Spine Surgery, Greek Life, and Phat Stacks $$$
Welcome back to my best, yet likely inaccurate, recollection of the history of BuildWitt!
In PART 4, I discussed my "methodology" behind choosing a university, the horrors of engineering school, and my first semester Dirt World highlight reel.
Winter break should've been a welcome reprieve from the barrage of engineering, but it wasn't, and that's where we begin today's story…
Spine Surgery
You probably have back pain if you're over age 40 and have a back.
I was only eighteen, but my back pain was INSANE.
School was no help. Sitting all day in the world's most uncomfortable chairs sucked for anyone, but the level of suck for me was next level. Something was wrong.
A sports medicine doctor sentenced me to a year of physical therapy. After many hours of stretching and ab workouts, my pain was still there, AND I wasn't shredded.
The next step was epidural steroid injections into the problematic area, my L5-S1 disc, at the bottom of my spine.
Nope. Damnit…
Surgery entered the conversation. We found one of the best orthopedic spine surgeons in Arizona. Back surgery is a serious conversation for anyone, but for an eighteen-year-old? It was near blasphemy.
The doctor was hesitant. He'd performed thousands of surgeries as a former military flight surgeon and in private practice. The procedure wasn't the issue; it was my age.
Doctors can often solve back pain through minimally invasive surgery.
But my disc entirely degenerated. Looking at the MRI, anyone could see the problem. I'll never forget it. Every other disc in my back was bright white, meaning they were healthy, while my bottom disc was black. After only eighteen short years, it threw in the towel. Weak ass disc...
I had three options: pain pills, a fusion, or a disc replacement.
The obvious choice was the replacement. It would likely solve my issue while allowing me full mobility for at least a few decades. Later, I could fuse it or, even better, hope for advances in modern medicine.
Only one problem—insurance argued it was "experimental." Instead of doing what I thought insurance companies should do, they said NEXT...
My doctor, a man at the pinnacle of modern medicine, argued with the insurance jackasses for months. He'd performed over fifty disc replacements with no issues, with hundreds more examples of success worldwide. NOPE... Experimental! Sorry!
What the insurance company would happily pay for were more pain meds. When my liver failed, they'd pay for that too—but solving the problem? Too expensive. The "experimental" stamp was their cheat code.
If you're thinking, "what a crock of shit," we were too.
However, by God's grace, my family could pay cash for the surgery, and I was wheeled into the OR days after my first semester concluded.
I emerged with a little piece of hardware costing more than a Honda, and I was walking (barely) later in the day—one heck of a Christmas gift.
After two weeks of recovery, I returned to school at the beginning of January with no one the wiser. A modern medical miracle? Absolutely.
Greek Life...An Introduction
Fraternities were a foreign concept until my first year. College is as much of a social experiment as high school. Similar, but with no parental supervision. Everyone's vying for a sense of belonging.
Since I was a lost little lamb like everyone else, I wanted in. But I had a problem... I didn't drink (alcohol).
Rewinding to High School, I studied Spanish in Costa Rica my first summer. Most other kids were eighteen, the legal drinking age in Costa Rica. You know where this goes...
Since I had a bad relationship with alcohol growing up, guilt hit me in the head with a baseball bat. I promised myself I wouldn't repeat my shameful act. I feared what would happen if I continued.
I didn't drink in high school, and I had no plans to change in college. EVERYONE drank, but I didn't mind. I enjoyed being the go-to driver. I promised a ride there but never back, meaning a ticket to go home whenever I desired.
But Greek Life? Drinking was the way. Most fraternities were out the window without alcohol. And not a beer here or there…
I wanted Greek Life but valued my sobriety more.
I learned about Lambda Chi Alpha from a friend. They were cool dudes known for NOT hazing new members. Other than an academic fraternity (less "academic" than you think), Lambda was my ticket into Greek Life.
The interview process is called "rush." As I've learned more about hiring and building strong teams, it's a terribly flawed recruiting process. More on that later…
The first round is open. The fraternity says, "we'll be at this spot Monday and Tuesday night," and anyone can show up and essentially shoot the poop with existing brothers.
If they think you're cool enough, they invite you to private rounds hosted at closed venues. Then if you're REALLY COOL, the final round is a fancy dinner. Ultimately, the members convene, review the final candidates, and vote on each person.
Whoever gets the invitation has their collegiate social status elevated forever. Does this really matter? Not at all... But as an eighteen-year-old male? Hell yeah, it does!
I rushed Lambda my first semester with my friend. He got in, and I didn't. I'm not one to give up, so I rushed again during my second semester. Leveraging my summer as a laborer on a pipe crew (everyone thought "laying pipe" was hilarious), I weaseled my way in.
