it’s my island

Finding a Path In Chaos

// May 27th, 2008 // Comments Off // On the Radar

Summer fever is striking at people around me. Even myself trying to stay sane, accomplish a mountain of tasks, and still find time to play as well tough.

Charlotte Art

Recently published Justin Abraham’s post and video interview. It was way past its due and getting it out felt so very good. I hope you all can enjoy it as well.

Flying the Friendly Skies

[Skyfest](http://www.skyfestboogie.com/content/view/2/1/) is coming, Skyfest is coming. One reason I’m trying to work so hard is to get ahead of a break I’d like to take. Some people wouldn’t consider taking a break streaking across the skies at 130-180mph a break but it is a wonderful thing for my psychology.

If you are looking for some fun June 4th-9th come visit. [Skydive Carolina](http://skydivecarolina.com) is going to be flying 200-400 people over the duration of the Skyfest / Rodrigez Boogie. Even as a non-flyer it will be a spectacular event to come and see.

Lost Loves

Recently we lost one of our beloved establishments. Cupps Cafe was a shining oasis fending back mediocrity and conformity in food service. Its life was cut short and many people still do not understand the reality of what went wrong. Only that something did.

When something is hemorrhaging that you love, please try and and communicate the issues at hand. If you are good and have a following amazing things can happen if you want to fight.

Facebook Playoffs

Jeff and I have been working with a lot of small businesses these days and helping them to find a path in the maelstrom that is the internet. We’re going to be working on a educational package that everyone can benefit from. To start the party we’re using [Facebook](http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1014737225) to teach small businesses the value of, and how to utilize it as a platform. If you are small business, or a person who works with small businesses perhaps our group can help you too.

Pathfinding is a Sport

While I might be in a long duration run I can say I’m having a blast.

Every day I am faced with new challenges, helping myself, or others, and on topics that I enjoy covering. There are a lot of amazing people around me and I am enjoying spinning the creation wheel to make new things where there wasn’t before.

If you want to see some crazy fun new video stuff I’ve been playing with run over to IMI Photography and check out the Mud Volleyball video. It was a great event, and the production is pretty cool too.

As usual, and I don’t know if it’s good or not, most of those around me are whirling dervishes as well. If you are reading this check in with me, write a comment or throw me some Facebook Wall message letting me know you are doing ok.

Where-oh-Where is Andy..

// August 6th, 2007 // 5 Comments » // On the Radar

I wish I could clone myself. Hell, I wish I could clone a bunch of people I know. We’re all moving so fast.

Blur’s I Know Of

Chuck and Julie have opened Cupps Cafe in Rock Hill, SC. _Fantastic_ place to be, by the way. A biased writeup is on the way….somewhere. Glad other [real](http://www.heraldonline.com/109/story/82913.html) [reporters](http://www.charlotte.com/503/story/215744.html) have done the job first. Team Blur

Lell is working as Chuck’s chef. Rocking the goods and driving to Rock Thrill six days a week. Blurrrrrrr.

Jeff’s so focused I think if the house blew away he’d still be immersed within a psychic shield. Blinders Blur

Cassie & Natalie are working overtime cranking some serious good eats out in the heat. Smokin’ blur

Robin spent most of her summer break securing her job. A long story to be asked from her directly but she triumphs with a great new placement still in Union County albeit much closer which is great. She’s also been of a great service to the farm book project and getting the educators portion ready for the Alice Waters visit in September. She’s also cashed in her dance lessons and is dragging me out during lunches here and there to put our feet to coordinated motion. Sometimes I can’t help but just laugh when we dance, what a great feeling.

I’ve have had a loaded schedule to say the least. Nuance Labs is a new company and all the fresh infrastructure building is weighty. Liquid Minded, the product, is in alpha and getting shaped like a blacksmith would forging a sword. It’s going to be sweet.

Somewhere in the breaks of insanity I’m getting closer to finishing the farm to table book for Grateful Growers farm dinner. Which is really beautiful to see coming together. I just wish I had more time to give to it.

On a similar vein I migrated the Slow Food Charlotte website from Drupal to Ning and so far couldn’t be happier. Ning has some further maturing but it’s growing well. One less thing I have to worry about being up is nice too.

I’ve been able to catch a little air here and there. My parachute this week is going back to the manufacture for some diagnostics. It has a pull to the right after I unstow the breaks and while maintainable I shouldn’t be dealing with.

To summarize the rest, lots of gardening, lots of cooking, lots of working. I twitter in more frequent cycles so check me out there if you want the granularity.

I’m glad we have a few groups of friends who have taken the summer off and are traveling through Canada and the Rockies. I can only imagine what a seasonal time-out would feel like, hehe!

On and on we go,

-a

The Time, How it Flies

// April 4th, 2007 // Comments Off // On the Radar

The weeks are peeling by. I seem to step out of focused work later and later. My drive is amped and everyone around me is spinning plates at high velocity.

