Once Upon a Time... 11/9 -11/15 Days 313 - 319

Down to less than six weeks left in the year :( I felt my first twinge of sadness about the year being so near to an end the other day.  I found myself wondering what would life be like after the 1000 Challenge. 

In addition to that, there has also been some concerns as of late questioning myself and the 1000 Challenge.  As I have said to you all repeatedly over the year: I believe in the 1000 Challenge with all my heart.  It has changed my life in more ways than I can count.  I will do anything to keep the 1000 Challenge as it is: a vehicle to positively impact and thus, change our lives.  And if doing so means divulging more of myself, then I will happily do so.  The 1000 Challenge, what it means to me, and what I hope it has come to mean to so many of you; means that much to  me!

To really appreciate the magnitude of impact this year has had on me, I need to give you some more back ground on the beginning, but first...

A few updates:

The 11-11-11 full moon photo shoot was amazing!  I had so much fun watching all of your photos come in from all over the world.  I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.  I know many of you were disappointed that you did not have the clearest of skies for your shots.  One of the main reasons I have done "Trash Day," "Sunrise/Sunset Day," and now "Full Moon Day," is because they are just small examples of how each and everyone of us can do something big - FOR FREE.  Not to shabby considering we all get to be part of an event that involves six continents and over 30 countries participating.  It does not cost us any money to take those pictures. The only thing we spend is our time, which I would hope most of you have viewed your time as an investment during these projects... an investment you have gotten a much higher rate of return on than what you put into it.  

To see the Full Moon photo album click here: 11-11-11 Full Moon Pictures

The ongoing sunrise/sunset challenge has been really picking up steam this past week.  A few of you have been really stepping up and getting your friends from around the world involved by having them take and send pictures to you.  I cannot thank you enough for this.  It has been amazing seeing some pictures come in from some remote places in the world.  Also an extra big thanks for everyone taking the time to check the list before you post a picture.  I cannot tell you how much time it saves me when you take the extra minute to check the list and properly label the picture.  Thank you thank you thank you! :)

To see the updated list, click here:  Sunrise/Sunset List

Lastly, I hope you all can join me tomorrow night (Wednesday November 16th), 7pm PST for a Ustream Chat.  I really enjoy doing these with you all.  I hope everyone has as much fun with them as I do.  To join the Ustream Chat at 7pm PST tomorrow, click here: Ustream Chat

Once Upon a Time...

I have not always been the 1000 Challenge Guy.  In fact there was a time where my life was the exact opposite.

I grew up without a lot of money.  My parents rented a very small house that was covered in mold, with walls so rotten that mice and rats would gnaw their way inside them and I would fall asleep at night listening them scurrying back and fourth inside the walls, worried they would get out and jump on my head.

My parents both loved me very much, I have never questioned this and I know they did the best they could by me.  My Mom always went the extra mile to make birthdays and holidays as special as she could - trying to amend for the birthdays and holidays she did not get to have as a kid.  The rest of the year the topic of money, and the lack of it, seemed to always be at the forefront of conversation.  

When I was about 5 or 6 years old my Mom told me for the first time that her and my Dad might get a divorce.  They never did, the reason, my Mom always said, was for the benefit of my brother and I.  She did not want us to have to grow up in a single parent household.  This filled me with guilt, knowing my Mom was choosing unhappiness for my sake.

What I saw my Mom and Dad argue about more than anything was money.  First it was my Dad not making enough, then when he finally did start making money, he spent unwisely and left little for anything else. The reasons for this are not relevant here.  What is relevant is that seeing my Mom sad, seeing my Dad hiding in his room, seeing neither one of them seeming to really like the other one, it made me sad.  Listening to my Mom talking about having to borrow money from her Mom so she could buy food it took it's toll on me.  I felt guilty.

When I was younger I used to love running up the street to take the rent to Bob and Virginia our landlords.  As I got older, I began to dread the walks and became more and more shamed that my brother and I were the ones that had to deliver the late check.  What once was a excited run had turned to a walk of shame.  

By the time I was around 9 or 10 years old I "tried" to kill myself for the first time.  I use the word "tried" with quotations marks because it was a pretty weak attempt.  I had gone down to the woods below our house with a large hunting knife.  I took the knife out and pressed it to my heart "trying" to pierce the skin.  I began sobbing because I was so scared I could not bring myself to push hard enough to do much damage, I barely drew blood.  

The reason for this drastic action was that by this age, I had become good enough at math to be fairly proficient at addition.  I had figured out, in my little child mind, that if I was not around, it would save my Mom and Dad so much money.  If they had that extra money, then they would be happy.  That is basic child logic right there.  A clear cause and effect.. there is not an in-between - we wait until we are adults to add that in.  All I wanted to do was to see my Mom happy, to see her live one day in her life where money did not dictate how i felt she felt.

My first two years of High School I was super shy.  So much so that the first week of my Freshmen year I broke our in hives from anxiety about going to High School.  I was terrified I was going to get picked on, terrified about getting "canned." 

My Freshmen class had approximately 368 students in it.  I think about 208 of us graduated.  To say I came from not the most academically ambitious area would be an understatement.  Upon the time of graduation I had made it a point to work at my social skills so I could spend some of my final years not being shy.

That did not do much good when I started college.  I had little to no social skills.  I had absolutely "ZERO" game when it came to talking to girls.  I was shy and awkward when it came to meeting people.  When it came to meeting girls... I was beyond pathetic.  The common response was for me to turn bright red in the face and break out in a full sweat.  I was not happy.

I had dabbled in exercise throughout my life.  I have always loved it, but never made the commitment to it.  I finally made the lifetime commitment to exercise April of my Freshmen year in college.  I had hit a low point in my young college life and knew I needed to make a change otherwise my opportunity to live in Santa Barbara was going to be gone.  At the time when I committed to exercise I was 19years old, 6ft. 3in. tall and weight about 165lbs.  Today I am 6ft 3in tall and weigh about 223lbs.  Exercise changed, maybe even saved my life.

Alcohol became a great social friend in my late teens and throughout college.  It took the edge off, helped me meet people, helped me talk to girls, helped me gain confidence.  I never felt I had a problem with alcohol nor have I ever been worried about it.  Even today I still love the social effects brought on by a few drinks.  I love being with people, watching them let go, be silly, and enjoy the giggles that are shared.

