It's so hard to sit down and write these days--still so much up in the air. We now have a 68 ft. yacht in Canada (sitting and waiting for us to come and love it), a house and farm--7 acres and (less) critters. We have cars, trucks, tractors, collectibles to re-home--and it's an uphill battle to sell them. Amazingly great stuff, nobody has the money to buy them. We're dealing with it all--hoping and working towards the goal. I vacillate between being thrilled with what we are doing, to being entirely overwhelmed. Happily, I'm moving more towards being thrilled....I have my days, like everyone.
On another front--I have successfully dealt with culling people out of my life that I have found too negative to deal with. For many, many years I have accepted that WORST behavior from people. I just thought that with friends you should look for the best in people, and overlook the flaws. That's what friends do, right? I challenge that by saying that negative energy begets negative energy. Choosing to move people out of your life can be very liberating. This is not to say that the people themselves are the problem. It's a matter of the mix--you+friend=whatever energy that creates. I am much more selfish about my time, who I choose to spend time with and taking the time I need to have to concentrate on my life issues. People are thinking this is just a "temporary" situation, that I will bring people back into my life after this whole life-change is finished with. This is not the case. I feel so great about what I'm doing that I'm going to continue on this path. I want to surround myself with people who understand they are worthy of success, and bring a lighter feeling into the world.
The whole cleaning/down-sizing/life-change is moving along, perhaps not as fast as I'd like--but as a very wise friend said yesterday over coffee--"live minute to minute." That's what I'm doing. Makes things easier.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Don’t use your Passion, let your Passion Use You
One of the highlights on our adventure to the land of silicone and Botox, was dinner with an old friend, who moved to L.A. from Seattle to pursue a career as a screenwriter. We had an amazing dinner at a small Nicaraguan restaurant, and an even more engaging conversation on art, passion, talent, and drive. He related how he had gotten meetings with some very connected producers. “I just pick up the phone and start calling.” It reminded us of the time that Carrie was asked by a local Seattle morning show to set up an in studio for a nationally touring band. We were friendly with the band, but had no idea how to get a hold of them. The management company that was promoting their tour wouldn’t give Carrie the time of day. “Who are you, and who are you with?” they asked. Not taking no for an answer, Carrie kept cold calling until she finally got the bands personal manager. “Sure, that would be great, I will set it up,” he said. By coincidence, our friend is also a musician, and knows the manager in question.
I posed the question, “so what do you do if you are passionate about something that you realize you may not be talented at in a way that would make you successful.”
Being both a musician and a writer, he shared how he had applied for a series of post graduate music programs. After being repeatedly rejected, he humbly admitted that as much as he loved music, maybe he was a better writer, or at least more likely to be successful at it. Having two parents who were doctors, and expecting him to go to medical school, he was already pursuing his passion over material success, (or even parental validation, which can be a force of nature to resist.)
But what is success? On a superficial level this is an easy question to answer. Some would tell you that it can be quantified in terms of market share, record sales, best seller lists, or critic reviews. I remember a proud mother showing me an article from the L.A. times, reviewing her daughters gallery show. She shared how the daughter told her, “they described me as an artist Mom. I always wanted to be called an artist.” The art world is a fickle place. Looking for external validation, especially if it has a direct correlation to your personal self confidence, can be a dangerous strategy.
On the other hand, perhaps out of fear of rejection, or simply lack of initiative, some people pursue a strategy of never putting themselves out there. Our friend related how as president of the North West Screenwriters Guild, he would meet writers who always had an excuse for why they hadn’t written. They would blame their husbands, or their family, or their hectic lives. I say start living or start dying. If you are truly passionate about your craft, commit, and start doing. Only time and experience will hone your skills so that when and if opportunity presents itself, you can seize the moment. If and when that moment comes, if you are focused on the external then fear of either success or failure will cause you to hesitate, and the moment may pass
.
