We don’t get much personal mail these days, not that we’re unpopular (which may be true I guess), but most of our interaction with friends, family and associates is through email, instant message or cell phones. We opt to not receive hard copies of our bills when we can and pay them online. If we get any mail, its either a magazine or some form of junk mail. Today was no exception.

I reached into the box and pulled out a single, lonely postcard. I figured it was from some mortgage company or real estate license because that’s about 80% of the junk we get. Not this time, though. This card was extra special, an offer for sand bag delivery. Yes, sandbags, like, “The levy is gonna burst. We need more sandbags!” I should also note that they do silt fence, straw wattles and visqueen, whatever the f**k those are.

Even though I live in a beach city, most of the homes sit on a large bluff far from the reaches of a potential squall or tsunami. There’s also a huge breakwater about 1,000 yards offshore specifically for that reason.

Most know that Southern California isn’t known for a heavy rain season. The threat of 6 inches of rain in a single day are pretty much non existent. Of course it’s always possible, but highly unlikely. So unlikely that there really isn’t much need to keep note of sandbag companies even if a huge storm is bearing down on us. Preparedness for this type of event isn’t a Californian strong suit. Now earthquakes are a different story. We brace the hell out of everything because we don’t want our precious china cabinet crashing down on our heads during dinner, but I digress.

I’m not exactly sure who sold the Saddleback Materials Company on the idea of a direct mail postcard to the residents of Long Beach, but I’m guessing that they’re sitting over the phone waiting for hundreds of phone calls to come in after this fantastic promotion; dozens at least.

I can’t figure out for the life of me why Saddleback would think they could find new customers by using direct mail to an obvious miscalculated demographic. Sandbags are obvious an old school market. They do business face to face and rely on relationships with contractors to increase business. Even if I was a contractor, what is the likelihood that I’m going to call Saddleback? I probably already have a company that provides me sand when needed. Why would I change just because someone sent me a postcard.

This postcard doesn’t represent the company. Even though it says they have fast friendly service at the right price, why am I to believe them? Because they have a photo showing mountains of prefab sandbags and a nice shiny truck for deliveries? Even if this postcard went to every contractor in the SoCal area, I doubt they’ll gain much from it.

I’m guessing grass roots selling is the best way to gaining business, direct contact with their intended clients. They could also stretch the boundaries a little. Instead of printing postcards, how about a message on the sandbags that says, “This home saved by Saddleback.” I’m tossing out a crazy one here, but how about inviting all your clients and their families out to the property for a treasure hunt amongst the sand mountains?

I guess I just don’t understand how companies go immediately to the default methods of promotion. I know that 90% of business have not read Seth Godin, but when you have a marketing budget, why isn’t the return ever considered? If I called Saddleback and asked them how they are managing their leads from this promotion, I’m almost sure they wouldn’t have any kind of analytics in place. I’m making a huge assumption, but call it an educated guess that Saddleback is not measuring their ROI in the slightest. They’re sending out random postcards to people they’ve never talked to and praying that a few call. It very well may happen, but I’m pretty sure they could spend that money elsewhere that has a much larger impact on their customers as well as their revenue.

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Like most folks, our garage is filled to the brim with junk rather than vehicles other than a couple of beach cruisers. So we took one weekend to go through all our belongings and sort the crap from the junk. Then this past weekend, we held our first yard sale.

We have a neighbor across the street who deals vintage furniture out of his home, a truck and a couple of storage units. When he found out we were planning the yard sale, he decided to piggy back on our efforts, which we didn’t really mind. It actually ended up being a good thing because instead of the looky-loos who park just in front of the house and look from their car, people actually pulled over because there was so much stuff to see. I recommend this tactic to anyone looking to liquidate their junk.

The best part was the $500 we pulled from the events. Combine that with the tax advantage of donating all the leftovers to Goodwill and selling some choice pieces on eBay, and you’ve got a recipe for your next trip to Vegas… or pay the huge mortgage on a house you can hardly afford.  All in all, not a bad deal.

This past weekend, we hosted a makeshift shindig for my sister-in-law and her husband to show off their new baby to half of Leslie’s family that hadn’t seen the baby yet. What started out at 15 or so people quickly doubled and ended up becoming  a major affair.

