Oh, One More Thing...

 

One more thing…

By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, August 31, 2023

 

If are you not old enough to remember the television series, “Colombo”, you missed  one of the greatest sales techniques known to man.  In every episode, and usually more than once within the episode, Lieutenant Colombo, Los Angles Homicide Detective, played by Peter Falk, would interview a person he suspected of committing a murder.  He would get up to leave and usually get all the way to being half way out the door and he would turn and say, “…Oh, one more thing.”  Why is this such a great sales technique?  Because as a person in sales, you are a threat to most people who really do not want to buy anything, especially from someone right in their face.  When Colombo got up and appeared to be leaving, the suspect or in the case of sales, the buyer or seller, automatically goes into a relaxed mode and is very happy to see him leave.  Again, that is when Colombo turns and asks, “Oh, one more thing” question, catching the suspect or in your case, a buyer or seller off guard and more at ease.  

How could someone in sales use this technique?  Great question.  Let’s say you are a real estate agent meeting with homeowners thinking of selling (listing) their home. You do your listing presentation but they did not make the decision to list with you.  (Note, that should be a huge indication that you are not as good as you might think you are at interviewing sellers).  You pull a Colombo and gather up all your material and appear to leave.  When you get to the door you turn and ask, “I hope you don’t mind (one more thing), what is the real reason you decided not to list with me?”  They are now more relaxed and oftentimes will tell you the real reason they didn’t list with you.  You can then say, “I’m soooo sorry I did not explain that in more detail, may I?”   This same principle would apply to any one in sales like insurance, cars, antiques, you name it. 

Side Note:  As for real estate agents going on listing appointments; I started a procedure totally by accident every time I went on a listing presentation.  I would sit in my car and try to clear my mind of as much as I possibly could.  I would then imagine myself sitting at the owners table with the owners signing the listing agreement, I could actually see it in my mental brain monitor screen.  I did this for just a couple of minutes and it put me in the right mindset to make an effective listing presentation.  For the most part I also KNEW the sellers were expecting me and probably watching me from the moment I pulled up.  I therefore KNEW I was already “on stage” and being interviewed by the sellers.  I would get out of the car (parked on the street).  Stand by my car with a clipboard in my hand.  I would look to the right, then to the left and then across the street all the time taking notes.  Then I would look at the owners’ home, again taking notes.  If the Sellers were in fact aware that I was already there, they KNEW that I noticed the boat parked in the neighbor’s driveway or the lack of maintenance of the home across the street, or the broken shutters on the owners’ home upstairs windows.   They KNEW that I KNEW and they also KNEW that I KNEW what I was doing!  Put a check mark in my favor if they were paying attention. 

Why am I writing about the Colombo Technique?  So glad you asked.  I no longer watch or listen to the news, national and local.  I have my reasons but the main reason is that I have been listening to what is referred to as the “alternative media.”  There is a HUGE lesson I learned from these independent journalists, as good as they are.  The lesson is simple, THEY TALK TO MUCH AND THEY TALK TO LONG, AND THEY TALK MUCH TOO SLOWLY and. in 2023 with the advent of all of the advances in technology, THEY USE WAY TOO MANY GRAPHICS BEFORE THEY GET TO THE POINT!  It takes them forever to get to the point(s) they want to make.  In that regard, I am no different than most of the people I know; we all believe our time is valuable and we cannot take an hour or so to listen to someone’s podcast or sales pitch that could have been done in half the time..  In other words, GET TO THE POINT AS QUICK AS YOU CAN! 

Did you know that you can listen and absorb what you hear much better when the speaker on a Podcast speaks fast but not too fast?  Whether you know it or not, there is usually a small GEAR icon on the bottom of your computer screen when you listen to a video or podcast.  It is usually on the bottom right side of the podcast screen.  If you click on that GEAR, more often than not, you can adjust the speed of the person talking.  Years ago, I had a real estate trainer suggest I listen to a tape recording of a very good presentation.  I told him I always had a hard time listening to training or motivational tapes because they put me to sleep by talking too slow.  He suggested I buy a tape player from the now extinct Radio Shack that has controls to adjust the speed and pitch of the presenter’s voice.  I did and it was eye-opening and terrific; I wore the thing out.  I could listen to a 30-minute cassette in about 18 minutes.  But when you speed it up as fast as it would go, you had to really listen hard and stay focused or you missed important information.  It was great.  We no longer listen to cassette tapes; we have it all on digital but the premise still applies.  For most recorded presentations on the Internet, I can listen at 1.5 times the normal speed and I rarely have a difficult time following along.  It too is a GREAT tool for learning because the faster the presenter talks the harder you focus on listening and thus you tend to learn more because you are paying attention. 

