A Year of Change

Up early, intentionally. Tomorrow we’re up at 3am. We use an app called Timeshifter to avoid jet lag. It tells you when to turn on and off lights, meaning get light exposure, when to sleep, when and when not to drink caffeine and when to get up. You start about 2 days before your flights. You also can’t wear sunglasses during the day as you want to take in as much light as possible when you’re supposed to be up taking in light. The key to no jet lag is making sure your circadian rhythms- the disruption of the light dark cycles, are reset to your new time zone. We’ll let you know how we feel when we land in France day after tomorrow.

We’re pretty much ready to go, but we do have to pack. I need to get dog food today, pick up my pants from Marcy, and do a few last minutes things around the house. I have calls at 9 and 10 and then a couple more mixed in throughout the day. Lori is in Vail today. The farmer’s market is on Sundays, so the town was packed. We couldn’t believe all the people. I bought a couple smoked turkey legs to bring home.

We did run back up to Edwards around 3 to get Lori a carry-on backpack as we thought we had one bag here that’s at Jagger’s from his Bali trip.

By the time we made it home, Ty was here. He hung out with us all day and works at 7 this morning. He’s all set to watch over the house and take care of Harley. Lori’s made him a bunch of food, and we bought him stuff like microwave pizzas and other stuff. Lori made teriyaki pork belly and cooked up a bunch of pasta and alfredo sauce he can just warm up out of the fridge. He should be eating well while we’re gone. We’ll leave him a list of things to do while we’re gone too, like water the hanging baskets out front and put the trash out on Friday.

My neck is a little whacked out from the gym yesterday or the day before. In any case, about 24 hours from now, we’ll be on the road to Denver. Think I’ll probably go to the gym around 7.

Have a good Monday, see you tomorrow, early! GB.

Won’t be long now, less than 48 hours and we’ll be on our way to the airport. Yesterday I dropped off two pair of pants to be hemmed as the place I took them a week ago did a crappy job. Luckily, I found this nice 82-year-old lady, who still lives alone, to sew them the right way. She’s actually also a patient in Lori’s office. I’ll get the pants back today or tomorrow.

We’ll probably do a dry run and start packing today. Tomorrow Lori works, and I have a lot to do too. We need to clean the house also. Ty went to Denver to go to a concert and stopped and visited with Jagger and Ava. He’ll be headed back up this morning.

At 4 I headed back over to Gareth’s to hang out with the guys. They cooked up an amazing dinner, but I didn’t eat and left around 8pm. A young kid in valet came up to me and said, “are you Ty’s dad”? I said, “yes, I’m going to visit my buddy who owns Unit 251”, then Luke, the kid from valet, said “ah, My Heyman”. I said “yup”, and he then said, “of course you are”, too funny. We had a blast and a couple other guys showed up and we all knew each other from one connection or another. One guy is Dr. B’s neighbor and lives in the same complex. Gareth wants Lori and I to go on this driving trip with him next year that starts in Munich and ends up in Italy. You drive expensive cars like Porsches or Lamborghini’s to Italy and then you can stay for the Formula 1 race in Monza Italy, which is about 20 miles north of Milan. I’m thinking we might skip the drive and just meet the group at the F1 race. It’s a pretty nice VIP package that gets you all access. Plus, I could mix in some business and write the whole thing off. Gareth is also pushing me hard to start up this other business I’ve been incubating for over a year. He’s all in and will fund the entire project. I need to get through the next few weeks, maybe month, before I can devote much time to it.

6:15am, need to get going as I have to keep up on brushing up on my French. I think I have everything all set. Looks like rain next week while we’re gone. We need it and will take it.

Have a great day, take care and God Bless.

Last night after a long day finalizing the deal I had done, that then fell apart, is now finally signed and sealed. The combination of my former Partner and my two Partners kept messing things up. As I said the other day, you need to keep personalities out of business negotiations.

At 4pm I went over to the Westin. As I said, Shultz came up to stay at Gareth’s for the weekend with another buddy. Gareth’s place is gorgeous, had to set him back $5 million at least. We all hung out catching up, smoking cigars, eating and me watching those guys suck back scotch, until I left around 9. I don’t know how people my age still drink like they’re in their 20’s. Anyhow, great time. Lori and I might go back and hang at the Westin pool with them today.

Ty’s headed to some concert in Denver. He’s going to Jagger’s and then Jag will run him a few minutes down the hill and drop him off, so he doesn’t have to worry about parking. Not sure who he’s going with.

Cooler up here this morning which is great. Next week, mid-week, rain is supposed to come in. That’s good. That’s about it for today. Time to get moving. Have a great day, God Bless.

We’ve had internet issues and phone issues, county wide, all day long. I did the post this morning, but it somehow disappeared. Thanks to Annette for texting, “where is the blog”?