After college I fell in love for the first time.  She was an amazing person and the perfect first love for me.  I also started working in my career.  And I worked and I worked and I worked.  You see I was determined not to create the same hardships my parents had.  It seemed like money was always their problem and the cause of so much unhappiness so I vowed I would work harder than anyone else to make sure money never was an issue between my girlfriend and I.  

 

In fact all I wanted to do is work.   I was obsessed with it.  I took zero time for myself and left little time for us to really build on a relationship.  In the nearly three years we were together we left town together maybe 3-4 times (these were overnight weekend trips).  The rest of the time I was working and the one day I took off I wanted to do laundry and practice bowling because I thought that was what was most important.  This was also a time period in my life where I would stress constantly about what time I went to bed and would go to sleep telling myself that, "If I don't fall asleep by 10pm I won't get 8hours of sleep and I will wake up so tired."

Does not sound like a lot of fun right?  Naturally the relationship ended which at the time was the most devastating thing to ever happen to me.  It changed my life, but only because I made the choice to change it.

I overhauled my life at this time.  I started to look at all the things that weren't working and knew I needed to make some serious changes. Among the many I made was leaving the company I worked for and starting to work for myself.

I also started to look at all the areas that were lacking in life... the areas I was not getting fulfilled.  Things like not traveling, not socializing, were just some of the areas of my life that were seriously neglected.

The next few years were dedicated to learning.  When I was not working, I was learning.  I would read, and continue to read today, a ton of books... anything I could get my hands on.  I learned to love to learn... an important skill that had been long lost.  Much of what happened from then on has already been shared with you all, but you can read it here again if you would like: The Story of the 1000 Challenge

My story is not unique.  In fact I am sure there are quite a few of you that could relate to it, or at least parts of it.  There are also quite a few of you that I am sure had much more challenging events in life.  No matter what the case may be, my point in sharing my story with you is:

I am where I am today because of the choices I have made in life.  I make more money than some, but less than some too. More importantly, I am happy, by far the happiest I have ever been with me.  I love where I live, I love my work, I love the opportunities that I have created for myself, I genuinely love my life - because I have created a life to love.  

Sure, nothing and no one is perfect.  I make mistakes everyday, but those mistakes which I once looked at as failures, I now look at as my best learning opportunities.  

Life WILL ALWAYS HAPPEN.  WE ALL WILL GO THROUGH CHALLENGING TIMES!!! No one is exempt from this.  Everything that "happens" to us presents us with an opportunity - one we can either learn from, grow from and thus improve our life.  Or, one we can hold onto, resent, and use as an excuse to justify the place we are in in life and make it the reason why we are unhappy.  

Something that I have learned in life.  Happiness is not just something that one day happens - it is a thing, someTHING we have to work at.  And it is a lifetime of work to be happy.  It means a lifetime of dedication to make choices, re-evaluating, forgiving, changing your perspective, and so much more.

When I have been faced with challenges, adversity in the past, I have not always tried to learn from situation.  Trust me I have struggled getting to where I am at today, but let me tell you - the struggle is worth it.  I used to resent, blame, cry out to the heavens "Why is this HAPPENING TO ME?!?!"  Nothing happened "to me," it just happened, plain and simple.  I then created whatever story I needed to to UN-empower myself, to make myself as poor and helpless as possible.  The event happened, I attached the meaning to it.

I want to close with this:  I read this great book during my homeless challenge, "Man's Search for Meaning," by Viktor Frankl.  This is one of those books that every human being should read, I mean this EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS BOOK!!!!  The book is an autobiographical account of Frankl's time spent in concentration camps during WWII as a prisoner and what he learned about survival and essentially the meaning of life.  Anyways one point that really stood out to me was the following, 

When referring to why people gave up and quit on life in the Death Camps: "Such people forgot that often it is just such an exceptionally difficult external situation which gives man the opportunity to grow spiritually (referring to our inner spirit) beyond himself.  Instead of taking the camp's difficulties as a test of their inner strength, they did not take their life seriously and despised it as something of no consequence.  They preferred to close their eyes and to live in the past.  Life for such people became meaningless."

By ignoring the opportunity that was in front of them, by choosing to wallow in their circumstance, by choosing to be a victim, Their lives became meaningless...  Only we can figure out what is truly meaningful to our individual lives.  

If you are reading this and find yourself struggling in life, I highly encourage you to sit down with a pen and paper and figure out what is meaningful to you and then seek out ways to add more meaningfulness to your life.

If you are reading this in a happy place, never stop, always keep adding meaning to your life... it's what keeps us going, it's the work that goes into happiness.  

As I have said before, I am no different than any of you.  My thoughts, my feelings, my beliefs, my convictions I have today are there because I have worked at them, because I have wanted happiness in my life and was willing to put in the work to get there.  

Happiness can not be bought, it cannot be won, it cannot be given, it can only be earned and it is available to be earned by each and everyone of us - I promise you all this.

Enjoy the pics,

Carpe Diem,

Jesse

Achieving Dreams 11/1 - 11/8 Days 305 - 312

As of this writing there are 53 days left in the year... 53 days, that's about 7.5 weeks - wow!  Talk about time flying.  It really is amazing for me to think about the concept of the year rapidly winding down.  I find myself thinking about the beginning of January writing my first blogs and sending out into cyber space to be read by - who knows?!  

I feel like myself, many of you, and hopefully many many more, have grown in so many ways from those first few days in January.  It has been a real pleasure reading emails, blog and facebook comments from so many of you and watching how your responses have changed over the year.  You guys are doing great work at living life - I am proud of you all and thank you for being such a constant source of inspiration.

Updates:

11/11/2011 is right around the corner!  I hope you guys are as excited about the full moon project as I am.  We have cloudy skies and a chance of rain in the forecast for that day.  To combat that I have been doing my "good weather dance."  Regardless, I will be out there taking a picture of whatever the Universe decides to show me - remember it is not about the actual picture, but the process of doing something different, of changing your day to day routine.  For more info on the Full Moon project check it out here and please please invite your friends.  11/11/2011 at 11:11pm full moon photo shoot

Sunrise/Sunset continues to impress me with some of the amazing shots you guys are sending in.  An extra big thank you to all of you who are getting your friends involved.  And an even bigger thank you to everyone who is taking the time to check the list before posting.  Thank you all for taking the extra minute to label the pictures so well.  I cannot tell you how much time it saves me.  Please keep checking the list and labeling your pics before you send them in: Sunrise/Sunset

As I sat down to write today's blog entry, I had no idea what I was going to write about, which is often the case.  I sat here reviewing what has happened in my life since the last time I chatted with your all.  I thought about the experiences I have had, the people I have met, the conversations I have had, and one thing stood out more prominently than anything else...

