Jeans versus Genes

I've never been one to claim much fashion knowledge or to be on the leading edge of what is considered chic clothing to wear. I usually go to some trendy shop (expensive too) and have one of the young ladies help me with my clothing decisions. They know what's hot that week and have much better taste that I could ever have. One thing I do know, is that jeans are in.... again! It's been an on-again off-again affair of whether it's kosher to wear jeans to work but unless you are a lawyer (sorry dad) or an uptight accountant (sorry Bob) then a nice clean pair of designer jeans is just fine!

I must try on about 10 pairs for each pair I end up buying. This is why my wife won't go shopping with me. It takes me an hour to buy each item. She's a much better (meaning faster and more expensive) shopper than me. I recently bough the MOST comfortable pair of jeans I've ever owned, and they are made in California. The name of the jean is Gringo and they fit very well. I don't know how guys wear those tight jeans that are high in the crotch - OUCH! Not too comfy. I also don't like those baggy "shit catcher" jeans that expose half your underwear. Anyways, these Gringo jeans look and feel awesome. For $245 they should! Made by Agave, I recommend these jeans to anyone!

Here's a photo of my pair of Gringo jeans! Lots of belt loops help them stay snug.

As much as I might complain about how different my father and I are, I have come to realize we are very similar in a lot of ways. Another odd reality is that he has always been on the leading of clothing trends. My dad loves his jeans. He's very much a suit kinda guy during the week but on weekends he's been a jean guy for many years. Now that he's partially retired he's wearing them more and more.

Take a nice pair of jeans and match it with smart dress shoes and a tapered shirt and you can go just about anywhere. OK, I'm off to get another pair for me and a pair for my dad as a gift... it's in the genes!

Bad news Bush

I just got back from Chicago yesterday. There was lots of talk there the last couple days about Iran and the discovery of a newly revealed nuclear facility. I hate news like this for many different reasons. Obviously anything that makes the world a more dangerous and unstable place is bad. Also, with each discovery such as this, the stock markets take a hit. Don't kid yourselves or believe the spin you might hear as to the reasons for stock dips... news like this hurts. I've seen in many times. In fact, when big bag news does hit, the first thing I usually do is sell stocks that are susceptible to this sort of thing.

I think that when this news about Tehran first became public President Obama probably thought, "holy crap, Bush was right!" I think Bush Dubya probably thought, "holy crap I was right!" Even Bush Senior probably said, "Hey Barbara, looks like Junior was right for once... holy crap!"

Anyway my point is that stock markets around the world like stability. They thrive on it. A bad news day can easily wipe out days of strong growth. With countries like Iran and North Korea threatening the world (while not feeding their own people) they weaken the strength that other countries have built. Thankfully they never weaken our resolve!

Audi R8

I had a truly exciting weekend. A friend of ours, older than us, just bought the new Audi R8. Wow, what a machine! Fast.. bloody hell was it ever! I must admit I didn't get to drive this marvel of a machine, but I had a hoot just being the passenger. It looks like a Lambo or Ferrari and feels about as fast as anything I've ever been in.

My friend, I'll call him Bob (because that's the name his parents gave him) is in his early 60's and acts like a 23 year old - full of piss and vinegar. The guy still works, but doesn't need to, and he's a bit on the wild side. He's on his fourth marriage to a gal who is mid 30's. She's a beautiful and educated girl who has been... uh... enhanced! To borrow an expression another friend of mine uses, she is boobalicious! With his third set of children, she's at home full time, which means the nanny and house staff do most stuff so she can work out and stay in great shape for the old guy!

I swear Bob must be taking Viagra by the pound load. His trophy wife always has a smile on her face and seems to love him deeply. It's funny how other guys act around him. I can't tell if they admire him or feel deeply jealous. Me? probably a bit of both, but he's a great person and I'm thrilled I can call him a friend of mine. In fact, when I told him I mind do a little blog about him and his car he laughed and encouraged me to do it!

Getting back the topic though, the Audi R8 was quite the thrill. Not sure Mrs. Wealthy would ever let me get one, but one can dream, and dream I will!

Home of the Range

We recently did some renovations to our home which was a much bigger, and more expensive, job than we first realized it would be. We're thrilled with the result but it was an enormous amount of work... mostly for someone else, just a pain in the arse for us.

The kitchen renovation basically started with the wife's desire for a new gas range. But it had to be a big 6 burner with an oven large enough to cook a turkey in. At first she had her heart set on a big Wolf range, but after looking at gas ranges, she started eyeing refrigerators, microwaves, dishwashers and wine coolers. We finally decided on one make for everything. The Viking Pro series had all the appliances and the quality we wanted.

