Keith Ferrazzi and his current Nanny

Keith has the most amazing home.  Since he travels so much, and hosts weekly dinner parties, he has to have help. Here’s a wonderful opportunity for anyone in or near LA that wants an amazing with an amazing person (which I honestly think Keith is)- Here is the job posting, followed by an interview I did with the current “nanny”.

Looking for a personal "nanny" (more than just an assistant) for a healthy, crazy busy, fun but very demanding adult 44 year old man.

Skills: Must be SUPER organized, NEVER drops a ball and always finds a way to GET IT (anything) DONE.

Style: Very candid, tough, NO DRAMA. Big nurturing heart, a true caretaker who loves children (none yet).  Trustworthy beyond belief!  Very socially engaging but knows boundaries with many guests and friends. Frugal and a great negotiator.

Special skill: A flair for elegance and throwing parties and dinners.  Able to cook some.

Fairly unpredictable schedule includes many evenings and weekends and some travel required for out of city events.

Please don't waste your time answering this add if even one of these criteria are in question at all.

I’ve met Julie (pictured to the left with Keith), and she is a super hero, capable of all the above listed items… so, I wanted to share what her experience has been for the last 6.5 years working with Keith.

How long have you worked with Keith Ferrazzi? Been with Keith 6.5 years.

How did you meet? Met through mutual friend.

What are some of the highlights of the gig? Getting to know Keith, getting to understand Keith, getting to meet all the people who surround Keith- Mark Thompson, Julie Woods-moss, Dr. Mark Goulson, There’s 100′s of people. Nancy Nadore, Keith’s family (parents, neices & nephews).

What’s Keith Ferrazzi like to work with/for? Challenging, but very interesting.  Keeps you on your toes. He is stubborn, but so am I.  It’s busy. Intense sometimes.  Half the time it’s a lot of fun.

Thinnest I've ever been

Short post- just a video really.  Everyone’s been giving me grief about “What do you look like now that you finished your cleanse?”  and “You’re supposed to take before pics when you start P90x!” — I don’t even have a scale, and I don’t really care right now.  I’m just committed to doing the exercises, and eating healthy… and running on occasion too, ’cause I have that 185 mile relay race later in July.  So… here’s the video (since I don’t have anyone around to take my pic for me):

Again, as I say in the video… there’s many more reasons to do a cleanse than just to lose weight.  Look into it.  If I can help, feel free to ask any questions you have.

I’m excited that I’m beginning P90x from the thinnest I’ve been… should be interesting to see the restults I achieve by September 17- when I’ve completed the program. Wish me luck!

ARGH! Who knew a book was tough to write? Well, I guess everyone, ’cause not everyone does it… but once you get started, all these little details come up:

What do I want to gain out of having this book published?

What do I want the feel of this book to be?

What format should it be in?

Which ones of my stories should I include?

**As you read this, I’d really appreciate if you leave me comments below, and let me know your thoughts on what I should do with the book.  Maybe some goals for it, maybe a style, maybe your favorite adventures that I’ve had.

The questions keep coming up.  Perhaps they are a distraction. Every answer makes for a different book though!  For example, there is not much bigger of a joy for me than convincing someone to grab life by the balls, and have an adventure!  Maybe some call it living more passionately, but whatever you call it, you can see it in their eyes (or perhaps imagine that you’d be seeing it in their eyes if you were there in person, for those times you have to save someone’s life over the phone)– the pupils dilate… their brain already imagining how much more fun they’ll have.

I keep bragging about Kathryn, who before meeting me has never been drunk, and was not even going out locally with her friends.  She’s come back from a road trip from Dallas to New York – sometimes detouring intentionally from the path she should take… there was even some driving on the sidewalk — and is now in the process of selling all her stuff, as her 1-way ticket to Guatamala is for July 5th.  I’m so excited!

Another one is Chris.  He wanted fifteen minutes of my time, but I turned it into one hour and fifteen minutes. He was concerned about going to the Phillipines, as he’s never really left New York.  Isang the virtues of travel, of worldiness, of exploration, and of course… of learning.  There is no failure other than not learning from something… worst case scenario, you learned you don’t like the Phillipines.  By the time I was done, there was no fear left, and Chris said he felt like a kid in a candy store.

The other night, right before I unplugged from the world, I got a call from an old friend… we caught up for a bit, and I’ve convinced her to become a food blogger, pursuing her passion, without taking away from her duties as a mother of 3.

There is a happiness that comes from doing what we feel like…. and I take great pride in inspiring that, or devising the steps to pursue that.  It’s possible for everyone, and I’m sure you’re wondering what the damn point is… well.. I would enjoy doing motivational speeches.  Probably to a younger crowd, to save them from doing what they’re told, or are supposed to, and drive them towards doing what they want to, but may be scared to, as it’s not “What everyone else is doing.”