Another musician friend is more talented than she knows. Externally she appears to be empowered, almost to the point of being cocky. She has a wicked sense of humor, a quick wit, and delights in shocking people. Just like Carrie, she is not afraid to engage in topics of substance, so it is not surprising that Carrie and she became close friends. Both share a traumatic past, and instead of being shocked or feeling sorry when the friend confided some of the more sordid events, Carrie was empathetic and encouraged her to work through and move past them, having done so herself. Carrie is also relentless in her insistence that these things must be dealt with, or the baggage will weigh one down and influence one to pursue paths that are in conflict with your long-term happiness. I think because of this, their relationship is tumultuous, as the friend struggles with whether to subvert her past, or deal with it, (which could be painful, and force some uncomfortable changes in her present life.)
As she is a talented musician, Carrie saw the opportunity to connect her with our network of friends in the music industry. This culminated with a friend, who is respected in the industry, helping her record a demo which we all felt should open some doors for her. All of us that is, accept for Wolverine, who is very self critical about her music. So what is it that drives us past our fears to success, and what is success?
The friend who recorded the demo has had success. He was the drummer of arguably one of the most famous bands to come out of the Seattle scene. He was with them when they broke, but quit just before they exploded, (rescuing us from the likes of Poison and Loverboy.) For years he refused to give interviews, or explain the reasons why he left the band. The music press did what they typically do; they made up their own history, and in my opinion, because they felt slighted that he refused interviews, marginalized his role in the band, and his talent. He was with the band longer than any other drummer, recorded what many purists believe is their best album, and has the respect of every other musician I have met in the Seattle scene, including those who are still internationally recognized. So if it wasn’t talent that caused his departure, and continues to keep him in relative obscurity, then what is it?
His successor, who went on to start yet another very successful band was once asked in an interview about his predecessor. He revealed that many of the tracks on the album that exploded the band into superstardom, had already been written and recorded when he joined, and that he re-recorded them beat for beat. When asked who the better drummer was, he replied with humility that it was the other. These two drummers are completely different in their styles, so in all fairness the question may have no answer. One is very improvisational, more of a jazz drummer than punk, rock or “grunge,” the other a human drum machine who can replicate any style. In that difference I believe lays the answer to why our friend left the band, and continues to shun the spotlight.
The psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes those experiences which people find most rewarding, as those that challenge us just to the edge of our capabilities, but not beyond them. Allowing worry or doubt to intrude restrains you from achieving these optimal states of productivity. I have always said that the secret to anything is not knowing you can't, which looked at another way is that optimal success does not have a lot of room for self doubt, fear of failure, or just as damaging, fear of success. If you are successful doing something that you love, you might fear that you would grow to hate it. One might also speculate that success also can be limiting, because it creates expectations, and to meet those expectations you might have to compromise, or continue doing things the same way, to a formula, which will eventually trap you into doing this thing that you once loved, but that is no longer challenging or rewarding because now you are not allowed to grow beyond it.
Musicians especially can fall into this trap as fans and or labels and management do not want to take risks, for fear you will grow in a direction away from your market or fan base, which then is inherently at odds with an artist, who by nature wants to explore and take risks.
In my opinion, one artist who exemplifies the ability to both take creative chances, and have a long and successful career, is David Bowie (another would be Johnny Cash.) “Let’s Dance” was just as relevant in the eighties as “Ziggy Stardust” was in the seventies. When I first heard “Tin Machine” I didn’t like it, but it laid the foundation for bands like Nine Inch Nails, which he later collaborated with. The aforementioned drummer, while on his first national tour after being signed to SubPop, introduced the lead singer to Bowie in a record store in New York, and it heavily influenced his later work.
Part of Bowie’s success can be attributed to the fact that he is one of those rare combinations of talent, passion, and business acumen. There is a story of his early career, when he was still relatively unknown, of him hiring a limo, outfitting it with a large entourage, and then hiring a group of “fans” to wait anxiously at the Hotel for his arrival. This created such a buzz around town that he then played to a sold out show that night. The cold hard facts are that in the art world, talent without marketing will toil on in obscurity. Some artists are O.K. with obscurity, and in fact pine for it even after success. We see this in Seattle, where bands such as Pearl Jam delight playing un-announced shows in small clubs under assumed names, or in disguise. In part this tactic also validates them as artists, just as Steven King publishes under pseudonyms, which validates him as an artist independent of the “brand name.” If you are passionate about your art, and need more resources to explore that passion more, but lack the business sense, you had better find a Colonel Parker to your Elvis.
