Veterans Day Celebrations

Good morning friends of Mission Repair-

Join us in Kansas City as we honor those who served in defense of our country. KC was recently rated as one of the top locations in the nation to honor veterans. Commemorations, concerts, symposiums and more were planned throughout this special weekend. Did you watch any football this weekend? You might have seen the orchestrated “Thank you Veteran’s” signs in the stands only viewable from the air. There were also lots of other tidbits including camouflaged ribbon footballs, goal post wraps, and equipment that every teams is using. In my opinion the NFL has always done a great job honoring the nation’s Vets.

Here in Kansas City today, at the Liberty Memorial you can see a Color Guard Parade – This spectacular representation of Kansas color guards groups will be held just before the morning ceremony. It features a wide array of veterans group from history re-enactors to Patriot Guard Riders. Followed by an assembly and Overture by the American Legion Band Conducted by Heather Picket, the American Legion Band will fill the stage of J.C. Nichols Auditorium, performing music before and during the morning Veterans Day Ceremony including the Armed Services Medley honoring those who served in all branches of the armed services. They are capping off the festivities with Veterans Day Formal Morning Program – This year, Dr. Matthew Naylor, President and CEO of the National WWI Museum, will be Master of Ceremonies as the program highlights remarks by Kansas City Mayor Sly James, Congressman Emmanuel Cleaver, author Richard Rubin and more. Ron Guttierrez, Iraq War Veteran, will sing the National Anthem.

I even got up early (I’m talking “crack of dawn early”) to fire up our 1968 Deuce and a Half and deliver it to a Desoto School District Elementary School as a display to honor Veteran’s and help educate students on the importance of the day. Check out a video of our Deuce that I made last month here.

I have a close connection to this Day, November 11th – Veteran’s Day – as it was just a couple of years ago that my father, Gary A. Arter a Vietnam Veteran passed away on November 14th. I can clearly remember speaking to him on Veteran’s Day 2011 and hanging an American Flag in his bedroom. That flag is with him as we speak and will remain with him forever. His time spent serving overseas was a huge piece of his life which has translated over to me.

Thanks Dad, and every other Veteran that has sacrificed their personal well-being, time, family and health for protecting our country. Without you, we would not have what we have.

On that note, and before I get too choked up, I’ll conclude this blog and get back to work. It’s a busy time here at the Mission Repair headquarters and there’s no time to lose!

Take care, Ryan

The Maple Leaf Festival was a ton of fun!

Hi friends,

ZIP – Monday has FLOWN by here at Mission Repair. I looked at the clock when Melanie and Adam (who sit in the office next to mine) turned off their computers and headed out the door.

What?! It’s 5:00pm already? I haven’t even begun my first blog of the day yet. Sheesh I might be losing my touch; I’m going to work on it.

Last weekend we had our Deuce and a Half in the Maple Leaf Festival in Baldwin City, Kansas. It was a brisk Saturday morning as we packed up and headed out to get the rig ready for the mass of 75,000 parade goers that line the streets each October. We had 17 HUGE bags of candy to hand out (we’ve run out before that’s no fun), flipped on some “Vietnam Era” music and had a great time.

Above is a shot of the group (I’m behind the camera) just before the parade started. Left to right that’s Casey, Neal, Martha, Lennie, Jordyn, Michael, Baby Mason, Lexi, Derrick and Dandra in the back of the truck hiding in the camouflage!

Since I couldn’t stand it, I had to post a couple of pics of the cutest baby around. Here’s Derrick and his boy Mason up close sporting his very own custom Mission Repair tshirt! How cool is that!?!

Finally, one more shot with Mason who is ready for some action. Truth be told, he got to ride in a stroller and he actually fell asleep before the parade route was over. It’s good to be a toddler 😉 I’m going to start training him on iPad repairs next week…we’ll see how he does!

Ah, I’m just kidding. The technicians that we employ are all over the age of 18 even though they may act like children sometimes. You know who I’m talking about. Jake.

