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music mix – fall 2011

fall has always been my favorite season. i absolutely love this time of year. the leaves. the colors. the holidays. just the overall spirit found in the air.

with all of this magic, it only feels right to give this season the sound it deserves. this latest music mix definitely feels like fall should. slow and easy. thoughtful. with a few changes of pace sprinkled throughout.

so please click on the image below to download the fall 2011 music mix for free. once you click on the image, the download should start automatically. you will need to be on an actual computer instead of a mobile device. if you do not currently have access to a computer, just bookmark this page for later.

i hope you enjoy the music, but more than that, i want you to enjoy the season. breathe it in and absorb it all, because it will be gone just as quickly as it came.

thirty

do you remember being asked what you wanted to accomplish by age thirty?

my answer was always simple. by age thirty, i wanted to write a book. other than being behind a camera, there are few things that i enjoy more than writing. i think more than anything, it is the idea of storytelling. i simply love a good story.

recently, due to an intense amount of work and traveling all over the country for various productions, i haven’t had the time to just sit and write. there are always so many things i want to talk about and so many ideas swimming in my mind, but i sometimes miss the opportunity to put them on paper. so, after turning thirty this week, i wanted to share some of my thoughts and reflections.

semi-unexpectedly, i was given the absolute perfect birthday party by my beautiful wife. surrounded by some of our closest friends and family, we laughed the night away with kelly’s famous homemade soup and some uniquely special cupcakes. these magical little desserts were topped with perfectly-scaled apple logos, each one hand-cut and assembled by kelly herself. they were so unbelievable that i could hardly bring myself to eat one. in fact, the entire party consisted of an apple theme. modern. minimal. gray and white. all of which pretty much describes my lifestyle. it was perfect. below is a photo of one of these gorgeous cupcakes handmade by kelly.

but the biggest surprise of the night was one that i never could have seen coming. just as i thought i had opened the last card, jackson and emerson came running around the corner with one last gift. i will never forget the pure excitement that i experienced while pulling back the gift wrap to discover an ipad. i couldn’t believe it. i later discovered that in the weeks leading up to my party, kelly had actually put together a garage sale in order to raise the extra money needed for that one priceless gift. that kind of selflessness and generosity meant everything to me.

but as wonderful as it feels to hold that ipad in my hands, the single best gift from my birthday is the story that i will forever keep. watching how hard kelly worked to save the money for an ipad, and then seeing the joy on her face when she gave it to me. hearing the herds of pounding little feet running across our floors as all of the children screamed with laughter. reading the cards that everyone put so much thought into, and receiving unexpected gifts from the heart. gazing at my wife in her element, as she hosted and tended to every guest with such grace. these are the things that matter to me. this is what i will take away from all of it.

so maybe you are about to cross a milestone. maybe you are turning thirty. or maybe forty, fifty, or sixty. maybe you are reflecting on your life and what you have accomplished. if so, then i simply leave you with this. don’t get caught up in all of the goals and achievements. instead, get caught up in the moments. enjoy every second, do something you love, and create a great story.

music mix – summer 2011

i have been totally removed from the vast world of social media for quite some time now. the reason? well, i have spent most of the summer completely off the grid.

being that a good deal of my work focuses on extreme sports and adventure, several of my projects take me to incredibly remote areas. i take cameras into some of the wildest places imaginable, and i love every second of it. in fact, probably one of my favorite trips this summer was spending ten days between jackson hole, wyoming and salmon, idaho. six of those days were spent on the breath-taking salmon river while shooting a rafting expedition. that is only a fraction of my summer, but as you probably guessed, i spend a lot of time totally disconnected from the modern world. it is very rewarding, and i highly recommend it.

of course, now that i am settling back into a groove, i will be trying to catch up. and boy do i have a lot to share. i am going to be tweaking quite a few things online in the upcoming weeks, so please stay tuned and follow along.

