Million Dollar Ideas

Ever since college (roughly about 3 years ago now) or maybe during college – I had ideas. Entrepreneurship ideas. Product ideas. And since a million dollars is a good, round number – and can earn you $60,000 a year in interest alone (before taxes darnit), I like it. And to this day, I’m still thinking up ways I can earn this much money – doing something.

So I entitled my ideas/partial dreams “Million Dollar Ideas”. And they’ve followed me everywhere. Michelle/Friends/Coworkers get to listen to them any time I come up with something. Of course I’ll never pursue them – because:

1) They’d take too much time. I don’t have the flexibility to just quit my job and take a risk like that.

2) Most of them require a million dollars to start with – just general investment capital for R&D and product development/patent/business application.

3) Rarely do I come up with an idea/product that has a lifespan of longer than 3-5 years. Sadly enough, I’d like to not be categorized with the “Pet Rock” and “Silly Putty” guys (no offense, I bet both of you are enjoying your millions…)

4) In general, I’m just too lazy. And typically, my coworkers aren’t too lazy to point out that the product has already been created – or the unlawful side of my business ideas. In my opinion it really takes someone who is very driven (and has very little to lose) to start a successful business. And I’ve heard crazy things like “90% of first time businesses fail”. I can’t take that risk with two mortgages currently hanging over my head.

So I know that this can’t be a reality – it’s still nice to day dream – and who knows, maybe one day I’ll come up with an idea that flies in the face of all my own – and others nay saying.

I remember one of my very first “million dollar ideas” – and still think it is a good idea – although I saw the product in Brookstone store (or whatever those stores are) about 4 years ago (I had this idea in late 2001). It came about when I had to get up for a 9:30 class the next morning (man I used to think 8:00 am was early – boy was I wrong), but my roommate and his friends were out in the family room playing video games – and obviously making a lot of noise to go along with it.

I’m a light sleeper – so I require either silence or very soothing music (but not too soothing!) to put me to sleep. Sleep doesn’t work well when you’ve got 3 rowdy guys down the hall screaming out profanities and all of them either skipping class the next day – or not having their first class until 2 hours later than I start mine. Either way, when this situation would occur, I’d throw on my sound blocking head phones and my MP3 player. (Rio – see, this was before the I-pod). A little Norah Jones, and I was out. But as soon as I rolled over to one of my sides (I can’t sleep only on my back or on my stomach), my head (huge if you haven’t noticed – literally) was crushing one side of my head phones. Uncomfortable, I’d have to wake up, pull off my head phones and hear once again, the sound of screaming testosterone filled men.

That’s when I thought of the pillow – filled with speakers that played music. And I know, some of you might say, “But couldn’t you just play music on your stereo or your computer next to your bed? Yes. You could. But the music wouldn’t be RIGHT in your ear like a headphone would be – and blocking out most of the sound from further away from you. Which is why a pillow MP3 player was one of my first “great” ideas – In my opinion. I’d figure it’d have a built in alarm – something you could maybe turn off by punching the thing? Hah. Anyway, I believe the product has already been created – and obviously hasn’t been that successful – but then again it’s in one of those “we’re from the future stores”, so maybe it’s not mainstream enough yet.

Another product idea I had was waterproof running shoes – that breathe. I’ve heard that these have been created too – and someone made the argument that there’s thing called scotch guard too…OK – fine. The problem with really waterproofing something is that if it’s not letting anything in, none of your sweat or heat from your feet (if you’re being physically active) is escaping either. My thought was – if I could create some sort of reservoir for hot air/sweat that was built in to the sole – and if a person could wear socks that the sweat quickly passed through (like a second skin – Under Armor socks – do they make these?) the sweat/air could pool up in the reservoir, and for every foot strike, the shoe would create a suction, sucking all the hot air/sweat out of the reservoir and down a tube and out through the heel. Therefore leaving behind all the stuff that keeps your foot hot and sweaty.

And I understand that heat rises – so if there was a way we could make the top of the shoe like a better formed pot top – you know when you boil water and all the gas goes as far as it can – to the cover – where it becomes liquid again? And when you pull the cover off of a boiling pot of water, all the drops run to the sides? Something like that. I’ll be ticked if I see Nike come out with something like this (this is a recent idea – roughly about 4-5 months ago).

I have about 5-7 more product ideas – but they are much more short lived and sillier than these. Just a taste of the kinds of products I think about which would make life a little better.

