Derek's Blog @ NüHabits

Self-Reflection Over Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:37:53 -0400

Earlier tonight I was reading a blog post by Tim Brownson called Image This. The post is basically a visualization exercise geared at getting you to take a look at the things that are truly important in life and the things you take for granted. Well thought out and well written, I recommend it as a read.

So how does Mr. Brownson's visualization exercise relate to Chocolate Chip Pancakes? For you, it probably doesn't. For me, reading about how we take things for granted took me back to an experience I had last spring. (as the non-existent camera blurs and fades to black in flashback-like fashion)

Day 1:

I wake up. It's Sunday, and I can hear my wife tooling around in the kitchen. She must have heard me wake because I am quickly greeted by a "Good morning honey". A moment later I hear "Come and get some chocolate chip pancakes". I'm out of bed like a flash, with thoughts like:

'Chocolate Chip Pancakes!'
'Thank you, this was unexpected!'
'I am one lucky guy! I love this woman!'

My thoughts quickly turn to 'Plate, fork, pancakes, chair, mmm...'

Day 2:

It's Monday morning, and I am woken with "Derek, it's time to get up. Come get some breakfast." I groggily get up and walk to the kitchen. When I get there, I am jolted to life like a cartoon character being awoke by a pale of ice water to the face. CHOCOLATE CHIP PANCAKES AGAIN! The thoughts flood...

'HOLY CRAP!'
'She got up early on a workday to make me my favorite breakfast again!'
'I am truly the luckiest man on earth!'

Then 'Plate, fork, pancakes, chair, mmm...'

Day 3:

It's Tuesday morning, and I am woken by the alarm. When I get out to the kitchen, bubbling with anticipation, what do I find?! An empty stovetop, a box of cereal, and a wife hurrying to get ready for a busy day. And then come the thoughts:

'Where are the chocolate chip pancakes?'
'What is she in such a rush for anyway?'
'I knew this wasn't going to last.'
etc. etc. etc.

In hindsight, this chain of events (or should I say chain of thoughts) was a huge revelation for me. I realized that it only took exactly three days for me to lose my gratitude. I realized that a sense of entitlement can develop towards a new and unexpected pleasure in as little as three days, and that is a scary fact! When I lose gratitude for the things in my life, it sucks the joy out of the most joyful events.

So, I just need to stay grateful right? The tricky part is that life has a way of always keeping it fresh and interesting. Sure, I'll be well prepared to handle a pancake disappointment in the future, but if the past is any indication of the future, I am pretty sure that this issue will continue to manifest in other ways for the rest of my life. God knows it has since last spring. The kicker is that most new manifestations will not become apparent to me until after I've already fallen from gratitude. I wish I could always anticipate and override defective thinking before it begins to build upon itself, but that doesn't always happen. That's because I am human.

That being said, the important thing for me to take away from this experience was to always rectify my attitude once I become aware of the fact that it has gone south. That takes a great deal of honesty and humility, but it is far better than the alternative: trodding through a painful existence under the veil of ego and the inability to admit my own shortcomings.

What's been on your plate?

Megalomaniacal World Change

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 01:28:48 -0400

Don't we all have a little megalomania in us? After all, our thoughts are the only ones running through our head, what we choose to look at are the only things we see, and we choose to do everything we end up doing.

So, when I first thought of changing the world, I looked at it from the perceptive of a megalomaniac. Hoards of people whispering to one another, pointing in my direction, ‘is that him?', ‘there he is...that is him!', 'I think he just looked at me!!'

All just from walking into the room; like Bono, Tony Robbins, or the Dalai Llama, a rockstar in my own right. I own the crowd and their adoration. I am a demigod, but not the conceited type. I am humble about my fame. I am only really interested in helping others, and I have an almost miraculous track record of doing so. I am of pure intention despite the flashing lights all around me, which makes me even more admirable.

Ok, so maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about, but that is what my personal view of "changing the world" first emerged as.

