I guess first things first. Our little Domenica turned 6 months old just the other day. I can’t believe it.

Can anyone tell me how I can slow this growing stuff down?!

I mean just the other day Santino asked me if he could come work for me so he could earn some money. He said he has a few things he really wants to buy. I told him the hours and how much I would pay him and I found myself in negotiations with my 5 year old for 15 minutes. I have to tell you he made some good points.

This month in tech history:

1971 – Apollo 14 astronaut Alan Shepard hits the first golf ball on the Moon. With only 1/6th the gravity, I wonder what that really looked like.

1985 – Steve Wozniak decides to leave Apple. He remained a shareholder on the board but he comes back when Gil Amelio takes the reigns.

1998 – AOL takes over CompuServe. Does anyone remember what either of these companies do? lol

2008 – Microsoft makes an official bid for Yahoo! Hmm, see what happened after that?

AMRCON is gearing up for quite a year.

We announced, at the beginning of the year, our merger with MDP, and we’ve been very excited to meet and work with so many new clients.

Along with our ODS Managed Services clients, it seems IT projects and professional services have been warming up quite a bit. For the past few years this side of the IT industry has been very slow due to the economy. If an increase in new projects is any indicator of an economic turnaround, then it should be an interesting year.

I hope everyone is off to a great start. Check in with you again next month.

Sincerely,

Dee Rudko, CEO

Warm thoughts, warm thoughts, warm thoughts…

For the Rudko’s, the summer months were a complete blur. Thanks to my wife—the trooper she is—we managed to get upstate for a small getaway and a few weekend trips.

After all, we had to maintain our sanity as we prepared for the birth of our daughter, Domenica Anna.

Our little Domenica, the princes of the family, was born in August. I’m not sure how some of the other fathers out there might feel, but having a daughter has made me a little nervous.

Raising boys was easy. I knew what to do almost instinctively. I knew which toys they would like, where they would want to go on trips, and how to interact with them when we spent time together.

Unfortunately, I don’t think my daughter would have as much fun cutting the hair off a My Little Pony or getting into gunfights with a Cabbage Patch Doll as I did when I was a kid.

So far she’s been terrific, and I love spending time with her. I probably have some time before I really need to get on my A-game with this, but you know me—I’m always thinking a few steps ahead.

If you have any advice for me, please share it in the comment section!

As for business side of life, I think I can sum up the year already in that the effects of the economy are still punching through new bottoms, just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse.

Some areas in technology have remained stable or are even climbing, but then we see some familiar struggles happen to even a giant like HP. I think it’s fair to say we all worked harder to earn less. It’s times like these we need to reinvent, change our comforts, and be mindful of the “what ifs.”

At AMRCON, we’ve increased our capacities and have begun our policy and protocol rewrites earlier than normal just to make sure we’re staying ahead of the curve. Also, project work took a surprising increase this year compared to the year prior when most businesses were in a purse lock down.

Now is the time to take advantage of technology projects. The large hardware providers are cutting some nice deals and financing is available. IT companies that offer professional services, like AMRCON, can schedule out in advance. This helps us allocate labor and keep overhead costs low, which translates into savings for our clients.

Be sure to share your comments. I hope everyone has a great 4th quarter and close to the year. The next time we talk will be 2012.

Sincerely,

Dee Rudko, CEO

Our little family will be a family of five soon. I’ve spoken to other families of 5 for tips. It seems the game didn’t really change because of a new total of 5, but the fact that we’re having our first girl. So I did some research in fear that I was not prepared. After speaking with many parents I found they’re right, everything is going to change and I will now have a new expense that will grow greater than her mother . lol, needless to say this made Sunny very nervous. I’m not sure if they will be friends yet or not. We’re looking forward to it, any day now. We’ll make our announcement on my personal page on FB.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. I’m finding the summer more and more important as I get older. I’m enjoying the outdoors and the weekends with the family. During the week we all work so hard. I know I usually find myself at the office until 7 or 8. I still pack 50+ hours into 4 days. I preffer to get everything done and have a light Friday. This way I’m ready to be in the moment for the weekend. Without the light Firday I find my head still at work on Saturday. Anyone relate?