in the meantime, i wanted to share with you yet another installment of music that has become my official mix of summer. every place that i have traveled, it has been spinning in my headphones. to me, this music just feels like summer should. and even though summer is officially over, i have a feeling that you can still get a little mileage out of these tunes. so, it is with great pleasure that i give you my summer mix 2011. just click the image to start the free download. enjoy.

music mix – spring 2011

since today is officially the last day of spring, i found it appropriate to release my brand new spring 2011 music mix. it is totally free, and all you have to do is click on the image below to start the download. after that, just import the folder into itunes and enjoy. if you are on a mobile device, bookmark this link, and download it the next time you are in front of your computer.

i know that i have been somewhat absent from the blogging world recently, but i am trying to find the best approach to move forward. as many of you know, i keep a lot of projects going at any one time. and as you probably also know, i try to simplify and streamline everything. so, i want to be able to share all of my stuff in one place. kind of a one-stop shop for everything happening in my life, whether it is my latest video production, seasonal music mixes, technology reviews, or my thoughts and stories on fatherhood. i will keep you posted as these changes actually happen. and remember, the easiest way to keep up is by following me on twitter.

thanks so much for your interest. i hope you will get some serious mileage out of this spring mix. because, you know, the summer mix is just around the corner. rock on peeps.

heroes

at some point, all of us have probably had a hero. it may have been a popular musician, professional athlete, or some other public figure. you watched them. you read about them. and you one day dreamed of being like them.

i think now more than ever, it is easy to have a hero. this is due largely in part to social media. the heroes that once seemed so distant are now just a click away. they have built an online representation of who they are, and i often wonder if it is truly real. if i met them in person, would i be disappointed with the reality?

as dads, it is natural to want to be your child’s hero. it is so special to hear your son say he wants to be like you. or to see your daughter look up at you in admiration while hugging your leg. much like we view our own heroes, our children see us in a different light.

i just hope that they are never disappointed with the reality.

thirty years

today my parents celebrate thirty years of marriage. if anyone has ever shown me a clear representation of what marriage should be, it is them. i can’t express how grateful i am to have them as parents.

they have loved one another unconditionally since they were teenagers. they have raised two children who value the ideals of family. my dad has taught us character. my mom has taught us grace. they have always provided and sacrificed for the good of our family. and throughout my entire life, i have always looked up to them.

so, from a son who is very proud of his parents, happy anniversary.

sleep

i am a night owl. i sleep very little. and while i have always functioned this way, i realize that ultimately, it is not good for my health. so, as requested by my loving wife, i am trying to do better.

forcing yourself to get more sleep is quite a challenge. for me, it is a major lifestyle adjustment. those precious midnight hours are when i do my best work, and now i am trying to shut down my mind during that typical time of productivity.

coincidentally, my two-year-old son also likes to be awake during those midnight hours. recently, i was working in the middle of the night, and i heard him cry out for me. this is pretty standard, and it happens several times each night. but this time was different.

as i walked into his room, i could tell that he genuinely needed me. i laid down next to him, and as i tried to soothe him back to sleep, all i could think about was the work that i needed to be doing. i wanted him to go back to sleep so that i could get back to work. and then, as i tried to slip out of his room, he said these words.

“daddy, don’t leave me. i just need you.”

it crushed me. my heart broke. this sweet little boy just wanted me to stay with him, and all i could think about was getting my work done. what on earth could be more important than being with my son? are those deadlines seriously more pressing than his needs?

i curled up next to him in his bed, and as i tucked the sheets around us, he sleepily said, “thank you daddy, i love you”.

i woke up the next morning with his arms around my neck. it was the best sleep i have gotten in a long time.

the bachelor

when this season of the bachelor first started, i cared nothing about it. i hardly ever watch television, and i especially avoid reality television. but as the season progressed, i found myself watching more and more. i was particularly drawn to the relationship developing between brad and emily. she was different than the others. she was a single mom, and her story was moving. it was very natural to want them to be together.

