First, I hope you each had a fabulous Thanksgiving holiday. It is one of my favorite holidays but I for sure gained more than I would like. Getting hard to button my top button on my shirts! Yikes!
This week I am headed to Roanoke, VA with Todd Dashley. I have heard a lot of great things about Todd so I am excited to shadow him this week and see his area. Don't you worry... I will take lots of pictures and I am sure I will have some great experiences to share with each of you.
Since this past week was an off week of sorts, I thought it would be fun for you to get to know me a little better and for me to get to know you as well. I will be sending you a short questionnaire with some questions for you to answer about yourself. I have pictures of each of you with your name under it, but I don't know a lot about each of you personally. This month I want to get to know you better even if we aren't in the same office yet :)
But in this blog entry I want to give you a sneak peak into the life of Jon Lefrandt.
Name: Jonathan William Lefrandt (I go by Jon)
Birthdate: March 1
Highest Level of Education: Masters Degree from the University of Utah
Favorite Color: Despite the fact that my mother has given me a Red Shirt every year for my birthday that I can remember... my favorite color is blue :)
Favorite Sport (to watch): It is a tie between college football and college basketball. I don't really get into professional sports.
Favorite Sport or Activity (to play/do): I am a runner. I ran the Salt Lake City Marathon 3 years ago, I have run 4 half marathons, and have done the Ragnar Relay Series the last 3 years. 2 of those years I did the famous "Ragnar" leg where I had to run/climb 1,678 feet in just over 3 miles. This was also after not sleeping for 24 hours and spending the entire time in a small cramped car with 5 other sweaty runners. And after I had already done 2 other legs (one of which was 10 miles at 3 AM) Crazy?? I think so... I love it though.
Favorite food: Hmm... This is a TOUGH one. I love Sushi and would eat this over a nice steak any day. But I also love a good old fashioned Burger and Fries and just about anything chocolate and peppermint.
Favorite vacation: I LOVE going to Southern California and have a slight addiction with Disneyland. Having kids I love going there even more. We even had an annual pass one year... I won't tell you how many times I have been :) Its a lot... I have also been to Disney World, Disney Paris, and most recently to Walt Disneys grave :) Does that make me some kind of a super fan?
Favorite Music: I am a big Michael Buble fan. It does my heart good. But I also like some Beach boys, James Taylor, Michael Jackson and Tim McGraw. A melting pot of music selection for sure.
Family Situation: I am the oldest of 7 kids. I am married. My wife's name is Ashley. Together we have 3 kids. Lily is 4, Sophie is 20 months and William is 2 months old. Lily and Sophie were clearly planned and Will was sort of a surprise :) We love having him as part of our family though.
Funeral Industry Experience: My industry experience really comes from being a "consumer" myself. My father passed away 3 years ago and being the oldest I had to plan the funeral myself. With my father being as young as he was we never really thought or knew of pre planning. My uncle was diagnosed with cancer the same weekend as my father and he and his wife had pre planned their final wishes. I have seen both play out and am completely convinced that preplanning is the way to go. I hated how stressful everything was when my Dad passed. I remember feeling angry at the deadlines to get things done etc. All I wanted to do was grieve and instead I had to keep completely busy with the massive checklist of items and bills to pay.
Favorite TV Show: I am a big fan of Surivivor on CBS. I realize it has been around FOREVER, but I still am a big time fan. I would love to try out for the show someday :)
Favorite Movie: The Fugitive starring Harrison Ford.
What books have you recently read or are currently reading: I usually try to rotate between intellectually stimulating books and mindless reading to keep things interesting... Lately I have read:
- Steve Jobs Biography (all 600 pages of it)
- The Hunger Games (books 1, 2 and 3)
- Good to Great
- Born to Run
- The Ultra Marathon Man
- Outliers
Other random info:
- I am a die hard Apple (computer) fan. I have an iPod, iPhone, iPad, Macbook Pro and have read Steve Jobs bio... These products have changed my life ;)
- I am an eagle scout
- I speak Japanese and actually taught it for a year and a half.
- I have a multi colored eye.
- I have torn my left ACL.
- I love DIET COKE
- I lived in Europe for 3 months and lived in Japan for 2 years.
- I don't like Asparagus
- I am a work hard/play hard kind of a guy but believe you have to have fun at work and love what you are doing. I am going to have to get good at ping pong I hear :)
- I am super excited to be with all of you in Portland and hope that 2012 is our best year yet!
Have a fantastic week. Work hard and I can't wait to hear from each one of you and read your responses!
All the best,
Jon
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