“Hey I just wanted to ask you how you knew what you wanted to do with your life? I am a 24 year old female and have no idea what I want to do career wise. I am intelligent but don’t know what I am really good at and get frustrated easily working for other people. I have tried MLM and IM and really love it but haven’t made any money so get demotivated very quickly. I am confused.com so just wanted to know if you have any tips on how to change the path I am taking.”

I thought the reply was something that anyone can benefit from, regardless of age or occupation, so I’m posting it on my blog.  I suggest you share this- someone will appreciate it.

It’s a patented multi-step process that took me years to perfect, but I’ll share it with you, ’cause you seem cool.

Step 1: Read the rest of this entry »

I saw this the other day-

Silly, right? Crappy acting, and the concept– “Yeah… like someone’s going to break into my house and set up a computer store in my living room just so I can pick out which one I want. Are they going to clean up afterwards?”

But I thought I realized I had to share it, because the concept is NOT that ridiculous! In fact, it’s important for your business.

No, I don’t mean you should get a Windows 7 PC, it’s not about that at all.

There are three sides to this: Read the rest of this entry »

I love serendipity – So many insane stories of it lately, that I can barely keep up.  Running in the HellRun.com Hell Run obstacle race was one of those things…..

One minute I’m being reminded that I said I’d run in an obstacle race, and have not taken any action on it (i.e. flaked out), and 2 hours later, I get a text out of the blue asking if I can run in an obstacle race to cover for my friend who already bought the ticket.

Yup.  I love serendipity.

What I don’t love however, is people not delivering on their promises. And Hell Run certainly did not do that!

You see, on their website, they have photos of people covered in mud… yet nobody got anything more than their ankles muddy… and even that was weak.

I’ll tell you the things they did, but when I get to the last one, you’ll see why I bothered to  write this post! Read the rest of this entry »

Have you ever been held against your will? Your only choices being to keep suffering, or to walk away from what you’ve worked hard for? Sometimes, if we want another solution – the one that works for you – you have to do what it takes. My troubles began over a decade ago…

The year was 1996, many people did not know what this “Internet” thing is (we were still in Web 1.0 then) . A 19 year old Read the rest of this entry »

One of my couches / buddies Jason Moffatt just did an epic thing.  Despite being a surfer, and loving La Jolla, he moved to LA to participate more in comedy.  Originally he took the comedy bootcamp just ’cause he wanted to… thought it might make a good blog post (We’ve all done crazy things for that reason, right?).  Well, doing things on a whim often leads to amazing things.

Jason  is funny, and fearless, and smart (He has experience in selling magic tricks at bars, he was a PI, he is a marketer and copywriter… many of these things combined let him be confident, and know how to read people, and know what to say…. plus he has more street smart than most people I know– and that’s a lot of people), so he was a natural at this. Here is his first show!

I was lucky enough to get to be there in person to show support for a friend. There’s not much better than being able to show support for your friends in their big dreams. Jason is also the only other person I’ve ever met who’s taken shrooms and gone to a stripper club (his experience sounded way more painful than mine).

Anyways….not only was he funny, but his marketing superpowers are able to help these comedians– Louie Anderson and Kyle Cease. Jason has been out to Vegas a few times since to hang with Louie. How cool is that?

So… as I started this post with, Jason gave up the peace, quiet, and beauty of La Jolla to go to LA to work on comedy with Kyle Cease. I know he’s going to crush it!

The other day Jmo posts “Check out this spoof that we just filmed for Rebecca Black’s Music Video, Friday” –And he posted this video.

Ok… cute… funny…. but I didn’t see the original, so… I googled it, and here’s what I found…. Good luck watching the whole thing- *shiver*

I couldn’t watch the whole thing.. But heck, I’m not her demographic, right? I think it’s intended for teenagers. This girl is in 8th grade after all.
Well, at the time of writing this blog post (Saturday the 19th, 11AM CST), she is approaching 22 million views! Read the rest of this entry »

I run I travel, I jam my ear phones all sorts of places (did that sound wrong?)… bottom line, I have a frequent problem with ear phones shorting out at the base. First the volume drops on one side, but if I pinch or twist the cable then it works.  Then one ear bud completely stops working, then the other. After a while, unless I have the earphones twisted a certain way, I can’t hear them at all.  I’m used to it.  I go through many pairs.

