Recap

So I was thinking about blogs today and why I haven't done more of it. I actually enjoy sharing my thoughts and feelings. When I was in 2nd grade, all I wanted to be was the governor of Idaho. That's because I wanted to drive in a limo and I thought that was what you had to do to get a limo. Ahhh the simple minds of kids. Well, I still like politics and I like attention - the good kind - and I like helping people. So one of the reasons I've hesitated blogging more is because I don't want to say something that might some day come back to bite me in the you know what. But lately I've thought, who cares right? So what if it does. And who knows what tomorrow will bring. Live the here and now while preparing for tomorrow. But live today! So here I am. It is midnight and I should be heading home to my wonderful wife. We closed the store tonight at 10:10. Had a couple come in at the last minute. Couldn't have cared less that our open sign was off and half the lights were off. They wanted ice cream. So we served them! After I got dishes done and closed out the till, it was after 11. Then I checked the bank accounts, submitted the credit cards, and checked facebook (normal routine). Then I warmed up the car and got the deposit ready for tomorrow. And now here I am blogging at midnight. (I turned the car off Al Gore.)

I guess I really should keep this short because my wife is so very patient with me. But when you work a 14 hour day, you just feel like a piece of lettuce--no substance left. I have no drive to even get up. Tomorrow I start a job with the Census. It appears that I will be QAC or quality access controller or something like that. I will be traveling every thursday and friday down to the bear lake and southeastern part of Idaho to do something. I don't even understand yet. But I'll know better tomorrow. They pay about $8/hour, $.50/mile, $34/day for food, hotel and I get paid while I drive. It will be easy. And kinda relaxing methinks. I wish it were more pay per hour, but hey, this is a job that works around my school schedule, and will still allow me to put in about 30 hours a week in the store at the busier times - night. So it will be good. Dad is going to have to pick up the slack going from about 38 hours to 45 hours a week in the store. He says he can handle it. I believe him. Sometimes I wonder what things would be like if I were in this without him. I can honestly say that I don't think it would be better. We make a great team and while things have been tough, they are definitely better that we work together. The job will help me make my house payment until it sells. The store hasn't been able to feed us much of anything lately. It's been slow this winter. It's like in September someone yelled DON'T SPEND ANY MONEY! Our revenue was cut in more than half. It's been interesting. We've learned how to be more efficient and work harder. Our labor has been substantially lower. When the government says that a higher minimum wage is better for people, they don't think about the big picture. And when they decide to scare the public and consumer confidence is down, it is definitely bad for business. It's funny too, because 93% of the people in this valley have the same jobs they had 2 years ago. It's all a mind set. We'll make it through. Our numbers are already picking up with the weather. And when you figure in the fact that our labor is so much lower this year, our numbers are quite comparable to last years. Not the same volume, but the same ratios. So we are planning on a good summer.

Holli and I are still trying to get to Texas. It's been more difficult than we ever could have imagined. I won't go into detail because it's hard to explain. If you ever want to know, feel free to ask me. I love talking about business. We are persistent and we are determined. We believe whole heartedly in Sub Zero and what it means to the world. It is the best ice cream money can buy. The business concept is sound and it will get tweaked in years to come into the best business model you could every participate in. We are right in the middle of it and that is a great honor. We'll fight on. We wouldn't be where we are without the help of a wonderful family. You guys are all fantastic! I hope you know that. Thanks for the prayers and support.

And finally, about this blog. I don't want it to be a journal. I want to share my thoughts and feelings. I want to express my concerns about things from religion to the economy to politics to random thoughts. So please read and let me know what you think. And if there is anything you would ever like my opinion on, please ask. It will give me something to think about during the hours of the night I can't sleep. Besides, I get pretty bored during my classes! Thanks for reading!

Closure of Hitt Road

Hey all, heads up:

Hitt road from Mesa road (by the LDS church) to the north exit of Walmart (roughly John Adams) will be closed till October. Yeah, it's going to be a long summer fighting traffic on 17th and Woodruff to get around to that side of town. And for all you that are coming from Rexburg/Rigby, better use the Ammon Road (Ucon) way into town. I've attached a photo. The only good thing? 4 lanes down Hitt road and a fixed 1st street/Hitt road intersection! It's about time!

Sinuses

So, I'm sick again. Yeah, it's annoying as all get out. See, I have these sinuses that are just a pain in the be-hind. And they get infected and start to swell. This leads to a stuffy AND runny nose, headaches, tooth aches, coughing, sneezing, and overall yuckiness. It usually happens about twice a year, but when I get stressed out and don't get enough sleep, I'll cause it to come on more often. I usually take some amoxicillin and it's gone and all is well. But I was sick like this not more than a month ago, and you're not supposed to take antibiotics that close together or something. So I'm fighting this one out. Danny says that humidifiers and hot showers are the way to go. Mom wants me to take Clariton D or some other stuff, Holli just wants me to feel better, and I just want it to go away.  Anyway, the worst part is when I lose my voice. I sound like a frog and it's really annoying. There! I'm done whining. 

