Oh yeah, I was writing a blog...

Saturday, August 16.  Hi everyone!  You probably though I had dropped off the face of the earth, but no, I am here.  I have been VERY busy.  Since we last talked, much has happened, and all is great!  I am doing more and more to get ready for B school, and have registered for two classes, Accounting 501 and a Real Estate class taught by one of the partners of the commercial building downtown we almost bought!  Crazy.  I have also been very busy with teaching and trying to get the most out of the rest of the summer.  Collecting acorns for the winter, if you will.  And maybe most of all caught up in getting ready to close on our first income property!  We have decided to purchase a student rental home, and it is a good one in a good location.  We are all very excited and close on Monday!  So much of my time has been spent getting all the details taken care of.  A special thanks to Mom and Dad for helping out financially to get us started.  We couldn't do it without you guys!  The process has taught me a lot, and I've met a lot of new people and made many contacts that should be useful in the future.  I've also been working some (much less, but some) on Gabaan.  Right now, I'm stuck because I can't find a source for good fabric.  The New York Fabric show didn't really do it, so I'm regrouping and trying to find other ways to make it happen.  This may mean a trip to China in the fall.  When I found out that manufacturing would take a couple of months anyway, I knew that I wouldn't be in time for the summer season for 08, so now I get ready to have product ready for spring 09.  It will happen though!

I've also decided that this is my second to last entry for this blog.  While the blog has turned into something different than what I expected in some ways, I think it did do its job.  It played a part in showing me how to look at life differently.  It gave me perspective, and showed me how to have gratitude and appreciation for my amazing life.  It showed me how to be positive, always and without fail.  It showed me how to live in the moment.  I'm not sure if I truly did 180 new things, but who cares, really.  I am a different, stronger, more engaged with life, happier person than when I started 7 months ago.  Thanks to all who read and posted comments and thanks to all in general who gave me love and support the whole time.  I've never been happier (or busier) with who I am and the things that I'm doing.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

The good news is that the last posting will be the announcement of a new blog, not one of new experiences, but one that just lets me write about whatever.  I haven't decided on a name, or what exactly I'll do, but when I do, I'll make the final post for this blog and tell you where to go for the new one.  Until then, friends!

My first cash flow property

Monday, July 28.  Hi all!  How are you?  I am great, and have had a fantastic day as usual, but will keep this short because I want to go to bed.  Today, I reached a verbal agreement to rent my home out for one year for $2,100 a month, with a $3,150 security deposit.  That means that barring any unforeseen events, I will, as of August 2, be making about $200 a month on owning my own house.  Their payment will cover my mortgage (principle and interest), my property taxes, my homeowners insurance, and my association fee, and still leave me $200 extra every month.  I can use that to pay down my principle, create an emergency cash fund, invest, help pay for the disability insurance that I just signed up for, or many other things.  I can even give the money away to charity.  Or use it maybe to build up a charitable foundation.

I am very excited, and will be moving in to live with Paula for this one year.  This also happens to cut down on both of our expenses because we basically cut each of ours in half.   A good deal.  I'll keep calm until the lease is signed, but it looks good!

Goodnight or good morning.  I love you, thanks for the love and support.  I'm going to the moon and nothing will stop me!  See you tomorrow, and until then, enjoy!

Being happy when I would normally be angry

Sunday, July 27.  Hey all!  I hope you are all doing well, I am doing great!  Another big day of teaching today, but I had a beautiful day to do it.  Lots of nice people and a couple of new students too.  It's always great to meet new students and start a new relationship with folks.

After work, I drove over to Grizzly Peak, the restaurant Tom and I visited last night for dinner.  I knew I forgot my sunglasses there last night so went to see if they were still there.  Interestingly, they were no where to be found.  I'm not one who forgets too much, so I know that's the last place I had them, and I know I placed them on the bar as we ate.  I won't assume that someone took them, but until I discover that I misplaced them elsewhere, I kinda have to think that someone took them.  Interestingly, though, instead of being mad at the jerk who decided to take them (which I was for a moment), I decided to wish the person who did take them (if they did) enjoyment with the glasses.  If they took them and I can't wear them, they might as well enjoy them, right?  Nothing to be done now.  Feels different, and feels peaceful and grateful.  I enjoyed them while I had them, I might still find them, and if I don't I can always buy another pair, right?  No worries, no problems.  Flowing through life like water feels pretty darn good.  No resistance, almost total acceptance.  Hmm.  Pretty good stuff, I think!

I hope you all have great days or nights wherever you are.  Smile, laugh, and enjoy.  I will talk to you all tomorrow.  Ta ta till then!

Tickets for a sermon

Saturday, July 26.  Hi y'all!  How are you?  I hope well, I am doing great.  Pretty standard summer day today, 9 hours straight of lessons.  All were great, and I had a lot of energy and gave effective lessons.  Fun.  I also got an estimate from John for grading and window wells for the new property.  Later in the evening, I had dinner with Tom from work at Grizzly Peak.  I hadn't hung out with him since we went to the Tigers game back a few months ago, so it was good to shoot the shit with him.

