Hey You! My name is Gary Chipman, and I am the International Sales guy here at QuicKutz, along with Chris Mickelsen, we form "Team International." This is my fifth year at QuicKutz, and I have loved every day of it, well all of them except for the day Kyle Adams dressed up like me for Halloween and Kirk Pead, Spencer Livingston, Erik Adams, and Brian Hubler had too much fun with it! Oh yeah, I am going to name names in this entry, so be prepared for that! I am still plotting my revenge, but that will have to wait for another day.
In all honesty, I truly do enjoy what I do for QuicKutz. My job has allowed me to travel throughout the world. QuicKutz has taken me to the following countries- Canada, Japan, England, Scotland, France, Sweden, Norway, Brazil, Australia, Netherlands, Denmark, and South Africa, but I’m not bragging! I have taught scrapbooking classes on a cruise ship off of the coast of South Africa, or done “makey takeys” as our Asian distributor calls them, throughout various parts of the world. I really enjoy meeting people and hearing their stories. If anything, I have learned from being in this industry that the world is really not that big! We all have a story to tell, and I dig that I sell tools to help people do that. Kind of cheesy I know, but what are you going to do, except go out and purchase the Epic Six! J
Since QuicKutz recently joined Facebook, I must ask, have you accepted our “Friend Request” yet? If so, thanks friend! If not, really, why? Well you must not have seen it; surely you are a friend of QK if you are reading this, so go sign up and become a friend today! But I digress…I guess since many of us reps are new to the QK Blog, I thought I would take a few of the “random thoughts about me” on my Facebook profile and share them with you, if you want to see all 25 of them, you must first come to Utah, buy me lunch, and then we can be Facebook buddies! So here they are, a little insight into the QK International guy.
1. First things first, I love that I am from Canada! To my Yankee friends, please do not be offended, I love it here as well. I feel blessed to be back to my "roots" in American Fork and Lehi—I truly can't think of a better place to raise Abbey and Jake, but I take a lot of pride in being Canadian! I miss family trips to Waterton and Alberta, waking up to a Chinook and living in Bow Island.
2. I can't believe I was once so stubborn to think adoption was not for my wife and me. I will be forever grateful to my wife, who had the foresight to steer us in that direction. My two children have brought fullness into my life and a joy I have never experienced before.
3. Big fan of the "what if" game. I am sure you have played, you ask friends or family members something along the following "OK, so what if...happens, what do you do?" Great way to get insight into someone. I thought about building a website along those lines, but someone beat me to it (www.whatifsports.com, very cool) and I also know very little about computers.
4. The perfect dinner for me is steak/chicken on the bar-b-que with family or friends. If I am going out to eat, I love Tepanyaki Steak House (similar to Benihana), second choice would a tie between Wasatch Broiler and JCW's (can't beat those burgers and shakes).
5. I mentioned in #1 that I miss Canada, but I do not miss the winters. In fact I do not like winter in Utah either, I have become a wimp with the cold weather. If I had my choice, I would be in Arizona; the thought of having that weather year round would be just fine with me.
6. I tore my meniscus and partially tore my ACL, playing laser tag?!?!?!? Who does that? But, I told people for the longest time that I did it playing Basketball! Just a little white lie, wow, it is good to finally come clean about that!
7. A pet peeve of mine is when driving and you let someone in, and they do not acknowledge it with a wave. I know it should not bug me, but it does. Same when you stop to let someone cross the road or go into a store and they do not look at you and smile or say thanks. Again, I realize it should not bug me, but it does.
8. My wife and I used to watch the show Friends, and if you watched it, you know what a Top 5 list is. Our list is a little different; meaning all we can do is dinner and perhaps a movie. Faith Hill has been in my #1 spot for 10 years and I do not think she is going to leave any time soon. Allison still loves Mr. Coolson from "Never Been Kissed" all I can say is his and Drew Barrymore’s kiss on the baseball field at the end of that movie raised the bar pretty high for men everywhere, I will never forget Allison asking me when we saw it "Why do you not kiss me like that?" UGH!
9. A little strange, But, I had a mirror on the back of my bedroom door in high school, and I would practice dance moves in front of it, trying to perfect the latest moves. Sad I know.
10. I gave my wife a high five at the end of our first date. For those who know the story, it wasn't just any high five, I "brought it down", like all the cool people did back then. Never was in to the kissing thing on the first date, and I thought hugs were cheesy for a first date or most dates. Usually I would walk a girl to the door and I was so nervous it took all I had to say "well thanks for the date, I will call you?" There was something about my wife that I had the nerve to walk right up to her with my hand held high and give her a five, but again, I brought it down, so it was cool. She new right then and there I was a man with a plan!
11. Just read #10 and all I can say is "Wow! I do not deserve her!"
12. Big believer in "Checks and Balances" in a relationship. Meaning, what I spend on myself, my wife should be able to spend on her. Or if I am out golfing or whatever, she should be able to go out and have some time for her and her friends. (Let me step aside from this list for a moment and speak to you reading this. It is important to note this ladies, bring this up to your significant other, let them buy what they want for themselves so when the Epic Six tool hits your LSS, you are in position to go out and pick one up with out the guilt! Genius right? What are they going to say to you, you let them buy that new golf club, so perhaps you send them out to the course, and you just got yourself 4 hours of uninterrupted scrapbooking bliss!
13. One of the lessons I have learned in life was best stated by John Stockton, a player for the Utah Jazz, when he retired. He was asked if he was disappointed he never won an NBA Championship, and his response was priceless- "No, I found joy in the journey!" How true is that? I think the trick in life is to play with the cards you are dealt and do the best you can. As my daughter would say from last years preschool class "You get what you get, and you don't throw a fit!"
14. I think the term "Friends til 5" is funny and somewhat true when speaking of coworkers.
15. Summer is my favorite time of year, I love to be outside working in the yard, and I cannot wait to start taking my kids to the golf course. I think we may have to find clubs for Abbey this year and see what she thinks. One of the things I love about summer is the smell of fresh cut grass.
Okay well there you go, a little more insight into the mind of the QK International guy. Some of you may have heard of my “Weight Watchers Experience” if they ever let me do another entry, I will have to share it there.
Thanks for reading and using QuicKutz, it is your loyalty to our brand that puts diapers on my son and keeps my daughter tumbling in her gymnastics class! J
