A Year of Change

Lots going on. A few days ago, the Board of our Company (of which I’m a member), decided we should let one of our senior partners go. While I disagreed with the timing, it was the right thing to do. This has been consuming most of my time for the past few days. It’s a friendly divorce, so to say, and everyone is playing nice. In the end, it’s actually a good thing for me and my newco (new company), as it’s founded by this guy and me, so now he has more time to focus on the launch of our new venture. Out of the blue, a former employee of mine reached out a few days ago wanting to invest a few million into the Company. I’ve had a couple conversations with him, and it looks like something might come together. He and I always had a great relationship. This fella came to the U.S. with $900 in his pocket years ago and just sold one of his hotels for a nice $30 million dollar profit. We talked a year and a half ago about this scenario, but it never went anywhere. Seems like this time we’ll get something done. It’ll be a win win for both of us.

Yesterday Lori went to meet her former coworkers for a small going away party for Luz, who is moving to Spain to be a doctor. As I think I mentioned yesterday, she is a doctor, just not licensed here in the U.S. I stopped by after cigar night with the guys to join the party.

Hot today, so they say. It’s been in the 90’s up here so a few degrees more isn’t a big deal. We have A/C so we’re fine.

Ty had a good first call with Davy about coming on board to run one of the Gorsuch stores and basically start a new career. Jag had a good call with a buddy of mine who recently sold his wealth management firm to a larger firm in Denver, and Jagger is going to a party next Thursday for my friend’s executive assistant at the new firm, (she’s retiring) to meet everyone. This would be a great fit for Jagger and I’m pretty sure he’d start with a nice six figure salary. John, my friend, is a long term friend whose small firm managed a couple billion. He really likes Jag and likes him even more after their conversation about work and the future. He’s told me for years, “when Jagger graduates, make sure he calls me first!” We’ll see where this goes but I think, knowing Jagger, this will work out. Nowadays you almost need some sort of connection to get a good opportunity. I’m glad I can provide one through my friends for both boys.

The bands promoter sent me all 73 tickets yesterday for the Metallica shows next weekend. I can’t transfer them until next Thursday, which they purposely do so people don’t go out and sell them, as I got to buy them at a reduced rate by knowing the band and they don’t want you flipping them. I’d never do that, but I can see how some people would as tickets are about 4 times what I paid. We have a fun weekend planned starting with Churchills at the Brown Palace booked out next Friday afternoon for cigars. Should be a good time. We have three rooms booked at the Brown.

We had Lori’s car detailed yesterday by my guy Alan who’s from Mexico. Hard working kid who started his own business and it’s a deal at $300 for inside and out detailing. It’s like her car is brand new! I booked Ty’s truck for next week.

Time to head out to the gym. Have a great Friday and stay cool and hydrated, God Bless.

What a concert! It seems every time we see Andrea, he’s stronger and better than the last time we saw him. Guess some things do get better with age!

We made it to Denver and Ball Arena around 4:15. I pulled around back to the loading dock and met Bill who I dropped a half dozen bottles of wine to for a meet and greet with Andrea. He asked how many All Access Passes I needed, and I said six, which he handed over. These not only allow me to go anywhere, (the catering for the Italian crew is the best place to hang backstage), but also to park in Ball Arena. Not outside, but I actually pull into a parking garage within the arena. Ava was stunned saying this is the coolest thing she’s ever done.

By 7:45 all our other guests showed up and 15 minutes later the show started. It was amazing! They always have a 20-minute sharp, intermission. We went backstage and saw Veronica (Andrea’s wife), for a few minutes. She was graceful as always and remembered us like we are family. After goodbye hugs, the intermission was almost over so we rushed back to our seats. The second half of the show is always better than the first.

After the show, we walked through backstage, dodging the hundreds of crew members in hard hats and scaffold rigging, and were in our cars and on the road in less than 3 minutes. Jag and Ava headed out for home, and we headed back to the Ritz. By the time we made it to our room, and I called Jag, they were at In and Out Burger. Lori and I were so jealous.

