Shepherd is like browsing the best bookstore in the world.

I want to help people discover books in a new way and help authors connect with new fans, sell more books, and build a larger fan base. It has been a blast to work on so far and the last 3 weeks have been so much fun. Right now I am emailing amazing authors to see if they will recommend five books on a subject they are passionate about. The response has been great and I hope to have my first 100 pages by the end of the month.

I am aiming to launch the beta in March or April. I am working with an amazing developer on the backend now. It is rare to find someone with whom you communicate so well with and it makes all the difference. The same goes for the designer whom I’ve been working with on a variety of projects for the last 4 years.

I got a webpage up Friday that shows some mockups so authors can understand how it will all work for them.

Fun stuff!

I had a weird moment recently and I am still processing it…

I realized that cops do not have to shoot people, you can just arrest them later.

Why does American society feel that it is acceptable to shoot someone who stole something and is running away?

• Or shoot someone who is mentally ill?
• Or, shoot someone who you THINK has a knife?
• Or, shoot someone who is walking away from you?
• Or, shoot someone because of the way they make you FEEL?
• Or, shoot someone because they are not following directions?

Why did this feel like such a “duh” moment to me and what does that say about me and the culture/society I grew up within?

Why not just wait, and just calmly arrest them the next day? 

They are going to turn themselves in. Or, worst case you take a drive and pick them up at one of the five places they might be living. What is the need to escalate a situation that needs de-escalation?

Or better yet, see how long you can talk to them and de-escalate bad situations. So what if someone is holding a knife. Just let them hold it as long as they are doing nothing and calmly talk to them. You don’t have to have 9 guns drawn on them, scream at them, and act like they are holding a machine gun and wearing a necklace of ears.

I understand the need for state-sanctioned violence if someone is threatening violence against others, has a weapon, and is acting on it. That rarely seems to apply…

I do not understand why the fuck police are shooting people (mostly black and people of color)? If you feel threatened easily you shouldn’t be a cop. If your response to feeling threatened is violence, you shouldn’t be a cop. If you have a massive temper you shouldn’t be a cop. If you can’t handle being made fun of you shouldn’t be a cop. If you do not have sang froid you shouldn’t be a cop. It is like we hire a bunch of want to be Rambos, give them no training in de-escalation, outfit them like a military barbie doll, tell them every one is out to kill them, and send them out into the world. I think we would have better results with a police department staffed by ex-child soldiers.

I especially hate when people tell me “they didn’t listen to the cops” or “they should do what the cop says”. Should someone be shot because they don’t want to listen to cops Should someone be strangled to death while in handcuffs because they do not want to do what cops say?

Fuck that. I think the only reason you should be shot is if you have a weapon and are about to actively hurt someone. So, stop fucking killing people, especially black people.

So over breakfast this morning I watched this little guy take the shell off a boiled egg, then carefully remove the yellow ball in the middle, then stuff the middle full with blueberries, and then eat his blueberry egg. Delightful :).

Was the January 6th attack on the capital the start or the end?

It is hard for me to believe it is the end. Why?

1. You have millions and millions of radicalized right-wing extremists. They are not going to magically disappear overnight. Nobody has deprogrammed them and they are utterly divorced from reality. And, they continue to be further radicalized by right-wing propaganda sources such as Breitbart, Newsmax, and a long list of websites you have never heard of.

2. Their coup/ethos/violence is supported by 50% of the Republican party. Think about that. That is a huge chunk of the American population proclaiming support for a violent overthrow of our Democratic government. That radicalized population believes there was election fraud despite zero evidence (why? because their leaders are saying it, Trump, Republican leadership, Republican congress, local Republican leaders, etc).

3. Trump has not been punished for his attack against this country and Democracy. He continues to be a figurehead as he denies a free and fair election.

4. The Republican party continues to do nothing because they “need” these voters. They would sell their soul, violet their oath of office, and sacrifice American Democracy in order to maintain power. We might get some nice speeches from a few of them, but where is the action?

