during the week. So after Katy and I drove down with the kids and scoped out the town during the 2nd weekend in Feb, I started at Aviva Insurance the following week and am staying at an apartment during the week. Nice for me; really a busy time of it for Katy though: she has the kids all day every day.

We found a camera on eBay and bought it -- advertised as excellent condition with many of the accessories we already have, but nice to have backups, I guess. Very good price, and the same model as the one we (I) lost, so it'll fit in the cradle without any modifications.

Just got off the phone with the family, and things seem to be going well. I was able to get approval from my boss to leave early on Fridays so that I can drive home to MN and be home by 3 or so. So looking forward to more time with the family.

More to follow soon.

Employment

Well, nuts (and no, that's not what I really want to write)!

Just got a call from UHG regarding a position they offered to me last week. The salary they offered last week was 7.5% less than my last permanent position, and 14.5% less than my last contract position. I asked for a 3.75% increase in the salary component, all other things remaining equal.

They didn't call Monday, so I left a message on Tuesday asking for them to call. They didn't call Tuesday, so I left another message for them today asking for a call. They called at 5:10 PM to advise they were withdrawing the offer!

And I got a call earlier today from an agency in TX advising that they had nothing definitive to tell me about an offer extended by a company in Oklahoma City over two months ago. They could not definitively say even that the offer had dissolved -- only that it wasn't yet in writing.

So although I've had lots and lots of great interviews, I have no real possibilities on the table and it is frustrating - and scaring - the snot out of me! We've done a pretty good job of using a lot of our overdraft protection, so I'm going to have to transfer that balance to a lower-interest credit card in order to stay afloat. We should be good for a couple of months before we'd have to start making emergency withdrawals from our retirement savings (401k).

So here are some lessons for you, readers: number 1, and most important, because this is what got me into this situation in the first place: do not, I repeat, DO NOT ever resign from a position without first signing a contract to take another position as of a specific date.

Secondly, take recommendations in job searching guides regarding negotiating salary with a huge grain of salt. The offer I got last week was 7.5% lower than my last permanent position, and over 14% lower than my last contract position, and I asked them to increase only the salary by 3.75%. They withdrew the offer rather than discuss it.

So keep praying for us. We need and covet your prayers.

Best regards,
P

Hi there. Happy New Year.

Kids and I went to California for a few days last week, mostly to visit family but I was able to sneak in a couple business calls while there.

Had a great time -- till the day we flew home and I lost my camera on BART. If you find it, I'm offering a reward. It's a Kodak DX7630 with a 512MB card in it. Had all of the photos of the week including my son playing piano with my mom, a family reunion with 24 people attending, Jelly Belly factory tour, etc.

I subscribe to a daily reminder service called Simpleology. They've asked me to include the following on my post; here it is for your review:

I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.

Hope all is well; I haven't had much time to blog as I've been beating the bushes trying to drum up business. I'll keep you posted on developments.

Blessings to all.

P

Update

Here we are in the month of June, '07. A little over three weeks ago I was informed that my position at Accenture @ Best Buy had been dissolved -- either by off-shoring, or by consolidation with another role. (Guess it doesn't really matter to me which one: I'm gone either way.)

Seems like they've done a lot to help: they gave me over four week's notice that my last day was 6/15, I get a severance package for an additional two months and my normal benefits through the end of September if I don't find a comparable job by 6/15.

And we've had a house on the market for the past year. Not so bad, right? Oh, wait: did I forget to mention we already had bought another house and moved into it? So, two mortgage payments. Jeez!

Well, yesterday things began an upturn: we have a good offer on the house and we've accepted it. They'll get it inspected and ask us to do a couple things (like fix the leaking valve in the downstairs toilet tank, I'm guessing). Then we have to bring several thousand $ to the table because the market hasn't been as good to us in the past two years as in the past.

But we sold the house. Only one mortgage payment. Hallelujah!

