If you’re like me, the time being an entrepreneur is mostly exciting and hope filled, anticipating all of the things that might be to come of your efforts. The freedom, the glory and of course the satisfaction of “look what I did” but if you’ve been doing it for any amount of time you have those days. You know, the one when you meet that dirty rat.

Today I’m going to tell you a story about my friend Jon. Jon has been my friend for a lot of years. In the beginning we believed, like any true adult that friends are people who want to be close to others for what the others allow them to be and give. Our friendship started off very, shall I say ‘antagonistic’, to be dramatic. You see, Jon was a modern progressive thinker. The old school laws, rules and ways are antiquated and that there is a better way of doing things. Maybe you are too, deep deep left. The new blue. Not in any way dipping into communism like some we see today. More sex, drugs and rock n roll, hippie type. After all he has lived in both People’s Republics, The Borough and California.

To succinctly illustrate our divergence, in times past one might have heard me say something stupid like, I’m so conservative you need to turn right at George Washington. I was very confident that the Republican party was saving America with it’s status quo agenda and the Democrats were wrecking the country.

When I met Jon he was sold out, deeply embedded. I on the other hand had a “reconning” and was flying at mach away from it all. So much so he asked me one evening after the Obama-McCain debate, “what are you an anarchist?”. You see, 911 did me in. I had believed in our system and the people in it were like me. Honest, interested hard working “Americans”. The lies, the treachery and death did me in. Being an architectural student and contractor was all it took to see the ilk.

After that DC became more of a fixation. At the time I was rearing children, like most of you WORKING for a living. Too busy to do much anything else. Over those years since the anger has been brewing and the desire to do something about it growing.

Covid is where I saw the change in Jon, but his direction chosen was markedly different than mine. He immediately abstained. He was done with his people and didn’t even want to talk about it anymore. Couldn’t get a word out of him. But these five year since, we now talk about what might come of what is going on out there.

All of this to give you back story on my good friend, actually one of my best friends. A real adult! Jon is an entrepreneur like most of us, he’s in the services side of the economy. Like all of you reliant upon the production side. Thank you for your services!! In any case from time to time he is in need of a plumber and when he is it is not a cheerful moment. Especially when the reason you need a plumber cuts into your revenue stream. Think, “the smell is from toilet water running through your building not the pipe intended.”

Down stream complaining upstream about odors is cause for immediate action. He’s been here before, he’s got hours not days to find the problem, get the plumber (hopefully not tomorrow), have the repairs done and be ready for the next customer. It is definitely a tense and dismal time. You know you’re going to pay the question is how much and how long will it last.

Focused and intent he sets about the mission to make remedy no matter what. Enter the dirty rat. Usually a customer who left some despicable thing somewhere it shouldn’t be, that was near impossible to see, festering in the damp, growing all sorts of evil, wafting such fragrant aromas. But to his elation, and I do literal elation, he found a dirty rat. A dead one. A bloated and a stinkin’. The joy of such a find! If you’ve been looking down the barrel of that gun just to find a bang flag pop out, you know what we’re talking about. The relief over whelms the disgusting things by leaps and bounds. A free plastic bag from the grocery store and some deodorant and we’re off an running.

To all of my entrepreneur family out there here’s hoping your next foray into detraction from you business fit into a free plastic bag and a little deodorant will save the day!

Go, be good, and know. We producers appreciate you servicers, we need you. Servicers please realize producing here keeps your businesses viable. Be local, buy local as much as you can. Wealth comes from production, we all serve production in some way.

Greg

It is an interesting world we live in today. I hear a lot of cheers for the current administration in DC and what they are doing all over my haunts on the internet. As I write this, I am sitting in a beach side condo on the Big Island enjoying a getaway for some relaxation. Yesterday, Jan connected with some old acquaintances we hadn’t seen for some time who live here now. Originally from CA and now retired here. They regaled us with the benefits of living here and how much cheaper it is than the left coast.

Irony I would call it as we paid $25 the other day for a very bad Mexican watermelon. His accounting seems to add up to me though. It’s mostly about taxes and the breaks one receives for being old like we are. Problem though is that I read that as little by little dumping the bill in some form of credit on the younger people. Nothing is free! If you are realizing a reduction of costs associated with the government then you are being subsidized by your peers or your children.

Perhaps you’ve heard the analogy of the frog and the lobster? You drop lobster into boiling water which kills them instantly, otherwise when the water gets too warm they will crawl out of the pot. With frogs, you put them in a pot and slowly increase the temperature until it is too late; they’re cooked. If you drop them into boiling water they will immediately jump right back out. Slowly though, they enjoy the water until all is lost.

