Rachel and I have an amazing photographer (http://www.creativephotodesign.com) and have had wonderful pictures taken throughout Baby Jack’s 1st year.
We are also taking advantage of the small form-factor of today’s digital cameras to make sure we have it with us most of the time.
We are almost there – as soon as we close on our house (major investment) we will setup payroll deductions to specific investment accounts that will automatically invest in funds we have chosen for dollar/cost averaging. Getting a little better bit by bit.
Those of you who know me, know that I love to cook and entertain. Lately I have been fantasizing about owning and running a simple, small restaurant that would be open for Friday and Saturday evening dinners. So many people have told me that being open only 2 nights a week wouldnt be profitable. Honestly I haven’t done the financial projections because there are so many unknowns (local rent, food costs, etc). I think what has inspired me the most has been seeing Gordon Ramsay on Ramsay’s Nightmares – a BBC show where Ramsay takes on a small restaurant and helps them overcome their weaknesses. Most of these restaurants are small – 10 tables or so – and family operated with minimal overhead. After his touch, the restaurants are pulling in $2000 per Friday/Saturday. It seems to me that $16,000USD/month would be a reasonable revenue – not as a full-time income, but as a nice supplement.
Rachel and I signed a contract to have a house built in a development in Pittsboro, NC about 6 months ago. The house is mostly complete except for landscaping. We close and move in October 23rd. We didnt want a high-production builder so we found a great guy who is a low volume builder with over 20 years experience in the local area. He has a great reputation and has been wonderful to work with throughout the entire process. The home is not quite “custom built” but we were able to add our personal touches and some modest changes. All-in-all we have learned a lot and hope to do it again with our own design sometime in the next 4 or 5 years.
Well, for the 1st 10 years of my relationship with my daughter (adopted at age 7) I thought I was doing a pretty good job. I encouraged her, went to bat for her and tried to spend quality time with her every chance I got. When her Mother and I split when she was 17 I hoped she would understand, but tha backlash was tough – our relationship suffered for a few years. It’s starting to get better now.
After graduating from college she has entered the US Navy and is currently in basic training in Chicago. After training she will be in Monterrey, CA for training.
She also has a relationship with a great guy that I didnt quite understand at first but have gotten to appreciate over the past year or so.
My daughter is an amazing woman and I hope that I can live up to being the type of father I have always hoped I was.
I have had dreams of flying for years – I grew up near a municipal airport and always watched the Cessna’s taking off for parts unknown. It seemed to be the utmost in the independence and escape I longed for. However, I have been traveling for business for several years and had an unfortunate “Unscheduled Rapid Landing” incident a couple of years ago – since then I have been quite sqeamish about flying and have established quite a dialogue with our Maker during takeoff’s, landings and abrupt altitude shifts. Besides becoming a new Father of an amazing 10 month old baby boy . . .
Owning an airplane and becoming a pilot is a goal I have abandoned . . . at least for the present!
The team I was on at work had scheduled a working meeting in NYC last week. Of course they planned a Broadway show as a “team-building” exercise. Was I invited?? YES!!! Could I go??? NO!!!! You may notice that one of my other “Things to do” was make a baby – well, that happened 9 months ago and beautiful little Jack was born last week!! WAY BETTER THAN SOME SILLY OLD BROADWAY SHOW! LOL! Maybe next time!
As you can see, my wife and I planned our pregnancy and even used the drug Clomid to help her ovulation regularity. After 9 long months and 1 quick trip to the operating room, li’l Jack is here!!
I ran across an article in a Backwoods magazine while browsing at Barnes & Noble in Cary, NC. The article outlined the practice of using a glass 1 gallon jug, using off-the-shelf apple juice and 1 gram of champagne yeast. I ran out to the Brewmaster store in Wake Forest and bought a jug, airlock and a package of yeast – total cost = $3.69! Later that afternoon I washed out the jug with a water/bleach mixture and then added the apple juice, yeast and airlock. I set it in my pantry for about a week and then siphoned into old Woodchuck cider bottles I had sterilized in boiling water.
This is obviously a very rudimentary way of making the cider, and an even cruder way of bottling it. However, my intention was to make it and drink it in small batches that wouldnt last more than a week in my fridge (about 8 bottles).
If you want to know more, shoot me an email.
I finally started my MBA at University of Phoenix – NOT ONLINE!~ I attend classes at the Raleigh Campus. I love University of Phoenix. I went there several years ago for my undergrad degree in business. Now, I have the opportunity to go to any school I want and my employer (Microsoft) pays a significant portion. I chose to go back to UOP because of the quality of the professors and students, and because whats benig taught is real-world business, not just theory and statistics, but real-world scenarios that I can learn from and apply to my everyday job.
I enjoy cooking so much more these past few years, I have started to branch out and get more adventurous – in fact I have started a blog to share my experiences and recipes http://www.chowbelly.com
I joined Gold’s Gym in Cary, NC – I wont say that I am actually performing “regular” exercise, but I think I’m on my way!
I am withdrawing this desire because 2 sweet german shepherds have become my best canine friends ever!
Well, all it really took was me being off the road for about 2 weeks in March!! That and the WunderDrug Clomid!
But I am confident that my recipe WILL stand up against the Big Boys in any competition!
My wife and I went to Rome on our honeymoon the week between Christmas and New Years. The city was busy and dirty, tons of graffiti and trash everywhere.
Several people told us this before we went, but we didnt listen.
We stayed in Rome, but visited Florence. Next time we would do it differently. We would stay in Florence and maybe visit Rome. Rome is DEFINITELY worth a visit – especially the Vatican. But more of a Day Trip.
We met through fate last July 4th weekend, were engaged September 11th and married Christmas Eve!! http://www.rachelandscott.com
My wife and I went to Rome, Florence, Pompeii and Naples between Christmas and New Years last year for our honeymoon – we were married Christmas Eve http://www.rachelandscott.com
I was VERY surprised at how expensive everything was – the Euro has really messed up the economy there.
I was VERY disappointed with Rome—it was dirty, people were rude, etc. But FLORENCE!!! Mama Mia!! It was gorgeous!! Everyone spoke English, you could walk anywhere you wanted to… it was great.
My wife and I want to go back, but we will spend most of our time in the Toscany region.
