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.

Monday, July 14.  Hi everyone!  How are you?  I hope great.  I am very tired but great.  Lots of exciting things coming up.  Tomorrow, we leave for New York, where we will watch a Pulitzer winning play, hopefully get to make an appearance on a TV drama, find fabrics for my fedoras, and also just have some fun.  I also was supposed to be able to find out whether or not I got accepted into the UM MBA program tonight online, but my impatience and weariness made me screw up and I've locked myself out.  So I'll have to call tomorrow to see if I got in or not.  Oh well, that's just the way it's supposed to be right?  It would've been a nice first birthday present for me though, wouldn't it have?

Anyway, today was busy.  Some golf, some getting things lined up for the upcoming purchase of the student rental property, and a new prospective tenant wanting to take a look at my house for rental.  I also managed to wire Pae about $18,000 for my share of the nightclub and open a bank account for our property LLC, Twenty-Fifteen Properties.  Busy busy busy!

My new experience for the day was getting a post on the blog from a total stranger, Vyolet from Australia, who had some nice things to say about my blog and it's ambition.  Cool.  I read some of her blog work and she sounds like a sweet and interesting soul.  If you're reading Vyolet, let's continue to correspond, ok?  There are no accidents in this life and there was an immediate sense of connection that I felt as I looked at some of your work.  So I hope I've made a new friend!

Time for bed now.  Early flight tomorrow and exciting things for my birthday planned.  We'll see you tomorrow.  Smile, laugh, and enjoy until then!  Love to all and I'll talk to you later!

Kinetic linking and the genius bar

Saturday, July 12 and Sunday, July 13.  Hi all, I'm a little behind and pressed for time today, so a short entry.  I am doing great and hope you are too!  Tomorrow we leave for New York for three days for my birthday!  I'm very excited.

Saturday, I took a kinetic link lesson with Paul.  I've been hitting the ball so short lately that I've been looking for a solution.  So he sends swings to this guy in Indianapolis who turns your swing into a whole bunch of graphs and numbers to see how well the pieces of your golf swing match up and sequence.  Mine, thankfully, were all messed up.  No wonder I can't hit it anywhere!  So now I have some drills to do and hopefully things should get better with some practice!

Sunday, I went to the Genius Bar at the Apple Store because "mobile me" a new app by Apple that wirelessly syncs all your info on all your stuff, computer, phone, etc., wasn't working on my new iPhone.  So I went there and the guy was extra nice and actually did work while I was there that usually is work that has to be done in 48 hours.  And he didn't charge me.  It was cool and he even gave me advice on what new computer I should buy once I have the money.  The iMac and I'll upgrade my current laptop a little with the hard drive and memory, and I'll have the best of both worlds!

So that's it, have a great day, and I'll talk to you later.  Enjoy, smile, and laugh til then!

My feet!

Friday, July 11.  Hi everyone!  How are you?  I hope great, I am doing fantastic and had a great day today!  First I got the chance to deliver meals again.  I'm enjoying that very much and the group gave me a goody bag for being helpful to them.  I also got a chance to run all the errands I needed to get done, and then found out that our offer for the student rental was accepted!  We are on our way!  I also then had a beautiful birthday dinner with Paula and Mom, Dad, Julie, Chad, Kirin, Coco at the Italian restaurant at Somerset.  I then capped it all off by getting the new iPhone at Briarwood!  What a fantastic day!

The new experience for the day is the one I left out.  Before heading to dinner, I went to get a pedicure with Paula at Ocean Nails.  I've never had one before, and it was very soothing and relaxing.  I'd do it again, I think, but probably not as often as the women who go there do.  I do need a manicure and I will go back and get that done soon.  My nails and fingers are awful looking!  But it was fun nonetheless and a new thing!

I will talk to you later.  I hope you are all smiling, laughing, and enjoying life.  Be safe and have fun and I send love and support out to you!  Later friends!

Golf with a student and a new shirt

Wednesday, July 9 and Thursday, July 10.  Hello everyone!  How's it going?  I hope fantastic!  I am doing great.  I'm falling behind again with the blog, but I will catch up right now.  Busy as usual with golf and other projects, and I'm getting ready to go to New York to look at some fabrics next week.

On Wednesday, my new experience was to give a playing lesson to Tom Cullum, one of my students.  We've been working together for a few years now and he's a very nice young man and works really hard.  He's also got some ability and it was nice to see him out on the golf course, because the range and the course aren't always the same.  It was apparent that course management and decision making were not problems.  His temperament for the game is very good.  He just needs to hone the physical skills a little more and he can be a solid high school player that contributes to his team!

On Thursday, I wore a new Puma golf shirt for the first time.  I like Puma stuff because it's not just normal run of the mill golf stuff.  This one is dark grey with asymmetrical yellow dots all over it.  It also fits like a shirt should, short sleeves and tailored sides.  I don't like swimming in my golf shirts.  Anyway, I feel really good about the shirt and look good in it too!  I think I'll order more when next season's styles come out.

I hope you all have great days or nights, wherever you are.  I am now off to work and then who knows?  Enjoy, laugh, love, and I'll talk to you all again tomorrow!  Thanks for all of your love and support and for reading!  See ya!

A rose

Tuesday, July 8.  Hi all!  How are you?  I hope great, I am doing great!  Today was a semi-busy day at work.  But it's all good because I got a chance to hit a few balls and run some errands.  Tomorrow I have a playing lesson with one of my kids so it was good to figure a few things out beforehand.  After work, Paula made tacos.  Yum.

My new experience for the day was to get a single pink rose from Paula for no reason at all.  Just her being sweet.  So I'm going to stay short and sweet today and talk to you again tomorrow.  For now, I'm going to relax, watch some TV and take a shower.  Very muggy and humid today, but nice and warm.  Take it easy, enjoy, and I'll talk to you all tomorrow!  Thanks as usual for all the love, support, and positivity from everyone.  Love ya all!

A unique conversation

Monday, July 7.  Hi all!  How are you?  Another day off for me, and I've had a good one.  I slept in, ran some errands, had a therapy session with Dr. Bob, and took a nap.  I was intending to play golf, but it is currently raining out so maybe that's not happening.  Otherwise, it's been a great day!

