Hey gang,

It’s probably seemed like like it’s been a year (or if you have a really good memory, 280 days) or so since I did my last newsletter to you and you were hoping that meant, you’d never be contacted again – sorry I’m back with absolutely critical thoughts on the important topics of our day.

Wiffle Ball

Have you ever played wiffle ball?  As a kid I played four or five times per week during the summer and my son Sully, a currently smaller but better version of me (in every way), has been doing the same with his buddies in between his 5th and 6th grade year this summer in my backyard…for 4 to 5 HOURS per day.  And it just so happens that my office has a window that looks out on our yard.  And while that window does a great job of keeping out pleasant sounds like the chirping of birds, it was never meant to sustain the boisterousness of a young Sharp at the height of his wiffle ball league dynasty.  In short, I’m in search of a better pair of noise canceling headphones.

Cardboard Boxes

Some people are constantly trying to get their email inbox to zero emails – not me.  My endeavor, one I am constantly failing at that causes me all kinds of undue anxiety and stress, is all about cardboard boxes.   As a 40 year old adult with an entire family that buys or needs things from time to time, I often spend my free time trying to conceive of ways to get rid of large and extraordinarily large cardboard boxes.

I’ve come up with many tactics over the years – yelling at them (sadly ineffective), cutting them with knives (effective but uncomfortably knife-y), jumping up and down on top of them (somehow hurting my legs), and my pièce de résistance – throwing them in the driveway when it rains to soften them up and then just ripping them to shreds with my bare hands.  The catharsis of destroying my cardboard enemy is incredible, but sadly fleeting as just when I hear the glorious sound of the truck finally taking away the entirety of the enormous cardboard I stuffed into the bin, I often hear a new truck bringing some enormous box to the house with some bike in it or something.

No one told me cardboard would be my adult nemesis but if I’ve learned anything in life, there’s always more cardboard coming and summer never has enough rain.

Please Welcome…

The most exciting thing that could possibly occur has occurred for my Sharp Guys colleague, friend, and legend, Jeremy Butcher.  Jeremy and his wife Jess welcomed their first child to the Butcher clan last month!

Benny Butcher, already doing awesome things, was born just 10 minutes shy of being born at 5:23 on 5/23/23.  I couldn’t be more excited for Jeremy and his wife – congrats!!!

The Work

As you can imagine, we have been hard at work on a number of projects over the last 9 months since the last email.  The one I want to mention is Dental Aid, a nonprofit doing fantastic work out of Colorado that provides high quality dental care for all types of patients but prioritizes equal access to quality dental care for underprivileged and special needs communities.  This seems like a nonprofit model that many communities around the nation could implement to help people.  Take a look at the newly redesigned website when you have a chance to see some of the great things they are doing.  

Finally

As always, thanks for reading and if you have time, reach out and let me know how things are going in your life.

Cody