Fluffy Cloud Blanket or Harsh Beauty?

posted by Russ | September 22 | Add a Comment
fluffy blanket clouds

Fluffy Cloud Blanket or Harsh Beauty?

I’ve been going through some old website archives recently, and have pulled a few things of interest out. This photo is one of them. Unfortunately it’s circa 2004 (give or take) and is a pretty crappy resolution. But I still love it.

I love the contrast between the fluffy, pink, soothing clouds and the harshness of the buildings and the utility lines. In case you’re wondering, I took this when I lived down in Pacific Beach ages ago. It was behind the Henry’s on Garnet looking west towards the beach.

What title would you give this photo?

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Time flies when you’re having fun

posted by Russ | September 16 | Add a Comment

It’s been an incredibly busy past month and a half.

Six states, three trips, two weddings. One website to add to my portfolio. Two new consulting gigs. And still working my full time job.

I’m ready for some down time. Unfortunately, I don’t know that I’ll have too much of it. The traveling has been fun but tiring, and the extra working has been sort of fun, sort of stressful, and sort of exciting. I’m working on saving a FYF (F*** You Fund), building a portfolio, and creating work that will enable me to transition away from my full time job and get me closer to living my dream of working when, where, and how I want to work.

It started with my trip to Cleveland, where I rented a car and drove two hours to Pennsylvania for my cousin’s wedding. It was a quick three day trip, I drove too many miles, […]

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A world of possibility awaits

posted by Russ | August 30 | 2 Comments

While driving home from a concert the other night I looked up at the overhead freeway sign that said “Los Angeles” and was hit with an overwhelming moment of nostalgia. Being that we live in San Diego it seems about right that if you keep heading north, you will eventually end up in LA, but the mere presence of this overhead sign takes me back to my childhood.

I grew up in a small town of 15,000 people in Connecticut, and we were lucky enough that one of the interstate highways actually went through our town. I remember we’d get on the highway and if we headed east the signs starting saying “Boston” and if we went west they said “New York”.

We always got on the highway, and sometimes we would head east, sometimes west, but we never arrived in Boston or New York. I remember asking my parents, “Why does […]

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No shampoo, no soap, and other craziness

posted by Russ | August 22 | 7 Comments

A few months ago I first heard the phrase “No Poo”. Don’t worry, it’s probably not what you think. Or maybe it is. No poo is really short for no shampoo. And it seems there really are some people who have stopped using shampoo. And if you keep reading, you will find out that they claim they are better off for it, and also that I am trying to be one of them. Yes, that’s right. On both accounts.

Right away when I heard about the “no poo” movement, the thought of not using shampoo intrigued me. I’ve always wondered, with all our modern conveniences, technologies and products that we use daily, how did people hundreds or thousands of years ago live without them, and why do we need them now? Never mind no cell phones, TVs, or other things that we still (sort of) consider luxuries, but how did people […]

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Why I prefer having few friends

posted by Russ | August 15 | Add a Comment

Ever since I was young I always liked spending time alone, since then I have learned that I definitely enjoy my solitude. I remember years ago when I was trying to describe myself, I would say that I preferred to spend quality time with small groups of close friends rather than in a room full of acquaintances. And that even though I would consider myself shy and quiet, when I would hang out with people I was comfortable with I would turn into a “Chatty Kathy”. Around that time I starting reading about introverts and extroverts, and I couldn’t help but laugh when I felt like I was reading a description of myself.

Over time I’ve worked on being more social, and have tried to learn how open to up to people easier. While I now have many acquaintances, there are still a select few who I would consider good […]

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Riding the Amtrak from San Diego to Portland

posted by Russ | July 27 | 4 Comments
View from Amtrak south of Santa BarbaraView from Amtrak south of Santa Barbara

JUNE 24 – I had previously taken the Amtrak from San Diego to New York City, and though it was a long and uncomfortable trip riding in coach, it didn’t change my view on traveling by train. Since then, I have always wanted to make the trip up the West Coast by Amtrak. I would have loved to go all the way to Seattle, but as it happened, we were planning a trip to Portland, Oregon, so only going as far as Portland would have to do. So it was settled, we booked one way coach Amtrak tickets to Portland, and then booked our return flights on Southwest. Incidentally, the total price for train plus one way airfare came to within $5 of what round trip airfare would have cost, so […]

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Posted in: travel, united states

The Paradox of a 40 Hour Workweek

posted by Russ | July 22 | 5 Comments
Frustrated

Photo Credit Mylla

Somewhere along the line it became standard for a work week to be 40 hours. I think I speak for most employees out there when I say that giving up 40 precious hours each week doesn’t leave nearly enough time for the important things, like enjoying life. And I also think I speak for most employers (except the conscious few out there who get it) when I say that being given 40 measly hours from each employee isn’t nearly enough time to get everything done that is necessary to compete in a growing global marketplace.

I won’t even go into the reasons why trading 40 hours of your life each week for a paycheck is far too much time to give up. Though I imagine if you’re reading this, you can understand why I desperately want to break free of this […]

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Choosing Happiness (and why it’s not as easy as it sounds)

posted by Russ | July 10 | 2 Comments

When personal development and self help gurus talk about choosing happiness, they make it sound easy. The conventional wisdom typically goes something like this: If you’re not happy, well then start doing what makes you happy. Start making changes to improve your happiness right now.

But happiness is not black and white, there is plenty of grey area in there. Happiness is not an absolute. There is not a point you get to and find out you’re suddenly happy, and most likely, if you’re unhappy, it didn’t happen suddenly – it’s probably been brewing a while. Happiness is a constant, living, breathing work in progress.

I have spent more time that I would like lately thinking about this topic. And I have questions… How much happiness is “enough”? At what point does being “mostly happy” become not enough that you need to make a change? Should you suffer through periods of unhappiness […]

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