Earlier today, I had a very unusually pleasant conversation with a woman, Bonne, who worked for one of my credit card companies.  I was trying to move some money around and just so happened to get her on the phone.  Instead of it being just business, we had a nice, personal and pleasant conversation while we were getting things done.  It was new and strange to talk to someone in that position for that long, and it made me realize that I have the ability to make anyone's day just a little better and more pleasant than it might be.  I'll have to take that attitude on to all of my interactions and see what happens.  Fun!

Anyway, have a good day or night, enjoy life, laugh and love.  I'll talk to you tomorrow!  See ya!

Meeting a movie star

Sunday, July 6.  Hi everyone, how are you?  I am doing great and I hope you are too.  Today was my special day off.  Just decided to take it off.  Kind of slow at work too because it's a holiday weekend.  So I got a chance to sleep in and relax in the morning, then took Paula, AJ, and Elliot to lunch at Zingerman's.  We met up with Rick, on his way to Chicago, and my parents, who needed me to sign something.  It was a nice time and a beautiful day.  Later on, I showed my house to a nice couple and then helped Paula and the crew clean the garage.  It looks great!  I then finally went to play 9 holes with Elliot.  Nick from work called me and met us on the fourth hole and it was nice to play with him and spend some time with him.

Today's new experience was to say hi and approach a movie star.  At Zingerman's, we saw Drew Barrymore, who is in the area to shoot a movie.  So I decided to go up to her and say hi and that I liked her movies.  She was very nice and said thank you.  But it was cool to have the guts to just go up and say hi.  I loved it!  In past times, I would've never done something like that, but felt like what the hell, you know?  What's the worst that could happen?  Anyway, meeting a movie star is definitely something new for me and I'm happy to have done it!

Again, I hope all is good with you all.  Thanks for all the love and support and positive energy.  Have a great day or night, and remember to enjoy, smile, laugh, and love!  See you tomorrow.

A unique junior clinic

Saturday, July 5.  Hi all!  How are you?  I hope well, I am doing great!  I feel peaceful, still, and going with the flow.  I taught for 6 hours today and afterwards hit some balls.  I think I'm on to something with my swing and will keep experimenting.  It's felt good for two days now and we'll see what happens.  Afterwards, I took it easy, watched some golf and took a short nap.  Paula made a great dinner of ribs and pasta salad, and we went out for ice cream afterwards.  All four kids are home right now, so Paula is pretty happy.  That happens very rarely right now, so I feel good for her to have all of the kids home.

My new experience for the day was running a free junior golf clinic.  Now, I've been running this clinic during the summers for many years now, but today was the first time only two kids showed up.  Usually it's anywhere from 8 to 15 kids, so just 2 is unusual.  But instead of canceling the session, I decided to go on with it anyway.  I figured the kids wanted to learn, so why let them down?  So we went ahead with it and it was nice to work more in depth and make a closer connection with fewer kids.  They were very nice and listened and we all had fun.  Their father was very nice too and unobtrusive, which was good.

Anyway, please enjoy the rest of the weekend.  I will talk to you tomorrow.  Don't forget to enjoy, smile, and laugh!  Until tomorrow, my friends!  Thanks for all of the love and support, I am very grateful and appreciative.

A new kind of Fourth of July

Friday, July 4.  Hi everyone!  I hope all of you are well, I am excellent.  Today was my day off, and my first chance to get some rest and sleep in for weeks.  So I did, and spent a morning relaxing and hanging out with Paula.  We then went to Miles and hit some balls together for the first time all year, which was nice.  Finally, we drove to Clark Lake for our annual Fourth of July trip.  For the first time, though, there were no kids at all.  Just adults.

In the last three years, there has always been a younger presence and a different vibe with past July fourth celebrations on a lake, so the vibe was much more chilled out and different.  But still nice and a pleasant time.  It's a beautiful lake and the fourth celebration is a cool day, with the local residents firing off fireworks themselves.

Anyway, it's off to work tomorrow again.  Things are good, I am happy, and life is awesome.  I also have decided to take Sunday off this week too, so I have three of four days off for the first time in a while.  Maybe I can play golf some.  My game the other day with Justin, Casey, and Brent was a sign that I need to really get my game in shape.  For no other reason than I think that I can play at a much higher level than I am.  So I'll make that a goal for the rest of this summer.  I'm making it important, so it'll happen.

I'll talk to you tomorrow, as usual.  Have a great day, enjoy, and remember to look at life, observe, and smile and laugh!  See you tomorrow.

Teaching a physicist

Thursday, July 3.  Hi all!  How are you doing?  I'm doing great and I hope you are too.  Today was a very busy day at work.  Straight from 9 am to 7 pm.  I taught some old students and some new, and a group of great kids.  But the most interesting of all was teaching a woman who was a physicist.  She started me on the wrong foot by arriving 5 minutes late, then saying that she didn't have any clubs and wanted two specific clubs that had to be put together by the guys inside.  Arriving late and needing to borrow clubs was not that big a deal because it happens all the time, but then she said we should really get to it because she only had an hour and didn't want to waste any time.  Well, maybe coming on time with clubs would help us not waste time!

Anyway, I taught her with everything I had, she tried and understood, and we enjoyed the lesson.  What was interesting though was that toward the end of the lesson,  I asked her if she thought the universe was a friendly place.  This question was one that Albert Einstein, another physicist, thought was the most important question for him to answer.  Her answer was that if you thought the universe was a friendly place, it would help you out.  If you think it's friendly, it'll be friendly to you and help you.  Now this is what I believe now too, but it was awesome cool to hear it from a physicist, not a religious or spiritual person.  I also then asked her it she thought that we created our lives in our heads, or manifested our life.  She said that without a doubt we do.  Again, from a physicist's perspective!  We create our own existence and lives.  Wow, very powerful.  Something that I've been doing now for the last 6 months!  Confirmation.

Anyway, enjoy July 4th for those of you in America and remember what a privilege it is to have freedom.  Also remember that we are responsible for the live we have by the thoughts we create in our heads.  So imagine and think about whatever it is you want, and it will happen.  You can create the life of your dreams if you choose!  Talk to you tomorrow, enjoy!

A new foursome

Wednesday, July 2.  Hi all!  How's it going?  I hope well, I'm doing great and had a great day.  Early this morning, I went to show my house to a potential tenant.  She and her sister seemed nice and we'll see what happens.  I then went to teach some golf, but today only until 3 pm, because I had a golf game!  I played at Barton Hills with Justin, Casey, and Brent.  Casey is a member and our host, and he really made it feel like a great day.  It was quite a privilege to play there with those three guys.  I struggled as I kind of expected because I just haven't played that much with all that's been going on.  We managed to play 8 holes before the lightning came, at which point we went to the grill, hung out and talked for a couple of hours.  Chris Mile also came to watch us play and hung out with us.  It was a thoroughly enjoyable day even though we didn't play all 18 and had a good match going.  I felt lucky and blessed to be there.  I truly have had a great month and look forward to July being even better!