Things in life (other than the above) are going great! Julia is growing and making tons of funny and new noises everyday. She likes to explore her voice. It's funny to listen to her and then watch her facial expressions at the same time. Apparently she loves Lawrence Welk. Or just the music. Things at Sub Zero are starting to pick up a little, weather permitting. We are still having killer weekends, and whenever it is warm and sunshiny, we can see a noticeable difference. We are currently working on getting a pocatello store opened, and another location on the west side. There...cat's out of the bag for anyone reading this. I have an awesome friend who is interested in opening a store in Coeur d'Alene, which would be an absolutely amazing place for a Sub Zero. We have also recently helped get stores sold in Logan and Tri-Cities, Washington, and we're currently working on Boise and St. George. So things are moving along and getting exciting. Anyway, that's a small update. I'll try to keep posting. 

Light bulbs

I really don't like Walmart. I went there last night to buy some light bulbs for the store. I wanted 40 watt bulbs. well, I decided to go with the fancy energy efficient things. I grabbed three boxes of 40 watt bulbs, paid for them, and left the store. When I opened them, only one box was 40 watts (the first one I was looking at) and the other two boxes were 100 watts! They were all on the same shelf labeled equally! I hate walmart! But then as I was walking to the registers, I found a calender of The Office for 12 bucks that ran up as $4.00. so I guess that made my anger subside and all is well again. lol

The Office

So we got rid of our satellite TV and have been watching a lot more movies lately (that is when there's time). I really miss Fox News, but I stay up to speed through the net so it's okay. It saves us moolah and time. HOWEVER, Holli recently borrowed the first season of the Office and needless to say, I sat down and watched a bit...We are finished with season four and don't know if we'll make it until 5 comes out on dvd!!! I can't believe how much I'm enjoying it. Now that I have employees, and that I look at business differently, it is really funny to see how all the characters react to different situations. I love it. So, yeah...I guess you could say that I am now a huge office fan. Who would have thought? ("That's what she said!")

iLife '09!

Have you Mac users seen the new iLife '09?  It's awesome! I am thinking that I will begin to utilize my web pages and start to do my own blogs without using blogger. Blogspot is cool, and easy to use, but the iWeb application is so much more powerful that I am excited to tackle it. We'll see i guess.

I have been coming home every day at 6:00 to eat dinner with my family and I have enjoyed it so much. I went from September until the first part of January not seeing my wife and child for 16+ hours a day. It was hard. But as a new year's resolution, Holli and I decided to try and have dinner together every night. So she works hard to get something prepared and we eat together from 6-7.  Then I either go back to work, or go to mutual. Yes, that's right. I was called as the first councilor in the young mens and therefore I go to mutual every Tuesday night from 7-8ish. It is fun. It's a good change from the daily routine and work. Anyway, I'll try to work on the web page thing and keep you all in touch. Thanks for your blogs! I love reading them! 

A New Blog

Hey all! I have created a new blog strictly for Sub Zero Ice Cream in Idaho Falls. I will try to keep it up to date with all of the happenings of Sub Zero. That way people who are interested in the business but don't really want to know about my personal life, can filter out the fluff :) It is subzeroidahofalls.blogspot.com  I will spend some more time over the next couple weeks getting it to look good and making it more attractive and fun. And no, I never sleep.

Julia went swimming!

She Loves it!

Holli and I spent the last 4 days in Utah with family. We traveled down on the 31st and planned to return on Friday. Well, we stopped in Brigham City to eat at the Maddox (quite over-rated, but still very good) because Julia needed to eat and we had heard so much about this place, we thought we would check it out. Well, turns out that it was raining through Ogden and Brigham City and by the time we had gotten our food it was snowing pretty bad. We heard people entering the restaurant talking about how slick the roads were getting and one couple mentioned they had heard the Malad pass was being closed down because it was really bad through there. Well, needless to say we were both tired and not in the mood to drive through a white-out or manage slick roads with a potentially crying baby. So we found a simple yet nice hotel in Brigham (Crystal Inn...recommended to all) and we spent the night. This is where these shots were taken (by my iPhone thank you) and this is where Julia had her first experience with swimming! We just held her above the water and let her toes touch every now-and-then and rubbed water on her with our hands. It was quite warm and pleasant, she liked it and it was fun. We didn't swim long but what a story! We think it is really good to have experiences that are memorable. That's what life is all about! To be lived!

Papai Noel!

