“Seriously?  I hardly  know what I’m doing next week.”

“Over the last 2 weeks I’ve been thinking about that business idea you mentioned the other month… a lot… and you’re working Terra’s website anyways– why don’t I buy you a 1 way ticket, come stay with us, and if you want to get back, you have to finish the project, and get some sales!”

“Well, damn! For story-telling purposes alone, I have to say yes!”

And thus, I agreed to come visit Craig Allen and Terra Rose Ganem in Hawaii…. Hawaii is one of those places where “You’re supposed to go” — like “You’re supposed to go to college” — it’s the poster-child for vacations.  I’ve always wanted to go, but I never bothered planning.

It was always too overwhelming…. if I would go, what would I do there?  Which Island would I go to?  Where will I stay?  How long should I go for? It’s probably really expensive.  So I never bothered planning it out, or researching it.

Yet, one phone call from a friend, and all those things were cast aside.

I’ve been meaning to write to you about this for the last 3 weeks, ’cause that’s all the notice I had… but there’s been too much reality, and thousands of miles to cover.

“It’s hard to know with you… but are you by any chance going to drive through Dallas on Friday?”  Kathryn asked me.

“No!  I’m driving to Des Moines”

“Dallas is on the way to Des Moines”

“Then, yes, I’m going to drive through Dallas on Friday…. can we make it Thursday then?”

and thus I had a passenger.  My car is generally messy, but lately it’s been more so.  You see, on my drive from South Florida to Austin, to speak at SXSW this March, my trunk decided to stop working.

I have not fixed this issue yet.

Now, instead of everything being scattered across my whole car, it’s all scattered in my front and back seats… which doesn’t make my car very passenger friendly (in all honesty, this happens even when my trunk does work).  Space would have to be cleared out.

While couch surfing with David Gonzalez — I actually just popped in for the evening, because I had my shoes shipped to his house…. I had forgotten 2 pairs in Costa Rica, and Brendan (whom I stayed with in Costa Rica) had agreed to send them — I started emptying out my car, so I can reorganize it and make room for Kathryn.

I was listening to an audio book (Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality – I highly recommend it!), and doing my car-emptying thing, when all of a sudden two cop cars show up, and block me in. Step 1: Pause the audio book.

“Hi there.  How can I help you?”

“I don’t know…. we had one of the neighbors call in.  They think you may be living out of your car.”

“Well…. in their defense, I kind of am.  You see, for the last 5 years, I’ve been traveling around, completely based on ‘Who’s couch am I crashing on next?’  and it’s granted me many awesome adventures– staying with UFC cage fighters, staying at an all girls’ college, finding mentors, meeting heads of industries… and I have all my stuff in my car…. So, you could say that I’m living out of my car.  However… I’m staying right there (point to David’s house), and am about to go on this amazing road trip, but I promised someone I’d give them a ride to Dallas, and since my trunk stopped working, I have to empty stuff out in order to make room for this passenger!”

By the time David came out of his house, waving his arms and shouting “it’s ok! He’s staying with me!”, the cops were already engaged in my story, and were just asking questions about “What are you doing in Hawaii?”  ”What are you speaking on in Iowa?” “So then what happened?”

One lesson that I’ve learned is to be cool to cops… they’re just people. Most people attack them with fear and anger… humor, and dignity are really nice to receive sometime.  Story telling is a wonderful distraction, and I tell them the stories as I would tell them to my best friends.  I entertain, and engage… and you know what?  I’ve been pulled over speeding in construction zones, while speaking on the phone, and the car being a little hazy.

Before leaving Austin, I stopped by Craig’s storage unit, and got his BCD (Scuba diving equipment).  Then I got Kathryn, then dropped her off, then camped out in Fort Worth for 2 days working on projects, then I hauled ass to Kansas.

It was a long drive, and I did need to nap on the side of the road for 30 minutes. I arrived at 1:30am, but Deb, the event organizer, said I could couch surf with her, but not to wake her up if I get there as late as 12:30.

I slept in my car.  Woke up early, changed clothes in the parking lot, and befriended the guy the maintenance guy for the parking facility. I actually was in a hurry, ’cause I was speaking that day, and I still needed to write my presentation…. But I love story telling, and I love helping someone get excited about their passions, and open up new possibilities for them.  So… I spent an hour talking to this guy.

The event was the 140Conf.  I am a big fan of the 140Conf, because it attracts an amazing crowd, and Jeff Pulver is just amazing…. Google him, interact with him, whatever… the guy is amazing.  He’s the reason that you can make VOIP calls for free, and he has a heart the size of the United States. I’ve spoken at numerous 140Conf events. In fact, one of the ones I spoke at was the 140Conf Small Town, in Hutchinson Kansas.

At this point in this blog post, I would like to remind you that the title of the book I’m writing is “Creating Serendipity”… and now back to what happened-

When I spoke at the 140Conf small town, I met Joe Cheray. When Joe saw that I was speaking at the 140Conf in Iowa, she asked if I think she should pitch a submission to the 140Conf in Iowa.  She seemed a little nervous, which of course made me say “Absolutely!”

