Recently in Inspiration Category

http://zenhabits.net/2009/06/how-to-kill-your-excuses/

This is a great blog post on how to get past your excuses. We all make them, we all try to shirk our own personal responsibility for the things we don't want to do, mostly because we're frightened or too lazy. Get off your good intentions and get out there! As Nike says, Just Do It!

Hello everyone, long time no blog. I know. There goes that resolution :).

So, it's 1 am, I've just flown back from Colorado, and I'm sick again. Got some head/sinus/chest cold thing at the drop of a hat. It seems like my health has been horrible for this entire year so far, and I've had enough. Every time I get healthy, it seems to be an unstable health that falls down at the first sign of weakness, either lack of sleep or excess of one sort or another - my youthful constitution has waned and now I am failing my health rolls much more frequently.

It's officially 4/20, and while I haven't partaken of the ritual sacrament, I've got a 'holy' thought that I'm willing to enact. Each month for the next year, I will poll you, my readers, for one thing that I can adopt as a healthy habit or one bad habit to break, to increase my overall health and well-being. I'll collect up your suggestions, take the top 5 items, and put them on a poll which you will all then vote on. Given the assumption that the chosen behavior isn't f*cking crazy, and that I am physically capable of doing it, I'll try it for a month, and if it shows some positive affect in my life, I'll keep it. I'll give reports back on my progress, and you will collectively be my accountability coaches.

Is it a deal? Okay - starting now, I'll collect up suggestions for the next 2 weeks, then post the top 5 suggestions on a poll for the next week after that, and I will announce the winner and start performing it 5/20.

Rules:

1) I'm an overweight, out of shape dude with very little proclivity to activity - don't kill me out of the gate here. Give me achievable goals.

2) I'm not going to do anything that's actually risky to my health, nor will I do anything that's illegal, or likely to get my wife or my kids pissed at me.

3) It's got to be something I can do in 30 minutes or less a day. I don't have more time than that, realistically.

4) I don't want to post my entire medical health history online for obvious reasons. If you have specific questions, please email me and I'll reply.

5) The suggestion can be for physical, mental or spiritual health. I am taking the Chinese approach here.

If the winning suggestion is sane and reasonable, I'll do it for a month without complaint, and I'll report to the group the results along the way. Scout's honor.

Okay folks - I'm putting my health in your hands here. Help me get from where I am now to a better, healthier me one year from today.

Hello everyone, Sorry I haven't been around in the blog-o-sphere, but the truth of the matter is, I've been busy, and I've also started to try to fit in a corporate blog on Archer Web Solutions, so it's been hard to get enough energy or timing to post both there and here. That being said, it's a new year, and perhaps my mini-resolution will be to post something, just anything, once a day for 2009. I think it's a good experiment in my ability to keep with it (and not to back-date). So, this one's short and sweet - thank you, I'll be here all week (and all year). And don't forget to check out our blog at Archer Web Solutions :)

Hello folks,

After a large haitus, I'm rededicating myself to be back on the blog wagon. I may not always have a lot to say, but I need to have the daily outlet and the platform to talk about what's on my mind these days, because, frankly I'm doing a lot. My wife and I have been running a web business now for over a year (http://www.archerwebsolutions.com) and we've been doing very little marketing, because we've been overwhelmed and just trying to finish the things in the pipeline right in front of us. Now, we've taken the plunge to get an office and hire employees, and so it's really important for me to start to get myself out there, and I think that getting my blogging skills back up again is going to be a key factor of that. Not that I'm going to use my personal blog as a platform to promote my business, but rather, having the daily output of 'what i am doing' will drive my ability to write better copy and to blog in a professional capacity on our business blog. So, it's the morning and I have to get to business needs, but I thought I would drop a line and say 'hello again'.

Also, let me leave you with things little fun nugget:

Click to see my Star Wars Personality!!

This is really fascinating, and tells us a little bit more about the human experience:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/when-a-brain-scientist-suffers-a-stroke/

Check it out, and tell me what you think. No matter if you are a hard-core materialist, or a spiritual believer, I think there's a lesson here about finding out what it is to be human.