This is the nature and culture of the American at present. We’re in the slowly boiling pot. One day it will be too late. I ring this bell with hopes of opening some eyes to this reality.

Examples of this are all about if we care to look. Example: the other day I ordered some door hinges for a project at the house. By practice and intention I avoid shopping at any multi national enterprise or BOX stores. I was searching for double swing hinges, you know, like the ones you see in western movies on the saloon doors. Sure enough none are made here or anywhere else in the developed world except for good ‘ole Cathay. Not only was it difficult to find them, it was difficult to find them outside of that southern rain forest company. None of the descriptions are complete or accurate. Which means you don’t know what you are buying but hey they’re cheap. I decide to buy them from Wallyworld which is preferred over that rain forest company.

Come to find out not only is it made in Cathay but is also located in Cathay and will ship from Cathay. None of which is obvious from Wally’s website. Likely if I ordered from them more often I would be abreast of such things, fortunately I do not, so I am not. In any case I discover this because of the great delay in its arrival which goads me into checking the delivery tracking info. First location listed Guongdong.

The screwing is so seamless now that these big corporations don’t even inventory the crap like they used too. Somehow now an individual item can make to the US of A; product, handling, shipping and tax all for less than $39.95! There is a real problem here! Read it like this if you’re like me and give a shit.

If I want to buy a cheap house where I live I need to make $120,000.00 a year to be able to afford a mortgage with 15% down. Mind you, that would be difficult to do where I live on the coast, much easier in Wyoming and other places I know. In any case that works out to be $1.77 a minute, if it took me 15 minutes to go the post office to retrieve it that would cost me about $26.55. That’s just to pick it up! (Includes wages, $75G car, gas and maintenance)’

That my friends is evidence of a boiling frog, along with the underhanded info about where it is presently. We have big problems on the horizon. We need to start making better economic decisions for ourselves and stop making ones that benefit the Fortunate 500. Companies stripping the wealth from the small business and working class. You can’t even begin to explain to me the benefits of getting a forty dollar hinge from China, when I can’t go down the road 15 minutes for anything at half that cost!

We need to turn off the stove and stop boiling ourselves! Be local, buy local. It’s a choice. Please decide to do it with every purchase. Vote with your dollars. Whenever possible pay the higher price and buy from a guy you can see, talk too or read about who he is. We need to get out from under these mega matrix companies and go back to the nature of the human being, relationships. Stop the siphoning of our wealth to tall glass Manhattan bankers.

Here are rules that I use. I do not buy from any box store unless I can not find it from a local establishment or used already in my community. I avoid the most egregious, Amazon at all cost. Under no circumstances will I go there, same with Costco. Not because they are as bad as the former but they are a ‘sell out’ to the small businessman. If I have to I will go to Wally but only because they have brick and mortar which keeps some capital local. Not nearly enough but some. I look for any company that is regional to local. If they operate outside of my region I avoid. Understanding that you are not actually saving any money but selling yourself out. I want handmade things that will last my lifetime or a lot of years. I want to see my hard earned effort go into my neighborhood not a corporate stock ticker.

Don’t get me wrong, we do need the stock ticker but leave it to things like airlines, oil companies, mining or large manufacturing; otherwise we’re losing out by leaps and bounds, to kill the frog analogy.

Hey, go be great in that wonderful life you’ve been given!

Greg

As I look around I see that life is really good for a lot of people. I mean REALLY good! I remember being 30 and longing for so many things. Our furniture was used and old, our cars were old, our dishes were gifts, our TV was used, we did not have cell phones or computers, the newest things we had was clothing. Our house did not have half of the crap we have in it now. We were starting a family, building our own house and trying not to work too much. This is how life used to be, we didn’t have a lot of the things we have now mostly because it was not available.

I remember one time needing a tub faucet for our inspection and the inspector made me get one before he would let me move on. I went down to the hardware store and bought the only one they had. We didn’t like it but that’s just how it was. There was no mega box home store. There was no order it online. There was no other way. Period. So there you go. Moving on. Just live with it. It worked and well. What more could be expected?

Here we are today and every shade of paint has a name because if you don’t like Mountain Mist you can get Ocean Foam. You can’t tell them apart from the fact that you don’t like the sound of one and do like the other. There are in excess of fifty faucets of all different shapes and sized at any one of 5 stores in just about any town in America these days. If not, the one down the road 20 miles. “I think I’ll just pop over there now and pick one up!” We would never have done that back then. Even though gas was cheap it wasn’t free and 20 miles away was an event. You would plan a trip like that for a weekend. Not quite a vacation but certainly not within a Wednesday evening affair. And that was likely competing with tomorrow’s gas to get to work!