Why would I say absolutely if someone is nervous? Because it’s a chance to confront a fear, and grow! We should all do the things that make us grow (unless it’s things that create Thyroid issues… ’cause that kind of growth is bad, and I was referring to personal growth, not physical growth)

I offered to help out if she needs to bounce ideas, convert her story to a presentation, practice on someone….   She said she may take me up on that.  She had asked me to review a few notes.  But they were her notes.. I didn’t get the entire story until I saw Joe present.

Joe’s story, in a nutshell:  She was in an abusive relationship, her child has cerebral palsy, and is two years slow.  Her man was abusive to her and their son.  She left him.  She and her son were even homeless for a bit.  Her ex’s cat bit her one time, also, breaking her finger, causing nerve damage…. she had to learn how to type using her non-dominant hand.

Joe had asked me and the organizers if I could sit in the front row, center while she spoke.  I agreed, and made it happen, and was there with a smile, and helpful body language.

After Joe’s speech, during lunch, I told her that she needs to speak.  Professionally, and to more people.  That many more people can benefit from watching her present.

Joe started telling me about her schedule, and some other things.  I interrupted and said that there’s two things she should know.  The first one is that I’m always right, thus, I’m right that she should speak more.  The second thing is that I’ve studied a lot about people, and I can tell from her vocalization and body language that she is just making excuses as to why she can’t… she should focus on why she can.

That night, I couchsurfed with Deb, who organized the event.  In the morning, we were speaking about the event, and I asked about what kind of feedback it got.  Deb told me that it went great, but the most touching thing was that as soon as lunch time, 3 people had already said that Joe’s story made them cry.

I told her of my conversation with Joe the previous day.  We tried to figure out what we can do to make Joe want to be a speaker, and to help her be a better speaker.  Deb suggested we connect Joe with Gigi Belcmonico, who teaches The Bombshell Factor… She teaches women how to have more presence, and carry themselves better.

I thought it was a great idea.  I had seen Gigi present at the 140Conf smalltown, but my schedule was so jam packed, that I wanted to say “Great… good idea… good luck with that… but I gotta deal with my own stuff, so, let me know how it goes.”  I didn’t.

I had never actually had a full conversation with Gigi.  We are friends on Facebook and Twitter… but we’ve never had a conversation.

Now, my conversation with Deb was in person, mind you, not over the phone or skype, or social media.  When we finished that part of the talk, I looked at my laptop, and nothing exciting was new.  I looked up at the TV, which had an all day marathon on Nostradamus, which was quite fascinating.

I glimpsed back down at my laptop, and there was something new.  That small red circle with a white 1 in the center of it.  The notification of a new Facebook message.

“Uhhh… Deb?”

“Yeah?”

“I got a new Facebook message”

“Yeah, so?  You always get new Facebook messages.”

“Yeah…. but this one is from Gigi Belmonico”

Silence.  We just look at each other in shocked disbelief, and I continued.

“I don’t even know what it says.  Just thought it was very strange that we just mentioned her LESS than one minute ago, and I’ve never had a conversation with her, and I have a message from her.”

I clicked on Gigi’s avatar to see “Hello Ori !Nice job!!
Ori are you coming through KC today?
It would be so fun to break bread with you! XOXOGigi”

I replied that it wasn’t on my original plans, but sounds fun.

It was a 4 hour drive, and it was not on my way.  I looked at the map, and decided that since I was heading to San Diego before Hawaii, LA would be a good target, and half way seemed to be Colorado.  I figured I would find a couch while driving to Colorado…. but I now had a detour, because how could I turn away such a unique coincidence?

Before leaving town, I had lunch with Deb and Ben. Ben had reached out after seeing my presentation – he was watching the live stream – and loved my message, and antics. So, we met up. Even more awesomeness was that he gave me a tour of his office, which was on the 15th or 20th floor of this building, so had a wonderful view of Des Moines. It was a real treat!

I couldn’t stay too long though, because as far as I was concerned, I was given a sign. I was supposed to go to Kansas City , to meet Gigi Belconico, and convince her to help Joe.

The drive was lovely, and I even got tons of Facebook comments from this lovely photo I shot with my phone:

Have I mentioned that my new phone that I got in March is an Android Phone (Samsung Epic — pretty good… I should probably root it to make it work better), has a camera, wifi, and Facebook?  This has been a blast, because I can share photos and videos from my life as they happen… unlike my old Palm Treo 700.

So, I’m driving South to Kansas City, and I decide this might be a good time to figure out where I’ll stay tonight.

The usual text to Ping.Fm (a site that pushes my text out to twitter, facebook, and linkedin) was sent, but I didn’t actually check to see if people were replying…. instead, I texted my little brother.

In March, he had texted me and said that he had a couch for me for when I made it out to Colorado. My 1st thoughts, when he told me, were “Whatever… I have a huge network all over the globe.  Plus when the heck do I go to Colorado?”

Now I was going to Colorado though… why not get some new blood?  Someone who doesn’t know me from the world of Internet Marketing, or from my antics.

Itay (my “little” (6’2 245 lbs of solid muscle) brother) texted me back a name and a number.  I asked for more details, and he just texted back that she’s a psychologist, and liked my story.

That’s good enough for me.  I called Michele, and left a voicemail. When we spoke, she agreed that I could crash there… even when I told her I probably won’t arrive until 6AM, since a serendipitous pit stop just came up.