This goal can be achieved regardless of having a book.  However, having a book can help. So, if that’s one of the goals, then I should probably leave the drug reeferences (a typo… or is it?   ) out of there.

One of the goals I never even thought about is money.  There are many authors throughout history whose entire income was based on sales of their books.  Money was never something I tought about with this book.  Perhaps it’s the whole “Funnel” thing I’ve learned so much as a marketer– free or inexpensive item to get them interested, then something that costs some more, then something else slightly more pricy, then the expensive thing, then the grand daddy of all expensive things…..

Money would be nice, but I think for me the actual achievement of having focused long enough to write a book is a pretty big one.  Maybe my parents can then actually have something to brag about to their friends. “Why Ori?  Sure, he’s doing well.  He just published his book. Here we just happen to have an extra copy” – reach over to large pile of books, and give one away “It just got a great review in the New York Times!  What’s YOUR kid doing?”

At the time of this post, I have no clue what they tell their friends.

A friend of mine who is a fellow ENTP saw that I was unplugging, and wanted to share his wealth of knowledge on productivity for ENTPs.  This is based on his years of research and experience.  It was a great chat which I recorded. I had figured out a lot of these things myself, but never realized I was doing them as a system.  It was great validation to hear from a fellow ENTP.  I really like other ENTPs…. if you know any, send them this way!  “The Girl” was an ENTP…the 1st one I’ve ever dated… what a ride.

So, Jason (the above mentioned ENTP friend) had mentioned that to avoid a task falling into “boring” – which is the biggest enemy an ENTP can have – you need to realize your goals for the projects, think big and day dream about it.  This is a bit different than the usual “vision board” and other things that the secret tells you to do.  I love daydreaming!  I have not thought of these goals like that.. I had already thought of goals for the book, but I had not thought to actually think about them past the logic part.

Yesterday I jogged to the beach (yes, my feet are back to normal after my accidental marathon) to sit on the sand, and think of some goals for the book, and to day dream.  What a great assignment, “Daydream”

My older brother called me.  We’re polar opposites, and I often walk on eggshells.  He’s a lot more polite and proper than I am, has a normal life– though, he’s amazingly good at it- and is actually about to leave for Greece.  I didn’t want to have my thoughts ripped apart by logic (as I was on a mission to daydream)… but this call went well.  He mentioned that he sees my book as a series of unrelated (other than the fact they’re all from my journeys) stories told as chapters.

He recommended I check out David Sedaris.  One of my couches, Pope, had been the elf in Santaland Diaries.  Pope is awesome- she’s an alternative model, leads a burlesque troupe, acts, plays roller derby, is a costume designer, and leads all sorts of cool underground activities in Nebraska.  I still have an elf-hat from that show… I think that’s illegal or something, as I’m Jewish.

Barak (my older bro) said that I have  a similar style to Sedaris.  After downloading a few of his books last night, and falling asleep listening to them, I think that having a style similar to Sedaris is a wonderful wonderful compliment!  I truly am enjoying his random stories.  Each chapter in “When You Are Engulfed In Flames” is a different story.  The first one is about how paranoid of germs his sister is, and talking about his friend’s mom, and her love of helping out.  It just works.

He tells stories of a childhood baby sitter, he tells a story about going to the zoo in Australia to see a Dingo, he tells stories about clothes.  They’re all so random, and he captures moments and people. He makes me smile, he makes me sad.  I will buy his whole collection when I have time to go through more of it.

I decided — after talking to Barak, but before listening to Sedaris’ work — that I would just start calling people that know me well, and ask their opinion.  A lot of people thought that I should do it that way, or that I should take the best of blog, and fill in extra details.

My friend Jimmy wanted to hear of the places that I go to that are not necessarily on the tourist guides.  Maybe the lessons I’ve learned.  Sweet! I wanted to tell the lessons I’ve learned!  He suggested I tell them anecdotally.

Barak had said that I shouldn’t mix genres.  He sees my book as being for entertainment.  I certainly don’t see myself competing with Timothy Ferriss’ “The Four Hour Workweek” for a how-to guide!  That guy is pretty OCD, and has many many case studies. I look up to him, but I don’t see his style being my style.  He also had income coming at $70,000 per month, where as I have to improvise on a regular basis.  If my book is entertainment, then I shouldn’t make it a lessons book. His example of lessons book was “I came from Israel, became a fat kid here, and here’s the lessons I’ve learned to cope with the cross cultures.” (Which is my story actually, but not really the one I’m writing).

I had originally thought I’d just make it a big mix of the people, places, lessons, and things I’ve come to believe as true because of my travels, with a little bit of how-to, and jokes.