Life is really different now. The poorest of working people have so much more than we had then. There is so much more available. A person today can outfit an entire house for next to ‘free’ on CL or marketplace. People have so much stuff they can hardly get rid of it. A lot of it gets hauled to the dump because no one will come haul it off. Has any of this difference added up to The Better Life?

I think not. I think more stuff has gotten in the way of the things that are most valuable. Not in the way you might think, or maybe you do? All of this availability has seemingly made most people more entitled. Expectant. Deserving. Wanton. So much so that if it comes at a cost to another there is nary a consideration for the imposition. I want it and if you have a problem with the situation, “well, that’s YOUR problem.” On top of that is “I shouldn’t have to do what is needed to get it.” Including be appreciative of the person giving it away on marketplace by responding in a manner showing respect for the person wanting to help you along. I tell my wife now don’t put anything up on there, put it on the street. If its gone in two days great if not in the trash. I don’t want to make time for these people for any reason. I have too little time to give to those who actually do deserve my time and effort.

Something I’ve always done as an adult is look for good people and invest in their relationships. We are the do’ers, we are the inviters and the instigators. The more I have these experiences the more I realize that the quest for The Better Life is in seeking out more of those same kinds of people. Our communities have fallen into their living rooms, box stores and the internet. Mostly gone is the talking over the fence, sitting on front porches, block parties and card night.

We’re throwing away the crap that sucks our time. We’re inviting everyone who puts up a nice front. We’re going out and doing things that are not shopping. We are seeking people who want to be friends in The Better Life.

Please go be someone’s friend today and have The Better Life. The best life if one lived together.

Peace

Greg

A really good question! At least in my minds eye. Then one says, ” well, in what?” Then I would say, “does it matter?” Then that one says, “you’re talking silly” and walks away. I know this because I do it all the time. When I asked if someone is interested they thought I meant that I was asking if I could share something with them and see if I were aligned with them. When, what I asked, was if they were interested, they did answered. What I heard was no. Why? Because, ‘depends’ is not a response indicating an affirmative. If you’re qualifying everything with your current understanding and filters you will always have all of the same outcomes from your efforts. You must become interested in things outside of you current place in life to grow or get farther.

The older I’ve gotten I think the most discouraging thing I’ve learned is that 80% of everyone I have met are not interested in any thing beyond their immediate station AND to top it off they believe that everyone else is just the same. Of the 20% probably the smallest portion are interested beyond their personal space enough to recognize the value of the other people in their community. I think I see too that as we go online more and more things get more so this way.

The various places I have lived and the various times have yielded different results as well but by and large things are going ‘south’ as they say. I believe we must recognize that a family is a community and needs people actively engage in its physical well being, mental well being, emotional well being and especially our spiritual well being! People are created to relate, have relationships and life long bonds. I have found the most satisfying things I have in my life are memories shared with those who have been involved in the longest portions of my life. Each new person I meet, I anticipate them being the next long term relationship that is as rich or richer than those I have now.

It seems to me that each of us is so consumed in living, making a living or avoiding a catastrophe that we have the least bit of time to spend outside of these concerns. We’re hardly there for each other or not at all. We do ourselves in altogether. Not only are we consumed with toil everyday but we can’t even find the time to be a friend so that when we need one, we have one.

I know this is reading like an obituary. I don’t intend to discourage you. I want to lift you up and encourage you. Consider this if you will take some interest. You’re best moments that you can remember are??? Think on it. Was there someone else intimately involved. I think so. I can remember a long long time ago a bunch of us driving down Interstate 70 at midnight doing 100 miles an hour with our headlights off. Exciting yes, but most enjoyable is being able to sit and share it with Jeff who banged up a fender on his car. He’s still around. We still talk about it. We laugh and toast to a future with more of such memorable things. Sure I have memories with others who are not around, but I would trade them all for more with those who are around. They are so much richer.

Here is the encouragement I want to leave with you now. Become more interested in those who are in you life today. See if perhaps you can create a community of two that can share a memory for 40 years with laughter and love. Look to grumpy old Ethyl who lives next door and see if you can be a neighbor and turn her frown upside down and see if she can be your new friend. Invite someone over to play cards and find out what their dream might be.

You need it. Your community needs it. America needs it. We all do and unless you and I make that effort no one else will. Help you country today. Get interested in the people in your neighborhood and watch it do you some good!

Go please. Be great!

Greg

Or is it Living in a Dream? I watched last nights The Presidential Joint Congressional Address which it seems most Americans were encouraged and enjoyed! I for one found it somewhat uplifting. My problem is that I just don’t believe any of them anymore. I should say mostly. I mean it is difficult to believe them. On the one side I see stick-in-the-muds and the other I see groupies. Neither side actually acknowledging any good no matter where it come from! I mean honestly, who would not stand and applaud any young boy with brain cancer for receiving an honorarium acceptance into the Secret Service or another being acceptable to Westpoint. It seems I live in a dreamscape where all Americans are just people trying to live out a decent and respectable life without being bothered by others. I believed this to be the American Dream. I believed it was real.

