Bob and Debbie Conroy - Enjoying the Journey Together!

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. No Problem – I could cancel my registration for the class after paying a minor penalty.  I could still go to Li...

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...

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 muc...

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 ...

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 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”.

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. I found some articles that Fay has written since moving to Germany: http://www.kaiserslauternamerican.com/article.php?i=8355 and http://www.kaiserslauternamerican.com/article.php?i=8347. She has a lot of articles and photo credits on this page: http://www.21tsc.army.mil/ My first cousin Dave O’Karma is one of those people that make the world a more interesting place by his creativity and chutzpah. Here is a link to his profile on Wikipedia: span> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C...