So, I've bought some Wiis?

Um, yeah.. within a couple of weeks, I'm going to be the proud owner of three Wii game consoles. This is something I've always wanted to do, but never bothered; to buy up some hot items during the summer and put them away just to eBay them a couple weeks before Christmas. But now I've gotten around to it, and I am giving it a whirl.

I had to buy the game consoles up in bundles; it's still almost impossible to find *just* a Wii. I tried for two weeks before giving up and going for three bundled systems. But that's alright; I figure I can sell off the bundled bits as well in convenient combinations during the holiday season. And maybe I'll keep a couple of the extra controllers for myself.

So why did I do this? Well, I'll answer with my seventh rule for getting into space:

Rule 7: Always Watch for Ways to Make a Little Extra Cash.

Another way to put that is the ninth rule of acquisition: Opportunity plus instinct equals profit.

Yes, I went there.

Anyway, if I make anything on this, I'm going to put it into my solar panel savings, but the rule still applies. And honestly, I feel a little guilty about worsening already dwindling supplies of something everyone wants to make a little profit, but, what can you say? At least I'm doing it to save the environment... there's always that.

Progress: 4.03%  Flight Time: 0:06:05

Personal History, Part Six

Well, this is the sixth and final installment of my personal history. And the peasants rejoice!

When I left off last time, I had been well-employed for about a year, I had overcome my terrible roommate situation, and I was contemplating using some of my income to get a house. But let's back up a few months; there is something I want to mention.

When I finally got hired on full-time at my work and became a fully-fledged cubicle monkey, I finally had enough income to start saving toward my trip to space, among other marginally important things like, you know, retirement and a house and stuff. So the first thing I did was get myself a financial adviser.

Rule 5: Get a Financial Adviser.

The relevant statistic here is that, 5 years after college graduation, the 10% of people with a financial plan have 60% of the money. Or maybe it was 5% and 80%. Um... I can't remember. I tried to look it up, but I couldn't find it again. But it's something ridiculous like that. For me (and the same is true for most people I've spoken with) the financial world is way too complicated to create a good financial plan on my own, so I paid the necessary fee to have a plan written up for me by a professional adviser. It's a very enlightening process; I highly recommend it.

So I spent several months in a fairly static state of having a good job and a roommate helping to pay the rent, so I was putting about a third of my income into living, a third into my financial plan, and a third into my bank account. Now I had originally set up my financial plan with a big chunk allocated toward eventually making the down payment on a house. However, during these months, I started coming to the realization that it might be advantageous to invest in a house sooner rather than later. Besides, I really wanted somewhere that I could play obnoxiously loud sci-fi movies without anyone complaining. And a dog. I wanted a dog.

So I took the plunge. I did a whole lot of research before I did so, but I could find few drawbacks to the decision, so I did it. This brings me to my sixth rule for getting into space:

Rule 6: Invest in a House as Soon as You Can Afford To.

Disclaimer: I have no background in either financial planning or real-estate; I'm just relaying my experiences in the hopes that the story might be useful to someone. Follow my advice at your own risk.

Wait, I'm telling you to buy something extravagantly expensive so that you can save up for something extravagantly expensive? Well, yes, and here's why: housing prices double about every 10 years. So assuming your credit isn't in the dumpster, the gain in the value of the house you buy will far outweigh your interest payments. And here's how I look at it: I got a 30 year fixed-rate loan. In 30 years, if I stay where I am, my loan will be paid off. At that time, I could take out another loan for a fraction of the amount my house will be worth, and get my trip to space. So in 30 years, come hell or high water, I will get to space. However, my goal is to do it before I'm in my 50s.

Back to my story. Basically, my situation was this: I had a lot of disposable income. Not nearly enough for a down payment, but likely enough to cover closing costs. I had great credit, and housing prices were starting to go down due to the economic downturn that we are currently in. So I decided to go for it. I did a lot of research, I spoke to two different lenders and two different real-estate agents. I sifted through lists of hundreds of houses in the area and actually visited over thirty of them, and I finally settled on a good house. It's small, but I don't need big, and it's very well maintained and in a great neighborhood. And it came with the dog I wanted! Just look at her, being all cute and stuff because she wants your food.