I met Gigi for Gate’s BBQ — which is reputed as being some of the best BBQ in Kansas City. We feasted on Burnt Ends.

Pleasantries were exchanged, and I proceeded to tell Gigi about Joe.  Gigi had watched the live stream of the presentations – and thus saw mine – but had not seen Joe’s.  When I told her of the strange timing of her communication to me, and all that preceded that, she agreed to sponsor Joe with some coaching– should they be compatible.

We chatted about other things, and I gave her all sorts of resources that she could use for some of her own goals… we chatted for over 2 hours, and then I recalled that I had to get on the road.

It was a lengthy drive, another 13 hours on top of the 4 I had driven that morning.  That gave me time though to finally finish the audio book that I had started in Austin before getting on this road trip.

The news said that it was starting to snow.  It was certainly cold, and rainy.  I took a nap, as to not smash into anything, and arrived at 7AM… now one hour farther back in time (Time Zones do trip me out sometimes– for example, right now it’s 1:15AM here in Maui, and in California, where I just was this morning, it’s 4:15AM, and in Austin, where I was a week or 2 prior, it’s 6:15AM).

Michele was cool.  Her home was quaint, and filled from wall to wall with keepsakes and memories from her world travels.  She had been to so many places, that I feel like a homebody!

We chatted for a bit, then I had to pass out. When I woke, I agreed that I’d help her upgrade her router, and fix her internet.  I definitely love to deliver value to those I stay with, and Michele was not a technophile.

Instant Karma — as soon as I finished doing the upgrade, there was all of a sudden an extra Cat5 (network cable) available, and I was able to use that to get on the internet.

I don’t think I told you yet, but my computer has been having issues for a long time.  In February, the fans sounded like wood chippers, and my WiFi was not working too well.

Not too well evolved into hardly ever.  I came up with a workaround, which was getting my new phone on the network, and tethering in that way.  After a while, that stopped working. I was running out of ways to get on the internet, and my computer was running very hot.  It would actually hurt to use it sometimes, and it would crash often (don’t believe all those people that tell you that Apple computers don’t crash).

One workaround that I came up with for the crashing thing, was to put ice trays on my computer, and manually cool it that way. Michele offered me ice-packs (you know.. those silver baggies that are filled with some gel, that you freeze, and they keep stuff cold.) and they seemed to work wonderfully.

What luck, right?  I got ice packs to deal with the over heating, and I got wired internet and an extra cable to get on the web with.  On top of that, I was told by everyone that I’m basically snowed in, and that it would be foolish to try and make it through the mountains.

Michele and I spent the evening discussing her business, and exchanging stories of travel and adventure. The next morning I was off to Las Vegas.

I quickly got a couch offer by my friends Larry & Oksana, whom I met at Burning Man, though I knew of them previously through Craig Allen & Caleb Jennings.  What was even cooler was that Jim Kwik was also staying with them while he was in town to speak at TedX.

Vegas was fun, as it always is.  I told countless jokes to Jim and Alex, and Larry and Oksana. Other than jokes, I got to impress with my eating skills at the all you can eat Sushi place (I can eat a lot more than most people would think I could).

I was considering catching the TedX talks, but I had to get my computer fixed. The matter was no longer acceptable. Even tethering was no longer working, and the computer was running on ice packs.  I would have to go to The Apple Store.

The “Genius” at the Apple Store ran diagnostics on my machine, and basically decreed that I was spot on– dead airport (Mac Wifi card), and a dead left fan. This was the 2nd Apple Store that I hit that morning, because the 1st one was too busy for anyone to see me.  This store did not have the parts, though the guy did write down the part numbers for me.

I called Frys and Best Buys, they were useless. I needed these parts ASAP, so I got on the road and drove to LA.

China, whom I met in Costa Rica, said that I can crash with her at her new home at the ledge of a cliff.  I’ve been wanting to see it, so I coordinated with her, and she texted me the address, and the phone number for the nearest Apple Store.

The Apple store people would not tell me if they had the parts, “A computer has to come in, be checked in by a technician, and be diagnosed before we can tell you about parts.”

After yet another confirmation, I was told that they too don’t have the parts.  One Apple store near by did have the airport card, but no one’s got the fans.

When I went there, they said that they can not sell me the part. They have to install it for me… except that my case was a tiny bit dinged up, so they wouldn’t work on it.

Get this… Apple won’t work on my computer, and they won’t sell me the parts to do my own work on my computer!  It took 4 Apple Stores to figure this out!   Angry? Yes!

I was told that I might have some luck with a 3rd party repair company… and one of my clients actually sells many OEM (generic) parts.  I thought I’d call him.

Once again, no luck… though he did recommend a store.. a store that I won’t name, because the guy I spoke to was really helpful.

He told me that it would be $104 an hour to work on the computer, and that they can’t sell me a part, they have to install it… and unlike the Apple Store, here I would be billed for the diagnostics.  Frustrated, I pleaded my case, “… and then they wouldn’t even work on my computer, but they won’t sell me the parts!  What the heck am I supposed to do?  I mean, I don’t care how the case turns out!  I’ve been building computers from scratch since 6th grade… I just want the damn part!”

