Let's do something BIG!

     It usually happens near the end of the bottle.  You're out with some friends and everyone's had a bit more than their limit when someone comes up with a great idea!  Ya! Let's do something big!  We could run that company... or invent that product... or open that store... or....  Who's buying this round?  No I bought the last one!  No I did!  And then all of a sudden you're back in your bed. The sun's up,  your head's pounding, and you're too sick to eat 'til it's dark out again.  You probably won't recall all those great ideas, or at least won't talk about them until the next time you're too drunk to remember.  It's a shame.  There's no reason you couldn't really do any of these things, but they're just too big to start.  That's why you only think them up after a bunch of booze, when you're ten feet tall and bulletproof.  Nobody wants to start small, but that's what you have to do.  And you have to keep doing it!  Think about it another way:  You could try to build a tree, but it wouldn't turn out right, and it would be a lot easier to just plant a seed.  So, hey! Lets do something small!  Eventually it'll be something big.  

Have a small day.   

Thankful.

     It's a day for giving thanks, and I am very thankful today.  I've got a belly full of turkey and all the fixin's, but only cause I was pretty lucky this week.  I crashed my truck coming home from work on saturday night, and came very close to not walking away from it.  There was a winding road, some gravel, a guard rail, a big hill, and of course, the tree which I barely missed.  After a short head-trauma-induced nap, I managed to get myself home without the car.  Talk about bad stories!  So, now I'm mostly incapacitated with a bruised ribcage and a pounding headache, and without a truck to get around, but you can bet I'm grateful to be with my family today.  

Have a thankful day.  

Photo update

Photos? I got 'em.

     So, I haven't been writing a lot.  Nor have I had a lot of things to write about bouncing around my head, but I have been photographizing quite a bit.  Here's what I've come up with:

I guess from now on, if I don't have anything to say, I'll just show...
And if you can't wait for a photo update, you can check out my flickr page which I update periodically.

Have a visual day.

I hope nobody's been reading this.

   
     This is important!  The election is coming up in less than a week and tonight the Chiefs play the Chargers.  This country needs a real change, but we're given the choice between the two candidates that pledge to treat all the symptoms of the problems we're having while leaving the causes unchanged (and unmentioned).  What's that?  You think you might consider a third party candidate?  Go ahead!  Throw your vote away! --And here's Lady Gaga with a song to distra-- er... empower you to chose either of the two political parties.  You were born this way baby!  The federal reserve system is killing our country and Snooki is having children, and I could tell you in great detail about why we're going down the tubes in about 15 minutes, but Taylor Swift broke up with Conor Kennedy this week, and Gary Busey got plastic surgery, and Vince Vaughn should get it, and Cate Blanchett will never get it.  What an idiot!-- I admire her commitment to age naturally-- I think she should be kicked out of tinsel town.  And the chargers are up 7-0 at the end of the first quarter.

     This may sound like a rambling useless post, but I'm trying to make a point here!  It's pretty easy to get distracted from the important things in the world, we've got celebrities, professional sports, new cars, iPods, and every other manner of consumer good that we couldn't dream up a dozen years ago, but can't live without now-- and it can only get worse from here.  Look at the websites on some of the links above.  The one web address is 'nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip'.  Think about that for a second; gossip as a subcategory of entertainment on a news website.  More and more, we are blurring the lines between news and entertainment, and becoming less informed in the process.  When celebrity gossip and fashion trends are presented as the most important things, they become the most important things to people.  It's getting to the point that any message that would be received and understood by a large enough segment of society to cause a change would have to be so dumbed down and diluted that it wouldn't be worth telling anyone at all.  I guess what I'm trying to say is that you can't really count on anyone else to make the changes for you.  You've got to inform yourself, dodge the distractions, and be the change you want to see in the world.

God, I hope nobody's reading this, cause I don't want myself to think I dumbed this down for everyone.

Have an informed day.

Better learn quick!

     It's getting cold!  But it's still warmish for now.  I was rained out of a little photo endeavor I had planned, so I spent the week doing things I haven't done much recently; playing poker (I thought I'd be rusty, but actually winning!) and during the dry days riding flatland BMX; both things at which I used to be quite adept, but which I've practiced much less than necessary to stay on top of.  Poker went well, as I said, but I still need a little work on the bike to get back all of my old tricks. I'm hoping to relearn enough before the winter rolls in to make a video for the site.  I was watching videos online to get some inspiration, and came across this:

GoPro HERO3

Great... a new toy I have to buy!   Maybe later, but if anyone would like to purchase me one of these, or purchase yourself one for that matter, you can do so here:  Gopro.com  I'll take the black edition, please!

Have a warmish day.

A story.

An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied, “only a little while.”

The American then asked why he didn’t stay out longer and catch more fish?

The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.

The American then asked, “but what do you do with the rest of your time?”

The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life.”

The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat, and with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats. Eventually, you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this take?”

To which the American replied, “15-20 years.”

“But what then?”

The American laughed and said that’s the best part. “When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.”

“Millions?” asked the fisherman, “Then what?”

The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evening, sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos!”

I came across this story in a jimmy johns sandwich shop of all places. It really makes you think about what your dreams and goals are, cause you might already have them and just not realize it.

Have an enterprising day.

Wait... Maybe don't.

Lucy, loosey.

      More photos from Braddock for today.  Above you'll see a picture of a friend we met in one of the houses.  We'll call her lucy.  We were shooting photos in a garage on a small alley when we heard footsteps coming towards the garage door.  I didn't think much of it until I saw a pair of work boots in the doorway behind Dana.  A moment of panic later we heard a woman's voice kindly asking, "What are y'all doin' in here?"  We explained that we were just taking photos, which satisfied her inquiry, and soon after we went on our way, but we were interrupted again a few steps down the road when lucy yelled to us, "Hey! Do y'all have 75 cents so I could get a loosey down at the gas station?" (A loosey is a single loose cigarette to those unfamiliar with the term).  I, of course, gave her the change and she then offered to show us into the upstairs of the garage we were formerly in.  We went up and got a few more photos, and soon came across a jar of quarters.  We didn't much care to take it from the abandoned house, but it didn't take long for us to figure out what to do with it.

Have a loose day.