One we decided on the high end appliances we realized we needed to better organize the entire kitchen with new cupboards and granite counter tops. We also had an interior planner help with new lighting installed in the ceiling. One of the best decisions we made was to retile the floor with underfloor heating too. Great on those cool mornings!

The one thing I've learned over a few different renovations is to plan ahead, budget for more money and time than you plan for, and be ready for surprises along the way. Things rarely work out perfectly. Often you find that if you are doing one thing, it makes sense to do another thing also which leads to a never ending project.

Jeremy Clarkson - screw off!

While I've preferred the smaller vehicles, like the Porsche 911 or the new Audi A5, my wife has always preferred something a little bigger, and who could blame her! We just replaced her BMW M5 with the Porsche Cayenne.

I think it's a great vehicle. It has lots of room for the kids and their friends, the dog, some bags and plenty of oomph that she can beat some "kid" in most sports cars off the line. Yes the Turbo version sucks back the gas at a thirsty rate, but hey, I didn't buy a Prius did I!

So why did Jeremy Clarkson (Top Gear) totally trash such a wonderful car? He said "I've seen better looking gangrenous wounds than this" when describing the looks. When it came to performance he accurately, yet pathetically, said that "0-60 takes 5 and a half seconds... and about 17 gallons of fuel." Well Jeremy, that's why it has such a bloody big tank!

I actually very much enjoy the Top Gear show and the three clowns, I mean automotive journalists, who present it but sometimes they are way off the mark. I DARE Jeremy to pick any car he drives on a regular basis and go tete-a-tete against Mrs. Wealthy on their track. Jeremy, she will kick your ass even with a boot full of groceries and still have time to pick up the kids from school!

Patrick Swayze (1952-2009)

Ok this might be a little off topic but since my last article was a tribute to the twin towers in Manhattan, I thought it seemed appropriate to honor a great actor who passed away today. Patrick Swayze was a bit older than me, but I watched many of his movies as a late teenager and enjoyed them very much.

Mr. Swayze was also a private pilot, a link I shared with him, and he would fly himself around the country. I recall many years ago being on the same frequency as him when he was flying into Bellingham, Washington, and I was flying a crappy plane full of crappy cargo from Bellingham to Seattle. His aircraft identification ended in the letters PS, for his initials. He was flying a small twin engined piston aircraft. Nothing fancy like a Boeing 707 or G5 like John Travolta would fly, but still a respectable mode of transportation.

A few memorable acting moments that come off the top of my mind are: Point Break, Red Dawn, Dirty Dancing and a Saturday Night Live skit where he played opposite Farley - one of the funniest things I've ever seen!

RIP Patrick!

Sept 11th Tribute to Twin Towers

I just spent two days in Atlanta and flew into San Francisco early this afternoon. When I booked the flight a month ago and I gave no consideration to the date. In fact, I went through most of the day not giving a thought to the fact that today is September 11th, just 8 years to the day after one of the worst terrorist attacks against the US. In fact, I read through a newspaper this morning and didn't even see a mention of that horrible event. I was in a cab heading to the airport when I suddenly realized the significance of the date.

Obviously it was a horrible day for all those affected in so many ways. Many people in the air and on the ground lost their lives on 9-11. Many more felt great loss by knowing them. The rest of us felt... well scared! For ourselves, our families and the unknown of what was really happening and what might happen next. Many of us lost huge sums of money (on paper) as the markets took a huge hit afterwards. Looking at it now, it was more of a blip compared to what we've been dealt in the last year.

Having my private pilot's license has meant that when I travel I always get a window seat. Sorry kids, but you get the isle with mommy. I LOVE the view out the window. Prior to 9-11 I had often been able to sit in the jumpseat in the cockpit. The "office" has the best view of all. I didn't care how uncomfortable the seat was compared to the business seat I paid for, if the captain allowed me up I was there. Unfortunately no-one gets to do that these days.

A memory I've always had flying into New York was seeing the twin towers of the World Trade Center. I remember walking, coffee in hand, past the twin towers and staring up in awe at the tremendous height of the buildings and thinking "wow!" Not much else I can say to describe something that I wish I could show my kids one day, but can't. That day shook the city, the country and I believe the world too. It was something to see on TV, hear on the news and see pictures of even. But having been there live and to now know they are gone seems as unbelievable as snow in Vegas, but that happened too.

