It is a quandry, I'll admit. Confusion is not something I'm proud of but a certain amount seems to be unavoidable, for me anyway. And I am happy for the freedoms in America. I don't think it would be healthy to try to outlaw the building of big houses.

The point I'm trying to make is that it might not lead to our best overall health and welfare to consume so much. I often thought, while building those grand palaces, that I would rather build more modest stuff for more average people. Well (be careful what you wish for) I'm doing that now. The money is not quite as good but I'm learning more as most of what I do is completely independent, so I have to know more to run things start to finish. No health plan, no dental, but I'm getting by.

The longest job I was ever on (2 1/2 years) was the building of a 16,000 sq. ft. house in Portola Valley, which is a bedroom community just west of Palo Alto, Stanford, et al, for a heart surgeon/inventor/Stanford prof. This guy invented the first balloon catheter in '62 or '63 I think. Took him 3 years to find someone who wanted to manufacture it. He has around 70 medical patents. Oh man, just one month's worth of his checks in the mail. He was/is one of the finest, most likeable guys I've ever met, rich or poor. Some of the mega bucks dudes I worked for were insufferable, IMO, but this guy was a class act. He would visit the job almost every day, walking around, and when he would come into a room I was working on, if I didn't say anything (which generally you shouldn't) he would linger and say in this inimitable style, "So....how ya doin'?" If you saw this guy in a coffee shop, you'd never suspect he was a billionaire.

It is estimated that his first device alone has saved the lives or limbs of around 15 million people (blood clot removing device). One of his devices is or was in Dick Cheney's chest, but I won't hold that against him.

My point is, no way am I going to begrudge this guy his money. Nonetheless, his two sons, 30ish, have all the earmarks of idle playboys. Official occupation, both: stock car racer. One of the guys on the job, a steel framer, was an avid weekend racer and he says neither one of them was especially good. I don't mean to knock the doctor on this. Money can be weird $h!t, with all sorts of bizarre manifestations. My dad was way poorer in his youth that I was with growing up with him, and he matured a lot quicker....hell, I'm still a bit flaky, sorry to say. Which brings me to my estate tax rap, which I'll hold off on.

But, I don't mind the question/assertion Narwhal. It's a fair one. To me, a lot of modern life is like being in the middle of a herd of buffalo that may or may not be stampeding towards a cliff. What d'ya do?

Full on hippie idealism is not too groovy and I'm not shooting for that, but I'm not in the kind of world I want either. Oh well...

cmac