I am happy to report that after 6+ months of chemotherapy and medication, I received a clean bill of health from my doctor! Yes, my liver disease is in remission and this week, I will receive my last chemo shot. I can’t believe it’s been 6 months but I am glad the shots are over. There’s nothing in the world like giving yourself a shot once a week that makes you feel terrible.

The next bit of good news is related to my business. As you know, I have decided to pursue my lifelong dream of being a professional photographer and it has been difficult with the decline of print media but, I’ve been very fortunate and have been shooting sports for Indiana University and freelancing shooting portraits, landscapes and gearing up for the upcoming art show season. It’s been a blast!

I’ve also gone back to what I do best in my Internet Business, search engine optimization for small businesses. This is how I got my start over 10 years ago and I love helping businesses develop an online presence and watch them grow because of the work we do together. I’ve been consulting for several small businesses and developing their traffic and search engine marketing strategies.

As you can see, 2010 has started out great for me both personally and professionally and I couldn’t be happier. I am very fortunate to have an incredible wife and supportive family, they helped me get through this past year and I am more grateful than you’ll ever know.

The best part is I’m back working for myself and not working with someone who’s morals and ethics are lower than Jay Leno’s late night TV ratings. Not to sound to cliche’ but… what goes around, comes around, a person can step on and hurt many people while trying to get to the top but, he will discover it’s awful lonely when you are there by yourself.

I’ll end this post with a quote from Randy Pausch, Randy was a true hero and someone who I look up to, and hold the utmost respect for, he wrote a book about living, while he was dying….

“It’s not about how to achieve your dreams. It’s about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you”.

~ Randy Pausch (author of The Last Lecture)

Have a great year and remember, Stay Positive!

Pat Lovell

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I had a great time at the shows, Dave and the Band put on an outstanding show both nights. The setlists were completely different each night and it was nice to hear some of the new music. Their new album Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King drops on June 2nd. I’m very excited about the new album, I’ve heard 5 songs from the album so far and they are very good.

While in Vegas, I played my favorite 3 card poker and did very well (for a change). The first night I was there, I sat down at a table and on the very first hand, got the best possible 3 card hand, a straight flush! That made my day. It got better, I hit 3 of a kind 5 times over my stay, which is the second best hand at 3 card. I actually came back from Vegas with more money than I took with me. That was a first!

Here are some photos from the Dave Matthews Band shows.

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Here’s the best part, I got VIP tickets for the show. I get to go to a Before the show party, watch the show from the floor (very close to the stage) and attend the VIP after party.

It should be a great show, the band is getting ready to put out a new album on June 2nd, titled Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King (a tribute to Leroi Moore, a band member that passed away last summer from an ATV accident). I’ve heard a few of the new songs and they are very, very well done.

I guess being in Vegas for the show isn’t too bad either, I’m looking forward to playing some cards as well.

I really hope I can get my camera into the show, I’m sure there will be many great photo opportunities. I’ll have my iPhone but really want to get the digital camera inside. We’ll see how it goes. Keep an eye out for photos in the next week or so.

Pat

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Here are some photos from the cruise.

While I was on the cruise the Steelers were in the NFL Playoffs and continued on to go to the Super Bowl. We loaded up the car and my Dad, my Son and I headed to Tampa to go to the game. We met my cousin Jay G. there and we had a blast. You can see my video diary of the trip here – Steeler Fanatic

Here are some photos from the Super Bowl.

I have a pretty busy schedule with everything we are doing with our business for 2009, we have some pretty big stuff planned. New products, seminars, workshops, and much more. Stay tuned.

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We started off Thanksgiving day with the usual cooking and traditional “Lovell Family” stories of past holiday fun. We always have plenty of funny stories to tell in my family, there are no shy people in my family so lack of conversation is never a worry.

It’s funny, we have a saying when the whole family gets together, we have what we like to call “Griswold Moments”. The saying is derived from Clark Griswold and the vacation series of movies. You know what I mean, burning down the christmas tree, cousin Eddie cleaning out his RV in the driveway, getting to WallyWorld only to see that it’s closed for the day, etc..