Over time I've realized that concept was based in immaturity, ego, and too much television. ;-)

I like the pond ripples analogy. Everything I do when coming in contact with another person has the ability to ripple through the lives of millions of people through the vessel of emotional contagion that can end up manifesting as a tidal wave - of love, hate, trust, jealousy, introspection, obliviousness, sarcasm, empathy, courage, etc. - crashing on the shore of some tropical island half way around the world.

But there will be no whispering crowds, and even if there were, in reality, it would probably just make me uncomfortable.

BK Breakfast Shots Commercial = A New Low In TV Advertising?

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 23:02:24 -0500

I saw the new Burger King commercial for Breakfast Shots during one of The Office's commercial breaks tonight. Basically, it is a follow up to a previous "Burger Shots" commercial that recieved a great deal of criticism for its use of dwarfs.

I have to preface what I am about to say with the fact that I do not consider myself to be someone who is easily offended. I watch South Park. I think Andrew Dice Clay was funny in The Dice Man Cometh. Heck, I didn't even see what the big deal was when everyone was freaking out about Marilyn Manson's "Dope Show" video. So what if he's wearing a 1 piece with boobs built into it?

That being said, I was caught a bit off guard when I saw this new BK commercial. I wish I had a clip of it, but I am presently unable to find it anywhere on the net. If you can find a copy, let me know and I'll update this post!

For now, I'll have to give you a very rough sketch by copying a post I found on someone's myspace page:

LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOO I JUS SEEN A BK BREAKFAST SHOT COMMERCIAL DONE WIT A MIDGET!!!!! LIKE THE BREAKFAST SHOTS R MINI VERSION OF BREAKFAST SANDIWCHES AND A MIDGET WAS DOIGN THE COMMERCIAL N I FIND THAT COMPELTELY TOTSALLY OFFENSSSIVE BUT ITS SOOOOOOO FUNNY I LOVE IT N I CANT STOP LAFFIN N I HOPE U C THIS N GOOGLE THE COMMERCIAL N LAFF WIT MEz!!!

Thanks Brown Bear, I couldn't have said it more eloquently myself. But seriously, seeing the commercial made me have flashbacks to when I was sitting in Consumer Behavior class five years ago. As a marketing major, the one thing of which I can assure is you can never assume the best when considering the intent of TV advertising. Advertising theory goes deep into peoples' hidden motives and subconscious psychology. If you question whether a commercial meant to imply something . . . it did (and probably more).

People think dwarfs are funny; it's the bottom line. But why do people think they're funny?

I believe that a culture which focuses so exclusively on comparisons (the haves and the have-nots / the bling and the bust / the hotties and the uggo's), inevitably breeds competition. If I demean someone else, I look better by comparison. They lose, and I win. That is middle school mentality, but somehow it has spread throughout adult society like a staph infection.

But about BK's motives, who knows? Perhaps they had no ill intent. Perhaps they're just mini sandwiches so mini people naturally correlate. Perhaps, as I suggested, they are trying to play on peoples' closet amusement with dwarfs. Or perhaps they're actually trying to offend people in order to get more press (in which case I guess I'd be part of the problem!).

For those of you who have seen the commercial, what do you think?

...update: someone who read this blog post last night had the Office episode saved on their DVR and was nice enough to upload it. I've embedded the video below. Thanks you digital Zorro!

Now We're Cookin' With Gas

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 10:24:30 -0400

I was out of town for a week on business, and the hotel gym made me realize something: I workout more when I have the convenience of a gym nearby. I also realized something else:

I can swim again!

In a former life, I was a competitive swimmer who swam up to 12 miles a day, but a 13 year career in the sport left my shoulders & elbows badly injured. However, they seem to have healed with a decade of rest, and I'm going to get back into swimming for cardio. So, I joined LA Fitness this week, and I already swam a mile on Tuesday.

I feel good about it, like I'm turning a new leaf (or perhaps re-turning an old one in a different way?). I was just measured as having 13% body fat, but I would like to get down in the 8-9% range. My goal is to change up my workout every 4-6 weeks so that I do not stagnate.

