It’s on days like these that I’m reminded of a conversation that Ben, a fellow Web Developer, and I had. We fantasized about living on a mountain and making furniture for a living. For the scenery, sure, and yes for the Zen of it all; but, there was more. It had to do with using your hands on a daily basis to create something physical, something real, something you can touch, and most important, something you can destroy with a sledgehammer, douse with gasoline, set on fire and shove off the mountain.

Photo by: jowaddell via flickr.

I haven’t read it in full in this form, and I didn’t do the conversion to HTML, so please feel free to let me know if it’s incomplete.

I recommend this book whenever possible to fellow riders. It’s likely the only “Zen and the Art of…” books that’s worth a the paper it’s printed on. I used to hand them out in the Spring, one or two of you may have one of those floating around.

Anyway, enjoy.

This makes me happy.

An Irish Blessing
May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face, the rain fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again may God hold you in the palm of His hand.
Amen.

The show with zefrank is a vlog. Which is short for “video blog.” Which is like a blog but more so. Now bloggers have a notion that people may want to actually read what they write. See a little part of the world through their special lens. Show the world they are indeed a unique snowflake. How exactly? It’s up to the individual. However one thing is clear, a vlogger does it more so.

You can be sure though that in the end, it has something to do with an affinity for technology, vast untapped internal creative reservoirs and deep-seated, unresolved childhood issues. Not me, of course. I was talking about zefrank. All kidding aside you should go and at least watch the episode of on hiring a web developer , which as Ben (a fellow web developer) put it “this will hit too close to home.”

In the end you will want to hear and see what zefrank is doing and saying, I do. Who knows he may indeed be a unique snowflake. It’s genuine , a good time, and worst of all he makes it look easy.

Logically you know that if you do just a little it will help, but for some reason this logic doesn’t overpower the inertia of your bad habits, hang-ups, fears, anxieties or just plain sloth. It’s easier to idle, inert, inactive, insecure. You can make lists though, lists like a mother fucker. Color-coded, indexed, categorized, prioritized, sanitized lists. Clean, clear, tangible lists. Safe lists.

Doing though, that’s different and difficult. Isn’t it? Do you know what I mean? You do, don’t you? Well this was “doing just a little” instead of not. It’s your turn. It’s not so bad once you get started.

1. Keep your tongue in your mouth and your thumb on the outside of your fist.
2. It is not OK to make a chocolate milkshake with either chocolate ice cream or chocolate milk.
3. Tell the people you love that you do, often.
4. People don’t expect you to put your thumb in their eye.
5. It is seldom a good idea to buy 450 doses of LSD.
6. Internet Explorer sucks.
7. Don’t keep hamsters in the same cage, regardless of what gender the pet store tells you they are.
8. There are more important things in life than television.
9. Always respect the tenuous relationship that a motorcycle has with the road, whether you are riding one or not.
10. No one gets out alive.

Items are in no particular order of importance and may indeed seem self-evident to some. Your mileage may vary.

Returning to this quandary for what is at least the fourth time, I don't think I care anymore. I don't need to know now, now do I? Blather on, edit, delete, re-post…who cares? I'll figure it out as I go. Something I could stand to a bit more of in my life anyway.

Hey, I think I got away without answering that tricky one.