Finding a cash flow positive property

Saturday, May 31.  Hi all!  How are you?  I hope well.  Today was a busy day teaching golf-8 hours in a row.  As the years go by it's tougher to do that, but I'm thankful because the income is nice.  Tonight is another night on my own, as Paula is in Grand Rapids teaching modeling.  Yesterday, as I mentioned, I went to McKinley properties and they gave me a whole bunch of properties to look at as investment opportunities.

Well after work today, I confirmed that one of them is actually priced cash flow positive.  That means that after putting a down payment on it (hopefully 20%), there is still money left over after paying expenses.  Which further means that as long as it's rented out, it will make money for me year after year.  Of course there will be occasional repairs needed, but it will be a source of passive income for as long as I keep it.  So it's actually the first time I've found one in over a year of looking.  My plan right now is to come up with money somehow to put down on it and get started with my real estate plan.  It's very exciting!

I hope you all have a good day or night, and I appreciate all the support and love from everyone.  I will talk to you tomorrow!  Bye!

Meeting with McKinley

Friday, May 30.  Hi everyone!  What a beautiful day in Michigan.  About 80 degrees, maybe a little less, sunny and nice.  I slept in today and I think I am almost jet lag adjusted.  I still get a little tired mid-afternoon, but hey.  Today's new adventure was to go into the McKinley properties building in downtown Ann Arbor.  McKinley is the 800 pound gorilla of real estate of the area.  They are brokering the sale of a new batch of 11 properties and, through my friend David, contacted me about the opportunities.  Some might really have some potential.  Like I've been saying, all of my goals will be realized, just don't know how or when.

I met with Jim Chaconas and Susan Moore, both well-respected realtors in the area.  Another chance to make some contacts so that I can get the best of the opportunities before others get a chance.  Networking, right?  Anyway, it was a good experience and I'll spend my off time this weekend looking over the properties.  I hope you all have had a nice day and a good weekend!  Keep enjoying life and smiling and I'll talk to you tomorrow!

Rent to own

Thursday, May 29.  Hello all, back in Michigan again, and slept like a rock last night.  Woke up at 12:30!  Anyway, it's nice to be home and nice to get some rest.  Things here are picking up right where they left off and I'm glad I came home early because I am probably going to teach 6 or 7 extra lessons for the week and could use the money.

Today's new experience was to randomly call a housing development to see how they did their "rent to own" projects.  Many people in America cannot get a conventional mortgage so they are doing rent to own deals, where they start out renting and then apply some of that to the down payment and eventually get a loan when their credit gets better.  It gives the company a chance to sell houses but also gives them a chance to make a little higher rate of return.  So I talked to a guy named Scott who was very helpful in telling me how he does it, and it's giving me a better idea of if I want to rent to own my home how to do it.  I'd like to sell the house, but the market is so bad that I would get a bad price if I did.  This might be a way for me to keep the house but have the buyer pay for my equity.  Win win for me if it can happen.  And I think that it will happen sooner or later.

Anyway, hope everyone is doing well and thanks to all in Thailand who helped me...Dad, Korn, Nana, A Liang, Jod, Pae and Nop.  I appreciate it and feel the love and hope that I can one day return the favor!  Peace and enjoy and smile until we talk again tomorrow!

Meeting a Merchant Marine

Wednesday, May 28.  Hi everyone!  Today is my travel day, so lots of uncomfortable sitting for way too long.  But hopefully the trip will be smooth and I'll get home soon!  My first leg, Bangkok to Tokyo, was very smooth and just 15 minutes late.  I fell asleep because I didn't sleep at all the night before.

My new experience happened while on the plane though, and I met a Merchant Marine from America on the flight.  His name was Felipe and he was nice.  Very talkative, but nice.  I usually don't talk much to people on planes, but it was interesting to see what he did, because I had no idea what a Merchant Marine was.  Turns out he works on boats for three months at a time delivering stuff to different ports around the world.  Cool.  I don't think there is a tie directly to the military, but most of the stuff he does now is to Iraq and the Middle East.  He couldn't even tell me what kind of stuff they delivered.  But it was nice to get to know him and he was very friendly.  He lives in Thailand and married a Thai woman and they are having a baby.  I am happy for them.