I hope you all have good days, and I will check in tomorrow as usual!  Enjoy, live, experience, and laugh a lot til then.  Thanks for all the love and support.  Later on...

A potential tenant

Tuesday, July 1.  Hi all!  How's it going?  I hope well, I am doing great as usual.  Today was a busy day at work with lots of lessons and Justin visiting Miles of Golf and doing the PR tour at his old stomping grounds.  He then treated us to a great dinner at Miki Japanese restaurant.  Justin likes to have sushi when we visit because he gets a chance to be more adventurous than when he goes for Japanese with his wife Kathryn.  It was great food and fun conversation.

Today, I, for the first time, actually spoke to someone who is interested in renting my home.  I've received several emails from people, but never actually spoken to anyone about it.  Hearing her voice and her story made me feel more comfortable with things.  Something about email is so very impersonal and it's good to hear and eventually meet and look someone in the eye when doing something like this.  But it sounds like she's interested and willing to pay the price of $2,100 a month, which would actually allow me to make money on my house each month while my tenants pay for the equity in my home.  A potentially perfect deal!  I will keep you updated and keep my fingers crossed.  I feel positive expectancy for this opportunity and will actually increase my personal income by quite a bit per year.

Anyway, off to watch a movie and get to bed early.  I have another big day tomorrow and also a golf game set up with Justin, Casey, and Brent at Barton Hills CC.  Cool, huh?  Have a great day everyone, and I'll talk to you tomorrow!

International final qualifying

Monday, June 3.  Hi everyone!  What's up?  I hope all is well with everybody, and all is great with me!  Tired, but great.  My new experience for the day was to caddy in the International Final Qualifying for the British Open for Justin.  This was a very unique exclusive privilege for Justin in that only very few get to play in the event.  It is based on world ranking alone, and his performance over the last three weeks has moved him up on that list which allows him to get into more and more events.  It was tough to carry the big tour bag for that many holes, and I will admit that I'm not the best caddy in the world, but it was fun and an honor to be there.  I was also recognized quite a bit myself and received another invitation to do the Big Show radio program because of it.  We shot 2 over and didn't make the Open field, but we tried to do the best we could and just didn't have it.  From his perspective, I think he just ran out of gas.  Deservedly so from winning the Nationwide Tour event and then having to drive all the way back to Dearborn from Toronto.  He didn't arrive until about 1 am, we got to bed at 2:30 am, and woke up at 5:30 am.  No excuses, but not the ideal situation for playing 36 holes.

Anyway, great things continue to happen and everything is truly fantastic.  I hope you have good days and nights, and I will talk to you later!  See ya!

The arb and winner winner chicken dinner

Sunday, June 29.  Hi everyone!  I am juiced up and amped today!  What a great day.  I hope you all are doing great as well.  After a good solid day of teaching, I got the chance to experience two new things today.  The first was to take a walk with Paula in the Arb.  I'd been there maybe once as an undergraduate, and Paula had never been.  The Arb is the Arboretum, a nature park owned by the University.  It was a beautiful day for a walk and nice to be around nature.  Nature can teach us a lot.  Especially just being.  Is-ness.  The trees, shrubs, flowers, grass, streams, everything...just are.  They don't resist.  They just are as they are.  As I've learned more and more, that's really one of my goals.  To just be, surrendering to life and not resisting what it brings, good and bad.  We had a great time.

The second thing was to witness my friend and my golf student, Justin, win the Nationwide Tour event in Toronto!  Yes!  He is now driving down to Michigan, where tomorrow I will caddy 36 holes for him in the British Open qualifier.  He'll hang out a few days and then go up to Grand Rapids to spend the fourth of July with his wife and her family.  Very cool and very exciting.  Life is beautiful!

Gotta go now.  Must pack and meet him at a hotel near the course.  Hopefully, get some rest too.  Because he won, he got out of Toronto late and won't arrive until 12:30 am or so.  Our first tee time is 8:17 am, so it'll be a long day tomorrow.  Hopefully, I can report more good news tomorrow as well!  Be safe and enjoy life guys.  Like the trees, just be and let life take you where it takes you!  Later.

Helping someone who needs help

Saturday, June 28.  Hi everyone!  How are you?  I am doing well and hope you all are doing well.  I had a busy day, teaching until 5 pm, then had a nice dinner prepared by Paula.  We later just relaxed and hung out watching Damages, the show Glenn is the creator of and the show we will be extras on when we go to New York next month.  Very relaxing.

My new experience of the day was to give money to a beggar on the street.  I usually don't do that because a part of me feels like they should try to do more to get back on their feet.  Today, though, I thought that perhaps it's not that easy, and maybe things can get so tough that some have to resort to begging.  So I decided to open my mind and give him a little change.  He was very thankful, and I felt good in doing it.  I think I've changed my views on the beggars of the world.  We must help everyone out, whenever we can.  It doesn't matter much who it is.  Those who are really having a hard time especially.  And if this guy was running a scam, so be it.  I trusted him, gave and lent a helping hand, and that's a good thing.

Anyway, time for bed.  Another day of teaching tomorrow, although not as long a day.  Maybe I can play some golf tomorrow.  We'll see.  You all have a great day and keep on thinking positively and with a generous heart.  Great things are in store for all of us!  Good night and enjoy!

Goji juice and lemongrass soda

Friday, June 27.  Hello everyone!  What's up?  I hope all is well, all is great with me.  Another Friday, and another day off for me.  And I had a great one.  Went to deliver meals in the morning, and really enjoyed seeing all of the folks again.  Gave Margaret another hug.  I am very fortunate and feel for her because she is not well and is very lonely.  But I did what I could!  I also ran some errands, took a nap, and went out to dinner with Paula at Big Boy.  Very underrated, that Big Boy.  Good food and reasonably priced.

After dinner, we went to Whole Foods Market to buy dinner to make at home tomorrow.  We bought chicken thighs for the grill, some naan, and some mozzarella cheese to make a caprese salad.  My new experience for the day was to buy two products I have never purchased before: goji juice, a supposedly "super juice" that enhances energy and mood, and lemongrass soda made from cane sugar, which I bought because I figure is better than regular soda pop.  I'll report on how they both taste and if there are any additional benefits.