So that's basically where I am today! I've been in my house for a few months, I've found a new roommate (who is paying me and not a faceless corporation), and I'm training my dog to carry a dog pack so she can go backpacking with me. Life is good, and I have plans to enhance my chances of getting to space even farther.

But more on that later.

Progress: 3.73%  Flight Time: 0:05:35

On My Own

Well, I believe we are way overdue for more of my reflections on how I got to where I am, so I think I'll bore you just a little more.

When we left off, my roommate was moving out! I finally had a job, though at the time it was a temp job, and I wasn't making enough to pay rent on my own. I needed a new roommate, or I'd have to move out too.

I had at least three friends who were still living with their parents, so I went to them first. One was making payments on his car and didn't want to make rent payments as well, so that was a no-go. The other two didn't want to move out either, but didn't care to explain why. I'm sure they had their reasons, and I don't fault them for that. For the record though, two of those three still live with their parents to this day. Anyway, with my acquaintances exhausted, I was forced to resort to (duh duh duh) Craigslist. Actually, I had had good experiences with Craigslist before. I don't think I've mentioned it, but I actually found my job on that site, so I was willing to give it a try for a roommate too. Several people called me saying they were interested (it was actually good timing; this was a month or two before classes started at the nearby university). I eventually settled on a guy who was moving in to town from Chicago, and already had a job in the area.

Rule 4: Stay Vigilant.

My fourth rule for getting into space stems from my experience with this guy. Looking back, yeah I was naive, but I like to give people the benefit of the doubt when they run into tough times. To cut a long, depressing story short, he disappeared without a trace five months after he moved in. He had only paid rent once, he used my social security number to open a credit card to which he charged $500, He stole a collection of rare items that I had been working on for ten years and that was worth at least another $500, and he left his room in shambles. Two weeks after he disappeared, my friends and I decided he probably wasn't coming back, and we went into his room to clean it out. A glance inside is all it took for us to realize that we needed to go buy some thick rubber gloves and one of those long trash-grabber things. A few minutes inside was all it took for us to realize we needed to call the police.

Here is an abridged list of items that we found inside his room: at least twenty drug needles, two social security cards (neither of which were his), criminal conviction paperwork from at least two states, a stained blanket that my mother had given me (that alone was worse than the drug needles), an autographed copy of Lies and the Lying Liars that Tell Them by Al Franken that my brother had given me (throughly stained with something red), a stack of my bank statements, various other ruined posessions of mine, various other drug paraphernalia, at least a hundred used Q-Tips scattered on the floor, at least five sets of womens' clothing (most of them stained), and the list goes on.

Yeah. It was bad. And it was really sad too; the guy was a damn good cook. He could have opened his own restaurant based purely on his handiwork with pasta and his social skills. Looking back on it, I saw the warning signs, and decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I should have kicked him out at least two months prior. So remember Rule 4: always be vigilant! You don't have to be an ass; just pay attention to warning signs and investigate. If I had done the slightest bit of digging when I saw those warning signs, I would likely have uncovered all of this and saved myself a boatload of trouble. But it could have been a whole lot worse for me if he had been out to do more than just finance his drug habits.

So I'm going to skip about a year here. My parents bailed me out of my rent issues caused by that incident, and I never had any more trouble with that, because I soon got hired on at my work and got a big raise. I used some of that raise to (finally) start my space tourism savings, and my retirement savings. I convinced one of my friends to move out of his parents' and move in with me, but we weren't really compatible as roommates so he moved out a few months later.

I started the hunt for a new roommate a third time, but then I realized that that huge raise had left me with a ton of extra money that I wasn't using. I was sticking a lot of it in my space tourism savings, but I thought to myself, why can't I ditch the apartment altogether and find myself a house?

So the next (and final) installment of my personal story will detail the Quest for the House! I'm sure you're looking forward to that.

Progress: 3.89%  Flight Time: 0:05:50

Another Bump Toward my Goal!

Well, my regular monthly contribution toward my space tourism savings went in today! Based on Virgin Galactic's expected suborbital offering, that puts me up to 3.89%, or a hair's width from six minutes' flight time!