In 1923 Hitler attempted a coup against a Democratic government. He was arrested for treason but the judge gave him an incredibly light sentence. By 1933 Hitler is in power. Looking at Spain and Japan’s history with coups is also worrying.

Nobody knows what is going to come next.

That should scare you.

We like to think that the FBI and the American Military would resist a coup and do their duty to this country. That is a pretty big assumption given that half of Republicans support this coup. And, after last week’s police response to this insurrection, you might wonder how deep the rot goes. Especially if it turns out that members of the police let violent extremists in the building.

Let’s imagine that a small group of active duty military members attempt a coup. Imagine fifty fully armed active-duty soldiers attacking a state capital or federal building. Or, imagine 3 pilots bombing an American capital. Do you really think that is unlikely given 50% of the Republican party think this coup is “justified”?

If/when this happens it will shatter Americans’ notion of our country (not to mention the power structure of the world). Normal Americans have no clue how many police are associated with white power and extreme right-wing movements. What happens when they find out the military is as badly infiltrated?

What happens next?

Overall my bet is on more violence over the next decade. Expect political assassinations, politically-motivated shootings, and bombings. I think American is in for a rude awakening as they feel the effects of the monster the Right Wing party has created over the last 30 years.

Republicans have ridden the Tiger for 30 years. Now they have to figure out how to get off before it destroys our country. And sadly… I think you will find plenty of Republicans who want to ride the Tiger straight through to a dictatorship. Josh Hawley or Ted Cruz or any number of people who pursue absolute power rather than service to our country.

What would surprise me?

• A Republican party that puts country before party. If they voted to impeach Donald Trump in the Senate that is a bare minimum to start a path to forgiveness.
• The country improving in any substantial way. I.E. health care made affordable, free or subsidized daycare rolled out nationwide, real unemployment insurance to help our unemployed get back on their feet, free or low-cost university to train our citizens in professions for the future, minimum wage increases that give the blue-collar and service industries the respect they deserve, whatever it takes so that cops stop shooting black people, changing what the police handle inside our community, improving our justice system so the poor get competent legal representation, paid vacation for everyone, maternity/paternity for everyone, massive education campaign to understand and discuss the racism in this country, lower military spending to improve our budget over the long term, restoring rules around media that we lifted that created this mess, getting rid of the electoral college, expanding the House to actually represent American, statehood for Puerto Rico, improve immigration and let in a ton more people to grow our economy/power, get our country on green energy for world/national security, smart gun restrictions, and  more in a longer post from 2016.

What do I *hope* for?

• A Republican party that puts country before party.
• I’d like to see Republican voters vote out all the traitors who created this insurrection: Ted Cruz, Hawley, and the massive list of traitors.
• A massive campaign by the FBI to crack down on right-wing terrorism and violence. And, a massive push to remove right-wing extremists and white power nationalist from our police forces and military.
• A massive re-alignment of the Republican party to pull it out of a 30-year descent into madness. There is online talk of Trump and his right-wing extremists forming the “Patriot Party”. I’d like to see that happen and what the result would be for our country.
• I’d really like America to still be a Democracy in 20 years and for it to improve substantially (list above).

Good luck America. Personally, I think you are fucked. If an attempted coup on our nation’s capital and 4,000 people a day dying from a virus do not wake up the Republican voter what will? 

Is anyone really surprised?

Trump attempts a coup with the backing of the Republican party. The Republican party has spent decades spreading conspiracies and lies. This is Fox News, this is Breitbart, this is the last 30 years of propaganda aimed at growing cult followers. They have succeeded wildly.

As Americans we need to ask ourselves, can someone be an American and a Republican? Because from my current vantage point the answer is no. Republicans do not support democracy and are not intent on defending the country.