If you pursue you passion, success (or the people who will market you) may or may not find you. If your passion is a means on to itself, this may be all that you desire, but remember that if you are true to your passion and yourself success will not preclude this fulfillment. I recently saw an interview with the CEO of Starbucks, and what came across to me was that despite his success, not because of it, he was and always had been very passionate about coffee. When your passion is a means to an end, and not just an end on to itself, you can never be completely focused on what is most fulfilling, your passion. Only by getting in the “zone,” by letting our passion use us, can we truly perform at our optimum potential. If we do not find our passions rewarding in and of themselves, do we really believe that we will be fulfilled with the fruits of those labors?
I posed the question, “so what do you do if you are passionate about something that you realize you may not be talented at in a way that would make you successful.”
Being both a musician and a writer, he shared how he had applied for a series of post graduate music programs. After being repeatedly rejected, he humbly admitted that as much as he loved music, maybe he was a better writer, or at least more likely to be successful at it. Having two parents who were doctors, and expecting him to go to medical school, he was already pursuing his passion over material success, (or even parental validation, which can be a force of nature to resist.)
But what is success? On a superficial level this is an easy question to answer. Some would tell you that it can be quantified in terms of market share, record sales, best seller lists, or critic reviews. I remember a proud mother showing me an article from the L.A. times, reviewing her daughters gallery show. She shared how the daughter told her, “they described me as an artist Mom. I always wanted to be called an artist.” The art world is a fickle place. Looking for external validation, especially if it has a direct correlation to your personal self confidence, can be a dangerous strategy.
On the other hand, perhaps out of fear of rejection, or simply lack of initiative, some people pursue a strategy of never putting themselves out there. Our friend related how as president of the North West Screenwriters Guild, he would meet writers who always had an excuse for why they hadn’t written. They would blame their husbands, or their family, or their hectic lives. I say start living or start dying. If you are truly passionate about your craft, commit, and start doing. Only time and experience will hone your skills so that when and if opportunity presents itself, you can seize the moment. If and when that moment comes, if you are focused on the external then fear of either success or failure will cause you to hesitate, and the moment may pass
.
Another musician friend is more talented than she knows. Externally she appears to be empowered, almost to the point of being cocky. She has a wicked sense of humor, a quick wit, and delights in shocking people. Just like Carrie, she is not afraid to engage in topics of substance, so it is not surprising that Carrie and she became close friends. Both share a traumatic past, and instead of being shocked or feeling sorry when the friend confided some of the more sordid events, Carrie was empathetic and encouraged her to work through and move past them, having done so herself. Carrie is also relentless in her insistence that these things must be dealt with, or the baggage will weigh one down and influence one to pursue paths that are in conflict with your long-term happiness. I think because of this, their relationship is tumultuous, as the friend struggles with whether to subvert her past, or deal with it, (which could be painful, and force some uncomfortable changes in her present life.)
As she is a talented musician, Carrie saw the opportunity to connect her with our network of friends in the music industry. This culminated with a friend, who is respected in the industry, helping her record a demo which we all felt should open some doors for her. All of us that is, accept for Wolverine, who is very self critical about her music. So what is it that drives us past our fears to success, and what is success?
The friend who recorded the demo has had success. He was the drummer of arguably one of the most famous bands to come out of the Seattle scene. He was with them when they broke, but quit just before they exploded, (rescuing us from the likes of Poison and Loverboy.) For years he refused to give interviews, or explain the reasons why he left the band. The music press did what they typically do; they made up their own history, and in my opinion, because they felt slighted that he refused interviews, marginalized his role in the band, and his talent. He was with the band longer than any other drummer, recorded what many purists believe is their best album, and has the respect of every other musician I have met in the Seattle scene, including those who are still internationally recognized. So if it wasn’t talent that caused his departure, and continues to keep him in relative obscurity, then what is it?