I think I'll take the opportunity to talk a little bit about saving money. I understand that different people work a little differently, but for me, I find that the easiest way to save money is to have some put away automatically, so that I never see it. That way, I'm not tempted to use it. So every month, I have a certain amount automatically deducted from my bank account and put in a separate place. And the amount I'm saving each month really isn't enough; at this rate, it will take me over 50 years to save what I need, assuming I only put this same amount away every month. I fully intend to increase the monthly amount when I have the ability (and I have a couple other things going for me that I'll talk about later), but my point is this: I'm saving. And that's rule 3 for getting into space:

Rule 3: Save a little money each month.

That's it. No big secret here. Do it every week if you like, or every other month, but keep saving! Those little bits add up, and with them, you'll be a lot closer to your goal, whatever that may be!

Progress: 3.89%  Flight Time: 0:05:50

My College Years

Yes, it's that time, boys and girls; it's time for another installment of boring you with my personal history!

I had finally made it! I had made it out of the prison that was my high school and clawed my way up into college. So it's going to get better, I thought to myself! It's going to be more about practical experience and less about rote memorization and repetition, right? Right?

These are the kinds of things I laugh about today.

No, it turns out that the teaching through experience bit only happens in the higher level courses, and not so much in my field even then. So it was back to the drudgery of the rote memorization that I despised so very very much. I resigned myself to this life, at least for the moment, and turned my attention to more pressing matters; I was broke.

I needed a job! I need to feed myself and buy textbooks and such! I was lucky, though. A family friend was in charge of hiring for a local factory, and I got hired there easily. I believe her exact words were, "Don't worry, I know who you are. If you don't work, I'll fire you." It wasn't pretty work. The factory made miscellaneous plastic parts, and my highly important job was to stack up the parts and put them in boxes. But it was work, and the people there were good, and that helped.

This went on for a couple of years, but then I started to falter in school. My grades dropped, and one term, I actually managed to fail three out of four classes! I've pondered the reasons for this ever since. The symptoms were a lack of interest in school. I started skipping classes and failing to do my homework. But it wasn't that I didn't want to learn; that's not it at all. I would often skip a class so I could spend some time taking something apart to find out how it works, or so I could go to the library and read up on some interesting subject. The problem behind this was that I was sick and tired of learning on the school's terms! Hate is a strong word, but it applies; I had come to hate the school's method of teaching, the same method that I had been struggling with all my life! Rote memorization and repetition works for some people, but our school system, and even our colleges and universities seem to think that it applies to everyone. It does not! I have seen close friends who were complete geniuses drop out of school and fade into obscurity because they couldn't learn this way! I was very lucky in that I could, but it was an extraordinary struggle! I literally started getting nauseous when I was given a big assignment. However, several things happened that helped me turn the ship around.

That was around the time of the incident in which the Columbia space shuttle burned up on re-entry. What a terrible tragedy that was! Incidentally, I have a cousin who is a smoke jumper, and she was on one of the teams gathering the wreckage. She's one of the coolest people I know. But I digress. This really wasn't much of a blow to my spaceflight aspirations; I was always aware of the dangers of spaceflight, and I'm willing to take the risk. In fact, my philosophy has always been that blowing up in a spacecraft would be a hell of a way to go! But I digress.

Again.

I do that a lot.

Anyway, This was also around the time the Ansari X-Prize was really heating up. Two or three of the competitors were performing flight tests and were coming very close to their initial launches. This was inspirational for me; that in the face of the space shuttle disaster, these private companies could still be competing so diligently toward the goal of manned spaceflight, with much less money and fewer resources than the U.S. government. A better story of persistence in the face of complete disaster I have rarely heard! This helped my morale quite a bit, and then when SpaceShipOne made its three spectacular flights, and I learned the story of its development, well, I was hooked. It really gave me new drive to accomplish my ultimate goal, and helped me choke down the bile brought on by the horrid learning techniques that I had to endure.