Now for a couple business ideas. These are the ones that have loomed large in my head, and the ones that would probably require at least a few million in capital:

This one I came up with last year (probably about 8 months ago or so), and is more of an investment strategy than an actual business. With the recent fall of the sub-prime mortgage lenders, and those who got in to houses they couldn’t afford by using “creative financing” – the market for foreclosed homes is going to be where the real estate deals are over the next 2-3 years. Maybe even 5. Foreclosed homes usually are sold at a discount because the banks are just trying to offload the loan – and the risk as quickly as possible. For homeowners to default on their loan payments is obviously very bad for them – but also very bad for the banking institutions. From what I understand foreclosed homes are auctioned off at the county courthouses in the counties which the homes are located in. This is where I need the capital – on the day of auction, I would need roughly 20% of the foreclosed home price available to me – in cash.

If I was given even $1 million to work with in capital (again, I know I’m dreaming – but just play along) I’d try to find a couple homes either close to foreclosing – or already foreclosed in the $200K to $400K price range. I’d start with anywhere between 3 to 5 properties, and renovate them. It’s amazing what a lot of hard work by a couple people and no interest financing at the local home and garden store can do to a house that hasn’t been loved in 15 years.

So with the people facing foreclosure, I’d buy the loan from them, and make the payments for them. I’m assuming that with most of the foreclosed homes, I’d have to do some work to bring them up to my living standards (which are pretty high in my opinion) in order to get more value out of the homes when I sold them.

In essence, after renovating these newly purchased homes, I would rent them. But here’s what would make my offer so much more enticing to people looking to rent: I’d be willing to offer a cut (I was thinking 10% - maybe 20% if they’re great renters) of whatever profit was made on the home once I sold it. That way, even though they are renting from me – as soon as I sold it, I could guarantee an amount back to them meaning they would at least get some of their rent money back (or possibly break even or earn a profit). What’s great about this system I think, is that it forces the renters to take as good of care of the house as if they had actually owned it. The better they maintain the property, the higher it will sell for in the future – and the more they would earn. Definitely a “win-win” situation.

Just as an example, I’ll run through a quick purchase: I’ve found properties near my area, a foreclosed home in the area, 4 bed 2 and a half bath and 2000 square feet for $340K. Note – the median home price in my area is roughly around $450K+ right now. Looking at the pictures, it looked like a pretty beat down place. I’d (hopefully) purchase it at the county auction – putting $70K down. I’d finance the rest ($270K) on a 5/1 ARM, roughly making my payments about $1500/month for the mortgage. I’d do whatever it takes to upgrade it to my standards – new flooring, new cabinets, new appliances, granite countertops, paint, outdoor yard/lawn work – and hopefully get the job done after working roughly 2-3 months. I’d put up the “for rent” sign and only require the renters to pay market value or less. And would even be willing to take a couple hundred dollars worth of loss every month if that’s what it took to get people I trusted in that home.

After renovating the home, (putting anywhere between $20K-$70K in to the property if it really needed it) I would assume the value of the home would raise to at least $400K, or more. Assuming a more conservative rate of home price increases (at 9% a year – we were reappraised in our house after a year and appraised at 17% more than when we purchased) and taking a conservative home pricing of $400K, after 3 years of renting the home is then worth roughly $510K. Sell the home off (and assuming Michelle gets her Real Estate license, she sells this for very little commission, we’ll say 3% to pay the RE company), and pay off the balance of the ARM ($270K) and we should be in the clear.

So, quick number breakdown on ONE of the few properties we could do this with:

Costs:

Home purchase: $340K

Renovations: $50K

$200 loss on renters every month for 36 months: $7,200 (assuming we give them a discount on rent – and pay for our own insurance on the property)

Total Cost: $400K

Profit:

Home sale: $510K

After 3% RE commission: $495K

After 15% ($15K given back to renters – for keeping up the place (almost a 30% back of what they paid in rent!)

Total Profit: $80K.

Now I know that doesn’t look like much – but when you’re doing this with 3-5 different properties, it can add up pretty quickly. And really how much work did you put in this house for that $80K? 5 months at the most. I’d say that’s a pretty good income – even for 2 people.

Now if I could just find an investor to look at this idea with me…

My next idea (and last/shorter one since this post is getting out of hand), would be to start my own insurance company. I work for one – but sometimes I don’t understand it. It’s required by law to have insurance in our state – so no matter what the demand is there. Insurance to me is like gambling against yourself. That’s why it doesn’t make much sense to me – why should I gamble against myself?

In order to start my business I’d need base capital of about $5-7 million to be safe. This is to pay out on possible claims that could get pretty nasty. Obviously in the coverages I offered to my clients, it would have the maximum amount payable on a claim written on their policies, so no one claim would take even 20% of that nest egg.

