Twisted Fingers

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Tom Trimbath

A friend asked me to cross my fingers and arms and legs and toes if possible. She had a surprise job interview. If she got the job she’d go from struggling single mom to single mom making just shy of six figures within days. Having friends in the right places helps. Readers and friends have said that they are doing the same for me. They’re crossing whatever they have available as they hope something good happens to me and my finances. It’s been over a year now. Some of them must be getting cramped appendages. Each morning I wake and remind myself of the positive possibilities. Something grand is bound to happen, if for no other reason than so all those fingers can relax again.

My fingers and toes aren’t crossed. It is hard to type with crossed fingers. I’m on the move so much that I’d trip if I crossed my toes. Internally there are a lot of tangles though. Long before I started looking for a job I started fishing for opportunities. A recent comment from a friend with their own set of lines and active appendages helped me reframe those lines as backup plans. I am more organized than I knew. Some of those plans have been going on for months, others for years. One of my strengths if perseverance. It is how I bicycled across America, completed a three year narrative of nature in Washington’s Cascades, completed a five year photo essay of Whidbey Island, and walked across Scotland.


Unfortunately, so far, that hasn’t been enough. My apparent net worth continues to shrink. The rate has decreased because of my frugal lifestyle and my consulting, teaching, and art endeavours. They may all combine to counter the slide and lead back to a thriving life. Consulting alone can provide such an income, and be that job that I enjoy so much that I’d do it even if I wasn’t paid. Teaching and speaking can do that too, but it involves finding people and places off the island. Feel free to pass along suggestions. Art can create wonders; and my books and digital photography can provide more than enough passive income if word of mouth spreads the word and creates a wave of sales.

(Writers can appreciate what just happened. I hadn’t intended to list all of those positive possibilities, but they just flowed out; probably because I practice thinking of them every morning. )

There’s a similarly long mantra of collaborations. Every job application carries the same hopes. So does every lottery ticket. And I’m aware that serendipity happens in unexpected ways. I know of a few folks with imminent windfalls.

My boosterism is necessary, especially as I am reminded of the wealth around me, and my financial obligations. Ads have become laughable. Really, will buying that new car or using a moisturizer really be the thing that makes my life better? Gee, I thought it would be making a mortgage payment on time, or getting the septic system pumped. I feel a pang when I see remodeling in the neighborhood, review the plans I had to renovate my home, and realize that I’ve decided not to afford the lumber to fix a window frame.

My life has always been frugal, and now I have an even finer appreciation for what is important to me. My morning mediations are done under the covers. I recalled a friend who said they wake every day in fear. I’d come to understand that, and feel that. Then I realized that where I was was warm, safe, and comfortable. My body was more relaxed than it had been the night before. The twitches and back spasms always subsided in the night. For those few minutes before my work ethic got me out of bed, I was in an environment that couldn’t be improved with money. Companionship, yes. Money, no. (Pity those two are somewhat related.)

I now carry that realization throughout the day. As I type this, more money would change the bills that are waiting to be paid, because they’d be paid; the house would be in better shape, because I’d paid for the work; and well, there’s undoubtedly more, but they don’t come to mind. The house is warm enough. I’m dressed comfortably enough. I enjoyed my breakfast. The computer and the internet connection would be the same. I like this desk and am fine with this chair. My neighborhood is quiet and I expect to meet a friend for a rare lunch after I ride into Langley on the free bus. With a few hundred thousand dollars more life would be the nearly the same. I know. That’s the life I led two years ago.

Society makes me aware of what I lack. I remind myself of what I have. Advertisers, pundits, and politicians won’t do that. I must do that for myself.

Some interesting synchronicities have arisen in the last few weeks. I thank the universe for serendipities even if they don’t seem to make sense in this world. They may all be building to something wonderful and grand that I can’t imagine. Strange things happen every day.

Ping. The email sings. Pardon me as hope rises and I step away from typing to check what arrived.

Oh nothing. It’s an email from a fascinating company. I applied for a job there, got turned down, and ended up on their email newsletter. Great work folks. Wish I was there to help you.

I thank everyone who is crossing fingers, toes, and limbs as they hope I find a solution to my financial situation. It is touching, and I realize you may feel frustration too because you see the most you can do is to cross your fingers. The thoughts and prayers are appreciated.

Like I said, my fingers and toes are too busy to keep crossed. After my fingers type this I’ll use my toes to walk the 1.6 miles to the bus. And maybe that walk will help me unknit my furrowed brow and unclench my jaw. My finger and toe muscles may not be knotted but other muscles seem to be taking their place. Fortunately, it’s a pleasant walk through a forest and along the bay. It’s fall. The rain has stopped. (We’re supposed to get an inch or two.) The wind has calmed. (It wasn’t a hurricane but it was windy enough to shred the leaves from the trees.) The colored leaves are scattered making sure every view has a pointilist’s attention to detail.

I’m heading to lunch to check in on a friend and our collaboration. Who knows what will happen? Well, you will – if you stay tuned. Cross your fingers.

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Minimalism Meets A Carport Sale

Posted on October 27, 2012 by Tom Trimbath

 

Wind, rain, a few degrees within fifty degrees, and I’m having a carport sale. Not the best timing, but finances suggest I should do this. (Almost Everything Must Go) I’m certainly not doing this because I want to do this. Yet, there’s a good feeling of release as I put out things that I haven’t used in years. I’m a minimalist though, so there isn’t much. It will be an interesting day. I will chronicle it like I did with the Open Studio Tour because it is Saturday and I blog on Saturday. Welcome along on the ride.

7am
Breakfast first. Glad I took a shower last night. Now it is time to walk around the neighborhood putting up cardboard signs in the rain. Ah, Western Washington in October.

What a messy day. Signs deployed. One broke and I didn’t have a backup, so that effort got scaled back. The sign got reassigned closer to home because I don’t have the time, or another person helping out, to get it to where I originally intended. Being six miles from the highway has it’s drawbacks. (Geographically Desirable Or Not)

Time to add the more delicate items to the collection of hardier goods that mostly survived outside in the carport last night.

8am
The carport is filling, but it simultaneously looks full and yet not as filled as most garage sales.

Lighter items try to skitter out of the carport on the wind. Whoa!

Pricing. I’ll put a sign for $40 at the front of the carport, and $1 at the back and stage things based on price, which will be negotiated anyway. I rarely go to garage sales so I have very little experience with this.

Oh yeah, and put more flyers in the For Sale sign. You know my house is for sale, right? (Home For Sale Alas)

Each event, every post is advertising and possible revenues. That’s true of life. Every moment, each person we encounter, every choice we make tells the world a bit about us, and gives the world the opportunity to compensate, recompense, give us value for how we’ve lived.

My head went there because I was thinking of how much I could make, and how little some garage sales bring in. If I sold nothing that I placed in the carport, but someone bought the house, the carport sale was worth the effort. If I meet someone that hires me for my services, either as a consultant or an employee, then the carport sale was worth it. If I sell a lot of stuff that I wasn’t using anyway, and that can find other more productive uses, then the carport sale was worth it. If I sell enough to pay the mortgage, well then, the carport sale was definitely worth it. Who knows? Stay tuned. Oh yeah, you’re reading this after the sale is over and I’ve posted this. You can skip ahead. I can’t.

9am-ish
Of course the early birds sweep in a few minutes before opening. I’m here. I’ll sell you something. The coveted bike stand ($40) went first. Then a handful of items. One person came in just because she saw the signs. So, that effort was useful.

Fifteen minutes later they’re all gone.