So clearly I am making a bigger effort to get to know people because you never know when you can run across them again or they can help you out.  And at worst you have a nice conversation with people!  Til tomorrow friends.  I am doing great and hope you are too!

Riding a bike

Tuesday, May 27.  Hi all!  How are you?  I hope well.  I am good but tired.  It is now 1:40 am in Bangkok and I need to leave for the airport at 3:15 am.  So not much sleep tonight and a short entry if you don't mind.  Today was a good day and I managed to say my goodbyes to everyone, and got one last massage before eating a nice khao tom meal at 11 pm.

My new experience today was to ride a bike to the local barber shop here in the Soi where Nana and A Liang live.  It was interesting.  Not far, but still unfamiliar and I almost got hit by a car because I wasn't paying attention.  Very hot too, and the bike was built for a 10 year old so it was kind of small and I'm sure I looked silly.  Anyway, got my hair cut and made it back to the house in one piece then started my day.

My trip has been good.  I got done what I could get done, and I'm happy with that.  I am ready to go home however, as I miss home and miss Paula dearly.  I can't say I'm looking forward to the plane ride, but it is what it is and at least I'll get a chance to sleep some, right?  I'll be back in no time and the next time you hear from me will be from Ann Arbor.  I know I said that last time, but since I'm not sleeping, I'm getting one more post in from Thailand.

Anyway, gotta go.  Talk to you soon.  Enjoy life, smile, and keep it real, y'all.  Later.

Borrowing potential ideas

Monday, May 26.  Hi everyone.  How are you?  I hope well.  Today was an interesting long day of doing things all by myself throughout town.  I went to reprint the business cards in addition to printing some for our real estate businesses.  I also took an adventure to the Baiyoke Towers to go to talk to a t-shirt wholesaler about printing t-shirts for promotional purposes.

Later on, I met Pae on Thong-Lo to go see Muse, which is in its final phases of getting ready to open.  It's going to be beautiful.  Pae was unhappy with a few things, but overall, it's very hip and has a great location, and I think that it'll be a smash.  I don't know if it'll be ready for a June 2 opening, but it'll open soon enough and I'm happy to be an investor it the project.

After Muse, we went to eat at two places I'd never been before.  The dinner part was at a Noodle Shop, with side of the street quality, slightly higher prices, and premium ingredients.  Very cool, hip and has great brand and franchise potential.  I might just steal the idea and come back to Ann Arbor and open one up.  The other place was the iberry cafe, where they sell unusual sorbets often using Thai flavors and fruits.  Tremendous brand presence and detail.  We happened to sit next to the woman who started the business from one small shop.  I felt inspired to start and nurture some of my ideas.  If she can do it, why can't I?

Anyway, I have moved my return up to tomorrow morning.  My business is done, and quite frankly I'm running out of cash.  So I will, all things being equal, be back on Wednesday at around 3 pm.  I've already got two lessons scheduled for that day (that should be interesting) and have opened up Thursday for teaching too.  Need to go back to home base and start collecting some jingle jangle.  So the next time I write it will be from America, and until then, be safe and enjoy.  Thank you for all of your support and love.  I can feel it and I appreciate it and send it right back to you.  Until then!  Bye.  Later.  Out.

Subhapruek Golf Course

Sunday, May 25.  Hello everyone!  How are you?  I am doing great, hope you are too.  Today was a day of resting and planning.  In the morning, I hung out with Nana and A Liang a little, and planned my remaining four days in Bangkok.  I've got a few more things to do.  At about noon, Pae picked me up and we went to play golf at a course I'd never played before, Subhapruek, near Assumption College, a private university.

It was very nice.  I liked it a lot.  All good holes.  Not too difficult, not too easy.  Conditions excellent and greens especially good and smooth and fast.  Fairways nice too.  I played like shit but had a good time just getting outside and messing around with Pae.  This time, I remembered to bring a change of clothes so that I could take a shower there after the round and have fresh clothes.  Definitely a must in Thailand.  All in all, a great day!

I miss not being around for Memorial Day weekend at home.  I hope the weather is good and you all have something enjoyable to do.  Even though this is for war veterans, I find that it is a good day to just remember those who we have lost over time.  I'll do that anyway even though I am halfway around the world!  Enjoy your day and take it as it comes.  Until tomorrow friends!