“Well… I’m not telling you this as a representative of ___________ (company name), and this is not the company’s answer, nor would I tell you this if you walked in… but if you were my buddy, and we were speaking after work hours, and outside of the office, and you told me that this is what you’re going to do anyways, and you just needed to know where to get the parts… and I was not in the office… then this is what I would tell you.”

He proceeded to tell me a great idea… take the Apple part numbers, put them into Google, and press the Shopping button. I not only bought the 2 parts that I needed, but since I was going to have the computer taken apart, I also got myself a larger harddrive that spins at a faster speed…. thus, my computer should un faster.

My time with China was amazing… she’s also an intuitive reader, and gave me a reading. Between what she read from my energy, and what the cards told her, I was basically very intuitive, empathic, and smart… I have a lot of skills and knowledge, but I need to get grounded, and get past all the noise in my head, and all the other peoples’ energies that I pick up… meditation would help with this.

Additionally, the cards said I need to stop being so self-critical, and I need to trust my heart and intuition more.

When I left China’s place, I went to Hollywood, to SANG – the Speaker Author Networking Group.  I felt like such a mere mortal amongst the superstars that were there.  As Larry Benet, the event organizer, said “70 of the most influential people on the planet” – and invited me to stay for the day (they had more people than 70 during the event, but this was the last day, so some people had to travel back home).

I did not stay, because I had to get my ass to San Diego for the Internet Marketing Party San Diego inaugural event.  I had only dropped by to say hi, and to get Kate Buck Jr, who was in full attendance.

The party was well worth the drive. It was what I wish my 10 year high school reunion had been like.  Tons of talented people who are very business minded, positive, supportive, exciting, interesting, excited, motivated…… Frank Kern was the featured speaker, and I got to get on stage when David Gonzalez (the same one whose house I nearly got arrested in front of in Austin… He is the founder of Internet Marketing Party) gave acknowledgements for those that helped make the party a reality.

It was like a reunion… other than Craig, who was in Hawaii, so many of my friends, and former couches, were there.  I had a most wonderful evening. After a Peanut Butter Burger at 2AM, me and some friends went on the rooftop of a hotel… which was actually locked, but one of our group picked the lock, so we can have this incredible view.  Good times.

The next day, the fan arrived, and my computer no longer needed ice packs! Tethering was also working again.

2 days later, my airport came in, and I no longer needed to be wired in.

I was mostly in work mode, cranking out client projects.  I did not know what I would do with my car yet.  That’s a friggin story!

I thought I was going to lend the car to my buddy Russell… but my plates are expired, and the state of Georgia was being a bunch of pricks.  You see, you can’t get your tags renewed unless you get your emissions done.  If you’re not in town though, you can get an exemption…. or so I was told.

They only give you an exemption if you’re in the military, are a student, or… are on a very specific business trip.

Before heading to Costa Rica in late November, I mailed them everything they needed to give me my business exemption, and they still did not mail me my tags.

This time, I called to see what’s up…. it turns out that business exemption…. your business has to be located in Georgia.

My company is a Delaware company, and I run it from where ever I am.

They do not give exemptions for just traveling, and that since I’m not doing my business in Georgia, that they won’t help me. In fact, when I asked if perhaps I could take an emissions test in California, and mail them the results, I was specifically told that the only way they will renew my tags is if I drive my car to Atlanta, and get my emissions done there.

So.. where to store the car?

After asking, and having some people give replies, I decided that even if a friend wanted to give me their garage, it’s just not worth the hassle….

I looked up Car Storage, and found a place that will watch my car, disconnect the battery, turn on the engine every month….. all for $90 a month– way less than the cost of any inconvenience any friend would go through to watch the car.

Rob took me to drop off my car, and we then went to Lestat’s – my favorite coffee place.  We also brought with us Craig’s surfboard, which was being stored at Rob’s place.

I bought a surfboard case, and I filled it with the surfboard, and my clothes — for padding.  I will now have a surfboard to use in Hawaii– as will Craig and Terra.

The flight was uneventful, and I landed in Maui.  Craig and Terra found me quickly.  Craig lifted my hat off my head, and Terra put a Lei on me.  It was made of real flowers, and smelled incredible ( I am still sniffing it at the moment ).

So… got my bag, got the surfboard, got some lunch — the Mahi Mahi and Ahi here are fresh, so I had some blackened Ahi — yum!

We then went to the beach, since who the hell goes to Hawaii and doesn’t go to the beach, right?

Following that, was a small nap for me next to the saltwater pool, and then work.

Tomorrow morning I start training with Terra…. she says she can get me to a 7 minute mile!  Currently, I run 11.5 minute miles, and she’s been running since she was 12, so I believe her.

It’s just one more thing to be excited about.

So… here I am… in Hawaii, with no return ticket back to the mainland USA.  My plans are to get a lot of work done, get my run way faster, and learn to meditate.

An entire journey was started because a friend knew that I would go for it, because a 1 way ticket would make a great story.  By the way… a 1 way ticket to Hawaii on a Tuesday was only $240 + taxes (total $268).  So… don’t think that a Hawaiian vacation is out of your reach.  If you want to go somewhere, start by planning what you would do there if you could go… the rest will take care of itself.