I also think this commitment to the gym will have an effect on my eating, because I don't want all this time and energy exercising to be cancelled out by unhealthy eating habits.

"But change must always be balanced with some degree of consistency." -Ron D. Burton

Throwing Up Gang Signs

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 03:13:52 -0500

Have you ever seen the opening scene in Office Space where the guy is rapping on the way to work, only to turn down the music and lock the door when he sees a black guy selling flowers at the side of the road? For those of you who haven't - here it is:

Well, the look on the guy's face right after he locks the door is about the toughest I get when driving in my car. That's why what happened to me earlier this week was so hilarious. Let's do a visualization exercise to hopefully give you a vicarious chuckle similar to the one I got on Wednesday morning. I will try to be extra descriptive so you can really visualize the scene....

You walk outside and it is uncharacteristically beautiful out for NJ in February.
It's 50 degrees, the sun is shining, and it puts you into a good mood instantly.
While you are getting into your car, you are also putting your work bag on the passenger seat.
You snag the side of your fingernail (on your right index finger) against the handle of your bag - tearing it away from your finger slightly and causing a purplish blood blister to form under the nail.
But it isn't excrutiating pain, it's just feeling sorta bruised.
So now you're driving down the road thinking about your fingernail and you're sort of flicking downward on it with the inside of your thumb - looking at it at the same time.
When you pull up to a stop sign you see three Eminem wanna-be's walking toward you, about 50 yards ahead, squarely in the middle of the street.
But you don't pass judgement, you don't think your usual 'get the heck out of the way', because you're in good spirits and also still a bit fixated on this bruised fingernail of yours.
The suburban homies slowly (and barely) creep aside to allow just the absolute minimum clearance for a car to fit through.
As you're passing them, you have your right hand up and extended slightly forward, knuckles facing you, and you're pressing on the side of your index fingernail with the end of your thumb.
Next, you look up into your rearview mirror and you see one of the gangstas noticiably riled - saying something in anger to his roll-dogs as he turns around and gives you the single finger salute. It is the kind of scene that, as soon as you see it, you know that guy's day is off to a bad start.
And you can't help but burst into hysterical laughter.

Why am I telling you this? Because the first thing I thought of when I saw him flipping me the bird was how our persona, the subculture we fit into, the role models we follow, and the lives we lead influence our reaction to everything that we come across throughout the day. It was hysterical, because in this kid's misinterpretation of something that had nothing to do with him, I saw myself. I saw everyone that finds problems in all sorts of things that aren't problems. I saw Arnold Schwarzenegger obsessing over his "puny calves" in Pumping Iron. I saw my own misguided fears, percieved inadequacies, and negative reactions.

No, I didn't actually see all these things in that moment, but I felt it. And all I could do was laugh because life is really good, and we bring the hardships upon ourselves. I am no guru, but it sure feels good to have some self-awareness and not take myself too seriously.

Who are your roll-dogs?

Karma Kameleon

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 22:10:59 -0400

Today I want to write a bit about karma and what it means to me.

I think that many people misunderstand the concept of karma. I use to think karma was something akin to a cosmic order of things, or the notion that if I did something bad the universe might be out to get me one day....when I least expected it. On the other hand, if I did something good, I might get lucky and hit the lottery, find my soulmate, or become famous. Bascially, I thought karma was a metaphysical "what goes around comes around".

Nowadays followers of "The Secret" would have you believe that all you have to do is think positive thoughts and fortune will smile favorably upon you. Do you want to win the lottery? Now all you have to do is believe that you will strike it rich, and you will!!!!

I am not here to cast stones, and I am even openminded to the idea that anything is possible. But, in my life, the only thing that has had any lasting effect is the actions that I've taken, the habits that I've changed.

So what does this have to do with karma?

