Thursday, June 22, 2006 8:32:14 PM

Dear Ramai,

I am so tired; I am so happy. Three years ago I devised a plan to create $100,000 of “sweat equity” in my properties. Today I am seeing the successful end of that plan. I have just completed the final patio on my desert home. Oh what a massive job it has been. You can see the photos.

In the last three years I have done electrical, plumbing, carpentry, masonry, roofing, heating and air conditioning, dry walling and so many other jobs that I can not beginning to describe. I have used tools that I have never used before. For me all this construction work is less about money, but more about exploring my capabilities. I have done so many things that I never dreamed I could do. So for me all this work has been an adventure in self realization. A person cannot know what they are capable of until they try. Granted, I grew up around this kind of work, so I had some knowledge, but I have done things way beyond that I ever saw my grandfather or father doing. There is also merit in know what it means when you turn on a faucet and then know where that water is coming from and where it is going and how it is coming and going. Most of us live too detached from the necessities of life. Drilling a hole in the ground and then seeing water bubble up is a wonder of life and then to direct the water for living is another kind of wonder. Because of construction I know these things.