As soon as we got back from lunch, I called everyone into our now cramped conference room to talk about having a real-live Santa break a world-record (maybe) by touching down in all 50-states and DC. Our goal was to have Santa do this in the shortest amount of time, and for cheapest possible price. I pitched the idea to everyone and sat back — and–it was absolutely amazing! People laughed at first, then started spewing ideas everywhere. At this point, I knew I had to drop the bomb on Mike: would he do it?

Yes! Mike said he was game, if we could make it happen (not so easy a task). His only request was that we get him back by Friday the 21st, because his family was coming to visit for Christmas.

Graeme and I exchanged knowing looks — looks that said, “yeah, we know we’re nuts!”– but we also knew, somehow, some way, we’d make it happen. Our big “idea” was now, officially, a “project”!

I called my wife and 3-sentences into the conversation, she knew I wasn’t going to be around much during the weekend; it was clear to her that Graeme and I would be going into “deep study” mode — to see if our crazy idea could actually work…