His successor, who went on to start yet another very successful band was once asked in an interview about his predecessor. He revealed that many of the tracks on the album that exploded the band into superstardom, had already been written and recorded when he joined, and that he re-recorded them beat for beat. When asked who the better drummer was, he replied with humility that it was the other. These two drummers are completely different in their styles, so in all fairness the question may have no answer. One is very improvisational, more of a jazz drummer than punk, rock or “grunge,” the other a human drum machine who can replicate any style. In that difference I believe lays the answer to why our friend left the band, and continues to shun the spotlight.
The psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes those experiences which people find most rewarding, as those that challenge us just to the edge of our capabilities, but not beyond them. Allowing worry or doubt to intrude restrains you from achieving these optimal states of productivity. I have always said that the secret to anything is not knowing you can't, which looked at another way is that optimal success does not have a lot of room for self doubt, fear of failure, or just as damaging, fear of success. If you are successful doing something that you love, you might fear that you would grow to hate it. One might also speculate that success also can be limiting, because it creates expectations, and to meet those expectations you might have to compromise, or continue doing things the same way, to a formula, which will eventually trap you into doing this thing that you once loved, but that is no longer challenging or rewarding because now you are not allowed to grow beyond it.
Musicians especially can fall into this trap as fans and or labels and management do not want to take risks, for fear you will grow in a direction away from your market or fan base, which then is inherently at odds with an artist, who by nature wants to explore and take risks.
In my opinion, one artist who exemplifies the ability to both take creative chances, and have a long and successful career, is David Bowie (another would be Johnny Cash.) “Let’s Dance” was just as relevant in the eighties as “Ziggy Stardust” was in the seventies. When I first heard “Tin Machine” I didn’t like it, but it laid the foundation for bands like Nine Inch Nails, which he later collaborated with. The aforementioned drummer, while on his first national tour after being signed to SubPop, introduced the lead singer to Bowie in a record store in New York, and it heavily influenced his later work.
Part of Bowie’s success can be attributed to the fact that he is one of those rare combinations of talent, passion, and business acumen. There is a story of his early career, when he was still relatively unknown, of him hiring a limo, outfitting it with a large entourage, and then hiring a group of “fans” to wait anxiously at the Hotel for his arrival. This created such a buzz around town that he then played to a sold out show that night. The cold hard facts are that in the art world, talent without marketing will toil on in obscurity. Some artists are O.K. with obscurity, and in fact pine for it even after success. We see this in Seattle, where bands such as Pearl Jam delight playing un-announced shows in small clubs under assumed names, or in disguise. In part this tactic also validates them as artists, just as Steven King publishes under pseudonyms, which validates him as an artist independent of the “brand name.” If you are passionate about your art, and need more resources to explore that passion more, but lack the business sense, you had better find a Colonel Parker to your Elvis.
If you pursue you passion, success (or the people who will market you) may or may not find you. If your passion is a means on to itself, this may be all that you desire, but remember that if you are true to your passion and yourself success will not preclude this fulfillment. I recently saw an interview with the CEO of Starbucks, and what came across to me was that despite his success, not because of it, he was and always had been very passionate about coffee. When your passion is a means to an end, and not just an end on to itself, you can never be completely focused on what is most fulfilling, your passion. Only by getting in the “zone,” by letting our passion use us, can we truly perform at our optimum potential. If we do not find our passions rewarding in and of themselves, do we really believe that we will be fulfilled with the fruits of those labors?
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
In Defense of Dirty Hands
For now, Fifer remains in Canada, partly so we do not get distracted from our downsizing, but mostly to work through logistics to get her ready to come through customs. Our second trip up to see her was a mad dash to inventory equipment, and get the contract signed around. This last one was more relaxed, but it was time to get our hands dirty.
Unlike buying a used car, or a house, it has been my experience that when you buy a boat, you also inherit a lot of clutter. Boaters tend to be like Boy Scouts. “Be prepared,” for all situations, or at least try to be, is the mindset. The previous owner of Fifer, with the best of intentions, had tried to turn her into a Swiss Army knife; lot’s of stuff that sort of works in a pinch, but not very well.
The will to put Fifer back together, and return her to her former glory was there, but I think he just got overwhelmed.
