Had a good meeting with the bankers today, they think the ideas we're working on are genius! We're meeting with them again on Friday afternoon. We were done working by 2pm and about 4pm we decided to go check out the ferrari dealer at the Wynn hotel. Looked at a bunch of cars that cost $100k-$300k and one that was $3mil! No idea why people spend that much money on a car, but I like mechanical things and techology so to me they're works of art for all the things under the hood and the body, but they do look cool too. Wandered around the shops at Caesars Place for awhile, nothing I'd buy even if I could afford it. Finally went back to our hotel for a nice steak dinner. BIL is down $16k on slot machines thus far, he went to gamble, I went to my room to read and use my laptop. Might go to a show tomorrow night, then golfing at 5:45am on Sat before it gets hot (it is like 104 out today) and before we all fly home. If we can get the pieces of this new business venture moving it will drive our existing businesses forward and provide some new opportunity too. I have to decided how much I want to be involved, how much I was to risk in order to make money. Kind of hard since my wife is financially conservative when it comes to investing (but not spending on what she wants) so either I do what I want or I try to convenince her to go along. Being in limbo marriage-wise complicated the who thing. She considers her money hers and mine is mine (well whatever is left after I pay all the bills, luckily she is finally willing to pay the house payment).
I sent my son's a txt msg to see how they liked going to work with my wife to see surgery. S15 said it was awesome. I sent S15 a few pics with my cell phone of the ferraris we looked at and he wanted to know if I was buying one. I took a pic of a statue of a woman at caesars place and sent it to my wife, telling her I found a statue of her. She replied back and forth, I asked how the kids like going to work with her, she asked how much $ her brother had lost gambling. It was a decent exchange, I might call her tonight before bed to see how her day was and to tell her goonight, haven't talked to her since Monday.
about the money issues. Reality is that the company I work for that is owned by him and I has spent about $600k of his money in the last year. He doesn't want to keep sending us $50k a month to pay our bills, we need to make enough money to pay for ourselves and then need to start making enough money to pay back his investment in the company. Luckily I'm only into the company for the $30k I have on a line of credit, but I can't afford to lose that either.
What he does as far as buying crap or gambling money away is hard to watch or understand, but it isn't about me, the guy has been broke and rich and broke and rich and right now is up the biggest upswing of his life and he has worked hard for it, risked everything to get to where he is and he deserves it. He isn't greedy and rewards the people that make him money well, unfortunately I've been involved with spending about $6-7mil in the last almost 2 yrs and haven't made him a single dime. He hasn't tossed me out on the street (like his sister is trying to do) and he is more optimistic then ever, but I have to make things happen on my end of the deal. I was kickin' ass and takin' names up until the bomb. It has been a long road back emotionally and mentally, the first 3-4 months post-bomb took a heck of a lot out of me, way more than I knew at the time. I think I'm standing on solid footing now and I'm starting to carry some of my load at work and can think about new stuff and ideas and plan, all stuff I couldn't do 2 months ago.
Last night at dinner some how the issue of my wife "keeping all her money for herself" came up and my BIL said "doesn't she help you with the bills" and he was shocked when I told him that she hadn't give me a dime until last month and that she'd paid the house payment last month and this month. He asked "how have you been paying for everything on your own" and I told him that is why I'm broke. He joked that "I must be paying you too much." He just kind of shook his head at the reality of what his sister is doing and has done. Family is everything to him and he knows we're more blessed than 99% of the world and he has told my wife that.
Anyhow I called my wife last night about 10pm, she answered on the 2nd ring and sounded half asleep. I asked her if I'd woken her up, if she was sleeping. She said she'd just laid down to go to sleep. She asked what I was up to, I told her about our day, then asked about hers and the boys going to work with her. We had a nice conversation, lasted about 7-8 mins, then I told her I'd let her get to sleep and goodnight and goodbye.
Have another couple meetings this afternoon with the bankers, need to keep pushing forward and find the gaps in our plans and fill them and start executing.
Just read about the air sickness...I'm so sorry! That really stinks.
hey, be very careful when talking to BIL. It may happen that he goes to her and talks about her not helping before with the bills and stuff. Then it's gonna come back on you. So just be very careful. I'm sure you never said anything derogatorily (is that a word?!) but your BIL was obviously dumbfounded and who knows if he'll say anything to her or not.
Anyways, sounds like things are going better for you at work, and you must be a very creative/intellegent guy. Are you guys into purchasing realestate? That is a very good business to be in, if you know how what and when to buy.
Oh, and with the convos with W. Remember to be elusive sometimes, don't always give every bit of information. Let them become curious about us.
have a great weekend!
Me 33 H 34 S9 S3 M 6 yrs (2gether 11 yrs) EA/PA 1/2006 DB 5/2006 H wants D 6/2006 H wants ME 8/2006 H "said" PA/EA over 8/2006 H erased OW off phone! 2/2007
"It is far better 2 choose humility & change oneself, than 2 wait in vain trying 2 chang someone else."