If you are a Republican you need to ask yourself some hard questions. Are you an American or are you going to continue to be a Republican? Do you support democratic elections and freedom, or are you a fascist who wants a coup?

As a Republican, you are going to have to EARN your way back into American society and citizenship. You have failed on every score as an American citizen. You elected a racist fascist vapid human being in 2016 and you continued to cheer him despite every piece of evidence of his true colors. In 2020 more people voted for this fascist. If you voted for him you are complicit. If you voted for him you are a traitor and a coward. Never forget what Republicans have done.

I want to see REAL action from Republican leadership. Else they are complicit and traitors. Sure Romney and Moscow Mitch and Pence can make a good speech, can they act, can they do anything meaningful? If they don’t we know what they are, traitors to this country.

Impeach him NOW and REMOVE him from this office.

Execute the 25th Amendment NOW.

Further, the Senate and House need to clean house. Members who support a coup should be stripped of their position per the constitution and at the very least censured and tried in a court of law.

Read this account of the coup.

Today is my first day working in an external office since 2005/2006 when I had my own little office in the Dublin Enterprise Center in Dublin Ireland.

I rented an empty storefront near where we live. It is about 60m2, so a bit big, but that means I can keep my bike here and plenty of room to work on it in the dark back. Because of Covid, I wanted something that wasn’t in a shared hallway and this makes it really easy to get my back in and out. Plus I don’t have to worry about noise and I can setup my bike on a bike trainer to do some indoor rides here.

[Update] – A day later insanity strikes. An attempted coup in the USA, at least one shot and dead, insane.

The GOP is full of absolute traitors to this country.

The Republican party is actively trying to destroy democracy.

This is just the most apparent and blatant in a long line of anti-democratic activities. Be afraid when the next candidate arrives who is not as stupid and ineffective as Trump and starts leading this country into a dictatorship and fascism.

Try them for sedition.

Once again, there is not a SHRED of proof of voter fraud. American democracy is not going to survive if this keeps ups. The Republican party stands for nothing, has zero ideas on how to help Americans, and merely exists to oppose. Even when they proclaim to believe something they fail to do anything about it, look at health care and their inability to provide any working platform, look at the growth of military spending and their inability to do anything about it, look at the deficit and their ability to do anything about it, look at the license economy and their inability to do anything about it, look at Russian interference into our economy and politics and their inability to do anything about it.

Read the rest of this entry »

Big day! For the entire Fox family :)

From Lindsey:

He just walked right in, said hi to everyone- and I’m not even kidding- never looked back. We had to get his attention to say bye! 🤣 As soon as we walked off, I could hear him ask the teacher, “where do I hang my jacket and put my stuff?”

On his second day, I didn’t go this time, Lindsey did and he asked her the following at different points in the walk/drive:

Calico: “Do I go to school the next day and the next day?”
Lindsey: Yes.

Calico: “That is great, then I can get away from your screams.”
Lindsey: Laughing, we don’t scream at you.

Calico: “Yes, you guys do. When I do something really really bad.”

A little later in the journey…

Calico: “Momma, do you get lonely and all alone when I am at school?”
Lindsey: A little and they talked about it.

Since 2010 I’ve taken part in a yearly challenge to read 100 books. For 2020 I read 193 books! This is a new all-time record! Between lockdown and a lack of work, it was a good reading year.

94% of the books I read were fun books, and 6% were serious. This is the largest imbalance I’ve ever had, I think a desire to escape reality ran high this year :). I read a lot of historic fiction this year and hit a lot of duds when it came to science fiction.

I do a big book summary each year too, if you want to take a look at past years for some reading ideas check them out here: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019, so what are my top books of the year?

If you only read 3 books this year I recommend the following::

1. Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life
This was one of the best non-fiction books I’ve read in the last 5 years. It is a memoir of his life, travel, and surfing. It was a fantastic read and just really hit me deep. I will be reading it again down the road. Some of the reflections on travel really resonated with why I love to travel. Amazing read.