Here’s how the insurance company would work: (Please note, I’m not sure if there are any sort of state/federal regulations against opening a business like this). I’d only go for the cream of the crop. And when I talk about those types, I mean literally the perfect drivers. The people who haven’t had a claim filed their entire lives. (Or at least the last 5 years). The guy who drives his 1998 Volvo 60 mph in the right lane, always signals, gets his oil changed religiously, checks tire pressure –etc. Never been in an accident, never received a speeding ticket…Immediately I think this cuts out 90% of the driver’s on the road today though. Sad.

Then we’re going to cut even further. We’re not going to allow drivers under the age of 25. We’re not going to write policies for people that live in high crime areas. We’re not going to allow a credit score below the 600s. What this means is that these people are going to pay us – on time. And will continue to pay us. So from the 10% left of those amazing drivers, we’ll have roughly only 7% left. That 7% of people is my target for this business. I want perfect people that don’t want to pay high premiums.

And I’m talking about SLASHING those premiums. Oh, you’re paying $600 every 6 months to Pemco? Come to our company, we’ll offer you $400. $300. Because really – isn’t that money all profit? Here you have a driver who is almost guaranteed to not get in to accident or get a speeding ticket for the next 20-25 years. Why do insurance companies even charge these people money? Because they’re helping to pay for all the claims the rest of us fuck ups create. They’re an elite driver or home owner – they deserve to be with an elite company that gives them a discount for being responsible drivers. Sick – I sound like Allstate.

But how will the claims work? You might ask. Because my client base is so small, the money flowing in can’t be as large as the other companies. You’re right. But the money being paid out on claims isn’t as frequent or as large either. Here’s why: I’m going to implement (as if the business is already existing) a 2 strikes you’re out rule. 1 claim – we’ll pay for it, and your premium will skyrocket by the way – hopefully you leave us at this point. 2 claims and you’re done. You are no longer our client. We thought you were better than that. I guess not. We’ll pay for it – as we’re throwing you out the door. Elite status card revoked.

I figure there are at least 10,000 drivers on the Washington roads right now that fit in to my business target. If I can get every single one of them with my company – and charge them a whopping $500/year (or a little bit more dependent upon what they drive - really this is a great deal for anyone who drivers fully covered) – I make $500K a year on pure profit. Sure, out of 10,000 drivers, I’ll probably pay a bit of claims out – but hopefully they won’t be large and frequent (knowing my client base) but I’ve also got the base of capital to work with – which is earning money itself. And the larger I can grow that “nest egg” for insurance, the more I can earn on my invested funds, the lower I can drop the premiums.

So those are a few of my ideas. Have at them. Please don’t steal them. Hah – I can’t believe I wrote that. I’ve thought (daydreamt) long hard hours about them – and it even took me an hour to type this all up. Dang, I wish it hadn’t taken so long…

Goodnight.

I Coulda Been a Contender

Not really. Well, yes really. Just not yet. But maybe so. In some instances. Ok, enough.

At the least, I love that saying. Before 5 minutes ago, all I heard in my head was a harsh New Jersey type accent saying that line.

I guess it’s from “On the Waterfront”. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047296/quotes

And the reason that I like this quote, is throughout my life, I’ve partially strived to be a “jack of all trades”. It took lots of education, and lots of different work at things, and it’s still a work in progress, but I’m satisfied with where I am right now and where I’m going.

When I find something interesting, or something that I want to get “better” at, I work at it. For long hours. With lots of gusto.

After trying out the 3 major sports as a kid, and a major growth spurt at 14, I decided I might have a chance at making the NBA. Please, laugh all you’d like, for now. Ok, stop please. I was outside for 3-4 hours a night, in the pouring rain, shooting hoops on my new beloved basketball hoop that I got for Christmas. Every sane kid with any athletic ability dreamed to be Michael Jordan. But I worked at it, and realized my natural talent just wasn’t there to back up my work ethic.

But all that work got me somewhere. At least I can “play ball”. Sure, I play in the rec leagues, but at the least I can hang with guys my age. And just thinking of the entire male population, I’d have to say I’m in at least the top 35% of basketball players – that is, if we were all to have a giant one on one contest, I’d place myself at the 35^th percentile realistically. Which again, for me, is “good enough”.

Same thing with Tennis. Never thought twice about it while growing up. Looked like fun, tried it. Worked at it. Didn’t put in the same hours as I did with basketball, but I still did practice. And now I can run with people that played for 6 years throughout school – yes, they played in organized programs with coaches even.

Poker I fell in love with immediately. I can still remember the first time I lost $20 to a random group of guys less than a mile away from campus. I studied, and played, and lost some more. But during my poker heyday, I was pulling in close to a grand a month (which was a lot for me during college) and 19 people away from winning a seat to the World Series of Poker in 2005. “I coulda been a contender”.

