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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.

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?

Lately I’ve been consciously observing my behavior, especially with regards to its closely linked relationship to entrepreneurialship, more specifically, to my businesses: DistinctiveFabric.com, GreenGurus.net and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (others in the works too).

Not only is my behavior effected by moods as a Capricorn, but also by the ebb and flow of business within my companies.

I have been working more recently to regain my center as business can really monopolize one’s energies, if you let them. While administering some comments I was especially struck by this with one of my more recent posts, which came about after an intense bout of the flu and the collapse of my fabric company’s sale (quite the ups and downs with that in itself).

Now all this past week I’ve been kicking ass and making S**T happen. It’s interesting to note that when you’re on an up-swing, you’re really working in harmony, your chi/ki is rushing through you, demanding release. Hours will slip by as you work tirelessly, without food and little to no breaks.

Then all of the sudden you crash, realizing your last meal was like 6, 7 or more hours ago. So when you finally get to eating, you devour it like you’ve been starved a week in the desert. All the while (eating) you tell yourself: “Gotta’ take better care of myself, from now on…”. I’m sure you know this story well or will soon, if you’re just now exploring this kind of focus in your work.

Anyway, just thinking about how it’s nice to find that middle ground, that one-point…once you do life is just beautiful again.

It’s simply amazing how quickly the flow of time passes by. The days continue to slip by in 2’s and 3’s…

Most of this past weekend was spent focused on my girlfriend’s birthday. We went out to dinner this past Friday night at a romantic little spot called Tagine, in Beverly Hills (ouch - see my Yelp review); then back out again to The Edison with all her friends and sister for a more lively celebration on Saturday night.

I spent a few chunks of time here and there throughout both Saturday and Sunday working on various web tasks: profile updating, blogging, networking, etc. I even finally activated some temporary hosting for the Sugar Shack, scrolled through all the latest WordPress themes and finally settled on one, followed by some theme tweaking, then finally the first post.

Sunday was a mix-bag of activities: usual morning web stuff (post on these oh-so very fascinating boring details coming soon) and it was back to Sugar for miscellaneous, routine acts (cat feeding and roomie relations), followed by a bit of lunch over Harry Potter 5, then our weekly meeting.

Monday was just a sheer wall of work from start to finish, as was today. Though today was especially fun (productively speaking) because I finished up the installation of a proper blog for The Do LaB’s Green Team (of which I play a part in), under the new moniker, the Greenlight.

And oh yes: Yesterday evening I was officially sworn in for my seat on the Mid-City Neighborhood Council (MINC); it was a little over a 2 hour affair and a nice change from recent weeks intense pace of entrepreneurial endeavors.

Looking forward to wrapping up the pending sale of one of my previous ventures and moving on with greater focus and passion in other areas of my life.

Stay tuned for more on this as time and legalities permit.

(oops, almost forgot: Finally got my last final grade from my fall semester at SMC: straight A’s…a most pleasant suprise!)

Whoa, it’s Thursday night or technically, Friday morning and I’m just realizing how incredibly swift seemingly slow this week has progressed.

Having finished the last of my school finals early Monday afternoon, my week’s been full-on busy catching up with everything that was pushed to the side in the last few weeks up to finals. Last week was especially tough as I had a group of investors in from out of town to inspect our operations at my first startup, in addition to my studying and final project work. The week before that was elections for the Mid-city council (which I’m still waiting to get some clear communication on, though I had heard I won my seat).

Now this week, I’ve been really focused on trying to tie up a ton of loose ends. Not only have I been attending such details as site updates for Green Gurus, posting new blogs in memory of an old friend, doing what little Christmas shopping I allowed myself to indulge in (I really don’t buy into this whole thing anymore but do it out of necessity for those select few that really require such a show of affection), but have also been ramping up opportunities for new avenues of exposure for G.G. and exploring some new business opportunities in related areas.

As I’m considering a career transition, I’m feeling a bit ancy about an as of yet undetermined, primary income source. Hopefully some fruits of my recent labors start sprouting up…soon.

I’d hate to work for just anyone again after being my own boss for so long.

As I think back over the last 15 years of opportunities I’ve experienced in watching and learning from great masters, I realize how fortunate I’ve been to learn from, work and train with, and come to know the people I’ve met along the way.