Barak said I don’t have to tie everything together.  I have a talent and tendency to tie things together… so… here’s an example… a few real stories from my travels.  I’d love to know what you think, as I think they tie together really well…

****

I often get asked if I’ve ever had any bad experiences…. you know, couches I’ve stayed on where I”ve been freaked out, scared, abused, killed, raped, etc…   Since I often get along well with all the freaks and geeks, my answer is generally “no!”  Though… there were two couches that I left on a bad vibe.  I’m not sure what number I’m at now, I believe it to be around 170, but I’ll take the time to do an exact calculation later.  If I’m at 170, then 2 is a pretty damn low number!

Why were they bad experiences?  Well, for one, I didn’t like the way they treated their wife and kid. Both of them knew each other, and that should have been a warning, despite that one was in San Diego, and one was in Detroit.

Nick had sold his wife’s Nikon camera, bought a Canon camera for himself with it, and wouldn’t let her use it.  In my professional opinion, she is a much better photographer than him!  Nick had connected me with Dan.  Nick had also connected me with Gary Whiteside, who had let me use his studio to teach a creative photography workshop at.

I was motivated to teach the workshop because of T. Harv Ecker’s “Life Directions” workshop, which I was given for free as a bonus when I bought some of the coaching, and Guerilla Business School.  Life Directions was the event I drove out from Florida to California for in January, and Guerilla Business School was the reason I made it back to Florida by March.

I didn’t care for Life Directions, thought GBS was pretty impressive, and I’ll even go as far as “Life Changing” as that’s where I discovered internet marketing.

One thing was clear though, if you have an idea, take action!  So, I announced that 2 weeks from then I would have my workshop, and I did.  I had 20 attendees.  10 for each day.  It was very rewarding to have people who have been shooting for longer than I am alive give me money to teach them what I know, and then hearing from them that in one day with me they learned more than they learned in the past decade.

I showed them how to use a can of hairspray with a lighter as their lighting, rather than fancy studio strobes.  The image later became of a girl fighting off a 20 foot tall frog that has massive fangs, using a can of hair spray and a lighter.

Why did I mention Gary in connection to Nick, while mentioning that Nick was not a good couch? Because a year later one of my students informed me that Gary had been charged, and then later convicted of 51 counts of child mollestation!  Yuck! He seemed like such a nice old man!

The 2nd day of my workshop, I was invited by one of my students to come to a party they were having at the manor. Since I was feeling that Nick just wanted me around so he could pick my brain non-stop about Photoshop and photography, I took Mike up, and went to their party, rather than returning to Nick’s.

Mike had a large dungeon at his house.  This was a bondage type of party. The majority of the people were also runners who are part of the Hash House Harriers, “A drinking group with a serious running problem!”  I got an awesome photo of me tied up, and a dean of a prestigious university holding a knife to my throat…. but I was fatter then, and the rope really brings out my man boobs… so I’m not crazy about the pic.

One of the cool things about this party was that I got to interview Dave Cummings, the world’s oldest active professional porn star!  Yeah, this guy was 66 years old at the time, and banging 18 years old all day and night… they’re all nymphos, and would even be doing it off the clock.  He had the funniest stories about Ron Jeremy.  I still have to upload that video!

Since I was heading out east the next day whether I had a place to crash or not, I was pretty excited when Mike tried to connect me to another hasher in Arizona.  That would be a bit of a drive, but nothing too bad.  I was kind of sad to leave their house, as it was in the hills, and felt like a resort.  I had a gorgeous room.  Their whole house was just beautiful, with large gray stones, well chosen furniture, and of course, if I knew much about it, I’m sure I could compliment their lovely dungeon.

Their friend called me back and said that he can not let me stay there, as his dog is having health issues.  I said not to worry about it, as I am a dog person, and would much rather he look after his dog, than stress over a guest and a worried dog.  He was appreciative, and said he’d connect me with some people further on my drive.

Meanwhile, I had gotten a hold of Janet, whom I met at life directions.  She did say that if I was in Arizona I should look her up, so I did!  Janet showed me around Nogales-Sonora, which was a border town with Mexico. I arrived at night, and my GPS tried to take me into Mexico! In fact, I was warned to watch my Roaming signal, as I may get billed “out of country” if I get too close.

I pulled over on the side of the road to call Janet, and ask for directions.  It seemed I had gone too far.  She told me what road to go on, but the road I was on split into 4 routes.  There was a jeep approaching, and I thought I’d ask them which way to go. This was not the best idea.

The jeep belonged to border patrol… as did the 5 other jeeps and suvs that showed up to surround me!

Apparently, this area is known for drug dealers and coyotes (people smugglers), and my pulling over on the side of the road to make a call next to the border for 10 minutes, in the dark, in an suv that’s filled with stuff seemed a little odd.  In fact, I was sweating bullets, as there was a bit of weed in the car! Not enough to be considered a smuggler, or even a serious smoker… but you hear stories.

