Son of Perdition - tales from the darkside

S

Son_of_Perdition

Senior Member
Entry #1 - Introduction

I've probably started a diary/blog/journal 5 or 6 times. Each time I find myself wondering what the heck was I thinking. No one would be interested. So here goes another try. I'm 69 and holding was born in a humble log cabin in Illinois, no wait that was somebody else. My family consisted of 2 boys 3 girls and the usual issue of one mom and one dad. I was the 2nd oldest. I still have 3 siblings alive but have been estranged from the younger 2 since my mother passed, bad feelings. My father was a mason contractor for 42 years, mother worked low paying odd jobs throughout her life. My brother and I followed somewhat in our father's footsteps. I lost interest and jumped back into computer support when the local economy was in the dumps in the early 70's. I never really liked bricklaying and I'm sure there will never be a reality show about the excitement generated standing on a scaffold, bent over placing one brick on the other.

I was raised LDS 'Mormon' and stayed with that religion until my late 50's I was never completely sold on the whole idea anyway. I had a conflict with some of the brethren at work over my desire to have a cup of coffee once in a while. I questioned their beliefs and soon found myself reading up on the history of the church becoming more disillusioned after each book. I became somewhat of an expert on our early history and would argue with anyone who wanted to about my understanding and shaken belief system. I had my name removed from the records and filed to be removed as member in 2002. I have now tempered my thoughts somewhat and lost interest in making hell for the missionaries when they come around. They are young men and women who claim to have a testimony and who am I to question their beliefs. We now have an understanding since they refuse to give up on my wife, also a mormon.

I had been in the USAF (63-67) and had been trained as a computer operator in the early days of computing. In fact I found an article about the general time I had served. It claimed there were only 12,000 first generation computers in existence at the time and most were owned by the government. My tour was 4 years and NO MORE for me. I worked for a few years at 2 different banking operations, one in Idaho and one in Utah. I had a personal issue with our lead operator and decided to quit going back into construction. I hod carried for 1 summer/fall on a high rise hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah. The general wanted me to go south to St George Utah to work on a school but my dad offered me a job with his crew so I could stay with my family. I worked another 3 years with him. I quit when I was offered a position at a large aerospace firm in Northern Utah and remained with them for the next 35 years.

I retired in 2009 and moved to Oregon because of extreme winters in Northern Utah. I didn't ski and the only winter sport I participated in was snowmobiling. It became too costly and my machines were ancient. So most winters were spent watching TV, working and watching it snow. By Feb each winter I was like a snow bound caged animal, I had developed a bad back because of childhood polio and couldn't do yard work or snow shoveling, after retiring we searched for a more hospitable climate moving in 2011, purchasing a manufactured home in a 55+ park and have remained 3 years without looking back.
 

Entry #2 - Travel

My earlier interest in travel was more of a need to satisfy my natural curiosity of things that are different. I no longer fly out of fear and discomfort. I mentioned that my problems with my back have limited my activities and sitting in confined seating with little freedom of movement is painful on my back and legs. When I do travel now it's usually by private auto. I stop frequently and get out and move around helping relieve the pain.

We have visited 49 out of the 50 US states (North Dakota being the one I've missed), Mexico and Canada. When I was in the USAF I traveled to Taiwan, all the Scandinavian counties except Finland. Visited France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Germany and Holland. I've lived in Idaho, Utah, Texas and now Oregon. Auto travel has it's downsides but the freedom of choice and fly by the seat of your pants challenges are something I won't give up. I usually drive and my wife navigates with map in hand. My only request to her is try to keep me off the interstates as much as possible so we can enjoy something besides the chain motels and travel plazas that line the freeways. Most times it's interesting and we see things that are usually not on the travel guides.

