It’s been a weird day at “the office” with weird telephone calls, weird e-mails, friends in crisis, bullshit that you wonder — is it real or total bunk?
It’s after 2300 HRS (11PM) 0600 Zulu Time/GMT (tomorrow) and I’m still at it. I think that I sent off my last e-mail of the evening. Or maybe not, because I’m blogging while I wait to see if there’s a response.
Getting older (face it, don’t fear the reaper) means that I take things with a great degree of skepticism. A friend called first thing this morning, asking me to lend my good name to the board of advisors for a company that he wants to worm his way into. It’s one of those companies where all the hopes and dreams of the creators are based on “magic beans” that they traded value for. I told him how to test the truth of the metal for free and explained that he didn’t need a lot of money to do it. There is allegedly a patent on the machine that makes magic things happen. I asked the name of the people involved so that I could do a patent search. That caused consternation. I wish that I had a dollar for each ‘friend’ who wanted me to help them refine their idea – one day to be worth billions. Yes, I should be on Shark Tank.
Or somebody wants to give me kittens. That happened the other day and I patiently explained that I didn’t want an indoor cat and that taking a cat to the White Wolf Mine would be to introduce it into an environment where there are mountain lions and bobcats that are larger, faster, climb better and are higher on the food chain than felis domesticus. If they want to feed the mountain lions, coyotes and so forth, there are wild areas a lot closer to home than where I’m headed in a month.
“Ok, LL, I just thought you might like a cat.” (indignant)
“I’ll take it under the conditions that I outlined, if it will make you happy.”
Takes the cat and leaves – angry.
Lunch at a brew-pub in San Diego. I order a chicken sandwich and a Sprite. The other two guys, both of whom have worked with me order similar meals, no alcohol. I’ve trained them well. Aftermath: Did we accomplish anything besides general conversation? I think so. One is headed to Morocco, another to Latin America and I’m staying here, getting ready to move and making some business connections, debating on whether to order an airplane for 2020 delivery (more on that on the blog tomorrow). I have business in Paraguay but I’m handling it on the telephone. I was invited to fly to Zurich for a meeting on Monday but I sense a circle-jerk. My two buddies agree. No flight. Complete waste of time and money. The guy who wanted the meet in Zurich with attorneys wanted me to sign an NDA. I said that it’s the opposite – junk on the bunk or they can pound sand. Their options are limited. I’m working with bankers a lot these days and the bankers take my word for things. They want access. (see pound sand – opcit)
John Derva (Valuism), thanks for the hints on the Nepalese guy. Turns out he fronts for the Teochew Chinese in Thailand (the mafia has run the country since 1957).
A suggestion that I hire a secretary – no women. They are extra work, extra expense, and they file lawsuits on their way out the door (see Omarosa). The operation is already racially and geographically integrated. Suggestion tabled indefinitely. Veterans preferred but when even they ask, “What can I do, LL?” I ask, “What can you do?” And why aren’t you doing it now? They don’t need me to be successful and profit sharing is already diluted enough. Sometimes I’m called an AH. If the shoe fits, I wear it.
A call from a guy who has lost his credibility, asking how he can regain it. I explained that he couldn’t. He’s still a friend, but there’s no business to be done with him. He didn’t lie, cheat or steal, but he introduced me to mainland Chinese who turned out to be money launderers and kidnappers, vouching for their integrity. I found out what they were up to and he was defrocked. Sorry/not sorry.
Business calls, a new plan for Africa (which will be discussed in Morocco), and general discussions, that bounced back and forth like ping-pong balls.
The playlist continues in the background as I blog. We’re onto The Animals now. Shift to Rolling Stones to Hendrix and I’m done. It’s now 11:30 pm and I’m shutting down the shop for the night. Tomorrow, little league games with my family in Huntington Beach. And yes, I’ll be on the phone all day. Did I make any money today? There was supposed to be an inbound bank wire that never made it. Maybe next week?
Yes, don't fear the reaper, important.
But I'm surprised someone offered you adorable kittens. They can't have read the parable of the Wolf and the Cat.
Regardless, it's good to see you sanctioning Zurich and moving ahead with the PLAN.