Now for the meat of this Nugget!  TIME!  More specifically OTHER PEOPLE’S TIME!  If a podcaster really appreciated their audience’s time, they would make their presentations SHORT and SWEET.  The same principle applies to people in sales.  Do more listening and less talking.  How do you do that?  You learn to be more like Colombo and ask as many questions as you possibly can AND THEN LISTEN.  Not just listen, you LISTEN INTENTLY AND YOU TAKE NOTES WITH THEIR PERMISSION!  You would be amazed at what you can learn by asking questions, listening and you doing less talking.  My advice would be: 

·         KEEP IT SHORT 

First set out the topics you want to cover and then create a worksheet of BULLET POINT TOPICS.  The fewer the words to identify the topic, the better.  If the label is short, maybe the presentation on the subject will be short as well. 

·         60 MINUTES/30 MINUTES 

Try to keep your presentation under 30 minutes but no more than 60.  My guess is that you lose listeners for every minute over 30 minutes. 

·         AHs and ANDs and other BS  

If you are making a presentation either to a live audience or on a recording, first make a recording that you can listen to see how YOU sound.  You will be amazed that you don’t sound like you think you sound.  Log every pause on the recording such as when you use the AH word or the AND word.  Also listen for words and/or phrases that you tend to repeat over and over throughout your presentation such as “you know what I mean’s”; it drives people crazy.  It is even more important if you are making a live presentation to a buyer or seller.  Finally avoid using the word “but.”  When you make a partial statement, you may get the audience or customers to agree with you until you insert the word “but”, which is word that causes people to STOP!  Example, “We all know that this is true, but.”  The audience/customer will then delete everything you said before the word BUT.  It is such a simple technique yet people are totally unaware of what they have been doing by using the word BUT.  Try it.  “We all know that this is true, AND….”  Hopefully I have made my point! 

·         SUMMARY 

I find it very help when presenters give summaries of what the MEAT of their presentation had been and they do this of course at the very end of their presentation, live or recorded.  It is also a GREAT time to repeat critical information you want total agreement on and/or passed, such as website addresses, email addresses, or telephone numbers.  That gives the listeners the chance to again write these down if they did not catch the importance when first given during the presentation.  When you give numbers or web addresses, slow your speech pattern down considerably so people can write down what you say.  Repeat phone numbers in case they didn’t get it the first time.  If you are giving a live presentation such as to a buyer or seller, a great technique is to give them your business card as the LAST THING you do, not the FIRST!  Have cards WITHOUT your cell phone number on them.  Then as a parting gesture, tell them, “Oh one more thing, I feel so good about working with you, let me write my cell phone number on the card for you, please feel free to call me.”  IMPORTANT NOTE:  If you are in sales, especially real estate sales, you owe it to your family to be with your family both physically and mentally when you are all together.  Tell your customers that you oftentimes turn your cell phone off when you are with customers and/or family, especially at meal times.  Just leave a message and you promise you will call them back.  Set the parameters of how you conduct your business. 

“Oh, one more thing!”  I mentioned listening earlier in this Nugget.  Ziz Ziglar, famous motivational speaker said that we are born with two ears and one mouth therefore we should listen twice as much as we talk.  You have no clue as to how important that is in the sales business.  Jeffrey Gitomer writes regarding sales, if you are talking, no one is buying.  Whether you are giving a face-to-face presentation or if you are recording a podcast, the most important factor to consider is the other person’s TIME and what THEY HAVE TO SAY! 

Oh, one more, one more thing…

The End!

The Sands of Time Book III - WOW!!!

 

SANDS OF TIME Volume 3 (Book III)
Written by Sean-David Morton
Reviewed by Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, August 23, 2023

DISCLAIMER:  If you are like me and believe that life exists beyond what we have on Earth, this series of books are for you.  If you don’t believe life exists beyond Earth, this book, and others in the series, could be for you as a 100 percent book of fiction.  To me the book is best described as fiction, some or all may be fiction or the truth based upon historical facts, known places and known historical people, if that makes any sense to you.  I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND READING BOOK 3 IF YOU HAVE NOT FIRST READ BOOKS 1 AND 2 AS IT WOULD MAKE LITTLE SENSE IF YOU DID NOT KNOW THE STORY LINE.  True or not, these books would make for a FABULOUS movie!

