The road home
So I’ve recently decided to relocate from the very lovely, very snowy home I’ve enjoyed for nigh unto five months. This was imminent from the get go, as my living situation was always temporary up there, but all the same, it was the most permanent home I’d had in over a year and a half. Permanent, as in living in my best friend’s basement, stealing cheerios from the high chair of his little girl, that kind of permanent. As an ode to the time spent up there, we worked like the dickens and got three companies up and moving in the process. This equaled 20-22 hour days six days a week in the office, where I would literally take a lunch at the desk of a PB&J sandwich and not leave the house for 3-4 days at a time for me, and Dave still having to cover the daily bills with a real job would work his 9-5 and come home for a few hours with the family, then crank late into the evening, often crashing out around 2 am, where I would make him feel guilty for cashing in before the magical 5 am hour that was my wall.
We worked hard and had a blast in the process. It had been a dream to work with Dave since we grew to be such good chums years ago, and we’d giggle in gleeful spurts as we’d spin around in our chairs and sketch out strategies on our mini white board, then spin again back to the monitors to make it happen. It was great to get to realize that dream. We didn’t make our millions in 2 months, but we built some lasting companies that will hold a good legacy for a while to come. But anyway, home again, home again jiggety jig.
When I decided on when I was coming home, I didn’t have a calendar in front of me. I had, just two weeks previously, jetted down to Phoenix for Jared & Po’s wedding where I met a few new friends, slept in their apartment, and met up with so old buddies from Hawaii, then cruised up to Portland for the weekend to see Kim, Jane, and my old Institute director Bro Heiner. It was a solid weekend, and then flying home through DC, decided to take a week there to visit the girlfriend, then I got back to Canada. Well, turns out I was driving home 3 days later. Poor planning at its finest.
So for the trip home, I got my old roomie from Hawaii to fly out for what we have termed “The Ultimate Road Trip ‘09” which went like this – Pick Mike up at Buffalo airport, and drive through NY, camping out in the middle of northern NY, then about a week in Boston to visit some very good friends there (Ben and Mooney), north through Vermont, then south again to DC for a week of Sam & Audi getting hitched and hanging out with a woman friend of my own, up to Philly for 4 days with the BYU Hawaii SIFE Team to mentor and support and be mentored and supported by one of my dear friends out from Hawaii, then over to Gettysburg to see it for real (I’ve studied the battle my entire life), back to DC for a few more days, up to Baltimore to visit the family, down through Louisville, up past Chicago, then home to Missouri. About a month on the road in total. It was good to be reminded of how good some friends are, and really how much I have to smile about. Thanks to Mike and all along the trail who made it such a good adventure.
All in all, it’s been a great several months, but it’s good to be home. I haven’t had a summer back home in 8 years. Crazy to think it’s been so long, but it’s good to have some finality to the travels and be too poor to really go anywhere. I’m effectively back on the single scene which has removed the primary incentive for being out and about anyway, so I’m back in the office, cranking away. I’m on to company #7 now, which is fun to have some traction with what I’m doing and I find the diversity of my portfolio endearing. It’s fun to know I can pick up any industry from quilting to real estate, learn the inner workings and be an effective force in sales, marketing, and strategy all in less than 6 months.
Anyway, I’m working on a new project with a buddy of mine producing a podcast. So you’ll be able to hear my rants for about 30 minutes a shot, on a weekly, soon to be thrice weekly podcast in the very near future. But it has me writing and commenting a bit more regularly, so I’ll share some of that in the process.
Enjoy