In between my 11 am and noon lessons, I managed to buy tickets for the Joel Osteen appearance in October.  Funny, at first I asked for 6 tickets, but the computer at work just kind of got stuck, so I closed the window and started the process of buying the tickets on my phone.  Wouldn't you know it, I now have 14 tickets for the show!  Oh well, nothing I can do about it.  Perhaps I'll find 14 people who will go, or I'll sell them online if the performance is in high demand.  All I know is that Paula and I really want to go.  He sends such a positive message and had really had an influence on the emerging of today's me.  I very much look forward to going in the fall!

Time to go.  I want to cut my hair and take a shower before bed.  Another big day tomorrow.  Either 8 or 9 hours.  Gotta teach my ass off before the season starts to slow down.  I hope you have a great day or night, and will talk to you tomorrow!  I wish you smiles and laughs and hope that you enjoy.  Later my friends.

The Mazurs

Friday, July 25.  Hello!!!  How are y'all?  I'm doing great and had a fantastic day off.  I started out by showing my house to a nice couple.  Don't know if they're interested, but we'll see.  I also got the earnest money check for the income property we're looking at to the realtor's office, and got some nice contacts to further investigate the soundness of the property and investment.  So now for next week I've got a builder, a landscaper, and two furnace guys to check out the place.  We should know by the end of the week what's what.  I also managed to run some errands and find another resource for advertising my place, the UM landlord listing service.  This would seem to be a great resource for visiting scholars and grad students to get to view my place, especially those long term lease agreements.  All this and I managed to spend a few hours with Paula before she left for South Bend, Indiana to teach modeling.  That's a nice gig for her that'll eventually pay her $550 for every two days work.  Pretty good!

My new experience for the day was to have dinner with Bob, Kim, and Bobby Mazur.  The asked me to eat with them at the club after I played 18 holes with Bobby and 9 with Bob.  It was good to see Bobby play and I gave him some advice on how he might perform better in tournaments.  He's getting there.  He just has to play more tournaments and get more relaxed.  Sometimes, he loses his head and has brain farts, but so do I on the golf course.  I played quite well today actually and shot 77, with a bogey-double bogey finish.  Quite happy.

Anyway, I hope you are all well and enjoying.  I am off to relax a little before bed, as I have a big 8 hour day of teaching tomorrow.  I will check in again tomorrow!  Thank you for all the love and support.  I am grateful and humbled!  Bye!

Setting up inspections

Thursday, July 24.  Hi all!  How are  you?  I hope great.  I'm doing great, tired and feeling like life doesn't have enough hours in it, but great!  Today I taught 9 lessons, 9 straight hours.  In between lessons, I have 10 minutes, which usually ends up being about 5 minutes.  So in my 8 different 5 minute breaks, I managed to talk to Paula, Julie, Chad, Susan our realtor, 3 different contractors, Scott, Basil, and who knows who else!

My new experience for today was to set up two appointments for contractors to come out and give estimates for the property we're looking to buy.  One is for the foundation and basement walls, and the other is for the furnace.  Both are areas of concern and short-term future expenses and we have to get an idea of how that impacts our potential investment.  We'll see what they say and how much it'll cost, and go from there.  Nothing needs to be done immediately, but probably all needs to be done within 5-7 years.  That'll affect cash flow, but as long as it doesn't make us cash flow negative, we'll be ok.  We will see.

I love you all, and thank you for all the support.  Tomorrow is my day off, but I have plenty to do but will also have some free time to hopefully have some fun.  Have fun yourselves, enjoy, and I'll check in again tomorrow!

Selling insurance, mortages, and financial services

Wednesday, July 23.  Hi all!  How are you?  Great I know, and if not, get great!  I am fantastic.  Tired, but a good tired from another day full of things to do and opportunities pursued.  I taught most of the day, but during the day had a chance to get some things done.  I found a university resource that will post my home for rent to those associated with the university looking for houses to rent.  I am going to guess that all visiting scholars, who are not interested in buying but looking for a convenient resource for finding rentals will use this resource.  So I signed up for that and that will undoubtedly get me hooked up with a long term tenant who has the resources to rent my home for what I'm asking.  My couple who was interested in renting ended up not going with it.  Get this, they wanted to rent month to month but were interested in paying $1,800 a month, not $2,100 a month.  That's just not the way it works.  If you go short term, you pay more, and if you pay long term, you pay less.  Weird.  But I almost immediately got another email of a couple who are very interested in renting the place, and they are going to come see the place later this week.  Just a matter of time.  I am patient.

I also made the appropriate calls to the contractors to get estimates on all the repairs that the investment property will need.  This will give us an idea of what our costs will be over the next 5 to 7 years of owning the property.  Capital improvements are a necessary component of owning rental properties, and we're figuring out ways to make it work.  Just a matter of time there too.  I am patient.

