the DEA teamed up with the CCA...

Cash Rules Everything…

If you have been following the Republican Party over the last 10 years, you would have noticed their affinity for excommunicating gays, creating an amendment to govern a woman’s vagina, demonizing all poor people and sending all Mexicans back to Puerto Rico and the free market.  It’s actually one of the few things that I have in common with the GOP.  But, unlike them (more on this later), I do have limits to my love of Capitalism.  The idea of being able to come up with and execute an idea with blood, sweat and tears and make as much money as possible is most certainly a tenet of the American Dream.  However if your only goal or measure of success is a higher profit margin, it can create an interesting conflict of interest with the people and the world around you.

Thou shalt not judge...

Judge Me Not! (Vol. 1)

Inspired by MTV’s Girl Code

We all have those random thoughts, feelings and opinions that are probably better left unsaid and not shared with the rest of the world.  It’s a little too late for me to not share what I'm thinking so here are the thoughts and opinions that are either too simple or too stupid to write an entire post about.

Take a walk in my shoes...

Green Grass.

I have been a full-time entrepreneur for almost 8 years.  That fact continues to shock me because it means that for nearly decade, my full-time job has been a job that I’ve created for myself.  I don’t set my alarm clock, I work from home, I start and stop my day when I choose and I don’t have to ask for a day off.  On countless occasions, others have told me how great my life must be and how incredible it is to be your own boss.  There is truth to that; being in control of your own career is very fulfilling and satisfying but this perception of my life is a prime example of the grass on the other side appearing to be greener.  There’s a reason why there’s thousands of motivational quips, mantras and mottos created to encourage business owners; in between all of those awesome moments, being an entrepreneur can really suck… a lot.

My mind's playing tricks on me

Brain Damage.

Above is a picture of Adam Lanza as a young boy.

What isn’t in this picture is what’s most important.  What you don’t see is a gun.  What you don’t see is a murderous rage and a desire to ruin the lives of hundreds.  I don’t know why someone would enter an elementary school and open fire on 5 and 6 year old children but the fact is, something happened between the date this picture was taken and December 14, 2012 that made Adam pick up that gun and make that choice. 

If I was black, I would have sold half...

Justin(s).

I didn’t always like Justin Timberlake.  In fact, for the better part of the last decade, I despised him and his career.  Seeing his name in the paper or his face on television warranted at the very least an eye roll or teeth sucking.  Now don’t get me wrong, I recognized that the man had talent and to some degree, was deserving of all the accolades and attention, but I couldn’t stand him.  I won't lie; the biggest reason for my gripe was race.  If he were black, I wouldn’t be writing this.

Don’t worry, I’ll explain.

Pump, pump, pump it up

Pay at the Pump

How much money do you want?  This seems like a simply question because the most common answer would be some version of “a lot”.  However, “a lot” isn’t a number and because items actually cost numbers you need to know how much you need in order to afford the things that you want.  There’s another reason why you need to have a better answer to that question – depending on your answer, you may have to make a lot of major life changes.  For example, if you want to make $10,000,000 a year then you better get really good at basketball, singing or computer programming.  If only $7.15/hour is your goal, well then your options are far more plentiful (but not nearly as attractive). We as a society get so caught up in chasing the money that we never really take the time out to figure what to do when we finally catch some.  My answer to this question lies at the gas station.

Fresh line up for the Fall

The Lineup: September ‘12

What I can’t live without: Experiences.  Material things come and go but experiences provide memories that last far longer.  Earlier this year I wrote a post inspired by Jay-Z’s historic announcement that he was curating a two-day music festival in Philly and thanks to a surprise by my fiancée, I had the opportunity to experience it.  I’m too young to have gone to the 2^nd iteration of Woodstock and probably too old to go to Coachella, but this was perfect.  I saw some great live performances including the return of Run DMC,  hometown heroine Jill Scott (with a guest spot from Eve), Janelle Monae and many more.  I even got hip to some new artists from different genres including Miike Snow and Passion Pit.  They created a whole community for two days on the Ben Franklin Parkway and with an epic peformance from Jay-Z which included a G.O.O.D. music performance and a “B” sighting, I’ll never forget the experience.