JediWright.com

These last few weeks have been some of the most intense I think I’ve yet experienced. Not like I haven’t been through some bad spells before or anything but this latest round has been really drilling and consistent.

From having had to freeze my DF salary, to filing for unemployment, to continuing to adjust to parenthood, to having to cut my health insurance out, then Tristan’s, to filing for medicaid for her and Lee (which still isn’t sorted out, so he’s still without coverage), to wrangling with two startups, to enrolling back into school (with ITT Tech for computer network systems) with full tuition covered but no way to start due to a complete lack of income.

In addition, I had some issues with communication between family and friends that added to everything else, really put me close a breaking point I’ve not recalled reaching before.

Thankfully, things started turning around a little this past weekend with the arrival of a reimbursement check from my canceled Blue Cross policy, confirmation on the start of my U.I. from California and most significantly, the long overdue activation of my solar web hosting service at SolarHoster.com. Granted, it’s still a far cry from what I envision it to be, but at least I can start hosting sites.

Meanwhile, Tristan and I have continued our discussions over what we’re doing concerning our living situation. She doesn’t want to stay here in PA and wants to move back to Ohio to have the support of her old friends and family there. Admittedly, it’s not a bad idea as it’s much cheaper there, she’ll be more grounded (in theory) with her friends, family and hometown, and we are exploring discussions of renting a house with her best girlfriend, Amanda.

We’ve submitted a rental app on one house so far and are waiting to hear back from the landlord. If that goes through, we’ll probably be moving around April 15th.

What this means for Rivertribe, my other startup exploration happening here in PA, is uncertain. Though it’s uncertain anyway as I’m having a hard time getting movement from my friend with the equipment that would allow startup of operations. This is actually kind of okay with me anyway, as I had only wanted to explore the possibility of starting Rivertribe up. Then I asked another friend to go in on it and things started getting out of control and I failed to manage things properly.

So as I should have learned from before, don’t do business with friends. Period. But if you insist on doing so, be very explicit about every little detail from the get go. Otherwise, things can get twisted fast. Which they have done to some degree in this instance, which is unfortunate, but not surprising considering where my life’s been these last few weeks.

Concerning startups and partners in general, I’d venture to say in some ways business mirrors people’s ways and gives greater clarity into the type of person you are. So maybe business together with friends is not such a bad thing, cause it helps cut away to the truth of things that you might not have otherwise seen before.

Anyway, my real priorities are certainly obvious now regardless having lost my salary. All else gets put on hold when you’ve got to find immediate income. It’s tough times to be job hunting though, especially when you don’t even own your own car and are sharing your partners. And more so in my case since I moved us to a rural setting without any public transit. Doh.

Thankfully, one of my LA contacts recently offered up a freelance gig with his company Ijhana. Hopefully things pan out, they’ve offered a few times before but nothing ever came of it. Hopefully now is the time. I/we can’t afford it to be otherwise.
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Update: We’ve found a house and put a deposit down (thanks Amanda!) and we’ll be moving sometime after April 1st.

2009, business, communication, daily log, design, distinctivefabric.com, employment, family, fatherhood, friends, hosting, lee, moving, relationships, rivertribe, school, solar hoster, startups, survival, tristan 2009, business, communication, daily log, employment, family, fatherhood, friends, lee, moving, relationships, rivertribe, school, solar, solar hosting, solarhoster.com, startups, survivial, tristan, work

For some reason my Posterous posts aren’t coming through with pics here. So I’ve edited the post to include them here now. And oh how cute they are!

2009, baby, children, family, hosting, lee, past present future, the river, tristan, work 2009, baby, children, family, kids, lee, newborns

I must vent. Now.

DistinctiveFabric.com, Inc. is tanking (or so Josh and I think), but what the hell do we really know anyway? We’ve only been running this damned thing for four and half years now and barely with any involvement from its founder and our chairman, Adam. Guess this is what you get for putting a couple of first-timers in executive seats and a declining economy. Ironically enough, our sales have only been going up since last August, but our previous debt carried over, coupled with an inconsistent cash flow, just hasn’t weathered the dip in December as well as we’d hoped and planned for.