We always have these “Griswold Moments” when we get together. This year was no different. On Thanksgiving day we put the turkey in the oven at 9am and my wife and mother said it would be ready at 3:00 (give or take a few minutes). We checked on the bird at 3 and it was not done, we checked on it at 4:00, 4:30, 5:00, 5:30 and finally at 6:00 it was ready to eat. It gave us some extra time to have a few glasses of wine and good conversation about past Griswold Moments. LOL

Friday was fun, I made breakfast for everyone and we decided to drive out to show everyone the Lake Property that we are going to buy. So we packed into my brother in law’s Yukon and headed out on the 30 minute drive out in the country… way out in the country, I’m talking ‘Hills have eyes” out in the country. LOL

Everyone loved the property, the peace and quiet and the beautiful lake. We walked around and talked about the house we want to build there. Then we headed out on what seems to be our new family tradition on Turkey Day.. Bowling. LOL

Yep, we all love bowling on the WII, so we went to our local bowling alley and had some laughs while trying to bowl. It’s not as easy as it is on the WII. We bowled 2 full games and had a great time. I won both games with a whopping 97 on the first game and 126 on the second. As you can see, none of us are ready for the PBA.

After bowling we headed to our favorite Italian Restaurant for a nice dinner and wine. After dinner we headed back to my house for some relaxation and a movie. We watched one of our favorite movies, August Rush. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a great movie.

I love the holiday season and can’t wait until the week of Christmas for more family fun!

Happy Holidays,

Pat Lovell

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I got back from Toronto and started feeling pretty lousy, you know the deal, headache, body aches, stuffy nose, ears hurting, etc.. I thought I had my yearly bout of the flu coming on. I knew I had to get over this quickly as I was scheduled to fly out to Sydney, Australia on Sunday the 16th for a Rip2it Training Workshop.

So, I went to the family doctor and figured he would get me some antibiotics, decongestant, the usual cold and flu medicines. But…….

As with anything, life can throw some curveballs at you to keep you on your toes. What was to be a simple visit to the doctor for the flu/cold turned out to be a 4 day event with more doctors and numerous tests. When they checked my blood pressure which is standard procedure, the nurse looked at me and said, does your blood pressure run high? I said, not at all. It was 190/100!! So, she thought it might be a mistake and tested it again. Nope.. it wasn’t a mistake it was that high.

So, they put me through the normal procedures for the flu/cold and asked me to wait 30 mins. to take my blood pressure reading again…. no change in the reading it was still that high.

I was monitored for the next 24 hours and the readings varied from 190/100 to 160/88 but never lower, so off for more testing. You see, I have a very bad family history of heart disease and this worried everyone. My Father had a heart attack when he was 38 (in november of all months!), my Uncle Chuck has a heart transplant and my Father’s Mother died very young of a heart attack. You can see why we were worried.

An EKG and Blood tests were performed, no heart attack but there are some early warning signs and the family history is there so, I have to go through some other tests this coming week. They put me on some Blood Pressure medication and an aspirin a day to get the pressure down.

Time for some changes….. It sucks that it takes something like this to realize that it’s time to make life changes but I’ve been through some pretty scary medical issues before and I know how serious they need to be taken. I get my cholesterol reading this week and I think that will be the deal breaker.

I’ve been eating pretty well (when I’m not on the road) but that is the first step and I know it and the next is exercise, I have to get back into shape and start exercising once again. My goal will be to drop 25lbs and completely change my diet to ‘heart healthy’.

Stress…. oh yes, I have to eliminate stress. This is ALL on me. This last couple of years have been incredibly amazing, our company has gone from mid six figures to close to 8 figures and with that comes an enormous amount of responsibility. It’s not all about me now, there are company officers, employees and investors to think about and I put way to much pressure on myself. I will be making some serious changes when it comes to how I handle stress. I know this will take some time and effort but I know I can do it for my family and the company.

Don’t worry, I’m doing fine, I just need to take some time to re-group and make some changes in my life that will keep me here for many, many years to come

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