My new experience of the day was to sign up to sell insurance, mortgages,and financial services through Primerica, a wholly owned subsidiary of Citi.  It is a commission based independent contractor opportunity to make some money, and shows lots of potential.  My experience in my last cold calling venture will help me succeed in this one.  I'm very excited about it.  I will begin my training soon and then take a state test to get licensed to sell these products and get my business going.  Just another source of income.  Fun and exciting.

It's all just a matter of time.  I fully trust life, and it's all already happening for me as I write.  It's invigorating to know that all the dreams are and will come true.  It's happening everyone, and there is such certainty and belief that nothing but total success will be the outcome.  I feel strong, powerful, and ready to do it all!  

I hope you are all well and will talk to you tomorrow.  Keep on enjoying life, keep on smiling, and keep on reading!  Until then, my friends.

FAFSA

Tuesday, July 22.  Hello all!  What's up?  I hope you are all doing fantastic.  I as is usual now, am doing great!  A busy day today, pretty much teaching from 9 to 7.  Good though because the summer is quickly coming to an end and I need to make and save some money!  

Today's new experience was filling out a FAFSA, or a Free Application for Federal Student Aid.  I am going to see how much the government is willing to help out with my educational costs that start this fall, as they will be quite enormous.  It was pretty easy to complete and required lots of information from tax returns.  It did make me realize how much the government must help those in need to get money for education, which is a good thing.  I've never needed to ask for aid before because of the generosity of my parents, but this time I thought I'd see what I'd get.  I'm told that I'll know in a week or so.  So I'll keep you updated.

I hope you all have wonderful days or nights, and don't forget to enjoy!  I'll talk to you tomorrow and fill you in with yet another episode of Tom's life!  See you then.

A building inspection

Monday, July 21.  Hi everyone!  How are you?  I hope well, I am doing great!  Today was my day off, but a very busy one.  I had lots to do, many errands.  I showed my house to another couple, did lots of phone call stuff to take care of things that needed to be taken care of, from talking to Blue Cross Blue Shield, the MBA program about computers and financial aid, getting in touch with my attorney Basil and finalizing the operating agreement, talking to the bank, and fixing my current computer.  Busy but great!

My new experience from the day was to attend a building inspection for the property we are looking to buy.  The inspector, Craig, was very nice and very professional.  For $330, they do a very thorough and complete inspection.  We may have found problems with the building and have to see if they will affect our decision on the property.  But no decision has been made and we will see what happens!  In any case, I learned a lot about the structures of homes and all the information will be of great assistance to me as I look at future homes, even if this one doesn't work out.  I learned about grading and drainage and Orange burg tile drains and insulation and crawl spaces and ventilation and furnaces and plumbing and electrical systems.  Invaluable really in achieving my real estate goals.

Time to go to bed now, tomorrow will be a busy golf day.  I feel blessed to have a full schedule this week and it will be nice to meet up with all of my students, new and old.  And it won't hurt the checkbook either.  I hope you all smile and enjoy life and have fantastic days or nights!  I will surely have a great day tomorrow and tell you all about it then!  Goodnight and we'll talk soon!

Six days of stuff!

Tuesday, July 15th to Sunday, July 20th.  Wow, what a long time it's been since I wrote!  But I will catch up right now with a six day entry.  Luckily for me, there's plenty of new experiences to talk about.  How are you all?  I hope great.  I am doing fantastic!  Life is good and things are great!  Without further ado, my new experiences (in a bullet format, which in and of itself is a new experience!):

• Receiving admittance into the Ross School of Business MBA program at the University of Michigan.  On my birthday no less!
• Seeing "August: Osage County," a Pulitzer winning Broadway play that was very funny and entertaining
• Getting on the New York Subway system (and getting lost)
• Being on the set (in the special director's chairs with the earphones like big shots) of a major television drama/thriller, "Damages," starring Glenn Close and many other Academy Award winning actors.  The show was created, written, and produced by my best high school friend Glenn, his brother Todd, and their buddy Daniel.
• Meeting and enjoying time spent with one of Julian's friends, Savannah
• Being offered a trade...golf lessons for two first class plane tickets to Thailand!
• Having NO ONE show up for a FREE Junior Golf Clinic on Saturday.  No one!
• Getting to the airport late and not only making the flight but having our bags make it too!  Imagine that!
• Making a New Yorker's walk...from about 12th street all the way up to 40th street on our last evening there.  All New Yorkers say "oh, it's just a few blocks" and that usually means fifteen or more.

So there you have it folks, lots of new experiences for you.  It has truly been a great week for me, and I am thankful and humbled by how great things are right now.  I will keep my thoughts and energy positive, create the life I want with my thoughts and actions, and keep on moving forward.  Thanks for all the love and support, I love you all!  Enjoy, smile, and laugh!  Until we speak again, my friends.