No question that the Stones are the greatest rock band in music history...and least in my world.  They’ve released 24 studio albums, done nine concert albums and have album sales estimated at more than 200 million worldwide.  But most importantly, they’re still at it, still writing, still rocking and still living large.  As the Stones celebrate their 50^th year as a band, and Mick and Keith both turn 70, there are talks of another world tour.  And, if there is, I’m in the front row, as usual.  Never missed a U.S. tour, and I don’t plan to for what might be the last one, but then I said that about both the Steel Wheels and Voodoo Lounge tours.

I had the privilege of being the keynote speaker at Middlesex Bank’s CEO Forum last week.  A great bank, superb guests and for me, a fun opportunity to talk about something that I've fervently believed in ever since I started the company 22 years ago- how to build your competitive edge.  Aptly named, our long running newsletter, The Competitive Edge, and this blog speak to what I carry around as a religion in how I think about business in general and especially the world of sales.

I was deep in my Vermont woodlot this past weekend picking up sticks. Low 30’s, crisp and eerily quiet. Not the smartest thing that I ever did considering Saturday was the start of deer hunting season, but details are details, and time is quickly running out.  All it takes now is one deep snowstorm, and the kindling will continue to stay where it has rested all summer.  Most of the wood tent has been filled by Tom the Wood Guy, but I still need to haul in a couple of cords I stacked in the woods last spring, and the weather looks like it will hold until Thanksgiving.  Hopefully finish this coming weekend. 

Boston is just a terrific city.  Small, easy to walk around, and one of the greatest sports towns in America.  The Patriots are either the Super Bowl Champs...or not; the Celtics are always the leaders and the Sox, well, that's another story given this year's opening season. 

Back in Vermont for the long weekend and find myself-as usual-trying to balance my time with the seasonal rhythms of the long list of “Things to Do Before The Snow” hanging in the workshop with the necessity of taking quiet time to do real work that just can’t be squeezed into the frentic workweek.  No complaints here since it is what it is, and, quite frankly, I enjoy the pace plus I have the privilige of working and playing in the mountains of Vermont and on the beach  in NH.  By the way, an interesting factoid is that Vermont used to be seaside property-500 million years ago-and the acclaimed Vermont marble is, in fact, created from miles of compacted seashells squeezed up from sea floor as the continents pushed toward one another over those millenia.

It’s been a great summer. Lots of work; lots of time off and a great opportunity to plan ahead a bit for the upcoming crazy season of September through the rest of the year.