Is there anywhere you’ve gone with a 1 way ticket?  Any place you’d want to go on a 1 way ticket?

I’m not ashamed to ask for help, and I’m sure you’ll see the irony here….

dolphins getting slaughtered in japan

23,000 Dolphins get slaughtered each year.  I wrote about this when I saw The Cove. But while writing and “getting the word out” is a good start, is that enough?

In this day and age, we get flooded with causes– and we have more opportunities than ever to help.  But, what do we do about it?  ”I posted a link to the Youtube video on my Facebook Wall!” is not really a huge investment, and probably isn’t going to get all that much accomplished.  Yet, that’s the extent of what most of us do.

I’m no activist.  I tweeted and facebooked about “The Cove” – which is how I had found out about this horrendous activity of dolphin slaughter.  I even blogged about it.  I know, I know… giant contributor to the cause, right?  Well,  Tim Burns (the brother of one of my insanely awesome couches, Rob Burns) watched the same movie… but instead of writing a blog, he really did something. He dropped everything andwent to Japan to meet with the director of the film to see what he can do to help.

He came back, and urged their company CEO to help.  They called a company-wide meeting, and are now donating 100% of all internet sales for November to SaveJapanDolphins.org

Since Rob was working with RibbonNaturals on the tech and marketing side of their cart, and I am in frequent communications with Rob, I heard about this, and did what I could to help out. I helped edit some of the videos, I moved things onto AmazonS3, helped with some of the design and coding, and you know what?  It was a pain in the ass!

Yup, I was already stressed out about my project load, and I was still thrilled to stay up a little later each night, and MAKE time for another project.  People always say they don’t have the time to help…. well… sleep less, and watch less TV/YouTube.

They are actually doing something.  They are donating 100% of their web sales.  They spent money and company resources to promote that.  Help spread the word! Promoting that a DVD should be watched is one thing… but sending people to a place where they can buy nutritional supplements (that they should probably get anyways), where every cent of it goes to help a good cause, that actually makes a difference!

Go to http://RibbonNaturals.com and buy something during November, and watch “The Cove”(available on NetFlix).

http://ribbonnutrition.com/

Sarah enjoying her 10th birthday at Pops

Lately I’m noticing a major trend in helping people.  I’m kind of addicted. This set of stories is almost in order, but the shorter story that happens later, I’m putting in the front.

While at dinner at the 140Conf Smalltown, I got to talk to Sheila Scarborough, who was telling me about how on her drive to Kansas, she stopped by Pops Soda Shop in Oklahoma.  This place has over 500 flavors of Soda from all over the world!

This of course fascinated me, so I decided I would go on my way to Austin.  I went and it was pretty cool (and that will be another blog post- I took video and photos). In this blog post I’m not writing about the soda.  I’m writing about Sarah.

While I stood at the register to pay for the sodas that I was purchasing as cute gifts for my Austin family (friends), the speakers blasted “Attention.  Attention.  We have a very special announcement.  Today is Sarah’s 10th birthday!  She is sitting in the 3rd booth on the left.”

I quickly asked the cashier if she could watch my cases of soda, and quickly went to find the 3rd booth.  I asked the little girl there if she is Sarah.  When she confirmed that she is, I wished her a happy birthday, and then offered a birthday portrait.  Her mother wrote her email address using crayons

I told them that I would send in the morning when I arrive at Austin (I arrived at 6am), but what I ended up doing was going to my car, getting my laptop, and processing the photo, and sending it… right then, from Pops.  I figured that getting a birthday present would be more fun on your birthday, as compared to the next day.  I sent it without my Couch Surfing Ori watermark.  So that Sarah also has proper bragging rights, I informed her of my photography background (that I’ve shot such celebs as Nikki Taylor, Hulk Hogan, Rob Zombie, Wycleff, etc…) and some links to see my work.

THAT is the majority of the point of this post. When was the last time that you did something nice for a complete stranger?  When was the last time you did something just to make someone happy?

These days the media is constantly trying to teach us that all strangers are evil.  That people are out to kidnap us (You should see the length of the email that I wrote to ask permission to use Sarah’s picture in the blog post) and kids.  There are numerous cases of people being harassed and even arrested for feeding other peoples’ parking meters!  The negative media hardly delivers good news… just fear fear fear…. and while I understand that that gives them viewership, it is actually hurting the world by convincing people not to nice or helpful!

My travels have taught me that people are awesome!  People are friendly, and helpful, and fun, and definitely worth going out of your way to help.

More than that though, you know my theory on serendipity– the more people you interact with, the better your luck.  You never know who someone is.  Not to mention Karma is always a good thing. It works better when you don’t expect anything back, and you generally get yours back in ways you didn’t expect.  I also love good stories, and events that make for good stories.

This is the equivalent of “No regrets”– the equivalent of seeing a beautiful girl, and then kicking yourself in the ass later for not having gone up and said hello because of some internal dialogue in your head that told you why you would get rejected.  Take a chance people!  Get involved with other people.  Yes, I thought “Geez, if I go up to these people and start talking to their 10 year old, they’re going to call the cops.”  ”Should I go say anything?”  ”Should I offer a photo, or is that too creepy?”  What the hell?  I’m an award winning photographer, and I’m feeling creepy for offering to do something nice?  Thanks a lot media!  Yes, I almost did not do anything… but then I thought about the whole no regrets thing, so as Anthony Robbins said “If you can’t, you must. If you must, you can.”

