Tag: transparency

Don’t Put Leisure On Layaway

Leisure Is Not the Leftover.

What three summer books – and the words I carried to my grandmother’s funeral – taught me about making room for a life that matters.

We keep putting life on layaway

Finish the work. Clear the inbox. Handle one more problem. Then, when everything is finally under control, make time for the people and places that matter.

There is one problem with that deal: the work never ends.

This summer, I barreled through a ton of books (mostly audio while I’m plugging away). Three books kept pulling me back to the same question from different directions: What if leisure is not what remains after a productive life? What if it is one of the things that makes life worth living?

Arthur Brooks’s The Meaning of Your Life, Neil Pasricha’s The Happiness Equation, and Jennifer Wallace’s Never Enough gave me language for something I have felt for years. Then my grandmother’s funeral made the question personal.

When I and my siblings spoke in her honor at the service, a couple key themes played out: relationship-work she did to hold a special place with so many people throughout her life, her stubborn resolve, how the Depression formatively played a role through her (and our life upon “Clean Plate Club” standards), the roles of love for nature and our family “Camp” on a quiet lake and the beaches nearby to York, our senior trips abroad (mine to where they lived and the nearby sites in England, image below) and “Camp” and the games we played with her til the end – like cribbage.

Grammie and I outside the Tower of London
Travel and visiting new places, something I picked up from Gram.

Leisure is work we choose

Brooks describes leisure as the basis of culture. That does not mean doing nothing. It means doing the work we choose for ourselves, without an economic force standing behind it.

Time in nature. Learning or sharpening a skill nobody assigned. Making a meal. Sitting close enough to hear the full story. Building and tending relationships.

Real leisure takes time, effort, discipline, and structure. That is exactly why it matters. Workaholism offers the opposite bargain: more hours, more strain, and less distance between who we are and what we produce. The harder we chase happiness through work alone, the farther away it can feel.

The answer is not to become less serious about life. It is to become serious about the part of life that does not appear on a timesheet.

Make a quiet space

Pasricha makes the idea practical: create space. Delete access to yourself for a while. Lock the door. Close the window. Put the phone somewhere it cannot negotiate with you.

Every interaction takes time. The notes I took from his book point to David Meyer’s University of Michigan work on task switching, with an estimated efficiency cost of 20% to 40%. Our attention does not move for free.

Protect a holy hour with the same seriousness as the meeting you cannot miss. Use it to think, learn, recover, or stand and stare. Quiet is not hiding from life. It is how we return to it as ourselves.

Carl Jung put it this way: “The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.” We need enough silence to hear who that might be.

If you are in a situation and you don’t want know what, do nothing. Literally, you can sit there, go for a walk, meditate with some deep breaths; it can have a profound impact on you, even if it’s just for a few minutes.

Find a Third Place

Wallace writes about mattering as connection. We need to know other people value us and that we can add value to their lives. Proximity helps make that possible.

Sociologists call parks, libraries, pubs, cafes, trailheads, and other informal gathering spots “third places.” They are neither home nor work. They are where we become regulars, notice one another, open up, serve, and tend.

We shape those spaces. Then those spaces shape us.

That is the Third Place: the lodge, the corner booth, the friend’s backyard, the patch of grass where everyone somehow ends up. The adventure may be the excuse. The community is the point, along with the legend you may become there.

What my grandmother left me

At my grandmother’s funeral, the words I chose were not about output, efficiency, or a packed calendar. They were about a life and what remains in other people when that life ends.

In my speech, I made a comment about Maine being “Vacationland” where no one seemed to work aside from their own version of Down East Dickering. It helps that my grandparents were able to retire at 50 and became the hardest working retirees I’ve known. That said, they knew when it was time to wrap up the chores and sit down, pour one up, tell stories, enjoy a good meal, campfire and some quality leisure-time activities like hiking, fishing, frogging, four-wheeling, canoeing, games, gardening, sports, etc.

For me, I thanked Gram for the traits, memories (including the site of the family ghost story in England, hearing about the signs she was getting called above down the stretch), mindset and inspiration and said I looked forward to splitting the 1-1 tie we sat on in cribbage with her.

Grammie & Poppop
My grandparents Chuck & Beth, inspirations for TNTC + Apres Leisure

TNTC was officially formed right after my grandfather passed in 2015 (too early from Alzheimers as he, the former college QB, could still rope a spiral 50+ to me). It has served as a mission to team up, help and spend time with the right types of folks, and the 1st book came to help people find purpose. Both my grandfather and my grandmother were inspirations for starting Apres Leisure. They were grounded salt-of-the-earth folks but there was some special family lore told around the campfire. Leisure is not abstract. It is handed down through rituals, places, stories, and the ways people make room for one another.

Apres (technically “après” – we choose to make it a bit more approachable, sorry my French friends) is the moment after the effort: when the gear comes off, the noise drops, and the real living begins. You do not have to earn that moment by exhausting yourself first. I believe that “artifacts” can help queue that mindset – even if you’re stuck in tough spots in your first or second places (home and work). More to come on those in The Vault.

A different equation

Make a quiet space. Leave the house. Find your people. Learn something because it calls to you. Become a regular somewhere. Protect a ritual worth handing down.

The books gave me the framework. My grandmother gave it weight.

Leisure is not the leftover. It is where culture, connection, memory, and identity have room to form.

As we say:

The adventure changes. The feeling never does. Every day is Apres.

A question for you

What place, ritual, or person taught you how to make room for the part of life that does not appear on a timesheet?

Who do you transform to when you’re in your special third place(s)?

Join the LeisureVerse

Stories, field notes, practical ways to commemorate legends and make leisure part of a good life.

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Helps you get to results and your third place(s) quicker.

