JediWright.com

It is with much anticipation and after much thought, discussion, consideration, review, soul-searching, deliberation, and so forth that I have decided to set my sights firmly on the move back to Los Angeles, CA.

After half a year in PA and half a year in Ohio, neither Tristan or I have been satisfied with each others hometowns. Granted, as many have said, we haven’t given it time. But why should we when we already know what LA is like and more importantly, that we BOTH like it? Granted we didn’t have Lee there when lived there last, but a number of our friends out there have been having kids, while still finding work and time to play; it can be done and it will only be that much better with Lee.

There’s so much more opportunity and competition there; people go after their dreams. In big ways. And that’s largely what we’re looking at. Lee is part of our dream. But we both have others and it seems best, on most counts, to realize them there.

Admittedly, it’s going to be tough for me personally, on some levels, to head west again. I’ve held on to some pretty old dreams in PA and with another move west (my 3rd), it will be just another step away from them. Especially difficult, will be leaving my blood family behind again. Now that I’ve crested 30-yrs of age, it’s become even more clear to me how little time we have with each other in one lifetime.

But, many new plans originated in LA though and revolve around it or the west coast in general (yes, the spirit of the west is still quite alive and well . Plus, with age comes an increasingly strong dislike for the cold and wet weather.

So in maybe another two weeks, maybe more, maybe less…we’ll be back in La La land. Stay tuned.
–
Update 1.6.10: We’re back in LA (have been for over 3-wks and it’s great!).

2009, children, family, lee, moving, past present future, seasons, tristan, weather 2009, cali, children, dreams, family, lee, moving, ohio, past present future, seasons, travel, tristan, weather

Today marks two weeks since our move here into Akron, Ohio. It’s a return for Tristan to her hometown and a departure from my own, in Pennsylvania. Neither of us are super thrilled about it; we both just really miss pre-parenthood right now and our lives in Cali.

Regardless, I see some potential here. Downtown Akron, though small, still has some measure of vibrancy to it.

The job search is proving the most frustrating so far though, out of anything. One month online and nearly two weeks in person should have returned at least a call or email, but I’ve gotten nothing (other than spam/scam email responses). As an entrepreneur, I see a lot of potential – I always do. But as an employee, I’m losing confidence. More than likely, I’m just getting impatient due to the stress of landing an income and admittedly, of going back to work as an employee, not the employer. Though in some ways, I’ve been craving this, since the stresses of self-employment and entrepreneurship have taken their toll on me over the last few years.

It would be nice to find something cool, engaging, challenging, and stable. And maybe on the side I’ll pursue some more modest startup ideas here, time and resources permitting.

On the homefront side of things, our house, known as “the Chitty farmhouse” is cool, though it does have a few issues (what house doesn’t?). We’re mostly settled in now, though short some bedroom storage since we have little closet space. Our cats are adjusting to our roommates cats nicely, as we ourselves work to adjust to living with roomies again. We have a separate studio/garage space that I look forward to modifying for my future office/studio use, once I’ve secured a job.

Other than that, things are pretty low-key. I’m enjoying the relatively quiet neighborhood, more reading and getting to know the area.

So, as our friends continue on with their rockstar lives in Cali, we struggle to shift our lives for the necessary stability of parenting, all the while wondering what is to become of our own lives.

Finding purpose outside of parenting is a must for our survival, I think.

2009, business, cats, employment, moving, parenting, survival, tristan, work 2009, akron, business, cali, cats, cities, employment, home, parenting, tristan, work

Another one of @tristanedwards dinners. #cooking, #sunday @ngaio420

Posted via email from JediWright’s Posterous

2009, cooking, food, tristan 2009, cooking, eating, food, sunday, tristan

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.
–
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

So today I get one of my fabric partners regular shipments of my mail from the last few months from my west coast office.

These deliveries are always so horrific to open, since still nearly half if not more of my life routes through the LA office: all of my DF responsibilities (taxes, corporate filings, chargeback notices, merchant notices, etc.), Green Gurus (nearly the same minus merch stuff since we’re not active), much of my personal stuff (subscriptions if I have any, health ins crap, etc.), and a host of other misc items.

Today was no exception of course. Not. These last few weeks have been killing me and everything I’d come to create in my nearly 7 years in LA, has been coming to a head, rather their end, including: Green Gurus, sustainably powered hosting and data storage plans, etc. I’ve been doing the best to minimize this but now into my 6 month here in PA, things just are really fraying from either end, faster and faster.

