Brian Johnson

ZaadzBlog Rocks

2005-12-22T21:10:00.000-08:00

All future blog posts will go to my Zaadz Blog.

Woo

to the

Hoo!!!

And, here's WHY I'm so fired about peeps blogging via ZaadzBlogz!

Zaadz Blog Post #2

2005-12-20T23:57:00.000-08:00

I hart my job.

Thoughts on our change-world-strategy.

Holy smokes, Batman! My first Zaadz Blog post!!

2005-12-20T21:33:00.000-08:00

Woo hoo!!!

Here she is...

The very first blog post on Zaadz. The tool's simple at this stage...but OMIGOD...sweet.

Vanishing difficulties

2005-12-20T01:14:00.000-08:00

"It has been my philosophy of life that difficulties vanish when faced boldly."
~ Isaac Asimov, author

(Cross your fingers...if all goes well this will be one of my last blog posts here...ZaadzBlog is almost here! Woo hoo!! :)

Thanks, coolmel

2005-12-19T18:48:00.000-08:00

Zaadz: It's Dutch for "seed"

Thanks for the shout out, sir coolmel. Check out his great blog. Funny shit.

(Apparently I'm "fluffier than fluff." Hah. Not entirely sure what that means, but we'll roll with it. :)

The Ass and His Purchaser

2005-12-19T12:33:00.000-08:00

"A MAN wished to purchase an Ass, and agreed with its owner that he should try out the animal before he bought him. He took the Ass home and put him in the straw-yard with his other Asses, upon which the new animal left all the others and at once joined the one that was most idle and the greatest eater of them all. Seeing this, the man put a halter on him and led him back to his owner. On being asked how, in so short a time, he could have made a trial of him, he answered, I do not need a trial; I know that he will be just the same as the one he chose for his companion. A man is known by the company he keeps."
~Aesop~

Bono Rocks. So do the Gateses

2005-12-18T10:10:00.000-08:00

Updated: 12:38 p.m. ET Dec. 18, 2005

NEW YORK - The richest man in the world, Bill Gates, and his wife, Melinda, were named Time magazine’s “Persons of the Year” along with Irish rocker Bono for being “Good Samaritans” who made a difference in different ways.

“For being shrewd about doing good, for rewiring politics and re-engineering justice, for making mercy smarter and hope strategic and then daring the rest of us to follow, Bill and Melinda Gates and Bono are Time’s Persons of the Year,” the magazine said in its Dec. 19 issue, made public on Sunday.

Thanks, Vince!

2005-12-18T09:44:00.000-08:00

Thanks for the shout out, Vince.

Very cool.

-bri

Mind Map of Spril Dynamics

2005-12-18T09:32:00.000-08:00

Mind Map of Spril Dynamics

If you're looking for a cool intro to Spiral Dynamics mind-map style, there ya go!

(thanks for the tip, Ryan! Ryan (ryan.zaadz.com) 's one of our awesome new code poets at Zaadz, btw. And, say "hi" to Josh our other new addition while you're there! These guys rock. Gotta love conscious, vegan web developers who kick ass. :) )

Vote for my buddy Kelly for entrepreneur of the year

2005-12-17T11:52:00.000-08:00

So my friend Kelly Perdew is in a competition to win entrepreneur of the year.

Help him out by voting here!

He's a brilliant guy. If you happened to watch The Apprentice II then you saw some of his magic.

KP Worldwide (as he's affectionately known to me and our friends :) and I worked together when I was getting my first company, eteamz, off the ground. We hired him as our head of biz dev and he was my right hand guy doing all kinds of stuff for the company--and he was a huge part of our successful sale of my first business. Stud.

Fun fun fun.

Go KP!!!

Oh yah, here's a sneak peak at his new book: Take Command: 10 Leadership Principles I Learned in the Military and Put to Work for Donald Trump

and, check out his new profile on Zaadz at takecommand.zaadz.com!

Thinking and flames

2005-12-16T14:00:00.000-08:00

Inspirational art quotes and fine artists
http://www.artquotes.net

Art Quotes for December 16

Thinking gives off smoke to prove the existence of fire.
A mystic sits inside the burning.
::: Rumi - Mevlana :::

Develop an inner candle flame that won’t flicker even
when the worst goes before you.
::: Wayne Dyer :::

Real work...