"Camp" with Grammie and my siblings.
Camp in Maine growing up, a very special “third place” for the family back to 1954.

Source and review notes

  • Arthur Brooks, The Meaning of Your Life – Chip’s summer reading notes.
  • Neil Pasricha, The Happiness Equation – Chip’s summer reading notes.
  • Jennifer Wallace, Never Enough / mattering notes – Chip’s summer reading notes.

The Compound Interest of Staying Human in a High-Velocity Market

As an executive GTM operator and AI architect, navigating today’s automated applicant tracking systems has been a humbling paradox. The month of May just ended, but the conversation around mental health shouldn’t. This is a transparent look at macro economic trends, curveballs, the power of human compound interest, and why I am launching Apres Leisure today to fight the noise.

Everyone has so much going on, which makes it hard to sit down and “smell the flowers” as they say. It’s hard to keep up with the trends in greater society when it feels like your life is increasingly chaotic and you’re looking over your shoulder.

The month of May just ended, which is Mental Health Awareness Month. Safe to say, it gets less publicity than say October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month for example. Cancer hits so many with physical pain – not to mention the anguish that comes with it for families, literally of all shapes and sizes. Mental health, however, has always been stigmatized, cloaked and hidden. We are taught to put on a smile and deal with it, but to quietly suffer and not air out that kind of laundry. Back when, someone who goes to therapy was long considered “crazy” dismissively.

I’ll shine some light on the numbers. Spoiler alert: if you look at the trends across sources, mental health has been consistently getting worse and more costly no matter how you slice it (these charts were from studies done in December of 2023).

Also, not too surprising news is that the younger your generation, the more mental health issues you are facing as a general trend. Two-and-a-half years ago, 73% of people cited having a mental health issue in the past year.

A lot has changed since that time.

And for the record, it’s okay to not be okay.

Fair disclosures: I am married to a front-line social worker and crisis worker. Every single day, she and her peers navigate the compounding numbers of our unhoused communities, veterans, and individuals left short on answers and hope and have turned to suicidal plays. Witnessing their selflessness is a daily masterclass in empathy. They are the quiet, essential infrastructure holding our communities together, operating in a system that often feels like it has running out of human solutions.


Many of the youth today were taught that the path to success is paved through education (of which job-placement rates don’t support largely thanks to unbridled advanced in technology). Most probably haven’t heard of the artist Tupac, who was gone too soon. Tupac was an activist with SO many famous quotes, interviews and statements that remain relevant 30 years later, like the one below, “They got money for wars, but can’t feed the poor.”

To use a baseball analogy, I feel like I’ve had to face not only every curveball life could throw over the past few years, but every Paul Skenes “splinker,” slider, curve and heater (shout out to my Pirates, first sign of competitive life in ages). I absolutely know the feeling of being in that clear, growing majority.

As an executive operator who builds high-velocity GTM engines and complex AI data workflows, it has been a humbling paradox to sit on the other side of the screen. I know firsthand what it’s like to spend hours-upon-hours job hunting, matching keywords and navigating automated applicant tracking systems only to hit immediate auto-denials. It forces an honest calibration of what matters. It also makes me realize that while I am actively hunting for my next senior GTM, marketing, or strategic operations leadership mandate, the goal isn’t just to find a title—it’s to align with a team that values human clarity as much as velocity.

I am a believer in the power of compound interest.

I know that if I can lock in my alter ego mindset, escape in the mountains, get some ski laps and laughs in with friends, or spend some time with animals or in nature, that gives me some temporary reprieve. Meditation, deep breathing, down-time and escaping screens all helps – just ask the experts…to a point…

Even when I’m down, I try to count my blessings and remember that someone else has it worse. I’ve always tried to make someone’s day putting a smile on their face – be it asking my grocery baggers about the latest in their life and thanking them or being nice to the customer service people on the phone that deal with a lot of upset people.

The photo above at the top is from my time gig-working at a local music festival, trying to make people’s day with a quirky greeting at the gate with my man Julius. Julius spends time handwriting cards and gives them to random people for encouragement: mine was “You deserve all the wonderful things life has to offer. Share the love.”

This exact friction is why I am officially launching an all-terrain lifestyle project today called Apres Leisure. The brand was born out of a profound need for those special ‘Third Places’—the quiet mountain ridges, the ski laps with lifelong friends, the local brewpubs, or a festival gate with Julius—where we step away from the digital noise, find temporary reprieve, and transform to our legendary forms. We believe our apparel and gear can serve as physical artifacts to trigger the mindset needed to persevere. To anchor this mission with action, a portion of all proceeds throughout the month of June will be directly donated to frontline mental health initiatives.

Money isn’t everything. It won’t solve the world’s issues, but I believe that if we can make the effort to take the time to connect with people, following up and showing someone that you are thinking of them, creates traction and goodwill is infectious.

May is over, but that doesn’t mean the movement and momentum has to end here.

Be kind, divert some energy to someone else in the community and if they take the notion and do the same, that can start a movement, and could well become a trend in itself.

Beyond the Prompt: Scaling Lore and Logic with Agentic AI:

I didn’t just launch a lifestyle brand; I built an Agentic GTM Framework. In Part 1 of the Apres Leisure build, I reveal how I moved from ‘Generative Noob’ to ‘Agentic Architect,’ scaling a 0-FTE brand from concept to launch in under 90 days. If you’re ready to move beyond ‘using AI’ and start running an AI workforce, the signal starts here.

How the principles of Finding Your True North fueled a 90-day, 0-FTE brand launch for Apres Leisure (P1).