I miss looking down at those 110 story buildings that stood for over 30 years as a monument to the area of Lower Manhattan. It is still an amazing city and I still enjoy going there, but it was a big loss that I doubt we will ever forget.

Biking

I've been in the market for a new bike. No, not a motorcycle, but an old fashioned powered-by-caffeine bicycle that requires the circular motion of your legs to keep the spinning bits going round and round.

I've had a good street racing type bike for years, but now I wanted something a bit more... manly! Something I could be attached to as I hurl myself off jumps, down slopes steeper than a slide at a kids park, and trails that a only a psycho maniac would create. Maybe it's a fatalism in the philosophical part of my mind convincing me that any actions I take are only following a predetermined, inevitable outcome that I was destined to experience? Ah hell, it's mid-life and I know it!

One thing I learned from my time in various parts of Europe is that biking is far more acceptable there than it is in the United States. Amsterdam is a bike friendly place. Los Angeles is not! I've found most drivers in US cities consider bikes to be an inconvenience. They are considered obstacles to speed around, or targets even. It's funny to consider but the bicycle is really only about 20 years older than the airplane, yet it's considered by many to be a dinosaur form of transportation.

Portland, Oregon has a map showing biking routes in the city!

The only two US cities than I've enjoyed biking around are San Francisco and Portland. Some cities, like Vancouver and Montreal (Canada) even have designated bike lanes. That is sure to piss off a few drivers as they chat on their mobile phones and sip their starbucks in a traffic jam as bikes pass them.

Now I'm off to discover the extremes of biking. No more paved roads or soft gravel trails for me. The true outdoors of off-road biking is what I'm after. Here is a funny blog article about an extreme biking experience!

$15 cup of coffee!

I moved one heck of a lot as a kid. Some great places and some not so great. I enjoy being in San Francisco just about any time of year but I also enjoy visiting new places and places where I spent time as a kid. I was recently visiting family in Vancouver, Canada. What a beautiful place, especially when the weather is nice. I plan to do some skiing there this winter hopefully, before the Olympics start up. The place has grown a lot since I was young, but not so big as to feel foreign... yet!

I found what I would consider to be the best coffee in the world, and believe me, I've looked. Cafe Artigiano is a small chain of specialty coffee shops which also has some breakfast and lunch type food items. From what I've read it seems that they win Barista awards every year and are known for their coffee excellence! At one time they had a specialty coffee, Panamanian La Esmeralda, that sold for $15 a cup. I don't think you get refills with that! I've taken quite a liking to their Lattes, which are always made with a fancy swirly design on the foam. YUMMY!

As well as 10 in Vancouver, they have locations set up in Calgary, Kelowna and Victoria. I look forward to seeing some south of the border anytime soon.

Board of Dictators

I've been doing a lot more volunteering the last few years. About two years ago I joined the Board of Directors of a community based non-profit group. This means it is fairly small and we all volunteer our time. No stock options for us, or flying on the corporate jet for special meetings. In fact, I usually just wear jeans to the meetings. Of the 12 executive members, most are lawyers or accountants, there is one old lady (let's call her Sarah), and me. I am not a lawyer, an accountant, old or a lady.

I'm having an issue with the group in general that I'm not quite sure how to resolve. I thought by explaining this here I might see the light, as it were, and find an answer. The others are very picky about how we allot funds to certain projects. They analyze how to get the biggest bang for the buck, and often fund a project which ends up being cost neutral anyways. This way they look good but it doesn't cost anything. The fact is we build up a surplus every year and it isn't ours anyways.

Recently, we hinted strongly that if a small daycare were to make major improvements on their property (it was a big eyesore) that we would help by developing a playground on some of the unused portion of the land. The deal was that they would fix-up the building and we would create a mini park that they could use during school hours all week, and the public could make use of after school and on weekends. It was a great deal for them and a big improvement for the local community. The project would be considered a major financial investment for us.

After the school did their building work (and some major grounds work) a few of our executive had found a different location for a small park. It was in a more densely populated area and much more high profile. A bigger, louder bang for the buck. Funny enough, it was the old lady (Sarah) who was most adamant about the new location. She reminds me of Sarah Palin, or the other way around since I knew her before the world heard of Palin.

It made me feel sick to my stomach to even consider a change. I pled with the group trying to convince them that we should stay with the original plan. I considered borrowing a line from the ACDC song Hell's Bells, at the beginning when Brian Johnson quietly says "good good sense" but I thought that would sound too much like a Sarah Palin quote. Nothing against the lady. She's bright, spunky and kinda cute. We just didn't want the bitch in the white house.

