I just got Shawshanked.

This contagious disease occurs when you are flipping through the channels, you stumble across The Shawshank Redemption, and you drop whatever you’re doing and watch it to the end.  Well, it’s currently midnight, and Shawshank just ended on HBO6.  Thanks Andy Dufresne.

I am now packing my bags, two hours later than I’d hoped, for my 8:00AM flight tomorrow to Miami.  Beginning on Thursday, we’ll kick off our 2009 cruise season with Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Simple Man Cruise.  I started with Sixthman last year in December, and before I knew it five cruises had flown by in the blink of an eye.  This year, I witnessed first-hand just what goes into running a Sixthman event.  After spending eleven months creating, planning, developing, promoting, and booking, we have between four and seven days per event to show how hard we’ve worked.  This would scare the hell out of some people.  How does it make me feel? I’d like to borrow a few lines from the movie:

“I find I’m so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it’s the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain.”

Where does the “uncertainty” come in?  I know for a fact that no matter how much we plan for these events, not everything will go exactly as we think.  Although we’ve spent a year trying to cover every possible angle, there will always be last minute changes that catch us completely by surprise.  Personally, I welcome each and every one of these challenges.  I like to think I do my best work at the last minute, under pressure, so I can’t wait to face new obstacles that none of us have ever seen before.  That’s when we get to show you all how much we truly care about your vacations.  You put your faith in us to deliver an epic vacation; we won’t let you down.

Here are some other things about the 2009 cruise season that get me revved up:

-I look forward to grabbing a beer with people from the Simple Man Cruise 2009 message boards.  I’ve spent all year talking to, cracking jokes about, getting teased by, and enjoying great conversation with these people.  I feel like I know them as well as my other friends, and yet I’ve never met them.  It comes down to a simple choice really.  Get busy livin, or get busy dyin.  You guys are busy livin, and I can’t wait to meet ya!

-Sixteen of my friends from college have booked cabins on the Rock Boat IX.  Apparently my stories, emails, and phone calls were enough to convince them to jump in on the action.  I’m pumped because no matter how much I talk about the chaotic awesomeness of The Rock Boat, words and stories cannot do it justice. I’m excited for you guys. Yeah, even you Evan.

-My brother and sister will be volunteers on two cruises!  My sister Emily will be joining me on Ships And Dip, and my brother Jack will be coming on the Mayercraft Carrier.  Now, if I could just get my parents on one of these things.

-I’m looking forward to hanging out with Twigger and Patrick from Gaelic Storm.  I had never met these guys before last year, and within five minutes, I felt like I had known them for years.  These are two of the nicest guys I’ve ever met, and I could listen to them tell stories all day.  Glad to have you back fellas.

-The ocean. After spending the first 18 years of my life on Cape Cod, and then a year and a half on the beach in San Diego, I’ve been going through withdrawals here in Atlanta.  I can’t wait to stick my toes in the water, and a** in the sand.

-Going back to college.  Well, at least FEELING like I’m back in college: spending twenty four hours a day in close proximity of every one of my co-workers.  When you spend that much time together, you get close really quickly.  I’m looking forward to spending WAY too much time with all of you.  I wouldn’t go into “battle” with anybody else.

-Music.  I live for music and I can’t wait to be surrounded again by thousands who feel the same way.  I will do my best to catch these acts: Sister Hazel, Tonic, Blackberry Smoke, Bang Camaro, Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers, Carbon Leaf, Barenaked Ladies, Great Big Sea, Gaelic Storm, John Mayer, Sarah MacLachlan, Guster, O.A.R., Sam Thacker, Zac Brown, and on and on and on.  This list doesn’t even include the new bands that I can’t wait to check out.  Music overload.  This makes me happy.

What are you looking forward to in 2009?

Before I head off to bed (now it’s 1AM), I’ll leave you with the last few lines of the movie, slightly edited of course:

I hope we can create memories on these cruises that will last a lifetime.  I hope I can make it through five cruises without losing all of my money in the casino.  I hope to see my ‘frynds,’ and shake their hands. I hope the Caribbean is as blue as it has been in my dreams.