I hope you all have a great day, enjoy life and live it, and I'll talk to you all tomorrow!

Teaching a nice young man and a nice old man

Thursday, June 26.  Hi everyone!  I hope everyone has had a great day!  I have had an extremely busy one.  It started at 6:30 with 9 holes of golf, lessons all day, and accompanying Paula to her biopsy at the hospital.  She had a couple of moles that needed to be removed and tested.  Better safe than sorry, right?  The prognosis is quite positive, and the risk is very low, so that's great.

Today, I had the chance to teach two people at the different ends of the age spectrum.  Both were first time students.  Willie, an older gentleman, probably close to 80 years old.  Mark, a young man, around 20 years old.  I'd never met Willie before, and have known Mark for a few years and known he's just a super nice young guy.  It's neat to see people of such different ages come because they want to learn about golf.  And although very different in many ways, they shared an open mind and an eagerness to learn.  I do have to say that each surprised me.  I always have an unfair bias about older people, assuming that they are less open minded about change and more set in their ways.  Willie was just the opposite.  Very attentive and willing to listen, and he really improved.  I learned a lot about my biases from teaching him.  Mark surprised me in how interested he was in my view on spirituality, psychology, and how being in the moment in life helps being in the moment in golf.  I gave him some non-golf books to read that he seemed very interested in, and I think that they will help.  I just loved talking to him about the stuff and he wants to pursue discussions about similar topics in the future.

A great day.  Unexpected wonderful lessons full of surprises from two very different people.  I love it!  That's what makes teaching great, meeting new people.  And I'm learning to be open minded and positive with my expectancy with all lessons, and that tends to make every lesson great and lots of fun.  Anyway, tomorrow is my day off and I look forward to doing some things I want to do.  I'm so busy with golf now that I don't get to spend as much time with real estate and the hat company, but that's ok because I'm forming a financial base to get those projects started.  All in all, a fantastic day.  I hope you've had one too, and hope that tomorrow will be even better!  I know that it will be for me too!  Talk to you tomorrow, all.  Peace and happiness to you all, and thanks for your support and love.

Anachronism and Shakespeare

Wednesday, June 25.  Hello everyone!  How are you?  I hope well.  I am doing fantastic.  I had another busy day of teaching, and am quite tired.  But I also had a chance to hit some balls,  practice, and have a nice dinner with Paula, Aubrey and Elliot.  We also made the decision to pass on the downtown Ann Arbor commercial property.  Just too risky and, given this economic environment, we can be much pickier and hopefully get an even better deal.  I also have committed to investing in the night club in Bangkok with Pae.  I am confident that it will be a success and a money maker for me and us for years to come.  The group has the right formula, understands the business, and have had big success before.  My investment is small, but will give me a decent return.  So sometime next week I'll wire Pae my 1%, which is about $18,000.  Cool and very exciting!

Today's new thing is learning the word "anachronism," which I am told (by Elliot) means something that is misplaced or out of proper time.  The example he used was how William Shakespeare placed cannons in the story of Julius Caesar, even though at the time of Julius Caesar there were no cannons.  The technology didn't exist yet, but he used poetic license to make them a part of his story.  Anyway, it was good to learn something new and we can always learn something new, right?  Part of what this is all about!

I hope you've had nice days, and I hope you all have even better ones tomorrow.  Great things are happening to me now and I'm very appreciative and very excited.  So I'll check in again with you tomorrow to share some more!  See you then!

Walking the dogs

Tuesday, June 24.  Hello everyone!  How's everything going?  I hope well.  I am doing very well.  I had another busy day today at work, and I'm grateful that I am so busy and people seem to respond to my teaching.  It's also nice because it means my paycheck gets a little bigger each week!  

Today, Paula and I walked the three dogs, Pan, Bear, and Alex, all together for the first time.  It's too bad that Lily died a couple of weeks ago and we couldn't take her too.  But it was nice to go for a walk and dogs really need to walk to stay healthy and have fun.  It was fun for us to walk as well.  The weather this evening was so perfect.  A perfect Michigan summer day!  Anyway, we also did some weeding and yard work and it felt good to get some dirt on my hands too.  It's somehow spiritual and nice to physically get in touch with the earth.

I hope you all have great days or nights, wherever you are.  I'm off to finish my spiritual routine for the day and relax a little.  I have another big day of lessons in front of me tomorrow.  Maybe a dip in the hot tub, or maybe just some TV time or maybe some reading.  We'll see.  Enjoy life and do what you want to do.  I'll talk to you tomorrow!

Golfing, planning, and having fun

Monday, June 23.  Hi all!  I hope you are all doing well, I am doing great!  I had a day off today, and had my new experience for the day early: playing golf with Elliot, Paula's youngest son.  It was a good time and he played better than I expected (he doesn't play a lot) and had very good etiquette.  I really enjoyed the experience and look forward to doing it again.

After that, I had lunch with Paula and decided to spend the afternoon looking at new cars.  Both of our leases are up in the next 6 months, so we did a little early searching.  Paula would like to buy her next car so she doesn't have to worry about payments and mileage.  I'm still not sure what I'd like to do.  We don't have to decide anything until November so we'll just let it play out.  Everything takes care of itself in time, right?

Other than that, I'm great.  Justin left for Toronto to play in a Nationwide Tour event today, and he will return on Sunday for the British Open qualifying in Dearborn.  As far as I know, everyone is happy and healthy, and life is good.  I have no complaints and I'm truly living the dream.  So enjoy and have fun and do what you want to do, everyone, and I'll write again tomorrow.  B bye.

Giving all I've got

Sunday, June 22.  Hi all!  How's today going for you?  Well, I hope.  I had a busy day of work and will have a nice chance to have a good dinner and a relaxed evening coming up.  Summer's here, and it's busy and fun at work.  All of the other projects are making there small steps forward too, so all's great with me!

Today, my fifth lesson of the day was Alain and Janet, who have taken lessons with me for years.  They wanted to have me take a look at each of their swings and also talk about putting.  Now that's a lot to do in 50 minutes.  But today, instead of really watching the clock and making sure things finished on time, I decided to do and give all I could until what needed to be done was done.  That made the lesson last an hour and five minutes.  But for the first time, I didn't care, even though that meant my sixth lesson, Bill, had to wait.  I just decided to do what I had to do with Alain and Janet, and just somehow knew that Bill would be ok and I'd do what I had to do with him too, even if that meant staying a little extra.