2005-12-16T10:09:00.000-08:00

"Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment, and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing."
~ Thomas Edison, inventor

Zaadzster (Pre-)Beta version is live!

2005-12-14T15:08:00.000-08:00

Check it out:

brian.zaadz.com

and

www.zaadz.com/people

We won't be rolling stuff out "officially" till early '06 but cruise on over and join the first wave!!! :)

The Truth

2005-12-11T22:44:00.000-08:00

A new friend of mine shared this thought with me today:

"Pursue the truth,
whatever the costs
wherever it leads."

(Thanks, Sam.)

ZEN - FOR THOSE WHO TAKE LIFE SERIOUSLY

2005-12-07T22:51:00.000-08:00

Funny enough to share:

ZEN - FOR THOSE WHO TAKE LIFE SERIOUSLY

1. SAVE THE WHALES. COLLECT THE WHOLE SET.
2. A DAY WITHOUT SUNSHINE IS LIKE, NIGHT.
3. ON THE OTHER HAND, YOU HAVE DIFFERENT FINGERS.
4. I JUST GOT LOST IN THOUGHT. IT WASN'T FAMILIAR TERRITORY.
5. 42.7 PERCENT OF ALL STATISTICS ARE MADE UP ON THE SPOT.
6. I FEEL LIKE I\'M DIAGONALLY PARKED IN A PARALLEL UNIVERSE.
7. HONK IF YOU LOVE PEACE AND QUIET.
8. REMEMBER, HALF THE PEOPLE YOU KNOW ARE BELOW AVERAGE.
9. HE WHO LAUGHS LAST, THINKS SLOWEST.
10. DEPRESSION IS MERELY ANGER WITHOUT ENTHUSIASM.
11. THE EARLY BIRD MAY GET THE WORM, BUT THE SECOND MOUSE GETS THE CHEESE.
12. I DRIVE WAY TOO FAST TO WORRY ABOUT CHOLESTEROL.
13. SUPPORT BACTERIA. THEY'RE THE ONLY CULTURE SOME PEOPLE HAVE.
14. MONDAY IS AN AWFUL WAY TO SPEND 1/7 OF YOUR WEEK.
15. A CLEAR CONSCIENCE IS USUALLY THE SIGN OF A BAD MEMORY.
16. CHANGE IS INEVITABLE, EXCEPT FROM VENDING MACHINES.
17. GET A NEW CAR FOR YOUR SPOUSE. IT'LL BE A GREAT TRADE!
18. PLAN TO BE SPONTANEOUS TOMORROW.
19. ALWAYS TRY TO BE MODEST, AND BE PROUD OF IT!
20. IF YOU THINK NOBODY CARES, TRY MISSING A COUPLE OF PAYMENTS.
21. HOW MANY OF YOU BELIEVE IN PSYCHO-KINESIS? RAISE MY HAND.
22. OK, SO WHAT'S THE SPEED OF DARK?
23. HOW DO YOU TELL WHEN YOU'RE OUT OF INVISIBLE INK?
24. IF EVERYTHING SEEMS TO BE GOING WELL, YOU HAVE OBVIOUSLY OVERLOOKED SOMETHING.
25. WHEN EVERYTHING IS COMING YOUR WAY, YOU'RE IN THE WRONG LANE.
26. HARD WORK PAYS OFF IN THE FUTURE. LAZINESS PAYS OFF NOW.
27. EVERYONE HAS A PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY. SOME JUST DO NOT HAVE FILM.
28. IF BARBIE IS SO POPULAR, WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BUY HER FRIENDS?
29. HOW MUCH DEEPER WOULD THE OCEAN BE WITHOUT SPONGES?
30. EAGLES MAY SOAR, BUT WEASELS DO NOT GET SUCKED INTO JET ENGINES.
31. WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU GET SCARED HALF TO DEATH TWICE?
32. I USED TO HAVE AN OPEN MIND BUT MY BRAINS KEPT FALLING OUT.
33. I COULDN'T REPAIR YOUR BRAKES, SO I MADE YOUR HORN LOUDER.
34. WHY DO PSYCHICS HAVE TO ASK YOU FOR YOUR NAME?
35. INSIDE EVERY OLDER PERSON IS A YOUNGER PERSON WONDERING WHAT HAPPENED.
36. JUST REMEMBER, IF THE WORLD DID NOT SUCK, WE WOULD ALL FALL OFF.
37. LIGHT TRAVELS FASTER THAN SOUND, WHICH IS WHY SOME PEOPLE APPEAR BRIGHT...UNTIL YOU HEAR THEM SPEAK.