And I got a great lead on a job yesterday. Interviews follow, and I want it to be a great fit. And it's downtown Minneapolis, which I could do without, but oh well. I mean, I love working down there, but I hate the commute. I love having the Farmer's Market on Thursdays along the Nicollet Mall. Nothing like bring fresh fruits and vegetables home along with a big bunch of daffodils in the evening. And I'm guessing I'd commute either on the train or by bus -- parking rates downtown are outrageous. But I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I?

Books: The 8th Habit is very good, and I'm excited about it. Here's what I've learned so far -- well, not learned exactly, but more been reminded: between something happening and my response to the thing that happened, there's a gap. How I choose to use that gap is my choice: positively or negatively.

Deep stuff, eh? It may have lost something in the translation between Dr Covey's writing and my interpretation...

I started working on John Maxwell's The Success Journey, too, and so far have learned about myself that:

• I have a passion for anticipating someone's needs and fulfilling them,
• I have the ability to identify and tap into people's best skills, and
• I am pretty darned good at writing and speaking -- I have what I like to call an "artful command" of the English language.

(I don't have too much life experience, though, so it's hard for me to relate to what others say on some planes of existence. Oh, I can talk vacation spots, limited financial conversations, TiVo and technology and the mundane stuff of life, but I'm talking about political unrest in the Middle East and stuff like that. That stuff comes up and I'm 98% uninformed.)

So, that's sort of an update. Hope it's interesting. I hope to have more soon.

Blessings and Regards,
Pablo

Here's a photo of The Fambly from a recent visit to my home town:

Life's Direction

So what's exciting me now?

Steven Covey's "The 8th Habit", that's what.

And "The Art of Getting Things Done" (a.k.a., GTD), by David Allen.

Really just starting reading the former, and have watched one of the short films included on the accompanying DVD. (BTW: Got this new book with still-sealed DVD for a grand total of $5.79, including s+h, on amazon.com. Goes right along with the "The 8th Habit" tab in my Franklin Planner.)

ANYway:

Things are not going well, to say the least, at my day job. I just can't get into all the forms and processes they put around putting in a new process and tool to get something done. Seems like we went through lots of forms in 2004, then again in 2005, and each time funding ran out, or was approved too late for us to complete the project before it was deployed into production.

Even so, we kept track of all the stuff we developed (hours of work by several people on a team and tracked by one person who gave it to us mid-2006 for the third go around with new meat -- er, I mean, PEOPLE -- involved in the project.

But apparently there was more to be done: A vision. A strategy. A grand set of ideas yet to be uncovered from the innermost regions of our individual and collective brains. The boss knew about them, but wanted us to draw them out. Everyone else on the team brought ideas to the boss, but I didn't because I'd been through two failed exercises in brainstorming for two consecutive years, wasting a total of perhaps a hundred hours on cancelled initiatives.

Pardon my cynicism, but I'm not really interested in wasting hundreds of hours of time. Again.

So I want to do something different; but what? Enter the 8th Habit. It wasn't like I didn't have enough self-help books in various stages of consumption (and bookmarked to show it) already; no: I needed another book. And I realized I already had not only the 8th Habit Audio CD and the 8th Habit workbook in my planner, so this seemed like a natural addition to my reading "to-do" list.

So the 8th Habit advocates that we "find our voice and inspire others to find theirs." But what's a "voice"?

Voice is where our passion, talent, conscience and need converge to define our unique, personal significance. Am I alone in getting a big charge out of this stuff? I mean, doesn't everyone want to know why they're here? Seems like this title will help put some meat on that bony framework.

So I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Next, GTD (or, Getting Things Done). This I've had for months but I'm only halfway through the book. It's a GREAT resource for organizing and setting up a system; it's just that every time I read two or three pages I get so excited I have to hurry and do what it suggest... before I continue reading.

Don't laugh: I've had people comment on my clean desk and productive time at the office (though not my boss, whose complaints have compelled me to begin reading the other title, above).

Gotta go. Stuff to do for work, still.

Back soon!

What to do, What to do?

