by Ralph Joseph Philippi

ii

TITLE PAGE

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Two roads diverged in a yellow wood And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth

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And having perhaps the better claim Because it was grassy and wanted wear

Through as for that, the passing there Had worn them really about the same

And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet, knowing how way leads onto way I doubted if I should ever come back

I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence Two roads diverged in a wood

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WHATEVER YOU TRULY DESIRE

xi

OREWORD

As you begin to read this Book, you may get the first impression that this Book is some form of confession or something similar to that, which, it is not, just keep on reading, and you will come to the underlying principles, later on. The principles become very clearer, towards the end. There are some deep understandings in this material, some of which, I really do not understand myself, yet. The only logic to any of what is being explained in the beginning is in The Conclusion, where you will be shown how to use what has already been discussed, previously. Inside of this Book is a practical application, which has worked for me, many times over, and continues to work for me, to this present day. Moreover, the principles in this Book have worked for others that I have explained these principles to, no matter what their faith, creed, or beliefs, were, which made absolutely no difference to me, at all, it worked for all of them, when they applied these principles outlined herein. It just works, which is all that I can say. Furthermore, this in not to say that what the other Masters and Teachers are saying is not true, because the vast majority of what I have read and saw, is true and functional, in one way or another. I profess to be neither, a Master nor a Teacher. So, please feel free to pursue what you feel and believe to be true and correct for you. I strongly encourage you to do so, because it is your life, and you deserve to find that right path that feels just right for you, in all aspects of your life. It is your life, so I encourage all of you to follow your own personal quests, no matter where they will lead, it will be your own life’s experience, and no one should be cheated out of doing things, their way, as long as what they want to do, does not harm anyone else in the process. Additionally, this Book is in no way a negative reflection towards The Secret©, those people did a truly spectacular job.

As Joseph John Campbell put it, so well, many years ago, “Follow Your Bliss”,

These words, pretty much sum it all up.

F

xii

THERE IS ALWAYS A BRIGHTER SIDE

LOOK FOR IT

IT WILL ALWAYS THERE

xiii

NTRODUCTION

I want to do some clarification at first, because as you start reading through this Book, you may get the initial impression that this Book is another Self-Help Book, and, in a way, it is.

But, this Book is really about Liberty and Freedom, YOUR personal Liberty and Freedom to become, be, and do, whatever you want to, with your life, that is, within the Laws of the Nation in which you chose to live.

This may appear to be somewhat strange to most people, because here I am, sitting at my desk in China, writing about your personal Freedom and Liberty. Therefore, at this point in time, I want to explain to all of my readers, that most, if not all, of what you have heard and read about China is not true. Never attempt to judge anyone, or any Nation, by what you see and hear on television, or read in any newspaper or magazine articles. Later, about the first part of next year, I will write a book about the “True China”, and I am very sure that you will be impressed by what it will show you, about the True China. Here, I want to point out that all of my friends and acquaintances that have come to visit me, here in China, are always impressed by the simplicity of life here, and the personal freedom, to do and become whatever you may chose, in this Great Land of Opportunity. All of them, without exception, have emphatically declared, what they have heard, saw, and read, is not true. Shortly, you will be able to judge for yourselves, when you read my upcoming book, which will also be free. I will put in plenty of pictures; thereby you will be able to see, what is real. But, as one small example of our personal freedoms, here in China, I can walk across any busy street in any town, village, or city, in China, possibly taking my life in to my own hands, but, you be assured, that I will never end up with a Jaywalking Ticket. Try that one, in any Western Nation, and you will see what you end up with, if you do it often enough, a big fat ticket, which is going to be for a very hefty sum of money, to inhibit you from every doing that again. This is always the first freedom that I show to my visitors to China. However, I always do it in a safe manner, when there is no traffic; to begin with; they learn to dodge the cars, later on. It is fun, and saves time. None hit, yet, and, you are welcome to come and play. (By the way, pedestrian and people on bicycles have the right-of-way, here.)

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xv

ABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE .......................................................................................................... II

DISCLAIMER .......................................................................................................... V

DEDICATION ........................................................................................................ VII

APPRECIATION & ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ....................................................................... IX

FOREWORD ........................................................................................................... XI

INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. XIII

TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................. XV

THE STORY BEGINS ................................................................................................. 1

WHAT I DIDN’T DO ................................................................................................ 97

WHAT I DID DO .................................................................................................. 103

WHAT WALLACE DELOIS WATTLES SAID TO DO ......................................................... 107

THE CONCLUSION ............................................................................................... 117

A SPECIAL REQUEST ............................................................................................ 129

HOW TO PRINT THIS BOOK AND/OR READ THE ELECTRONICALLY TRANSMITTED VERSION... 133

~ LIGHT ~ A CHINESE PROVERB ........................................................................... 136

If you were looking to this page

To tell you what is inside,

You are only kidding yourself,

You will have to read this Book,

To see what it says, and,

How, what it says will benefit you.

T

xvi

NEVER FEAR STANDING ALONE

THAT IS HOW MOST OF US CAME IN TO THIS WORLD

AND HOW MOST OF US WILL GO OUT

LIVE YOUR LIFE, YOUR OWN WAY

AND TO HECK WITH THE REST

SURE YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE MISTAKES

THESE ARE ONLY A PART OF YOUR EXPERIENCE

CALLED LIFE

HE STORY BEGINS

This small story will only cover a short period in my life, less than 2 years. I will reveal more on my life, in my upcoming book, “The Ebbs and Flows of Life – How to Ride the Tides in Life, and Find Joy in All of It”. However, you will not get it all there, either, because I have already started on my autobiography, which I will title, “The Wisconsin Farm Boy”. This will be a real adventure to read, because my life has been very interesting, to say the least. Therefore, this part of the story begins. Back in the early part of 1978, I was disfellowshipped from my congregation. I had not done anything illegal, and I did mount a very strong appeal, which never came to heard, because it was blocked. So be it, it was a very long time ago, and I hold no grudges, nor any animosity, towards anyone involved, not any longer. I was destroyed emotionally, as well as physically. I thought that this was the lowest point in my entire life, but I had not even begun to hit the bottom yet. I lost my business, had to file for bankruptcy, and was forced to take a job as a Construction Superintendent to be able to provide for my family, which was not so bad to begin with, but everything when downhill, even further. A few months later, I was facing a divorce, and, yes, it was my fault, entirely. I had no one to blame, except myself, and I did a good job of doing just that. Now, all was lost. I even quit my new job, because I honestly could not work any longer. I could not concentrate on anything other than my troubles. Now, I was really at the lowest point in my life, or so I thought, because it even got worse later, if you can imagine that. My wife and I went to counseling, which prove to be beneficial, because she decided that she did really love this fool, even with all of his mistakes. A few months later, we were back together, and heading for Oregon.

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3

That afternoon, after my wife and children were long gone, I headed over to my new job, to see where it was located. Once I found it, I drove out to the nearest public woods, and found a nice place to park, to spend my nights in my little Mazda pick-up. Fortunately, it did not use much gas, so I just put five bucks in the tank, to make sure that I could get back and forth to work for the next week, at least. I then bought a few crackers, and an inexpensive thermos. There was a little stream near buy, so I had water to drink and bath in, even though it was very cold. It was late summertime there, so, there were a few blackberries on some nearby bushes that I could eat after work. (The crackers did not last long.) At the end of that week, I was completely famished, when I got my first paycheck. Blackberry diets are not the way to go, that one you can take my word on, but it sure beats going hungry. (Even though, it did take me a few years to be able to look one in the eye again.) During that time, I only had to go down to the bank that the paycheck had been issued from, and get it cashed, with my driver’s license as my only required identification. So, as soon as I got it, That night, I got a small, inexpensive, hotel room, took a nice hot shower, had a nice warm shave, and had a good hot meal, which felt very good. I slept like a log that night. Sleeping in a little, Mazda pick-up is not cracked up to be what people may expect. It is very cramped quarters, and extremely difficult to find a comfortable position in, to get any really good sleep, and since it could rain at any time, trying to sleep outside of the little pick-up, wasn’t a viable option for me. Have any of you people out there, reading this Book, ever tried to shave in ice-cold water? I can tell you from my own personal experience that is not very nice. However, I managed, and things did appear to be going much better. At least now, I had a good place to sleep, I could take a hot shower, and hot water to shave with, a full tank of gas, and jingle in my pocket to be able to eat on. Things were really beginning to look up for me, or, so I thought, because there was still much more trouble ahead, which I did not know at that time. Anyway, I was enjoying what I now had, and that is all that really mattered at the time.

4

Well, there is a part that I left out in the beginning of this story, and that was that this was my second marriage. I had custody of my three children from my first marriage, which was unusual then. But, I did have legal custody, which is an entirely different story, which has no real bearing on what I am about to explain to you, so please forgive the exclusion of most of the details of that part of my life, here. Well, during this time of the year, my children were off visiting their mother for the summer, which was the terms of my custody, their entire summer vacation time, and, they were supposed to be returning home soon. Therefore, with my second week’s paycheck, I rented a small apartment with two bedrooms in a different hotel. Now, I was ready for their return from their summer vacation. On Monday I went in to work and told my boss that I had to take a couple of hours off from work, because I needed to go to the school to see what was the procedure for me to register my three children here, who were going to be with me shortly, and, he said, okay, come back as soon as you can. It turned out that it would be a simple matter to register them in their new school here. No problem at all. The school would even request their old transcripts. Boy, I was home free, now, or, so I thought. That evening, right after work, I called my ex-wife to ask when she would be returning the children, but, she was not longer at her parents’ home, she had moved to Texas with my kids, but, my ex-mother-in-law told me that my daughter, Deborah (Debbie, as she prefers to be called), wanted to return home to be with me. Well, thank God over that one, this is not to say that I was a very religious person at that point in my life, because it surely was not. Religion to me, at that time, was sort of like a cuss word, I did not want any part of that, nor did I have any need for it. Well, two week later, she was returned to my sister’s home, so I drove down to pick her up, over that weekend. Moreover, being that it was the weekend, my attorney there, was not available for any consultation.

5

Early Monday morning, I went over to my work, introduced my daughter to my boss, and asked for a few hours off, to get her enrolled in school, which he granted, and I did do. During my noon lunch break, I called my attorney, who had gotten the divorce from my first wife, and asked him what to do. He said that I would have to come back down and get a triple certified of my divorce decree, then retain a competent attorney in Texas, and go to court there, to see if I could get my two boys back. Which he was unsure of, but he did tell me that he could recommend a competent attorney there, which he did, and, all without charging me a cent. Texas was two hours ahead of us, and I only had half an hour for my lunch break, which meant that I did not have enough time to call the recommended attorney at that time, and it would be too late when I got home from work. So, I called him the next day, during my lunch break, and the first thing out of his mouth, was that he could not guarantee anything, and yes, he did need to see a triple certified true copy, from the court, of my divorce decree, along with $5000 Dollars, as a non-refundable deposit, and that it may cost more, if we had to go to court, more than once. I asked him how long it would take us to get in to court, once I got there will all of his requested documentation, and he said about two weeks, if we are lucky. (Now, mind you, in those days, a retainer of $5000 was a whole lot, and a non-refundable retainer for that amount, just was not heard of. However, it was, what it was, and I did not want to argue with him over the price.) At that time, I was looking at another $2500 Dollars for hotel accommodations, food, taxis, my round trip ticket there, and two more, without any advance booking, which was impossible to do, because I had no idea as to what the outcome would be, once I got there. He also told me that I needed to hurry, because the longer that they stayed there, the harder it would be to get them back. Even at Union Journeyman’s Electricians pay, I was looking at a minimum of 10 weeks, even if I did not pay anything else, and went back to sleeping in my little Mazda pick-up again. Besides, I had just enrolled my daughter in school, so, that was not realistic, either.

6

And, to make things worse, when I got home from work that evening, I had a notice from the Finance Company, where I had my business trucks financed, and they said that my little Mazda pick-up, which was all paid for, was part of my collateral pledged on the loans of the other trucks, so I would have to turn that one in also. Wow, I really did not need this. I called the Finance Company the next day, during my lunch break, and they confirmed that I would have to turn my little Mazda pick-up in to their nearest associate in Portland. I asked them if I could buy the truck from them, and I was told that this was against their company policy, because I had a recent bankruptcy on my credit history, which was logical. Therefore, I asked them if I could please have a couple of weeks to do this, because I needed to get another vehicle. In addition, they said, yes, but not more. Thank God for small favors. (I had asked for two weeks to deliver my little Mazda pick-up to them, because that is how long that I thought that it would take me to save up enough for a used vehicle.) Yet, here I was, having to turn in my little Mazda pick-up, an ex-wife who has refused to return two of my children, which meant that I had to go to court in another State, or concede that she could have them, without any fight, which was against my nature to do. After all, I had fought hard and long to get them in the first place, because my, then wife, had found a new boyfriend, whom she wanted to marry, and he did not want the kids, so we went to court and I was granted custody of them, which my ex-in-laws did not like very much, because it gave them a bad image in our little community, where my ex-father-in-law was a Police Officer, so it was a constant ongoing battle to keep them. Moreover, now, she had a new boyfriend in Texas, whom she was living with, and she took my children to live with them. What a real mess, when I least needed it. I now had a new priority to contend with, transportation. Here, I would like to emphatically emphasize that I do not hold grudges, yes; I get angry, as most people do, but it does not take me long to cool back down, and try to move on with my life. After all, trying to get even for apparent wrong doings, just takes too much time, energy, and in most cases, a whole lot of money, which I do not like wasting on frivolous things, like getting even. It happened, so just accept it for what it is,

7

someone who thinks that they were wronged by you, in the first place, or at least had the potential to be wronged by you, and move on with your life. It will not really solve anything, even if you stand there and fight. They will only think that they were right, even if you win; so why waste the time, energy, and money, to fight; just move on with your life. When my ex-wife told me that she had found a new boyfriend, which was not the first time, a person whom she said that she loved very much and wanted to marry, I just accepted it. That is not to say that it was not a difficult situation, because it certainly was. However, what was I going to be able to do about it, anyway? Nothing. Therefore, I just accepted it, as she presented it. The good part was that her new boyfriend did not want our kids, so I was granted custody of them, at a time when this was not normal. Nevertheless, I accepted that responsibility also, and, happily. Okay, so where am I now, soon to have no vehicle, a daughter to take care of, who was a real joy in my life, an ex-wife who has taken my other two children illegally and I didn’t have the money to go to court in Texas to even try to get them back, a wife that hates me and is going to sue me for a divorce at any time now, and very little money in the bank. So what do I do now? I decided that the first thing that I needed to do was to locate some suitable transportation, because mine would be gone very soon. That evening, I bought a local newspaper, and looked in the classified ads for a suitable vehicle, which we, my daughter, and I could look at this coming weekend. We located a little Pinto station wagon on Saturday, which was not too expensive and was in excellent shape, but there was no way that I could pay for it within my two week limit, when I had to turn in my little Mazda pick-up, so, I called to see if they would give me an extension, of up to one month, their reply was, we settled on two weeks, and two weeks it will be, or we will have to take further action. That settled that, and not exactly how I would have liked it to be, either. However, I knew that the first thing on the agenda was to get reliable transportation and quickly, because walking back and forth to work, was

8

not a realistic option in the States, at that point in time, especially when it was 12 miles each way. (My daughter and I had decided on the Pinto station wagon, just in case I did get the boys back. We could not be putting three kids and an adult in the front seat of a small pick-up, if we wanted to go anywhere together, and they surely could not ride in the back, because in Oregon, it can rain at any time.) On Monday, I told a fellow worker, whom had befriended me, about my upcoming transportation problem. I told him that we had found a car, but they wanted cash for it, which I did not have, but they said that they could wait for me to come up with it. He told me that our Union had a Credit Union and that I should join it, which only took a deposit of $100 to open an account. Then I could apply for a loan, using an automatic payment program, which would make an automatic deduction from my pay from my employer. I told him that I had just filed for bankruptcy a few months ago, so they probably would not give me a loan. He told me that did not matter, because it was a Credit Union, and they would use the car as the collateral, but I had to put down a good down payment, and they would pay for the balance. We finished work at 4:30 PM, and my daughter was already home from school, and, the Credit Union was open until 6:00 PM, so, I picked my daughter up and we headed straight for our Credit Union. We walked in the door, and I showed them my paid up dues receipt for that month, and request that I be allowed to open up an account with them, which they did. I then asked to see a Loan Officer, and I was shown to one. I explained everything to her, including my recent bankruptcy, and she said that there was no problem at all, I only had to make a 25% down payment on my own, and they would finance the rest, through automatic payroll deduction. Now, we were getting somewhere, because I had most of that in the bank already, and I could manage the rest on Friday’s paycheck. Therefore, we drove to the couple who had the little Pinto station wagon, and explained everything to them. I would be there next Saturday to make a 25% down payment, then they would have to go to my Credit Union with the title to the car, sign it over to them, and they would pay them the balance, which they liked very much.

9

Therefore, the following Saturday, my daughter and I were at their door, with cash in hand. (I did not want to use a check, because that would have taken 2 working days to clear, so, we paid in cash.) They told me that this car use to belong to their daughter, who had gone back east to go to University, and decided to stay there, and didn’t need it, but she needed money, so she asked her parents to sell the car for her, which was simple, because it was registered in her parents’ names. Now, all of us were going to be happy, because we, my daughter and I, would have reliable transportation, the car was only two years old, with very little mileage on it, and, their daughter would have the cash. On Monday evening, my daughter and I met them at my Credit Union, where they signed over the ownership document to my Credit Union, and was paid the balance by check. My Credit Union told me that it would take them a couple of days, or so, to get the ownership document changed over in to the Credit Union’s name, so I would have to wait until that was completed, before I could take possession of the car, which was perfectly okay with me. On Thursday evening, I received notification from my Credit Union that the transfer had been completed, but I needed to get insurance, before they would turn over the car to me. Therefore, the next morning, when I reported to work, I asked my boss if I could take a longer lunch break because I needed to get some car insurance, and he said, sure, which I did. That night after work, I picked up my daughter again, and took my insurance policy down to my Credit Union. They called the people, and told them that they could give me the car, any time that was convenient for them. They said any time, come on over and pick it up now, your check has cleared, so it is no longer ours. I told them that I could not be there until the next morning, Saturday, because I had something that I needed to do first. My daughter and I drove straight over to the Finance Company’s Associate, but they were closed. I knew that they would be open on Saturday at 9:00 AM, because that is what was posted on their front door. We were there nice and early the next morning, before anyone arrived, and, waited on them to come in, but the Manager was late, so we waited.

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11

I now started on the first step of this quest, by getting a triple certified true copy of my divorce decree. Three days later, in the evening, after I had gotten home from work, my Sister called, to let me know that she had the triple certified true copy of my entire divorce decree, which did show that I did have permanent custody of my children, and that my ex-wife only had visitation rights. Then she went on to tell me that she also had gotten triple certified true copies of the other three times that I had been in court with my ex-wife, maintaining my custody of the children, which I had done successfully, all three times. (This was not any of my ex-wife’s doings, as I explained before; it was my ex-in-laws that were doing this, because they did not want to lose respect in our small community. Nothing worse to contend with, then a really ticked off Cop. Again, I do want you all to know, that I hold no grudge against any one, as I have said before. It was just their thing, and I had to defend myself, for my children’s sake. If it had been only on me, they could have kept everything that they wanted, and I would have moved on with my life. However, my children were involved, so I was forced to fight, and I was successful, every time. As an old friend once told me, “When you need an attorney, badly, you need him, or her, very, very, good.” Good advice, which I have always taken to heart.) She then went to tell me that her and Gary, her husband, had discussed my situation, and that they were willing to loan me the $5,000 for the attorney, but I would have to come up with the rest, because that was all that they could spare. She said that she could send me the money, whenever I wanted it, and, I told her to hold on to it, until I get to Texas, and got an account from the attorney there, where she could send it directly in to his account. She told me that she would send the triple certified true copies of everything to me by express mail the next day, which she did. Hallelujah !!! Now, things were really starting to look up. Well, it took me another month to save up for the trip and the expenses, then, I was ready to go, and get my children back, if that was possible? There was no way to telling that, according to the attorney, there in Texas, until after I had gotten there, and he could review the triple certified true copies of my divorce decree.

12

The next day, Saturday, I went over to my boss’s home, to explain to him what I needed to do, and ask for a couple of weeks off from work, at least, which he allowed me to do, once he understood the situation. He just told me, “Go and Win, and don’t come back, until you do”. The next step was the care of my daughter, while I was gone. I didn’t want to bring her with me, because I didn’t know lay ahead, and I certainly didn’t want to put her in a situation, whereby my ex-wife could take her away from me also, if I lost. In addition, daughters are very special creatures, in that you must be very careful with whom you leave them with. I decided on leaving her with my friend, my co-worker, who was the one that had told me about our Credit Union, because he had two small sons, and his wife was one of those perfect mothers. I knew that she would be safe there, so we drove on over to ask, if she could stay with them, for about two weeks, minimum, and hopefully, not longer. They agreed, and my new friend, even said that she would not have to miss any school, because he would take her to school on his way to work, and pick her up from school after work. (At that time, in the States, anyone could pick up your child from school, but things change.) I offered to pay them something for taking care of her, but they refused, knowing why I wanted to leave her with them. I asked if I could bring her by that evening, because then, I could catch the Sunday flight to Texas, and, they agreed to that. We headed back to our little hotel apartment, packed up some her clothes, of course, she did the picking, and I did the packing, along with some of her girly things, which she said that she need to pack herself, so she did. I then called the airlines at the airport, to see what was available to San Antonio, Texas, for the next day, and there was a flight in the afternoon, which was just right. We then headed back over to my friend’s home, and I dropped off my little sweetheart, into the hands of, almost, strangers, because I had a mission to accomplish. I kissed her on the cheek, good-bye, and she started to cry, but said, “Go ahead, I know that you must do this”. She then handed me a crumpled up piece of paper, which had the address of

13

where my boys were. Therefore, I gave her another kiss on the cheek, and told her, Thank you very much, everything will be all right. She said, I know Dad, do what you have to do, and get back here as quickly as you can, which I promised her that I would do. I then went out to the airport, to pay for, and pick up my ticket, for the next day’s travel. I arrived in San Antonio, late that evening, I got a taxi, and asked him, if he knew of a reasonable hotel close by the courthouse, that he could take me to, and, he recommended a very nice one, which was not one from a chain. It was very nice, and the people there were very friendly. I booked in for a couple of weeks, paid for the total stay in cash, got my receipt, and settled in for the night. Early the next morning, I cleaned up, and headed down for my breakfast, which was very good, a nice, old fashioned, Ranch Style breakfast, with plenty of everything imaginable, and plenty of coffee to wash it all down with. It was just too much, but I managed to enjoy it anyway. I simply, stuffed myself. Boy, was it good, and, the best part of it all was that it was included in the price of the room. I then headed over to the attorney’s office, and low and behold, his secretary told me that he was in court for the day, and, that he wouldn’t be returning to his office until late that evening, so, she made me a tentative appointment for 10:00 AM the next morning, if he didn’t have to return to court the next day. Therefore, I headed back over to my hotel, and they had a very nice Mexican Buffet that evening. Hey, I was still stuffed from the breakfast, but, somehow, I manage to put a nice dent in the Mexican Buffet, too. It also was excellent. Moreover, people wonder why they are overweight. Well, there is the answer, just too much good food around. After the Mexican Buffet, I had to take nice long walk, then, I returned to the hotel, to settle in for the evening, to be ready for the next day. The next morning, it was the same cycle all over again, that morning, the nice, old fashioned, Ranch Style breakfast, with plenty of everything imaginable, and plenty of coffee to wash it all down with. However, I was

14

still suffering with indigestion from the Mexican Buffet the night before, so I could not eat much, this time. I, mainly, just sat there, and nursed my coffee, until it was time to go to the attorney’s office, once again. I arrived ahead of my appointment time, and I was surprised, because his secretary led me in to his conference room immediately. He came in almost immediately, and I explained everything to him and handed him all of my triple certified true copies of the court documents, including my divorce decree, which granted my complete custody of my children, and the triple certified true copies of the other three times that we had gone to court, and I had won. I then asked him for his wiring instructions for one of his accounts, so that I could have my sister send in his $5,000 non-refundable retainer. He said that he would return in just a few minutes, which he did, with a big smile on his face, and an Invoice, with his wiring instructions on it. I then asked him, how long it would take us to get in to court. He simply said that he had to review the documents, which should not be longer than it would take my sister’s transfer to be deposited in to his account, then, he would get back to me. I left him my number at the hotel, and he said that he would call me, in a few days, as soon as his bank notified him that his retain was deposited in to his account. I headed back to the hotel, to send the wiring instructions to my sister, we were two hours ahead of where she was living, so she still had enough time to get the wire out that same day, which she did do, and she even sent me a copy of the wire transfer, later that evening, which is impossible to get from any bank, anywhere, these days. Things change. The next Friday, I did receive a call from the attorney’s secretary, telling me that the retainer had been received, and that the attorney would like to see me that afternoon at 4:00 PM, which I gladly accepted, his kind invitation to visit with him, once again. Again, I arrived early, and I was led in the same conference room. Moreover, again, he entered almost immediately. He told me that he had gone over all of the documents that I had brought, and that everything appeared to be in proper order. He then asked me if I knew where my

15

children were, so I pulled out the little crumpled piece of paper that my daughter had given to me, and handed it to him. (I already had written down the address in my note pad, which I was carrying with me.) He told me that he would be preparing some documents for me to sign over the weekend, and that he would like to see me to return to his office, the following Monday, at 10:00 AM sharp. I told him that I would certainly be there. He then told me, not go by the place where my sons were staying, because that could complicate the problem, and I promised not to do so, then, I left, and returned to my hotel. That weekend, was probably the longest in my entire lifetime. It just seemed to crawl along. On Sunday morning, I just couldn’t sleep longer, so I got up, cleaned up, and went downstairs to have some more of that nice, old fashioned, Ranch Style breakfast, with plenty of everything imaginable, and plenty of coffee to wash it all down with. And, Boy, can I tell you that I was just about fed up with that nice, old fashioned, Ranch Style breakfast, with plenty of everything imaginable, and plenty of coffee to wash it all down with. They changed absolutely nothing on their Breakfast Buffet, while I was there. However, do not take that wrong, either, it was a very nice hotel, and, I am very sorry, but I just cannot remember the name of it at present. Needless to say, but I just couldn’t wait to see my two sons again, so, I headed over to the address that I had, which was a very long walk, but I had nothing else to do, anyway. I stood behind some small trees, out of sight, about a half block from where they were supposedly staying, once I had located the address, which wasn’t really difficult, once I got a city map, which was the hard part of that ordeal. I waited there, in amongst the small trees, for what seemed like days, but was only hours, in reality. Then, all of a sudden, my youngest son came out of the front door, and appeared in the front yard, followed closely behind, by my eldest son. Shortly after, one of those big crew cab trucks pulled up, they both hopped in, and they all headed off in the opposite direction, from where I was. Well, at least I knew that they were still here. So, I headed back to my hotel, once again. In addition, yes, Mexican Buffet was the order of the day, every day, for the Dinner Buffet. Nothing ever changed in that nice hotel, maybe, even to this very day. I do not know, because I have never gone back there, since I left.