2. Who Is Michael Ovitz?
Wow! I am not sure who recommended this book to me but it was AMAZING. It is about Michael Ovitz, the co-founder of the Creative Artists Agency, and an amazing person. Some great life stories about actors and Hollywood, highly entertaining, and one of the best business books I’ve ever read.

3. The Dresden Files
A fantastic fantasy series about a magician in Chicago. There are 17 books and I fell in love with the main character and the universe. Beautiful books and the humor cracks me up. There are some rough bumps in the reading toward some later books, but the last few have cleared up some of that. Highly recommended!

4 Best In Historical Fiction

1. Alex Kovacs Series
There are six books and they are based in the late 1930s in Europe and follow the growing rise of the Nazi party and subsequent outbreak of war. The main character starts in Vienna and takes you on a journey that really illuminates what it felt like to watch WW2 break out. Fantastic reads.

2. Eagle Series
I read books 1 through 6 of this series as it follows 2 Roman soldiers through several campaigns. I LOVE the characters and it is fascinating to go through this period. There are 13 more books but they are not on Kindle in the USA, I emailed the author to hopefully make those available so I can read the rest.

3. Roger of Huntley
This series follows a monk named Roger who flew the priesthood and joins the crusades around 1191. This is a fantastic historical fiction series with a lovable character as you see history through his eyes.

4. Bernicia Cronicles
These are based in AD 633 and following a Viking named Beobrand. The character can be a tad flat at times, but amazing reads and I’ve really enjoyed seeing this world. I pre-ordered book 8.

The 3 Best Fantasy Books

1. Codex Alera
Fantastic fantasy series by the author of the Dresden series. It has an incredible universe, great characters, and while the plot can be familiar at times it has its own unique charm. Highly recommended!

2. The Faithful and the Fallen
Huge and in-depth fantasy series that was a pleasure to read. There were some aspects I found frustrating but overall the cast was fantastic and the world amazing.

3. The 13th Paladin Series
This series is translated from the oringal German and fantastic reads. I’ve read the first two and looking forward to the next three. Great plot and characters so far.

2 Honorable Mentions

1. Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey was the 4th best book I read this year and just barely missed the best books cut. It is a reflection on his life and wildly entertaining. This guy is 100x crazier than I thought and a really fun read. I read it in one night as I couldn’t stop and told Lindsey so many stories from it. Amazing read!

2. Michael Connelly is one of my favorite authors and I have now read all his books. This year I read his Jack McEvoy series which is a bit darker and follows a crimer reporter who gets entanbgled with serial killers. Great reads!

The Best Science Fiction

This year was a big miss when it came to science fiction. The only one I will mention is the Rise of the Republic series. It is a fun series about finding out how big the universe is. But the characters are rather flat. It does not measure up to the books from previous years so it isn’t getting a ranking. I miss good science fiction. Too many authors seem to be publishing short books with barely any meat and trying to turn them out every few months.

Enjoy your next book! :)

For 2020, I did a total of 386 hours of tracked workouts. I worked out 280 days out of 365 days in some form. This was a fantastic year and I set an all-time record for the number of days I worked out. And, 2nd highest on hours ever.

Biking
I rode 274 hours on my bike and biked 144 days out of 365. I covered around 5,675km. A fantastic year that shatters all my previous years :).

Strength / Rehab / Back
I’ve been tracking how well my back did this year and 94% of the time it was great. It got a little worse over the last few months. I think this was because I could not bike for 7 weeks. And, with us moving around Portugal doing ST was a little tougher mentally. I am working to get back to three strength training sessions a week.

Fun stats:

I rode 5,676km this year on my bike. My highest year ever!!!

My longest bike ride this year was ~146m over 6 hours and 42 minutes (longest ever). I did a 111km ride a few days later which is my 3rd highest.

