Tell To Win [Book Review]

I love a good story. Who doesn't? If anything, the success of the entertainment world, and even news, shows that everyone loves a good story. Stories are great because they help share an idea, a vision, a lesson, and on and on. Stories provide not just facts, but context and emotion - this is what makes them memorable.

Furthermore, stories are not just used to entertain - they can be used to persuade. This is exactly how businesses use stories. The great ones don't just give facts, they share stories: Stories about how they were founded, why they exist, how they created such an excellent product. They also share stories of customers: how they use the product, how their lives are better as a result of the product.

Of course, as an entrepreneur I want to know if the art of telling a story can be learned. I've gone as far as looking into creative writing classes, but nothing had really peaked my interest yet.

Then I read Tell to Win by Peter Guber, which came out in March. Guber talks about the power of telling stories; how telling purposeful stories can help you win in whatever your endeavorer is. His main thesis is that learning to tell a good story (where "good" = getting the desired outcome) can be learned. Furthermore, Guber says that we all have the ability to tell stories hard-wired into our DNA - we love to share stories. So Guber helps people refine the art of telling stories, and gain the confidence to use story telling regularly.

Not surprisingly, Tell to Win is full of fun stories that Guber uses to make his points. They are all entertaining, and make their point well. Keith Ferrazzi, author of Never Eat Alone (which I also reviewed) did an interview with Guber which you can watch to get a feel for what you'll learn in his book.




I enjoyed reading this book and will definitely book looking for ways to incorporate it into my life. For example, as an analyst, it'll be helpful to not just show data, but share stories behind the data.

Oh yeah, I also couldn't help but notice that Jesus often used stories when making a point. Clearly there is something powerful about stories if the creator of the universe used this technique.

Corvallis 2011 Half-Marathon Infographic

Jessi and I participated in the inaugural Corvallis half-marathon this month. I saw the published results and thought something cool could be done with all that data. I've always enjoyed infographics, and wanted to try making one - this seemed like a perfect opportunity. So, here are 13 facts in honor of the 13 mile race.

(You can click the image to see it full-size and/or download it)

For those of you who like to know such things. I housed all the data in Excel (it was originally in a PDF, I'm so thankful for the text-column feature in Excel) and created views using a pivot table. I made the final charts in Excel and copied them into PowerPoint. I added my own comments and pictures - nothing too fancy. I saved the final slide as a PNG and uploaded it to my server. And now you're reading it somewhere in the world. Pretty neat!

Mysore Palace in India

I'm currently sitting in India while I write this - it's pretty exciting and I have many stories to share. At the very least, I would say that this has been an eye-opening experience. India is truly a different country than the US. Duh, I know. But it's even more different than I ever imagined. For a while I kept drawing parallels to my experience in Mexico, but it's even great than that! I will share much more later here, and feel free to call me to hear even more (when I get back).

In the mean time, here's one picture from Mysore Palace. We were able to take a tour of this place, and it was amazing. It's 2.5 hours Southwest of Bangalore, and totally worth the drive. We also visited a 1700 year old temple, which was quite an experience. Talking about faith to people in India is also completely different (because they believe in multiple gods). It didn't fully understand what that meant until we visited that temple.

Lastly, I've also learned all the rules to cricket. It's fun to watch once you understand what's going on.

Dog Door

Last weekend Jessi and I visited a friend to look at some bikes he was trying to get rid of. While there we saw his dog door, which he said he couldn't fit through. I told Jessi I'd give her $20 if she could get through. Luckily, I was able to turn on my camera fast enough because she didn't wait to make sure my offer was genuine. So, enjoy the fun.

Visiting Home

This last week I got to go the Bay Area for work. As such, I got to hang out with my family for a bit. It was great seeing all of them in person. Thanks to everyone who changed up their schedules to make my trip a success - I really do appreciate it.

I do really miss the weather down there. It's just so amazingly beautiful. Thankfully, we're heading into summer, so Oregon is just starting to be nice as well.

So, until I see everyone again, I'll continue to video chat and call often. Thanks again!

Now I'm getting geared up for an even larger trip to India.

Mustache March Finished

Mustache March came and went without a hitch. I managed to grow a pretty amazing stache, if I do say so myself.