Now that I am awake and realize that nothing could be further from the truth, I saw a room mostly full of children spatting ad nauseam. How did I get here? How did it happen? How have we become this lot of people? Where do we go from here?

One question I ask myself is am I truly awake? I mean how do I know. It kinda looks like this. One day I thought I was awake, President Regan was running the sh** show and was fixing things. As time went on I began to realize how crooked things were altogether and who were the players. I thought I was waking up. Along come 911 and bam, no you were asleep. Another wake up call seemingly perpetrated by outside sources. An alarm clock advising as to the reality of a world we live in. Almost 25 years later and the alarm clock is still ringing because its from within not without! My American Dream is being murdered in front of my eyes by corruption, selfishness, childishness and lack of leadership. Oh lord what shall I do, the priest is corrupt, the judge is corrupt, the court is corrupt and the king is corrupt, what shall I do?

Here I sit writing as a vent. I am quite upset. What can I do besides write and bitch? I have a life and I wish to live it but I see peril coming if I do not do something about the grifters. The life I dream of pursuing is being threatened by those who should not even have the power to get beyond their homes. At every turn I run into a ratio of 3 to 1 government employees who set up road block for to the one who earnestly helps me on my way. Most of these people have their dream in hand, a home, government paycheck with no signs of disruption and a rather lazy schedule comparatively. No one works less hours, does less constructive work and gets paid regardless of whether or not their effort has a beneficial product attached. A zero value proposition. I can’t compete with this.

I live in a dream that I will be able to pay employees the same wages for doing tremendously more benefit. It’s not happening. Even with the ridiculous cost of housing it is not possible. We build houses, houses for everyday people, the least expensive housing in our market area and my top paid employees can barely afford one of the mortgages. The rest of them a farts chance in a wind Wyoming wind storm.

I live in a dream thinking this is reversible. Why? Well if I raise all of their pay the cost of the house goes up and not a little. If I raised the wages of all of my peeps so that HALF of them could afford to buy I would be paying out of my pocket for that to happen. Why have a business? This is where we are. The system is corrupted beyond repair and no one I saw last night seems up for the job of fixing it. I applaud Trump for routing corruption and waste if that is truly what is happening. I believe to a large degree it is but no one is talking about how most of us are not doing anything of value!

Let me give you an example. People pay us to build houses. Building houses creates wealth in that there is a tangible product (asset) that is resultant. Now let’s take into consideration that approximately 20 to 35% of that house depending upon where we build it is government regulation that has no provable real benefit to anyone. Simply government mandates that are accepted as “the way it is” and move on. If each person was to individually assess the value of each mandate and choose to spend his or her money independently most of these mandated items would not exist. Additionally let’s take my accountant, his only purpose is to do for me what is way too complicated and involved for me to do myself and file tax documents. Every dime I pay him and the others like him are added to the cost of housing. Every fee I pay the municipality for no services is added to the cost of housing. If a house costs $300,000 and 20-35% is of no benefit then a buyer is overpaying anywhere from $60,000 to 100,000 in “no value” propositions. Forced contracts. No fix being discussed nor suggested.

I have a dream has become I live in a dream. Not reality. And this is the best country in the world? It still must be as everyone is still trying to get here. Evidence for sure. A friend of mine says, ” he who goes into the salt mine comes out salty”. The only solution I see to this dilemma is to give up my life and dream to go fix the problem, get salty. Dread. Not what I signed up for but if someone kills my dream in my reality then before long not having one is the same result and giving it up to save it for everyone else. Please wish me well.

As I look out at my life it appears that I am still learning even in the latter stages of life. “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” Or can you? I think you can but the more important questions is…”will these new tricks that I haven’t seen be of any value?” The answer for me leastwise, is probably not. I’ve seen so much over the years it’s all old hat. “Nothing new under the sun,” as they say. I give you the example of the automobile. If you could get a brand new 1997 something or other, same as you drive now; there would be negligible difference in value or experience. Sure the nuances of different vehicles is always there, but both have standard power brakes, steering, windows, mirrors, seats, radial tires, independent suspensions, A/C, multi media players, and 100,000 mile reliability; all of the things that make automobile transport comfortable. My point being, is that the improvements in these same features has been so finite that if the old was not getting older no one would care! Today we have improvement for the sake of itself with no benefit in sight. Another maybe more universal example is Windows, since about version 7 I have not had a better experience only the frustration of its improvement!