What and why am I selling? That question is asked with every piece. Everything arrives for a reason: need, want, gift, dreams, history. I just sold a bunch of bicycle tools that I can’t identify. Surely they’d be useful for maintaining my bicycle, but I’ve had them for over seven years without a single use. I won’t sell heirlooms or career momentos – yet. But last night I did find some shirts that I’d put aside for sentimental reasons, and decided that those memories weren’t as powerful anymore. The logos on those polo shirts probably don’t mean anything to anyone else. They just came out of the box and are in the closet, or will be after I wash them.

Metric: It took a day or two to set this up, and will probably take about a day to take down, unless everything sells. Each day’s living expenses are about $100 – $150. Sound like a lot? Take your yearly expenses. Divide by 365. What do you get? If your household income is $73,000 before taxes, and you don’t manage to save or increase your debt, then you living expenses are about $200 per day. That’s a nice hotel room. So, for every $100 I basically earn one day’s expenses. Years of accumulation, metered out.

Well, I’m not going to type continuously while no one’s here; at least not in this blog. I’ve got a book to work on. Hmm, this weather. Scotland. This might be a very appropriate time to work on that book.

Bags. Gotta remember to have bags, and change. Nothing less than a dollar though. Have you seen someone drop nickels and dimes into the “Leave a penny.” cup? Dollars are the new quarters regardless of standard measures of inflation.

10am
Drumming rain and no one since the first crowd. At least I’m getting work done on the book.

Internet data bit: Over 160 people read Almost Everything Must Go. So far 10 people have shopped. That’s better than my usual click-through rate. My blog and web sites get lots of traffic, but the click through rate is less than 1% and the buy rate is necessarily less than that. Of course, indirect sales may make up the difference. Like I said on one of my posters; “The past and the future are ideals. The present is real, and messy.” (Available as cards, mugs, and tote bags over on smugmug. Can you tell I am in a selling mood today?)

Well, this is quiet enough I might as well bake cookies. (Gluten-free oatmeal raisin)

11am
No one has interrupted my baking session.

Cookies in the oven. Time to clean the beaters.

11:28 is someone actually showing up? Yes, but they sped up as they drove past.

Cool. Got a call for the camping hammock. What am I asking again? Gotta come up with a number.

Hmm, cookies.

Noon
– and no one since 9:30-ish.

If something doesn’t sell, does that mean the universe wants me to keep it? Follow that logic. If I can’t get a job, does that mean the universe thinks I don’t need one? If the house doesn’t sell, does that mean I don’t have to move? Taken far enough, this creates an interesting, and appealing, scenario. Maybe I get to live here, don’t need a job, and don’t have to sell my stuff. Throw in an appealing way to sustain, maintain, or even thrive, and this can be very nice.

As I type this a great blue heron is hunting in the vacant lot across the street. They do little but sit and wait, and they don’t always wait where we expect them to. They primarily eat fish, but on stormy days they retreat to the fields and eat rodents. (A neighbor watched one spear a rat, fling it into the air, and then swallow it as it came back down. It wasn’t elegant, but it was effective.) They are patient and adaptable and willing to be unconventional. Okay. I can take a hint.

1pm
Pardon me as I whistle. There’s nothing going on. The weather abated awhile ago, but evidently that isn’t enough. Maybe they’ll show after their lunch. I ate mine an hour ago.

Another car drove up and kept going. Maybe I need a bigger sign, or more people, or more stuff. But I’m a minimalist, so more stuff isn’t going to happen. More people, well, that would probably be the case before Labor Day.

2pm
Yay, a sale! They drove by first, then while they turned around I made a new sign. It turns out that she has one of my books on her night stand (Twelve Months at Merritt Lake) and she was buying a piece of camping equipment I used and wrote about in Twelve Months at Lake Valhalla. A nice sale, and visit, and introduction. Her son got creative with some of the pieces and created a laughing, grim, alien reaper costume. Awesome.

A congenial lookie-loo in a Cadillac. No sale but a gentlemanly smile.

Time for more tea.

3pm
A fellow writer dropped by with her husband. They left with a laundry rack, and left me with a few dollars, homemade applesauce, and encouragement. He found a job after years of searching, and it was by luck and networking. It can happen any time.

Two drivebys, including one around, but neither stopped.

4pm
The final hour. Cue dramatic music.

Another driveby.

This feels a lot like the Open Studio Tour, though not as intense. Publicity was involved. And there’s also a public element too. Here’s my life. During the Tour, “Here’s what I have created.” During a carport sale, “Here’s what I’ve accumulated.” The day isn’t over yet, but the profit per day is about the same. That’s not exactly an incentive to create.

With selling art, things that are worth very little are turned into something that has greater value, artistically and financially. The markups are nice, but there’s a lot of sunk costs in unsold inventory.
With selling stuff, things that cost a lot are sold for very little, and there’s a lot of unsold inventory. The markdowns are unfortunate, and while the release feels good, subtraction has a limit.
I’d rather make money by selling my art than by selling my stuff, especially if they are equally profitable.

Quick, a spot of meditation while things are quiet enough to hear a car pull up.

Already sorting what comes back into the house and what goes into the car. There will be a trip to the donation station early next week. The spiders may be pleased to get some of their former lodgings returned.

Hey, a car drove up at five minutes before the hour! They stopped! They got out! And then they picked up a flyer for the house. Well, that sale can eclipse whatever I have going on in the carport. Buy the carport and the house too.

One step in the Nine-Step Program championed by New Road Map Foundation and Your Money Or Your Life is to estimate your net worth, including the value of everything you own. I’ve done that, and used garage sale estimates, but that assumed that everything sold. I’ve witnessed a sobering caveat. Not everything sells.

Chicken soup is simmering on the stove. I’ll want comfort food after I get back from pulling in the signs.

5pm
That’s it. Like I said above, maybe the universe doesn’t want me to get rid of my worldly possessions. Glad to have you back. And glad to send the other pieces off into the world, some for a fee and some for free.

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My Jobs Report Month 14

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Tom Trimbath

Fourteen. What an anniversary. Fourteen months of applying, hoping, re-evaluating, trying other venues, updating resumes, trying to remember passwords for dozens of job sites, and following leads with a blend of enthusiasm and restraint. What’s an aerospace engineer, consultant, entrepreneur, and volunteer to do?
“Do… or do not. There is no try.” – Yoda, The Empire Strikes Back
Let’s check what I’ve done and see what I should do.

What I’ve done is partly that long list in the opening paragraph’s longest sentence. The details are in the previous months’ job reports. (See links below.) Looking for jobs isn’t simply filling out forms and waiting for offers. Job sites make job searches sound methodical. Companies, insert your requirements here. Applicants, insert your qualifications here. Stand back while we sort through millions of database records and match up jobs with people. Maybe it works that way somewhere, but everyone I know that’s found a job got help by gaming the system or getting help from a person. Job searches rely far less on fancy stationery and interview suits, but they continue to rely on conforming, networking, perseverance, and luck. Hey, I’m flexible, have a broad community of friends, and am known for persistence; am I only lacking luck? Of course, maybe the luck I had was bad and life will improve as the good luck arrives.

When you keep trying the same thing and it doesn’t have the desired effect, do something different. So, I rewrote my resume (Links below.) starting with a blank file and suggestions from friends, commenters on the blog, and the reddit community. One friend was nice enough to post My Jobs Report Month 13 on reddit, which spiked my traffic to record levels, and produced a very public review of my resume. Two things were apparent. One, I have an impressive career history. Two, readers had to sort through a lot to make sense of it. Now my resume headlines my three main careers: aerospace engineer, consultant, and entrepreneur; and adds a slice of my volunteer work. Maybe they’re right. Maybe shifting the words around the page will somehow make a difference to the resume bots or the Personnel people. Maybe simply making my plight and resume public will produce results.

