Chad Writes Stuff

So I have been reading a lot about minimalism lately and it hit me like a ton of bricks, I am a minimalist.  Whether it was by choice, chance or necessity, It happened to me in 2005 and again this year.  It actually began in 2005 when I was living with my then girlfriend, now ex, in Bradenton Florida.  She moved back to California after months of not being able to find work and my money situation at the bike store where I worked, unable to keep us afloat.  I had been alone in the apartment with our 3 cats for almost 3 months and was missing being around her.  We had spent nearly 7k getting all of our stuff down to the two bedroom apartment and knew we wouldn't have enough cash to get it back to California. I am very logical when it comes to matters of this nature, and decided to discuss the merits of downsizing.  The hard part of the discussion with my ex, while on the phone, was looking around at all the things that we had.  Most of our stuf...

Synopsis: This is the story of an idealistic man who, by process of sheer honesty and being himself, begins to ruin his sisters lives.  He is an every day guy that may not fit the norm of every day life, but in his heart he means well.  His honesty is extremely forthright and his naivety is often times unimaginable.  In the opener he gets arrested by selling weed to a cop, because the cop confesses he is having a bad week and Paul Rud, who plays Ned, feels bad for him and gives him weed.  To make matters worse, he ends up taking 20 dollars from the cop.  After serving 8 months for good behaviour, he comes out to a world that he still remembers but that doesn't really exist. Review:  This was a very well done movie by director Jesse Peretz.  The casting was very well chosen and the characters seemed to flow.  The story line was consistent and this movie had some great one liners as well as some really funny parts (If you go see i...

So Steve Jobs stepped down at Apple this week.  Everyone has heard it, tweeted it, retweeted it, google +'d it, +1 it and face'd it.  I decided to write this weeks blog about it.  I don't know Steve personally, but I feel like I do.  I own a mac, I have read many of his quotes and seen many of his product launches.  Mr. Jobs has had fundamental impact in my life.  Did he get me into blogging, not really. Google helped me with that.  It was actually my 10th grade creative writing teacher that inspired my passion, but Apple made me enjoy it more. I feel like I have a relationship with my mac and can confess my life here in my blog because of my mac.  As I write I become one with the machine and the ideas begin to flow. Steve didn't invent the internet, his company has made it better, for me at least.  I became a mac addict just over 4 years ago with my first macbook (white), then macbook aluminum, macbook pro and now MacBook air.  I lov...

I woke up at 3:12 this morning without the help of my alarm. It is this strange habit I have developed over the years to wake up way before my alarm goes off.  I don't know if it is a blessing or a curse, but somehow it enables me to never miss a flight.  I wake up pretty quickly.  I am not one to lolly gag in bed or procrastinate and hit the snooze button.  I normally jump out of bed and before the delirium hits me, I say, "today is going to be a great day, thank you for letting me breathe it in" I showered, shaved and brushed the fangs, gelled the hair and made sure the manscape still looked good.  I proceeded to put on some underwear, pants, shirt, socks and shoes.  I said a little prayer for my mother that she may have a day with no, or minimal pain and that she may get the rest she needs.  I prayed that uncle Don would have a great day and maybe get in some putts in the afternoon. I proceeded to finish up the packing and made sure to do a mental check, camera(s): che...

Synopsis:  Dave Lockwood, played by Bateman and Mitch Planko, portrayed by Reynolds are friends that have known each other since grade school.  They grew up together and went separate ways after high school, remaining to be friends throughout.  Dave took the "driven" path and ended up with a family, good job and nice things, where as Mitch never really committed to anything.  One night after a guys night out and literally pissing in a fountain, they wish for each others lives. Review:  I loved this movie.  I loved the chemistry between the actors, the actors themselves and the premise of the movie.  Sure it has been done a dozen time in films, but this was a modern day, prince and the pauper meets "Its a wonderful life".  At some point and time we have all wished for someone elses life, whether its for a second, or a day.  This movie explores that possibility to the fullest and makes you really see what it is like to be on the other ...

So I am wrapping up in San Diego today.  Heading home from a short, but long weekend in my all time favorite city.  I was blessed to be able to work an amazing conference this weekend, BlogHer 2011.  I had the opportunity to meet some amazing people, Work with some amazing ladies, and feel what it was like to be part of a conference, not just working it. Many times I work an event and for business sake, it is I am the worker bee and attendees are gods.  On this particular conference, however, it was hard to tell who was worker bee and who was a blogger.  For the most part everyone in attendance has a blog that they actively contribute to.  I worked along side of women who were moms and bloggers and workers at BlogHer. The events were fun and themed, and sponsored.  This year there were over 100 sponsors of this event and the trade show, which in my experience dies down around day two, was hustling and bustling all the way until the expo floor shut ...

So I wasn't sure what to expect when i came on site.  I knew this conference was about bloggers and had something to do with technology.  I didn't quite understand the culture nor what to expect.  Its funny how when you don't have expectations, you allow yourself to become WoW'd, as I like to say. I jumped in wherever necessary, trying to field questions and working some pre day events.  I got my lay of the land and where everything was going to be set up between the Marriott and the San Diego Convention Center (SDCC).  I didn't understand my role 100% but came with the understanding that I would jump in when and where necessary. I had the opportunity to work the reg desk with some AMAZING people.  All very talented and considering that it wasn't prepped that well, we were able to make it work.  We tried to curtail the lines, and keep smiles on everyones faces.  I have been doing events for almost 15 years and in my experience, the quality of the event is direct...

4 out of 5 stars Synopsis: Cal Weaver played by Steve Carell is a 40 something guy with what seems to be a great life, wonderful wife, kids and great home.  Cal finds out that his wife, played by Julianne Moore is unhappy and wants a divorce and later confesses to sleeping with a co-worker.  Cal eventually meets up with a 30 something playboy played by Ryan Gosling, who teaches cal how to be a man again by introducing him to style, drinks and women.  Even though he has a new found life, he is lead by his heart to return to his wife. Review:  True to form, I will keep this as brief as possible.  This is an all-star cast with names like Marissa, Steve and even Kevin Bacon, but what this movie has in characters it lacks in luster.  I humbly felt the movie droned on in the last hour and the director could have cut 30-45 minutes out to make it a bit more bearable.  I will admit that some of the twists were unexpected, but what was exp...