So this summer I’ve recommited to golf, and having a great time. After the loss of a good friend, Dr. Jason Weniger in March, I made a commitment to do what he’s been trying to get me to do for years. “Get back into a physical routine”, I can hear him telling me. After my knee surgery and PT by Eileen Fee at Marlboro Physicall Therapy and a little ongoing diet of watching what and how much I eat, I was ready to rock. I’m taking advantage of my membership at Bella Vista, not just for golf. I starting to actually use the gym over there with my personal trainor Eraldo from Fitness Training by Eraldo. So I’m back to running at least once a week for 30 minutes, workouts twice a week with a 800-1000 cal burn, and I get to squeeze some golf in once or twice. I’ve never felt better and feel completely in balance. How do you find balance?

Feel free to post to this blog about any of these topics. You can always share anything else you have in mind on my FB page, or email. Everyone enjoy the summer and we’ll talk to you in the fall. Dee Rudko – CEO

With an entire 1st quarter down I have to say 2011 has been filled with positive changes at AMRCON. Since this is the personal page I’ll keep the business side short, but I just have to mention a few things. I’m very excited for the new Partner site expansion, yes AMRCON took on 2 more spaces at our current location. The purpose was to bring some of our Partners over and allow them to use more of our resources and grow. It’s like having a networking group in a single building where we’re always working together. Along with this expansion we’re moving the walk-in service department into a larger office across the hall. Without a formal walk-in campaign, we’ve still had tremendous success. Next up we’re constantly interviewing in for a  few areas in the company. We’ve recently hired more AMRCON stars. We  have also launched our new ODS SPAM guard service to help eliminate those annoying emails. In fact it’s been so successful that we’ve exceeding our 90 day expectations prior to the campaign launch. I think I got most of it. At anytime you can feel free to call or email me with your questions.

I don’t even know where to start with this quarter. I think I was better at thinking through a month at a time just fine. Now the forces that be in marketing are really messing with my routine. I’ll need to keep a  journal to be sure I get all the details together in one place. Well first I want to say that I wrote mother nature and put in a complaint about this winter. I think it was absolutely absurd that New Jersey was hit so badly for as long as we did. I certainly did not sign up for that. My past 2 cars didn’t even have snow tires, I mean really! Next year I think plowing could be done better with flame throwers since towards the end there was no where for the snow to be plowed to. Next, I think we should start a fund for a big bubble to be build over Monmouth county so we can feel like we’re living in California all year round. It would drive the economy and we certainly would have a problem with our high taxes. I’m open for more suggestions.

So on any given Saturday I could pop in to the office for a few to get a jump on the week or play catch up. I can’t believe how fast these guys grow up. Deeko is already running some administrative tasks for the company. Do you think 2 years old is too young to get him started? I’m getting a few looks about it and not sure why? Regardless, I figure if I could have started in business a few years before I did,  I would be that much more ahead, right. I mean at 10, I think I could have done better. Instead of selling fireworks I could have been handling real estate or perhaps working on a technical development project?

March brings many good things. It means warmer weather, the Rudko family vacation, and my birthday in April. Yes, I don’t mind getting older.First reason is because I use Arbonne so I don’t look like I’m getting older (lol) and the other is I keep getting better and better. Who can be upset with that? This picture sums up what Santino thinks about our upcoming Norwegian cruise with Nickelodeon. I must say I can’t wait to meet Sponge Bob. I’m sure I’ll have some nice things to share from the trip along with some pictures.