I. The Call: Incorporating the Philosophy of Finding Your True North

Every successful venture starts with a clear signal. In my book, Finding Your True North, I explore the necessity of aligning internal purpose with external execution. While continuing to search for my great next career fit, I took on a challenging consulting project. Launching Apres Leisure was the ultimate “stress test” for these themes. I had to move from a self-described “Generative Noob” (using AI for ideas and copy, probably the average use case) to an Agentic GTM Architect (using AI for execution), ensuring that the brand’s “True North”—the transition into the Modern Myth—was never lost in the automation.

II. The Struggle: Addressing Laundry List of Challenges

Moving from speaking about and pitching connected technology to implementing it firsthand (read: front-to-back-of-house) requires some real strategist-to-operator-level commitment. In addition to time management, here are a few of the top hurdles faced in the process:

  • Education Rabbit hole – transitioning from generative to agentic via certifications, video tutorials, prompt education, social platform feedback, tons of trial-and-error.
  • Resources – versed in The Lean Startup methodology, I played a very key role in standing up and scaling a bootstrapped company, new category, etc. Finding free ways to grow vs. using the magic bullets is a job in itself. Vendor choices can be extensive.
  • Feedback – driving advisor and peer opinions, pressure-testing, doing the research to build out the strategy + LOTS of generative AI prompts.
  • Uniqueness – pressure-testing the category, building out the brand accordingly with comps and differentiating factors in mind.
  • Dedication – going from non-technical to self-taught “vibe coding” Agentic GTM technical skills isn’t for the faint of heart. If you hit a wall 1000 times, you have to make sure to get up 1,001. When the Make.com scenario failed for the 10th time, I leaned on the ‘Navigating the Fog’ chapter of Finding Your True North to recalibrate the logic.

III. The Solution: O-FTE with an Agentic Workforce

To maintain a 0-FTE overhead, I originally deployed seven agentic workflows tied to key roles, which evolved. These weren’t just prompts; they were digital employees executing the “True North” strategy:

  • To launch with 0 FTE, along with a few key exec roles, I architected multiple ancillary agentic roles within the “Apres Brain” to handle the heavy lifting of a traditional GTM team. Here are a few of them:
  • The Lore Master (Brand & Philosophy)
    • Function: Synthesizes the core principles from Finding Your True North into the brand’s narrative.
    • Output: Developed the “Apres Access” Legend Ledger loyalty framework and the “Modern Myth” identity of the LeisureVerse, catering to those who want to take that feeling from the special/sacred “Third Place” with them.
  • The GTM Strategist (Market & Finance)
    • Function: Conducts competitive analysis and financial modeling.
    • Output: Engineered a pricing strategy that secures a prescribed margin while maintaining “leisure-class” accessibility.
  • The Automation Architect (Logic & Handshakes)
    • Function: Bridges the gap between disparate SaaS tools.
    • Output: Built the Legend_Ledger_Entry scenario in Make.com to automate data flow between Shopify and the Ledger.
  • The Product Designer (Iterative Creation)
    • Function: Translates lore into physical aesthetics using generative design tools.
    • Output: Rapidly prototyped and synced 67 unique products initially for V1.
  • The Logistics Lead (Operations & Flow)
    • Function: Manages the complex logic of print-on-demand fulfillment and shipping tiers.
    • Output: Structured the Standard Signal Shipping hierarchy with automated free-shipping thresholds at $80+.
  • The Wordsmith (Conversion Copy)
    • Function: Generates high-fidelity product descriptions and marketing assets.
    • Output: Created the conversion-focused copy for the Apres Leisure Store and the automated communication triggers for new customers.
  • The Efficiency Auditor (Overhead Control)
    • Function: Monitors the “Team of One” tech stack to ensure 0-FTE sustainability.
    • Output: Optimized the modular API strategy to prevent “tool bloat” and ensure the business remains bootstrapped and profitable.

IV. The outcomes: Streamlining Ops & Results

By streamlining operations through this agentic stack and getting more refined in the approach, I saved easily $250k+ in traditional CAC and OpEx while increasing velocity to reach launch week in under 90 days. The product is a scalable, lore-driven brand with a community-first loyalty protocol that gives back in multiple ways.

workflow example built out at Make.com
A key part of agentic strategy is connecting APIs amongst services.

As for the results, stay tuned for Part 2.

Building the Future: I am currently seeking my next high-impact role as a Full-Time Employee and/or Growth Consultant. If you want to move your organization from “using AI” to “running an Agentic Workforce” with 0-to-1 velocity, let’s connect.

Join the Cycle

1. Equip Yourself: Become part of the Founding 100, explore the First Cycle of gear and lore at Apres Leisure, enter the LeisureVerse and act on the Signal for gear at The Shop.

2. Read the Playbook: To understand the methodology behind the Forge, grab your copy of Finding Your True North on Amazon and make sure to leave a review if you find it helpful. It is the guide for any leader looking to find their signal in the noise of this complex generative age.

“Shock the World” – Big Blue Did & You Can Too!

Michigan basketball just changed the game, rewrote history and won the school’s first title in 37 years. It’s a story of pain and resilience applicable for me and us all.

Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan's star celebrates with the Shock the World banner.
Yaxel Lendeborg, who didn’t have the grades for college back when, celebrates Shocking the World after the Finals win.

The Michigan Wolverines just wrapped up one of, if not the most dominant college basketball seasons in history, cutting the nets down in Indianapolis after beating the UConn Huskies in the Final 4, 69-63.

Despite a historically dominant regular season, Michigan lost it’s third game of the year, to a motivated Purdue game in the Big Ten Tournament Finals. Duke and Arizona became the hot, popular picks as champions.

Michigan took that loss to heart and went on a mission as the only team to score 90+ for 5 straight in the NCAA Tournament.

However, the UConn Huskies were hungry for a third title in four years. UConn hadn’t lost a final. That kind of experience is invaluable in crunch time, which was evident by all the close games they won in the tourney.