Zaadz Daily Wisdom Podcast!

2005-12-06T11:05:00.000-08:00

It's official. From LearnOutLoud's blog:

Zaadz Daily Wisdom Podcast Launches - OK, one internal item of news. :) Today we started sending out the Zaadz Daily Wisdom Podcast, a daily podcast of inspirational quotes and teaches. Check it out when you get a chance. We think you'll dig it. To subscribe go to http://www.learnoutloud.com/wisdom or search the iTunes directory for "zaadz".

...

Woo hoo!

Hope you enjoy.

DiCaprio to Produce Environment Film

2005-12-05T22:25:00.000-08:00

DiCaprio to Produce Environment Film

Good stuff.

And, check out DiCaprio's work at his site.

Do your homework and Give!

2005-12-04T13:04:00.000-08:00

"A genius is a talented person who does his homework." ~ Thomas Edison, inventor

"No person has ever been honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave." ~ Calvin Coolidge, 30th US president

(Got those great quotes from Brian Tracy's newsletter)

Insider Pages & ZaadzPro Local

2005-12-03T14:35:00.000-08:00

We're going to be launching something called ZaadzPro Local in Spring '06. It's gonna integrate some aspects of our Zaadster social networking tools with online Yellow Pages stuff.

I'm articulating this in our biz plan now.

Found this great article I want to remember. So, I'm bloggin it. :)

Idealab chief stakes out new direction in search

Way of the Peaceful Warrior: The Movie

2005-12-03T12:37:00.000-08:00

Just got back from San Francisco (I'm in Los Angeles for those curious souls) where I joined about 50 of Dan Millman's friends in a pre-release viewing of the upcoming movie based on his book "Way of the Peaceful Warrior."

Dan got a standing ovation after the screening.

Cool stuff.

Cami Winikoff and her crew at Sabini Films (and Lion's Gate) did a GREAT job with it.

Obviously, it's tough to bring a book like that to the big screen and I think they did a really really good job with it. Nick Nolte stars as Socrates, Scott Mechlowicz plays Dan and Amy Smart plays Joy. Kudos to all for a brilliant job.

I'm really excited for the release of the film in April.

Fun fun fun.

(Also met John Raatz, a great guy and the President of The Visioneering Group, who was one of the forces behind the success of What the Bleep Do We Know?!?...He's involved with the Peaceful Warrior project and I have no doubt they're going to do some amazing stuff with this and the other films they're bringing to the world. Incredible times...)

Zaadz: New site launched

2005-12-01T09:53:00.000-08:00

Cool.

We just launched Zaadz on our new servers on Ruby on Rails.

One step closer to rolling out the goods in early '06.

Fun fun fun.

Reverence for Life

2005-12-01T00:52:00.000-08:00

Just got this from my friend Desmond and wanted to share! Thanks for the inspiration, Desmond. :)

Zaadz 2.0 – The Four Noble Truths of Software Development

2005-11-29T20:03:00.000-08:00

This is an early draft of an intro to a tech vision doc that Aaron (the co-founder and Wizard & Chief Experience Officer of Zaadz) is creating for our new engineers (go Ryan & Josh!!!).

Too funny and too cool not to share.

Zaadz 2.0 – The Four Noble Truths of Software Development

Introduction to the Journey

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.”

~ Lao Tzu

Our journey begins with the young Siddhartha, leaving the palace in India, his wife and his son Kishore, to find the noble truths to life and the secret to end suffering. Like Siddhartha, the intrepid founders of Zaadz have left the golden palaces of outsourced development, and through a difficult journey of introspection, contemplation, effort, and self-sacrifice have found the middle path, and the four noble truths of software development.

