The Great Divide

I have long believed that there are 10 kinds of people in the world, those that understand binary and those that don’t.  As Steve Martin ironically said as a punch line, “enough comedy jokes”.   Approaching the end of my 58th revolution around the Sun, I am often as reflective as the back of Mikey’s head.  It is a dangerous game bouncing through the memories a la Billy Pilgrim but I like living on the edge.

There is one memory in particular, about a youthful axiom in the 1960s that went “Don’t trust anyone over the age of 30.” and I believed it.   Older, and hopefully wiser, my new version of this axiom is “Don’t take anything out the mouth of anyone under the age of 30 too seriously”.

It is hardly their fault with our culture’s practice of extending adolescence well into their 20’s along with constant exposure to the equal-outcomes-regardless-of-effort-or-ability political correctness mantra, bizarre political views that must have been formed by watching too much MTV and their life long indoctrination into forced altruism (irony noted).  Perhaps 30 is too low of a threshold!

So, is the purpose of human life, as Socrates stated, one of personal and spiritual growth or we are merely hosts for bacteria and bacteria are the dominate life force on earth as expressed by Stephen J. Gould?  I see it as an individual choice, based on our free will, with the unexamined life functioning as mere host.  This is a kind appraisal on my part compared to Socrates bluntly calling it a life not worth living.

The Good News is that the potential to transcend mediocrity and to embrace personal and spiritual growth remains in us all.  It is all about embracing change, educating oneself and developing a world view that is faithful, inquisitive, realistic and inclined to risk-taking.

We live in the most interesting of times in human history.  My grandparents, John and Kathryn Conroy, lived on a farm in southeastern Ohio (between Byesville and Buffalo Ohio) without electricity or running water.  The family farm did not have electricity until the early 1950s and didn’t have running water until well into the 1960s.

The harnessing of electricity within the lifetime of my grandparents has led to incredible technological leaps in just three generations.  Think electric motors, automobiles, radio, television, airplanes, spacecraft and computers to name a few.  Even the personal computer is less than 30 years old and this continues to dramatically change and interconnect our lives with the widespread adoption of the Internet.

Technology appears to be the great divide.  The bottom line is that all of you oldsters (that is anyone over the age of 30) not on social media, especially Facebook, must set up an account today!   The youngsters need your insight and you need to adapt to the changes – a classic win-win if there ever is one!

Cash and Carry

We closed on the office condo on Friday! We live in a condo five blocks from a Costco and work in a condo five blocks from Sam’s Club. We started demolition on some items that need to go, e.g., this was formerly a medical office and we do not need the status lights above the doors or the 18 feet of receptionist counter space.

The remodeling quotes continue to come back over budget so we are rethinking what we need to do versus what we what to do. We are leaning toward making a larger office (10×20) for each of us and moving access to a private restroom to the hall, installing new carpet and paint and then calling it a day. Or least calling it “Phase 1” and delaying “Phase 2” until our revenue catches up with our expenses.

Speaking of expenses, starting an independent insurance agency from scratch is not for the faint-hearted or cash poor. Our original business plan and proforma are proving to be accurate on the expense side but income is falling short. Until everything is in place it impossible to bring in new business.

Now that we have a location, telephone service has been ordered and we have selected an agency management system. The telephones will be through Mediacom and we are going with a hosted version of AMS 360. We hired a web designer to get the website moving beyond the prototype. The designer is using WordPress as a development tool, the same tool we use for this website.

Well, off to Menards to buy new toilets and sinks for the office. At least John Galt is paying for them.

Invisible Hand

Things are moving fast now.  Brokers, lawyers, escrow agents, contractors and subcontractors are in a scramble to the finish line.  It is possible that we will close yet this week.  To us it represents material expense with a potential for income, to them, it represents immediate income. 

Just as a rising tide lifts all boats, our decreasing cash position seems to be a rising tide for many others.  

I love capitalism!

We Have an Office!

The bank agreed to accept our final offer on an office condo that they owned due to foreclosure. The office is at 1000 73rd St Suite 18 in an office condominium building on 73rd Street across from the Windsor Heights Wal-Mart. It is much larger than we need (1,775 square feet) but we plan to grow into it.

There are a thousand small details required to get even a small business off the ground.  Next on the list are telephones, Internet, PCs and building out the network infrastructure.  It needs some cosmetic remodeling to convert tiny medical exam rooms into larger offices.  That work will start very soon.

We created a new LLC to own the building.  It is named John Galt Properties, LLC.  If you don’t know who John Galt is then Google “Who is John Galt”.

2008 Blog Archives

I found a copy of some old blogs on a hard drive. Note that the links do not work.

23Oct2008 Finally posting some pictures from the trip to Omaha with Bill, Fay, Mikki, Aimee, Debbie and me to see Katie and the kids in September

The Lucinda Williams concert was a big disappointment. She made a few rambling political statements and seemed to think better of it and then only made things worse. Many people felt insulted and started to leave early and Debbie and I were among them. It ruins her music for me.

2007 Blog Archives

Here are some old blogs from 2007:

31Dec07 We went with Mike and Linda to the New Years Eve event at Hilton Garden Inn. It appeared to be similar to past Val Air events. The modal attendee was a 25 - 35-year old that drinks too much – very sad to watch.

30Dec07 We are back from the road trip to Kearney NE. Mikki and Aimee went with us and with apologies to Janice Joplin, “we sang every song that driver knew”. It was great to see Chris, Katie, Jackson, and Allison. They are adapting well to their new surroundings.

25Dec07 It was a strange Christmas without little ones around. The Lanes went to Sioux City the weekend before Christmas and then spent Christmas Day together in Kearney.

2006 Blog Archives

Here are some old blogs from the archives. A note that might help make more sense of these posts: The primary audience was my mother. She was living in Arizona and this was before she was on Facebook.  My sister Deb or Mom’s neighbors would print the posts for her to read.  Also, note that none of the links from the original posts are active.

December 2006

Debbie and I volunteered to help at the “Jolly Holiday Lights” display. It is a fundraising event for the Make-a-Wish Foundation. I ended up doing two shifts collecting money while Debbie handed out programs and encouraged them to enjoy the lights. I collected money from about 180 cars.

The difference in how people interacted with their cars was a fascinating study in human nature. Out of this group of 180 drivers most handled the money transaction as a routine unworthy of any significance. It was as if they were in a foggy dream at a Walmart checkout counter.

Several others seemed confused, one was obnoxious, and less than ten actually “connected”. By connected I mean they made a conscious effort to establish a “personal” connection with Debbie and me. These people turned the money transaction, which most others deemed unworthy of any significance, into an opportunity to connect, learn, and grow. What is it that separates them from the people going through the motions or the confused and the obnoxious?