UConn had it’s way slowing down Michigan and muddying up the Final. No team had ever scored under 70, shot under 40%, shot under 15% on 15+ threes, gotten outrebounded and won.

0-50. Until Michigan did it last night, bringing it home despite the star player’s injury. Statistically, this Michigan team finished the season as the #2 team ALL-TIME in KenPom’s offensive and defensive efficiency ratings with an argument for most dominant – period(.)

______________________________

Personally reflecting: as a kid growing up, I loved playing basketball. I put in the work shoveling the driveway at night by myself in the cold dark winters of Michigan to get shots in. I went against the grain to the enemy Duke’s basketball camp twice around the 2001 championship, when Carlos Booker got stacked ((by the way, if you missed it: his sons were the tourney darlings going in to March Madness, featured on a commercial every break, leaving the tourney as the only #1 seed up 15 points at halftime out of 135 to blow the lead and lose. Cayden (the “other” twin) inexplicably turned the ball over before the 10 seconds ran out, as UConn’s Braylon Mullins hit a 35 footer in a finish no one will forget to advance to the Final 4)).

It’s crazy to think that at Michigan while I was there, we had former Duke star Tommy Amaker coaching a team with a bunch of notable talent that we’d see nearby walking around on campus. The team played well 3 of those 4 years but there were still ongoing sanctions in place for much of that stretch from the Ed Martin era sanctions tied to illegal gambling money and gifts going to players as loans, etc., which tainted 13 years of history, most famously the Fab Five team that lost to UNC in the Final because of the end-of-game timeout Chris Webber called that the team didn’t have.

I didn’t make it to Crisler for one game in college. Volleyball, hockey, baseball, women’s field hockey, softball, men’s and women’s soccer and each football game but not 1 for men’s basketball. The pulse was that low…

Then John Beilein arrived and restored hope, grit and spirit to the program. Everybody started showing back up.

I was there with my old roommates, classmates friends (and then some) in Atlanta at the 2013 Final 4, our first trip back since back when. A controversial Trey Burke block was called a foul and Louisville finished us off (although had to vacate the Championship for Pitino-era scandals of its own).

celebrating a semifinal win over Syracuse in the 2013 Final Four in Atlanta.
Celebrating a 2013 Final 4 semifinal win at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta over Syracuse.

We made it back to the ‘ship in 2018, but Villanova, who had the experience of winning it two years previous, took us down 79-62 to cut the nets.

Fab Fiver Juwan Howard took over coaching after Beilein went to try his hand at the Cleveland Cavaliers of the NBA, which didn’t last. Howard started hot and advanced to an Elite 8 in 2021, but he lost his cool on court and his teams faded to the lifeless 8-24 last place finish in 2024 and was shown the door.

Name Image and Likeness (NIL) became legal, players could now get paid and Howard cited not being able to keep up with the resources Michigan offered.

Star frontcourt player Tarris Reed transferred to UConn. Glue-guys Will Tschetter and Nimari Burnett stuck around, along with Jace Howard (Juwan’s son).

In came Dusty May, a former Indiana student manager under Bobby Knight, who made his way up the assistant ranks before getting a shot to lead at Florida Atlantic, leading the 9 seeded underdogs to an unheard of Final 4 and near championship appearance.

Michigan committed to upping resources available and with Champion’s Circle help behind the scenes (Michigan’s official Collective group, a small scrappy group of hard working folks I’ve gotten to know), May and staff mobilized quickly.

Michigan quickly fielded one of the quickest turnaround stories in history. But “we are all a bunch of outcasts” he said after finally smiling and cutting the net down back in Indy near where it started, bringing home Michigan’s first hoops championship since 1989. It’s true. Pretty much every guy had been counted out at some point, suffering anguish, lack of confidence and defeat.

May studied what the OKC Thunder did to go from doormat to dominant champ, stockpiling the right young guys. He met each player where they were at personality-wise and just asked them to be coachable and gritty. The team gelled, adjusted unlike any others at the half, went wild when walk-ons got stats at the end of historic blowouts. They just re-wrote the book on success in the NIL era, where fragmentation, the open transfer portal and dollars make continuity a challenge for everyone.

The “Fab 5” sat together on TNT’s altcast near courtside during the vaunted semifinal matchup against a dominant Arizona team that it dominated. They laughed, joked and carried on like it was 1993 all over again when they were going against the grain and changing the game, despite all the haters and doubters. 5 star combo guard Brandon McCoy committed to the Wolverines at halftime while talking the Fab 5 notably – what a moment.

Glen Rice held the “Shock the World” sign up when Michigan team last won in Seattle. Last night, 37 years worth of redemption songs came to fruition. But it’s not just the Fab 5 and ’26 champs that got redemption from the Martin scandals, it was everyone. All the players, the students, the parents, the fans – way too many to list.

Beyond that, it’s a story of hope when it feels like there isn’t much.

No one believes in you.

Your passive aggressive team thinks they can soullessly send you packing despite your loyal contributions. You got that email that you’re out, most recent casualty to a coding agent. Your elected officials have left you hanging, prioritizing themselves. Your family, partner or your health fails you. Whatever the (fill in the blank) reasons may be, it all feels hopeless. Why keep trying when the well is dry and it’s futile??

They don’t see or care that you’ve done the work, made the sacrifices and kept getting off the ground, pulling yourself up and back in motion.

“Those who stay will be champions.”

This is a story for you.

You can beat all the odds, reinvent yourself and become a champ in your own right too.

Go “Shock the World.”

celebrating the 2026 championship win
Celebrating the redemption story and 2026 Championship win with SLC Spirit Group friends and members.

New Book + Appointing Your Alter Ego for Life’s Challenges

Times are tough. Cue your Alter Ego to help you battle through life’s challenges!