Hey there, It's been a few weeks since we last spoke, and much has happened between now and then (besides the death of our beloved hero, Gary Gygax - you have effected generations of gamers, and we will miss you) in the life of yours truly. I think last time I talked about leaving my current job, there was a question to what my employer would do about either keeping me on half-time or taking me on as a contractor, etc. As is turns out, my employer for their own reasons decided not to accept my offer of half-time, and I had to make the choice to put in my two weeks. That two weeks came to a conclusion this last Monday, and now I am on my own (with Julia, of course) in the world of entrepreneurial endeavors. As much as it would have been nice to take a vacation, I've hit the ground running, as we have current clients that need our attention. I've been working non-stop yesterday, and today, and it looks like the chute is beginning to open as I take the leap off the cliff of perceived security. I've got tons of paperwork to fill out still, and financial details to put in order, but the truth is, we are doing business. Between web clients and working on the Pachyderm 2.1.0 project, I should be plenty busy into the near future. Julia continues to bring in the clients, so we're doing just fine. Very soon, we have to get more team and start bringing in HTML coders, CSS hackers, and PHP programmers. Know anyone that's looking for contract work? So, things are good. I'm going to try to incorporate more regular blogging into my schedule, perhaps in the mornings like this, so I can make sure to get my mind clear and refreshed before I dive into my day of work. Until then, here's to being your own boss and working in your pajamas 24/7!

Okay, so it's been more than a day, but I've been busy in my life, and besides, I have much more to report now that you've patiently waited.

Some of you already know that I have been an amateur brewer and mead maker for a number of years now, having made small 5 or 10 gallon batches here and there to share with friends and family, toasting every winter holiday season with a little of my home made honey golden cheer. Well, this last summer I decided that I wanted to do a little more, and began in earnest to contemplate taking my mead professional. I found a honey provider that could sell to me premium honey in volume at a decent price, and bought 8 gallons (roughly 100 lbs of honey) and produced 40 gallons, or approximately 14 cases of mead. With this mead, I have been building a market amongst friends and acquaintances, and what's more, I've entered judged events. In specific, the International Mead Festival Home Mead Maker Competition, of which I have since learned that in the category of Dry Mead, of my 4 entries, I won first, second and third place. It's conceivable that I also won fourth place, but they didn't report results beyond 3rd.

This I took to be a sign. Actually, the first thing I thought, honestly, that there was some sort of technological quirk or mistake in the results (it was reported on a web page), but after my self-doubt subsided, it bolstered my resolve to take my mead professional. Interestingly enough, my mind had been on the mead for several weeks, and I had made moves on two fronts that are important to disclose, as they lead to my current news.

The first front is that of Paul Kreider of Ross Valley Winery in San Anselmo, CA. Emily, my mother-in-law, and a business owner in San Anselmo has been aware of my mead-making endeavors, and having tasted my most recent successes, has been trying for months to get me to come in and talk with Paul, to see if there was anything that we might be able to share, but in the very least to make a contact who was a local wine producer. The week previous to learning about my results from the mead festival, I made the resolve to make a date with Emily to go in and introduce myself to Paul, and to see how it went. On the Thursday of that week (two weeks ago), on the date that Emily and I set to go talk to Paul, that morning I discovered the results of the contest. Armed with that knowledge, and two bottles of my best mead, I went in and introduced myself to Paul. I told Paul about my mead-making endeavors, and handed him a couple of bottles of my best mead (one dry blackberry, one semi-dry orange). Paul, without batting an eye offered to trade me two bottles of his own wine in return, to which I gratefully accepted. I was to learn later that Paul started off as a garage wine maker, and therefore understood the hard work that goes into making wines. I casually told Paul about my awards, and mentioned I was desiring to go professional, and to which he instantly replied that perhaps we could do something together, where I could produce mead under his bond and at his facilities, because he knew how hard it was to get started. This was something I was planning on talking to him about eventually, once I won him over, but he offered this as a possibility on his own accord, without even having tasted the mead. He's been down this road before with a few other friend/wine-makers, so he's familiar with the process, and this is fantastic for me. I leave him with the two bottles, and he told me that he'll taste them and if he thinks he's got a market (i.e. if they're any good), that he'd let me know. Last Tuesday (about 4-5 days after I left him the mead), he calls and leaves a message on my machine. As it turns out, not only did he love the hell out of the mead, but the customers that he let taste the mead over the week also loved it, and he called me to let me know that he wanted to pursue matters further. In other words, he wants to play.

The other front is the honey provider from whom I procured the honey for my latest batch, John Gipson of Gipson's Golden back in August of 2007. At that time, I ordered 100 lbs of honey from him, and let him know that I was a mead maker and wanted to start producing mead professionally. He got really excited about this, and told me that he'd be interested in selling it if I ever got it off the ground. I told him I'd bring him a couple of bottles of mead when it was ready, and left it at that. Well, wanting to keep to my word and also wanting to light a fire under John's rear again, I dropped by a couple of weeks ago with my mead as promised. I left him with a few bottles, and we chatted about how he's got tons of connections through the stores he distributes to, and how he could totally sell my mead in those locations, in the same way he's also selling chocolates made from his honey from a provider in Reno. I tell him to taste it and to let me know what he thinks. Last Wednesday morning, (one day after the phone call from Paul), I get a call from John telling me that he totally loved it, was surprised and shocked at how good it was, and wanted to sell some in a 'limited run' to his connections, including Oliver's Market, of whom he knows the owner, and they said they'd be willing to showcase my mead. To John, a limited run is 50-60 cases, just as a 'test'. to the layman, 60 cases is 720 bottles, or roughly 150 gallons of mead. Considering the largest batch I've produced to date is 40 gallons, this would mean ramping up my production almost 400%. But, the Universe hates a coward, and I will rise to this challenge. If I can get him to commit to a purchase, I will most certainly make his limited run a reality, with possibilities for more on the uptake.