The main thing that hasn’t happened has been getting positive responses from companies. That’s one step before getting a phone interview, which is one step before getting an onsite interview, which is possibly many steps before getting a job offer and a paycheck. In fourteen months I’ve only had one interview for a full time job. I was called in because they were impressed with my resume and wanted to meet someone like me. They were pretty sure I couldn’t do the specific job they wanted to talk about, but they thought it would be interesting to meet me. Thanks for the compliment? At least I got in the door that time.

All of the other interviews have been for part-time work, none of which included benefits or would pay enough to keep my house and pay my bills. I live frugally and, until I voluntarily resigned to spend more time looking for a paying job, was Board Secretary for a non-profit personal finance foundation (New Road Map, aka FinancialIntegrity.org). I know money, can get by on very little, and marvel at how anyone can be expected to live comfortably in America at entry wages. Some of the jobs I’m looking at now pay about the same as I made as a part-time general laborer in a steel mill outside Pittsburgh in 1977. Last time I checked we went through a bit of inflation in the last 35 years.

Political commentaries talk jobs and economy. I’ve had people on both sides try to convince me to vote their way because of what their party can do for me. What they can do for me is nothing. Any jobs legislation, stimulus package, or financial support is probably a year away if the parties decide to act mature. Extrapolating my declining net worth crosses the axis long before that, possibly right around the Inauguration. People in crisis don’t need legislation. Legislation during this crisis aids people in the next crisis. The only relief I’ve witnessed was the comic relief of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.

Conventional wisdom was that a person should have six months of living expenses saved in case they lost their means of making money and had to find a job. Until August 2011, I considered myself semi-retired because I had about eight or ten years of living expenses, and had reason to believe that I’d soon have enough to consider myself retired. Frugal living and long term investing have their benefits. But bad luck happens, and again, and again, and again. In August 2011 I watched my net worth drop 50%. After that it dropped again and again, while I also had to sell stock to pay bills. Six stocks in my portfolio are down 80%-90% and attrition from paying bills means my portfolio is down over 95%. It’s hard for a portfolio to recover from such a drop, but I’m an optimist. Granted, that optimism has been tested and my expectations diminished, but some optimism remains.

Imagine how many people didn’t have such reserves and encountered bad luck. My bad luck was financial. Others have had accidents, foreclosures, medical emergencies, all the injustices of life. They’re probably not waiting on election results either.

I continue to apply for jobs, and I also continue to pursue other plans. I think I listed about a half-dozen in a previous post. (Links below.) One plan shows up as two elements in my resume: consultant and entrepreneur. My passion for people and ideas may become that “job that I’d be willing to do for free if I didn’t need the money.” The same can be said for aerospace, fostering innovation, facilitating major projects, or getting to work with fun people; but, it may turn out that the job that hires me is the job that I create. So far it hasn’t succeeded in making a mortgage payment, but it could. So far applying for jobs hasn’t succeeded either. So far I’ve had savings and a credit card to help me get through. But so far can only go on so long.

For now, the sun is shining. The room is warming without burning propane. After I post this I’ll start cooking a chicken soup from a chicken broth I made last night. In an odd quirk of frugality, rather than buy box wine I’m opening the bottles that I bought years ago for special events. Last night I opened a Trimbach Pinot Gris from 2002. I’ve always wondered if there’s a family connection. Maybe a long lost rich relative needs to hire a consultant for a few weeks. The winery is in Alsace in France. I could do that.

Stay tuned.

Here’s the collected links. I decided to group them here in case anyone wants to pass along the main text without hyperlinks. It’s worth a try.

Resume
My Jobs Report Month 9
My Jobs Report Month 11
My Jobs Report Month 12
My Jobs Report Month 13
Backup Plans
New Road Map
Reddit
Trimbach Winery

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Almost Everything Must Go

Posted on October 21, 2012 by Tom Trimbath

Everything must go, eventually. In the meantime, let’s see how much can go this weekend. I’ve never had a garage sale, so I’ll try something similar: a carport sale. My finances are not fading as quickly as before, but that’s not good enough. Selling things I rarely use, or that are backed up by something else, can at least raise some cash to help hurdle another month’s bills. The challenge is that I am a minimalist. What do I have to sell?

Saturday, October 27th, 2012 I will have a carport sale. I spent a few hours this afternoon opening drawers, chasing away spiders, and reviewing everything I own to decide what to sell at this first event. Selling everything this first time was a goal, but I found that I’m not emotionally ready to go that far. But still, the couch can go, because I have a futon bed/sofa too. The fancy kitchenware can go because the cheap cast iron can cook almost all of the same meals. Spare electronics, duplicate garden tools, extra laundry racks, replacement bicycle parts, and some floor lamps are a good start. Totaled they cost thousands. If they all sell on Saturday I might get hundreds. That’s the nature of such sales. That’s also about the same as my health insurance premium.

I have an advantage sorting through my stuff. Decades ago I followed the nine-step personal finance program described in Your Money Or Your Life. One of the steps, (step 1?) includes inventorying everything I owned. Pick up every item, don’t just glance at it. Write it down. Remember what it cost. Guess how much I can sell it for. It took days. And then days again, because I’ve done it more than once. There are few surprises as I walk around the house.

One of the consequences of the inventory exercise was to be conscious of purchases. It made me much less likely to buy another one of – whatever. The minimalist in me liked that. I live in a small house (868 square feet) and have empty shelves. Storage has not been a problem. The spaciousness is appreciated. Temporary projects don’t have to clutter the middle of the room. They can be put away if necessary and are less likely to be forgotten.

It isn’t perfectly pristine. I just came across a bunch of candle making supplies (and subsequently made a candle), and found a bunch of packing material that would’ve been handy during the Open Studio Tour, but at least everything was within reach during today’s perusal. Now there’s a temporary cluster of clutter in the living room and in the carport as I collect the candidates. But that is temporary.

Many garage sales are getting rid of excess stuff. The American consumer economy fuels garage sales. I didn’t think I had any excess stuff, but now that I look around, I see things that haven’t been used and boxes that haven’t been opened in years. If you read yesterday’s post you know that I helped a friend who is moving into house that is less than one fourth the size of mine. Definitely an inspirational experience. The tiny house movement is gaining momentum. If they can get by with so little, what else can I get rid of?

The decision to sell has been emotional. As if this blog wasn’t public enough, a carport sale is an open admission that I haven’t been able to raise enough cash from my investments, my business, a job, or by selling my house. The act of reviewing my possessions has also been emotional in a good way. I’m glad to see that my life isn’t filled with clutter. I’m glad to see that I am able to take a positive step. I’m also tickled to realize that this may be one more way to get people to look at buying my house. (Home For Sale Alas). The Open Studio Tour brought in one visit. Maybe this will too. And it only takes one visit.

I feel that this sale represents the end of an era. Each item sold frees me a bit more to move onto a new life. Each item sold may also help someone else in some aspect of their life.

Another realization is that, except for the gifts and handmade artwork, almost everything can be replaced. Sur La Table continues to sell kitchenware. Radio Shack sells electronics. Home improvement stores sell almost everything else that I might sell. If my financial situation dramatically improves, I’ll be able to buy new and improved replacements.

Or not. I might find that I don’t need what I sold. If my house sells I might find myself living in something much smaller, maybe even a sailboat. Furniture won’t be useful then.

