The Blazing Canons season came to an end yesterday. I was atrocious at the plate for the day and played OK in the field. It was a great season, very happy to have spent a few hours each Sunday with this group of guys. Afterwards we drowned our sorrows at PJs in some wings and beer and that made it all better.

Oh it’s crazy hat day today at camp in case you were wondering…

Oh, and thank god Breaking Bad is back on!

Books We’ve Been Reading…

Pierre the Penguin – very sweet tale about a penguin that loses his feathers and is given another chance by a caretaker that devises a special wet suit for her waddling buddy, both kids liked this one.
Go, Dog. Go! – I had never read this book and after seeing my friend Liz’s murals she had to paint over due to some room swapping between her youngest and oldest kiddos, I had to get this one from the library. What a classic, wish I had read this sooner.

Small Business/Tech Links…

• Polyphonic Spree melds music video and Choose Your Own Adventure in new iOS app
• 5 Ways Journalists Are Using Google+
• 8 Crucial Elements of Startup Success

Funny/Interesting Links…

• WHERETHEFUCKISTHIS
• He Gotta Donk
• Plush dismemberable zombie toy
• Bee-wearing competition

I am very happy to report that I believe I fixed my sore heel and calf with a short run yesterday with Abbe. I did have some issues with the run (a little wheezing), but it was great to be running with my girl on a beautiful day.

As much as I love the show Oddities, it can be tough to watch. I try hard not to tell anyone how to spend their money – whether they worked hard to earn it or not, I assume they did work hard. It is theirs to spend as they see fit. Sure it would be great if those that have would lend some measure of help to those without, and I don’t know if the collectors that come into the curiosity shop spend oodles of money on charities, BUT… it is truly hard to watch someone spend $300 on a piece of art made of human hair when I am sitting in the position I am in financially.

Great, you just bought a two headed pig cadaver for $3,000, do you think the pig could spare some change? How about instead of buying that taxidermied wolf penis, maybe you would give this hard working dad that is fighting every single day to provide for his family that money for some work, getting me entirely out of debt and you could just feel good. Isn’t that better than a wolf penis?

I do really enjoy the show mostly for the history, information on these very interesting sub-cultures, and the self-defined beauty that some of these collectors find in really odd stuff. But there’s that one part of me that just can’t help to think that this money could be put to better use.

Movie Review…

The Way Back – this was pretty good, I’m surprised this film did not do better at the box office. It is long and honest, a 4,000 mile walk to freedom is grueling and the audience shares in that experience to a certain extent.

Small Business/Tech Links…

• Build Dynamic Pages with Knockout.js
• Dissection of a Twitter Account: 10 Ways I’ve Used Twitter This Month
• Colors in Web Design: An Exploration

Funny/Interesting Links…

• Rides A Bike.
• Go the F*** to Sleep! read by Samuel L. Jackson
• Guitar Baby

Well, the kids and I made it through yesterday. After I got the kids off to school and Abbe to work, I collapsed in my office and just felt all the hurt from missing my father another year. (I’m doing great on that promise to keep this blog positive huh? – hold on, you’ll see the good in a second.)

I had an incredible day yesterday. Had a couple of great phone calls, one with another web developer Brant Beaupre from b two design – a partnership that could really help both of our companies, not to mention that Brant sounds like good people too. I like working with good people. Chatted with Ray from Mind Over Media about a REALLY exciting project coming up. And even got a call from my high school buddy, Tim wanting a few SEO questions answered for his company (and one of my clients), N3 Oceanic.

Before I picked up the kids from school I had a brutal 2 miles on the treadmill (new pace record for me). I’m still feeling the effects from that botched blood donation over the weekend and the week and a half layoff didn’t help either. I ran with a playlist of Richie Havens that for some reason reminds me so much of my father, and he barely could remember his name. Riche’s “Freedom” Woodstock performance is still my favorite end-all-be-all most passionate vocal performance I’ve ever been lucky enough to hear. You will never hear this kind of soul from these auto-tuned pop stars on the radio now. “Here Comes The Sun” came on my iPod and it tore my heart out. This is what love and music tangled up sounds like…

To top it off, my girls certainly did their part to cheer me up. Life is good. Miss you Dad, but I know you’re with us and thank you for getting us through another year.

Small Business/Tech Links…

• 6 Easy Ways to Improve Your Site Speed for SEO
• HOW TO: Optimize Your Content for Social Discovery

Funny/Interesting Links…

• Mexican Pointy Boots
• Fox News Ends Glenn Beck’s Show – I’m very broken up about this

Life is getting messed up. Not as bad as it could be for sure, but people very close to me are having some major, major money problems. All involved will survive. Why do these things happen at this time of year?

Abbe and I are in the midst of a fundraising effort that quite frankly, would be an additional financial problem for us if we fall short… and there are still bombs dropping all around us.

My “free time” is now just time to get work done. Doing chores like raking leaves would actually be a luxury. I felt incredibly guilty for taking the night off the other night when our awesome neighbors, Alex and Leah stopped by with margaritas and watched The Walking Dead with us Sunday night.

I have to keep faith in myself and maintain this pace. As depressing as this has been, I need to stop feeling bad about my situation. There are literally millions of people on this Earth that would gladly sacrifice their best day for my worst. Hard work and love will get us through this quagmire of debt and insanely risky situation. I have seen it work before, and it will again this time.

• CRUDBUMP: Fuck You If You Don’t Like Christmas – thank you Kerry
• The Art of Jessica Harrison
• GWAR Kills Sarah Palin
• Amazing Coin Trick

Small Business/Tech Links…

• SEO – Keep It Simple Stupid

RIP Leslie Nielson…

• Fancy Pool Dancing
• Talking Cats Playing Pattycake

Small Business/Tech Links…

• 35 Essential Social Media & Tech Resources for Small Businesses