Bingo!!! One thing about BOD's is keeping notes. Sarah, god bless her stone cold heart, was meticulous about note keeping at meetings. She did it all on her MacBook pro at lightning speed. She was also speedy about disseminating the minutes to the rest of the group. A quick perusal on my part, and I found notes containing our commitment to the daycare.

Tomorrow we meet with the Daycare again. I'm just trying to decide wether to give them a copy of the notes now, or use it as leverage against the group. If think a small number of them are already feeling uneasy about what has started to happen!

Fine wines

I'm a sucker for great wines. I've never been much of a beer drinker, and doing multiple shots in rapid succession is for teenagers, or guys in their 20's who act like teenagers... or guys in their 30's who really need to get a life! But a fine wine, enjoyed slowly with a meal, with company, or just by it's lonesome is a wonderful thing indeed!

I was thrilled when I found a site that discussed some of the best wines available and even broke them down in types of wines and discussed which regions are best for each type. Funny enough I was looking at some new clothing trends on the Ask Men website and found a piece about fine wines. I was very impressed.

They had a section on the top 10 most expensive wines which ranged from a $287 bottle of Chteau Lafite Rothschild Paulillac (1996) at #10, to a $1540 bottle of Dom. Romane Conti (1997) at #1. I like wine but even I won't be buying #1.

I know a number of people who collect wines and some of them even have wine cellars, which seems like a big waste of space to me. I'd rather use the room for something I can do in it. Why spend money of something you are going to store indefinitely and not enjoy. I can understand having a few good bottles but why have several hundred bottles, and a huge amount of money tied up in something that honestly won't appreciate as much as someone might try to tell you.

High end music equipment

I LOVE listening to music. I always seem to have something playing, whether I'm driving, cooking, working or typing something (like right now). My parents must have played a lot of music when I was a baby because I feel at ease when it's playing. I enjoy many kids of music - depending on my situation.

We recently completed a renovation on an entertainment/media room in the basement and so I've been in the market for a whole new stereo setup. I had some general ideas of what I wanted to get and I knew that I wanted some great kick butt speakers in addition to the ones we had installed in the ceilings. A great stereo system can only be as good as it's lowest quality piece of equipment, so I wanted everything to be the best available.

I found a great site that covers everything high-end for those who are passionate about music. 6 Moons has 6 sections covering:

-Industry Features

-Archive Library

-Letters feedback

-Audio Reviews

-Music Reviews

-Newsroom

There is a wealth of information available and some great pictures detailing the items showcased. The site is well organized and easy to navigate through. It's pretty expensive stuff but if you are looking to either buy or learn more about some great music equipment, check out this site.

Exotic car search

I've been looking at some new vehicles recently and I've found the more I look, the more I like and so the more I need to look at some more to finally make up my mind. You see how difficult this is for me right?

There were a few requirements that my wife and I agreed upon. Mine was that it must be sporty and fun to drive. She had a longer list, but basically it needs to have back seats for the kids, and not those little seats like in the back of the Porsche, which the kids seem to like anyways. The biggest bargaining issue became whether or not it needed four doors.

I had in mind something like the BMW M3. I had one many years ago and loved it. I'm not sure it would compare to the luxury vehicle the Bavarian maker offers today, but if I liked the old one, I'd be sure to love the new one. Another contender was the Audi S4. This 4.2L V8 produces 345 hp. Probably the most solid car I've even been in. It's basically and Audi A4 on steroids. The new 2010 edition has a smaller V6 engine, but still puts out a whopping 333hp. Just amazing!

I'm too young for a Mercedes and I've never liked anything too flashy. So I was almost sold on the S4, there at the dealer and I found the most beautiful car I've ever seen. I almost started singling "I've found my thrill" like Richie Cunningham from Happy Days. There, before my eyes, was a sporty, sexy, powerful 2 door couple (yes honey with back seats and a billion airbags from every direction). This incredible machine has a name and it's called the Audi A5.

As you can see from the picture above this is a slick piece of hardware. Most importantly, it looks stunning in my driveway!

Mortgages and Agents

We moved a lot when I was a kid, and i've been involved in many property purchases of my own. One thing I've learned is that Realtors get paid a huge commission for each sale. The process isn't much unlike that of what a car salesman does. In that I would think selling a car takes more skill as a property pretty much sells itself. Another shark infested industry is that of mortgages. Banks obviously want your business, and mortgage brokers get in on the action too with none of the risk. All they do is play middle man for the financing and take a nice cheque for putting it all together. Their practice of lending to anyone finally came to an end when the financial crisis hit last year.

