Blog Entry

It's good to be back!

Blog Entry

I haven't seen my blog in a while. It's a really boring blog! I noticed that I have a couple of comments from back in June from Ronda and my mom but I don't know how to publish them. I guess I should check a little more often. I thought since I was getting sooo many comments, then I would choose the neat little option button that lets you read the comments before putting them on the blog. Unfortunately I must not have read all the instructions. Maybe I'll try to post something soon.

Golf

I used to play golf about every week before I got into selling real estate. I miss those days. I never was very good at it but it was fun to wack the ball and see how far it would go before it went into the weeds. I think I hold the distinction of being the only one to hit the club house from tee #1 at Arrow Head Golf Course in Greenfield. If you know this course then you know it's about a 120 degree angle from where it should have gone. Nevertheless my boss used to continue paying my way to play golf with him, probably because it made him feel good to beat me by 40 points. Every now and then I parred a hole or two and if I was really lucky I got a birdie. Most of the time I spent my days looking in the weeds for back-up balls, or yelling FORE at people in the next fairway over. Everyone pretty much took cover every time I got up to swing the club. Yes, those were the days! Here are a few pictures I ran across recently while looking through my archives. I was actually playing with the Holdens on this round. I think charles was taking the pictures so unfortunately he's not in the action pictures.

Vinyl Records

Does anyone still have any vinyl records? I sold a piece of property to a guy who goes around buying vinyl records. The other day he went to an auction and bought 10,000-15,000 albums. His plan is to re-create a record store like the ones they used to have back in the "old days". This got me to thinking...I think my parents have some old records. They have the original of the Smarts, the Stetlers, Victory Trio, Gessners, McGinnises, and others. I wonder which one would bring the most money to a collector. If you have any of these, you might have a gold mine! At least that's the term the guy used to tell me about the auction he went to. He also mentioned something about collecting Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash vinyls. Let me know what you have and I'll see what he'll pay!

Campaign Stop

In case you didn't guess what the picture was in my last post, it was an empty toilet paper roll. Which leads me to my next point. I was able to shake the hand of former President Bill Clinton today! He was at the Greenfield Middle School campaigning for his wife. He has so many sad stories to tell about the people of our country. I sadly showed him my toilet paper roll and asked him what Hillary will do to protect me from this ever happening again. He said he understood my circumstances and would ask Hillary to push for larger rolls. Since I shook his hand I thought it would be better not to tell him I ran out of soap too.

I took these pictures with my camera phone. It's the best I could do.

Nature Calls

I know everyone likes to see pictures but every time I take one, Martha posts it on her blog! The baskets, the flowers, the bird eggs, the rabbits! They're all mine. I just love nature. Sometimes nature calls so I took a picture of this:

Martha wouldn't post it for some reason. Just like her little game, can you guess what it is?

Amazing Experience!

It was nice to go to IHC this week! As I was getting around this morning I was praying that the Lord would shake us and wake us up as we prepare to take the challenges that were offered at IHC. A little after 5:30 a.m. I had such an awesome experience settle down around me that I will never forget. It even registered 5.2 on the Richter scale! If you don't believe me, check out the news for yourself!

The story may be reported a little differently in the media. They will say the awesome experience is what woke me up. They will say that I didn't get up until 7:00 a.m. and the prayers were not prayed until 7:30 a.m. They will also say that I did not attend enough IHC services to know what the challenges were. I haven't actually been contacted by the media yet, but when I am, my blogger friends will be the first to know! I know that you will carry the truth and stand behind me in this remarkable time!

Pyramid

A Realtor friend of mine called the other day to see if I would go to a "special" networking meeting with her and her husband. Dinner would be on them! I could "invite anybody I wanted...just come and network with other business people". I thought it was more than what they let on, but I went anyway. Sure enough, I was greeted by a flamboyant sales person that was more than happy to see me! The power point presentation was ready and I knew I was in for a long lunch! The presentation looked something like this:

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The speaker had only been in the program 7 months and was already making $10,000 per month. Now, I know real estate hasn't exactly been great in the last 3 years, but it made me wonder what my friends saw in me that made them think I would be a candidate for this thing they were in. Did they think I could use the money? Did they think I had money to burn? Do they think I'm the type of guy that will get hundreds of people under me? No! they just needed one more person to pay $30 a month to help them reach the next level! I'm a nice guy and left the meeting saying "I would think about it". I also left with an application in my hand and plenty of phone numbers to call if I had any questions! As a salesman myself I do have plenty of questions, but they begin with "do you want to buy.........?" or "can I interest you in..........?" or "this is a great deal, when can I write an offer for you?

