2012-12-31 Year In Review

2012 was a year of travel...and change.

Major Highlights

• Visited Zihuatanejo in February 2012
• Attended the Miami International Boat Show - and had a chance to spend some time aboard  "The Lost Soul" chatting with Bob Bitchin
• A trip to Sedona Arizona in April with my Mom. 
• Attended the Strictly Sail Pacific Boat Show in Jack London Square, Oakland, CA
• Attended the Strange Loop 2012 conference in St. Louise
• Spent Labor Day in Las Vegas at the Aria Resort and Casiono with good friends
• Found and completed the purchase of a sailboat [I previously sold my last boat in 2007, in Mazatlan]
• Sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge
• Spent a week visiting Monterey aboard my sailboat 
• After almost 2 1/2 years, shook the dust of the desert off my feet for good
• Sold (pennies on the dollar), or gave-away all of my furniture
• Returned to the Pacific Coast - and living aboard a sailboat again 
• Reconnected with old sailing friends from King Harbor, Redondo Beach, CA
• Signed a lease for a new office location
• Explored many Friends of the Library sales, as well as many thrift stores- and added hundreds of books to my personal library over the course of the year.
• Started writing a novel
• Started writing a book of seafaring poetry
• Published 41 blog posts to my technology blog [finally reached 30,000+ visitors]
• Lost more money in one week (on a string of bad investment decisions) than most people make in a year.

Shipping Container Home Ideas

This post is intended as a collection of links to various Shipping Container Home Ideas...

http://www.dwell.com/articles/Five-Inspirational-Shipping-Container-Homes.html

http://seacontainercabin.blogspot.com/

http://tinyhouseblog.com/tiny-house-concept/steves-shipping-container-cabin/

http://www.tincancabin.com/

http://www.leedcabins.com/Home.html

http://www.bobvila.com/articles/316-home-sweet-container/pages/1
http://pinterest.com/whispersiren/shipping-container-buildings-cargotecture/

http://seacontainercabin.blogspot.com/

http://www.treehugger.com/modular-design/crate-expectations-12-shipping-container-housing-ideas.html

http://www.jetsongreen.com/2010/11/off-grid-container-cabins-from-15k.html

http://www.permies.com/

2012-10-05 Friday - Needing a dose of Buffett's Magic

There are times when the turbulent waters of life cause the ship to shake and shudder, and one feels the shadow of mortality looming dark and large, cold and grey.  The spirit quells, the mouth goes dry, the stomach knots, the hands begin to loose their grip on the proverbial tiller of life.

Storm in the North Sea 1865
Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky

In those moments, we need to be able to summon courage to face the daunting shade, and summon a light that will banish the darkness, and push it back for one more day.

For some, their magic talisman may be a book, or a poem.  For others it may be some favorite passage of scripture (Psalm 91).

For me, it is the magic of the music that is the living legend of Jimmy Buffett:

After having read the book, 'A Salty Piece of Land', and hearing the song, there is a special place in my heart for Captain Cleopatra Highbourne:

2012-08-23 Thursday - MusicScore.org

I am, have been, and will always remain - an aspiring musician.

To stand on a corner and busk for the money to buy my dinner - is as yet, an unfulfilled personal goal.
Although I did once join an impromptu jam session with a sidewalk band in San Francisco, playing my original composition to Sir Walter Scott's poem, "Lochinvar".

I have a few other bits of music I've composed on various pieces of paper over time - but always longed to be able to put them in a nice sheet music format.

Also, as a musician who has often struggled with learning a particularly complex arrangement at times - I've often wondered how it should sound, if properly played.

And so, the question has lingered for some time - where could I find some software that might help me...

Until tonight...

I've installed the free music composition and notation software, MuseScore

Within about 10 minutes I was able to create a score, a midi file, and play the tune I composed.

Very impressed so far.

Other software  / resources that may be worth considering:
Sibelius

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scorewriters

OnlineSheetMusic.com
music-scores.com
greatscores.com

2012-07-22 Sunday - Recommended Wines

Last year I had a chance to enjoy a fantastic 5-course meal at the Different Pointe of View restaurant in Phoenix with a good friend.

As part of the meal, we enjoyed the full range of wines offered by the sommelier - and in particular, the following were exceptional:

David Girard, Roussanne, El Dorado, California '09
David Girard, Grenache, El Dorado, California '09
Treana, Marsonne/Viognier, Central Coast, California '08
Ramey, "Claret", Napa Valley, California '05'

2012-05-12 Saturday - Inspiring

2012-05-10 Thursday - News Sources for Game Companies

I had a discussion this evening with a friend about a recent investment in a video game company, Electronic Arts (EA).  From that, I thought, perhaps by monitoring some of the news sources for video game companies, I might be able to spot some new / interesting investment opportunities.

http://n4g.com/
http://n4g.com/channel/all/news

http://www.reddit.com/r/gamernews/

http://www.ign.com
http://www.ign.com/articles

http://www.g4tv.com/
http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/

http://www.gamespot.com/
http://www.gamespot.com/news/index.html

http://www.gamesradar.com/
http://www.gamesradar.com/all-platforms/news/

http://www.gameinformer.com/
http://www.gameinformer.com/news.aspx

http://www.pcworld.com/products/software/games.html

http://www.1up.com/
http://www.1up.com/news/

http://www.edge-online.com/
http://www.edge-online.com/news

Another good source for some company intelligence is to look at the employee comments and recent job candidate interview comments on glassdoor.com
http://www.glassdoor.com/Overview/Working-at-Electronic-Arts-EI_IE1628.11,26.htm

2012-04-20 Saturday - A Perfect Year?

This is a work-in-progress blog post...I'll have to come back and expand on this thought more when I have some time...

What makes for a perfect year?  Partly, it depends on how my time is spent during the year...

My Idea of the elements of a Perfect Year:

• Write
• Work
• Create
• Explore
• Travel
• Sail,
• Relax
• Learn
• Taste
• Enjoy
• Relish
• Teach
• Build
• Uplift
• Nurture

2012-03-30 Thursday - Entrepreneurally Thinking...

This posting is a placeholder from some interesting links I've recently come across that offer something in the spirit of motivation, inspiration, lessons-learned, etc.


A nice write-up:

10 Mental Toughness Fundamentals for Entrepreneurs

http://blog.startupprofessionals.com/2012/03/10-mental-toughness-fundamentals-for.html

2012-03-23 Friday - Home Library Ideas

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/16-10/ff_walker

2012-03-23 Friday - Global Warming Research

Is Global Warming spin or science?

DoD on the arctic sea conditions (looking out over the next 30+ years)
http://www.defense.gov/pubs/pdfs/Tab_A_Arctic_Report_Public.pdf