We always try to find out of the way places to eat and unique places to lay our heads. Some have been a one time thing and wouldn't recommend them to my friends. Others have remained in my memory as an enjoyable experience. We had frog legs in New Orleans at Papa Joe's, fresh crabs on the outer banks of North Carolina, chuck wagon dinner and western show in Colorado, eaten $7 Jello dessert on Puget Sound, Sourdough bread at Fisherman's Wharf in SF, Bar-b-Que beef over an open pit in Texas, Burnt my tongue on the hottest Mexican cuisine in New Mexico, experienced grits in an out of the way diner in Tennessee, scrabble in New Jersey, something I'm not sure what meat was in it somewhere in Kansas and got ripped off at a horrendous cafe east of Tucson along many others good and bad.

My travel is somewhat limited now but do enjoy a quick trip to surrounding states. Where we have chosen to live is a place I would normally visit on a vacation so the need to get away is unnecessary now. I'm on extended vacation now.
 
Enjoyed reading your story , very interesting, thankyou.
 

Thanks for sharing your story Son_of_Perdition, interesting to be sure. Thank you for your service too.
 
Pam said:
Interesting read. Do you plan to visit North Dakota to make it a round 50?
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Not at this time, it's like my father used to say 'Leave at least one bite on your plate'. Don't know what that statement meant, but it was one of his favorites. He also advised me to, 'Never hire your friends or relatives, they secretly want to see you fail'. One other one was, 'Never enter into a deal with a religious school teacher'.
 
Entry #3 - Gambling

Gambling has always been a secret and not so secret desire of mine. Early on I can remember sitting with my older and younger sister outside at their little flower decorated table playing poker. My father worked construction and had spent quite a few months working in Las Vegas during the 50's. He would come home every other weekend (or monthly, can't recall) and tell us stories about his experiences. I was always fascinated and hung on his every word. He was there during the mob and Rat Pack days and his haunts were the Thunderbird and Tropicana to watch the shows and gamble.

I loved playing board games like monopoly, high finance and scrabble. I had a knack for numbers once being called a mathematical savant by an angry pinochle opponent during my service time. I loved to gamble but I never played slots. Rather I enjoyed the table games. I was a late comer to Texas Hold-em and have the bragging rights to say I won at Binions although it was only 1 dollar (still have the chip), but blackjack and craps are my first love. I had heard of Thorpe's 'Beat the Dealer' but didn't read it until several years later when I became more interested and wanted to learn the proper way to play.

I dedicated my gift with numbers and spare time along with the experience of card counting pinochle, hearts, spades and casino to becoming a more astute counter. I had spent a few trips in Nevada losing and learning then decided I need to approach the game garnering knowledge from the experienced players and authors. I read every book I could find on both 21 and craps. At one time I added the books I had purchased, amazed that I had acquired 25+ books on both. I become somewhat expert at it and played mostly in Wendover, NV. They had liberal rules and dealt mostly single deck games, a counters paradise. I dabbled with craps during my off times and began to show more interest because of the excitement around the table. 21 is a boring game for counters and played properly it can be won consistently, but is akin to closely watching paint dry.

But the money is won or lost on craps, card counting is not illegal but they can ban you from playing if the suspect it. I have only been asked to leave one casino. I shored up my play and practiced deception to avoid getting caught. Things have changed and not for the better for counters, they went to multiple decks, shuffling up more often and if you want to play at a single deck table be prepared to pay for it. The minimum is usually $25 and up. It makes a bad day very expensive. I had gained the expertise to count up to an 8 deck shoe but the concentration to play properly is nerve racking. Craps is more wide open and they don't ban you for winning, but they put as many obstructions in your way if you are. Trying to speed up the game, harassing your play and hovering near you to intimidate and put the stink eye on you.

Casino life is like a carnival and I can only stand about 2 days playing full time. Win or lose the drive home was long. Our move to Oregon hasn't been favorable for my 21 play, but they have comparable craps rules at the tables throughout the 9 native American casinos here. I've lost some of the desire to play as I age and have only been to 2 casinos twice in 3 years. It's not to say I've lost my skills but I have to accept reality and give up on my idea to become a professional gambler.
 
Entry #4 - Travel Fun

One day at work a few co-workers were sitting around talking about different subjects, one that perked my interest was about one's trip down the Grey's River in Wyoming, near Afton (hometown to Olympian Rulon Gardner). He was telling how beautiful the trip was. I asked what was the road like, great, a little rough at the top but got better as you went down. I was looking for somewhere to take my family on a short road trip.

