Taking my Own Life, No “Ragrets!”, Home Depot for the Win

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Well, lookie here, it’s Friday.  As a kid, I listened to Q95, and they would play a song about I don’t want to work; I just want to play on my drums all day.  It’s funny, every Friday, that song plays in my head.  But alas, I will work, I won’t play drums; maybe in a few years, I’ll get some bongos when I decide to slow down.

This day is our last day of dog sitting, Jack; it’s interesting to watch these two dogs interact. Of course, if one picks up a toy, it is the toy to have.  Right now, Jack has a bone, we have a few bones for the dogs, but Parker wants that particular bone, so they are flying through the house chasing each other; it’s pretty fun to watch.

I’ve got a few appointments today, morning only; my wife and I have tried to leave our Friday afternoons open for a run down the hill.  I’ll need to get some testosterone, have some sushi, and stop by Costco.  It’s labor day weekend; I think we will have some friends over to eat some ribs and maybe some panko-crusted mac and cheese. Finally, we are closing out our summer of hedonism; we will be doing sober October, a time of cleansing our bodies and dropping our extra couple of pounds.

The local football team has their home opener tonight; we are mulling attending.  In Colorado, they serve Coors beer at high school games; that’s the word on the street; we shall see if this is reality. Speaking of football at my high school, the Mighty Monroe Central Bears are undefeated and look to make another run at a possible state title.  I love my alma mater and think it is one of the best smaller school systems in the country.  If you are a young parent looking for great school systems and a lower cost of living, check out Beautiful Parker City or Farmland, Indiana. 

When we began our “move” to Colorado, one of the exciting things was the cost of the property.  I grew up in a town where I could buy my first home for $12,500, my second home for $6,500, and parlayed those two properties into my dream home, a $47,500 four-acre plot with a large barn old country home. So when we decided to purchase a home in Colorado, we found our neighborhood and got with a realtor.  He asked about our budget, and we said, “second home, I don’t know $250,000,” and he laughed.  He said, you can’t find anything here for that; you’ll be at a minimum $400,000.

We ended up buying a condo downtown for a little over $300,000.  That same condo in the Midwest would be maybe $125,000.   After two years of condo life, we decided that we needed to live in the mountains; we decided to lease our condo, make it cash flow positive, and jump to Conifer’s mountain community.  We found our dream home, completed that acquisition, and again comparing to the Midwest, paid $300,000 more than we would for the same property.  But then you add in the view, and I think it worth the extra scratch.

We bought our home in 2018, we thought we were at the high end of the market, but the market has continued to swell.  We had an appraisal done recently, and our value has increased dramatically. Looking back, it was one of the best financial moves we’ve made since joining forces.  Our Indy home has also been appreciated; we are fortunate to have made the moves we made.

I caught a video of a school board meeting in CA yesterday.  A young man, a member of Antifa, said he had 180 days to turn his students into revolutionaries.  It was a veritas project; the video is pretty alarming; the school system was not happy. They were exposed as having extreme teachers pushing anti-American values to their children.  About 50 parents showed up to share their thoughts and views on this young man; he did lose his job; if If I had children in school today, I might audit my children’s classes just to learn what the hell they are teaching my kids.

Quick shout out to Home Depot; we had to run by for a couple of items.  I had bought a vacuum there about six months ago; it died in about three months; I kept it and went to customer service yesterday.  They said, “go get a new one, and we will switch it out.”  I did buy the warranty but didn’t have any paperwork; I was shocked at how easy the transaction was; customer service is still a thing at some stores.

I hope these words find you in a good spot.  I hope you are gearing up for a beautiful labor day weekend, and you get to enjoy some time with your family and friends.  You are not guaranteed another moment of life, so enjoy every second you have, your life could end abruptly, and I wonder how you would feel if you died in 5 minutes.  I want to share I am content with my life, I’ve done what I came here to do, and the rest of my life is gravy.  I plan to live until I’m 114 and then take my own life; that’s my plan, what’s yours?

For those horrified by the taking of my life comment, it’s OK; I talked to God, he gave me the nod.  “If you can make it to 114, you may do as you please.”  My thought is as long as I’m still living, I’ll stick to that plan, and if it doesn’t pan out, well, that’s OK as well.  I’m happy; I raised three successful kids, built a nice juggernaut of a company, and have spread some treasure to others as I have walked my journey.  Life does not get much better than this; cheers, I’m one happy, go-lucky feller with no “ragrets!”  

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson