This Saturday, a mere 92 years after it all began, my grandpa Elmer shook off this mortal coil…

Grandpa Elmer & Toby at Grandpa's 90th Birthday Party

And just as when Grandpa Jim went on to the next great adventure, I tasked the old subconscious to pull together a memory or two of our time together. And like a good tool, the ol’ noggin provided a few…

• Minibike riding
  Many a trip to Grandpa’s involved cruising on the little minibike he had for the grandkids. Every summer trip seemed to be filled with mile after mile after mile of aimless wandering whenever we came to visit. And despite the fact that I never saw him hovering around when I was riding, he always seemed to appear whenever I managed to need a little mechanical assistance…
  Lesson learned: A little freedom is a wonderful thing. A lot of freedom is even better!

• BB gun shooting
  A BB gun, an essentially unlimited supply of BBs, lots of birds to shoot at, and lots of my uncle’s shelled out ’57 Chevys lying about Grandpa’s place. Along with the occasional not-so-shelled-out ’57 Chevys. What could go wrong? Think Nomad back window shattering…
  Lesson learned: With great power comes great responsibility…

• Bandsawing
  Some of my favorite times with Grandpa were spent in his workshop in the barn, which was filled with many a tool of potential mass destruction. My favorite was the bandsaw, upon which I was somehow let lose on with minimal supervision despite the fact that it could certainly have made short work of my young fingers if I weren’t paying attention. Much randomness ensued…
  Lesson learned: Instructions? Who needs instructions?

• Climbing trees with riding mower
  Another favorite thing to do whenever visiting the grandparents on the farm – using the riding mower.  Amazing how a job to an adult can be play to a child! Anyway, my strongest memory of the riding mower was the first time using it. Very little instruction other than how to start it, and a stern warning to be careful. Shortly followed by my attempting to climb one of the many trees on the property with the mower, as I had little idea how to stop the thing, and absolutely no idea on how to go backwards with it once head on with said tree.
  Lesson learned: Well, a little bit of instructions might be a good thing!

• Bullhead cleaning
  Somehow I always got both Grandpas to take me out to a local fishing hole whenever we made it back. And somehow, we always ended up with a bucket full of fish that we actually ended up eating. But before that, we had to clean the fish, which – to those of you unfamiliar – is just about the opposite of what it sounds like. Cleaning fish is just about the messiest thing one can do with ‘em! A bucket full of egg-laden bullheads + a curious city boy made for some oddly disturbing fun…
  Lesson learned: Sometimes, even the cleanup is fun!

• Buckets of ice cream (which grandma would later use to turn into buckets of cookies)
  No good day ends without a little sweetness. Say, with a big bowl of ice cream? Or how about a few dozen of your favorite grandma’s cookies set aside for you in one of those empty gallon ice cream buckets? Or, hell, how about both?
  Lesson learned: Never forget to recycle…

Exactly eight years ago, I was embarking on a tense drive to Omaha as Sean.

Eight years ago +2 hours, I embarked on a tense journey as Dad.

Happy Eighth Birthday to my not-so-little boy!

Toby on Vacation Last Summber

and deeper in debt. Hmmm, actually, no. Turned 41 this Tuesday without a financial debt in the world… Oh, sure, we’ve still got our monthly bills and all, but everything we own, we own free and clear. I can’t suggest it highly enough to anyone. If you’re struggling with the money thing, Dave has some good ideas to get you on that path.

Anyway, now that I’m officially a year older, any words of advice to you young ‘uns? Sure:

• Unless taking a risk is likely to physically harm you or others, lean towards taking it. My personal ratio of regrets for things undone versus those done is heavily tilted towards the undone side of the ledger. Someone feel free to remind me of this every time you see me!
• What gets measured, gets improved. Have something you’re coming short on? Measure it. In early June, despite half efforts to counter my expansion, I tipped the scales at just shy of 230 pounds. I started an online Weight Watchers membership June 15th, just used their handy dandy mobile app – in other words, no meetings or cardboard tasting food – and weighed myself yesterday at 202 and change. Missed my goal of sub-200 by my birthday, but not by much…
• Play a little every day. I don’t care if you’re 8 or 88. Life is too short, no matter how much time you have left…
• Oh, and as always, wear sunscreen…

Every night, when I tuck my little boy in bed, we go over the rules for the next day. Things like ‘raise your hand before you ask a question…‘ Or ‘during recess, sticks belong on the ground…‘ That sort o’ thing.

The last rule I give him, the one I rightfully call The Most Important Rule, is ‘Have some fun, every day!‘ I get the impression that he thinks Dad’s a little weird with that one, but it still brings a smile to his face almost every time. Plus, I believe it’s one that many people seem to forget about.

Including, apparently, his dad. I’m not having fun every day. In fact, I’ve got a couple things in my life that suck the fun right out of it. That has got to be changing very soon…

Earlier this month, my 95-year-old Grandpa Jim drew his last breath, and in the days following the funeral, I planted the task in my mind to come up with a defining memory I had of the grand ol’ man, and I believe it’s finally come to me. While catching a bit of Pulp Fiction, of all things…

I’m not sure of my age, but I’ll hazard a guess I was somewhere in the 8 to 10 range. In those days, thanks to time spent with both of my grandpas, I had a particular, well, infatuation for all things fishing. My tackle box was absolutely stuffed with every lure I could get me hands on. The entry for the term for fishing in our encyclopedia at home was tattered. I knew far too many details on every piece of fishing gear at our local hardware store. That sort of infatuation.