I hope.

-Steve

P.S. Andy, if there happens to be an old boat that needs fixing up on the beaches of Half Moon Cay, I’m staying.

Last week I shared the concept of the “Painted Picture”.

Here it is…. Our Painted Picture of what Sixthman will look like on Friday April 1st, 2011.

Vision
Sixthman will change the expectations people have for vacation by connecting like-minded individuals with their passions and affinities.  Creating destination experiences will be the preferred way to vacation for a generation on the quest for memories and moments.  We strengthen communities by bringing them together, empower them to spread the word and appreciate them for their loyalty.

Brand
The Sixthman mark appears alongside top brands, elevating them with the strength of our reputation for consistently delivering ultimate experiences and service.  Our brand commands a premium by creating a strong emotional connection with customers giving them confidence to make the additional investment of money and time.

People, Culture, Values & Spirit
We are a community of high caliber people focused on exceeding expectations for our guests.  We use objective tools to understand our natural strengths, how we are wired to perform and what motivates us to achieve. The culture is made up of a family of leaders and emerging leaders learning and growing in a “Results Oriented” environment where they are held accountable to contribute to the mission.  We tear down the walls that prohibit a pure connection between people and their passions and are pioneers of the intersection where music, community, travel and experience meet.

Leadership
Our environment centers around the team concept with a focus on enrichment through experience and an active reading regimen.  The culture is built to develop leaders who are committed to understanding all facets of the business and supporting the growth of their team.  The leaders at Sixthman are featured in the media, active in the community and appear at conferences as credible and inspiring panelists.

Customer Service
Understanding our guest’s preferences and comfort level with technology has allowed us to achieve a balance of live vs. online interaction in both the sales and service process.  Our team consistently delivers friendly service and exceeds expectations.  We are compared to companies known for authentic customer service like Apple, USAA & Southwest Airlines.

Think we can do it?  We need your help.

-Andy

The other day, my mom sent me to Target to get a game to play with the fam.  Just a quick trip…in and out…right?  Wrong.

Unfortunately for me, the game aisle is right next to the Christmas section.  Or, on December 27, the Christmas Clearance section.  I never fall victim to other after-holiday sales - Halloween, Valentine’s Day - but for some reason, wrapping paper and tinsel leaves me powerless.  And after an hour of combing through every tube of paper, each bag of candy, and all of the leftover ornaments, I walked out with armfuls of crap I’ll probably never use.  But it was 50% off and pretty!

And then I had to go back and get the game that I forgot about.  I blame the dark chocolate mint cookie crisp truffle bar (yep, real thing) that I couldn’t wait to try.

Do any of you share this same trouble?  What’s the weirdest thing you’ve bought because it was on sale?

-Lauren

These are tough times for everyone. It always feels like your own problems are greater than everyone else’s, but believe me, everyone is feeling the pinch. People are losing their jobs left and right. Pay cuts are being handed out like candy. I even accepted a back massage from a wino. (I’ll take a discount where I can get it.) The Amish are considering opening a red light district, but it’s really hard to do that with no electricity. Up is down, black is white, reality has become slightly Mad Max-ish..

These are the times when we prove who we are. Personally, I’m a fighter, and I’m an artist. It’s so easy to forget that when every aspect of existence seems to be systematically failing. So much of everyone’s life these days is simply about survival- putting the next meal on the table, finding another job, trying to keep your home.

I pose one more challenge to you: create something beautiful. When you think your life can’t really get any worse, stop worrying about survival, and start concentrating on creation. I challenge myself every day to create something beautiful. To make someone laugh so hard they pee a little bit. To find that glimmer of absurdity in the mundane. To tell the universe: “F-YOU! Just try and keep me down!”