So where am I going with this? A couple points: My dad. My dad could’ve been a contender. He’s worked his ass off for 30 years. One of his company’s best employees. And he’s seen it all. The boom and bust and the rebuild, and the layoffs, and finally he’s come to a point where he can almost retire. Really, the only reason he can’t is because my mom won’t let him. He turns 60 in May.

Before I continue the story about my dad, I’d like to mention regrets. There are those out there that say, “No regrets”. I used to be one of them. I used to try my best to live my life like that – as if every action I took I should look back on with pride and not question the route I took. But slowly I began to realize that saying to yourself that you have no regrets is fooling yourself. Ignoring your regrets, or if you don’t want me to speak for you, my regrets, sets me up for failure once again.

If I can acknowledge my regrets, I can move on, learn from my mistakes and hopefully pick the better path (notice not “right”) in the future. I have my regrets. There were things I have said and done in the past that I would change if I could. But I can’t. And having said and done those things, that places me in the position I am in today, right now. Knowing that, I’ve got to do the best with what I have left for myself at this point.

I could’ve been a contender at anything I chose. But I never felt the need to push myself that extra amount. That extra amount that contenders – those who truly love what they are working at – put in, and more. I’ve always thought, if you could say you were in the top 10% in the World – at anything – if you are better than 90% of the rest of the world at something – that really means something.

Sad to say, I think my only shot would really be breaking a world record of some sort. But still, even if I can aim for that top 25% region, I’ll be ecstatic. Obviously I’ll never meet every person in the world, but I have my peers around me to judge myself against. Averages and skill levels and ages are available on the internet at any time. As a small example I ran against 7500 other people (timed racers) in the St. Patty’s Day Dash recently. As far as my age is concerned, I was in the 46^th percentile (beating 54%). As far as other males go – I was in the 33^rd percentile. So just like everything else before, I’ve still got some work to do before I am satisfied.

Now back to my dad. My dad is 2 years away from retiring. In 2001/2002 when the stock market slumped after the terrorist attacks (and partially being overvalued/issues of fraud in major companies etc.) my dad lost more than half of his retirement money. And for those of you young people out there reading this, it may not seem like a big deal right now – mainly because you haven’t worked 25 years of your life yet to try and build something that you can hopefully live on for the rest of your life.

Here is where my regret comes in: I wish I had known. My parents asked me. I didn’t know enough. I should’ve taken the initiative. Instead I was just moved into the Seattle condo and discovering the joys of under-aged drinking. I was a stupid sophomore kid in college that didn’t give two shits about nothing except for school, drinking, basketball and girls (mainly). And that attitude continued well in to my early 20s.

My dad was 100% invested in the S&P 500 when it lost over half it’s value. He jumped ship taking with him a little over $200K and threw it in to a bond fund earning 3% a year vowing to keep what little he had left. After inflation his fund was only earning him less than 1%. Even a local bank could offer more. If I had only known, my dad’s account at a minimum right now would be close to $400K. At a minimum. It’s currently sitting at $220k with 2 years left before he wants to retire.

If I had known what I know now after only a year of extensive research on the stock market – if I had known in 2002 and given my dad advice then, I would’ve still picked a diversified mutual fund portfolio for him which would’ve turned his $200K in to close to $700K as of today. I had to just sit here for a moment to let that sink in. (Please, for those of you who laugh at a $500K difference, be thankful that you live such blessed lives. The rest of us aren’t so lucky)

And it’s been sinking in since I took the initiative 3 weeks ago. That sinking feeling – that “I wish I had known – I could’ve done something” – that terrible feeling that I could’ve been a contender – my dad could’ve been a contender. It’s harsh. And it’s what I’ve been dealing with lately.

I thought I grew up a lot after my issues in high school. I did. I grew up overnight. But I grew up for myself. My parents could’ve used my help in 2001. My dad could’ve used my help. And I regret not doing something for him. It would’ve taken literally less than an hour to change his 401K fund allocation. And 55 minutes of which would be me discussing with him why we need to take certain risks for him to get to a comfortable point.

But now, we’ve got 2 years left. 2 years left until my dad retires. I’ve got 2 years to figure out how I can get him to a point where he can live. My dad has enough capital right now to become a contender. He’ll have social security coming in, and my mom will continue to work because she loves her job (and the pay ain’t too shabby either!).

