Is everyone here lucky or something??

[jollystomper]

I feel lucky in the things I could not control (where I was born, my ethnic background, my health, Ivy League schools choosing to accept me, how I started with Megacorp, etc.). But I also took advantage of the situations I was in to work hard, smart, and with discipline, and to appreciate money, but not get greedy about it, and realize that "saving for a rainy day" was important.

I grew up with family and friends in the same "luck" that I had. Some have done even better than me, some have done a lot worse.

 

[kombat]

supermarket chicken is loaded with salmonella and campylobacter, pork carries trichinosis and a virus wiped out enough piglets to impact pork supply, and Gawd knows what is in feedlot beef (I can imagine).

Sure. That's why we cook it. Problem solved.

 

[Cut-Throat]

I have a buddy who was lucky to get a job as a dishwasher.
Worked his way up to manager.
Then managed a chain of restaurants.
Then owned his own restaurants.
Sold out and is now retired at 50.
Lucky because he was willing to work his A$$ off for thirty years.

This a similar story that I have heard repeated many times over the years. You are very fortunate to have actually known someone that made this dream 'come true'.

While I am sure that your buddy did work his ass off, I am sure he was born with some god given talents and maybe to a home that nurtured him well. And maybe he had some great employees.

The only problem that I have with stories like this, is that there is an implication that everyone else in the chain of restaurants that he ended up owning, that did not retire at 50, were Lazy Asses. Or that the statistic that restaurants are the largest business failure in the U.S. - With 9 out of 10 failure rate in the first few years. It would be pretty arrogant to to assume that these failures were because the entrepreneurs were just not working hard enough.

 

[ArkTinkerer]

You need a small game license in just about every state. In my state, the daily bag limit is 5 fox squirrels, 5 pine squirrels, and 2 Abert's squirrels.

Arkansas is all just one license. Gets you deer/turkey/bear and small game. Deer/turkey/bear you get tags with your license. Squirrel/rabbit/most birds are part of the license as well but there are daily limits. Elk require a special tag/permit and there are drawings for those. Waterfowl/migratory birds require a special stamp and fees due to federal laws. Trapping is allowed but to sell the pelts requires a commercial license.

We only have fox and gray squirrel here. Plenty of raccoons or skunks for your hat though!

 

[brewer12345]

Sure. That's why we cook it. Problem solved.

Ditto for game.

 

[brewer12345]

Arkansas is all just one license. Gets you deer/turkey/bear and small game. Deer/turkey/bear you get tags with your license. Squirrel/rabbit/most birds are part of the license as well but there are daily limits. Elk require a special tag/permit and there are drawings for those. Waterfowl/migratory birds require a special stamp and fees due to federal laws. Trapping is allowed but to sell the pelts requires a commercial license.

We only have fox and gray squirrel here. Plenty of raccoons or skunks for your hat though!

All big game and turkey tags are lottery system here, aside from OTC elk tags. I got hosed in this year's lottery and got a low percentage tag that will likely test my cold weather endurance (December and January in a windy canyon with elevations of 8,000 feet and up).

 

[redduck]

I have a buddy who was lucky to get a job as a dishwasher.
Worked his way up to manager.
Then managed a chain of restaurants.
Then owned his own restaurants.
Sold out and is now retired at 50.
Lucky because he was willing to work his A$$ off for thirty years.

Not to take anything away from your friend, but luck played a huge part in his being able to retire at 50. I've known district managers who have worked for their companies 25-30 years and were let go when a larger company bought their company. Work ethic had nothing to do with their being fired. So, without some good luck your friend could have worked his way up to manager and then all of a sudden found himself applying for a job as an assistant manager at a Denny's.

 

[marko]

Not to take anything away from your friend, but luck played a huge part in his being able to retire at 50. I've known district managers who have worked for their companies 25-30 years and were let go when a larger company bought their company. Work ethic had nothing to do with their being fired. So, without some good luck your friend could have worked his way up to manager and then all of a sudden found himself applying for a job as an assistant manager at a Denny's.

Maybe he was lucky that he didn't spend all his money as fast as he made it. Or was he smart?

Larger companies buyout smaller ones every day and there are always the 50 year olds with 30+ years there (yes, I was one!).