Sometimes it just feels like life is headed to hell in handbasket.

I recently published my first book to help others like me chart a course to purpose, if they could use guidance redirecting without instilling radical change (check it out if you haven’t yet!).

Finding Your True North: A Calm Path to Purpose Without Burning Your Life Down. Designed to help people find purpose with built-in exercises.

It’s okay to not be okay. Recently, for me it’s all felt like it’s coming to a head. Personally and holistically it’s been one thing after the next. Externally, it feels like the rails are off and the train is speeding down the tracks to inevitable peril…

“Jolts” involving A.I. disruption, job losses, the Iran war, consumer goods prices, health, policies, debts, extreme weather, etc. are a few hot buttons that feel like they are forcing radical change. I would venture to guess that I am not alone feeling this way.

It’s almost like we haven’t had a “normal” year without daily shocks since 2019 pre-pandemic.

People need to develop coping mechanisms to help them get through life’s challenges. I’ve personally found helpful include: meditation / deep breathing, relaxing in the sauna or hot tub, experiencing nature, exploring somewhere new, exercise, blocking out the news and social media, focusing on projects and hobbies, therapy, journaling, gardening, talking with people (especially spending time in person), playing with kids and pets, escapism via sports, music, podcasts, shows or movies.

Immersion into reading is another favorite ticket away. I picked up The Alter Ego Effect and wanted to recommend it to you.

The author Todd Herman, trained by top mental health coaches and mentors, helps his clientele channel their most resonating character to transform into when duty calls. By going to a totem or artifact to flip on the switch, cueing your alter ego, you can take on the world and come out of it heroically.

Simple example, Sam grew up feeling underestimated on his smarts often breezed over in conversations, work, etc. He’s noticed in movies that those with glasses are often thought of us wise and respected for focus and intelligence. Even though his vision is perfect, Sam throws on his totem/artifact fake lenses to cue the “Professor,” and his mentality and then results change. He’s getting the respect and attention that he’s always yearned for and he feels like he has a new lease on life.

Whatever that symbolism equates to for you, it has to mean something special, motivating and compelling. Think superheroes, a specific animal or truly anything that innately sticks out as transformative difference-maker in your mind. You can keep it a secret too – don’t feel like you need to let others in on your alter ego.

There is a lot we cannot control in life. Normally we would choose to go into character for those traditional “moments of impact” – the big meeting, game, speech or challenge.

If those normal coping activities aren’t getting it done for you when anxious feelings pop up outside of your typical “moments of impact,” maybe it’s time to beam the Bat Signal!?

I would love to hear your takes!

Singapore Sling to the Philippines

Our Southeast Asian travels continued, this time to Singapore then the Philippines. We got to experience manmade and natural wonders and cuisine, learning a lot about the cultures in the process.

Calabawan Falls

After the safari of a lifetime visiting Borneo’s unique species’, we shipped off from Sandakan to Singapore via Malaysia Air, connecting first in Kuala Lumpur (the only connection while in Southeast Asia for us). We quickly spent the last of our Ringgits on a bottle of wine and some duty-free candy and in just over an hour in the air, we were in the fascinating island city-state of Singapore.

Changi Airport is the top-rated airport in the world. It’s expansive, has so many designer stores, gardens, aquariums and fountains (including Jewel Changi with a waterfall) and entertainment. Asian airports have shown how efficient travel can be, not to mention the amenities.

Knowing Singapore is one of the most expensive places in the world, we went budget on accommodations. We ended up at Hotel Fuji in Geylang, once a thriving red-light district (Singapore’s stance on sex workers, like its stance on most in the non-super-wealthy demographic, is SUPER exploitative to say the least). We got a cuisine recommendation from our Uber driver, who speaks excellent English like most in Singapore. It was a seafood market lit up like a mini Vegas and the menu featured all kinds of interesting novelties. Frog leg porridge was a suggested favorite here. Crab is a top specialty of the Singapore dining scene, which has many curated, immersive, multi-course elaborate experiences. I ended up trying the grilled frogs legs and crispy short-ribs (I enjoyed the latter more, but fried makes everything taste better). The area was walkable but every we went into a bar, many of which had karaoke vibes, as the underground gambling dens and beauty shop discreet sex workers were pretty strictly getting squashed out (and it felt like they were still . Lots of funny looks and not so welcoming vibes.

Singapore is one of the most meticulously clean, landscaped and managed places you’ll find in the world. It is also known for the strictest laws to keep the place clean in all the ways it perceives it can. We had a mad scramble to finish our gum before arriving and learned a lot about the hundreds of laws from the local drivers (many of which are doing it was a second job because it’s so expensive to live there, the locals have subsidized shoebox houses and shop in nearby Malaysia). Not only is chewing and spitting out gum a crime that can lead to caning, but so jaywalking, staying out drinking past 10pm with 3+ people, being naked in your house, and so many more things. Most laws are designed to keep the locals in line without wavering, catering to the rich finance moguls, visitors and expats. Cameras are everywhere, and you can get arrested typically 4-6 hours after a violation and sent to prison. It felt very dystopian (remember reading The Giver?).

We set out to experience Singapore’s top sites, including Chinatown, Gardens by the Sea and Singapore Botanic Gardens. We saw another ornate temple requiring shoes off and conservative dress to enter. Just outside on the market street in Chinatown, we tried the famous Singapore Sling cocktail (all the Brits will point you to Raffles Hotel for the very expensive original). We meandered, watched some chess with an audience and looked through the vendor goodies. The Botanic Gardens was this magnificently catered park curated with so many different species and garden zones with science labs cloning species in the middle of it all. We met a few pretty birds and nice big monitors and skink lizards while enjoying the beautiful curated surroundings.

