On The Scene

I have been at our base of operations in Jersey City, New Jersey since Sunday, it's now Wednesday. We have two campers on a RV site that overlooks the south end of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. It's pretty cool to go for a jog and look over at the lights of New York just before sunrise.  To the casual observer driving around the area things seem pretty normal. Most of the mess left by Sandy has been cleared away in the areas I have been in; mostly Manhattan, many parts of Long Island, Jersey City and Hobokan. But once you get into a home or business, that's when you seen what a couple of feet of water does to someone's life. Everyone has there own unique story.

Robert's was the first home I got to see close up.  Driving through his neighborhood you would have little idea any thing was amiss. When Sandy hit, he had just gotten home from the hospital and having had his appendix removed. He was also still recovering from hurricane Irene. The first floor of his Baldwin (just east of Queens on Long Island) bungalow had all new furniture and flooring for less than a year.  He had finally been able to replace his washer and dryer only three weeks before the storm. When I met him, Robert was reviewing the effectiveness of our drying equipment working on his exposed sub-floor with a slightly dazed demeanor. "It is all a bit too much to take in" he uttered, while offering me one of his many cats to take home with me. His entire first floor consisted of damp plywood and walls stripped down to the studs for the bottom 24 inches.

Don has owned and operated 7 rental properties in Rockaway since the mid 80's. His insuranc lapsed in September and he had to wait 30 days for it to be in effect. He mused "since it's going to be Halloween before my insurance will kick in, I may as well wait until the spring." Not bad logic, just bad luck

On the lighter side...

We had dinner at an awesome neighborhood bar in Jersey City, PJ Ryan's, http://www.pjryans.com . Lindsey, one of their barkeeps, had some amazing tats. Two of her's had won best in show at East Coast tattoo conventions. We told her we are thinking about a commemorative tat if all goes well here and she recommended 3 artists in NY; Jon Mesa (traditional, realistic & color) of Sacred Tattoo, http://www.sacredtattoo.com; Andy B (black & grey and portraits) also at Sacred Tattoo; and Guy Ursitti (anything! "trust me") of Thicker Than Water, http://thickerthanwatertattoo.com/.

 

 Lindsey had this award winning tat of Tim Gunn by Andy B. of Sacred Tattoo

My personal goal updates:

Physical Log: Back to walk/run cycles but still going out every other day. Hope to be back on my 5K training schedule shortly.

Fiscal Log: Much more challenging. Lots of work up here after the storm but we are still struggling with cash flow, i.e.., we need to reverse the tide from ebb to flow.

Close To Launch

So the plan is to leave on Friday or Saturday for New Jersey to help with the Sandy cleanup and get my life on track; not The Track, just a tract. I want to head out on a trajectory that is financially and physically (healthy) productive and sustainable. I still feel emotionally like I am waiting for a train.  I'm packed, I have a destination, but the future is largely unknown.

Others that are close to me are also in transition. My son is applying to college and starting to make decisions that will shape his adult life. My 30 year old nephew is on a literal and figurative journey as well. He is struggling with substance abuse, but more fundamentally with the foundations of manhood. How do you make a living? How do you make a life and not just have one happen to you.  I have invited him to post here as he takes to the road. He is making his way south out of North Carolina, with an idea to go to Savanna, Georgia and then on to Florida. How do you know when you are running away or running to?

On Hold

Fiscal Log: Feeling extremely stressed. Now going thru 3rd delay on getting up to NJ and starting hands-on with rebuilding. 1st delay was 2nd storm just after Sandy. 2nd was because my business partner (will call Pete) needed to return to NC. We were to go back up to NJ together, but he mistook how close Thanksgiving is, so he is going to fly, not drive and we will go back up just after Thanksgiving...feeling trapped, helpless and way under water financially...which pretty much sinks my whole like at this point.

Physical Log: Blew off running for the day. Emotionally, want to crawl under a rock. Plan on picking up tomorrow with week day 20min run, aiming for a 2 1/2 mile run at the end of this week's schedule. Weight is also not cooperating. Thought I was stable and still losing after 5+ lbs recently  but seem to be back up to where I was a week ago. I am very concerned about how I am going to control diet when working in NJ.

Closing: Feel I am completely on fearful hold until I can get my hands on this business.

Burton 5.0

A Journal of Personal Growth and Discovery

Burton 1.0 (0~25) "I started out as a child" Bill Cosby 
Burton 2.0 (25~28) Got a clue and went back to school to finish my college degree.
Burton 3.0 (28~50) Professional life in IT and IT Sales.
Burton 4.0 (50~61) Floundering. Near miss as a nurse, entrepreneur non-extraordinaire
Burton 5.0 (61 and beyond) Got a second clue and embraced the now.

Now: As of November 2012  I have started this blog/journal to help keep me focused on my goals.  Currently the two most important goals are physical and fiscal in nature.

Physical Goal: I need to get in shape and lose weight, i.e., live. 
Fiscal Goal: I need to quit pulling money out of savings and pay my own way as a step one.

I am going to post on each goal at least once a week. So here goes...

Physical Log: I have recently (4+ weeks) started a running (read slow jog) program. I am borderline morbidly obese (over 200lbs @ just over 5'6") and recovering from surgery on a torn ACL last February. I am following a program from LIVESTRONG to train for a 5K in six weeks, but I am giving myself a LOT of slack.  I follow the every-other-day workouts, but if I struggle with one, I just repeat it on the next workout day.  I just finished a 30 minute run (@ a 14 min/mile pace) this morning. I just finished week 3 of the plan, it took me about 4 weeks.


                       Running 101: A 5K Training Plan For Beginners

In addition to running, I have modified my diet by eliminating wheat (mostly) and focusing on meat, fruit and vegetables. I have lost ~5lbs over the past two weeks. My short term goal is to get under 200lbs. I have sleep apnea that has gone away in the past when I got in this weight range.

Fiscal Log: Not good. It has been over 10 years since I have had anything that resembles a career or long term identified source of personal income. I have tried to start a small business (healthy vending snacks; failed), went back to school (nursing school; got thrown out for a clinical mistake) and invested for cast returns (real estate; under performing currently but headed in the right direction). The bottom line is that I have been writing checks out of savings to "survive." As a result I have stressed myself emotionally to the point of panic as well as straining my marriage to the cusp of alienation and divorce. My current effort is to make good on a substantial investment in a water damage and reclamation business (will call it Rebound) by getting hands-on involved in the rebuilding in New Jersey and New York after "superstorm" Sandy. 

Hurricane Sandy was the largest Atlantic hurricane on record, as well as the second-costliest Atlantic hurricane in history, only surpassed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Hurricane Sandy devastated portions of the Caribbean and the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States in late October 2012. Sandy is estimated in early calculations to have caused damage of at least $20 billion. (From Wikipedia)

I plan on being in NJ this Sunday, I have started some of the planning documents in MS Excel.