I have always assumed that north was up and south was down on any map. I knew it started at Alpine, Wy and ended somewhere north of Rock Springs, Wy. So in my mind the top was at Alpine. I loaded the family in the '76 Impala and started on our great adventure. Alpine is less than 3 hours from home so I figured I could make the loop in just under 12 hours, so away we went. A stop along the way to get snacks. and a noon stop in Afton for lunch.

Starting at what I thought was the top was a pleasant surprise, it wasn't nearly as rough as my trip adviser had said so I thought the 60+ miles would be a snap. It was a graveled road and had been heavily traveled by logging trucks. About 35 miles along our journey I was trying to avoid the piled gravel in the middle of the road as best as I could, but luck would have it I had a miscue and punched a hole in my transmission pan. I knew the way back but I was about half way to the nearest small burg where I hoped to get help. I ventured on, the road was getting rougher and narrower the weeds and grass were about a foot high in the middle of the one vehicle dirt road. I was driving in the sage brush to miss the snow drifts, near the top we came upon a 4-wheel drive vehicle and I stopped to ask, 'How far?' the drivers first response was, 'What the hell are you up here in a that?'. Since I didn't have an intelligent answer and I was in a hurry, I ignored it.

We were about 15 miles from a small one horse hamlet. When we arrived with the transmission slipping bad we found the only open store. The had no mechanic but did have 6 quarts of fluid. I stocked up at set off for Rock Springs. My sister and her husband had an auto salvage yard there and I knew I could get him to fix me up. Onward we traveled a little better feeling since my transmission was no longer slipping and I knew help was just ahead.

We arrived in Rock Springs not knowing where their yard was but figured we could get directions. I asked at a service station (along with 4 more quarts of fluid). It's out 10 miles along I-80, take a left at exit ???. NO PROBLEM, I took a left went under the overpass and ended up driving around more dirt roads looking for their 10 acres of junk. I kept yelling to my wife, 'Where the hell do you hide 10 acres of junk?' she didn't have an answer. We were chasing mustangs through the sagebrush and finally she convinced me to go back to the Interstate. As I came under the overpass I noticed a small section of oiled road that went right to a frontage road. Yep that was were I was supposed to be.

Long story short, my brother in law was there on a Sunday cleaning up and he saved the day, got me fixed and the rest of trip was uneventful. The 12 hours turned into almost 18 and a resolve to get better information before I ventured out again.
 
Entry #5 – Doomsday Prepper, which I'm NOT!

I have been watching with interest most of the reality shows on TV about life in Alaska, also like watching the 'Doomsday Preppers' so I can critique their planning, my thing. I'm not taking away the importance of preparing for a major disaster and was raised 'Mormon' whom preaches food storage and self-sufficiency.

Finding, hunting and acquiring vast amounts of animal protein seems to be a main focal point in their preparing for the long cold winters. I don't think there are many 'Vegans' north of the 49 parallel. One of the points that the analysts of the preppers make again and again is having a renewable food source through winter and summer. Some raise goats, chickens, beef, pork, plant gardens and (shutter!!!) are prepared to eat creepy crawly things. The is only a few, very few that have or plan to include rabbits in their survival menus.

I raised rabbits on my little 'Gentleman's' 3 acre farm back in the 80's. I never allowed my children to make pets of them and when it was time to butcher them, my brother-in-law and I processed over 20. We did it on a day my children were in school. It took less that 10 minutes per animal. We froze all the edible portions in freezer bags. I learned a lot about raising and housing them. I also raised many of the other domestic animals. Let me say that rabbits were a breeze compared to chickens, turkeys, pigs, goats, sheep and beef. The cost was very nominal to beef and pork. Chickens are the only other animal I would consider for survival because of the egg production, the incredible, edible egg. I love eggs and when I was diagnosed with anemia, my nutritionist recommended eating eggs.

