Soapier update

Hey all.

Not sure where to begin. We did the shaving soap... and then things kind of went a little haywire here.

I had gone off to Jamaica for a vacation that was a long time coming, with my girlfriend Karen. Went to an all inclusive. I had had a semi-bad experience at an all-inclusive in the Dominican Republic a couple of years earlier. Not the company I was with, but the place we stayed. The food was bad, the room was only so-so, the drinks were watered down and sugary, and the fishing trip I went on was something called trolling, instead of actually fishing.

We get on the boat, start heading out, the seas were choppy, and 5 out of the 6 people on the boat got sick. I found out about twenty minutes in that what they were going to do was drop hooks and just go around and see if something caught on. Not stopping the boat, lowering hooks, and every man for him/herself.

What a waste. So, we got back, I kissed the ground, and vowed never to go to an all-inclusive again.

Then my present girlfriend says to me "If I don't go on vacation soon, I'm going to kill you in your sleep."

So, of course I said "Do it, I just don't care any more."

She spared my life, booked a vacation, and we headed down just before the huge Christmas rush. The idea was, I'd get back to NY after the trip, relax a bit, then head back down to Tampa to help make soap. We had the Secret Santa coming, and with almost 13,000 people signed up, we were expecting a bit of a rush during those 10 or so days.

Get down to Jamaica, first day it rains. I end up watching episodes of House (1st season, I'd never watched it before), she watches episodes of Firefly (she'd never seen it), Arrested Development (she'd never seen it) and Dexter (she'd never seen it).

Second day, sunshine. I play beach volleyball and scratch the hell out of my knees and limp off like a 70 year old. She catches too much sun and burns her back. I end up putting some aloe stuff on her back four times a day, and then hear her groan and cry all night. It was an awesome vacation.

That night we went to rent a movie from the hotel. They had Indiana Jones. I was psyched, because I love the series. Most of them.

Got the movie and found out it was the last installment, and I started crying. Because it's a piece of shit movie. Karen said she wanted to die. I wanted to order everything on the room service menu and time them, because I was so bored.

Third day, things are going well, we're looking forward to going ATVing on some sandy beach on the fourth day, when I get an email from my mom.

Subject: Hey Very Important

Body: Hey
Erica has to have open heart surgery tomorrow they found that she has a bacteria in her heart and she needs a valve replaced.

If you can call me.

I tell my girlfriend.

"So... no ATVing?"

(eyeroll)

Using my girlfriend's business phone, I call my mom. She tells me that the doctors are switching her to a heart hospital in Clearwater, one of the best. The doctors who found the bacteria and did a little video into the heart thingy said "Yeah, you're lucky to be alive, we have to do this tomorrow morning or YOU'RE GOING TO DIE!"

Well, that pretty much raised the hackles of everyone. I don't have any replacement sisters. I had to weigh the option of going ATVing or going back to Tampa, and we were having a really good time.

In the end, I flipped a coin.

So, the next morning, I called my mom and she said "she might have surgery on Sunday. Come back to Tampa."

So, it was best to three, on the coin flip.

Canceled the ATV outing, switched it to river tubing, just in case I didn't have to leave early. Doctor came back that same day and said "Surgery maybe Monday."

Yay!

So we went tubing.

And it was awesome. I went under a waterfall and jumped into the river on a rope swing, we had a very nice dinner and relaxed and watched The Sum of All Fears, which is a very good movie.

I change my flight on Sunday, so instead of going back to NY, I head to Miami, then Tampa. Get to Tampa, I'm exhausted, head to the hospital after buying my sis a netbook, so she can watch movies and go online and all that. At this point, she was supposed to be in the hospital for weeks. Open heart surgery to fix a damaged valve isn't open and shut, unless you're working on a cadaver.

Get to the hospital, give her the netbook, find out that she's feeling better. The antibiotics are working. Awesome.

Next day, they do a culture to see if the bacteria is still there. Her white cell count is down. No bacteria. She's going home, surgery in six weeks.

"So... we can return the netbook?" I ask.

She goes home today. Has a stint being put in for intravenous injections of antibiotics and blood thinners. On disability, bed rest, nurses will be checking up on her.

While I was in Jamaica, with my mom freaking out, she says "Cancel the UK order."

Now... I almost drop the phone.

For those of you paying attention or not, we have a brand new UK distributor. She's very nice, she's very excited about selling Soapier products to the European Union, and we have been making soap, spreading the UK word, putting up ads... and then my sister gets pretty gravely ill. My mom's freaking out (understandably), and I'm trying to figure out how to keep the business afloat.

We lose the UK, we lose a significant amount of Secret Santa. There are more than 1,000 people in the EU signed up. Not to mention, all of the orders that the UK already received.

"We'll honor those and ship them out. J, I can't do this now, with your sister in the hospital."

Sigh. Of course not.

So, I get in touch with the UK and tell her what's going on, and say "I'll have more news on Monday."

She says "Take care of your family, first!"

Monday comes around, and Erica (sister) is doing well. We have a ton of soap made for the UK, and after careful consideration, we start making the rest of the soap order. Not to mention the order that Reddit (the company) placed, and the two wholesale orders we had to get out, and all of the stock we have to make for Secret Santa. We're a week behind.

So, I'm here, in Tampa, waiting to help chauffeur my sister home. Making soap. Sleeping on an air mattress, with dog hair all over it. Eating ok food, burning tv shows on my laptop, and generally not getting enough sleep.

Things went from batshit insane to manageable. My sister is feeling better, the soap is flowing out the door, and I head home Friday to have post Thanksgiving dinner with Karen.

Odds are I'll be back on the 6th of December, to help with the mad rush.

That's the update. We're back on track, ready for the holiday rush, and we'll have all of your orders out in a timely fashion!

UK Customers: Fear not! We're getting out a ton of soap for the UK, and she'll be able to get your orders out straight away.

Cheers!