Present in the Now

As I watch him grow he is always in a state of now. To see him interact with the world in a fully present state of mind means he can give all he is to the moment. It is full of light, wonder, curiosity, and the spectrum of emotions that roll in the moment.

Zen is Fleeting

Expectations, thoughts of what comes next are still young in his mind. Slowly I’m seeing the dichotomy of his self. Rising from the depths of one is splitting into the present thought, the emotional thought, and the future thought. Many times they are not aligned and this causes him stress. It’s both amazing and sometimes sad how we develop into who and what we are.

The Adult Zone a State of Flow

Now when I enter my own states of rhythm, focus, and flow I respect it even more because it reminds me of the unified self that we start as. Enjoy your moments in these states and try and make time for them. They are when you are at your best capacity for work, creativity, and enjoyment. No divisions.

Nuance Labs Consulting

Clients and work are tidal. I had a good year of completing projects which kept me entertained and challenged, meeting new people is always exciting.

I’m not able to stretch the full extent of my engineering muscles much anymore and somewhere I regret that. I am however happy to continue my education and understanding of psychology, marketing, and media mediums that can be used to help clients acquire and grow their business.

The Secret Chocolatier

Never have I worked so hard or worried so much. Having everything you have and are on the line every day, every month makes for perspective and fast educations. The 2012 year taught me a lot about retail cycles and the need for a focus on ongoing sales goals.

The business owner in me has a lot still to learn and a massive amount of work ahead to strive towards a foothold of success. The chef in me however has had so much fun this year creating new products from our sea salt butter toffee to roasted pecan cherry salted bark. I keep finding ways to create chocolate crack and if I gobble it up, usually I can find others who will to. Food, instant gratification, rewarding. Yea.

I know we’ve done well though looking through the lens of those who have reflected bits of who we are. See our media mentions. We just need to keep it up.

The Ciordia Family

While we work incredibly hard we still try and find time for our smaller nucleus of a family. Quick retreats, a moment to ourselves, a movie—even on the couch, is rewarding.

I even finally found the time (more so the will) to cut my hair off after 20 years of being a long-hair. While I can say the first few weeks were definitely an adjustment I’ve grown fond of the new look. I’ll stay with it for now, heck it’s still longer than many but just long enough for me.

2012 saw Logan go from 5 months old to 17 months. I’ve said it before, we’re amazing creatures. Growth, vocabulary, independence—oh the independence!  As soon as Logan’s legs were steady he is all go, go—go!

Our workspace has been under constant evolution at the shop. Once he only needed my arm to hang on and a changing table. Now we have more gates up than a scientific rat trap and we’re never sure if we’re gating grand-pa Bill in or Logan out.

Not only with our family but my sister Cat is now a nurse, my nephew is growing up quick at 9, my other sister Elizabeth has had her first baby girl Tobin, and my brother David now has his first Luke. Our family tree has a nice set of branches and it’s going to be great fun watching everyone grow.

2013

2013 will continue to be a difficult grade to travel. If we can push well into the new year with growth and new avenues we should find a traction that brings us into a new phase of stability and less “oh sh*t” moments. I look forward to that.  It’s both amazing and sometimes heart breaking time to be doing all of this. Our lives are held together with love, smiles, Logan’s giggles, and a family that knows how to pull together (oh and a few skydives never hurt.)

2012 showed us what was wrong, what was right and we are deeply ready to apply ourselves anew in 2013.

I am lucky to be married to a strong resilient wife and have such a happy son that doesn’t seem to mind the chaos he is growing up around. It isn’t what I had planned but as I have learned over the last decade planning rarely if ever goes accordingly.

Goodbye 2012, you were a helluva test to my wits, strength, and sanity. 2013 lets see if we can find more opportunity and growth for all.

Been impressed by some of these artists:

• Mummford & Sons, Babel
• Alt-J
• Gemini
• Jack White - Blunderbuss
• Milo Green
• Sleigh Bells
• Blue Sky Black Death
• Thao + The Get Down Stay Down
• Lamb, 5
• Sondre Lerche
• Cat Power
• Best Coast
• Florence + the Machine

Some I’ve had in the collection while others may be new to me. Great to fill the tank up though. Working physically more than digitally kept me from my music more than I’d like.

Jam on.

During Robin’s 2nd trimester over a year ago I said I’d grow my hair out as long as I was able and donate it when Logan was born.  Well he was born and I was busy, lazy, or a myriad of other things and it didn’t get done.

Procrastination

Now he’s nearing 11mos old and my hair was freaking long. Longer than I’d have ever wanted it even under normal circumstances.  With Robin’s hand holding I finally figured out a time to get it done and a style I could try.

The Cut

I went to a really well reviewed barbershop downtown, The Cut and Mandie quickly sized me and my hair up—-and yes.. I think I went into a mild case of shock when it was cut.

Snip Snip

To make sure we had a good donation she cut a bit more off than I wanted but it’s done and it can grow back if I please.  Now 12” of my hair is on its way to Locks of Love. I’m glad I finally honored my commitments and the new look isn’t bad—even after sleeping on it a night.

Banks made bad decisions.  They got bailed out, and they are still being given access to a lot of cash for 0% or very very low percentages. This means they can make even more money.

Merchant Accounts, the good and bad.

Banks also give merchant accounts.  These accounts let business do commerce with your credit and debit cards.  They don’t cost the consumer, they cost the merchant.  My business gets charged between 1.8% to 3% + a .20-.30c transaction fee.  In terms we can all understand if we cleared $10k through 400 purchases we paid them somewhere around $320 for the privilege.

Now we work hard not to pass this on to the consumer, we just soak it as a cost of doing business.  The point is that we pay for those cards.

On to debit cards.

Then the government said you can’t charge a heck of a lot more to merchants for those debit cards.  Rates were almost competitive to the above numbers where they used to be pretty cheap.

We like debit, saved us money, but lately, not so much. To the point we stopped asking, “Credit or Debit?” We just charged it credit, made so little difference.

Now banks are pilot testing charging their customers a “convenience” charge to use their debit cards (yea the BoA $5/a month comes to mind today.)

It’d be like charging you for basic check usage.  All because the government said you can’t keep extorting money from merchants. They turn and look back at the consumer directly.

Bank of America said that they need to make a profit.

I’m all for profit, really.  You make profit through excellent products and customer service. Not from just taking money for something which has been paid for 100x over.

Lets recap.

Banks make a lot of money.

Banks make a lot of money off your money.

Banks make a lot of money off merchants.

Banks want you to pay for more without giving you more.

Banks are not innovating.

Why should anyone pay more for the current level of services?

Why is banking culture so bad?

Now I know this isn’t all banks, and it probably doesn’t involve 70% of the private credit unions but there is an endemic problem with banking culture. I think it needs to really be thrashed for being so callous, stupid, and outright heavy handed with how it is doing business with our capital.  While our money sleeps in their coffers they use it to make more money.  They often charge us for this benefit, rarely give us anything back, and have you seen the current savings interest rate?  Oh yea it’s too small to see.

If I were a bank I’d be looking at how I can serve the consumer, what I could do to make their life easier, better, faster, while earning more with what little we have.

Instead many who took bailout paid back early (illegally) so they could get their kickbacks set back up for the executive arms.

It’s just sad, and I had to rant about it for a moment.  I’ve got a keen eye on those banks which hold mine, and my businesses monies.