After taking time i finally came to a decision on continuing channel.... but then this happened!

This video is brought to you by Miniature Market. Thousands of board games, miniatures, and paints. Discount prices at miniaturearket.com. Hey everybody, it's your old pal Rob. I want to wish all of you a very happy new year cuz when you're watching this is going to be on uh January 1st or later depending on when you watch it.

And this is a funny thing because originally how this was supposed to go was just basically wishing everybody a happy new year and uh kind of kind of hanging up the the tights as we would say. Um uh about a month ago um I I ran an auction and it wasn't going good. We were trying to get new equipment and I've been fighting this battle um with myself, with everything uh with the channel for the last 3 years as far as being able to really kind of make decent content.

Um the biggest problem has been since we moved here and this will it'll be three years April. Um is it three years April? I think so. Um that we got screwed by um e um Xfinity. Um, and they were supposed to run fiber co uh fiber wire up here and we signed a contract and then they came back and tried to charge us $60,000 to do it and said, "Well, we're not doing it." I go, "We bought this house with the with the knowledge that, you know, you were going to put this in there.

You know, this is one of my businesses and you're hurting us." and they didn't care and it was something that we weren't going to win and didn't want to get into a war especially since we bought the farm here. Um even before that I was struggling when my I had my arm injury and with co you know trying to keep things going and it was always such a tough thing.

Um, the last three years though have been very difficult cuz you don't have the internet and I was somebody that was streaming almost, you know, three or four times a week, uh, live plays and stuff like that as well as doing reviews and everything else that I would do. Um, and you could do that. Um, but coming here, I had to change things up.

The equipment got old um, and the channel got old. And it it got to a point where, you know, at the beginning of December, I really kind of sat there and I said, "My god, I'm doing the one thing I didn't want to do is be like that old athlete that tries to hold on to playing because you love it so much that you just are out there and you're just you can't perform anymore.

you can't be that guy anymore. And and that's kind of where I was. You know, there's a lot of other variables into it. You know, there are 50 million channels now compared to, you know, 5 years ago. Um, let alone 10 years ago when there was only a handful of us. Um, but now everybody is a content creator and you get lost in the sauce if you can't keep up and and really produce uh really great content, you know, and be inventive because people love the infomercial.

They love the big flash and the glitz and and you know, the special countdowns, you know, there's a formula and if you can follow it, you follow it. I was never that guy. I was always that guy that kind of just did my own thing and wanted to be different, but understood that there were certain criterias that you had to follow.

And when the auction went real bad earlier um earlier in the month, I just realized that number one, I just can't keep up anymore. And I was at peace with what I've done, everything that I did. you know, I I was very very happy. If you notice, I haven't been on on Sundays live or anything like that.

And I just kind of stopped doing things. And for me, you know, it was kind of nice. It was kind of letting go finally and realizing that, you know, you know, sometimes you got to put the h out out the pasture if you just don't got the saddle to ride it. And um and that's the way I kind of felt and I I I was you know this isn't oh I didn't have enough you know I'm not whining I'm just telling you you know that in the long run I was really really just at peace with things and you know for the last couple weeks it's been nice and quiet and I come out here and my grandson and I are painting battletech and there's just no pressure to do much of anything.

I've made one or two videos in the last 3 weeks that I had to put up and you know for for people that mean something and uh a matter of fact uh uh you know one you one of them was a video game for crying out loud. Um, but when I, you know, just when you think you're all the way out and you feel good about things and you just say, "Well, you know what?

You know, I'll sell all the stuff on eBay or do it that way or whatever uh I wanted to do." Uh, [sighs] I think when you're at your I wouldn't even call it your lowest, but when you're at that moment when you just kind of think you got it all figured out, somebody throws a monkey wrench into things.

And one day we were just I was just because I've been on vacation and uh we got a knock on the door and uh open up the door and there's this woman and one of the orange vest and she goes, "Well, uh, hi. How are you? Yeah, I'm not trying to sell you anything. I go, okay. Yeah, it be a pretty stupid thing to drive all the way up that that half mile driveway if you're trying to annoy me because it's an awful long way to get down.

But, uh, she goes, I'm from Cox Media and we are going to be running fiber octave internet. And I'm thinking to myself, here we go again. because when we first bought the house that you know Xfinity, oh yeah, we could run you off a node and it didn't happen. You know, they backed out. Then the second time, like a year later, uh my wife was always checking to see if they were changing and because they put a development about four miles down the road and figured that they were going to have to run things through certain areas.

And the guy goes, "Oh yeah, we could do that. Just give us a check for $10,000." uh which we did and then they came back and gave us the whole $60,000 spew again after you know we said are you sure because we don't want and they held on to our our money for like four months and uh that hurt you know because we had hope.

So, you know, here's this person coming up to your door and going, "Hey, we want to do this." But what they wanted to do and what caught us off guard and the way we had it written up was they wanted to go through our property because so they could take care of all the people down the street and they couldn't do it unless they have access through our property and asked us to sign a waiver that would allow them.