These people started asking me all sorts of questions about who I am, where I’m going, why I’m here, etc… I told them the truth, showed them my GPS, gave them my business card, and even showed them my phone’s call logs.

I’m not sure what it is about my business card, but I do love to give it to figures of authority.  So far, I must have been pulled over, and given it to probably 5 cops so far, and have always gotten out of trouble.  There may be a lesson there about having an interesting story.

They let me go, and I went on to meet Janet.  I stayed with her for a little bit.  We did go into Mexico one night for some Mexican food, and to explore the local shops.  This was no Cancun, so I was fascinated.  Janet is into the artistic things in life.  She is involved with the community and its galleries.  I went with her to see Mark Wood (a violinist who’s played with Billy Joel and Aerosmith) and Laura Kaye (a singer/songwriter who’s sang with Aretha Franklin and Lenny Kravitz) as they did their program called Electrify Your Strings– where they go around the country, and make kids in orchestras and bands feel pretty damn cool.

It was fascinating.  These kids truly were amped up!  They performed many rock songs, and had spraypainted their hair all different colors.  This was clearly out of the ordinary. I got to do a quick interview with Mark and Laura as they left.

I got to see my first Roadrunner in Arizona.  Janet took me to Tubak, an artists’ colony, and a fascinating place to photograph.  I always did like the cartoon, though I was always rooting for Wile E Coyote.  Seeing a real bird like this was odd.  He didn’t say “meep meep!” or stick his tongue out at me.  It looked more like a large chicken with freakishly long legs… and it did take off in a cloud of dust.

My next stop was in fact the connection that Mike’s friend had made for me!  The Reeders in Tombstone, Arizona!  Tombstone is a town that’s known for western films… the whole Wild West thing took place there, and the Reeders were part of the Vigilantes — the historical reenactors that make up the vast majority of the town’s economy, since it is a tourist attraction.

They performed amazingly, and I got to hang out during rehearsals, and even grab some grub at Vigilante Hall.  It really did feel like a trip into another time.  Their costumes are very authentic, for example, the little girl who’s an actress there is not allowed to do an open-mouth smile, as she has braces… which did not exist in the wild west.

An amusing thing that happened was that they tried to play a prank on me, and pretend as if I walked into the wrong bar…. except, I did walk into the wrong bar!  Some drunk girl walked up to me and started conversing with me, and introducing me to everyone there…. After a while, gut feeling set in that something was wrong, and I dialed Stacy, and watched as the drunk girl’s phone did not go off.  I went across the street to the right bar, but now the joke was in fact over by an hour or two.

As far as Dan goes… the other person I mentioned had come through Nick… he broke my Canon 1D Mark II camera, and didn’t offer to pitch in for the repair… there’s more, but that’s another story.

——-

So… there you have it… a bunch of stories that are tied by a unifying thread.  Too much? Keep going?  Something you’d want to read in the book?  I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

(Disqus sometimes doesn’t work in some browsers… so if it’s being a bitch, please try another browser!  Thanks!)

I have something really important to tell you. It’s very exciting, and very difficult for me all at once.

I’ve arrived here in La Jolla, CA where the weather is truly amazing, and I am house-sitting for the next 5-6 weeks.

On my drive here from Austin, TX I had a lot of time to think, and if I’ve learned anything, it’s that the best answers come from asking the right questions. My question that I chose was “How do I make the best use of house-sitting near the beach for 6 weeks?”

I came up with many ideas, but the ones that made the most sense are also the most difficult, and I’d like to share them with you.

I have completed 3.5 years of couchsurfing around the USA.  I’ve met the most incredible people that I could ever imagine.  I have had amazing adventures, where I do things I never imagined or even heard of before (like Bull Poker, or training with UFC cage fighters, or staying at an all girls’ college).  I’ve loved and fallen in love (not at the all girls’ college).  I’ve seen (and photographed) amazing sights.

The bottom line is that I have more than enough “content” to write my book.  I’ve begun writing of this book numerous times, and I generally get distracted, as I am such a social creature.

Ooooh! Someone left me a comment on Facebook!

I better respond to that tweet!

A truck that has giant chicken legs coming out of it?  I better send out a social-media update about that!

I wonder what ________ is up to…. better text/call/skype/tweet/fb/email and find out!

Yup…. as my buddy Peter Shankman says “You may have heard of ADHD, but I suffer from something much worse… it’s called ADOS — Attention Deficit… Oooh! Shiny!”

With that in mind, there are three major things I am going to work on.
1)Writing and finishing my book.
2)Releasing 100 photos a day from my travels!
3)Exercise and be healthy.