I really enjoyed giving 100% to all of my students, and liked even more that I wasn't anal and overly concerned with time.  Time's time.  I've got all the time in the world until my time runs out, right?  While teaching from now on, I will present myself like I did today and do what I have to do until it's done right.  And if I go 5 minutes too long or if we end 10 minutes early, who cares.  It's just time.  I think giving my heart and soul makes me feel way better than giving exactly 50 minutes of time.  Anyway, off to an early dinner now.  Smile and enjoy life, and let life take you where it wants to take you.  We'll talk again tomorrow.  Bye!

Old friends

Saturday, June 21.  Hi all!  How are you?  I hope well, I am doing great!   I had a full day of lessons today, and got them all in before the rains came.  It's pouring now.  Paula and I were going to play golf, but maybe Monday would be better.

Today's new experience was teaching golf to the wife of an old friend.  Takeshi, who I worked with many years ago in a Japanese restaurant, brought his wife Yoshiko for a golf lesson.  It was great to see both of them and catch up, and it was the first time I've given a friend's wife a golf lesson.  They are headed back to Japan, unfortunately, so I'm not sure if and when I'll see them again, but it was nice to spend some time with them nonetheless.  We can never forget our old friends, can we?  

A short entry today, lots to do.  I have to stop by the grocery store.  Justin is stopping by today and Paula wants to make him a nice dinner and hang out.  So until tomorrow my friends, enjoy and laugh and smile!  Later

Another Open, giving, and hunting for treasure

Thursday, June 19 and Friday, June 20.  Hi everyone!  What's up?  I hope you are all doing well, I am doing great!  Today Paula and I celebrated our third year together.  It has been full of ups and downs, like any relationship, but I find myself very happy today and couldn't be more satisfied with where my life is and where it's headed.  Anyway, I hope you've had a nice day too!

For Thursday, my new experience was to get asked to caddy for a British Open qualifier for the first time.  On account of his performance in the US Open, Justin has improved his world ranking enough to be one of 60 golfers going for 6 British Open spots later this month at Dearborn Country Club.  So he asked me to caddy for him.  He'll spend a few days in Michigan and we can hang out and catch up.  Should be a fun time and exciting.  Imagine that...qualifying for the two biggest Open championships in one year!  Cool.

For today, my new experience is giving on a day where I usually would be selfish and do things for myself.   Paula and I went to help deliver meals again, and it was good to get back to helping and giving.  What was unusual however was that on a day like today, our anniversary of sorts, we would usually take the day to do only things we wanted.  For example, we could've gone to play golf or go shopping or have a day to ourselves.  But for about an hour and a half, we decided to help with Motor Meals and it felt great.  I can honestly say that I've never spent time on a day of personal celebration helping others and giving my time to others.  It felt great and I feel good about the personal growth it showed.

Anyway, time to go to bed.  Back to work tomorrow, and perhaps we'll play golf tomorrow if the weather cooperates.  We'll see.  By the way, we watched "Fool's Gold" tonight, and enjoyed it very much.  Simple fun.  And if you get a chance to watch it, don't you think that everyday of life should feel like a treasure hunt?  Sounds like an idea to me.  I'll start tomorrow approaching the day by feeling the excitement I would feel if I was hunting for lost treasure.  I can't imagine it's going to hurt my attitude for the day, can it?  See you tomorrow, take care and enjoy!  See ya!

A questionable offer

Wednesday, June 18.  Hi everyone!  I hope you all are doing well, I am doing great.  Had a full day of teaching today, and the lessons were great.  Pretty uneventful.  My new experience for the day is getting an email from someone willing to rent my house for $2,100.  That's good news.  The bad news is that the guy said he was from the UK and coming to Ann Arbor for a year.  The company and company address he gave me were not findable at Google, and he was not able to tell me what city he was going to work in once in the U.S..  Fishy.  Finally, he said that the organization that he is going to do work for is the "United States Architecture Foundation."  Guess what?  That too, doesn't come up when I Google it.  

I'll keep playing along, being careful to not reveal any information that is too revealing, but it sounds not right to me.  Funny that people spend all this time trying to figure out ways to screw other people over.  I'll assume that it's for real but with a slightly suspicious eye.  If he wants to rent my place out no questions asked, then it'll happen.  I'll be keeping a sharp eye out and be consulting my attorney first, though.  Very interesting.

Talk to you again tomorrow, love to all.  Thanks for all of your love and support.  Later.

The Trackman

Tuesday, June 17.  Hi all!  How are you?  I hope well.  I am great.  Today's entry will be a short one as I am tired and want to relax a little.  Today was good.  Gave 6 lessons and had a chance to have dinner with Paula and spent some time talking to Justin on the phone about the week.  It was great to catch up with him and hear about the good and bad from the week.  But he is very happy for the experience and has moved on to Knoxville to play in the Nationwide Tour event this week.  He will also be swinging by Michigan at the end of the month, and we'll hang out a little, and I may caddy for him.

My new thing for the day was to test drivers out on the state of the art Trackman fitting system at work.  Now I've been fit before, but today I set it up and did it all on my own.  Not a huge accomplishment but something new nonetheless, and was kind of cool in that the system is a $30,000 setup!  I had a good time doing it.  I also got a very short lesson on my swing from Tom Harding.  I've never asked him for any advice before and hit a few balls and felt some good things.  Now I've just got to get out and play some!

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy your time doing whatever it is you're doing today or tonight.  Smile lots, laugh lots, and live life!  I'll talk to you all later on tomorrow.  C ya.

Making friends with a stranger

Monday, June 16.  Hi all!  How's everyone doing today?  Great I hope.  I'm doing just fantastic.  Today was my day off, and I had a good time.  I slept in a little and saw that I missed a call from the radio show that I did on Thursday and Friday.  Seems that I was supposed to be on today at 7 am too!  So I called in at 8:45 am to apologize, but they asked me if I wanted to say a few words on air, so I did.  It was fun and kind of wrapped up the crazy week.

From there, I played a quick nine holes (shot 37--not bad for my fourth round of the year), then came home to help Paula make some pies to bring to Julie and her colleague running the food part of Giftorama.  They want us to make at least 2,100 pieces for their fundraiser!  It might even be more!  It's a great opportunity to get exposure for the business and hopefully we can get some catering jobs from it and then open a pie store.  Cool, huh?