So, when I went to “The Shack” (That’s how they brand themselves now… the ads say “the shack” and they pick the phone up “Thanks for calling The Shack”) in Santa Monica while couchsurfing with the awesome Espree a few months ago, I bought the cheapest replacements I could find, at $14.99, after having just killed a pair of Skull Candy earphones — a brand that brand on someone’s recommendation that they would be more durable… but… bleh, they died like the rest. The salesperson did a great job upselling me on the replacement plan.

He said that I could just walk into any radio shack, no box, no receipt, and get it exchanged.  Well, I thought I’d try that today, ’cause sure enough my new pair has been dying.  Here’s how it went down (as if the title didn’t give it away):

The very helpful sales rep gave me a brochure, and said Read the rest of this entry »

Ok, sounds good. <– Not even a reaction!

I guess my friends and family are used to hearing what new goal I am going to go after now, “I’m going to be a 3D animator!  I’m going to be a photographer!  Now I”m running a printshop!  I’m going to design jewelry!  I’m a marketer!  I’m a video editor!  I’m going to play the guitar! I’m writing a book!”  So… Breakdancing may not be a big stretch for them, especially after stunts like Bull Poker, or Cliff Jumping, or Skydiving, or all these other things that I’ve done.  But… this is different, and I’m telling you why so maybe you can find that thing that brings you alive. Read the rest of this entry »

This is my last post from America this year.  This afternoon I take the Greyhound from Austin to Dallas, then I fly to Costa Rica (Got a nifty blog post about how that came up) at 5am. I’ve spent most of this month sleeping on a dog bed, although Bentley the St. Bernard didn’t always want to snuggle.

That dog bed is so comfortable. I started sleeping on it as a joke, because I was protesting the amount of time it took to inflate and deflate Craig’s air mattress, then I realized it’s really comfy, there’s nothing to set up or clean up, and Bentley makes a great pillow anyways.

I’m writing my “Thanksgiving and stuff” blog a few days after Thanksgiving, because I am grateful every day.  I’ve got a great family (regardless of how much we annoy each other after a few days.  You know what they say “Family and garbage.. they both start to stink after a few days.”  ), I’m traveling, I’ve met the most amazing people, I work on projects that engage me intellectually, I Read the rest of this entry »

Apple thinks you are a tool

Apple is the king of marketing and creating hype.  Their technology has changed the world.  Their style has made technology simple, and pretty.  And now, they think that we are all fools. Me personally, I am waiting for the youtube itunes video of the person who came up with this latest scheme getting executed by firing squad.

Yesterday had all the tech sites wondering what Apple will announce today, as their home page announced with poor grammar that “Tomorrow is just another day.  That you’ll never forget.”  I gotta admit, with all that they’ve done, I too was curious what their announcement will  be.  What will they have people lining up around the block for this time?

Apparently, all the hype was to announce that the Beatles are now on iTunes.  Seriously?  That’s it?  That is worth shutting down the Apple home page for?

For those who were not aware of it Read the rest of this entry »

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 and Read the rest of this entry »

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. Read the rest of this entry »

I was just in Sacramento, and drove past a car that had a license plate DR DNO. Doctor Dino, get it? Right next to it was ELPRMO. These are some of the mildest vanity plates that I’ve seen around. There’s some cocky ones… generally displayed on cars that cost more than many peoples’ annual incomes. TSTRSA1 or TOO FST.

I couldn’t help but laugh as I drove past the Doctor and the First. I laughed because I remembered buying my 1st car… a sports car. My 1998 Camaro with T-Tops. She was slick, sexy, and FAST. Clearly such a divine vehicle, driven by a guy that can bench press over 300 pounds is worthy of a vanity plate…. And I had just the 6 letters in mind! Read the rest of this entry »

Change is good, they say.  I agree.  Toll ways are a bitch without it.  I still get perplexed when I see Parking Meters without credit card (or cell phone) usage. It is a good piece of bullshit to promise people when you’re running for office. But the change I’m talking about is initially hard, and these days my life is all about it.