The only good note I can think of these days is my son Lee. I’m doing my best to not dump my negative energy into him and more and more am coming to enjoy time spent with him. It’s tough though, what with my losing my salary last week, amongst everything else: Rivertribe plans were just winding up, SolarHoster/InfinityDrive were still hanging on, barely, Tristan’s wish to move us to Ohio, my enrollment into ITT Tech with full tuition coverage but no living expenses covered, and no vehicle of my own still.

Anyway, Lee’s gaining about a 1-lb a week right now and still looking very handsome and cute.

Incidentally, my Flickr uploads haven’t been coming through in about a week or so and Yahoo is taking forever in identifying the issue. I’ve uploaded half again or more, of what’s there already, but they’re just not showing up. So I’m thinking about switching over to Picasa maybe. I don’t relish the idea of having to recreate all my sets there, but at least it’s free and it works.

2009, baby, distinctivefabric.com, green gurus, lee, rivertribe, solar hoster, startups 2009, baby, distinctivefabric.com, employment, green gurus, infinity drive, lee, solar hoster, tristan, work

At the Breakfast Hut in Mt. Penn with Tristan.

2009, baby, firsts, lee, tristan baby, breafkast, firsts, food, lee, tristan

While admittedly today’s intention has largely become just another commercial opportunity, it still requires some attention for most women; @tristanedwards is no exception.

So I threw this little arrangement together so we could celebrate each other this afternoon.

Yay for love!

2009, relationships, tristan, wine 2009, chocolate, couples, love, relationships, tristan, valentines day, wine, women

Baby’s coming any day now, Tristan is going insane with the wait and feels like it’ll never happen. I keep promising it’ll be over soon, but my words seem to be falling on deaf ears.

Nothing for it but to wait it out and do whatever I can to keep her occupied until then.

Tough timing though trying a new job, prep for the cross-country move back again, and a slew of other equally complicated details. But I’m confident everything will work. I always work things out with half or less the trouble perceived from the start.

Now if only she could share in my optimism…

2009, baby, daily log, employment, moving, tristan, work 2009, baby, cali, daily log, employment, moving, tristan, work

Tristan and I made our monthly run to Pottstown Recycling Services today.
 
We typically end up recycling an average of 90% of our waste each month. I’m still working on a better storage system for everything, right now we just cram everything into brown paper grocery bags, then sort it by number and material type. Once on site it takes about an hour to process, as we have to sort it all into the appropriate containers ourselves.
 
It’s quite an educational experience and even more detailed than any other sorting I’ve done previously.
 
I would love to see a national network of these facilities some day and have a few thoughts on how such a system can be implemented.
 
In the meantime, I’m happy to be recycling as extensively as we have been.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from JediWright’s Posterous

2009, daily log, green, recycling, sustainability, tristan 2009, green, recycling, recycling centers, sustainability, trash, tristan

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?
–
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

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from JediWright’s Posterous

2009, animals, cats, tristan, weather 2009, animals, cats, snow, storm, tristan, weather, winter

My primary source of income has recently dried up and am in great need of immediate employment. Require a net minimum of $2,800 per month in salary just to cover essentials for me, my partner and our baby due in two weeks.

Any leads anyone can share with me would be immensely appreciated!

Employment history below.
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EMPLOYMENT
Distinctivefabric.com, Inc. – Present
2079 E 15th St, #330, LA CA 90021

Chief Executive Officer
*Management of corporate affairs, taxes, corporate filings, license/permit renewals, etc.
*Oversee web development, product creation and launches, marketing campaigns, sustainability integration, etc.
*Excel in dynamic and fast-paced order fulfillment, Internet startup and management environments.

The Do LaB / Lightning In A Bottle Arts and Music Festival – Present
2023 Bay St, LA CA 90021

Senior Production Artist, Assistant Director of Sustainability
*Assist in design, building, installing, and transporting large-scale art installations and event productions
*Co-manage client-relations pre- and post-production
*Assist Director in greening company operations and country’s leading sustainable arts and music festival
*Co-manage 200+ paid and volunteer staff
*Excel in management and coordination of multi-tasking, high end installations and client-interfacing

Green Gurus, LLC – Present
2079 E 15th St, #330, LA CA 90021

Founder and Chief Executive Officer
*Manage team, clients, corporate affairs, marketing, web development, etc.
*Excel in dynamic and fast-paced Internet startup and management environments.

