Relax the hoity toityness (holy crap the spell check didn’t react to that at all).

Just get off your ass and do the 1 big thing first.  That means don’t worry so much about some of those other balls and get the main thing done.

So what is it? What’s the main thing?!

FIND OUT!

The (insert wonderful adjective here) Gary Veynerchuk has brought yet another awesome inspirational video.  This is one of those things that makes me want to kick butt.

For more inspirational goodness, check out Stefan Bucher’s work too! He’s awesome (and it’s all him). His follow your heart video is great (I’d ignore his stance on goregous women,, but that’s just me (I married one)).

Another inspiring thing is to find others to inspire, and return that inspiration right back at you.

To sum up.

• Narrow down your concept.
• Get to it.
• Inspire a friend
• Let them inspire you too.

Sadly there was a severe loss of one of our racing brethren at the event, Court Summerfield lost his life at the event.  If you wish to donate to the Court Summerfield fund please do click here.

It turns out I actually knew a member of the winners team Krider Racing Steve Coonts, (he coached my sister in swimming years ago).

Our team is made up of myself, Jaime Furtado, Mike Przybylski , Jukka Valkonnen, and Shaun Donovan. We all had a blast!  Our crew chief was none other than the ACTUAL race driver Scott Schroeder who drives for TRG racing. The pace of the race went from speedy to nutty rapidly, and we all had a blast!  For a better review, check either our team site for ScuderiaPRC (Punk Rock Chef) or the updates by Murilee Martin for Jalopnik.com

Look for us at the race at ThunderHill Raceway in December!

My next racing event will be at the Jim Russel Kart School in late June for the Advanced Sprint Kart 1 day class (more on that after I do it).

David Seah (Dave to humans who have met him for more than 3 seconds) is the mastermind behind The Printable CEO and other amazing time management/productivity/organization sheets and forms. I even got him to autograph(see the pic above) his own form (that reminds me, I should get Tristan to sign an Ionic Breeze!)

I make a point to communicate with people online who I find fascinating, and that generate truly amazing content, Dave’s work is quite singular in this regard. He, surprisingly to me, began to ask many questions of me and my process, as I was curious about him and how he went about things. He has run the gamut from web design to game design, currently experience design. He’s well rounded, well spoken, and will likely shove a camera lens in your face that is about twice as big as you expect. Wait till he posts about the cool little hack on said camera!

Dave and I are both in the position of trying to develop products, sell them, and actually make things that people want (and are useful). We discussed a lot about fulfillment (personal, and places to ship your products from). We discussed virtual products and how to interact with the aspects of rights management therein (a scary proposition) (more on this and the rest of these conversations in later posts, fear not).

Of course we began with the hysterical introduction of getting out our various writing tools and pads, anyone watching would have likely been rolling their eyes. Out came two Moleskines, mine book style, his reporter style, we of course compared our built in hacks, his copiously readable and designed notes, and a filled pocket with tricks galore, mine with volume label, pen holder (on spine) and again the pocket filled

(personal moleskine pocket stash: stamps, $20 bill, post it tabs (mini), prepaid postcard, and a spare biz card).

Having someone to converse with on your projects, especially as removed as someone who has shared interests and goals, yet there is no overlap (his sales will never impact my sales) is such a great type of person to find. I cannot recommend this sort of discussion enough. Each of us is working towards developing products, and generating income while doing what we love. It was great as we both have been researching many of the same things, and it was interesting to see where our knowledge overlapped, and where one of us had found much more information on a particular topic.

We also discussed Linkedin, as we have both been searching for a number of particular answers (that neither one of use knew exactly where to go with) and we noted that it seemed by far to be one of the best places for genuine business knowledge transfer. We also noted that for “old school business info” SCORE (the SBA’s retired executive coaching wing) is a really useful place for knowledge on simple things like getting a business license, which ones we needed, and the like.

Do go and read Dave’s articles please, you’ll be better for it!

He even did a post about our meeting,, cool!

It’s so funny, Dave is so introspective, while I sat there and we talked his pen flowed across the page. I always enjoy watching people who take copious and excellent notes, as it is a wholly different experience from my hideous chickenscratch.

Apparently I should go do things now, but there’s much more to write of Dave’s and my meeting in the near term (as well as enumerating my ongoing projects and how Dave’s advice has helped me.)