After dropping the pies off, we went to dinner at Mitchell's Fish Market, one of our faves, and had a nice dinner and hit it off with our waitress, Lauren.  We ended up having a nice long conversation with her and ended up exchanging contact info.  She's a really nice person.  See, the thing is that last night we listened to a Joel Osteen sermon on complimenting people and helping them and encouraging them for no reason as good spiritual mojo.  So it was kind of funny that we had an opportunity to do that with Lauren.  By the time we were done, we all gave each other hugs and I can't say that I've ever done that before!

Anyway, something non golf related for the first time in a week.  Try it sometime, just compliment someone sincerely.  It makes them feel good and you feel good.  And also download some Joel Osteen podcasts from iTunes if you can.  It makes you feel incredibly positive and good.  He's got a great, not too religious, positive message for the world!  I'll check in tomorrow.  Til then, have a great day or night and enjoy!  Cheers!

National TV

Sunday, June 15.  First of all, happy birthday to my sister Julie!  How are you all?  I'm doing great.  Tired, but great.  It has been an exciting and exhausting weekend.  It's nice to see it come to an end with everyone happy and I'm glad I had a chance to experience all the craziness.  Today, I taught a few lessons, got fit for a new driver, went over to Julie's house with Paula, and watched the exciting end of the US Open.

My new experience for the day actually happened on Friday, but so much has happened that it just seems fair for me to carry one over.  On Friday's ESPN telecast of the Open, the lead announcer, Mike Tirico, mentioned my name on national TV as Justin's instructor!  How cool!  Rick's dad also said that I was mentioned on the Golf Channel later that night on their "Live from the US Open" show.  I don't know anything about that and have not heard anything about that from anyone else, but cool, I'll take that too.

This week, things get back to normal a little.  Teach some golf, hopefully play some golf, and just hang out and relax some.  I hope you all have a good day or night, and thank you for all of your love and support as usual.  I'll check in with you again tomorrow.  See ya!

Doing the "Lesson on Golf" radio show

Saturday, June 14.  Hi all!  A little more calm now that Justin has fallen back a little.  I did my normal lesson day and gave 7 lessons.  It's nice to get some accolades and some recognition for my relationship with Justin.  But I'm sure he is a little calmer and relishing having the spotlight off of him for the final two days.  He shot 75 today.  Much better!

Today's new experience was to do a new radio show, "Lesson on Golf" with Jeff Lesson.  It was short and everything went fine.  It was similar to the other radio show, but this time the radio station was a bigger one and had more listeners.  Cool.

Other than that, life is still good and trucking along.  I plan to go out to dinner tonight with Paula and just relax a little, and watch more golf.  The US Open is still such fun to watch even though Justin won't win.  Have a good day or night, enjoy life and smile, and I'll check in again tomorrow!  Later alligators.

TV and a US Open leader

Friday, June 13.  Hi all!  How are you?  I'm doing absolutely great!  Lots of excitement today as I find myself the instructor for the co-leader of the US Open.  I'm getting lots of attention and calls and emails from all over the place.  Very exciting.  Justin, unfortunately, didn't play very well.  That's ok though because I'm still proud of him and he learned a lot today.  It's not everyday you're in the lead of the US Open you know.  Anyway, let's hope he has a great weekend, because he did make the cut.

Another new event for the day was to do a TV type interview about my relationship with Justin.  It's not anything major, but something I've never done before.  Outside of youtube, I don't even know where it will air.  It was fun and I wasn't too nervous.  Just spoke from the heart and told the truth and didn't think too much about it.

Other than that, today was spent watching a lot of golf.  It's weird with the tournament on the West Coast to watch live golf until 10pm our time.  But it was worth it to see how my buddy Justin handled himself so professionally.  I'm very proud of him and having a good time with it all myself.  Goodnight, good morning, and I'll talk to you tomorrow!

A US Open leader

Thursday, June 12.  Hi all!  Today was a truly fantastic day.  It started with my first radio interview about my teaching and my relationship with Justin, who I'll get to later.  The interview was fun and I think I came off great.  I then went for my business school interview, which went great as well.  Upon leaving, I felt very good about just being myself and expressing my goals and desires with passion and energy.  If they want me, they want me.  I feel good about myself no matter what, and it's out of my hands.

The rest of the day was a whirlwind of fun.  In addition to teaching a normal load of lessons, Justin was doing himself proud at the US Open.  So as my day passed, he finally made his way to leading the US Open!!   I'm so proud of him and happy for him and his family.  And I'm proud to have played a small part in his success and to be his friend.  A side effect of all of this was to get a whole bunch more calls from radio shows and journalists and a TV (Golf Channel) personality to get more information about Justin and my relationship with him.  Very exciting!

Anyway, lots of first today, but I will have to say that being the teacher of the first round leader in a US Open, one of the three biggest golf tournaments in the world, takes the cake.  I'm flying and on top of the world with happiness.  I smiled all day today!

So send him some good energy and best wishes these next few days and lets hope that we have a new US Open Champion on Sunday!  Love you all and thank you for your support and love.  I will keep you updated on everything and talk to you tomorrow!

Another community bank and banker

Wednesday, June 11.  Hello!  What's up?  Hope all is well with everyone.  I had another busy day today.  I have some golf lessons and did some running around.  I had a chance to talk to Justin out in San Diego today to catch up on how things are at the US Open.  He sounds good and I think he'll do well this year.  Other than that, I had a fantastic day!

My new experience for the day was to talk to Patrick Cavanaugh at United Bank and Trust about setting up a banking relationship with them and our real estate company.  He was very nice and I had a good vibe about the meeting, maybe even better than the other day's meeting with the nice folks at A2 Commerce Bank.  Both institutions treated me wonderfully.  I am thinking about doing all of my personal banking at one of the two branches too.  I just really like the community feel of the places.  All of the employees are super nice and it just feels better.  The bigger banks just feel colder and more corporate and rigid.  We'll see.  It's kind of a pain in the ass to transfer everything over, but I think I'll do it eventually.  They just make you feel like you live in a community, you know?

I will check in tomorrow, of course.  I am sure that I will have lots of interesting things tomorrow because I have my first interview on the radio, my interview at the Business School, and my normal golf teaching schedule.  Exciting stuff!  I hope you all have a fun and exciting day!  Talk to you later.  Bye!