Well, despite its trancendental underpinnings I believe karma to be simple cause and effect. It is the concept that every single second affects the second after it. When applied to my life, it means that the thoughts that I entertain affect the personality that I have. It means the choices I make affect the person I will become and the life I will have. It means that my future is being created and altered in profound ways through the seemingly insignificant events of the present.

When I think about the concept of karma I always get a mental image of an object traveling in space, like if Neil Armstrong had taken a Rawlings baseball up to the moon and chucked it out into the void. That ball's momentum, left unchecked, would send it on a straight path. However, if it bumped into some tiny stardust particles along the way, changing its trajectory ever so slightly (by 1/10000000 of a degree), in time the ball would have changed course by millions of miles.

In the end, the people who do bad things may have a kick-in-the-butt coming, but I believe it comes in the form of their own concience, the state of their lives, or other consequences of their actions. People who believe they will succeed may infact be more prone to succeed, but it will be because of the actions they took to get there.

But then again, this is just my belief (and I don't claim to be right). I'd certainly be interested to hear what other people think.

The Huppie

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:47:24 -0400

Are you a hippie or a yuppie? It is an age old question, well atleast the age of the past 40 years or so. Many people view these as two distinct and incompatible categories. I now want to throw a wrench in the commonly accepted view that "you're either one or the other". I disagree with this idea completely. Thus, I recently coined the term for a third category. The Huppie. I've always dreamed of inventing a term that ended up becoming a pop culture phenomenon, like "ginormous" or "banana hammock". So if you identify with the huppie concept, speak up!

I think a Venn Diagram might explain it best:

As you can see, yuppies and hippies are not mutually exclusive. One can have attributes of both groupings. How do I know this you ask? Well, I happen to be a huppie. I will explain by relating common descriptions of both categories to a list of my character traits.

I am part hippie because:

-I embrace life to the fullest
-I promote peace, love and happiness, and stick up for what I believe in
-I have a strong sense of extroversion, gentleness, and humility
-I am very social and can tend to be a push-over
-I love to interact with others, even complete strangers
-And my idealism probably comes off as sickening to realists or yuppies

but I am not all hippie because:

-I don't tend to be an intuitive rather than a logical thinker
-I would have qualms about hitchhiking across the country just to meet some interesting people (in an ideal world I would love to do this but need to be concerned about paying back college loans!)
-Personal hygene is important to me

I am part yuppie because:

-I'm an ambitious young adult
-I am working towards a professional career and an affluent lifestyle
-I tend to compensate for insecurities by trying to improve my outward appearance
-I am a bit more scientific than spiritual
-And I probably come off as square to hippies

but I am not all yuppie because:

-I don't flaunt success, nor am I attracted to people who do
-I am not emotionally reserved
-I am not a groveller

Here is the deal. To summarize, I believe that being classified as a yuppie is lifestyle-focused. What you look like on the outside. What car you drive, what neighborhood you live in, how you dress, generally your appearance.

Conversely, being classified as a hippie is state-of-mind focused. What your world views are, how you would invision a brighter future, how connected you feel to the whole of humanity, generally your substance.

I feel like a hippie at heart wrapped up in a yuppie society. But how can one differentiate one over the other? Yes, I have that anti-establishment mentality associated with the hippie culture, but I'm also a product of the establishment and can never fully break away from what I've been preconditioned to conform to on an unconscious level since birth.

This list was in no way meant to be exhaustive (or even correct). I am half-kidding here, but I'd like to hear your thoughts.

1,000,001 Gurus

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 14:26:51 -0500

I sit here hesitantly. Should I really get into this subject, potentially ostracizing my future membership base? Despite my mixed emotions on this post, here goes nothing:

Is it me or are there 1,000,001 members on Twitter claiming to be able to fix your life? There seems to be a palpable "I make people happy", "I make people rich", "I make people healthy" vibe on several of the profiles I have visited.

I keep asking myself, what is it that annoys me so much about these peoples' pages? I like self-help, I believe in balance, prosperity, and a healthy lifestyle. Is it the way they are marketing themselves? Then it hit me, these people are no different than the person at Starbucks that gave me unsolicited advise when all I really wanted was someone to talk to. They are external reminders of that part in me that purports to have "the answer" to everyone else's dilemmas.

