Dear Grandma Link,
Thank you for posing for this… kidding!!! You’re much better looking and you certainly don’t need to make such a gesture to get your point across. First of all, your points are always more positive, and second, a twinkle from your left and/or right eye seems to work wonders.
When I started going crazy, I was seeing auras. The strongest two were yours, purple, and mom’s, pink.
I noticed the other day that I have your sense of humor. I learned this when I was a kid and you had Andy and I laughing all the time. Grandpa was funny, but you always brought the house down.
One of the first things I noticed about my daughter is that she has your eyes. The color is from my Granny Winett, but the shape and character comes from you. I love that she calls you, G.G.
Grandma, you have said two things to me in the last few years that echo in my head frequently.
The first was when we tried to start that new Vigoris project. Everyone was there including mom. Paperwork was signed. Then you said, “Well, we believe in you, Joe.”
The second was on the phone a while later, after mom died and I completely freaked out, when you said, “You’re just going to have to do it yourself, Joe.”
Trying to do things myself has helped me immensely. I’ve come a long way, but I’ve also had help.
This blog talks about some of the people who have helped me including Dennis who invented a job for me when I know things were tight. Luckily, I had rearranged my priorities in such a way, that I saw very low pay as lots more pay than no pay. Gratefully, I saw the glass as not empty.
Thanks to you and Grandpa, how you raised mom, and thanks to the Winetts, I was afforded an excellent childhood. I never went without a thing. My parents divorced, and that sucked, and I took it hard, and I missed my dad, and I was angry at my mom, and I acted out, but they were able to get me a computer, a consolation prize, and I studied it night and day, and now I’m one of the best programmers around.
I hesitate to write anything about programming, because I’ve said some big things and I have yet to make anything big happen.
Well, I did run Vigoris for a long time and I did have lots of loyal customers and there was a lot of software performing customer service duties making it possible for a one-man-show to keep lots of customers.
I’m so sorry I freaked out and threw everything away.
My failure to sell the business was inexcusable. It was a failure of my fiduciary responsibility to my investors. They would have gotten their investment back had I just attended a couple of meetings and signed a few papers, but I was hurt, and I was crazy, and I couldn’t get it together, and I delayed, and that offer went down the road.
You said back in 1996 not to worry about the money if Vigoris didn’t work out, but I still do, and I still want to pay everyone back.
I don’t believe in bankruptcy. I said it when I was the Accounting Unit Manager and I had to deal with our customers going bankrupt. I said it when Git-N-Go went bankrupt and Vigoris was dealing with court documents. And I said it when I was in trouble. Unless my kids were going to be homeless, and they weren’t, I was never going to go to a judge and say, “Hey, I promised to pay all these people, but now I can’t, and I want you to let me not pay them everything I owe them.” It just isn’t fair.
It’s going to take a while, but I will pay everyone back.
One of the things that grandpa said that rings in my head was about a guy who paid him back.
I actually owe you and grandpa a little more than you might be aware of.
I also owe mom, now Steve Sparks, a little more.
There were a couple of times I was in a jam and they both helped me out and saved the day. They did it without paperwork, but I gave them each a note with my signature on it.
I told Lee Elliott back in 1996 that I would not be returning to the family for money. And then in 2004, the family did cosign on that note for me. And I flipped out, and you and grandpa and Sparks ended up bailing me out again.
I owe everyone.
There’s just no way to pay everyone back, including banks, in my lifetime, on a regular salary, or even on a programmer’s lofty wage.
The only way to pay everyone back is to finally get businesses going which makes lots of money.
I’ve been working on plans within plans for years now.
I need to put $25 million dollars to work on the Internet and here in Shawnee.
I need seed money to build prototypes so I can go to people who have that kind of money or to find a way through to public equity financing (stock).
Would you please pray for an angel investor who believes in me enough to simply hand me $100,000 which I will immediately hand over to my partner. 🙂
Oh, Dennis and I have this arrangement — I’m never allowed to hold the checkbook. I told him the story of me giving away the $50,000.
Our problem is that we’re spending so much time keeping his business going that we don’t have the time to invest in building businesses which will generate income on a recurring basis instead of on a labor basis. This is a classic problem for lots of businesses who want to switch out of a consulting role and into more of a production role.
We need some money, so that when we complete this round of projects for our customers, that we can bring these new projects into the mix. We need to invest in a little equipment. We need to pay a few people to help us out.
Enough about business.
For my birthday, I would like peace on Earth. If that’s not possible on such short notice, would you please make me something to eat? I love your cookin’.
You’re the best!
Love,
Joey Baloney
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