Brothers :)

January16

For Christmas my brother got me some awesome custom made button up shirts he secretly had made by his “tailor” in China (he is hilarious). So for a brief moment we matched, and all was well in the universe :) !

FullSizeRender

PS. He is always striving to make me “classy”, and to go a step above my jeans and t shirt.

posted under Funny | No Comments »

My high school art…

January1

Trashing some of my old art, and wanting to post some pictures here :). I had a fantastic art teacher at Fayetteville high school, I learned a lot.

IMG_6093

IMG_6092

posted under History | Comments Off on My high school art…

Comets Soccer Club (Arkansas)

January1

I loved soccer as a kid. I played as much as I could at recess, and eventually rec leagues. It was so much fun and I seemed to be good at it (especially defense). At some point around 6th grade I tried out for the Comets and made the team, it was the first year they formed and our coaches were awesome. I was one of the worst on the team, def the slowest, but I had so much fun. The team was really talented, and it was awesome to be part of it. My proudest moment was winning MVP during a state championship, we had a lot of injuries so I got a lot of playing time and played well.

The Comets straddled a confusing time in my life, I had a bad teacher in grade school who told my mom I would never be more than a D student and bumped me out of all the honors classes for my first year of junior high. So all the people I had known in school were not in my classes, and I was in a lot of remedial classes. I don’t know why the teacher was so pissed, but the rumors is I said something offensive to her and hadn’t realized it since I was just a kid and just asking an innocent question. Throw in the aftereffects of a divorce, a lot of guys turning into assholes in junior high, and a lot of other things and it was generally a shitty period in my life. I really disliked junior high and high school. I couldn’t wait to get out of there.

In early high school I had a bad knee injury, it turned out to just be a severe bone bruise instead of a tear. But I ended up quitting soccer, and switching to Ultimate Frisbee.

IMG_6113

PS. I loved my bowl cut!

posted under Fitness & Sports | Comments Off on Comets Soccer Club (Arkansas)

2016 Goals & 2015 In Review…

January1

Happy new years!!! I am really looking forward to 2016 :)!!! Lindsey and I get back from our year abroad in January, and after a month in Fayetteville we are moving to Boulder or Denver for a year. I’ve lived 3 of the last 4 years abroad, and 2 of those years I was moving to a new place every 1 to 3 months. I am ready to settle down a bit, and have a little more routine (crazy I know!!!).

giphy (2)

I like to plan and I wanted to share my 2016 goals. I am trying one new thing this year, I am building out a weekly / monthly plan for how I am achieving these goals. I read a book that suggested this so I am going to give it a shot. In previous years I did this but in a very haphazard way.

For 2016 here are my 10 goals:

Two Major Focuses:
1. Make my new business a success!!!
2. Do yoga 3x a week.

And, eight more:
3. Further build my morning habit of rehab and meditation.
4. Read two books with Lindsey on marriage to spur discussion and to improve/learn.
5. Update: In January the doc told me i need to stop running due to my back. So I am shifting this goal to: Bike 3x a week and see if I can shift over to that.
*Previous goal: Be able to comfortably run 3 to 5 miles soon.
6. Build up to 10 minutes of non stop ball rehab workouts by the end of the year.
7. Go mountain biking or sledding at least once a month.
8. Read 100 books.
9. Make sure to make time for friends & family in Arkansas & Colorado.
10. Join Vistage and EO once I am living in Denver.

2015 In Review…
2014 was a very bipolar year for me… it was the most difficult year of my life, and also one of the best (because of Lindsey). 2015 was very challenging as well. A lot of the chaos and anxiety of 2014 leaked into 2015 and my list of goals was super focused because of this pressure. I accomplished a lot, and a lot changed. I learned a TON in 2015, especially about being married.

So, what happened in my 2015?
Lindsey and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary in December! Lindsey likes to joke that we spent this year 18 inches apart because of the super small apartments we stayed in :). We had some very challenging moments this year, and we learned a lot and are stronger for it. After one year of being married I am amazed by the depth of feeling and reward that it can bring. We also had some tough moments that made us both feel like utter shit, but thankfully they didn’t last very long, and we are trying to get better at resolving them fast and nipping them in the bud.

Joel and I sold the business we started back in October 2008. It was a very difficult decision and occupied a huge swath of my focus from February 2014 to June 2015. I am glad it is over and ready to move on. And, I started a new business along with some great people.

Lindsey and I spent the year abroad since I work remote and she was applying to grad school! We spent 3 months in Nice France, Split Croatia, Nottingham England, and Vienna Austria. It was a great year and I am thankful we got the opportunity. We did some amazing hiking in the woods of France, along the coast, and stumbled upon a lemon festival.

– Sandy (Lindsey’s mom), Lindsey, and me did a road trip through the Austrian & German alps. It was a blast!
– Lindsey and I visited Budapest for a weekend. It was only a few hours away from Vienna via train.
– Lindsey’s dad and stepmom visited us in England and Scotland and we saw a ton of London that I had never seen before. We had a good drive in Scotland too :).
My dad and stepmom visited us in Nottingham for 3 weeks and we had a blast! We visited Ireland, parts of the UK, and even got tortured.
– I did a 56 mile bike ride from Nottingham to Sherwood Forest! I idolize Robin Hood and even did archery growing up in case he was a career option.
– Lindsey and I spent a week disconnected from the internet up in the Scotland Highlands for my birthday. It was beautiful and much needed after a difficult week telling the team about the sale.
Lindsey and I visited a bunch of Croatian islands while living in Split. Croatia is tied for my favorite place in the whole world. Check out the pictures and then book a trip. I want to move there.