We woke up at 5am and were on the road by 6. I had Lori at work in Vail by 8 and am home working and doing laundry. I’ll pick her up this afternoon.

Last, the kids found a great apartment at a great price yesterday. Super good news. It’s a 2 bedroom for about $2200 a month. We’re really happy for them.

That’s it, sorry for the late post but I didn’t take my computer with me to Denver.

God Bless

We need to leave around 3:30 this afternoon for Denver for the Bocelli concert tonight. It starts at 8 tonight and we should be at Ball Arena around 7. We’ll park back by the tour buses and Andrea’s cars and go in through the backstage door, so at least we won’t be dealing with any crowds. Melanie booked two rooms for us at the Ritz where we’ll go first. Jag is meeting us at the hotel and will follow us over and go in with us. Ty is staying home with Harley.

Looks like rain in Denver today but we should miss it as they say it’ll move out before we get to town. We’ll leave around 7 am tomorrow for Vail as Lori’s first patient is at 9:15. Dr. Braxton and Molly are coming tonight so they’ll be driving up too.

I have a call at 8:15 this morning and then a few errands to run during the day before picking up Lori at work. Davy and Abby made it home last night around 9 so we’re off dog duty.

That’s it, time to go, have a great day and God Bless.

Kids are gone and we’re getting back to normal. We probably gained 5 pounds each, as when the kids are home, it seems that all we do is eat! We had a great weekend with the boys and Ava. Yesterday we capped it off by going to the range to hit some balls. Then we had a putting contest for money. Fun time. Jag and Ava left around 6pm and Ty left about 30 minutes before.

Warm temps are here. 90 today in Eagle and mid-90’s in Denver. Things are about to get busy for us with two concerts in Denver in the next 10 days, and then we have the 4th of July coming up and a trip to Montana.

Davy and Abby and the kids are back from New York tonight. That’s good news as watching Juno is a pretty big job. It takes 3 trips or so up there every day to take her out and check on her.

The kids are back to interviewing apartments today. They’re looking in the Highlands, which is a nicer area, but also more expensive. They need to make a decision in the next few weeks.

That’s about it for the day. Be well, stay safe and God Bless.

Congrats to all us fathers out there. Having kids and then raising them, is probably the best thing any man can do. Anyone can have a kid, raising them is a whole different ballgame. I’m so proud of our boys as I know they’re both people that make the World a better place. As a dad, you can’t ask for anything else.

Last night we went to dinner at 6. It was a really good dinner and fun time, with Jag, Ava and Ty. They’re all sleeping now. I think we’re going to the gym, then Ty and I are hitting a few buckets of balls at the range and then I think we’re all heading over to Aspen.

Gorgeous outside right now, yesterday was too. Think I’ll skip eating today as we’ve been on a roll. It’s like we’ve been on a three-day food tour.

Not going to spend a lot of time on the paid for protests, but did you see the shooting in Minnesota? A guy appointed by the crazy former VP candidate and Governor of Minnesota, shot and killed a democratic lawmaker and her husband for voting with Republicans on a bill to not provide free health care for illegal immigrants. The left is super bummed, not that a guy shot two lawmakers, but that he was a democrat, appointed by a democrat, who shot a democrat. Blows up their whole narrative. Social media was blaming right wing Republicans the instant it happened. As soon as it was announced the shooter was a democrat, crickets, nothing. Funny how that works. Sad either way that things have come to this.

Well, that’s it, time to get moving, 7am now. have a great day, be well, stay safe and God Bless.

Yesterday the kids made homemade pizzas in our outside Ooni Pizza Oven. This thing uses wood pellets and heats up to 900 degrees in 15 minutes or so. Pizza’s take about 60 seconds to cook and are amazing. While the dough was rising, they also made a rhubarb pie from scratch. Man was it tasty. Of course, Lori whipped up some homemade ice cream to go with it. Ava even took the leftover dough and baked it in the oven with cinnamon and sugar like Grandma used to do when we were kids back in Shawano Wisconsin. The kids sure can cook.