16

On Monday morning, the same old routine again, then back to the attorney’s office, and sure enough, the same old routine again, until the attorney entered with a fist full of papers that I needed to sign, which I did, as he showed me where to sign all of them in triplicate. He then showed me a piece of paper, which said “Writ of Habeas Corpus” on the top of the page, and he said this will be served on your ex-wife, either today, or tomorrow, at the latest, and, then they will have to appear in court on Friday, to show just cause, or you win. I asked him, what time that we had to be in court? His answer was that he did not want me to be there, in case that there was any trouble. He told me that the Judge would take his word that I was in town, to take possession of my children, if I won, and that is all that mattered. He told me that he would call me as soon as the hearing was over, so stay close to my phone, to hear what the outcome was. This all was a bit confusing at the time, but I took his word on it, because he came highly recommended, by my other attorney, who had won many times for me in the past. Later on, I learned what he meant, the hard way. You will have that part, shortly. Again, I headed back to that nice hotel, but, this time, on the way, I spotted one of those World Famous Fast Food Places, and decided that I would stop in there for something to take back to that nice hotel, to eat later on. A cold Big Mac, or cold KFC, is not as bad as some believe it to be. Nevertheless, for the next three and a half days, it was the same old routine at that nice hotel, which really was not as bad as I may have led some to believe. Sorry about that. It really was not a bad place to say, and the people were very nice. Friday, about noon, the attorney’s secretary called me again, and told me that the attorney wanted to see me in his office at 2:00 PM sharp, that day. Therefore, I asked her what had happened, and she said that she did not know, because the attorney had only told her that he wanted to see me in his office at 2:00 PM sharp, so, she was only relaying his message.

17

Needless to say, I was in his office at 1:20 PM, and, as before, I was taken to his conference room, immediately. However, then, I was asked if I would like to have a cup of coffee, which had never happened before, so I accepted it. I knew that I was going to have some waiting to do. About an hour later, he stepped in to the conference room, looking like he had just had one of those 3+ martini lunches, reached over to me, and said, “We won !!! Your ex-wife has to deliver your sons to you, at the west entry of the airport by noon tomorrow.” Holy Cow, we won, again !!! I thanked him very much, and asked if there was any refund on my deposit, and he just shook his head, no. Well, at least I tried. As I was leaving, he handed me one of the triple certified true copies of my divorce decree, showing that I had permanent custody of my children, and a copy of the “Writ of Habeas Corpus”, which had been stamped by the court, there. He told me that I might need them, to be able to take my sons out of Texas. In addition, he was certainly correct on that one. He also told me that when they arrived, if I needed to call airport security, do not hesitate to do so. Now, I can honestly say, that part did made me a bit nervous. He then told me that if my ex-wife did not deliver the boys to me, at the west gate of the airport, the next day, just give him a call on Monday, and he would take care of that too, because she would be in violation of a Court Order. Now, that was very reassuring. I then headed out to the airport to book our return flights back to Portland, Oregon, for the next day, if there was any available. Sure enough, there was a flight leaving in the early afternoon, but we had to go through Phoenix, Arizona, which was okay with me. I had to change my ticket, with a surcharge of course, to that flight, and pay for my sons tickets at the same time, and sure enough, the Ticket Agent asked me to see something that said that I was legally allowed to remove my sons from Texas, so I showed her the documents that my attorney given to me, she then walked in to the back room, and returned with a

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19

turned, grabbed my sons’ hands and their bags, and walked away, fully expecting to be shot in the back, at any time. However, fortunately, that did not happen. We just walked in to the check in counters, and checked in, and, sure enough, I was asked again, to prove that I was legally allowed to take my sons out of Texas, so I pulled out the documents that my attorney had given to me, and once again, the check-in lady, walked in the back room, returned with a copy of the documents, and returned the originals to me. After we had boarded the plane, and started heading back to Portland, Oregon, via Phoenix, Arizona, the boys told me that they had saw me, the Sunday before, when they were starting to get in to their mother’s boyfriend’s truck, because I stepped out from behind the small trees, to see if it was really them, they saw me then. However, they did not say a word, because their mother’s boyfriend carried a fully loaded revolver in his truck too. So, now, I knew, first hand, what my attorney there, had meant. Some say, “Ignorance is Bliss”, and I will tell you for a fact that this is not true; you can take my word on that one. When you have a gun pointed at your head, with a complete lunatic behind it, Ignorance is not Bliss. That is very scary situation to ever be in. However, I could not let my sons know that, or they probably would have been traumatized over that situation for the rest of their lives. Therefore, when they brought the subject up later on, I just laughed and told them that I knew that their grandpa was just kidding. However, I will tell you, right here and now that was the scariest situation that I have ever been in, in my entire life, so far. Anyway, the boys were safe, and back home with me, and their sister. I had parked in the long-term parking at the Portland airport, so when we arrived, later that night, it was easy for us to get our things to the car, and head over to our little apartment. Their first night back home with me, was a real joy for all of us. We got up early the next morning, when over to pick up my daughter, their sister, and then we went out for breakfast. I did not miss the Ranch Style breakfast, either. The couple that my daughter had stayed with was completely elated, when they saw that the boys were with me.

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20

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21

want to open up the other office in just a few more weeks”. I thanked him for this opportunity, and told him that I would start working on it, right away. The next day, I called the Oregon State Electrical Licensing Bureau in Salem, to see if they had some study materials available that I could go over to study for the Electrical Supervisor’s Exam, and I was told no, you just have to come down and take it here, when you have 5 years experience as a Journeyman. I told him that I had all of my paid up receipts for more than 5 years, and he said that would qualify, so come on down, and take the exam, any time that you are ready to do so. However, he did slip me a hint, at the end of the conversation; he said that the test was based upon the present Electrical Code Book, so study the footnotes well. I crammed every night and on the weekends too, for a couple of weeks, then I thought that I might well be ready to take the exam. I had paid special attention to all of the footnotes in the entire Code Book. Therefore, I scheduled an appointment to go down a take the exam, the following week. In addition, sure enough, it was only on the footnotes. I passed with excellence, and my new Oregon State Electrical Supervisor’s License was sent to me by mail, a few days later. When I received, the next day, I took it in to my boss to show it to him. He patted me on the back, told me that I had my raise, up to Supervisor’s pay, effective that same day, and then he told me that his son had taken that exam more than a dozen times, and still had not passed it. I told him that it was just a stroke of luck, because his son was an excellent craftsman. He said that it really did not matter now, because he now had a Supervisor for his other office, and that is all that really mattered to him. Well, that was another $160 bucks per week, on my paycheck, which I greatly appreciated. The kids and I quickly set up a routine for home. Because they went to school at the same time that I went to work, but got home earlier, as I now had a further distance to travel, each way, I would leave money on the kitchen counter at home in the morning, and they would go shopping, when they got home from school, for what they wanted to eat that night. Then, they would start in on their homework. I would make it, when I got

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23

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24

conducted at the Oregon State University Campus. It was too late to go there now. The next day, right after work, I drove down to the Registrations Office of Oregon State University and asked the woman at the counter, if they had any records of who attended the last Electrical Supervisors Course, 5 years ago. She said no, and even if we had that information, it is not public information, so, we cannot give that kind of information to you, anyway. Well, nice try, but I drew a blank on that one. The only thing left for me to do, was for me to sit the exam to see what was on it, and pass it, if that was possible to do, the first time around, which I had some very serious doubts about doing, just because of what I had been told about it. However, what the heck, how bad could it be, I already knew the footnotes in the Code Book. Therefore, the next morning, I called down to the City of Portland’s Electrical Inspection Department to schedule a crack at their exam. I was told that it was held each first Tuesday of every month, so come on down, no appointment was necessary, but do not be late, the exam starts at 8:00 AM, and I would have until noon to complete it. Now, I knew that I was definitely in trouble, when they were giving us 4 hours to complete an exam. By this time in my life, I had passed a lot of exam, but none, were we ever given 4 hours to complete, not even our College Entrance SAT exam. It did not last that long, as I remembered, but that was a long time ago, also. I had two more weeks to wait, until I could sit the exam, so I decided that maybe, just maybe, I should do a bit more cramming for this one, because it appeared that it was going to be a real dilly to pass. Those two weeks went by quickly, and before I knew it, it was time to take a half day off from work, with pay, to sit the City of Portland’s Electrical Supervisors Exam. I got to their office at 7:30, but the offices did not open until 8:00, so the sign said. Therefore, I went down the street to get a cup of coffee, and then I returned. Sure enough, they opened at 8:00, the secretary asked my business, and I told her that I was there to sit the Electrical Supervisors Exam. She asked for proof of 5 years experience as a journeyman electrician, so I just showed her my State of Oregon’s Electrical Supervisors License, which also I had to prove

25

5 years experience to be able to take. In addition, she accepted that, as my proof, and took me in to their exam room. I was handed a one page exam sheet, with only 10 questions on it, and 10 other, clean, sheets of paper to do my calculations on, being told not to do them in my head, because the written calculations were part of my test score, then, she walked out, and closed the door behind her. I looked down at the test paper, and these were electrical engineering questions, which no journeyman would ever have to remember, because that was not part of our work. However, there they were. Therefore, I started right in on them. I then knew why we had 4 hours to complete the exam. Fortunately, I did have some experience in this field, because I had worked for Bechtel Corporation, a well known, privately held, Electrical Engineering Company, many years before, twice, in fact. However, I was having real difficulty with trying to remember the electrical calculations, from that far back. A few minutes later, the secretary entered again, with another man, about my same age. She handed him the same things that she handed to me, then she told him, you know the routine, and I hope that you pass it this time, because this is your last chance for another year. I said, I beg your pardon, but what is this about a last chance for another year? She said that each applicant only was given three chances to pass the exam, each year. Therefore, if you do not make it, during those three chances, you get to wait for one more year, to be able to sit the exam again. Then she told us that talking was not allowed in the exam room, turned and walked out the door again, closing it behind her. We put our heads down, and started working on the exam. Before we knew it, the secretary walked in again, said “times up”, hand in your work, and come back here at 2:00 PM to get your results. Therefore, I had to call my boss, to tell him that I would not be in that day, because we would not get the results of the exam until 2:00 PM. He asked me, how was it, and I told him that it was an engineering exam, which is why no has passed it, since it was no longer being taught. He then asked me, how I thought that I did, and I told him that it was a tossup, because there was a lot of the formulas that I just could not remember. He wished me luck, said I will see you tomorrow, and hung up.

26

I went out to grab some lunch, had a walk in the riverside park, and then headed back over to the City of Portland’s Electrical Inspection Department to what my results were. The other fellow was already there, when I arrived. The secretary took us in to the exam room, once again, and asked us to have a seat; she said that the Chief Electrical Inspector would be in shortly, with our results. He walked in a few minutes later, an elderly man, and handed each of us our test scores. I got a 66%, which he said was not bad for a first try. The other fellow got a 57%, he patted him on the shoulder and said, see you next year, young man. Well, it was all over, except for the crying, because you had to get at least a 70% to pass. As we were walking out the door, the other fellow asked me if he could buy me a cup of coffee, because he wanted to know, how I tested so high, on my first attempt. I said sure, I do not have to be back to work today, anyway, so why not. When we got to the coffee shop, we each ordered a large cup of coffee, and picked out a roll, each, then we sat down. I explained to him that I had studied Electrical Engineering in the past, and had worked for Bechtel Corporation, many years ago, but that I just couldn’t remember all of the formulas that we on the exam. He then told me that he had taken the last class that the Chief Electrical Inspector had given, 5 years ago, and that he had a copy of the 10 calculations that they were given, and had to go over every one, for a complete semester, at Oregon State University. He said that he would give me a copy of them, if I wanted them. I said that I did want the copy of them, and we made an appointment to meet the following Saturday, in the same spot, at 12:00 noon, for me to pick up my copy of the formulas that he had been given in class. Hot Dog, maybe I had a chance at passing this one, after all. The next morning, I told my boss that I had gotten a 66%, and it took 70% to pass, so I was not that far from getting it done. I told him that I wanted to sit the exam, again next month, and he agreed. Nevertheless, I did not tell him about the other fellow, who had the 10 formulas that he was going to give me a copy of. That would remain my little secret.

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The following Saturday, we met, and he handed me a letter sized page of paper with 10 formulas written nicely on it. I looked at them, and sure enough, they were the ones on the exam. I asked him if I could have a copy of these, and he said that is your copy. I could have danced in the streets with joy over that one. However, I invited him for lunch, my treat, and while I we were having lunch; I asked him why he had just not memorized these formulas, because these were the exam, except the formulas were put in to question form. He told me that was the part that was so difficult for him to do, because the formulas just got jumbled up in his head. So, I told him that he needed to clear his head, concentrate on just these for a few minutes each day, until they are embedded in your brain, then, take the exam again next year, and you will surely pass it. I told him not to concentrate on them for too long a time, each time that he studied them, because that would only be counterproductive to being able to retain them in long term memory. I told him that he needed to go over each one, and say the equation out load, as he was trying to remember it, and he had to do this at least 21 times, for each equation, for them to click over in to long term memory. I told him that was something that I had read, many years ago, also, but it worked for me. So, try it. He said that he would, and thanked me for lunch. As we parted, I almost kissed him, Thanks, because I now had the keys in my hands to be able to pass that exam. (He never gave me a number to contact him with, and I never saw, or heard from him, ever again. I often wonder if he did pass the exam the next year. However, I guess, that is one of life’s mysteries that I will never come to know.) The next Monday, I called the City of Portland’s Electrical Inspection Department and told them that I would be back in again, next month, to take another shot at their exam, because I had come so close to passing it, the last time. Moreover, the secretary said, “Sure, come on down, we will be ready for you.” (There was more to that statement than met the ear, as you will see, in just a bit.) When I got home from work that evening, and we had our dinner, I told the kids that I had a very important test to study for, and I had less than a month to do it in, so, I can only spend a little bit of time with you people on the weekend, until I have taken this exam. They just said, go ahead, and study, we will have fun without you, until you are finished,

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and headed off to their room, not to disturb me, which I greatly appreciated. I then started rewriting the formulas, with the easiest ones first, and the hardest one at the end. It was easier for me to remember the easy ones first, and then move on the more difficult one, as I got the first ones in to long term memory, through repetition, which is the only way that I know how to do it. I then took my shower, kissed the kids Good Night, and headed off to bed. I would not start on these, until the next evening. Those few weeks, disappeared quickly, but I still managed to take the kids out for lunch every Saturday, while I was cramming for this exam. Before I knew it, it was the first Monday of the month, so, I requested the next day off again, from my boss, telling him that I was going to take another shot at the exam. A big smile appeared on his face, and he asked if I thought that I was ready for it this time? I simply said, “Yes, I am.” He just replied, see you on Wednesday, and I hope that you have good news for me, then. I headed home to go over those formulas, one last time, just to make sure. The next day, I was early again, but this time I just walked down the street and got a cup of coffee before I went over to the Inspection Department, to get seated in the Exam Room again. I arrived back at 8:00 AM, on the dot, and was led back in to the same exam room, but, this time, the secretary asked me if I had brought any notes with me, because that wasn’t allowed. I told her, no, and sat down, and she left the room. She returned shortly with the exam questions and the 10 more sheets of blank letter sized paper, but, this time, I asked her for one more, stating that I needed it to be able to write the formulas down, for each question, so that I did not get them confused. She said okay, and returned with another blank page of letter-sized paper. Then, she asked me again, are you sure that you have not brought any notes with you, because that is not allowed. I told that I had not, took off my jacket and placed it on the back of a chair in the back of the room, then took out my car keys and wallet, and laid them on the empty desk in front of the chair. I then turned my pants pockets inside out, so that she could

29

see that I had nothing more in them, then, reached in to my shirt pocket to show her that was empty, also. (I was seated in the front part of the exam room, and my things were placed in the back of the exam room.) She just said, you can start now, walked out of the exam room, and closed the door behind her, as she left. I started right in, because I knew, from my first experience with this exam, that it was going to be a long, hard, one. Before I looked at any of the questions, I took one of the blank pieces of paper, and wrote down all of the formulas that I had remembered. I wanted to do this, so that I could clear my mind, and put 100% attention on the questions. Therefore, I wrote all 10 of them down on that blank piece of paper. As I finished this, a flash of doubt went through my mind, what if they changed some of the formulas, then, I would be sunk. I then though, that cannot be true, because those were the only 10 formulas that he taught in class, and in great detail. However, I turned to the ten questions on the exam, and one by one, check them with the formulas, putting the corresponding question number in front of each one, also, putting a check mark in front of each question, as I located the right formula, for that question. Moreover, sure enough, the questions were different, phrased differently, but they only addressed the same formulas. Now, I knew that I was home free, if I did not run out of time. Therefore, I pulled out the next blank piece of paper; put a big “1” on top of the page, which corresponded with the question number, and started right in, using the correct formula, from my formula page. A few minutes later, the door opened again, and the secretary came over to me, did not say a word, just looked over my shoulder to see what I was doing, then left again. She, and two other people, whom I had not seen before, did this several times, while I was taking the exam. I finished with all of the calculations of the ten questions, about half an hour before the allotted time was up, so, I just reviewed my calculations, one more time, to make sure that I had them correct, this time around. At 12:00 noon sharp, the secretary walked in, picked up the question sheet and 11 pages of paper that she had given to be blank, but was

30

written all over now. She then said, see you at 2:00 PM, and left. I got up, put my car keys and wallet back in my pockets, put on my jacket, and left, to go have some lunch, and take a little walk at the riverside park, again. I arrived back again at 2:00 PM sharp, and was shown in to the exam room again, but, this time, the Chief Inspector can in right away, sat down beside me, and asked me if I had cheated. I told him, no, sir, I had not. He then asked me, how were you able to get a 66% on your first try, and I do not remember you ever taking one of my instructional classes, which I have not done for several years? I told him that I had taken Electrical Engineering classes, and I had worked for Bechtel Corporation in the past, but I just couldn’t remember all of the formulas that were on my last exam, so, I crammed harder this time, and reviewed the formulas until I had them firmly in my head. He then, stood up, said that he would not return for about an hour, and if I wanted to go out to get anything during that time, I was free to do so. I told him that if it was okay with him, I would take another walk in the riverside park, and, he said that would be a good idea, but be back here by 3:00. I agreed, and left. I returned at 3:00 was shown to the exam room again, and again, the Chief Inspector came right in, with my test papers. He sat down next to me again, and asked, are you sure that you did not cheat. I then reaffirmed that fact again, telling him that his secretary had asked me if I had any notes that morning, and I put everything that I had, that I could take off, legally, and placed them in the last row. He told me that he knew, but he just had to ask me, one more time, for his own personal satisfaction. I again told him, no sir, I did not cheat. He then turned over my test page, and in big read writing was 96%. He said, son, no one has ever tested that high in the history of this exam, so I wanted to congratulate you, myself. Of course, I had to take off a few points, because you did not write down all of the multiplication that you did, apparently you did some of that in your head, which is acceptable, because you got every question, completely correct. He then reached over, shook my hand, told me come back at any time, pay the $25 dollars for my license for my first year, and it would be mailed to me right away. Then, he just stood back up again, and walked out of the room.

31

I walked out of the exam room, walked over to the secretary, and asked her, where do I pay my $25 dollars? She said, right here, so, I opened up my wallet and handed the $20 dollars to her. She wrote me a receipt, and I left. I drove straight over to the office, walked in, sat down, and asked my boss, where is my coke. He looked at me, smiled a big smile, walked in to the next room, and came back with a nice cold coke. He then sat down behind his desk, and said, I guess that you have good news to tell me, and I told him, yes, you can start your work in the City of Portland, Oregon, any time that you want, because I should have my license in my hands, within a few days. He got up from his desk, walked over to me, gave me a big bear hug, and said I knew that you could do it. I will raise you up to Portland Electrical Supervisors pay, starting yesterday. Wow, another $200 buck in the pay sack, was not going to hurt anything. However, of course, I was very sure that it would drive my tax accountant crazy, trying to find me a few more legal deductions. I then drove home, early, and took the kids out to dinner, to celebrate, and they were really, really, happy that I had passed the exam, so that we now could get back to our normal routine, of having a close family life together.

Another one down, And fewer to go, On the round, at least

A few months later, my Landlord and his wife (everything was in his name), invited me over to their home for lunch, just me, the kids were off playing at the arcade in the big mall down the street, and I had given them money, for them to buy their lunch with, before they left, during lunch, they told me that I should find a nice home for the children, that a hotel apartment was no place to raise children properly. In addition, they were very correct on that one.