I know from personal experience, that even smart hard working guys can get in over their heads, but you need to know when to quit. This is a lesson I am still learning, and I take it for granted that I am able to deal fairly easily with the curves that life, and mechanical things throw at you. The week before our trip we sold the last of our Mercedes diesel wagons to a good friend. I had done a lot of work to make sure that I felt confident about the car. It had new tires, battery, starter, glow plugs, thermostat, and fuel filters, and Carrie and I had both spent a lot of time working on it. The first indication that our friend might not be a good first time diesel owner was several hours after we dropped the car off, he called to say it wouldn’t shift. Carrie went over climbed in, and while he looked on in amazement pulled out on the highway as it shifted up to speed. Being used to gas cars, I am guessing he pushed the pedal all the way down, engaging the kick down switch that tells the transmission to stay in a lower gear for passing. The next day he called to say he couldn’t get it to start, and the turn signals to work. We had been driving it for two weeks with no problem, but at this point we just called AAA, and got it back. I put it on the charger, and after a few minutes it started right up. To our friends credit, he just knew he wasn’t prepared to deal. No problem. I will either keep the car, or sell it to someone who is a little more mechanical, or experienced. Just to make sure there weren’t any more gremlins in the car, we decided to take it on our trip to Canada.
The drive up was fairly uneventful, and we were looking smugly at the traffic moving slowly in the other direction, when we hit one of the worst traffic jams I have ever been stuck in. As we crested a hill, the cars in front were simply parked. Carrie watched in the rear view mirror as a car collided so hard into the one stopped beside us, that the left front wheel came off and rolled into the lane behind us. Three lanes merged into one, tempers flared, and then even more lanes merged before we made it to the tunnel that goes under the Fraser River. We spent a lot of time with the car idling at a standstill, and I was a little nervous when I saw the temperature gage start to climb. I had just put a new thermostat in, and this was the first road trip we had the white Mercedes Wagon on since I had installed the new tranny. I was relieved when we started moving again, and the temperature dropped down to normal.
We checked into the hotel, and then went down to the boat to get a little work done before calling it a day. When we went out to the car to go back to the hotel, it wouldn’t start. Undaunted, we went back to the boat, got an extra battery charger (for once I was happy with the redundant tool buying habits of the previous owner,) and started charging it while we went back down and got some more work done. Just to be safe, when we got back to the hotel, I smuggled the battery and the charger up to the room to let it charge over night.
For some strange reason, Grocery stores seem to very difficult to find in Canada. We needed distilled water to refill the batteries on the boat, and had to travel many miles, passing just about every other type of retail outlet that modern life can provide. Golf World, craft stores, Recliner land, Rice World (there is a large immigrants population,) Chow’s Exotic Meats, and lot’s of mini-marts, but nothing resembling a supermarket on our quest. In the midst of our adventure, the car started making a strange new metallic sound. This was quite unsettling in our foreign surroundings, and as we drove it got progressively worse. We pondered what it could be, and Carrie called AAA to see what our coverage was. Finally, when we got back to the shipyard I had Carrie pop the hood and keep it running. Almost immediately I was relieved to see that the fan belt was slipping, so now it was obvious where the noise was coming from, why it got hot, and why the battery wasn’t charging. I also had spare belts with me, which I put on while Carrie went down and did more work on the boat.
That weekend we filled two dumpsters. Up and down the dock I went, dragging garbage cans full of torn up tarps, foam to keep the tarps from chafing on all the ropes, cardboard boxes for all the supplies he bought, and blankets that the rodents had delighted in using along with the cardboard as a source for food and nesting material. The four socket sets, three full toolboxes, camp stove, and other miscellaneous stuff we loaded into the wagon to take to his storage unit.
I think that long before the grounding, the previous owner was out of his element. A lawyer by trade, he liked the idea of Fifer, and that of being a handy guy. Even if he didn’t do the work himself, he prided himself on knowing who to hire, and how to research what to do.
The deck leaked, and instead of keeping it simple, he just kept adding tarps on top of more tarps, stringing rope back and forth to hold them, and when the water started to pool buying step ladders and garbage cans placed to hold the low spots up. These were custom tarps, and he had several spare sets made. For the money he spent, he easily could have had a frame made, or just made one out of PVC pipe, like the guys at the shipyard tried to tell him to do. He kind of had the same approach to the hull repairs. He went with the cheap bid, didn’t listen to the people who knew what they were talking about, and when the timeline and price doubled to a year and $300,000, he just kept piling it on. In both cases he ended up with inferior results.