I actually know of at least one person who loved it: I was in Boise earlier this week for work. The night I got in I met up with a friend from college and we went to watch a couple bands play downtown. While there many people had fake mustaches on. There was even one girl who had a pretty gnarly one. One of them saw mine and exclaimed, "Now that's a stache! Right on man!" I almost offered to sign his shirt or something, but I didn't have a pen on me...

I'm also proud to announce I had three people join me while down in Mexico two weeks ago. I was very impressed with each of their showings. Each us rocked our own version of the Fu Manchu to much of the delight of each student. I'm pretty sure next year's trip will also feature some crazy facial hair too.

Jessi will surly be ready for it to go, but not without one final close up:

Thanks to everyone who supported and participated in the madness of Mustache March!

Mexico or Bust

Jessi and I are in the final stages of preparing for our Mexico Mission Trip. We'll be heading down in a big yellow school bus with our church's high school group (just like the picture above). The trip takes about 2.5 days when you need to go 55mph. This year I planned ahead and bought a bunch of really good books to read. I will definitely make sure to share the good ones I find.

Also like last year, we'll be headed down to San Felipe which is on the Sea of Cortez side of the Baja peninsula. I'm looking forward to re-visiting last year's projects and working on new ones.

If you could, please pray for safe travel. And safety on the work sites. Plus, for open hearts when we share the Gospel with the people in the community.

What's Up With Jacob?

I read this passage and thought I'd share it. It's Genesis 29:16-30 (NIV):

"Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful. Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, "I'll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel." Laban said, "It's better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me." So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her. Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to make love to her." So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob made love to her. And Laban gave his servant Zilpah to his daughter as her attendant. When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn't I? Why have you deceived me?" Laban replied, "It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one. Finish this daughter's bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work." And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. Laban gave his servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her attendant. Jacob made love to Rachel also, and his love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years."

OK. What's up with Jacob? Here's a guy who spent 7 YEARS getting to know Rachel. Then in one evening is able to be tricked into sleeping with her sister. How does that happen?

Furthermore, why all the secrecy? I am really be believe that after 7 YEARS of hanging out with Laban, Jacob didn't get to know their customs? Why didn't Rachel say anything? Didn't she love Jacob back?

Finally, Laban was a master deceitful negotiator in this instance. He managed to have both his daughters married and get an extra 7 years worth of work out of Jacob. I am shocked that Jacob let himself be taken advantage like that.

It's when I read passages like this I need to remember that God indeed had a bigger plan, and that this was all necessary. It's just that sometimes He goes about it in such a round-about away, that doesn't seem to make a bunch of sense.

That's all I've got. It's just weird to an untrained eye like myself. I wish I knew more about the circumstance so I could fully understand what happened here.

[image source: afeatheradrift.wordpress.com]

Check Your Dryer Vent

When Jessi and I first hooked up our dryer vents we went the cheap route: duct tape. We already had some and it saved us a trip to Home Depot. Unfortunately, over time moisture weakened the tape. You see, our vent goes up through the roof and so the duct tape was literally holding our vent hose in the air.

Eventually it weakened it enough that the tape gave way and our vent hose fell down. So... off to Home Depot we went to get the correct connection.

While there, it was suggested we also take a look at, and clean out, the part of our vent that went through the attic. We learned that over time the vent can get clogged with lint. So, that's what we did and WOW! There was so much lint built up it looked like it had never been cleaned out! We also discovered that at one point a huge dent had been made to the vent, further blocking air flow. We were making our dryer work harder than it needed to.

We started to clean out the vent, but quickly decided it would be best just to replace the whole thing. Now our drying is humming along and drying everything very quickly.

So, make sure you check your dryer vents every once in a while. We plan to check and clean ours out once a year along with our other annual maintenance items.

New Treadmill

Jessi's moving so fast it can't be captured on film!

Last weekend Jessi and I purchased a treadmill. I had been haunting Craig's List for a couple of months doing research and figuring out what was available. You see, I inherited my dad's style of research: spend a lot of time just looking. Figure out what it is you're looking for. Wait for a killer deal. Then pounce on it. We did it with our property and now with our treadmill.