Have a great day! Go make an online friend a real friend!

(hang on a sec, eating raw chocolate chip cookie dough, don’t tell anyone!) Ok, I’m back,, and no time has passed for you.

Additionally the added bonus to making ribs was that my good buddy and his wife were coming over to share in the ribs and other ridiculously delightful foods. He’s a graphic designer so we swap hilarious design stories and generally find the most ridiculous music to listen to (seriously, if you haven’t found Johnathan Coulton yet, then I weep for you. (oh yeah, and the Dropkick Murphys).

So back to the ribs, I take two recipes I found a while back (Memphis Hogaholics, Best Odds, THANK YOU!) and combine them in a way that will make tears weep from your eyes, (if executed correctly). Then again, it could just burn a hole in your stomach that could sadden you in a way you don’t want to know.

Here’s what I did to 2 racks of pork back ribs (4 of us, each half a rack,, it was the first time I couldn’t finish!!)

Of course, the night before I pulled the membranes off (that weird cover skin stuff, it just gets in the way). Pro rib guys actually cut any of the little meat pieces that hang off,, ummm that’s rib meat, don’t cut it you goobers! Then I stuck each half a rack in a gallon ziplock, tossed in about 2 tablespoons of salt and 2 cups of water, shook vigorously and let em sit for the night (make SURE you seal up those ziplocks!)

Then about 10:00am I got out my rack,, of spices, and went to town.

First, the dry rub:
1 tablespoon dry mustard
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon ground basil
2 tablespoons red pepper
1 tablespoon lemon peel
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon paprika

4 tablespoons salt
4 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

Dry off your ribs, put em in new ziplocks and toss in a nice coating for each half a rack (if you do it right you might even have some rub left over for another dish!). Then toss your coated ribs into the fridge, you’ll need them later.

I think that’s about right (I’m going off memory and some “reference materials” I used. I typically adjust on the fly for taste at all times.)

For a wet mop, I use a 50:50 mixture of 1.5 cups canola oil and 1.5 cups apple sauce with a tablespoon of rib rub. Some cooks like to add some apple cider vinegar to the mop. I probably shouldn’t be called a cook, but I did add about half a cup of apple cider vinegar.

For the Sauce itself (which I’m still using on various things like,, grapes,, latkes, and anything else I can find that is edible).

5 ounces dark soy sauce (this is the thick stuff that’s hard to find but SO WORTH IT!)

1 small can tomato paste
5 ounces Worcestershire sauce

12 ounces catsup

1 ounce of your favorite bbq sauce (it’s probably got the dash of liquid smoke we’re looking for, you could do that instead)

1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup brown sugar
1 lemon — juice of
1 teaspoon red pepper
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon basil

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer for 2
hours on your lowest setting in the morning. Then just keep it hot (NOT BOILING FOR GOODNESS SAKES!!) Over the day the sauce will bloom nicely (my wife was blown away at how the flavors changed in the sauce from the morning to the evening, don’t forget to taste it a lot!) mmmmm

To cook I simply tossed em on the ol’ gas grill. I did take some preparations though.

My grill has three grates, so I pulled the far left grate (it’s a gas grill with four burners).

I have a little smoker box that I shoved full of hickory chips and got them going nicely after cleaning and oiling my grill. I cooked at a temp of between 250 and 320 for about four hours I think. I was flipping around every 20 minutes (mopping carefully at each flip with the wet mop). I just used a simple brush for the wet mop, also I have a side burner and to keep my ribs from losing heat, just keep the mop hot and dab it on, it works great and they don’t dry out.

About 2 hours in I dropped in another batch of hickory for more smoke (it isn’t a true smoker, but I got tons of great flavor from a gas grill, something people will often tell you that you can’t really do)

For the last turn of your ribs slather them on the grill with your sauce like they’re the pope naked and you just want him to put some pants on!  Oh yeah, and the BBQ sauce will last you quite a while too!

Have a great day!

Their iconic piece the “Ionic breeze” is up for a Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum People’s Design Award.

This is a piece that has been around for years and everyone knows it by sight. Great lines, and functionally excellent, the Ionic Breeze is just a great piece of hardware. Please do go vote for it, and other favorites of yours by following this link.

Why would I do this,, hey, the designer is a good friend of mine, plus, he might tear my arm off and beat me with them like a wookie.