The Treasure Hunt

I have often said that one of my favorite things to do in life is to use my own hands and to build something: I have enjoyed building things since I was very young. Having a liking for something does not necessarily mean that I, or anyone else is going to be proficient at what they like? So, I am not going to say that I am particularly good at what I do... but I do like doing it.

One thing for certain: if I build it whatever “it” is should last. And that is because I usually make whatever I am building out of material that is more sturdy than what is needed? Years ago at a former church in Hurricane I used to build almost all of the props for our church and school plays. I also built all of the playground equipment for the Christian school. Because it was known that I liked to make things with my hands I would get a lot of teasing about what I did. I found a picture in my recent search for pictures that I did not know we even had. This picture was taken at a school function and I was being given an “award” for having built many things.

I really like jokes, whether played on me or someone else. Anyway, someone had taken the time to scrap together something and acted like it was one of my own creations. (I like the fact that whoever did this had to obviously take some time to do it and that made it even funnier.)

So, here I am being rewarded for having built what is in front of me. It was very funny! The guy who is giving me my “prize” I have forgotten his name but he was a mathematics whiz! I used to call on him whenever I was stumped trying to figure something out in higher mathematics. In his home in India he was referred to as a math depot. That was because in India they had places where you could buy every product imagineable under one roof and they called these places, “depot's.” So, because you could get all of your math questions answered by him... he was referred to as a “ math depot.”

One time I called him and told him I had been working on a problem for hours and even with the answer key in my hand I could not figure out the concept they were trying to convey. Normally, even if I could not get an answer at first... I could always work backwards on any given equation and get the answer: but not this time. He came in and sat down with the textbook and in about ten minutes he had the answer. The textbook was wrong! And that was why it was impossible for me to work my way backward and find the solution. It really was another of those... you can't get there from here scenarios.

Although I believed him I was unsure what A.C.E. would say in response when I wrote to them and pointed out their error. A couple of weeks later I got their answer. They admitted their formula was incorrect and they would be sending out notices to all of the schools advising them of this and their future textbooks would be corrected: mark one up for the “math depot.”

The first video (in 2 parts) is where the old Pet Paradise used to set when I first moved to Indiana 20 years ago. I put this one in today because it is something that speaks to the thought of "change."

The first ten years we were down here (1990-2000) I had four different Rainbow stores. The first one was in New Washington, Indiana. The second one was in Hillview, Kentucky. (This was the store that burned March 14, 1998.) The third store was in Jeffersonville, Indiana in the Quadrangle. The last store I opened was in New Albany, Indiana and I closed that one late in 1999.

This is the Quadrangle in Jeffersonville. During the time we had our office there it looked nothing like it does today. The city took it over several years ago and put tons of money into it and completely refurbished it. During the time we were there it was more dilapidated and because it was a historical site we could do no improvements whatsoever: we couldn't even paint without written permission.

It has been around since the Civil War and for decades it was a military depot. Jeffersonville has a lot of military history. From the property that used to house the Indiana Army Ammunition Plant (more than 10,000 acres) to the house I bought on Plank Road in the middle '90's which was built for Army brass to live in during WWII... there is a lot of war history in this area.

I hope all who reads this has a wonderful day!!!