What if Every Hand Was Winnable?

John HurlbutPersonal GrowthLeave a Comment

I’ve been playing a lot of Solitaire lately.  And by a lot, I mean dozens of games a day. When I was a kid, I spent every weekend and all day M-F in the summers with my grandparents. My grandmother and grandfather were divorced, but only lived a president away from each other in Manitou in South Tacoma. Grandma lived on Madison & Grandpa lived on Monroe only a block away from each other. On weekends my mom would drop me at Grandpa Ralph’s Saturday morning and I would stay with him until after Lawrence Welk, then he’d take me to Grandma Ruth’s in his old rusted out green 1966 Chevy pickup, where I’d lie on the floor and watch Love Boat and Fantasy Island. Then Sunday morning he’d come back, pick me up and drop me off for Sunday School. I’d meet Grandma Ruth and Aunt Evelyn for church. After … Read More

Achievement Unlocked! I AM a Pilot!

John HurlbutFlying, Personal Growth2 Comments

(Author’s Note: I originally started this post on May 11th, 2 days after I passed my check ride. Life got in the way and it took me a month to get it completed. I’ve got a few more posts coming! Sorry for the delay!)  Well it’s been over a month since my last post “Why I’m Not a Pilot Yet…Or What Went Wrong” so I guess I should catch everyone up. (Both of you) After failing to pass my check ride on March 27th, it took me a few days to get back in the airplane. There was a lot that lead up to that day and it was a HUGE emotional letdown knowing I hadn’t passed. I think my recounting of the events was pretty accurate as to what I did, what went wrong and what I could have done differently. The only question after that was “Do I … Read More

We Drank Wine, Missed The Schweinshaxe…

John HurlbutPersonal Growth, Vacation, Weight Loss1 Comment

My wife, Teri, and I love the Bavarian town of Leavenworth located in central Washington.  In fact we love it so much, we’re considering buying a vacation home there and maybe eventually retiring there.  I guess now that I’m 44, retirement is (hopefully) closer than it isn’t.  There is ALWAYS something to do in Leavenworth.  Whether your tastes lean towrd the active side of hiking, biking, skiing, snowshoeing or river rafting. Or the more mellow side of shopping, relaxing, dining and drinking, there is something for everyone in Leavenworth, all year long. Founded in 1906, the town was a sleepy logging town, just a blip on highway 2 until in 1962, the project LIFE (Leavenworth Improvement For Everyone) committee decided to turn Leavenworth into a mock Bavarian town. (Source:Wikipedia) What a fabulous idea!  Throughout the town, all the facades of the buildings were made to look like Bavaria.  Lots of … Read More

Just Call Me “Wog”… With VIDEO!!!

John HurlbutFlying, Personal Growth2 Comments

Well today was finally the day!  My first solo flight!  The day started out rather discouraging.  The automated weather at Thun Field (KPLU) is still out, so we’re still going on best information we have available to determine what the weather is doing, which usually means checking the METAR and TAF at McChord Field on JBLM.  They were reporting Marginal VFR conditions with the ceiling between 1,800 and 2,000 feet.  Pattern altitude at Thun is 1,500 feet, but being a student pilot I need to maintain at least 500 feet of vertical separation from the clouds, which means the clouds need to be at a minimum 2,000 feet. I arrived at the airport at 9:30 for my 10AM flight lesson.  I checked the gas and the oil in the plane and began my weight and balance calculations.  Since the automated weather was out, AND I REALLY wanted to fly, I … Read More

Big Dreams and Living Low Carb in Sin City

John HurlbutPersonal Growth1 Comment

This week I’m at a Real Estate Conference in Las Vegas.  I’m with nearly 4,000 individuals at the Mike Ferry SuperStar Retreat.  Now if you know anything about real estate trainers, and coaching companies, the name “Ferry” is pretty high up on the list.  Not only has Mike been training Real Estate agents for 40 years, his sons, Tom and Matt have also gotten into the real estate agent training game. Another prominent name in this forum is Brian Buffini.  Now if you know anything about me, you know I’ve been part of Brian Buffini’s system for over 11 years now.  I credit Brian and his “Referrals By Design” system with much of my success in my career really since it began.  I’ve been to probably 15 turning point retreats, two masterminds, and had a private coach for the better part of four years with Brian’s company.  I believe it’s … Read More

My Mind’s Eye…

John HurlbutPersonal GrowthLeave a Comment

I’ve written ad nauseam about my journey with my weight.  Not so much here, but on my other blog at http://johnhurlbut/blog It’s been something I’ve struggled with all of my life.  I mean I have literally tried everything to lose weight.  Weight Watchers, Atkins, South Beach, Cabbage Soup Diet, Hypnosis, Lap Band Surgery, I have done them all and a host of other things as well.  Right now my journey includes 3010 Weight Loss For Life.  And to be honest, it’s the most success I’ve had with a diet (lifestyle change) ever.  I’m currently down 42 pounds in 9 weeks.  Now do the math on that and it’s just shy of 5 pounds per wek.  I’ve got 9 weeks left and am hopeful for another 30-40 pounds in that time.  If that happens, I’ll be about 20 pounds heavier than when I graduated high school.  That just blows my mind. … Read More

Just a Couple Random Notes…

John HurlbutFlying, Personal GrowthLeave a Comment

Personal – I weighed 275.7 pounds this morning.  That officially puts me lower than the lowest I got after lap band surgery.  It also means that when I walk into my office on Monday morning, no one there has ever seen me this “thin”.  The next milestone to fall will be when I hit 266 pounds.  That was the lowest my weight was in 2002 after a few months and losing 50+ pounds on Weight Watchers.  When I hit 265 and change, it’s a good bet that no one in the past 18ish years has sen me at that weight?  I think I was around 270 in 1997 when Teri & I started dating.  There was a lot of working out then, but I don’t think there was much weight lost at that time. I have 12 or so weeks to go on 3010 Weight Loss For Life.  If I … Read More

My First Learning to Fly Post Not About Flying

John HurlbutPersonal GrowthLeave a Comment

So the tagline of my site is something like “Just a guy trying to fly, both literally and figuratively”. This probably fits into the latter category. Anyone who has ever read any of my blogs before knows that probably the biggest thing I struggle with is my weight.  I’ve always been overweight, obese, or morbidly obese.  In 2009 I tipped (shattered) the scales at probably close to 360-370 pounds.  I stopped weighing myself after I hit 350 and had basically resigned myself to the fact that I was just fat.  At some point that year I investigated weight loss surgery and opted to go in for the Lap Band procedure.  My official starting weight was 358 lbs at my doctor’s office.  They required me to lose 10% of my body weight before my surgery, which I did.  I was in the 320’s when I had surgery in August of 2009. … Read More