October 30th marks the one year anniversary of the worst year of my life. This is the day that I arrived at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina to begin officer basic. It is also the day that I received an email from a friend of mine agreeing to an ownership deal that would have left The Lazy Susan open. It is the same day that I later received an email from the same person backing out of the deal after further discussing it with their family.

That second email assured the end of The Lazy Susan. I was left very bitter over the culmination of all of these events. The next week was without a doubt one of the most disastrous weeks of my life. On November 6th, I watched from over 1,000 miles away on CCTV as my restaurant served its last piece of my famous fried chicken, and then closed its doors for good. After being inundated with angry people for weeks, including my wife, I was at a breaking point. To top it off, the Nixa Newspaper had ran an article about the closing that was meant well, but painted an entirely different picture of what happened. The reporter had seriously misunderstood or simply missed what I told him concerning the facts around our closing. People I had worked with for years were left reading a story that said my restaurant closed because I was being mobilized. While this was part of the decision, it was one of the smallest parts.

In the coming months I realized that while I was deeply in debt, I was not bankrupt. I knew there were a series of events that needed to occur in order to get my new plan rolling. This is where my education came into play. My bachelor’s degree gave me options that allowed me to rather easily double my income which allowed me to actually set up payment plans with everyone I owed money. If I didn’t have a degree, that would not have been possible; at least not that easy.

After beginning this process, I began to realize how extraordinary this journey was going to be. Not only did I not read or hear about anyone ever paying off this much debt on an income somewhat proportional to ours; but few of my vendors had ever had business owners who closed their doors work so pro-actively on paying back their debts without legal assistance. Only one other time in my life had I been involved in such an underdog effort that I knew was going to be successful. That other event was Jack Merritt’s campaign for Sheriff in 2000. It is such an exhilarating experience to be a part of an effort that so many think impossible, yet you know is going to happen.

It was this exhilaration that led me to begin this blog. Now almost eight months after starting this, I am still amazed at the thousands that come and visit and who continue to follow along. I am even more amazed at all of you who have emailed and commented about how this blog has inspired you to turn your life around. That fact is what has made this worst year of my life the best year of my life as well. Thank You!

**Update** Kevin’s article that I am linking to?below appears in this week’s issue of the Army Times.

Regardless of what you think, you need to read this article. I can’t have an opinion on this right now, so I won’t tell you if I agree or disagree with this article; please don’t ask. You read it and make up your own mind; and?yes it really is Pat Tillman’s brother who wrote this, it passes the snopes.com test.

Today I made a VIP appearance at a very special class. The class was Mrs. C’s kindergarten class. I was personally invited by the star this week to come and read a story. Of course the star was Jeremiah; each of the students get one week to be the star during the school year, and on Thursday they invite a VIP to come read to the class.

I chose to read the Dr. Seuss classic Oh, the Places You’ll Go. Little did I know the powerful message this book had for adults. It had been years since I had read it, and I never really understood it back then.

The book tells you to chase your dream, and you can do anything you want to anywhere in the world, of course unless you can’t. But then later, you can again. Sounds a little bit like my life the last few years. Excellent read, and ten minutes is all it takes. Check it out again!

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I have finally returned to Springfield for more than an overnight visit this week. While driving around today, I saw the craziest offer in a storefront window. You can now consolidate your payday loans. A rip off place called No Limit Loans has a large sign offering this retarded service. Their web-site is even better, with a picture of a family and a claim that they will help your family.

Debt CONsilidation is stupid because it treats the symptom without addressing the problem of?overspending. On top of that, it actually costs more money even though the interest rate is less. By adding to the term, you get a lower payment and lower interest rate, but spend more money because of the extra time it takes to pay it all off. In the mean time, most people go out and run up the credit cards again that they CONsolidated in the first place, leaving them in a mess.

Now take this dumb decision of?debt CONsolidation, and change it to payday loans at between 300% to 700% interest. Put all of them into one payday loan, and within a few weeks the average person will go back to all their other payday lenders and have a mountain they will never be able to climb. This is beyond dumb!

If you haven’t come across this story yet, you need to check it out here. Thanks Susan for the hat tip.

Over the last two days I have heard this on the Dave Ramsey Show, watched it on CNN, and read it in the newspaper. The story is everywhere, and it is great to get the exposure. Especially good is the exposure of the payday loan scams! As you exit any military installation, you are overrun with thes rip off stores and pawn shops. They feed off of the lower enlisted soldiers, the ones who least can afford it.

Tuesday President Bush signed legislation that limited these payday loan establishments to charging military personnel 36% APR. This will effectively put them out of business (at least near military installations)?as their normal rates range from 300% to 700%. That is one of the very few things republicans have done right lately. I will be writing more about that soon, but maybe not here (don’t worry, I will link to it).