On the return trip we surprised my Grandma Becky by stopping in Anacortes for a visit. It was perfect timing as it was the day before her 84th birthday. “You made my birthday!” she said. We visited for about an hour, showing her pictures of Fifer and chatting about family. She is very concerned about countries current economic situation. “We lived on a farm, and so we were fine during the last depression. We took care of each other. I’m afraid that people today don’t know how to do anything for themselves. I think we are in a real mess, and I worry about these kids,” she lamented. She was relieved to hear that I had a secure job, and that we were very self sufficient.
A lot of people I know do not understand all the work I do: the old cars, home improvement, fixing everything myself, etc. My parents, as well as my in-laws came from the generation where if you were smart and well educated you hired someone else to do those things. I will admit that there were times where it would have been easier, and maybe cheaper to just buy a new car, or hire someone else. Especially in light of our recent downsizing, I definitely took on more projects than I should have, and would have been wise to devote myself to tasks more challenging or cerebral. What I don’t regret is that while most of our friends and family are in debt, we have the freedom to do what we are doing now, with no debt, no obligations. At the end of the day my hands may be dirty, but I had the ability to use them to do what needed to be done, and with the wisdom I have gained, the freedom to choose whether or not to do it myself. That my friends is a much better choice than Visa or Mastercard.
Unlike buying a used car, or a house, it has been my experience that when you buy a boat, you also inherit a lot of clutter. Boaters tend to be like Boy Scouts. “Be prepared,” for all situations, or at least try to be, is the mindset. The previous owner of Fifer, with the best of intentions, had tried to turn her into a Swiss Army knife; lot’s of stuff that sort of works in a pinch, but not very well.
The will to put Fifer back together, and return her to her former glory was there, but I think he just got overwhelmed.
I know from personal experience, that even smart hard working guys can get in over their heads, but you need to know when to quit. This is a lesson I am still learning, and I take it for granted that I am able to deal fairly easily with the curves that life, and mechanical things throw at you. The week before our trip we sold the last of our Mercedes diesel wagons to a good friend. I had done a lot of work to make sure that I felt confident about the car. It had new tires, battery, starter, glow plugs, thermostat, and fuel filters, and Carrie and I had both spent a lot of time working on it. The first indication that our friend might not be a good first time diesel owner was several hours after we dropped the car off, he called to say it wouldn’t shift. Carrie went over climbed in, and while he looked on in amazement pulled out on the highway as it shifted up to speed. Being used to gas cars, I am guessing he pushed the pedal all the way down, engaging the kick down switch that tells the transmission to stay in a lower gear for passing. The next day he called to say he couldn’t get it to start, and the turn signals to work. We had been driving it for two weeks with no problem, but at this point we just called AAA, and got it back. I put it on the charger, and after a few minutes it started right up. To our friends credit, he just knew he wasn’t prepared to deal. No problem. I will either keep the car, or sell it to someone who is a little more mechanical, or experienced. Just to make sure there weren’t any more gremlins in the car, we decided to take it on our trip to Canada.
The drive up was fairly uneventful, and we were looking smugly at the traffic moving slowly in the other direction, when we hit one of the worst traffic jams I have ever been stuck in. As we crested a hill, the cars in front were simply parked. Carrie watched in the rear view mirror as a car collided so hard into the one stopped beside us, that the left front wheel came off and rolled into the lane behind us. Three lanes merged into one, tempers flared, and then even more lanes merged before we made it to the tunnel that goes under the Fraser River. We spent a lot of time with the car idling at a standstill, and I was a little nervous when I saw the temperature gage start to climb. I had just put a new thermostat in, and this was the first road trip we had the white Mercedes Wagon on since I had installed the new tranny. I was relieved when we started moving again, and the temperature dropped down to normal.
We checked into the hotel, and then went down to the boat to get a little work done before calling it a day. When we went out to the car to go back to the hotel, it wouldn’t start. Undaunted, we went back to the boat, got an extra battery charger (for once I was happy with the redundant tool buying habits of the previous owner,) and started charging it while we went back down and got some more work done. Just to be safe, when we got back to the hotel, I smuggled the battery and the charger up to the room to let it charge over night.