But then there is that odd occasion when I flounder upon something that wakes me up and jabs my soul with zeal, kinda like whacking a funny bone. Although that funny bone is not quite near funny, my experience is a jolt, a quickening, a rousing or gripping, to mention a few. Have you recently experience the observation of a thing and it provoked you to spend hours investigating, reading, searching or meditating upon the subject convinced that once you get all of it you can; you or your life will be markedly better? Whatever the cost I need to get it!

More recently in my life I have had some shall we say, ‘legal disgruntle-ments’. I made that up so that I would not write the next 100 words to explain it. Suffice it to say I need to learn about some legal things to protect my interests. Not something to which I was looking forward. I’ve not had an interest in law mostly because the law people I know of are not my favorite group of individuals for a number of very good reasons. Mostly incompetence.

In any case I embarked upon this journey months ago with intrepidation. I didn’t want to go but the need to understand at least the basics of my situation dictated go; I must or give up on a lot of time and money and just move on. So I went. And let me tell you what I found. I found a quickening in an area of my life that I did not know existed! I found a place in me that was not alive and well. Missing if you will. Part of me missing? Hmph. I found an idea that intrigues me so that I can not get enough about it. I have three browser tabs at any given time on my computer, a number of pdf documents going at any given time, joining forums and such to plug into the group of people that have been before me; to a place I’ve never heard of until now. It is exciting and fills my lungs with a very cool, crisp new wind that is most exhilarating and refreshing to my spirit. I can’t get enough and want more knowing that I’ll be better off than before.

This is in stark contrast to my general outlook about things. Recently I bought a 3D printer. I know CADD, I’m comfortable with computers and I know what I want to do. Once I got into the fray I realized that the learning curve for the various softwares and nuances of printing were outside of my value proposition. Meaning what I was getting from it was less valuable than what I had to put into it. In other words, what I was getting cost too much. Let me say it another way; I would gladly pay $25,000 for a 97 F250 and all of it’s shortcomings than $90,000 for a new Silverado and whatever its supposed benefits are. Just not going to do it. Neither the 3D printer nor the Silverado will make me better, better off or better equipped to handle my future! Why bother?

On the other hand it may or may not be true of my new endeavor but I like the prospect, I like the breadth and depth that my world view is taking on! I like the feeling of empowerment, growth and understanding that comes in significant ways.

This old dog is learning new tricks and is going to enjoy them! The old dog’s new tricks make him a new dawg, and that’s righteous!

Run with the BIG DAWGS and find YOU something to LIGHT your fire!

I desire so much to so many things. Work, projects, travel, spend time with family and do this pet of mine here. It is absolutely astounding to me how much I have to do all of my own doing. Next thing you know it is weeks if not months later and even though I’ve gotten a ton of things done some of my most desired pets sit idle nagging me about their priority eight or ten position on my To Do List. Desire meet time. Time is not friend to desire nor me for that matter. I never have enough, never get enough done and it seems that a few of the things I really want to do just don’t make it up my list for very long.

Don’t get me wrong I live a very busy and fulfilling life. My work, my family and friends are all very rich. What I accomplish each year is a mountain of effort and successes. Life is GOOD. But for a guy with my problem, never good enough. My desire for something better kicks my can almost daily. We’ve heard it said that, “good enough is the enemy of great.” I can roll with this but there is a point. A point at which good enough is too much and also a point at which good enough is not satisfactory.

The examples I have are personal experience. One time I was doing this tile job for a customer way, way back. He was ecstatic about the job, just thrilled. He was telling how so and how happy he was. Then at once he turned and says to me, ” what do you think”. I replied, in all of my youth and ignorance, “yeah, it’s OK”. He proceeds to quiz me on my response wherein I explain the two things that I’m not happy about but that I did what I could in those situations. He begins to chastise me because one of the blemishes in my work that I brought up was under the dishwasher. There is no value in a ‘perfect’ job under the dishwasher, therefore good enough has copious amounts of latitude. Not only will a homeowner never see under their dishwasher, the next person is likely to be a plumber, what does he care about tile? Needless to say he schooled me well that day.

Another time I hired a guy to do some roofing work at one of my rentals and he came and did ‘good enough’. The job was passable, the price was acceptable and I was able to move on from the problem. But for me a bur in my saddle, you see, he charged by the hour plus materials. His 6 or 8 hours was fine, but the materials list included things he should have thought to bring along like an extension cord! As I recall I paid the guy 50 bucks for something that he should have as a contractor. Good enough, not really. But that’s my problem; I wonder how many extension cords does this guy have; how many new jobs does he do this with, did it go in the trash; I bought it, why didn’t he leave it.

