New Season

Lots of ‘newness’ in the past few weeks – new focus with work, new job (well not really a job), new relationship status, new energy, new place to rest my weary soul, new voice, and renewed passion.

Yesterday I listened for the very first time Kid Koala at his Space Cadet concert (yes I was a Kid Koala virgin and he was very understanding).  It was strange to lounge about listening to him while wearing headphones – made for a fantastic and interesting time.

Kid Koala – Live in San Antonio!

I’ve gone back to my work ethic from when I was living in Helsinki and studying in a program where there was stiff competition from around the world; Monday to Friday work hard and stay focused.  Friday at 5pm – relax, unwind, focus on friends, family and fun.   And don’t stop moving!  I’ll admit that these past few days I’ve been cheating on the ‘all work/no play’ during the week, but that will change as summer arrives.

I have a few things to update over the next week and I’ll make a concerted effort to write more here.  The last thing that I wanted to do was write out my feelings and musings about a certain topic when it’s of no concern to the rest of the world and I had not been able to answer the question of ‘why?’

Travel plans over the next few months – Beijing, Tokyo, Bangkok, Calgary (Stampede!), Montreal, Halifax, New York, Shanghai, Luxembourg, London, Bermuda, and a few others if I play my cards right.

I’ll leave you with some amazing jazz to put a smile on your face.  Have fun!

Orgy

It was a dark room – light coming in from the street casting off the slightest of silhouettes.  As I slowly became aware of what was happening I realized that I was experiencing a full blown gastrointestinal orgy – and everyone wanted to leave NOW.  Waking up at 4:30am to a gastrointestinal emergency is a nightmare.  Throw in the fact that I was sleeping in a place having never set foot in before, lights are off, the stress of having to catch a plane, and a vague recollection of where the bathroom is supposed to be – it was quite a fright.

It started with lunch at Magnolia’s Chinese restaurant in Niagara Falls, followed by home made tuna casserole (homemade hummus was the substitute cream of mushroom soup) and salad in Toronto, a few pitchers of Amsterdam Amber beer, and to top it off the Kings Crown Nachos at Sneaky Dees in Toronto with more beer.  It was a day of catching up with friends and getting to know new ones.  It started off innocent enough – food, followed by beer followed by more food.  It took a while for the orgy to get into full swing but as I left Sneaky Dees, I knew that it was not going to be a normal night.

The worst part is the orgy is still in progress.  As I write this, 18,000 feet up in the air on my way to Chicago (flight UA 541), I’ve abused the toilet and the ear drums of fellow passengers twice.  Some of them look at me with shame, others take pity on me but all are grateful to not be in my shoes.

United Airlines – your toilet paper sucks.  Of all of the cost cutting measures, nothing engenders the scorn of your flying passengers more than knowing that you’ve cheaped out by utilizing wafer thin sand paper that tears when you grab at it and somehow manages to shred skin when using it.   Raise you prices by a few cents for each flight, we won’t mind.  Ask yourself UA, who really wants to poop in a tin can thousands of feet in the air surrounded by strangers?  I’ll tell you who, people who have no choice.

In all honesty, I ate way too much only because I was having a good time and it’s been a while since I had been out socializing and drinking.  However I blame the refried beans in the nachos for my current predicament.  Refried beans are now on my “I hate you for the rest of my life because of what you make my body do against itself” list – to be avoided at all costs.  I think I’m on my way to becoming a ‘picky’ eater like my friends who claim they can’t eat gluten or lactose.

On a side note, this is my 100^th post since I left for Sendai, Japan October 15, 2010.  It’s weird to think that in three weeks it will have been a year since Japan was rocked by an earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster.  My heart goes out to all of those whose lives were devastated by the tragedy and to those who are helping them to rebuild.

Inspiration

Looking for inspiration – I have tons of inspiring quotes, media, books and resources on three topics – startups, marketing and business – but I’m looking for more.  Where do you look for inspiration?

On a side note, I’ve found it particularly hard over the past few days to not go back to my old ways.  I found myself staring at the screen having already written two or three pages – realizing that I cannot push that button that would send it on it’s way (instead of deleting, I did save it in case at some point in the future it would be acceptable to push that button again).  I understand the reasoning and logic behind it; I’m sad nonetheless.

The trip that I’m taking this week is a little more of a gamble then last months jaunt to the US.  I don’t know what’s waiting for me when I step off of the plane and although the meetings have been setup, it’s what’s going on when there are no meetings that matters most to me.  In any case, I have a backup plan just in case plans A, B, or C don’t materialize for whatever reason – but it pales in comparison.

My sleeping patterns have fallen back to four hours max then wide awake – I was more than a little crusty this morning.  It will only get worse over the next few days.  I’ll probably end up sleeping at the airport, on the plane, in weird places (waiting for a ride), just before a meeting, etc.  I may as well be doing the Uberman.

More later…

30 years ago…….

Happy 30th Birthday!  Yippee!

