Recently found the cutest photo of Jennifer talking on the phone. A few days later I found a photo of myself talking on the phone from 1970. We were meant to be together. Ironically, neither of us like talking on the phone today.
I’m enjoying the final season of high school football for Sumner. Played Aloha Friday night at home and Tualatin almost pulled it off. Aloha is ranked #1 and has a very explosive running back. At one point in the fourth quarter, Sumner ran him down from behind to keep him from scoring. Final score 14-10 Aloha.
Decided to escape the heat so we went to the beach to cook some steaks, run up the dunes and relax. It was 92 degrees when we left Tualatin. It was 60 degrees at the beach. Didn’t really plan for that! Amazing, beautiful night.
I’ve had pretty good luck over the years getting out of tickets with a simple letter. Took three months this last time, but survived unscathed by the man. My advice to everyone is to always send a clear, polite letter after any problem with the law. What do you have to lose? 44 cents? Odds are way better than the lottery that you will get leniency.
Football has started again. This will be the last season I ever watch my own son play high school football. Sumner is number 32 again this year.
Silver Bar
I was a strange kid growing up - loved working and making money. Had a paper route for years. Also mowed lawns and delivered flyers for local business - mainly the local racquetball club (so I could get free membership). I had a friend who used to buy and sell Krugerrands (South African gold coins) at a local pawn / coin shop. He would usually buy one. We used to ride our bikes through Woodley Park to get to the store. I couldn’t afford gold so I used to buy silver coins.
I eventually worked my way up to buying silver bars of 5 or 10 ounces. When I was thirteen (1979) I bought a 50 ounce bar of silver for around $7 an ounce ($350 total) - it was a big deal for me back then. When I recently realized that silver was trading at $45 per ounce I started looking for that bar of silver. Last Saturday I found it and am planning to cash it in for a profit of $1900. I felt pretty proud of myself until I figured the compound annual growth rate… 5.99%.
I know how hard I worked for that $350 initial investment so I’m trying to think of a unique way to spend or re-invest the money to match last 32 years growth.
Eleven Nike years have taken their toll. My employee badge starting falling apart this week after a decade. I had them take a new photo and thought it was a pretty good contrast. To be fair, a lot has happened in my life over the past decade both at Nike and at home. It’s been a good run but exhausting - I have the grey hair to prove it.
Incidentally, I was the 50,967th employee hired by Nike as shown on my badge.
For a long time now I’ve wanted to spend a week without spending any money. Understanding that I spend money while I sleep on mortgage, car payments, utilities, etc. But not spend one cent during a seven day period on purchases that I control. That means simply riding my bike both ways to work (32 miles daily) and packing a lunch. Pretty simple, right? If it’s so simple, why haven’t I done it yet.
Slept in a hotel lobby because we got a late start and couldn’t find a room - necks hurt from slouching in a couch hiding, but we were on the streets shooting photos by 6am when the front desk clerk kindly asked if we’d be leaving anytime soon.
Flatiron building with no traffic - waiting for the day to start.
Emma and I took the train across the country for my sabbatical - as part of that, spent a couple days in NYC wandering and taking photos.
We went rafting on the Deschutes River recently… needless to say, we got wet! Look closely and you’ll see my receding hairline in the front of the boat.
More English meat!