SolarHoster.com is failing before it even runs.

InfinityDrive.net is failing. Again.

GreenGurus.net…is all the above and more: I can’t even log on or into the damn site.

The baby is due any day now and we’re broke. Tristan wants to move back to Cali. I want to stay and I want to go. I wanted so much to birth Rivertribe finally.

Now all of my business ideas are crumbling. And I can’t get a job because either:

1. My credit is so bad they won’t hire me
1a. I’m overqualified on paper due to past employment
2. I never finished school and got a degree and the necessary experience
3. The economy sucks ass cause the rest of this country shares in some of my misery

I’ve lost hundreds of keyword domains I never should have bought in the first place.

I’m now thirty freaking years old and my life is miserable. Okay not really. I still fight and fight and fight for success. I have no idea of what drives me. I had hoped to figure that out with a whole lot more in life before having a child.

Now what? God only knows. Actually, I’m now giving serious thought to starting up a church. A fucking church. Jesus Christ. I must be insane.

Either through “Order of the Jedi” – I now own orderofthejedi.net and jedichurch.net
Or through “Moon Temple” – I now own moontemple.org and moonchurch.org

I’m fucking crazy. I’ve always known it. And I always see people thinking the same freaking thing, even if they deny it when asked.

Well, if I’m crazy I might as well build my own crazy house, heh?
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Update 1.15 10:50am: Feeling a might bit better now. Course, the wee hours of the night often leave me despairing more so than the light of day.

2009, 30th, age, baby, business, daily log, employer, green gurus, hosting, infinity drive, past present future, pregnancy, religion, rivertribe, solar hoster, startups, the river, tristan, work 2009, baby, business, church, daily log, distinctivefabric.com, full moon, green gurus, health, infinity drive, insanity, insurance, jedi, keyword domains, moon, moon temple, order of the jedi, past present future, religion, rivertribe, solar hoster, startups, tristan, venting, worship

I’ve finally gotten my blog upgraded, though unfortunately just to version 2.6.0.

Still, it’s better than no upgrade and I’m thankful for one rep’s assistance at NetSol who helped me around a “sticky” theme which was giving me no end of hassle in finishing the upgrade.

I’ve also added in some new themes and feel like this current one is a good fit, just needs a little modification to properly display my blog title. And of course, I’ve got to add in my social network badges like: Twitter, MyBlogLog, etc.

blogs, hosting, wordpress blogs, network solutions, upgrades, wordpress

So not only am I sick for the 2nd time in a month, I’ve added injury to illness to boot.

While working out at the gym two nights ago (not sure if my logic is right in this, but thought the exercise would help fuel my recovery from illness faster), I pushed myself too far while doing some leg exercises and pulled my groin muscles. If you’ve never done this before, you may not appreciate the condition this leaves one in. Having done so once before (right at the start of the sixth grade), I can honestly say it’s absolutely no fun. And if you’re wondering just what an injury like this entails, check this out.

Needless to say I’m off my gym schedule for a few days, most likely work continuing work on my friend/mentor’s barn and even less of a social hour (if that’s possible at this point here in PA). Add the constant, damp weather at the moment and you’re looking at (er, reading) one increasingly bored pup.

30th, desert, food, hosting, upgrades

This is my last week in sunny Los Angeles, CA.

I’m moving cross-country with my fiance, our unborn baby boy, 2 cats (Storm and Luna), and our Umbrella Cockatoo in a 16′ Penske rental truck and car dolly for our Honda Civic (no, not a Hybrid yet…someday soon we hope). We’ll be leaving Thursday after our baby shower and going away party at the Sugar Shack Wednesday night.

