Life has a great way of reminding you not to take yourself too seriously. Take today for example. I was asked by a school to meet with them today to discuss some behavioral strategies that they could use with a mutual client of ours. Basically I spent slightly over two hours explaining behavioral techniques and giving them some really good incite into why what they are doing now hasn’t worked. After the meeting I felt really good about myself. I taught a group of special ed teachers and ed-techs how to help this kid with autism succeed in his classroom. I had them riveted, they were asking me all sorts of tough questions and I had all sorts of great answers for them. I pretty much held court during this meeting. I left feeling great. I-am-awesome! I stopped at a Dunkin Doughnuts to visit the head and grab some joe for the 2 hour drive home, all the while thinking I was the king of behavioral interventions. As I’m washing my hands I decide to gaze upon my glory and stare into my piercing blue eyes while practicing my confident nod and sly grin that I would no doubt use to dazzle my worshipers, when suddenly, I realize that the small pimple I had decided to compulsively scratch before entering the meeting had apparently bled and coagulated in a very noticeable, oblong shape exactly on the tip of my nose. Oh yes my friends, I-am-awesome, albeit slightly more humble.

I first became aware of life’s little game of what I now refer to as “Humble the fat guy” about 1997. “Men In Black” was just released and no one was cooler then Will Smith. My Great Grandmother had just passed away. My wife and I arrived at the funeral she in a very nice black dress and me in a Black suit, with black Ray Bans. Even though I was genuinely mourning my Great Granny, I was also looking very, very cool. The grave side service was done, people had hugged and I was helping my then pregnant wife into our new, bright red sports sedan. I casually walked around the side of the car, opened the door and tried to figure out exactly what the ripping sound and cold breeze in my crotch meant. It couldn’t be because I had torn my pants from my crotch to mid thigh. It really doesn’t matter how expensive the suit or how en vogue the sun glasses, you never look cool carrying a pair of pants into a gas station.

So there you have it folks. Its great to feel good about yourself and even better if you can help others along the way feel good about themselves, just remember that if you start to take yourself too seriously, life will bloody your nose and rip your pants.

`drillbit

What is normal? I tried to figure it out during the past week or so and I came to a conclusion; I really don't care. Seriously. Normal is whatever we want it to be. Now that the funeral of Mackenzie's Nana is behind us, I finally have time to start posting again. That's good since I have lots to talk about. I also realize that I haven't visited any other blogs for a while. I've got to get back out in the stream. Anyways, glad to be back to a type of normal again. Hope this one stays awhile.

~drillbit

Man! I just can't seem to snap out of it. I don't know exactly what "it" is. I suppose if I did I could do something about it.
I get so motivated and excited about a project and completely throw myself into it. Then, suddenly, can't seem to stay focused on it. I wish I knew why.
Now I'll totally change subjects.
Lately, I have just been dead tired. One of my kiddos has some sort of viral infection. Maybe I have it too and it's manifesting in a way that is dragging my energy down. Who knows. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I just can't seem to get started on outdoor projects yet. Man!
Now I'll totally change subjects again.
Have you ever felt like the answer to a problem is hovering right there on the edge of your consciousness and you just can't, for whatever reason , seem to figure it out. Holly crap! is that ever frustrating. Sometimes it's just as hard to figure out what the problem is in the first place.

Was anyone able to follow that stream of consciousness? Congrats if you could. I had trouble following along and I wrote the damn thing. It's weird how your mind works with little sleep and lots of stress.
My grandmother-in-law had to go to the hospital last night and subsequently I'm a little off my game. Ah well. Perhaps I'll figure out what "it" is someday so that I will the be able to figure it out.
(or something like that)
Take it easy y'all.

I haven’t been in the mood to write anything lately so I decided to force myself. It’s a lousy rainy day outside and I can’t do any spring time activities outside. For some reason this year I am chomping at the bit to get going on things. It’s probably because there are obstacles in my way that I can’t do anything about. The biggest pain in my ass right now is that I’ve sold the mobile home on our land and the new owners haven’t moved it yet. It boggles my mind that someone would make monthly payments on a place to live and not actually live in it. The fact that the person is constantly paying me late doesn’t make it any easier. Take it from me; it is always a bad idea to do business like that with anyone you work with, especially if you are that person’s supervisor. I knew that going in but my need for money and to get that monstrosity hauled away overrode my sense of judgment. It’s just annoying because I can’t start getting wood delivered till that thing is pulled out of there. Our road was posted so it will have to wait till May before it can be moved anyway.

I did manage to count the change in the vacation jar today. A year of accumulation yielded $73. Not bad considering I hardly use cash, preferring to use my debit card. That is one thing I will be changing. More on that later. Have a great Saturday everyone. At least it aint snowing.

Since starting this whole journey into financial betterment I have been reading that in order to really make any real money and be financially secure you have to accumulate assets and begin investing. Sounds great! My only stumbling block seems to be that I know absolutely nothing about stocks, mutual funds, etc. I watched “Trading Places” again to bone up on my Wall Street strategies, but I don’t think dressing as a fat Jamaican on a train and duping two old guys into buying concentrated OJ is really the way to go. (Was that too obscure a reference for ya? Netflix it. It really holds up(wink, wink)).
So I know that the stock market exists and apparently one could use it to make money, but you know, it just aint my thing.
So then, what to do?
I came up with the idea of starting a boot-strap business. Wait for it…
Fire wood. Yeah fire wood. Here in rural Maine lots of people burn wood for heat, and subsequently need to purchase wood. Every investment has risk associated with it and I believe firewood is a pretty low risk endeavor. Here’s why:
1. I don’t need a lot of money to get started.
2. I already own a top of the line chainsaw
3. I enjoy working in the woods and with wood
4. Eventually someone will buy the wood
5. I can do it in my spare time
There are other good reasons but I think I’m getting my point across. So, the financial breakdown goes like this. I can buy log-length hardwood from a local guy for $100 a cord, delivered to my land. Cut and split wood here is going for $225 a cord. That’s a profit of $1250 (55% profit in one year for those of you keeping track at home). The wood is dumped in a pile. I buck it into stove length pieces and split it. Now I have some options here, I can split it by hand or buy a wood splitter. I know splitting by hand would take me about 10 hours per cord of wood. I want to begin with 10 cords so while splitting by hand is free (I already have a maul) it will cost me 100 hours of work time. Time is money so lets look at a splitter. A good quality splitter will run me around $1600. Not bad but since the object is to make money the first year I need to do some tweaking. I could get 20 cords of wood. That would yield a profit higher that the 10 cords and get me the splitter I need. Alas, I can’t afford 20 cords (hell, I still don’t know how I’ll swing the 10). Then came the ah, ha moment. Rentals baby! I can rent a commercial size splitter for a weekend for $95 bucks. SWEET! I can split all 10 cords in one weekend no problem.
So that’s the plan for the first investment/business/asset accumulation. Like I said there is risk involved, but damn the torpedoes and full split ahead!