Every day I sit in my office and this photo is there. The picture is of Tim McGovern, Nathaniel Saylor and myself at the top of a mountain where we always hiked and climbed in college. Inside the frame I added a fortune I got from a Chinese restaurant a few years ago that I think fits quite well. It reads “Life always gets harder near the summit”.

I have a pretty good life, but that does not mean that there are not challenges. I work hard to make myself and others around me successful, and that is why I love this photo so much. Not only does it remind me of my friend Tim who died in Iraq 4 years ago… but it is a source of inspiration to keep on striving to be the best. To not let work get in the way of friendship, love or life. That hard work means you are doing something that matters in some way. And that you never know when it all might end.

Tell someone you love them today. Do something that you love today. And remember those who gave it all so we can do these things everyday.Similar Posts:

• I Work Hard Because I Play Hard
• Tim McGovern – One Year Anniversary, RIP
• Running a Few Miles for the Fallen Troops of Operation Iraqi Freedom

I had the opportunity to sit with Nashville great Mark Montgomery yesterday for a couple of hours and exchange life stories. For as interesting as he is (read: very), what was most interesting was his straight forward approach to getting the info he wanted/needed from the conversation. An interesting example of this, and the reason for this blog post, was because of a very pointed question he asked…

“As an investor, if I was looking at your company to invest in and saw all the things you were involved in outside of that company, that would scare me. How do you get away with all of it, and why?

My answer was simple: “I take my work life as serious as I take my personal life“. At first he looked at me like I was a little full of crap, but then I went on to explain.

Loving What You Do

Most of us have hobbies or things we LOVE to do: gardening, biking, playing music, mentoring, volunteering, mountain climbing… you name it. Because we love these things, and because (for the most part) we don’t get to do them as much as we would like, we can become obsessed with them. We read articles, write reviews, enroll others, buy gadgets and in some cases fundamentally change our lives for these personal life things. That’s pretty serious. I take my job that serious.

I love what I do. I love where I work. I love the people I work with. I take my job as seriously as I take my hobbies. I approach each day like its that one week a year where my friends and I get together to hike into the woods and camp, climb mountains and tell stories by the fire. I love my job. Everything in my life is part of one story. My personal life bleeds into my work life. I believe it should be that way. When you are a well rounded person, you are a better employee, a better friend, a better spouse, a better parent. Don’t believe me? Ask the people I work with. It’s a shame I have to call them “people I work with” because for the most part, these are my greatest friends and people I share most of my personal and professional time with.

Work Life Balance is for Wussies

Some people call what I have explained here “work life balance“. That is such a politically correct way of explaining peoples lives in this world. Why would you not work for a company you believed in? Why would you not love your job? Why would you not work with people you would call family? Work life balance to me says “I know you hate your  job, but if you have hobbies and friends that will make it better.” I know I’m making generalizations and stretching the definition, but whatever. I have no work life balance and I love it. There is no line between where work ends and life begins.

About My Imbalance

I am a founder (or founding member) of many companies, some here in Nashville (Anrovia Design, ShirtsBymail, Podcast Alley, Mevio/PodShow, CarlSays, Checkd.In, Jumpstart Foundry, Change:Healthcare, EVBE, etc). This is my work, and my life. No balance. I love my startups, as a matter of fact I love many startups (Im a mentor for Source Your City and NextGxDx, and others too). I also love being outdoors, gardening, cycling, motorcycling, family time, creating things with my hands, and more. My work life balance is so out of whack, but that IS my balance.

I work hard because I play hard.

Work/life balance is for wussies.

I take my work life as serious as my personal life.

Do You?

In Summary…

Mark, thanks for the time we spent together. To anyone reading this, I would love to talk to you more about this topic and help you find a way to work as hard as you play. Most importantly, don’t let people tell you about you. You decide who you are, what you love, and what you do… not others. Don’t be afraid to go balls out.Similar Posts:

• Life Always Gets Harder Near the Summit…

You know the expression “time flys”, we all use it. But it’s only when you sit and think about the major milestones and events that you realize how much has happened in that year, what you have really accomplished, how much you have to be thankful for and how much you have really packed into life. My trigger every year is today, October 31… the day Tim died. I’m thankful to have that trigger to really reflect on the year and think about everything that has happened in the past year, the people I love most, and the things I have accomplished. It’s always emotional to do, but a blessing none the less to force myself to take some time and really document what has happened in the last 365 days.

