Looking at commercial building #3 at noon. In the process of looking at commercial building #2 we learned that the local city we're expanding to was so die-hard in preventing "methadone clinics" that they wrote out every other type of "clinic" despite the fact that they have flyers telling you about all the wonderful "health centers" you can build thanks to their new zoning. Like, one use case out of three that they're advertising is something they accidentally banned.

Fortunately I was in conversation with goobster who said "the mayor's an old friend, want an intro" which is why my weeks involve

- getting the kid to camp

- dealing with tax nonsense that is nonsense but has also made us $60k

- trying to figure out what China, Ukraine, Trump, the Fed and crypto mean for my family

- integrating some other unsung but vital part of a machining center nobody understands so that maybe I'll get to use it some day

- talking to commercial brokers about millions of dollars in loans

- talking to the mayor's office about whether I need to bother with milions of dollars in loans because they admittedly accidentally banned several entire categories of business in their fear of high-functioning addicts

- dealing with a rogue DJ who decided to spew 6000 words of lies all over facebook and every blogspot he owns that call me out personally

- helping out a buddy who has decided to switch from motorcycle parts to belt buckles because lo and behold, making pretty things is more fun

That part was cool. He was asking me about my torch because he didn't quite trust the hour I spent on the phone with a master engraver and the half hour I spent with a master caster about how to do inlay and wanted to "melt it in." So I whipped out the torch, got out all the things and did a demo and said "nope, not going to work" in a conclusive fashion.

Had another friend who only knows me through movie shit ask me about watches. It was a 2 hour conversation. Made me realize I'm an iceberg to most people. They know the 15% we have in common.

Based on projections, one of these buildings, if executed according to calculations and estimates, will pay itself off after 6 years, pay its initial investment off after 8 years, and thereafter make me roughly $280k a year in rent. But then, we haven't seen the real numbers. The other two buildings could be sold tax-free after 10 years ("economic opportunity zone") or razed and replaced with mixed-use up to 25 stories high.

It's really fuckin' hard to get rich in the United States. It's appallingly easy to get richer. I guess that's how you know your society is capitalist.