My desire to move on made me realize that good enough is in fact good enough when your future is as bright as mine and the past is a place to remember not linger. Getting down the road must be a priority, not going back to check potholes or a tile with a cut edge under and appliance. I do believe in excellence by all means, but being Great is really, really, really relative!!! Most of the people I know look at my life and don’t want the work, stress, weariness, etc. Life is great for them when it is devoid of these things. Life is great even though they will never possess my assets, bank account or free time.

I think most people’s desire gets reduced early on in life to meet their interest in time. “If I look down the way and see ‘hard, grief, heartache’ I’ll just be moving on, thank you.” Not realizing all of these things are a part of life in general and avoiding them is relative. The avoidance creates its own set of troubles, similar if not exactly as moving toward them.

My desire to get the most out of life has taught me that good enough gets me there sooner and that being great is a compilation of good enoughs. The more good enoughs I pile up the greater it is. Therefore my life is over flowing and full of blessings and hope. My desire to build this organization and meet my tribe never fades, and each day that I can put another good enough together and move down the road, the sooner I will get to the place where I can work on this all the more. But until then my desires will duke it out with my time until the day when once again I will be triumphant and shout, ” what a ride”!

Force your desires to fight it out with your time, there is greatness in that I am certain! Shoot for the moon!

Are we decidedly so? Who is ‘we’? Am I a part of we? How do I know I’m not the stupid one and that is the reason everything in my life makes perfect sense? Perhaps me being stupid is my saving grace. I can’t know what I don’t know and therefore this ignorance is the foundation of my stupidity and as ‘they’ have said for many years now, “happy as a pig in sh**…..”. Perhaps I’m rolling around in it all day everyday and it is just normal to me not even knowing that there is something to be known that will change it all for me. That begs the question, do I even want it to change? I’m happy in my stupidity, or at least I think I am.

This being an age old philosophy question has always been for the interested. Not all people want to be better. Not all people are interested in better. In my experience most people use fear as an excuse for why they can’t even look at a proposal.

“No, I won’t even talk to you about it because.” Minds eye: (“I’m afraid that I’ll need to do something that I don’t want to do.”

“But what if it makes things better for you?” (“Life could be great!”)

“What if it makes things worse?” (“Who is this positive thinker? He’s one of those trouble makers everyone is worried about.”)

“What do you have to loose?” On and on it goes. I could fill volumes of dialog like this never getting to an end, never arriving at a place of understanding or perception of the reality we actually witness together. If I press harder for an acknowledgement of that reality it spirals down into an argument castigating me as ‘one who has to be right’ or ‘a trouble maker who just wants to argue’ or ‘a narrow minded person who just can’t see the light of how good their life is.’ Forget that we got into all of this because of their plight in life, they are bitching about their situation. The harder you press for them to realize something better, the more they dig their heels in and pull against the rope of change, the more they identify the rope as the problem and not their defiant pulling. What I find interesting here is that we can learn this premise just from watching animals. A good horse quickly learns that the road to a better life is cooperation with good people. He gets a warm safe shelter, he gets regular feeding (even when snow and drought), he gets kind attention. All he has to do is go along, learning how much better it will be. Instead decidedly stupid.

I hear some of you saying, “I’m not a horse to be led around and made to work for the man.” Is that right? I assure you that you are not the free man you believe yourself to be. If you were interested to see you would easily find all of the places that someone else controls your life by managing the things that make up the choices you make. The perception of freedom because you can walk into Walmart and choose whatever you wish is a sign of your freedom. Let me ask you, “who chose what was available to you?” “Who else can you choose from?” The more you drill this down you will find that more choices are made for you than you make for yourself. You are no different than me, especially if you live in the US. Your life is exactly the same save the preferences you express by your so called ‘choices.’

One of the reasons I am doing noobo is this. The perception of choice when there really is none or very little. The basic idea that I can choose Democrat or Republican based upon how I see things, choose to affiliate myself with that like minded group and make a better life for everyone, all along wontonly desirous uninterested in what is actually better for everyone. These two choices in particular are the easiest to discredit if you’d care to look at all. You will clearly see that this is a psy-op as these things are known today. A distraction to get you caught up in the perception of a good moral choice, ignoring what it actually does, which is cause division. What made this country great was the willingness of it’s people to be united, not in everything but in freedom. One decides to be American even though he would say, I’m from Pennsylvania with some sense of pride. Not because Pennsylvania is better than Wyoming but because Pennsylvania is part of America, the United States of America and that is a great thing to be a party to. If we take that further we could drill it down to his street. A guy meets a guy in Panama whose from the states. Where you from? Pa. You? Pa. Yeah where? Eastern Pa. Where? Philly area. Where? Upper Darby. Yeah me too. Where? Beverly Hills. No kidding, what street? Linwood. Man, I grew up on Crestview. Finding out that they are a few years apart and just never knew each other. This happens everyday all over the world but only in America does it mean something special. Because being a Wyomingite is like being German or French. Period. There is not other group of which to be a party. No other unity. Being a Wyomingite says we do things a little differently than you all but you know, I believe you’ve got my back in the thick of it. If I’m German, I don’t really give a rip about the French. Especially if they are doing things I don’t like and they share a border. That border is a demising line, real or otherwise.

