Monthly Archives: July 2009

Sink or Swim Style

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This week I have been setting up a training program at work.  I had to get a QA (quality assurance) environment up and running using the manual (RTFM).  I got it going which is good.  Now I have a list of people that need logins to access.  Once that is done I can learn about the very thing I just setup.  How odd is that?  Shouldn’t I take the training first?

I’ve learned that the way I thrive the best is ‘sink or swim’.  It is a very painful way to learn, but its how I do it.  Its how I learned to use computers, its how I learned to drive, frame basements, plumb, put in sprinklers, program computers, play guitar, and play video games.  If I am under pressure to do something I can do it.  There hasn’t been anything in life I haven’t been able to learn.  This relates to the post about risks.  I will do whatever it takes to succeed.   Heck just the other night I rode a girls bike home in the pouring rain to ‘make it work’ for everyone.  And you know what?  It turned out to be a super cool night.

Here is a song that relates to what I am talking about.  The style may not suit everyone at first; but I think the meaning and the energy matches perfectly. Tool – Aenima (right click and save as, unless you are easily offended…Seriously).   Its odd that I think this will ‘scare’ some people away due to its intensity.  It might.  But that is what I feel before I attempt something I am unfamiliar with.  I go all out.  And when you look at the lyrics to the song, it is all about being able to do for yourself and not on the system and some false idol.  Still,  Cassie will not approve 😉

Fret for your figure and
Fret for your latte and
Fret for your hairpiece and
Fret for your lawsuit and
Fret for your prozac and
Fret for your pilot and
Fret for your contract and
Fret for your car.

Learn to swim.

I am not  depressed or anything, don’t take it to heart.  How else does a person get the energy to shovel by hand 10 tons of rock? These songs give me the energy to!

rocks

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Taking Risks

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I’ve been thinking about risk lately and what it means.

play_risk

I think it’s different for everyone and rightly so.  I for one take risks that some people don’t just because of my exposure to it.  Take flying for example.  I’d have no problem hopping in a small Cessna and taking off into the sky.  For others who haven’t had the flight experience they wouldn’t do it, it would be too risky.

Then there is financial risk.  Some people have way more experience than I do in the stock market and don’t even flinch when they move a large amount of cash around.  Or gambling, I haven’t ever won anything at a casino so when I see people betting $10 a hand at blackjack I just don’t understand it.  I can’t do that.

We have been thinking about another property in PR.  It’s a bit riskier than what we are used to due to price and the fact that we want to use it to start our own business.  We do have some experience with running our own small businesses and can see possibilities and want to give it a try.  Here is the catch though; give up our comfortable life to do it?   What if everything goes bad?  OMG OMG OMG.  We both have good jobs and the living is fairly easy except for what challenges we hold ourselves to.

I haven’t really ever failed at anything I’ve tried to do in life (except putting down linoleum in the basement which turned out better because we went with tile instead).   So even the things that I have failed at turned out…better.  Isn’t that odd?   I used to think landing at a strange airport with no plans in mind was ‘risky’ but now that I’ve done that (a few times) its no big deal.  Experience helps us feel more comfortable about taking risks.

I want to make a trip out to PR again here in a month or two to look around.  I think that I am ready to expand my experience in life again and become more comfortable with being an entrepreneur.   Besides IF we were to fail just think of how much more experience we would have when we try again!  I am already very comfortable with Puerto Rico due to the fact I’ve been there a few times.   I know what to expect.

I encourage others to comment about any risks you’ve taken and how it turned out in the end.

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Fireworks and Flowers

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Last night was wild! We had fireworks going off on every side of us from about 8pm until 12midnight. Luckily it had rained because our neighbors were blowing stuff up left and right. We had bottle rockets and flares hitting our house and yard -and one almost hit Britton! I was getting really nervous for Kitty because we had left him outside when we usually bring him in on the fourth (we found him happily this morning).  The fog rolled in too and so the fireworks were displayed behind an eerie haze of an almost-full moon.

Fireworks

We saw the professional fireworks going off in Loveland in the distance from our backyard and then the Country Club’s. The Stampede fireworks were delayed because of rain and didn’t start until about 11pm. We went to our front porch for those.

It was a nice and relaxed day (until all the blasts started) and I cut one of the lilies and put it in a vase as we were cleaning the house. I love making my own flower arrangements.  The roses started drooping right away, so I looked online and found that if you add a teaspoon of sugar, a teaspoon of bleach and two teaspoons of lemon juice to the water that it is supposed to help and by this morning the roses were perked right up! It was a colorful day, to say the least.  Oh and Happy 31st Anniversary to my parents!

Lilies and roses

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Kid Rock Concert at the Greeley Stampede

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When Britton and I got back from our trip to the mountains, we checked our messages on the answering machine. My friend, Kelly, called to let us know that she was able to get us free tickets to the Kid Rock concert if we wanted to go. We didn’t have anything else to do, so we told her we’d meet her down there. We got ready and headed off on our bikes once again to the Stampede.

Cassie and Bike
Me and my bike

When we got there, it turned out that the Weld County Sheriff, John Cooke, had the extra tickets for us. We got the hook ups! 🙂 So we asked for a picture with him.

Sheriff Kid Rock
Me, Sheriff Cooke and Kelly at the Stampede

The tickets were for standing room only, but that was fine with me. We ended up running into a lot of our friends including our friend, Al and spent most of the concert with him since Kelly and her husband already had seats outside of the standing room area.

Al and Britton
Al and Britton at Kid Rock concert

I know a few of Kid Rock’s songs and he definitely appeals to a certain demographic that is an interesting marketing mixture of hard rock, country and rap.  I had to laugh at the crazy lyrics of one song that I had never heard before: Low Life. Do people really live like this?? Often music, like art, reflects life, so I am assuming some people must.

Here’s a little sample of the lyrics and video (turn down your speakers):

I got my Cat Scratch Fever eight-track
My best friend’s in a gun rack
I’m a lowlife
I owe everybody money
I think racist jokes are funny
I’m a lowlife
I got a dirty mind, a gutter mouth
I’m makin’ time, I’m goin’ out
With your wife


Cuz I’m a lowlife
I’m a lowlife

I got kids I never seen
And their momma’s seventeen
I’m a lowlife
I take strippers out to breakfast
You can add that to my checklist
I’m a lowlife
Ahh the landlord called the rent is due
I spent it all on a Kiss tattoo
I Rock n Roll all night

Cuz I’m a lowlife
I’m a lowlife
I’m a lowlife

Livin’ the highlife

It’s also interesting how at concerts of the past for the slow songs people would pull out their lighters and sway to the music. Now, people pull out their cell phones! It’s quite the cultural phenomenon. I think I was one of the very few who didn’t have a cell phone. In this video you can also see the moon shining over us.

Kid Rock

It began to rain toward the end of the concert so Britton and I saddled up our trusty bikes and headed off into the night with a moonlit backdrop and ringing ears. What a great day!

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