Lock her up.
Well, Hello Mr.Bond. I feel you may be a little shaken – not stirred. And you didn't want to take on Pussy galore?
Draining the swamp has become a real challenge for the administration, but I'm avoiding that bru-ha-ha (mia culpa) to the extent possible.
While I'm typing this, I received an NDA from a lawyer with a name that sounds suspiciously Muslim. You should read it. Maybe I should post it here. It's gobble-d-gook, binding me to this and that. My e-mail back was "that dog don't hunt". Let him chew on the cryptic meaning which isn't cryptic in Texas. And it's for that very reason that I avoid people like that.
(I've been on the phone)
The Mooselim in Zurich is shocked that I don't want any part of his shady business. He was double shocked when I (behaving a bit like The Donald) explained that he needs me, I don't need him. Juliette-from Nottingham would have said "piss off". In Arizona we say "piss on" which means the very same thing except it's a bit more direct.
You've been around me, Jules, you know how it goes. It's sort of non-stop stuff. It's been that way so far today, but I think that the bulk of it is finished, and what needs to be said has been said, and I can gear-up for nine year old boys playing baseball, which is a lot more important to me than ANYTHING else that I do. Trust me. Family is EVERYTHING.
Look how Pussy galore caused problems for Commander Bond RN. I was only a Lieutenant Commander in the US Navy, not up to filling the shoes of commander. I was up most of the night. More stress than I need, but once I'm up at the mine its going to be more difficult for people to get a hold of me and I plan to calm down. I don't know if that will happen, but it needs to.
Wacky Dog Omarosa signed an NDA and look at her now, about to be in the teeth of the lawyers.
Smart of you to use code the Snackbars understand.
PS – I would have taken the kitten(s). I simply thought that the responsible thing to explain to the offerer was that the predators in the mountains would have considered them to be protein. I travel too much to have pets. I don't know how Juliette deals with Kevin when she's gone, but, you know.
I think that President Trump told Omarosa that she didn't hunt…and she signed her life away in terms of security agreements when she went to work at the White House. She now claims that President Trump had amorous designs on her…darkly (no pun) hinting that she and Stormy may have something in common.
Busy is good, honest is good, getting your friendship abused is NOT! Sorry to hear that… And the cat story is just flat funny… 🙂
Now see, if you had a Waffle House close by you could have spent the last hour sipping good coffee and nibbling on your choices of eats while having some soulful conversations with some good people before the after work hours rush of drunks staggered in. But I enjoyed the blogging anyway.
>Family is EVERYTHING.
"All true wealth is biological."
-Lois McMaster Bujold
Those who can, do.
There is no Waffle House near me or I'd go there for breakfast. I'm with you in that they are destinations.
I guess. There is an insanity of sorts that underpins everything.
Yes, Mike_C. That's how I see it.
I thought that the cat story was funny too, but the cat person did not.
I was a former Huntington Beach resident: about a mile inland from the PCH on Warner/Sandra Lee Lane – there used to be a water tower right there, got torn down amidst some uproar from 'save the water tower'-types.
I know the place.
Beware doing business in Africa, and double beware south of the Sahara. The rule of law there is nonexistent.
I've run into the same thing in my career; people with HUGE ideas that will "easily be worth BILLIONS!" if I could only help them iron out a few kinks, and build them a working prototype.
The first couple of times I helped these "friends", only to have one stiff me for several hundred bucks worth of components I bought, and another take all the work I did for him to one of those "incubators" who took over and brought it to market. He made a nice pile of cash, and never returned my phone calls.
The last straw was the guy that said "Hey, we're friends, amigo. All we need is a handshake". When he sold the idea and prototype to another company, all I got in return was "Well, we never had anything in writing, so I don't 'owe' you a dime".
A POX on all their houses…..
It's a contract between the company and Saudi Prince Majid, who is living in Morocco.
That's where I am. A guy called me this morning with the same line as you experienced (above), wanting me to invest in magic beans. If I bury them, a beanstalk will grow and I can climb it. A giant lives at the top with a treasure hoard. And he will gladly pay me Thursday for a cheeseburger today.
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