Boulder Startup Week day 1

Great day today! First day of the Boulder Startup Week conference... www.boulderstartupweek.com

Met more interesting and passionate people today than in the past few years in Raleigh. Really hope we can make the move out here soon - great energy, great people... Great opportunities to do something special I think.

John, Heather, Drew, Ben, Grant, Russ, Peter, Matt - you guys rock. Hope our paths cross again soon.

David, Brad - thanks for the book and the talk... I feel like I see a bit of myself in you. Hope to be part of something like techstars (or maybe the thing itself) some day.

During the last two events today I got to hear mini-pitches and offer advice... I think I may have already helped 2 founders out, and that feels great! Would love to do that for a living...

- Scuba Steve

Location:Colorado 119,Longmont,United States

(Draft of) My Impossible List

So I was inspired by the "Blog of Impossible Things" to draft a list of my own. If you haven't checked it out, it's worth a read...

This is a slightly different take on a bucket list; some of these are things that I want to "check off", but others are just things that will be fun, that I want to make sure I make a priority at some point -- otherwise all those "someday" adventures might not happen! This is also a list that can be added to at any point; for example as I tick off some fitness or travel items, others will rise up to take their place.

The list below is very rough; I've really just begun to draft this... but I thought I'd go ahead and post it publicly to give myself incentive to refine and then start working towards ticking things off!

There is at least one category missing: "Life Goals"... this is a biggie, and I'm working on that separately (at least for now).

-Steve



Fitness Goals

• Run a 5k race
• Run 5 miles (Realized that this is really not important to me. I'm not a runner. Getting back in shape through climbing, HIT training, biking instead.)
• 100 consecutive push ups
• 50 consecutive pull ups
• Get back down to 170 lbs (177 as of 5/13/11) Done 7/2013
• Get back down to 165 lbs Done 10/2013
• Get a respectable six pack Getting there 11/2013
• Bench 225 lbs (again)
• Earn a second blackbelt
• Replace car with bike for routine errands (Summer 2013)

Travel Goals

• Visit Central America (Costa Rica, 1997-98)
• Visit Thailand (1999??)
• Spend a season in the Italian countryside
• Visit Ushuaia
• See the Southern Cross
• Spend a month in Asia
• Visit Australia & New Zealand
• Watch a soccer match in England
• See the running of the bulls
• 3-month US roadtrip with an RV/trailer
• Attend Octoberfest
• Spent 6 consecutive months outside of the US
• Visit Alaska
• Go on a cruise

Green Living Goals

• Ditch cable TV (Fall 2011, again Summer 2013)
• Rainwater capture for garden (Spring 2013)
• Solar power for home
• Grow 25% of veggies we use (did OK in 2013...)
• Grow almost all of the herbs we cook with
• Skip meat at least one day/week

Adventure Goals

• Sky Dive (2000?)
• Surf respectably, once (2005?)
• Go non-tandem skydiving
• Scuba a shipwreck
• Dive with sharks
• Dive with dolphins
• Learn to kitesurf
• Windsurf respectably, once
• Fly a paraglider
• Climb a mountain (TBD)
• Top-rope an ice climb
• Month+ canoe trip in Canada
• Backpack for 3 weeks
• Snowboarding trip (TBD)
• Climb in Hueco
• Fly fish
• Go snowshoing
• Go cross-country skiing
• Whale close-up

Rock Climbing Goals

• Redpoint Slash and Burn (5.12d -- The New)
• Re-redpoint The Trophy (5.12c -- Vegas)
• Redpoint Pet Shop Boys (5.12d -- Vegas)
• Redpoint a 5.13a
• Send Scary Monsters (v6 -- Joe’s)
• Send Midnight Lightning (v8? -- Yosemite)
• Climb El Cap
• Climb Half Dome -- any direct route
• Climb Epinepherine with Sydney

Random

• Become comfortable in 3 foreign languages
• Spanish
• Italian? Greek? Chinese?
• Build a house
• Create a piece of art
• Invent something patentable
• Take down a deer with bow & arrow

Professional / Financial Goals

• Start a business (2012)
• Sell a business
• Be a CEO (2012)
• Raise money for a business (2012)
• Sit on a board of directors (Realized that this is really not important to me.)
• $2M in liquid assets (Realized that this is really not important to me.)
• Mostly-passive income stream(s) covering our routine needs

iPad 3 prediction

Just based on some trends, here are my predictions for the iPad 3. (Let me be clear, I am talking about the 2012 rev to the iPad 2 that just came out... Not a hypothetical 7" iPad 3 some are predicting for fall 2011.)

Faster (duh)

Lighter (more pleasure to hold... Crucial in a handheld... This enabled by better batteries)

Not thinner (iPad 2 is about as thin as you would want it to be)

Much better rear-facing camera

Stereo speakers

NFC capability

12 hour battery life

Does not run flash

LTE and GSM - no CDMA version

No silver bezel visible from the front at all

Finally an updated native calendar app.

Double the storage capacity, similar/same price

Some kind of seamless device-to-device communication... Your iPhone, iPad, and your friend/wife's iPhone should all be able to communicate for games, etc with zero hassle. Current implementations are just too futzy.

I will want one

Retina display (I am on the fence on this currently... Certainly Apple has invested heavily in display tech, but this just may not yet be feasible economically in early 2012... But boy oh boy would it sure make people want to upgrade!)

No haptic display; though I would love that.

- Scuba Steve

Good times with good people!

Had a pint with a friend today, and I am filled with a renewed sense of spirit. This is someone who creates... who believes there is beauty in so many things... Who tries to truly live life and not just coast through.

This person reminded me that your life is what you make it - no reason you can't pursue the things that matter to you, and no reason you have to accept that the world is what it is - maybe you're the one who is meant to make it just a little bit better. What is life without a bit of passion; a bit of striving...

Lucky to know that kind of person. Perhaps someday I'll be lucky enough to inspire someone else in the same way.

- Scuba Steve

Pretty...

Da new family wagon... It's a hybrid!







- Scuba Steve

Sydney!

Hi everyone... Say hello to Sydney Caroline Reaser.




6 pounds 15 Ounces
20.5 inches
Clearly a genius already

Mama and baby are doing great.

- Scuba Steve

Crib - *this* close...

So I've managed to spend a few hours in the shop this weekend... The light at the end of this project is getting pretty bright!

First I did some more gluing and clamping... You think that the number of clamps you own is embarrassingly high, but then you glue up the top rail of a bed and find you coulda used 3 or 4 more...




Anyway, got that glued up, and then started finishing up the sides... Got them 100% ready to polyurethane... All sanded down and everything (like 2 hours of hand sanding, because of all those spindles).

So even though I'm gonna have to disassemble it to seal it up, (and even though the headboard isn't done yet) I wanted to see what it was gonna look like, so I went ahead and assembled it... I like!








- Scuba Steve