Good day yesterday. We went and dropped some stuff for Jagger and saw his new apartment. It’s super nice and in a great location. He was getting his new couch delivered yesterday. Ava’s grandma bought it for them, nice. The day before they had new carpet installed. They’re super happy with it.

Lori and I drove up from Denver after getting her hair done and mine cut. I thought I was losing my hair (might be getting thin), but my hairdresser of 25 years told me no, and to relax. Hope she’s right, ha. She said the barber up here who cut it, just cut it way too short on top.

Ty’s working away and we’re getting ready for our trip. Shultz is coming up this afternoon to hang with a long-time buddy of ours who sold his event planning company in Denver for millions. Gareth, our buddy, just bought a penthouse at the Westin Beaver Creek, among other things, like a vineyard. Good for him.

That’s about it, working away and closing deals left and right. Things are super busy with 12 hours days, but really good. Time to get moving and clean the kitchen, GB

We’re off early for Denver so Lori can get her hair done. I think we’re stopping by Jagger’s new place to drop some things off. Hope to be out of town before the afternoon rain rolls in. Haven’t had much up here.

Good day yesterday as I finalized negotiations on a couple huge deals. First was the investment in the Company and the other was my former partner’s severance/exit package. Not only did I have to get the people I was working with to agree with what I want, but I also had to get my Partners to agree! In the end, I single handily made the Company a couple million yesterday. My other Partners can sometimes let their emotions enter into their thinking and actions. I’ve never been that way. I just look at things pragmatically, meaning in a sensible or reasonable way. That’s always been a gift of mine as to me, business is just business. I always have the end goal in sight and do everything I can to get what I want. Some people are wired differently and will die on a hill over their feelings.

At 5:15pm I was on a conference call when I heard Harley bark outside. I had to tell everyone hang on for a minute to see what was up. A coyote ran up and stole Harley’s bone I had given her a couple hours earlier. Harley was not happy. I had her come in and finished up my call.

Ty’s driving down to the farm today. He’ll probably beat us back. He’s picking up some veggies for the restaurant.

Nice and cool up here this morning. I have the garage doors open to cool it down. 6am now so time to go. If I’m lucky we’ll be on the road by 7. Have a great day, GB.

Today I have calls at 8, 9, 11 and 12. Then I’ll have a couple more in the afternoon that will come up. All good though as these are the last overseas calls of the week. Tomorrow Lori and I are in Denver as she’s getting her hair done and I’ll run a few errands and get a trim also.

Lori got a call yesterday from the water department saying we might have a leak as we used 75,000 gallons of water last month! I called our landscaper who came over a few hours later. Apparently, he changed the timer so everything would be really green. No leak thankfully. The nice woman at the city told me not to worry and that she’d send me a form to fill out and they’d credit me to what I normally use, which I guess is 30,000 gallons a month. We changed our timer back to water only three days a week instead of seven. That’s fine as everything is super green and lush now and we really only have six more weeks of summer anyhow. So, all good.

The neighborhood just keeps going up. In the mail yesterday, two houses up the street, they’re building a 5400 square foot house for $5.4 million! It’s already on the market with people interested. This means, at worst case, we’re now $4 million! Nice.

Ty is driving down to the farm in Grand Junction today for work. He likes the drive, and they pay him by the hour and for his gas. Lori is in the shower and with it being 6:20, I’ll be right behind her. Marty and Mel are having fun in Montana. Big news of the day was Ozzy Osborne passed away, RIP. Glad he had the big reunion concert on July 5th. Glad James went to as Ozzy was one of his early inspirations. He texted yesterday with some thoughts, but I’ll keep those private.

Time to go, have a great Wednesday. Think we’re buying our Italy trip tickets today as Wednesday is the best day (cheapest) to buy tickets, especially international tickets. Be well, stay safe and God Bless.

We leave a week from today! Think I have everything in place. Lori will make up a bunch of food for Ty before we go. I think Jag is going to come up on the weekend to stay with him while we’re gone.

Looks like I’m one step closer to a $2 million dollar cash infusion. After dozens of calls and negotiations, I’ll write up the term sheet today and hope to close around mid-August. This is a win win for both parties.

Ty works this morning at 7. I have a call at 8 and then will go to the gym and stop and see him for breakfast. I ran some errands after running down to get some Euro’s yesterday. I had to get a couple pair of pants hemmed and picked up a few more pairs of socks along with some travel size toiletries. Looks hot in France with some rain on and off on a few days. We love Europe and will be going at least 4 times that we know of in the next 12 months.