32

At this time, I did have some money in the bank, but I never had looked at getting our own home, until our Landlord and his wife, brought it up to me, in a very nice way. They were a nice Indian couple, from India, I always paid my rent on time, and the kids never played loud music, so they had no trouble with me. They were just giving me some good advice, which I thought was very nice of them to do. The next objective was now very clear. Get our own home. Therefore, the next Friday, on the way home from work, I stopped and picked up a local newspaper, to see what we could find in it, about a reasonable house for sale. At that time, it was not a Buyer’s market; it was a Seller’s Market, because homes were being snapped up as fast as they could be built. I guess, it was just so many people discovering that Oregon was a very nice place to live, and also a lot of the big semiconductor manufacturers, down in Silicon Valley, were moving their operations up to Oregon, from Californian, because of the favorable State Tax situation in Oregon at that time. Again, I do not know if that has changed, or not. After dinner that night, I and the kids went over the homes for sale section of the local newspaper. We circled a few that looked interesting, to check on the next day, but, we did not have anything, in particular, in mind. We were just going to play it, as it came. The next day, the kids and I got up early, and headed out for breakfast, before we started in on our house shopping. When we finished, we started right in, with the first one that we had circled in the newspaper, and took them, one at a time from there. It always can down to, give a hefty down payment, and get a loan to pay off the balance, as quickly as possible. In addition, with my bankruptcy, less than a year old, that was not going to work. Therefore, one by one, we scratched them off, as not being acceptable under our present circumstances.

33

The last one on the list was a town house, which looked very nice, as we drove up. It was on the end of a large cul-de-sac, in a park like setting, with large pine trees abounding, and wild rhodendrums growing everywhere. A simple semi-circle of twelve, three story, town houses, set back from the end of the cul-de-sac, with parking spaces in front. We were all impressed with this one. I told the kids not to get overly expectant, because of our previous experiences during the day. However, they insisted, this was the one, which I really did not believe that we had a, snowball’s chance in hell, of ever getting, from the day’s experience. (They had a whole lot more faith in what was possible, than I did, then, for sure.) I could see from the addresses that the owner lived in the first unit. I parked our little Pinto station wagon; we all got out, walked up to the front door, and rang the doorbell. A younger man appeared, and asked if we were inquiring about his last unit, and, I said, yes. Therefore, he invited us in, and showed us a seat in his living room (not the kitchen table, as was the case in all of the others people that day). He asked me what kind of work that I did, and I told him that I was a Union Electrician, and who I worked for. He said that he knew them, but he had never used the company before, and he knew that they had a good reputation in the area. That part was okay with him. He then asked if we would like to see the unit, and, of course, all of the kids, yelled out “yes”, before I could say a word. Therefore, off we went. He opened the front door, and the unit was just as beautiful as its surroundings. The drapes and carpet were already installed, along with all of the appliances, including a dishwasher, which was a must for us. The large living room had large sliding glass doors, which opened out to a very large covered patio, which was another must, in rainy Oregon. (Hey, it is all of the rain that makes it so beautiful.) The first floor has a very nice entry, a large kitchen, laundry room, living room, and formal dining room. The second floor has two large bedrooms, each with their own bathroom, with separate shower and a bathtub, in each. The third floor had a smaller family room, and a very large master suite, with its own bathroom, also. This one with separate shower and a

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spa bath tub. Simply, beautiful! There were no better words to describe this house. The kids were just overjoyed with it. However, I still had strong reservations about ever being able to get it. After we had taken the grand tour, the young man invited us back to his living room, and brought us some fresh made lemonade to drink. Then, turned to me, and asked me, can we work out a deal on the unit, because I have to leave for South American in the next few days. I told him that I hoped that we could, but I had a few problems, that if we could work through together, then we would gladly take the unit. He said that he could be very flexible, because this was his last unit, and he didn’t want to build anymore of these, because they were just too hard to sell, it seemed that most people wanted a single family home, instead of a town house. He told me that he had built them with his own money, so he would like to carry the paper himself, so that he could collect the interest on the loan, so he could make us a very good deal, if we really did want to take the unit. Now, things were really starting to look up for us. This was exactly what we needed, to be able to get our own home. He said that the selling price on the units were $300,000, and he normally required a 10% down payment, then, he would carry the loan, himself, at a modest 6% annual interest, which was good at that time, because banks were charging 8%, or more. I told him that I only had about $15,000 saved up, so if it was possible, could we lease with option to buy, until we were able to come up with the other $15,000, and, he said, of course. He said that he could have his attorney draw up the papers Monday, so I could come back Monday evening to sign them, and give him a check for the $15,000, and he would give us the keys, which I agreed to, do. Wow, we were in. We shook hands, and he showed us to the door, as we were about to leave, he asked me what Licenses that I held, and I told him a State Electrical Supervisors License and also a City of Portland Electrical Supervisors License. He then asked me, does that mean that you can do work in Portland, and that you can pull a permit to do the work. I said, yes. He then turned to me, and said, please come back in to the house,

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we need to talk a little longer, and so, we returned to the living room, as he made more lemonade. He then told me that he had just purchase a commercial property, next to the river, and he needed to have someone do the electrical work on it. He said that he had already gotten a fair quote from a local company to do the work, but they were not able to pull the required permit, because they were not licensed to be able to do so. I knew of the company, which was one of our main competitors; they did top quality work, also. I then asked him, what do you have in mind? He said, you can do the work, and I will pay you for doing it. That way you can have the balance of your full down payment, because I can just subtract the balance that you owe me, from the contract, and we can go directly to a purchase agreement. I then explained to him that I did not hold an Electrical Contractors License for the State of Oregon, but that I could check with my boss on Monday, and I could have the answer for him, when we returned on Monday evening. He said, that is fine, just let me know, then. On Monday morning, I again walked in to the office, and asked my boss if I could speak to him privately, and he took me in to his private office, and had me sit down. He then asked me, I know that it is early, but do you want a coke, and, I said, no, it is too early in the morning for that one, as far as I am concerned. So, he said, okay, me too, so what is on your mind? I then explained everything to him, about the need of being able to use his company, so that I could pull a permit to do the work in Portland to get the balance of our down payment for our new home. Without hesitation, he said, that is okay with me, but make sure that the price is fair. You can do the work on your own time, and I will let you get the materials on my wholesale account, without taking any mark up. Therefore, you should have plenty from the contract to have the balance of your down payment. Well, things were really starting to look up, on us being able to get our own home, in reality, and not just on a lease purchase agreement. That evening, after work, I drove to our little hotel apartment to pick up the kids, who were already home from school, and waiting impatiently. They were already waiting outside, when I drove in to the driveway; they hopped in to the car, and said, let us go get our new home. Therefore, we did. We drove straight over to the young man’s unit, knocked on the

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door, and he opened it, almost immediately. He again invited us in to his living room, then again, adjourned to the kitchen, made some more of that great fresh lemonade, returned, and poured us each a tall glass. (Later on, I checked to see if he had a lemon tree in his back yard, but there wasn’t one, so I don’t know where he kept coming up with those fresh lemons.) He told me that he was very sorry, but that his attorney had not finished up with the purchase agreement yet. I told him that was fine, it was better that his attorney take his time, rather than rushing with legal documents that had to be registered. He said, of course, but he will be finished with them by tomorrow, he has promised to me by tomorrow evening, and, he always holds to his promises, at least to me, he has. He then stepped in to the dining room, and brought back a copy of the electrical plans on the commercial property that he was about to start remodeling in Portland. He also handed me a copy of the bid, which he had received from the other company, before they realized that it was located in the City of Portland. I told him that I had already checked with my boss and that he was agreeable to help me pull the permit, and let me do the work myself, so that I would be able to earn the balance of the down payment. He was happy to hear that. I told him that I could have my boss check the price over the next day, and if there were any adjustment in the price, he would let me know. He told me that if it was any lower, then we did not need to go down in the price, and if it was higher, just let him know, because he needed to get the work done, because he wanted to lease the property out, as quickly as he could, but really no rush on doing the work. I could take my time. Therefore, we agreed to meet the next evening, at the same time. The contract price was $35,000 and some change, which did not look too bad to me, but I had to have my boss check it over, to make sure that it was a fair price, because I really had not done any electrical estimating for a long time. The next morning, again I asked my boss if I could speak to him privately, and he said come on in to my office, which we did. I then handed him the electrical plan, and the copy of the bid that he had received, and, he said

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that he would check them over that day, and have an answer for me by the time that I got back from doing my job. Therefore, I thanked him, and left. That evening, he had everything ready, but, he said that I needed to add a few thousand more to the price, because the electrical permits in Portland were almost twice as much as in the rest of the State. I again, thanked him, and headed off to pick up the kids again. In addition, yes, they were eagerly waiting, again, in the parking lot. We headed over to the young man’s unit again. Again, he answered the door, almost immediately, and, again, back to his living room, and some more of that nice refreshing, fresh lemonade. He asked me what my boss had said, and I told him that we needed to add a couple of thousand dollars more, for the permit, because my boss had told me that the price of the permit was much more expensive than in the rest of the State of Oregon. He said, I thought that it would be, so that is okay. Therefore, do we have a deal, or not? I told him that we did have a deal, so he asked us to accompany him to the dining room table, where he already had the purchase contract laid out. He told me that I could take it with me and have my own attorney check it over, but I told him that apparently he had a competent attorney, so we do not need two of them, so that they could start arguing over the fine print, to justify their retainers. He laughed, and said, what do you want to do, review it yourself? In addition, I said, yes, if you have the time. He said that he had all of the time in the world today, but, tomorrow he was off for South American, so, if we didn’t get it done tonight, it had to wait until get got back in a couple of weeks. Therefore, I started reviewing it, and he started in on a different form that he had in his binder, on the dining room table. I review it, and told him that his attorney had done a fine job on it, everything was there that we had agreed to, so, I was perfectly willing to sign it, right then and there. (It was a 30-year purchase contract, which meant that I would be able to stay up with the payments, even if work got slow, which always happens in construction. It is always, feast or famine, in that business. Moreover, he apparently knew that.) He said, okay, but this is only temporary, because you will have to go to my attorney’s office, while I am gone, to sign a notarized copies of this,

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which he will then file, and give you a copy of that when the filings are all completed. I then handed him my check for the first $15,000. He then handed me a standard form, Electrical Contract, with all of the blanks filled in, with a copy of the electrical plan, and a copy of his original bid, with the addition of $2000 dollars added to the price. He told me that I would have to have my boss sign it, as the Electrical Contractor, and I would have to sign it, as the Electrical Supervisor, who would have to be responsible for pulling / obtaining the required permit, under my City of Portland Electrical Supervisors License. He said, once I had it signed, I could return it to his attorney’s office, also, and, get started on the work, whenever I wanted to. He then went in to the kitchen, and returned with a bundle of keys for our unit, handed them to me, and said, welcome. I invited him out for dinner, but he refused, saying that he needed to pack for his trip, but that we could do that, after he returned. He then handed me a set of keys to his building in Portland, and told me to take my time, complete it when you can. I am not in any rush for you to complete your work. I just want it done right, which I know that you will do. The kids and I, thanked him very much, and excused ourselves, because we hadn’t had dinner yet, so, he showed us to the door, shook my hand again, and said “I’ll see you all, when I get back, in a couple of weeks.” He did not even get his door shut, before the kids were all over me, to go see our new home, one more time, before we left. Therefore, we did. It was simply an amazing home. Just right for all of us. Not too big, yet not too small, either. We were overtaken with joy, of having our own home, now. The kids barely ate any dinner that night, and when we returned to our little hotel apartment, we all got ready and went to bed early, because we were really exhausted, and, none of us knew why, either. We just were. The next morning, I got up early, made breakfast for the kids, woke them up, and headed off to work ahead of time. I wanted to catch my boss when he first arrived to give him the contact and attachments, so that he

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could review them, before he and I had to sign them, and return them to the young man’s attorney, which I wanted to do as quickly as possible. That afternoon, when I returned to the office from my day’s work, my boss handed me the signed copy of the contract, told me that I had to sign it, then I could take some time off the next day to deliver it to the young man’s attorney, he would order up the materials that I would need, which would take a few days for his supplier to have the order ready, then I could tell him, when I wanted the order delivered. I thanked him, this time I gave him a big bear hug, and he said, go on, and get out of here. (I delivered the signed contacts the very next day, with my boss’ blessings, straight to the young man’s attorney’s office. His attorney was not there, but his secretary happily took it, and said that she would deliver it to him, when he returned. She called me the following day, after work, to let me know that they had scheduled an appointment with the notary that they used, for me to sign, in front of the notary, the three copies of the purchase agreement that I needed to sign. I was there, and signed them, and the following week, my copy and a payment book was sent to me by the attorney.) I left for home, and when I got in to the parking lot, the kids were there, waiting again, but, this time, our Landlord and his wife, were with them. The kids had already told them that we had a new home, and they wanted to see it. Therefore, our Landlord and his wife hopped in to the back seat, my eldest jumped in to the front seat, and my other two kids, jumped in to the back of our little Pinto station wagon, and off we went, to see our new home. As we turned to go up the cul-de-sac, the kids exclaimed, “There it is”, and, the couple exclaimed right back, “It is so beautiful!” After we parked, I handed the key to our unit to my son, and his eyes opened wide, do I get to give them the tour, and, I said, yes, you surely do. He ran to open the front door for them. As the kids gave them the grand tour, I opened the sliding glass doors, stepped out on our large covered patio, gazed out in to the beautiful tree covered area behind our units, and thought to myself, this all cannot possibly be, but it was. It was all real. We now had our own home.

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I could hear the kids telling them, this is the kitchen, see all of the appliances are already installed, and, this is my room, and this is dad’s room. It took about half an hour for them to complete the tour, and then they walked back down the stairs, and came out on to the patio, where I was standing. They too gazed out on our wooded back yard, and said, this is simply marvelous, truly God’s hand at work. I simple replied, yes, it is very nice. (I still was not in the mood, to be hearing anything about some God thing at that time in my life; after all, it was me, who was busting his hind end, to get what we were getting, and what I had already accomplished. It had absolutely nothing to do with God, or so I thought at the time. Yes, maybe Lady Luck had been kind to me, but nothing more than, just that.) My daughter, the youngest, had already picked out her bedroom, and gladly gave the remaining one, on the second floor, to the boys. This was the very first time that I ever saw her determined to get what she wanted, and she did. The boys relinquished. Moreover, she was not even close to puberty, so, definitely was not a girl thing. I thought to myself, it must be that she now had gained some self-confidence in her life, and was determined to get her own way, on this one at least. Well, anyway, I was happy that they settled that issue between themselves, and I did not have to make the choice, which surely would have been, the wrong one. I locked up the house, we all jumped back in to the car, and headed back to the hotel. The Landlord and his wife, asked us over for dinner that night, and we gladly accepted their kind invitation. We walked in through their back door, straight in to their kitchen, then in to their dinning rook, just the same, as when I had been invited for lunch, not too long ago. After we finished dinner, which was very nice, but I did not see any meat, they invited us in to their living room, to have some tea. I had never been in their living room before, and as we entered, I spotted a picture of Buddha hanging on the wall, in a corner of the room, with a little shelf under it, holding a small brass bowl with many burnt sticks of burnt incense still in the little bowl. I did not say a thing, I just thought to myself, so, what was this God thing that they brought up at our new home. Well, it was none of my business, so why be concerned

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with it. I just let the thought pass, and never thought of it again, until years later, which is an entirely different story that I will not bring out in this one. (More on that subject will be brought out in another one of my upcoming books, which I have already begun on. It will be entitled “The Essence of Spirituality”.) The Landlord’s wife brought us in tea, and poured it for all of us, adding a couple lumps of sugar in to every cup, along with a bit of cream. I reached for the spoon beside the cup, and started stirring, trying to set an example for the kids, who had never had English Tea in their lives. It worked, they started stirring their tea, as I had done, nice and slowly, not in any rush. The Landlord, then turned to me, and asked, so, when will you be leaving? I told him that it would take a few weeks, because we now had to get some furniture. He said that they had thought about giving some of the used, and replaced, hotel furniture to us, but he could clearly see that it would be too small for our new home. I thank him for his kind consideration, and went on to tell him that we had some choosing to do, on what to fill the new house up with, and that would not be an easy task, because there was a lot to choose from in our area. He just laughed, and said, you are right about that. Have fun choosing. (I did not want to tell him that I had spent almost all of our entire savings, on getting in to the house, so I needed to wait, before I could afford to start buying the furniture. I just kept quiet.) My next task, which really was an associated task, was now clear. We had to get furniture. As we entered our apartment, the kids said we could move in this weekend, you have to get us some sleeping bags, a few dishes, some pans to cook with, some towels, and some soap, to do the dishes with, and to take a bath with. It will not cost much, and we can move in this weekend. I thought about it for a moment, and said, okay, we move in this weekend. I then returned to the Landlord’s home, to tell him, and they were happy, not that we were moving, but that we had decided to move in our new home. The next day, I again requested some time off, to get all of the utilities turned on, which my boss also granted me the time to do, paid for, too.

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(He must have been making a lot of profit from the operations in Portland and Corvallis, because he was sure treating me very nice, which was perfectly okay with me, also, because I was being paid handsomely. No complaints coming from me, on what he ever that he was making, for sure.) It took a lot longer to get everything turned on, than I had imagined, with all of the paperwork involved, but it all worked out just fine. I also checked with the kids school, and fortunately, the kids would remain in the same school, but now they would have to ride the school bus, to and from school, because I had to leave for work much earlier than they did, even under their new schedule, because I now had a long ways to drive to get to work, so I wouldn’t be able to take them to school, or even be able to pick them up, either. They said that they would not mind doing that, even though it meant that they would have to get up an hour earlier to be able to catch the bus on time. Friday evening, after my work was finished for the week, I headed back home, picked up the kids, and when went shopping for those sleeping bags, pots and pans, dishes and eating utensils, broom, mop, and the miscellaneous items that every household needs, including a small vacuum cleaner. We dropped everything off at our new home, on the way back to our little apartment for the night. The next morning, we cleaned up our little apartment, and invited the Landlord and his wife over to inspect it, which they did do, and gave us back all of our deposit, which really surprised me, because that is normally not done. (Landlords normally try to keep every penny that they can, so they complain about this and that, but they did not.) When the inspection tour was finished, and we had our deposit back, we invited them out for lunch, but they refused, saying that they were too busy that weekend, but that they would be happy to accept our invitation at some other time. (Later, we honored that request, by preparing them dinner, several weeks later, in our new home.) We all got in our little Pinto wagon, grabbed some quick lunch, picked up some groceries, then headed over to our new home, which was a real pleasure to be doing.

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(All of the utilities had been turned on, but the phone would not be installed until the following week. I told them that the kids got home around 4:30 PM, so if it was possible, please have the installer come after that time, which they agreed to do.) We immediately started cleaning everything, because it had never been lived in before, and everything was a bit dusty. We then unpacked everything and put them in their proper places. My eldest son, Mack, named after his maternal grandfather, decided that he would make dinner that night, so, I said, go ahead, give it a try, what are you going to make? He said, spaghetti with meatballs, and I said, that sounds really good, go ahead and do it, and, he did a fine job of it. It was very enjoyable, except for the greasy plates, pots, and pans, to clean up afterwards. It really was not as big a job as I had thought. I only had to rinse them off good with hot water first, then pop them in to our new dishwasher. We did not have a TV yet, so we just sat on the living room carpet and read books, after dinner, which was a lot of fun to do together. Later, we all said good night to each other, and headed to our respective bedrooms, to have our own private shower, or bath, and get some rest, in our new sleeping bags, which weren’t really that bad either, on the carpeted floors of the bedrooms.

One Big Nut down, our own home, However, several minor things more to go, To get this really accomplished, as in, furniture.

The next morning, I woke up early, at the crack of dawn, took a nice warm shower, and shaved, then headed downstairs to make a nice cup of coffee for myself, to wait for the kids to get up on their own. (I always liked to let them sleep in, and wake up whenever they wanted to, on Sundays. (When I was growing up, I was never afforded that privilege, because I was always forced to get up early on Sundays, so that we could go to church, and appear to be ‘holier than thou’, which I just hated. So,

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I was now going to let them sleep in on Sundays, as long as they wanted to, come hell or high water, neither mattered to me, they were going to get to sleep in, to their hearts content, and, they got to do, just that.) After the hot water was finished, I made a nice cup of instant coffee, because we had no coffee machine yet, either, I then walked out to our living room patio doors and opened them wide, walked out on to our covered patio, looked out as the sun was rising, on our forest back yard, and thought to myself, how in the heck to you do this, it has to be some kind of miracle, or something like that, because it all happened so fast. This was not my first home, nor was it my last, but, it was very special to me and the children, and was greatly appreciated by us all, no matter how we had gotten it, it was now ours, and we all appreciated that fact. (Later on, I came to know, how this happened, and why, which I am going to share with all of you, in the last part of this Book.) After the kids woke up by themselves, we made some breakfast, and ate it on the kitchen countertops, because there was no other place to eat from, in the entire house. However, they served us well, with no complaints. We then clean thing up, and decided to do some furniture shopping. Wow, everything was so expensive. I could only afford to buy a few pieces at a time, which was going to take me months to complete, remember, I had no credit, so that was not an option, at that time, either. Therefore, we only bought a television that day, a nice sized color TV, mainly for the children. I did not watch much television at that time and still do not. The next day, I got the kids up, so that they could get ready for school, I put their lunch money on the kitchen counter, and then headed off to work, I was running a bit behind schedule, but I would make it on time. When I arrived, my boss asked me in front of everyone, so how is the new house? Which greatly embarrassed me, but, I answered, just fine, excepted we do not have any furniture yet. That will come later; then, we all got in our trucks and headed out to our day’s work.

