Dutch engineer is the first man in history to fly like a bird with self- built wings
via Dutch engineer is the first man in history to fly like a bird with self- built wings – DIY Drones.
Robot Sailboat – OpenSailor
I’ve been thinking about and reading about Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) recently, and thought it would be cool if there existed a robot controlled sailboat – and when I say sailboat I mean lots of sails:
I looked around a bit and found this project in France:
À propos . . . | OpenSailor.
Nicely done!
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Working on more than one thing at a time.
New rule: 15 minute posts. Here goes the first one.
I often wonder if I’m biting off more than I can chew. This happens at work, at home and generally in my life. These questions usually come up whenever I feel particularly overwhelmed, tired or stressed out.
Some people say that it’s not so much what you work on that matters – but rather it’s the things that you decide not work on that determines the success of your work. I’ve always had a big problem with this. I just can’t tell myself to stop dabbling, to stop exploring, to stop starting new projects before the old ones are finished.
Is it because I get bored? The old projects become more complicated and difficult and rather than sticking it out through “the dip”, I abandon and start a new?
I’d like to think that there is more method than madness to what might appear to be lack of discipline and commitment. Because how else can you find the work that’s worth toughing it out for? How else am going to find the projects that really matter to me than by truly exploring the field until I find one – and then, only then take it to its logical conclusion.
Some examples:
The tutoring company last 9 months or so – abandoned – and good riddance!
Volunteering at the African Community Center in Denver, or volunteering in general usually only lasts a few months at most – abandoned – it’s not fun and I haven’t been able to feel productive in anyway with any of those projects.
The honey project is now going for 2+ years – and I can’t imagine abandoning it anytime soon. I’m constantly learning new things – and am having a ton of fun. I’m feeling productive and successful. I’m feeling useful and challenged. It’s very time-consuming and it’s hard work but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
And I wouldn’t have stumbled across the honey project had I not abandoned the others.
So why would I stop looking now?
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Why I’m Not Abandoning This Blog.
I haven’t been very good at keeping up with this blog. It’s been several years now since I’ve started it in the first place, and never quite managed to maintain a consistent posting schedule.
Life kind of takes over, and before you know it, it’s been months since your last post.
But I keep coming back to it. Why not abandon this blog entirely – say “I’m too busy” and move on?
A few reasons come to mind.
For one, I really want to have a forum for writing. Being able to write, even when it’s in this more informal setting, is very important to me. I believe that it’s through writing that come to discover our beliefs. And if I want to avoid living an unexamined life, I better come to terms with what it is exactly that I seem to believe – and why. I want to discover the questions I should be asking myself – the answers to which (or at least the consideration of which) will leave to a more informed life.
Another reason is that this is a great forum for me to explore topics that I don’t get a chance to research otherwise. Topics in visual art, politics, science and engineering come to mind.
Lastly, this blog is what someone discovers whenever I get googled. I feel like I don’t want to disappoint them either… whomever they are.
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Happy Being Unhappy
So, Grampa’s Gourmet has been doing great in it’s second year of operations. We’ve exceeded our goals for this year already and the future looks promising as we begin to make more specific expansion plans for next year.
But I keep thinking about something that Brent and I talked about a couple of weeks ago. We were talking about the people who continue to live on old agricultural lands, and who maintain their family traditions and trades. More specifically, we were talking about the hills country of Texas and and the old stomping ground of his grandfather (Brent recently wrote two moving posts on the subject). A lot of people who live there, who maintain the old-world way of life are very poor, barely making by. This is true across the American southwest as well – there are a lot of artisans, traditional craftsmen, farmers – organic, old world farmers who refuse the label “organic” farmers – who barely scrape by a living.
I was talking to Brent about it, and asking him why they won’t change their approach to sales or marketing, or whatever it takes to get to a more lucrative, sustainable market, etc… but it’s not as easy as it sounds.
Based on Brent’s answers, and my own understanding of these issues, I am seriously starting to suspect that the cause of this poverty and misery is not the result of lack of skills, or the time, or even the financial resources; it’s the people themselves! They won’t let themselves change their way of business, try something new, try something that might actually work in making them a success.
I’ve witnessed the same sentiment in my own family traditions, both in Armenia and Ukraine. It’s this notion of someone who is happy being unhappy. They’ve been unhappy for so long, that it’s the only condition that they recognize. Being unhappy also gives you a pass at trying – because you’ve already failed – there is no risk taken. Being unhappy is a way of life – and often a source of pride. You can be proud of being unhappy, and being able to cope with it, to live with it, to survive it, to persevere.
And now I’m detecting these same ideas in the same people I’ve been admiring so much. The ones that are carrying on their family traditions, the ones are the true to their roots, and seemingly pure in their authenticity.
In other words, as Brent put it, they haven’t sold out.
“Is that what you think you’re doing?” I asked him, “Selling out?”
Does he think that by building a company that actually has a chance of survival, no – has a chance of success, that he is “selling out”?!
Clearly, I disagree with the notion. Financial success isn’t an indicator of loss of values, or tradition, or authenticity. In the case of Grampa’s Gourmet, the success is in fact heavily dependent on the traditions and the craftsmanship that Brent has. Telling his grandfather’s story and the story of his hard work and efforts through the label and all of the resulting marketing in no way diminishes the values themselves…
And it’s depressing for me to think that someone as honest, and as impassioned about their craft would compromise their own success in this way.
I can’t let that happen, because what a waste that would be.
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Finding the Time
Friends often ask me how I find the time to work on all the different projects I seems to be involved in:
- a full-time job that I love
- being a dad to 6 month old son, that I love even more
- unending series of business challenges with Grampa’s Honey
And now two new projects:
- Organizing a festival in Colorado centered around honey and beekeeping
- Web/Branding for Denver Built Garages (draft)
I think the answer about time is not so much about how to “find” the time – it’s more about “making” the time. In my case, it’s about being obsessive about my projects. I can’t stop thinking about them all day long. I obsess over the problems that arise out of each one and I think through the possibilities. Even more often I’m dreaming about the potential, trying to imagine what the world looks like in the best case scenario. Thinking this way creates a very real sense of urgency for me and I can’t help but make apply pressure on the world to make it change. To make it more like what I imagine it could be.
It’s by being completely obsessive that I find the time – that I make time – to do all of the things that I believe are worth doing. I literally can’t help myself anymore, as if I’ve passed a certain point of no return.
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