And now I get the chance to help them. Now I grow up for my parents. My dad said to me tonight that he wishes I had shown him this even 3 years ago. He was referring to his retirement company’s website which shows the yearly returns for his investment opportunities. Well I don’t get 3 years ago. I don’t even get yesterday back. I will do my best for them because this is what it’s going to take for them to live comfortably in to their old age. This is what it’s going to take so that they’re not a burden on their children if they require any kind of assisted living. And it’s not that I wouldn’t give everything for them – I would as they’ve done so for me – but I want to help now instead of looking back in 5 to 30 years and saying, “I wish…”

Sometime in the coming week I’m sitting down with both my mom and dad. And we’re going to formulate a plan. And I’ll follow through. I’ll control it. My dad was lost on it, and I needed to point them in the right direction. Hopefully I’m more wildly successful than I am realistically imagining.

Because I might get tired of being part of the working middle class. I want to live off of my money. And when it comes to money, I want to be a contender. My dad probably isn’t going to make it there, but at the least I’m going to try to insure that he has enough money to have his autumn years displayed in a golden color – Or that of his desired BMW 540.

Here’s a random Forbes articles about the top 1.5% of the top 1% of the top 1% (of top 1% - really even smaller). I would be happy if I could even get close…(Mainly I enjoyed the article title, but the article itself is a good read too IMO)

http://www.forbes.com/2007/03/20/sosnoff-bubble-burst-oped-cx_mts_0320sosnoff.html?partner=links

Here’s hoping I don’t let these thoughts keep me up any longer than they already have.

Sleep well.

Rando One Liners – March

Since I was somewhat disturbed at what happened today at work, I was reading through my older blog posts (which make me happy to know that I’ve got a past)

And I found my one liner post. Lots of entertaining one liners at that. And I remembered why I did it – because sometimes I write too much, and sometimes it’s just better to get the point across instead of rambling. So, I’m going to try my best to go for that again. I’ve got way too many things on my plate right now, in my opinion, so getting it all out (dirty) in one liners I think will help a little bit. Here we go. I apologize if there’s not enough of a description to point you in the same direction I’m going. Maybe you need to read between the lines (there’s going to be space there).

Retirement accounts.

Michelle’s retirement account has taken almost 3 weeks to setup, at the least I am frustrated.

Zecco.com is a joke – the company is young – and there’s a reason they offer $0 commission on trades.

I want to max out everyone’s roth. I live for a tax free investing world – or at least Warren Buffet’s.

My dad has lost roughly 1% a year since 2002 in his retirement account.

He could’ve been a millionaire if he had just taken a little bit more risk.

But when retirement looms, as in, it’s less than 7 years away, I might have a lot different mindset about risk.

I believe if I ever get to that point, I will have failed my main goal in life: Retire early + Whoever dies with the most toys wins.

Really? That’s my main goal? I guess – the other stuff will come naturally.

Morale is very low in my department. Another great coworker will be leaving us on April 1^st.

I put up moving cardboard boxes on my cube to make my walls bigger and avoid the others.

I have the smallest bladder out of anyone I know. I am embarrassed when someone is at the urinal peeing as I am walking in, and then I am leaving the urinal even before they are done peeing.

I do not wait. If I feel the slightest urge to pee, I go.

By the time I am done writing this and posting, I will have gone 3 times in 20 minutes. Yes, I drank 40 ounces of water before I sat down and started writing. My body doesn’t think it was a big mistake but the annoyed part of my brain thinks it is.

I am frustrated that I am not just using one sentence in this one liner post.

I have my A+ certification coming up. I am halfway through a 900 page book full of stuff I “kind of” know about already, but will still study my ass off.

I am ahead of schedule.

I am betting Michelle I will lose more weight than her by May 15^th.

To help this bet, I have set a goal to run 100 miles by May 15^th.

I am behind schedule.

I am also led to believe that I have “skinny arms”.

I am eating protein bars, and lifting twice a week now, and am upping the weight every time I go.

It will literally be a miracle if my arms get any bigger.

I get tired working out so much.

I hate having 7 different passwords that I use. Having to scroll through all of them in my head takes up way too much time. No one would want to hack my info anyway.

The Audi dealership sent me this email:

Hi Seth,

I received an e-mail inquiry from you regarding an Audi on December 31, 1969, sent you a response and have not heard back from you yet. Maybe you are not in the market for a car, have bought one already, contacted us by mistake or maybe you really do want a car. So please let me know if I can be of assistance or if you are no longer in the market let me know so I can take you off of our list. At any rate, thanks for giving us an opportunity and I will be happy to help you out any way I can.

First of all, I am not a fan of your comic sans font.

Here is my reply:

December 31^st, 1969? Hilarious, I wasn’t even born yet. Was email even around then yet? I don’t think so.