Hutches are relatively inexpensive to build, housing them out of the elements, cooling and heating the enclosure is also cost productive compared to anything you can build for the other aforementioned animals. Their feed is mostly grasses and clippings, but it can be supplement with inexpensive rabbit pellets. Their waste can go right on your garden plots without fear of burning the plants. When kept properly they have less diseases usually don't need any medicating.

Some facts I found on rabbits were encouraging and interesting:

Rabbit meat is all white meat.

Rabbit has 795 calories per pound. Compare: chicken at 810, veal at 840, turkey at 1190, lamb at 1420, beef at 1440 and pork at 2050.

Rabbit has the highest percentage of protein.

Rabbit has a lower percentage of fat than chicken, turkey, beef, or pork with unsaturated fatty acids at 63% of the total fatty acids.

The cholesterol level in rabbit meat is much lower than chicken, turkey, beef, pork.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has stated that domestic rabbit meat is the most nutritious meat known to man.

Research shows that rabbit meat has been recommended for special diets such as for heart disease patients, diets for the elderly, low sodium diets, and weight reduction diets.

Because it is easily digested, it has been recommended by doctors for patients who have trouble eating other meats.

Rabbit meat compares very favorably to veal.

One buck and two does can produce more edible meat in a year than one beef can.

Once you get over the, 'cute bunny' effect you may want to consider raising them. If I was a prepper I would put them high on my survival plans along with a few chickens for egg production.
 
Very interesting, SoP. I haved blogged and journaled for some years but have now layed aside any interest in doing so. I still write some because I enjoy it, but on the main I'm just an old man waiting his fate. By the way, my wife's family were members of the Reorganized Latter Day Saints. I've wondered the difference between the LDS and the RLDS. Do you know the difference between these two Church Organizations? Thanks. Again, enjoyed your diaries.
 
drifter said:
I've wondered the difference between the LDS and the RLDS. Do you know the difference between these two Church Organizations? Thanks. Again, enjoyed your diaries.
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RLDS (Reorganized Latter Day Saints) was started after Emma (Joe's wife) and son Joseph III had a riff with Brigham Young following Joe's and Hyrum death in the Carthage Jail. Brigham Young was old Joe's first counselor and he wanted the reins and control of the church. He got enough support to take over and push Emma and Joe III out, they moved to Missouri and formed a new sect based upon the literal interpretation of the Book of Mormon that establishes the practice of polygamy and other questionable beliefs.

Both sects practiced many of the same ceremonies and followed the teachings that old Joe had established in Navuoo, Illinois. The LDS under Brigham Young practiced polygamy openly until 1888 when through revelation the current chosen leader Wilford Woodruff banned it and excommunicated any member that practiced it, although it was never enforced. It was a condition of statehood and Utah was made a state in 1896, polygamy continued until the early 1920's when they finally decided to toe the mark.

I haven't studied the RLDS as much as I have the LDS.
 
As I understand it from my mother in law's sister, whom I became friends with, the RCoLDS do no not or have not practiced polygamy. We used to have long conversations before she died, but not about church doctrine. Thanks for your response and explanation. I did find this family and other members of this church to be fine people who offered a helping hand to those in need and successful business people.
 
drifter said:
As I understand it from my mother in law's sister, whom I became friends with, the RCoLDS do no not or have not practiced polygamy. We used to have long conversations before she died, but not about church doctrine. Thanks for your response and explanation. I did find this family and other members of this church to be fine people who offered a helping hand to those in need and successful business people.
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I stand corrected I told you I wasn't as well informed about the RLDS as I am about the LDS, They didn't practice polygamy as I thought.
 
Entry #6 - Homemade V8 Juice

I mentioned in the last post about my venture into making healthy self-processed fruit juices. After I had sold my juicer and tabled the idea to make anymore juice I got on a health kick. One of my favorite drinks believe it or not is V8 juice. I'm talking about the original flavor of 8 vegetables and a lot of salt. Salt is the major consideration when adopting a health regime, too much you raise your blood pressure, too little you lose potassium, get leg cramps and in extreme cases kick the bucket. So, arriving at the optimum dosage I decided to make my own juice.

