Feb 20 - At Sea

SANDY SHORE : If it wasn’t for our intricate schedule of house sitters and animal patrol back home, along with our very supportive SmoothJazz.com | SmoothLounge.com team consisting of Scott O’Brien, Jamie Trent and our programmer Justin, we could certainly not be out here swishing around Patagonia at the bottom of the world.

Scott stayed at the house and managed the home office for the first two weeks, followed by our current house sitter, Tony O’Brian, whom we just adore. If you look up the word ‘organized’ in the Webster’s, you’ll see a picture of our young Mr. O’Brian with the footnote of “also see responsible.” Pongo the bird is in love with him and Basil the dog has attached herself to his leg. Tony’s keeping a really cool house sitting blog for us that keeps us up-to-date on the happenings back home. It’s awesome and entertaining.

On weekday duties, we have our delightful friend and Aussie god-mother Michaelle Biddle helping out with the little ones and our office. I can only imagine how the packages are piling up by now. Michaelle is a wonderful human being… a kind, gentle spirit with a great sense of humor and an amazing extra sense that seems to know how we’re feeling out here before we do. If it wasn’t for her kind and sensitive daily email, I don’t think I could have made it this far without having a full on panic.

Our radio pal, Greg Dean is making a daily pit stop as well, keeping Basil and Pongo entertained and happy with his colorful personality. Greg also takes provisions to my mom once a week and sends me photo updates and notes about how she’s doing. That offers me great comfort and keeps me connected. Greg has known my mom since he was a kid and tells me all of the time how much he loves her. She’s been telling him that he’s “a good boy” these weeks I’ve been away. I think it’s really great that these two are spending some time together and I’m greatly appreciative.

In the meantime, as the email stacks up and new music piles in the mailbox and inbox, Jamie Trent is structured and steadfast responding to clients that I just can’t get to quickly down here. The Internet connection on board is from a satellite… in native South American language “satellite Internet” translates to “snail pace technology.” It’s not as bad as dial-up, but the fact that I’m even comparing it to dial-up is evidence that we’re not racing at lightning speed here. So I am so grateful to have a productive, talented associate back home who is available to help us lock in our clients’ needs while we’re away.

Our music programmer Scott O’Brien is also picking up the slack that our slacking has created. Despite all of the “moving parts” of our company, Scott is managing to keep things afloat for us in our absence. He’s scheduling, writing, reviewing, listening, tracking, crack-a-lacking and I’m sure under his breath, cussing us out pretty much every day.

In terms of practicality, this is not the right time to step away from business and home, but in terms of opportunities of a lifetime and in terms of catching our breath and gaining perspective, the timing couldn’t be better.

So, to those back home, thank you from the bottom of my heart – Big love from the high seas! ~ss