I am angry with customer service wasting my time. I notice that when I call India – oh and I know when I am – that my average call lasts 4 times as long as it would have if I had dealt with someone here in the states. Is that saving money for your company? PAYPAL?

Enjoy your $20 in fees you’ve charged me since February – PAYPAL.

Definitely not my pal. But somehow I’m paying you? Ingenious company name I guess. No wait, it should be PAYENEMY or PAYADVERSARY

Words in CAPS should not be checked for spelling.

I am a high maintenance employee, therefore I feel sorry for my manager. But not really.

Sometimes I say things when I’ve been drinking and I just get this WTF look on the faces of the people I said it to. It sticks with me. For weeks. Until the next one comes along.

This past one was, “I’m worried about the soul and spirit of this country, I mean look at us! We’re focused on bullshit like YouTube and E! News network. There’s no value in that! The entire time, India, Japan and China are all raising their children putting them through 80 hours of science and math classes a week! We’ll be looking for jobs in the far east in at LEAST 7 years!”

All this as a response to, “Yeah, I love to goof off at work”. Looks of others – stuck in brain – can’t get out – like pine tar on plastic.

I should be going to bed now, but I’m not tired.

Pain, in my leg. Amazing how much a shin splint or just random hurting of knee can cause you to slow – to labor at things you should be “good” at.

It’s hard to improve when your body hates you.

My XBOX will be worthless in 2 months. WTG buyer’s remorse.

I wanted to post a picture of my goals from the nikeplus.com website. But I couldn’t login (see the 7 passwords one liner). I don’t think it’s my fault though – AH – it worked, stupid case sensitive user IDs.

That says I am 17.7 miles behind my goal. I have run 10 miles that haven’t been loaded yet. Figures. Still 8 miles behind.

It is never finished. I am always trying to catch something that is out of reach.

It hasn’t gotten tiring yet.

And So It Begins

March Madness. Even though my beloved Huskies aren’t in it this year, I still love it. At no other time during the year can you watch 4 different games at the same time (all crazy – all madness) from 9 am in the morning to 9 pm at night.

What does March Madness mean to me?

Early memories. I remember in junior high when they would roll out the TVs during PE, and we’d sit there on the wood floor in our “PE uniforms” watching the games. I remember how they’d turn on the TV during the 10 minute “between class” breaks so we could catch the games. I remembered other kids asking if I caught the end of the Duke game, if I saw the most recent buzzer beater, or the 5 seed that got crushed by a lowly 12 seed up and new comer Gonzaga.

And it was the same throughout the rest of my school career. It was almost as if the whole world stopped for those two first round days – 32 games spread out over 12 hours…and watched. The sheer number of games alone was a spectacle in itself.

Men’s college basketball is a different game. Sure each team has it’s “stars”. But it’s still the most pure form of basketball in my opinion. No million dollar contracts (for the players). “Team” ball. Students in the crowd that have waited their entire lives to upset an undefeated team coming to their home floor (WHO’S HOUSE!), camped out at the front door of the arena in 40 degree raining weather for the past two nights only to paint their bodies in their team colors 2 hours before game time – going in half naked and starved. And the emotion shows on the court too. Bodies fly around on the floor and in the stands. One and done. Don’t let it be your team.

All for a chance at what starts today. The experts and analysts and conference champions and the ratings percentage index – none of it matters as soon as that ball gets thrown up in the air for the first tip off (today at 8:45 am PST).

One of my best memories was following my favorite college basketball team of all time (The Huskies of course) to the first round in 2005 in Boise, Idaho. After hearing that I had received tickets to the opening round and round of 32 (since I was such a loyal fan from 2000 when we were terrible), I was scrambling to get the days off from work and trying to get people to go with me. Since I had already graduated from school (I was given one extra year of eligibility as a basketball fan! :p) I wasn’t dealing with what everyone else still in school had to before the first round started: Finals.

So after rounding up a few close friends (mainly for company – and to share gas/hotel costs) we headed to Boise. Lucky for us the Blue Mountains had one of the worst snow sessions I’ve ever seen. I was literally trying my best to follow in the tracks of a semi – who was leaving me (A SEMI!) going downhill. The drive to Boise is in the top 5 “worst drives I have ever taken” list. After finally getting to Boise that Wednesday night at 10:30 pm, we were lost. And here’s the problem with Boise: Everyone that lives there can somehow tell you’re an “out of towner” (could it be the Washington plates? MAYBE) and they blatantly lie to you. I have never had so much incorrect information given to me over a 3 day period. And it’s not even that they said, “I don’t know”…

OK – quick side complaint. If someone asks you where a road – or a hotel – or ANYTHING is in the area that you live – you either know where it is and give them directions – or you don’t know – just say it! Just say, “I don’t know where that is”. Don’t try to make up some sort of directions when you have no idea what you’re talking about. You’re very nice. But your directions got us even MORE lost. And it’s not that this happened with 1 or 2 people. It happened with almost everyone we met there.

