Robert on the Personal Side
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A Passion For Competition
Greetings friends! For those of you I have not had the pleasure to meet, I wanted to take a moment and tell you a bit about me. I suppose the first thing you should know about me is I love competition. It truly gives me a thrill and helps drive me to finish at the front of the pack. For example I used to regularly engage in organized Go cart racing. I was ALWAYS a top 3 finisher and when it was not number one, I analyzed my mistakes.
At the same time I am the first guy to give my front place rivals (if they existed) a giant hug and thank them for the great race. "Man that was an amazing move you pulled on me on the outside of corner 5". To me it’s not how you begin your journey, it’s how strongly you finish.
..."2nd place is the first loser" ...
1999- One of my greatest victories in Brampton, ON Canada.
Fishing in Georgian Bay
8 hours of patience pays off with a 16 lb, 48" northern. We were anchored on on 38’ Sea-Ray for the day and night. After the catch, I celebrated by having a cool beer. The second drink I took included a wasp that found it’s way into my beer. Yep I got stung on my tongue and could not speak very well for the next couple days. It was all worth it, the fish is on plaque!
Robert wins award for top catch then suffers from a bee sting on tongue whilst sipping a beer.
Is Pride a Human Weakness?
I often ask myself this question when sporting my trophies around friends and family. I have concluded pride is your strength because at the end of the day it’s belief in yourself that is the strongest part of your character.
The results you can achieve in anything you do by having confidence in your abilities are limitless. If pride gets in the way, so be it! Pride is part of your core being and it cannot be taken away, just swallowed.
“A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you’re looking down, you can’t see something that’s above you.” C.S. Lewis (British Scholar and Novelist. 1898-1963)
My Immediate Family
From the left: Niece Kristyn holding Niece Erin, Behind Kristyn brother Ron, beside Ron is Sister Kathy, beside Kathy is my youngest bro DJ, arm in arm with DJ is me, in my left arm is my oldest daughter Robyn, in front of Robyn is my youngest daughter Sarah and in front of the cake are Ma & Pa.
Ma and pa are the only reason we are all standing in this picture. Not to mention the 2 trophy fish above the fireplace mantel 
My Best Friends
..."Dogs; They say the dog is man's best friend. I don't believe that. How many of your friends have you neutered? ~ Larry Reeb" ...
I have been working with dogs for about 20 years. I like to get in their head space and lead them in the right direction. They are very similar to children in many ways. In fact, I often apply the same psychologies on both- true story! The dogs I choose to work with are problem children. They are usually abused and slated for euthanization.
Meet Mr Bones
Mr Bones was an ambassador to the Rottweiler breed. He lived for 10 happy years then passed from the big C. If you want to read about this celebrity, I wrote a "Memory" note on Facebook.
- RIP Mr. Bones
Meet Shadow
About a year after the passing of Mr Bones I got Shadow. Her name was Sophie when I met her in a pack of 50-70 rescue dogs. I had spoken with the pack leader (Britt) earlier that day and lined up a meeting with a nice boy name Bruno. When I arrived it was pretty heart warming to see the love and care Britt was providing
to these dogs because she loved it- no other reason. It was a nice, fenced off hotel in the country for the dogs. After exchanging pleasantries with Britt it’s time to meet Bruno. Bruno was a cross between and German Shepherd and Rottweiler. He was recently abandoned by his owners and a perfect gentleman. His disposition was immediately evident when he parked himself right beside me and almost knocked me over - with a huge smile on his face! As I was standing there I looked around at some of the other dogs. I saw a pit bull with his eye lids removed as an experiment, a great dane with his voice box surgically remove by university students as a test and finally…Sophie! Sophie was in a secluded area from other dogs. I could only see her nose and one eye through a picket fence but she never took her eyes off me. She was a drop dead gorgeous looking dog.
I asked Britt, "What about the dog staring at me through the fence?" Even though I had Bruno on a lead ready to go, something prompted me to ask Britt about Sophie.
"Oh, she’s a bit of a wing nut. She has gone out on 5 adoptions and came back the same day on each one. Apparently she shows her teeth and growls when being approached. Although she is not like that with me. Sophie was abused by in her first year and has never seen a kind hand until she arrived here. She is 1 1/2 years old" Britt responds.
I realize I cannot leave without meeting Sophie "A wing nut, LOL! Britt would it be OK if I can see Sophie? You can see her face through the fence, her eyes have not left me for the 20 minutes I have been standing here"
Sophie came out to see me a few minutes later and was desperately pulling on the lead to get to me. There was a connection. A 90lb Rottie coming at me with love in her eyes. She was telling me to please rescue her. Over the next few months I worked with Sophie who quickly earned her new name "Shadow". I needed to show Shadow that it was OK to trust people again. I realized her growling and bearing of her teeth was fear aggression. Shadow is 10 years old now with a true love for people.
A Sense of Pride and Desire to Win
It’s true a man’s work is never done but some of us are motivated by pure passion and pride. On my business side, characteristics from my persona are an edge I often have over other competitors. People I chat with can see I believe in what I do. That can often be all that is needed to entice a blind leap of faith. When people you talk to can hear the passion in your voice, their trust and belief in you often follows. In the business world I have faired very well with this philosophy. Do you believe in yourself?
In my spare time I like to work with dogs, Twitter, Talk to Friends on Facebook, keep my linkedin profile up to date and blog about website promotional ideas. I have respectable memberships in popular online business related forums. I also enjoy answering the odd Google Analytics question for my friends at Yahoo answers and other social networks. To me, this is fun stuff I enjoy doing.
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