The Sky's the Limit (My American Dream)

I started with nothing and still have most of it left. What makes that old joke line so funny is that on some level it rings true for most of us. However, I still love to hear stories about the underdog guy or gal with no special talent or education that started with nothing and through hard work, ingenuity, and perseverance becomes super successful and changes their entire family’s lives forever. It seems like you don’t hear stories like that as often as you use to. I started to think that maybe the doom and gloom naysayers that say the American dream has become unattainable might be right. But then I started to do some research and found out that 80 percent of America’s millionaires are first generation rich. In other words, they started out poor or at least middle class and made it happen. They got after it, figured it out, worked their tails off, put in the hours, stayed focused, and made their dreams come true.

Years ago, I got my private pilot’s license and have always dreamed of owning my own small airplane albeit I have never been able to afford to buy one. I continually bug my wife by lamenting aloud how much I wish I could afford an airplane. It seems that life’s expenses and our low paying jobs have prevented me from realizing my dream. Then one day I read a story on the internet about a guy named Kyle MacDonald that started with “one red Paperclip” and decided he would in essence play the game bigger and better. Many youth groups play this game in which you start with ordinary, small, objects and go house to house trading for something bigger and or better. The winner is the team that has the biggest best item at the games end. Kyle decided he would start with the aforementioned paperclip and try to trade up until he would eventually trade for a house. Crazy right? Well low and behold he did it. In 15 trades he had his house. Read about it on his blog site http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/ . While day dreaming about Kyle’s experiences, my belief in the American dream and desire to own an airplane, my thoughts all melted together like cheese in a three cheese lasagna and I came up with what some may call a half-baked idea. I would do my own version of bigger-better / One Red Paperclip with my own American dream twist. I will start with nothing and I will get something for free by dumpster diving, donation, finding an item or whatever legal means I might discover. I will then trade it, barter it, improve it, wheel and deal with it and/or sell it for something bigger and better or at least more valuable. I will continue this process until I have something valuable enough that I can either trade straight across for or buy a small single engine airplane. I hope to meet a lot of interesting people along the way, both those involved in aviation and those just interested in keeping the American dream alive. I figure, what the heck, if I fail what have I lost? Nothing… Which is exactly what I started with? However, I am confident I will succeed because in the land of the free “the Sky’s the limit”.

Some of my self-imposed rules:

1) First item in a line of trading must be free.

2) It is permitted to have multiple lines of trading.

3) I am allowed to modify, fix up, and/or improve upon items as long as any money to do so comes from the game.

4) Time limit (If I don’t reach my goal by October 19th 2015 all proceeds will go to charity)

5) Be flexible and make up the rest as I go.

The Red Road

 Okay, I know it has been a while since I put out an entry to my blog.  Partly because I have not had any trades to write about.  It is like I just hit a wall and have not been able to find any opportunities or items to trade.  Recently, I realized I was leaving out one of the most important parts of my endeavor.  I was not praying specifically for God to lead me to opportunities that will help me reach my goal.  The Bible says:  You have not because you ask not….so… I am going to ask God to lead my foot steps in my pursuit of an Airplane.  The first thing he impressed on my mind was that I was not following my own self-imposed rule of giving 10% to charity.  It is not like I wasn’t going to give.   I was still going to give the 10% but I just wanted to collect a larger sum to give away before I did.  God reminded me if you are  faithful with the little things he will give you more to be faithful with (TZ paraphrased version).   So I decided to give the $40 I had accumulated so far.  Now…Who should I give it to?

I have decided to give to “The Red Road”.  The Red Road is a fantastic charity that seeks to minister to some of the poorest, most oppressed people in North America, the Native Americans and First Nations people of Canada.  This isn’t your typical do-gooder white folks trying to “help out the poor Indians” rather Native people traveling from reservation to reservation seeking to address the physical, mental and spiritual needs of their own people. Some of the challenges include abject poverty Unemployment 85-90%, Teen age suicide rate of 150% higher than the national average, off the charts alcoholism and drug abuse and that is just the tip of the iceberg. To read more about the insurmountable challenges they face and to get a real eye opener as to the plight of some of our native brothers and sisters check out http://www.4aihf.org/id40.html. If you want to learn about someone who is doing something about it go to www.theredroad.org The Picture is of Charles Robinson (Choctaw) and founder of The Red Road and me cheesin’ for the camera.  I am just planting a seed in what I know is fertile ground with my meager $40.  I hope y’all will help me water it with your prayers and gifts to this worthy group.

You may have money you didn't know you had

First things first.  I don’t have a new item to sell or trade but I did find some money that I did not know was there.  And the cool thing is you may have some money you don’t know about as well.  A friend showed me a government web site that has unclaimed property being held by the state.  I figured, I’ll waste 10 minutes, go on it and find nothing.  Well, low and behold when I entered my information into the site, the state of Tennessee was holding $39 for me from some unknown source.  I quickly filled out the on-line claim form and the money is on its way to my mail box as I type.  While I was there, I also checked for my brother’s name and he had $250 from an old bank account for which he should pay me a finder’s fee for telling him about it… can you say half… (I’m not holding my breath) but I digress.

 Let me try to explain where the money comes from.  If a vender, utility company, insurance provider, or any number of other places owes you money i.e.:   an old utility deposit, possibly  you overpaid a bill or an old inactive bank account and they cannot track you down (or are too lazy to track you down) then they are required to send the money to the state.  The state then holds it in their unclaimed property account until you check out the site and claim it. 

