Tony's blog: "Tony's Blog"

My Retirement, July 2003 I lost more money in the stock market. I think I'm going to give up on the day trading idea. Not watching the market yesterday made me realize why I took the package to begin with. It wasn’t to day trade on a full time basis. I just wanted to improve my life. It was to travel and live a totally free lifestyle. I was not doing that by spending the day watching the market. I woke up a 4:00am this morning and decided to clean my house. I was throwing out a lot of junk that has been around for years. I put away some clutter around the house and now I’m mentally and physically preparing myself to get ready for my travels. Letter to Noy, July 16, 2003: Hi Noy, I'm sorry that I haven't returned any of your phone calls. I have been having a busy last couple of days. On Monday I went to drop off Masha at her place. I went to central park to log into my computer. I emailed Donna if she is available for lunch and then I went downtown to visit her. When I came back to my car it was missing. I spent most of Monday tracking down my car. I didn't talk to you last night because I was exhausted and went to sleep around 6. Tuesday, I went to pay for the parking tickets and pick up my car. I had to take the train from upper Manhattan down to Brighton Beach Brooklyn. When I finally got my car, it was too damaged to drive back into NJ. The tow company was going to fix the damage, no cost to me. I had very few minutes left on my phone that I couldn't talk to anyone before 9. In the evening I stayed in NY one more night. last night I went to see a movie, "Pirates of the Caribbean." I had to fill in Kham and Florence when they called me last night before the movie. Today I will call the garage and then take a bus back to NJ. As you can see it has been a busy couple of days. Sorry for not returning your call. Another Busy Week Monday, July 21, 2003, I had another busy weekend. For the last several days I haven't been home and I have been wearing the same clothes since Saturday. Saturday morning I woke up at 6:00 AM again. Instead of calling Masha, or anyone else, I decided to take Max to the park. It is about 2 miles away. I traveled that morning with Max for 5 miles. The poor dog was exhausted. While I was out running with Max, Donna left a message on my phone. I called her back to make plans for the weekend. A couple of minutes later, Dorota called. She suggested coming over with Eileen that day. I told her I had plans. After that, Masha called. She wanted to go to the beach. I told her I had plans but we decide to meet at the beach anyway. I took my bike to Brighton Beach and stayed there with her until 4:30. I headed to Jersey City after that. When I got to Donna's apartment, I parked my bike and we took her car to the drive in. We drove 40 minutes away to get to the drive in theater. It was fun, I never been to a drive in theater before. We saw "Finding Nemo" and "Pirates of the Carabean." Well, I slept through the pirate movie. I didn't have the heart to tell Donna I saw the movie already. We got back to her place around 3:00 AM. I slept on the couch. The next morning we went to Dim Sum. After brunch we hung out at her place watching cartoons. It was fun hanging out with Donna. I decided to drop by my parents house since I was in the area. When I got there, it struck me that my mother and sister wasn't surprised to see me. It was almost as if they expected me to be there. It appears that everyone forgot to call me that morning. My parents were having a family gathering for my grandmother's 40 days after her death. It was either a coincidence that I showed up at my parents house or my grandmother put it into my head to go home. I took a nap before the party and that is when Masha called. She wanted me to drop by that day and hang out with her. So after the party I went to her apartment to hang out. The next morning, which is this morning I took a ride back to my parents house. I hung out with my father for a while before I took the long way back home. I drove through the Jersey shore, stopping by Gunnison beach along the way. Trip to New Orleans August 3, 2003, I Decided to take a road trip to New Orleans. I always wanted to go there. I always wanted to travel alone. So a couple of days after I decided