I’m taking this one step at a time. That’s one reason the New Road Map Nine Step program works. Take one step at a time. I’ll let a few things go, for an appropriate amount of course. Then I’ll see where I stand. Then I’ll take the next step. A lot can happen between each step. My portfolio can recover. My business may maintain and even gain momentum. (The consulting and speaking aspects are gratifying.) I might get a good job, one that I enjoy that pays me well too. My house might sell, or not.

Almost everything must go, and in life, eventually everything does go (until we get that immortality treatment perfected.) Things may go. And then we’ll see where I must go.

Stay tuned.

In the meantime, for those in the neighborhood, here’s a partial list of what’s for sale.

  • Couch (I can always use my futon/sofa.)
  • Brazier (Cast iron works good too.)
  • Turkey Deep Fry Stock Pot (I never used it. It came with the propane burner I’m hanging on to.)
  • Mini-Cuisinart (I’ve got bigger and smaller so the middle one goes.)
  • Games (Scrabble, Robo Rally) (There are plenty of other games that are smaller.)
  • Laundry Racks (Got a dryer.)
  • Metal Bed Frame (Left in the attic by the previous owner.)
  • Table Lamp (I don’t use it.)
  • Floor Lamps (I use them but I’d prefer other ones.)
  • Clock (I don’t use it.)
  • Phone (It’s a spare.)
  • Computer Speakers including woofer (That desktop PC went away.)
  • Picture Frames (Old and dusty and don’t fit with the ones I use for my photos.)
  • Bicycle Shop Stand (Very handy, but I’ve worked on my bicycle on the side of the road too.)
  • Camping Hammock with rainfly (I exceed its weight limit.)
  • Extendable Pruner (The covenants declare that I can’t have a tree over 14 feet tall.)
  • Leaf Rake (Duplicate.)

and

  • An assortment of cables, wires, light bulbs, (because they are inevitable)

and of course

  • Stuff. (Because I am human.)
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The Joy Of Helping

Posted on October 20, 2012 by Tom Trimbath

Allow me to state the obvious. Helping is fun. Politics turns help into a pawn, and loads helping others with baggage by judging actions, motivations, incentives, and consequences. It’s almost dinner time and I’m going to eat late so I can write this post. This Saturday has been a day of help and fun and no judgement. The world can be as simple as that.

This morning I taught my Modern Self-Publishing class. (Here’s the book in case you missed the class.) Yes, I do that as a business venture. I charge for the class. Originally I charged because people recognize value when something is valued. Free concerts are overlooked and walked past because the only fee is an open instrument case or an upturned hat. If you haven’t read the story of Joshua Bell in the subway, well, here’s a link that reveals human nature. A master musician who can fill a concert hall made less than the price of one ticket when he gave the music away for free. Whoa, that was a digression. I’m not suggesting that my class is that valuable. Maybe it is, but I’ll get to that later. My point was that I charge for the class, but originally I taught it for free because I enjoy teaching. My passions are people and ideas, and helping people further their ideas by introducing them to other ideas is a joy. Of course, now my financial story is different as regular readers know, so I charge.

While teaching the class I watched one of the students light up. After the first hour she interrupted to tell me that the class was far better than she expected, that I should be charging $150 not $60, and that she’d enjoy helping me teach it off-island where she was confident there would be a larger audience. To me, she looked like her joy was more from the opportunity to help someone else (me) than it was at having found a good deal. Quite a few times she mentioned that “We’ll talk.” Sounds good to me.

I was disappointed when class was over and they had to get on with their days and I had to clean up and lock up the rental space. I was having fun, but it was time to move onto something else.

You see, a friend of mine is building a tiny house and I wanted to help. My construction skills are, hmm, underdeveloped; but I’m over six foot tall, willing to lend a hand, and am a photographer. If she needed a hand or two, I could help that way. If she needed some photos for her blog, I could help there too. I’m happy to help because it is a joy to help a friend get something done, especially something vital like housing as the season progresses. By the time I left we’d moved in her futon, positioned the range, and I’d taken a few dozen interior shots. At the same time it was fun visiting and watching someone pursue a passion.

When I got home I was surprised to find a box filling my mailbox. A friend had put together a care package of homemade teas, soaps, and tinctures. He also threw in a couple of lottery tickets. That was sweet. It was also fun calling him up to say thank you. He’s a very self-aware guy, so I knew to trust him when he said, “Hey, don’t worry about it. I did it because I enjoyed doing it. It is fun to help a friend and I knew you’d appreciate it.” He’s a writer and was surprised to learn that Mark Twain wrote an essay based on the concept that every good deed is done for the donor’s benefit more than the recipient’s benefit. (What Is Man? – Mark Twain) I assured him that if I won the lottery jackpot with the tickets he’d at least get the dollar back.

Go Google “The Joy Of Giving” and stumble across more than enough research that shows the positive emotional benefits received by giving. It truly is better to give than receive. There’s an animation on YouTube that does a great job of showing that, but I took so long not finding it that I decided to skip the links before I lost the writer’s thread for this post.

Two separate friends have even based their financial work on giving. Dianne Juhl, the founder of Feminine Face of Money, and I have some wonderful email exchanges on the gifting economy and giftivism. (Stay tuned. We may publish them some day.) Mike Brady even worked giving into the title of his business: Generosity Wealth Management. There is a joy in helping people, and yes, in some ways, money can buy happiness.

I am an extreme moderate independent because I am sure that many of the solutions are in the middle that neither party pays attention to, but my stronger affiliation is apolitical. It looks like inside of politics help is judged, measured, manipulated, and exploited. I know that outside of politics I can daily witness people helping people because they want to, not because they have to. They give because it feels good, and it’s one thing that feels good that the doctor won’t complain about.

This blog is about my book, Dream. Invest. Live., which many interpret as money, money, money. A bit of that is appropriate because today’s society is strongly influenced by money. That’s something I am very aware of right now. But the basis of the book is more about Dream and Live. I find it encouraging to witness those episodes in life when people help people with their dreams and lives, and enjoying offering their help. Of course money can be involved, but we frequently celebrate a job when the person says. I’d do this for free because I enjoy it so much.” Every day we can give ourselves that job, and one way to help someone with that job is to say “Yes.” when they offer their help.

Thanks folks, I was glad to help, and glad for the help too. We’ll talk.

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Fresh Idea For Sale Sign Holder

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Tom Trimbath

 

Really? I’ve got to be the one to think these things up?

I’ve designed a sign holder that is less likely to attract bugs and is less likely to expose the paper inside to rain. My design is very similar to the existing design but it truncates the trough at the bottom, thereby providing less room for any bugs and less of a gutter for rain water to collect.

The For Sale Sign in front of my house (my house is for sale – Home For Sale Alas) is equipped with a box that holds flyers, sheets of paper with the pertinent details of the house sale. The box is slightly wider and taller than the sheets of paper. There is a lid on top that can be lifted to refill the flyer supply. There is a clear plastic front that is used to display one copy of the flyer. The clear plastic front is removable. It slides up and out of a pair of troughs in the side of the box. The front is inserted into the troughs and is restricted from falling through by another trough at the bottom of the box.

The problem is that the bottom trough therefore protrudes in front of the plastic front. As rain hits the front it runs down and collects in the trough thereby soaking into the bottoms of the flyers and wicking up the paper ultimately warping all of the pages. This trough also collects bugs that may linger because of the shelter and ready supply of water.

There are many solutions.

  • One simple solution is to make the trough much smaller by having two small troughs, more like tabs, on either end. There is less of a gutter and therefore less rain can collect.
  • One solution is to remove the trough and hold the front in place by other tabs, detents, or stops further up the front.
  • One solution is to make the bottom of the flyer tray higher than the trough.

I’ve seen many other box designs that solved the problem that usually a variant of totally enclosed boxes. But I am witness to a design that can be improved and therefore decided to take this opportunity to suggest improvements. Why? Because I can.