Ok, I’ll admit that a week ago I was not as happy.  For as long as I can remember, I’ve dreaded birthdays.  They seem to creep up on me around the same time of year the weather goes from happy and joyous to absolute misery and wetness.

I started the day off by waking up like most days around 5:20am.  This time I promptly went back to sleep until 7:30am.

Sleepy!

I managed a quick trip into the metropolis of Alliston to get a few things, then I was able to start my adventure!  I drove north into Creemore to find an elusive beer that is sold at a gas station.  Well it’s technically not beer – there’s no alcohol content.  You buy the 2L bottle for less than $5 and then you pop in a yeast pill and wait for 14 days.  After 14 days, you can say “NOW I have beer!”  Couldn’t find it and wasn’t really willing to get out of the car to look around gas stations (yes there are two gas stations in Creemore) for a beverage that I would have to wait 14 days to consume.  This trip was all about today and living in the moment.

Rolling rolling rolling

 

Mudders on a dump truck

I continued driving north through the lively and vivacious town of Stayner and watched all of the little teenie boppers march from the high school to Tim Hortons for their caffeine fix and lunch.  Normally, I’d say good for them, but it just so happens that Tim Hortons had a little trouble with homophobia (see related articles here and here and here and here and here) and I did not feel like joining the teenie boppers for homophobe coffee.

Onwards north I hit the junction between Wasaga Beach and Collingwood – where you go from 80 km/h down to 60km/h if you’re lucky.  I was not – 45km/h in a line of 20 cars all slowly making their way to Collingwood.  Eventually I made it to Collingwood, drove around a little bit and decided to grab something to eat.  Fast food was out of the question (I’m 30 now I have to watch what I eat!) and I wanted to find something within walking distance to the lake shore.

I parked and paid a total of $0.50 for an hour of parking then walked to the Huron Club.  I selected a veggie and chicken curry that did not disappoint and washed it down with a pint of Creemore beer (ever since I drove through the town I was thinking about it non-stop).  I paid my bill and walked north to the lake shore.  I dipped my toe into Georgian Bay, took some pictures as mementos, then walked back and made the drive back south.

Creemore Beer at The Huron Club

 

Delicious veggie and chicken curry at The Huron Club

Walking along Georgian Bay

Collingwood Grain Elevators

I opted for the non-geriatric traffic jammed route back towards Wasaga Beach and headed straight south along the Collingwood Airport.  The road went from ‘paved and smooth’, to ‘paved in the 80′s’, to ‘unpaved and bumpy’ to ‘holy shit I’m now a rally car driver!’  Needless to say it was fun and the view was amazing.

The Ridge

Reno'd Barn with windows

Dinner was amazing and I spent two hours in a sauna.  The celebration is not over as I will be in Toronto later on this week to catch up with people that I did not see on Oct 25th.  It also turns out that my body can feed 74 hungry weasals – how about you?

Created by Oatmeal
Points for the past two days:

• Oct 25th – Day 26 – 64 points
• Oct 26th – Day 27 – 92 points

The goal for the rest of the week remains the same – increase income by 10% and get a minimum of 63 points each day.  I have not done any fitness for the past two days, but I have had a few new projects come into my inbox.  Today was basically a recovery day to prep for tomorrow.  I’m aiming for the best day ever tomorrow and I’m armed with 5 questions that will turn everything around.

It should also be noted that all of the landscape pictures were taken with my little blackberry while driving at least 85 km/h.

Day 21 – 10 days to go

The countdown begins!

63 marketing points and a few setbacks.  Every year it’s the same thing – as my birthday gradually approaches – I start these manic swings in my life – good/bad, happy/sad, beauty/ugly, and so on and so on.  I’m starting to find it very tiring.  Throw in a few setbacks today and I’m going to have to spend a good chunk of tomorrow deep in thought – this means it will be very hard to hit my minimum target of 53 points.

Some good points about today – 140 new connections, a few new sign-ups for the Gobi Capital newsletter, connecting with some old friends, and learned something new today about a new investment product.

I guess I’ll start the day tomorrow with a nice long slow run somewhere new to get a fresh perspective.  Hurray for 5am runs!

(well maybe a 6am run)

Day 17

Today was a disappointing day for points, but a good day for web site deployment.  Four web sites that I’ve been sitting on have content, are out of maintenance mode, and live.  It might not look like much now, but it’s a start.

• Marketing points – 5
• Fitness points – 2
• Other points – 2

I have spent quite a bit of time looking at how different scenarios for the future could play out in the coming weeks.  On the one hand, I am reluctant to return to Japan (and excited to see other parts of Asia), but on the other hand I need to add more facets to my life aside from work.  I love working (especially when it is all consuming), but today and probably tomorrow are going to be slow and that is when I tend to lose focus.  I forget that I’m studying for the GMAT and learning Mandarin, I forget to go for a jog and I start to look for new work related projects.

So on Thursday, the focus is on moving all projects forward one step, options for a muse and doing the framework / layout for the new phone system – plus getting a minimum of 33 points (I need to keep that 7 day rolling average up above 33 points).