Sunset

Hardware

7/6/01

"I'll update early next week, if not before..."   What vanity!

I went from Boston to an amazing weekend in Los Angeles.  An organization called IBI (Income Builders International) gives a kind of Entrepeneurial Boot Camp--a very intense course targeted on how to make money from your dreams, what you love.  The focus is on cooperation, not competition, and the atmosphere there was fantastic.  Diana and her two boys were attending (they have a knockout program for Teens that raises their self-respect and maturity several years in one week).  I would have been there too, except for the Boston trip that was planned many months in advance and couldn't be changed.  So I'm going to the next one in August--watch this space.  Info is on www.ibi.org if you are interested, but I don't think the web site really reflects how wonderful a feeling you get being there.

I met some wonderful people, and was introduced to some wonderful ideas.  I got some dynamite feedback on the book that Sam and I are writing--how to retarget it so that it will appeal more broadly.  And I got another book idea!  It was most incredible--the idea grew, and then I came home and dreamed about it.  In the dream, I was working out the details of the book.  I woke up and wrote down what I dreamed, and continued to work out the ideas.  The next night, I dreamed again, and worked out some more of it.  And wrote down some more the next day.  And another night and day, the same thing, until the outline was essentially complete.  Then I had a dream about raising money to get the book published!  I can only conclude that my conscious and unconscious minds are pretty much in synch about this idea!

I would have loved to sit down and write nonstop, but my computer wouldn't turn on when I got home.  Or, more properly said, it wouldn't turn off!  I pressed the power button (I'd powered it down when I was gone) and the power light lit.  But nothing else happened.  When I pressed the off button again, it didn't turn off!  I had to hold the button down for 10 seconds to get it to power down.  But then it still didn't work.

I had a nice talk with the Compaq customer service, and he ended up by sending me a new mother board, which came complete with instructions on how to change the motherboard and a cute little Compaq screwdriver.  Of course, the instructions didn't really apply to the model I had, and the screwdriver did not appear to fit any screw in the system.  But by squinting enough and displaying some common sense, I was able to get the old board out and the new one in.  It worked!  I also have everything plugged into my new $200 UPS system, since I suspect that our country flaky power was part of the cause of the problem.

I got home to a foot of mail, including a couple of surprising bills.  One was a phone bill that was $100 more than last month, entirely due to my calling my ISP.  The number I was using turned out to be a toll call.  I've set it up so that I use a number that appears to be OK--I'll know for sure next month.  Also, I got my first rate-hiked PG&E bill, and this too was $100 over last month.

The stock that I was planning to live on is totally in the toilet--it's 1/3 of what it was when I retired, which in turn is 1/4 of what it was after the IPO.  So I think the Universe is telling me to get off my butt and go back to work.  It's pretty discouraging.  It's not that I mind that much going to work now.  I just wanted there to be a nest egg when I really retire.  I have enough cash for a couple more months of playing.  I'm going to a three-day leadership conference in a couple of weeks, and then another week in LA at a powerful personal growth seminar.  IBI in August, and Hawaii in Sept.  By then I should be good and broke, and will come back ready to work!

Thank you for reading.

Copyright © 2001 Pete Stevens. All rights reserved.

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