In some cases, I’ve tangled one-on-one in the dojo with internationally acclaimed Vittorio Carelli (Carelli Design and Carelli International) or in the fields of hard grass with the most commanding of martial arts instructors, with Sensei Gregory Hofler (5th Dan, Chairman Tozai Aikido Assoc. & founder, Itamar tactical martial art); while in others I’ve practiced the art of design, customer relations and branding in my small, hometown with locally known entrepreneurs (though equally intelligent and knowledgeable) such as John Flemming (JAM Screen Printing) or Tim Reeser (Ghosttour.com); and most recently with Adam Wiggins (founder of TrustCommerce, Distinctivefabric.com, Bitscribe, and now his latest venture…Heroku).

Still others have included some equally great thinkers and motivators such as Ryan Wartena (co-founder of Nano Sol Systems), Elizabeth Marley (Architectural Consultant w/Farmlab), Blue Cobalt (founder of Dianovo.com), Jim Strickler (founder of RedRox, Cragmaker and the Bouldertron), Garo Kuyumcuovic (founder Rooftop Promotion), and Tristan Edwards (who continues to teach me the meaning of commitment, something I’ve been known to struggle with in most area’s).

Also, a number of my fellow hometown friends, school mates and siblings have met with varying degrees of success and encompass a number of really great qualities as musicians, artists, designers and entrepreneurs: Dede, Jesse and Josh Flemming (founders of The Do LaB), Brent and Chad Hurley (YouTube), Daniel Rattigan (co-founder French Broad Luscious Chocolates), Pierre Pressure (ringleader of The End of The World Tour Circus), JP Ettel and Charlie Fillman (expert laborers and craftsmen), Douglas Reeser (partner in Green Gurus) Ben Wright, Amanda Jayne, Gregory Johnson, Josh Maddox (co-owner of Distinctivefabric.com), and many others along the way.

Each and every one of these ladies and gents are shining examples of what ambition, determination and hard-work can accomplish and I am profoundly proud of all their accomplishments to date and, am equally honored to have known each and every one of them, even if was just to go at it for a few hours on the mat once a week or growing up in attendance together, at the same school.

I just hope that I have or can at some point, return the favor to them all, in this life or another. And, as another friend Ethernight, points out:

“The people you choose to surround yourself with define you.”

I couldn’t agree more.

As December comes to a close, my first internet venture wraps up its fourth year in business and prepares to enter its fifth.

Wow. Let me just say that again, so it starts to actually sink in…our fifth year.

It’s been a great couple of years getting our operations together and have only begun easing off from startup mode over the course of this year. Some of its customers might have noticed in this time, that our fabric selection has been trimmed back a bit and that the rate of new fabric additions to the site have slowed down too.

Well, rest assured that this isn’t permanent but just a time of reflection that we’ve taken to better assess the health and direction of our company, where it stands, who its core customers are, and much more. It’s been an interesting year as we’ve come to realize just how integrated our company and its website into the world of internet fabric sales, DIY-ers, Mom-and-Pop shops, designers, and many others. We’ve got a great core customer base which certainly shows in our day-to-day sales.

One of the great things about running an internet-based store, rather than retail, is the flexibility it offers the company in its operations. Early on in our operation, we experimented with a number of different methods for nearly every aspect of our operation. But at least one area that’s remained consistent is our commitment to serving our customers, as best we can. We totally pride ourselves on this and think it’s one of the qualities that keeps so many of them coming back, so regularly and consistently.

Regardless of anyone’s reasons to continue shopping there with us, it’s been a real pleasure to continue serving them all and I know I look forward to the years to come as we continue to explore new avenues for growth and fulfillment of their fabric needs.

Last Friday evening around 7pm I took off from my warehouse in Downtown, Los Angeles and headed back to Mid-City for the MINC elections, stopping on the way at the Sugar Shack, to coordinate transpo with some of my roomies and Tristan. Together with her, Susan, “Florida” Dave, and Robb, we made our way over to vote for both Susan and I in the Mid-City Neighborhood Council.

Then it was back to Sugar for dinner, drinks and discussion for a bit followed by a few hours at Das Bunker, which we were fortunate to have within mere blocks from our location. I met an old friend there Steven Dalton, who was actually first responsible for showing me the place, Tristan met one of her co-workers from Trashy, and together we all danced:

Super, uber-busy right now with lots of various business-like things…will post something of more significance soon.

What a three months it’s been, back in school at SMC, studying computers.

One of my classes was a lot more comprehensive than expected but to date I’ve managed to keep my grades up, even with everything else that’s been happening elsewhere this month in my personal and professional life.

I’ve attached a snapshot of my grades as a motivation to myself to study hard in this last mile up to finals. I’m hopeful that I’ll pull better marks than prior testing but knowing my history of poor testing (no matter what really), I’ll probably lose this cushy top-three percentile.