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"I need a wall - like the US needs - but not quite as long - with a door and about 300sf of flooring." -Carpentry customer texting me about work he needs done.

Friday, 1-31-25: Was January a good month?
Well 2025 is now 1/12 over. Was the first month of 2025 a good one? It's all about perspective, but for me I think it was decent enough. We are in the very beginning phase of our new life, we finally aren't broke, and I like my new tax office. One turd in the proverbial punch-bowl is the fact I got jack shit for exercise. What a bunch of crap! Last Saturday Deno and I played 4 games of rball and split them 2-2. It was the first time I had played in over two months OMG. It will be the only exercise I got all month, too. Still no gym here at the house because it's all still under construction. No kitchen yet, but we do have a laundry room now. Maybe? Hopefully! Ben came today around midday to tie in the dryer power. I had run the 10-3 wire, but I wasn't going into the panel F that. I wanted to use 10-2 wire, but Ben told me that was unwise and I listen to Ben because he is a Sparkie-Yoda. He's also a really fair and decent guy, and it's amazing to think I met him way back in 2007 at one of my biggest remodel jobs over at Chamberlain St. It was a lifetime ago.

^Photo from 2008, but in 2007 it was all torn apart. If I only knew then what I know now...

There are other turds in the life punch-bowl, but there always are. It was January, the worst weather month of the year, and we had plenty of cold air. I think the month will end close to normal, and normal is COLD. Not a ton of snow, but enough for 3 plows. We moved into our place in Eddington at the worst possible time of year. What a bunch of crap! Oh well, the dogs love being able to run and play outside. I have a little corral-area for them to do business in, but I try to get them into the yard once a day if possible so I can run around with them. Today was 34, relatively balmy, and I got off work early (I write my own schedule haha) so I could meet Ben for the dryer-wiring and do other stuff. I ran around with the dogs for a bit in the yard and it was glorious. At one point it seemed like Tiger Lily was almost smiling after she bombed around in the snow. I think we have 6-8" on the ground, but I'm not really sure. It seems to be the perfect amount for the dogs.

^There are always turds in the life punch-bowl, it can never be perfect, but we are on the right path... I think.

Another turd in the punch-bowl is this gods damned Mad Kat restaurant space. It's mostly emptied of our possessions, but the guy who wants to buy the assets seems like a nincompoop. Maybe he's a good guy, I dunno, but I do know that he sucks are replying to emails, calls, and messages. When we talk it seems to go well, but he will go hours or even days not replying to what we consider very time-sensitive stuff like PAYING US and signing up for utilities. A contract would be great, too. We gave him one last week, but he said his laywer was going to take a month to review it OMG REALLY?!

I don't care... whether or not I care about the money anymore. I want some loot if possible, but getting that place out of my life is the priority. It still uses up precious... precious time that I don't want to spare.

I'm still VERY busy all the time, but I feel less overwhelmed. The tax business is really taking off and I am picking up a lot of new clients. Gone are the days of walk-ins, but word of month and referrals are cranking. When I'm not at my new tax office I am trying to get Mad Kat out of my life and I'm also trying to work on this place. It's coming along at a slow pace as expected due to the tax business. I don't think we will have a kithen before March so it's probably a few more weeks of washing dishes in the bathroom sink. What a bunch of crap! We don't use many dishes because we have plastic utensils, paper plates, and I drink juice and milk right from the jug most of the time. We have a microwave and mini-fridge so good enough.

For the first time in a long time I'm optimistic about our future and I don't hate my life like I did in 2024. Last year was one giant turd and it can eat the peanuts out of my ssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittttttttttttttttttttttt. Why did it suck so much? Two words: MAD KAT. Not my wife, the restaurant of course. Fuck that place it's only now when I can truly reflect about how much that shit-show ruined years of my life. The financial side of things sucks. A lot. However, the mental toll was so bad I can't even tally it up. At least financially I can put a number on it (a VERY high number) but I don't know how to quantify the mental side of it all yet.

It's been exactly one month since our last day being open at Mad Kat. At this time Dec 31 the place was packed and we were ripping. I was probably halfway through what was something like a 13-hour shift, but I can't even remember. Hell, I don't WANT to remember. We went out last night for a bit to trivia when some friends and former staff and part of me felt guilty because none of them are back to work yet and it was my decision to go out of business. What choice did we really have, though? We could have gotten a sketchy loan from our credit card provider, but that would have been a baid-aid and we really were sailing on a doomed vessel. All we were doing at the end was losing money. What a bunch of crap!

All of the staff should have been approved for unemployment since we legit went out of business. Now there is no fun karaoke place anywhere in town. What a bunch of crap! There are a few places that do karaoke, but none of them compare. Oh well I don't give a shit about karaoke, but my wife loves it and I love her so I do hope we have a place to go to that she enjoys at least on occasion. I don't want to go out much because I feel like I was out every weekend for close to 4 years working at that cursed bar...