I bought a can, read the ingredients and return to the supermarket and purchased an equal amount of the required veggies. Returning home I located my wife's super duper blender and proceed to wash, rinse and peel. I then cut them in manageable pieces and pulverized them into what I thought would be a mixture resembling V8. It turned out to be more like a thick green paste. Upon pouring a glass and swallowing a goodly portion I entered into the retching phase of my venture. Holy Cow! it was horrible!

After gaining composure I stood looking at what was left of the $40 worth of green slime. I hated to see all that go to waste so my thought process devised an idea to maybe cook it into something palatable. Muffins sounded like a viable choice. I mixed flour, water, green slime, raisins and a few walnuts along with the normal baking soda, powder, eggs,,,etc. The greatest health muffins were ready for the oven. I spooned just the right amount into my paper lined muffin tin. Set the oven at 375 and placed them on the rack. It wasn't long before I was inundated with the most horrible smell emanating from the kitchen.

Once again, Holy Cow! whats that smell? Grabbing the tin I went outside and sit them on the picnic table. I walked back in the house to what can only be described as a demented challenge to industrial strength air freshener. I opened every window and door, luckily it was summer time and I didn't send the furnace into gimble lock. I turned on the AC and placed two fans from my workshop in strategic locations. Nothing seemed to help much. So now it was time to test my creations. They were still warm enough to melt the butter and have a bite. Nope failure once again although the butter was ok. Everything in the dumpster. I figured I wouldn't let the wife know, she was a receptionist at a local dentist office and had a 2 block walk to come home.

When she arrived home I knew my attempt at covertness was also a failure. She said she could smell it almost immediately leaving the office and wondered if they were working on the city sewer system. After laughing about it and telling everyone she could she banned me from ever using her blender or oven again. Little did I know that yeah there may be 8 veggies in V8 the bulk is probably 99.5% tomatoes.
 
you make it sound a bit funny but I know from my ventures in the kitchen what unholy concocsions we can at times brew up. I guess our experience comes from the messes we have made in our endeavor to be great at some good thing. Again enjoyed
 
The V8 juice escapade managed to bring tears to my eyes from laughing. Loved you tried to salvage things with the muffins. I hope you continue sharing. I have enjoyed reading.
 
Entry #7 - An OCD's Guide to Fame and Fortune

Over the course of my lifetime I have attempted to create a business entity that would let me retire early and reap the rewards of entrepreneurial greatness. I never approached any new interest as a potential hobby or leisurely pastime pursuit, I would look at the financial rewards of any venture. As far back as I can remember I was always looking for the easy road to riches. At an early age I had the usual array of lemonade stands and sold greeting cards door to door. I would shun anything that required too much physical labor and tenacity. As I matured my interests were varied with the bottom line being what can I reap from this product.

I'm tone deaf and have no artist talent so I had to rely on others to produce a sell-able product. I married a very talented and crafty woman who created beautiful porcelain dolls, tole painted items that won awards at the county fairs, could make anything with her hands and two crochet hooks. My son is musically gifted and plays several instruments and has belonged to numerous bands. I was the idea man with little follow through, execution was my weakness. My other non-asset was being obsessive compulsive. In other words I totally get Leonard from the 'Big Bang Theory' and Melvin Udall from 'As Good As it Gets'.

The beginning of my journey started at an early age but it evolved into a more earnest endeavor when I neared my 40th birthday, I suffered greatly through my middle age crazies, life was hell for me. I almost quit my job but a national disaster changed my mind and I decided to pursue things I could do while still employed, that turned out to be the smartest thing I ever did. Some of my attempts at financial gain were:

The Mellinger Company, back in the 80's I answered an ad to learn mail order business for Mellinger's, I paid the $169 to get my personal guide and a box of cheap trinkets to sell through mail order. The only thing I learned from them was how to place an ad and never use your home address only post office boxes to receive the millions of orders and checks that would be forthcoming. Never placed an ad and can't remember what I did with the junk that was still in it's original box 10 years later probably someone made a few bucks at one of our yard sales. Lesson learned.

