Supafly.com

05-03-05 “
Tuesday:
I shifted my schedule over the winter so I would spend more time at my home after I got off work. I avoided going out with friends or going to events at church. I just needed time to relax in the house that I’ve spend so much time making nice. But that whole plan never worked out because I never relaxed. I just did busy-body lounging. I’d watch a sitcom while I cleaned the house. I’d listen to the news while I shopped for cars on eBay. I’ve multi-tasked myself into insanity.

Last Sunday I forced myself to lay in my hammock and do absolutely nothing for twenty minutes. I wasn’t aloud to listen to the radio or read a magazine. I just laid there and watched the sky change colors during the sunset. At least a dozen times, I fought back urges to get up and do something else. I was embarrassed of my impulses. Soon my time was up, and I felt great. I stepped back in the house and felt like a better person.

My friend went on a week-long retreat just for guys. One of the prayers was to stay in three foot circle in the woods for three hours. He explained that it was difficult, that the first hour and a half was misery. But the last half was heavenly. Nowadays, it takes effort to relax, but it’s worth it. So it’s Tuesday, and I’m on my second day of laying in the hammock right after work. I think this is going to be a good habit.

I’ve been putting in long hours at the studio since we’ve launched the new lifeteen.com. A big difference between this site and the old one is that I am using more contributing writers. Even though I’m the only one who works full-time on the site, we have over 50 people who volunteer a few hours a week towards the site.

There’s a restaurant near the studio that is super-hip boutique market, sandwich shop, and coffee shop. Their little restaurant become so popular, they bought up the space next door just to give their customers more places to sit and eat. They started a wine bar on the other side of the parking lot in an old post office. Now that spot is outrageously popular. With more people coming for lunch at both restaurants, they were forced to acquire a third parking lot. But even that is not enough, so they have two guys who valet at lunch. The parking lot is bumper-to-bumper with luxury cars that are too new to have license plates. All of this commotion for a seven-dollar sandwich!

It’s stunning to see a restaurant done that well. There is no detail that is missed. I could eat lunch there everyday because their creativity inspires me. I eat a good meal and then I truck back to the studio sparkling with creativity. I want to create a website that is as good as that restaurant. I’ve done everything possible to expand lifeteen.com to become a cool and inviting home online, but my creativity is limited because I am the only one. As long as it is only me working on the site, we’ll never know how big it could be.

Earlier this year, we looked for a Web Developer to hire full time. But after reading many resumes and holding just as many interviews, it became obvious that there was little chance of finding someone who has what we need: very talented, very skilled, very smart, very Catholic, and willing to work for next to nothing. At best, we found someone who could do one of those, but none of the others.

One of our old Interns from a couple summers ago is away at college, and he called last week to tell me about a classmate who’s graduating that he thinks might be a qualified Intern. I’m praying that something will happen, because it gets disheartening working like this.

Candyce was away in San Diego all weekend with her family, so I was all alone here in Phoenix. There’s always countless things for me to accomplish in life, but there comes a point in your week where you just have to relax. I stayed at work until eight on Friday, then came home and stayed busy online until I fell asleep at midnight.

Yesterday afternoon I went to my friend’s pool party. I thought I’d just swing by for an hour in the afternoon, and I ended up staying until after midnight. It’s been a long time since I’ve cut loose and just had a good time.

In all the conversations we had at the party, I had little to talk about other than the projects in my life. It was cool to share about my passions and what I’m up to, but I had way too much to talk about. I had trouble just chilling out. I have to calm down and remember to have fun.

I cannot say it enough: it is so good to not travel. The past four years of my life has been an endless blur of work and traveling.