Lost Opportunities

by Rob Watson

I think I may have an inferiority complex.  If not, then I feel most other people are superior to me in many ways.  I spent time pondering this tonight as I lay awake in bed.  Such contemplations often lead me to recall opportunities in which I failed to take advantage.

The two things I have sought most and failed to find most often have been love and money.  Lest you be concerned, Wife is as good a love as any man may hope to find, and as long as our government remains solvent, we will have enough money to survive, perhaps even taste a bit of the honey in this life.

In my favor I have to say I have two advantages that might have been used to take advantage of opportunities.  The first I learned at my mother's knee.  Polite treatment of others.  This skill was further refined at the movies by observing the hero cowboys of the Saturday movies of the 1950's...Yes Ma'am, no sir...everybody deserved respect until proven otherwise.  (Mama also taught me to cook, wash my own clothes, and keep things neat...though this latter is frequently left unpracticed.)

My other asset is the ability to understand science.  I first developed this skill in the library of my elementary school.  Later in life I learned to enjoy reading fiction and history.  In these early years science was the subject that interested me.  There in the cradle of education I sought out science books.  (I am sure I was forced to go to the library, outside was where I longed to be.)  As early as the third grade I found and read the fourth, fifth and sixth grade science books.

One day, business was slow at my parents business.  During such times I would sit on a bumper guard out front and look at rocks I picked up from the gravel parking lot.  On this day I found a rock that was the shape of two pyramids base to base.  It was clear in color and about 1/2 inch on each side.  After carefully examining it I threw it out to the middle of the lot and forgot about it until the third year of college.  There in geology class I learned that rock was most likely a diamond  (Flaws not withstanding, my diamond might have been cut into a round brilliant cut about 1/2 inch across and weigh 10 carats or so.  Coincident with my college discovery was the discovery that the gravel pit where my rock originated contained diamonds.  (For those who like irony, the roads of one of the poorest states in the Union are paved with diamonds.) Going back to recover my diamond was not an option as my parents had, by then, paved over the gravel parking lot.

A few years after this I took a few thousand dollars to a stock broker, and by moves based entirely on good fortune, parlayed them into $106,000.  I was able to pick the turn in the stockmarket correct to the hour.  There, good fortune deserted me and learning began.  I lost nearly all of the gains in a few weeks time.  Unfortunately the lesson learned was not applied until I had confirmed my hard found knowledge after repeating the process a second time quite a few years later.  If I make another pile of money, I hope to have the wisdom to hold on to it.  There is a huge uptick in the markets these days....

Opportunities in love are not so easily defined... but I got a treasure there: Wife!!

All You Can Eat

By Rob Watson

Those who know me understand I like to eat. I am a fair cook but, eating in great homes and good restaurants is better. (You might look back to Wife's post: Eating our way through Louisiana.) In moving to New State, Wife and I were hoping to find some good places to eat, as Last State had slim pickings. (Having been a long time resident of New State in a former life... You may be from New State if... You find the food everywhere else slightly disappointing... Has been mostly true in my case. My apologies and condolences to those other places I have lived for the last 1000 years.)

Without looking very hard, and being seduced by their 30 shrimp add, wife and I decided to try Red Lobster here. I looked up the address of the local restaurant on the internet and programed the trusty GPS to take us there. On arrival, it was a vacant lot. a local resident informed us it had gone out of business years before. So, then the search began in earnest.

The area had a number of places near by. The first we passed touted fresh seafood, steaks, and sushi... too many things to be good at any of them... There were two cars in the large parking lot. Other places were about the same... big signs, big parking lots, two cars. Then we came upon a small place with six parking places and nine cars parked around. My fried catfish was served, along with hush puppies, coleslaw, pickles, and fries, on a beer tray... you know the ones you see on beer ads all the time. Eighteen inches (Half a meter) in diameter and 2 inch (5 cm) high sides. Oh, yes, it was $11 each.  Beer not served.

I use to say, in my gun business, If you need an excuse, almost anything will do. So when Wife and I could devine a good excuse, we went there for great food and good service. The bad news being it is fifty miles away.

Near by our fishing shack, places to eat out are as slim pickins as in Last State. That is until the restaurant near by, 13 miles (17 KM) got mad at the world and closed down... leaving an unfriendly comment as a headline in the local newspaper. The business was taken over by another entrepreneur, remodeled, and reopened.

Wife and I passed by the place a number of times but did not stop due to forced fiscal responsibilities, brought on by over indulgence in other areas. We did, however, notice fair numbers of cars and trucks stopped there at meal times. Today, we felt able to treat ourselves after an uplifting Palm Sunday Service. The food was great... Fried Catfish... and one other thing, if you are considering visiting in our area...

You have heard of places that offer "All You Can Eat", right? These two new places offer twice as much as I can eat for about $10.