Doing business my way and riding the whole BTS

Saturday, May 24.  Hi everyone!  I hope all are doing well.  I am doing very well, but tired and missing home a little.  But in a good way, and lots of good things are going on and I am enjoying myself.  Today, two new things happened.  One, I went to Sampeng by myself and talked to both the fabric guy and the hat guy, and did things my way.  I was straightforward, honest about what I want and need, and they responded in similar fashion.  Today we all moved forward in a bigger step than ever before.  Don't have all the answers yet, but are getting closer to figuring out how much each hat will cost to produce.  Ah yes, the golden number.

My second new thing was to ride the BTS, the above ground railcar system in Bangkok, from one end all the way to the other.  I started at the Jatujak station and rode it all the way to the On Nut station, where Nana and A Liang live.  Cool.  Only 40 Baht, or a little over a dollar.  

Next week, starting tomorrow, I will look to get the last bits of information about the hats and fabric, look to design and make some t-shirts and maybe some microfiber type golf shirts/mock turtle neck shirts, look for some fleece for Paula, and some containers and bags for Paula.  She may need some things for both her pie idea and her crafts idea.  And oh yeah, also change my business cards because of the silly company in Switzerland.  And I do think it's a real company, but we'll see.  Until tomorrow friends, enjoy the day and laugh a little and smile a lot!

Registering a domain name

Friday, May 23.  I registered for my first domain name ever today!  www.gabaan.net!  I of course wanted .com, but get this, a Swiss company registered gabaan.com just HOURS before I tried to.  What's up with that?  My friend Nop said that sometimes Network Solutions, the domain registrar, are a little sneaky and will lock the name up and make you pay for it if you want it.  Hmm.  Anyway, we'll see.  I offered $100 for the name and we'll see if they give it up or not.  If it's a fake situation, they should take it, if they are a real company, they won't give it up anyway.

In any case www.gabaan.net is mine!  Yeah!  Next step is to simultaneously get the product going and work on the website and cool and creative ideas.  The only negative is that I'll have to print new business cards because the ones I had printed yesterday were based on gabaan.com.  Well, sometimes stuff like this happens, right?  Not everything goes your way all the time.  I keep getting that lesson and now I actually feel like I've learned the lesson!  Bye for now everyone!

Doing what I had to do

Thursday, May 22.  Hi everyone!  How are you?  I hope well.  I had an interesting day today.  In some ways, not my proudest moments, in other ways, very important moments.  At 11 am, my dad scheduled a meeting for me, him, and Korn to discuss where we go from here with the hat product.  It started out ok, but for me I was still hanging on to the many time so far in these two trips that dad just quieted me for no other reason than he thought that I might say something harmful to the project.  As time has gone on, he as taken a bigger and bigger roll in the everyday tasks involved in getting things off the ground.

I appreciate and love him very much, but today I just had enough of him taking the opposite side of anything I said, and his constant judgment for the way I make decisions, think about things, and the way I am living my life in general.  I just had enough.  So I told him that I didn't want his help anymore or his money, packed up my stuff, and moved out.  I've never done that before.  I didn't do it out of anger or pure emotion though.  I just had enough.  Others might be able to take him for what he is and be totally ok with it, and I'm getting better at it too, but today just crossed the line for me.  I think that the only way for him and mom to understand that I can take care of myself is to just take care of myself.

Again, this is not because I don't appreciate their help or love them at all.  It's just what I had to do as a man, and I did it.  I left telling him that I love him, and just want to be able to live my life and make my decisions without judgment, just like he does and always has.  I left feeling strong, more manly, and feeling good.  A tiny bit of natural guilt crept in as would be natural, but I think he can handle himself ok and won't be stuck in his condo crying because I said some straightforward things that needed to be said or that I left.  Maybe that's what he really wants form me anyway.  To make decisions, live my life, be responsible for myself, and man up.  So I did and am moving on with the project myself.  I am smart, know what I want, and will be able to handle this project just fine.

So sorry dad if I hurt your feelings in the least, but this is probably for the best.  I still love you and would do anything for you, and appreciate everything you have done because I know it's out of love for me.  But your style of expressing yourself is too negative for me and brings me down,and it's just best for now to limit our exposure to others.  I am not asking you to change, please don't ask me to change.  This is just the way it's going to be until we can get along more peacefully.  And don't worry, I will show you how successful and competent and able I am in short time.  You will see.  I love you all, especially you dad, and will talk to you again tomorrow!  Adios amigos.