I walked all of Hadrian’s Wall which has been a long term goal. In 6 days I walked a total of 98.5 miles :). Pictures of Day 1, Day 2, Day 3,Day 4, Day 5, and Day 6.

I fulfilled a trip I’ve wanted to do since college too! Lindsey and I took a trip to the Cathar region of France. The castles there are mind blowing and I had such a good time hiking and crawling around them. It is a super remote area and one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. I hope I get to go back and do more exploring one day.

The world lost an amazing person in 2015, Ying passed away in June. I miss her. She keeps popping into my dreams every so often to say hello.

I am glad it is 2016, and looking forward to another exciting year. I hope you are too!

Workout Summary 2015!

January1

2014 was a pretty tough year on my normal workout routine due to injury and health problems. 2015 was much better but still very challenging. For the first half of the year I was only doing rehab and walking. Slowly I was able to add back in biking and running. I had hoped to do a lot of yoga, but with Lindsey and I traveling it fell by the wayside. It didn’t help that the first eight months of the year were pretty stressful and I just didn’t have as much energy left as I normally do.

For 2015, I did a total of 254 hours of tracked workouts. 226 hours of that was hiking/walks, which was especially boosted by the big Hardrian’s Wall hike I did. Fun stats:

  • I hiked/walked 727.9 miles this year for exercise!
  • I biked a mere 115 miles, I didn’t get enough biking in for the 2 months I had a bike. About 50 miles of that is one ride.
  • Over the entire year I ascended 58,000 feet walking (which isn’t very much when you think about it).
  • My rehab to make my core stronger didn’t go great this year, but it has gotten better. Most months I managed to do it every other day. I should be hitting 80% but it is hard to build that type of routine in when the exercises are so boring. I’ll get there.

    What are my workout goals for 2016?

    1. My main goal is to do Yoga 3x a week. I did a ton of Yoga in Nov/Dec 2014 and want to pick it up and make it a habit. It helps my core stay strong and it is very relaxing. I need more core strong to take more of the impact off my back and keep my annular disc tear from ever bothering me again.

    And, two smaller goals.

    2. I wanted to be able to start running, but the doctor said it was not good for my back. So I am working to switch over to biking, esp mountain biking. I am aiming to do a bike workout 3x a week while I explore that option.
    *Goal shifted late Jan 16.
    3. I want to build up to be able to do 10 minutes non-stop on my core rehab ball workouts. That is going to be tough.

    2015 Book Summary.

    January1

    giphy

    Since 2010 I’ve taken part in a yearly challenge to read 100 books, and I met my goal for 2015 with 141 books. I almost broke my all time record of 146 books from 2012. So what did I read? 2015 was not as stressful as 2014, but I still had a lot to shake loose in the first half of the year so I read a lot of “fun” books.

    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. So what are my top books of the year?

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

    1. The Infinite Resource: The Power of Ideas on a Finite Planet. This is written by Ramez Naam who is a great scifi author and someone who makes a lot of interesting blog posts. This book gives an overview of where the world is, threats to it, and the progress so far on solving some of those problems (heavily focused on the environment). I highly recommend reading it.

    2. The Three-Body Problem – This book is by Chinese science fiction author Cixin Liu. It is EXCELLENT, not only for the change in perspective, but the story is fantastic! Highly recommended!

    3. Money Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom by Tony Robbins – My brother gave me this book for Christmas and I was pretty skeptical, but I am a convert :) . The majority of the advice in this book is spot on and helpful for living your life and planning your retirement. He does a great job of explaining the value of money and I highly recommend reading it.

    Best Business Books Of The Year:

    1. Peter Thiel’s Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future. Great read, especially about the loss of optimism and the USA and our inability to plan or attempt BIG things.

    2. Clay Water Break: Finding Inspiration from Entrepreneurs Who Do the Most with the Least – A fantastic book from the co-founder of Kiva.org about her journey.

    Top 3 Scifi / Fantasy

    1. The Monster Hunter’s International series. Monsters are real and when they get out of control someone has to step in. I also recommend Grimnoir Chronicles by the same author.

    2. The Night’s Dawn trilogy by Peter Hamilton. These are massive tomes, super detailed, and weird, but some of the best space opera I’ve ever read. Hamilton is amazing.

    3. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. One of the most original science fiction books I’ve read in awhile. It is about a group of people across time who just relive their lives again and again.

    Top 3 *Real* Books

    1. Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis. An amazing book that illustrates that class difference money now makes and how American is becoming two Americas.

    2. The Happiness Project. I LOVED this book! She has a great sense of humor, well written, and good mix of personal narrative and scientific facts.

    3. Alif the Unseen. A cool techno thriller with some mysticism thrown in. It takes place in the middle east with hackers, a dictatorship, and Jinn.

    Top 2 Travel Books

    1. On the Trail of Genghis Khan: An Epic Journey Through the Land of the Nomads. This was an amazing book about a dude traveling on horseback from Mongolia to Hungary just like the mongols. This was the BEST travel book I’ve read in years. Highly recommended, just beautiful, and so well written.

    2. The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey. The author and his brother go by covered wagon along the Oregon trail.

    posted under Books | No Comments »

    This is bwb’s personal blog, so he can share his thoughts with the world, however scary or silly they might be. Plus family and friends can track what I am up to, and where I am in the world.

    I am pretty simple. I love Mangos. I love the ocean (although mostly at sunset, as I’m a ginger). I love to travel, eat exotic food, do long bike rides, read, and use my imagination. At some point, I decided it was better to be a pirate captain than an admiral. I am a globalist and see the entire world as my responsibility and playground. And I am married to an amazing woman who makes life even more fun :)! And we are now the proud parents of Calico Jack :).


    Archives