When I was 18 my parents hired an estate agent (we were living in London at the time) to sell our house. He had an assistant who basically did all the work. She showed the place an arranged everything on behalf of the agent who basically just used his well advertised name and face to list places. Anyways I was somewhat disgusted by how much he got paid for how little work he did.

The memorable part to that whole experience was that one day the assistant had finished showing our house and I came home well before my parents would get back. I gave the beautiful young assistant a tour of my room - Yes, we slept together! Unfortunately the home sold days later and I never got to repeat the experience with her. In fact I never saw her again. At 18 it was pretty cool that she was 7 years older than me, but now... I'm not sure I'd be thinking what I was then. I must admit though, I've often wondered about buying a place in her jurisdiction and possibly coming across her again!

Dough!

My MUCH older brother Nigel was always the good boy in the family. Even though he was almost 10 years older, everything I did (or didn't do in my case) was compared to how he did it at my age. Those 10 years was plenty of time for his wonderful accomplishments to be blurred by time and "remembered" as something more than they really were. I didn't do as well as Nigel at school, and I even got kicked out of a private school where our family name was well known. Apparently I wasn't aware of the code of conduct regarding smoking certain "products" on school properly.

Anyways, my goody-two-shoes brother followed in father's footsteps and entered law. When he joined the same firm as daddy, I was dropping out of my second university and firmly finding the hard way in life. I had a job at a bakery. It's not as dull as it sounds. A friend of mine was starting a small bakery with a storefront shop and needed a partner with skill, intelligence, good communication skills... and some money! At least I had that. I was further compelled to help my good friend when I met his two cousins who would also be working there. They were lovely girls.

Nana, who was like the family Monarch (because she ultimately had the wealth), would tease me that while my brother brought home the bacon, I brought home the bread. I know deep down that she did love me. I just wish she knew it too! My partner friend and I didn't pay ourselves much but after a year we opened a second small shop on the other side of the city and opened a full bakery to service both locations. Shortly after that we got a great contract with a small chain of coffee shops that also sold bakery/pastry items. We were the sole provider, and as that small chain grew at an astonishing rate, so did our income. We sold the entire bakery (but kept the 4 shops it grew into) to the now much larger chain. We each walked away from that deal with plenty of dough for our 3 years of work. My friend eventually bought me out and is still doing well in the successful business.

Nigel had been making a pretty solid 6 figure income those three years but after the flour dust settled, I came out ahead. I also had a lot more fun doing it. Nigel and I didn't talk much, at least I didn't talk. Nigel wouldn't stop talking. He felt I was an embarrassment to the family and would never produce anything good in life. He on the other hand was successful, married to a beautiful wife, had 2.3 kids, a dog and a blue house with a white picket fence. What a dink! Years later, when he helped me with some legal issues, he learned that I wasn't the total screw-up he thought I was. I think he was impressed when he learned how much I had actually made in various adventures. He's still a dink though.

I think the thing I learned the most from that time in my life is that it isn't necessarily how hard you work or how educated you are, granted these usually help. It's how smartly you work! Sometimes the laziest person is the most efficient!

PVR saves me time

I'm naturally a very lazy person who likes to maximize my time and get the most out of it. I've never been one to hurry anything, unless driving a fast car, but I like to work efficiently and be productive with my time.

I try to incorporate this kind of thinking into my personal life also. One of my latest toys has been using a PVR (digital video recorder) device. It allows me to record two shows at once, or watch a show as I'm recording another. By skipping through the commercials of a previously recorded show, I can watch a one hour show in just 42 minutes. Thats 18 minutes of my life that I get back. If I miss something funny (or worth seeing again) I can quickly rewind the show I'm watching to hear it again. The PVR even lets me pause a live show and just hit play when I'm ready again.

There are many different models and types of PVR's. Originally we all heard about Replay TV, the TiVo system and recording tv with your computer and PMP's (portable media players). I don't do much of recording the news on my PVR but movies and my favorite hit shows are best.

The PVR is very similar in size to a DVD player and easy to use. You can program it to record a series of your favorite shows or just a special one you find!

Working for a living

My dad wanted me to go into law (as he did) Nana wanted me to be a doctor, and mom just wanted me to be happy. Rich, but happy! The idea of years and years of university to get into law or medicine just didn't interest me. I grew up never really worrying about money, or giving so much as a thought about what I would do when I finally grew up. I'm still waiting for that one I guess.

