It's difficult to make friends at a later age, especially when you don't drink alcohol or eat processed foods. When you're gluten-free, trying to cut down on sugar and you want stimulating conversation, it's more difficult to find moments where alcohol does not get in the way.
In 2002, Trax Records released an updated version of the Larry Heard classic, "Can You Feel It" originally released under the moniker, Mr. Fingers. In honor of MLK Day, I always post this version to remind myself and those in my circle of influence of the power of MLKs words. When mixed with one of my favorite house music track of all time, it takes on a special resonance.
My wife, Missy, and I are now down to eight days left of our visit to Ecuador. In just over one week, we'll be back in the United States, returning to the lives we put on hold and friends we left on November 25 to experience this most interesting and joyful adventure. While I was very concerned about our journey here and what that might do to my job prospects and other opportunities for work at home, I grew to embrace this journey as a challenge and experience and I see how its helped me grow as a person.
What a year it has been. Last year at this time I was trying my best to lead an inexperienced start-up on a failed music project, which today still has no traction to speak of. It will never succeed, because everyone wants a show and no one wants to address the fundamental problems inherent in the business. Fast forward to today and I celebrated my one-year anniversary with my beautiful wife, Missy, as well as Christmas and New Year's in Cuenca, Ecuador. That is a pretty amazing change of environments.
Living outside of the United States for almost four weeks now in a 3rd World economy, I have experienced the divide between the access we have in the United States and the access Ecuadorians have here in Cuenca. To me,
the distinct and noticeable differences in Internet connectivity limits productivity. While web pages load fairly fast, it's the sharing of large files across the network that is a problem.
Here are is my slide deck from my presentation at WordCamp Raleigh 2013 called, "Get Your Groove On - Powering Music Sites with WordPress." This video presentation will soon be up on WordCamp.tv.
I am very excited to report the beta launch of https://www.netmix-co.netmix.co, the digital strategy and web/mobile development agency that I've been working on independently since 2009 and recently with parter, Michael McNeil and our highly skilled Lead Developer, Jeff Marx.
To fully appreciate and acknowledge the cultural significance and importance of the body of work contained within the home museum (casea museo) and adjacent Capilla de Hombre or Chapel Of Man of Ecuador's favorite son – the incredible painter, sculptor and poet, Oswaldo Guayasamin (Born July 6, 1919, Quito, Ecuador. Died March 10, 1999), I was inspired to revisit everything I've learned thus far in my lifetime through my travels.
Every morning, we start off having breakfast at this wonderful local restaurant near the Hotel Sebastien on Calle de Luis Cordero. When you're in the United States, it's rare to see a restaurant with this charming character, almost like a movie set from another era.
My first day in Quito was muy interesante! I am definitely feeling the affects of and adjustment to the the altitude. I experienced an odd sensation of electricity running through my body from my head down through my chest and arms. And boy, am was I tired! While waiting for our food at a local restaurant, I started to fall asleep! I’m on day two and things seem to be subsiding. Everyone says drinking la Coca té, (the Coca tea) will give me a little buzz and help me to get over the symptoms of altitude sickness, after a few sips I didn’t feel anything. Maybe I need to set myself up a tea pot and sit with it for a while.
The picture above is in a park in the central plaza of the old city of Quito. It’s a beautiful little oasis surrounded by blocks of cobblestone streets and colonial Spanish architecture. When you walk the streets of the old city, you realize there is little in the form of green space immediately under your feet, but you can see in the surrounding mountains and valley the lush green fields and trees that make this a city of both green, for its expanse of fields and forests in the valleys, and grey, for the city’s cobblestone streets and sidewalks.
Of course, I did see much more than this, but we are preparing for a day trip and I don’t have much time right now to post more photos of my experiences on my first day, but I will follow up with a post tonight!
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