After the ballgame on Saturday, I took Sam and his friend to TopGolf.

It was an intermittent fast day, so I'd not eaten anything in about 15 hours and was starving.

My go-to when I eat out is a cheeseburger - no bun - and hopefully with avocado and an egg.

I'll take a side of fruit if I can get it.

Both were on the menu, but the waiter looked down and shook his head when I asked if the fruit was fresh.

"I mean, I wouldn't order it."

Not that I had high hopes for TopGolf food in the first place, but I'll pass with that kind of response.

But - tater tots?…

On my way home from Lincolnton yesterday, I spit hot coffee all over my dashboard.

Moments earlier, a broker I was talking with said, "Man, everything you touch turns to gold!"

Cue the spitting of coffee and laughter on my end.

Clearly, this guy doesn't know me.

Because I have failed - plenty of times and in many hilarious and disastrous ways.

But I don't care.

Failure isn't all bad.

Approached carefully, failure can be good…

Alright, listen.

I know that I ramble on a pretty good bit about eating right.

I can't help myself.

When you've spent a couple of decades thinking yourself to be somewhat of a health nut only to discover that half the healthy crap you were eating is just that - crap - it's something you want to share.

I've moved firmly into the "avoid processed food at pretty much all costs" camp.

But this ain't about me.

It's about our Border Collie - Easy…

About five years ago, I launched a property management division at R.W. Price Realty Associates on a whim.

It flopped.

Not because property management is a bad business.

Not because people don't need it.

Not because there's not plenty of room for innovation in that space.

It flopped because I hate property management…

The Adventure Truck® is scheduled to be picked up the day after tomorrow for delivery to Yuma, Arizona, where it's being staged for the Super Epic - Super Pacific Road Trip: Baja Edition.

Spending three weeks on the road in Mexico, driving the length of the Baja peninsula, is an overlander's dream.

Wild camping on deserted beaches.

Dark-sky stargazing.

Swimming with whale sharks, excellent snorkeling, and killer surfing.

I decided to take the trip on a whim since a conference I am attending takes place in Cabo San Lucas, on the southern tip.

"Hell yeah," I thought, "I'll drive!"…

Last night, we drove up to Fort Collins, CO, to see David Sedaris.

He killed, as always.

And, as always, he opened the floor to questions at the end of the show.

One question was, "What advice would you give a young person today who aspires to be a writer?"

It was a pretty dull question…

The other day, I was driving my work truck - a 20-year-old Toyota Tundra without Bluetooth.

A storm had passed, giving way to the sun and beautiful Carolina Blue skies.

The windows were down, and my left hand jumped the trees in the wind.

The tunes were classic rock from 99.7 – Charlotte's Fox.

Led Zeppelin is on, and I've turned it up loud.

I'm singing along at full volume, and it's a perfect ride.

The song fades, and the DJ comes on…

It's a busy day today.

This morning, I have to meet contractors at a commercial job and then meet the Remington Homes team in Dallas. Thankfully, Dee is driving, so on the way, I can have a Zoom meeting for House Partners.

While we're in Dallas, we're closing on some new building lots nearby, and then we're heading to make the final preparations for a completed home that closes Wednesday.

Later this evening, I'll be at a good friend's shop working on some preparations for getting The Adventure Truck® ready for the upcoming Baja, Mexico trip…

A year ago today, I'd convinced myself I was eating near-zero processed food.

When this popped up in my memories just now, I LOLd.

Because I remember what my pantry looked like a year ago.

And what my fridge looked like.

Lots of healthy food, like in the pictures there, yes.

But also:…

Remember the first time in your late thirties, or maybe your early forties, when you looked in the mirror and thought, "Dear God, is that really me?"

You may have noticed another wrinkle.

Or a new patch of gray hair.

Or, like me, you shaved your beard only to realize that —for some time—the same beard had obscured the skin beneath your chin, which had begun to droop like a rooster's wattle.

Then, upon closer inspection, you found more evidence of your impending demise…

Herd mentality - you guilty?

I have been.

And it almost got me this morning…

$250,000 for this?

You’ve got to be kidding me.

I’m no stranger to differences of opinion with other real estate agents. I run my business differently than most and have never been shy about calling out the shady, deceptive, and down right annoying business practices that are pervasive in this industry…

The first time I pedaled to the top of Kitsuma Mountain I seriously thought I would die.

I’d been riding mountain bikes forever but had recently gotten into a type known as “downhill” where the general idea is to barrel down a mountain as fast as you can go.

To this point I’d done this in bike parks where some sort of machinery was responsible for getting me to the top of the mountain.

At Snowshoe Mountain in West Virginia there was a ski lift. At Bailey Mountain Bike Park outside of Asheville there was a big WWII-era truck that carried riders to the top.

On this day, however, I was getting my first taste of trail riding in the mountains where my legs would be the only thing that got me to the top.

I expected it would be hard, but I didn’t know just how hard…

The truck interior is still disassembled, two of three batteries are uninstalled, the engine bay looks like black and red spaghetti, and the compressor is still not plumbed.

But, hey, at least the Kilmat is in, which should make for a quieter ride!

And Starlink arrived.

But it's not quite as plug-and-play as I imagined…

My oldest son wasn't cut out for college.

His younger brother, who might graduate this year, is also [probably] not cut out for college.

Lu and her "twin" sister Lily will graduate in 2026 and are likely college-bound.

Sam, the baby, is three years behind and probably will go to college.

Someone asked me the other day if I was worried about the ones who aren't going to college.

No.

Not even a little bit…

Looking back on the Great Recession, there were signs.

Big ones.

For example, when I bought a house for which I didn't qualify for a loan, I could get it anyway because the bank offered me a "no-documentation" loan where it didn't matter that I owned another house.

That was a pretty big sign that something was amiss.

But I didn't see it.

A year later. . .BAM!

My world changed…

LuLu, the oldest of my two daughters, turned 16 yesterday and became our 3rd driver.

To celebrate, we had supper at The Midnight Diner in Uptown Charlotte.

Afterward, she wanted dessert, so we Ubered to The Yard, a milkshake joint with the best name ever.

As we waited on our order, I thought back to when Lu came into my life.

I was 35.

She was 4.

And she wanted nothing to do with me…

About a year and a half ago, I paused operations at House Partners, my house-flipping company, because I needed to focus on other business.

With the other stuff mostly under control, we resumed operations this past weekend.

In this business, the name of the game is finding the houses.

Not just any house, but one we can buy at a price that allows us to renovate it, sell it, and earn a profit.

Finding houses to look at is easy…

When I left the introductory flight lesson, I was all in.

I'm gonna be a pilot!

Hell yeah!

I knew which airplane I would buy (Piper PA-32 Cherokee Six), what color I'd paint it, and that I wanted the interior redone in vintage tweed.

For the next week, I plotted multi-day trips across the country and daydreamed about global circumnavigation (that'll prove it to those damn flat-earthers!).

Then I decided the Piper was no good. Why settle for fixed landing gear when the Beechcraft Bonanza seats six AND has retractable gear?…