You see, there’s a chapter in my book called “Ditching Heavy Baggage” — and it’s about how in order to keep living my passion (traveling, meeting new people, learning all I can, finding mentors, having a blast, taking great photos, having adventures, changing peoples’ lives) I had to get rid of people that were weighing me down (hence the baggage metaphor… get it?  I travel, and it’s extra weight).

I’ve heard – and then had proven through experience- that you are the sum average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. Read the rest of this entry »

After a long while of connecting with people, and traveling to random things, I got decent at figuring out how things happened… i.e. what happened that made me meet whom, and what happened because of that.

So, I’m writing this from Los Angeles.  If I wasn’t here this weekend, I’d be in Alabama, driving a stock car at 200mph with Matt Bacak and his top affiliates.  I wanted to go, but funds are tight, and many amazing projects came up. This morning’s breakfast conversation led to a trip to Baja, Mexico this Monday.  Dinner’s conversation led to us searching for places we  can try to either ride an Ostrich, or… I’d also be willing to wear Kevlar vest, and a helmet, and piss one off… I hear those things are brutal, but that sounds like it’d make a fun video.

Back to LA though– I’m staying with this girl Espree.  She’s gorgeous, loves to smile, has a snowboard and 4 skateboards of different types right by the door.  I met her last week when watching Jason Moffatt perform his first stand up comedy routine at the Comedy Store.  He was awesome.  Jason was couchsurfing with Espree at the time, and Espree is also a friend of Rob & Kathi’s — whom I was couchsurfing with for the last week, and whom I’m going to Baja with, and trying to ride an ostritch with.

I’m also working on marketing some of Kathi’s projects, and Rob and I have been helping each other solve all of our business problems.  It’s been really sweet.  Additionally, this drive to LA has been the first time I’ve ever used a garment bag! Kathi is a professional organizer, and an image consultant/stylist.  I’m documenting the process.  She pre-shopped for me, then I went to Macys, had my own private dressing room (the size of a large conference room), tried all this amazing stuff on… and then took various things for alterations.  I have a whole new wardrobe, and a new haircut— yea… I know… you want pics… next week–  I’m working with Rob to do a photoshoot.

So, Rob knows Espree, but I was talking about Serendipity…. so… what’s the deal with that?

Ok.. I’ll break it down for you:

In May  I went on that road trip with the girl.  I had all that yummy but horrible Taco Bell, which led me to feel awful, which led me to go back on raw food and a 30 day cleanse, which led me to detox and bring up all sorts of emotions, which made me pretty depressed for a few days, which made it pretty damn easy to say “YES!” to Moffatt’s random text about if I wanted to watch his surf spot & dog in La Jolla for 6 weeks while he RVs with his girl, which led Rob Burns to reach out because he saw that I was watching JMo’s dog…. and because I was in La Jolla, I worked on my book a bunch, met some more awesome people, and now Espree….

Espree I find ultra inspiring.  I hope she’s not pissed at me for writing this, but I really wish more people followed in her example.  Why? ’cause more people would be happy and  successful.  She has a vision board– but more specifically, she has her goals broken down by amounts, dates, etc… very specific.  Do you know what YOU want?  Only 3 percent of Americans set goals.  Do you?  If you could do anything what would you do?  How would you do it?

Read, network, mastermind, engage, learn, take action, learn from your mistakes, take further action.

She seemed surprised at the conclusions I inferred so quickly.  Over the years I’ve just learned to trust my gut feeling, and listen to it.  Proof that  it’s working?  I haven’t had a gun pulled on me since 2001!  Must be doing something right, right?

Since I’ve couch surfed, I’ve learned a lot about people.  I spend an awful lot about them, and I study many books on psychology, marketing, and people in general… biographies and quote books rock.

My point is that she told me that she’s just lucky.  I say people make their own luck, and having studied (and couchsurfed with) many successful people, she’s taking all the right steps.