What am I going to do about it? I’ll probably just drop a little bar of plastic in there to lift the paper out of the water.

Why should I even post this? Because every day every one of us sees things that aren’t well designed. One way to improve the world is to improve those little annoyances in our lives. Some things will require a scrap bit of plastic. Some things will require hundreds of millions of dollars in testing and research. (The world needs better rockets.) Some things need nothing more than our voices and actions. So, while I hadn’t intended in writing myself into the political realm, I guess I’ll take this opportunity to encourage people to vote.

But first I’m going to fix that box.

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Renew New Road Map

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Tom Trimbath

 

My life is in transition, and therefore something must transit from my life. On Monday I formally resigned as Board Secretary of the New Road Map Foundation, a task I expected to last two years that I continued to do for three and a half. My various backup plans to retirement haven’t succeeded well enough – yet; so, I feel the need to step away from some non-profit, community work, and concentrate on for-profit personal work, whatever that may be. I’m aware of the irony that I’m stepping down from an organization that works to empower people to handle their own finances because my finances, which had been doing well enough two years ago, suddenly encountered an extraordinary string of (hmm, I won’t say bad luck) inauspicious events. Hopefully this brings good news, despite the appearance of bad, while also providing some opportunities.

New Road Map Foundation is the right organization with the right mission at the right time. Our civilization is passing through economic turmoil. Confidence in financial institutions and conventional wisdom has been eroded, possibly permanently. This is the time for an independent voice to clear a way through the confusion, reveal the core skills and principles that everyone can use, and provide each person a way for them to find their own path based on their values instead of someone else’s. New Road Map is one reservoir of resources that anyone can access for free, and even embraces a community of like-minded individuals who can share insight, advice, and support.

Enormous portions of the populace has recognized that the pre-packaged solutions were aimed at a mythical mainstream and frequently didn’t work with real individuals. The nuclear family in suburbia with one or two corporate paychecks and benefits and no surprising expenses rarely exists. The most common answer seems to be clinging onto any paycheck job regardless of the consequences. I know millionaires who continue to work simply because they want the company to pay for their health care. The equally common, though almost always less successful, strategy is to amass so many millions of dollars that every bill can be paid without a thought. Unfortunately, only about one half of one percent of Americans are worth more than two million dollars. A more revealing, but unavailable statistic, would answer the question, “How many Americans are living comfortably and securely?” Plenty of studies have shown that after basic needs are met, there’s very little correlation between happiness or contentment and net worth. To me, New Road Map champions that reality, and provides community for those courageous enough to redefine their lives.

Personally though, my situation has rapidly changed from “cautious about money, but optimistic” to “Uh oh, where’d it all go and how am I going to pay the mortgage?”. I can attest to the severe emotional impact experienced by suddenly having to worry about funding basic needs in a society based on currency. (Details available throughout this blog. I suggest that the truly curious start with Backup Plans, and work backwards.)

The good news is that the markets are recovering (though not for me – Semi Annual Exercise Mid 2012), unemployment is down (and I continue to apply for jobs around the world), and various housing markets are improving (Buy mine! Home For Sale Alas). So, just as I must scramble, inevitably someone must be feeling free from stress because their portfolio has recovered, or they got a job, or they sold their house, or because some personal mix of work, wisdom, and luck have freed up enough of their time to take my place and carry on the cause.

The New Road Map community is a fascinating group. There are no blanket solutions. New Road Map advocates personal empowerment based on personal values, without imposing values or even requiring that the values be articulated.

One core step is to align your values with your finances by asking yourself the emotional question, “Am I glad or content that I spent that money for that item, service, or experience?” “Am I glad or content that I made money by providing that item, service, or experience for someone else?” Answer those questions for every way you can spend or make money, then compare the results. Invariably some category sounds good enough, until compared to the other categories. If you can change, change. Ask and repeat, and keep doing that for a few months, years, or decades and a new life is customized even without having to pin labels on the underlying values.

The human result? A lot of people living contentedly and unconventionally. The organizational result? The largest and most diverse group of people I’ve met and enjoyed being around. Just don’t expect them all to be Democrats or Republicans or Libertarians or Independents or any demarkation within the populace – though they do all tend to be reasonably good at addition and subtraction and drawing one particular graph. (See the Nine Step Program for details.) Diversity reveals itself through individuality.

Oh yeah, and for folks familiar with running charities, enjoy the concept of an organization that lives by its values; which in this case means an organization that has a steady stream of income from investments and only spends what it receives. The concept of a self-sustaining charity is so radical that it confuses the governmental agencies that track such things.

So, if you couldn’t tell, this is a call for people. New Road Map Foundation needs board members. I’m not the only one who far extended the expected stint. It also needs advocates, champions, and participants. Join the board and help the world change its relationship with money. Volunteer and help spread the word. Join the community and change the world one person at a time, yourself. Oh yeah, and if you donate, New Road Map can extend its reach beyond its self-constrained budget.

Personally, my transition means I change too. This blog is based on the book, Dream. Invest. Live., so I’ve always been careful to not create conflicts of interest between my non-profit financial work and my for-profit financial work. That wasn’t an issue when the for-profit work was only a backup plan, but backups exist for a reason and it’s time for me to act on my plans. By resigning I can offer myself as a consultant with fewer restrictions. I’ve followed all nine steps of the program, am a case study in Your Money Or Your Life, wrote a book about personal finance, learned a lot about the diversity of solutions others have found, and have applied that knowledge and experience for various people. And I enjoy helping. I learned that I am passionate about people and ideas, and evidently am reasonably good at helping. (See my Consulting page for testimonials.) Helping people aim their lives at their dreams is a joy, and something valuable I can provide and be compensated for. What a life!

So stay tuned as I step more fully into my new life, and feel free to contact me if you want to talk about your situation.

And please step up into the New Road Map community. It needs you. You can benefit from the community. And maybe together we can bring more happiness and contentment into this world.

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Backup Plans

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Tom Trimbath

 

A friend’s blog inspired a paragraph in Tuesday’s post which inspired today’s post. Normally I post on Wednesdays and Saturdays but it is good to break patterns occasionally. She wrote about her Plan B. Now I recognize that I’ve had to add my own Plans C and D, and I’m wondering about E. So today I decided to write them all down for my own benefit. Who knows? Maybe someone else will benefit too.

Angela’s Plan B is to move into the home she built. It’s an 8 foot by 16 foot house on wheels. It’s small, which meant she was able to spend more time making sure the details were done right. Her Plan A was to sell it. Prior to Plan A was another life which she left behind when she moved to the island. That’s a common theme on Whidbey.

I moved to Whidbey over seven years ago to live the life of a frugal-minded semi-retired middle-aged guy. I retired early (for details read my book Dream. Invest. Live.) and looked forward to actively relaxing, living an unstructured, productive life healing from decades of stress while helping build community, or at least dancing a lot. That looked like a reasonable plan until the summer of 2011, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Allow me to introduce my plans, which I document here so I can see them, have them available for reference, and because it intuitively seems like the thing to do.

Pre-Plan A – A “Normal” Life
For those who haven’t been following my life story, and why would you, my original plan was to help the human race colonize space. I got a masters in Aerospace and Ocean Engineering so I could be in the right place at the right time to help design and build the space shuttles that would give our species more than one place to live. Leaving everyone on one planet is incredibly risky. Yes, I am a space cadet. I guessed that any such venture would only work if it made money and was handled by a big company, so I was happy to get hired by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Eventually, there’d be a Boeing Commercial Space Company, right? Well, yes, eventually there was and I got a job there.

