it's my island

Puzzling Patience and Persistence

// June 15th, 2007 // Comments Off // Scribbles, Skull Sessions

I remember a sage once told me that my life was to be walking one of Saturn’s squares. Loosely translated she meant that I would need to work hard and be patient for a long.. long.. time.

It’s taken quite a long time, probably the first 26 (nearing 31 this month) years of my life but I’ve become rather good at being patient. It doesn’t mean I don’t lose it from time to time, but I’m able to swing in some Zen harmonies more often than naught.

I found my way through with many systems. Have few friends and make them the best friends. Keep the temple of yourself in check through working out. Find a way to keep your mind clean and clear.

To achieve greatness isn’t necessarily hard, but it does require patience and persistence.

Relationships

We are social creatures that get out of hand when we have too little or too much interaction. Over the years I’ve had ample friends and acquaintances; when I look back I can only see derived value from those who had similar passions and goals as myself.

If you have a ring of people who are draining you emotionally due to their needs and it’s not helping nurture you’re own needs; over time this can foster social delinquencies which usually end in spite. Who needs that?
>friend
a person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection

Foster those you connect with and cherish them. Let those who do not mesh well with you fall away. In your life you will cross the path of thousands of individuals. Stay open in knowing that you will find others that will support you as you will support them.

Stay Fit

>Purity Through Sweat

I’ve used that motto for years. When I realized I was overweight—probably 9 years ago—I began what would be one of the longest things I’ve ever stuck with, working out. It began without any instruction; then when I wasn’t getting the results I wanted I became my own trainer. Going through the [ACE](http://www.acefitness.org/) program taught me so much about who we are and how we operate.

As I shed the pounds I also shed the fears I had accumulated like a rotten onion. The better I felt, the taller I walked, the happier I was. It’s been a roller-coaster of goals I’ve set over the years but when it comes down to it if I don’t get a good sweat in at least twice a week I begin to get very irritable.

We take a lot in, whether it’s our nutritional choices to the stresses of life. Keeping up a good regiment of physical activity helps purge and keep level a lot of these things. I’ve said many many times that knowing we are [thermodynamic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_thermodynamics) machines if we don’t help find balance our bodies will do very odd and generally unpleasant things to us to find it’s own accord.

Mental Clarity

Who doesn’t want mental clarity? Being trapped in a mental rat race is no joy yet most of us are doing just that. It takes a lot less work than you’d think, but it does take persistence and a desire to as the [Delphi inscription](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_thyself) read ‘Know Thyself’.

What you find is a lot of people don’t like themselves, and this creates an open loop which is filled by a lot of irrational behavior because of a fear of self and almost always a greater fear of change.

Find a way to love yourself. The words are almost cliche these days but it’s true. No one can hurt you if you own yourself. It’s hard to explain how to do this but the roots of it are taking responsibility for yourself. If you don’t like an aspect of yourself, accept it or change it.

>Be granted the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and to have the wisdom to know the difference…

That’s half the equation right there. The rest of the puzzle is just clearing the cob-webs of daily life from your mind just like working out does. Practice [Yoga](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga), [breathing exercises](http://cas.umkc.edu/casww/brethexr.htm), even a [Pzziz](http://www.pzizz.com/) moment is worth it.

If your mind is found twittering about on daily todo’s and not allowing you to find stillness you might want to look into David Allen’s [Getting Things Done](http://www.davidco.com/what_is_gtd.php) so that you can empty your head enough so that you can enjoy some peace. I’ve also found an amazing resource in [skydiving](http://www.dropzone.com). Clearing your head with a leisurely fall from 13,500ft can do wonders for you. haha!

It’s a Long Road

Life’s a crazy journey. I’ve fallen in love with it’s chaortic idiosyncratic strangeness. I don’t fight what comes my way. It’s accepted, analyzed and solved for. I encourage all of you to stay nimble and stay open to the worlds possibilities. Be honest with yourself and the ones around you.

Let’s all try and make something great with what we can. If you can look back and say, “I did the best I could at the time with what I knew”, you’re doing A.ok!

Summer so crazy

// July 18th, 2006 // 1 Comment » // On the Radar

I bet you all think I’m next to a pool, drinking coffee with a little absolute and just floating the summer away. In my mind. If I had room. hehehe. The summer has really been a whirlwind.

[Transformus](http://www.transformus.com) is upon us and the last two weeks that has drained most of my mental capability. Our theme camp [TikiTorchure](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciordia/sets/72057594140450404/ “Flickr Photo Set”) is ready to go with the big head, fire, and rock and roll. It’s going to be an event I’m sure will be hard to condense into words…but I’ll try.