I finished Volumes 1 and 2 in just 3 days each, over 400 page, something I normally do not do.  I did so because I found myself racing to the end of the book because it was so exciting.  Volume 3, this review, I did NOT race through this book like I did volumes 1 and 2.  Why did it take me longer to get through Volume 3?  There was a lot of scientific explanations that were way over my head.  Were they needed to make the story more believable, I think they were, but they were of things I had no knowledge of.  Still, it is a very compelling story line.

In Volume 2, the author Sean-David Morton INSISTS the story is real.  When you read it even though some of the scientific references may appear Greek to the average reader, like me, to understand, you could easily make a case that the information contained in this book is entirely fiction supported by known facts or that it is all true as written; your call!

In Volume 3 things move very rapidly in Earth’s battle with visitors/invaders from other planets.  When you read “invaders from other planets”, I am certain that you automatically think I’m crazy to believe any of it, seriously?  Yes seriously!  I remember watching an episode of Ancient Aliens where a doctor said the (1) we would be naive to believe that we are the only life form in the universe and (2) it is not if other life exists, it is when will we make contact.  I believe in what she said (unfortunately I don’t remember her name).

Volume 3 goes into great depth in describing time and space travel and the transportation through space of humans that best resemble the teleportation we saw in the television series Star Trek.  In fact, one of the comments in the book is “ who knew that Star Trek was a documentary?”  It is hard for me to make the connection between what is fiction and what is real in this series.  Why is that?  Because I know that some of the events did in fact happen but then the storyline becomes very blurred between fact and fiction.

Caution.  There are currently 6 volumes in the series that I am aware of, I have the first 3.  For an unknown reason, Volume 2 is NOT available on Amazon or any website that I researched.  I found a file accidently where it can be downloaded to your computer using one or more of several file extensions including Kindle.  The only problem is that Volume 2 was scanned and then converted and as such some of the characters/fonts seem disjointed or unreadable but they are few and far between and do not disrupt the reading of the book.   You can find the link to Volume 2 at:  https://archive.org/details/sandsoftimebookiiseandavidmorton

Who should read this book?  That’s a great question.  Anyone that wants an exciting read and who is prepared and willing to read at least more books in the series to get the entire storyline.  It is definitely a page turner by anyone’s standards.

Would I read it again?  Most likely NOT because once you have read it, you would gain nothing more by reading it again. 

Would I give it as a gift?  Another great question.  For most people, probably not.  For people who I know that would have an interest in its content, absolutely.

To Read or Not To Read

 

TO READ OR NOT TO READ,
THAT IS THE QUESTION
By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, August 2023

Disclaimer.  If you KNOW that you have your financial house in order, there is probably no cause to read this Nugget. If you are UNSURE if your financial house is in order, you probably should read this. If you are CERTAIN that your financial house is NOT in order, this should be a MUST READ! If you are between the ages of 26 and 30, I’m guessing that this is a MUST READ as well.

As I write this, I am 78 years old. soon to be 79. One thing I know with certainty is that during my formal school years from 1950 through 1965, personal finances were never taught in ANY class that I attended.  There was never a mention of properly maintaining a check book or the 8^th wonder of the world: the importance and value of COMPOUND INTEREST.  But neither of those two subjects is what this Nugget is all about.  Check out the 8^th Wonder of the world at: https://www.breezejmu.org/business/compound-interest-the-eighth-wonder-of-the-world/article_11a24ebe-9e77-11eb-ba00-33aaec328747.html#:~:text=Albert%20Einstein%20once%20described%20compound%20interest%20as%20the,principal%20balance%20is%20reinvested%20and%20generates%20additional%20interest.

HERE’S THE DEAL!  YOU are NEVER too OLD to LEARN new THINGS!  I taught myself the value of knowing where I FINANCIALLY stood at any given moment by creating my personal Profit and Loss Statement.  I know when I can afford to buy something, and when I should put it off.  I knew that we as a family were in a position as to when we could financially retire back in 2012.  How did I know that?  Because I knew what our income would be AFTER retirement and I knew what are expenses would be AFTER retirement.  We knew that we were not going to be “independently wealthy” but we would be okay.  We would be able to pay our bills and still afford to buy things when we wanted to.  In fact, we were debt free except for the routine monthly expenses we were required to have like insurance and utilities but the key word is REQUIRED.  A funny thing happened once I created our EXCEL Spreadsheet Profit and Loss Statement.  We began to question every purchase we made as to (1) is it a required item, or (2) do we need it, or (3) is it a “nice to have” item, or (4) can we live without it?  You would be surprised at how many times we chose NOT to buy something using this process thus saving us money that could now be put to even better usage. 

