Teaching

Snow at the park in American Fork, Utah

I just returned from a week in Utah. Surprisingly there wasn't any snow except in the mountains. But yesterday when I flew back to Arizona, Utah was having a blizzard. 

It was good to see my family and take care of a few errands up there. I'm glad to be back in Arizona.

Today I picked up my Substitute Teaching Certificate. So the next time I come off the trail I will spend my off-weeks doing some teaching. My purpose for this is to identify if I like being in a classroom setting.  And if I do, then next year I will start a MS in Education - specifically Experiential Education. (go ahead and click that link to learn what it's all about!)

I also started reading "The Power of Now" which is a great book. 

Well that's all I have time for. Have a wonderful life everybody.

--WBC--

Wherever You Go, There You Are

Sometimes, when you are a man, you have home-made boat races - it's just for fun.

It's a Wednesday Tuesday afternoon and I'm in Arizona. It's a beautiful sunny day and I'm at my computer doing some work on the QuikCamo site (well, taking a break now).

I've been used to migrating south for the Winter and I've enjoyed the good-weather benefits. But I feel lately that I may want to just stay in one place for a year or more. Just to be a little more established. I think I'll stay in AZ for a while. I like the warmer climate.

Speaking of this place, I've found something really cool: GangPlank (www.GangPlankHQ.com) - a free collaborative work environment in Chandler. Yep, it's just what it sounds like. The city of Chandler has sponsored some groovy offices space downtown so anybody who wants to can sit at a desk, get work done, meet new people, share and collaborate, and more. They have some free arcades there (props for us from the 90's!) and sodas are only 25 cents! I pretty much LOVE it there. I get a lot of work done, and I meet great people like me who just need a place to set their laptops on and work.

I've also been exercising again. Not much more needs to be said about that, but it feels good to be exercising.

And YES - I'm walking the Anasazi Trail! Always love it here. Always love the Arizona desert.

Here's some websites I've finished recently for clients:

• www.ShareNPay.com (company out of Utah with an iPhone app for making payments) 
• www.QuikCamo.com (always changing stuff on this one) 
• www.InkBink.net (this is just a side-project of mine. Really it's just a WordPress site with minimal edits.)

I'm working on a concept for my portfolio site: www.Vendo5.com, but it isn't up yet. I'll be sure to announce it once that's finished.

Lastly, concerning websites, I just bought a new domain name: www.BigWilliam.com. Haha! Now it's easy to remember. But for tradition sake, I'm still keeping "The World of Brian." You can now use both (and CobbMan.com works too).

Audios Amigos.

Still Around

Donkeys In The Road - Gunlock, Utah

Man I feel like I've been up to a lot and a little at the same time. 2011 feels like it only lasted a few weeks!

But this year has proven to be both simple, and drastic. The simple part is: I worked some trail jobs and build my Freelance Portfolio. The drastic part is: I stopped pursuing a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Yeah, that's right - no more Engineering Degree for me. And for a very good reason. I had this huge awakening in February and realized that my passions really are in making websites and helping people via nature (hence the freelance work, and consistent trail jobs for the past 6 years). Not so much on the mechanical side of things (even though I was getting straight A's). However, I will still watch a rocket take off in awe and sit there and think about how it all works :)

I've been working pretty hard this year at building up my skills in website awesomeness. I have new clients, and new strategies for how I run things. I'm pretty happy with it all. Overall, running my own business as a freelancer has been hugely rewarding, but is also just as challenging and at times can be super tough. Right now my portfolio is not up. I took down the old site because I just didn't like it very much. As soon as the new site is up, I'll be sure to blog about it so you can go check it out. Most of my work comes by word-of-mouth anyways.

I LOVE trail work too. Nothing in the world beats going out for many days, or weeks at a time and living off the land (with Anasazi) or camping out (with Aspiro). Yeah, I forgot to mention that this year I tried something new: I spent the Summer (and Fall) at Aspiro. It was a totally great new experience and really opened up my eyes to what other programs are like. That's what I went for. I loved what I learned at Aspiro, and especially the people I got to know there. I am also very excited to return to Anasazi in the Winter and come back to some of my roots that I've planted there. I think I will always want to have a part in this type of work - even when I grow up (I haven't grown up yet, okay?)

Well...

here I am, still in Utah. I keep pushing back my plans to move to AZ for the Winter due to various reasons:

• Ended up working at Aspiro for a few extra weeks
• Decided to stay and help out some family with moving their stuff
• Working on some websites with clients located locally
• The Holidays... why travel around when you can just stay here?

So by the time November came around I didn't see any reason to travel back South again just to come back up here for Thanksgiving and Christmas. So I decided to stay here until after Christmas.

Not that we even have any big Christmas plans.

Yep, my family is pretty cool. We don't ever make big plans, and just see what happens. It annoys most other people. I'm proud of it because I'm always ready for whatever happens. Comes with the territory.

Have a good life, and in case I'm not back here by the time Christmas rolls around... Merry Christmas.

--WBC--

Meanwhile...

Southern Utah - Photo by Steve Kugath

Meanwhile, in The World Of Brian:

A Summer full of the Aspiro trail, canyoneering, rock climbing, website building, and some good 'ol fashioned family time.

Looks like I'm hanging around Utah for a while longer before returning to Arizona.

Stay tuned...

--WBC--

Summertime

Dragon Fly that landed on our rope while climbing Black Rocks. St. George, UT

My goals this week are to get a new vehicle and get www.WhatIsNoni.com up and running.

First, the vehicle - since I'm not living in Salt Lake anymore it has been tough to get around on just a bicycle. Plus I have been asking for rides more often than ever. That can only last so long before it becomes necessary to get a vehicle again. An opportunity came for one, so I'm taking it: A 1997 Dodge Minivan. The price is right and with a little bit of work on the breaks I should have this thing registered and up and running in the next few days. And the first thing I plan to do with it is drive up the canyon and go rock climbing! Yes, it will feel good. The best part is (for me) that I can sleep in it when I have to, and keep my bike in it for some good riding whenever I want. Oh, and I'll be parking it by any river I see just so I can tell the kids that "I live in a van, down by the river." For those of you, like my mom, who dislike the thought of me living in a van, my next plan is to get some land and build my own house on it. Yeah, whenever Recreation Jobs actually pay enough money to do that, I will.

The website, www.whatisnoni.com is a new purchase of mine because my brother and I are planning on selling Noni Juice online again. If you don't know what Noni is, you'll have to google it for now, but by the end of this week we should have the site up with some good information about Noni. I hope that within a short time WhatIsNoni.com will become a main resource for people wanting to learn about the Noni fruit and a great place to find coupons for different Noni products.

I can't believe August is just about over. This Summer has flown by and I feel like I'm just getting started.

--WBC--