The photos will be released in a number of ways– onto Flickr/Picassa and of course blog posts.  I will also make a video of each set of 100, and tell the stories that go with them.  If a story encompasses less than 100 photos, I will tell as many stories as are encompassed in 100 photos.

In case you are wondering, I have hundreds of thousands of photos.  In 2007 alone I took 370,000 photos.

So, if I have all this content, why is this so difficult, and what am I going to do about it?

As I mentioned earlier, I am easily distractible.  So, I am going to do the impossible, and unplug.  I am going to go off the grid! Something that many people say is impossible…. but I think it is possible.  Why?  Because I finally have a sentence that gives me a hard punch in the face, nearly unhinging my jaw, and breaking my nose.

“I don’t want to be that guy that tells about how he’s going to write a book!  I want to be the guy whose book you’ve read!”

I will keep adventuring, have no doubt about that. My plans are to go international: visit my homeland of Israel, party in Thailand, play with dangerous animals in Africa, get my squirrel-suit certification in Switzerland, eat some space-cake in Amsterdam, maybe take a ride with GreenPeace and blow up some whailing ships…. who knows…. the possibilities are endless… but I don’t want to go until I’ve finished this book.

I have hired an assistant whom will check my e-mails and voicemails for me, and forward the uber-important ones to a new e-mail account that I have created (that no one else knows about.  It’s very random, so don’t bother trying to guess it (don’t forget, I own many domains)).  I’ve set up a Skype-Phone so that I can speak to those who need to get a hold of me.

To keep my sanity, I will play with Webber (Jason Moffatt’s dog, whom I am taking care of), try to improve my piano and guitar skills, run on the beach, and learn to surf (Jason was kind enough to leave me a plethora of surfboards).

I will have interaction with the Surfers that are teaching me to surf. I’ve also volunteered to do some photography for a charity event.  Other than that, I plan to be off the grid.  I’ve even informed my parents that they should not expect a daily phone call from me, and that they can start reading my blog to know what is going on — or what has gone on — in my life.

The few close friends I’ve run this by think it is a wonderful idea.  It resonates with my heart, despite striking much fear in it… a 6 week commitment!  6 weeks of not being on Facebook and Twitter!  Trusting someone else to go through my e-mails and voicemails!  Having to finish something big!

It is scary, but I know it is worth it!

I appreciate that you have visited my site.  I am saddened that I have not told you but a tiny fraction of what has gone on… as it takes time to edit videos, to blog, to process and upload photos.  So now, I will finally tell the whole story.

The book will consist of my adventures, the people I’ve met, the places I have been to, how I’ve stayed on the road without “a real job”, the lessons I’ve learned, and the things that I have come to believe as truths because of my journeys.

Please check back here daily, as I will have 100 new images, and god-knows how many stories posted.   Spread the word, leave comments, and let me know which pictures and stories are your favorite, as I will also be making a photo-book of the best images.

Wish me luck!

Ori

—

P.s.  On the right hand side of this blog is a box you can put your name and e-mail if you’d like to know about my book, when it comes out, etc…

Ummmmm….  6 weeks, with a 1.5 week notice. Wait,  I’m already packed up!  I had cleared out everything (‘cept maybe a few extension cords and such) from Craig’s place.  All my stuff’s in my car and in Ceci’s garage, since it was already boxed up.  I had been thinking of settling down in Austin… I finally found a city I really love.  I’d have to think about it.

Webber is an awesome dog!  I’ve partied with Webber in Carlsbad, Austin, and New Orleans.  Yes, this dog travels more than you do

I got that text  just after I’ve retrieved the 65 Gallons of spring water from Canton, and made it to my new couch, which I knew nothing about.  I was staying up with Grace, and as we’re talking, I get a text from my buddy and former couch, Jason Moffatt.  I smiled, as I was just talking about how random my life can be…. and then I got an offer to go to La Jolla.

I really did have some stuff to think about, but it didn’t take much thinking.

Let’s see– everyone dreams of living on the beach (I used to live in South Beach, and then in 2005-2006 I had an amazing place on the 15th floor of this high rise on the beach.  Take the elevator downstairs, and you’re on the beach…. Or the pool.  Your choice.), and it is pretty sweet.

I like jogging on the beach.

I said last year “I should find someone to couchsurf with that lives on the beach, so I can learn to surf… should take about a month.” — and then I’m just handed a house on the beach, already equipped with Surfboards, guitars, and wifi… hmmmm…. sounds like a perfect place to work on my book too!

What else?  Oh yeah… I love Austin, but it gets to be 110 degrees here in Summer. Craig said we can take the company boat out on the lake, and I’m sure that will be a blast… but… I like the notion of jumping out of bed, and going surfing to cool down.

According to David Wolfe’s latest, grounding is super-important, and you get instantly grounded when you enter the ocean.