The tax man cometh, I trained myself and read everything I could about personal and business tax preparation. I did have about 40 paying clients at one time but lost interest and pushed them all to other prepares because I couldn't justify the fees that were they were charging, I made about $3 an hour doing them. It was one of the most boring forays I took on. It was fun snooping into people's personal lives but I wasn't dishonest enough to benefit from the information. Tax preparation is an identity thief's paradise. Also it was becoming more involved and I didn't want to make a mistake that could cost me or someone money.

Ebay, I sold and bought Zippo lighters, Linux OS media, empty CD cases and my wife's dolls. I figured that if we made our cost the only gain came from over charging for shipping. Ebay/Paypal fees were eating up my profits and it was a time consuming, packaging/mailing nightmare with little upside.

Computer Repair and Sales, way too much competition and found you can't compete with the big boys. Dealing with the public is dark hole that can only be remedied by completely removing oneself from the loop. Customer support calls were taking up too much of my spare time, and everyone wanted me to sell at cost to them.

Wood Products and Children's Furniture, here again I felt the need to deal with the public again. Seemed I didn't learn for my other quests. Slashing prices and taking a loss was the standard just to get the product sold. I did create some usable and unique products but no one wanted to make me rich doing it. Yard sale fodder and you know how financially rewarding that is when you are the supplier.

Yard Sales, while not a plan to get rich it was the only way to declutter my shop, basement, closets and counters of the things I bought for resale or made from raw products. It was humiliating to stand and dicker with drive bys and drop ins over a $2 still in the package item that cost me $20 originally.

Livestock, I did make a little money buying calves raising them to a certain age and selling them at the auctions. I figured I made my best profit selling them at 6 months. Chickens were more trouble than they were worth, Hogs were another story. The market for pork was changing daily, it seemed I was always just ahead or just behind the highest prices. Most of the time I did recoup my expenses but barely made enough to raise a free one for myself. They were a pain to get to the slaughter house they had their own plans when the time come to load them. Incidents that are now humorous have prevented me from ever trying that again.

Dog Run Septic Tanks, here is the only thing I every attempted that made a profit. I lived in the country and we were on septic tanks. Mine needed to be replaced and luck would have it that my oldest sister's husband was a backhoe operator and had installed many, many tanks and drain fields during his career. I only had to pay for the supplies, I think I installed it for about $800. Him doing all the machine work and me being his assistant and grunt. Afterward a woman at work was telling me about the mess her Golden Lab did to their yard and the mess she had in the dog run. She said she had one of those doggy dooly things buried in her grass but the waste never dissolved and it would fill up creating more work for her.

I told her she needed a septic tank for her run. I sat down and drew one up on paper utilizing supplies that could be purchased at your local big box home improvement center. She needed a 55 gal plastic barrel, approx. 80 feet of PCV pipe that had to have holes drilled in it, a load of gravel and some straw to create one. He husband and father done the labor with my drawing as their blueprint and soon had a working system.

She told me how great it was and I should market the plan. Whatever, I used my desktop and a drawing app to create the plan. It was crude but workable. I next had to place an ad in a magazine, timing was important as I learned and I placed a $55 ad in late fall, I got one response and reluctantly decided to place another ad in the spring in another magazine. I chose 'Gun Dog' the ad cost $95 for one month. It came out in April, my wife called me at work and 'what are you into now?'. It seemed I had received over 25 envelopes all addressed to my DBA at my home address (this is where I should have paid attention to Mellinger's). Over the next 2-3 weeks I received over 300 orders. The total cost to me was less than $1 (stamp and envelope), I sold them for $6.95 made a tidy $5.95 per order.

Only problem I encountered was someone looked up my address and got my phone number, called and wanted to come see a working system. Whoops, I didn't even have a dog and convinced him that the only working system was at my friends house and she would be glad to demonstrate it. He decided to not come up and not order a plan. I got to thinking that maybe somehow I could be charged with fraud and decided to close my business. Never did revisit that but my son wanted to give it a go, never had any followup so I don't know whether he did.
 
