I made four trips between Lincoln and Des Moines in four days. We both were signed up for a three-day insurance class in Lincoln that Debbie needed to do before her birthday. The original plan was to leave Des Moines early on Tuesday and spend half of the day in Omaha and Lincoln. When the class ended on Friday we planned to go to Kearny, NE to see the Lanes. Then Joey’s graduation party got scheduled on Sunday.
No Problem – We could come home early on Sunday. Then Katie wanted to meet in Omaha on Friday and do the zoo on Saturday. No Problem – We could stay in Omaha and be closer to home for the party on Sunday. Then I noticed that my calendars did not sync the Iowa Insurance Hall of Fame Dinner on Wednesday night at Drake University in Des Moines. As a board member and the official “audiovisual boy” I had to attend.
I am writing this a few days after a major earthquake and tsunami devastated parts of Japan. How tragic and painful it must be for the millions of people immediately affected. I cannot wrap my head around the scope of this tragedy. Ultimately it will affect everyone in the world economically, ecologically and geologically.
The price of oil, already under pressure by the unrest in the Middle East, will continue to climb to new highs as nuclear energy will be a less attractive energy source due to a backlash of public opinion. Ironically what is learned from the aftermath of the Japanese event will allow nuclear plants to be better designed, and eventually more common, because there are few alternatives to them. Sure we can continue to turn corn into ethanol, creating less energy than used to create it, while millions starve around the world. (I think I just described a Malthusian-based Ponzi scheme.) Numerous governments will be destabilized as prices rise and hungry people with no hope rise up against them.
The environmental impact of the reactors that are melting down is yet to play out. Variables include the length of time before the cores are cooled and the short-term weather patterns. A northeastern wind would put the fallout over 30+ million people around Tokyo. Where is the radioactive sea water used to cool the reactors going? I have yet to see a news report that mentions that nuclear fallout is headed to the United States. With apologies to Frank Zappa: “Watch out where the huskies go and don’t you eat that glowing snow.”
The quake actually moved Japan eight feet and affected the tilt of the earth on its axis. Nothing happens in a vacuum and the shifting plates will have some unknown impact on California’s San Andres Fault and even the giant magma pool under Yellowstone National Park.
There is nothing we can do about stopping any of these events but we can prepare for the aftermath. Do you have emergency supplies in your home? This should include water, food, a radio, batteries, a power generator and first aid kits. Here is a link to a FEMA web site that gives recommendations of what you should have to be ready: http://www.ready.gov/america/getakit/.
So if you cannot be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent at least be prepared!
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!
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.
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!
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.
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.
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. 