I don't consider myself lucky...I was shrewd enough to spend most of my life LBYM, invested well and saved.
When the end came, all my associates who spent it as fast as they made it (and who'd mock me for LBYM) were crying...I was on a beach in Hawaii.

 

[HFWR]

Or something...

 

[dtbach]

However, LBYM has nothing to do with "luck" and everything to do with discipline and willpower. And that is how the great majority of those on this board got to where they are.


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[Chuckanut]

I don't consider myself lucky...I was shrewd enough to spend most of my life LBYM, invested well and saved.
When the end came, all my associates who spent it as fast as they made it (and who'd mock me for LBYM) were crying...I was on a beach in Hawaii.

Like my old grand pappy used to say, "Luck is when preparation meets opportunity."

 

[redduck]

Maybe he was lucky that he didn't spend all his money as fast as he made it. Or was he smart?

He may have been smart and lucky. But, if he were to be fired when he was a manager of the restaurant or a manager of the chain of restaurants, he'd still be pretty young and out of work. Doubt he would have much money saved.

 

[2B]

You need a small game license in just about every state. In my state, the daily bag limit is 5 fox squirrels, 5 pine squirrels, and 2 Abert's squirrels.

You have many squirrel options. I'm only familiar with the standard gray squirrel and now I've seen some black ones.

 

[W2R]

I have been extraordinarily lucky about some things. I have also been extraordinarily unlucky about some things.

I suspect that the same is true for many people. Life has a tendency to buffet us about, one way or another. I don't expect that to stop, just because I am retired. I am fully psychologically prepared for anything. Well, cancel that.... I can only say that I THINK I am. I guess it is pretty hard to know for sure, in advance. Life has a way of coming up with an immensely devastating sucker punch, just when we think we have it made.

 

[2B]

Not to take anything away from your friend, but luck played a huge part in his being able to retire at 50. I've known district managers who have worked for their companies 25-30 years and were let go when a larger company bought their company. Work ethic had nothing to do with their being fired. So, without some good luck your friend could have worked his way up to manager and then all of a sudden found himself applying for a job as an assistant manager at a Denny's.

He was prepared for what he faced. He made his own restaurant a success. Maybe he started it after he got laid off after a buy out. He had the work ethic and skill set to be successful. He was obviously in an environment that allowed him to be but thousands of "unlucky" restaurant workers were too. He made it happen and had what it takes to manage his life.

I've lost jobs. Sometimes I was laid off and I've been effectively run off from others. I've taken jobs below the level I was at before being laid off that paid less -- a lot less in one case. I was "lucky" to get these jobs. I worked myself up and now make more than ever. People can succeed but having a "wage slave, oh poor me" mentality pretty much guarantees you'll never be "lucky."

 

[brewer12345]

You have many squirrel options. I'm only familiar with the standard gray squirrel and now I've seen some black ones.

I have actually never hunted grays, since by the time I took up hunting I had moved to a place where they do not dwell. That black squirrels are probably just a color variant of the grays.

Abert's are the most interesting. They are only in 3 states in the US and they spend pretty much their entire lives living in and eating Ponderosa pines in foothills forests. Very different/weird looking as well, with their freakishly long ear hair tufts and almost prehensile looking paws.

 

[Cobra9777]

I've had people tell me I'm "lucky" to be retired at such an early age. Usually from someone in a low-stress, 9-5 job. I just smile politely, but deep down it hurts. They really have no idea...

The stress. 65-hour weeks, including a two-hour daily commute. Constant travel and jet lag. Pressure to hit P&L targets. Impossible project deadlines. Conference calls with Asian customers at 5am and then again at 11pm the same day, with hopefully better answers. Missing the kid's Christmas choir concert while sitting in O'Hare waiting for the weather to clear. The look you get from good, hard-working people after being told their plant is being closed. Waking up in a panic at 3am to send an email to Japan that I forgot to send after the 11pm conference call. Endless political corporate nonsense.

Sure, there were plenty of good days when I felt like I was on top of the world, especially in the first 15 years. But later it was like a never-ending emotional roller-coaster ride through Hell, and I've got the hairline and blood pressure to prove it. Through all this, I always had a positive can-do attitude, worked my @ss off, was a top performer, and was compensated accordingly. But I literally squeezed a 40-year career into 25, both time and money.

"Yeah, I'm just lucky," I respond, as all of the above flashes through my head.