When you're in a position that is not fulfilling, not what you want; one that is not pleasant and not rewarding, what do you do? If you have no friends, or your job is hanging by a thread, or the only people you're with all day are your kids or the people with whom you work and you're longing for someone (ANYone) else to relate to, what do you do? If you're in debt and it seems like no matter what you do there's more and more and more debt, what do you do?

You pray.

Pray for WHAT?

You pray for the ability to live with the consequence(s) of the choices you've made in your life until and unless God's unmerited favor (i.e., His grace) removes you from the consequence(s).

Then what?

Wait. You didn't get from where you were to where you are in one day or an hour; it took years. And moving from where you are to where you want to be, even with God's grace, can take years. Until you get there, it's a pretty sure bet that unless you thank God for what you have (a place to live, ability to see, hear, taste, smell and feel, great kids, working vehicles, a job, food on the table and, if you're reading this, a computer and Internet access), you'll be absolutely, unequivically, and continuously miserable.

And what if you don't want to wait? What if the thought of waiting is so unbearable that you want to take matters into your own hands and make changes now?

There are two things that can happen from wanting and forcing a change NOW: one, God will move from Grace to Miracle and release you miraculously from your situation, whatever that may be; or two, you'll again be making a choice to do things your way and in your time and there will be consequences. The consequenses may be easier or more difficult to live with, but there will be consequences. Making a move without God's direction or grace is NOT the way to remove yourself from whatever consequence you're facing right now.

I pray that whatever you're facing, whatever you're experiencing in this Easter season, that God's grace is extended to you and that you're given the patience to hold fast to the vision of what He has in store for you. Check Jeremiah 29:11 and believe that God has a way out, and that He will show you. And then, you wait for Him to show you and lead you out, and when He does, you follow Him.

Blessings, and Happy Easter!

Taxes

So, this is rarely read, and typically without comment. But I'm going to write this anyway, because it's tax "season" and I just finished spending hours last night preparing and filing my taxes.

Have you ever thought about how ridiculous it is to have to spend hours, sometimes days, collecting papers, many of which might be over a year old, records, files, putting them all in one spot, and then completing forms, doing calculations, checking your math, and so on, all for the sole purpose of collecting money you've already earned? Or worse, for the purpose of having to pay more money than you've already paid?!

A related question might be, "Why am I spending so much time filing forms with a medical savings account custodian, to get reimbursed by them for medical bills I've paid, from an account to which I've contributed the entire balance?" This is all so it's not figured into my income taxes. Of course, if I contribute more than I spend, I'm out the dough. And if I contribute less than I spend, I have to pay income tax on money I legitimately spent on medical expenses!

Why do you have a 401(k) plan with your employer? To avoid income tax. Why do you have a 529 plan for your kid's college fund? To avoid income tax. Why do you have a UGMA account for your kids? Why is it so important to have a will, and to have (to an extent) a living trust? All of this is to avoid having to pay income tax.

How in the world do we ever get out from having to pay the government, at the point of a gun, a portion of everything we earn??

Contact your congressperson and tell them you want them to investigate, get onboard with, support, and legislate The Fair Tax. Next, tell your friends about it and engage in discussion about it. Tell them about the benefits of:
- Eliminating the IRS
- Eliminating filing every year
- Receiving your entire paycheck (nothing withheld for Federal income tax or FICA)
- Retail prices going down
- Eliminating the need to establish special retirement plans, college funding plans, medical reimbursement plans, childcare reimbursement plans
- Saving for retirement on your own, tax free

But what if you don't know about any of this stuff? What if this is the first you've heard of it? Where do you find out more?

First, go to the Fair Tax web site (www.fairtax.org). Some areas have chapters specific to those areas: In my home state (Minnesota) there's a private group that hosts www.mnfairtax.org. Next, I encourage reading the "The Fair Tax Book" written by Neal Boortz and Representative John Linder. The paperback version is coming out beginning of May 2006 for under $10 through Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Whatever you do, do not sit back on your laurels and relax after taking the above steps. Continue learning and talking with people. And continue advocating for changing the system.