I'm really looking forward to spring when tax season ends and I can really work on this place. We have lots of ideas and it will be a lot of fun hanging out here in the warmer months. By then I'd like to have a gym again and get back into shape. I don't feel like I'm in bad physical shape now, but if I don't get on it soon I'll gain weight and that is not an option. (A few pounds = no worries but getting FAT = epic fail.)

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Saturday, 1-25-25: Things are much better now.
The momentum has shifted over the past couple weeks and my life isn't a giant piece of shit anymore. Oh Jesus, hell ya! Living here in Eddington has been fantastic so far, and I'm happier than I've been in years. We are starting to settle into a routine, we're catching up on some good TV shows, we're getting this house more and more complete, and I hope we can keep up the positive vibes for a long time to come. Forever would be great, but that's not how life goes.

This past week that is about to end in a couple hours has been the best week of my life since before COVID in 2020. I'm mostly set up in my new tax office in Bangor and during the week I was able to work in the tax office for about 3 hours a day all week and then run some errands and come home to work on our unfinished house. We still don't have a kitchen, but I'm making great progress and I was able to work on it a lot this week. Here it is as of mid-afternoon before I quit and played racquetball. I hadn't played rball in over two months what a bunch of crap! I haven't gotten any exercise at all either other than doing some carpentry work. Carpentry is a workout depending on the job, especially building this garage:

I worked on that garage some earlier this month, but not much because F that it's the middle of winter, it's been cold, and I have other things to do like finish our house, close and try to sell the restaurant, and set up my tax office. I do have tax clients as well, but so far no in-person meetings until Tuesday. That stupid fuckin' restaurant is still a thorn in our side, but it looks like we will be mostly done with it soon. I wish we could say we'd be 100% done with it, but that's going to be a while since the buyers we found have no choice but to pay us over the next 3 years after a down payment. I am skeptical this deal still might not happen since no money is is escrow yet, but we shall see. I talked to the guy yesterday and he seemed all-in. It is sad going to the restaurant space now since it's so empty and cold. We turned the heat down to 55 because F paying for 68-70 when it's not in use but holy crispy crap it doesn't take long to get cold in there when packing and doing some work.

I could spend all night writing on this bootleg site that no one ever reads because I'm so far behind updating it. So much has happened that there is no way to write about it all before I bivouac. I did just speed-watch the Celtics game because we went and got an actual cable box Thursday. We had been using some bootleg and totally unacceptable thing from Spectrum called a XUMO and that pathetic thing can eat the peanuts out of my sssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiitttttttttttttttt. It's one of the worst modern inventions of all-time, and Spectrum should be embarassed about offering it. I know they want to ditch cable boxes and go exclusively streaming, but the people who made XUMO should all be fired. Having a cable box is like revisiting an old friend.

I can't even put into words how nice it is having precious... precious time again. These past couple weekends have been AWESOME knowing I don't have to work until 0100 or 0200 at the restaurant for no money. I can turn my phone off and who cares? I don't feel overwhelmed anymore and we aren't broke. Oh Jesus, hell ya! The only thing that sucks a little is the fact that it's still the middle of winter and lately it has been COLD. -10 a few days ago at night then -13. Not every day has been that cold, but this past week was certainly below average even for this time of year. What a bunch of crap! Oh well we haven't had a ton of snow other than 6 fluffy inches last week that was really no big deal since it happened at night. Could be worse and in a few days it's February and days will get longer and average temps will increase slowly. Our new place heats great, too. Downstairs is chilly, but that's the storage/garage and we can deal with that more in the spring. The upstairs heats so well I'm actually sitting here with shorts and no shirt at 2300 hahaha. I'm not turing the heat down, though. F that it's set at 64 in the hall area and we are on a second floor so of course it will be warmer. We will probably roast up here in the summer, but that's not a problem we need to think about in January when it's currently 7 degrees outside.

I'll start to have more regular tax-office hours next week and beyond. I do have four appointments for Saturday next week so this is probably my last full weekend off for several weeks if not for 3 months. It's not a true weekend off since I'll work on the house a lot, but working on the house is for us and not a "real" job so I don't mind. Seeing the kitchen come together has been awesome as well and I can't wait for that side to be mostly done so I can start getting a gym set up. I don't think the gym will happen for a couple more months, but I can start doing yoga again and get back into r-ball. When was the last time I even played rball? Guy looks now...