Today at 6pm, we’re going to Makoto for dinner. Can’t wait. Lori and I had our golf lesson at 10 and picked up right where we left off last year. For as little as we’ve played, we’re not bad. David, our friend and instructor, told us he has to move his family out of Colorado as he can’t put up with a State where they can take your kids from you if you call them by their gender from birth, and they want to be called something else. He said throw in the gun laws, having to pay for illegal’s abortions, and all the other over the top laws, and they need to go. He’s looking at leaving next Spring. He pulled his kids from public school and put them in the catholic school, even though they’re Lutheran. He said it’s the best thing he ever did. They left Hawaii as it was getting too “California” and now said the same crap is happening here. Interesting to learn this as he’s 20 years younger than us, with young kids. Tells you the younger generation is fed up too. So glad our boys grew up when they did.

Today’s nationwide protests are organized by no less than 200 democratic groups that take in over $2.1 billion a year, a lot from us taxpayers. Most are registered as non-profits too! This crap has to stop. No one I know, except for one kid at Ty’s work, is in favor of this stuff. As I said yesterday, protestors are being paid $100 an hour to show up. Wonder how many they’d get if they weren’t paying them, hmm. In Denver, all our friends are disgusted and staying away from Denver.

Super nice outside. They say it’ll be 90 degrees today, which is what is was yesterday. We’re headed to the gym and then will eat some of our Norwegian waffles! Robi’s sure going to be jealous!

Off to the gym, have a great day and God Bless.

Lori and I have a golf lesson at 10 this morning. We just went up to Davy and Abby’s to let the dog out (he peed all over their bed) and put their trash out. They took the family to New York until Monday. The kids made it up around 4 yesterday, Ty came down, and we all had dinner. They were up early working on their pizza dough from a starter that Molly, the chef at Ty’s place, gave us. We’ll be making homemade pizza tonight.

On the World stage, Israel attacked Iran, the Dems, who have dropped to only a 16% approval rating, are organizing protests all across the Country tomorrow. They’re calling it No Kings, ha ha. It came out on the news yesterday that they’re paying $200 per person for 2 hours of protesting. At a hundred dollars an hour, no wonder people are showing up. Everyone I know thinks it’s insane and is 100% behind deporting illegal criminals. Throw in the markets up and downs, (down 500 points this morning), and gold rising to $3443, which is up about $135 dollars in two days, and you have a lot of stuff going on. We should have bought more gold a couple days ago at $3300.

We had cigars yesterday afternoon which was fun. James plays Houston tonight and texted me a billboard of the stadium yesterday as Andrea Bocelli played there last night. Lori still thinks we should get Andrea and James to do some sort of duet.

It’ll be hot up here today, probably hitting 90. Going to be a warm weekend. We’re still looking all around at houses, from Arizona to Idaho to Montana. It seems all of Arizona is for sale! If you look at Zillow, there are more houses for sale than not down there.

7:45am now, I think we’ll shower, load up our clubs, then go have breakfast with Ty before our lesson. It seems like a Saturday, but as we know, it’s only Friday. Time to get moving, have a great day and God Bless.

Yesterday afternoon Harley was outside, but I couldn’t find her. After calling her, she came bounding up the hill. I suspected she was playing with a coyote but wasn’t sure. This morning, 5 minutes ago, Lori said, look, there’s a coyote in the backyard! They’re smaller than Harley but you don’t want them around. It instantly ran away upon seeing Lori. If it gets comfortable coming up here, I’ll shoot it. It’s legal to shoot coyotes in Colorado.

We, or I, have a dentist appointment this morning, but Lori is going to take it. It’s just for a cleaning. The kids come up this afternoon. Can’t wait to see them.

Yesterday I called our close friend Phoebe, who’s been cutting our hair for 20 years, to check on her. Turns out on Mother’s Day, she had emergency surgery on her colon and digestive track. Without explaining it all, she ended up with Sepsis, ARD and double pneumonia and almost died! Tommy, Holly knows Phoebe, you should tell her. She posted on Instagram. This stuff makes you think and value your life, and more importantly, how you spend it. That’s four close friends we know who’ve had serious health issues in the past year, and one of them is terminal. Thinking about this, you wonder why we waste all our time working and not doing as many things as you can that fulfill your life. None of us know how much time we have left. Looks like Phoebe will thankfully recover, but it’s going to take some time. Prayers for her.