The Gardens by the Bay was a paid attraction with electric towers lined with plants, and we paid to take in two top attractions: Cloud Forest and Flower Dome. Flower Dome was an indoor garden with plant species from all over the world organized in different zones made to feel like you were globe-trotting.

Cloud Forest was another indoor garden and jungle Jurassic Park animatronic immersive experience. These domed areas with clear glass provided views of the harbor and a lot of lessons about the various featured species. We especially enjoyed this experience, loving dinosaurs, the movies and nature like we do.

We capped it off in the largest skewered meat market imaginable and trying to catch a light show on the harbor (later realizing it was only at the ship in the sky-looking Marina Bay Sands Singapore hotel). They tried to charge $90 for 2 cocktails at this rooftop bar, luckily I talked them down a bit on that!

36 hours after arriving, we were happy to be taking off on Singapore Air (another amazing regional airline) for our last big leg. Just about four hours later we made it to Cebu in the Philippines. The Philippines are home to 7,641 islands, and only about 2,000 of which are inhabited. This reefy, volcanic splash of paradise hit me when flying in as I watched the islands stack up.

My grandfather fought in the 503rd/101st Airborne Infantry, the only regiment in the Pacific for World War II. My cousin’s husband (also on my dad’s side) Stephen Greene was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam in the same regiment and recently shared his newsletters about the stories.

“Grandpa” shared very little to my dad or us about those days, although famously would not eat monkey again and hated rice. We were told he was shot in the butt and that he won a Purple Heart and Silver Star and later learned he had some notable machismo adventures while based in Australia (ie. nighttime non-sanctioned jumps, fights with the Marines). I read about the battles he fighted in Leyte, nextdoor to Cebu, Mindano and Corregidor. Corregidor sits in Manilla Bay (near the Japanese taken Manila base), is known as “the Rock” and hosted one of the most infamous battles in American war history based on being the most difficult technical landing of a parachute troop drop historically, the casualty rates and multi-day siege that took place.

Connecting with my grandfather’s story resonated as we dropped into Cebu City the main city in the Central Visayas (3.4 million inhabitants span the 167 islands included in this central Philippine zone known for the greatest biodiversity, hence our visit). We were warned about civil wars ongoing in Mindanao and heard that Manila is very dirty and overpopulated, so they were avoided.

We stayed in Lapu-Lapu City nearby at the Blue Maribago Beach Resort, 15 minutes from the airport where a local opportunistic man picked us up in place of a Grab, ended up paying him in cash (a bit more than the going rate to help with his family mentioned as he was very nice, opportunistic and accommodating).

It didn’t take long before the Philippine spirit shined through via most of the people we met. Our room was upgraded to beachside by the staff, all of which would smile, put hand on heart and say good morning, afternoon or evening when walking by. The villa overlooked the sandbar island and lagoon beach in front of us. The room was spectacular and spacious, we were a within a short walk from hammocks, this amazing exotic seafood buffet and restaurant, another with a bar on the water, and beach-themed lagoon pools. There was live music, a thrilling fire-dancing show and beach service to the canopies. Food specialties were noodles or rice as a base, steamed veggies, all types of seafood, served all kinds of different ways, fried chicken and crispy pork dishes, along with different tropical fruits and veggies.

Our 3am departure and full-day tour was both of our top highlight of the entire trip. A driver brought us hours away to the southwest coast of the island to Oslob. We geared up and got herded out to the water, where the locals were attracting whale sharks with treats, the largest species of shark (harmless spotted filter-feeders). Soon, we were in the water getting brushed by these massive gentle giants (the rules were no sunscreen as it negatively affects them and don’t touch). While many were juveniles, the sheer beauty and magnificence of these ~25 foot wonders was incredible first-hand underwater, and I was lucky to capture our moments together on my GoPro.

Calabawan Falls awaited us, a jungle paradise and hike into a series of waterfalls. Rain closed another epic set of falls for flooding, and made the hike slippery – luckily we had the most attentive, happy, strong, agile barefooted young 5 foot tall local guide and photographer. The cliff diving and abseiling down waterfalls was incredible, as was the sheer beauty of the dense jungle surroundings. We capped it off with a fresh, hot meal on the coast, seeing the ruins from the latest cyclone two years removed.

We had a self-care day to make the missus happy, featuring facials, mani-pedis and a new hair-styling – all at less than the cost of one premium service here. We got to wander around locally, amidst the locals and their markets out of their houses, little stores, rickshaws, basketball courts and motobikes and scooters (2nd world feel to the place). The locals talked of the government corruption, which left road construction projects constant, slow and under-resourced. Our last night brought a wicked tropical thunderstorm, which was quite an experience.

I grabbed a Philippino-pained long ukulele to think back to my days looking at the sky-blue water and green island foliage of the islands. Sadly, soon after we got back, Cebu got hit by a 6.9 earthquake and cyclones, killing over 70 with massive impact on the locals. This volcanic hotbed can’t rest from tectonic movements.

Overall, this was the most inexpensive place we visited (felt it to be ~20% what we’re used to paying financially). The people were also the most happy, genuine, friendly, service-oriented wonderful folks. We would highly encourage others to visit, support the people and see what it’s all about. We will be back and our minds stay relaxed picturing the Filipino landscapes and mindset when in a peaceful state.

After a Taipei night for stop-over, we were riding the jet stream winds on a 10 (down from 14) hour flight back stateside to Seattle, asked a few Customs questions about my guitar (not a gun) and were officially back stateside. Back to the wild ride of emotions, big box stores and Americana, and still thinking about prospects of living and traveling around these wonders of Southeast Asia.

These majestic creatures are peaceful and very special
Swimming with whale sharks

The Next Life Chapter: No Pain No Game

Shutting a door with a bang and opening a new one going into 40.