I went to New York this past weekend.  The purpose of the trip was to support one of my best friends who participated in her first marathon.

Naturally I was excited to have the opportunity to visit New York, especially this trip as I got to see both the Statue of Liberty (something I have wanted to see since Ghostbusters 2 came out in the late 80's) and the newly opened 911 Memorial, which is moving beyond words.

Of course I got a little giddy when I discovered that Sleepy Hollow, aka, the place where the "Headless Horsemen" story is set, is a real town.  Not only is it a real town, but it is located just outside of Manhattan.  At the prospect of going there I was like a kid in a candy store... this became an absolute must, and boy did it not disappoint. 

1000 Challenge stuff aside, what I was more excited about was to be a part of my friend's race experience because, as is the case with so many other things in life, there is always more meaning beneath the surface than what the actual goal is.

My friend is the silent type in the sense that she is not one to boast about her goals and things she has done or wants to accomplish.  She instead quietly pursues the things in life which bring her fulfillment.  In the years I have known her, I have watched her not just grow, but blossom into the person she is today, and I am sure she would say the same about me.

A marathon is a big deal as I am sure those of you who have run one can attest to.  Hell it is a big one to even consider, as I can sure those of you who have thought about it can attest to.

For a very select few of us taking on a challenging goal like running a marathon is just that - a challenge, nothing more, nothing less.  For the rest of us, myself included, a major goal like a marathon is symbolic of much much more, crossing the finish line is just the icing on the cake.

The reason more people do not do marathons is because to do one it takes a lot of hard work, and did I mention, the race and the work leading up to it is HARD!  Training for a marathon scares off many people because there is no short cut, no quick fix, no way to start at mile one and teleport yourself to mile 25 only to cruise in the last mile.  It does not work that way. 

So many of us want the quick fix.  We talk about our hopes, our dreams, our goals, but that is it... we leave them as the subject of conversation because we all want to go from point "A" to point "Z" as quickly as possible, meaning we would love to achieve more, but only if we can skip the work, points "B" through "Y."

This "B" though "Y" part of the goal achieving process is the most challenging, the most important, and also what impressed me so much about my friend completing her marathon.

You see, the "B" through "Y" of any goal is often much more than just the goal. In training for a marathon the B-Y is the getting up early to do the long runs, the arranging your weekends to get the double digit mile/kilometer runs in so as to stay on track.  To accomplish the B-Y portion of a goal we are constantly in this tug of war: What am I gaining and what am I giving up to get what I want?!?!  It's a tough balance to find, and sadly many people never get to the point where they can see the long term gains as they get stuck and focus only on the short term sacrifices.

I was privileged enough to be a part of some of my friend's B-Y part of her life.  Both in training for the marathon and in life in general.  And in both cases she was willing to put in the work, make the necessary adjustments and sacrifices in her life to move forward and accomplish what she was after and reap the long term rewards.

After the race she told her friend that she had been making an extra effort to post and talk about the marathon with friends because most of her friends had never seen her as being someone athletic.  Now she is running a marathon!

The cool thing with accomplishing goals is you create a ripple effect.  Others watch your efforts and see what you are doing and start to ask themselves that all important question: "If he/she can do it, what am I capable of?  Could I possibly do this??"  The answer - YES, of COURSE!!  As long as you are willing to put in the work to do it.


The thing is if you don't take that first step and decide on what your goal/dream is then how can it ever come true?  And beyond that, if you are not wiling to commit to the work that goes into it, and when I say commit, I mean 110%, commit with all your heart commit!  Giving 96% here just will not cut it.  These are YOUR DREAMS we are talking about here, if you want them to come true, you have to be willing to make them come true.  Most of us are not going to win the lottery we have to earn our dreams.

The greatest thing about accomplishing goals, about achieving dreams is that once you achieve one, you realize that all the others are possible, as long as you are willing to work.

It has been such a privilege for me to watch my friend on her life path the last several years.  She has encountered the same bumps in the road as you, me, and everyone else does.  What has been inspiring is that  when she hits those bumps, she does not turn and run from them.  She does not give up and turn her back on all the progress she has made.  No, not at all; instead she continues to move forward, continues to pursue her dreams, continues to work on not being denied the life of her choosing.

The same is possible for all of us, I would not say so unless I did not believe it with all my heart, with110% confidence.

Enjoy the pics,

Carpe Diem,

Jesse

Taking on Time 10/25 - 10/31 Days 298 - 304

A few quick updates before I get to the blog.  I hope everyone is planing on participating in the full moon project on 11-11-2011 at 11:11pm.  If you do not know what this is check out the link here: 11-11-2011 Full Moon Project :) and please invite your friends!  Lets get the entire world involved! :)

On the subject of the entire world getting involved.  Sunrise/Sunset challenge is going amazing.  Got lots of cool pictures from Asia this week including a few from the Middle East.  An extra big thank you to all of you who are getting your friends involved.  And an even bigger thank you to everyone who is taking the time to check the list before posting and who is labeling the pictures so well.  I cannot tell you how much time it saves me, which is strangely the topic of this blog :)  Check out sunrise/sunset here and be sure to look at all the albums on the 1000 Challenge page.  Sunrise/Sunset List

Last week there was a petition going around to try and get the 1 Year 1000 Challenge on the Ellen DeGeneres show - I cannot tell you all how much it means to me that so many of you think so highly of the 1000 Challenge that you would take the time to try and get it on Ellen.  Thank You!  I have an interview coming out in one of the local papers sometime this week, which I will post online as soon as it is available.  All your support and your dedication to changing your own live's inspires me and gives me energy every day - thank you so much everyone.

On to the blog...

Typing the title in I just realized that we have moved into the 300's for number of days that have passed so far this year... YIKES!!

I remember starting the 1000 Challenge typing in the numbers 1, 5, 15, and so on... 300 seemed so far away and yet here we are.  My does time fly...  In fact I had a brief conversation with someone at the gym this morning about time:  It moves so fast when you are engaged in the process of living life and it seems to crawl when you are in a "funk" and struggling to make it through the days.