Rooftop Promotion: April 2003 – April 2004
Gardena, CA

Director of Media Relations
*Coordination of artist promotions through press and radio contacts
*Managed Filemaker database of press and radio contacts
*Excelled in multi-artist PR

Hidden River Adventure: August 1996 – November 2001
Monocacy, PA

General Manager
*Managed inventory, equipment, group bookings, ecotours, transportation, staff, maintenance
*Lead carpenter and builder of corporate offices
*Excelled in customer relations

COMPUTER EXPERIENCE
*Applications: Microsoft Office XP, Word and Excel; Apple OS X; Google Docs: Document, Presentation, Spreadsheets, Adwords, Adsense; Open Office, KOffice, The Gimp; Adobe Photoshop, Dreamweaver; QuarkXPress; Transmit, Fugu, Telnet Launcher, Filemaker, Drupal CMS, Plesk and cPanel; Abelton Live, Reason
*Languages: Basic UNIX, PHP, HTML/XHTML, CSS
*Browsers: Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, Opera
*Social Networks, Utilities and Apps: Basecamp, Wiki, WordPress, Blogger, Twitter, Flickr, Picasa, Posterous, Facebook, Myspace, Tribe, LinkedIn, YouTube, Revver, Vimeo, Digg, Hugg, etc.

EDUCATION
Santa Monica Community College
Santa Monica, CA
Computer Science
Pursued completion of undergraduate degree

The Bradley Academy / Art Institute
York, PA
Multimedia
Pursued completion of undergraduate degree

2009, baby, business, ceo, employees, employer, equipment, flickr, music, past present future, social networks, startups, talent, the do lab, the river, tristan, wordpress, work 2009, applications, baby, business, careers, distinctivefabric.com, education, employers, employment, event production, events, family, green gurus, hiring, internet, job, management, marketing, os x, pr, production artists, software, startups, sustainability, the do lab, training, tristan, work

One eggplant bake coming up!

Tristan is making a baked eggplant dish to help induce labor and cause it’s just plain good.

Posted via email from JediWright’s Posterous

2009, baby, cooking, food, pregnancy, tristan baby, cooking, food, pregnancy, tristan

Well Tristan is definitely in the homestretch now up to the baby’s delivery, with an expected due date of January 22nd, leaving just two weeks and two days.

Interestingly, many babies are due on or around full or new moons. Interesting because her birthday is January 11th and the next full moon is January 10th, at 10:27pm, to be exact.

We just received our first diaper bag today as a gift from her sister Olivia; it’ll be packed tomorrow, along with Tristan’s overnight bag. Now we’re just waiting on the changing table, which we’ll help allow us to get some of the baby’s stuff organized.

Who knew someone who doesn’t even exist on its own needed so much stuff? It’s freaking crazy.

Anyway, the baby’s getting really, really active and driving Tristan nuts with his rapid, apparent chaotic movements. She’s even been starting to time her Braxton Hicks contractions pain. That and the fact that she’s been instructed to “get semen in there no matter how you do it”, to orgasm, and to start using evening primrose oil – all to weaken things up for the big show.

We’ve also discussed how our two cats, Storm and Luna, will behave once the baby’s here. We got rid of Elvis last week in preparation for his arrival but we’re not getting rid of the cats. Luna especially has Tristan concerned, as she’s very territorial, particular and possessive even of us at times.

Yes indeed: lights-camera-action aren’t that far around the bend at all. Unless of course, he’s late as some would say first-time baby/mothers are. Then again, that’s reportedly just a myth. Time will tell, heh?

2009, astrology, baby, birthdays, daily log, midwife, natural childbirth, past present future, pets, pregnancy, tristan 2009, baby, full moon, past present future, pets, pregnancy, sex, tristan

Someone hit us today. 4th accident since Tristan got pregnant. None of them were our fault, just crappy luck!

Posted via email from JediWright’s Posterous

Seriously. None of the four accidents we’ve been in in the last months were our fault:

1. Some guy smashed through the front driver-side quarter panel in LA
2. A UPS driver rear-ended us after driving up to a redlight too fast (also in LA)
3. Tristan got rear-ended waiting at another traffic light here in PA
4. I got rear-ended by someone reversing too quickly out of their spot today (also in PA)

2009 will be a better driving year or we’re trading the car in and taking public transit!

accidents, baby, conspiracy, pregnancy, travel accidents, baby, cars, pregnancy, travel, tristan