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Chew on this

Yesterday I got back from visiting my family in Costa Rica. My mom and I were going to go together last year, but the trip was canceled when everything was locked down due to COVID.

When she told me she bought a plane ticket, I figured I would go before we get locked down again.

It was a fun trip that I hope to post more about later. We went horseback riding, and walked up and down the mountain, enjoyed all my grandma’s cooking, did some reading, and made a badass Google Sheet for Rancho Naturalista, the family business.

But what I wanted to talk about most, was a lesson we could all learn from my grandpa.

Growth

Enter the Market

Shortly after paying off my house my boss looked at me with what I thought of as newfound respect. Then he told me I should be dumping money into stocks specifically Facebook.

This was in 2015.

Positivity

Enough is Enough

Earlier this week I read a story about a man arrested for intentionally leaving out the COVID vaccine essentially destroying them. While reading, I noticed that he was a self-proclaimed conspiracy theorist. His wife was leaving him and feared for her safety due to his erratic behavior.

Today I watched as Trump supporters broke into Capitol Hill because they believed that there had been tampering with the election.

Throughout history, there have been Crusades and Jihads, witch trials, and the Red Scare. The thing that all of these have in common is that mobs of people get together and their shared beliefs divide them against their fellow man.

Inspiration

It’s all a game.

_{The image above was provided by my co-worker Miguel (@MAGNUSDIV) who taught me everything I learned this year about photography.}

Lately, we have been playing a lot of games. Skip-Bo, Uno Flip, Phase 10, Spades. For Christmas, I was given a Connect 4 type game which is my all-time favorite. During Christmas with my in-laws, I played my niece in Connect 4 and she was pretty good. Usually, when my nephew comes over we immediately whip out the game and start playing.

Growth Positivity

The Grudge

Recently my brother stayed at my house for a few months. He is an early riser like me, so we took to walking around the neighborhood in the wee hours before the sun rose.

On our journeys, we would discuss many things, but one thing that really resonated with me was the theme of resentment. My brother’s life might seem a little out of control at times, but the one thing I think he has totally nailed is his ability to forgive and let go.

Uncategorized

Goodbye, Ocho

Twelve years and some change ago, my wife and I moved into our house. She had said to my stepson that we would get a dog when we were no longer living that apartment life and true to her word about a month in driving along the street we saw some puppies for sale and stopped by to check them out.

Soon enough, we were headed home with a half rottweiler, half Australian shepherd mix. My wife said we should name him something Spanish. My stepson said let’s call him Ocho.

Nature

The Squirrel Whisperer

Midway through March of this year, when the pandemic really started to set in, my boss told everyone at the corporate office that they could start working from home.

The next day I worked until about 2 pm and I heard my wife talking to our neighbor, so I went outside and he mentioned how he hated being cooped up inside and would rather be working. I joked that we could cut down the tree that was dying in my front yard.

To my surprise, he took me up on it. But it was not the first surprise of that day.

Positivity

Best Year Ever

Guess who’s back!

It’s been a while. Today my co-worker was talking about how he would like to start writing and I was thinking about how this blog and the challenges I set around it helped me to start writing. We talked about a similar arrangement as I had with my crew at SUCCESS. Although instead of bringing baked goods on Friday if we missed a Wednesday entry, we would buy each other lunch.

Uncategorized

Catch up post

I haven’t blogged in a while so I’ll catch you up to speed.

Basically, life consists of two things: playing Metal Gear Solid and the time I spend waiting until I can play Metal Gear Solid again.

I think my friend Nathan is the only one I know who understands this.

Uncategorized

Catch Up Post

So here we are in 2017. It has been a while, dear reader.

I joined another blog challenge. This go-round I think we are only required to post once a month and I was not informed of any penalty… so piece of cake.

Where we last left off I was on a breakneck pace to pay off my mortgage. My lovely wife had even gained employment to help with the goal. I also had the order for the Storm Trooper costume canceled and refunded to throw more money at it. Though it was tough it was paid off in early May of last year.