• What would you learn to do if you got rid of your tv?
• How do you define success?
• Is knowledge holding you back? (“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few.” —Shunryu Suzuki)

With the question “What’s the coolest thing you’ve experience this year?” SoulPancake had this video embedded.  What a cool idea!  I hope you enjoy it – and I hope it ignites a creative spark inside you.  We live in such a wonderful time and anything really is possible;  we are limited more by our imaginations than anything else.

Projection on Buildings from NuFormer Digital Media on Vimeo.

I couldn’t agree with him more!

I started a business with a great co-worker, Kris.  With my employer having sold the hosting division, we’ve been very displeased with the hosting services our clients have been using.  There’s been lots of downtime and hiccups along the way.  If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!  After years of talking about starting a business, we’ve finally decided to take the plunge.  We’ve started a hosting business and hope to get it off the ground in the next couple weeks.

I’ve also been working with Josh Jones pretty closely on a couple projects, sometimes as a minor contributor (sexy-bookmarks, url-shortening) and also as a continuting author to his web-design blog (Eight7Teen).  Hats off to him for taking so much on!

I’ve also been spending a fair amount of time working behind the scenes (literally) on Let’s Make a Movie.  Not only am I crewing this insanely awesome show, but I’ve also been working on a mobile version of their web site, and a video streaming site that will assist in tracking who shares which videos so those who spread the word can be rewarded.  This show is awesome.  Live video feeds, editing on the fly, an outstanding cast, and special effects – this show grabs my inner technical and theater geek like no other show has before.  I really, honestly, sincerely can’t think of another show that I’ve been so excited to be a part of – and I’ve been a part of *many* shows.  There is nothing I wouldn’t do for this cast, crew, and production staff!

Then, of course, there is the normal day-to-day work.  You know, that 9-5 gig that we’re all thrilled to have right now.  While I’m bound by non-disclosure agreements and the like, I have to say we’ve got some really exciting projects coming up at Venux.  The more we do, the more I realize how wonderful technology is, and how the sky really is the limit.  Not a day goes by that we aren’t exploring new territory and,in my humble opinion, driving the web forward that little bit more.  Anyone who thinks full-blown applications don’t belong on the web has another thing coming; there’s nothing we can’t do on the web just as well, if not better, than a desktop application!

I’ve also been exploring the “social-web” a heck of a lot lately.  Sites that I’ve skimmed right by in the past are suddenly catching my eye, and there are also some great new start-ups out there.  Ping.fm gets a definite hats off for keeping me up to date on a majority of the social-networking sites.  I insist that there is no way to keep one’s status up to date on three, ten, fifteen different social sites without this wonderful application.  Send them an e-mail, text in a message, or enter your status on their site, and they’ll blast it off to as many social networking sites as you can shake a stick at – and then some.  For those who want to delve into multiple networking sites without the time investment of maintaining them all individually, Ping.fm is a must!

Speaking of social networking sites…  Blellow gets a nod for a great start.  A mix of twitter and facebook with a dash of project management, Blellow lets folks share what they’re working on.  I think it is geared at tech-folks, but I’ve managed to start a backstage theater group that has a few members and some posts.  I could see Blellow growing into a must have for any community that could benefit from outside contributors (and what community couldn’t?).

There’s so much more coming down the pipeline – from several software as a service applications I hope to get to, to a community-driven theater site.  I might be so busy that bagels have turned from a breakfast food to a dinner food, but I have no doubt it will be worth it in the end; it already has been – and it can only get better.

I’m driving south on Interstate 55, down the length of Illinois. I’m on  my way to visit family near St. Louis.  It’s a long drive, usually taking at least seven and a half to eight hours.  I left around midnight to avoid traffic and maximize my time down there.  I’m absolutely geeked to be visiting my relatives but, having been on the road for about six hours already, I’m weary.  The highway is deserted except for me and a handful of trucks.  I’ve got the the CD player on shuffle with six of my favorite discs.  Leaving Illinois, I switch on to another highway.  As I make the turn, the sun is just starting to peak over the horizon.  Not too much farther!  The Biggest Ball of Twine comes on just as I can see the St. Louis Arch silhouetted by the rising sun.  The great tune goes hand in hand with the great view and created a great memory.  The song changes as I sit here in my living room.  Next up, Alphaville with their song Forever Young.

I’m riding in a van, one of those that can hold a good 12-15 people.  A bunch of friends, Mr. Heumann, my science teacher, and I are on our way to Desolation Valley near Lake Tahoe. At the end of the seventh-grade, Mr. Heumann handed out fliers for a adventure camp he ran during the summers.  Mountain climbing, river rafting, backpacking – I HAD to go.  Fortunately, my parents thought it would be an awesome experience, so here I sit in the van, our gear on top, ready for a week long outing in complete wilderness.  Mr. Heumann pops in a CD and tells all of us riding in back that we are going to love this music.  Forever Young starts blaring.  We all sit contently listening, eyes gazing outside at the traffic passing by.  Dang, this IS good music.  Little did I know that I would forever have that memory branded into my mind.  The song fades out slowly and the next one plays.  It is Paul Simon‘s Boy In The Bubble.

The lights are flashing; the music is loud.  I’m at my first concert.  I was there with a couple of my friends, Chris and Jonas, and my parents.  I know, most kids would hate to be at a concert with their parents, but my parents rocked.  The crowd was going crazy, stirring with excitement.  My friends and I were jumping around, loving every minute.  Paul Simon stood on the stage masterfully playing his guitar and singing with his outstanding band, drums and brass blazing sound-waves through the air.  The open air venue, Shoreline Amphitheatre, has a nice grassy slope we are camped out on with thousands of people.  Video screens show a live-feed of all the action on stage making me feel like I’m five feet from the stage.  I look over to my mom.  She was totally into the concert as well.  It was probably the happiest I’d ever seen her.  His music had been a part of her life for decades already, and it has now been apart of my life for the decades since that concert.

Am I alone in my belief that music can play a vital role in our lives – and our memories?  Absolutely not.  Discover and Scientific magazines have written several articles on the subject.  Having read up a bit, I don’t feel so bad about being able to remember millions of things about several musical – every word sung by every character, every note of every instrument, every melody and harmony note for note and beat for beat – but only being able to remember enough history or mathematics to get only a satisfactory grade in school.

Music seems to naturally be present during milestones in our lives.  Weddings, graduations, funerals, newborn babies – each of these memories can be captured with photographs and sound and video recordings, but music is often the glue that allows memories to stick in our minds, without those external recording  and playback devices.  The science and art of music don’t require a common spoken or deep understanding of scales or harmonies.  Anyone can enjoy music… and remember it and associated life memories vividly.  Music is indeed powerful!