June 5th, 2008
It’s been almost three weeks since the LIB build-out, two and a half weeks since I officially learned I’m gonna’ be a dad, a week and a day since I returned from LIB and, it’s a week into our move at Distinctivefabric.com.
Well, I think this last stretch has really taken the cake…as far as my regular scheduling antics are concerned, these few details have all been chock full, round-the-clock, full-on, life-changing things; things certainly do unfold in three’s.
The new fabric base of ops is coming along really nicely, so much so that I’ve been pleasantly surprised to see a renewed interest in it’s livelihood not unlike the early days, it’s really been fun. And when I haven’t been plowing through the tasks here at our new space (co-housed w/the rest of the Catalyst gang), I’ve been tackling the early steps of pregnancy with Tristan. It’s not been ’till just yesterday that I could start to take a few minutes and address some post-LIB tasks…looking forward to the post-wrap-party-thing coming up.
And now finally, I’m headed off tomorrow for my first on-site visit to the solar hosting provider I’m running my Green Gurus dedicated server out of. I’ll be headed down tomorrow mid-day with Ryan Wartena for a fun inspection of their ops and a little powwowing with the crew there at AISO, hoping to dive back into the solar hosting biz early next week and knock out some major issues before leaving early next month for Portugal, for another Do LaB job.
Realistically, these days will soon come to pass as memory at least a little while anyway with the pregnancy coming on strong and then delivery and child care.
Humph. Strange days indeed…curious to watch it all unfold.
p.s. oh yeah: was gonna’ try to ramp up some things with the Collective Council this month too…hmm, we’ll have to see about that.
Posted in daily log, The Do LaB, community, communications, lightning in a bottle, distinctivefabric.com, past present & future, communal living, collective council, fatherhood, children | No Comments »
April 16th, 2008
I recently had to pack up the bulk of my personal stuff from storage at my internet fabric store’s warehouse.
I moved it all to the Sugar Shack, where I’m living, working and otherwise spending 2/3 of my time these days (it’s a great little microcosm), with the help of some my roomies from there, one of my biz partners Josh, and my closest confidant, Tristan. In the process I tweaked my back the worst I’ve ever done…getting too soft these days, way too much time on the computer, but that’s another post entirely.
So today while one of my roomies Ryan Wartena had another powwow with his Watts Up America buddies, I figured I’d get around to sorting through the mess that is my life in storage below the floor upon which I’m writing from.
Having made the migration from Sugar’s formal dining room to its warehouse (really just a glorified garage with loft space upstairs), I quickly set to work on the bare essentials of my new office: desk, chair, shelves, computer, soundsystem, and power. And let me say just how great it feels to be seated again in my own sacred space, which is really what this is largely about for me.
Check out these pics out to see what I mean. Here’s one in case you don’t:

Anyway, as I said in my Twitter post, now I’ve just got to get about 400+ lbs of books upstairs, sort and shelve. And the finishing nicknack touches. Then the art, lighting, window shade… Okay, so far from done. But it’s a great start at bringing the level of focus, detail and order to my life that I need, especially these days since I’m doing way too much still.
*Note: I’ve had the little soundsystem you see above since I was 13, talk about conservation, heh?
Posted in news, daily log, sugar shack, tribe, The Do LaB, perfection, lightning in a bottle, distinctivefabric.com, websites, business, minc, green gurus, communal living, balance, Twitter | 1 Comment »
February 8th, 2008
One of my Sugar Shack roomies and partners in multiple business endeavors, Dr. Ryan Wartena, recently whipped out a bad-ass, personal photovoltaic electricity system.
His brother, an equally talented artist/designer/photographer type posted a blog about it recently here.
Be on the look out for Ryan’s “Sol Blossom” at an event, website or maybe even retail store some time in the near future.
Posted in solar power, sugar shack, technology, biomimicry, clean energy, communal living | No Comments »
January 9th, 2008
Last night saw the birth of a new dish: Curry, Mexican…slop, but a grand slop nonetheless.

Dinner preparation began with a refresher from Ryan on how to prepare tofu (I really don’t cook that frequently). Then things kind of just escalated from there as his scientific mind took over in the kitchen and a slew of ingredients made there way from the spice shelves, pantry and fridge onto the chopping block stand by our industrial-strength stove.
Curry, canned coconut juice, black beans, yellow corn, jasmine white rice, pepper, salt, curry powder, curry sauce, hot sauce, honey and more passed from his hands through mine preparing everything and then finally into the pots and pans bubbling away on the stove.
Then Robb strolled in with his usual gait and hopped on board, whipping out nearly every available veggie left in the fridge: celery, onions, carrots, and more, then the star ingredient…fractal broccoli.

The resulting concoction was amazingly delightful, filling and um…therapeutic; the dish was so spicy by serving time, I couldn’t keep my stopped-up nose clear for more than a few seconds.

In the end, it was one of the most satisfying meals I’ve had in a long time, though it really doesn’t look like much here. Probably had something to do with the fact that it was a collobrative effort and…the fact that I was actually cooking for once! 
Posted in sugar shack, diet, Health, communal living, organic, food | No Comments »
January 6th, 2008
I hate to complain but I must voice something that just continues rubbing me raw when dealing with some people’s behavior in communal living.
When there’s a serious discussion on the table and everyone else is addressing the issue at hand with an appropriate level of attention and maturity, it becomes increasingly frustrating and even a personal insult to me, when one member disregards that level of seriousness through constant joking, sometimes outright ridicule and just an all around blatant disregard for order, respect and maturity.
Relationships thrive on communication and intentional communities require nothing less than that in a clear and respectable manner.
So when one “bad seed” if you will, starts to impede on that and is constantly disrupting the natural understanding of such things in that time and space, what do you do? Do you call that person down outright? Or do you take them aside after the fact?
I can see, perhaps, where sometimes in older times tribal societies and the like (even not that long ago in American society) that the elders might have disciplined these types of trouble-makers on the spot, perhaps humiliating them, to drive the lesson home so that respect and what not may be instilled. But now in today’s modern societies, this type of instructional discipline is way out of style, and probably in every case, rightfully so.
That doesn’t make the impulse to slap some fool upside the head when they’ve overstepped their boundaries more times than is tolerable, any less desirable. But, society dictates we reprimand in other ways.
Anyway, the next time you see someone acting out of line, perhaps you can speak up and let ‘em have it, otherwise they’ll just continue running all around uninhibited, pissing a slew of other people off.
Posted in sugar shack, politics, community, communications, relationships, communal living | No Comments »