Next step

Things are going pretty good. I hope to have the new Dojo open Monday to start taking sign-ups and have our first class on Wednesday. The web service I've been working on for half a year is almost ready to launch. Good or bad, I'm glad it will be online. School is out for the quarter and I'm undecided about taking another class next quarter. I'm afraid if I don't then I may not go back for a very long time, again. The non-profit is on break for December, cool. Regular work is fine, wet, but fine. I am looking forward to June surprise; it still doesn't feel real yet but as the months go on it solidifies. It's all good (=
Take it cheezy............

Give your money to this kid

If you've got extra cash to donate to a good cause but are tired of the usual charities why don't you funnel some dineros to this kid:



http://greenbuildingelements.com/2009/02/26/12-year-old-makes-homeless-shelter-from-trash/

I hope my son has it going on like this dude when he's 12.

Friends From Afar

For the last 3 & 1/2 years I have driven the same stretch of highway to work. When we first moved down here I didn't really know anyone except Kel's family. Sure I got along with most of the guys from work and I definitely did not have a problem socializing, but I hadn't really made any "friends" yet.

One of the things that really struck me about this area is the wildlife. You can see bald eagles by the bridge, deer and bear crossing the highway, flocks of pelicans as of a few years ago, and countless other critters everywhere you turn.

During my first few friendless weeks here driving that stretch of highway I spotted a big ass bird standing in the ditch by the side of the road. I watched him as I drove past and he just stood there, still as a statue until I went by. Then in my rearview mirror I saw him dart his head into the water in the ditch and pop back up. Now I don't know what he was fishing for but he got something pretty satisfying from the way he looked around afterwards as if to say "Did you see that shit? Yeah, that's right!"


Well I was pretty sure I knew what he was and I confirmed it when I saw another big ass bird like him and my wife ID'd it as a heron. Super cool and really a surprisingly graceful bird for being so awkwardly tall.

Over the next months I found myself looking for this heron every time I drove by that spot. Sometimes he would be there, sometimes not. Usually he was in the same water-filled ditch (it's wet here most of the year) but sometimes he would be up the road a ways. A couple times I had to slow down to watch him take off into flight. Incredible the wingspan and the power it took to get this lanky Avian off the ground. Usually he would just head across the road to light on the branches of an old snag but sometimes he would soar away into the woods in the distance.

Years went by and this heron became part of my routine. I showed him to my wife a few times and I even considered stopping for a photo opp. thinking he might be docile enough to pose for a pic. When work was rough or boring I always had a place deep down (sounding cliche, I apologize) where I looked forward to the possibility of seeing my bird friend from afar. A friend he had become indeed.

It was inevitable, this great heron and his daily roadside fishing, this great heron and his fearlessness, this great heron met his end this morning.

I came along after the fact, just a fan of wing softly fluttering in the breeze, feathers point skyward in a kind of farewell wave. I figured he probably tried one of his patented take-offs in front of a speeding vehicle unfamiliar with this overly confident great heron's M.O. I just hope he didn't suffer...

Ironically I did not realize how important this bird had become to me, how comfortable I had become with the familiar sight of his tall, blue, feathered head sticking up from the swamp reeds, how he had come to represent a piece of this place that for me was unattached to any of the daily rigmarole and bullshit, until he was gone.

I lost a friend today.

H.ip C.ats R.eading <-- Hidden Acronym

(I borrowed this pic above and the awesome video below from http://www.idrawcats.com/ )

This video will give you shivers if you're an Arachnophobe like myself.





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I posted this spiel on a childhood friend's FB wall because I was feeling inspired at the time and was tired of the whining and liberal bashing. Read this if you have absolutely nothing to do and feel like boring yourself to sleep.
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This is a difficult issue to address but we have to start somewhere. You can't just hide from the problem and then snipe at the people trying to make a difference. It's easy to tear down and belittle the efforts of others but where are the rational and reasonable suggestions from the opponents?

It's great that I have insurance and most of us with decent jobs do too. What about those who do not. Do we ignore them? Do you think the young, single mother doesn't deserve access to healthcare because of her mistakes. It must be nice to walk through life with blinders on.
When did it become un-American to take care of our sick and homeless that can't (not don't want) but can't take care of themselves.

Where is the pride that our nation once held strongly enough to boldly proclaim - "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" at the foot of the Statue of Liberty?

I am ashamed and embarassed of so many of my fellow Americans that I should be able to respect.

I wish we could just move forward and make this work for the good of the people and the good of the country.

Non-funny

So I usually try to put up something amusing here to entertain and keep you coming back every 17 or 18 weeks... but not now, not tonight. No I am simply giving a quick update until I get a chance to make a good and happy post on my vacation in a few weeks. W00T!! I'm very excited about that.

Life is great and busy and challenging.
Baby is growing and talking.
Work is stupid, too many things not going quite right.
Side business is good, too much work, too little time.
I have a lovely wife, I see her sometimes. I'm looking forward to our road trip, we always travel well together.
The non-profit foundation, light demands but heavy on my mind.
Family... have not made enough time for my side of the family. I miss them.
Overall, I feel good about everything regardless of how it sounds. After all I'm stupidly, maybe even manically optimistic.

Now I'm going to watch some crappy horror movie and eat the rest of my wife's Milk Duds. LOL.

Nitey-nite.

Oh yeah!!!

I haven't made the time to post here in awhile. As all of you who read this blog know life has been pretty busy as of late. Why then you may ask, am I finally posting? The reason is short and sweet.

That the cataclysmic douchebag/worthless pile of canine feces that was my co-worker (whom you may remember from this tale http://shinybeerdragon.blogspot.com/2006/10/keens-or-danskos.html) is LEAVING!!! W00T!!! W00T!!! Let's get the party started!

Yes, I need not say much more other than he is transferring out to another area, very far away. I am ecstatic. I was thinking to myself that if I were to become supervisor here in a couple of years, most, if not all of the people on my crew that I like would be gone leaving only captain assface. But no longer, he is going bye bye. I have pressed my supervisor into getting the job posted already (even before fucktard has left) to be sure that it is filled and he can't get it back.

What a fantastic year this is turning out to be!

Business Launch Official

I made my first two sales in the first two days in business! I will be designing 6 mobile-websites and QR code signs for some local real estate agents. W00T!


Oh and for the record I am coining the term "QRL". It's a combo of QR and URL and it refers to those QR codes that link to the web! I know, I'm an UberDorkus.