We had a special visitor at Sub Zero Ice Cream recently! That's right, Santa Clause himself came for some very special preschool children. We had a preschool that brought two classes to Sub Zero for an early morning Christmas party. We made ice cream for them all, watched a movie, and then Papai Noel came and brought them all candy canes. We liked him here so much that we think we will bring him in once or twice a week for Christmas next year! Thank you to Ms. Thueson's preschool class for the wonderful time we all had!

Seattle

Well, I thought this would be a fun post. The first week of October, my dad and I went to Seattle, Washington for business purposes. We arrived early in the morning and only planned to stay one night and head back home the next day. As we were taking public transportation from the airport to our hotel (an adventure in itself) we had to walk a couple miles from where the bus stopped. As we were walking, I asked Dad if he thought we should call our family that lives there (his brother). We both decided it was worth calling them up just to say hi. To our surprise, they wanted to meet up with us and go to dinner. They changed some of their plans and we had a wonderful evening. We went to dinner on the Warf (fish and chips yum!) and then went for a drive to the other side of the bay. It was beautiful and I snapped these shots with my iPhone. (not bad eh?) This is my dad and his brother, Bob, talking on a pier. I love family! And thanks to the Seattle clan for a very memorable trip!

Julia Fuhriman has entered the building!

My Princess! Yes, that's right...the guy who said he never wanted to get married and wanted nothing to do with girls now has a baby! And isn't she adorable!!!???!!!  Of course, pretty much all babies are, but, uhhh, mine's exceptionally cute :)

We had a baby girl on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 at 7:28 pm. Everything went fine, --about as fine as you could hope-- and she is doing well. We took her to the doctor on Monday and everything is normal and well. And Holli is doing well also. We have had tons of support from our family and our friends and neighbors and couldn't ask for a better network of friends. Thank you all for everything! We feel very lucky and extremely blessed. Oh yeah, we named her Julia. Just Julia. (or Julia Gulia as her uncles and I like to call her :) ) I will post some more pictures when I have time. Thanks for reading!

New Niece

This is my new niece! Actually, she's almost a month old, but hey, better late than never with the blog! I decided to post this picture because I think it is awesome. I remember my mom saying that my dad never used to hold babies...including us. So to see him so enthralled in his newest granddaughter (number 10), it is really neat. Her name is Anna Merl Hamilton. Out baby is due any day. The official date is Sunday, the 23rd, but it could be any day now, and we are anxiously waiting! I'll keep you all posted.

We had another great few weeks at Sub Zero and this week is going to top them all. We will see what the weekend brings. We are perfecting our system so that the wait time in line is significantly less (usually). Last saturday we served almost 500 ice creams, and nobody had to wait for more than 15-20 minutes. Yes, that is along time, but when you consider the fact that at one time our line stretched to the door and then wrapped around inside the store all the way back to the cash register!!! We are moving them pretty fast. Thanks for all your support! 

Just a thank you.

Hi all! So, this is going to be quick, but first: Rachel, I will get my 7 things up here soon...thanks for tagging me! We have had a wonderful time and Sub Zero is really picking up. We have had some awesome feedback and a lot of help on things that we can improve, and things we are doing well. Thank you to all! 

Here is a couple pictures I thought you might like to see.....Doesn't it make you hungry!?! A big thank you to the Steve and Eric at the Idaho Falls Magazine for taking these awesome pictures and releasing them to us to use. Check out our ad in their Nov/Dec issue! And subscribe to the magazine first of the year, they are going newstand and that's a big deal...we here at Sub Zero wish them the best of luck! Keep checking back and I will get this blog working a bit more frequently.

Our Counter!

Check it out! This counter turned out awesome. I really like it. See if you can see the constellations. These lights are fiber optics and really light up like Christmas. They are way bright, but I like 'em. Our store is going well. We appreciate all of the support everyone is giving us, and all the help we have received. The word of mouth has been wonderful and we keep getting repeat customers, so others must think the ice cream tastes as well as I think it tastes! (And it tastes better!!!) We have some upcoming events that I want to inform everyone of. The first will be on the 25th of October at the Home Emporium. Come check it out! The Home Emporium is an awesome new place on Hitt Road down by the round-a-bout on Lincoln. It's in the industrial park called Trellis Square. It is a Halloween carnival from 10-4 with games and prizes and stuff. We are going to be providing bottled water and ice cream for $1.00. Bring your kids and friends and have a blast! The second event we have planned as of now is on Halloween day, at the Snake River Landing. I am not positive on the time, but I think it is from 3:00-5:30. It is the Z103 Trunk-or-Treat. We are going to be decorating a camper trailer and handing out candy and coupons. We will have a big cauldron with liquid nitrogen and water which will be fun. We may make ice cream, but it depends on the weather. If we make it, it will be small servings and it will be free! So come see our trailer!!! Things are getting exciting and we are looking forward to the future. Our final activity we have marked on the calendar is for November 6th, at 4:00 p.m.  It is our grand opening ribbon cutting ceremony. We should have some influential members of the city there and we will begin a weekend of good ice cream, great prizes, and fun! Come participate!