For some strange reason, Grocery stores seem to very difficult to find in Canada. We needed distilled water to refill the batteries on the boat, and had to travel many miles, passing just about every other type of retail outlet that modern life can provide. Golf World, craft stores, Recliner land, Rice World (there is a large immigrants population,) Chow’s Exotic Meats, and lot’s of mini-marts, but nothing resembling a supermarket on our quest. In the midst of our adventure, the car started making a strange new metallic sound. This was quite unsettling in our foreign surroundings, and as we drove it got progressively worse. We pondered what it could be, and Carrie called AAA to see what our coverage was. Finally, when we got back to the shipyard I had Carrie pop the hood and keep it running. Almost immediately I was relieved to see that the fan belt was slipping, so now it was obvious where the noise was coming from, why it got hot, and why the battery wasn’t charging. I also had spare belts with me, which I put on while Carrie went down and did more work on the boat.
That weekend we filled two dumpsters. Up and down the dock I went, dragging garbage cans full of torn up tarps, foam to keep the tarps from chafing on all the ropes, cardboard boxes for all the supplies he bought, and blankets that the rodents had delighted in using along with the cardboard as a source for food and nesting material. The four socket sets, three full toolboxes, camp stove, and other miscellaneous stuff we loaded into the wagon to take to his storage unit.
I think that long before the grounding, the previous owner was out of his element. A lawyer by trade, he liked the idea of Fifer, and that of being a handy guy. Even if he didn’t do the work himself, he prided himself on knowing who to hire, and how to research what to do.
The deck leaked, and instead of keeping it simple, he just kept adding tarps on top of more tarps, stringing rope back and forth to hold them, and when the water started to pool buying step ladders and garbage cans placed to hold the low spots up. These were custom tarps, and he had several spare sets made. For the money he spent, he easily could have had a frame made, or just made one out of PVC pipe, like the guys at the shipyard tried to tell him to do. He kind of had the same approach to the hull repairs. He went with the cheap bid, didn’t listen to the people who knew what they were talking about, and when the timeline and price doubled to a year and $300,000, he just kept piling it on. In both cases he ended up with inferior results.
On the return trip we surprised my Grandma Becky by stopping in Anacortes for a visit. It was perfect timing as it was the day before her 84th birthday. “You made my birthday!” she said. We visited for about an hour, showing her pictures of Fifer and chatting about family. She is very concerned about countries current economic situation. “We lived on a farm, and so we were fine during the last depression. We took care of each other. I’m afraid that people today don’t know how to do anything for themselves. I think we are in a real mess, and I worry about these kids,” she lamented. She was relieved to hear that I had a secure job, and that we were very self sufficient.
A lot of people I know do not understand all the work I do: the old cars, home improvement, fixing everything myself, etc. My parents, as well as my in-laws came from the generation where if you were smart and well educated you hired someone else to do those things. I will admit that there were times where it would have been easier, and maybe cheaper to just buy a new car, or hire someone else. Especially in light of our recent downsizing, I definitely took on more projects than I should have, and would have been wise to devote myself to tasks more challenging or cerebral. What I don’t regret is that while most of our friends and family are in debt, we have the freedom to do what we are doing now, with no debt, no obligations. At the end of the day my hands may be dirty, but I had the ability to use them to do what needed to be done, and with the wisdom I have gained, the freedom to choose whether or not to do it myself. That my friends is a much better choice than Visa or Mastercard.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Blog on...........
Haven't written in awhile. Crappy. I know. Just haven't felt witty--or particularly sociable. Yes, blogging is sociable....lol....better not tell the "Teabaggers", huh? Socialism is bad, m-kay? All the same...no, not even close. I digress. Kind of how my brain has been functioning of late. Or not functioning. Think of clicking through a bunch of TV channels while sitting on the couch--that's me running from one thing to another. Channel surf between the home-improvement show and the big adventure reality bit. These days A.D.D is a blessing.