After I got the job I got the impression that nothing significant was going to happen for a long time. About the same time frugal living and a diversified portfolio let me claim the title of millionaire. I was stressed out. I could retire. I did. It’s more complicated than that, including the bit about the end of the marriage, but describing more would be a major digression.

Plan A – Investing
I’ve been investing since 1977. The first few years were mixed successes, but after a while I developed a style that was based on Long Term Buy and Hold (LTBH), of small local companies that were possibly going to disrupt their industries. (Again, for more details read, and maybe even buy, my book Dream. Invest. Live.) I had data to bolster my confidence, and even with only half a portfolio and no longer millionaire status, I had good reason to believe it would work. If one of the stocks succeeded I’d be able to live frugally though extra revenue would be appreciated. If two of them succeeded I’d be able to live frugally with a comfortable cushion. If three or more succeeded I’d be able to relax and enjoy and dive into philanthropy and entrepreneurship.

It almost worked. But in the summer of 2011, MicroVision’s (MVIS) products were delayed, American Superconductor’s (AMSC) main customer apparently stole their critical intellectual property and cancelled their orders, and Dendreon (DNDN) didn’t grow as fast as predicted. Geron’s (GERN) clinical trials weren’t doing well. Real Goods Solar (RSOL) seemed to be besmirched by being in the same industry as Solyndra. Successes were discounted and failures were amplified. Even spunky little GigOptix (GIG), which was making good money, had an overlooked stock. The portfolio dropped by over 80%. (Triple Whammy)

Subsequently, the stock sales that had been paying my bills involved greater numbers of shares for the same frugal lifestyle. My portfolio is now down over 95% from attrition. Tuesday I sold the last of my DNDN. I’d hoped by now that one of the others would’ve stepped up to bolster it, but it doesn’t look that way.

The plan continues though. Until I sell those shares, they have time to pleasantly surprise me. MicroVision alone could return me to a comfortable, though frugal, lifestyle; but, MVIS would have to rise like a rocket to the valuations we shareholders estimated years ago. Hey, it could happen.

Plan B – Trimbath Creative Enterprises
It’s a good thing I had a Plan B in operation.

Even before I retired from Boeing I started a business on the side. First I taught karate. (I’m now a fourth degree black belt in Shobayashi Shonrinryu Karate.) I’ll still teach, but prefer private lessons to running a dojo. I also started writing. (That story’s on my amazon author page.) The writing led to photography. (Visit my smugmug gallery.) And the experiences I’ve had along the way became valuable enough to teach. (Modern Self-Publishing, Saturday October 20!) Couple my corporate and investing background with my life as an entrepreneur and artist and it turns out that I have a knack for consulting. Hello fellow artists and entrepreneurs, call me, I enjoy helping. Strategic planning, life choices, social media, web site development, publishing, I enjoy doing it all particularly because my passion is for people and ideas.

When I started I didn’t need the money and decided to let the company grow organically. I didn’t continue to throw money at it because it is too easy for a business to become a money sink. I wasn’t looking for much from my efforts. Each of the aspects of my business could provide more than enough income, but if they only each made about $10,000 a year, well, that’d be very nice. Unfortunately, trusting to organic growth also meant that each aspect was undercapitalized. Now, when I could definitely benefit from them, I have no extra capital to invest in my own business. What is encouraging is the wealth of compliments. Humility restrains me from listing the comparisons to award winning authors and photographers. Maybe that’s one of my hurdles, shameless self-promotion. I will, however, point out the testimonials on my consulting page. Those are their words.

The plan continues though. The books and photos can become passive income, and could even go viral, because they are available online. Sales can happen without my interaction. Go take a look. Buy something you like. Maybe you’ll start the trend, Maybe you can take credit for getting me on The Daily Show. The teaching and consulting require trading my time, but they are an enjoyable way to spend a bit of my life. The potential of my business is impressive and gives me hope, but it now must grow quickly. (Next book due out by Christmas: Scotland – and internal and external journey across a country, or some title like that.)

Plan C – Get A Job
I’ve always been receptive to the right job. In the fourteen years since I left Boeing I always kept my ears and eyes open, and even applied a few times, but that was the Dismal Decade and nothing presented itself.

Then The Triple Whammy hit in August 2011. In one day my portfolio dropped by years’ worth of living expenses. After I spent a few days recovering emotionally, I fired up the resumes and started checking job sites. I had a few years of living expenses left, but I didn’t want that to drain away. I knew that finding a job could take months. Unemployment was high, and I’d been out of the workplace for years. Months went by. (My Jobs Report Month 13) In those months, DNDN and my portfolio dropped another 50%. I was down to about a year’s living expenses. It has been a painful experience, yet a continual task. Every day I look for jobs. In over a year I’ve only had one interview that was for a full time job. It is hard being optimistic when I launch into my searches, yet it is something I must do.

And yes, I am optimistic, usually. As I type this I am a bit down, because this review has been a reliving of my months of denied anticipation. My optimism persists because I know my skills are in demand and I know that the going rate for those skills would quickly negate my debt, and produce a rapid financial recovery. Any phone call or email or hello on the street could be the turning point.

Plan D – Sell My Home
After nine months of job hunting and a dwindling portfolio (even as the companies grew) I knew that I had to put my house, my home, on the market. The market assessments were high enough that I could get a year’s living expenses out of a sale and even be debt-free. I love my home, but it was fiscally responsible to sell my home instead of more stock. There was a spurt in sales in the spring and I had mixed emotions as I watched the For Sale sign go up.

The house has been on the market for five months without an offer. Yesterday I dropped the price by $15,000. A sale at that price would leave me debt-free and with many months of living expenses, which is a much better situation than I have now. Any phone call or email could be the full price, cash offer.

Oh yes, and many have suggested that I get a roommate. That could work, but the living arrangements would only work best with the sort of arrangements made through eHarmony.

Plan E – ?
Plan E? Why a Plan E? Is there enough to keep track of? (Too Many IFs) Because as I sit here, Plans A, B, C, & D have not succeeded. Why the question mark? Because the world is an amazing place and unexpectedly wonderfully good things happen. Maybe I receive a windfall. I won an iPad. I was given a free fridge. Maybe I win the lottery. Maybe someone decides that something I did for them is worth so much that they mail me a check or make a deposit for something I can’t recall doing. One friend even pitched my life story to a VP in Hollywood. I don’t know if they expected it to be a reality show or a movie. Incredible things happen, and I make sure that door is unlocked and easily opened. That’s one reason I blog. It’s the electronic equivalent of poking my head outside and saying, “Hello world, the door’s open. Opportunity doesn’t even have to knock.” I know incredible things happen. Look back at all of these plans. What were the odds that none of them would succeed? Those odds seem on a par with the odds of winning the lottery jackpot. It could happen. (And wouldn’t that be an interesting new series of blog posts.)

I’ve heard assurances from business types (variations on “wow…how could you not find a job based on your resume?!”), artists (“You should be exhibiting and selling your art in Seattle, Miami, San Diego, New York.” “Why aren’t you writing and photographing for National Geographic?”), consultants (“With your skills, style, and experience you should be charging a lot more and should be a lot busier.”), and intuitives (“Your karmic bank account is overflowing.”). One known internationally for more spiritual perceptions said, “You have a wonderful light about you, but something is blocking it.”  Maybe that’s it. I’ve taken her advice at how to unblock the light. Stay tuned.

I’ve also been told that I’ve already done what needs to be done; I just have to wait for the delivery. Many people have told me that it will all work out and that I shouldn’t worry.