aside from the final proposal, probably my favorite part of the show was when they met the families. as you know, it is such a big deal to introduce a significant other to your family. i still remember bringing kelly home to meet my parents. and i will never forget the first time i hugged her mom or shook her dad’s hand. these are key moments in any relationship.

but when i saw emily meet brad’s family, it was then that i started watching the show in a different light. i began thinking that one day, each of our two sons will bring home someone that they want us to meet. it is hard to imagine, but i know that day will be here before we know it.

i get so excited when i think about having daughter-in-laws. i look forward to welcoming them into our family. i look forward to having a special dance with them at our sons’ weddings. i look forward to loving them as if they were our own daughters. and while i have no idea who these lovely ladies will be, i have already started praying for them.

so while it is easy to wonder how anyone can enjoy a show like the bachelor, keep in mind that there are always deeper reasons. and just like i watched brad genuinely fall in love with emily, i hope to one day watch my sons do the same.

solution reviews

as this website falls into a steady rhythm, you can expect to read and learn about several solution reviews. i actually don’t even know if that is a real term. i made it up, but i think it will stick.

a solution review is much like a product review, only it goes a step further. instead of just reviewing the product, i will be offering solutions that can be accomplished with the product. the products and their solutions will be unconventional, and they will range anywhere from baby gear to home organization to modern technology. but the core mission in doing these solution reviews will be to simplify the growing demands of parenthood.

i think as dads, we are naturally wired to enjoy gadgets of all types. but we often overlook the fact that the same gear can help us in our daily quest to manage our kids. with these solution reviews, i want to bridge that gap.

now of course, i will still be challenging you with some insightful articles. and hopefully, i can strike a nice balance between the products that i promote and the thoughts that i provoke. but like i have said countless times before, every bit of the content i write is meant for one goal – to help you eliminate the noise and enjoy the simple parts of being a parent.

so, be on the lookout for some great tips, products, and solutions that i am very excited about. i really feel like this will be both helpful and fun.

ipad 2

as you probably heard, the ipad 2 was revealed yesterday. even though it will not be available until march 11, it has already made quite an impression. designed by apple, it is clearly a thing of beauty. it takes true innovation to define a category of devices, and then improve upon those devices one year later. but it should come as no surprise. this kind of innovation defines apple.

whether it is consumers or competitors, it always amazes me to see the reactions to these types of products. many people want to quickly compare features. they want to know screen sizes and processing speeds. they want to know the amounts of storage or whether it has a camera. they want to know what it does.

and while each of these qualities are important, apple approaches design on a deeper level. instead of focusing only on what the product does, they put a lot of emphasis on how the product is used. that is a key difference, and that mentality is what makes them so successful.

from the simplicity in hardware design to the intuitive software interfaces, apple understands how to empower the user. this becomes even more apparent every time my two-year-old son plays with my iphone. with no prior instruction, he instinctively knows how it works. it is basic. it is simple. and yet it effectively does more than any other product of it’s kind.

steve jobs, the ceo of apple, concluded yesterday’s event with a perfect description of what apple believes. this quote is taken directly from his keynote speech.

It’s in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough. That it’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities that yields us the result that makes our hearts sing. And nowhere is that more true than in these post-PC devices. And a lot of folks in this tablet market are rushing in, and they are looking at this as the next PC. The hardware and the software are done by different companies, and they are talking about speeds and feeds, just like they did with PCs. And our experience and every bone in our body says that that is not the right approach to this. That these are post-PC devices that need to be even easier to use than a PC. That need to be even more intuitive than a PC. And where the software and the hardware and the applications need to intertwine in an even more seamless way than they do on a PC. And we think we are on the right track with this. We think we have the right architecture not just in silicon, but in the organization to build these kinds of products.

in a world that has become so overwhelmed with technology, apple has never strayed from placing the user before the product. and as a user myself, that makes all the difference.