makers

Thanks For Riding L.A. Metro

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Over the last couple of months this Father has been doing the things Fathers and Mother's do for their children.  Making sure they provide their kids with all of the resources they can so that they become successful in life.  Most recently that has meant taking our oldest into Santa Monica twice a week to attend speech class.  Typically this is about a three hour event.  Takes about 35-45 minutes to get there.  It's an hour long class, and then takes about 90 minutes to get home.  

Because of the appointment's close proximity to the Metro station I decided one Spring break afternoon to give the train a try.  We love it.  First off, it's fast.  Fast as hell, and I don't have to worry about driving on highway 405.  Second, it's reasonably priced.  $3.50 roundtrip for the adult passenger.  Lastly, I find it super important for my boys to get exposed to public transportation.  As a child I rode Bart frequently with my parents and I strongly believe that much of my outlook on life has to do with experiencing all that comes with public transportation. 

The boys and I take the Metro into Santa Monica once a week.  While we haven't yet convinced Gaelyn of it's benefits.  We are working on her to step out of her comfort zone and take the train with the boys to class.  Let's give her some positive affirmation!  You can do it G!

(Scroll to the bottom for a little family video I did on the trip).


The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck

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Our culture today confuses great attention and great success, assuming them to be the same thing. But they are not
— The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck

I've recently come to the determination that listening to the news Los Angeles traffic has done very little for my psychological well being.  Instead, I've once again turned to the world of the audiobook, and the first one on my list was one called "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck" by Mark Mason.  

It was a perfect personal compliment and affirmation about how I've started to perceive my life and the world around me.  I've had similar experiences and realizations to that of the author and will probably continue to quote the book for some time.

Don’t just sit there. Do something. The answers will follow.
— -The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck

In the book there's a whole chapter dedicated to the "Do Something" principle.  It talks about when the author finally quit his day job and became a self-employed entrepreneur.  Without realizing it, this was something that I also stepped into in May of 2011.

On May 30th, 2011 my wife and I had moved out of our large two bedroom apartment on the West Side of San Francisco, packed up our lives into the back of a U-Haul and moved across the State to try a new start in Los Angeles.

We didn't have jobs, or many prospects at all.  We just needed to make a change and have a swing at it.  There were so many barriers to entry, so many obstacles to overcome.  Yet, I kept telling myself.  Just do something.  Just make something.  Little did I know at the time that this big change for my wife and I would be a pivotal moment in my life.  It would change our trajectory profoundly and led to us ending up where we are today.

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Life is about not knowing, and then doing something anyway.
— The Subtle art of Not Giving a Fuck

Patches On Swiss Army Blankets

Here's a little fatherhood post for you that may have been missing that from me over the past, oh I dunno.  Year maybe?

A while back I picked up these replica Swiss Army Blankets from Amazon.  I liked the wool vibe and gave the room a bit of an outdoorsy feel.  The best part is these were not super expensive.  Which isn't always the case when talking about wool blankets.

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Over the past few years our family has been collecting these iron-on-patches from different trips, friends or occasions.  We hadn't really come up with a great idea for how to display them or in a way in which we'd have the opportunity to enjoy them for years and years.

I'd come up with the idea of putting them on the wool blankets.  Naturally my wife wasn't super sold on the idea, so I had to take matters into my own hands and iron them on myself.  
I liked the offset vibe of the patches giving it a bit of an off-center vibe and channeling a militaristic or Boy Scout style aesthetic.

Now here's to hoping they don't rip off during the night.