Entry #8 - Investing

Back in the 90's I dabbled with stock investing. I mentioned that I still have one share of my foray into dividend re-investments. During this time a female co-worker's father had passed away, she had a 30K inheritance that she wanted invested. She like many others had no working knowledge and asked me to help her. I still don't know where anyone got the idea that I knew anything about it, other than my gift of gab. Anyway I advised her to buy mutual funds, I had her buy a book entitled '100 best mutual funds' or something like that. We poured over them and decided that one family of funds was consistently on top of the heap.

In the 80's our company had started a 401K plan and was somewhat restricted. There were only 6 choices. But I digress, back to her fund selections, we decided to invest in 3 funds that mirrored our 401K choices. We stayed away from international and the company stock funds and chose a balanced, a small cap and an index fund. Over the next few years into the 90's she was showing a good ROI. During that time she had also sold her father's store and his RV, she had additional $25,000 and wanted to invest that. I suggested to try a few well known stocks. Luck would have it she purchased 5 different stocks and one of them almost doubled when it was announced that they had been bought out by another company and their product had pushed the stock up more than 80%. Boom now I'm an expert.

Also during that 10 year period our 401K plan had changed somewhat and they allowed us to make daily trades. They probably never envisioned that there would be anyone like me out there, no skill at investing but someone who knows the power of compound interest. I used my self-perceived skill with numbers to figure out a plan for trading my funds around based upon the percentage gain and loss that the index (SP500), the international and our company stock would do daily. I had login rights to her account, her and I were experiencing a better than average ROI on our 401K. One of my personal quirks is my inability to keep a secret. Other co-workers were listening and soon I was the go to guy to maximize their retirement. At one time I was moving over 750K a day. Yep right I had control of three quarters of a million to play with. Others were not so trusting but they did follow my lead and give me a call just prior to closing to help them decide which way to go.

Zap! It all came to a sudden stop, our company stopped daily trades, only allowed monthly trades. They said it was because the fund managers were losing fees, huh? they make money either way, more trades the better. It made it impossible to do what I had been doing so I had all of my 'friends' change their passwords and I dumped the plan. We had made good money by our standards during that run. It was years later that I found out that our company's team of investors were embarrassed by my returns and they had to put a stop to it, that information came from a former manager who had moved back into my area and we were talking about it. I was on their no-fly list.

I tried day trading and made my wife a little bit of money, but she doesn't condone gambling and got nervous whenever I lost on a stock. So I invested her IRA into self-directed mutual funds that she has since sold. My Michael Milkendays were over.
 
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Entry #9 - The Dare to be Great Plan #36, Sports Betting

My earlier mention about the power of compounding begat another venture based upon sports betting on the NFL. After I had been shutdown with my 401K day trading, I decided that this could work in other pursuits. Using a spreadsheet I devised a betting scheme whereas I would pick one game a week to cover. Whether it was for or against the spread or whether they would cover the total points or not.

At the time there were 16 weeks of league play, it was before the bye weeks. Now, I'm no avid fan of any sport, I like pro and college football, I watch a little baseball and follow the Utah Jazz in basketball. I have no skill whatsoever picking the outcome of the odds. I did however have a few co-workers who were nuts over sports, they would sit by the hour discussing this team or that player. I knew my skills were with numbers.

I presented my plan to those fans (co-workers) I considered more expert than I. All were intrigued when I showed them the possible outcome of my plan, I figured 11 of us would invest $10 each and if we were successful we stood the chance of increasing our share to over $150,000 each at the end of league play. It wasn't some pipe dream it was just presented the outside possibility of parlaying by applying compounding to our bankroll through successful wagers.