I have been having quite a few conversations the last few weeks with different people about the 1000 Challenge.  Common questions are: "What's next," "What are you going to do when it is over," "Are you going to miss it," and the big one, "How has this changed you?"

Saturday I was driving down to Orange County which is about 165miles south from Santa Barbara.  Without traffic it is around a 2.5 hour drive to the part I was going.  With traffic it is a crap shoot.  It took me nearly 3 hours to get to the 405/101 interchange, one of the busiest freeway interchange's in the entire world.  Without traffic I can make it there in about 1 hour 15 minutes.  I looked at my handy Google Maps map and it showed that I had nothing but traffic ahead of me for the next 70 miles which means I had probably about another 4 hours of driving ahead of me.  I hate traffic!

I typically do not use the word "Hate" that often, but traffic is one of those times I use it.  I get frustrated every time I find myself sitting in traffic as I feel it is such a waste of my life.  I get squirmy, I get upset, I get agitated because I am going absolutely nowhere.  Not only that, but I know how long the trip "could" take and how long it is taking.  I hate when the "is" and the "could" do not match up.  So to pass the time I think of things like: If I were to sit in traffic for 1 hour every day for the next 60 years, that would mean over the next 60 years I would spend 21,900 hours in traffic.  That equals over 912 days which equals approximately 2.5 years of my life!!!  TWO AND A HALF YEARS OF MY LIFE SPENT STARING AT THE BACK OF SOMEONES BRAKE-LIGHTS AND LICENSE PLATE.... NO THANK YOU!!!!  I DO NOT HAVE THE TIME FOR THAT!!!

After I got myself worked up into a nice little tizzy about my rapidly fading life, I calmly excited the freeway, turned around, and began heading back toward Santa Barbara.  In the past, I would have begrudgingly continued to plod along until I made it to my destination.  All the while resenting the drive and the reason going.  Turning around provided such a different experience.  I had zero traffic going North, I was able to stop at a historical park and take some pictures of ducks; and I made it to a friends house to watch the sunset on the beach - ahhh a much happier way to end the day.

Yesterday, Sunday, I went to watch this silent movie, Nosferatu, a silent film made in 1921 and one of the oldest horror movies.  What was really cool about this experience was that the venue the film was shown at had an organ so that the film could be watched to the accompaniment of live music.  Sounds really cool right? And it was, but ...

I rarely watch movies, and I never watch TV.  It's hard for me to sit still and I am in this space right now where I am so stoked about living, that the last thing I want to do is take a break from my reality and watch someone else's reality, fact or fiction.  I really dislike TV as even a background noise when friends are around as I feel it provides a distraction to the conversation and laughs that could be had.  However, it was Halloween weekend, and this was a pretty cool opportunity to see a historically significant film the way it would have been seen nearly 100 years ago.  1000 Challenge is about new experiences right, doing things I normally wouldn't do at times... so to the movie I went.

I sat through a 20 minute "Laurel and Hardey" silent that was also accompanied by the Organ music.  By the time Nosferatu started, I was already starting to squirm in my chair.  As the movie went on I became more and more impatient.  My excitement rapidly began to fade.  The "coolness" of the organ quickly became an annoyance with what seemed like the same music over and over again.  I thought it would be dramatic and add suspense, but instead, at least it seemed to me, to just make the movie corny.  

In the past, like in traffic, normally I would suck it up and see something I started to the end, never wanting to be a "quitter."  As I sat there, forcing myself to watch this movie that I was clearly not into, I started thinking about this picture my friend had sent me at the beginning of the year (see below).  And how the picture was so powerful as it signified time and just how little of it we have in this life.  Then I started thinking about all the questions people have been asking me, especially the "How has this changed you," question.

I have learned to value my time in a way I have never valued it before.  I have also learned that I love the way I am living my life.  Pack as much in, in as little time as possible.  Find fun where it used to elude me, stop sweating the small stuff, and soak up every moment, go, go, go, GOGOGOGOGO and then rest when needed.  I really love it as I feel I am not squandering any precious seconds of life away.  

Placing a higher value on my time, does not mean I waste what precious time I have on avoidable things like traffic and movies that I do not like.  No longer will I just suck it up and stick with it because I do not want to "quit."  "C'mon Jesse, how stupid is that.  If you stay through the movie, if you sit in the traffic, yea, you may see it through, but you are quitting on the free time you could have."

With those thoughts, I calmly stood up and rapidly walked out of the theater.  And just as I did with the traffic the night before, I immediately felt a sense of relief, a sense of freedom, like I was back in the driver's seat of my life.  No longer did any external forces have control of it as they did in the traffic and movie situations.

While these are small examples, and some of you may be thinking, "Come on now Challenge Boy, it is JUST a movie, and Everyone has to sit in traffic from time to time."  Yes you are all right, but for me when I have the power to exercise choices in certain situations, when my well being, my happiness is enhanced by choosing option 2 rather than sticking with option 1, from now on I am choosing option 2.  

I do not want to spend years of my life sitting in traffic when I do not have to.  I do not want to spend my life sitting through movies that do not excite me.  Who cares if I payed for it, what is the value of my time lost?  How much is that hour worth that I can NEVER get back????

There are many things I have learned this year from the 1000 Challenge.  Nothing is more precious than our time.  We only have a limited amount of it and every second we spend sitting around complaining, moaning, and groaning about our life; is one second that we will never get back.  Every minute we spend sitting around, wasting because we choose sadness instead of happiness is one minute we will never get to live again.  

Now I know things happen in life where we will experience sadness, low energy, etc.. that is part of being a human and that is also part of living.  There is a difference between the sadness that comes from morning a loss like a death or an ended relationship, vs. the sadness of sitting around and feeling sorry for yourself.  

Experiencing loss and the emotions that come with it... that is living.  Avoiding it, that is not.  

The clock is ticking.  The year that once seemed like it was going to go on forever for me is rapidly winding down.  Time is not slowing down for us.  I do not want to live my life "playing catch up," or sitting around moaning and groaning about the time I have lost.  Nope, been there, done that, have zero desire to ever do it again.  

Time is moving guys.  You can either move with it, or spend your life chasing after it, it is your choice.