Then you got the fact that Katie Perry just made this song to remind me of how awesome California Girls are (I did see the Beach Boys live one year for my birthday).  After a very recent heart break, having a place to clear my head will be good.  Maybe meet a California girl.  I hear the awesome Couch #2 is recently single, and in LA.

I have a bunch of awesome friends in that area…. many I’ve met, many I haven’t. Many great people that I’ve wanted to meet live out there in La Jolla and San Diego.  So, socially, and business-wise, this should also be great.  It’s a funny split of people… some are professional hoolahoopers, some are knife jugglers, many I’ve met and hung out with at Burning Man, then there’s a bunch from the internet marketing world.

I hear that La Jolla has the best weather in the USA.  Period.

Oh, and I’ve been really wanting to have a dog!  I keep thinking it’d be irresponsible, since I’m always on the move, and I don’t want one of those bitchy-ass purse-dogs. I’m a big-dog person.  Webber is frigging awesome! He plays fetch, he runs, he even goes on river-tubing aventures!  You can see Webber having a blast on our river trip here:  http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=420920448082

So… now I get a dog for 6 weeks plus.  A dog that can keep up with my running, and I can give a hug to if I’m feeling down (although, since I’m never touching a pro-hormone again, I doubt I’ll be down ever again :p ).

I promised I’m not throwing any parties… so don’t get your hopes up.  But I am allowed to have some company.  The current place I’m at is far from anyone I know and not one person’s visited me here.  That’s why I’ve been hanging out at other people’s houses often.

I’ll have a nice tan.  I’ll run on the beach. Maybe I’ll learn to meditate…. I hear the beach is a great place for that.  I’ll clear my head.  I’ll work on my book some more.  I’ll learn to surf.  I’ll get to explore life in a new city.  I have a feeling that I’m going to come out of this lean, tan, and with a perma-smile.

So… what happens after Jason comes back?  Well… he may want to go on another trip, since he’s busy falling in love with this girl.  If I want to stay in the area, I already have couch invitations— some of which are also on the beach, and have surfboards (and kayaks).  I may want to go explore elsewhere… or depending on how much I’ve dented my credit card bills, maybe I’ll finally do that international thing I’ve been wanting to do. Who knows?!  It’s all at least 7 weeks from now, which in Ori time is like 18 years!

The future is wide open, and there’s a lot to be happy about.

Little known fact– I used to live in California back in 2007.  I was studying 3d animation in Burbank. I’d spend all my free time in Santa Monica and Venice Beach.  I liked the sun.  I liked the street performers.  I liked the California girls.  Unlike Florida, I always wondered why no one was going into the water… but La Jolla is further south, and I’ll have wetsuit to go with the surfboards.

http://www.thesixtyone.com/#/search/query/cali/ <— I can’t decide which song to play for this blog post, so here’s a bunch.  The obvious one:

Here’s an awesome one I really like – West Coast by Coconut Records…. it’s even a little bit of a tribute to the girly that recently had my heart.

Anyways- that part was annoying, but other than that, it’s AWESOME out!  Check it:

Kathryn calls me up and reminds me that Mother’s Day is coming up. In fact, she reminded me so by telling me that their new technology can probably make my mom a pendant out a photo of my 2 brothers and I.  It sounded awesome- I like creative gifts, but mom doesn’t wear jewelry, so it would just sit there, appreciated, but not worn. I thought of what the next surprise be.

I know!  I’ll visit Mom!  My uncle from Israel is visiting them, I can get my little bro on the way…. and I’ve been tough on myself for not having a crazy enough adventure lately, so why not hit up some hang gliding in Chattanooga?  I’ve always wanth ted to do that.  So, I told Kathryn about it– said she can go if she wants…. “You can be her present!”  “Are you sure she’d be ok with you just showing up with some random stranger?”  “Are you kidding me?? If I show up with some girl, she’ll think it’s the best mother’s day ever.”

Now, rewind a few posts, and Kathryn saw me speaking at a social media event in Dallas, then was the one who showed up to my rescue when I ran out of gas at SXSW.  How we spoke for the first time, was that she had posted a link to her 1st blog post…. and tweeted me that she’d love to see what I thought about it.  You can read my comment on there. Now I went and spent Easter over there, saw her neighborhood’s Easter Parade, and got to watch how Jewelry is made with Cad/Cam (design it on the computer, and the machine makes a physical model).

Back to the present- Mom won’t wear a pendant, but Kathryn didn’t freak out at a semi-joke, when I mentioned Hanggliding– this is fun! Taking a shy/quiet person, and taking them hang gliding?  She kept swearing that she’d never jump out of a plane, and I always said “You say that, now“  – so I actually brought Hang gliding up as “Well, it’s not skydiving” — personally, I think Hang gliding is more fun…. you can be up in the air longer, with more control, you can ride thermals up, etc… Cheaper too– you don’t need a parachute, and all that gasoline.