I think I will prepare my own power point presentation that says "send me $30 a month and my company will automatically place $15 into your checking account!" What a great concept! Send me your name, address, and checking account information and watch my account grow!

Spring Time?

This morning I got up, put on my tee-shirt and jeans, then went out to mow the lawn for the first time this year. At first I was a little shocked at how cold it was. I obviously didn't know the temperature had dropped, but nevertheless I continued on without a coat thinking the sun would come out and warm everything up just like it had all week. About half way through the job I was still freezing my tail off, but by this time I had set the precedent for all my neighbors. I wasn't about to march in and cover up now! Then, as I was finishing up, the snow began to fall. I finished the job and finally came in and checked the weather. That's when I realized it was only in the 30's and remained there all day! After 3 cups of coffee and 9 hours later I'm just now thawing out! I can't wait for global warming to hit Greenfield!

No Pain No Gain

Last Night our church teamed up with the Shelbyville church for a lock-in at the Boys and Girls Club here in Greenfield. We had a good time, but unfortunately after a night of basketball tournaments and strenuous activities, my body is trying to tell me something. Apparently my skin is too small, because my muscles are aching and I'm in pain!! I have been jogging about 18 miles a week, but that did nothing to prep me for what I have gone through today! It hurt just getting out of bed! It hurts to do anything! I must be getting old! All this pain and I was just the decoy! I can't play very well, so basically I ran around all night trying to act like I could. I think I have that look that says "if you throw the ball to me, I WILL screw up" or "if I get the ball, don't bother blocking me". Oh well, it was good exercise so I skipped my usual jog today.

As far as the jogging goes...I usually go about 5-6 miles an hour for 30 minutes every day. I would like to get to 7-8 miles an hour, but that will be a while before that happens. I can run 10 miles an hour for approximately 1 minute, but that doesn't get me very far, because then I have to slow-walk to catch my breath. My brother, Mark, has been walking, dieting and losing lots of weight, so that has inspired me to do more to stay healthy. I hope he keeps up the good work, but I can't let him weigh less than me!

Flying Low

The other mode of transportation that most of us can identify with is the automobile. I would assume that most people have tried to out-run a police officer at some point in their life. My experience happened about 20 years ago going 100+ miles per hour down Interstate 70. I'm happy to say I didn't get caught, but I did have to find a bathroom real fast to make sure everything was under control. I had one other experience, but it wasn't quite as fun. I managed to loose him by turning off the road and then watched him go by with his lights on.

Martha just reminded me of the time I was being stopped, but since I was so close to home, I just kept going. I eventually pulled into my driveway with the cop on my tail. So I raised the garage door and proceeded to pull forward as if to pull in. That's when I thought I better stop and face the consequences of my actions. The police officer approached my car laughing! He thought it was hilarious and let me off the hook. He eventually became a neighbor of mine about 5 years later.

I have been pulled over by the law more times than I can remember and have been through the whole mandatory driver training classes. But now I have been clean for 10 years! I am a safe and responsible driver with a wife and 3 kids!

Things I have been pulled over for include: rolling through a stop sign; tag light out; not using a turn signal; suspicion of a stolen vehicle; suspicion of drunk driving; expired license plate; leaky load; bald tires; crossing the centerline (with a state police in the on-coming lane); and of course, speeding. Those radar detectors don't work!

I figure I'm pretty safe telling about all this on April Fools Day!

Flying High

Last Sunday my brother and sister-in-law had us and the Randy Ames family over for Easter dinner. It turns out that Randy and I have both tried the airplane-pilot thing. We reminisced about our piloting experiences which were fun (or scary) to recall. No more than what I flew, I still have plenty of stories to tell. Like when I took off the wrong way on the runway while other planes were preparing to land from the opposite direction. Like when I got lost near Purdue University because some clouds were moving in. When I landed I forgot to lower my flaps and the wind pushed me to the edge of a 150 feet wide runway. I nearly ran off the side of the "road". Another time a helicopter asked if I was preparing to land because he was coming across the runway. I assured him that I was and that he was good to go because I would be landing under him...but as I watched him coming I didn't notice my own altitude and it became apparent that I would not be able to land as I thought. Luckily I was able to abort and do a fly-by without any problems other than a bruised ego. Another time I stalled from about 50 to 100 feet in the air and had a rather "hard" landing. No damage that I could tell so I took off again! Another time I took the video camera up but when we watched it, I had a bunch of video of the seat next to me. It turns out I was turning it off when I thought I had it on, and turning it on when I thought I had it off. Another time I was stating my position prior to landing, but was getting no response...it was late and at a quiet airport so I prepared to land anyway. That's when the radio crackled to see who I was...my communication switch had gone out and they couldn't hear me. I have other stories like flying in the dark, in the rain, in parachute territory, negotiating a blimp, fast flying jets nearby, etc.