A new food

Wednesday, May 21. Hi everyone! How are you? I'm just plowing away here in Thailand, trying to make progress with the hats and trying to get things going.  It's not that hot, but I feel a little lonely because I'm away from home and my friends here are busy.  Today I will go see Nop and talk about websites, so that should be a fun distraction.

My new experience yesterday was eating something new.  After we went to look for fabrics, we went for lunch and in addition to the normal Thai fare of grilled chicken, larb, som tam, and khao niew, I also had a soup made from red ant larvae and a special kind of vegetable found in hard to reach places (I was told).  Not bad.  Not something I have to have, but not bad.  The soup was kind of like a tom yum, and the larvae and ants kind of tasted creamy and proteiny.  Hmm.  Definitely something new.

So I am off.  I am going to shower and get ready for a lunch meeting to see where we go from here.  I'm not sure there's anywhere to go, but I'll be game and just go listen.  Until tomorrow when we talk again, peace and enjoy your time!

Being rejected by taxis

Tuesday, May 20.  Hi all.  I have spent my first day and second night in Thailand now.  It is much cooler than I thought it would be and it rained hard for a long time last night.  A productive day talking to the hat maker in Sampeng, and my feeling is that he will be able to produce the hats the way I want them.  The rest of the day was spent hanging out at home and catching up on sleep and getting the jet lag issue worked out.

My new experience of the day happened in the morning, when we were trying to get a taxi to go see the hat guy.  We we refused service by 5 taxis in a row.  This was because they all said that the traffic to where we were going was too bad.  But I thought it was interesting.  I've never been a taxi driver, but you figure you take whatever ride to wherever whenever you can.  It's very competitive and even sitting still in traffic the meter keeps going.  Hmm.  There's probably something there I don't understand, but nonetheless it was kind of weird.

Otherwise, I'm fine, and things are going as well as I could hope, I suppose.  Dealing with a lot of negative energy from Dad.  He is so pessimistic about everything.  My work is to take him on his terms and not let him get me negative.  I still believe in the way I want things done and know that he is doing this all out of love.  But there's really no point in asking me about my opinion if it just has to be done his way anyway, is there?  That's what we argue about.  He asks me something, I answer, and he says something, anything, that's the opposite of what I answer.  I guess I'll try to just agree because it doesn't matter anyway.  Hmm.  Something for me to work on personally.  Talk again tomorrow, all.  I hope you are doing great!

Sitting next to a fat guy and eating two bowls of soup

Sunday, May 18, Monday, May 19.  Hello from Thailand everyone!  I got in late last night with Dad at about 2 am or so.  I'm now up and my body is very confused, and it will get more confused later this afternoon.  But I'm excited because today we are going to go get things started!  I'm off!

Yesterday's new experience was to sit next to a fat guy on the LONG flight from Detroit to Toyko.  Whenever I get on a plane of any length trip, one of my quiet prayers is to not have anyone next to me first of all, to have someone who is NOT fat second of all, and to have someone who does NOT smell third of all.  I knew there would be someone next to me because I checked online, and thankfully he didn't smell, but he was fat.  No making fun here.  It's just difficult to sit for 13 hours next to someone who is overflowing into my seat.  So I didn't sleep much.  Eating was hard too because to eat, he had to stick his elbows out a little and that got in my way.  Oh well, it was a good exercise in acceptance, because of course I couldn't do anything about it.  He was perfectly nice and otherwise, the flights went smoothly.

Today's new experience was to drink the soup that comes with kao man kai.  I've done that before but I was so hungry that I ate the kao man kai, the soup for it, AND the soup for the kao na ped that Dad ate.  And I'm still a little hungry!  Oh well, I'll make up for it later at lunch right?  Well, gotta go start to get ready.  We're leaving at 9:30 and so I need to shower and do all of that.  Hope all is well with everyone and I will talk to you tomorrow!  Bye!

Making everyone happy and a few more bucks

Saturday, May 17.  Hi all!  How are you?  I'm great but tired and will make this a short entry.  Today was my last day of teaching for almost two weeks, so my new thing for the day was created by my upcoming absence.

