I’ll Eat Anything Once — Thoughts on entrepreneurship, business, design & technology.

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June 6

Clam Pizza = The Awesome.

My wife Jessica & I celebrated our 2 year anniversary this past monday by enjoying a quick trip to Newport, RI. The goal of the trip — Dream Building.

We’ve started to make this somewhat of a tradition now. Taking a few days over our anniversary to just get away.

Newport is especially great because of the old-town feel, and great food (The clam pizza at the RI Quahog Co. is amazing). The massive newport mansions don’t hurt either. It’s so incredible to see the amazing detail that they put into these houses, and to think Rosecliff sold for only $21,000 in 1938.

This year was slightly different — it was Eli’s first “long” car ride. This little guy has got to be the best kid ever. He was so good for the 6 1/2 hour ride.

Overall, a great trip. Highly recommended!

1 Comment; Filed under Life, Travel
June 1

A little about my life

As I mentioned in A step of Faith, June marks the anniversary of many milestones, and tomorrow, June 2nd, is one that has truly changed my life.

“Love is what makes two people sit in the middle of a bench when there is plenty of room at both ends”

Two years ago I became one with the most amazing person in the world. She is beautiful and caring, honest and loving, a wonderful mother to our child, and absolutely perfect for me. Thank you Jessica for being my completer.

Last year for our anniversary we decided to go to Newport, RI on a whim and are continuing that tradition tomorrow. It’s such a wonderful time to just get away and enjoy God’s amazing creation.
See you all in a few days!

1 Comment; Filed under Life, Travel
May 29

So, You Think You Can?

I’ll admit it, I’m a huge fan of the TV show “So You Think You Can Dance”. I’m amazed by how some of the people on that show can move. What amazes me even more are the ones who can’t.

When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.
— Proverbs 11:2

During last nights show there were a number of contestants who stormed out of the auditorium. They shut down, and wouldn’t take in anything that the judges put out. They gave excuses. They argued.

The one thing they didn’t do was listen.

When someone with years of proven experience in an industry offers you advice, take it humbly and apply it — Don’t argue. Don’t get upset. Just move forward.

1 Comment; Filed under Life
May 28

A step of faith

This coming month marks the anniversary of many milestones in my life. From buying our first home to finding out that we were going to have our first child.

“We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”— Walt Disney

I was eating breakfast with a few friends this morning and was reminded that you can’t steer a boat if it’s not moving. That made me think a lot about how far I’ve come over the past year. June 1st will mark the one year anniversary of my journey into independent design & consulting.

Over the past year I’ve learned that you need to keep moving. It doesn’t matter if you win or lose, every step you take will help you grow.

I encourage you to take a step of faith today. If you’ve been sitting on an idea, go out and do it. If you’re waiting for the “right” time, stop waiting, the time is here.

1 Comment; Filed under Goals, Life
May 27

Write it down

A month or so ago I decided to pick up some Field Notes Brand notebooks and start writing things down instead of trying to store them in my head.

My FieldNotes Notebook

What an amazing difference it makes! I’ve been able to clear out idea’s and get much more accomplished just by developing this one simple habit.

I’ve been just sticking this thing in my back left pocket along with a pen, and making sure that if I hear or think of anything I want to remember, to just write it down.

The pretty much sum it up on the field notes website with this quote;

“I’m not writing it down to remember it later, I’m writing it down to remember it now.”

2 Comments; Filed under GTD, Habits
May 27

The things you read.

Someone once told me that if you want to see where you’ll be in five years, just look at the books that you read, and the people you associate with.

Books on Life, Business, Design & Leadership

The Measure of a Man is a classic book on biblical leadership. I saw the author speak at our church and was truly inspired. God has blessed him with so much insight and knowledge. Definitely a book every man should have in his library.

The Alpha Factor was written by Wes Ball, a good friend and mentor of mine. It describes the relationship between the “alpha’s” in business, and what really creates market dominance and self-sustaining success. Read more on his blog

Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks is a really well designed book on creating web forms. Super insightful, and if nothing else, looks amazing on the coffee table.

Mavericks at Work is an excellent look into the most original minds in business. It’s about leaders who believe in change, and are willing to do what it takes to achieve there goals. Definitely a great read for anyone who is pushing forward.

The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations is an interesting look into crowdsourcing and the new bread of business.

The Dip is a quick read that teaches you how to know when to quit and move on. A great book that was very influential in the decision to leave my previous company.

