The waiting game
T minus 24 hours to the Greek Leadership Conference... everything is ready. Just have to pick up booklets from the print shop, wait for shirts to arrive, get speakers from airport and keep Shawna (also know as Shauna Colin from having a nervous breakdown about the budget)... and we are a go for lift off!

We had a typical poorly written Grand Valley Lanthorn article about the conference. The article can be viewed here, Lathorn on-line. The picture is actually of Alpha Sigma Phi from recruitment. Half the quotes are wrong and none of the facts are right. But they wrote about Greeks, so in a way I am happy. We now have over 250 registered and maybe more registering on site. I am very excited, this is going to be great.

After the conference I am heading to Saginaw. My brother Andres is coming and presenting at the conference, so he will stay with me and then off to Saginaw in the morning. I took Monday off work at GVSU so I just have to swing back in time to work at CompuCraft. Also... I have a meeting with a potential client for OutSight Design and Consulting. Wish me luck on that and the conference this weekend.

Peace!

Pictures
Yes I know, Bolivia pictures. They are coming, really they are. Just not this week. Getting everything done for this conference here at GVSU this weekend has consumed my time. However I did squeeze in some time to edit some Novali photos from her visit last weekend with my parents. I wanted to take a break this morning to do something fun, here they are:

Reading her LeapFrog book with my parents.

Running down the hallway, if you have ever seen her run you will find this funny.

Swimming with grandpa.

With her mami getting dry after the pool.

I also have a video here to post as well. I am putting this on her website as well, but here is the link. You need to have Quicktime loaded on your computer to view the video. Us Mac user will already have it loaded, you PC users might need to download it.
Video Clip

Alright I got to get back to work now. Finishing up a few things at Compucraft and now heading to GVSU for the rest of my day. Adios.

Single Genius
Becky IMed me today to tell me that she found that we have Aristotle and Plato to thank for Table of Contents and other writing items of interest. For some reason the first thing that popped in my head was to ask, "Were both of them single?"

Why would I ask such a question? They were both single (actually I just looked it up, and Aristotle was married, but briefly). Two of the greatest minds ever, were not only friends (Plato was Aristotle's tutor), but they both died single. They dedicated their lives to something besides the pursuit of love. They never had to worry about anniversary gifts, visiting in laws, finding a reception hall, or trolling the singles bars.

Is this a weird post? Yes. Maybe weirder then my spork one, but follow me here.

Greatness. What makes a man (or woman) great? How does one measure that? Is it the combination of all accomplishments; a body of work or an heir?

This weekend Becky and I went to the Detroit Autoshow. What beauty, what style, pure ingenuity. Many of those cars are a legacy of a mans work sculpted in metal, shrouded with electronic gadgets and sitting on rubber. As a small child I dreamed of designing one of those, being the man behind the design, to be the creator of the vision.

The closest I came was working in an interior auto design studio. I worked on concept cars (Ariston, Kion and Playseat) and new car launches (namely the famous PT Cuiser, 2002 Accord, 2003 M Class). Living my dream, designing cars, being in meetings with the minds behind some of the most popular metal on the road. All these men were single, or divorced and never saw their kids. We worked 70 hour weeks together. We slaved over every detail of those cars. Our lives revolved around making those awe inspiring cars, to make kid's eyes pop, and adult's mouths drool. Similarly to how Plato and the early philosophers treated their trade.

One day I realized I wanted something else for my life. Every human wants to leave a legacy, wants to think that once they are gone the world will remember them. I decided I did not want my work to be my life, but rather my life to be my work. I started doing more things I wanted, crafting my life like a designer crafts a car.

So what am I trying to say? Lots of things.

Keep things in perspective.

Do what makes you happy, but not at the expense of others.

What you do is your legacy, so think out each action carefully.

Sometimes your childhood dreams should stay where they were... in the mind of child.

Don't be afraid to try. Trying is the one thing you will always succeed at.

Or in the words of the famed Henry David Thoreau:

My life has been the poem I would have writ,
But I could not both live and utter it.

I want my life to be a poem. Memorable, fascinating, tear jerking, dream creating, and so good you can taste it... and yes I think it should rhyme.