2021-11-19 — More Big Toys 😶

Hi folks! It’s been almost an empty day, and yet I’m getting to bed late? 🙃 It’s 8:48 p.m., and it’s been an interesting day!

I scheduled it light, just three jobs, but then I realized that only one of those three was actually promised for today, one for Saturday, and another was either one or the other, so I chose… the other!

That turned out to be good because my hill brother Jim called me because his truck wouldn’t start. He was out helping his son, and he started his truck, and then it died 20 seconds later. I went out there and found that it was the fuel pump control module that had gone bad, so I found one (had to drive to two stores to get it because the inventory was off, and they actually didn’t have the part they thought they did, so I had to drive to another city; but I had time because I’d slowed the day to a casual jaunt).

Anyway, I replaced the FPCM for him and then headed toward home, letting the one job know to meet me at the Avoca One Stop, just a few minutes down the road for our house. Meanwhile, as I was waiting for her, I stopped off at the trailer dealer and… uh… I bought two dump trailers. 😶

This particular trailer dealer is sort of old school country mom and pop place, so when prices from the manufacturer went up $1300 per trailer for one of the ones I bought and $1000 for the other, they didn’t raise their prices on the trailers they already had. The net result was that they had one 4-foot walled trailer left in the old price, and one 2-foot walled trailer left in the old price, so I bought them both, saving $2300, as the exact same trailers were now that much more expensive.

Wahoo!

And prices are going to go up again soon. It’s just crazy. Inflation is just skyrocketing. That’s part of my motive for buying the trailers–have my money in assets that hold their value. Food is another that’s gonna hold it’s value, that’s for sure.

Anyway, I’m getting pretty well set for equipment rental. Hopefully, that’ll allow me to spend nearly all my time working on my NPO. That would be great. I’ve also been looking at houses to buy–Macomb, Ill is on my list, actually. Dirt cheap houses in a depressed small country town, but high rent demand because it’s got a university–a little country university town where the median age of residents is only 27. But you can get livable houses for $30-50k 🙃

Just my style. We live in the internet age, so… if you make money via the internet, doesn’t matter where you live!

Anyway, fun fun fun. I pulled one of the trailers home today. I’ll get the other home tomorrow morning, and I have a full day of work scheduled for tomorrow–very full.

Oh, I did one more car, that one that was going to meet me in Avoca. Her rear taillights weren’t working, and after some troubleshooting, I found that somehow the taillight relay under the airbag on the inside of the car had come loose, so I pushed it back into place, and boom–problem solved.

Well, it’s 9 p.m. I’d had a great video I’d planned to make today, and then I drove away and forgot to make it, and then the day flew, and… yeah. So… no video yet. I might make a quickie before bed. Probably not though. I don’t have to be perfect in my video output.

Daily Accountability:

• Bed last night at 8:30: Almost 10. 😬
• Up at 4: 😎
• 5x5s: 😎
• Exercise: 😎
• Cold shower: 😎
• Meditation: 😐 Some good. Still lots of work needed for really meaningful meditation.
• Breakfast: 😎
• NP Work: 😐 Progress, but not really solid.
• Tax Work: 😐 Some progress, but not much. Was distracted by… I don’t remember. Oh! I spent a lot of time creating a plan for one of my main fear cores.
• Lunch: 😬
• Work done by 6: 😎
• Dinner: 😎
• Only truly healthy foods: 😎
• No Wasted Life: 😎
• No Distracted Driving: 😬
• Faced a Fear: I could have done more, and this is a little silly, but I’m so out of practice that I wasn’t sure what to do, and I’m a little nervous guy, but there was a woman at AutoZone today that I was really attracted to, but she was busy with the store worker, so I slipped my business card under her windshield wiper. Wasn’t much, but I was nervous, and I did it. So… that’s something.
• Tamed the tongue: 😎
• Bag of veggies: 😎 (not a bag, but a super veggie heavy dinner tonight.

Evening Gratitude:

1. I’m grateful that I was able to get those trailers at those prices. That’s… a big deal–really.
2. I’m grateful that I was able to figure out Jim’s truck in relatively short order, that parts were available, despite the drive, and that he’s up and going again.
3. I’m grateful that the brake controller in my chevy worked beautifully. I thought I was going to have to program it or something, but when I went to put on the brakes on my truck with a 5k lb trailer behind me, I didn’t feel anything different than putting the brakes on normally, which means the controller was working already. wahoo! 🥳
4. I’m grateful for my sister Heather’s gratitude. Right when things were a bit annoying, she texted something she was grateful for, and it was good for me!
5. I’m grateful that the trailer people threw in an extra spare tire for having bought two trailers.
6. I’m grateful that the people at the trailer place were super super nice. A bunch of really nice people–all of them. Great experience–really great. Haul Supply, in Garfield, AR
7. I’m grateful that my work van is doing so much better. Since the weather turned colder, I haven’t seemed to have near the hard shifting that I have when it’s hot outside. Don’t know what that’s about, but ok!
8. I’m grateful to have the courage to do this gratitude thing right now when it’s late, I’m tired, and it’s well past my bedtime.
9. I’m grateful that tomorrow is Saturday, which is only one more day until Sunday. 🙃
10. I’m grateful that I’m still going strong with my routine. I keep getting up, even when I’m really tired. I did 32 pushups on my drop this morning, and that was good.

Lift the World

~ stephen