Well the parade was a lot of work like usual, but the reward is the packed front office all day today. We always meet a ton of new people and customers when we do these parades. It’s just part of the fun here at Mission Repair.

Have a good evening everyone- take care, Ryan

Snowmageddon part 2, but we are open!

Hello everyone, it’s been an incredible 7 days with our winter’s worth of snow packing into 2 large storms.

Last week, winter storm “Q” really unleashed a pile of snow on the Kansas City and Midwest area that crippled us for a day. Then last night, winter storm “Rocky” was predicted to drop another 15″ of snow, but frankly, it was a huge letdown in that case. In fact, we are open today and rolling out repairs so our customers can get back in business as soon as possible! In fact, we’ve already received walk-in customers today, so it’s been a busy morning at Mission Repair so far!

However, Fedex has warned us that we will not have a normal pickup that afternoon, but we can still drop off packages to the station. . .which we will do. Risky you might ask? Not when I’m going to drive the Mission Repair M35a2 full of packages to the FedEx hub!

With a license plate “NVRSTUK” we will make it to drop off those packages!

OK, so taking the Deuce out was for just a little bit of fun 😉

We are unleashing our own storm here at Mission Repair and adding a ton of new services as we speak. We will back at the blogging here today, and watch the presswire for other announcements. Stay tuned, and stay warm!

Take care, Ryan

The Mission Repair Deuce and a Half is a success!

Did you read my Veteran’s Day Blog from yesterday? In a nutshell, it was talking about how I was going to deliver our company Deuce and a Half (M35a2) up to Clear Creek Elementary school to help “theme out” their Veteran’s Day assembly that they are performing today. I dropped off the monster this morning and just got this picture in my email inbox:

What a cool thing for those kids to see. Apparently this is the entire 3rd grade out in front of the truck posing for my enjoyment. I will certainly have this picture blown up and hung up in the office, it’s just too cool!

Along with my blog from yesterday, I added a 20% coupon inside for any repair that we offer. It’s still valid and if you’re in need of an iPad repair, iPhone service or Galaxy SIII repair, just give us a shout and use that coupon!!! What is the coupon you ask? You have to read my blog from yesterday! (Hint, there’s a link in this blog to it).

Take care, Ryan

Veteran’s Day is almost here and Mission Repair celebrates!

Hello everyone, Veteran’s Day is almost upon us. It’s actually on November 11th each year, which means that it lands on a Sunday in 2012. When it lands on a weekend, the Federal Holiday gets moved to Monday so please be aware of that…there might be some businesses like your bank and the Post Office that will be closed on Monday November 12th. It’s these kind of holidays that sneak up on us so try to keep that in mind if you’re expecting that USPS package to arrive next week!

At Mission Repair we’ve made this holiday a pertinent one- we loan out our company 1968 Deuce and a Half to a local school for the day as part of the Veteran “theme” that they use. It just so happens that the school I’m describing will have their Veteran festivities and assembly tomorrow so I need to fire the beast up and get it up to Clear Creek Elementary School tomorrow morning before the kids arrive! It’ll stay there all day for pictures and as a rolling memorial to all of the Veterans that will visit the school tomorrow.

Last year at this time my father, Gary Arter, a Veteran of the Vietnam War was honored at the same assembly but was too sick to attend…and now that it’s been almost a year since he passed away this assembly and event has become even more special and I have a personal stake in making sure these kids understand that sacrifices that many have made to keep our country safe.

So if you’re lucky enough to see me driving around Kansas City tomorrow, feel free to give me a “honk”. You can’t miss the truck, it’ll be the ginormous vehicle that’s as menacing as it looks in the picture. If not, stop by our office sometime and I’ll give you a tour and take you for a ride. It sits in our warehouse ready for action!

With that being said, I’ve got a 20% off coupon for new Mission Repair customers that is good now through Sunday, November 11th, 2012. When checking out online, use coupon code “ARTER” to receive your 20% discount on any service or product we offer at MissionRepair.com remember this coupon will expire on Sunday night a midnight!

Thanks, take care, Ryan