The details started filling in…. I had asked Craig recently what he thought of going hang gliding, and he said he’d be interested… so I started scheming– planning it on a weekend, so Craig can make it out with us.

Katie was telling me about a rough day yesterday, but not much about it.. just that it was, but today she decided that it was gonna be a great day, so it was… I said I agree, and told her that Kathryn agreed to go hang gliding. Katie lit up like Times Square…. “Hang gliding?  I wanna go!  I love hang gliding (followed in a later conversation by “I’ve been towed by planes, taken off a boat, jumped off the side of a mountain!”  – that’s awesome!  So… Katie’s going, Kathryn’s going… oh yeah… Katie hasn’t visited her cousin – who lives in Tennessee.

I forgot to mention that her cousin works in a White Water Rafting company…. screw it!  We’re adding White Water Rafting to our trip!

The funny thing is that earlier I was telling her that going Hang gliding will be life changing for her… ’cause if you never think of doing stuff like that, there’s a reason why…. and when you push your comfort zone to do something that you’ve never done before… so much so that you never even bothered imagining yourself doing that…. well, you’re gonna have quite the adrenaline rush, and I predict a nice juicy bite in the ass by the adventure bug!

“Well… how hard can this client meeting be, I mean.. I jumped off a friggin mountain!”

“So, after you go hang gliding, you can go on a milder adventure, and take your dad– like whitewater rafting”- and sure enough, later in the day whitewater rafting gets added.

I started calling, texting, and tweeting people– “Wanna join us for some hang gliding?”

Well… I kept adding— since I have until the 10th to kill.  So, drive to Tennessee on the 29th, by way of Dallas, to get Kathryn.  Be there by the 30th- hang glide for 3 days, then go white water rafting…. then go to Georgia, go to the Georgia Aquarium (which is mind blowingly awesome), and even sleep there… they have a thing where you can camp out there, and watch the whale sharks all night long.  I’m so down!  Then, go kayaking on the French Broad.

What luck!  Neither Kathryn nor Katie have ever been kayaking, and now Katie was saying she may ride along for the whole trip— ’cause she went to school down there, and has friends down there.   So…. get to Gainesville, FL on the 5th or 6th, get Itay and Nugget, and surprise the crap out of mom in South Florida.  Haven’t thought of the details… Maybe send Kathryn in to the house with my fake (but very real looking) gun?  Nah… poor girl, and my parents… they’d all be traumatized.   I suppose the machette is out too, and I lent out my rocket launcher to a friend of mine for a tv show they’re doing….

Maybe I’ll send Itay in, so Mom and Dad think he’s being sweet and showing up for Mother’s Day… I have him leave the door open (I do have a key), and then I Sneak in, and surprise them.  Or… maybe I’ll send Itay in with Kathryn, and see if they recognize her… ’cause I just did a shoot with Kathryn, and I sent the folks a copy of the picture.  That may be the way to go….  Confusion’s a fun one.

Once in South Florida, Kayaking in the mangroves, rent Jet-skis, water ski at the Ski Rixen , and ride an airboat through the Everglades.

Make mom some awesome brunch for mother’s day- maybe catch a musical performance somewhere, or dinner theatre, and then head back on the 10th– dropping Itay and Nugget off, making a pit stop in Atlanta, and then… having an extra day before Kathryn has to be back at the office, we’ll actually find some cool adventure between Atlanta, GA, and Dallas, TX.  Any suggestions?

We’ll probably ride in 2 cars.  Craig’s probably bringing Bentley, and Katie’s probably bringing Bentley- is that weird? They both have dogs named Bentley.

Basically, a 2 week roadtrip that evolved fully in one day.  It definitely fills up my adventure hole in my heart.  There’s many people to meet along the way.

So, yeah.. .I’m pretty excited.  Now… here’s some info, in case you want to go – either now, or later.

http://hangglide.com/ has the Weekend Package which is $399, for training, and 20 jumps off the short (65 foot hills- as compared to being thrown off a 1,500 foot cliff right away) hills, and 2 aero-tow lifts (get towed behind a small plane/glider  – so you do get the 2,000 foot experience).  I am actually signing up for the Mountain Package at $699 – which gets you ready for Level 1 & Level 2 certification- meaning you can fly solo (non-tandem) off a mountain afterwards.

One of my friends/couches is Derek, whom I just found out works for Thrill Planet, so he told me what their price is on hanggliding- or what rate he can get me as the couchsurfer (I crashed with him for a month in 2007) discount… but Hangglide.com has the same rate for tandem jums.  The thing that surprised me was that I was told the price.. I had actually asked for what would be a bulk rate, since I’m bringing a bunch of people… so I was given the rate, then I asked what I get for it- and I was told 30-40 minutes in the air on a tandem jump.  Well, $399 is a tiny bit more than double the price I was given… but it seemed absurd- why take one measly flight, when for a little more, I can get 20 jumps + 2 tows, and hang out there for 3 days– oh yeah.. forgot to mention, we’re camping!