One person told me that I will succeed in ways I can’t imagine, and because of something I can’t predict. I’m a very imaginative fellow. If they are right and because I’ve already imagined and actually implemented Plans A, B, C, D, and part of E (I buy lottery tickets), then maybe I should be aware of but do nothing about Plan F.

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No More Dendreon

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Tom Trimbath

Well, it was a biotech and investing education while it lasted. Since 2003 I was invested in Dendreon. I bought my first shares of DNDN back when their cancer treatment, Provenge, was still in clinical trials. I hung on as long as I could, through the medical trials, the FDA approval process, the retrials, the second pass through the FDA, the approval, the trials of commerce, and finally the trials of finance. My investment served me well, but not as well as I’d hoped. The treatment is serving patients well, but not as many as it could and that has much more dire consequences.

Here’s a primer for those unfamiliar with Dendreon’s technology.
Dendreon has a process that teaches the patient’s immune system to fight a cancer it was ignoring. The technique pulls a molecule from a sample of the patient’s blood, attaches it to another molecule that the immune system recognizes, and then the combined molecules are injected back into the patient. A few days or weeks later the immune system may begin fighting the cancer. The treatment, Provenge, has been approved for prostate cancer. In use it is more effective than the standard treatments, has few side effects, and costs less. The cost is high, but the cumulative cost is lower. The side effects exist, but they are like getting the flu for three days in contrast to the effects of chemo and radiation. The effectiveness was only a few months based on the clinical trial data, but the more it is used the better the survival data looks. (A longer description is in a previous post, “Wrong About Dendreon“.)

Hard work and good results are supposed to be enough. I hear a lot of that in the political debates. Dendreon’s experience and my own experience make me scoff when I hear that. I’d probably cuss and curse, but I don’t use language like that so I just scoff, vigorously. You may think my scoffing is comical, but the consequence is that one more person loses faith in our political, financial, and health care systems.

Dendreon is not doing as well as I had hoped, but simply by achieving FDA approval they greatly distanced the company from my worst fears. For the patients that respond to the treatment, the company is greatly improving their lives. In a reasonable world, the company’s treatment would have been judged effective enough the first time they went to the FDA. (From some points of view that was the case, and conspiracy theorists have a lot of evidence to play with through that episode.) In that better version of history, the company would be making hundreds of millions of dollars (which they are) and become profitable enough to extend the treatment to other cancers. (Which they are, but only bladder cancer after a great delay, while the other candidates are shelved for lack of funds: lung, renal, colo-rectal, ovarian, breast, etc.) This would have revolutionized the multi-billion dollar cancer industry and become the D-Day invasion of the decades-long War On Cancer.

Oh well. So much for a reasonable world.

I’ve followed Dendreon because my investment strategy is based on Long Term Buy and Hold (LTBH) of small cap companies (< $2B market cap) that are on the cusp of profitability with disruptive goods and services. I’ve been investing since 1976, have tried many investing styles, and found that is the one that worked for me. It even allowed me to retire at 38. (Details in my book: Dream. Invest. Live.) I’m also a fan of diversification and rarely relied on only one stock. Even now I have a diversified portfolio, but it has the worst string of luck and bad timing I’ve ever experienced. (Details through this blog since August 2011, “Triple Whammy“, and summarized and updated in “Semi Annual Exercise Mid 2012“.)

Hard work and good results are supposed to be enough. That should be true for Dendreon, and it should be true for me. It should be true for any of us. If it was true for Dendreon they would’ve only had to go through the approval process once. Tens of thousands of lives would have been improved. If it was true for DNDN, the company would’ve been able to fill the pipeline and I would’ve continued my retirement. Unfortunately, DNDN’s price/sales ratio is less than two. That’s appropriate for a stodgy, mature industry with no future for growth, not an innovator that is a major breakthrough in a massive industry with a large unmet and vital need.

Unfortunately, life isn’t fair; or if it is fair, the fairness is currently hidden. What goes around comes around, but can someone give the schedule for that route? If the work and success are eventually rewarded, that is good, but in the meantime there are casualties and consequences that are irreversible. I’ve benefited as a stockholder, but today I sold my last shares because I must pay bills. Maybe my finances will recover some other way. Others who won’t get the opportunity to benefit from Dendreon’s technology may, well, may suffer the ultimate consequence.

I’ve paid my bills by selling shares of DNDN for the last three years. Yes, I had a lot of shares; but, living a frugal life also helps a lot. (Disclosure: I am Board Secretary for New Road Map Foundation.) But as most business consultants know, cutting costs is not enough; revenue must be made and growth is desirable. I sympathize with Dendreon’s long term employees. Hard work and good results haven’t been enough for them. Layoffs happen. Hard work and good results haven’t been good enough for me. Behind Plan A, which was my diversified portfolio, is Plan B, which is my consulting and art business, which isn’t doing well enough yet, so I am also working on Plan C, which is looking for a job (My Jobs Report Month 13), which has been unsuccessful, which is backed by Plan D, which is selling my house (Home For Sale Alas), which hasn’t had an offer despite being on the market since May.

The stock markets are up. Unemployment is down. Yet, witnessing Dendreon’s trials and experiencing my own turmoils have taught me that generalizations, abstractions, and theories don’t describe reality. Pundits and politicians debate, but imperfections, oversights, and injustices have real consequences that can be irreversible. A resurgent DNDN can not make my portfolio recover unless someone gives me shares. Allow me to repeat a passage from an earlier post (Wrong About Dendreon);
“In response to a question about the stock price, the CEO noted that no one else in the room wanted the price to go higher than he did. I almost said something out loud, but then remembered the rules for expulsion. In large part because of DNDN’s collapse I have been looking for a job (see My Jobs Report Month 9), am having to sell my house (see Home For Sale Alas), and have never had more uncertainty in my life (see Too Many IFs). I contend that he is not having to sell his house to find money for living expenses, is not looking for a job, and has not had to sell off 66% of his shares and most of an IRA in the interim. I strongly suspect that returning DNDN to $60 would have a much greater affect on my life than it would on his.“
That 66% sell off is now 100%. The worse consequence is that lives Dendreon that could have been extended were lost. Small businesses are a great opportunity for investors and a great resource for our country, but if their hard work and good results are no longer enough, then we are poorer and weaker. I have no more DNDN and wonder how I’ll get by because the other small companies aren’t doing better either. If we discourage such innovative small companies I wonder how the country will get by. What would we do if there was no more Dendreon?

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Whidbey Island Open Studio Tour 2012 Sunday

Posted on October 7, 2012 by Tom Trimbath

Welcome back to the Whidbey Island Open Studio Tour. Check yesterday’s post if you missed Day One. The chronicling continues.

7am
Wake and motivate. Tougher than I expected.
It feels a bit like a gluten-induced mood crash, but only getting one-third the traffic of last year might play a role too.
Was planning on going for a run, but decided to eat a good breakfast and then go for a good walk.
Straighten up a few things that got shifted while actually living in my house last evening.
Use Roku to play NPR’s “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me.” for something completely different.

8am
While eating breakfast I noticed how much Whidbey art I have around the house: thanks to Susan Jensen, Holly Thomas, Ed Bennett, Windwalker Taibi, Barbara Stout, Bruce Launer, whoever made my tea mug that is full which means I’m not turning it over to check, whoever made that glass bowl, Katrina Hude, Ed Severinghaus, and undoubtedly more. While looking at the art I noticed the other art. I have books from at least eight local writers. Yep. I think Whidbey’s an artsy place. So is Washington. There are that many more pieces from off-island. I’d probably have more, but my own art adorns my walls. Inventory sometimes overflows and has to go somewhere. Fortunately, I like my work.