I taught eight hour long lessons in a row for the first time on a weekend.  I've done it before on a weekday, but never on Saturday or Sunday.  Usually, I like to work until two or three o'clock on the weekends so that I can enjoy some of the weekend myself!  But today so many people wanted lessons before I left that I went all day.  It was fun, but tiring.  I'm gonna go now because I have to get some rest and get ready for my trip!  For those of you in Thailand, I'll be there soon.  For those of you here, I'll see you in about two weeks!  Later!

A full time columnist?

Friday, May 16.  Hi everyone.  Today was my day off from golf, so I got some things done, relaxed, and just took it easy.  Made hamburgers on the grill for dinner and cut my hair and watched "Mad Money."  Pretty good movie.

My new thing for the day was to find out that Terry, the editor at the Chelsea News, loved my first article and, after all of the high school sports are done for the year, would let me write an article once a week if I want to!  And yes, I want to!  How fantastic, huh?  I'm very excited about that as writing is one of the goals I set for myself back in February.  And it's happening!

So now I begin to prepare for my second Thailand trip.  I work all day tomorrow and leave on Sunday.  Hopefully, I get a chance to take further steps on another goal, and that is Gabaan, and the hat company.  Little by little, day by day, things keep happening.  I am thankful and I am happy.  Thanks for all the love and support.  I feel it around me everyday, and I send it out to you all everyday.  Let's all keep moving forward!

A formal complaint

Thursday, May 15.  Hi all.  Today I'm writing in the afternoon because my new experience happened earlier and is quite honestly very funny.  So because I have a few minutes now, I thought that I would write about it.

Today at work, Casey, the general manager of the pro shop, called me in and asked me that from now on, if I could, please go to the bathroom at home because they've been getting a lot of complaints about how smelly it is after I use it.  He had me going for a minute, but then started laughing.  It turns out that Joe, another co-worker, went into the bathroom right after I did and complained about it to Casey.  It was all in good fun, made me laugh, and makes for a first.  I've never been scolded about my bathroom habits before by the manager!  Haha.

I hope you are all having a good day or night, and I'll talk to you again tomorrow!  Later.

Revisiting an opportunity

Wednesday, May 14.  Hey all.  How are you?  I hope well.  I'm doing great!  Still!  It's pretty awesome, huh?  Anyway, today's new experience was reopening the real estate deal that we were looking at earlier in the spring.  Chad has found a colleague that might want to partner with us in purchasing the share of the building in downtown Ann Arbor.

We'll see what happens with it all, but it is exciting, and although David, the guy selling his share of the building was cautious at best in his response to me, I at least found out that he still hasn't sold his share and that he's open to revisiting the idea.  So hopefully, by mid-June, which is when Chad and Derrick can visit the property, David will not have sold it yet and we can get something done.  Real estate is part of my grand plan and I will not give up on it!  It will happen, just don't know when or how, but it will happen!  I'm just thankful of the opportunity to revisit a pretty good property.  We've got to get a start somehow somewhere, and maybe this is it.

I hope you all have a good day or night, and we'll talk again tomorrow.  See ya!

iChat

Tuesday, May 13.  Hi all!  Still doing great here, hope you all are too!  I had a busy golf day today.  Gave 8 hour lessons today.  I was present with all of them and had lots of energy for everyone.  It was tiring and physical but was great nonetheless.  I really enjoy the interactions with people, both old students and new.  I taught two new students today, six old students.  Other than that, didn't do too much other than eat a nice dinner Paula made for me.  Grilled chicken thighs and french bread with pesto, fresh tomato, and fresh mozzarella.

My new experience of the day was to use iChat for the first time.  Chad let me borrow his iSight camera to hook up to my computer (it's so old that it has no built in camera!), and I set it up and had a chat with Paula.  It'll let me communicate while I'm out of town for free and I'll end up saving a lot of money by not using the phone!  It was also pretty cool and just fun, you know?

Hope everyone is well!  Have a great day or night, and I'll see you again tomorrow! 

A new club

Monday, May 12.  Hey all!  How are you?  I hope well, I'm doing great and had a fantastic day.  I delivered meals again, had lunch with Paula, and then went to have dinner and to some shopping at Somerset Mall with Mom, Dad, Julie, Chad, Kirin, and Coco.  It was a day late Mother's Day dinner.  Fun.