Seth: Where can we park? (once we got to the arena)
Parking Guy: See that road down there behind those stands? Keep following along that road and then go left past the 3rd grand stand and you’ll see a bunch of orange cones you can drive through to the booth where you can pay for parking.
(We follow the directions and get to the booth)
Booth Guy: Sorry, you’ll have to turn around and come in through the other direction (the other direction is stacked with cars trying to pay for parking). I can’t allow you to enter the parking going this way.

ARGGGHHH…(just 1 out of at least 10 examples of us getting misdirected)

And now that I’ve got that off my chest, I can talk about the “good things” about the trip. I got to see my beloved Huskies make it to the sweet 16. They didn’t play that well – but they played good enough to make it there. Obviously, I had a feeling that we’d be knocked out during the next round (ALTHOUGH LAST YEAR WE GOT SCREWED BY THE REFS! GARRR!).

We were able to walk around a lot (as it was a college campus – that sucks BTW – if you’re considering Boise State, don’t go there. There are other campuses across the country that are much better looking at the least) and immediately after the live games we were able to watch, we went immediately to the hotel to watch the rest of the games on TV – and drink. The drinking, I almost hate to say, was my favorite part. Over a 2 day period (minus the sleeping and time actually spent at the arena), 3 of us consumed over 60 beers in the hotel alone. That doesn’t take in to account the drinking we did at the local Japanese grill, red robin, chili’s…etc. When you’ve got game after game after game after game – and games shown during commercial breaks and the half time show – that’s a lot of drinking to go along with those games. I can proudly say, it has to rank in my top 5 of “most consistently drunk over a 2 day period” list. (I must have a lot of lists I guess)

And even though the weather was freezing for most of the time, and even though the city of Boise was pretty boring and full of liars – I had a blast. It was probably and will probably be one of my favorite “sports fan” experiences of all time. And I have the NCAA tournament to thank for all of that.

Good luck to all of the teams participating over the next few weeks. Especially those with the odds stacked high against them. Everyone loves to root for the underdog.

And for those of you at work on this glorious day – please do check out http://www.ncaasports.com/mmod/welcome for free streaming on demand video of most of the games on. I know that I’ll be enjoying them.

(I have pictures that could go along with this post – will try to post later).

The pros and cons of working the “early shift”

Since most actions that I take are based on a quick “pros/cons” or “opportunity cost” analysis, it would only make sense that “working early” would be one of those things. I can understand that there are those out there that are pigeon holed in to a shift – business needs – family needs – a yoga or dance class that meets 3 mornings a week, etc. But not me. No pigeons and no holes for me – yet.

So for the rest of you – if it is available, and you live in the Seattle area like I do (read: TRAFFIC) then why not? Hopefully my silly list of dashed points will help you change your mind on getting up at “dark o’clock”. I think that most people like to hear the bad before the good, or at least I do, so we’ll start with those. And I think I like to read the bad first because it makes the good that much sweeter. If the good were to go first, the bad would kind of sour the taste in your mouth afterwards. Like doing the chaser before the shot.

And as a definition of early, many of you would think “7 am”. So I’m just going to say that early is any time before that. (I get up at 5:45 am and start work at 6:30 am as of currently).

CONS of working early:

-It’s really freaking early (this is the most obvious). Most people my age can’t handle waking up before 6 am.

-It’s dark outside when you wake up (during the winter months). I associate darkness with sleep. And the world is a much colder place in the early morning. The bed is that much warmer in the winter months.

-I don’t get to “take my time” when I wake up. In order to get more sleep during the early shift, I wake up as late as possible and then rush through everything. When I used to work the “later shift”, I could slowly take a shower, cook myself breakfast, even sit down and enjoy some morning TV. I tend to forget things when I’m rushing out of the house.

-I’m sleepier earlier. It’s hard to go out on those Friday nights and even stay up until 1 am. By 11:30 pm I’m yawning and looking for my bed. Add in having a few drinks and s’ova.

-I sometimes miss important afternoon meetings or announcements after 3 pm. Most people work until at least 4, so sometimes that “last email” goes out by the time I’m already enjoying the comforts of my home.