Del., Pa., Wy., or whatever state is just another neighborhood of the Great Old US of A. No demising lines, no borders, to sectionalism just America. Why? By choice. We choose to make it that way. We choose to look at each other as brothers. As the sisters so poignantly proclaimed, “we are family.” We choose that motto and we live it. It makes us different. More and more we choose sectionalism. Us and Them mentality. This erodes our freedom to be American, it is reductive and harmful. We need to turn our focus to what make us all better together. How can I choose to “be the best I can be” and not be in the Army. Or maybe choose to be in that army of people who choose the best America possible.

Please go scrutinize your choices today, study them carefully. Am I choosing to satiate my stupidity or am I choosing to be great because we all need to be great.

Make a different choice today and see what awaits you,

Greg

As a question I’m hoping to provoke your interest in questioning each and every ‘alarm” present in your life. Why? Good question and a good start to questioning! I recently watch a video on the climate alarm. Whether or not you believe in such a problem is not relative to that which I am asking you to consider, but did provoke this concept on my part.

I have a question for you to consider, “does an alarm dictate an attitude of fear, grave concern or feeling of imminent doom”. As an example, we all likely remember having nuclear siren drills where we hid under our desks at school or fire alarms where we were all got up and went outside to practice a fire scenario. This (‘coached, instructed, programmed, taught, etc’) idea that we should immediately take on a sense of urgency, high concern for danger, worry about difficult and scary events, be fearful of pending doom, I could go on and on with psychological idioms trying to define the outcome of such an experience. How much of this behavioral training lives on in our everyday lives that are subliminally triggered by the simplest idea of an “alarm”? Enter my big question; “is there a really good reason to be overly concerned with impending doom”?

In reality; statistically anyhow, we will all likely live to be a ripe old age. The numbers of us who will come to such great doom even as great as death is the smallest number of us. We now live far longer and better than any previous group of human beings ever. If we want to we live inside of a warm house, eat at least something everyday of every week, have multiple changes of clothing and likely have more than one automobile. How bad can your life really get? Really? What does a catastrophe look like anymore? Your phone won’t connect like it should? Your computer won’ start fast enough? The supermarket quick carrying your favorite wine? You got a flat tire?

Yeah! On your car you big whiner! Your car! You big whiner! You have a car, what do you have to complain about? What calamity is there that will over come you and consume you? Let’s say you loose it all and go bankrupt? Bummer I am sure, maybe more than a bummer. Likely.

But will you end up starving, highly unlikely. Your prospects for a job have never been better with all of the jobs going unfilled. Housing is difficult but not impossible. You won’t be living is a mud or tiki hut to get out of the elements. You know this to be true, there is far more help available for people here than anywhere. You have far more opportunity than anywhere. Not to mention that all most anything you need aside from food is free for the taking. Wonder around to any yard sale nearing its end and you can haul away all sorts of treasure, just to save the man from having to haul it off himself. If not for free then for pennies.

I think we need to keep in perspective a few things here. First a get a real grasp on how bad can it really get? Comparatively, no where near as bad as it is for most people on this planet in their regular everyday lives. Secondly, how incapable are you of handling adversity? Are you really that soft and whimpy that you couldn’t muster up going to a job tomorrow to fix the mess you made? Will you really just give up? You might as well do that now and be done. Thirdly, are the alarms we hear almost daily any more, worthy of our consideration? Economy, climate, alternative lifestyle rights, war, human atrocities? These are the ones we are inundated with most every day if we are connected to the media. As for all of these what is it that you can actually do about them? The smallest part. Donate to a cause. Elect ethical people to enact legislation. Not be discriminating. This is the sum total.

But what is the best we can do? I believe the best we can do is to not be so alarmed about it all. Tomorrow will likely come to most all of us. Many days in fact and we should recognize this and act accordingly. Do what you can in your everyday planning to be here for some time to come. Not be so concern for those things outside or your sphere. Stop getting triggered every time someone pulls an alarm and look for the fire and a hose. You over comer you!!!

