Life still goes on.

I needed a break. I got sick of whining (and writing) about things I had no control over. Like so many other’s, my personal timetable has been altered immensely. At the beginning on the year I peered into my crystal ball and could see me continuing on the current career path for several more years. The benefits were decent and the money was ok. That would allow me to hold off starting to collect social security until-maybe 70? The amount went up almost $800 a month by waiting so why not? “Why not” I found out was COVID. It knocked out my largest customer and set my remaining customers back 25%, so unless I pull a HUGE rabbit out of my hat, my annual income will be off 35-40%. The sobering reminder here is that’s a hell of a lot more than many have now for sure. This reality check opened my eyes to exploring other options and opportunities. In June I could see this and decided to improve my odds and enroll in school. Real Estate school actually. It is the same program my wife graduated from and spoke highly of. Their curriculum was built for a pandemic. Every class was available online and all in-person classes that were cancelled due to COVID, were now available on Zoom including tutoring for those that needed it. I graduated two-weeks ago and passed both federal and state exams last week. The only person I interacted with “in-person” was the guy that operated the testing center-that was it! With that my self-esteem is back and I am putting a new plan together. I interview with the principal broker next week and plan on starting part-time immediately and full-time early first quarter. And for those wondering…yes my wife is a realtor, and yes we have worked together before successfully, drawing very little blood.

I hear that one of the most highly contested congressional seats is in Utah. So far $22 million has been spent which seems ridiculous for little old Utah. The ads run non-stop and back-to-back constantly. The worst part is not the toxic message or the mind-numbing frequency, it is the simple fact that we are not even in this district! We should get hazard pay or some type of compensation for enduring this garbage. This best comment I can make on the above photo is how civil is was. We were concerned how this would play out, especially as the crowds continued to grow. Considering the understandable angst and unrest that has gripped our country, we half expected sirens and gunfire, but thankfully nothing happened. The chants of “Black lives matter” and “Four more years” volleyed back and forth all night with no major violence. Civil disobedience at it finest. As I write this , 90 plus million ballots have already been cast, including the three that live here. Exercise the most important right we have-VOTE!

The forecast was for strong winds. It is not uncommon for cities north of Salt Lake City to get gusts upwards of 60 miles per hour. High profile vehicles are cautioned to not travel on I-15 or I-80 because of this; again, we are accustomed to this and plan for it. The problem with this wind-storm was 60 was the low end. We are blocks away from the University of Utah which clocked wind speed of over 115 miles per hour! Over 2,500 trees were toppled, most of them mature pine, maple and oak. For some cruel reason trash trees like elm were spared. City parks were closed for weeks out of fear that with no warning more tree might fall over. It was a mess but somehow perfectly acceptable for 2020…