I hope everyone enjoys the spring, we needed it. I’ll be in touch soon. I invite everyone to come as my guest on any given Friday at 5:30 to the Bella Vista Country Club in Marlboro NJ. They host an open networking night each and every Friday. AMRCON will always be represented and I will be making as many as I can myself. It ’s a  great way to catch up and a perfect opportunity to introduce me to someone you think might benefit from AMRCON. Please be sure to check our Facebook page for details and or to RSVP. You can always call the office as well and ask for Stefanie or Maren. Look forward to seeing everyone soon if not at the Bella Vista events then perhaps at some other AMRCON event that will be posted. – Dee Rudko, CEO

We’re very lucky that even with family that were in an out of hospitals, everyone closed out the year with good spirits and health in their line of site. What is it with the holidays and some of our presious family icons needing to spend time in the hospitals? Do they know that does not count as a siesta? I want to wish my grandmother Anna, or Baba as we call her in Ukrainian, good health for 2011.  I wish to extend good health to everyone needing that extra prayer for 2011.

Each year we have Santa make a special visit to the house for our annual christmas party. We have our close friends and family over to meet with the big guy and take some pictures. We also have the plaesure of celebrating little Deeko’s birthday. So as you can imagine December is quite a busy month as I’m sure it is for most with little ones. The holidays were a terrific time for the Rudko’s. We even had a little extra gift that the guy upstairs provided us this year. Yes, we’re going to have our third little one by July of 2011. We’re quite excited and closing the gap for our 4-5 goal and yes my wife knows the goal, lol. We’re truly blessed.

So we had another amazing year at AMRCON. We have so many things to be truly grateful for. It’s amazinfg to be in our 6th year and in our new office. We have quite the 2011 planned. We’ve extended priority on a few verticles this year and are very excited to already have strong case studies in these areas. Watch for news to come. AMRCON will also be breaking ground on an extention of our offices here at 1070 State Route 34 in Matawan. We will be building out an office primarily for our ODS Mnaged Services Partners but will also be used for overflow that we are expecting in the next year or so that we have planned. New products will be announced shortly as well. Our 2011 company kick off dinner is going to take place next week, so I can’t spill the beens on everything now, but keep looking out. We have some big plans coming through. Thank you to all of our values cleints, frined and family. I wish all the best for you in 2011. Dee Rudko – CEO

Yes, some fun and games went into my business trip to Florida for the IT Nation Conference. I already spoke about the business end. This picture to the right is of my little guy Deeko and myself by the pool watching Santino go down the water slide at the Waldorf-Astoria in  Orlando. He looks like he’s thinking “hmm, when do I get to do that”. I think Santino went down the slide at least 10 times. I feel like I’m getting pretty old! Not getting used to those crows feet next to my eyes. Will someone please comment and tell me if those go away?

Yes, a trip to Orlando would not be complete without a visit or two to Downtown Disney. Buzz lightyear and crew are well represented here. Even little Deeko almost jumped off a bench yelling “to infinity and beyond”, I was lucky to catch him and explain he shouldn’t try that again, lol. That wasn’t the last of it. This page makes it seem like I was on vacation but I really put in about four 12 hours days, really I did! Only a few days were spent on leisure time. I got bits and pieces while Sunny ran around entertaining these guys. Not sure how she has the energy, maybe that’s why we’re such a good fit, we’re both high energy.

I’m going to cut it here and hope everyone stays calm and relaxed with the holidays coming up. Talk to you next month. Dee Rudko, CEO

We also had another big occasion in the family with the Christening of Douglas Thomas Hay. Congratulations to the Hay family and please let us know what you’re feeding that little guy? I think he’s as big as Deeko already.  It was nice to have the entire family together. It seems events like this are far and in between.

I am sorry we’re late this month with getting all of this out. Between traveling and all that we have going on at the office it’s been tough. Expect quite a few new announcements from AMRCON from now until the end of the year. Not to mention our new website will be completed in just a few more weeks. We’re very excited to have it completely overhauled once again. It seems I’m just never happy with technology for too long before I have to redo it all over again. This is a good thing for all friends of AMRCON. It means we’re providing a better experience for you. Thanks everyone for following us.

