Looks like July 2015 was about the last time I was on here until today, so here's some of the adventures I got up to.
July 2015 proposed to my now wife, we bought a 1950's house and I developed a love for fixing things and working with tools, and I started investing in Stocks on my own (outside of a 401k)
July 2016, married, expensive custody battle with my first wife, after dropping $56,000 on attorney fees I ultimately lost. Bought a tailored suit, focused on making real $$$. Eventually get hired to manage a Credit Union in Northcentral WI.
July 2017, Pay is good but not much else, stayed in touch at my old job, they reach out with a 40% pay increase to come back to my old job. Tailored suit still fits. Get elected president of my local Elks Lodge.
July 2018, Work is easy, I embrace improving the elks lodge and increasing membership, drinks are plentiful, many home repair projects.
July 2019, Work still easy, basically never leave town because I work the weekends that I don't have my daughter, next guy takes over president at the Elks, he makes me look good by making unneccesary changes and continuing my membership initiatives. I start doing Twitch, get into Factorio, Stellaris, and a few other games.
July 2020, Covid is in full swing, ex uses Covid as an excuse to prevent my kid from visiting, another court battle via zoom ultimately ends with 'video visitation' for me, I get very sucked in to woodworking after my grandfather passes and I inherit all of his tools (was a shop teacher and had pretty much everything you would need to make fine furniture) I begin a woodworking project with my daughter to make her a small dresser for her American Girl Dolls' clothes. I look forward to my calls with her, and her helping with the design, paint colors, picking out hardware, etc. It gives me an excuse to leave the house and go to Lowes a few times a week to walk around and 'feel normal'
July 2021, wife and I have a baby girl, I use my paternity leave time to secure a low rate mortgage, we buy a new house with more space, I get wife's blessing to get into investment properties, I meet with others in my area who are interested in real estate and wind up forming a partnership with a licensed electrician, we commit to starting a business and register an LLC, we each contribute 200 bucks a week to the business account while we look for properties.
January 2022, I get covid, and sent out on 2 week leave at work, get called by a headhunter to see if I'd be interested in being an Ag Lender, after my quarantine period I interview and get hired at a 50% pay increase, I give notice and my last day of work I get a call that we've got an accepted offer on our first investment property, a duplex, we end up also putting an offer on a triplex and getting that one at a discount because the seller wanted to exchange it into a larger apartment complex.
July 2022, we have major water intrusion into the duplex, wind up digging a 3' deep trench mostly by hand around the building before laying gravel and Drain tile and re-grading the entire lot. Use up all my vacation time for the year at my new job on that.
Feb 2023, We purchase a single family home from a woman who is facing foreclosure after a divorce, she stays on as our tenant with an option to buy-back for 15% more than we paid. I quit drinking.
Apr 2024, another baby, my 3rd daughter, I take 16 weeks of paternity leave, get a pinched nerve in my neck, and lose the use of my hands intermittently leading to excessive dr appointments, poking, prodding, etc. Purchase another rental property in October.
Feb 2025, as part of all the medical issues, doctor has me do some testing with a psychiatrist, get diagnosed with ADHD, PTSD, Depression, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and substance abuse (although I was nearly 2 years sober at this point). Learning about ADHD and starting medication for that has mostly improved the depression and the Generalized Anxiety stuff.
July 2025, Buncle asks me to get on his forum and spam it up...
6 new categories and 72 new items added to the shop!