Was it the coolest present Sarah ever got?  Probably not… but I didn’t see other people going to wish her a happy birthday after the announcement, so I’m sure that wishing her happy birthday at least made her birthday better, and the photo added to that.  But even if it did nothing, I tried, and that’s what counts.  I did something nice for someone for no reason, with no expectation of something in return.

Yesterday morning in Austin I was having coffee, and this woman was carrying her coffee, and her kid’s hot chocolate.  My hands were full with my coffee (I had put Sriracha – a thai hot sauce – in it! Adventure!), but I opened and held the door for her with my foot.  I could see the relief on her face as she thanked me for that.  Holding the drinks was tough, because she was also trying to keep an eye on her hyper child that was running every which way. And now back to Detroit:

As I was driving towards Kansas to attend the 140Conf there, I got a DM (Direct Message on Twitter) from Becky McCray “I think you should present at the 140 Smalltown, and Jeff Pulver agrees!” I enjoy public speaking, so… sure I agreed.  Many speakers just repeat the same presentation over and over, but since I loved the concept of the 140 Smalltown when Jeff told me about it in LA, I started thinking about what I could say that would help.

I not only wrote a presentation, but I then presented it to some friends and got their feedback, then I conferred with one of my couches (Katherine Hoppe of Coos Bay, Oregon) who represents a small town (3 counties that together have a population of 16,000 people).  I picked her brain about what goes on with social media use in her area.

Kat teaches other counties how to use social media, as well as businesses in her area.  She is a genius when it comes to this.  After I presented, people were talking about Coos Bay for hours.  I guess that’s Karma, eh?  She helped me with the questions I had for my presentation, and in return I totally pimped her and her town out.

A saying that I really love is “If at first you DO succeed, try not to look so damn surprised!” (Spoofing “If at first you don’t succeed, try try again.”) –  Well… my presentation achieved its goal: it gave solid usable ideas for social media usage that would be easy to implement, and not overwhelming, for people in a small town.  The reason I mentioned that saying is because I was caught off guard when all these people were thanking me.

I’ve gotten “Great presentation!”  or “I’ve enjoyed that!” before… but being thanked so profusely by the people whom I wrote it for, about how helpful and useful it is, that was exciting.

I spent the evening mingling with the people, giving them further ideas, and of course telling my various stories of travels and mischief.  After the 140 Mixer, I skipped out on dinner with everyone at (If all the girls with big boobs get jobs at Hooters, where do the girls with one leg work?) IHOP so that I could encode and upload the video clips from the event.

That too was something helpful, and I’m still being thanked for that.  The speakers now have a venue to share their presentations.

The next morning I got a tour of the Cosmosphere – a space museum in Kansas.  Seriously, who knew?  I felt pretty rockstar, because I got a 1 on 1 tour from Patsy, whom I met the night before. It was mindblowing seeing the ACTUAL crafts that were in space.  The SR-71 was my favorite.  It’s friggin huge!!!  These things look so much smaller on TV when there’s no people next to them for perspective.

After the tour, I gave Patsy some of my consulting for free because I had such a blast in the museum, and these solutions would help the museum grow their collection, grow awareness about the museum, and do things that no other museum is doing.  She was pretty excited, “I’m stealing that!”  ”ummm… you can’t steal it, I just gave it as a gift!”  *chuckle*  She also has my permission to buzz me whenever the museum needs any ideas.

I can’t blog my every single deed… I’m just writing a few, because I just noticed that I’m doing it more and more…so I thought I’d write.  Hopefully, it inspires you to go and do something nice for someone else.

The World's Largest Truck Stop

I just drove from Las Vegas (Sunday 1pm PST) to Detroit, Michigan (8pm EST Tuesday). It’s about 2110 miles.  I want to tell you how crazy Blog World was in Vegas.  I’ll try to do a short version, though being short-winded is not my strength.

Vegas: Fun! Tons of friends from all over the world.  Met new ones.  I love memorable meetings- When I met Deb, it was at a club, and Kate said “Give her a foot massage” “Ok” – so.. I’m on the floor at this club, this woman is writhing in pleasure, and that’s when we made introductions.  We’re great friends now.  I even danced!  A lot!  Like, pick the girl up, swing her around, Salsa, Cha-Cha, swing, hip-hop… who knew?!  I wasn’t even drunk.  Good mood can make a huge difference.

1st night- didn’t have a couch lined up.  Ended up getting the largest suite at the Luxor, and it was technically with someone whom I met at the 140conf (though, at the mixer). This happened spontaneously, as I went to Vegas intentionally without a couch.  I then had Shane agree to let me crash his couch at the Luxor, and while on my way to Shane’s room, Kendall invited me to instead crash at her suite:

I ended up being the official photographer for TechKaraoke at BlogWorld.  Rad event.  Next year, I will sing in it!  This will require me getting over some internal issues, and possibly seeking some pro vocal coaching.

I was VERY goofy during this event.  I was very me.