There was a period in my life when I lived below the poverty line, working at a fetish club, as well as at two other jobs. It was the happiest time of my life, simply because I was a part of something bigger than me, and it was beautiful. I was able to perform on a regular basis, whether it was dancing, acting, or writing. It didn’t matter that I had no car, and would have to sometimes ride my bike miles in the rain to get to rehearsal, and I was living on pb&j.

My tribe and me were in it together, and we took care of each other. I have wonderful memories of “Lights Out” parties that we would throw when the lights got cut off. We couldn’t afford to go to movies or concerts, so our extra-talented friends would perform fire poi for us. We would have art parties, where the only cover charge was a short performance, a poem, or a painting- just an affirmation of our vitality.

I’m so privileged to be a part of the upcoming cruises. As the world comes crashing around me, there is something shiny that keeps catching my eye. It’s the idea that in mere days, I am going to get up at the crack of dawn, board a plane, fly to Miami, and start working on something that makes literally THOUSANDS of people happier than they have ever been. I know there are people who have had to sacrifice a lot to be able to join us this year. Going into this event, I remember that fact, and it inspires me to be a better person, to work harder, and to go ahead and make that really dirty/ inappropriate/ off color joke that makes everyone secretly giggle. Or just plain laugh out loud, hysterically.

Consider yourself warned: I’m using the recession as an excuse to uncensor myself.

So, how are you making the world a better place?

-Barb

Tis the season and the time is once again upon us where we get to start fresh, wipe the slate clean, forget that we never kept any of last year’s new year’s promises, and trick ourselves into believing that this will be the year when we will go to the gym every single day and keep track of every dime in our pockets. Alas, I have decided this year to go a little easier on myself and save myself from the inevitability of failed attempts toward impossible goals. Hopefully these 11 resolutions are ones that I have some chance of sticking to:

1. This year I resolve to never, ever run out of gas (again). Even when the gas light is on and I think I can eek out just 1 or 2 more miles. Never again. From now on, ‘E’ means ‘Exit now for a gas station!”

2. To exercise more. Last year I exercised 7 times. I kept track. This year I am shooting for double digits.

3. To stop drinking beer. From now on, I will only drink vodka.  Or at least until the wedding.

4. Speaking of weddings, this year I vow not to change the date, and the location, and the guest list, and everything (again).

5. To talk on the phone more. Seriously, I am so bad at keeping in touch. Which reminds me…

6. To join facebook, since I appear to be the last living soul without a facebook account.

7. To never, ever call Target under any circumstances. In the time it takes to be transferred, put on hold, transferred, put on hold, transferred (you get the idea), you can actually get in your car, drive to the store, find what you are looking for, and  have time to stop and fill up your tank. And that’s 2 resolutions at once!

8. To help out more around the house. Or at least until I can afford a Roomba.

9. Which reminds me, I need to get out of debt. Therefore, I resolve to play the lottery more often.

10. To learn to use the stove, and the oven for that matter. I have mastered the microwave. Time to move on to bigger and better appliances.

11. To stop using the *#%$ word every other *#%$ing word. However, WTF still acceptable.

So there you have it. Come Thursday I will be a new and improved human being. Until then, you can find me lying in my messy house, drinking a beer, and eating some *#%$ing microwave popcorn.

What are your resolutions for the new year?

-Nora

This is my last blog of the year and I am bucking the system by starting my first “Blog Series” before the year is over instead of waiting til 2009.  I am an extrovert 325 days of the year but from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Eve, I am able to slow my world down, digest the past and visualize a path for the next 12-18 months.

While attending a seminar a couple months ago, Cameron Herold, shared his experience with a process called a “Painted Picture.”

This was exactly what I believed I thrived at doing and here was this man telling me how it actually is a critical ingredient to his success.  All the guilt I have felt for feeling that all I can contribute is idea’s began to drain from my body.  And then a new set of guilt came over me for lacking the confidence and waiting this long to realize it was something we needed.

So I sat down during this reflection time and let it flow.  I chose April 1, 2011 as the day that I was envisioning in the future.  That way if we miss it, we can say it was a joke.  Just kidding.

