Archive for the ‘Life’ Category

Indefinite Hiatus

October 4, 2008

This past week concerned me. Maybe it has something to do with recently turning 30 and trying to adequately rear four children with concern for their future.

Elitist baby boomers are driving our country to the brink of failure. Political thinking within evangelical communities is wackier than ever. The two main parties and main stream media are controlling information and dictating the direction of our country at the behest of large corporations instead of by the wishes of us, the people. Our civil liberties are drying up. (Yes, nothing new, I know, but I’m not jaded enough, just yet, to accept apathy in these realms.)

It has disturbed me to the extent that I am having difficulty zeroing in on my business plans, not because I don’t enjoy business, but because I ‘m concerned that if these trends keep up my kids will suffer the consequences and I’m not sure how my business endeavors, in and of themselves, will help reverse these trends.

So, I’m disappearing for a while to organize my thoughts, search my soul, listen to some counsel, seek the good Lord and sharpen my focus - all with the goal of living the rest of my days to leave my children with the best heritage I am capable of shaping. Mushy? Idealistic? Maybe. But of great concern to me right now.

In the mean time if you need my portfolio you can find it here. If you are inquiring about my two web startups you can find ClickBricks here and Scoopd here.

Don’t worry, I’ll still be answering email and working on a few client projects. Thanks to all those who read this blog. I hope to be back soon.

Kingman Arizona

September 23, 2008

We lived here when I was eight years old. I remember lots of wind, trips to the Colorado River and almost stepping on a rattlesnake. The growth in Vegas is such that the two cities are starting to move closer together. Here’s an article examining resulting implications.

Fed up with the Fed

September 22, 2008

That’s the name of my new Facebook group where I am attempting to resurrect the idea that “we the people” are in control.

Visit the Facebook group page. Join if you agree. And spread the word as fast and as far as you can before Congress makes an egregious error and gives “dictatorial power unreviewable by the third branch of government, the courts” to Henry Paulson.

Favorite Quotes

September 19, 2008

“Daddy, you’re not an OLD geezer, you’re a FUN geezer.”

- My oldest son on my 30th birtday today.

Green Lemonade

September 15, 2008

A cool site I came across today encouraging people to eat local. My favorite part about the site is the list of yummy recipes they have posted. The lentil burgers take me back to my vegan roots as a young kid (my parents were 4th generation 7th day adventists, so their eating habits were very healthy.) Anyway, useful site if you’re looking to cook up some tasty treats.

Renewed Purpose

September 12, 2008

On Wednesday Fast Company ran the ClickBricks franchising article on their home page. Even though I had upgraded servers a few weeks ago, apparently it still wasn’t enough as ClickBricks came to a screeching halt. Luckily, I was online when the article went live and happened to be making some updates to the site when I noticed a “max_connections” error. I quickly changed the setting in the php.ini file which patched it together long enough for me to set up a virtual dedicated just for ClickBricks. It was a hectic day to say the least!

All the craziness resulted in over a dozen franchise inquiries! It also reinvigorated my love for design and made me miss blogging just for the sake of blogging. As a result, I’ve ditched the boring, white, “corporate” design for the dark style that I love and gone back to making the blog the focus. I’ll still add a few other pages of additional information, but for now I’m getting back to the basics.

Bowling, Museum and Aquarium

September 6, 2008

It’s been a busy few days including a trip to the bowling alley on Thursday afternoon, a rather disappointing trip to the Tampa Museum of Art this morning followed by a short tour of the aquarium.

To be honest I was utterly disappointed by TMA, but considering they’re in a temporary building while their new one gets built, I will cut them some slack for now. The aquarium was cut short by our middle son feeling terrible (he’s been sick for a few days, picking up a cold/flu from his older brother.)

Other than that we’ve just been keeping an eye on this and the “cone of uncertainty.”

Tropical Storm Bypass

August 20, 2008

After being laughed at for considering evacuating two days before Fay was supposed to hit Tampa, Tropical Storm Fay completely missed Tampa, turning east more sharply than the initial storm track predicted. A few things I’ve learned from the experience:

1. People who have lived in Florida for a long time were actually looking forward to the storm, one woman telling me “I hate living in Tampa! We never get lucky!” Ummm, I thought the storm missing us would be “lucky” but apparently there are quite a few people who think the opposite.

2. Don’t mention the “evacuate” word unless the storm is projected to be a category 3 or higher. If you do, you risk continual ridicule and a barrage of “rookie” statements.

3. Watch the projected path carefully. It fluctuates quite dramatically.

4. Regardless of what future storms do, remember what Job 37:11-12 says.

Back in ABQ

August 11, 2008

I’m in Albuquerque this week working on launching a site. Flying into ABQ this afternoon, I thought, “Wow, the Sandia mountains are very beautiful.” I also thought, after being able to see the entire city from about 200 feet, “Wow, I’m really glad we are in a bigger city!”

My parents met me at the airport and we went immediately to meet my sister and brother-in-law at the Range Cafe. Yum. Yum. Yum. Green chile rellenos, blue corn tortilla chips and huevos rancheros hit the spot big time.

German Historical Museum

July 23, 2008

There are thousands of amazing photographs on Flickr some of which I’m going to post under “Flickr Faves”. This one is taken in Berlin, where I hear the architecture scene is off the hizay.