Why? Because I was constantly surrounded by great friends who like me for me, and thus bring out the best in me. While there’s many people, I’m going to give the big shout out to Kate Buck Jr.

I met Amber (@MissDestructo) – she’s bff material, meaning, rad, funny, has attitude, knows who she is, speaks her mind, laughs at my jokes, is smart.  She too gets frustrated at people not living their lives.  My business manager told me that she’s envious that I’m going to BWE, ’cause I’ll get to meet Amber, whom she’s a huge fan of.  So, I message Amber, saying that we have to make a video for her.  So, I’m at this giant party at Liquid, talking to one of my fans who was excited to meet me, when I see Amber’s blue hair.  I cut out mid-sentence, “Excuse me!” jump on some furniture to get around people, tap her on the shoulder, and she ditched her conversation without finishing her sentence either!  How cool.  We walked off to a private cabana, and filmed the video.

I also shot a bunch of pics of her. The cool thing I want to point out is birds of a feather.  She quickly introduced me to many other cool people… Generally, I bring up Birds of a Feather when I talk about the 2 couches (yes, in all this time, I’ve only had 2 couches that I didn’t really think were great people… I didn’t like how they treated their kids/significant others, and some of their other values) that I didn’t vibe with… they were friends, despite being across the country.  Then I held a workshop at a studio that was provided by a friend of one of them… whom one of my students later informed me got convicted for 57 counts of child molestation.  Yuck. So… it’s great to be able to say Birds of a Feather in a good context. We hung out a bunch, and that’s not the last we’ll see each other or interact.

To avoid eating crap food all the time, especially on the road, I spent $200 at Whole Foods on Raw Foods that are Dehydrated.  So, I did stop at about 10 McDonald’s on the route to Detroit, but it was only to steal their internet signal from the parking lot. I haven’t weighed myself, but generally when I eat a mostly raw diet, I lose a lot of weight… quickly.  I was thirsty as all heck though- dehydrated food rehydrates with your bodily fluids – but had also brought a bunch of spring water with me.

So, I spent $200 on raw food, and I still have a bunch of it.  I didn’t eat crap food, which is generally so easy to get on the road (You never see Organic / Raw Food restaurants at service stations), and it helped me stay healthy despite my very little sleep (I didn’t get out of the car except to fill up gas, or go to the restroom.  I would sleep- and usually for 15-60 minutes on the side of the road, or rest stops when I was exhausted).

The journey was tough- I had to get here (Detroit) in time, so I didn’t have time to get couches, despite wanting to, and having people invite me.  I thought I had time, then I kept realizing I didn’t.  So, the journey didn’t work out as I had anticipated, but it was incredible!

People retweeted, and got their friends involved, and people were connecting with each other, and me.  It was a blast!  I got to meet new people that I didn’t know, that are like minded and incredible.

Dan from Mile High Buzz

Since THIS roadtrip was intended to promote the 140Conf, I kept using the HashTag #140Conf Roadtrip (it means in twitter you can click on the 140conf and see all the updates that mention it), and I was seeking characters, as that’s what the 140Confis about. Characters, and usage of the real-time web.  I found one!

Well, I gotta give Brandie (previously mentioned business manager) credit for the discovery.  Because I was looking for spots to have Tweetups at, we thought a coffee house would be great.  Apparently,  most of the coffee shops in Denver do not have websites or social-media presence. This was shocking.  Yet, one guy whom Google was listing at first place for most shops’ names was Dan, with his Mile High Buzz blog.

Dan uses social media and his blog to get the word out about mom and pops coffee shops.  That’s exactly who I was looking for!  Brandie contacted him for me, as I was driving some crazy ravines at this time, and in the morning I got to meet him for an interview.

I am going to donate some of my time, and upgrade his blog for him, to empower him to help more coffee shops, and let others post their own shop reviews.

I lost my iPod charger!  That sucks, ’cause now I have 3 iPods, and none of them work   So, no audio books this time around.  I did refresh my mind about some new marketing techniques I recently studied about Cell Phone advertising, by playing that course on my laptop which sat in the passenger seat.

There was a cool piece of serendipity!  You know I love talking about Serendipity!

A few weeks ago, I messaged my friend June “*hugs*” out of the blue, just for the heck of it.  She replied that it must have been divine intervention.  I didn’t think much of it. But lately, as I was heading to Colorado, I texted her to see if she was around.  She was in Chicago.  So, since I was planning on being in Chicago today, I texted her to see if she was in Chicago.  She said that no, she’s on her way to Iowa!  I was in Iowa, and heading to Chicago!  So, we met 1/2 way, which was at the world’s largest truck stop.  Since I’m on the 140Conf Roadtrip, I want you to notice the serendipity, and the use of real-time technologies.

Turns out though that the reason she said a few weeks ago that I must be a divine messenger is that when I sent the *hug* out of the blue, she had just found out that her mother is ill, and may pass… which is why she went to Chicago.  Cool, eh?

So, I started tweeting with one of the speakers at this 140Conf today.  Turns out that Je-Nae Duane wanted a ride from the airport to the cocktail party .  I said I’d be happy to, but then when I got to some god-forsaken town in Illinois that has a shipping yard, I not only had to go through massive amounts of streets that are ripped up from construction, but I also got stuck waiting behind the tracks for a train.  This train was the longest train I had ever seen (that’s not sarcasm, it really was), and also the slowest moving.  In fact, numerous times it came to a complete stop, then would start again, at a snail’s pace.