Bill Dietz, my father-in-law, and owner of [Mostly Muffins](http://www.mostlymuffins.biz “Bakery out of Columbia”) has taken a position with [Sonoma Restaurants](http://www.sonomarestaurants.net/) in Charlotte and we couldn’t be happier. Bringing Bill & Karen up to Charlotte has been on our list since a lot of how we unfold our future strategy in the food service market is dependent on Bill being near. Once he consolidates, migrates, and has time to get comfortable in the area we’re going to start one of those devious little plans we’ve been cooking up. Weeee!

I’ve been gaining slow traction on our local [Slow Food](http://www.slowfood.com/) website. One of those part-time volunteer efforts but it’s going to be great. We plan on pulling our local contingency together through events, discussions, personal blogging, editorials, and regional harnessing of our food resources. On top of that the group wants to take charge of a few activism stances which will surely be an interest to watch.

The [day job](http://www.pgdc.com) is producing some interesting results as well. Jeff has been really really hard at work the last few months building a new stock-gift transaction service and I think it’s going to blow the doors off of the way you do stock transfers. On top of that Jeff and I have been inchworming our own solution to scratching itches we share. Maybe it’s cliche to say it’s a great time to be in technology, maybe it always is, but it is. heheh. Hopefully in the next 30-60 we’ll start our private alpha/beta and see if others like what we like. I think the koolaid tastes graperrific.

I’m around, busy as a bee. I just can’t seem to sit long enough to staple my thoughts into a post recently. You’d be ashamed at some of my to-do-graphs!

Pulse ok, breathing ok, EEG..well he’s breathing.

-a

Cupping for the Masses, part 1

// April 3rd, 2006 // Comments Off // Interests, On the Radar

I’ve been a consistant [cupper](“Flickr: Cupping” http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciordia/search/tags:cupping/) at our local [Counter Culture Coffee](http://www.counterculturecoffee.com) training facility since its inception. Over the last year I’ve met all flavors of coffee drinkers, start-ups, enthusiasts, professionals, and the curious. I’ve also held informal cuppings in the home and been to [Earth Fare](http://www.earthfare.com) for their community tasting classes/gatherings. Over time I’ve started to have a tickle in the back of my head wondering about how cupping is carried out. Not in the formal sense but how cupping is done for different reasons down the chain from farmer to consumer and whether or not one size fits all at the consumer level.

Let me illustrate.

*Attribution: [CCC](http://www.counterculturecoffee.com) & [tonx](http://www.tonx.org/) for some photography*

This is what I approximate as the coffee chain. In general there are only three major groups. You’re either at origin, a roaster, or some form of consumer. Each of these sections have gradients that make up the processes and differing ways the bean is used.

If I had to draw a line from top to bottom at the top would be *Criticality* and at the bottom *Passion*. At origin a farmer will need to know his crop, and a green buyer is going to want its strengths, weaknesses, and defects known. Very important stuff.

As we move from green to roasting the need begins migrating from defect to consistancy. A professional has to have consistancy & quality as monikers. As we graduate further towards a consumer cupping it is no longer for a person to find a defect or to see if the roaster has done his job right (tongue-in-cheek). It’s for us to learn and be inspired.

A cupping amounts to a test-drive for a client (being coffee shop, restaurant, insert bulk buyer). Trust is very important. Both the client and roaster need to have it. A roaster wants his product to shine right in a clients care; a client gets to see, sample, and talk with one of their product links.

An enthusiast is already in love. A standard consumer (or user) is just a push away from being an enthusiast, and someone who doesn’t drink coffee regularly has a high likelihood of being inspired to drinking coffee by the way a cupping is run. Inspiration and passion. These two things are not thought of enough in our world and I give a lot of credit to [Creating Passionate Users](http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/), for making me aware of the greater [memes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme).

No matter where you are in this chain, it all funnels to a consumer. A consumer who if they glow, illuminates the entire chain and can be viral in terms of promotion and marketing. Now you should see where this is going. We need to continue driving ideas down to the consumer level so that they can be further enthusiasts within the (or any) industry. We do that by better inciting their passions. In part 2 we’ll look at the current forms of consumer cupping and examine ways we can make it better. There is a lot of milage in this model. I’d like to see it eeked out even further so that we can continue to grow, explore, and enjoy all we can.

[Specialty Coffee Association of America](http://www.scaa.org) is going to be in town (Charlotte) this week and I can’t wait to percolate on these and other thoughts with experts and enthusiasts alike.