In July I biked 46 hours while on our European road trip. The only month I’ve done higher was 51 hours in July 2018 (when I did an amazing bike tour in France).

I did 176 strength training rehab sessions this year. An average of 3 a week.

My average strength training session was 33 minutes. Last year it was 45 minutes. It was lower as I tried to do a 15-minute workout every morning, and longer workouts 3x a week.

What are my workout goals for 2021?
I am hoping to do several bike tours this year. But, I am waiting to see what Covid looks like. I am hoping to do the Camino Portuguese in the Spring and maybe another Camino or Canal route over the summer/fall. And, I want to stay strong and pain-free.

1. Maintain a good base on my bike so I can do long bike tours. Right now that means riding 3x to 4x a week with s long ride on the weekend.

2. Do strength training 3x a week habit to keep my back happy and strong.

3. Do Yoga 2x a week to keep my back happy and flexible.

4. Trying to figure out how to do some sprinting workouts to get the heart rate higher instead of just endurance. I am going to try some bike sprints in Zwift once I get it hooked up.

Past years: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 workout summary.

2021 is going to be fun!

I’ve been wanting to do something with books for a while and I am excited to get it going. It should launch in Spring 2021 and it is a new way to find great books. Plus it will help authors build fans and sell more books.

Here is a quick mockup of what it is going to look like to start:

My big 3 for the year?

1. Work to build a new business, have fun, and make money.
2. Have more adventures in Europe.
3. Let it go. Short hand for the continued work to keep my energy in a good place.

Onward to 2021!

Let’s hope 2021 doesn’t have any BIG surprises, just a routine year… quick cut to humanity after 2020…

2020 was an interesting year to be alive.

It is always those damn air ducts.

For me, it was a great year with brief but intense moments of chaos and stress. When I think about 2020 it feels as if it was three years long but not necessarily in a bad way… but also not necessarily in a good way. The year started with us settling into our new home in Valencia Spain and ended with us moving to Viseu Portugal. In the middle, there was an intense period of lockdown where we couldn’t go outside, a fantastic road trip around Europe, a lot of wonderful time with Lindsey and Calico, and a lot of bike rides. All with a decent load of stress for family, friends, and the world.

At work the year started with a pivot for my startup, a lot of good responses from possible customers, signing up our first paying customers, and then Covid hit. By late April, I decided to shut it down as we couldn’t afford to sit and wait 12+ months for things to return to normal in the HR/Recruiting space. In hindsight, I think it was a good call. If we had been 6 to 12 months further along I think we could have weathered the storm, but we got hit at a bad time in the product’s birth.

Our family is very lucky in that our income wasn’t affected by this crisis. It is a lucky place to be given the devastation billions of people are feeling the economic crisis. A lot of people in the tech industry should thank their lucky stars.

The Amazing
Our little family is healthy and happy. Lindsey and I have been married for six years and we are going strong 😌. Our family had a lot of fun this year. I especially had a lot of fun watching Calico go from 3 to 4 and just exploded with imagination, complexity, and questions.

I’ve been disease-free and feeling good. I still eat a pretty strict AIP diet, work to maintain good sleep habits, and some other things. But, I did have some nice breaks and treats along the way.

We moved to Valencia which is my favorite city in the world. Our time there was amazing and I LOVE that city. We wish we could stay longer if not forever (we could only stay 2 years due to badly designed tax policy).

I did not do a bike tour this year, mostly because of Covid. But, I did get 1,000+ km of bike riding on our European road trip. Over the course of the year, I did about 6000km of rides. And, my back has been amazing 94% of this year.

What fun stuff did we do this year?