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I got back in to the yard a bit late that day, because there were a few things that I had to straighten out on my job, before I returned. (This was normal for me, and my children knew it. I was never late, most of the time.) Much to my surprise, standing next to my car, was one of the journeymen who had been present, during my boss’s comment, and my reply. He told me that he had been waiting for me to return, for a couple of hours, but that he had stayed, because he had something important to tell me, before he went home. Therefore, I asked him if he would like to come over to see our new home, and, he said that he did not really have the time that evening, but some other time, would be fine. (I later had him, his wife, and their three children, over to our new home, for a barbeque dinner, about two months later.) He told me that he and his family lived in a small town, not too far away, by name of Vernonia. He said that the town was straight out of the 1950’s in all regards, even with real boardwalks. He said that the people there were very friendly, which was why they like to live there so much. He told me that the people there had yard sales every Saturday, normally only in the mornings, and that if I like old antique furniture, I probably could get plenty there, as very reasonable prices. I told him that I would talk it over with my kids, but that we would probably come over next Saturday, he could show us around, and we could have lunch or dinner together with his family, our expense. He said, just let me know, and it will be okay with us. When I got home, I went over that suggestion with the kids, because I thought that they had their heart set on new furniture, but it was alright with them, also. Actually, they were looking forward to the trip, because we had never been there before. The next morning, I told our new friend, that we would be there on Saturday, somewhere around 9:00 AM. I asked him for his phone number, and told him that ours was suppose to be installed in the late afternoon, later that day, so, when I got home that evening, if everything went alright, I would have the number, and call him to give it to him, so that he had it, also, just in case anything unexpended happened, and he was not able to make our appointment, and, he said that was fine, but he didn’t expect, anything unexpected to pop up. (I have learned from

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experience that unexpected things do happen, in LIFE, so, just take them in stride, and handle them as quickly as you possibly can, in any way that is possible, within the law that is. Do not mess about, because if you do, they will surely get worse, which you never want to happen. So, please, heed that little piece of advice. It will save you a whole lot of trouble, later on in your life.) By the way, the kids had the telephone installer, put phones in most of all of the rooms, their bedrooms, of course, my bedroom, in the living room, and the kitchen, also. We were loaded up with phones; they were everywhere. However, my big surprise came when our first telephone bill arrived, my phone, the living room, and kitchen phones were on one line, but they had ordered, and gotten, separate lines, with completely different numbers, for each of their rooms, which showed up on our first bill. Oh well, they must have needed their own lines, or they would not have ordered them, was my reasoning. However, in reality, they were happy, and that is all that really mattered to me. (I think that we were the only ones in the area at that time, with three distinctly separate lines, with different telephone numbers on each line.) Moreover, I did call our new friend that evening, to give him our new number, not knowing then; we actually had three telephone numbers in our home. I also called my sister, gave her the number, just in case that anyone if the family needed it, but, told her not to give it out to anyone else, and she knew what I meant by that. (I did not want my present wife to have our new number; after all, we were estranged.) The following Saturday, we were off to explore Vernonia, which as our new friend said, wasn’t a very long drive, about half an hour, from where we now lived. As we entered his small town, it was just as he had said, including the storefronts, everything appeared to be right out of the ‘50s, nothing was different, at all. We had a little difficulty finding his home, but we managed, and parked out in front. He quickly came out, and invited us in for a cup of coffee, and hot chocolate for the kids, which we all enjoy. We also got to meet his wife and three sons. He had a very nice family. After we finished out drinks, he walked us out to their family car, and asked us to hop in, which we did. It was much bigger than our little Pinto

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wagon, but it was much older too, but it was still better than walking to the different yard sales, which were spread all over town, and a little beyond. At our first stop, my next to the youngest son, Stephen, spotted an old, yet in good shape, hardwood maple dining room table, with 6 chairs, that needed its seats and seat backs to be re-upholstered, but it was in good shape, otherwise. I walked over to the man who was running the yard sale, and asked him how much. He pondered it over for a moment, and said, how’s about $35 bucks, and you have to carry it away. I said, sold, but it will have to stay here, until I can get something to haul it away with, then, handed him the $35 dollars. He said, that would not be a problem, because it was not going anywhere, until you pick her up. Our new fiend said that we would be back later that afternoon with his pick-up to fetch it. Then, we were off to the next yard sale, which was not far away. There, the boys spotted a set of bunk beds, including mattresses, which looked almost new. They examined it, then walked back to me and said, that is for us. I asked them, why on earth do you boys want a bunk bed in your room, you have plenty of room for twin beds, so why not find a couple of them. They simply said, no, we do not want twin beds, because that would take up too much space in our room, with the bunk beds, we would have more room to play, when it was raining outside. How could I possibly argue with that logic? They were entirely correct. Therefore, we bought them. It was a whopping $25 dollars, including the mattresses, so, I paid for it, on the spot, as before. In addition, again, our new friend explained to the woman in charge of her yard sale that we would be back later on to pick it up. The woman told us that they had bought them for their grandsons, but that they had moved to Wyoming, before they could set the up, and they did not want to haul them with them, so they left them behind. She said that they had never been used. She then asked us if we would like a chest of drawers that went with the bunk beds, and I said yes, of course. Therefore, she invited us in to her home, and walked us back to an, an almost empty, bedroom. There in the corner was the chest of drawers, and she said I would throw that in with the price, if you want it. I said, yes we do, but I am willing to pay more for it, but, she said that would not be necessary, because she could see that they were going for good use.

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I thanked her, and then we left for the next yard sale, because we were running out of time, fast. At our next stop, the kids picked out a few lamps, which were not much, either, under $10 dollars for all of them. I think that they got three or four of them, at this stop. At the next stop, we didn’t even get out of the car, before my daughter spotted a beautiful antique birds eye maple bed, with a matching chest of drawers, and even a make-up desk, with its own mirror, and a little chair that also when with it. As she opened the door, she yelled out, that is mine, nobody touch it, it’s mine, and ran over to get a closer look at it. Then, she slowly walked back over to me, and said, “Dad, I don’t care what it costs, I really do want these, please.” Well, when they add the “please”, no matter where it may be in their request, you just have to do it, so, I walked up to the elderly gentleman that was doing the yard sale, and asked him, how much? He said $110 bucks, for the whole stouten match, and not a penny less. I told him that he was really driving a hard bargain, because I had not spent that much on anything that day, but, my daughter wanted it, so it will be $110 bucks, as you have asked and not a penny less. He then looked over at my daughter, who was standing by this bedroom set, and asked, is that for her, and, I said, yes, it surely is, she even said please, when she asked me to buy it for her, so how can I possibly refuse, no matter what you price is, I can’t. He then said, if it is for her, I‘d take $75 bucks for all of it. I said, you have a deal, and paid him for the bedroom set. Our new friend, again, explained that we would be back later on to pick it up. We tried to find another open yard sale, but it was just past noon, and everyone had retired for their lunch, so, we headed back to our new friend’s home. When we arrive, I asked our new friend if he, and his family, would like to have some lunch with us, our treat, but, he simple replied, I think that my wife has already prepared something, so, next time. In addition, sure enough, as we entered the door, the delicious smell of fried chicken, filled the air, along with something that smelled like freshly baked apple pie. However, I could have been mistaken, too.

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Our new friend asked if we would like to wash up before lunch, and we all said, yes, and took our turns in the bathroom, then returning to his living room. When we were all assembled, he asked us to come in to their kitchen, where they had their large dining room table, set at the far end. In addition, there were four empty chairs, left for us, with plenty of room for his whole family, and us too. Before us was a spread to make a king drool over, everything from fried chicken, to mashed potatoes with gravy, salad, freshly baked bread, and even string beans, with plenty of fresh butter on everything. There even was a large pitcher of fresh milk, sitting at each end of the table, and the kids and I drank several glass of it, while enjoying this feast. I looked over at our new friend, and said, this is a feast fit for a king. He simply replied, it sure beat eating our only dinner, dig in. Therefore, we did, without hesitation. After we stuffed ourselves, and helped clear the dishes from the table, his wife brought out that freshly baked apple pie that I thought that I had smelt on the way in, cut it in to slices, put a slice on each clean plate, and then topped it with fresh, homemade, vanilla ice cream. I thought that I had died and gone to heaven, it was such a great treat, nice and moist, just like my grandmother made, and plenty of fresh, homemade ice cream on top. Nothing could have been better than that. After we finished our dessert, we again helped clear the table, then, our new friend, said let’s go, to pick up your things, you can store them in our garage, and I will bring them a little each day, on my way to work. I said, that will be just fine, but, little did I know, the kids were not approving of that one. I found out later on, that day, on our way back home, that evening. He said, your kids could stay and play with my kids, or watch TV if they want to, and we headed out the door, with me telling the kids that I would be back in a bit. Immediately, my daughter stood up, ran to the door, and said, you are not going without me; I want to make sure that you do not scratch my bedroom set. Therefore, she came along. Piece by piece, we picked everything up, and put it in to the bed of his pick-up truck, then hauled it back to his garage, and placed them nicely, so that he would still be able to get his car in to the garage, which wasn’t easy to do, by any means, but, we did manage.

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When we finished that task, I loaded up the kids, and told him that I would see him, early on Monday morning, with our first load, and, if it was okay with him, and his family, return to find more the following Saturday. He said, fine; see you on Monday morning, early. In addition, we left. On the way home, the kids said, we do not want to wait for all of next week to get our furniture, you can rent a large truck tomorrow, and bring it all homes, and we will help you, please. There was that magical word again, so how could I possibly refuse? We stopped at one of those fast food places, just to grab a quick snack for the evening, because we were still stuffed from that gigantic lunch. The next morning, we got up early, and headed out to find a rental truck (at that time, you didn’t need a credit card for a local haul, you only need a valid local drivers license, and then pay a deposit, which included the insurance.) We quickly found one, paid for it, and was on our way back home, so that we could call our new friend, to let him know that we were on our way, but, there wasn’t any answer, so we drove on over anyway, because we only had the rental truck for the day, and I saw that he didn’t lock his garage. We arrived, way before noon, and started loading up, before we finished loading everything up, our new friend and his family, arrived back home. I told him that I had called earlier, but there was no answer. He said that they had gone to church, which is why they were not home to answer my phone call. They again, invited us to stay for lunch with them. We only had a few more things to load up, so, I said, thanks, but no thanks, I want to get these things home, put in to place, and return this truck, before it gets too late, and he said that he understood, and wished us a safe trip home, and that their family was looking forward to our visit again next Saturday. We got everything home, just fine, put in to place, and returned the truck, just a few minutes before they closed. We hopped in to our little Pinto wagon, and head back home. The kids were jumping with joy, and, my back was aching from the lifting of all of that heavy furniture, having to carry most of it up the stairs on my back, because most of it was just too

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heavy for my children to manage. Therefore, we decided to eat out that evening, again. When we got home, I thought to myself, Wow, we had mostly filled up three rooms of our new home, and for less than $200 dollars, including the rental truck, and, the kids were elated with all that we had gotten. Luck was surely staying with us! I hoped that it would stay with us, at least, until we got our new home filled up with furniture. That night, the kids slept with their sleeping bag on their beds. They were very happy. I told them to be ready when I got in from work the next evening, because we had to do some more shopping for a mattress for Debbie’s bed, and get some other bed stuff, also. The next evening when I arrive home from work, they were ready. We bought a mattress for my daughter’s bed, which cost more than everything else that we had brought so far. However, she was happy with it, she said that it was just right, and, they even promised to deliver it that same evening, after we got back home, which they did. Then it was off to get some linen, you know, sheets, some blankets, and some bed spreads. The kids picked out what they wanted, which was no problem for me, because I still had my sleeping bag to sleep in. That week went by quickly, and before I knew it, it was already Friday evening, and, we had to be back out to Vernonia, the next morning, to try to pick up some more furniture. Again, we got up early in the morning, and headed out to Vernonia, but, when we arrived at our new friends home, no one was there, but there was note on the front door, telling us that they had to take one of their sons to the hospital, because he had suddenly become sick the night before, and they didn’t know what was wrong with him, so, they were taking him over to the Community Hospital in Forest Grove, and would not be back until that afternoon, at the earliest. (Later, we were told that he only had a bad case of diarrhea, because he had eaten too many green apples from the trees in their back yard, before they had ripened.)

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Therefore, the kids and I decided that we knew how it was done, and started right in, finding those yard sales. Our first stop only turned up a new, never used, roaster pan for the oven, big enough that we would be able to cook a very large turkey in, whenever we wanted to do so, and, they only wanted $2 dollars for it. I paid for it, and put it in the back of our little Pinto wagon, and we headed off to find the next yard sale. At our next stop, we hit the gold mine, the kids spotted a large, queen sized, poster bed, and a chest of drawers, all made from solid oak and, exclaimed, that is for Dad. I walked over to them, and looked them over, very well, and they looked good to me, so I asked, how much? In addition, was told, $50 bucks, take it or leave it. I said I will take it, and paid them for it. I told them that I had a friend who lived in town, who had a sick son, so I did not know when I could return to pick them up, but at the latest, it would be tomorrow morning. He old man said, make it early, because we have church starting at 10:00, and I do not like being late. I told him that the rental place opened at 8:00 AM, so I would be there in plenty of time for him to make it to church. At our next yard sale, we spotted some nice, antique maple end tables, two of them, and a matching glass covered coffee table for the living room, all for $10 bucks, so we bought that also. Again, promising to pick them up early the next morning, and again being told to make it early, because they wanted to go to church. At our next stop, the kids spotted an old, very large, very tall, bureau, with glass doors on the front, on the upper section, and three drawers, below. It was some type of burled wood, but I did not know what kind of wood that it was. It was plain to see that it was some form of hard wood. The kids said that it would go good in our dining room, behind our new, slightly use, dining room table. In addition, they were right, it would, so, I bought it, another $25 bucks, down the drain. Therefore, what, we were doing just fine, in my books.

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At our next stop for the day, and our last one, sure enough, they all shut down at noon, sharp, and didn’t open up again, until the following Saturday morning, the kids found a low, antique bureau, made of hand carved birch, and it even had a matching mirror to hand on the wall behind it. The kids thought that it would go good in our entry, and again, they were correct, it would. Therefore, I had to shell out another $15 bucks for them. I told the woman that we could not get it, until late morning tomorrow, because we already had other things that we needed to pick up before the people left for church, so we would have to pick these up, a bit later on. She said that would be fine, make after 12:00 noon, because that is when we get back from church. Therefore, I said, okay, we will make it after lunch, and she agreed to that. We then went back to our new friend’s home to see if they had returned yet, which they hadn’t, so, we just left them a note, telling them that we had another successful day, and would returning again tomorrow, with the rental truck, to pick everything up. We then went in search for some lunch, and sure enough, there was only one dinner in town, and, not a fast food restaurant, in sight. Therefore, we had no other choice, other than to drive back home to eat and the kids were starving, and so was I, so we stopped in to their only dinner to have some lunch. Our new friend was correct, his wife’s lunch was much better, but this one was that bad, either. Much better than eating stew, warmed up, straight from the can, this was my specialty at home. The kids did not complain about it, because we ate out, several times each week, so they got plenty of variety. On the way back home, I decided to stop by the mattress place and place an order for my mattress, a nice queen sized on, and, again, they delivered that same evening, but, I didn’t have the bed yet, for them to put it on, so they just stood it up against the wall, which would make it easy for me to just flop on to the bed, once I had it all assembles. The next morning, we up again, early, to be at the rental place, when they opened, because we had a lot to pick up, before the people left for church. They opened right on time, and we got the same rental truck, as the week before, and headed over to Vernonia, to pick up our things.

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Our first two stops turned out just fine, but, by the time that we got to the third stop, the people had already left for church. Therefore, we drove back down to the center of town, where they had a very nice park. I thought that it would be nice, for the kids could play there, while we waited for the people to return from church, even the dinner was closed, so no chance of an early lunch, either. However, we did manage to get four bottles of cokes from a dispensing machine, just by the front door, of the closed gas station, just across from the park. (That Pastor must have been really good, because they only had one church in town, and the whole town closed down, to go to church. However, that was not anything that I wanted to do, at that time. I had my fill of religion for some time to come. Anyone that was in to it, though, that was just fine with me. Do your own thing, was my new philosophy in life, at that time.) Sure enough, at noon, the dinner, just down the street opened, and we decided to grab some lunch, while the people at our other two stops were doing the same thing, on their return from church. After we finished eating, we made our other two stops, picked up our things, and headed back to our new home, to get everything unloaded, put in to place, and get the truck back, before they closed. However, we did stop by our new friend’s home, but they were still not there, even though the note that we left, had been taken down. The next morning, he told me that they had been invited to a friend’s home for lunch, after church, so they accepted, and that is why they were not at home, when we stopped by. He also told me about his son, having confessed to eating a whole lot of green apples from the trees in their back yard, but only after the doctor started questioning him, as to what he eaten, the day before. Therefore, here we were, out about $2000 dollars, including the two new mattresses, and we pretty much had our new home filled up with furniture. At a furniture store, I was facing at least $12,000, if not more. So, we were doing just fine, but not completed yet, we still had a few more thing that we needed, such as a living room sofa, and a few night stands, to go beside the beds. Not much left to go, at all. The main thing left to get was a suitable sofa for our living room. The small family room, next to my master suite, we left empty, so that the kids had a place to

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play, on rainy days. The kids did not have a phone put in to that room, which later turned out to be a slight problem, which my sister was trying to contact me, but no harm done, as you will soon see, a bit later on. We did make a few more trips out to Vernonia, on Saturday morning, to see if we could find a suitable sofa, but we never found on. However, we did get a few knick-knacks, to place here and there, and a few pictures to hand on the walls, to make our new home, a bit homier. We ended up having to buy a nice sofa, with a couple of overstuffed chairs, a few weeks later, after I save up the money to pay cash, for a whole lot more money than we had ever planned on, much more that we had paid for everything else, including the mattresses, at our local furniture store, which we all liked, and, at least, now, the kids could invite their friends over, without having to be embarrassed, over our empty house, as before we started in on that aspect. I also bought us a nice barbeque for our large patio, along with a few patio chairs, with a small table, which when nicely on it. We were all very happy, with the way that everything had turned out. It was our home, and one that we could be well proud of, too.

Well, that part was completed, and we were all completely elated, over having done such a wonderful job.

A few days after I had delivered the signed Electrical Contracts to the young man’s attorney, the order for the materials that my boss had ordered, had been completed and was ready for delivery. I had the materials delivered to the young man’s project in Portland, a few days later, but we had been busy getting furniture, so I had not started the job yet, and the young man would be returning any day now. Therefore, it was time to now turn my attention to completing that job.

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Therefore, the next task was perfectly clean, and, I had to get on it, quickly. Get the young man’s project in Portland completed. The next day, on Sunday, after the kids woke up, on their own, we had breakfast, then I said that we needed to go down and look at the young man’s project in Portland, because I have to start on it tomorrow evening, which we did. It was a big empty space, with hardwood floors, with no lighting, or anything else. It had been stripped completely clean, the walls plastered over, and then the walls painted, including the wood on the window frames, which were painted the same color as the walls. It looked like new, but no electrical outlets, anywhere in sight. It did have a small basement, under the wooden floor, part of which was tall enough to stand up in, but not all of it. Fortunately, someone had left their tall ladders there, so I started to hang up some temporary lighting, so at least I could see, to start the work the next evening. The electrical meter and an old fuse box were still in the basement, they were located in the part of the basement that you could stand up in, which is where I got my electrical power from, for the temporary lighting. I left the temporary lighting on, day and night, until the job was completed. I decided that I needed to replace the old electrical meter, and add a new breaker panel, to replace the old fuse box with. I really needed to do this, if I was going to end up with a good First Class job, which I wanted to do for this nice young man, who had been so nice to us. So, the next morning, when I arrived to work, I had my boss order those also, because I wanted to do a real First Class job for the young man, which he agreed with, and order them for me that same day, and had them delivered to his office, so that I could pick them up that evening, when I returned in from my day’s work. (Fortunately, the young man was away, longer than he had planned on, which was good for me, also. Hopefully, I could get a good start on his job, before he returned.) That evening I picked up the new electrical meter hub, and a new, large, breaker panel, to replace the old meter and fuse box with. My boss told me that it would not cost any more for these items, because they were still within our budget limit for the materials, which I was very happy about. He also said, why don’t you take the truck home, at least during the time that you are working on the job, so you have the miscellaneous

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things that you may need to complete the job in a First Class manner. (My truck, a large cargo van, was well stocked with all kinds of miscellaneous items that one needs in the field, when doing electrical work.) I thanked him, left my car in the parking lot, loaded up the new materials, and headed for home. I wanted to at least make dinner for the kids, before I left to start the work, which I did do, right after taking a nice hot shower, after completing one job for the day. When we finished up dinner, I kissed the kids Good Night, and told them to get to bed on time, because I probably would not be back, until late, after they were fast asleep. Much to my surprise, I was informed that they had already completed their homework, and were ready to go help me with the job. Well, at least our family would be together, and there was no chance of getting in to trouble, by leaving, them home alone, and, there was plenty of room for them in the cargo van, so, off we went. When we arrived, I unloaded the new meter hub and large breaker panel, and took them down to the basement, to be able to start mounting the later on that evening. I asked the kids to separate out the other materials that had been delivered, so that I could take an inventory, and plan where to start next, which they did, and they did an excellent job of it, while I was mounting the new meter hub and the new breaker panel. Everything, in its own kind, was neatly laid out on the floor, easy to find everything. My daughter then asked me, Dad what are these for. I told her that they were the wire mold channels that I would put around the perimeter of the wall, so that there would be plenty of outlets, for whatever purpose that they may be needed for. She said, they do not match the color of the wall, and they are made of some kind of plastic, so they cannot be painted the same color as the walls. Well, what could I say, she was right on both counts, it was high impact ABS that the wire mold channels were made of, including the outlet boxes and covers, and, I told her so. She then asked, are they available in other colors? In addition, I said, yes, I will get you a color chart for them tomorrow. We then loaded up all of the wire mod channels, the outlet boxes, and the covers, in to the back of my work van, to be taken back the next morning, and, headed back home, because it was already getting late.

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The next morning, I dropped the wire mold channels and outlets, off at our office, and asked my boss to have them returned, and to please get me a color chart of the colors that they were available in, preferably those already in stock, because my daughter wanted to pick out a different color, because this color did not go good with the color of the walls. He said that he would do that, and he would have the colors that they had available by the time I returned from work, which he did. As soon as I got home that afternoon, I handed the color chart to my daughter, which had check marks in front of the colors that were available in stock. She gave it a quick glance, and pointed to one, and said, that is the one. That one will do just fine. I told her that I would order that color in the morning, and we should have it by the time that I get back to our office, so that we could take it down to the project, to see if she was correct. We then had dinner, and headed on down to our new family project in Portland. Now it was time to do our basic layout, of what goes where. As I looked the plans over, it was easy to see that they had been configured for long rows of desks, arranged in straight line, with no dividers, just shoved together in straight rows, something that almost everyone did in those days, but we needed to be different, yet appealing. In addition, the larger companies were then starting to use mainframe computers, and there were no provisions for these, anywhere on the plans. I had no way of getting in touch of the owner, the young man, so, I just decided to take matters in to my own hands, and make a few changes, which I thought that he may well like, but, actually, I was taking a big gamble on that, also. However, I decided to do it, anyway, and live with the consequences, no matter what they may end up being. Therefore, I pulled out a chalk line, which is use for snapping straight lines, along large surfaces, such as the walls, and the floors. I then measured up the walls, in the corners, to make sure that I had the lines at the same height, throughout the large room. My eldest son and I held each end of the snap line, to let my daughter tell us, if this is the right height, which she wanted, or changed a bit. She had is move it up, then down, and finally settled on a little higher line, which she said would give a good accent to the wall color. (The walls were a light beige color, and what she picked out was a, sort of, coffee color, not too contrasting, just enough to

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highlight the color of the walls.) So, we snapped the lines, for the top and bottom of where the wire channels were to go in-between, I stood back a bit to take a look, and, she was right, it did look good, just the right height from the floor to use as an accent color on the walls. We then laid out a snap grid for the floor outlets, and then snapped a zigzag pattern of just 15 degrees from there, using that as a base line, in this manner, the workspace cubical partitions, could be placed at a slight angle to each other, giving each worker a more private space to do their work from. Moreover, now I could lay out the floor outlets, but instead of just using a telephone outlet and a plug outlet at each desk. I decided to add one more, a computer outlet, at each desk, also. We then snapped the lines that they would go in-between, also. Boy, did that ever look nice, but it was very late again, so we headed on home. The next morning, I showed my boss the color chart, and the color that my daughter had picked out. He said that he would have them in by that afternoon, so stop by and pick them up, which I did, and I did, and headed home again. We had our dinner, and headed straight back to the job for our work that evening. Now, we only had the ceiling to lay out. I pulled out the reflected ceiling plan, and the Electrical Engineer had designed the job with metal halide ceiling fixtures. Yes, they were long life, and inexpensive to operation, but, they can drive you blind, or at least give a lot of eye fatigue, if you have to do office work, at a desk, for most of the day. Therefore, I took it on myself to change them to chain hung, four tube, decorative fluorescent lighting system, and to use daylight tubes in them, to make things relaxed in this space, and a whole lot easier on the eyes. (I knew that I could justify this move, because I was already certified as an Interior Lighting Designer in the State of Oregon.) I also decided that we would configure one of the four tube, decorative fluorescent fixtures over each desk, and offset them, the 15 degrees as I had done with the floor outlets. Therefore, we snapped the lines for these on the ceiling, and while we were up there, we snapped the lines for the conduits to each. We then took a long piece of the wire mold channel, in the new color, and held it up against the wall, to see what it looked like. To me, it looked