Offering more but getting rejected

Tuesday, June 10.  Hi all!  I hope everyone is doing well.  I am doing well.  A full day of teaching today--8 hours in a row!  But that gave me a chance to be done by 5pm, which gave Paula and I a chance to go see a movie.  We saw the new Indiana Jones movie.  It was fun and pretty good, but not nearly as good as the originals from the 80's.  Overall, a pretty good day.

The new experience for the day was to have the highest offer out there for the student rental property, have financing lined up, and being rejected.  The seller chose to go with the offer that was $10,000 less!  Huh.  I guess that I don't understand everything about things if that happens.  I was told that there were "fewer contingencies" in the other offer.  If this means that the other buyer didn't need to verify income and expenses and rent rolls and get inspections done, then this was not the deal for us.  I can't quite believe that someone wouldn't want or need to get that information before buying, but I guess some go in with full trust.  Curious.

I'm a little disappointed, but overall ok about it all.  It was another good experience and means that there are going to be good deals out there, and probably even more deals at better prices as the economy flounders and real estate owners get nervous hanging onto their properties.  I feel very good and confident about things and will revisit the commercial property and a few other student rental properties as well.  Things are looking up and I will not be denied!  Great things are coming my way and coming soon.  Everything is coming together quite nicely.

Again, I hope all is well with all of you and I will check in again tomorrow!  Good day or good night, and don't forget to enjoy and laugh!  Later.

Readers and investors

Monday, June 9.  Hi everyone!  How are you today?  I hope you've all had good days.  I have had another busy but fun day.  Again, Monday is an off day for me, but I managed to stay really busy.  I started it off by sleeping in.  I was running on fumes for a while there.  This seems to be the start of a busy week!

Really a couple of new things to talk about today.  First is my first scheduled radio interview that has been scheduled for 7 am Thursday morning.  One of my students, Justin Hicks, has qualified for the US Open and the radio station wants to talk to me on air about the relationship.  Pretty cool!  I'm not too nervous about it but it'll be broadcast on about 10 stations throughout the state so I'll get some exposure.  I just hope I wake up for it!  I also have my Business School interview that morning so that'll be a busy day.

I also discovered during a nice chat with the folks at Ann Arbor Commerce Bank that I have readers other than my mom, my aunt, my sister, and the odd friend or two.  One of the office assistants recognized me from this blog!  How about that?  That makes me feel good and a little anxious at the same time because I don't know how many readers there are, now that I know that there is at least one!  Maybe a hundred?  Maybe a million?  Who knows?  All fun.

Lastly, money came through for the investment that Chad, Julie and I are looking to make in the form of Mom.  So thank you Mom for being strong and making a decision on your own (I'm proud of you), and believing in us and how we just want to make our futures brighter (I thank you from the bottom of my heart).  I promise to make you proud!

I love you all and hope you have a good day or night!  I'll keep you updated on this exciting week that is sure to be full of great surprises one way or another.  Remember to laugh and smile and take time to love those you love.  Life is really just too short to do anything else!  Later dudes.

A new restaurant for a new kind of celebration

Sunday, June 8.  Hi again.  Another hot and full day of golf teaching today.  I had my busiest week so far for the year.  Afterwards, Paula and I went to Troy to have a celebration dinner for Kirin and Coco at a newly opened place called Ocean Prime near Somerset Mall.  

It's nice to see the kids reach milestones and so I enjoyed being a part of it.  The food was also excellent and it has quickly climbed into my top 5 of best local restaurants.  It was also good to be able to see the family all together without drama.  I've decided that I'm going to take my good attitude and energy to EVERYTHING.  And I'll leave how all other people are gonna be their business.

Anyway, it was fun to try a great new restaurant and great to celebrate something with people I love.  From now on, I am celebrating everything and anything!  I hope you have a good day and enjoy!

A reunion

Saturday, June 7.  Hi all!  How are you doing?  I hope fine.  Today was an amazing day.  I taught 6 lessons, then got ready for my 20th high school reunion.  I had to be pushed and prodded a little bit by Paula, Julie, Glenn, and Ravi to go.  But I did.  The first one I've ever gone to.

Paula and I arrived at around 5:30 at Cranbrook and walked to the the Quad for the cocktail party.  And I had a great time.  It was great and weird to see faces of people that I had never thought about for 20 years.  I've kept in touch with very few, and had seen some during my college years, but for the most part I've done my own thing.  It was nice to reconnect.  The Quad party moved over to my friend Sam's house (actually his parents' house) near the school, at which we had something to eat and met up with more people that I didn't see at school.  

We left at about 10:30 and I really do have to give thanks to those who encouraged me to go, because I had a great time!  I'm gonna go because it's a busy day today, but I will talk to you soon!  Have a great one!

I will prosper

Friday, June 6.  Hello fans!  How are you?  I hope fine, and I am doing great!  Today was a busy day off, but a great one.  It started with a therapy session with Judy, where we talked about a lot of different things.  In the end, it was affirming and positive like many of the therapy sessions are.  And unlike in different times, I am committed to continuing at some pace with both Bob and Judy.  No reason to stop now that I feel better and am making huge progress with myself and growing as a person.

I also got a chance to talk to the founder of Ann Arbor Commerce Bank and I think he will be a good resource for all of my real estate goals.  I then went to see Larry my accountant, and found out that I'll be getting about $2,500 back from the IRS and another $600 from the relief stimulus thing.  Good good!

I then spent a couple of hours visiting with Glenn, my closest friend from high school.  We have not seen each other or spoken for probably 14 or 15 years.  It was fantastic to catch up and the old dynamic of good friends kicked right in.  We had and still have a lot of similar experiences with choosing non-traditional paths and really connected again.  He even said that I could be in an episode of his TV series "Damages" which is one of my favorite shows.  I am truly happy for his success and his happiness.  Awesome!

My new experience of the day, however, was to discover a source for funding and borrowing money called prosper.com, a community of peer to peer lending that may give me a chance to find the money to participate in the real estate deals.  It's just borrowing money from those willing to lend money online.  I have to research it more, but I think it might be good from what I've read so far.  It makes me really proud that last night I bounced back from feeling disappointed to feeling hopeful and trusting that my dreams would come true and trusting that my positive attitude and expectancy would pay off.  And the universe delivered me a possibility.  The power of positive thinking and never saying no and never giving up!  It works!  Try it sometime.  Pretty cool.