As a teachable moment, JoeTye.com created something called The Direction-Deflection-Question or (DDQ).  It is so simple to use and doesn’t cost you a dime yet it is one of my most valuable tools you could ever use.  You ask yourself a simple question.  “Is what I am about to spend money on, leading me TOWARDS my financial independence (or my financial goals), or AWAY from my financial independence (or my financial goals)?”  If the answer is YES, go for it.  If the answer is NO, walk away from it. 

Here's a FUN TECHNIQUE to just ask yourself before making a purchase.  If you know how much money you have left over at the end of the month and that you can actually afford to buy something and pay cash for it, ask yourself this:  How many hours would I have to work to pay for this item?  Think about buying a $100 jacket.  If you are at minimum wage, say, $12.00 an hour, you would have to work 8.33 hours just to pay for it.  Is it worth that kind of effort and time?  If you made $50 an hour, it would take just 2 hours to pay for it.  Much different situation is it not?  You cannot make that part of your decision process WITHOUT FIRST KNOWING HOW MUCH MONEY YOU HAVE AT THE END OF THE MONTH THAT IS NOT OBLIGATED FOR SOMETHING ELSE!  PERIOD! 

This Nugget is about getting your  financial house or your financial paperwork life in proper order.  The following are subjects relating to this topic but only one will be addressed herein and that is your FINANCIAL HOUSE! 

• Income
• Expenses
• Taxes
• Personal Wills
• Revocation of Power of Attorney
• Durable Power of Attorney/Mandate for you
• Durable Power of Attorney/Mandate for your significant other
• State Health Care Power of Attorney
• Declaration regarding artificially prolonging life
• Personal/Family Profit and Loss Statement

Okay, I agree, if you are in the age group of 16 to 30, some of the topics may at first appear to be a reach for you but I assure you, no one knows for sure when their final days on the planet will come to an end.  You owe it to your next of kin and family to be ready for when that day comes and it WILL come to us all! 

This Nugget will address the last item on the list, Personal or Family Profit and Loss Statement.  Answer this one question, especially the younger folks reading this. If you were in need of purchasing a new or used car or have the opportunity to purchase a home, how do you know you can afford to purchase what you are considering buying?  If you are further along in your age bracket and are considering retirement, how do you know you can afford to retire?  For most people they rely on the guessing game.  I think I can afford it and then they follow that up with, and I hope nothing goes wrong after I do.  That to me means they are financially on the bitter edge and may be able to afford the cost but ONLY as long as no additional costs suddenly and unexpectedly pop up.  Hopefully this Nugget will help with your decision process in regards to “can I afford to buy this item?” situation.  Here is a personal example of how things can unexpectedly change.  We retired on a more or less fixed income.  We received some annual increases but they were very limited in the amount of the increases.  Still, considering everything, we felt very comfortable retiring in 2012.  Then came a change in Presidency and COVID both at the same time.  The world economic picture changed almost overnight.  Prices have jumped to where it has been reported that Americans are spending between $5000 and $9000 MORE each year than they did in 2019.  That is hard to predict when you make retirement decisions 8 or 9 years earlier.  That is the WHY you need to track your expenses and income. 

Keep in mind what Gary Keller co-founder of Keller Williams Realty International both said and wrote about.  LEAD WITH REVENUE, NOT WITH EXPENSES!  By that he means pay cash or the equivalent of cash and NEVER charge something on credit unless you absolutely have to! 

There is a very simple and easy to follow Two Step Plan to help you get your Financial House in order:

STEP ONE

If you have a significant other (I hate that phrase), you both need to participate in the Step One exercise.  If you have a checking account, you need to access your past several months, preferably a year’s worth of monthly check registers.  Then, with pen in hand, begin making a list of every KNOWN or EXPECTED expense for the past several months but preferably for a year.  Why a year?  Because some expenses occur annually, quarterly or semi-annually and you need to know what those are.  Two words to sear into your mind:  EVERY EXPENSE!!!!!  Forget none.  I wish I could attach files for you to access on this Blog page but I cannot, it only allows photo and video files.  I have three files related to this Nugget, the Spreadsheet, the Expense Worksheet and the Income worksheet.  If you want them and I hope you do, send me an email to JimBrown@gymbeaux.com and the files are yours.  Just put WORKSHEET in the subject line; it makes it very easy to send all three in one email back to you.  If you are reading this as an email from me, the files will be attached. 

What are you looking for? 