Tic Toc, Tic Toc, TIC TOC

Enjoy the pictures,

Carpe Diem,

Jesse

Jesse

The Life I Might of Had ... 10/16 - 10/24 Days 289 - 297

Hello Hello Hello... and welcome.  I hope you enjoy whatever words find their way onto this blog.  I am still trying to think of them, so while I do, I am going to stall for a minute and remind you of a few reminders! :)

Ustream Chat This THURSDAY October 27th, 7:30pm PST.  As always I appreciate everyone who makes an effort to join in and I really appreciate those of you who stay up past your bedtimes, or get up extra early to participate.  It means a lot.  I really do enjoy spending that hour with you all.

The Sunrise/Sunset album is continuing to build.  We are getting more amazing pictures from around the world nearly every day.  As a reminder, please make sure you check the list to see if it is a region we do not have before you post your photo.  Also please label it: Date, sunrise or sunset, where in the world it is (please include the country and if it is a state, province etc... as is listed on the master list).  Remember it is just me doing it on my end so the more detailed you are the less work for me which I really REALLY appreciate.

And my apologies for delay's on shirt orders.  I have been a little slower than normal, but am working diligently to make myself more efficient :)

I am constantly watching people.  I like what I can learn in my day to day observations of humanity.  As I watch, I often find myself wondering: "What is their life like?"  "Are they happy?"  "Do they want more out of life?" "Are they settling for less than they are capable of?"  "If they are not happy, why?  Is it because of money, relationship, health... any of the above, all of the above?"  The list goes on and on and on - I have a busy brain that wonders lots of things.

As I watch people I often reflect on my own life -

This weekend I took a road trip about 250 miles north to Santa Cruz, California.  Why Santa Cruz... well, I have never been, I love the movie "Lost Boys" which was filmed there, I wanted to go, and more significantly, I am at this point in my life where I am spending a lot of time reflecting.  I have been asking myself questions like "What would my life be like if I never came to Santa Barbara?"

Once upon a time I was not the Jesse Brisendine you all know now.  I used to be the shy-est, most insecure, most self-conscious person you ever met. This is no exaggeration, let me give you some examples:

In High School, the first week of my Freshmen year I broke out in hives I was so nervous about starting high school.  I heard horror stories about Freshmen getting picked on and "canned."  I felt I surely would be the victim of such attacks.

I used to wake up every day and spend my time in front of the mirror telling myself "I am so ugly," and "I am such a loser."  In fact I was so worried that people would see how ugly I was that I used to spend, no exaggeration, upwards of 30 minutes every morning picking my nose.  I was so terrified of having boogers because I felt if I did, it would be one more thing that would enhance my "ugliness" and people would see it and they would hate me because of it.

In college I can remember sitting in Psychology class my Freshmen year and a girl tapping me on the shoulder asking if I knew when a test was, I was so shy that I turned bright, BRIGHT red and broke out into a cold sweat trying to answer this girls question.  I could go on and on with more examples and where this all originates from, but that is another blog.  I just wanted to provide you with some background info.

When it came time to go to college I knew that if I was going to have a chance at life, I needed to get out of my hometown.  I did not like it there and I always felt like I never fit in.  I have family that lives in southern California so I was familiar with it growing up as a kid.  Santa Barbara was where I wanted to go as I would have the closest proximity to them while still being near to my beloved Ocean.

I applied to the Universities of California at Santa Cruz, Davis, and Santa Barbara.  Davis because I had a couple of close friends there, Santa Cruz as a backup, and Santa Barbara because, well it is Santa Barbara.

When acceptance letters came out, they were mailed out over about a 6 week (if I remember correctly) period of time.  I got my acceptance to Santa Cruz on about the first day.  I received my rejection letter from Davis at about the 3 week mark.  At 5 weeks I still had not heard from Santa Barbara.  Two other girls, who had been accepted, had already received their's weeks earlier.  I was resolved to going to Santa Cruz.  I still held out hope for a miracle that Santa Barbara would come through, but that hope was fading.

At 18 years old I did not have anything resembling the positive attitude, or the wisdom, and belief's that I share with you all now through the 1000 Challenge.  It was quite the contrary... I was negative, insecure, sad, and anything but sure of myself.

With a heavy heart I resolved to go to Santa Cruz -- justifying it to myself that I would be closer to home so I could visit more often, even though the last thing I wanted to do was go back to my home town.  On the last day of the 6 weeks, I received an acceptance packet in the mail from University of California Santa Barbara.  I accepted that day.

I was curious to see Santa Cruz as I wondered what it was like and thus I wondered what my life would have been like had I gone there instead of SB.  As I walked, drove, and explored around Santa Cruz I took in as much as I could; the culture, the people, the beach scene, the weather, and of course the campus.

As a tourist, I loved Santa Cruz.  The weather was amazing when I was there.  The town is easy to get around and felt like I knew my way around by departure time Sunday morning.  The Coast line is spectacular and had an extra beautiful shimmer to it due to the warm sunshine shining down on it.  And of course the Redwood trees.  Nothing reminds me of home more than the Giant Redwood Trees.

These beautiful ancient trees can be found only in a very few places in the world, one of the largest concentrations of them is in the area where I grew up.  As a kid I never appreciated how majestic they are as I now do as an adult.  These trees were everywhere including the campus of UC Santa Cruz.

I drove through the campus and as I looked around tried to imagine myself walking through the campus there as opposed to Santa Barbara.  I wondered if that shy, insecure kid, would have been as terrified in Santa Cruz as he was in Santa Barbara.  I wondered where I would be in my life had I gone to Santa Cruz - had that acceptance letter never come.  Would I be doing the same work I am doing now?  Would I of had the same life experiences?  Would I be doing the 1000 Challenge?

The answer I finally settled on is, "probably not."  Beyond the answer though is an even more important point I want to make - I am at a place where I really love my life.  Sure I do not have everything figured out - I still have the same "issues" as everyone else: relationships, work, health, bills to pay etc... What I have figured out though is a more empowering way as to how I approach these issues, for example - I have about $20,000 in debt a lot by some standards, small by others.  I used to be the guy that stressed over the money all the time, it does not do any good, trust me I have tried it.  What does help is to do your best to pay what you can and focus on LIFE, not debt, not bills, those things are not life, they are just things, part of the process.  It will not go away stressing about it, I have tried that too. :)

You see, my life today is a direct product of choosing Santa Barbara over Santa Cruz and I am thankful for the life I have and the opportunities I have to live it as best I can.

The reason for all the above, for my nostalgic trip down memory lane, for my Santa Cruz vs. Santa Barbara analysis is this: me, you, every single one of us are exactly where we are supposed to be at this point in our lives.  Why?  I cannot answer that, only you can answer it for yourself.  What I can tell you though is that every decision you have made, every experience you have had has lead you to this moment right now.