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really good, but, my daughter said, Dad, we cannot let it hang out from the wall, because that doesn’t look good, and it will collect dust, then, it will look, even worse. Wow, now, she is talking about insetting the wire mold channels in the wall, which means that we would also have to inset the outlets, also. I said, okay, if that is the way that you want it, but it is going to be a whole lot more work to do. She simply replied that the man helped us, so we should help him, also. Bang, right again. I could not argue with any of that, because it was so very true. We then loaded up the metal halide light fixtures and bulbs, for return the next day, and headed back home. The next morning, I dropped off the fixture and bulbs, and explained to my boss that I was going to change the lighting system, because the present one would just drive the staff blind, if I did not, and, he agreed that it would, so, I unloaded the fixtures and bulbs for their return that day. Again, he told me to, stop by that afternoon, because he would have the new fixtures delivered, including the tube, and the chain for you to hang them from. I then said, and by the way, please add a floor computer outlet to each desk combination, because I am going to install those also. He said, that is a good idea, but who is going to pay for it? I said, I will, if it ends up that way. He said, I will have them here when you return too, laughing to himself, as he walked back inside the office. That afternoon, when I returned for my day’s work, everything was there, but, I couldn’t get it all in to the van, and still have room for the kids, so I left some of the fixture there, which I would have to get on Monday, because the office was closed on the weekends, and my boss gave a key to it, to no one, not even his sons. That evening, after dinner, we headed back down to our job, and started putting in the eye hooks in to the ceiling, and hanging the pieces of chain, that the fluorescent fixture would be supported from, in each corner of the fixtures, 4 hooks, with 4 chains, for each, what a job. We finished up around midnight, and headed back home, for some well-earned rest. The next day, being Saturday, we could really get some work done. We slept in a bit the next morning, had our breakfast, and then headed back

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down to our job, to get started. When we arrived, we unload the fluorescent fixtures, well what I was able to carry this time, and the fluorescent tube, which I had brought them all along this time, I crawled in to the back of my work van, and pulled out a rotary skill saw, a cement cutting blade for it, a hammer and chisel, a heavy duty drill, with a drill bit already in the chuck, just the right size, and a little saber saw and a pack of blade for it, we were now ready to put a serious dent in this job, today. I put the cement cutting blade in to the skill saw, tightened it down, and set the depth gage, against a piece of the wire mold channels, and then I was ready to start cutting on the walls. However, before I started, I showed my youngest son, Stephen, how to drill a couple of holes in the corners of each of the floor boxes that we had laid out on the floor. And, I showed my eldest son, Mack, how to cut just inside of our snap lines, from each of the drilled holes in each corner of where the floor boxes were to go, and, then I handed both of them a set of safety goggles, so that they wouldn’t get anything in their eyes, while they were working, and told them to get started. Then, I walked over, put on my own pair of safety goggles, and started to walk over to the first wall, to start cutting, when my daughter walked over to me, and said, Dad, what do I do? I said, supervise your brothers, to make sure that they do thing right, and handed her a pair of safety goggles too. She smiled a big smile, put on the safety goggles, ran right over to them, and started giving orders. You heard what Dad said, inside of the lines, I want to see the lines, when you are finished, and do not be cutting in to the lines, either. I just shook my head, and headed over to the first wall, with the skill saw in my hands, and started cutting, “inside of the lines”, too. I surely did not want her on my back, also. When my youngest son was finished drilling the holes, I handed him the hammer and chisel, and told him to start knocking out the strip between my cuts on the walls, and he did. When I finished up, we were all ready for lunch, so, we got some, and then came straight back to work. I immediately started installing the hooks in the ceiling, which would support the weight of the fixtures, by the four chains that would hand down from each one. The ceiling was

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solid concrete, so I had to drill and anchor each one of the hooks, which was a heck of a job to do, but it had to be done, to do this job correctly, in a First Class manner. My eldest son was still cutting out the holes in the floor, and doing a dandy job of that. I asked my daughter to start cutting the links of chain, so that I could start putting them in to place, when I had finished installing the hooks, but, it was just too much for her to do, so, she went back to her supervising work, which she was doing just fine at doing. Later on that day, just before dinner, my youngest son finished up with his chiseling, so, I put him on to cutting the pieces of chain, which also was a bit of a struggle for him, but he was managing to do it, anyway. We then took our dinner break, and we were back at it again, until about 8:00 PM, when we all decided that it was time to pack it in, because we were all completely exhausted from that day’s work, and there was still another full day’s work ahead of us, tomorrow. The next day, I let the kids sleep in, as usual, and, when they got up, which wasn’t really very late, we all had breakfast together, cleaned up the dishes, and drove back in to Portland, to our job. When I unlocked the door, and we all stepped in, it was just amazing to see, because our new job, was really starting to take shape now. However, without hesitation, we all started right in, with our respective jobs. My eldest, still cutting the holes in the floor, with my daughter supervising him, my youngest son cutting chain, and I was getting ready to start the conduit runs on the ceiling. We did take our lunch break that day, but we packed it in, at 6:00 PM that day, because we still had to get some dinner, and there was school for the kids, and work for me, the next day. However, still plenty of work to get done, tomorrow night. During the next two nights work, I finished up my conduit runs, pulled in the wires, and, my eldest had finished up, cutting the holes in the floor, and, my youngest had finished up, cutting the chain in to, just right length pieces. I then installed every one, right where they needed to be.

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Then, I showed the kids, how to install the eye bolts in to the four corners of the fluorescent fixtures, and tighten them down, nice and snug, without breaking the fixtures. I then climbed up the latter, installed the first fixture, and crawled back down the latter, to see what it looked like. All of us were gazing up at the ceiling, and what a beautiful sight, it was to behold. It looked simply beautiful to me, but my daughter quickly exclaimed, it is horrible. What? I said that looks really good to me. Again, she exclaimed, it is horrible. So, I asked her, what is wrong with it? She stood there, and said, look, it is horrible. Well, maybe, just maybe, she had a point, as the decorative fluorescent fixtures had white trim, the ceiling was painted an off white, and then we had a whole lot of silver colored chains hanging down from the ceiling from silver colored hooks. So, what was wrong with that? It looked okay to me. However, that did not count, because the supervisor has spoken. It looked horrible. Therefore, I asked her, okay dear, so what is the solution to this problem, and, she quickly responded, it is simple, we have to paint the ceiling and everything on it, and hanging from it, white, so that it all matches. Now, we were no longer in to a electrical job, we were going to be deeply in to a painting job, and I didn’t have a license for that work, but, I did have the experience for doing it, from when I used to be a general contractor, not too long ago. Moreover, she was totally correct, it just did not look right, after you looked at it for a while. The next evening after I finished up my day work, and we had dinner, we all went over to the paint store to see if I could rent a high pressure paint gun, which he said that they did do, get some nice acrylic paint, which they had, and it was guaranteed to last for 5 years, without peeling off, so I bought a few gallons of it along with some masking tape, masking paper, and several very large tarpaulins to protect the floor with. I paid for everything, but told him that I did not need the high-pressure paint sprayer and paint until the coming Saturday, which was okay with him. I knew that we did not enough time to properly spray the whole ceiling in just one night’s work, and I didn’t want to spray it is sections, because that also looks bad. We needed to do it all in just one spraying, so that could only be next Saturday. We headed down to our work, but we just

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dropped off the masking tape and masking paper, for the next evening’s work, because it was getting too late that evening, to be able to accomplish anything meaningful. The next evening, we masked off the walls, next to the ceiling, ready for it to be sprayed on Saturday morning. I then got the router out from the van, and showed my eldest how to use it, to take out just enough of the holes that he had cut in the floor, to allow the floor outlets to easily go in their respective places, with not too much room around them, that they would be sloppy, when put in to place, and, he started right in on that job. I had my youngest son and my daughter, go in to the crawl space, and pick up all of the pieces of floor that my eldest son had cut away with the saber saw. I gave them a big trash bag to put all of the little pieces in, and two large flashlights, to be able to locate the pieces with, even though the entire crawl space was lit with temporary lighting, it was still not enough light to find all of the little pieces. We did not want to leave any trash behind. (Afterwards, just before we completed this job, and called for our final inspection, we swept the entire crawls space; just to make sure that it was entirely clean.) The following evenings, I ran the conduits and junction boxes to feed the floor outlets from. I was going to use flexible tubing to make the final connections to each outlet. We did not start installing the wire mold channels or wall outlets, because I did not want to get any overspray on them, when I sprayed the ceiling on Saturday. Therefore, we held off on that, until after we finished painting the ceiling first. I told the kids to wear some clothes that they did not mind throwing away, on Saturday, because we certainly would get paint on us, and, they did. When we arrived on Saturday morning, in our paint clothes, after picking up the high pressure paint sprayer and the paint, we laid out the large tarps, but they didn’t cover the entire floor area, so, we ended up having to move them around a bit, when I started painting the other side of the ceiling. We all put on our paint respirators, so that we couldn’t get any of the fine paint mist in our lungs, and I stared in spraying the ceiling from one corner, and worked back from there, as far as I could reach, standing on the tall ladder. I was very careful, when I started getting close to the

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walls, even though we had them masked off, I certainly did not want any of the masking materials to pull away, and make a big mess, well, no more than necessary, at least. I kept on spraying through lunch, but I had the kids go out and get some lunch for themselves, and bring me some back, which they did, and, I also had to do have them do the same thing for our dinner break. Covering the dangling chains, was the hard part, because I had to spray them from a distance, making sure that I cover them from top to bottom, and on all sides. That took a lot of time to do correctly, but I had three spotters, my children, who drew my attention to every spot that I missed, which was very helpful, indeed. I finished up about 8:00 PM that evening, which was too late to return the high pressure paint sprayer, so we just cleaned up, for return the next morning, even if I had to pay an extra day’s rent, that was fine with me, if we had to, which didn’t turn out to be the case, because when we returned it the next morning, the man at the paint store, said that there would not be any extra charge, because we had cleaned it so well. As I just said, the next morning, we returned the paint sprayer, and then headed down to our project, to see what it looked like in daylight. I unlocked the door; we all entered, and just stood there, because it really did look beautiful, even with the masking materials still in place. We stripped off the masking materials off from the walls, and we did not have much overspray at all, even very little on the hardwood floor. Then, we started right in, handing and hooking up the decorative florescent light fixtures, one by one. We did not finish up with that task, until Sunday evening, but it was a very beautiful sight, when it was completed, and I had turned them on, to make sure that every one of them was working properly, which they were. It was truly a spectacular sight, my daughter was completely correct; it looked magnificent, just as she said that it would. That week, during the evenings, we installed the wire mold channels and wall outlets, on the walls. I space them evenly, every 6 feet along the perimeter of the walls, instead of the normal 12 feet between outlets, and I added plenty of circuits, because I had no idea what the outlets were

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going to used for. We made sure that the entire system was not too deep in to the walls, nor too shallow, either. Everything had to be just right, and then we installed the outlets, ran clear caulking on the top and bottom of the channels and around every wall outlet, so that the entire system, looked very clean, and would stay that way, for a very long time. We touched up the walls with the small amount of wall paint that someone had left behind in a sealed can, then, that buttoned up that part of our work. And, in the southwest corner of the building, I place a special 220 VAC outlet for a mainframe computer, and several other dedicated outlets not too far away, for back-up drives and several printers also. I did not know if they would ever be used, but they were in place, just in case that the people who rented, or bought, the building, may ever need them, they were already installed. We even added 6 - 220 VAC, 50-ampere outlets on the opposite wall, from the new electrical meter hub and new breaker panel, in the crawl space that you were able to stand up in, for the future installation of forced air heating and cooling systems. The following Saturday morning, as we stepped in the door, as the daylight was shining through the windows, and it became very apparent that the old wood floor was going to detract from all of our beautiful work, once we had finished up everything, by installing the brass floor outlets. So, we headed back to the friendly paint store, to ask the nice man there, how we could make the old hardwood floors beautiful again, if that was possible at all to accomplish. (I had never worked with hardwood floors before, so I had no idea of what could be done, if anything.) But, the kind gentleman knew exactly how to make them, almost as good as new, but, that was going to be a whole lot of work to do, also, because we had to sandpaper the finish off, with a buffing machine and course sandpaper pads, then, smooth it back down again, with fine sandpaper pads, and, finally, roll on a sealer. We bought the supplies that we needed, rented the machine, and, by late Sunday evening, that part was all completed, but we had to let it dry for a few days, because it was the rainy season then. Therefore, we let it sit for the entire week, to make sure that it was completely dry, before we started installing the brass floor outlets, which was the last part of this work, to be completed, before our final inspection.

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The following weekend, we entered the building again, and the floor just glistened. It looked almost new. Therefore, we started right in, on installing and hooked up all of the brass floor outlets, including running the cables for the computer outlets, also. My eldest had done a wonderful job on routing out the outlet holes, because everything fit just right, snuggly, but not too snug, that we were not able to get the outlets in. By Sunday evening, we had caulked around every outlet, so that dust and dirt could not get in to the cracks, and tested every circuit to make sure that everyone was working perfectly, and, then, we even cleaned all of the windows. Finally, we were finished with the job, except for calling for our final inspection, which I called for the following morning, to schedule an appointment for our final inspection, which they scheduled for the following afternoon, but did not know an exact time, just in the early afternoon. I then reported to my boss that the work was completed, and I had my final inspection scheduled for the following day, in the early afternoon, but I didn’t have a specific time, just the early afternoon, was all that I had been told, and, he said that was good, take the afternoon off, with pay, and I will see you the day after tomorrow. I thanked him, and headed off for my daytime job. That afternoon, when I arrived back at the office, my boss said to me, I want to go with you on this inspection, because it is our first commercial job in Portland, so I want to see what it looks like, and how bad the inspector is going to be on you. (I had pulled plenty of residential permits for the City of Portland, during the time that we were working on our night, and weekend, job, but he was right, this was our first commercial job, in the City of Portland.) I told him that would work out just fine, because I wanted to get my crew started in the morning, before I left, anyway, so, it would work out, okay. I told him that I would pick him up, around 11:00 AM, so that we could drive down to Portland, with plenty of time to spare. The next day, I arrived back at the office, just before 11:00, and my boss was ready to go. He said, we will take my truck, and off we went. On the

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way in, we stopped by one of those fast food places, to get something to go, that we could eat on the way. We arrived just before noon, so we knew that we had some time to wait. My boss said that we do not want to wait in the truck, so let go inside and see what it looks like, so we headed for the door. I unlocked it, opened it up, and he just stood there in amazement. This place is beautiful, do not tell me that you and the kids did all of this. I said, yes, including the refinishing of the floor. He said this place is amazing, we are going to have to start doing more work that is commercial; if you can, do work like this. I told him that the only thing holding him back was himself. Get the job, and we can do a whole lot more work, just like this. Then, I showed him around, pointing out all of the extras that we had installed. He then asked me, why are all of the light fixtures crooked? I said, they aren’t, they are designed for workstation cubicles that are placed an 15 degree angles to each other, to give each a bit of privacy, instead of being next to each other, where someone is always looking over your shoulder to see what you are doing, and driving you crazy in the process. He said that was a great idea, why had not someone come up with that idea before. I said, I do not know, I just thought of it myself, which, I did. Then, he just started walking around, looking at every piece of the installation. The inspector showed up about 1:15 PM, I handed him a set of the plans, and then showed him, anything that he wanted to see, and, he wanted to see, and inspect, all of the work, because this was the first commercial permit that we had pulled in the City of Portland. He found nothing wrong, and commented on his way out, I wished that everyone would upgrade their meter sockets and install breaker panels on their remodels, because then we would have less electrical fires in the City of Portland, so, I am not going to require you to pay an extra fees for those, I just will make a note in my inspection report, that you have also upgraded the meter socket and replaced the old fuse box, with a breaker panel, then, he signed off my permit, handed it to me, and walked out the door, closing it behind him, which appeared to be their custom, of doing, from my limited experience, at least. My boss reached over to me, pulled me in, and gave me another one of his big bear hugs, and, said, that’s my boy, we definitely are going to

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bidding some of the commercial work here in the City of Portland, starting tomorrow, and, he meant it, because we did start doing commercial work in the City of Portland, not long thereafter. In addition, you can guess, who was placed in charge of it all, yes, me, and with a raise for supervising commercial work, also. We drove back to the office, and I headed home, when I arrived, I told the kids that we had passed with flying colors, which made them all very happy. After dinner, and cleaning up the kitchen, they wanted to go back down to Portland; to one more look at our completed project, so we did. It was truly an amazing work of art, even if I have to say so myself. The young man still had not returned yet, so I took the keys to the office, and the signed off permit, to his attorney’s office, the next day, after work, and, told him that the work was completed, and the final was signed off. He said that he would send us a check in a few days, for the payment, but, he had to send it to the Electrical Contracting Office, along with a full and final conditional release that we both had to sign, and send back, then we could deposit the check, which was perfectly okay with me, and I knew would also be okay with my boss. I thanked him, left, and headed back home to spend some quality time with my children. They had done a really great job, and I wanted to let them know that they had. A few days later, the check did arrive, along with a final release, which we both had to sign, and that my boss would return by registered mail, the next day, he then handed me one of his own company checks, for just over $25,000 dollars, and said, that is what is left over, for you to make the balance of your down payment with, which was a whole lot more than what I was expecting. I told him that he could keep his check, until the other check cleared, because the young man still had not returned yet, but, he said, go ahead and deposit it in to your account, so that it is ready when he does. He said, do not worry, it will not bounce; there is enough money in the bank to cover it, even before this check clear. I thanked him, and left. What a wonderful surprise. Now, we really could pay off the balance of our down payment, when the young man did re-appear. A few weeks late, when I returned home from work, and the kids were not at home, which was surprising, because they had not left a note,

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saying that they were going someplace, either. Therefore, I walked out to the back patio, and they were not there, playing with some of their friends, either. I then, walked out the front door again, to see if they were playing somewhere in the front yard, or parking lot, or in our cul-de-sac, which I may have missed on my way in. However, they were not anywhere to be found. So, I started to get a bit worried, walked in the front door again, and decided that I would wait another hour for them to return, before I called the police, to report them missing. Then, I sat down on the sofa, and turned on the television, not paying any particular attention to what was on it, I just wanted the noise, to distract from my worrying. A few minutes later, my eldest son came running into the house, and announced that the young man had returned, and he had invited them over for some more of his nice, fresh squeezed lemonade, which they were drinking with him, and telling him all about the wonderful work that they had all helped me accomplish, so, the time just slipped away, and they forgot that I was already home, by now. He said that the young man wanted to see me, took me by the hand, led me over to his unit, in the front door, right in to the young man’s living room, where the young man stood up, shook my hand, hello, then poured me a nice tall glass of his fresh squeezed lemonade, handed it to me, ask me to have a seat, then said, I understand that you and the children have completed the electrical installation in my office in Portland. I said, yes sir, we have, but I made a few changes that I would like to go over with you, when you have the time. He said I have the time now; so let us go and see it. He said, I have a Range Rover, we all can fit in nicely, so let all go in my car, then, turned to me, and said, when you finish your glass of lemonade, that is. I gulped it down, and off we went. On the way to Portland, he told us that he had taken longer in South America, because he had decided that he wanted to do a small project there, which took him a long time to try to work out all of the details on, but, in the end, he decided that it was not something that he really wanted to do, so he finally came home, and, that he was happy to be back home too.

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When we arrived at his office building, we all got out, and walked over to the front doors, he opened the door, stepped inside, and then he yelled out, Oh my God, what have you done to this place? It is absolutely beautiful !!! I turned to look at the kids, to see what their reaction to his comment was, and, they all stood there, with a big smile on their faces, but didn’t say a word. We all stepped inside, and I said, I would like to show you the modifications that I made, if you do not mind. He said, okay, I am ready to see them. He then reiterated, this is absolutely beautiful. He looked up at the ceiling, one more time, and then asked me, why are the lighting fixtures crooked? I told him that I had changed the metal halide fixtures that were on his plans to, 4 tube decorative florescent fixtures and put daylight tubes in them, because they were much easier on the eyes, when work at desks for long hours. He said, yes, they are, good idea, but, why are they crooked. I walked over to one of the sets of brass floor outlets in the floor, stretched out my right arm at about a 15 degree angle to the rest of the room, and said my concept is simple, by installing workstation cubicles at this angle, the workers will have more privacy to do their work, which they will greatly appreciate, and be more productive, so I modified them accordingly. He thought for a moment, then said, that is a fantastic idea. I then pointed out to him, that I had also added a computer out at each desk space, just in case that the future renter, or new owner, which ever, had that flexibility already in place. He said that was another great idea. I then walked him over to the corner and showed him where I had installed dedicated outlets for the potential of installing a mainframe computer, backup drives, and even a few dedicated printer outlets. I then took him down in the crawl space, the part that you were able to stand up in, and showed him his new meter socket and new breaker panel. I then turned and showed him the outlets of the opposite wall, where future heat pumps, for heating and cooling of the building could easily be installed. We then returned to the main floor, I had also showed him where I had changed the design a bit more, by adding 4 good sized area, along the entire north wall of the building, on the right, as you entered the office space, which could be used for glassed partitioned, managerial offices, the first one was much larger than the other three. The large one, I had designed, so that the desk faced the other three offices, and, the other three, their desks would face the

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production floor. I had left enough space, behind the placement of the desk and desk chair, that there was room to put a credenza behind them, up against the wall. He said, that is an excellent idea, which my design engineer never gave any consideration to. I like it. Then his eyes started giving everything the once over again, then he turned to me and said, thank you all so very much, for using your own brain, and making these changes, and for doing the extras, which I have also noted. I am deeply indebted to all of you. He then turned to me and said, now how do you imagine that the workstation cubicles should look like. He said, hold on a moment, turned a walked out the door to his Range Rover, and returned in just a few moments with a pad and a pencil in his hands, and said, give me a little sketch of what you have in mind, so, I started sketching, when I was finished, I turned the pad to his direction, and said, like this, pointing out just one row of workstation cubicles, each placed as just a slight angle to each other, and another small sketch, of what I thought that the offices should look like. He looked at it, and said that looks good to me, then asked, and what color do you think that the side panels of the cubicles should be, so, I turned to my daughter, pointed to her, and said, she is my color designer, you have to ask her, and so, he did. She turned, looked out the side of the office space that windows faced the nearby river, and said, light blue, just like the water in the river, but, the trim needs to match the color of the walls, so that there is no contrast. He replied, I like that idea, it sound fine to me. He then asked me, what computer equipment, did you have in mind, when you did the layout for those outlets. I told him that there were only two leaders in that market at that time, IBM and HP. I then went on to explain to him that IBM had better equipment, but they are noted for being hard to get along with, so, HP may be the best choice, so, I don’t know for sure, which one would be the best, for this application. He said, then we will have to try them both, and see which is better. I looked at him, but I did not say a word, because I really did not like the word that he used, we, but I did not want to ask for any clarification on it, either. I just let it be. After all, the kids and I had spent, just too many long hours on this project already, and we had now earned our down payment, the hard way, the check for, I still needed to give to him, and, I thought that none of us, was up to doing any more. Therefore, we left. On the way back home, he just spoke of, what turned out to be, his nightmare trip to South America, but, he did not mention, which nation that he had been in, and I did not want to ask,

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either, because it really was none of my business. We were just happy that he returned, made his final inspection of our work, and had approved all of it, including the changes that I had made, which he apparently liked. When we arrived back home, I told the young man that I had to go get something for him, so I would return, in just a minute, then, dashed over to our unit to pick up the check that I had already written out to him, but hadn’t dated yet, which was the complete balance of our down payment, then, at least, that part would be completely finished. I returned immediately, his front door was standing open, but I still knocked, and he said, come on in, we are back in the living room, having some more lemonade. The kids appear to really like it. I walked in, handed him the check, and said, there is the balance of our down payment, as I did, the kids eyes lit up, and a big smile appeared on all of their faces, the moment that all of us had been waiting for. It was all done, and we had earned every penny of it, the hard way, but, we all were happy that, that part was now complete. No two ways about that one. We were all elated to be finished with that one. The young man said, wait a minute, and I will get you a paid in full receipt, from my study. He left, and in a few minutes, he returned with the paid receipt and my check, handed them both to me, and said, keep your check, you and the kids did much more work than that on my office, so we are even, keep your check. He then invited us out for dinner, which we gladly accepted, because we were all famished. I said, I will pay, but, he did not reply, he just invited to go again in his Range Rover, which we all started heading for. During dinner, he asked me directly, so when do we start finishing up the work that you have started? I simply said, we have finished our contract and promise to you. He then said, yes, but you have also started other things in the process, and I would like to pay you to see them through to completion. Now, that was a different twist on things. Yes, I did make changes, for what I thought to be the best, and now, here I was, being suckered in, to do the rest of the work, but, he had offered to pay us for doing the other work, which was not so bad, at all. I told him that I and the kids would have to talk it over later, and we would give him a reply, very soon. However, the kids all looked at me, said in unison, we are