And I said, "Okay, are you going to be digging a fence, you know, that my cows are protected by or anything like that?" And no, right by our road, they needed permission because we own past the road and we actually own a piece of that road and uh they can't do it without us. And I said, "Okay, so we let you do this.

How are we going to get it up to the house? Is it going to cost us 10, 15 grand?" "No, no, no, no. we'll be able to do it. I checked and I go I've heard all this before. I don't want to get my hopes up and you know because my main problem has always been internet. I can't do anything. You know I uploading a video.

This video will probably take me you know a good couple hours to upload and that's a pain in the neck. It's really tough when you're so used to being you know on fiber and doing things quickly and being proactive. It's one thing that people don't watch. Uh, you know, if you're making bad content, but when you can't put out the content you want, it's frustrating and and will wipe you out.

But we looked at everything. They they showed us the schematic. They understood the how they were going to have to get the wire up to the house here. And they said, "It'll be no charge to you if you you know, especially since you're going to give us access through your your landpoint." So, we signed the papers and did that.

And because of that, um, I'm going to hang around and see how this comes to fruition. Now, they're saying six weeks, so all of January. I'd have to wait and then part of February before we really get up and going. And it's two gig down and a gig and a half up, which is, you know, like a fairy tale for for us.

Um, and of course we would have the business plan, but of course I still need new equipment. So in that six weeks I am going to just run and all I want to do this year is maybe run two to maybe four [snorts] uh auctions just to keep the space the way I like it um during the year. But I'm going to run another one and hopefully we can raise up the money to get the new equipment to go with the new internet.

And if that happens, I'm going to keep going here. Um, I I I think I like to go out on my own terms instead of what has transpired where things have just worn down to a point because you just don't have the a equipment b the proper internet access and internet um authority to be able to transmit the product the way you like to do it.

And I love to do live plays and I love to do live, you know, reviews and things like that, showing things off and and talking to everybody and just coming on and stuff like that. You know, there's been times it's been so difficult and, you know, wi with a camera blowing out and now just down to this uh laptop is barely hanging on and just realizing that I just need to upgrade this and what I would need to do and if I got that internet, you know, press forward, see what happens.

If things get better and you do well, you keep going. If not, you know, you walk away with your head held high. And you know, how many of these channels last, you know, 11 years, okay? And it's something I've been very very proud of. Uh something that has been just absolutely fantastic. It's been it's been wonderful.

Um and something I'll never forget. And um you know, we're going to try to keep going. So, we're going to be holding an auction probably this Sunday. I'll come on and I'll show everything. We're not going to do everything that we did last time. We just need to raise uh enough um the way we figured it out uh from with what we've gotten from prior that I put aside.

I need about I need about 2500 bucks and um I'll be good to go. So, we're going to try to raise that up. Uh the auction will start this Sunday. And uh you know, if we can get step one done, if we can't, then you know, maybe I just go quietly. I have enough videos running all the way up to February. So, uh you know, we'll we'll do what we can.

We'll figure it out. Um I like to keep going. It's something I enjoy and the extra income doesn't hurt. you know, you know, we get a little bit from YouTube every month and but you know, I was getting a lot more when the channel was, you know, a lot more popular and you you you know, it was worth doing.

Now, it's really not. But but that's not why I do it, you know. And I think of all the great people out there, the Rhondas and and Play Till It Hurts and all the people that have been around for so long, the Phoenix's and and uh uh you know, Warhammer Quest, you know, the monk himself, the great one uh and and all of these fantastic people who have supported the channel, developers, uh my great support from Miniature Market, Trading Card Market, you know, all those people is why I do what I do because I love what I what I've been doing and I like to keep doing it.

Um, but either way, there's no regrets. I mean, what what a how many people dream of of even getting to where I got and uh you know, it's just uh it's something I never expected and something I'm very grateful for and very grateful for all of you. So, let's see how it goes. We'll give it a shot. We'll talk more about this on Sunday.

But, uh, happy new year. I wanted to say happy new year to everybody. I hope you had a great Christmas. I wasn't really in the mood to to go on and go, "Hey, merry Christmas." when when I wasn't feeling it. Um when I was sitting there trying to make a decision what I wanted to do. Um it's been very difficult but um I think uh you know sometimes blessings come from the weirdest places and we'll we'll we'll see how it plays out.

My dear friends, until next time and I'll answer all your questions on Sunday. Until next time, it's your old pal Rob. We shall see you guys very soon. Go Hawks. Go Leafs. Let's go. Uh it's been very interesting with those two teams, too. Uh we'll see you soon. Have a safe New Year's. I hope everything's going well for you guys and I hope you guys have a prosperous and great year.

And uh we'll talk to you very soon. And we'll see how we keep things going. Until next time, my dear friends, it's your old pal Rob. We'll see you soon and be sure to go to tradingcardmarket.com. The very best at sports cards, non-sports cards, trading card games, and accessories. Be sure to sign up and get $10 off any purchase over $50 or more.

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