ST, I try to not say too much to BIL, he is actually the only on in her family that I talk to since I work for/with him. He knows what I've been going thru since it has affect my working so much. He told me early on that I was a great guy and whatever I had to do (like "drop the hammer on her" in his words) he'd support. I've been talking less and less to him about her and he has been asking less and less. He used to ask me about her everytime I talked to him (which is more than I talk to my wife usually) but he has stopped asking. He told me that I "should certainly get an A for effort" since I'm hanging in here and not kicking her butt to the curb for how she is acting/treating me. Anyhow it is something I have been trying to cut back and even tho' it is nice to get advice and support from him, I'm trying not to do so anymore. My wife talks to him now and then, maybe once a month or so.
We had a meeting all afternoon with the lenders and it sounds like they have multiple options for us and can do 40 loans right away for us and are working on 2 other avenues, one of which will give us supposedly unlimited loans. I came up with some key solutions and ideas and BIL said I was a "rocket scientist" and he knew that I wasn't just here because "I'm married to his sister." I have to decided what I'm willing to risk in this venture, BIL keeps asking me "how many houses are you going to buy!" The others, including BIL, are ready to buy, buy, buy and I have to decided if I'm going to buy too and how fast and how many. I think I'm going to go for it, just have to decided how "big" I'm going and how to deal with my wife along the way. Have to write up a new business plan and do a bunch of other work, trying to get to a show tonight tho' since tomorrow we play golf and head out of Vegas for home.
JDK, You sound great right now with everything. Excellent! I am glad you are getting the spring back in your step with work. I know that I was relatively ineffective at my job for at least 3 months after the bomb. Keep plugging away! Good luck with the business opportunities!
Thanks for the help and support HS, cliffy and Nomopo, I appreciate it wholeheartedly.
I forgot to mention that when I got out of the shower this morning I had a missed call from my wife. I called her back and she said that she was at the auto dealer getting her car serviced and had tried to call me about the items they wanted to service on the car, but it was too late and she'd already told them to take care of it. She told me what they wanted to do and I told it all sounded fine. We talked a little about the kids and them going camping for the weekend with their friend. She told me the auto dealer's shuttle van had dropped her off at the mall and she was shopping. I asked what she was shopping for and she told me "nothing that she needed, that's for sure." She told me that she had the day off and I asked if she had to work this weekend and she told me no, she is off. I told her I'd better go get some lunch before my meetings this afternoon and goodbye.
This evening at dinner I took a pic with my cellphone of the lobster that one guy ordered and sent it to my sons and my wife. The two boys replied right away with "cool" or "I want some" and I also sent them a pic of my plate with a nice steak on it. My wife replied with "nice" about an hour or so later. I was on my way to watch her brother play blackjack and sent my wife a message that said "Night, wire me $25k for poker" as a joke and after 10 mins or so she replied with a "nite" since it was late for her she might have been sleeping. I watched my BIL lose $5k at blackjack, then he got a marker for another $5k and lost that, so he got another $5k and was starting to win a little before I left. The last hand I saw he bet $2k on, then double and won $8k on the hand. We have to get up at 4:30am to go play golf before it gets too hot (107 or something here), supposed to be a nice course, I'm not very good at golfing but it should be a fun time with everyone before we all fly home in the afternoon.
Your BIL is crazy with the money! I have been to vegas I don't know how many times, and have never spent more than 20 bucks gambling! my grandad lived there so I was there a lot as a kid, so the whole casino thing isn't that thrilling to me. It kills me to see people wasting their money away. I guess you could say he's giving charity to the city of Las Vegas!
Glad to hear your W asking advice about the car! Very cool.
Sounds like your BIL is really on your side, but I'm glad that you've cut back on talking about W because that is truely best. I guess I did talk to my BIL as well, just a couple times in the beginning, more so to find out what he thought was going on in his head, and what he thought I should do. Later on, I realized that sometimes it's best not to even talk to family about the sitch because a lot of times they give you advice to make YOU feel better for the present, and they're not looking at saving the M.
Hope you had fun golfing! I can't wait till I can gold myself. Definitely won't ever be playing at 4:30 in the morning though!
Me 33 H 34 S9 S3 M 6 yrs (2gether 11 yrs) EA/PA 1/2006 DB 5/2006 H wants D 6/2006 H wants ME 8/2006 H "said" PA/EA over 8/2006 H erased OW off phone! 2/2007
"It is far better 2 choose humility & change oneself, than 2 wait in vain trying 2 chang someone else."
Just got back from golfing, ready for a nap! Went to bed at 1am and got up at 4:30am and I got more sleep than anyone else! Half of them stay up until 3am, one stay up all night! It was already hot out on the golf course by 8am and I was getting tired about 3/4 of the way thru. It was a great time tho'.