Kind of on "auto-pilot" getting things done and moving forward. I guess when we started this I didn't realize how huge of a life-change it really was. Silly, considering all the material possessions we have, thinking this would be an easy task. Call me an idiot, I thought it would go faster than it is. Selling things on Craiglist (and elsewhere) is a GIANT pain in the ass. People, if you didn't think we had an economic crisis, I'm here to tell you that yes in-dee-dee we do. We have some pretty cool shit. 1940's Coke machines, very collectible cars, extremely sought-after things....none of it really moves, even priced to sell. Even a couple of years ago this crap would have moved down the road rapidly. As it is, it is taking time. I'm not patient. I am forced to be. It will eventually go, I resign myself to that. In the meantime we work like dogs getting things gone and cleaned up. That is going very well. Disappearing giant trailers, old junk cars--GONE. It's still a daunting task. I accomplish it happily. That's the good stuff. I love it.
Aside from that, we are again heading to L.A. for the unforgettable debauchery that is the Playboy Mansion. It has to be the most fun you can have people watching (yes, it's even better than Burning Man--the people at the party aren't trying to be feats of nature, they simply ARE). I love the cause. It's for our brave men and women injured in Iraq and Afghanistan--they attend the party, too--and it's really all for them. I loved watching David Hasselhoff thanking them, each individually, for their service. Call him what you will, the man has class (what a man does on his own floor with alcohol and hamburgers is his damn business!). This year I'm not freaking out at all about going. I know what to expect, and I have no worries. Just expect to have a lot of fun. It helps that I'm probably in the best shape of my life, and I've worked damn hard for it. This year, the pictures most likely won't all make it to Facebook--I kicked it up a notch. My attire is tasteful, but there is less of it. Figure I'd better kick it up a notch while I still can! lol. Vince has the tux that makes him look like James Bond (with more staying power, lol, ask me about Sean Connery--I'll tell you the story!) It will be nice to just relax and enjoy the show.
We will be flying in on Friday morning, meeting with friends for lunch--then heading to a live taping of the Bill Maher show (HBO, Fridays), then out to dinner with old friends.
I'll blog about it all when I get back....
Kind of on "auto-pilot" getting things done and moving forward. I guess when we started this I didn't realize how huge of a life-change it really was. Silly, considering all the material possessions we have, thinking this would be an easy task. Call me an idiot, I thought it would go faster than it is. Selling things on Craiglist (and elsewhere) is a GIANT pain in the ass. People, if you didn't think we had an economic crisis, I'm here to tell you that yes in-dee-dee we do. We have some pretty cool shit. 1940's Coke machines, very collectible cars, extremely sought-after things....none of it really moves, even priced to sell. Even a couple of years ago this crap would have moved down the road rapidly. As it is, it is taking time. I'm not patient. I am forced to be. It will eventually go, I resign myself to that. In the meantime we work like dogs getting things gone and cleaned up. That is going very well. Disappearing giant trailers, old junk cars--GONE. It's still a daunting task. I accomplish it happily. That's the good stuff. I love it.
Aside from that, we are again heading to L.A. for the unforgettable debauchery that is the Playboy Mansion. It has to be the most fun you can have people watching (yes, it's even better than Burning Man--the people at the party aren't trying to be feats of nature, they simply ARE). I love the cause. It's for our brave men and women injured in Iraq and Afghanistan--they attend the party, too--and it's really all for them. I loved watching David Hasselhoff thanking them, each individually, for their service. Call him what you will, the man has class (what a man does on his own floor with alcohol and hamburgers is his damn business!). This year I'm not freaking out at all about going. I know what to expect, and I have no worries. Just expect to have a lot of fun. It helps that I'm probably in the best shape of my life, and I've worked damn hard for it. This year, the pictures most likely won't all make it to Facebook--I kicked it up a notch. My attire is tasteful, but there is less of it. Figure I'd better kick it up a notch while I still can! lol. Vince has the tux that makes him look like James Bond (with more staying power, lol, ask me about Sean Connery--I'll tell you the story!) It will be nice to just relax and enjoy the show.
We will be flying in on Friday morning, meeting with friends for lunch--then heading to a live taping of the Bill Maher show (HBO, Fridays), then out to dinner with old friends.
I'll blog about it all when I get back....
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