Nuance Labs has cleared the hurdles of birthing all it’s business, presentation, and pitch materials. We’ve got so much passion for our product it’s unbelievable. Now we’re on the prowl to fund the beast properly. The [Nuance Labs](http://blog.nuancelabs.com) website is on the verge of upgrade completion too. It’s great to fully bring our new brand together. I’m really psyched.

Robin’s working part-time at the [DZ](http://www.skydivecarolina.com). It lets her stay involved and make a quick buck while I’m riding the air (up to 26!). We’ve even decided to pick up a little cabin on site and are going to make it a little home away from home. Can’t help but want to hang out where all the cool people are. ) If you need a change of venue and some spirits that stay pretty high, check out your local DZ.

The day’s are getting longer and I’m using all the time it provides. I’ve yet to discuss the [Grateful Growers](http://www.ggfarm.com) farm dinner [project](http://www.ggfarm.com/?page_id=9). Great food plus awareness makes for a fine evening in September. We’ll be doing a silent auction and I’m providing some photography and a book photo journaling the making of it all. That means I have a lot of field work to do and Spring has sprung into action. Time to get out to the farms which are providing the dinner elements.

Myriad of things in between but every time I editorialize this simple rant the more time I’m spending not progressing elsewhere.

-a

Quickies, here I am.

// September 13th, 2006 // 3 Comments » // On the Radar

Ah how we love quickies.. well maybe I’m just talking to the male readers haha. Life is spinning and spinning so I might as well throw out an anchor and try and give some details. My car started making noises a few days ago. After taking it in last night I get a call this morning that my transfer case is blown to smitherines and will cost somewhere around four-thousand to fix. Can you understand the depth of joy I feel right now? /sarcasm I love my Nissan dealership but this really puts a crunch on. I’m only 2,500$ off paying the beast off. If I assaulted you lately and disbalanced my karmic-chi-love please forgive. hehe. Oh well, repairs are in progress but I’m without wheels until Monday. Great.

As the photoblog of my feed shows I’ve been quite busy learning how to grill on charcoal, hardwood charcoal to be precise. It’s been a joy. The smell of smoke, the char of meat and veggies, what could be finer? I’m about ready to try something slow roasted. I can only imagine how good it will be, and I bet it will.

I also aquired a used Mantis UL from Debbie on the GWTW forums. I was in debate over what kind of UL to buy and was helped out by some kind forumites. I was able to run out yesterday before the storm and test it out and I think I’m going to be very happy after my experience level rises. The kite is pretty large, with the spreaders out it seems about 9-10’ wide. An awesome sight to behold. I can’t wait to do more flying.

Flying, nice segway, parachute jump date is quickly approaching. While I am very excited for my upcoming jump I misplanned my date. I thought the South Eastern Barista Competition (SERBC) was going to be held last weekend, but that was the year before. I cancelled my faux hotel reservation and do’h, I already have the upcoming (9/23) weekend booked to jump. I’m going to try and get up there on Sunday for the finals but with all this running around I’m not sure if my energy level will be where it needs to be to make the drive. All things willing however and I’ll be there. Back on the mentioned parachuting; I’ve done some research into the odds of fatality and I was really surprised. You have a 1:6000 chance of dieing every time you get on the highway vs 1:100000 you have from jumping out of a plane. You would have to jump 17 times a year before you get close to the car numbers. So for all of you out there that think I’m nuts. We’re all nuts for doing what we do on a daily basis. If anyone wants to take the course I still need a buddy and no one will go hahahaha!

Lastly in our spare time Jeff and I have been busting tail to get this new super secret app we’ve been working on fleshed out. We’ve got another few days of screen designs before Jeff can hammer out the DOM. Once that is done though we’re going to be canvasing those smart minds out there in the UI design world to see who can take on our project. At least whoever we work with will be rewarded with some smart folks who understand what a spec is. If you are someone who is interested in design drop some commentary and we’ll put you in the pool.

-a

The Juggle

// June 5th, 2006 // Comments Off // On the Radar, Points In Time

I’m more involved in more things at one time than I’ve been in quite some time.
* R&D for the next jump
* [Slow Foods](http://www.slowfoods.com), Charlotte Convivia
* Habitat for Humanity Coffee Shop
* [Tiki Torchure](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciordia/tags/tikitorchure), [Transformus](http://www.transformus.com/) theme group
* Multiple [Art](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciordia/sets/72057594047371513/) Projects
* Local [Meetup](http://www.meetup.com/members/4327/) groups
* Personal Educational Endeavors (Baking & Photography)

Time has gone kinda wriggly. I thought I saw myself coming and going. Anyone who is along for the [flickr](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciordia/) voyage can see I’m keeping a better visual log than a written log.

A proverbial volcano nearly errupted today. I’m waiting for the geological studies to return to see if land masses are about to shift. I’ve never been in a more turbulent time of life. Glad I don’t get motion sick.

Here’s to good connections and lots of [optimal thinking](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0471414646/sr=8-1/qid=1149539651/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-5396368-8959138?%5Fencoding=UTF8).

-a