My wife started sending me txt msgs about 8am, I had put my phone in the cart and it was on vibrate so I didn't get any of the messages until 11am when I happened to look at my phone. She had sent "S15 wants to come home because his GF is back from her trip" and then 2 messages after that which said "Are you there." I called her and said "were you looking for me?" and she told me about S15 wanting so badly to go home right away instead of in another week. She wants him to wait and I agreed. It would cost $250 or so to fly him home and she doesn't want to pay that much just to get him home sooner. Plus we've alway given the kids "everything" and that isn't good for them either. I asked her how her car was since she got it serviced yesterday and she said it was fine. Then she started telling me that D23 has trashed the car we loaned her and my wife wishes she'd never loaned it to her, wants to take it back. I agreed that every car D23 has driven of ours or hers she has trashed and that "you'd think when someone loans you something that you'd take good care of it..." Then I told her about how much money her brother has spent gambling and about golfing this morning. She said "so I guess you guys didn't sell the company" and I told her no, but we did ask for a billion dollar credit line and she said "a what?!?! I told her a little about the lenders we'd met with and the options they had or are working on for us, one of the things we asked for was a billion dollar credit line to use for loans from a hedge fund manager that has access to $4 billion. That credit line would allow us to buy about 3000 houses and we want to buy a whole lot more of them then that. Anyhow I asked her what she was up today since she has the weekend off, she said she was out getting something to eat, she said she was going to finish eating so I said goodbye, she did too and said "talk to you later."
Couple hours til I have to head to the airport and fly home, looks like I'm going to miss church tonight, already missed the Men's breakfast this morning at church. Tomorrow I pick up my mom at the airport at 9am and will head straight to church and try to catch the 2nd half of the service. Hopefully the animals are all still alive, it has been getting hot at home and if the dogs don't have water they could be hurting.
Cleaned up from sweating in the sun golfing, packed up my suitcase and did some reading, then decided to get some lunch with an hour before it was time to head to the airport. Called BIL to see if he wanted to eat too, woke him up and he said he'd join me in about 20 mins. I went to the cafe at the hotel and ordered some food, started working on some process flows for the new business. S13 started txt msging me and asked what I was doing, told him eating lunch and she said he wanted some so I sent him a pic with my phone of my plate and he replied "you ate it all!". BIL showed up and ordered some food, talked business for a bit, I thanked him for inviting me to Vegas and for paying for the golfing (and everything else since we got here) and he asked if I had a good time and I told him "heck ya! sure beat sitting home alone too!" I showed him the stuff I'd been working on, he asked "is it going to work" and I told him ya, we'll figure out the rest of the details and make it work, the contracts that have to be written will be more complicated then any of our other contracts, luckily we hired out attorney and he is now President of the company (since I had to leave for a bit when I had my break down back at the beginning of March).
He then started asking about his sister, "how is she", "what is going on", "did she get a boob job" and stuff like that. I told him the answers to his questions, tried to not spill my guts, but it is his sister and he is concerned about her, plus I'm family to him and I work with him so he has a lot of interest about what I'm going to do (stay, move, sell house, kids, etc.). He doesn't understand any of what she is doing and the decisions she is making, the boobs he was really upset about, he said his wife has been wanting them too and he told her that he'd kick her out if she did that, "who wants fake boobs", "it is so stupid" and stuff like that... I told him what I knew, told him her plan for her "year of patience" and what not. He wanted to know what I was going to do, "how long are you going to let this go on..." and I told him that I'm going to wait as long as I can and give her every chance I can to work things out, now that she is making the house payment I can afford to stay in the house with the kids and she does come and help with the kids and the house a bit now too which makes things easier. He doesn't understand my putting up with her crap, but I know he respects my doing everything I can to keep my marriage and family together. I'm sure I said more than I should have, I didn't say anything out of anger or spite or revenge, didn't tell him everything, just the things he asked about and maybe a thing or two here and there in addition.
Anyhow, at the airport waiting for my plane, ready for a nap, S15 is calling me and trying to work out how to get a flight home tomorrow instead of waiting until I drive down to get him and S13 next weekend. I told him to talk to his mom about it, he said she told him to talk to me about it. I told him I didn't want to spend $250 on a flight for him, if she wants to pay for it then it is up to her. He said he could fly from another town about 2hr drive away and I looked up the flights for him and told him it was $120 to fly from there. He called his mom and she won't drive him to that town to fly back, so he is calling his sister to see if she'll drive him (D23).
Also I sent my wife a txt msg back while I was hanging out in the hotel room before lunch and asked her if she had next Sat (our anniversary) off from work. She replied that she had to work. I then asked her if she could trade with her co-worker and get the day off, she replied "I'll try." I sent her a msg saying "Thanks. I was thinking of getting tickets for a baseball game if you are interested and can get off. Let me know fo I can try to get decent tickets." There are two team playing that she likes and she mentioned wanting to go to a baseball game (although a different team, but they're on the road right now and won't be playing while I'm down there with her). She replied "I'll have to check with my co-worker next week." and I replied with "K. Have a good one." and she sent back "K"
about the money issues. Reality is that the company I work for that is owned by him and I has spent about $600k of his money in the last year. He doesn't want to keep sending us $50k a month to pay our bills, we need to make enough money to pay for ourselves and then need to start making enough money to pay back his investment in the company. Luckily I'm only into the company for the $30k I have on a line of credit, but I can't afford to lose that either. 
Half of them stay up until 3am, one stay up all night! It was already hot out on the golf course by 8am and I was getting tired about 3/4 of the way thru. It was a great time tho'.