It's 4am eastern standard time and I finally got sick of Adri's bitching and moaning so we stopped. I had at least another hour or more of driving but she's been complaining for at least 3 hours. I tried to trick her by changing the clocks in the car while she slept but she caught on. doh!
We covered about 550 miles in just under 8 hours; we were making great time! Many thanks to Keith and Jessie for letting us borrow their cooler and a high five to Michelle for letting us borrow her Garmin GPS thingy. Between these two essential travel items, it's made our trip enjoyable and on-track so far.
I'm still wired from the stress of driving so I'm taking advantage of the free wi-fi while I can. We will get about 5.5 hours of sleep and then head back on the road. Only another 150 miles or so to the in-laws.
Oh ya, for those uninformed about this road trip, we have embarked on a roadtrip that will span at least nine states and cover almost 2500 miles over the next 12 days. We will begin with xmas at the in-laws, then visit friends in Northern Virginia, Richmond and a business meeting in VA Beach, then to my Mom's in Greenville, NC, a quick stop in Raleigh at Phil's on our way to Charlotte to spend New Years Eve with Charlie and Ash-uh-lee, before we travel all the way back to Chicago.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
To Mohawk or Not
I'm trying to kill about 20 minutes until I have to leave to start my afternoon errands; haircut, pickup dry cleaning, meet Ryan about some cold calling stuff for Liberty, go to my office to meet Terrence and a client, etc, etc. And I was thinking about doing a mohawk. Just a raw, buzzed up, hacked up and spikey mohawk. Nothing says "trust me to do your taxes" like a mohawk, right?
Well, here is my logic: I don't want to do tax returns. I want to do the market development activities; co-op advertising, joint marketing programs, charitable fundraising, press releases, interviews, media planning, waver training, B2B marketing and door knocking. Having the mohawk will certainly preclude me from staying in the office because I don't want to scare customers away... and if I am out in the field, dressed as lady liberty or uncle same, will anyone care that I have a mohawk? Probably not...
To mohawk or not
Crazy, Spikey. Liberty.
Taxes can be fun.
Well, here is my logic: I don't want to do tax returns. I want to do the market development activities; co-op advertising, joint marketing programs, charitable fundraising, press releases, interviews, media planning, waver training, B2B marketing and door knocking. Having the mohawk will certainly preclude me from staying in the office because I don't want to scare customers away... and if I am out in the field, dressed as lady liberty or uncle same, will anyone care that I have a mohawk? Probably not...
To mohawk or not
Crazy, Spikey. Liberty.
Taxes can be fun.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Startup Indiana - Rural Entrepreneurship Conference
Last week I was in Indiana for 3 days for Diabco work. On Wednesday, December 12th, we attended the first annual Startup Indiana conference at Ball State in Muncie, Indiana. To start, we arrived nearly 2 hours before the welcome event began so that was a bummer - especially considering we drove an hour to get there. We listened to exciting advancements in the Indiana economy and bla, bla, bla. I wrote two haikus during the most boring parts:
Headwind of change
Bank and turn the ship around
Sail forward. Tailwind.
Rural business
Investing with confidence
Come quickly. Join us.
The interesting parts were when the entrepreneur experts shared their stories with the group. Wow! I have never seen so much passion among the members. The guy from Triton Energy was spitting with enthusiasm as he stormed around the room throwing out vials of biodiesel and the CEO of Lone Pine Farms choked back tears when he showed a slideshow of his father and four generations of his family working on their farm. Our presentation was professional and insightful but lacked the passion of these folks. Maybe it's because we still haven't achieved the success.
One thing I was reassured about is that many of these folks have been down and out, and plugging away for years, before they caught a break. Our little venture has endured a couple angel investor rounds and many setbacks but we keep on kicking. I keep telling myself that no story ever makes Entrepreneur magazine that wasn't "almost" a failure.
Our one-on-one pitch with the angel investor panel went well and we should hear something soon. Crossing our fingers as we head into the holiday season... wishing for a break!
Headwind of change
Bank and turn the ship around
Sail forward. Tailwind.
Rural business
Investing with confidence
Come quickly. Join us.
The interesting parts were when the entrepreneur experts shared their stories with the group. Wow! I have never seen so much passion among the members. The guy from Triton Energy was spitting with enthusiasm as he stormed around the room throwing out vials of biodiesel and the CEO of Lone Pine Farms choked back tears when he showed a slideshow of his father and four generations of his family working on their farm. Our presentation was professional and insightful but lacked the passion of these folks. Maybe it's because we still haven't achieved the success.
One thing I was reassured about is that many of these folks have been down and out, and plugging away for years, before they caught a break. Our little venture has endured a couple angel investor rounds and many setbacks but we keep on kicking. I keep telling myself that no story ever makes Entrepreneur magazine that wasn't "almost" a failure.
Our one-on-one pitch with the angel investor panel went well and we should hear something soon. Crossing our fingers as we head into the holiday season... wishing for a break!
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Recent Haiku Revelations
I've mentioned the book Crypto-Nomicon in previous posts and this epic novel of 1100 pages is a monster. In fact, it's fascinating. One of the main characters injects random haiku poetry throughout the novel. Considering this and a recent inspiration, I've decided to apply myself to the art of counting syllables. A traditional haiku is three lines and is constructed of 5 syllables on the first line, 7 on the second and 5 on the third.
The following is a series of haikus about my visit to Pittsburgh:
Tunnel thru mountain
Front door of city opens
three rivers converge.
Little big city
The former steel capital
Now title Pittsburgh
Walk briskly downtown
Before the bridge, on the left
Dance without blushing.
Go out of the Gateway
Around the hilton downtown
And pass the Highmark.
Lunch at Max Erma
Fun times had in Station Square,
Tiki and Fatheads.
The following is a series of haikus about my visit to Pittsburgh:
Tunnel thru mountain
Front door of city opens
three rivers converge.
Little big city
The former steel capital
Now title Pittsburgh
Walk briskly downtown
Before the bridge, on the left
Dance without blushing.
Go out of the Gateway
Around the hilton downtown
And pass the Highmark.
Lunch at Max Erma
Fun times had in Station Square,
Tiki and Fatheads.
Old Skool Ghetto
I was in Pittsburgh last weekend to visit my oldest college buddy Brent. We met freshman year in the dorms, lived together in various places with a number of different roommates over the course of 6 years and became best friends. We reminisced about old stories, ridiculous acts we barely survived and the touching moments that forged the bond of our friendship. It was awesome!
In the spirit of sharing old memories, Brent managed to find these old photos of us, from our freshman year in the dorms. These are from the Fall of 1998. Get ready to laugh!
In the spirit of sharing old memories, Brent managed to find these old photos of us, from our freshman year in the dorms. These are from the Fall of 1998. Get ready to laugh!
Yeahhh, that's definitely Olde English 40oz's of beer and thug hats! The next one is even better...
Life at a Crossroads
Ever heard the saying about coming to a fork in the road? Taking the road less traveled or being stuck at a crossroads? Imagine being stuck in a spot with about a dozen different roads. That's just about where I am right now. So many choices, too little information and gut feelings I can't figure out how to read. The map blew out the window a few miles (years) back and the windows are blacked out, covered in snow and I'm blindfolded.... and driving about 90mph.
Yeah, it's something like that.
Yeah, it's something like that.
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