Think about it:  Many of you who read my blogs and follow the 1000 Challenge do so because you want to be inspired, you want to make changes in your life.  Well, you would not be here reading this at this moment wanting to make changes, had everything in your life not happened.  You see all your experiences, all your ups and downs, all of them have put you here reading this right now.  Some of you want to make changes in your lives, some of you want to take your lives to the next level, some of you enjoy looking at the pictures, some of you just enjoy my bad jokes (that was a joke!).

I had an amazing time in Santa Cruz and left it smiling at it's beauty, excited for when the day comes that I might return there for another visit, and grateful that I chose Santa Barbara.  Even more than that, as I was driving home last night, I could not help but be grateful for all the life experiences I have had, all the ups and the down, all the good's and the bad's for they have all prepared me for this exact moment at this exact time in my life.

And the experiences I will have the rest of today and tomorrow and the next day, will all prepare me for all the moments to come.

The cool thing about all of that is the majority of the moments... I get to choose how I will live them.  I get to choose my attitude, I get to choose my perspective I look at things with, I get to choose the effort I will put forth in any endeavor, I get to choose if I am going to smile or frown, I get to choose to laugh or not to laugh, I get to choose to hang out with people who enhance my life or to hang out with people who don't.  I have a zillion choices that I can make moment to moment that can either enhance my life or not.

The same goes for you.

Enjoy the pictures,

Carpe Diem,

Jesse

The importance of playing 10/8 - 10/15 Days 281 - 288

October is halfway over... yikes!  And I thought Halloween was the scariest thing happening in October!!!  And with a decent amount of travel planned for November, I feel like the last 77 Days of the year are going to, no pun intended, fly by.

A few updates:

Sunrise/Sunset project is going awesome!  Thank you everyone for participating and an extra big thanks for getting your friends involved.  Please keep following the list, it helps me a lot: Sunrise/Sunset List

I am looking forward to doing another ustream chat here in the next week or so.  I'll update facebook as soon as I figure out a date and time.

I am planning a cool event for 11-11-2011 and will need everyone's help.  I will post all the details of it in the next couple of weeks.  It will be a great time :)

When I started the 1 Year 1000 Challenge I had a bunch of goals associated with it.  The biggest one being, getting back to living life, and learning how to live it to the fullest.  I feel like I have done it and I love the way I am living my life right now and the course it is on.

When I got back from Utah last Sunday someone asked me, "how was your vacation?"

"Vacation?" I replied...

You see the question puzzled me, here is why:

Vacation, as is defined in the dictionary is: freedom or release from duty, business, or activity...

Vacation = freedom???  I understand the definition, but this is a perfect example of a change that has occurred within me.  I love my work, I love my life, and I love the people in it.  Why would I ever want to take a vacation from that which I love?  To me making a three and a half day 1,200+ mile road trip is not vacation that is just how I want to live my life.

I had never been to Utah before because it was "so far away."  These were actually my own words.  When we were there a lady asked us where we were from and then said, "wow California, you sure are a long ways away from home."

Are we really?  NO!  We got on the road for that trip at 3am on Thursday morning, why?  Because I want to maximize my time not just in the day, but in my life.  If I waited to leave at around, say 7am, I would no doubt encounter traffic which will then in turn make my travel time much much slower.  By leaving at 3am I can be 98% certain that I will have zero traffic because I know the majority of people will not get up that early to travel or go to work.  And since there will be no traffic, I can make the drive much faster, AND when we got to St. George we had enough time to spend all day site seeing.  Had I left at 7am I would not have been able to see Zion in the same day.

I still drove the same 480 miles, but by choosing to give up a little sleep and get on the road a little earlier, you get a lot more back.  What would have been a 9 hour drive with traffic was about a 6 and 1/2 drive without.

Give it a try your next road trip.  We all have experienced "sleep," meaning we all know what it is like to sleep.  But have you ever tried getting up even earlier to go someplace you are excited to visit.  You may be a little "sleepy" as you travel, but I guarantee you will not be regretting the lost sleep when you arrive at your destination hours earlier with more time to play.

Play... that leads me to something else:

Another goal I have with the 1000 Challenge is to learn more about people, humanity as a whole.  In that quest, I have been to more parks, festivals, museums, and cultural gatherings than at any other time in my life. In fact I was at one yesterday, the Santa Barbara Beer Festival, and someone came up to me and said, "I see you at every festival."

I was at another park on Tuesday.  As I sat there I started watching some kids play.  For some reason, this particular group of kids really got me to thinking.  They were not on the play ground, they were just running around in the grass, playing.  They had come to the park to play.  To them, Parks = Play.  HMMMMM....

When does it happen in life where we as adults lose the association of Parks = Play?  When do we stop looking at parks as an opportunity of fun and play; and start looking at them as just places, as "just another park?"

As kids it does not matter if we are swinging on the swing set, sliding down the slide with our arms in the air, smiles on our face, or if it is just an open field; to kids parks are an un-ending possibility of fun and adventure - kids live to play.  Adults, what do we live for?  And why do we no longer live to play?

I know, I know, we grow up, responsibilities, bills to pay, families to feed, etc... Those are all important things and a very big part of life and what it means to become an "adult," but why can't we still play amidst all of that?  Why can't going to work still be an adventure.  Even if we do not like our job, why can't we like the opportunity we have to work?

Sure there are bills to pay, but there are ALWAYS going to be bills to pay, so lets accept that and move forward.  Why don't we?  Why do we instead insist on every time the phone bill comes we are "re-shocked" as if we have never seen it before.  We know it is coming, we know how much it is going to be, so why continue to give your precious energy to dwelling on it?  And here's the even bigger question:  If you continually find yourself dwelling on the phone bill and any other regular bills, what does that do for you?  Does it make the bills better?

I would wager, No.  So why not try changing it?  Why not re-direct that dwelling time into more play time?