I was getting angry, and THAT is when Ja-Nae called me for the first time.  I was watching impotently as the train crawled along, and my GPS showed me that arrival time would be later and later.  I didn’t know who this girl was that well, and I didn’t want to keep her waiting, so I told her to Cab it.  She insisted I just call her as I know what’s up.

The train finally ran out of cars, and was no longer blocking the tracks… however, there were other tracks, and something else was blocking traffic.  I just felt as if I’d never leave town!  I felt as if my entire push to get to Detroit on Tuesday was a waste of time.  It was not a good feeling, as I generally try to focus on the positive.

The second I got back on the freeway, I started hauling ass.  The interesting thing is that in Michigan, people drive awesomely!  Many of them speed heavily, but they do so in the left lane.  They are aware of other drivers, and move out of the way to the right lane.  Being tired, having a full car, and driving an SUV all led me to feel as if I’m speeding, despite only doing the speed limit -70.  Once in a while I’d move to 80 or 85.  I tried to speed it up and see far I can get the estimated arrival time to reverse.

When I did arrive, I picked Ja-Nae up, and we started chatting.  I was so blown away!  This woman sings opera all over the wold, has authored a book on how to start your business for $100, and has founded the largest entrepreneurial network on the planet or women. She is working on her 2nd book, and is teaching people to make social change.

We arrived at the 140Conf mixer, had a drink, a tiny bit of food, met some characters, and then she had to leave to go to her hotel.  I was lightly crushed, because I wanted to hear all of her stories!  She is just fascinating, and is my age, and has quite the story(stories).  I hope that I’m not too distracted from paying attention to all of tomorrow’s speakers!

As I’ve grown older, making a difference has become more and more important.

How did this start?

Recently I spoke at the 140Conf, a conference held by Jeff Pulver (CoFounder of Vonage.com, and the guy who is responsible for VOIP (Voice Over IP — Internet-based telephone calls) being free, rather than billed per-call by the phone industries).

I met Jeff prior to the event for coffee and a chat. He was (is) an incredible person. He has a good sense of humor, and helps many people.

His passion for what he does, as well as his intelligence are both quite apparent. I decided I wanted to get involved in spreading the word about the uses of social media for other reasons than just marketing or being social. Jeff recently started his 140Conf Small Town as well, to spread the knowledge of what industries and individuals in those towns can do with these real-time technologies.

Basically, it’s how to leverage social media for social good. That’s a cause I can believe in! I’m not the only one, the mayor of Detroit is opening up the event!

I’ve used social media to connect with people, to connect other people with the people that have exponentially increased their business, with people that can solve their problems, to raise funds for a poodle that needed a $2,500 operation, and much more… the speakers at the 140 Conf have even bigger stories than mine.

So what’s this trip?

I am driving from Las Vegas to Detroit, then down to Kansas.  I will be using Social Media (Facebook / Twitter / 4Square / etc) to announce my locations, and I will have Tweetups (get togethers at certain destinations, generally announced on Twitter).  I am looking to spread usage of social media as a tool for social change, and business growth, while meeting characters. As I find characters, I will be filming their stories.  I am also, as always, looking to connect with great individuals along my route.

If you caravan with me, you get in for free!

That’s right, Jeff Pulver agreed that anyone going with me to the Detroit 140Conf or the Kansas 140conf gets in for free.  Tickets are generally $140, which is a bargain to see the panels and speakers that Jeff has lined up. I’ve never had a Caravan, and that would be rad!

What’s my Route?

I leave Las Vegas on Sunday morning, with pit stops in

Richfield, UT
Grand Junction, CO (Stop for the night here)
Brighton, CO
Grand Island, NE (stop for the nite)
Cedar Rapids, IA
Chicago IL
Then of course Detroit, MI.

Tell Me Your Story!

I, like Jeff Pulver, am looking for characters.  If you have a great story, are a character, and/or are using the internet to affect social good, then I want to know you!  I want to meet you on my journey, and film your story.

Want to be a Couch?

I am also looking for people to Couchsurf with along the way.  If you want me to stay with you, fill out the form at Crash My Couch.

Know Characters?

I’m looking for characters, so if you got them, let me know!  Use the contact form on my site, and let me know who they are …. especially if they are on my route.

Want to go to the 140Conf for free?

Just caravan with me!  Contact me (on Twitter would be great:  I’m at http://twitter.com/couchsurfingori), and let me know!  We can drive together!

Where to have a tweetup?

If you know any places in those cities that would make for good tweetup spots, or own them and want the promotion, then let me know, and I’ll make sure we do it there.

Spread the Word-

Since I need to get the word out about my trip, get people interested in the tweetups (and decide where to have them), and of course to spread the word about the 140conf, I need to bring attention to this post.  So, please post this on Facebook, Twitter, Social Bookmarking sites, StumbleUpon it, e-mail it to your friends, e-mail it to your enemies, forward it to reporters, forward it to bloggers…. just get the word out!

Thanks, and I’ll see you on the road!

Peggy Richardson -The Wizard of Ebooks