We have a very happy family announcement to make this month. My little sister Motria was married to Robert E. Grasing II late this month. I think she’ll always be a little sister though. They are currently all over Europe and Facebooking their days which is pretty cool. The ceremony was absolutely perfect, as it should be for my little sister. I think both sets of parents were a part of quite an amazing union. I only had room for one picture, so here it is. I think this is the one that sums it up. Everyone is very happy for the new couple and wish them many years of happiness. Friends & Family who want to see more, please visit “Motria Grasing” FB page, where you will find 1.1M pictures.

So with September coming to a close, we have one more quarter to year end. This is always an exciting time of year, but none the less stressful as well. The holiday’s are coming though, and I always look forward to them. It seems during the year everyone is so busy with their own lives. Even my side of the Rudko family, now with 2 sons, have mini vacations, the Jersey Shore, upstate and all kinds of busy trips planned over the weekends. I generally work nonstop during the week, so no one really sees me. The holiday’s are the times that really bring the extended family together. It seems the cold usually slows everything else down just in time. I’m really looking forward to the upcoming months. Regardless of how fast and crazy this year went by, I think we’ve been really blessed. The holidays are a nice time to share that all around. This image kind of sums it up, walking along the boardwalk in Keyport on the water.

 The Rudko’s have a few more trips up our sleeves. We’ll be in Lake George this week and in Connecticut in September. My sister Motria is getting married and everyone will be there, here is a picture of Deeko already pulling his tuxedo out of the closet. Yes, he does a lot of black tie events throughout the year so he has his own tux. I guess they really due emulate their father, I just didn’t think it would be this soon! My cloning project is working perfectly. We all hope Motria & Robert have a terrific day. It will be a great time, looking to report on it next month.

 We had a great time with my BNI networking group “Sweet Success” at the Blue Claws game. I don’t think Santino will be much of an athlete. He spent much of his time more interested in the bounce house and walking around. Deeko on the other hand has quite an arm and watched most of the game, waiting for a ball to come his way. Although I’m glad that the close ones we had were just out of reach since he didn’t have a glove! They have quite a stadium if you ever have the chance to go to a game. Plenty to do, even if you can’t sit still for the game. Here’s a shot of Santino and myself over in the outfield. Yes, it was just to the left of the bounce house, it’s the only way we got him to walk around for the shot.

 I’m looking forward to spending some final days on vacation with the kids. It’s all business for me until the end of the year. Well maybe not completely, but for the most part. We have quite a few projects to finish up and I always start thinking about end of year once the 3rd quarter ends. My wife Sunny laughs because she says I managed the family on the fiscal year. I guess I do, but what other way is there? Suggestions?

What will my kids talk about when they’re my age? Will it be Thomas the Tank Engine, The Wiggles, or maybe Buzz Lightyear? I wish I could only explain to them to stay where they are and grow up slowly.  For my sake and their own. I can’t believe my oldest is already 4, and the little guy is not so little anymore. I was always too ahead of myself, never in the moment. I lived my youth wanting time to go by quickly so I could start making my own decisions and get my career going. I think I started thinking that way a bit too young, at 10 or so. I’m just thinking that I hope my boys don’t follow that part of my footsteps. Any ideas on how to keep them right where they are?

We welcomed a new member of the family this month, congratulation’s to Douglas and Jenna on the birth of Douglas Thomas! I hope you guys get sleep soon, lol. It’s been so much fun to watch their oldest Nicolette and Santino grow up together. I’m still not used to being called Uncle Dee by 6 people ranging from 5 to 25 years old. I really got a jump start when I joined this family. It’s funny when Santino hangs out with my nieces and nephews and comes home calling me Uncle Dee.

So August seems it’s going to go by too fast. I hope everyone finds the time to get away and enjoy some summer before it’s gone. I think we have a few trips still planned, although scheduling them has been difficult. But I can’t complain, the year has been good to us and we’re all very thankful. More to come, be sure to comment on my questions. Come out and see us at our upcoming events. The Matawan-Aberdeen Idol Singing Contest will be August 3rd at 6PM on Main Street in Matawan, we have a few others before the end of summer so take a peek and come visit.