Let's get this thing done. Let's remove a government burden (no, not taxes; even Jesus said to render unto Ceaser what was Ceaser's): the requirement that we file and pay a portion of everything we earn. Instead, make it a requirement to pay a portion of everything we spend.

Good luck!

Brennan Photo

Really like this photo of Brennan, my youngest son. (My oldest, for the record, is 22 years and one day older than Brennan.)

Hope you enjoy it too. 

G'Day

Well, I've had this hankerin', this urge, this desire to begin this anew. So busy all the time, it's difficult to find time to be consistent. Perhaps the best I can offer in the way of consistency is to be consistently inconsistent!

So... Off we go.

We moved a few months ago into a larger square footage house with less storage space and a smaller kitchen-dining room-living room. More bedrooms, a huge master bedroom and a big ole family room take up all the extra space given up by the living areas. Lots to do in the house to fix it up and then sell it and move on: some electrical, some plumbing, some landscaping, some cabinetry. We replaced the garage door opener and some master bathroom plumbing already.

Katy has cut way back on her hours in the office, mostly because she spends so much time working with Brennan and preparing to work with Brennan that she doesn't have the time to spend in the office or on work-related tasks. Katy feels like I haven't really been a consistent source of support, and so she's had to pick up the slack, and so she's performed poorly, and so they're referring fewer patients to her. Regardless of accuracy or completeness of that feeling, she is receiving fewer referrals and has reduced her hours.

Brennan was diagnosed some time ago with high-functioning autism. Katy has been going gangbusters with therapy for him. It's called RDI (www.rdiconnect.com), and has been helping him in a way that is impossible to describe. Frequently (more frequently than in the past) we can't point to autistic behaviors or characteristics, and we often can readily identify behaviors that are less intense than even three months ago.

Maura is talking so well and so much that it's like she's two going on eight. Very precocious little girl, very bright. She gets jokes! She'll say, for example, while handing me her coat to help her put it on "Daddy, can you put on my coat?" I'll jokingly reply, "I can't: It's too small for me." She'll laugh and say, "No, put it on me!" Then she turns to Brennan and says, "Daddy and I were playing a game." Amazing.

Working hard at Best Buy (actually employed by Accenture, but assigned to the Best Buy account and working at the Best Buy headquarters campus in Richfield MN). Not really enjoying it, but it's better than begging, I suppose. Guess I'd much rather act. Lots of folks tell me I do a good job on the stage (course, they're all actors too, so I suppose they know that we all need accolades). Katy has said she thinks we should do more to market me -- there's an agency in town called N.U.T.S. (Non-Union Talent Search). They got me some auditions in the past, but nothing ever panned out. They didn't do much to assist with preparation. There are other agencies, but I've not really signed with them, so even when I go to their locations for auditions, my guess is they'll do their best to place their own actors before they place anyone else's talent.

Maybe I should follow up with NUTS to see if my agreement with them is still in effect. If not, maybe I should sign with another agency. I haven't heard from anyone at NUTS for years.....

I did audition for a stage presentation a couple years ago and was cast in the lead, but then had to withdraw because of adopting Maura. Well, that and the fact that the salary they said they'd be paying me was not going to come any time soon.

We (Katy and I) have been attending a financial management class at a church in Apple Valley. The class is called Financial Peace University, from Dave Ramsey (www.daveramsey.com). Very intense focus on getting out of and staying out of debt, and eliminating credit cards altogether, and going on a strictly cash basis. We've always had debt, some times more than others. Right now in addition to the mortgage, we have a 2nd mortgage (home equity line of credit), and a credit card. About $215,000 in debt altogether (the mortgage is about $190,000). Too much, by nearly any measure, so we have felt strongly that we have to make some drastic changes. Like, living on a budget, for one thing. (Yes, that's drastic for us. How do you think we got so far into debt?)

Well, it's time to close this entry. Don't want to spill my guts completely all at once. Believe me: I'd really like to make this consistent. It's therapeutic, if nothing else.

Blessings