Leslie didn’t intend on being the über host, but before we knew it, she was up to her elbows in fruit and vegetable crudete. This was the most people we’ve had in the house since moving in back in September but now that we got our new dining room table, we were a lot more comfortable with seating arrangements even though we had to borrow a patio set from our eclectic furniture dealing neighbor. Freckles was the most content because of the constant stream of people moving outside in order to toss the ball to her. I was content because I knew once the people were gone, that dog would be asleep for the rest of the night.

All in all, the event turned out really well even though I was conned into chomping down on a piece of shrimp dimsum. If I hadn’t mentioned it before, seafood stays away from me and I stay away from it and never the twain shall meet, or whatever they say about two things that shouldn’t be in close proximity for fear of spontaneous combustion. Thank goodness for some incredible, pallette-cleansing strawberries from the world famous Chino’s farm in Del Mar. The best part of the afternoon for me was the constant compliments we received on our home. Everyone commented on how the home looked cute or awesome or beautiful and I was blown away. I mean I think we have a nice home, but I never looked at it as awesome. For the second time in a month, I had this overwhelming feeling of pride in our home; not just a house, but a home. I may not be incredibly successful and I may not drive fancy cars or have the body of an Adonis, but I have a home that other people admire and my wife and I really enjoy. Life is good.

For the past several months, Leslie and I have been eating off a temporary dinner table. Actually, it’s a folding table we bought at Target because it was cheap and a quick fix since we didn’t want to eat every meal at the coffee table, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it’s hard on the back and makes eating tough.

Anyway, so we’ve had this table and some bamboo chairs that we got from Leslie’s Dad awhile ago and it did the job, but looked terrible. We’ve been on the hunt for a dining set for some time now, but the expense was more than we could bear, so we were stuck with the folding table for awhile. Then came Craigslist.

Leslie had been scouring Craigslist off and on, but most of the stuff you find there is either crap or not the style we were looking for. That all changed last week when a young guy named Jerry decided to post up a listing for his Mission style table and chairs. One look and we were hooked. The table looked perfect for our bungalow and large enough to fill the space it would fill. After exchanging a few emails and phone calls, we set a date to check out the table. The only problem was the distance. Jerry lives in La Crescenta which is not a short drive from Long Beach. Going up during the week was out of the question because neither one of use wanted to sit in that much traffic after being in it on our commute home. We decided to check it out on a Saturday but ran the risk of him selling it before hand.

Saturday came and we ran a few errands here and there and by the time we were supposed to go up to see the table, I had lost my motivation to make the 70 mile drive. I complained and whine for a bit, but the look of disappointment on Leslie’s face was too much to handle so I relented and we hopped in the truck and headed East. Thankfully, traffic wasn’t that bad and we made good time going up. The table turned out to be great and when we talked Jerry into giving us the table and chairs for only $250, I made quick work of getting the stuff into the truck before changed his mind.

We got the table home, did some cleaning, made some adjustments to layout of the joint and dressed up the table a bit. The set looked great in our home and we were stoked, but there was an added bonus. Not only did it look great, but it gave the house a feeling of permanence that a folding table could never accomplish. Not only is it comfortable, but it feels warm and good and that’s something I just never expected.

Well, the window project has been on hold for the past few weekends because we’ve had lots of plans and things to occupy our time. I’m beginning to think Leslie is finding things to do so she doesn’t have to finish this one window. At this rate, we’ll be done in about 8 years. The thing is, I don’t plan on being in this house that long, but you never know what life has planned, right?

On another home note, our friend Nicole has taken a job in West L.A. and is picking up stakes from San Diego. For a few weeks while she looks for a place to live, she’s going to spend a few days during the week with us. This should be interesting. Leslie and I don’t bump into each other much around here except when sharing the bathroom or in the kitchen. With a third person and a dog always needing to be at our feet, it might get complicated, but we’re ok with it. We may end up deciding we need a bigger place after all, but we’ll suck it up ’til then.

The upside is that Nicole is a great cook. Maybe we can get her to give Leslie a break once in awhile. No guarantees or expectations, but a possibility.