I am all about folks getting their hard earned money back from the government so I went through my Facebook friends list and found hundreds if not thousands of dollars for my friends and family in five different states.  You can also enter business names to see if the state is holding anything for your business.  For example, I am friends with “The Dave Ramsey Show” on Facebook .  For those of you who don’t know who he is, he is a very well-known financial advisor on Radio and T.V.  Anyway, as I was going through my Facebook friends list, finding money, I came across him.  I thought it would be so hilarious if he had unclaimed money he did not know about.  Well, I searched his name, his wife’s name, his kid’s names…Nothing.  Then I entered his company name….and………wait for it……...bingo $150 of unclaimed cash for the King of cash (he hates credit)…Dave Ramsey.  I posted it on his FB and because he just so happens to live in the same town as I do, I may even drop by his broadcast studio to make sure he knows. 

Where do I go to find my unclaimed cash?  Glad you asked.  Here is what you do.  Just Google your state, department of treasury unclaimed property. Click on the site and it will have a place for you to enter your name.  The search engine will search the data base and voila,  bada bing- bada boom you may have money you didn’t know you had.  Fill out a claim form and wait by the mail box. 

Then, if your just so.. grateful that someone told you about this previously unknown windfall, feel free to donate a “portion” to  ‘’The Sky’s The Limit” My American Dream.  In the mean time I’ll be by my mail box holding my breath.
 Please comment below and let me know how much, if any, you find. 
Also I wanted to let the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assoc. know that they have unclaimed property on the Maryland dept of state treasury unclaimed property site.  Just search AOPA,   http://comptroller.marylandtaxes.com/Public_Services/Unclaimed_Property/Find_Your_Property/ 

Now We're Cookin' With Gas

This post is short but oh so sweet.  Someone in my neighborhood had a old gas grill they wanted to give away and posted a curb alert on our neighborhood web site.  I thought I could really use an extra propane tank for my grill so I went and picked it up.  It was really in pretty good shape.  It just needed cleaning up.  I removed the tank (half full of propane by the way).  The next day I saw another post on the hood web site..."need a grill for our college age son to take to school".  You guessed it, One quick call led to a sale.  That's what I'm talkin' about!  Now we're cookin' with gas! And a quick $20 closer to my dream airplane.

A light shining in the darkness

I work as a RN first assistant in Surgery and in that job I have seen the importance of a bright light in caring for Patients while performing surgery.  This brings me to my latest free item.  When the surgery center where I work upgraded their fiber optic headlights I asked if I could have one of the old ones.  When I was looking for someone to sell my new treasure to, I offered it to several of my Surgeon friends for use in their offices.

 For sale one fiber optic surgical head light $200. 

 

This world can be a very dark place at times.  When things get their darkest, we need a light to help us see our way and make things a little less scary.  This is a story of one of the brightest lights I have ever seen in surgery.  I am not speaking of the fiber optic variety but rather the doctor that bought my item.  Dr. Kristina O’Shaughnessy is that light.  She is a very talented young plastic surgeon who uses her skills and training to make women’s bodies whole following mastectomies.  There are a lot of skilled surgeons that do great work but what makes Dr. O’Shaughnessy stand out is her light. It shines from somewhere deep inside and lights the way for her patients that are lost in the dark world of Cancer.  She is extremely compassionate, empathetic, sensitive and always bending over backwards to help her patients.  She is always very encouraging, polite and attentive to the needs of her patients and appreciative of those that work with and for her.  I have almost never seen her without a smile on her face and a kind word on her lips.  I am so happy that I was able to add a small amount of light to the life of one who has added so much light to so many other lives. 

 Sold one fiber optic surgical head light $300.  Thank you Dr O’.  Shine on!

I have come up with another self imposed rule for my grand experiment.  For all deals in which I sell an Item for cash,  I will be paying it forward by tithing.  I will give 10% of all cash made through my deals to charity.  It could be to an individual in need, or an organization that is doing Gods work.  I hope to share with y'all where I give so everyone can share in the blessings.  So by way of updating my progress, I have $90 to deal with an $10 to give.

Scootin' Right Along...

Jackpot!!!  I not only found a free item to get the ball rolling on my quest for an airplane, I found two.  Like I have done many times in the past, I kept my eyes peeled during my weekly trip to the dump.  Apparently a guy was cleaning out his garage when he decided his kid’s two gas powered scooters were taking up too much room and he was ready to purge them from his life.  He left them sitting next to the dumpster for who ever wanted them.  Well…duh…I wanted them.  They were in pretty decent shape although they had a thick layer of dust that had accumulated on them from years of neglect and had obviously been through a spill or two in their time.  When I got home, I decided I needed to clean out my garage in order to make room to work on these “bad boys”.  That’s when the story gets even more exciting.  Not the cleaning part but what happened while we were emptying out the garage.  A couple of 12 year old boys rode up on their bikes and inquired about the scooters.  I told them that they would be for sale and just off the cuff I threw out a price of 50 bucks each.  They said they were interested.  I said if they could get their parents to call me and give their permission we would have a deal.  I figured that would be the last I would see of them and kept cleaning.  The next afternoon my doorbell rang and it was one of the boys.  He had fifty dollars cash wadded up in his hand and without saying much he handed me his cell phone. Although I detected some degree of reluctance in his voice The boy’s dad said it was ok for him to buy one.  Within 30 or 40 minutes the second boy and his dad arrived on my porch ready to purchase the second scooter.  With a handshake, he passed me a $50 check and took off.   Wow can you believe it?  One hundred dollars from what was “trash” just a little while earlier.  Only in America.   Well, I better scoot Off to find my next deal.