NOTE:  If any of the following items are paid via an instrument like a home loan and the item is included within the mortgage payment such as Homeowners Insurance, do not include that item (Homeowners Insurance) in your list below.  You want to include ONLY those items that you will have to write a check for. whether it is once a year or every month.  This means that when you pay your monthly mortgage as listed below, you are also paying your homeowners insurance and probably your city and state taxes, if they apply, as well. 

• Rent/Mortgage Payment, known amount or average amount, whichever applies
• Utilities:  Water, sewerage, trash, electricity, gas to the home, list them separately unless paid as a group of services being provided on one statement
• Cable TV
• Internet
• Telephone, landline (if they still exist by the time you read this)
• Telephone(s), mobile
• Homeowners/Renters Insurance if not paid through monthly home loan or included in the rent
• Flood Insurance (as applicable), MONTHLY amount even though it is typically paid annually
• Health Insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Pet Insurance
• Termite treatment/monthly contract
• Car(s) payments, monthly loan payment amount
• Car(s) Insurance, MONTHLY amount paid even if you may pay it annually or semi-annually
• Gasoline, for cars and anything like lawnmowers and other yard equipment
• City Taxes,  MONTHLY, usually included in Mortgage Escrow payment and paid annually
• Charity Donations:  Known or estimated like church donations, Tunnel 2 Towers, etc.
• Groceries, this you will need to estimate but over time you should pretty much know
• Entertainment costs, eating out, movie tickets, how much will you allot to this category is up to you
• Gifts, most people forget this item.  Birthdays, Anniversaries, Graduations, Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, these add up very quickly depending upon the size of your family.  If you don’t know, give it your best estimate but make certain you include a monthly amount to budget for
• Student Loan(s)
• Credit Cards.  This will be the most difficult to calculate because it changes monthly.  Number one life lesson is to pay cash for as much as you can. Charge only what you MUST or because it is convenient.  BUT…PAY THE CARDS OFF EVERY MONTH IF YOU CAN, otherwise the monthly payments will go on forever!  Review the past 12 months and create an AVERAGE MONTHLY PAYMENT for each card that you use.  List them separately so you can track them

Any other KNOWN expense, monthly or annually, that you can identify. 

What you are creating is an AVERAGE MONTHLY COST OF LIVING.  Do you know what yours is at this very moment in time?  If not, how do you KNOW you can buy a new or used car?  How do you know you can afford the cost of having a pet (trust me it is more expensive than most people think)?  The big one is this; how do you KNOW you can afford to buy a home?  As a retired real estate agent/broker of more than 33 years’ experience, I can tell you that it can be a shock to the system when you apply for a home loan with a mortgage company.  They want to know everything about you before someone will take a chance and loan you the money because they have looked at your finances (profit and loss statement) and made the decision that you can afford to make the payments OR NOT!  History has shown, however, that a lot of home loans have been issued to people who could BARELY make the payments and as stated above, hoping that nothing major will happen to them making it difficult if not impossible to make the payments on time.  When that happens, the home is foreclosed on and it costs the borrower a great deal of frustration and grief.  It is a much more efficient process if you walk into the mortgage company and hand your Profit and Loss statement to the loan officer showing that you have thought this process through and you are ready to buy a home. 

Now that you have identified your EXPENSES, it is time to identify ALL of your KNOWN INCOME. 

Net Work Income(s).  Regardless of how you are paid, you need to calculate how much that amount is on a MONTHLY basis.  How much of your total income do you take home each pay period but represented as a MONTHLY amount.  How much total income does your household contribute to the total income such as your significant other or if you have a dependents or guests that live with you who pay rent to you to do so.  This is extremely important for business owners and independent contractors whose incomes fluctuate wildly depending on the business’ profits or sales made.  This is when you take your last 12 months of KNOWN income and divide by 12 to get a MONTHLY income for this exercise.  (While you are at it and just for the fun of it, estimate the number of hours you work each week for people in this category, let’s say 40.  Divide your monthly estimated income by 40 and you get an HOURLY RATE and that may shock you when you do.  I found this especially true for real estate agents who typically work a lot more than 40 hours a week.  The hourly rate is not needed for this exercise, just fun to do.  When you do discover your “hourly rate”, you may then make better decisions as to how you spend your non-working hours, like cutting the grass.  I may be more beneficial for you to spend that time at work and hiring someone to cut the grass, if you know what I mean.)

• Rental Property(s) Income.
• Insurance Settlements
• Inheritance Incomes, sometimes this may be a monthly amount, do not include a one-time amount that you may have acquired
• Interest Income.  Savings accounts, stocks, bonds
• Annuities
• Social Security Income(s)
• Retirement Income(s)
• Investment Income(s) 

You MUST identify every penny that comes into your home for this exercise.  You cannot calculate an accurate profit and loss statement if you do not know all of your expenses and all of your incomes.  I have created a worksheet for this purpose as stated above. 