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ready to start. I thought to myself, Oh my God, what are these kids of mine, getting me in to, but, I simply replied, okay, when you are ready, we will be ready too. He smiled, and we finished our meal, and headed back home, for a good night’s rest, because there was school for the kids, and work for me to do, the next day. He shook my hand again, and said Good Night, see you tomorrow evening, then he turned and headed for his unit, and we headed for ours. The next afternoon, when I returned home from work, the kids had vanished again, so I walked over to the young man’s unit, knocked on the door, and was greeted by my eldest son, who informed me that they had been waiting on me, while having some more of that fresh squeezed lemonade. Right !!! They were not fooling me. He took me straight in to the living room, again, where there was another tall glass of lemonade, waiting for me. On the coffee table, were some brochures, from workstation cubicle manufactures, along with a brochure from IBM, and another from HP. He handed them all to me, and said, what do you think, so, I started looking them over a bit, then handed the workstation cubicle manufacture’s brochures over to my daughter, who start looking through them, in earnest, as I started thumbing through the IBM and HP brochures. As I finished going over them carefully, I again told him, yes, IBM does have the best equipment, but as I also said, I have heard that they are really difficult to work with. He said, I would then schedule the people from IBM to come to visit us at the office, for next Saturday morning, and, the people from HP, for the late afternoon. I can also have the workstation cubicle manufacture that your daughter chooses, over the same day, also. Then we can get started on finishing off this job. I said, that will be just fine. He said, then it is settled, I will meet all of you at my office building, let us say, around 9:00 AM, next Saturday morning. I said, yes, see you, then, shook hands with him, and we left. As we were starting to walk out the door, my daughter handed him a brochure from one of the workstation cubicle manufactures, and said, this one is the one. They are the best, and I know that they will do an excellent job for us. I thought to myself, what an amazing daughter, I have, and, she still is. (I did not ask, how much it paid, because we were only interested in helping the young man complete the work, which we

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had laid out. How much it would pay, really was not of any concern to us. We would have done it for nothing, just to help him out.) We arrived at the office building, just before 9:00 AM. The young man was standing beside his Range Rover, looking over some plans. As I approached, he handed as set to me, and asked, what do you think? He had a draftsman draw up, what I had already installed, including a new reflected ceiling plan, showing what was already installed, they also included a floor plan, showing my layout for the workstation cubicles and the office spaces, which also showed the dedicated outlets for the computer system, which we had already installed, too. I looked them over closely, then said, yes, these show what I had in mind. He said, good, let us go inside, and wait for the people to come, which we did. About half an hour later, the Sales people from IBM arrived, the young man showed them the plan, then the already installed outlets. The first thing out of their mouth was that the computer cables would have to be replaced, with their own. I looked at him, and said, I, personally installed every one of those cables, they are the best that money can buy, and every damn one of them have already been inspected and passed, by the City of Portland’s Electrical Inspection Department’s Inspector, so, if you have a problem with them, you guys can just pack your thing up, and get out of here. He immediately back down, and said, then I guess they will be just fine for our installation. To which, I replied, you guys don’t have the job yet, this is going to be a completive bid, we have HP coming in this afternoon for a quote of their own, so tell your bosses to really sharpen up their pencils, because their will not be any second chance on this bid, that I can assure you of. There is not going to be any re-negotiations, after the fact. You bid is going to be your first, and last shot, at this job. The low bid will take this job, and you can tell your bosses to count on that, as fact. They then said, well we have enough to do our design from this set of plans, so we will come back to you, with our bid, in a few days. I told him, the bidding closes next Friday at 5:00 PM, have your bid in by then, or lose. He assured me that they would have their bid in, before 5:00 PM for sure. Then they left. After they left, the young man turned to me and said, I like your style, you put them in their place immediately, and I liked that very much, we

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are going to get along, just fine. In addition, I really like the part about completive bidding, I am going to have to remember that one, it even made me a little afraid of you, the way that you stated it. Not long after, the people from the workstation cubicle manufacture that my daughter had chosen, showed up, and the young man handed them another set of the plans. They then said, we have some deciding to do, so let us get started. I pointed my finger at my daughter, and told them, she makes all of the interior design decisions, so go talk to her, and we will just tag along. They looked at the young man, in disbelief, so, he said, that is true, go ask her, which they did. They said, first we need to pick out the design that you want, including how high that you want them to be, then the materials and the colors that you want. She replied, that’s simple, I want them to be normal shoulder height, when a normal person is seated, because I want the supervisors, who will be sitting over there in their offices, to be able to clearly see every head, to make sure that they all are working, and I want the cubicles to be encased in metal, painted the same color as these walls, with a fabric on the outside of the panels, which should be over some kind of sound reducing materials, so that the work noise from one cubicle is not transmitted to the others, which would be distracting, when you are working, and the fabric should be a very light blue, the same color as the river outside, pointing to the bright blue river running outside of the east facing windows, and, they need to be sturdy, so that if someone leans on them, they don’t all fall over. They looked at each other, in amazement, that such a simple, yet so complex, statement like that, just came out from a little girl’s mouth. However, the senior one replied, we can do that. She said, I know that you can, so where is the samples of the fabric that you are proposing to use. The senior one replied, in the car, and point to one of the juniors, to go and get it, which he did, and returned quickly. She looked the samples over, and said, this one will do just fine, now, how about getting in light blue? Therefore, the senior one, turned over the fabric sample, which had the different colors that the fabric came in, on the back, and, she quickly point to one of them, and said, this one will do just fine. She then turned to my youngest son, and said, please go get that old paint can in the crawl space, and bring it to me, I want them to match the wall color, exactly. In addition, he did. When he returned, she handed the can to the senior one, and said, this is the color that you have to match.

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The senior one then said, we could also do the glass offices, if you want us to, and, she said, that would be just fine. I want the glass to be metal trimmed too, painted the same color as the walls, including the trim on the doors, which I want to open in towards the offices, and not out in to the walk area in front of them, and, I want a short panel place under each window, made of the same materials as the workstation cubicles, but not too high, just high enough so that no one can accidently kick the glass, accidently break it, and hurt themselves, and, I want the same for the dividing walls, between the offices. Therefore, everyone can see, what everyone else is doing, including what the managers are doing also. That way, everyone will be even, they all have to work, because everyone will be able to see, everyone else. Well, there was logic in all of that. The young man and I, just stood back and watched, as she did her thing. She was doing just fine, so no need to get involved, at all, just stand back, and watch the action. The senior person has one of the juniors take notes, and, when she was finished, he asked her, is there anything else that we can help you with, and, she said, no, just give us a fair price, which we are going to check with another quality manufacture to make sure that your price is fair, but, you will have the job, if your price is a fair one. He thank her for the opportunity to be of service to her and our company, and told her that he would have a price for her in just two days time, then, shook her hand, and they left. I turned to the young man and said, now you see what I had to put up with on this job. He just laughed, and said, she is very good, isn’t she. I am going to have to hire her, after she graduates from school. We then left go get some lunch, and returned about an hour later. Not much later, the people from HP arrived, again, the young man gave them a copy of the plans, and asked me to point out to them, what I had in mind, so, and I did. They were much more courteous than that people from IBM, but, overly so. They agreed with everything that I said, which made me a bit nervous, because they were not giving me any objective feedback, as I was looking for. At least, they could have suggested this or that, but, nothing. They offered no suggestions at all, as to what would make their system better. Moreover, in the end, they had a little higher price, so, we did use IBM, and they did an excellent job. Both had included a terminal, a monitor, keyboard, and mouse, with a mouse pad,

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at each desk, including the four glass offices, but, IBM won out, by just a couple thousand dollars, which really was not much, because of the cost of the entire system, which was all-inclusive, including software. Later on, the young man told me that they got more completive, he thought, because I wasn’t soft on them to begin with, which may, or may not, have been true. That just becomes another one of life’s mysteries, which may never be answered. It just was, what it was, and we all accepted it, as it was. A couple of days after their visit with us, the workstation cubicle manufacturer did get back to us, with his price, and, when the young man checked out their price, against a quote from another top quality manufacture, their price was fair, a slight bit lower, than their competitor’s price, but, their quality was better, so, we stayed with them, as my daughter had promised. However, it took them over two months to manufacture the job, ready to be installed, which they completed in just three days, which we all thought, was amazing in itself. In addition, as my daughter had though, and stated, their materials and installation, was top quality, a real First Class job. While we were waiting for the workstation cubical manufacturer to build their products for our job, I had the young man get a First Class door company, to come over, remove the front doors, have them refinished, so they looked like new, and have the old locks and handles, replaced with new, brass ones, which really looked good, when you were walking up to the entry of this office. We couldn’t do anything to the outside of the building, except clean it up, because it was a historical building, protected under the City of Portland’s historical buildings provisions, but, once it was all cleaned up, and the wooden trim on the outside of the windows had a fresh coat of paint, the outside look really good, also. We left the moss on the roof, because the roof was made of the old cement tiles, which were not leaking, and none of the roof bearing timbers was weak, or rotting, so we left all of that, as it was. The light green moss on the roof, actually added a nice touch to this office building. Well, that one was finally completed, and all of us were very happy to have that done.

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A few day later, the young man invited us out for dinner again, and during dinner, he handed me a check for $35,000 dollars, for the work that we had done, but, I handed it back to him, and told him that we had done the work, to help him, and to complete the job that we had started, as he has so correctly stated. However, he handed it back to me, and said, all of you have earned this, and much more, so please take it as a token of my appreciation, if for nothing else. I looked over at the kids, and then told him, there is a provision in our purchase contract that says that I can pay more on the principle, whenever I want to, is that still true, and, he replied, yes, it is in our contract. Therefore, I handed him back the check, and said, please take this, as a reduction on our principle. (We already had just over $30,000 in our savings in the bank, mostly from the other check that he did not accept, we certainly did not need this check, so I unilaterally decided, to have him put it on the principle, which the kids also appreciated, as they told me later on that evening.) He smiled, and said, of course, I will do that. I will have my attorney send you a receipt for this, in the next few days, and, he did. I received a paid receipt for the additional payment on the principle, from his attorney, a few days later, as he had promised. Several months after that, the young man again invited us out to dinner, he told us that he wanted us to celebrate with him, because one of the big insurance companies from Los Angeles, had just signed a 10 year lease agreement on his office building, and it even had an annual escalating clause in it, where by the least price would increase on an annual basis, over the course of the entire lease agreement, which he was very happy about receiving. He said that their representative just took one look at the building, and fell in love with it. Therefore, it was a simple matter for his attorney to negotiate very acceptable terms and conditions on the lease agreement, which were to his benefit. He just wanted to invite us all out to dinner, to say thank you, once again, for a job well done, which we greatly appreciated. We never saw the young man, much after that. This was many years ago, but I imagine that the office building is still there, and is still in good shape. However, I do not know that for sure, because I never have revisited the site, since we left Oregon, many years

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ago. However, I still take pride in a job well done, every time that I think back on that project. It had turned out very nice, we were all, very proud of our accomplishments, especially, my daughter, who deserved to be.

Another one down, But a real biggie coming up As you will soon see

I still had this matter about my estranged wife, left to contend with, whenever it may come up. I have already explained to you, my philosophy concerning sleeping dogs, I just like to let them sleep, and so, I was not going to do anything in these regards, until I had to. I was just going to let that situation sleep, and wake up by itself. However, I knew that it was looming out there, ready to spring on me, at any time, which I, now, did not mind one bit, because we now had just a little over $30,000 in the bank. So, let it come, when it may, I was ready to face it. In the meantime, the kids and I, just resumed our lives, of spending a whole lot of time together, and having a whole lot of fun, in the process. We went somewhere different, every weekend, including the State of Washington, also. We when, where ever the kids wanted to go, and, had a lot of fun together, doing it. Those were some of the most happiest days in my life. I even joined a local gym, and when there for a couple of hours, three nights a week, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, to get back in to shape, and, it worked out well. The kids were not allowed in, for some reason, but that was alright with them, they thought that it was just great that Dad was getting back in to shape. (I had developed a little pot belly, and it was coming off, just fine.) Several months later, I received a call from my sister, as I had started to explain, a few pages back, when I was explaining about getting our phones installed, and she had trouble contact us, because the kids hadn’t

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had a phone installed in the upstairs, small family room, next to my master suite, where they did most of their playing, on rainy days. Well, anyway, she finally reached me, and asked me if it was alright for her to give my phone number to my estranged wife, because she wanted to speak to me.

Gulp, I knew that one was looming, Nevertheless, it still caught me by surprise.

However, I still told my sister that is fine, go ahead, and give her our number, which she did. I then told the kids, to be on the watch out, because mom would be calling soon. They appeared to be happy over that one, and were looking forward to her call. A few days later, after I had come home from work, the call came in, which the kids answered, and took their turns talking to her. They had taken it on the living room phone, as I was in the kitchen preparing dinner, and, I knew nothing of it, until I had put dinner on the dining room table, which the kids had already place the table setting on. I looked over at them, taking turns speaking on the phone, and, knew that there was a whole lot of trouble on the other end of the line, well, at least for me, or so I thought. Therefore, I just let them talk, without disturbing them at all, I just walked back in to the kitchen, to wait until they had finished. When they finished speaking with her, my daughter walked in to the kitchen and announced, mom wants to speak to you, so, I walked out to the living room phone, picked up, and said, hello, and how have you been? She didn’t appear to be upset, she just asked for our address, because she said, she wanted to come up and talk, so, I gave it to her, as I was thinking to myself, Yup, and I’ll have the process server at my door, in just a few day, which was also okay with me, if that happened. At least now, I had the money in the bank to be able to defend myself. She said

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that she would be up the following Saturday, so don’t go anywhere, because she didn’t know how long it would take her to drive up, and, I said, okay, we’ll be waiting for you. Well, that shot our weekend travel plans. She arrived the following Saturday morning, around 9:00 AM, so she must have driven all night, to be able to have arrived at that time of day, so, I asked her if she would like to take a shower and rest for a bit, she said, yes, so I showed her to my master suite, which had its own private bath. I told her that the kids and I were going to go down to the market to get something for dinner, but that we would be back in an hour or so, so, just take a little nap, if she wanted to do that. I also gave her a key to the house, so that she could come and go, and she wanted, while she was here. I asked her if I could get anything from her car for her, before we left, and she said, yes, please, my suite case in the back of my car, and handed me her set of keys. Therefore, I could I refuse that request, she did use the magical word. I ran out to her car, and strangely, it was also a Pinto wagon, just like ours, just a few years older. I hadn’t notice that when she drove in, because Mt. St. Helens had blown her cork, just a few weeks earlier, and we were still trying to contend with the ash fallout from that. I grabbed her suitcase from the back, took in to her, and told her again, that we would be back soon, but get some rest, you must be exhausted from your trip, I closed the door, and we all left. (She did not even give me a kiss, hello, so I was certain that there was going to be trouble, with a capital T, after she got up. That I was absolutely sure of, no doubt in my mind, what so ever. Please, do not take me wrong here, she was never a violent woman, and she seldom, if ever, raised her voice to anyone, including the kids.) We grabbed a quick lunch on the way back, to bring back home, just in case that she wasn’t sleeping, which she was, so, we didn’t disturb her, we just let her sleep. I do not have to explain my philosophy on that one, again, do I ? We just let her sleep, and, the kids and I had our lunch, which we bought at one of those fast food places.

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I started preparing dinner around 5:00 PM, because we normally ate dinner around 6:00 PM, and, I knew that the kids would be hungry by then, so I started cooking dinner, as usual, but, this one was going to be very special, with home fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, plenty of veggies, including a salad, we even got cherry pie, and ice cream for dessert. It was going to be a grand meal. Therefore, I got started on it. She was still sleeping, which was good, at least she would be well rested, when she got up. When dinner was ready, and I had it, all place on the dining room table, I asked my daughter, to go and wake her up, so that we could eat. She looked at me, and said, do you think that I am crazy, just let her sleep, which we did do. After dinner, we clean everything up, and put the leftovers in the fridge, the boys would make good use of them, the next day, because they both had hollow legs, then. Anyone who has raised kids, know what I mean. We watched a little TV together, then the kids decided that they also wanted to go to bed. She was still sleeping, and I didn’t want to disturb her, either, so, I just went over to the bottom shelf of the linen closet, and pulled out my trusty sleeping bag, and laid it out on the living room floor, and when to sleep, also. The next morning, I was awakened by the smell of bacon cooking in the pan, and fresh coffee brewing. I just thought that the kids had gotten up early, instead of sleeping in, as they normally did on Sundays, and started making breakfast themselves. Therefore, I walked in to the kitchen, and there was my wife, preparing breakfast for us. I told her that the kids normally slept in on Sundays, so do not expect them to be awake, any time soon. She said, that was fine, let them sleep, we can have breakfast by ourselves. Therefore, I sat the table, and she served up the food, and fresh coffee, everything was just as I liked it. We didn’t say much, she just asked me where I had slept, and I told her that when we first moved in, we had to use sleeping bags, which we still had, so I just got mine back out again, and slept in that.

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She said that she was sorry that she had missed the dinner that I had cooked, then, she went on to tell me that she had awaken, just after midnight, and was a little hungry, so she raided our refrigerator, and that is when she was all that I had made us for dinner. She said, it even tasted good, cold. She said that after she ate, she went back to bed, because she was tired, but, woke up, just after dawn, and walked around our neighborhood for about an hour, or so, then decided to come back home to cook some breakfast for us. She told me, you have done wonders with this place, it has a very comfortable feel to it. I told her that it was mostly things that we had picked up at yard sales, which did come together nicely, and the kids enjoyed being here, very much. (I surely was not going to say too much at that time, because certainly had no clue, as to what was in the wind, yet.) We had finished our breakfast by that time, so, I turned on the morning new for her, and started to pick up the dishes on the table. She told me; no, I will do that, while you take your morning shower and get cleaned up. I told her that the kids, probably, would not be up for another couple of hours, so just enjoy herself. She said that she would, and, I headed off to use my bathroom, which I desperately needed, by that time. After I finished, and changed my clothes, I walked back, and much to my surprise, the kids were already up, had eaten breakfast, and wanted to show mom, the Oregon Coast. Therefore, we all hopped in to our little Pinto wagon, and off we went, to give mom the tour of the northern part of the Oregon Coast, at least. First, we drove over to Astoria, and then across the bridge, which spans the mouth of the Columbia River, over to Washington State, then back again, which is truly a spectacular sight, because it so huge. Next, we drove down to the little village of Seaside, where the kids pulled out our roller blades, to show mom how we all had learned how to roller blade on the seaside walk, and, the kids decided that we should have lunch there, at a nice seaside café, where we had a nice ocean view, right from our table. Then it was on to Cannon Beach, then down to Cove Beach, then on to Nehalem, which is actually situated on a Bay, but it is beautiful. Then we drove back home again, through the mountains and forests, making a quick gas stop in Forest Grove on the way, where we got

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cleaned up, because the kids decided that we should have dinner at a little café, which is located where the Colombia and McKinsey Rivers meet. It was a nice place, and the food was excellent. When we returned home, the kids made hot chocolate for us, and we settled down to watch a bit of television, before heading off to bed, because the kids had school the next day, and I had my normal work to attend to. I again, used my sleeping bag on the living room floor. The next morning, we were up at our normal time, but, my wife had prepared breakfast for us all. I grabbed a quick bite, laid the kids lunch money out of the kitchen counter, as always, and even handed my wife a few hundred bucks, just in case she wanted to do any shopping during the day, then started heading for the door, because I didn’t want to be late for work. I told my wife that the kids school bus, comes to the beginning of our cul-de-sac at 7:30 sharp, so do not let them be late, please, or you will have to drive them to school. She said, I was thinking of doing that anyway. I told her to have a pleasant day, you have the keys, make yourself at home, and I headed out the door. When I got back home from work that afternoon, the kids were not home, again, but her car was not there, either. So, I just went inside, took my shower, then shaved, because I had not had time to do it in the morning, made myself a cup of coffee, sat on the living room sofa, turned on the TV, and waited for them to return. A couple hours later, they did return, past our dinnertime, with arms full of packages. My wife handed me a little paper bag, and told them that they had eaten at the mall, but they brought me something back to eat. I opened it up and looked inside, at the bottom of this little paper, was a piece of chicken, and a small bag of French Fries, needless to say, I didn’t make to the gym that night. They all headed up to my master suite, and jabbered most of the night away. When it was bed time, I again, rolled out the faithful sleeping bag, and went to sleep, fully expecting my wife to tell me the next morning, that she was leaving that day, as she had said she would only be visiting us for a couple of days, which were up.

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The following morning, I was up at the crack of dawn, for some reason, make myself a cup of coffee, and walked out on our patio, which now had some patio furniture on it, and started enjoying my first cup of coffee for the day. I had plenty of time, before I had to leave for work, even time enough for a second cup of coffee, before I had to leave. I decided that the kids could eat cold cereal for their breakfast, because I was not in any mood to be cooking any breakfast for anyone, not even myself. I don’t know why, I guess that it was because that I had gotten use sleeping in my nice, cozy, queen sized bed, and it hadn’t been available to me for the last few days. However, I was enjoying the sunrise, and my morning coffee, anyway. About an hour later, my wife rushed out to the patio, and exclaimed, Thank God, I thought that you had already left for work. I got up from my seat, picked my empty cup, started walking back in to the house, and told her, I was on my way out. I just wanted to finish my second cup of coffee in peace, before I left. Then, I walked in to the house, put my cup in the sink, and said, Good Bye, see you this afternoon, if you are still here, when I return, then, started walking towards the door. She said, can I walk you to the car, I want to ask you something; and, I said, yes, why not. So, she walked me out to the car, I opened the door, got in, and rolled down the window, because she still hadn’t ask me, what she wanted to ask. Therefore, I said, okay, what is it that you wanted to ask, because I have to get to work. She leaned down to the window, standing very close to the car, and said, would be alright with you, if I stayed a few more days? I said, sure, why not, put the car in drive, and started to drive off, when she leaned in a little further, gave me a little kiss on the cheek, and said softly, I really do love you, so, how about we share your large bed together, tonight. Then, she stood up, to clear my window, so that I could leave, to get to work on time. I said, I love you too, as I drove off. That day was filled with a lot of mixed emotions, I was raised with five younger sister, so I know just how conniving that they can be, not to say that they were ever malicious, because they never were, but, they can be very tricky, to say the least. Moreover, she had hit on my soft spot, and she darn well knew it. Therefore, I knew that the next few days were

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going to be very critical in my life, I needed to be very careful with what I had to say, and do, for the next few days, at least. Well, anyway, that is the way that I had it all sized up. That afternoon, when I returned home from work, the kids were at the dining room table, doing their homework, and my wife was in the kitchen, preparing dinner. So, I just headed upstairs, to my master suite, to have a nice hot shower, and shave, before dinner would be ready. When I finished up, I put on some clean clothes, and brought my dirty ones down with me, to throw them in the dirty clothes hamper, which was now empty, which was very unusual for a Tuesday, because we didn’t do our laundry until Saturday morning, and didn’t throw the things in to the dryer until Sunday morning, so that they would be nice and clean, for use on Monday morning. In addition, now, I am staring in to an empty dirty clothes hamper. Something strange is going on here, someone is messing with our, well laid out, routine, and, that person, could only be one person, my wife, who did not know our routine. When I asked the children, what was going on, she said, yes, it was me, I just thought that it would be better to keep up with the laundry on a daily basis, since I was home, and could do it, easily. Well, she had a point. Therefore, I just left that one alone, for the time being. Anyway, the kids had already cleared and set the dining room table, my wife had already put the food on the table, and I was really ready to eat, so, no need to be crying over spilt milk, either. What was done, was done, and it was a good thing. Therefore, we all sat down to eat. I dug right in, but the kids hesitated, they did not, then, my wife turned to me, and said, let us give thanks, for being together, once again. I said, okay, you give the thanks, and I will start eating, so, we both did. It was plain to see that this was definitely going to be an uphill battle, because the kids sided with her, and did not eat, until she finished the prayer. After dinner, I asked the kids if they had finished their homework, and they said, yes, and they started clearing the table, rinsing off the dirty dishes, and putting them in our handy dandy dishwasher. I walked in to the living room, turned on the TV, to watch the evening news, something that I rarely do, but, it seemed to be the right thing to do, so, I did.