My Short List:

• Celebrated 9 years of marriage with my beautiful wife
• Introduced our new puppy, Ari the Golden, to the world
• Started 2 new companies (CarlSays and Carazel)
• Built and Launched a giant campaign for Jason Aldean
• Signed huge new companies at change:healthcare
• Finished (mostly) our house remodeling (and here, and here)
• Moved my brother from CA to TN
• Had a Snuggie Christmas
• Help start the Jumpstart Foundry Microfund
• Built new relationships with amazing friends
• Explored Tennessee and are proud to call it home
• Survived the Great Flood of Nashville
• Had multiple San Francisco people visit us in TN
• Ran a 5k Race and a 1/2 Marathon (results & pics)
• Visited San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Georgia, Alabama and Indiana
• Went on a cruise with my wife and brother
• Gave up cable. Learned to relax. Smiled a lot.
• Took pride in knowing Tim McGovern, and remembering him
• … and SO MUCH MORE! (I could prolly double this list easily)

I encourage you to find one day a year to sit back and just think about what all you have done, and what you have to be thankful for. I miss Tim every day, but am glad he gave me the gift of learning to reflect and be thankful. I miss you buddy.

I love the internet. This news story was released not too long ago where a man broke into a home in the projects and tried to rape one of the women there, but was interrupted by her brother storming in. While this is a scary thing, the people on the internet made a remix/rap song. You MUST watch both, this is some good stuff.

The Original News Story

The Remix Rap Song Version

In a spectacle I have never before seen, a ball of fire (they claim meteor) flew through the sky in the midwest last night for about 15 minutes, passing through Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Iowa. The authorities are saying it is some sort of meteorite from a recent meteor shower. Nope. It’s Jesus, and he is pissed! (catch up on the story, Read the full story on the Meteors blowing up on CNN.)

Ok, it could be aliens too. Either way, someone is throwing fire at us and trying to burn all the corn fields in the midwest. My guess? They are pissed that Americans are so fat and lazy, and they blame corn. Corn, or a biproduct of corn, is in everything from food, plastic, animal feed, fuel, clothing and … well, damn near everything. Start those states on fire by dropping a meteor flame (or alien missile shot), kill all the corn, and suddenly Americans will get skinny and stop buying random useless shit, right?

Check out this video now from CNN and their affiliates, of the meteor/fireball blazing through the sky!

Here is a quote from the CNN article, “Well before it reached the horizon, it broke up into smaller pieces and was lost from sight,” the service said. “Several reports of a prolonged sonic boom were received from areas north of Highway 20, along with shaking of homes, trees and various other objects including wind chimes,” it said.”

You know I kid, Jesus & Aliens… I still love you both. See all the google news about the meteors blowing up in the skies here. And lets be clear, in all honesty, this is pretty fucked up. There should never be an unknown fireball in the sky. We have some of the worlds most advanced technology to detect meteore, missiles, aircraft and who knows what else.. so a 15 minute burst of meteor fire in the sky should not be something that sneaks up on us.

I swear I have never been to the circus, but who knows… I have an awful memory. Truth is, I am going to be an awful old man. I am not going to be able to remember any of the cool things I did growing up. That is the point of this blog… to let you, my friends, have a peek into my life and to be a reminder as I get older of the things I have done.

Back to the point. The circus came to town here in Nashville and Amy found dirt cheap tickets. This thing had everything! Acrobats, high wire acts, tigers, fire, elephants dancing, clowns and so much more. It really was a blast and I am glad to have taken photos. They will remind me that I have been to the circus and that I should go again, because it was fun.

With that said, enjoy my photos from that night.

Similar Posts:

• Leaving San Francisco > Photos from the Going Away Party
• Jumpstart Foundry Investor Day: This is Going to be Huge!

I will be doing a more in depth blog post soon, but wanted to get the photos out ASAP. Amy and I are moving back to Nashville, TN and these are the photos of us and our friends at the going away party. Enjoy :)Similar Posts:

• The Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus come to Nashville
• Too Tired to Write, But Enjoy This Photo…
• Status Update, Where Am I?

9 years ago today, Tim & I celebrated his 21st birthday (and 3 days later we celebrated mine). And as was par for the course, we had to wear our party hats. There were very few times that Tim and I went out together that we would NOT be wearing hats. Some of the best memories I have from growing up were with Tim, and I am so glad I have these photos to remind me of him always. Wish you were here, Tim.

See below for a few more images of Tim and I – all wearing our party hats :) As you know, You can see all the photos of Tim over at www.timmcgovern.us.