Here's a timely example of what I mean:

A friend who often comes to me for advice was distraught back in early January. He had just lost his job that morning and needed someone to confide in. I listened to what he had to say, and then, I suggested that he immediately start focusing on his next steps. I said that he needed to put the layoff behind him and focus on sending out resumes, dozens and dozens of resumes.

After that conversation, I felt empowered. I felt like I knew how to apply the solution to any problem. I thought, if I lose my job, there will be hidden benefits that come with it - focus on the positive in everything Derek. You will get to learn the lesson of the impermanence of all things, detachment from material possessions, etc. etc.

Then the next week rolled around, and I received an email from the CEO of my company saying (in my words): 'we will have to reduce the workforce by 10%'. Panic ensued. It was no longer a theoretical situation that I could pontificate and wax-philsolphic about from afar. The bottom line is that I am no guru when it comes to potential calamity in my own life. I never have been, and I don't know that I ever will be.

All that said, I didn't lose my job, and I live to tell the tale, but what I learned is: it is really easy to have the answers when you're not in the sh*t. And being 100% positive about everything is not in my nature, my arguement is that it's not in anyone's nature, but as with most of my beliefs, that is always up for revision. To doubt, to fear, to procrastinate, to judge....are all normal internal reactions. The important thing for me to focus on is my external reactions. Ultimately, I don't have to feel positive about a situation to do postive things, and it is my actions - not my thoughts - that will dictate my future.

I will leave you with this, a wise man once told me in an email exchange: "I want to be clear before I stop that I do not know anything. I have theories about everything. I talk and write like I Know what I'm talking about. I do not. Feel free to argue, disagree, or tell me to go to Hell (cause I rejected that one a long time ago)."

Now that's the type of attitude I respect and that keeps me drawn to the conversation.

Thoughts vs. Actions: The Rematch (This Time Itâs Personal)

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:47:00 -0500

The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus(121 AD - 180 AD), Meditations

Marcus Aurelius is an ancient Greek emporer and philosopher best known for his role in the movie Gladiator (to jog your memory he is the one who was killed at the beginning of the movie by his incestuous son played by Joaquin Phoenix.)

He also was known to a much lesser degree for authoring one of the most highly regarded books of philosphy in ancient Greece. But only philsophers and historians know anything about that.

So what do you think of his quote?

I partly agree and partly disagree.

I disagree in the sense that I believe that my life is what my actions, not my thoughts, make of it. To be honest, during any given day I have any number amount of loopy thoughts that run through my head. Some that are based in reality, and most that aren't. The key for me is to only act on the ones that are based in reality or the ones that are going to have a positive impact on my life.

However, I agree that people can manifest their own destinies by living in negativity. Does this mean I can always just convince myself to think positively? For me, no it doesn't. I've tried to do this and it ends up just making me feel exhausted in the end. For me I need to do something that is going to make me feel better. Call a friend. Stop for 20 seconds on the way to work to watch the sunrise. Show an extra amount of kindness to someone that I run across throughout my day. These attempts to reduce my self-centeredness and self-reliance are the best ways for me to affect my thinking.

By the way, is it me or could that actor easily pass for the late George Carlin?

Great video on perception

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 06:46:51 -0400

Human flaws & the economy

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 23:58:09 -0400

On any given day, when I turn on the TV and hear news reports about the current state of our economy, it is very easy for me to blame "big business". I curse investment banks, AIG, and Countrywide. Yet, the truth is that these companies are not solely responsible for the mess we are in. A larger common denominator exists: human nature. Humans are naturally flawed. It is an unavoidable fact. However, we have the ability to improve our flaws if we are willing to take an introspective look at how they manifest in our lives. Simply put, our failure to do this on a collective level is why we are in the throws of a recession.