We’re totally bringing the helmet cam!

I’m creating a resources page to make it easy to find links based on categories, etc…. I’m going to feature my favorite companies, programs that can save you thousands of hours, tools, tutorials, etc…. not all stuff by me.  Mostly stuff I recommend.

-Admission- I am currently swamped!  So many projects fell on my lap out of nowhere… so I don’t have time to fill it in today.  The link will be http://CouchSurfingOri.com/resources  – I’ll be filling it in later.

Let me know if there’s something specific you’d like to see more links to, or need resources for.

I can tell you a bunch of things that I do, but I’ll use someone else’s words. Elizabeth Potts Weinstein wrote this after a short while of consulting with me:

“Ori is brilliant in so many things – photography, graphic design, web design, business strategizing, personal coaching, marketing – but those are just the tools he uses to express his creativity, to solve problems, to do what he really does … which is to pull the unique brand out from inside of you and give you the tools you need to express that brand to the world.

And I’m not talking about *thinking* your way into a brand that you “should” be or a brand you “wish” you could be … here I’m talking about a brand that is the expression of your personality, the uniqueness that you already are. Bringing together all your seemingly disparate passions into sync, figuring out the nexus that pulls everything together!”

I like that description. Everyone says it’s accurate. So, yes, I can do photography, videography, website design, marketing, search engine optimization, pay per click, social media strategies, research, and good ol’ fashion creative problem solving— this is my favorite.

I help you priORItize your ideas to find out which is your most profitable one, or which you should do, and help you break them down into simple steps.

I do all these things, and more… and I make it fun. However, I’m not a non-for-profit…. so I charge good money for these services. Consulting will generally cost you $250 per hour, but I’ve decided that I will give away consulting sessions while I drive.

Tomorrow I drive 4 hours from Austin to Dallas. I will spend that time solving 3 people’s problems. This is absolutely free, and there is no catch.

Consulting is what I am wired to do! It makes me happy to solve problems.  It makes me happy to know that people are improving their situation. It makes the drive go by quickly.

I have many testimonials as to how I’ve doubled businesses, made websites prettier, gave ideas that no one thought of (that worked), brought families closer, streamlined ideas, inspired people to do what they love, and more… but I want to make a bigger difference.  Not everyone can afford me,  so this is my way of giving back.  In fact… I’m even working on having this concept sponsored, so I can give even more back!

Additionally, I am trying to reward the people that are helping me get the word out about my radio show.  That show is a labor of love, where I weekly give out both business and life tips and tools.

If you’d like to have your problems solved, you better tune in tonight (2/1/2010) at 11pm EST on http://CouchSurfingRadio.com -  It’s the only place that I’ll announce the free signup.  By morning it will be gone, and the 3 people will be notified.

Make sure to tune in tonight at 11pm EST at http://CouchSurfingRadio.com

More blog posts soon to discuss the weekend’s adventures / photography.

Elizabeth has never had Sake, so we’re having a Tweetup tonight–  The Sushi/Sake tweetup. (Haven’t decided on the Where… just sign up, and we’ll tell you today)  Tomorrow morning, we’re going Zip-lining. Also, we’re going to shoot some fun pics, since I’m a photo-elitist, and her photos are too normal for my taste.

That’s a good amount of adventure for one weekend.  It’s also my monthly adventure (if you read my 2010 goals… I”m semi-settled in, but I want to make sure I get at LEAST 1 adventure a month).  I may squeeze in more adventures, but a lot of consulting work has come in, as well as design work, so we’ll see– but at least I’m going ziplining, and helping someone else have a very memorable weekend.

This could be the new model for me.  Come visit me, we’ll go adventure, get you some great pics, and come up with tons of solutions for your business.

I am extremely thrilled to report on the good nature of people, and on the benefits of having over 10,000 followers on twitter:  I wanted a specific video camera for Zip-lining… The Hero Camera.  I asked on Twitter who had one, and Marshall Haas not only has one, but he overnighted it to me!  Just so I can suction-cup it onto my helmet, and get great footage of the Zip-lining experience.  How amazing is that?

Marhsall has actually just developed an awesome Iphone app where you get to beat up your boss   Stress relief is cool… but… you also get a chance to win a bunch of money, recognition, and much more… in fact.. I’m going to have to interview him, and make a blog post about this.  It’s quite fascinating the big names he’s gotten involved, and maybe it will motivate you to develop an app… neat business model.

If YOU would like to go on an adventure with me, contact me!