Similar Posts:

• Tim McGovern – One Year Anniversary, RIP
• Happy 29th Birthday to Tim McGovern
• Life Always Gets Harder Near the Summit…

It is hard to believe it has been one year already since Tim gave his life for our country. October 31st marked the date. Amy and I visited Tim in Idaville, Indiana which is when we snapped the photo below. We drove the route that we took the day of the funeral and I retold the story to Amy. It was a bit harder than we thought it would be seeing his name written on the stone, but we are glad we went. We will be there every year in honor and remembrance. (more below the photo)…

On a lighter note, I was asked by a good friend to share some stories of the years Tim and I had together (high school friends, college roomates)… so lets move on to that now :)

“The year was 1997 and it was the first year Tim and I were in the college dorms at Purdue University. Tim was, obviously, an ROTC boy and therefor spent many long weekends out in training and many more early mornings at PT, working out.

On one weekend, I had a few friends over for a party where we decided to have some mixed drinks. Screw drivers were the drink of choice (for those not in the know, the ingredients are vodka and orange juice) and in an effort to cover our tracks and prevent getting caught drinking under age, we simply poured the vodka into the orange juice containers so we would not have a bunch of liquor bottles laying around.

Tim was in the field all weekend and went straight to PT Monday morning, so he was unaware of my party. Upon arriving home from PT he went straight to the fridge, exhausted, and slammed a quart of the orange juice and jumped into bed for a few hours. When he woke up, he was WASTED from dehydration and consuming a massive amount of alcohol. He called me freaking out, thinking he had been poisoned some how when in reality, he was just drunk, dehydrated and exhausted from three days of hard training and no sleep.

I remember seeing him huddled up in a blanket in our dorm room when I came back from class looking like absolute hell. From that point on he always sniffed first, drank second, anything that came from the fridge :) “

• R.I.P Tim McGovern
• See Photos of Tim at TimMcGovern.US

Similar Posts:

• Life Always Gets Harder Near the Summit…
• Happy 30th Birthday to Tim McGovern
• The Year was 1996 I Believe…

Sometimes I forget to blog about all the fun things (at least in my mind) that Amy and I get to do. This was one of those cases, and Im sure as I try to find more time to relax since the Marathon has concluded, i will be able to blog a bit more and share the stories with you.

These photos are from the best zipline tours in Hawaii (Maui, to be more specific). This eco adventure, as they like to call it, was a half day ordeal but was totally worth it. We zipped between two mountains 8 times in total with the longest zip being over 1100 feet. We passed through multiple climate zones, soared over streams and waterfalls and got to enjoy the great outdoors. Maui was much more beautiful than I expected it to be, and spending a week there with just my wife, and being able to experience day trips like this, make it a trip that I will always remember.

More Photos of Amy and I Ziplining

• See all of our Zipline tour photos from Maui Here
• Check out their site and schedule your own zipline tour

Similar Posts:

• Learning How to Surf in Maui, Hawaii
• Status Update, Where Am I?

Well, we did it. Amongst the long hours of work, moving to the city and other surprises… not to mention Amy Macs knee tendinitis, 6 weeks of inactivity and 4 weeks of physical therapy… we made it! Not only did we make it, we made it look goooood.

Ok, maybe not good, but we both were very happy with the race. 26.2 miles is a hard race to prepare for not only physically, but mentally as well. How do you run that far, and more importantly, how do you plan to run that far? When we started this adventure 6-7 months ago we had no idea what to expect in terms of time commitment, training hours and miles or even how fast we would try to run this thing… so we through some goal times out (pulling them from thin air) and put them out there.

Originally I thought ~4 hours would be something I could accomplish, and I would try to drag Amy along with me. But as time wore on it became more and more obvious with our short training schedule and demands at work that this would not really be possible. I adjusted my plan to be around 4:30 and Amy adjusted her schedule to be 5 hours (although she really wanted to be able to keep pace with me). While not 100% successful, we are very happy with what the results were. I ended up running 4 hours and 38 minutes and Amy ran 4 hours and 59 minutes! Success, I say!

As of this writing it has been one week since we finished our race. I will probably run one again, but Amy was only in it for the one race. Im not sure when I will be able to begin my training again, my toe nail fell off yesterday (my big toe) and it hurts to walk, let alone run. We will just have to see how soon the pain goes away so I can start moving again. Most likely I will start training for more triathlons and half marathons and find a sweet full marathon in the next few years to test me again.