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A few minutes later, the kids came in, and sat down on the carpeted floor, between the TV and the coffee table, much too close to the television, so I asked them to please move back a bit, and they did, without saying a word. I knew that I was getting the cold shoulder treatment, for eating while my wife was saying a prayer, but, I did not care. Therefore, I continued to watch the stupid news, which was only bad news, anyway. A few minutes later, my wife walked in, with a tray in her hands, sat down a cup of coffee for me, on the coffee table, along with 4 cups of hot chocolate, one for each of the kids, and one for her, then, she came over to the sofa, and sat down next to me, reached over, and picked up my hand, and put it in to hers. Boy, then, I knew that I was in for some real trouble, but, it was nice, anyway. When the news was finished, the kids flipped the channel to something that they wanted to watch, and my wife picked up the empty cups, put them in the sink, and walked back in, and announced, you kids get to bed on time, because there is school tomorrow, don’t forget, I want to take you father upstairs, and have a nice long talk with him, the kids replied, yes, mom, then she reached for my hand, and we started up the stairs, when we entered my master suite, she turned and locked the door behind us, then, I knew that I was really in trouble, but in a nice way. The rest is a matter of history, which we are not going to be discussing here, and more than likely, never. We quickly slipped in to a new, different, routine, which I thought was very nice, because I no longer had to cook dinner, when returning home from work, and, we still got to take our weekend sightseeing tours. Two weeks had slipped by, before I realized it. When I arrived home that Friday afternoon, dinner was being cooked, so I popped upstairs to take my shower, and, all of a sudden, my wife walked in, and told me that she needed to get back to the rest of our children tomorrow morning, so she needed to talk to me tonight. I said, okay, how about we talk, right after dinner, and, she said that would be fine. After dinner, we adjourned to our master suite, to talk, and by the look on her face, this was going to be a very serious discussion. She said that

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she had come to realize that she really does love me, and wants to be with me, so she needed to return to pick up the kids, and bring them back up with her. I said that was fine, I thought that was a good idea, and then we could be, one big, happy family, all over again. She then told me that she that she was worried about her car, making it there and back, because she had been having some trouble with it on the way up. I told her that we had just a little over $30,000 in the bank, so if she wanted a new one, then we could get it for her, tomorrow morning, before she left. But, she said, no, I don’t want to waste the money on a new car, now, I noticed that yours has a trailer hitch on it, do you think that it can pull a trailer, because will need to pull one back up with me to hold all of our things in. I told her that I had brought it that way, and yes, supposedly it was all set up with a towing package, because the people that I brought it from, thought that their daughter was going to drive it back to the east coast with her, probably towing a small trailer, also. I told her that I had never tried it, but we could take it down to the service center in the morning, before she left, to make sure that everything was okay with it. She said, yes, I would rather have a professional check it over, before I left, so, we can do that in the morning, before I leave. She then, went on to tell me that she had, had to borrow some money from her folks, and she would like to pay them back, before she left, and, I said that would only be fair, we can get the money out of the bank, before you leave, and get you plenty to make the trip on, also. I told her that if she could just wait a couple more weeks to move, then I could take the time off, drive down, and help her, but, I was at a critical point on the work that I was now doing, and it was completely impossible for me to leave now. She said that she understood my job situation and that she could handle everything just fine, including the trip down and back. Everything was settled, so we went back downstairs to say Good Night to the kids, because we had to get up early in the morning, to get her things packed up, and the car checked over, for her trip back. The next morning, we were up at the crack of dawn, she packed up her things, we made breakfast for the kids, for when they woke up, and headed on down to the service center, so that we would be the first customers there, when they opened, which was in about half an hour. We just patiently waited, until they opened, and then had them check

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everything over, for a long trip, which they did, then they gave it a lube job, and changed the oil, and oil filter, besides. It was now, certified to go, on any long trip that we wanted to take it on. So, we headed back to the house, stopping at a filing station on the way, to fill it up with gas. When we got back home, the kids help us load up her bags, which had grown in numbers, because she was carrying back things for our other children, and a few things for her folks, like a few cases of our homemade blackberry jam that the kids and I had made ourselves. She kissed us all Good Bye, and said, I will see you in a week, if not less, pulled the car in to drive, and drove off. Boy, were we all sad to see her go. However, at least, we knew that she would be returning the following week. We walked back in to the house, and the kids started to cry, which didn’t make me feel very good, either. A few minutes later, there was knock at the door, so I answered it, she had returned, because she had forgotten to give me her car keys, so, we all got another kiss, Good Bye, then, she left, this time for real. But, now, the kids were crying harder than before, so, I walked up to our master bedroom suite and lay on the our bed for awhile, trying to contemplate, where this was all going to end up, and what I had to accomplish next, but, it was just too much for me at that time, so I just went back downstairs, to prepare some lunch for me and the kids. The following Friday, after I had returned home from work, she called to let us know that she would be leaving to travel up to us, very early the next morning, but, that she was going to be pulling a small trailer, so she didn’t know how long it would take her to get there. I told her to take her time, and definitely, do not drive towing a trailer at night, just get a motel, and send the night, if you have to, and come in the next day, which she did end up doing. They had made it in to southern Oregon, and had decided to stop, after pulling the long hill, when first entering Oregon. She called us from there, to let us know where she was, Ashland, and that by her best calculation, she would arrive at our home, in the early afternoon, the next day, Sunday. They arrived in the late afternoon, and the kids and I were waiting in the front yard, to greet them all, and to help them with their things, but, as soon as the car stopped, our littlest, Josh, jumped out of the car, without

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even saying Hi to Dad, ran in to our home, took off his shoes and socks in the entry, and continued to run the carpeted stair, in his bare feet, for what seemed like hours. Seeing him do that, showed the happiness that can come from just doing some simple things, like running up and down the stairs, in your bare feet, with no other care in the world, just enjoying the moment, and thinking about nothing else. As I watched him enjoying himself, over what, to most people, would be nothing at all, but, it really hit home for me, as to how, we all need to start enjoying the simple things in life. Something that I have never forgotten, to this very day; and, I still practice, whenever I have the slightest opportunity, to do so. (Joshua, Josh for short, had one little toe that stood almost straight up, from an accident that he had, when he fell through a glass window that I had place by a tree outside of our home, where we used to live. He was trying to climb it, and it broke, cutting one of the tendons in that toe, and the doctor said that he could not repair it, but not to worry, because the lad would learn to live with it. I still feel badly over that one, to this very day, every time I think about my stupidity, of leaving an unprotected window, lying around, where my own children could, and was, hurt by it.) Before they returned, the kids and I got a few more pieced of furniture that we were going to need. We got another set of bunk beds for my sons’ room, because my wife had two other sons, from her first marriage, Tim and Tracy, and they could use the other set of bunk beds in the same room, with my two sons, and, we had planned that her daughter, Amy, could share the same bed with my daughter, which didn’t happen at that time, but, she did join us a few weeks later. (I had adopted her three children, several years before.) We then got another set of twin beds, which we put in the small family room, next to our master bedroom suite, to put our other two sons, Josh, our littlest, and Jeremy, our next to the youngest, in, next to us. We also got more bedding, and a lot more towels, because we were surely going to need them. Yes, we were a bit cramped, but we all were happy, and that is all that really matters. The next thing on the agenda was to get another reliable vehicle, because, as my wife said, hers was not reliable at all. We ended up selling it, I gave mine to her, because she liked driving it, and, I got a, slightly used,

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Toyota Land Cruiser, so that the we could do a much better job of picking wild blackberries, from the top of the bushes, instead from the sides, and, besides, it was more fun, doing our blackberry pick that way. A few weeks later, my wife told me that our home was just too cramped, so we needed to get a larger home. Within two weeks, we had located a very nice, much larger home, in a very nice section of the city of Aloha. We traded the equity in our present town house, for the down payment, and move right in, the following weekend. Problem Solved. Now, this is the only part of this story that I am going to tell you here, because I am very sure that you can see that we had been very successful, many times over, and starting from scratch, as in zero. In just a little while, just a few pages on, we are going to try to put some logic in to what really happened, and why. I have done this many times over in my life, but, I never had stopped to analyze what was really going on, and what really had happened, until just a few weeks ago, when one of my sons asked for some clarification on this exact situation, and I gave it to him, exactly how it happened, which was much different than what had been explained to him, because he was young at the time, and could only remember a few of the details, which did not coincide with what he had remembered. So, I gave him the exact same story, which you have just read, but only in generalities, but, he said, my story was more logical, which is should have been, because I have a memory like an elephant. He asked, after hearing my side of this story (there are always more than one side, to any story), how did you do all of that, in just a short amount of time, as you did? I told him, I really do not know, my Son, but, rest assured, I am going to analyze what did happen, and I will surely let you know. Well, my dear Son, in just a few more pages, you are going to know, how it was done, and the why behind it all happening, probably the most important part of all, how to do the same thing, for your own self, and your family, in very easy steps, that anyone can easily follow, even me.

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In conclusion, of this part of this Book, I would like to say, to all of my children, my grandchildren, my great grandson, all of my great grandchildren to come, their children; and, my nieces and nephews, and their children, Thank You so very much, for just being YOU !!!

Our love to each and every one of you, and your families too !!!

of this part of this story

95

TRUE PEACE AND JOY ARE WITHIN YOUR GRASP

YOU ONLY HAVE TO REACH FOR THEM THEY ARE LOCATED WITHIN YOU

96

NO MATTER HOW DARK AND DIM YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES MAY APPEAR TO BE

JUST BE PATIENT, AND KNOW DEEP INSIDE

THE LIGHT WILL SHINE THROUGH FOR YOU

97

HAT I DID NOT DO

Here, and now, I want to state, yes, these are the things that I did not do, but, maybe, just maybe, I should have done, at least some of them. Yet, in the end, I got the results that I needed to accomplish, without using any them, and, to me, at least, that is all that counts. So, please, do as your heart directs you to do. I will never be the one to speak one word to the contrary, of you doing things in a better way for yourself. Quite the opposite, I encourage you to reach down deep inside, and follow what your heart is telling you to do, but, listen carefully, because it speaks very softly. As soon as you have the opportunity, find a nice, quiet, peaceful place, and listen carefully. It may take awhile, for you to hear that little voice from inside, which may only come as intuition, but I can assure you that you will know it, when it speaks to you. Then, your positive adventure in life will really get started, for you, and everything and everyone, which surrounds you. Just do as, what comes to you, at that time, and your whole life will start to change, towards a much better place. It will not take long, but, do not get discouraged either, it will not happen instantaneously, either. Slowly, but surely, you will see the positive changes come about, in to your life. Just keep following that little, soft, voice, from deep inside, and, you will be surprised, by the ways that your life will change for the better. So, now, let me tell you, what I did not do:

I did not crawl into a bottle, to try to hide, or try to find relief, from my misery, at that particular junction in my life, but I do have to admit, that there is a certain appeal to this type of solution, to some; it just was not for me. Moreover, yes, at first, I was deeply depressed, over my situation, but that did pass, over time, It took several weeks, to be more exact.

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I did not lay out some master plan, and then write all of the details down, about what I wanted to achieve, to paint a clear mental image of these, within my head. I only knew, what I needed to do, next, and, I had absolutely no idea, not a clue, as to how that could be accomplished, either, so, I just stared heading in that direction, and the doors started opening for me. In addition, you

only need to do the same thing, to be able to accomplish what you want to. That, I am very certain of.

I was never completive towards anyone, not even myself. I really did not care what the Jones had, or did not have, that made no difference to me, at all, and, it still does not. I only went after, what I needed to accomplish, at that particular time. That was all that mattered to me.

I did not go to any soothsayers, fortunetellers, psychics, or any of types of people, to see what was in store for me, in the future. I was not in to using them. However, if want to use them, I have no problem with that, you can do what you please, in your life.

I did not do a lot of thinking, about what I had to accomplish. I knew what I had to do, in general terms, and went for it.

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I did not do any praying; in the way, that most people believe that it should be done. As I said earlier, I felt betrayed, by the God that I thought that I knew so well, which is not to say that I did not have a deep sense that there is some form of a Supreme Being, a Higher Entity, per say, which

put things in their proper order, because I did, and still do. Yet, all of the time, I felt truly grateful, to, whom, or what, ever, for the good that was coming my way. I am sure that many of you will not quite understand what I am saying here, but you will, some day.

I did not get any heavenly inspirations, Well, at least, none that I was aware of, at the time.

I did not get any bright ideas, popping up in to my head. However, things did start going my way, As soon as I made my decision, as to what it was next That I needed to accomplish.

I surely did not plant seeds, Moreover, take the time, to watch them go up. I did not have the time to waste, on that.

I did not do any graphs of my progress, either. I could tell that things were getting better. I could see it. I did not have to feel it in my bones.

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103

HAT I DID DO

First and foremost, after I came to my senses, after the big mess that I gotten myself into, which took a few weeks for me to do; I took full responsibility for what I had done. Yes, I felt guilty, and I did fall in to a state of deep depression, over what had happened, but, it did not take me long, before I took full responsibility for the situation that I was then in, and, I did what I needed to do, to get out of that horrible situation. I cannot over stress, the importance of this step. Right, or wrong, does not really matter, you are the one that got yourself in to the position that you are presently in, and, it is only you, who can get you out of your present position, and on to a higher plateau, in your life. Nevertheless, you have to accept that fact. It was you, who got you, to where you presently are. Yes, you can place blame on others, but just ask yourself, this basic question, “If you were not there, would that have happened?” You do not have to answer the question, because the answer is oblivious, no, it would not have. So, now, you have the culprit, it was YOU, all along. So, own up to that fact, then, everything will start getting better for you, also. I only went after one goal at a time, and I still do, what I needed to accomplish, and do, then, nothing else mattered to me. I did not try to take on everything that I knew that I had to accomplish, and do, at the same time. I took them on, one at a time. Moreover, once I started, I never looked back. I just kept looking forward, to the next task at hand. Yes, I did lose my faith and trust in the God that I thought that I had known so well, because I felt betrayed, at that point in my life. However, I did have full faith and confidence in my own abilities, to do what I needed to do, successfully, no matter what it was, I knew, down in to my bones, that I would be able to do it, and that I had to do, what needed to be done, at the time. I had absolutely no doubt in my mind

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that I could be successful, even though I had no idea, how I was going to accomplish, any of it. I just knew that I could, and that I would. Yet, at the same time, I was always grateful, for each and every success that had been granted to me. I did not know to who, or what, I was being grateful to, but, I was. I was deeply thankful for everything that was being granted to me, by, who, or what, ever. I just had this deep sense of gratefulness, with every step along the way, with each and every success. Additionally, yes, my then wife (we have long been divorced, for many years now), did leave me, shortly after we had arrived in Oregon. Nevertheless, as I look back at that aspect, now, I cannot help but think, that, maybe, just maybe, this could have been the hand of Divine Providence at work. We will just leave that one, at that. She was, and still is, a truly great lady; and, I still do have great respect for her, even now. She was also a great mother to our children. Enough said on that issue. The past is the past, and there is nothing that any of us can do to change any part of it, so, just accept it for what it is, the past, and, move on with your life. Two other relevant aspects of this entire process, which we will call success, which I really would like all of you to take to heart, are, Firstly, do plan on losing some sleep, and having some restless nights, during this process, as well as having a million things run through your head, all at the same time, as you get started, and see things coming together, in ways that you have never expected, and could never have ever imagined that they could, or would, because this is going to happen, I can assure of this. This is going to happen to you. At first you will believe that you are not able to sleep, due to your nervousness, and anxiety, over the unexpected, and, your own fears of failing, again. Then you will come to know, in your very being, that this restlessness, and uneasiness, is mainly coming from the joy of what is happening, before your very eyes, to YOU, and FOR YOU. Yet, in reality, YOU ARE THE ONE THAT IS CAUSING IT ALL TO HAPPEN. Yes, things will start to come together for you, in unexpected ways, in ways that you had never imagined that ever could possible happen to you. In completely

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unexpected ways, it will start happening, before your very eyes. This you can expect to happen to you. Moreover, believe it, or not, this still happens to me, and, to be perfectly honest with you, I do not like it, one bit, when it does happen, either, even though, I now understand what is transpiring, and that everything will work out just fine, if I hold the course that I have set out on. I still get nervous, and I still do lose sleep over it, when things to start to come together and start happen, in a positive manner, as they most assuredly, will do. So, please take this phenomenon (something that will happen, completely unexpected) in stride, knowing that this is going to happen to you, as things start to come together. This will defiantly happen to you. Secondly, I did arrive at the highest levels of success that are achievable on this planet of our, which did take many years to achieve, and, as I looked around, I saw only envy, greed, and strife. I saw no true happiness anywhere, so, I decided that I didn’t want to be in this place, and, started climbing back down the ladder of success, which anyone that has ever been able to accomplish that one, can tell you, to be able to climb down just a little, is almost an impossibility in itself, just because of the sheer resistance from the people in that arena. This aspect may be extremely difficult for anyone to really understand, until you have been there, but, please, do take my word on this, because it is entirely true. The top of the success, or even near the top, is not a real nice place to be. However, should you decide that is what you really want to do, I can only say, go for it, it is within your reach. I will give you a few words of caution, if this is what you have set as your heart’s desire upon, reaching the top of the ladder of success, be prepared to battle to hold your position, with the very fabric of your life, to stay there, because you will certainly have to do so, to remain. Moreover, be prepared to sell your soul to the devil, just before you reach the top three rungs of the ladder, because that will be required also. (I never got that far up the ladder, where I was required to do so, so, I did not.)

I will cover this topic, more thoroughly, in The Conclusion, of this Book.

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HAT WALLACE DELOIS WATTLES SAID TO DO

Below, is the entire final chapter, Chapter 17, of the “THE SCIENCE OF GETTING RICH” by Wallace D. Wattles, which Rhonda Byrne attributed her success to, in her book, and world famous movie, The Secret, but, later, in a private interview, she recanted on that, and stated that it was “THE MASTER KEY SYSTEM” by Charles F. Haanel, which had bought success to her, which is, perfectly okay to do. “THE MASTER KEY SYSTEM” by Charles F. Haanel, was also a requisite of “THE LAW OF SUCCESS in sixteen lessons” by Napoleon Hill. Moreover, there are some people, whom have attributed the success of Bill Gates, one of the Founders of Microsoft Corporation, to his reading, and applying, the principles outlined in “THE MASTER KEY SYSTEM” by Charles F. Haanel, but who really knows, for sure? Both of these books, “THE SCIENCE OF GETTING RICH” by Wallace D. Wattles, and “THE MASTER KEY SYSTEM” by Charles F. Haanel, are now in the “public domain”, so, we have attached a copy of both of them, in the CD at the back of this Book, if you are receiving a hard cover, original, of this Book, or, these books are located in the Zip Package, which came along with this Book, if you have received this Book, by electronic transmission means. We hope that you enjoy them. This is a very short Chapter, a real easy read, but he brings out several points in his Summary, which I would like to point out to you, because this Chapter answered all of the questions that I had, about what really went on, when I was on my quests of thing that I really need to get done. So, please, have a quick read over it now, and, I will summarize a few points of what he said, later on, in this section of this Book. “ CHAPTER 17: Summary of the Science of Getting Rich THERE is a thinking stuff from which all things are made, and which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates, and fills the interspaces of the universe.

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A thought in this substance produces the thing that is imaged by the thought. Man can form things in his thought, and by impressing his thought upon formless substance can cause the thing he thinks about to be created. In order to do this, man must pass from the competitive to the creative mind, otherwise he cannot be in harmony with the Formless Intelligence, which is always creative and never competitive in spirit. Man may come into full harmony with the Formless Substance by entertaining a lively and sincere gratitude for the blessings it bestows upon him. Gratitude unifies the mind of man with the intelligence of Substance, so that man's thoughts are received by the Formless. Man can remain upon the creative plane only by uniting himself with the Formless Intelligence through a deep and continuous feeling of gratitude. Man must form a clear and definite mental image of the things he wishes to have, to do, or to become, and he must hold this mental image in his thoughts, while being deeply grateful to the Supreme that all his desires are granted to him. The man who wishes to get rich must spend his leisure hours in contemplating his Vision, and in earnest thanksgiving that the reality is being given to him. Too much stress cannot be laid on the importance of frequent contemplation of the mental image, coupled with unwavering faith and devout gratitude. This is the process by which the impression is given to the Formless, and the creative forces set in motion. The creative energy works through the established channels of natural growth, and of the industrial and social order. All that is included in his mental image will surely be brought to the man who follows the instructions given above, and whose faith does not waver. What he wants will come to him through the ways of established trade and commerce. In order to receive his own when it shall come to him, man must be active, and this activity can only consist in more than filling his present place. He must keep in mind the Purpose to get rich through the realization of his mental image. And he must do, every day, all that can be done that day,

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taking care to do each act in a successful manner. He must give to every man a use value in excess of the cash value he receives, so that each transaction makes for more life, and he must so hold the Advancing Thought that the impression of increase will be communicated to all with whom he comes in contact. The men and women who practice the foregoing instructions will certainly get rich, and the riches they receive will be in exact proportion to the definiteness of their vision, the fixity of their purpose, the steadiness of their faith, and the depth of their gratitude. The End ” Now, let us take a little closer look at some of what he said: “Man can form things in his thought, and by impressing his thought upon formless substance can cause the thing he thinks about to be created.” Here, I would like to point out to the readers, that Wattles has many names for the “thinking stuff”, including, Supreme Power, Infinite, God, formless substance, the invisible stuff, the formless intelligence, etc., which, through his writings, always referred to a Supreme Entity, of some sorts, and it didn’t make any difference to him, which name that any one used to refer to that Entity. He did not care, if you wanted to use God as this Entities name, or Buddha, or Allah, it made no difference to him. Mostly, he only made reference to the characteristics of that Entity, to describe that Entity, which he felt, “permeates the entire universe”, and, so do I, including, each and every one of us. Moreover, here, he is speaking about forming an alliance, a bond, per se, with that particular Entity, at least, in thought, to “create” the things that a person has in their thoughts. Now, there is one for you to ponder. “man must pass from the competitive to the creative mind” This is an easy one to accomplish. Just stop striving after what the Smiths, Jones, and ever Tom, Dick, and Harries, have, or, more clearly

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stated, having more of what they are up to their hind ends in debt over, which is not a good thing, at all. Moreover, do the best that you can possibly do, within your own abilities. Be creative, look for better ways of doing things, rather than just trying to, and be better than the next person, in doing the same things that they are all doing. Stop following the crowd, and, become independent, in your thinking, your attitude, and the way that you do things. Do them, in a much better way. Be yourself, and, not just some copycat. Let your creative juices flow, and you will certainly be, in a much better place, and soon. However, this is not easy to do, at first, yet, with a little practice, it does become a habit that is very easy to live with, and much more enjoyable, also. “Man may come into full harmony with the Formless Substance by entertaining a lively and sincere gratitude for the blessings it bestows upon him. Gratitude unifies the mind of man with the intelligence of Substance, so that man's thoughts are received by the Formless. Man can remain upon the creative plane only by uniting himself with the Formless Intelligence through a deep and continuous feeling of gratitude.” This line, at first read, appears to be difficult to understand, but with a bit of contemplation, the message becomes crystal clear. He is saying that each one of us, have a relationship with, what he calls, Formless Substance, referring to the Entity of God, (you may use whatever name you desire to choose to use), because the most important aspect of this sentence, is YOU developing a “lively and sincere gratitude” towards that Entity, or more precious, a deeper relationship with that Entity. YOU already are connected to this Entity, because he uses the term “Man may come into full harmony with the Formless Substance”, which means that a relationship already exists, which you only need to develop a bit further, by developing a more profound appreciation for what you already have, and what you will soon receiving, as soon as you start implementing your plans for what you want to achieve, as will be outlined in the upcoming Chapter. Some may feel that they have nothing to be appreciative over, but, when they really stop to analyze their actual situation, I, personally, can assure