My dad had a buddy who was an airline pilot. Hearing him speak one night at dinner I was intrigued by the life of this guy who worked much less than my dad, played lots of golf and always had time off. His time "working" sounded more like play. I got my pilot's license at 19 and worked on establishing a career as a pilot. It didn't go far, as soon as I realized it took many years of hard labour before getting a descent job flying something better than a piece of shit with one and a half engines and wings that were held on with tape. I quit!

I never did lose my love of flying airplanes, or speed for that matter. I quickly graduated to some high performance single engined aircraft. Some of my favorites over the years included the Cessna 210 (Centurion), Piper Arrow, Mooney, and the best was the Beech Bonanza. I just loved that V-tail bird that was very fast!

My latest fling, though i've yet to fly it, is the new Cirrus SR22. Fully loaded, this little beauty runs just over half a million ($500,000). It is a sweet ride!

Here is the beautiful Cirrus sr22 in flight! Best personal airplane around!

This little 4 seater will get you anywhere you want to go in a real hurry. In fact, on trips under 500 miles, it would be hard to get there faster on a 747. By the time you factor in checking in at the airport and getting your bags, this personal aircraft will save you time.

The cockpit of this Cirrus SR22 GTS is better equipped than most airliners!

I admit, it's a bigger purchase than most cars, but it is less than buying a house. These types of aircraft don't depreciate as quickly as cars do, but they do require expensive maintenance, insurance and hangers to keep them looking good. I don't think too many doctors and lawyers can really afford these high performance babies! "Dr, eat your heart out!"

Want to be rich?

Sure, everyone wants to be rich. But what does that mean? That probably depends on where you live and who you compare yourself to. If you live in some small town with mostly blue collar workers, I guess a person with a decent 6 figure income might be considered wealthy. If you've spent any time in London, Frankfurt, New York or Dubai, then you know that being wealthy means you can afford a small business jet. It might seem hard to imagine, but there are plenty of these people out there.

It is a common misconception that most millionaires made a fortune with some get rich quick scheme, but the reality is that it is usually slow, methodical hard work. Actually there usually isn't much hard about it. It's usually smart thinking. I know a lot of wealthy people who have increased their net worth hugely through real estate - but they had the funds available in the first place to make wise investments.

Whether you have the money available to buy an investment properly or business outright, or just enough for the down payment, spending the time crunching the numbers is the smartest thing you can do. If you seek financing, even a 1/4 percentage point off the interest rate makes a huge difference over the time of the loan. Regardless of anyones financial position, doing the up front legwork of comparing rates with banks and mortgage lenders will pay off in the long run.

The opposite is also true. Holding mortgages, which until recently was one of my favorite investments, are far more profitable by getting even a small percentage more ROI. One thing I've learned from very rich people - fight for every penny on every deal, and treat every penny as a deal. They might buy extravagant items and spend huge amounts of money, but you can bet they didn't spend more than they had to on any of these things.

Money $$$

I'm not sure who first said "money can't buy you happiness," but it sure won't make you sad. And if you can't buy it, you can certainly rent it! This blog will follow my journey through life of being well-to-do, growing it into more wealth, and enjoying some fun toys along the way.

Using some personal experiences I hope to share with you some expensive delights that have brought joy to my life and what new exotic discoveries I come across. You probably don't need to be a millionaire to appreciate these "finer things in life," but it would help.

I don't like to brag, which is why I'm remaining anonymous, but I like playing with expensive stuff. I love to shop for trendy clothes, buy expensive watches and use the latest high-end technology gadgets - which I'm quick to discard when the next year's model is out. I'm young enough to enjoy a fast porsche but mature enough to enjoy the comfort of a big luxurious Mercedes, which is probably why i've owned both.

Thankfully I haven't lost much to paying a law firm (more on that in a later blog), or suffered lung cancer like my grandfather did before I got to meet him. I've never considered seeking financial advice from some fast payday loans or sought help with debt problems. I'm young enough that asbestos cancer won't affect my generation, but I'm old enough to have paid bills before internet banking. By the way, if you get cancer from asbestos, it is called mesothelioma, and there are plenty of mesothelioma attorneys and lawyers who specialize in settling malignant pleural mesothelioma cases. That is a whole industry of it's own. Because I didn't have the patience for that many years of schooling, I didn't attend law school - sounds too much like work and no play. I am ALL about play!!!

I hope you'll stick around and follow my search for fun times, fast cars, glamorous people and good taste! Hey, it just takes a bunch of money! Might as well enjoy it.