Nov 21 when we did cutthroat OMG WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! I was just too busy in Dec and the first part of this month plus Mike had a shoulder strain and Gavin still has a bum forearm. Getting old sucks. I don't think I've ever gone 25 days into a new year without getting any exercise since I was a kid back in the early 90s. Who knows maybe at times when I was in the Navy I didn't hit it so often either? No worries because I see what we will have for a gym in a couple months, certainly by spring, and it will be epic. We have a spot for what will be a GREAT gym downstairs. I'll have to put in quite a bit of sheetrock work down there, but I look forward to it and I can do a drop-ceiling because doing ceiling sheetrock = DO NOT WANT TO TO. That's why I've "cheated" and done the tile celings in most areas up here hehehe. Mudding, sanding, and taping makes my tennis elbow act up. What a bunch of crap!

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Wednesday, 1-15-25: We live in Eddington!
Good riddance to 2024, what I currently consider to be the worst year of my life. For the most part the entire 2020-decade = what a bunch of crap! My blame goes to me, myself, and I. Opening that stupid fucking restaurant was an all-time bad decision that almost ended my worthless life. I was feeling suicidal for a while last fall so I thank the gods who do not exist that we shut that restaurant and bar down Dec 31, just over a couple weeks ago. Not having to work there every Friday and Saturday night has been fantastic so far.

I never considered myself to be depressed until 2024. I realize that I was in a bad funk for most of last fall to the point I would certainly call it depression. It was all-bad, especially Oct 31, Halloween, and the weeks that followed after the sale of the place fell through. What a bunch of crap!

I am doing a lot better now. A LOT. I think my wife is also doing better emotionally, but I can't compare since I hated the restaurant and she seemed to mainly enjoy it. Did I take that away from her by pushing to close and just go out of business? I hope not, but I probably did. However,we were losing money badly so I don't know how we could have even afforded to stay open much longer. Putting our own precious... precious money into the place was no longer an option. We were not doing well financially for the last part of 2024 because the sale of the restaurant turned into a disaster and the closing of our Brewer house on Parkway North got delayed by four friggin' weeks. FOUR WEEKS OMG ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

My life was such a whirlwind shit-show for the end of 2024 and the beginning of this year that I can't even write about it all or it would take hours and end up becoming a novella. No one wants to read that crap! Here are some bullet-points:

Our last day being open as Mad Kat & Co Bar & Grill was New Year's Eve Dec 31. Sales were GREAT and customers mostly behaved. I had to kick some old asshole out because he thought the pizza was free and it was only $3 a slice. What a bunch of crap! Staff did amazing and I'm proud of them for that. Deven worked 16 hours holy crap! His Mom even came to help at the end and she was also great.

We've had a lot of packing to do at the former restaurant, and a lot of cleaning as well. I've helped some, but my awesome wife has handled the majority of it as well as coordinating vendor returns, refunds, etc. We had over $10,000 in beer and liquor still on-hand can you believe that?! I would have guessed a number half that much. Our liquor cabinet (that we don't have haha) here at our house will be epic because we have a lot of leftover liquor. Can't return the opened ones but we sure can drink them! Too bad we have a lot of stuff I'll never drink like whiskeys and tequilas. I don't even think we kept any gin because that is the most ridiculous booze of all-time. GIN SUCKS IT'S WEIRD I DO NOT WANT TO DRINK PINE TREES.

I found a new place for my tax office and I start moving in tomorrow. More on that in the days and weeks to come.

We FINALLY closed on our Parkway N Brewer house 8 days ago, and that's how long we've lived in Eddington. We had more to move than I thought we did so a big chunk of last week Mon & Tues was devoted to the move. I rented another 15-foot UHaul and we made 4 total trips with it wow! Back in early December we only made two trips. However, we didn't do the best job tightly packing the UHaul last week.

Our place here in Eddington needs a lot of work, but we are good enough for now. Mostly finished bedroom:

Groot on the living room love seat:

We have most of a bedroom and living room, we have heat, Internet, TV, and hot water. However, we don't have a kitchen or laudry yet. What a bunch of crap! The downstairs was a cluttered mess until yesterday when my awesome wife rearranged. I rented a storage unit locally because we need to stow more stuff from the failed restaurant.

We seemingly have the restaurant assets sold. It's not the price we want, but we think it's better than nothing. We're working on a contract now with the buyers so more on that to come. We are planning to be done with the place Feb. 1, but that is far from certain. The sooner we finish there the better so I can focus on the tax business and working on our place here in Eddington. I already have tax stuff to work on and it will only get busier for me at the tax desk as we move into Feb, March, and April.

It's amazing we live in Eddington now. So far this place > our Brewer house. I feel more at-peace here, and I love how the bedroom turned out. The bathroom came out great as well and I'd rate that better than our old Brewer bathroom. I don't spend a lot of time in the bathroom so I don't really care that much, but it's something I did notice I think the living room will also be better, but it's unfinished so that's a TBD. We will have tons of room downstairs for what will be an epic gym as well as a studio for my awesome wife. The yard is huge so we have a lot of outdoor activities to look forward to when spring comes around.