I was embarking on a monumental life chapter on paper. A confluence of factors had me push myself on my New Year’s Resolution going into my turn going “over the hill.” I set out to step up and make it a transformative turn and it sure proved itself as the most difficult, challenging stretch of my life.

Immediately after the Cuba trip in mid-June, I tore the achilles lunging playing pickleball for the first time. It felt like a weight dropped on the back of my leg and I immediately felt a pop, yelled and looked around for someone that kicked me. I’m lucky it didn’t happen before the trip as it well could’ve. Sad moment for a proud athlete who prides himself in skiing 50+ days a year and never getting a real injury to date.

After limping around doing yard work hoping it was maybe a high ankle sprain, icing and sleeping on it hoping the issue would subside, I was proven wrong: this turns into a key metaphor for life and the moment. I woke up, the swelling moved down my league and bruising of the “cankle” was significant. A little Googling had me worried for the worst – a torn achilles. Urgent care got me a quick MRI that I ultimately didn’t need, but it showed a clear rupture. Because I got in early to my doctor, I got the option to not do surgery and just do physical therapy. Doing the research (re-injury rate is 3x less via surgery ) and my father-in-law felt like his ankle came back stronger after surgery and I flipped.

A friend recommended the new “speed bridge” surgery that Aaron Rodgers famously came back from, but that wasn’t readily available locally. I (half) jokingly had my screened and validated OSU grad doctor mark the correct leg to operate on to avoid the accidental procedure on the wrong leg. Luckily the surgery went well, I was wheeled home and fighting the pains trying to minimize the opioids for recovery as much as possible. In short, I’m very thankful for all the help from my father in law Peter, who pushed me to stay on regiment to the exact rep, not put weight on it and helped with chores. I can thank U of Utah’s Dr. Dave Carter (PhD. in achilles recovery), who Peter swore by, Peter and my wife for the support. I hit a flooring low point hope-wise early on knowing my summer and fall were shot, but I was focused on skiing come winter and I sucked it up, worked hard on my PT, hit the weight room hard to build the strength (and then some) and somehow in just under 6 months, worked my way back on the mountain and wrapped up a ski season skiing 54 days and nearly 800k vertical feet. To date, it’s no Rodgers story of non-field heroics, but I’ve just passed a year since surgery (about the date you can said to be recovered) and I’ve had no setbacks aside from sporting a purple, scarred bulge and the humbling life moment escapade that came with it.

A lot of mental work also brought me to forcing myself to step up, realize my needs and what I believe in and take a stand instead of quietly taking the easy way out. Just like hobbling on a leg I knew in my gut was shot and possibly extending the damage and thinking I could “sleep it off,” I had a tendency to internalize. What do I believe in? What breaks the code?

I needed to learn a key lesson when it comes to self-actualization and speak up for what and whom I believe in. Over the course of the year, I transparently called out my closest friends, family and coworkers. I stated my piece instead of allowing the status quo or playing both sides and it led to a ton of pain, heartache and feeling alone with a number of my closest relationships feeling very much in limbo.

I forced myself to start instituting and enforcing boundaries. I’ve realized that you can only control yourself and that people won’t change unless they are open to it. This is a work in progress. The truth is that many of those relationships will never be the same, people come and go and show their true colors. ‘Tis life – stay true.

The world has drastically changed dramatically politically, economically and socially. Many are feeling hopeless and forgotten and it’s easy to get sucked into deep despair following the news: I sure did. It’s ok to not be ok, just know what outlets are available.

While/when it may seem hopeless on a macro scale, it’s okay to tune out and focus on the micro. I just read “Go-Giver” and “Infinite Game” in my summer hammock. I’m a firm believer that karma is real, providing “glimmer” moments – small periods of joy and striving to find ways to give back can help lift spirits. Those can include dropping messages of goodwill, making random people laugh, compliments, gifts, giving time or feedback (transparent) pay dividends in “life purpose equity.”

Give and live! Take stock in what you have with gratitude and not the social comparisons – what a decade and chapter. Stand up for yourself and what you believe in.

You may feel ripped to shreds and alone in the world, but work the process and come out of it a new person; epic comeback story in the making.

Global Reckoning Period – Adapt or Die II

It’s like a bad sequel.  Groundhog Day: Return of Ned Flanderson (sans Bill Murray).

Just when you thought we were turning the corner to stop the gore and the killer had disappeared, we stumble, trip and allow for the villain to catch back up.

We have now entered into the eye of the storm.  It’s quiet.  Too quiet. And peaceful.  But just you wait.

Experts and past leaders knew a pandemic was well within the cards. Luckily, we were prepped for past threats in SARS and Ebola.  When the world watched China and Europe get decimation, we hesitated, thumbed our nose and got crushed.

Instead of a World War II-like rallying behind our leaders and mission, our Fake News fragmentation and direction for states to figure it out independently kicked in.

Sadly, the fact that it’s a crucial election year and prospects of a depression took precedence over public health and getting mass testing and herd immunity to where it needs to be.

“Liberation” of our freedoms, opening up non-essential businesses and protesting from close distance is the obvious death trap.  Just ask John from Ohio.  Oh wait…

No, we won’t save ourselves from UV light or drinking bleach.  Please don’t try it (although do go outside – sunshine helps your mental psyche, although it won’t defend much against viruses).

The U.S. (and much of the world similarly) has now far eclipsed the quickest unemployment rate drop.  Time and decisions made by all of us will tell whether we eclipse the peak rate of 24.9% during the Great Depression.  Hopefully those affected will learn valuable new skills and trades in the meantime while growing relationships at home to evolve and come out of this stronger.