• An amazing European nature road trip over 36 days in a big van with my bike. It was amazing! We started in Southern France and slowly made our way across it all the way to Avignon. Then a few days in Italy before shooting across to visit Slovenia. Finally, a little time in Salzburg Austria, and Freiburg Germany before heading home. I had so much fun on this trip… we saw some castles, Roman ruins, ate delicious food, enjoyed time with my family, swam in lakes and the ocean, and had some epic bike rides. We were super safe the entire trip and spent most of it in nature in long term Airbnb stays. We never ate inside (in fact we haven’t eaten inside since February).
• I read a lot of great books this year. And, hit a new reading record crazy enough.
• I ate so much delicious food and learned to cook steak really well.
• We got an amazing new kitchen at our place in Valencia. I love cooking in it! And, I miss our amazing apartment.
• We spent so many fun days at the Valencia parks and beaches. This is especially amazing in February.
• The weather in Valencia is insanely good, that was a joy to be in.
• Amazing carefree bike rides in Valencia and out along the beach. Just super recharging and peaceful.
• I had a lot of really amazing dates with Lindsey before the pandemic when we had some amazing babysitters.
• Lindsey took just me on this utterly amazing day trip to hot springs and other stops near Valencia. It was the first time we had a full day of just us. It was so much fun. We even went swimming in January (semi-hot spring)!
• We spent a chunk of time exploring Portugal and trying to find the right city for us. That got a little stressful at times, especially as covid got worse, but we also had some amazing times as a family:).
• I started planning a business idea I’ve wanted to do for a while and finally going to do it (around books).
• Health! After last year I really focused on listening to my energy levels and not pushing myself too far. As a result, I didn’t really ever get sick (apart from one bad case of food poisoning). That feels good after 2019 where I got sick around 5 times.

The Challenges!

America
2020 is the year I finally said RIP to America. It has been a long time coming. Now I want to work on WHY, IF, and HOW I can still love America. It is hard to love a country that can’t get the most important things right and is hurting its own people so much. We do a lot of things really well too but are failing in almost every big category.

Covid
I am super introverted and it wasn’t a hard change. But it has been a big challenge for Lindsey and Calico. Lindsey can’t visit her family, and they can’t visit. And, visiting friends we made in Valencia got a lot harder. Calico is very social and loves playing with kids so the impact on him was hard. I am looking forward to him starting school in a few days.

How did I do on my goals for 2020?
I did really well on the let it go a bit. It is something I will always work on. I had a great meditation guide/therapist in Valencia. He helped me integrate some little meditations into my day.

On the business side, 2020 was not great. I shut down the startup due to Covid, but also because I didn’t listen to my gut and pivot sooner. I learned a lot and I am confident that will help me get to the next thing :).

We had some awesome European adventures despite Covid, so a big thumbs up there.

2021…
I am sure this will be a *really* interesting year.

I am looking forward to getting the vaccine. And, I am looking forward to seeing political ramifications as the economic damage becomes more evident and longer-term. Especially in Spain, I have a dream they fix the tax code so we can move back to Valencia long term.

For our family, Calico is about to start school for the first time. And, I’ve got an external office for the first time since 2004. This is going to be a big adjustment for our family and Lindsey.

Longer post coming soon…

He turns 4 years old today :). Lindsey bought him some amazing balloons to celebrate. He was a bit bummed we couldn’t have a party with friends. But, when we explained why he understood and he starts school next week so he has that to look forward to.

We’ve had so much fun with him this last year, he started his why phase, and his imagination has exploded.

Calico was putting on his shoes by himself, and said to the left shoe “you are dammit”. And then to the right shoe “, you are Jesus”. I asked him what he said- he said “this shoe is dammit and this one is Jesus.” I asked if he knew what those words meant “no, I just hear you say dammit and daddy says Jesus a lot.”

We had a great Christmas here in Viseu. Super chill and so much fun now that Calico is about to turn 4 years old (in 6 days!). He was so excited to leave out cookies and milk and water for Santa. The first thing he wanted to do was check on it and see if it was gone (he promised me he would put his hand up to block his view of Santa lol). Last year he didn’t quite get it whereas this year he is just so excited to open some presents. Fun day!

Merry Christmas to everyone 😀