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every one of them, their situation will become, sort of like the old adage, I felt sad, because I have no shoes, until I saw person with no feet. You can always find something in your life, to be grateful over, even if it just your brain, no matter how limited it may be, which you can use, within your own abilities, to change the situation that you are presently in, for the better. There is always something to be grateful for, and you can start appreciating that very fact. Also, let me draw your attention to something that he did not say. He did not say that you need to get down on your knees, or go to a church, or your temple, or your mosque, or even to your synagogue, not even to the Wailing Wall and place a small piece of paper in it, with your wonderful prayer, written on it, to express your gratitude. This “deep gratitude”, or deep appreciation, which he is referring to, only needs to be developed, and transmitted, within you, yourself. Become appreciative, for what you already possess, even what you already posses, is not very much, develop a deep sense of gratitude / appreciation, for those things / aspects, which you already do posses. Then, as more are given to you, and they will certainly be, then, you can start being more appreciative, of what is being added, for your own benefit. So, start being grateful, for something that you already posses, no matter what that something is. “Man must form a clear and definite mental image of the things he wishes to have, to do, or to become, and he must hold this mental image in his thoughts, while being deeply grateful to the Supreme” This one was a bit confusing to me, at first, also, because in his book, I did not remember any place that he spoke of the need, where by anyone created a “clear and definite mental image of the things he wishes to have”. Therefore, I went back and read his “ Chapter 6: How Riches come to you “, over again, which is the only place in his entire book, that I could remember that he made mention of specific items that a person wanted to gain for themselves. As I went over the specific paragraph, it started to dawn on me, what he actually meant, about painting a clear and definite mental image, in my mind, of the things that really wanted. Here is that paragraph, from Chapter 6, “I recall now the case of one student who was told that he

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must get in mind a clear picture of the things he desired, so that the creative thought of them might be impressed on Formless Substance. He was a very poor man, living in a rented house, and having only what he earned from day to day, and he could not grasp the fact that all wealth was his. So, after thinking the matter over, he decided that he might reasonably ask for a new rug for the floor of his best room, and an anthracite coal stove to heat the house during the cold weather. Following the instructions given in this book, he obtained these things in a few months, and then it dawned upon him that he had not asked enough. He went through the house in which he lived, and planned all the improvements he would like to make in it, he mentally added a bay window here and a room there, until it was complete in his mind as his ideal home, and then he planned its furnishings.” There it was, in black on white, I did not have to be more specific than just knowing what it was, that I wanted, that part had to be perfectly clear, and the part about what you want. Therefore, I now understood what he actually meant by his statement, you only had to know, preciously, what it was that you really wanted. You did not have to make a specific mental picture of the make, the model, and the color that you wanted it to come in. You only had to a clear and definite mental image of what it was, that you really wanted, nothing more, was, or is, needed. In his illustration, the man didn’t care what color the rug was, or if the anthracite coal stove had a circulating fan on it, or not, he only cared to have these modest items, to keep a little warmer in the winter time, which, I don’t blame him one bit, for asking for. I probably would have made the same requests, if were in his shoes, also. Moreover, please do not take this next statement, in a wrong way, I did not give one care, what the specifics were, of what I wanted, and needed, to accomplish, either. I just took what came my way, and, I darn sure was deeply grateful, and very appreciative, for having been able to obtain them, also, no matter, who, or what, had helped in that process, I was truly grateful, for the help, because I knew, for a certain, that it wasn’t just me alone, who accomplished all of the things that I did, in such a short period of time. There had to have been some other power, a power much greater than what I thought that I possessed, lurking around

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somewhere, helping out, and, I was very grateful and appreciative, for that help, no matter where it had come from. In China, where I have lived for many years now, there is an expression that is often used, when one gets something, which was totally unexpected, they say, “It came from the heavens”. In reality, whatever it was that they received did not actually fall from the sky into their hands. This is just their way of saying, I received some help, from someone, or something, much greater than myself, and, they really do mean that, I was able to receive this, by some power that is much greater than I possess. However, in actuality, they are a part of that Power, but do not realize that they are. Because, if you go on to ask them, “Is this something that you really wanted?” Without exception, they will always say, “Yes, it is. I have wanted this, more than anything else, for a very long time, and now it is mine, thanks to the heavens.” The only logical conclusion that anyone, in their right mind, could possibly reach here, is, that crafty old Wattles, he was not so dump, after all. “The creative energy works through the established channels of natural growth, and of the industrial and social order.” This statement is really not that hard to grasp. All that he is saying here is, you cannot sit on some deserted island, somewhere, and expect a home to become available to you. You have to be realistic, and go where what you want, is actually possible for you to get. Now, just a bit, on “social order”, which he is referring to, in the last part of this statement. Let just say, as he points out in his book, you do not have to beat people down in their price, of what they are asking for, when you go about, acquiring the priority item on your must do list, again, which we will discuss in more detail, in the next Chapter of this Book, I only want to say, you can afford to be very fair, in all of your dealings. There is much more in this simple statement, which one can take the time to really come to grips with, but here, is, neither, the time, nor the place, to do so. Therefore, we will leave that part of the discussion, for another time.

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“In order to receive his own when it shall come to him, man must be active, and this activity can only consist in more than filling his present place.” Here, he is emphasizing the fact, that for you to be able to get, whatever it is that you do earnestly want, you have to be doing some, active, and not just lying around, feeling sorry for yourself. You have to start out with some kind of work, any work at all will do just fine. However, as you start to work, you have to put extra effort in to whatever work that it is that you are doing. You have to go that extra mile, and give back, just a little bit more, than what you are being paid to produce. Just produce a little more, even if you have to do it on your own time. Just do it !!! Moreover, you will reap the rewards. “And he must do, every day, all that can be done that day, taking care to do each act in a successful manner. He must give to every man a use value in excess of the cash value he receives, so that each transaction makes for more life, and he must so hold the Advancing Thought that the impression of increase will be communicated to all with whom he comes in contact.” As your start down the path to your own success, you must do everything that you do, to the best of your own abilities. Moreover, try, to keep your mistakes to a minimum. In fact, I always correct my mistakes, on my own time. As he, so correctly states, in doing so, you are giving more use value, than what you are receiving on your paycheck. “The men and women who practice the foregoing instructions will certainly get rich, and the riches they receive will be in exact proportion to the definiteness of their vision, the fixity of their purpose, the steadiness of their faith, and the depth of their gratitude.” Please, read this one over a few times, concentrating on what he is saying, and, let what he is saying, sink in, deeply. It will only be to your own benefit, to do so.

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LIFE IS NOT WHAT MOST PEOPLE BELIEVE

YOUR ONLY RESTRICTIONS ARE

WHAT YOU IMPOSE UPON YOURSELF

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LIFE IS MERELY ONE BIG CHESS GAME THE ONLY PROBLEM IS

YOU ARE ONLY PLAYING AGAINST YOURSELF IN REALITY

EVERYTHING IN YOUR LIFE DEPENDS UPON YOUR NEXT MOVE

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HE CONCLUSION

In conclusion, I would like to state the specific steps that I took, and, then, the final results, which you are invited to share in. I will recap the step that I took, at the end of this Chapter, because I want to give all of you, some explanation concerning these, the first time that I give them to you. Well, here they are:

1. Accept your responsibility, for where you now are, in life. You would not be, where you are presently, if you were not there, would you? Therefore, you can try to justify your way out of your present situation, as being the fault of someone else, but, in the end, you are going to have to conclude, if you had not been there, then, whatever happened, would not have happened, especially to you. So, if for no other reason, just take responsibility, for being where you should not have been, at the wrong time, and what happened, happened, just because you were there, and for no other reason, at all. Whatever when wrong, just happened, while you were there, minding your own business, but, it would not have happened, if you had not been there, in the first place. Nevertheless, you were, so what ever happened, happened, and it just happened to happen to you. Moreover, that is the part that you have to take responsibility for, for being in the wrong place, at the right time, so, you got caught in the crossfire, which would not have happened to you, if you had not been there, to begin with.

2. Get a specific objective in mind, the most important one that you need to achieve, urgently.

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This needs to be the one that is most important for you to achieve, first, the one that is the main priority for you to achieve, in your vast list of things that you must get done, something urgent to you. In addition, let me explain to you, why that is. In the information that I relayed to you, in my short story, at the first part of this Book, I never wrote down any of the things that I wanted, and needed, to achieve, not one, ever, and, I still do not. I had absolutely nothing written down, to look at constantly, to keep that particular aspect, active in my mind. It took me, my first read through, “THE SCIENCE OF GETTING RICH” by Wallace Delois Wattles, to come to an understanding of that point, why I did not have to write anything down. As I read through his book, it came roaring to the fore, the why, I never had to write any of my objectives down, and, I still do not have to do so, and, neither do you. Here is the reason why, I, nor you, will ever have to write any part of your priority list down, and review it, on a regular basis, by choosing, your major priority, the one thing that is most urgent for you to achieve, you no longer have to put a whole lot of energy in trying to remember it. It is constantly there. You may not actually spend all of your waking hours, thinking about it, but, your subconscious mind is, that I can assure you of. That part of your brain is constantly working on solutions, to getting that urgent matter handled, even while you are sleeping, it is working on the solutions, which, in most cases, is be very complicated to achieve. However, it just works away. Therefore, let it, that is what it is in your head for. (Your subconscious mind is the part of your brain that keeps your heart pumping, and you breathing, without you ever having to consciously thing of doing those tasks. They are just automatically done, by the subconscious part of your brain.) Moreover, by the way, you can change your priority, at any time, if something more important comes up. Do not be afraid to do so, because your subconscious will already be working on, what is the most important aspect, which you need to accomplish, with urgency tagged to it. So, go ahead, set aside the priority that you

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were presently working on, and pick that one up, later on. You are allowed to start working on the new priority, which just came to the fore. That is perfectly okay to do. If you recall, in my brief story, I had to do the exact same thing, I had to change my priority, and, everything worked out just fine. Also, personally, I never work on more than one priority, at any one time, because it is, what it is, my Number 1 priority, and that one has my total attention, whether it is at the forefront of my constant thoughts that I am aware of, or not. I have come to know, that it is at the forefront, at least, on the subconscious side of my brain, and that part is working on the solution, whether I like it, or not, so, I just change my priority to the new, now the most important, objective, which I need to urgently conquer. If there is a secondary aspect, which I also feel is important to take care of, relatively quickly, I will discuss that one with my wife, and see if she want to take it on, as her new objective: if not, it waits. An additional aspect to this step, and, that is, the past is the past, as we all know, and, as I said before, there is nothing that you, nor I, can do to change any of it. As the old saying goes, it is all, water under the bridge, which means that it is long past, and has headed out to see, or some other large body of water, but, it can never be in the same place, at the same time, ever again. It is long gone, over and done with, as is The Past. So, do not waste your time dwelling on any of it. You have a future to look forward to, so, do it, and, stop wasting your precious time, on things that you will never be able to change. It is, what it is, The Past, and, let it all go, because, if you don’t do just that, you are going to be at conflict with what you have laid out before you, to accomplish new, wonderful aspects, in your life. So, please, do not waste one precious moment, on The Past. Additionally, I have never, personally, set money as an objective, as I have stated before. I have used a home, as my main objective, more than just once, also, and, yes, it takes money to get in to your own home, it surely does. However, to me, the home was the

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real objective, not the money that it would take, to get in to the home. Being truly wealthy, is so much more, than just having money.

3. Do not let others know, what is on your must accomplish list, Which does not have to be written down anywhere, because you will know, what is the most important, next thing that you need to accomplish, is. This will never be any secret to you. Just ponder your situation for a few moments, and, you will see, it will come to the fore, very quickly. I know what Napoleon Hill had to say, about building a Master Mind Team, but, from my own personal experience, that aspect has not worked for me, and, let me tell you why. Let us just use an example, of you tell a close personal friend, that you need a house, but, you have not a clue, where the new home that you want, will be. (This is entirely correct, you absolutely do not know, where your new home is going to be, when your opportunity to get one, under the terms and conditions that will become available to you, is going to be. You only want your own home, for whatever reason, but, this is a very important matter to you, so, you have set it as your Number 1, Priority.) Yet, the first thing out of your friend’s mouth is going to be, “What, you don’t know where you want to live? That is completely absurd. You have to know where you want to live, before you start shopping for a new home.” This is commonly referred to, as “Counter-Intension”. You have now killed your chances of getting your new home, because you have shared your secret with your friend, who, has taken it upon him, or her, self, to put up an arbitrary, in your path to your own success – “You must decided, first, where it is that you want to live, before you can start shopping for your new home.” Moreover, you cannot do that, because you have not a clue, where your opportunity will open up for you. Moreover, good luck to you, if you try to explain that aspect, to your friend. So, please, never, ever, share with anyone,

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not even your wife, if you have one, what you have set as your next objective that you want to accomplish, urgently. This is not to say that a Master Mind Team, would not work for you. As a side note to this step, never, ever, get involved in other people’s games, be they right or wrong. Never do this. I use to do this, attempt to correct, what I perceived, as a wrongdoing to others, but, this always ended up in disaster, for me. Therefore, I quit the practice, many years ago. Leave the game playing to the others; you have more important matters to take care of. One additional thought, while we are on this subject, Associate with people that have a clean space about them, and, I am not speaking of only an orderly space. I am speaking of people, who do not make a common practice of speaking badly of others. A little disorder, adds spice to life, which is a good thing. Moreover, as my Grandmother Briggs use to say, “You have to eat a peck of dirt, before you die.” I now know, what she meant by that one, too.

4. Expect the unexpected. It will happen, you can be assured of that one. Once you put your next urgent aspect, which you need to accomplish, quickly, firmly in your mind, doors, and windows, of opportunity, will open wide, and so quickly, you are going to be startled by what is happening, and, you may miss an opportunity to walk, or crawl, right through one of them. So, expect, the unexpected.

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Moreover, never worry about how, you are going to be able to do this, or that, as I have said, doors, and windows, of opportunity, will open wide, and so quickly, for you, from completely unexpected places, and from unexpended people, so, expect these to happen to you.

5. Get Active. Do something, anything at all, towards the aspect that you have set for your next objective. Get active, in perusing your objective. Time does not stand still, and neither should you. Do not sit around, feeling sorry for yourself, over your present predicament, because that is not going to help anyone, including you, one bit. You must get active, doing something, even if it is wrong, even if it comes down to you having to devote your time to some local charitable organization, or even start doing some kind of community service. You must become active, doing something, anything at all, to begin with. It is imperative that you start doing something, anything at all. Moreover, be honest and forthright, in everything that you do, do.

6. Be creative, in everything that you do. Always, keep your eyes, and ears, open wide, for new, and better, ways of doing your work, even if those better ways, come from the mouths of a child, as has happened to me, many times over. Opportunities will avail themselves to you, for you to be able to become much more creative in your life, in ways that you can never imagine, as soon as you firmly place in your mind, the first objective that you, so urgently need to achieve.

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Take advantage of those opportunities, as they do come your way, and become more creative, in everything that you do, even if you only start, by folding your laundry, in a much nicer manner, than ever before. Be creative in everything that you do. This is a very important step, so, do not take it lightly, please.

7. Walk the extra mile, always. Give added value, to everything that you do, and it will return to you, many times over. Do everything that you do, to the best of your abilities, and, when you make mistakes, correct them on your own time. Always give much more in added value, than you ever receive, and, miracles will start happening to you.

8. Be deeply thankful, for everything that you have, and everything that will surely come your way. It is the development of a deep sense of thankfulness / gratitude / appreciation (you can use these words interchangeably), which is going to draw you closer to yourself, what is deep within each of us, and the entire Universe, also. This aspect is a little difficult to understand at first, but, with some practice, it will become very natural to you. As the saying goes, “Practice, makes perfect”, and, it really does.

9. Accept what comes your way. This one may appear to be strange to most people, but, in actuality, many people, simply push away, what comes their way, thinking that they do not really deserve, what has just been handed to them on a silver platter.

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However, realize this, it was you, who put in the effort, and, it should be you, who ends up with the reward. So, do not throw it away, when your rewards comes to you. Accept it for what it really is, your reward, for doing the best that you possibly could, under the circumstances. It belongs to you, so, take it, and, never look back. You are the one that earned it, with your own sweat and tears, so, accept it. It belongs to you, and no one else.

Moreover, please do not get discouraged, if what you have set as your priority to achieve, does not start coming in to being, immediately. There, normally, is one of two answers for this happening.

1. You are not ready for that to happen in your life, now, or,

2. There is something much better, ahead, in your future, which you are going to enjoy, much more. I have experienced, these two aspects, many times over, in my life, so far. So, expect these to occur for you, also. When you do hit these aspects, take them in stride, everything will work out just fine, in the end.

Now, let us take another look at these steps, simplified:

1. Accept Responsibility. 2. Get a specific, urgent, objective in mind. 3. Do not share that objective with anyone else.

4. Expect the Unexpected.

5. Become Active.

6. Be Creative.

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7. Walk the Extra Mile.

8. Be Grateful.

9. Accept What Comes.

I can assure you, right here and now that you will not have to go over this list, at least 21 times, to plant them firmly in your long-term memory banks. All of these steps will come to you, naturally, when you start on your first quest, as stated in Step 2. Everything else, will come, pretty much, automatically.

This Book will never make it on any of the Best Sellers List, it was never designed to do that, mainly, because it is FREE, and that was never our intention. So, do not look for it on any of those Lists, it will not be there. This one is for all of you. Furthermore, yes, this Book is copyrighted, BUT, please do feel free, to share the Book with whomever you please to share it with, with our approval, as stated, right here.

Now, I will conclude, with a few quotes from Dale Carnegie –

“Are you bored with life? Then throw yourself into some work you believe in with all your heart,

live for it, die for it, and you will find happiness that you had thought could never be yours.”

Dale Carnegie

“When fate hands you a lemon,

make lemonade.”

Dale Carnegie

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“You can close more business in two months

by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years

by trying to get people interested in you.”

Dale Carnegie

“We all have possibilities we don't know about.

We can do things we don't even dream we can do.”

Dale Carnegie

One last parting thought – Be friendly, kind, and courteous, to everyone that you meet, because you can never tell, where your next opportunity is going to come from. However, I can assure you of this, when it does come, it will come as a total and complete surprise to you, wherever it does come from. Moreover, rest assured, if you follow these 9 simple steps, it will surely come. Have no doubt about that one, at all. It will surely happen, so, expect it. The End

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NO, YOU AREN’T GOING TO BE EATEN GO FOR WHAT YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE

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HAVE YOU EVER WANTED TO FEEL AS FREE AS A BUTTERFLY

YOU ALREADY ARE BUT HAVEN’T REALIZED IT YET

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SPECIAL REQUEST

As Wallace D. Wattles stated, “He must give to every man a use value in excess of the cash value he receives, so that each transaction makes for more life” (Here, he uses the term “he”, as meaning everyone, without referring to any specific sex). This is called an “exchange factor”. You must always give more in value, than you receive, to gain. Additionally, we feel that this Book does just that. We have given our use value to all of you. Therefore, now, it is your turn, if you have gained anything at all, from this Book. You are not under any obligation, to so, either. However, if you have found benefit by the use of what has been presented in the Book, then, we humbly request that you send us a modest, non-tax deductible, contribution. Our Publishing Company, is neither a foundation, nor any other type of not-for-profit organization, therefore your contribution is not allowed as a tax-deductible item, in most nations. The main reason for this request, is that we would like to develop our own specialty Web Site, which we can post our large library of, mostly, old publications that we have acquired, down through the ages, for all to enjoy, free-of-charge, also, along with every book that we have already published, and will ever publish. Just to establish this type of Web Site, is very expensive, not only because of the large number of web pages that it will take, but also, to have the ability, for all of you, to be able to directly download every book, and be able to read it, at your own leisure, and, of course, all free-of-charge. I hope that by doing so, we can make our planet, a much better place.

A

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Therefore, if you can find it within your heart, to help us out, with this endeavor, but, only if you have personally benefited by this Book, then, please, send, by wire, your modest, non-tax deductible, contribution, to: Bank: HANG SENG BANK LTD.

Address: HEAD OFFICE 83 DES VEUX ROAD, CENTRAL, HONK KONG

SWIFT Code: HASE HKHH

Bank Code: 024

Account Name: PROSPERITY INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION, LIMITED (Our physical address and phone number are on the “Title Page” of this Book)

Account Number: 228 310496 883 Your local bank will know how to send your modest, non-tax deductible, contribution, to us, you only have to request them to do so. Additionally, please, do not send us less than 20.00 Hong Kong Dollars (approximately $2.58-USD), in any form of internationally acceptable currency, because our bank charges us a transaction fee of that amount, on every wire received. Thusly, more, would be greatly appreciated. We wish to extend our most sincere thanks and heartfelt appreciation, to each and every one of you, in advance, for any contribution that you find in your heart to send to us, for our endeavors, as ‘assistance’. May Peace, Prosperity, and the Powers of Enlightenment, be with all of you,

Ralph Joseph Philippi and Ai Fang ( Lucy ) Wang

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THERE ARE MANY THINGS TO BE THANKFUL FOR IN THIS LIFE

THE AIR YOU BREATHE A BEAUTIFUL SUNSET

AND JUST WAKING UP IN THE MORNING

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YOUR OWN PERSONAL LIBERTY AND FREEDOM

ARE NOT EARNED THEY WERE GIVEN TO YOU AT BIRTH

YOU POSSES THE LIBERTY AND FREEDOM TO BE, DO, HAVE, AND BECOME WHAT EVER YOU TRULY DESIRE

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OW TO PRINT THIS BOOK AND/OR READ THE ELECTRONICALLY TRANSMITTED VERSION

This Book has been published in A4 format, which is what we use in China, and is what is used in most other parts of the world.

The electronic version is in “.pdf” format, and, we have included the URL of the Web Site, for all to be able to download a free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is also available in many different languages, for you to be able to easily read this Book, either on line, or on your very own computer, at your own leisure.

If you would like to print a copy of this Book, and you use A4 format, within your nation, then, you can, and are allowed to do so, by printing out this Book yourself, using duplex (two sided) printing mode on your color printer. Alternatively, if you prefer, you can put this Book on a CD, or on any Flash Drive, take it down to any print shop, and they can print you out, as many copies that your heart desires, of course, for a price.

If you live within a nation, like the United States of America, which does not use A4 format as their standard, then, you can simply tell your printer to resize it, to Letter Size, or, if your prefer to use a print shop, you only have to tell them that what you have is in A4 format, so please print it out for me, in Letter Size, and, they will be more than happy to do that for you, again, for a price. However, it is not any big deal for them to do that for you. You may want to have them put a sheet of plastic on the front and back of this Book, which you have just had printed, and have one of the print shops bind it up for you, as it is much easier to keep clean and to read in this manner.

Now, if you want a Hard Cover version of this Book, that is where the rub comes in to play, because each of those are handmade, bound with a nice vinyl Hard Cover, and also comes with a very nice vinyl dust cover, on each Hard Covered version, which is not free. If you desire one of these Books, or more, in Hard Cover form, then, please send your request to the email address on the inside of the cover of this Book, telling us the number of books that you want, and, we will respond back to you with a quote, as quickly as we possibly can.

H

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Here, on the CD attached to the next page, are the books,

“THE SCIENCE OF GETTING RICH” by Wallace D. Wattles,

and

“THE MASTER KEY SYSTEM” by Charles F. Haanel

ENJOY !!!

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