In addition to the combo-party, we’ve been and will be working up to the minute with finish our packing, getting our travel arrangements made for our animals, closing out our single apartment in Korea town, rounding up all our (mostly mine) stuff from the 4-corners of our life here, and a slew of countless other details, of which we’re sure to forget none.

I personally, am super-excited about making this adventure east, as I’ve been living here for the last 7 years (Tristan a bit longer and a wee bit nervous about the move). We’re moving into a 1750 Colonial house that’s super-cool and even better, located just around the corner from the River (the old canoe company base on Indian ground).

We hope to make the trip in 4-5 days tops, as we’ll have such a full cab with the animals and since Tristan is now over 5-months pregnant! It promises to be a might bit interesting journey.

Once we’re settled in I plan to hammer through the last year’s worth of pics and stories and really dive into blogging here, I’ve got so much to say and have had so little time with which to say it in here this year…

Anyway, more on all that later.

For now, I just keeping pouring over my lists, knocking stuff off and winding up to the drive outta’ here. I so can’t wait to break out of the LA bubble/vortex on the level we’re about to!

, hosting

Yup. You read that right…Tristan and I are pregnant!

I found out for sure early last week at LIB, though I had a strong suspicion before that she was. Here’s what a fetus and most likely our child, looks like right about now…

Our child is growing at least 4-5 major organs and/or other parts a day: today a heart, fingers and toes; tomorrow a nose, stomach and tonsils. And while not necessarily in that order, is illustrative of the fact that a fetus’ growth is simply a miracle of nature.

I’m really excited to see this process unfold and looking forward to the wealth this new life will bring to us and the world around it.

hosting

This flu season has been a really intense one for many, many people.

I came down with it the day after Lucent L’amour, during breakdown I started to feel a tickle in the back of my throat, other than that I thought nothing of it. The next day I could barely get out of bed and so it was for the next 7 days: super weak, feverish, swollen glands, phlegm, horrible cough, etc.

The 8th day I still had a pretty awful cough (and still do) and a really weird disorientation that’s still with me. It comes up multiple times throughout the day, especially when I try and deal with any work related tasks.

What I realized while sick is just how complicated my life has become. I think now, my body/self is revolting against me with just about anything I have going. It’s like how when you’re sick and you lose your taste for everything, only I’ve lost taste for nearly everything in my life; it’s quite disconcerting really.

All I want to do now is simplify.

I think about moving back to my hometown, where life is much simpler and rural. I’m so done and over this whole city living thing. I think about old friends and all my family. I think about there being more Nature then artificiality. And, I think about returning to my roots in outdoor adventures, with Rivertribe.

I’ve just become really discouraged about making all this a reality now that the sale of my fabric company has fallen through and I’m stuck with attorney fees and other liabilities. I was so ready to move on from that company and had so much lined up with the cash I would have walked away with. Owning your own company has its fair share of pros and cons.

Sometimes I just want to quit at playing boss and go work for someone else again. The only problem there is that I don’t think I’d remember how to humble myself to be told what to do and when to do it.

I’m really hopeful that my thirties will bring a whole new wave of change and that my outlook on life improves with age.

hosting

Been totally down and out with the flu, the worst I’ve had in years, for the last week or so.

Right before that was The Do LaB’s now legendary Lucent L’amour event, which I helped set-up, run and then breakdown the week prior to that. Here’s a few pics:

I’ve posted more online here at Tribe.

I haven’t touched much of anything online or otherwise in the last week and will slowly be catching up over the next week.

hosting

With the Real ID Act implementation beginning this year, we as Americans are without a doubt, moving one more step closer to an all-out police state.

While the Real ID may have been postponed for 5 years, this May however, states resisting the law will be penalized: “Their driver’s licenses won’t be valid for air travel”.

The article goes onto say:

“Come May 2008, [their] citizens . . . will feel the consequences” of the states’ resistance, Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke said Friday. To board a plane or enter a federal building, those residents will have to use a passport or other form of accepted identification, he said.”

