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Showing posts from October 31, 2004

Upper Peninsula Michigan and Auction Win Outcomes

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I was up in Wisconsin and the UP (upper peninsula) in Michigan. It was a lot of driving after launching/landing in Appleton WI. I got an item off the bucket list by driving across the "Mighty Mac". Altough it was built in the late '50s. It is still the longest suspension span in the Northern hemisphere. It is a crazy long bridge with a crazy long suspension span. It was good to see the bridge in context of the seemingly endless forests of Northern Wisconsin and Michigan. The culture in the two haves of Michigan are noticibly different as you might expect. Great time meeting with folks both in WI and MI. The tractor I won in auction, seems to have paid off. This time I beat the odds. It was a really good deal. I have the "no-key, non-running, may have hydraulic problems, unknown hours" -auction win, running well with minimal cost and time. I have some more tweaks, maintenance and minor fixes but the major risks are gone.
Small Business School - home.jsp I just finished an economics course. It was fun. In January I am starting a Finance course. I really like the economics way of thinking. The following is a piece of a transcript from the small business school tv program. I think it really rings of truth of capitalism. Adam Smith in the "Wealth of Nations" (1776) talks around this fundemntal concept that Novack puts in a nice simple wrapper. I really like this. HATTIE: We talk about our economic system so little. Michael Novak says that democratic capitalism can be thought of as a three legged stool. One leg is the rule of law. Democracy, the government, public servants. I like to think of them as referee's. they have on the black and white shirts and they're running up and down the field trying to make sure the bad guys are corrected or thrown out of the game. As a business owner, I feel that sometimes some are bureaucrats who are heavy handed, controlling, demanding and ...
I have lost a lot of weight, about 30 pounds. It has not been that easy, but I have cracked the code. I gave up coffee, switched to diet food for everything I could. I switched to eating lots of salads, and eating a lot of fruit and yogurt. I also do exercises every morning. You know... exercises. No equipment is required. You can do them anywhere you are. It is very practical and inexpensive. I was thinking that I have drank about a pot of coffee a day for 20 years. That works out to be 3650 gallons of the black stuff. That is a lot of coffee. I had a headache for three weeks when I quit, but it was worth it. The coffee seems to inhibit the production of insulin so some of the fat can never be burned off no matter how hard you try.