The new experience of the day was joining another health club, the Washtenaw Community College Health Club.  It's actually cheaper than Gold's Gym was, and way nicer.  Has a heated pool and sauna and whirlpool and free classes and also a track.  It's awesome.  Both Paula and I joined and we're trying to commit to going a couple of times a week.  I know I felt great when I was training for the race earlier this spring, so getting back to working out will be good.  I'm working on it all, everyone!  Inner me, outer me, career, interests, relationships, charity.  I feel great about it and am still flying high!

I hope you all have a great day or night, and I'll talk to you again tomorrow!  Bye!

Debt and Outback

Saturday, May 10 and Sunday, May 11.  Hi everyone!  I hope you are all doing well.  I am doing great.  The last two days have been busy and fun.  Lots of lessons and the usual stuff.  I've never felt like days didn't quite have enough hours in them like I do now.  I do enjoy being busy, but keep trying to do one thing at a time and paying full attention to each thing.

On Saturday, my new experience of the year was to ask one of my students, Glen (who gave me Tigers tickets and and iPhone cover!), if I could go watch him at his company to see what he does and how he does it.  I even offered to trade golf lessons for it.  See, Glen is VERY rich, and what he does is buy credit card and auto debt from large companies for pennies on the dollar, and then renegotiates the debt with the person who owes money to him now.  Brilliant.  I love the simplicity of the brilliance, and I want to see how much I can learn from Glen.  I'm excited about it and will take him up on it when I get back from Thailand.

Today, my new thing was to be at Outback Steakhouse for 4 HOURS!!!!  Yes four.  You see, they don't take reservations, and today was mother's day, so it was very busy.  So Paula and I went in and waited starting at 5pm while the others in our party came later or went to do other things.  It was almost 7pm by the time we were seated and just before 9pm when we were done.  It was fine and we made the most of our time waiting, but it is way too long to be in any restaurant like Outback Steakhouse.  In the end, it was a fun night and we had a great meal and a good time.

Time to go watch my shows and relax a little bit!  I hope you all have a great day or night, and I'll talk to you all tomorrow.  See ya!

Delivering a new route

Friday, May 9.  Hi everyone.  I hope everyone is doing well and happy and healthy.  I had a good day today, yet again.  I did some shopping, some cleaning, some errands, and of course did all the little spiritual rituals that have helped me keep on a good course in my life.  No golf today, it was my day off, so I had a chance to spend a day on my own doing what I wanted!

In the morning, I had a chance to deliver meals ( I haven't in a while because I've been so busy) at a place I hadn't delivered to before.  It was the courthouse apartments, right in downtown.  It was a pretty easy route because I don't have to drive from house to house, just go from floor to floor in one easy sweep.  But I liked meeting a whole bunch of new people.  Some elderly, some sick, some unable to leave their apartments for health reasons.  All were very nice to me, and some noted that they had never seen me before.  I try to ask if I can do anything extra for each of them and no one took me up on it, but at least I felt good in asking.  Everyone is very appreciative of the job we do in getting them food.  It gives you perspective when you realize that some of these folks really have a difficult time getting out of their homes or apartments.  We are all very lucky to have our health.  It helps me not take things for granted.

On other notes, Gabaan is progressing nicely.  Rick is almost done with the autocad renderings, which I will send to the mold maker in Thailand before I go.  Korn is looking and finding fabric samples and producers so that the very least I can do on my trip is choose the fabric for the outside of the fedoras and the fabric for the lining.  Ideally, the mold makers can have something for me to look at before I leave, and I can give them the go ahead to begin production.  That would be exciting, but I'm being patient.  The rest of the work I need to do before I leave is develop a logo and company lettering for the labels and to help develop my brand.  After I come back, I need to think about distribution.  This is a big one as I need to figure out how to get my great product out to the world!

That's it for now friends.  I hope you have a great day or evening, and we will talk again tomorrow, as usual.  Later guys!

IHOP

Thursday, May 8.  Hey all!  How are you?  I hope doing well and enjoying life.  I had a great day today, full of positive energy and calm.  I am happy!  I feel as good as I ever have before.  Lots of things happening, lots of personal growth, lots of just letting life be.