All the more reason to embrace and support Ron Paul’s revolution.

hosting

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!

hosting

2007 was an amazing year of growth and change, on many levels; also, this year’s end saw my one and only Golden Birthday:

(Check out the rest of my birthday pics from at the Edison)

The year started out with a 3-week visit home after my mom broke her arm, shortly after New Years 2007. I spent almost 2-weeks at home with her to help out with her rehab, got her set up with a new Mac, and generally just spent a lot of quality time catching up with her and some of the other family members.

I then bounced down to Florida for a week-long visit with my Dad, step-mom and some old friends from the River: Tim and Doug.

Then it was back to Cali to return to work on Dianovo, but I just couldn’t get back into it or much of any other work: I was uber home-sick and caught up in the slow-pace that the East Coast so often is. So I decided to pack up my things and move back east, but first stopping back over in LA again to dump said stuff in storage and prepare my other business for my departure. But not surprisingly, I got caught back up with my friends and loved ones in LA and decided to push off my departure for a few months.

I hopped back on board hardcore with The Do LaB, for an amazing few months of work on Coachella, then Lightning In A Bottle, the Beverly Hills White Party, and then it was into summer with a 2.5 week long trip to Guatemala. My time there gave me a lot of opportunity to reflect upon what was important to me and what I wanted to pursue personally and professionally. So when I returned to LA in early June, I began in more earnest, to work on both my romantic relationship and professional path.

I continued working with The Do LaB, resumed work on Green Gurus and continued work on my relationship. Then in mid-summer I went back east again (and therein lies a constant theme for me and home) to help head up the Green Spot construction of The Do LaB’s lumi pods and towers at the Virgin Music Festival in Baltimore, followed up by another visit home.

While at home again, I heavily re-visited my passion for the outdoors as it related to my old job at Hidden River Adventures and my future plans for Rivertribe, but realized it still wasn’t time for that pursuit; I still needed something more from my investments living out West. So after some much needed time re-connecting to the river with some great kayaking trips, I headed back to LA.

One of my investments or more aptly, reasons for moving out west, was school. So the first thing I did was re-enroll in school at SMC for the fall semester. Then I headed up another gig for The Do LaB at the Future Ape festival, followed by one last get-away before the start of the school: this time back to Santa Cruz to watch my old house and base of operations for Dianovo.

Then it was a head-first dive back into school for an intense 3.5 month-long semester in computer science, design and programming; an intense and seemingly appropriate step with regards to my romantic interests; followed by a long-awaited move into the Sugar Shack, then my foray into local politics, the loss of my oldest friend Charlie, and continued work on Green Gurus.

I also worked on the last few gigs for the year with The Do LaB, at the Global Mala Project and a random job for Goldenvoice. Also during the last half of my semester, I started counseling for the first time in years, to help kind of clear some of the noise in my head from everything that year, followed by a renewed start in work on my longest running romantic relationship, through couples counseling (which has been a great decision).

Another big event of the year was my first surgery, in which I finally went in and had a lumptectomy performed to have an overly uncomfortable and ample-sized cyst removed from directly beneath my left nipple; the surgery was flawless and there was very little pain involved afterwards, thanks to the great job performed by my doctor.

While there have been countless other events and random bits of interest from this year, nothing is more noteworthy than the pending sale of my first internet venture. The sale was posted back over the summer and negotiations have been taking place on and off for the last few months with several different parties. Now it looks very close to happening, perhaps within the first month of this new year, so I have been doing a lot of work to prepare for this possibility, both for the business itself and my own well-being; it’s definitely one of the biggest, most life-changing steps I’ve had to prepare for in a long time. But I definitely believe it’s time to make this change and what better time then at the start of the new year?

So as this year starts to unfold and all the previous year’s seeds start to yield their fruits, I look forward to the work in store: for my companies, myself, my family, friends, and the world. I am going to make this my best year ever and I hope you are able to do the same!

Much love and blessings for everyone’s prosperity, health and happiness.

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