The dream

If you have ever skated, surfed or snowboarded there is a common dream among the people that do this.  That dream is to have your own personal skatepark, wave or mountain.  One that you have to yourself built to your dimensions that fits your style of passion.

A perfect example of this is Ken Block's piece of paradise outside of Park City, Utah.  He has and lives that dream.  One that he can go to on any snow filled day.

Ever since I began to surf I have had that recurring dream to surf a perfectly formed wave over and over again.  Until two years ago that was a figment of my imagination.  Then I came across a manmade wave that was produced in Spain.  A wave that repeats itself perfectly day in day out.  My dream has changed.  Come hell or high water I will bring this dream to the USA.

Here we go.

Ahhhh yeah.

B to the U.

Isn't growing up the craziest? I feel like it is a continuous process that will never end. Right when you reach a point where you have some grasp of what you think is a handle on life something absolutely out of the norm takes place. Take for instance what my wife and I celebrated yesterday. 13 weeks pregnant. We decided it would be cool to try and start having kids. That was about 14 1/2 weeks ago. Based on what the doctors tell you and how long it took her sister to get pregnant we thought we would have ample time to try this process out. Nope. The handle that I thought I had has disappeared...especially when you see the ultrasound. 99% stoked 1% freaked.

Next step of growing up here we go. But that is life and now it is on to find the next thing to grasp on to...being a parent.

Open Your Eyes

It has been a year. Why has it been a year? Because life happens and you lose sight of what is important and sometimes where your passions lie.

Business as Usual.

"Call & Response"

A documentary that opens your eyes to the human trafficking problem that is facing this world. A form of slavery that commits lives to prostitution, labor and death. We had the honor of having "Call & Response" featured in our local McMenemin's Mission Theater. This documentary features artists from across the world banding together to fight for human life and support organizations such as Not for Sale and International Justice Mission. Did you know that human trafficking is number 3 on our globe's illegal activities...just so happens to follows behind drugs and arms(weapons) sales. Children sold off or kidnapped from families as young as 3 years old.

Music is the method of delivery in this documentary. Blending beauty with atrocity. Artists includeTalib Kwali, Natasha Beddingfield, Switchfoot, Matisyahu and many others. They paint a picture along with the intellectual discussions and insights of political and cultural activists that also include Dr. Cornel West, Madeleine Albright, Ashley Judd and crew.

Now why did I title this 'Open Your Eyes?' I feel like we as a people have a propensity to ignore and turn our back to the world around us. A kind of, "the beat marches on" mentality. I fall right into this myself...hence the no post for a year. Doesn't it get easy sometimes to put on the blinders and just move forward with no acknowledgment of life around you? I do feel that way sometimes and see it as another form of living life as business as usual.

Please accept this first post of the year as a bunch of confused thoughts that I am trying to mingle together. Expect more to come. Expect clothing. Things are finally getting serious.

Check it: http://callandresponse.com/

YELLE

Here is a little remix from the artist YELLE. Crazy beats, crazy style...business as usual.

A Tribute to my friend Sean:

I was able to make it up to Seattle last weekend and hang with some of the best friends a guy could have. One of these friends presented me with a book called Remembering the Future(or Remember, coincidence my mind has been failing me as of late!) Chapter 11 is a short essay by my friend Sean. The article is very articulate, intelligent and well thought out. In a nutshell it talks about the consumerism of Project(RED). Simply put, a way to buy items such as; iPods, clothing, shoes, computers, and have a portion of the proceeds fight Aids in Africa.

I have known Sean for 10 years now. I would say over the past 7 years he has taken up writing. He has been a featured columnist on www.theotherjournal.com and has now added to his accolades being printed in a book. What an honor. He has accomplished all of this while maintaining three jobs, being a husband and raising a baby girl. Living your dream does not mean letting life idly pass you by. Sean encompasses that. It is hard work, but for him it is business as usual.

My hat is off to you my friend.

And all the horseman knew her.

My Great Uncle Ralph has an amazing sense of humor. I promise you that if you were around him for 10 minutes you would think he is the funniest man you had ever met. He also leads a fairly amazing life. At 82 he still goes on canoe/fishing trips with his nephews, takes an annual trip to Hawaii and Poland to teach kids English and work with their Lutheran camps. I hope to be like that when I am 82 instead of sitting in a worn out lazy boy watching my net worth plummet like fireman and his pole. Do they even have those things anymore?

But this article is not about him and his jokes it is actually about horse manure and a newspaper article from the early 1900’s that my buddy’s grandpa gave him. I did not get to read the article, but it went something like this:

"The average home is a one horse home. With the growing population in the country and the average size of the American family increasing we are going to see that average increase to a 2 horse household. This is alarming. Where are we going to get all these horses from? How are we going to breed them fast enough? But more importantly, with more horses the amount manure goes up exponentially and that cannot be good for the cities or the environment."

Are you kidding me? This world is in a crazy cycle. 100 years ago we were worried about horse crap now we are worried about cars, their exhaust systems and how they affect the environment. This leads me to believe that nothing will change 100 years from now. Right now we are trying to develop these new cars like the Prius’ that are battery and gas. They get great gas mileage, but we haven’t figured out how to dispose of the batteries yet…those are more toxic than a gas vehicles entire life of puking exhaust on this earth. Where is the balance in that?

My associate and I are in process of picking out a shirt manufacturer that is 1) environmentally friendly and 2) doesn’t abuse their workers. I think I have found the place, but I am afraid that 10 years from now that super green company wasn’t so super green, it was more like a sloppy pea green. I guess I should not worry about that and just go with what is advanced today. The cycle continues and that is for sure business as usual.

Do Work.

First off let me say I have been in lala land for the past couple of weeks. Lots on the mind and lots going on at work. “Do work.” This has probably become my favorite phrase over the past couple of years. What is most funny about it is that it took over my life because of a MTV series called Rob and Big. If you haven’t seen it, watch it. You may think I am an idiot for watching it, but one of my favorite things to do in life is laugh and that show helps me experience laughter every time I turn it on. Let me correct that, one of my favorite things in life is to watch my wife laugh and she laughs super hard at Rob and Big.

Do work. In my business I spend a lot of time talking to people about their jobs and their goals, aspirations and dreams. I would have to say that 80% of these people see themselves doing something different over the course of their lives. They are extremely unhappy to wake up not stoked to “do work.” I get emails from friends during the week and it may go like this, “It’s Tuesday, 2 down 3 to go.” Why do people feel this way? Why do people pick jobs to go to everyday that they count down to the weekend? I totally understand the need to eat, have a roof and if you went to college pay off the millions you now owe.

I guess the point I am trying to make is that you may go to work day in day out and hate it. You may even think it’s just life and you are living the hand you are dealt. I want to encourage you to not go on as if it is business as usual. There is ample opportunity in this country that we live…ample. It may take 15% more energy and drive, but do work and go find your next adventure and figure out a way to love what you do.

Wow. I didn’t meant this to be a self help article, but it kind of turned out that way. If anything look up Rob and Big and laugh hard. Peace.