STEP TWO 

For those people familiar with EXCEL SPREADSHEETS, this next step would be a piece of cake to accomplish.  I made it easy for you by creating an EXCEL SPREADSHEET TEMPLATE specifically to create a Personal Financial Profit and Loss Statement.  As stated above, I cannot attach the file to this Blog.  You can email me as stated above and I’ll send you the Spreadsheet Template.  If you are reading this as an email, the files are attached.  It is pretty generic but if you have EXCEL skills, you can very easily adapt it to your more specific needs and make the template sing its song to you.  Suffice it to say that as a starting point, the template should work beautifully for you.  For people NOT familiar with EXCEL, my initial advice would be to become familiar.  There are online courses you can take.  You can find them by doing a simple Internet search.  Even so, the spreadsheet is relatively easy to navigate.  

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR EXCEL BEGINNERS.  Save the template on your computer or flash drive and keep it separate from your financial files.  If you were ever to make a mistake working the spreadsheet and lose the file, you can always retrieve the original template.  Then as you begin to add data, periodically save what you have entered. I say this because I have done a lot of work on various things without saving as I go and then suddenly you get a burp in your power source and you lose everything you have done.  The second reason is that there are EXCEL codes embedded in some of the cells.  If you accidently erase them as you work, you can always recall your saved template file and continue your work.  I would NOT save the file as a completed spreadsheet as a separate file every time you make a change.  You will be saving files you never access again, ever.  Keep the one file.  When you make a change, save THAT file only THAT file to preclude needless files building up on your computer.  Your Spreadsheet is IMPORTANT INFORMATION.  I would highly recommend keeping it on your computer but ALSO keeping the most current version on a flash drive.  If you ever lose your computer to a crash, having the flash drive is priceless.  I know this because… 

Take each expense item and enter it on the EXCEL Spreadsheet.  In the first column you can change the name as you wish such as entering Sam’s Club or COSTCO.  The second column is for the known DUE DATES and is listed only as a reminder.  The third column is for the most recent BALANCES.  The fourth column is to indicate the DATE of the last known balance.  The fifth column is the meat and potatoes of the spreadsheet, this is where you put the numbers you have identified as your MONTHLY EXPENSE for each category. The sixth column is exactly what it indicates, any NOTES you may want to include.  For example, on my spreadsheet, I indicated at what rate my home loan was issued at such as 3.75%, just for information purposes. 

The next section on the spreadsheet is where you enter your various types of income.  I believe it is important NOT to lump them all together as one figure because these numbers change over time for each category as you get promoted or receive pay increases, etc. 
The embedded formulas within each cell automatically do the calculations for you.  It will calculate your total monthly expenses, figure in your total monthly income and then calculate for you the net income or the net loss; hopefully it is a large net income. 

NOTE:  I have modified my own spreadsheet many times.  I have added sections where I list specific expenses that are automatically paid through the credit union that we belong to either by direct payment or by snail mail checks being mailed by the Credit Union.  I have also listed all of my credit cards that remain active and what the credit limit is.  Why do I do all of this?  I assume that the day will come when someone other than my wife or I will have to look at our finances because we are either incapable (God forbid) or we have passed.  Having access to this information just makes it much easier for our Next of Kin to be able to close out accounts, notify people that need to be notified and then disperse whatever is left.  As I said earlier in this Nugget, you never know when your day will arrive, so plan ahead!  Teachable moment.  We keep all of our credit cards at a monthly zero balance.  It’s okay to charge something but only charge it when you know you can pay off the entire credit card balance when it comes due.  I keep several credit cards because we live in a Hurricane Prone area and having them is priceless when you have to evacuate on a moment’s notice. 

Good luck!  If you have any questions, you can email them to JimBrown@gymbeaux.com and I’ll do my best to answer them.

The Sands of Time Volume 2

 

SANDS OF TIME 

Volume 2 (Book II)

Written by Sean-David Morton

Reviewed by Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, August 8, 2023

DISCLAIMER:  If you are like me and believe that life exists beyond what we have on Earth, this series of books are for you.  If you don’t believe life exists beyond Earth, this book, and others in the series, could be for you as a 100 percent book of fiction.  To me the book is best described as fiction, some or all may be fiction or the truth based upon historical facts, known places and known historical people, if that makes any sense to you.