During one of our many trips back to my parents’ home range, Grandpa Jim thought feeding my infatuation was the order of the day, and off we went to some local fishing hole for the afternoon. Excited to catch as many fish as I could, I grabbed my aforementioned tacklebox, borrowed one of grandpa’s rods out of his garage, and loaded up what little gear one needs for such a trip into the back of his old pipe tobacco scented station wagon.

For whatever reason, that day the fish just weren’t being agreeable. A couple hours in, and with many a lure change gone by, not even a nibble. Sensing my growing frustrations, grandpa reeled in my rod, cut off whatever monstrosity I had attached to my line, put on a simple bobber, sinker, and a worm-threaded hook, and handed me back my rod along with an orange soda. And said to me,

‘Son, the point of fishing isn’t really to catch the fish…’

The rest of the afternoon was spent quietly watching a bobber bob, drinking orange soda, eating bologna sandwiches, with but a few words spoken in between.

I couldn’t tell you whether the actual catching of fish got any better that day. But, it was my best day fishing.

‘That’s when you know you’ve found somebody really special: you can just shut the fuck up for a minute and comfortably share silence.’
– from Mia in Pulp Fiction

RIP Grandpa… I’ll miss you!

Just returned from the post office where I dropped off a bill containing our final mortgage payment, a full week in front of the date stated on our payoff statement. Even spent a few extra bucks, sent it Priority Mail with Signature Confirmation, ’cause I don’t want to see a bill claiming we still owe 42¢ in interest or some such nonsense next month.

Once I see that signature confirmation clear, the little yellow house in the country turns into our little house in the country. And with that, we become wholly and entirely Debt Free!

Most of my posts here have focused around my efforts to earn an income online (for example, the whole Weekly Kick In The Ass series). I’ve recently decided to move those discussions to a new horse in my stable, and use this site more as my personal randomosity collection, as befits a website named after, well, an individual. After all, I’m not trying to build a brand around myself, so why expound on my efforts at doing business as myself?

That said, I certainly haven’t given up playing around in that field. If you’d like to continue following my efforts in the online marketing arena, feel free to check out my ramblings on The Year of Passive Income.

As you were…

Well, business wise, did my bit — another 20 landing pages created, advertising campaigns set up, blasts put out there live to the world, blah blah blah. So did make an entirely appropriate level of progress on that front. But it certainly wasn’t the big news of the week.

That particular seat was taken by my chance to welcome another soul to the world. My son and I decided, at almost the last minute, to accompany my wife on her trip down to KC for my sis’ baby shower. Thought it’d be good to go down, check out her & her hubby’s new place. And, of course, poke a little fun at her very pregnant state as I wouldn’t see her gigantic self (not really sis, if you happen to stumble on this… ) before her due date late this month.

Instead, sis decided to skip the baby shower altogether and just go ahead and have the baby the day after we arrive! Just a little early, but the new mommy & baby are doing just fine. Best of all, everyone arrived home yesterday.

And things like this, really, are the true kick in the ass.

Money. Work. Business. No doubt, all necessary things.

But having the opportunity to be there to greet a new life shortly after it make its grand appearance in this world puts those things in their right place, a few spots back.

Welcome to the world little Lea!

Again, my weekly KITA arrives a day late, but I was more interested in spending a little quality time outdoors with the family on an almost perfect warm & sunny spring afternoon versus throwing up a post on Memorial Day. I don’t know what it was like in your neck of the woods, but here in Nebraska, just about the entire weekend just begged for outdoor activities, and I was more than willing to oblige. The sorely-needing-a-mow yard once again reveals the fact that, indeed, our place is not an abandoned chunk of ground. The freshly tilled and planted garden has me dreaming of fresh fruits & veggies in the not too distant future. And the various heads on spikes lining the compound attests to the fact that a variety of animals sacrificed themselves to the culinary gods this weekend.

OK, maybe exaggerating just a little with the last one… That said, the physical world wasn’t the only place seeing some attention this week:

• Another 20 landing page blasts went from brainstorm to fully live. My little kaizen chart shows me finally catching up with — and passing — where I want to be towards my goal so far. Must say that I am pleased with how May ended.
• My outsourcer is well on her way to doing her thing with my second batch of reports, and expect to see the final results sometime this week. Which means another 80 landing pages will be hot on the heels of those twenty finished last week. Even during the summer online buying slowdown, I’m pleased with my recent additions. No reason to scale back my efforts now, that’s for sure!
• Still working through the nanocontext report, and working out codifying my own flavor of a system to implement it. I really love a well thought out system…

On to this week…

[What is this all about?]

Oops, another bout of this winter’s crazy weather has me trapped at home, and my days all messed up. And I let this out initially unadulterated. Despite what it might have said a few hours ago, as a matter of fact, I did accomplish a thing or two towards my goal this week!

1. Blasted away with another six new mini sites while trapped here in the countryside.
2. Quite a bit of stats trolling, ending up with me killing off a handful of fairly high traffic, low-converting mini sites. Already seeing a pretty substantial uptick in per-click earnings from those changes!
3. Continuing my nanoblogging projects. I still overthink this process, but I’m getting better. Plus, I’m learning a fair amount on a few niches I’m interested in anyway!

Not altogether bad for suffering through the continuing doldrums of Winter 2010 with a massive head cold! ‘cept for that losing-track-of-a-day thing…

[What is this all about?]