to leave, I packed my car and headed south west. SANY0001.JPG SANY0002.JPG SANY0003.JPG SANY0004.JPG SANY0005.JPG SANY0006.JPG SANY0007.JPG SANY0008.JPG SANY0009.JPG I kept driving until 4:30 in the morning. I left Jersey City around 10:00 PM. And now I'm in Harrisburg, VA. August 4, 2003, I took my time driving through Virginia. I found a national forest that I explored. The dirt roads were a little treacherous. I encountered a couple of guys whose truck fell down the ravine. They told me they were fine so I left them alone. There were so many beautiful landscapes that I couldn't help stopping and taking some shots. SANY0001.JPG SANY0002.JPG SANY0003.JPG SANY0004.JPG SANY0005.JPG SANY0006.JPG SANY0007.JPG SANY0008.JPG SANY0009.JPG SANY0010.JPG SANY0011.JPG SANY0012.JPG SANY0013.JPG SANY0014.JPG SANY0015.JPG SANY0016.JPG SANY0017.JPG SANY0018.JPG August 5, 2003, I got to New Orleans. I was kind of enjoying my trip so I was surprisingly sad that I was almost there. It was a 106 degrees so I stayed at a coffee house near the French quarter until I found a campsite to stay at. When the sun went down I went out and explored the French quarter. I stayed out late watching some kareoke and some live music. SANY0001.JPG SANY0002.JPG SANY0003.JPG SANY0004.JPG Camping Trips I went on one camping trip with Florence's friends and I also introduced my roommate to some off-roading and canoeing. CampingTrip20030823 CampingTrip20030906 Maine Trip, September 18-24, 2003 Kham and I headed up to Maine to visit his older brother Kenny. We took the 350Z so we can ride with Kenny and his car. SANY0001.JPG SANY0002.JPG SANY0003.JPG SANY0004.JPG SANY0005.JPG SANY0006.JPG SANY0007.JPG SANY0008.JPG SANY0009.JPG SANY0010.JPG SANY0011.JPG SANY0012.JPG SANY0013.JPG SANY0014.JPG SANY0015.JPG SANY0016.JPG We rode through Maine with both 350Zs. SANY0017.JPG SANY0018.JPG SANY0019.JPG SANY0020.JPG SANY0021.JPG SANY0022.JPG SANY0023.JPG SANY0024.JPG SANY0025.JPG SANY0026.JPG SANY0027.JPG SANY0028.JPG SANY0029.JPG SANY0030.JPG SANY0031.JPG SANY0032.JPG SANY0033.JPG SANY0034.JPG SANY0035.JPG SANY0036.JPG SANY0037.JPG SANY0038.JPG SANY0039.JPG SANY0040.JPG SANY0041.JPG SANY0042.JPG SANY0043.JPG SANY0044.JPG SANY0045.JPG SANY0046.JPG SANY0047.JPG SANY0048.JPG SANY0049.JPG SANY0050.JPG SANY0051.JPG SANY0052.JPG SANY0053.JPG SANY0054.JPG SANY0055.JPG SANY0056.JPG SANY0057.JPG SANY0058.JPG SANY0059.JPG SANY0060.JPG SANY0061.JPG SANY0062.JPG SANY0063.JPG SANY0064.JPG SANY0065.JPG SANY0066.JPG Nova Scotia SANY0067.JPG SANY0068.JPG SANY0069.JPG SANY0070.JPG SANY0071.JPG SANY0072.JPG SANY0073.JPG SANY0074.JPG Maine/thumbnails /tnSANY0075.JPG" alt="SANY0075.JPG" border="0" width="250" height="189">SANY0075.JPG Business Venture I decided to "get my feet wet" in owning a small business. Since I don't have any clue on how to start a business, I decided to go with a franchise. I am looking into buying a UPS store near my house. I got the numbers faxed to me and I sent an email to my advisors to hear their opinion: I pretty much made up my mind on whether I should buy this store. I just wanted to see if any of you have any opinions on these numbers. I'm open to any concerns or comments you folks feel you have to express. Thanks, Tony Note: The store is listed at 144,250. A new store will cost 190k to open. West Windsor is highly populated with high income familes. There is a competing store that is 2.5 miles away on the same street and Staples is 3 miles away at the end of the same street. I'm attaching the fax the owner sent me and my analysis of the numbers. Natasha's Sisters My last week of retirement I spent a month before I got my store training to run a UPS Store. I had one last week of freedom before I started working. Natasha and I arranged for her sisters to fly up from Florida while I was away in San Diego. We were in a four way conversation through our cell phones. I was able to use the my laptop to book the flight for her two sisters. When I got back to New Jersey we picked them up from the airport. Natasha was so happy to have her family staying over in New Jersey. I spent the last week showing them around New York and New Jersey. I was a driver, a photographer, a baby sitter and a tour guide. Although I was busy every day showing them around, I had a lot of fun for myself.