Anyways- back to serendipity-   I’m definitely going to Baja on Monday… that’s why I drive with my Passport… “Just in case” something incredible happens that requires me to leave the country.  It would not surprise me if someone said “Hey, let’s go to Thailand, and stay on this island there for 6 months” – and I’d say “Sounds great!” (in fact, that’s kind of on my agenda… if you’d like to get in on that, you can join me in Thailand where I’ll be renting a house on an island, and doing consulting from there).

I haven’t been to the dentist in years… like…. mid 90′s or so.  I don’t like getting my teeth scraped.  I’ve busted a tooth in a wakeboarding accident.  When I drove to Austin from Atlanta, my tongue got cut up on one of my teeth— is my filling falling apart?  Is my tooth?  I don’t know, but US Dentistry rates are outrageous.  So, I hear the dentistry costs about 1/10th over there, and the Fish Tacos are amazing.  I’m going for some fish tacos, a donkey show, and a checkup.  Just kidding about the Donkey Show.  That sounds pretty gross.

After connecting with Dori Friend and being her poolboy for the weekend while her 8 friends from high school visited her, I got invited to her birthday bash on the 27-29th.  Lots of floating around on the lake, and having fun.  I’m totally down, Dori rocks!

I also found out last time I was in San Fran that my parents are coming out to visit my older bro — we went indoor skydiving, and I’m going to show up when my folks are visiting, and we’ll all do that together. I didn’t even know my folks were going to go visit before the other week!

What else?

Well… actually… it’s 1:30am, and I’m waking up at 6am to beat out the LA traffic, and get to Raymond Aaron’s event.   I’m getting coaching on my consulting.  Masters hire masters.

So… sweet dreams, good morning— whatever’s going on while you read this.  But the world keeps getting more and more exciting… are you taking advantage of that?

4th of July pic from Wikipedia

4th of July / Independence day… a day where 234 years ago we told the Brits to suck it. It doesn’t seem to mean that much as a holiday these days.  Most holidays don’t seem to mean that much. This one is an excuse to play with fireworks – or break the law in certain areas to get the fireworks – over eat BBQ food, get drunk, and occasionally catch an orchestra.

This year I’m in the middle of a health kick, so I don’t care about the BBQ food.  In La Jolla, it was cold today, so I didn’t feel like taking people up on their beach BBQ offers.  For some reason I was really tired, so slept a lot during the day (my neck still hurts, and my head’s a bit foggy.  Glad it’s my day off P90x).  I did walk outside to watch the fireworks for a few minutes, then yawned and walked back in.

Why? Because in 2007 I ate shrooms at Burning Man, and watched a (literally) 1,000 foot fireball come out of an oil derrik, followed by probably about 40 minutes of the most amazing fireworks I’ve ever seen!  Since then, nothing compares.  These were not the skimpy one firework at a time stream that you see in most fireworks show… these were hundreds of them at a time…. the sky was filled with them!  Like most things at Burning Man, these were done by artists who put everything into it… and probably didn’t have nearly as many fire-safety ordinances as most cities.

This year’s fireworks sounded about the same to me as a bag of popcorn getting ready in the microwave.  I went inside to hang with Webber, whom I was informed ahead of time hates fireworks.

I just don’t feel this holiday anymore. This year, to celeebrate independence, the United States has decided to pass a new law that suspends the 1st ammendment Read the rest of this entry »

I’m  warning you in advance, this is not your mother’s book review (takes me a tiny bit to get warmed up)! It has a lot of really personal stuff from my life as I reflect on the book, and is discussed in my fun (and language filled) manner.

Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse is a book that does not fit in my normal reading list. As with all things in my life, this too has a fascinating story and reflection.

It all started with Jaime. Read the rest of this entry »

Me with Adrianne Gonzalez and Kyler England of The Rescues - <3

Writing a book doesn’t have that much to do with writing a book.  It’s been more about organizing information, filtering through it, and learning about the publishing and self publishing industries.  So far, that’s the case.  I had a friend come into town, and she wanted to catch some live music on Friday.  I thought I’d be suave, and make happen what I had happen with my friend Joanna, while I was couchsurfing with John and Julia (whom I met at Burning Man)— we took out some ocean Kayaks, food, and booze, and saw Crosby Stills and Nash over at Humphreys.