Well, that's all for now, tomorrow is another day of lessons followed by my 20th year reunion in the evening.  Should be interesting and I'll keep you posted.  Until then, my friends.

Not having enough money

Thursday, June 5.  Hi all.  Today was hot like Thailand and a busy day teaching golf.  There were seven teachers each working at least 8 hours today.  Wow.   Lots of lessons.  That took  up most of my day.  I had dinner with Paula and her family.  Her sister Michelle and her kids are in town from New Hampshire for Elliot's graduation from high school.  Not much after that, some TV and some relaxing.

Today's new experience is not having enough money to put on the down payments for two properties that I found that are cash flow positive.  The office building that I've talked about is a 17% return (if all the tenants stay) with $120,000 down.  I also found a new student rental that is a 12-14% return (all tenants are signed) with $81,000 down.  So at this point, I'm just giving the opportunities to Chad, Julie, and Derrick, a colleague of Chad's.  I'd rather have them have it than someone else.  To tell you the truth, it's very disappointing because I did all the work in finding them and it took over a year and a half of work just to find these two properties.  But I'm happy that those guys will have something that will pay them passive income of over $15,000 each per year.  They will get be able to get out of the rat race of working as they add to their portfolio and the money they make can eventually go towards buying other properties.  The idea is that in 10 years or so they won't have to work!  But that's life I guess and I feel that I learned a lot about the process and the business of real estate.  I'll just have to find a way to gather enough money to be able to put up a down payment myself, right?  Anyway, I'm glad that they got it and not someone else.  I'm disappointed but the sun is shining and it is a new day.  We'll see what happens today.  Bye for now.

I'm a journalist!

Wednesday, June 4.  Hi all!  How are you?  I hope doing great.  Today was another busy day.  Lots of golf lessons, some real estate action, and Elliot's high school graduation.  Elliot is Paula's youngest son, and he's done and moving on!  Paula also treated us to a great dinner at The Chophouse, and I had a huge bone-in ribeye steak.  A very nice piece of meat and a nice time.  The Red Wings also won the Stanley Cup tonight.  Fantastic.  I feel like sports do a lot to bring a city and a community together, so it's always great when a local team does well.

Today's new experience was getting my first article published in the Dexter Newspaper!  Yes!  I haven't actually seen it yet but Terry, the editor, told me he would send me a couple of copies, and said that they are ready for more articles from me.  How cool is that?  So I'm pretty pumped up about that and about all of the other things going on.  Some real estate deals that look pretty good, Muse opening in about a week, still getting Gabaan going, and helping Paula get the pie company off the ground.  Busy and exciting times for sure!

I hope you have had a nice day or night, and wish you the same for the upcoming day or night!  Enjoy, laugh, be present, and believe that great things are going to happen to us all!  Because they are!  See you tomorrow all, bye for now.

Finally some nicer student rentals

Tuesday, June 3.  In addition to teaching 7 hours today, I went to look at 3 more student rental properties.  It is part of a group of 11 or 12 properties owned by a trust that are being sold.  And all three were quite nice.  Not the animal house type trashed houses.  So that was a first.  I really liked the first one and decided to make an offer on it.  If all of the information is correct, then it will provide a nice cash flow right from year one.  I've been so patient in looking for the right opportunity, and I think that this one might be it!

There are just so many opportunities to invest now.  Muse is the nightclub in Thailand, Paula's pie business, a noodle shop, and real estate.  Choices are good to have.  Today was also the first time I looked at properties with someone other than Susan N.  Today Susan M. showed me the properties and maybe that'll change our luck!

I hope everyone is doing well.  I just keep moving along!  I'll talk to you again tomorrow.  Have a great day or night and keep on enjoying life!

Meeting a potential partner

Monday, June 2.  Hey all!  How are you?  I'm doing great.  It was my day off today, but I got a lot done.  I had a counseling meeting with Dr. Bob, and told him about all of the stuff that has happened over the last month.  We focused some on Paula and I and a LOT on my dad and I.  I won't bore you with the details, but basically he felt like I was making progress as a person and as a man by standing up to him and doing what I want to do with my life. 

After my session, I went to play nine holes with Paula and had a great time.  It was a beautiful day in Michigan, sunny and warm.

Then I went downtown to meet with Chad, Julie, Mom, the kids and finally met Derrick.  Derrick is a radiologist like Chad and is our new potential partner in our quest to invest in real estate.  They went to look at the property I have talked about in downtown.  I think that we have reopened the case and will seriously consider purchasing the share again.  So that's happy news!  It was nice to meet him and see everyone.  He seems like a genuinely nice guy and seems like a guy I'd want to partner up with.  We'll see.  But like I've said, it will happen sooner or later, just don't know how or when.  But it will happen.  I trust it and believe it with all of my heart.

So I bid you goodnight for tonight, and hope you have a good night or day.  Be happy, think about all we have and how lucky we are, and laugh and smile a lot until we talk again tomorrow.  Adios amigos!

A (stupid) rival

Sunday, June 1.  Hi everyone!  I hope you all are doing great!  I'm doing very well.  Today was another very busy day teaching.  Still a little jet lagged but getting better.  Paula's dog Lily died last night so it was a late night.  Sad but everyone is doing as good as they can do.

Today's new experience was finding out that I have a rival in the fedora making business.  And a jealous and petty one at that.  Ernie, the owner of the ad agency that does the commercials for Miles of Golf, the range where I work, is also developing a line of fedoras.  Today through one of my students I found out that he was very angry about me starting my company because he thought that I stole the idea from him.  Haha.  "Stole" the idea?  For making fedoras?  I guess I don't have that much to worry about because if he thinks that the idea is his, then he's just an idiot and won't be able to make his business work anyway.  What kind of childish craziness is that.  You can't own the idea of making hats.  Moron.  Anyway, it kind of pissed me off for a while, but whatever.  If his product is so good, he wouldn't be so sensitive, right?  And if he was at all confident, it wouldn't matter anyway.  Even if I did take the idea from him, which I didn't, it still wouldn't matter.  Stupid fool.

I dealt pretty well with it overall and had a good day anyway, but the next time I see him I will be sure to say something about his absolute idiocy.  That's like Coke being upset at Pepsi.  Anyway, have a great day or night and I'll talk to you tomorrow.  Thanks for all the love and support!  I can feel it everyday!

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!