But first a shower and then a walk. The opposite order makes more sense but if something was to interrupt me, the shower is more important on such a public day. Scrub, scrub.

I’m glad I didn’t go for the run. I may have just enough time for a short walk though. The weather is gorgeous with a fall chill that will burn off quickly. Okay art enthusiasts, time for a day driving around and taking the Tour. Hmm, maybe I should post that on facebook, or maybe Google+, or twitter.

9am
The day is even nicer than I thought. It’s warming up, with little wind, and wonderful light.

Evidently my labels and signs worked well yesterday. Good. I can work on other things today.

Bathroom break. Don’t forget the bathroom break.

Took another look at my displays. Just realized that yesterday people who were impressed with the satins were looking at the backside of them. They look even better turned around. Did I miss any sales? I’ll manage that today.

Launch into the Culmination Project. No, it is not a video game. The Culmination Project is the work of art that will encompass all five years of my five year Whidbey Island Nature Photo Essay (WINPE?) into one book. Originally it was going to be Whidbey photos, printed on Whidbey, and with the book hand-built on Whidbey and produced as a limited edition collaboration of three arts; but unless demand picks up dramatically, it will be self-published on blurb. That’s not as grand, but it takes far fewer, grand that is.

Oh yeah, do the neck exercises now. Wow, tighter than I knew.

10am
The slideshow and the music are playing. I’ve tweeted, as I’ve done almost every hour.

4 Two neighbors, one bought four cards and they brought two of their friends from Gig Harbor.
2 strangers from Clinton. It’s a small town but it isn’t so small that we all know each other. Okay, say a bit but don’t distract them. Let them have their own experience. He insists that I check out Andy Goldsworthy. Another variation on photography by including sculpture. I point out a man more local, Chris Jordan, the creator of Running The Numbers and Midway Journey. Hey, we’re all nature photographers at some level. Hmm, aspirations come to mind.

Restock cards, if I can. I think she just bought the last of some of those. I put up two little signs saying, “Sold Out. Want More?” as a reminder to me and a suggestion to them. Like a print? I’ll make it into a card, or you can go online and do it yourself.

The For Sale sign almost always comes up, “So, where are you moving?”, which produces the answer, “Wherever I can get a job.”; which is the short version because the longer version is, “Well, I want to stay here, and with enough assets or income I can, but my Triple Whammy at least temporarily put that at risk. (For more details check out My Jobs Report Month 13) Of course, if I win the lottery, or sell lots of art, or establish a great list of paying clients for my consultancy, or, or, . . .”

11am
1 A good friend, Jennifer Hooper drops by and buys what she can afford. Help A Find A Friend A Job – Jennifer Hooper, so she can but more art; and make her own.
2 A couple of new folks come in and go out. So they go, but first they hint about wanting more details about the Tour. “A bit of a scandal about the maps, eh?”
1 A stranger from San Diego becomes a newly met friend. She spends a lot of time and is very engaged in various pieces.
2 Two friends drop on and may be back. They know where and when else to find me. Friends are supportive in many ways, and they’ve contributed in greater variety than most. Thanks.
2 Two more friends, a dancer and her non-dancing partner, stayed and chatted for quite a pleasant while.
2 Two bikers ride up. One finds the helmet such a nuisance that it stays on. And I wonder if it just a concern for “helmet-hair”. I point out that the satins travel well. They say they may be back.
The traveller buys:
Three fine art prints + two small prints: I forgot to take notes and had to sift to find the ones she bought. Oh, I like her taste. The two small prints are from my original series up in the Cascades. She got a bit of history there.
She wants an agent in San Diego to represent me. Okay. OK!

I was busy enough that I missed the noon report.

1am
Well, that was a nice surge of traffic.

Another artist skill, balancing commentary as different people walk in. Some already know the story behind the art, or me, or the island. Some are new to all of it. Some are serious and others are just wandering through. Some want a lot of info and others want quiet. There is no one answer because each collection is different and what they want and need changes with each image they see. When in doubt, run down the middle and leave plenty of quiet time so they can talk to each other or let the last tidbit sink in.

It’s quiet now, which is good because I forgot to make a lunch or set something out like I did yesterday. Quesadilla equals quick when I make it out of one corn tortilla, some already cooked and spiced ground meat, and some shredded cheese. Maybe I can sneak in another.

Close my eyes to semi-meditate for ten breaths, or not because someone just drove up. Okay. That’s what I am here for.

1 One Clintonian, in and out.
2 Two friends arrive a gift of a flourless chocolate cake! Sweet, and gluten-free.

2pm
My friends show me a new way to appreciate my own art. They sit, one seated by one, prop up a photo, look at it for almost a minute, then twist it about any axis and repeat. They entertained themselves for an hour. TV doesn’t compare. Not only did they drop off food, but they bought another of the Cascade images. As they left they assured me that I should stay on the island and they’ll try to make it happen. Okay.
Oops. While they were intently looking at the front of print I noticed a typo on the back.
1 One enthusiast from up-island stays with lots of nice, meaningful questions.
1 One stranger comes and goes with barely a word as I talk to the enthusiast.
1 Jody Bone, masterful artist, drops by because she isn’t on the Tour this year. I hear her laugh before I see her. She surprises us by having me bring up an amazon page where her laugh is for sale. Really. It’s a ringtone. Now, that brings a smile, even when one is hard to find I imagine. Maybe she’ll make more from laughter than from art.

4pm
Again, so busy that there as no 3pm update.

2 Two neighbors. Nice chit chat, and commiseration about organizing anything on the island. So much that needs to be done, so many willing to help, so little time, and too much trouble reaching consensus within such a diverse community. At least, that may be why some of the efforts eventually fade.

2 Two folks from the other side of the ridge are interested in too many pieces so they may contact me later for some custom work. They are encouraging a family member to pursue art. I point out that I consult with artists and entrepreneurs. They took a business card.

2 Two locals drop in because they are out for a walk in a golf cart. Nice conversation, and they take a business card when I point out that I can be a source for last-minute gifts.

2 Two artists who’ve sold with me at other events dropped by to check out the exhibit and display, and to eat some excellent flourless chocolate cake.
“Fair thee well Mr. Artist.”

5pm
How many folks said they might be back? How many folks said they might show  up? It’s a Sunday. Weekend commitments are weak, and that’s not surprising. Folks have enough workday obligations.  But that’s also why I don’t close at 5pm, even if the sign says 10am-5pm. Last year I got sales on Monday and Tuesday. Who knows? Something may yet happen.

The total so far, assuming everyone drops their checks in the mail, is about twice the registration fee. Custom orders, urban representation, return business, can vastly increase the profits; which is necessary for me to continue pursuing the business side of photography.
Total visitors: Saturday 17 + Sunday 30 = 47
That’s about half as many people and half as much revenue as last year, which had a registration fee that was twice as much. Correlation?

Well, it doesn’t look like anyone is coming in just past the cut-off. I’ll finish this blog, get a walk in by picking up the neighborhood signs, then make dinner and a have a drink. Conclusions should come later.

Things to consider:
I enjoy people and ideas. That’s my stated passion and I’ve proved it to myself this weekend.
I enjoy hosting an event like this, and it is draining.
This event was profitable, and made two day’s living expenses, but involved days of preparation and disassembly too.
The exposure is wonderful. People expect to talk to the artist on a Tour. That can be true in the gallery, but it works more readily here. Maybe that’s because this is my space and I know they came to see me and my art.

To any artist willing to go to this effort, congratulations. Go check out the comment on yesterday’s blog. Appreciative patrons exist. And to any of the enthusiasts that dropped by or wanted to, thanks. Without you there’d be no reason to do this.

Stay tuned.

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