Have a great day,

Greg

Another day in American life mostly isolated from the rest of the world. We are largely unaware of the goings on elsewhere. Did you know that there is tremendous political turmoil in countries all over the world? Out of 193 acknowledged states approximately one third of them had an armed conflict that killed more than 100 people. Think about that, imagine reading in the news here in the US that two armed groups of people were large enough to inflict 100 deaths. If you said 200 total, each side had 50% casualties would get you there. Imagine the magnitude of such an event here. In this list of states to which I am referring, this is chump change, I mean were talking about thousands and there is no out right war, just internal conflict. Just because life is not good. We used to be the purveyors of peace through prosperity. We brought prosperity to the world after the Big One and now it seems we are the manager of the biggest Fight Club in history. And not for good!

While we’re all here stateside consuming ourselves with drivel, most of the world seems to be coming apart at the seems. Please, get offended. You need to be, snowflake. Why do I say such a thing? To quote Tyler Durden, “We’ve all been raised on television to believe that we would all one day be millionaires and movie gods and rock stars, but we won’t!” That’s why. The American dream has come down to being one of these. Drivel! Drivel! Drivel! Being a millionaire isn’t all it’s cracked up to be; its a lot of work, which is contrary to the reason most people want to be millionaires, is to not work. Movie gods seem to be so disconnected with reality, not to mention, it is quite an exclusive club and they don’t just let anyone in that doesn’t suit them. Hardly a free market. Interestingly enough it has become easier to be a rock star than ever before. Take a look at Christopher Lunsford, made a song, sang it on the internet and bam he’s a rock star touring the world. There’s hope yet I guess for those who can do that. My point here is that most people want all of this for the money! Not a dream of their own, not for eternal happiness, not for anyone but themselves.

When I was young I saw this place in life where fathers didn’t die early, roofs didn’t leak, cars lasted 10 years like they should, and when all of that allowed you to get in a good days work that satisfied you and then be at home each night with the ones most precious to you it would be a dream come true.Still fighting that one out. Once people are gone, other people take their place and you realize how thankful you are for what you did get, if only DNA. It’s who I am in more ways than one. After doing construction for a long time I did get the roof thing down, at least for 50 years or so. I gave up on cars, their not so exciting anymore, especially the new ones. I get more excited to think that I’ll have a restored one that I worked on with someone special or at least shared a good time with a group into the same ones.

What does Fight Club have to do with all of this? In the concept of the movie a bunch of guys who are bored, unhappy, disenfranchised, lost, confused, angry, depressed, misguided, arrogant,…… Read that as “dead”; found a way to come alive and experience living. Real living. How barbaric you say. Eh, maybe. But here’s what I do know for a man to learn his true place in life is priceless. Not a better thing can come upon him. When a man knows his place in life he will walk into his future like God himself sent him into that room. When a man knows the calibre of the man standing next to him he gets direction. All great things that have ever been done have come out of this understanding. One man provoked by another to do something worth his salt. That’s a Fight Club! Men need it. Not only need it should be requiring it. And like the narrator said, “along comes a woman to mess it all up.” How true. Not just women though, profiteers also.

Professional sports used to be a Fight Club. The rivalry of two men working things out on the battlefield. Most men whether they realized it or not watched for a fight to break out. Their team winning was a secondary event, mostly for afterward, to go on about being a winner for choosing the best fighters. The hockey guys still fight but now with all kinds of ‘safety’ gear. Especially panties. MMA was the last one to go down, sports are so lame now I can hardly stand to watch. The Fight Club is gone, the men are soft, the edge is missing and the most dangerous part of the whole thing is TSA at the airport getting to the next city. Sad, its so pervasive and our men are getting softer than the Stay Puft man.

Back to my American Dream. Even at my age there’s still a lot of good fight left in me. Can’t seem to find a local fight club, actually finding it difficult to find any, it seems. All of my acquaintances are consumed with relaxation, stuff or vacation. So I’m starting a fight club of my own. My Fight club is going to rebuild my version of the American Dream. One where men come around and knock heads to see who is worthy to stand in our midst. To see who has grit, chutzpah, sand, fiber, moxie, audacity or mettle.

Since we started with the movie analogy, I’ll end with it. If you get that nervy feeling run up your spine and across the top of your pate at the hearing of any of these lines from Hollywood, you’re my guy. I’m looking for you to join my Fight Club. “Fill your hands, you son of a bitch”, “When I need one there will be plenty of them lying on the ground”, “You gotta ask yourself one question, do I feel lucky? Well do ya punk?”, “I love the smell of napalm in the morning”, “you want a war? I’ll give you a war you wouldn’t believe”, “This is Sparta”, “Come take them”.

Go start a fight today, you big hairy, toxic man you,

Greg