Wednesday, June 23, 2004

How do you resist great opportunity?

Having touched down in the golden state, I gave my best friend Rick a call to see what night he wanted to get together while I am out here. While on the phone with me, he tells me his son wants to talk to me about a job.

In some regards, it is kind of funny. Rick Jr. used to work for his dad and me in what seems like a million years ago. Now, he is seeing if I want to work for him.

I haven’t spoke to Rick Jr. yet, but in hearing the opportunity, the pay would be right (very good in fact), but it would mean moving out to California.

Which brings up the question...

When do you stop listening to the opportunities???

I have a million things that I want to do before I transition out of this world (judging from some of my emails, there are those who would like that to come quicker rather than later.)

But at some point in time, do I need to just suck it up and concentrate on just one or two things??? My approach to life has been to chase my dreams and desires. I no longer chase the dollar to the point it rules my life, but I do want to make sure that I can retire at some point.

TTFN.226

Tuesday, June 22, 2004

I am a sucker for a good movie….

Sometimes, the best movies you see are the ones you know the ending to. Flying out to California, I watched “Miracle” on the plane. Kind of like “Apollo 13”, you know what is going to happen (and maybe because of that, you know the drama involved.), the movie is still pretty good. I was amazed at the number of folks who were wiping tears from their eyes when the US best Russia in the medal round.

Speaking of movies, I saw Stepford Wives over the weekend. Just by watching the trailers and the hype on tv, I was convinced I didn’t want to see this movie. It was pitiful, but hey, that’s just my opinion.
So, two questions…


  • What other movie did you really know the outcome, but still liked the movie?
  • Name a movie trailer that you saw and said, I have seen the whole movie and don’t need to spend the money to see the “filler” scenes?



TTFN.226 (And the comment is king!)

Sunday, June 20, 2004

Is there anything to this…women’s intuition?

Is it just because I am a guy or is Julie that much better of a auto trouble shooter??? We had the car that was just paid off a couple of months back have a problem and we sent it to the dealer to get fixed. $287 later, the car was out of the shop and ready to go.

But as Julie was driving it the other night, she heard a backfire (funny…once she heard it, I actually detected it myself WITHOUT her help…lol) I have to admit for someone that wears hearing aids, she either hears these issues better and before I do, or I am just in denial, I am not quite sure which.

Ultimately, this is going to put us back in car payment heaven. Well, maybe not. I don’t want to go over $350 a month for a new car and since I don’t really want to buy a used one, I am in a bit of a quandary. I know your response right away is that surely you can buy a new vehicle for less than $350 a month.

You can…just not any vehicle that we want. We want a convertible. (We both really do). We have kind of set our minds on a Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder. I have rented them several times before and always had fun with them. However, to purchase one over 60 months would be over $500 @ month. That is a house payment to me and I would rather buy another house than put out that much on something that you just drive around.

Which is something of a change for me in my latter (read that as “cheaper”) years. There was a time that I didn’t care how much a car cost as long as I could afford the monthly payment. Those days are long behind me now (even more so after reading Smart Couples Finish Rich. Hell, I have been happy driving the “Supah Troopa” (the Izusu Trooper, but because we are in pool season, my employee drives it exclusively).

That leaves us with one vehicle for the house. Which when I was on the road 6 days a week wasn’t a problem. After all, I took the shuttle to and from the airport. The situation is different now.

I need to use a vehicle (no, the thought of ME getting the new vehicle is not even a question to ponder for even a moment) to do some of the things that I need to get done either putting out more real estate signs or meeting on pool business.

Julie’s intuition tells her we need to get rid of the present family vehicle and buy TWO (be still dear heart). As always I resist any new bills. Not that I really know the bills… I just found out what our monthly energy bill is and I was blown away!

So bottom line here, do you listen to you or your spouse’s intuition or do you ignore it and wonder (like me) if you are just making a bad situation worse???

TTFN.226