The 90’s are coming. It’s going to be hot down in Denver. We’ll be 5 degrees cooler but still warm. Looks like we’re in for a hot summer. The rivers are running high with the snow melt too.

Robi texted after she read the blog laughing as she did roll her eyes, when reading about my waffles, ha. I think I’ll send her some just so she knows what I’m talking about!

That’s it, time to get moving so we can get to the gym before the dentist. Have a great Thursday and God Bless.

Soon it’ll be July, and we’ll be in the second half, or as I like to say, the back half of the year. Big changes have been going on behind the scenes, and soon we’ll be going public. More to come on that, but I’m excited for the new chapter coming up.

Lori is in Frisco today. Seems like she’s there more often than twice a month, but that’s all it is. Ty works today. I was wrong, as he was off yesterday and works Saturday. My nose is stuffed up a bit this morning so that means things are blooming outside. It’s getting really green.

The news just showed Pikes Peak on tv, and they still have a good amount of snow up there. Maybe we should go for a hike up high somewhere to get up to the cooler temperatures.

I swapped a pair of cowboy boots yesterday with my girl in Texas, and the new ones will arrive tomorrow. Also, and this is exciting, I have my order of Viking Waffles arriving tomorrow. This lady from Norway started a company in New York that makes these great, low carb, high protein, gluten free, (stop rolling your eyes Robi) waffles! I found out about them from Shannon Sharpe, the former Broncos tight end. They only ship on certain days as they make them fresh and ship Fed Ex 2 Day. You can freeze them for six months or keep them in the fridge for 3 days or so. Super yummy.

Looks like it’ll be in the 80’s today. It was almost 90 yesterday. We’re thinking of going up to Cody Wyoming for July 4th. Our friends have the VIP Suite at the rodeo, which is one, if not the, top rodeo in the Country, on the 4th. Davy and Abby and the kids might go with us. It’s about a seven-hour drive which isn’t too bad.

Almost 6am now, so time to get moving. I’m off to the gym in 30 minutes to workout. Have a great Wednesday and GB.

Crap going on everywhere. Trying not to turn the news on much today. I did see Trump is sending the Marines, a whole battalion, into L.A. I say, good deal. There’s a mini protest here in Denver, all funded by Dem leftwing groups. Watching them on the news, Lori said, why aren’t they at work? Good question.

Lori works in Vail today. Ty works too, and Jag and Ava are narrowing down their search for a new apartment. I like the new building on about 26th and Speer. It has all kinds of amenities, 24/7 security and concierge service, and is close to downtown, but not in downtown. Places are running about $2500 these days, plus utilities. That’s a whole lot of money to rent a one-bedroom place. We don’t want them in LoDo or Rhino which are both in the city. This place is at least on the outskirts of the city, across the highway. We’ll see.

Warm temps headed our way. I dropped a guitar at the repair shop in Arvada yesterday as it is drying out which gives you fret sprout meaning the neck shrinks and the frets stick out on the side. They’ll put it in the humidifier to get some moisture back in the wood and then fix it. It’s a great guitar we got from Jeffrey in Hawaii years ago, a Martin D-28. Need to get it fixed as it’s an heirloom. Should last for decades. It’s my fault for not having a humidifier in the case. Won’t do that again!

Marty’s kid Max has shoulder surgery this morning. He needs to be there at 6, meaning he’ll be in the OR about 7:30, done a couple hours later, and in recovery until around noon. He needs a couple pins put in.

We have a golf lesson Friday, and I think Lori, Ty and I will golf Sunday morning. Think we’ll join the club as it saves us money over just paying as we go. I need to go down today or tomorrow and check it out.

That’s it for today. Have a great Tuesday and be well. God Bless.