-a

I don’t want to be an ant.

// February 17th, 2006 // 3 Comments » // Skull Sessions

If you haven’t had the pleasure of watching Waking Life. It’s worth a spin. Really it’s worth a few spins. Besides it being an early rotoscoping film in an era that is seeing it done more and more it’s a great work of art and psychology. Check it out on a day you want to relax and just drift through the clouds of your mind thinking those interesting ‘why’ thoughts. There are a few moments that might imprint on an individual and this has always been one of mine …

(Main is character coming out of a subway and bumps into a girl.)

Excuse me.

Excuse me.

Hey, could we do that again? I know we haven’t met, but I don’t want to be an ant, you know. I mean, it’s like we go through life with our antennaes bouncing off one another, continuously on ant auto-pilot with nothing really human required of us. Stop, go, walk here, drive there, all action basically for survival, all communications simply to keep this ant colony buzzing along in an efficient polite manner. Here’s your change. Paper or plastic? Credit or debit? Want ketchup with that? I don’t want a straw, I want real human moments. I want to see you. I want you to see me. I don’t want to give that up. I don’t want to be an ant, you know.

Yeah, I know. I don’t want to be an ant either. Ha ha. Thanks for kind of jostling me there. I’ve been kind of on zombie auto-pilot lately, I don’t feel like an ant in my head, but I guess I probably look like one. It’s like D.H. Lawrence had this idea of two people meeting on a road, and instead of just passing and glancing away, they decide to accept what he calls the confrontation between their souls. It’s like freeing the reckless gods within us all.

Well, then, it’s like we have met.

(They shake hands)

I don’t want to be an ant either. I don’t think any of us should. When was the last time you touched base with your neighbor, the last time you asked someone who waited on you what their favorite color was? Every once and a while help break the static shell that we so easily fall into by _living for a moment_.

I want real human moments.
I want to see you.
I want you to see me.

I feel some imagry around these contexts that I need to explore (*jots down notes*). Keep these thoughts with you, spread the meme. We need to stop commoditizing ourselves.

-a

The Year Ahead

// January 23rd, 2006 // Comments Off // Life Happens, On the Radar

I want this year to be productive. Everyone should. Is moping a good way to spend your time? Where are you going to be at the end of it? What will it have gained you? Nothing is not an option.

Let’s work on something better than nothing; something productive, proactive, growth related. You can only be passionate about a few things at the same time or you’ll be too fractioned to make any traction on all of them. This year I’m coming to terms with three such passions.

Rededication to coffee and the hunt for greater understanding and participation. To that extent I have made new goals to take apart my espresso machine, hang out with the [CCC](http://www.counterculturecoffee.com) espresso techs, and culminate my learning by _if possible_ [pid](http://www.espressoparts.com/product/V_PXR3_PID) my Nuova Simonelli Oscar. As well it goes without saying that opening the [cafe](http://www.caffenuance.com) this year would be fantastic. Not having control of so many variables we can only continue our efforts which begin with a fresh meeting with our property broker, Michelle Buckley of [New South Properties](http://www.newsouthprop.com/) to begin the churn of properties over again. This time we’re scaling back a little working to be more agile for a more expidient, but secure launch.

I’ve also let the artist in me languish over the past few years. I used to do a lot of digital art before digital art was even a real concept. Back in the early 90’s I could be seen with a large 12x12 [wacom](http://www.wacom.com) tablet in my lap just doodling away or working in Painter on some slow to create realistic oil piece. Over the years I got out of graphic design because I felt people I was working with or for asthetically didn’t get it. As well the web back then was table crazy, and tables just never grooved with me at all. It took the art and made it much more science than I wanted. I’d like to get a tablet back in my world and go back to basics. I love design, I love expression.

The last thing I can really say I’ll work on this year is local networks. Last year was a boon to me online. I’ve met many great people through the internet but the internet is something not yet realized locally as much as it should (much greater for bridging large divides). I need to return to my region and start building relationships at home. At this point in my life I need help (hehe take that as many ways as you need), and you gain help through relationships. Unfortunatly I really don’t have as many as I’d like in Charlotte so the effort must be put into this. With strong ties come strong abilities to leverage. Through this I hope to become a little more civic minded and motivated. The wonderful crew over at [Urban Planet](http://www.urbanplanet.org) has been a nice starting point.

As I come to a close the old UGA slogan runs through my head…
>It’s time to let the [big dawg](http://www.alumni.uga.edu/alumni/images/fun/wallpaper/640x480/Uga.jpg) eat.

-a