Anyway, today's new thing was to have breakfast for dinner at the new IHOP near the Meijer's here.  For those of you not in Michigan, IHOP is the International House of Pancakes, and they specialize in breakfast even though they serve everything.  Meijer's is Michigan's 24 hour get everything superstore.  

I enjoyed a nice breakfast/dinner of pancakes, two eggs, and sausage.  Also some decaf coffee with some half and half.  Read the paper and just had a nice dinner all by myself out.  It was yummy and relaxing.  I'll have to do it again some day.

Now, a shower, some TV, some work on Gabaan's logo and company lettering, and I'll call it a day.  Not bad at all, not bad.  In fact, quite a good day!  See you all tomorrow.  Have a great one!

A new club and a meeting

Tuesday, May 6 and Wednesday, May 7.  Hi all!  Hope everyone is doing well.  I'm doing very well.  Busy with golf, getting ready for Thailand and still doing some of the real estate stuff.  All that and still managing to do some small new things each day.  How about that!

On Tuesday, my new experience was to hit a new golf club I got for the first time.  It was a nice day, about 75 degrees, and I hit it about 15 times off of the grass outside.  It felt great to hit shots outside, and the club is exactly what I hoped it would be.  It is a Ping 4 wood, and goes far and goes high.  I used to have a 3 wood and a 5 wood, but they didn't really create very different shots for me.  Now I have a club that's in between that goes relatively far, but definitely higher than my 3 wood did.  Perfect!

Today, my new thing was to have an informal coffee meeting with a professor at the business school at U of M.  His name is Tim, and I met him through giving him golf lessons.  He's a really nice guy and we met at Starbucks for coffee.  We talked for about an hour about my start up business, and he's naturally interested because he runs the entrepreneurial part of the business program.  He had lots of nice advice for me and confirmed that I was heading in the right direction with things.  It was also nice to connect with someone of similar mind and mentality.  He is a natural capitalist and entrepreneur, as I think that I am discovering about myself.

So there it is, two days worth of entries and I'm caught up.  I wish you all well and hope that you're having a great day or night!  Until tomorrow, friends.  I am grateful for all of the love and support I feel from all of you!  Bye for now!

KST

Monday, May 5.  Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone.  I feel a little silly because I don't really know what it is, but I'm pretty sure it's a celebration of sorts.  I will google it and find out.  Can't ever learn enough, can we?  I had a nice day today.  A day off and had some fun, and had some treatment and therapy.

My new experience for the day was to go to a KST chiropractic therapist.  Don't worry (especially you Mom!), it is an extremely gentle pressure treatment, a little like accupressure, that is designed to balance out the body and its energy.  It was a nice experience.  The idea is that if the body is balanced, it is best able to repair and heal itself when it needs to.  I'll do some more research on it before I go back, but it was very pleasant.  I like that it is consistent with energy and spiritual work in general.  I believe in a balanced approach between traditional medical care and more homeopathic treatment.  I do believe in energy flow and blockages and chi in general, and this treatment definitely addressed things that way.  I'll keep you posted on how it goes if I continue.

Later for now, lots more things to do and will have to go to bed soon.  Tired and busy day tomorrow.  Lots of love, wishes for peace!  Have a great day everyone! 

Getting through an issue without raising my voice

Sunday, May 4.  Hi all!  I hope you are all doing great and have had a nice day.  I had a great day, taught golf, had fun doing it, got some errands done, and had a nice dinner.

My new experience for the day was to get into a highly sensitive discussion about a personally charged topic, and react calmly and like an adult.  I worked through it and reached a mutually agreeable decision, and it felt good that it wasn't an argument that escalated.  The real new thing for me was not once raising my voice even though I felt like I wanted to and it's the way I usually get.  I get that from Dad I think.  I don't mean to, but raising my voice or yelling is a sign of defensiveness and fear, and I didn't do that tonight.  I'm pretty proud of that.

The other nice thing is that I didn't feel an overwhelming need to be right.  Usually, the need to be right and somehow feel superior is a strong impulse in me.  Tonight, I just stated my views, kept my voice down, and had a mature discussion.  No rightiousness at all.  And I'm very proud of that.  All signs that I'm maturing and going in the right direction.  In the end, it all points to letting things be and acceptance and not needing to win or be right.  Letting go is a very powerful thing.  Sometimes, maybe all the time, there is no need to be right.  A much more peaceful way to live.  Goodnight all, I hope you are all doing well and happy.  We'll talk tomorrow, same time, same place. 