I finished Volume 1 in just 3 days, over 400 page, something I normally do not do.  I did so because I found myself racing to the end of the book because it was so exciting.  Volume 2, or as mentioned elsewhere Book II, was no different.  I read it as well in 3 days.  There are at least 4 more volumes in the series, I have purchased Volume 3.  Having read the first two in the series, I would highly discourage anyone from reading them out of order because if you do, none of them will make any sense.

I have never reviewed a book stating that I raced to the end but that is exactly what I have done reading both Volumes 1 and 2 and am anxious to get started on Volume 3.  The author Sean-David Morton insists the story is real.  When you read it even though some of the scientific references may appear Greek to the average reader to understand, you could easily make a case that the information contained in this book is entirely fiction supported by known fact or that it is all true as written. 

In Volume 2 things move very rapidly in Earth’s battle with visitors/invaders from other planets.  When you read “invaders from other planets”, I am certain that you automatically think I crazy to believe any of it, seriously?  Yes seriously!  I remember watching an episode of Ancient Aliens where a doctor said the (1) we would naive to believe that we are the only life form in the universe and (2) it is not if other life exists, it is when will we make contact.  I believe in what she said (unfortunately I don’t remember her name).

I have read and heard many others talk about underground railways that work on magnetism, Einstein’s belief that time travel is possible, the development of laser weapons, “the greys” referring so space aliens, the reptiles also referring to space aliens, space-time continuum, the list goes on and on and they are all discussed in detail in Volumes 1 and 2 thus far. 

Caution.  There are currently 6 volumes in the series that I am aware of, I have the first 3.  For an unknown reason, Volume 2 is NOT available on Amazon or any website that I researched.  I found a file accidently where it can be downloaded to your computer using one or more of several file extensions including Kindle.  The only problem is that Volume 2 was scanned and then converted and as such some of the characters/fonts seem disjointed or unreadable but they are few and far between and do not disrupt the reading of the book.   You can find the link to Volume 2 at:  https://archive.org/details/sandsoftimebookiiseandavidmorton

Who should read this book?  That’s a great question.  Anyone that wants an exciting read and who is prepared and willing to read at least more books in the series.  As I said, I read this book in just 3 days and I am not a speed reader.  It is definitely a page turner by anyone’s standards.

Would I read it again?  Most likely NOT because once you have read it, you would gain nothing more by reading it again.  As I continue reading Volume 3, I may use Volumes 1 and 2 as a reference.

Would I give it as a gift?  Another great question.  For most people, probably not.  For people who I know that would have an interest in its content, absolutely.

The Sands of Time Volume 1 - WOW111

 

SANDS OF TIME Volume 1

Written by Sean-David Morton

Reviewed by Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, August 4, 2023

DISCLAIMER:  If you are like me and believe that life exists beyond what we have on Earth, this book is for you.  If you don’t believe life exists beyond Earth, this book could be for you as a 100 percent book of fiction.  To me the book is best described as fiction based upon historical facts, known places and known historical people, if that makes any sense to you.

My interest in reading this book was a result of watching an interview with the author, Sean-David Morton.  During the interview the book was referenced as were the later volumes of the book that followed Sands of Time, Volume 1.  In all honesty, I did not know what I was getting into when I ordered the book. 

I was blown away just reading the first 24 chapters.  It is a lengthy book and I found myself riveted to reading it instead of doing other things that needed to be done; it is that interesting and that compelling of a book. The book is filled with references to events, places, and people throughout history that I was aware of including Germany in WWII.   The book begins in the 1950s but refers to events that took place during WWII.  You know that FACTS are mentioned and they are intertwined into the narrative the pulsates throughout the book.  You are never quite sure where the facts end and fiction begins if it is fiction at all, you just don’t know.  There are sections that involve scientific explanations and to someone like myself, they would be considered complex and to be honest, over my head to understand.  Still, the word plausible comes to mind meaning that the explanations and theories described all seem like they could be plausible because they are wrapped in events and places that you now are true.

The book is over 400 pages long and I don’t typically read a book of that length very quickly.  I read it in less than 3 days as I could barely put the book down plus it just read very quickly and I raced to see what was going to happen in the next chapter. 

Caution.  There are currently 3 books in the series with a 4^th book that I understand is coming soon.  I was so impressed with Volume 1; I have already purchased Volumes 2 and 3 feeling assured that they too will be as interesting and riveting as Volume1 has been.

As a teaser, consider these subjects all contained in Volume 1.  WWII, Nazi Germany, missing German Nazi Officers/Scientists, the German development of The Bell, Operation Paperclip, Los Alamos, Area 51, captured alien space craft, time travel, space holes, Roswell, Majestic 12, aliens, and even sex.  How could you go wrong reading this book.