I think I just answered one of my questions, why do we, as adults, stop playing?  The answer: because we choose to.  At some point in life we decide it is more important to try to impress someone than enjoy ourselves.  At some point in life we decide it is better to "act cool," than it is to just be our-self.  At some point in life we decide that we would rather stress and dwell over and over and over and over and over and OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER again about the same things rather than just get over it and go back to playing.  If a kid throws sand in another kids eye, the recipient of the sand is upset about it for 5 minutes then forgets all about it and goes back to playing with whoever threw the sand.  If someone throws sand in our eyes we hate them and then create this story in our head's about how that person is the "worst person in the world."  We then take it a step further and blame that person for the traffic we encounter on the way to work, the fight we get into with our spouse.  That person becomes the reason why our mortgage payment is late and the reason why we didn't get enough sleep and are "sooo tired" today.

Why?  When you read the above it seems so over dramatic to the point of being silly doesn't it.  Do me a favor, spend some time in a park this week and just watch the kids play, you will learn a lot from them.

I have wanted to see a rattlesnake in the wild ever since I was around 4 years old and my Dad showed me this rattle from a rattlesnake.  I remember I used to go back and pick it up and shake it and imagine running into one and how cool it would be.

I wanted so badly to see one that I have spent time on almost every hike I have been on saying, out loud mind you, "here rattlesnake, here rattlesnake."  I then whistle for them as if I am calling a dog.  My friends at first hearing this thought I was on drugs.  After I explained to them the story they just thought I was nuts!

On Wednesday I saw my FIRST EVER RATTLESNAKE in the wild!  I was so excited.  I yelled out loud, "Holly S**T, A RATTLESNAKE, I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!!"

 I had always imagined myself being so scared at the first encounter, but I was actually quite the opposite.  When I saw it, it immediately began to slither away and I was so afraid I would not get a picture that I forgot all about being scared and instead focused all my energy on getting my camera out, FAST!  Needless to say I got my camera out and proceeded to have a 15 minute photo shoot with my new friend.  As I took picture after picture I began to hear the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin's voice in my head.  I recalled every safety tidbit he ever mentioned about rattlesnakes: their strike speed, how much space they can cover in a strike, etc...

All of this was important information and kept me at a safe distance during our photo shoot.  Once I began to hear Steve Irwin's voice, in his heavy Australian accent, saying "Look at this little ripper, get a stick."  I decided that since my khaki pants had been left at home and since I am no crocodile hunter, that it was time for me to leave before I did get a stick and got to close trying to get the snake to pose for more pictures.

I was so excited the rest of the day.  I told every person I talked to all about it.  They did not fully get why I was so excited to see the snake, but all of them loved hearing the story.

So why was I so excited?  Well for me, seeing a rattlesnake in the wild has been a dream since I was kid - a childhood dream.  And it is one of the few dreams I had when I was a kid that I never gave up on.  Finally realizing that dream 20+ years later... I can't tell you how cool that was.  And what was even cooler was I reacted like a kid would.  Pure excitement, uncontrollable joy, so much so that I had to share my story with everyone, including all of you.

The moral of these stories and this blog:  never give up on dreams.  Sure you can change them, modify them, evolve them, but never stop dreaming.  And WHEN you realize those dreams, celebrate them as if you were a kid.  Remember a kid lives to play, why should we adults be any different?  All we really are is grown up kids...

Enjoy the pictures,

Carpe Diem,

Jesse

The Hero I Never Knew I Had 9/30 - 10/7 Days 273 - 280

A few quick house keeping things before I get to the blog:

1.) Don't forget Ustream chat Sunday, October 9th, 7am PST. I am holding it early Sunday morning in hopes that more of our friends from around the world will be able to join in.  My fellow PST members we all can get up early on our Sunday.  I look forward to chatting with you all on Sunday.

2.) The 1000 Challenge challenge of filling up the big list of sunrises and sunsets is going strong.  PLEASE PLEASE please only send in pictures that have not yet been crossed off on the list.  The reason being: again it is only me doing everything on this end.  Each picture takes time to update and update the list, so please help me manage my time and check the list first before you send in a picture.  The list can be found here: Sunrise/ Sunset master list

3.) I just wanted to say thank you for all of you who follow along.  Your support means the world to me.  An extra special thanks to those of you who are not only following along, but taking the concepts, ideas, and little life lessons I try to impart through the 1000 challenge and are putting them into practice in your own lives.  You all are truly a source of inspiration to me.  Thank you everyone!  I can never say that enough... Thank You THANK YOU! :)

I had a blog that was about 70% of the way done that I was planning on posting today, and then Steve Jobs died.

Yesterday, Thursday, I was really sick.  I NEVER get sick!  I think I must of had a migraine, I am not sure as I have never had one before, but I woke up with a pounding headache, and my eyes hurt so bad it felt like someone kept punching them.  I could not look at my phone, my computer, or read anything as the light from the monitors and text on a white background caused more pain.  As the morning went on I started to feel more and more nauseous until finally I started throwing up.  I have not thrown up since August of 2007, that is how rare I get sick, I can actually pinpoint dates!

One of my friends even said, "you are sick, but you do not get sick... what is going on?"  That's true, I don't.  I decided several years ago that I was going to abstain from the participation in illness.  Meaning that when the annual "oh my God, it is flu season" discussions started up I was not going to even begin to entertain the thought in my mind that I might get sick.  And when other people around me caught a cold, I decided I was no longer going to focus on "so and so is sick, I sure hope I do not get sick."  Which of course I always did get sick.  Instead, when so and so gets sick, I now focus on how healthy I am and how strong my immune system is.  Skeptics say I have just been "lucky."  I say it works, and even if I have just been lucky, what harm is there in trying??????

Anyways, somehow this migraine found a chink in my armor and was able to keep me down for most of the day yesterday.  With nothing to occupy my time other than my thoughts, I had a lot of time to think.  I found a great deal of my time was spent thinking about Steve Jobs; who he was and what is the legacy he left behind. I spoke with one of my friends about this last night, telling him I was having a real hard time with his death, and I did not know why.  My friend, who at times I refer to as my "Jedi apprentice" for his growing wisdom, responds with a very "Jedi-esq" ... "that's because he is a dreamer Jesse, just like you.  There are not a lot of you out there."  Wise words my young apprentice, wise words indeed.

I am a dreamer.  I dream big dreams for myself and I dream even bigger dreams for humanity as a whole.  The 1000 Challenge is a personal challenge I started for myself, I wanted to challenge myself to live life in a way I have always wanted.  To experience it to the absolute fullest.  What it is has grown into is something much beyond myself.  It has grown into an opportunity for me to not just teach, but to actually show people from all over the world what I think is possible for each and everyone of us in terms of living the life of our choosing.