Here are a few examples:

Greed

Companies, lending institutions, homebuyers, credit card users, etc. Collectively, we have been a nation driven by greed. And our appetites have outpaced our money supply.
Unrealistic Expectations

Where did we develop the expectation that we should be able to see a 10% minimum yearly return on our investments? I am not going to get into a detailed explanation of economic theory here. It is easy to see that at one point this was a very realistic expectation. We were developing in leaps and bounds as a nation. Technology was booming and the business services industry grew as a result. But recently (over the past 10 years) innovation has slowed, and we have failed to adjust our expectations as a nation of investors. We still want that 10%, minimum.

'So whats the big deal?' you ask. Well, for companies to continue gaining 10% in value each year, one of two things has to happen:
1. They cut costs
2. They sell more stuff
To "sell more stuff" companies did things like traded collateralized debt obligations and sold mortgages to people who couldn't afford them. But, if the AIGs & Countrywides of the world didn't engage in these questionable practices, investors would have put their money elsewhere - in other companies that did.
Impatience & Impulsivity

People don't want to wait for things. They want them when they want them. Kids graduate from college and spend money like they have been in the workforce for 10 years. They lease the BMW that is a third of their monthly budget. They buy the house that is 4x their yearly salary. They buy the 80GB iPod with the money that was budgetted for food, but it's ok because they'll just charge the groceries.

I know because I was one of them. Luckily, I was impulsive about comparatively small purchases - a plasma tv here and a bedroom furniture set there. Consequently, I had to go on a spending freeze to pay back my debts, which I eventually did - and learned my lesson. Unfortunately, if the whole country goes on a similar spending freeze at the same time - that is called a depression, and it wouldn't be great. (lame economy pun)
Insecurity

I remember sitting in a Consumer Behavior class in college as the professor said (and I paraphrase): 'The goal in advertising is not for the audience to feel equal to the people in the ad. The goal is for the audience to feel less than the people in the ad.'

Advertisers seek to create this effect for one reason: it works. The barbie complex, the adonis complex, the buying a house that is so expensive you don't have the money to furnish it complex, they are all results of the same flaw. They play on our insecurities, our lack of self-acceptance, and our attempt to compensate by acquiring things.

This is an extremely complicated topic, and this is certainly not an exhaustive list of examples. I just wanted to provide some food for thought. Hopefully it didn't leave you feeling gassy.

I'm a LEED AP now! (Habit Archiving Coming Soon...)

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 01:18:39 -0400

After a few months of studying, I passed the LEED AP exam this past Monday.

For the those who have no clue what the heck that is, LEED AP stands for Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design Accreditted Professional. Simply put, it means that I am now professionally accreditted by the US Green Building Council in the area of green/sustainable building practices.

This "Studying" habit profile was the first one I tracked from start to completion, which made me realize: Not all good habits are endless (like recycling, smiling, or relaxing). Some good habits are meant to have a finite lifecycle.

I will no longer be studying anymore (except of course being a student of life...yes I'm a nerd) because I no longer have a reason to study. So, I realized that these habit profiles should be archivable. Otherwise, I would have to either:

let my Time Tracker keep running - which would misrepresent the amount of time I've been practicing the new habit, or
delete the habit profile altogether - which would make it impossible for those struggling with studying to find me

To fix this oversight, I will be adding an "archive" function to everyones' Edit Habits page over the next week or so. It will stop your Time Tracker, but will still allow your experience to be sought by other members. I hope you agree that this feature will improve the helpfulness of the site.

It's Time for Rote Memorization

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 09:11:59 -0500

I have gotten through the entire LEED reference guide at this point, cover to cover. That may not sound impressive to most, but it is a 422 (8.5"x11") pg. behemoth of a book. However, I feel no more prepared for the test than I did before I cracked it.

The bottom line is that this test is going to require a ton of rote memorization, you know, the kind that you sneeze and half is gone the minute you walk out of the exam center . . .

Flash cards, notes review, and practice tests here I come. Only two & a half weeks to go.