The First Noble Truth

Everything Takes Longer than You Expect

The concept behind zaadz was born many years ago. At times when it seemed as if success was inimitable and the birth of Zaadz just around the corner… and yet, the realization of this dream remained elusive. Through this time, however, the vision of what Zaadz is meant to be has evolved through the fire of hardship and challenge. Now we come to this project with new passion, and a new vision that is closer than ever to the desire that is in our hearts…

To build THE community that inspires and empowers the world to achieve their greatest dreams.

Bringing this great a vision into the world does not come about without true effort. So always remember the first noble truth. Be prepared for the long journey, work hard, and maintain your faith and passion in the dream of what we’re brining into the world even when setbacks occur. And by all means, keep yourself well capitalized.

The Second Noble Truth

Everything is Subject to Change and We Must Change With It

Ah, the impermanence of the material world. Especially in the fast paced world of technology, things are constantly changing and evolving. When faced with the daunting challenge of dismantling the entire architecture put forth by our Indian friends, Aaron was in dire need of a platform that could carry the lofty dreams of what Zaadz was destined to become.

As Aaron perused the landscape of available web development platforms, he was struck by the lack of a cohesive framework that made development simple. Then during a dream, Aaron was visited by an angel, who typed these words into his browser window…

www.rubyonrails.com

Lo and behold, the prophet Aaron saw god, and realized that Ruby on Rails would be the framework that could bring the vision of Zaadz into the world. Faced with the difficult challenge of forgoing all that came before, the decision was discussed and made… and in the process, the Zaadz vision and technology took a leap forward into Web 2.0, and into a community of developers who are as excited about the potential of this platform to bring web programming into the next century as we are about the potential for Zaadz to help millions of people to grow in their lives.

Always be ready and willing to made a change if it will further the vision of the company and product. Be willing to consider changes, even if it means sacrificing something that is already in place… and above all, always keep an eye on the horizon for what’s coming next.

The Third Noble Truth

The Key to Providing the Best Product is to Serve the Consumer

We all have a pretty good idea of what we think is going to be a powerful offering to the web community, but we should never forget that our customers drive the success of our product.

During the early days of eteamz, in the Old Testament, the prophet Brian communicated his vision that in five years, all youth sports teams would be using the web. And lo, the prophecy came to pass through the miracle of eteamz.

Why was eteamz successful? Because we listened and responded to our customer’s needs at every opportunity. Customer feedback was regularly encouraged and suggestions were implemented as soon as possible, sometimes within the hour.

As we seek to provide the product that will truly serve our customers, remember always to seek out and listen to their needs. We will be successful to the extent that we truly provide value to the people who we are serving.

The Fourth Noble Truth

The Path to the Perfect Product is Through Our Own Self-Discovery

Our work is inexplicably tied to our lives. Some people try to escape that… others embrace it. We’re excited to be embarking on a project that we can truly believe in. But let’s never forget that our passion for this development and this company is directly related to our continual growth and development.

Years ago, I was given the opportunity, a senior fresh out of college to take part in the development of a .com company. I remember fondly the days when I sat in my room at home with a Cold Fusion manual in my lap, chatting Brian on the IM from Pittsburgh, putting the first pieces of the eteamz site together.

From that time until now, I’ve grown and evolved. I’ve learned new programming languages, wrestled with server architecture, led integration teams, managed groups of outsourced programmers and found my passion in creating technology vision and working with bright, enthusiastic people who have a desire to change the world.

Now it’s time for me to pass that torch, and give you, the developers of Zaadz the opportunity to shine. I ask you to find your passion in this development. Do the work that needs to be done but continue to dream and find ways to serve your own needs through the technology that we’re building.

After all, we, the developers of Zaadz should be the first ones to make use of tools we are building for our own personal development. And if we aren’t, we had better figure out what feature is missing, speak up, and get it developed since the success of this company is ultimately tied to our own personal success and satisfaction.

Doing it right

2005-11-27T13:08:00.000-08:00

"If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?"
~ John Wooden

Mindfulness

2005-11-27T12:30:00.000-08:00

Remember that the Chinese word we translate as "mind" actually means "mind+heart."

Love that.

(Just got reminded of that by Jon Kabbat-Zinn in an interview over at WIE on The Business of Changing the World. Thanks, Jon!)