Believe…

I was washing dishes and then I turned away for a second,
and before I knew it my son (Haven) climbed into the dishwasher.
Like any good parent, instead of pulling him out immediately
I reached for the camera and snapped a photo.  I love
being a father and feel extremely lucky to have a son that
makes me smile everyday and a wife that helps me keep together
a currently stretched (work, school, baby) lifestyle.

Hanging with the bear at Stratton Vermont

This past weekend was pretty amazing, I finally had a chance to ride with my bros at Stern.  We got to dip into some pretty fun stuff at Stratton and I randomly ran into David, Derrick, & Deidre.  Not only was that cool, but I got to catch Colin for a minute, because he’s a snowboard instructor up at Stratton now.   All and all awesome weekend, just wish it didn’t have to be so short.  Here’s my favorite pic of the trip – yeah the riding is always great, but it’s the friendships on the journey that matter.

As many of you know, my right hand man is very talented. 
He’s created artwork for Blondie, the Haiti Relief project, and Toyota’s Scion brand.
The imagery here is of the Toyota Scion brand he was commissioned for when Scion was first launched.
Toyota launched the Scion line with the intention of going after a younger demographic.  In order to
appeal to this market they sought famous graffiti artists and commissioned them to create urban
pieces on their vehicles.  This was one of the many vehicles that Thomas Dolce designed artwork for.

Toyota commissioned the urban artist Thomas Dolce for this project to launch its Scion brand in the U.S.

Haven had his first birthday on Feb. 3rd.
It’s hard to believe how much he’s grown and how beautiful he is.
I’m thankful for him, and especially thankful to my wife for holding us together as a family.
This was a picture taken when Haven was only about 2-3 months old.
He has an amazing ability to make you smile.

Haven Young Storey

Have a Heart for Haiti

It’s hard for me to let this go
because we can all impact this world
maybe you’ve already given
maybe its enough
maybe you could just use your voice
simply encourage others to give
your voice can help
we are all interconnected

This artwork was sketched by my friend Thomas Dolce.  He is an artist that uses his art to inspire others.  He sketched this quick, took a picture with his phone, sent it to me and asked me to spread it in an effort to inspire.  Please help by texting “Haiti” to 9-0-9-9-9, which makes a $10 donation to the Red Cross and aids the effort in Haiti.

I love snowboarding, because it’s the one activity in my life where I just focus on that moment.  In this hyper paced world, I’m constantly thinking about the next moment, or the next thing I have to do, the next project I have to complete for work, or the next assignment I have to finish for school.  Snowboarding is the one place where I can just focus on that moment, be in that moment.  There is no stress, there is no expectation.  The only goal is to enjoy.

Like millions of people around the world, I’ve been shocked by the terrible events in Haiti.

Only now is the true scale of the disaster emerging. Reports now suggest as many as 75,000 people may have died, with hundreds of thousands made homeless.

The work ahead to recover from this tragedy is immense. So here’s our goal: $1 billion for Haiti. That’s how much Haiti owes to the International Monetary Fund, the Inter-American Development Bank, and a handful of others.

Sign the petition below to ask Haiti’s creditors to act quickly and cancel Haiti’s debts:

http://one.org/us/actnow/drophaitiandebt/index.html?rc=haitidebtpaste

As Haiti begins to rebuild we can help by lifting this debt.

Together as ONE we can make a difference!

Thanks!

*Source: The One Campaign

I’m now officially past the 1 year point in a top MBA program.  Overall, I’m really excited about the experience and learning much more than I thought I would.  I’m not sure what exactly I expected or what I thought the experience would be like, but it is by far much better than I thought it would be.  The balancing act between work, school, and juggling a personal life has been intense.  Many articles are written about how an MBA will benefit you in your career or provides excellent networking opportunities.   Here are the top three things you’ll takeaway that most articles don’t tell you about:

1)  Much better time management skills, the kind that will make you 500% more productive – and you’ll learn the notion of selective neglect
2)  A significantly better understanding of the way the world works (I know this sounds incredibly generic, but there’s no better way to explain it)
3)  Much better quantitative skills (and Microsoft Excel skills in general, you’ll learn how to make magic happen using Excel or at least be 10x better than you currently are)

If number 2 was the only thing you took away from an MBA program it would have provided you with an ROI.

Now imagine this, starting tomorrow you are 500% more productive – what would you give to clone yourself 4 times?  This is what an MBA program will do for you and it will happen by your second or third semester.

No matter what you do, the goal is to excel.  Not to be mediocre, but to stand apart from the crowd.  I was watching some random hip hop dancing videos on youtube, and this one stood-out.  Happy birthday to me – enjoy

[video nolink]

If you use Firefox like approximately 30% of the Internet user population then you can experience it to.  Check out www.lacoste.com.  The navigation is miserable, the site is clunky, and words get hidden behind images randomly.  It makes me wonder, did anyone cross browser check this site, probably not.  Whoever Lacoste contracted as the Interactive Agency to design this site  should be ashamed of this piece of work.  I speculate that it wasn’t the agency’s fault.  Instead, it must have been Lacoste’s direction to the Interactive Agency.  I know many a designer who sets out on the right mission only to be pushed into an uncomfortable box by a challenging client.   My gut tells me this site is a casualty of the Client vs. Designer battle, where the client always wins by getting their design – but always loses by not getting the Designer’s intended design.