-I crave lunch and dinner at weird times. Most people would associate lunch with noon. Usually I eat at 10:30-11:00 am. Which means that I’ll be wanting dinner by even 4:30 pm, when most people would associate dinner with 6 pm or later. Most places aren’t open at 10 am for lunch, nor are any non-24 hour places open before 6 am.

-A normal “night” activity, for example a basketball game that starts at 8:30 pm completely crushes my schedule, and I feel extremely tired the next day. I get home at about 10 pm, then have to shower, have to calm down a bit, and suddenly I look up and I’ll be getting 4 and a half hours of sleep for this night.

-Once you get your body properly waking up early everyday, it’ll want to do the same thing on the weekends. Being up at 7 am on a Saturday morning with nothing to do is not fun at all.

PROS of working early:

-Traffic. I did mention that most people my age can’t handle waking up before 6 am. I guess I should just say it’s “most people” and cut out the “my age” part. With less people awake, that means a lot less people on the roads. People who work the early morning shifts see how traffic is supposed to be: Nonexistent. As a side note: I think that early morning drivers are better drivers because they don’t want any hassle at all. They have a destination, they’re going to get there – there’s more focus on driving because there’s less focus on everything else – other drivers included. For those of you that haven’t seen the freeways at 5:30 am, wake up early one morning and go for a drive. I’m a much more calm person (by about 30-40%) ever since I got out of traffic. Not only that but I gain an extra 30 minutes to 2 hours every day that I would’ve been stuck in traffic for. TWO HOURS of my life back every day! Assuming a 50 weeks of work per year, and saving 45 minutes of traffic on average, you’re looking at almost an extra 200 hours a year (almost 10 whole days!) that are available for you to use how you’d like – since you’re not stuck in traffic anymore. I should just end the “pros” list here. This is really all that should need to be said.

-Most of the months (7+ months out of the year) there is light out (if not sun – shocking) at 6 am. What brought about this blog post was that I was noticing I could actually see the road without having to turn my lights on. Was it the full moon in a cloudless sky? Probably. But with daylight savings time coming soon on the 11th, I don’t even thing I’ll need to use my head lights. In my opinion watching the sunrise (for those of you that have windows at your place of employment) is one of the most calming and spectacular ways to start the day.

-Starting work early means getting off early. Every day I get off of work, there is that small taste of satisfaction looking at the faces of my coworkers, jealous of me “getting off already?” and then looking at their clocks and saying, “I’ve got at least another 2 hours to go!”.

-Activities after work are much more accessible. Working until 6 pm gives you very limited ability to see the “sneak preview” of “300” showing at Pacific Place at 7 pm. Good luck getting good seats when you show up at 6:55 pm. Happy hour. I actually get off work in time to enjoy the “real” happy hour. Not the one from 9 pm to close. Getting places before everyone else is like being given the secret code to a concert ticket presale. You’ve got the head start on everyone else.

-Along with the nonexistent traffic, it’s a lot like running errands on a vacation day. If I’ve got to go to the bank, pick up something at the grocery store, get my oil changed etc. I can do it right after work. And I can almost guarantee there will be no line when I get there. Or possibly the “stay at home mom” with her two kids in tow. And I can handle that. Skipping out on all the disgruntled employees who just got off of work is great on my psyche when it comes to my outlook on my community. And the same thing goes at the gym. About a fourth of the “usual” crowd that shows up around 5:30 pm to 9 pm is there. I can work out without having to wait for things.

-I take more advantage of my time after work. While working the late shift, there were days during winter that 100% of my time after work it was dark out. And I like to be outdoors. Shooting hoops, throwing the football around, going for a run or walk. It’s hard to do those things in the dark. And working the late shift, “prime time” comes right after you get off of work. After the 8 pm to 10 pm slot is up, you’re kind of scratching your head and looking for something to “waste” time from 11 pm to 1 am since you’re not sleepy yet. While I’m working the early shift, I can go to sleep at 10 pm without feeling guilty about sleeping “early” because I’ve already had 7 hours of “leisure” time after work. Getting more daylight in after work makes me more productive and also puts me in a better mood.

-I sometimes miss important afternoon meetings or announcements after 3 pm. (Since some of you would say this is a pro)

-Although I hate waking up early on the weekends (because both my dog and my body force me to) by 11 am each weekend day, I look at the clock and say, “Nice! It’s only 11 am, I’ve got the rest of the day ahead of me”. Where as before, I would sleep until 9:30 am or even 10:30 am, and by 3 pm, I’d be depressed by how much of the day had already passed me by.

I have more “pros” but they seem as substantial as previous points I’ve made. Hopefully by writing more in the “pros” section I can persuade (yeah right) those of you reading this to switch to an earlier shift. Weakest end to a blog post ever.