I do not think any of us are meant to settle for a "well i guess this is as good as it gets life."  On the contrary, I think "to settle" is a bad phrase, one that should be eliminated from all of our vocabularies.  We are not meant to settle, we are meant to thrive, to live and soak up each and every precious second of life.  That is what I believe we are meant to do.

Sure we are going to have bad times and challenging times, but rather than let those times dictate our life, we instead use them to learn and grow and then use them to direct the course in life we choose.

I had and I still have not read a great deal about Steve Jobs.  Hence the title of this blog "The Hero I Never Knew I Had."  As my thoughts drifted more and more to what Steve represented to me, represented to the world, I started to realize just how much respect and admiration I have for this man.  As my friend so accurately stated it: He is ( I use "is" here deliberately as I believe legacies live beyond us and thus someone is never truly gone) a dreamer just like me.  And so from one dreamer to the other... I offer my obituary, my attempt of a tribute to Mr. Steve Jobs.

Apple co-founder, Pixar co-founder, entrepreneur, innovator, visionary, and dreamer Steve Jobs passed away quietly on the morning of Wednesday, October 5th, 2011, ending a long battle with Pancreatic Cancer.  When he passed, "He was surrounded by people he loved."

Steve was no different than you or I.  Born in 1955, he was given up for adoption and taken in by a family from a modest background.  After graduating high school he enrolled in college and quickly dropped out after just one semester, shunning the ideology that you NEEDED a college education to get ahead in life.

Instead, Steve began exploring, began dreaming... dreaming of the possibilities that man kind could create through technology.  Short on funds, he would often sleep on the floors of friends apartments, and recycle Coca Cola bottle's for money to buy food with.  In a situation like this, most people would begin to feel sorry for themselves.  Most would focus on how the world seemed like it is against them, how they just can't catch a break.  Steve was not most people, Steve had a dream.

By the time he was 25 years old he was worth over $100 million dollar's, having launched Apple into the forefront of the home computer industry.  By the time he was 30 years old, he was fired from the company he helped create.  Again, most would fault the world, fault other people; most would focus only on the situation, being fired from their job and now facing un-employment at the young age of 30, but not Steve.  Saying, " The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything.  It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life."  Where there is "perceived" failure, there is really opportunity.  And that's just what Steve did, he seized the opportunity to create.

And create he did: NeXT Computer and Pixar are just two of the more noteable creations that came during this time period.  NeXT software eventually became the software that powers the "I-Tunes" store, among many other applications.  And Pixar, well in case you have never heard of movies like the "Toy Story" franchise, "The Incredibles," and  "A Bug's Life," to name a few... those were all Pixar creations.

All of this lead to Jobs eventually being re-hired at Apple in 1996, 11 years after his dismissal.  What happened between that time and the present is well documented.  In fact, many of you are probably reading this blog on an innovation that came out during this time: "Ipod's," "Itunes," "Iphones," and "Ipads" are just a few of the highlights that have contributed to making Apple one of the most profitable companies of the modern era.  The technology that Apple created during this time period has changed our world and changed the way we interact with one another.  It's cutting edge innovation gave us all the above, but more importantly, it forced the competition to accelerate their innovation game.  By doing his best,  Steve forced others to do their best.

What would a great leader, a great visionary, a great dreamer's story be without adversity... in 2004 Steve faced the greatest test of adversity in his life, the diagnosis of Pancreatic Cancer.  As fate would have it he had a rare form of Pancreatic Cancer that was operable and thus curable via surgery.  He had the surgery, and in a 2005 commencement speech to the graduating class of Stanford University, Jobs said: " Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.  Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important."  We are all going to die one day...  don't wait until death is knocking on your door to start living.

It was in this same 2005 speech he also said, "sometimes in life, life is going to hit you in the head with a brick, don't lose faith..."You have got to find what you love..."the only way to do great work is to love what you do."  "If you haven't found it (what you love) yet, keep looking, DON'T settle!"

Don't settle... wise words to impart on a world that is all to quick to settle for second rate living.  Sure not all of us may not be CEO's of companies we co-founded, or multi-billionaires, but those two things do not equate to happiness.  Doing what you love, in any aspect of your life, that is what leads to happiness.  And if you are working at a job you may be less than fond of, make the best out of it.  Resolve to go in and give your best everyday... that knowledge leads to not necessarily a love of the job, but a love for the work you do.  Steve kept working at Apple until August of 2011, when he was finally to week to carry on his day to day duties.  Less than two months later he is dead.  Why stay and work, knowing that your days are rapidly coming to a close.  He certainly did not need the money.  And if he quit earlier, everyone around him would certainly understand the reason.  So why stay?  The answer: Steve loved what he did, and he wanted to continue to contribute, he wanted to continue changing the world until he was no longer capable of making the change at the level he wanted to.

And finally, from that same 2005 Stanford University commencement speech, Jobs said, "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life... Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.  They somehow already know what you truly want to become.  Everything else is secondary."

People are always going to talk, society is always going to have their opinions of what you "should" be doing. At the end of the day if that is not what feels right, if that is not what makes you happy, if that is not what makes you wake up in the morning wanting to Carpe Diem, then what is the point of it all?

Steve ate a flawless diet, he took care of himself, and he had all the access to the best medical treatment available, but in the end, this larger than life figure still died, just the same that all the rest of us one day will.  You see, as I began this obituary, Steve Jobs is no different than any of us.  He is a mortal, just like you and I.  What sets him apart, what causes us to morn his loss is that he gives us hope.  We see in him a quality which we all wish to indoctrinate into our own lives... we all wish to live our lives pursuing our passions... we all wish to live our lives giving and getting 100 percent out of each and everyday.  The only thing that stops us from doing this is our-self.

We are not all destined to be political head's of state, professional athletes, or CEO's of multi-billion dollar companies, but each and everyone of us was born with the capability of greatness.  This I think is Steve Jobs greatest legacy he leaves the world with today... we are all capable of greatness.  It is instilled inside each and everyone of us, and it is up to us to discover what that greatness is for us.  Greatness is there, it lies in a place deep inside of you... a spark that is just waiting to turn into a flame.  Only you can add fuel to the flame and cause it to burn brighter.  Only you can uncover, nurture, and live your greatness.  The power lies within YOU!

Thank you Steve for leading by example.  May the next generation of dreamers pick up where you left off.

Enjoy the pics,

Carpe Diem,

Jesse