Archive for March, 2009

Okay so I am not a cute little mouse and nobody is making a movie about this, but I am heading west! As of last week it’s official that I took a new position with my company in Nevada about 20 miles from Lake Tahoe in the Sparks/Reno area.  My goal is to get a place at Lake Tahoe once I get settled. I normally have about a 30 minute commute everyday to my office right now so to live at Lake Tahoe and commute to work everyday is a no brainer really. Lake Tahoe is absolutely beautiful! It’s the kind of place that I have always dreamed about living. I am sucker for the mountains and I miss skiing in the winter months! I have travelled all over the west and always wanted to live there at some point in my life. Well, as it turns out the perfect opportunity to do so has presented itself to me!

The Journey!

So, I have decided to ship my belongings and my car out and ride my Harley across the country. It’s always been my dream to ride across country and whata ya know…..another dream come true! I am in the process of getting rid of all my unnecessary belongings with the exception of a couple bags of clothes, a few person items and a handful of books. I am only taking enough stuff to fit in a few boxed that will be send UPS and arrive just before I get there.

The trip will take me about 7-10 depending on weather and how much fun I find along the way .  I will document my trip daily on this blog and include pictures and videos. I hope that you check in everyday to watch my journey!

The Route

Below you will see the main route I am taking. I say “main” only because I don’t know where and when this journey will take me off course . It’s an open road, a lot of country and things to see and do along the way and I will enjoy every moment of it!
View Larger Map

The target departure date is April 11th @ 5:00am. The first couple of stops I will some escorts. Some friends are going to follow me to Atlanta and to New Orleans to have some fun with me for the weekend. From New Orleans on it will be just me and the Night Train!

I have a few nights planned in hotels and the rest I will be camping. I have mapped out some great places to camp along the way and really looking forward to this! Knowing me though I probably won’t spend too much time in a hotel. I for see myself in a hotel in New Orleans only because I will tearing up the town…..New Orleans is after all a great place to have some fun!!!! From New Orleans there is a good chance that I won’t see a hotel until the night before I arrive at my destination. After all I don’t want to show up smelling like and looking like a homeless person!

Although I will be exploring some new areas that I haven’t been, I am really looking forward to riding up the coast of CA on Route 1. I have driven the entire Route 1 in a car, but was always envious of the guys riding there Motorcycles! If you’ve ever driven it, then you would know why! With my favorite stops being in Lucia and Big Sur, I plan on visiting some places that I have already been. Check out some of my pics on facebook. There are tons of photos from my last trip down Route 1.

Here’s a few old pics from my last trip!

Well, I hope that you will come back to visit my blog from April 11th til who knows when I get there! Until then, take care!!! I have lots of things to sell and plans to make!!!!

It’s a talent that everyone has, yet they think they don’t. The power of innovation. If you’ve ever marvelled at somebody’s creative prowess, guess what, you can create and innovate too. It just takes time. Everyone is born creative. The box of crayons in kindergarten were not limited to those who possessed potential; because the truth is, everybody has potential.

You know how long it took to learn to ride a bike or drive or to never commit the same mistake again? It’s the same with innovation. It takes a  bit of practice and a lot of time before this mind function comes easily  when called. This article will teach you a few tips on how to bring innovation into your life.

Don’t listen to what other people say. Follow the beat of your own drum. Allowing for the input of other people will only bring cacophony to the music you are trying to make. If you have an original idea, don’t waste your time and effort trying to make people understand. They won’t. And the help you will probably get comes in the form of negative feedback. If all those geniuses listened to their peers, we would probably still be living in the middle ages.

Spend time on it. I cannot stress that enough, although, please do not mistake this tip to tell you to quit your day job entirely. Do not. This involves some tricky time management but with a little discipline you’ll be able to squeeze both in.

Exercise. Take a walk. Run a mile or two. Send all those endorphins coursing through your veins. Exercising certainly clears and relaxes your mind and allows for anything to pop up.

Record your dreams. Aren’t some of them just the craziest things that your conscious mind would never have thought of? If you’ve had these dreams before, and I’m sure have, this only shows you the untapped innovative power you have lying within. So jot down those notes. Those dreams may just create an innovative spark in you.

Find your own style. You can always tell a Van Gogh from a Matisse. You’ll know Hemingway wrote something by the choice of words on the paper. So it is the same with you. People will appreciate your innovation more because it is uniquely yours and that no one else would have thought of what you were thinking. That will let people see how valuable an asset you are.

Don’t hide behind nifty gadgets or tools. You don’t need the most expensive set of paints to produce a masterpiece. The same way with writing. You don’t need some expensive fountain pen and really smooth paper for a bestseller. In fact, J.K. Rowling wrote the first book of the Harry Potter Series on bits of tissue. So what if you’ve got an expensive SLR camera if you’re a crappy photographer? Who cares if you’ve got a blinging laptop if you can’t write at all? The artist actually reduces the number of tools he has as he gets better at his craft: he knows what works and what doesn’t.

Nothing will work without passion. What wakes you up in the mornings? What keeps the flame burning? What is the one thing that you’ll die if you don’t do? Sometimes people with talent are overtaken by the people who want it more. Think the hare and the tortoise. Ellen Degeneres once said that if you’re not doing something that you want to do, then you don’t really want to do it. And that’s true. Sometimes you just want something so bad you become a virtual unstoppable. And that is passion. Passion will keep you going.

Don’t worry about inspiration. You can’t force it; inspiration hits when you least expect it to, for those unpredictable yet inevitable moments you should prepare. An idea could strike you on the subway, yet alas, you poor unfortunate soul; you have no sheet of paper to scribble down a thought that could change the world. Avoid these disasters. Have a pen and paper within your arm’s reach at all times.

I hope this article has helped you bring more innovation into your life. Keep in mind that you’re doing these things for your own satisfaction and not anybody else’s. But soon enough they will notice, and everything should snowball from there.