Humphreys however had no one playing on Friday, which I found odd, ’cause they usually have quite the lineup .  I don’t mean to be spoiled… but watching a concert by Kayak is more fun than just going to a show.  I like things to be new and exciting, or at least unique. I don’t know any of the San Diego performance spaces, nor do I know who’s playing.  Sure… there’s Google for that, but Google can land you in an outletless coffee bar with no internet (such as Living Room in La Jolla). So, we just went for some good Mexican food.

The next night however I was as giddy as a little girl at a Justin Bieber concert!  I saw Kyler England post on Facebook that she’s recovering from a midnight milkshake, and that the band is on their way to San Diego for the last show of their tour

The band is “The Rescues”.  I’m a huge fan!  They are 4 members in size, and every single one of them Read the rest of this entry »

There is a wonderful poem by Jules Feiffer called “The Impostor Fantasy”.  I am honored to post it for you in my writing.

(Take it away Jules):

I felt like a fraud.

So I learned to fly an airplane.

At 50,000 feet I thought: Read the rest of this entry »

In this post, I actually give you a real set of stories from my travels… but I’m not 100% sure how to format my book.  I’d really love your feedback!

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: Read the rest of this entry »

Dear friend – yes you!

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 Read the rest of this entry »

I love Austin. I tell everyone that for a strange individual like me, it’s home… there’s a lot to do, there’s great food, never-ending music, hot girls, business-minded people, support for the weird…. it’s the only place that has had a homeless transvestite run for mayor and get 3rd place.  It’s just a great city, and I have my Austinite friends that I’m missing before I even leave– people like Craig Allen, Kate Buck Jr, Will Stoerner / Kevin Eaton (they live in the same house, and have been friends since 4th grade or something, so I always list them together), Katie Brown, Perry Belcher, David Gonzalez, Jimmy Walters the Fourth.   There’s more… but these are people who have Read the rest of this entry »

Sponge Bob Square Pants died in BP oil spill!

Here’s a fun one to share with your friends!

British Petroleum has a gag order on their staff.  During this cleanup, no one can tell you what’s really going on.  So… all those dead animals, all that failure on stopping the flow of oil…. yeah, they can’t

Click this to see BP's "Oil Spill" ad

talk about it.  Additionally, BP is paying for sponsored ads, so whenever you search for a term like “Oil Spill” their ad shows up at the top, like so (see image on left).

Their BP ad (the one with the yellow background) costs them money for each click.  It takes you to their page, where they get to present the information however they want to… i.e. “BP cares, loves you, are the good guys, and are really making the world a better place…. and a little oil in your sea food is good for you!”

Now, I may be paraphrasing a little bit, but you get the idea.

The sad part is that millions of people do not know that it is an ad.  They search for “Oil Spill” (or any other term relating to the worst ecological catastrophe in history), they see “BP”, click on it, and think they are seeing the real news, and thus believe it.

So, to show BP that this campaign is just a waste of their money, and that people are smarter than that, just keep searching for Oil Spill, and clicking on BP’s ads!  Then just hit the back button on your browser, you’re back in the Google page, and you can click again… rinse and repeat!

Send your friends to this page! With enough people doing this, maybe BP can invest their resources into cleaning the environment, rather than just trying to bully us into thinking that everything’s peachy.

Here! I’ll save you the effort– Just click here, and it will take you to a Google page where you can click on oil ads.

Have fun!

This falls under “Holy shit!” – I don’t know if it’s 100% what happened… but I certainly have my suspicions…. especially after playing with Google for a bit! Stupid brutal honesty.  *sigh* here goes:

1st of all, you should read, or at least Skim “A Sad Post” because that is what I’m talking about in this post.

So today I woke up in a fine mood. I went to brush my teeth, and as I reached inside my toiletries bag to grab the tube of toothpaste by feel, I grabbed something else.  The item I grabbed is a green bottle with the label Read the rest of this entry »