A benefit dinner for teens

Saturday, May 3.  Hey everyone!  How are you?  I hope well.  I am doing great.  Today was nice day in Ann Arbor.  Started out a little cool but by midday it was quite nice out.  I gave six hours of lessons, and they all went great.  I got some nice communications from a woman who may rent my house for $2,100 a month.  Maybe.  At least I know that the price I'm setting is not too high and at that rent, my house would pay for itself and I would be building equity.

In the evening, I had my new experience for a day.  Paula and I went to fundraising/benefit dinner for teens.  It was actually before a concert called Breaking Curfew that showcases kids who have any type of artistic talent.  I've been to one and it's really kind of cool.  Two of her sons have participated in the concert before.  Tonight was also a chance for Paula to try out her pie business idea to the public.  In addition to donating to the cause, we also donated some Pumpkin's Pieces, small bite sized pieces of lemon meringue, chocolate cream, and banana cream pie.  She was very nervous about it, but everyone loved it!

She even managed to get two people who were interested in having her make more for functions in the near future.  So a business is born!  One of the women is the director for the Detroit Marathon, and will be hosting a fundraising VIP dinner in July and she wants Paula's pies to be part of the menu!  Very exciting!  And I'm happy for her success.  As for me, I was happy to play a small part in helping out the arts with young people.  Feels good!

We'll talk again tomorrow, I'm sleepy and have to teach tomorrow morning.  So good night, good morning, good day to all.  I will visit again tomorrow!  Take it easy all.

Writing and submitting my first article

Friday, May 2.  Hello everyone!  Today was a great day.  Nice weather, day off, got lots of little things done.  Entirely enjoyable.  Also made my flight plans for my trip to Thailand.  I will be leaving May 18 and returning May 30.  Also got my first email response about my place for rent.  That would be really cool if that worked out.  We'll see!

Anyway, today's new experience was to write and submit my first newspaper article for the Dexter and Chelsea newspapers.  It was fun to write, and quite exciting to submit.  The article was about how people should get ready for the golf season.  It's getting warmer everyday, so I thought the readers might enjoy reading about some simple things they can do to be ready to play their best at the beginning of the year.  What I liked about the article was that it was very basic and simple.  And nothing about instruction yet.  I hope to do more instructional articles later if they like what I do.  I just talked about cleaning their clubs and how to warm up their games for the new season.  Anyway, lots of fun!

Back to teaching tomorrow, and then I have a benefit dinner to go to later.  Off to chill out for a little while and watch some tv and relax!  Enjoy your day or night and smile and laugh!  Later.

Classified ads and cold calling a broker

Wednesday, April 30 and Thursday, May 1.  Wow, it's May already!  Time flies doesn't it?  It seems to go by faster the older you get...I wonder, is that because we are less in the moment when we are adults and more in the moment when we are young.  I think so.  When we're kids, an afternoon can seem to last forever in retrospect and when we're adults, sometimes we feel like we don't have enough time in a day.  I definitely think that it's because of being present.  As kids, we do what we do and pay full attention to that one thing.  A lesson is there somewhere!

Anyway, the last two days have been great and busy, hence the double blog entry.  Yesterday, I received my first call for a classified ad I placed in the newspaper.  The ad is for renting my house.  I figure that if none of the other real estate deals are happening, I can at least try to rent my house and see if I can get the rent to pay for all of the expenses, and let the equity build as time passes.  The person who called was interested, but ended up wanting something within walking distance to downtown.  My house is definitely driving distance but not walking for sure.  Oh well, I hope that I get someone to bite on the offer.  We'll see!

Today my new experience was calling a broker about a piece of property.  What was different about this was that it was the first time I called someone from seeing a for sale sign.  It turns out that the property is already under contract, but the broker has a lot of other properties in the Ann Arbor that are coming to market but not yet out.  So I get a chance to evaluate them before everyone else does.  That gives me a little advantage.  So I did something different and definitely got unexpected benefit out of it!  Cool!  It might lead to something, might not, but at worst I have another contact in the business who might help out later on.  You never know....

All right, have a good night or good day, all.  I wish you peace and stillness and laughs.  Enjoy life and pay attention to all the little things!  Talk to you tomorrow...