The economy is vital to us all, but we have to trust the scientific experts and the math (see Domo’s live trend visuals).  A few weeks of apprehensive business openings isn’t going to be worth the collateral damage we face by being premature and negligent.

Chances are, many more of us have had it than we know.  We need mass testing and antibody testing to tell us that as and we still don’t understand what level of exposure (if possible at all) we need to have had to mitigate the threat of a second mutated bout.

We’re working feverishly to enable a vaccine but best case scenario to get one is by almost all accounts is a year from now – around April 2021.  Then it has to be mass distributed to the public.

Life as we knew it in terms of going to the flights, concerts, games, bars and restaurants we so loved won’t be the same.  We’ll have to adapt to the new normal, even after the vaccine.

We are seeing heroes and valiant, selfless acts happen all around us.  It’s the medical, grocery, delivery workers and average Joes going to get groceries for their elderly neighbors that are making the difference and deserve to benefit when the dust settles.

If we’ve learned anything through this, it’s the danger of not educating and equipping the poor and ignorant.  If we don’t give everyone access to accurate information, health care and the means to work and live, everything else is threatened.  Billionaire Mark Cuban (story of past encounters with him to come) has been a voice of reason for the people, making a public play for trickle-up vs. trickle-down economics.

Maybe we will swallow our pride and step up together when it counts.

Regardless, the shark will be stalking the shores and connected rivers beneath the surface.

Global Reckoning Period – Adapt or Die

Speaking of stalled aspirational progress, as we are all now acutely aware of, the global economy hit a screeching halt by way of a COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic.

Ramifications and the related coverable topics are endless.

A globalized reckoning, which was anticipated to happen at some point by the experts, caught us all on our heels and we couldn’t react quickly enough to put it to bed before massive loss of lives and economic progress resulted.

What are we learning in the process?

  • Leadership and the ability to listen, emphasize and unite matters more than ever – without it, everything can unfold.
  • Heroes come in all shapes and sizes.  The true heroes pulling us out of this mess are the service workers on the front-lines putting lives on the line to save their brethren (nurses, doctors, EMTs, social services, teachers, grocery store and “essential business” workers).  These folks deserve every accolade, perk and quality of live improvement possible.
  • Globalization Revisited – it doesn’t matter if your GDP is greatest in the world if you can’t stock or make the basics to save your people (ie. PPE’s like aprons, masks, gloves, etc.)
  • We need to focus on the industries, tactics, practices and strategies proven to sustainably benefit the masses.   Sometimes it’s time to stick in that fork and move on vs. continuing the life support.

Personally and professionally, we are all at a crossroads.  Adapt or die (figuratively and literally so, sadly).

It’s a group exercise, too.  One outlier can derail the recovery progress for the masses.  We are all ready for the economy to return to normal – your non-distanced protests only hurt our chances to get there.

How we prepare today will impact tomorrow.  It is well worth the extra few weeks of staying at home to not set ourselves back months more.

If all you have to give is goodwill and positive thoughts, pay it forward, spread it (especially while staying at home!) and the returns will multiply and help get us all back on our feet.

Closing Out 2017 with a Blockchain Bang.

2017 will go down big in the record books.

On the personal side, I took the plunge to get engaged we just closed and moved into our 1st home, a life-changing ordeal in itself. I also personally learned that a country doing everything it can to self-destruct that’s $20 trillion in debt sorely needs software to help the drastically under-equipped IRS manage operational claims to chip away at (separate post in itself).

Sponsorship Buddy is rebranding within the next few weeks to encapsulate the force it has become, now directly optimizing workflows for thousands in the brand, agency and rights holder/property space (recently including the San Francisco Giants, who I could’ve garnered multiple rings based on a different life choice made (another post of its own). With a valuation now in the 9 figure range, one could ask how I could entertain usage of my full-time hours going to something else?

The answer? The blockchain.

I also passed up an equitable opportunity with a software behemoth fast approaching IPO and an executive spot with the most elite membership and concierge program in the world involving curation of the most customized VIP global personalized experiences.

After a few weeks spent volunteering, negotiating and absorbing, I signed on to become the #2, C.O.O. & Head of Fundraising for what we believe could be the most compliant blockchain solution in the exploding ICO market. By the way, ICOs (initial coin offerings) have overtaken traditional venture capital funding means and skyrocketed to over $5 billion in funds raised for 2017.

Everyone’s now heard of Bitcoin (the Amazon of the cryptocurrency world), but most don’t understand it or the blockchain. This distributed ledger system promises to change the world by decentralizing everything, from global monetary policies to how transactions are recorded.

There are innumerable roadblocks in the way before that happens, however.  Many early ICOs were launched by the likes of 19-year-old Ukrainians arming a cartel without as much as a business or legal backing.  While due diligence, transparency and sound legal business principles are on the rise, there is an impending fear of the unknown, especially the SEC coming down to ban and punish those deemed outside of the legal limits.  A day of reckoning is in order in today’s new age Wild West.

At OMINEX, sister-company CrowdEngine has the SEC & FINRA compliance nailed.  OMINEX plans to offer a wallet to manage such security and other crypto tokens and provide the portal to launch the buttoned-up ICO, funding your dream, world-changing blockchain project.

But first, we need believers to take a chance with us and invest in the most compliant fundraising solution seen to date (while benefitting with us along the way). We could use great Advisors, referral partners and investors to help us build out the vision before we can draft the team.

It’s been quite the heroic comeback story, 2017 vs. 2016 that is.

Who’s ready to take the world by storm in compliant fashion!? Blockchain and ICOs are possibly the most world-changing phenomenon we’ve seen, can you afford to miss the boat (more about ICOs as the new gold rush – biggest wealth transfer in human history)?

ominex pic

Happy New Year 2018!