A gambler will tell you that every possible system has been tried thousands of times to beat the casino and mine was no different. I thought I had devised the perfect plan. But it wasn't to be, at the same time 8 female Baccarat dealers, (I mention the phrase female since that was what the sports article reported in the paper) were playing the same system. Their story was they invested/committed $10 each, they would meet once a week to decide their bet. They had to stick with the plan until the end. They lost the 1st week so they put in another $10 each. They were successful for the next 11 weeks and had build their bankroll to $130,000. They only reason it was reported was because the casino they were making the bets at had refused their 13th week bet - over limit. Another larger casino had accepted their bet and we waited to hear the outcome.

We never heard anything the next week so I called the Las Vegas Sun's sports desk to get a followup. The gentleman I asked laughed and said they went down. The game they had taken was Miami vs Chicago. Chicago was a 3 point favorite and the Bears were ahead by 4 with seconds left. They were playing in a blinding Chicago snowstorm and Miami had the ball, Dan Marino threw a 63 yd 'Hail Mary' pass into the end zone that was caught by a Dolphin player for the win as time run out. To me it was a good bet, once again nothing is a sure thing.

I had to drive the 175 (350 round trip) miles to Wendover to make the bets and was relieved when we lost our bankroll after a few weeks. My last bet was $1880, I wanted to take the Eagles over the Cowboys in Philly (we would have won) but our 'expert' convinced us to take the Browns over Phoenix. His reasoning was no American start up could possibly beat a stalwart old school National team. I think Phoenix only won 6 games that year and the Browns should have won but believed the odd makers press releases, all they had to do was show up.

I tried unsuccessfully the next few years and still get a kick out of trying to outguess the spread. I now know that Jimmy the Greek, Lefty Rosenthal and Phil Steele were a little better than I, so I won't give up my day job, but the upside was, I didn't have to spend 5 1/2 hours on the road to make the bets.
 
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Son, I like your stuff!:)
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You write some good enjoyable narrative. It's the stuff of life and life is a many sided thing. Keep at it.

drifter.
 
Farm animals - Max & Irene

My little 3 acre weed infested gentleman's farm generated a few comical incidents. My first experience other than a few domestic dogs and cats were 2 wiener pigs. I bought them at 6 weeks, brought them home in a card board box in the back of my pickup. I had an old machine shop/chicken coop/horse barn structure that's real only practical use was to tear it down save the wood for the rustic barn wood.

I had fixed up one of the horse stalls (previous owner use) and spread out a bale of straw. They looked so cute running and jumping around. I soon learned that their table manners were non existent. Mistake one was not anchoring down their trough, after their first meal they decided it would be appropriate to nose under the trough and dump it. Next I took a water heater cutting it lengthwise in half, that slowed them down until they reached middle age, 2 months. I next welded legs to it to keep it stable. The 10 X 10 stall was adequate until they wanted to go exploring.

A pig's favorite pastime is rooting in the dirt. They burrowed underneath the outside walls and was romping around when I arrived home one day. I re-secured them and went to the local seed and feed. Purchasing several panels of hog fencing at great price, my brother-in-law and I built what I thought was a secure pen. It took two days to burrow underneath the panels. Next was to dig an 8 inch trench and bury the panels deep enough to deter them. That worked fine until they reach market size. Where do two 250 lb hogs go, answer anywhere they want.

My pen building skills improved somewhat after that. I had mistakenly had made pets of them. I had named them Max & Irene. They had personalities. When it came time to take them to the butcher, I now had a stock rack in my pickup and built a loading ramp, easy right? No Max and Irene had other plans. A panel of plywood was suggested, I looked like a knight from King Arthur’s court trying to coax them into the ramp, they were smart enough to go around the edges. Next someone suggested a 5 gal bucket placed upon their heads. If a 250 lb hog doesn't want a bucket on their head they just twist their neck and are free. Finally somehow we loaded them and off to market we went.

A week later having sold one to my bro-in-law I brought Max home in a box full of neatly wrapped white packages. Home grown pork, yahoo! My wife first made a delicious pork roast, at dinner her and the 3 kids were singing my praises over my skills as a farmer. I just sat there and my wife noticed I wasn't eating. 'What's wrong, doesn't the look good?' she asked. 'Yes' I said. Then she said, 'You're not eating'. My only answer was, 'But honey this is Max.'
 

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