Last Thursday I came down to meet with Paul again and to look at his operation. I think it's gonna work out great for us. He's only thinking of a starting capacity of 40 gallons or so for the first batch, but I'm going to push him to allow me to make 200 gallons on his premises. I might have to buy some fermentation tanks if Paul doesn't have them to spare, but I will make it happen. Paul is an awesome guy, with lots of grass-roots experience, a laid-back style, and a talent for making excellent wine (I've tasted it.) I meet with him and his business manager on Tuesday, to go over particulars and to figure out what we need to do in order to work together. We'll draw up an agreement letter covering what we want to get out of the deal on both sides, and if all works out well, I could be producing mead as soon as the next couple of weeks, which once bottled and labeled, will be legally sold.

So, I am left with a ton of work to do to get things prepared, from label design and approval to DBA's to sales tax accounts, et cetera. The good news is, what I thought would be a retirement endeavor, or at least an activity put off for the next couple of years, turns out to be something I get to start right now. I'll keep you all posted on the status and progress of Beowulf meads (Trademark pending).

Tonight there was a surprise impromptu birthday celebration at my house for my good friend Mark, whom I've known for 24 years. Happy birthday, my brother. I hope you had a good time, because I know everyone else did.

So, I've been on this internal path / struggle / dialog around my relationship to the Jewish tradition, and what I want to make of that relationship for quite some time now (years, really), and without going into a great deal of detail right now (because I am too tired to list all of my reasons and reasonings), I've come to the solid conclusion that I will be converting to Judaism at some point in my near future. What is the key of this decision is a realization that I pretty much think and act like a Jew already, and converting is not a proclamation of any particular set of beliefs that I have or commit to holding to, as much as it is a commitment to walking a particular path of exploration; one that is traditionally skeptical, dialectic in nature, exploratory, focused on education and reason, as well as opening to the mysteries of life with an open mind and heart. It's a path that provides me with the intellectual integrity I demand, and the spiritual openness that I yearn for. And it feeds my personal desire for ritual in some very powerful ways.

So there it is. It's a long process that I'm in the very beginnings of, and reserve the right to change my mind at any point in the future, but the more I think on it and learn and read and contemplate, the more and more natural it all seems to me. So before I even broach this with my family (and other than my sister and brother-in-law, no one reads my blog in my family) or friends (well, this is my coming out to my friends, so HA!) I'm coming out to the internet. This is part of me practicing saying it out loud. At some time in the indeterminate but near future, I will be a Jew.

What's particular important to point out here, is that I come to this decision completely on my own volition and with absolutely no pressure from any other person in my life. It's true that I wouldn't be considering becoming a Jew if I had never met my wife, but it's not her decision or motivations that brings me to this point. To steal someone else's poetic sentiments, first I fell in love with one Jew, and through that Jew I have fallen in love with all Jews.

If you're interested in my particular reasons and observations, I am more than willing to share them with you in excruciating detail, but not right now, as my mind is not equipped at the moment to write the 30 page essay that would be required to tell you why I am making this decision. All you need to know is that it makes sense, and anyone that knows me and knows what it is to be a Jew would agree.

So where do I go from here? I study, I spend time with the idea, I meditate, and eventually I do some rituals and then I'm part of the tribe. Somewhere in the soon-ish time frame I broach the subject with my parents and family, so they aren't totally taken by surprise. I expect some hard times over it, especially from my mom. All I can say is this is not about them, and not an indication that I'm trying to separate from my family in any way. It's an identity that I'll be gaining, not an identity I'll be losing. It's a significant shift, but one that will leave me essentially the same person I am today, but just with a better label. When someone asks me what my religion is, I'll have an answer, instead of 'I'm a philosopher'. I'm joining a tribe of philosophers and deep thinkers, those whose tribal name and very home, Israel, means 'to struggle with God'.

I think I've leaked some information to my blog entries about this in the past, but I do believe this is the first time I've come right out and said my intentions with such positive conviction. I've only really come around to realizing my intentions myself over the last month or so, but especially in the last few weeks. Again, this process takes a year or more, and is something not done idly or impulsively. I'll keep you all posted.

i wanna rock: "

'What do you want to do with your life?!'

'I wanna rock.'

----

I read about this on Wil Wheaton's blog, and I totally want this game.