A night off!

So on Wednesdays, I have appointments and meetings until close to 6:00. So Holli and I decided that Wednesdays would be our day off. So we have tried to get our employees trained well enough that we are able to just leave, and all is well. And tonight was our first attempt...and everything went wonderfully! Holli and I went to dinner and a movie, something we haven't done for quite some time. Don't get me wrong, we have eaten pretty much nothing but Taco Bell and Wendy's the last month. And we've been treated to dinner by our parents and other friends, but to actually have an evening just the two of us was a rare treat. And we enjoyed it immensely! We went to "An American Carol" which was alright. The satire was hilarious, but it was a "Farley" type movie with dirty humor and unnecessary inuendos. While we were there we found a vending machine and decided to relive our childhood. But get this, it was $.50!!!  And this is what we got for our two quarters:  

We thought that was pretty lame. But we had a good time and that was our first real date in a while! I will try to get an update on the store by the end of the week. We are getting our counter worked on tomorrow morning. The front part is being installed. Come check it out...it is going to be awesome!

Check it out! We were on the news!!! 

We are open!

I don't have any pictures right now to post, but I will get some soon. I just wanted to let everyone know that we are open and running business! And things are going really well! We had an awesome first week. Thanks to everyone who came and supported us. And thank you so much for telling your friends and family and neighbors about us. You cannot believe how much help that is. So many people come in and we ask them, "How did you hear about us?" and they respond, "Oh, my co-worker told me about it." or, "My sister said I should come check it out." It is such a huge boost to have word of mouth spreading our good news! Thank you to all! And please, don't stop! We served over 300 ice creams saturday! We are only going to get busier!!! 

http://www.localnews8.com/global/video/popup/pop_playerLaunch.asp?vt1=v&clipFormat=flv&clipId1=2989128&at1=News&h1=Sub

We were also on Channel 8 News! Just a couple corrections: We are located in Idaho Falls, not Ammon, and we offer Frozen Yogurt, Low-Fat, Custard, and Premium Ice Cream. Check it out! Doesn't Holli just look so sexy? hehe. And she's a Sub Zero Owner! Yay!!!

Just a quick note.

Here are a couple pictures of our newest addition to our sign. I am so excited and I think it looks awesome!

Yay! A Tank!

Here it is! We got the tank in! It wasn't that bad either. After we got it set, they filled it full of liquid nitrogen (photo on bottom) and you can see the frost that formed on the bottom of the tank. It is 1500 liters, which is almost 400 gallons. It weighs one ton empty and a lot heavier full! It is completely harmless and totally okay to touch, and it is extremely noisy when it is filled! I mean EXTREMELY noisy!  The pipes you see go out to a box that is on the outside of the building where they will pull a truck up to it and fill it. For a couple months we will have a smaller tank, about 230 liters, that we will wheel around because we are having special tubes made to transfer the liquid nitrogen from this larger tank to the counter where we add it to the cream. But it will still have an awesome effect. Thursday they are supposed to start on the floors (I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't happen until Friday though) and then it will really look official! We have all the painting done (as you can see) and just have some touch-ups to do. Tomorrow we are going to stain trim and then put it up after the floors are finished. If everything goes well, we will be making ice cream at the shelley spud day saturday the 20th, so if you are going, look for us! 

So we got our sheetrock all hung! The group that did it was from Phoenix and they like it up here. They drive a Cadillac Escalade! It was kinda funny. But they worked fast and they did a great job! As soon as they got done, and we let the final coat of texture dry, we were already in there prepping for paint! And we got all the primer on today, along with one coat of black on the ceiling.

The black looks absolutely awesome! It just makes the whole ceiling disappear. I am not even kidding. When you look up, you can't tell where the wall stops and the ceiling starts, which is exactly the look we were hoping for. Tomorrow, we should get on the main colors and it will really start to take shape. Our sign is supposed to be installed on Wednesday and Friday of next week, the tank will be installed on Monday, and they are working on the floors starting Tuesday. Things are really starting to come together! A huge thank you to my brother Reid for making it all possible with the painting. He has worked hard (as he always does) to make this paint job happen. And we wouldn't be able to do it without him. And thanks to his wonderful wife and family for letting me borrow him for so much time. I really appreciate it. Sometimes, the time and the interest that people put in and show is worth a million dollars! Thanks to all for your help and support! Opening day, September 29th!