A Big Fish In Our Little Pond

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:11:27 -0500

Building our membership base has been slow but steady over the past month. Each week we've seen a consistent stream of new members coming from Twitter, Facebook, and StumbleUpon. Until today, we haven't seen any sign-ups come by way of celebrities, authors, or subject experts. (I am considered somewhat of a local celebrity, but only amongst my wife, my mother, and my three cats - sad, I know)

That being said, we are extremely excited to have Christopher Kennedy Lawford in our midst at NüHabits (profile). Christopher is son to actor Peter Lawford, nephew to John Kennedy, recovering alcholic/addict, NY Times Best selling author, activist, and public speaker. Here is a promo video for his most recent book Moments of Clarity:

Next up, Tony Robbins, Suzie Orman, & Oprah. :-)

Took a week off

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 23:28:41 -0500

I took last week off from working out because I came down with a pretty nasty virus.Â But I was feeling up to the task yesterday, so now I'm back in the saddle.Â I am going to continue working out 20-30 min 3x a week for now.Â I may step it up a notch in a month or so.

A musical blog entry

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:54:24 -0500

Alright, well I've never done a musical blog post before, so here goes nothing. Here's a little song I wrote for my wife back before she was my wife. It has nothing to do with personal change, but it does have to do with love, lasting commitment, and all that good stuff. The beginning conversation was from a recording of us talking on our honeymoon, sitting out on our porch in St. Lucia during a tropic downpour. (p.s. anyone who hasn't been to St. Lucia - make plans to go at some point!)

Click here to see the whole photo album

Work in Progress....

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 09:49:48 -0500

Long late-afternoon naps = inability to fall asleep at a reasonable time!

I slipped...only 5 hrs sleep last night

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:16:28 -0500

Well, I was doing much better with getting rest until last night. I had tons of energy and was unable to go to sleep, so I did odd jobs around the house until 1:30 in the morning. The important thing is that I was good from 12/25 until yesterday, and in slipping up I learned a lesson:

I can't drink coffee at night!

I always used to think that coffee didn't affect me, that I could go to sleep whenever I wanted. Well, I was wrong - or else it is just a crazy coincidence that the one night I drink coffee at 8 PM, I'm unable to stick to my new goal of getting some rest! No more late night cups of joe....

Humans Are Strange Animals

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:19:52 -0500

Isn't a sign of intelligence the ability to draw correlations, learning from one's mistakes and not repeating the same mistakes in the future? Even rats that get electricuted trying to eat Swiss cheese will quickly learn to avoid the cheese with holes in it.

Then why are humans, a species who can split the atom and send a robot to Mars, unable to apply this simple lesson in their own lives?

Case in point: almost every morning I wake up groggy thinking ‘I really have to get to bed earlier'. Then, I will go to bed early one night and spring out of bed the next morning feeling like a new man.

Does this lesson carry over to the next day?

No. Maybe I'll get to bed early again one night next week.

My First Blahg

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 21:05:13 -0400

If I know myself at all, I'm sure this blog will turn into two things. First, it will be a sort of chronological journal for the development of this site, from conceptualization through creation & promotion. Second, it will likely turn into a discourse on personal, interpersonal, and societal growth.

It also may include some/several semi-incoherent ramblings, so you have been warned! Many of my sentences may be grammatically incorrect; don't worry. I know how to write a proper term paper, but this isn't a term paper. It's a blaaahhg!

So here's a thought:

Somewhere along the way I bought in to the 'fact' that the world is the way it is and that there is nothing I can do to change it.

Through some self-introspection over the past few years, I've come to several awarenesses, about my own social programming, personal defects, and fears. However, self-introspection is nothing new to me. I was the kid who was reading Tony Robbins books in highschool....(a telling statement by itself). I would finish the book. Then, sooner rather than later, the state of mind that came with it would slowly fade away. My goal lately has been to rebuild the bridge between best-intentions and action. I believe that I function best in this capacity when I am connected with those around me. That is the goal for this site, to enable others to do the same.

That's all for now.