The Last Jihad is a political thriller about a “chilling fictional future” for America. I can’t read informational books before bed, so we’ve got to throw a good novel in the mix.

These are just a few of the books I’ve been enjoying lately. What have you been reading?

2 Comments; Filed under Reading
May 16

Getting things done with Things.

If a cluttered desk signs a cluttered mind, Of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?

— Albert Einstein

FIGURE 1 Things GTD Application by Cultured Code

I’ve never really been very organized. My files are a mess, and my desk, even worse.

I finally decided to do something about it a few months ago when I discovered a handy little tool called Things. Although Things won’t tackle the pile of papers on my desk, it does help with the stuff in between the ears.

What I like most about Things is it’s simplicity. It has very little built in structure, allowing me to use it how I need and not how they “think” I need. The developers at cultured code did a wonderful job at removing everything that wasn’t absolutely necessary, and have crafted a wonderful user experience.

I’ve been using the software for a little over 3 months now, and have received a lot of questions on how I use it, so I figured why not write a post about it!

FIGURE 2 My Areas

Inside of things you can Collect, Focus, and Organize your tasks. The true power of things lies within it’s tagging system. Each day as I add new to-dos using the quick entry dialog, I use a tagging scheme based off of Ian Beck’s example. At the end of the day I organize these to-do’s into associated projects and/or areas and decide which to-do’s should be focused on the following day. Projects are sets of actions that correspond to a particular objective, whereas Areas (figure 2) are ongoing interests, which may never be completed.

I can then use Today focus in the morning to give me a list of all the to-do’s for that day and then filter the to-do’s by each tag.

Although it takes some discipline to get into the routine, I’m finding that it’s well worth the effort. No harm in trying, right?

2 Comments; Filed under GTD
May 14

WhatUWearin’ Gets Some Love

About 2 months ago a good friend and colleague approached me about a project that was so off the wall, so simple, that it might just work.

WhatUWearin’ lets you share your latest look with all your friends on Facebook in a fun and attractive way.

This week, the guys over at indiestartups.com decided to give that project some love

“The app is still in development but I managed to get a look at the basic layout and features. I must say that it is one of the best design for a facebook app i’ve come across.”

We are putting the finishing touches on the project here in the coming weeks and are excited to release it into the wild.

Stay up to date with our Twitter feed.

0 Comments; Filed under Projects
May 14

To Germany

A dream that my wife and I have had for some time has been to travel often. This blog plays a part in helping achieve those dreams, and today we decided that a trip to Germany was in order.

Hamburg, Germany

We have both been over seas before, but not for quite some time. Jess received an email the other day from an old high school friend who will be getting married in Germany next spring. We have our “reason”. Now we just need the means. Our goal is to be able to spend a month in Germany with our friends while working 3-4 hours a day.

Most of our time will be spent in the Hamburg area, but would love to hear from any of you on some other wonderful places to visit. Let’s hear what you’ve got!

0 Comments; Filed under Goals, Travel
May 14

I eat “bee fart”, and like it.

I was never really a picky eater. Growing up as the only boy in a family of 7, I had to “be the man” and eat what my sisters wouldn’t including PA Dutch classics such as hog-maw, cow tongue, and beef heart (playfully dubbed — “bee farts”).

This blog is not about my love for pig stomach (a family favorite!), or about food in general. It’s about an attitude that I have taken to heart. The attitude of those who push forward, and those who succeed.

Life is all about choices.

As a teenager I realized that the choice to eat whatever was put down in front of me could spill into other aspects of my life. That spurred me to set one goal — to never have a “real” job. I realized that my life was all about the choices that I made, and if I wanted something, I needed to go out and get it.

I got my start in the working world at a beach volleyball court in the summers, and winters as a snowboard instructor. This coming winter will be my 10th year as a snowboard instructor and I absolutely love it. I don’t do it for the money, and well, it’s a blast!. Being a snowboard instructor is not a “real” job.

FIGURE 1 My most recent project.

When the time came to step out into the real world, I decided to get things cracking. I’ve been involved in starting up and maintaining a number of companies since then (FIGURE 1) and have finally settled into somewhat of a steady routine as an independent user experience designer & consultant.

So what is this site all about?

It’s about my goals

Although life as an independent contractor is great, I’m still trading my time for dollars.

My short term goal is to generate $3,000 per month in residual income by September of 2008. This will allow me to give my time back (at least some) to those who deserve it most; my Father in heaven, and my family.

Wish me luck.

0 Comments; Filed under Goals, Life
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