"Orientation"
As badly as I want to discuss the "new member" process, it's best left out because people seem to be reading these…
Instead, I'll highlight a few key points.
One, I met some of my best friends thanks to Lambda. I'll be forever grateful for the relationships it created.
Two, I didn't have to drink, and I didn't (until I was 21).
Three, the day I got in, we had a "social" with Pi Phi, one of the top sororities. I went from invisible to mildly visible to some of the prettiest women I'd ever seen. Intoxicating? Take a guess...
Finally, due to arrogance (also foreshadowing), I was critical of the process we navigated to become official fraternity brothers. I saw flaws in the system and wasn't shy about pointing them out.
Few appreciated it, but I was dumb enough to do it anyway. And I'm not one to merely complain… I wanted to do something about it but I was only a freshman, so I'd have to wait for my turn.
Spring Break 2k14!!
I continued working at Markham. The office work was similar, but Chris Kmetty occasionally pulled me into engineering and estimating. He led alternative delivery projects, and each was a new puzzle. I loved brainstorming phasing, finding existing utilities, and learning how expensive building stuff is.
Then came spring break... Rather than run off with my new Greek Life friends to exotic places like Mexico, dirt came first.
I house-sat (to make money) and worked (to make more money). Talk about a WILD spring break!
Markham was building a new neighborhood west of downtown Phoenix called Verrado. Still in the mass-excavation phase, they had a HUGE fleet of iron—large excavators, scrapers, articulated trucks, dozers…
I stood there and drooled the entire time. I didn't know it yet, but I'd get to know Verrado A LOT better soon.
Phat Stacks $$$
I hate that I continue meandering into extremely unrelatable topics, but the story is the story, so sue me (don't sue me… I have nothing to give you. It would be a waste of your time). You can stop reading if you're tired of hearing about how "hard" my life's been.
When the world ended in 2008-2009, my dad invested $10K per kid (me, Tyler, and Olivia) in the stock market to finance college.
The timing was impeccable… EVERYTHING appreciated. By my second semester of college, the S&P 500 was up by 3X.
Here's where it gets more unbelievable… Instead of dripping the money to me as needed for college, as any other parent would, my dad transferred the entire sum to my account.
$34,000—I remember seeing the amount for the first time on my phone while in class. WTF?
Combined with the phat stacks I'd earned from my summer in construction and recent aquarium liquidation, I was LOADED.
But I didn't go wild with it. I took this new responsibility seriously. Why? My parents always trusted me, and I didn't want to ruin it.
Dumb Luck
I studied investing with an intensity I should've reserved for my degree. I loved it.
The $34K was in stocks, like Apple and Disney, and cash.
Since ASU was paying my tuition and I was working, I had dry powder. It was time to make my own moves.
I met with advisors and gathered their best advice. I read Fortune, Forbes, and The Economist and watched CNBC every morning. I was glued to my stock app like it was TikTok.
After a few months of studying, I sent it. I invested in frac sand, medical technology, airlines, railroads, oil services, big tech, and a little company called Wave Systems. I heard about WAVX through my friend's dad, who believed in their technology. I can't explain it to this day, but his belief was good enough for me. I went big.
One morning, I picked up my phone to peruse my holdings and act like I knew what I was doing. RED RED RED… Wait… What?
WAVX was up 85%. I didn't ask questions. I cashed out with a big smile on my face.
I grew my portfolio a few times over in school. Was I smart? I thought I was for a moment, but I slapped myself and snapped out of it. I wasn't good… I was lucky.
By the time college concluded, I'd hung up my investing hat. I'd established a Roth IRA and moved most of my money to either cash or an S&P 500 index fund. Had it gone the other way, I could've lost the seed money needed for BuildWitt.
The End of Year One...
Everyone was sad about school ending because it meant they were heading home to live with their parents in central PA all summer.
But me? I was FIRED UP… I was back to the dirt. A happy kid once more. Construction job number two…
That's a story for another newsletter… Until then, stay dirty!
Dirt Talk Podcast
The guys dig into questions on topics like hard hat stickers, using LinkedIn to build a business, and discussing where a 22-year-old should start when coming into the industry to start a career. Aaron also reflects on the most important decision(s) that have had the biggest positive impact on BuildWitt’s culture.
Vlog
In this episode, Jarryd McNeil, 15 times X Games Medalist, showed us around his backyard freestyle motocross track. (The course was self-made using an excavator, skid steer.)
Jarryd is a passionate motorcyclist and extreme sports enthusiast, and this track is perfect for leveling up his abilities in the comfort of his own backyard.
I’ll see you next week!