The last thing that happened about that time is that I got laid off from the factory. This sounds pretty bad, but it turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to me. It got me to look into getting a job in my field, and two weeks later, I had landed a great student job at the university. It paid more, it was two blocks from the dorms, and it was a heck of a lot more fun! Nothing motivates like having a job you like. And I have no doubt that part of the reason I got that job was those hard years I had put in at the factory, and the great references I earned there. This brings me to my second rule for getting into space:

Rule 2: Get a Job.

Any job. And early. Get a part-time job in high school if you can. Even if the only job you can get is the most disgusting, wretched, horrid job you can think of, take it, do the job like you mean it, and don't quit. About now, you're wondering how you could possibly get to space with the money from a job like that. You can't. However, having any kind of job on your resume will help you get a better job later on, and that one will help you get an even better job. Then you can start making the kind of money you need to get to space. A pattern I've found in observing my friends and family is that the people who stick with the awful job and never give up are the ones who go on to bigger and better things later in life. The people who get tired of their job, give up, quit, and look for another are the ones who struggle to get anywhere in life. If you want to get into space, it's almost a requirement that no matter what you do, do it well and don't quit! Slogging through a crap job for a few years will do wonders for you in the long run.

So I had a great job, and new motivation, and that helped push me through. It took me five and a half years to get that four-year degree, but I didn't give up, and now I have a piece of paper on my wall to prove it. Unfortunately, my graduation presented me with a whole new bucket of problems. Remember how I oh-so-casually mentioned that my new, great job was a student job? Well, I was no longer a student, so they kicked me out. I submitted application after application to companies all over the area, but I had few bites. I had to get yet another job and get it fast. My rent was due and the clock was ticking.

But that, my friends, is a long-winded story for another day.

Progress: 3.24%  Flight Time: 0:04:51

More on my Journey

So I've told you all that I'm trying to get into space, and I told you that I started in High School, but I haven't given you any idea about what I've done so far. So let me tell you how my life has been warped and twisted by this endeavor!

The first step was college. This was a bit of a stickler for me. Now I daresay it's easy to get funding for college (through loans, if nothing else) so long as your grades are good. Unfortunately for me, grades have never been my strong suit. However, I knew college would be essential if I was to get into space. Back then, there were no operating space tourism companies, but I assumed that space travel would be prohibitively expensive. The relevant statistic here is that college graduates, on average, make a million dollars more during their lifetimes. This brings me to my first rule for getting into space:

Rule 1: Go to College.

I'm not saying that it's impossible to get into space without going to college, but it will be a lot harder. And yeah, college is a drag. Doubly so for me. But it has to be done.

But back to my problem. Grades. Blah. The way I feel about grades can be summed up by the following list of more accurate measurements of a student's abilities:
1. How far the student can spit.
2. The distance between the student's nostrils.
3. The height of the student's best friend.
4. A random number between one and a million.
5. The sum of the student's phone number.
6. 28.

As you have probably guessed by now, my grades were horrid. I'll save further rants about our terrible grading system for another post. On to college! My college of choice had a two-tiered application process. If you had a high school GPA of 3.00, you could fill out a simple form. If it was lower, you had to fill out a more complex form and submit an essay. My high school GPA was (drumroll) 2.98. What a frustrating number that was! It wasn't that I didn't do the work; it's just that I didn't learn the way everyone expected me to. 95% of high school classes relied on memorization through repetition. I, frankly, suck at that. I'm much much better at memorization through experience, but high school is not known for teaching by hands-on example. As a result, I fought tooth-and-nail until my fingertips were but bloody stumps to get that 2.98! But then I realized, one summer, I took a course at a local community college, because it was on some advanced topics of a subject I was interested in (computer science), which they barely taught at all in high school. I was given a choice, and in my infinite wisdom, I opted to take it as college credit so that I would have just a smidgen done when I finally did make it to college. I got an A in that course, but could I really claim it as high school credit, having already racked up 4 college credits for it? Could I really play the system like that? Could I really channel this warped and twisted system to my own design?

Turns out I could!

That A bumped me up to a 3.01 GPA, just enough to let me slip into my college of choice! But I'll quit boring you now. College is important, blah blah blah. Later, I'll bore you about my college years, and perhaps go off on that whole grades rant I promised. See you there!