Sixthman is lucky to have some talented people who can “reverse engineer” this vision and bring it to life.

I am sharing with the entire staff but here is the first sentence….

April 1st, 2011

Sixthman has changed the expectations people have for vacation by connecting tribes of like-minded individuals with their passions and affinities……

Here is a link to 1-800 Got Junk’s Painted Picture.

Tune in next week as I will share the rest.

Andy

I love my family. I am so fortunate that I am able to look forward to catching up with them at this time of year, instead of trying come up with crafty ways to get out of it. I especially like Christmas, since my sister and brother-in-law always make the trip the East coast to celebrate (they live in California). Mom and little sister round out the group, and we’re all very, very close. My immediate family has been through a lot together, as all families have, and we have the luxury of being completely comfortable and candid with one another. Or is it? 

Being able to be totally honest with one another - including poking fun at each of our shortcomings - seems nice. If anyone knows me for one minute, they know there’s not much I like better than a little sarcastic humor. And by a little, I mean a lot. But recently I realized that maybe it is not so nice for those who are on the receiving end of the fun-poking most of the time. One of my sisters confessed to me that her New Year’s resolution is to try to be less uptight. I was curious about her statement, so I asked “what made you decide on this?” Her answer was somewhat heartbreaking. She said, “I know you guys (the family) don’t like it (since we are relentless in making fun of her about it), so I’m going to try and change.” She had always laughed along when we cracked jokes about her over-planning, constant check-ins, and backseat driving. And the truth is, it’s what is endearing about her. It brings great balance into our otherwise way-too-laid back family. But we had all become so used to taking our jabs at her about it that we didn’t realize it was hurting her feelings all along.  

I guess the bottom line is, once you get so close to someone, you think you automatically know, or can sense, how they are feeling, but I’m realizing that is not the case at all. I’m going to try to remember to take a step back every now and again to make sure I’m not overlooking something as important as this. Its funny, it’s something I say and do in my work all the time, as I am sure most of us do. “I’m too close to it!” Sound familiar? Who knew it applied to personal relationships, too. (Not me, obviously.)

Sixthman becomes our replacement “family” about this time of year, since we spend more time together in a few short months than most families do in a lifetime. I hope I remember the valuable lesson I learned this holiday, and make it a point to apply it to my Sixthman family as well.

’twas the night before Christmas, when all through Sixthman… not a keyboard was typing… no phones were ringing.  No internet was connected and wireless cards were tucked away… It was almost as if we’d taken the time to enjoy the holiday…

The holidays have always managed to sneak up on us at Sixthman and fall smack in the middle of the most “all hands on deck” time of the cruise cycle.  Final sign offs on event merchandise, last minute schedule adjustments, emails to guests with booking numbers and boarding information, bands sending us their new drummers info (three days prior to sailing - make sure you catch their set), it’s all coming together at once and in a BIG way.  A sense of real ownership and pride in the events starts to ensue as all of the details are fine tuned. And then as the last passenger boards on the first day of the cruise, it’s of the same feeling as putting the star on the top of the tree after you’ve stategically strung all of the lights and hung every ornament precisely on the branches.  You can step back for a minute, look at what you’ve created and admire all of it’s beauty.  Sure there may have been a few missing branches in the back that needed some extra strands of tinsel (missing bands), maybe the tree leans a bit to the left (need to book the rest of those port side cabins) and you had to stick an extra lego under there, but it’s standing and with some minor tweaks and adjustments,  it’s balanced (stacked line up and sold out!), chock full of individual ornamentation, each with it’s own memorable story. Once that last passenger boards, the star is on the tree and it’s time to plug in the lights and see what we’ve created.