I decided to give up flying when we had children...before the inevitable happened. My insurance wouldn't cover me anyway. Someday I would like to do it again, but then I will have a GPS system, auto-pilot, parachute and other necessary items!

Revival Time!

We are praying for revival at our church. Cameron thinks he can help us out after watching this video.

My Piggy Bank

My piggy bank is starting to shows signs of stress!

"Big Snow Storm?"

Once again we got news that we are getting a big snow storm. When I first heard about it they said we could get up to a foot of snow. It was supposed to start about 1:00 p.m. today and go into tomorrow, but it's now evening and we are still waiting. Once again we altered our schedule to accommodate the "big storm" so that we wouldn't get caught in it. I'm not a meteorologist, but isn't there something they can do to predict snow a little better? One local meteorologist said that he's been in the business for 20+ years and this has been the worst year for predicting snow. Maybe next year they can all just go to Florida for the winter and let us take whatever we get. Actually I think it's all a conspiracy...grocery stores sell more products when people think a storm is coming. Hardware stores sell more shovels, salt, etc. Milk and gas now cost more than $3.00 a gallon. Other things cost more as well. Our state is talking about raising sales tax on items and lowering property taxes. Since you can't accurately predict what people will buy, I think the government is testing the system to see if they can alarm people into buying more products. That way when they need more money they can just tell us a major storm is coming and get the money they need.

Oh no! It looks like it's snowing! I better go to the grocery store! We're running low on milk and our van needs gas!

Another Blog Post

The presidential blog was a little lame! Our real estate office manager is trying to encourage our agents to do a blog. I still have the real estate blog, but I'm a little weak when it comes to content! It's a little easier to post non-sense! Maybe someone can help me! My manager would be proud (or shocked)! If you have any suggestions, please give me some help. Not that I actually care...I just want to be the first in my office to get one going.

Tamra's post about their new home was such a blessing! I have had many new clients banging on my door wanting a place just like it. I'm thinking about doing a new residential development devoted exclusively to this kind of housing. I just need several investors or one big investor to invest in the haulers to bring the homes and set them in place. I guess I need some property too, so if you have any you can donate, please do so.

I better get back to work!

Presidential Candidates

This is my take on the candidates running for the Office of the President of the United States of America:

HILLARY CLINTON has a terrible image problem. No matter what she does, she still looks like herself! Not to mention how loud she is when she talks. Doesn't she remember her own husband and how he used the lazy-tired sounding voice to appear like an average American? It worked for him! Even when he got into serious trouble. Mrs. Clinton just needs to sit back and relax!

BARAK OBAMA is just an all around great American! He is the poster child of diversity! All the way from his roots in Kenya to the Islamic name he bears from his youth. Not to mention his black heritage! He also says he's a Christian! This is about as diverse at it gets! No one can figure out what he plans to do if he gets the big chair, but that doesn't stop people from liking the guy!

JOHN McCAIN has the tired-lazy voice down to an art! Or maybe that's because he's old! He has served his country in the military and/or other positions for more than 100 years. I think he should be allowed to die in the Oval Office if he wants to! Do you have to be President though to die in the Oval Office? Maybe he should speak to our current Vice President Cheney since they are similar in age. I think Cheney has died in his office a few times since he was elected?

MIKE HUCKABEE seems like a genuine guy! He says he wants to lower my taxes, preserve the sanctity of my life, protect my family from the perpetrators of 911, downsize government, and plenty of other things! Now that's my kind of guy! Hey, Chuck Norris even endorsed him! If Chuck is behind the guy, then you know he's a powerful force to be reckoned with! Chuck doesn't get behind nobody! Chuck is the one that clears the path!

MITT ROMNEY is such an interesting person! I can't stand the thought of only one pair of underpants though! Doesn't he realize there are other religions that don't place a stipulation on underpants? Maybe he should check out my religion! We are allowed to choose between boxers and briefs! Or maybe I should check my manual to make sure! Nevertheless, I think Mr. Romney has given up on the Presidency.

RON PAUL ! What can I say about these guys? They are truly on a mission to save the country. If I were Paul, I would request that my name were first so that it would move up in the alphabet! Paul Ron doesn't sound right though. On second thought, maybe they should leave it the way it is!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday, Mom! I hope you had a good day!