Who should read this book?  That’s a great question.  Anyone that wants an exciting read and who is prepared and willing to read at least two more books in the series.  As I said, I read this 400-page book in just 3 days and I am not a speed reader.

Would I read it again?  Most likely NOT because once you have read it, you would gain nothing more by reading it again.  As I continue reading Volumes 2 and 3, I may use Volume 1 as a reference.

Would I give it as a gift?  Another great question.  For most people, probably not.  For people who I know that would have an interest in its content, absolutely.

Why I Own a gun!

WHY I OWN A GUN!

Author Unknown (pity)

Posted by Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, August 4, 2023

My father said to me,
“Son, there comes a time in every man's life
when he stops bustin' knuckles and starts bustin' caps and
usually it's when he becomes too old
to take a whoopin.”

I don't own a gun to kill people.
I own a gun to keep from being killed.

I don't carry a gun to scare people.
I carry a gun because sometimes this world can be a scary place.

I don't own a gun because I'm paranoid.
I own a gun because there are real threats in the world..

I don't own a gun because I'm evil.
I own a gun because I have lived long enough to see the evil in the
world.

I don't own a gun because I hate the government.
I own a gun because I understand the limitations of government.

I don't carry a gun because I'm angry.
I carry a gun so that I don't have to spend the rest of my life hating
myself for failing to be prepared.

I don't carry a gun because I want to shoot someone.
I carry a gun because I want to die at a ripe old age in my bed, and
not on a sidewalk somewhere tomorrow afternoon.

I don't carry a gun because I'm a cowboy.
I carry a gun because, when I die and go to heaven,
I do want to be a cowboy.

I don't own a gun to make me feel like a man.
I own a gun because men know how to take care
of themselves and the ones they love.

I don't carry a gun because I feel inadequate.
I carry a gun because unarmed and
facing three armed thugs, I am inadequate.

I don't carry a gun because I love it.
I carry a gun because I love life and
the people who make it meaningful to me.

Police protection is an oxymoron.
Free citizens must protect themselves.

Police do not protect you from crime,
they usually just investigate the crime
after it happens and
then call someone in to clean up the mess.

Personally, I carry a gun because I'm too young to die and too old to take a whoopin'.....author unknown (but obviously brilliant)
*************************

A LITTLE GUN HISTORY

In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control. From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves,
were rounded up and exterminated.
------------------------------

In 1911, Turkey established gun control.
From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians,
unable to defend themselves,
were rounded up and exterminated.
------------------------------

Germany established gun control in 1938
and from 1939 to 1945,
a total of 13 million Jews and others
who were unable to defend themselves
were rounded up and exterminated.
------------------------------

China established gun control in 1935.
From 1948 to 1952,
20 million political dissidents,
unable to defend themselves,
were rounded up and exterminated
------------------------------

Guatemala established gun control in 1964.
From 1964 to 1981,
100,000 Mayan Indians,
unable to defend themselves,
were rounded up and exterminated.
---- ------------- -------------

Uganda established gun control in 1970.
From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians,
unable to defend themselves,
were rounded up and exterminated.
------------------------------

Cambodia established gun control in 1956.
From 1975 to 1977, one million educated people, unable to defend
themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
-----------------------------

Defenseless people rounded up and exterminated in the 20th Century because of gun control: 56 million; repeat 56 MILLION!
------------------------------
You won't see this data on the US evening news, or hear politicians
disseminating this information.

Guns in the hands of honest citizens save lives and property and,
yes, gun-control laws adversely affect only the law-abiding citizens.

Take note my fellow Americans, before it's too late!

The next time someone talks in favor of gun control, please remind them of this history lesson.

With guns, we are 'citizens'.
Without them, we are 'subjects'.

During WWII the Japanese decided not to invade America because they knew that most Americans were ARMED!

If you value your freedom, please spread this anti-gun-control message to all of your friends.

The purpose of fighting is to win.
There is no possible victory in defense.
The sword is more important than the shield, and
skills are more important than either.
The final weapon is the brain.
All else is supplemental.

SWITZERLAND ISSUES EVERY HOUSEHOLD A GUN!
SWITZERLAND'S GOVERNMENT TRAINS EVERY ADULT THEY ISSUE A RIFLE TO.  SWITZERLAND HAS THE LOWEST GUN RELATED CRIME RATE OF ANY CIVILIZED COUNTRY IN THE WORLD!!

I'm a firm believer in the 2nd Amendment!

If you are too, please forward.