For the majority of  the calendar year our events are our jobs for most at Sixthman.  A really amazing one with great coworkers and customers and the guarantee of there never being a boring work day. But still - 8hrs at the office and then you go home and get on with the rest of your day.  Come December the job begins to form into a lifestyle, one that we get ready to share with 2500 others at a time on 5 cruises over 3 months.  But before we do that we have to literally pry the Blackberry’s and Macs out of each-others hands and force ourselves to step out of the cruise lifestyle and remember that as much as we love our excel sheets and email edits there is a holiday season that our families still expect us to be around for.  We’ve been made to promise at Sixthman that no matter how deeply we love plugging in that tree onboard and getting the ship moving, we be sure to take the time to put the star on our own tree at home.

So in a “long winded round about on the edge of cheesiness” way the above was just a reminder past on, to take the time to enjoy the holidays, whichever you celebrate, because the work will surely be there waiting for you when you get back.  And although your coworkers “TOTALLY” understand why that email had to be sent before you opened presents - pretty sure the rest of the family and friends just think you’ve lost it.

Whatever tree you decorate or however you spend the season, Merry Holidays to all, I hope it’s glowing and full of memories! See you on a cruise!

Melissa

p.s. - I didn’t contradict myself. I wrote this on Monday and I hope you read it on Friday

Good morning, or for some of you afternoon.  This blog is really for all the women out there, so men, I give you permission to skip over it.

I received an email from a friend of mine the other day, with our close group of girls attached, thanking us for being her ‘pigeons’ and being such a huge part of her life.   All that was under the message was a link to this YouTube video. And having never been referred to as a ‘pigeon’, I was instantly intrigued to the meaning.

This video is a letter from an author, to a group of women who undoubtedly have that kind of friendship bond we all hope to be surrounded with throughout our lives.  It touches on real moments you have probably gone through, or realistically will.  It mentions specific challenges, and achievements that we will all support each other through.  It is 5 minutes long, and it is powerful.

Before watching it, make sure you are in a place where people won’t look at you funny when you tear up, or more likely, when you cry. 

And after watching it, I encourage all of you who are blessed with this type of women bond, to forward this onto those that you treasure, that you trust, that you will be close with way beyond life on this Earth.

So… before saying anymore, here it is. To all the strong and real women out there, enjoy. To my pigeons, I am so lucky to have you. If you don’t see the video in your browser, click here to view it.

Ape

I am a huge fan of creating moments when I can even if it means looking like an idiot.

A few months ago I invited my dad to join me for a golf trip to Ireland that I had won at a travel industry conference.  On the third evening, we returned from a pub to the Adare Manor.  As we stumbled to our room in the old castle, we heard people singing on the other side of an old wooden door along the corridor.  There was only one choice to make at that point, and it was to go in for a scotch.  There were forty or fifty travelers swaying to some classic Irish anthems inside so we took a seat and joined them.  After a few songs, the singer asked the audience if anyone wanted to sing a song.  I couldn’t resist the opportunity to shout, “My dad and I would like to play.”  My dad and I play guitar when we are together and always start with Jimmy Buffet’s “Pirate Looks at Forty.”  My dad looked at me like I was crazy and reminded me that these guys were really good and we would not compare to them.  I looked at him and said, “It is our charm that they will remember, not our voices.”

There we stood in front of all these strangers hoping we wouldn’t waste their time or kill their buzz.  I told the story of how we won this trip and that we like to play guitar when we get together but consider ourselves amateurs at best.  We then proceeded to play and by the end of the song, the audience was singing with us and they erupted as I hugged my dad as we finished.

When we sat down, the gentlemen next to us introduced himself and shared his story about losing his father recently and how touched he was to see a father and son sharing an adventure together.  He invited us to be his guest at Ballybunion Golf Club the following day for a round of golf.

Ballybunion is one of the most beautiful golf courses course in the world and has a 2-year waiting list.  It was an amazing day for my dad and I and definitely the high point of the trip.  My dad almost got a hole in one on the 8th hole.  Just to think that it wouldn’t have ever happened if we weren’t willing to take advantage of the opportunity to create a moment that we will always remember.

Anyone else addicted to creating moments?

-Andy