 

[Chuckanut]

I've had people tell me I'm "lucky" to be retired at such an early age. Usually from someone in a low-stress, 9-5 job. I just smile politely, but deep down it hurts. They really have no idea...

The stress. 65-hour weeks, including a two-hour daily commute. Constant travel and jet lag. Pressure to hit P&L targets. Impossible project deadlines. Conference calls with Asian customers at 5am and then again at 11pm the same day, with hopefully better answers. Missing the kid's Christmas choir concert while sitting in O'Hare waiting for the weather to clear. The look you get from good, hard-working people after being told their plant is being closed. Waking up in a panic at 3am to send an email to Japan that I forgot to send after the 11pm conference call. Endless political corporate nonsense.

Sure, there were plenty of good days when I felt like I was on top of the world, especially in the first 15 years. But later it was like a never-ending emotional roller-coaster ride through Hell, and I've got the hairline and blood pressure to prove it. Through all this, I always had a positive can-do attitude, worked my @ss off, was a top performer, and was compensated accordingly. But I literally squeezed a 40-year career into 25, both time and money.

"Yeah, I'm just lucky," I respond, as all of the above flashes through my head.

+1

Well said.

 

[Mulligan]

I've had people tell me I'm "lucky" to be retired at such an early age. Usually from someone in a low-stress, 9-5 job. I just smile politely, but deep down it hurts. They really have no idea...



The stress. 65-hour weeks, including a two-hour daily commute. Constant travel and jet lag. Pressure to hit P&L targets. Impossible project deadlines. Conference calls with Asian customers at 5am and then again at 11pm the same day, with hopefully better answers. Missing the kid's Christmas choir concert while sitting in O'Hare waiting for the weather to clear. The look you get from good, hard-working people after being told their plant is being closed. Waking up in a panic at 3am to send an email to Japan that I forgot to send after the 11pm conference call. Endless political corporate nonsense.



Sure, there were plenty of good days when I felt like I was on top of the world, especially in the first 15 years. But later it was like a never-ending emotional roller-coaster ride through Hell, and I've got the hairline and blood pressure to prove it. Through all this, I always had a positive can-do attitude, worked my @ss off, was a top performer, and was compensated accordingly. But I literally squeezed a 40-year career into 25, both time and money.



"Yeah, I'm just lucky," I respond, as all of the above flashes through my head.

You are too kind. I don't take "body blows for the team". Even with my friends and it never affects our friend ship. And if it's a stranger or acquaintance, well I guess it teaches them a lesson to not open their mouth on something they know nothing about. But then again, it all depends on intent and not the words. In this sense "lucky" may have been used as a synonym for doing well and wishing they had done the same. Sometimes what people say and what they mean are not quite received in the context it was meant.


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[UnrealizedPotential]

Like my old grand pappy used to say, "Luck is when preparation meets opportunity."

IMO you nailed it.I could not agree more.

 

[Dash man]

Like my old grand pappy used to say, "Luck is when preparation meets opportunity."

Recognizing the opportunity is the big challenge for many.


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[redduck]

I have actually never hunted grays, since by the time I took up hunting I had moved to a place where they do not dwell. That black squirrels are probably just a color variant of the grays.

Abert's are the most interesting. They are only in 3 states in the US and they spend pretty much their entire lives living in and eating Ponderosa pines in foothills forests. Very different/weird looking as well, with their freakishly long ear hair tufts and almost prehensile looking paws.

Brewer, you seem to really be enjoying your retirement (or semi-retirement).

 

[brewer12345]

Brewer, you seem to really be enjoying your retirement (or semi-retirement).

Heh, I work hard at doing so.

 

[ArkTinkerer]

Actually, one thing I think most of us overlook or forget about is just the luck of where we are born. To be born in the US/Canada/UK or other first world country is really luck and probably the greatest blessing in our lives that most of us tend to forget.

 

[ArkTinkerer]

I have actually never hunted grays, since by the time I took up hunting I had moved to a place where they do not dwell. That black squirrels are probably just a color variant of the grays.

Abert's are the most interesting. They are only in 3 states in the US and they spend pretty much their entire lives living in and eating Ponderosa pines in foothills forests. Very different/weird looking as well, with their freakishly long ear hair tufts and almost prehensile looking paws.

Blacks are just a variant of the grays. Had one or two on the farm but there are areas here where they are common.