Another person killed in Denver last night. Lori just said, “man, someone down there gets killed every day”, which is pretty much true. I Face Timed with my realtor up in Whitefish yesterday and looked at a really nice house that is new construction. It was the model home and if we ‘d go that route, we’d design our own and then have them build. The good news is the builder carries all the costs until the build is completed, like I said yesterday. We’re not sure we want that big of a house, but it’s an option. There are lots of houses for close to a million less that are nice too. They’ll come down in price as we get closer to Fall too.

Just saw that Denver is up against Perth Australia to host the 2030 Gay Games, great, (sarcasm). We’ll be gone by then for sure. The news yesterday was talking about how people leave Blue States due to politics and policies and for the most part, but when they get to a Red State, they don’t vote to change it. This was good news but a surprise as here, they come and vote for the same things they left. It then highlighted Colorado as the main exemption noting how many Californians or others left Blue States but then ironically moved to a Red State and voted for the very things that caused them to leave where they were. So that’s why we feel that way. It was also noted how now the people are pushing back by voting politicians out. An example is in California where there is a net loss of 120,000 people that leave the State each year. Doesn’t sound like a lot, but apparently that’s a huge number. New York and Illinois are other States with negative growth, while States like Texas, Tennessee and Florida are growing. Tells you a lot. We’re still pretty much sold on Montana or Idaho with Montana in the lead. We can’t wait to get out of here.

My 8am call was just pushed until tomorrow, so I’ll head out to the gym now and then go see Ty. This is fine as I’ll get in a good workout. 6:25 now, time to get moving. Have a great day, God Bless.

Yesterday morning, Lori was out back with Harley when I heard her scream. Harley saw a bear cub and took off chasing it. She chased it probably 100 yards down the hill, before listening to us and coming back. We’ve never seen a bear up here as we’re mostly sage brush, so that was a first.

Ty worked from 7am until 9:30pm. He was tired. I’m off to Denver to order some Euros from the bank. I have to sign some paper in person to order these, so I’ll leave at 6:30 and be hone by 11:30. I’ll pick them up Thursday when Lori and I are back down.

Jag is coming up to get some stuff for his new place. We’ll probably get here around the same time. Nice and cool with a pink sky outside right now, nice.

Lori works in Vail today and will head out around 7:30. It’s 6am now so time to get moving so I can be on the road by 6:45 at the latest. Have a great Monday and God Bless.

No work today. Lots tomorrow, but nothing today. Ty golfed yesterday and broke his driver! That’s not easy to do. He must have had a lot of force behind his swing. He’s off to work in a few minutes but not having the best morning.

Lori and I went into Vail yesterday and went to Gorsuch. We found a couple travel coats and called Davy who then talked to the salesperson on my phone and told them to give us a big discount. Their stuff is top of the line, gorgeous, but way too expensive if you’re paying full price. It’s almost hard to justify even with a discount, but all their clothes are things that’ll last forever and are timeless in style. All are European as you’d expect.

I threw my back out a bit with too much core work yesterday. As soon as we made it home and I stepped out of the truck, I felt it. I took 4 Advil twice yesterday and will take 4 more this morning to kick it. Getting old is hell, but it’s also a privilege. Lots of people don’t get to do it.

We’re super excited for our trip and chose our hotel in Paris yesterday. It’s in the Marais and has a great location and great rooms. Our must have at any hotel, is a good quality king bed.

Marty and Mel are on the road to Montana, pulling the boat behind the truck. They’re gone until August 3rd. James leaves Tuesday for Cabo I think for two weeks, so we’re all gone until around the first week of August. We found a great new home in Whitefish that’s new construction. It’s a little larger than we need at 5100 square feet, but the builder finances you meaning we don’t need to get a construction loan and pay interest while it’s being built. This saves like 6 or 7 % interest on $2 million dollars for 18 months which is a big deal. That’s easily over $100,000 in interest. We’ll see, we need to probably go up there in late August after we’re back from France.

Time to get moving. Have a nice Sunday and God Bless.

I was working until probably 7:30 last night. This morning, I have a call at 9 and then at 9:30. Then I hope to be done until Monday!

Our trip to France is coming together with the last remaining detail being where to stay in Paris. The Four Seasons is out as even with a friends and family rate, it’s really expensive. When we travel, our first priority is the airline, we have to get there and back comfortably, in at least business class. Next, it’s the experiences like things we do and restaurants and last, the hotel. We don’t stay in dumps, but we just don’t spend a lot of time in the hotel. We’re basically there to sleep, so why spend a ton of money on the hotel when it’s just a place to lay your head. Location is important though. There are lots of great hotels for us to choose from and we’ll pick one today.

We’re off to the gym pretty soon. Ty is off today but works tomorrow. There’s thunder outside right now, but the sky is a mix of bright white clouds and blue sky. It doesn’t look like rain.

That’s about it, time to get moving, have a great Saturday and God Bless.