I just read that Sarah Palin ran a sub 4 hour marathon… and with that, I have a new goal time. I would like to say my goal was to qualify for the Boston marathon, but to make that happen I would have to slash about 90 minutes off of my time. Ha ha ha ha!

To all of our supporters for the last few months and those who cheered us on along the route in Portland, thanks for your support, kind words and tips. You helped make this a memorable experience all around.

• Check out all of our Marathon Photos here.
• The Official Portland Marathon Website

Similar Posts:

• First Long Run with My New Garmin Forerunner 405
• Status Update, Where Am I?
• Run for the Fallen – Today It’s Not About Me

This Photo taken by theFerf

Well, it’s not a giant tube, but it was a great wave to learn on! Here is a quick snapshot of me learning how to surf yesterday here in Maui. I even tricked Amy Mac into learning how to surf too (and if you know Amy, you know she NEVER puts her face in the water)! Notice our instructor (JB Fallo) in the back left of the photo… he was happy we were able to get up and surf that day too.

More later, just a quick post :)

• More of our Hawaii Surfing Photos
• Other photos from Hawaii 2008
• Maui Wave Riders, the place that taught us to surf — HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Similar Posts:

• Ziplining in Maui – An Eco Adventure Thrill
• Status Update, Where Am I?
• Portland Marathon 2008 – A Success for Everyone!

Amy wrote a great post about the run we did in southern California a few weeks ago with Run for the Fallen. Read Amy’s blog post, I could not describe it any better.

From WithAmyMac.com:

“Every time I head out for a run, I’m focused on MY goals, MY progress, MY training and making it to the next mile. But today it was different. Today we traveled over 400 miles so we could run 5 miles with the “Run for the Fallen” team. The “Run for the Fallen” team, lead by Jon, is a group of 12 people that after recently losing a loved one in Iraq has decided to run a mile for every fallen U.S. soldier. There have been over 4,080 lives lost in Operation Iraqi Freedom and starting on Flag Day 2008 these runners began their journey from Fort Irwin, CA to Arlington National Cemetery. The goal is to memorialize each soldier by assigning them a mile and planting a flag and placard at the start of that mile.”

Read the rest of Amys description of our trip and experience titled “Today, it’s not about me” on her blog.Similar Posts:

• Running a Few Miles for the Fallen Troops of Operation Iraqi Freedom
• Portland Marathon 2008 – A Success for Everyone!
• Memorial Day Memories

This coming Wednesday (June 18, 2008 at 6am), Amy and I will be in southern California (near Camp Pendleton) to run 5 to 10 miles with the people at Run for the Fallen. I am proud of the effort they are making and am thankful for what they are doing to help heal the pain of the friends, families and loved ones of the over 4,000 soldiers who have died in Operation Iraqi Freedom. In my opinion, this is a great way to help remember those who have died protecting us.

If you are a runner and you would like to take part in what is going on with the Run for the Fallen folks, head on over to the website www.runforthefallen.org and check out their route map and other links. They have setup a Facebook Group for each day of the event (over 70 days total of running) listing the time and date of every days run, the days running map, and also the name and details of the soldiers they will be running for and memorializing that day. Here is the Facebook Page for the day of the run Amy and I will be taking part in and here are the names and photos of all the soldiers we are running for that day. Even if they are not running through your area, you should take some time if you are a runner or walker to head outside and take a few steps (or a few 1000 steps) to support the cause.

As we all run across the country, there will be an American flag and signcard for every one of the over 4,000 soldiers who have died placed at every single mile. Our friend, Tim McGovern, will have is signcard and flag placed on August 18th in the middle of Virginia on the way to Arlington National Cemetery.
TIME AND PLACE of Our Run:

Date: Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Time: 6:00am – 6:00pm
Location: South Harbor
Street: Harbor Drive S.
City/Town: Oceanside, CA

What is Run for the Fallen (from their Official Site):

ONE MILE FOR EVERY SOLDIER KILLED IN OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM.

Beginning Flag Day, June 14, 2008, a dedicated team of runners will run across America from Fort Irwin, CA to Arlington National Cemetery, one mile for every soldier killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom. For ten weeks, team members will mark each mile with an American flag and signcard in an apolitical reflection of remembrance of each soldier.

Here is a Video that explains why this run was setup:

Similar Posts:

• Run for the Fallen – Today It’s Not About Me
• Memorial Day Memories
• Portland Marathon 2008 – A Success for Everyone!