After talking with sales reps at exercise stores I determined I wanted (at a minimum) the following:

• 2 horsepower continuous duty motor
• A belt length of 55 inches
• An automatic incline
• Hand rails that came out horizontally so I could place a board across it to make a table
• Fold up for easy storage and transportation
• In "like new" condition
• Oh yeah, and under $400

These features are typical at the $1,000 price range, but I knew if I waited it out we'd find something. Sure enough, a treadmill popped up on Craig's List that met all my criteria. Since I had already done my research, all I needed to do was look at it to make sure everything worked. It turned out that the people selling it had a family member move away and just wanted to get rid of the machine (Craig's List really should have a "selling because of moving" tag - those are all the best deals). We talked about the fishing in Oregon for a while and eventually were able to make a deal.

So, why get a treadmill? Well, two reasons.

First, it rains in Oregon and try as hard as I do, I just don't like running in the rain. It wasn't that big of a deal for a while because I just wouldn't run. However, now Jessi and I are actually training for a marathon/2 that's coming up. So my plan of avoiding running isn't working. Actually, it IS working and let's just say that 13 miles still sounds like a long distance to me.

Here's a video of Jessi testing it out:

Second, I work from home pretty much every single day. I sit on a ball, but I'm still sitting. What we're going to do is attach a removable self that I can put my computer on. Then I'll be able to walk while working (I'm writing this while walking right now. 1.8mph; 0.8 miles!) or while in a conference call. I'm not looking to burn any major calories, but instead do a better job of getting up and moving throughout the day.

My short-term desk solution

So, that's our new treadmill. I think it'll get a lot of use from us. We'll see. I'll let you know in a few months if we have a slightly used treadmill for sale in a couple of months.

Mustache March!

Furry February has come to a close and now it's time for the main event: Mustache March. This year I'm going straight to the Fu Manchu. It should be fully OUT OF CONTROL by the end of the month. Good thing I have these sweet handle bars to hold on to.

Charlie's Victory [Book Review]

Over the Christmas holiday my mom let me borrow Charlie's Victory to read. I explained to her that I rarely read actual paper books (preferring audiobooks), but would give this one a try. So, I made it about 20 pages thought it sounded interesting and wanted to read more. Then, like what normally happens I kept forgetting to pick it up and read it. I did manage to listen to one audiobook and make some significant progress on another audiobook... Anyways, this last weekend on the coast provided the perfect setting to really get into the book. While Jessi puzzled, I read.

In short, the book was amazing. I pretty much cried through the first half of the book and smiled/rejoiced the second half of the book. I probably re-read a quarter of it out loud because Jessi kept wanting to know what was affecting me so emotionally. I thought I was going to read a story about disease, but it turned out to be a story about love, hope and faith.

Charlie's Victory is an autobiography written by Charlie and Lucy Wedemeyer (husband & wife) with Gregg Lewis. Charlie was an amazing athlete in Hawaii - voted athlete of the decade! He also had an outstanding college football career with Michigan State. Then, he landed a job as a football coach of Los Gatos High School (my alma mater). He and Lucy, his high school sweet heart, lived in California with two kids. They were very much in love and living the American Dream.

Right around that time Charlie was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease, also affect is Stephen Hawking). He was given about a year to live as his body slowly, but surely, stopped functioning. Charlie and Lucy share their reaction and describe what it's like deal with someone slowly losing control of his body. Surprisingly, they kept a humorous attitude the entire time. It's probably these situations that brought me to tears the most. Typically, either Charlie or Lucy would be at their wits end because something horrible/embarrassing happened. Then someone else would step in, do something funny and relieve the situation. Here's an example Lucy shares:

   "Since Charlie now required so many of my daytime hours, I usually went in to do my office work late in the evenings when Carri and Kale could stay home with their dad. One night at the office I wearily trudged to the office Xerox machine to copy a number of important legal documents from several of my current real estate files; then I was going home to bed. But when I returned and went to set the tall stack of folders on a clear corner of my desk, the top files began to slide. Instinctively I grabbed at them, only to miss and send the entire pile sailing off the desk and across the floor.

   I took a long look at the mess and closed my eyes. I didn't know whether to scream in frustration or simply sag to the floor amidst the jumble of papers and cry myself to sleep.

   At that moment, my friend Barbara, who was also working late and had been behind me at the copy machine walked into the office to check out the commotion. She saw all those real estate documents strewn on the floor. She also must have seen the exhaustion and defeat on my face. Because she instinctively made the most insane, inspired show of empathy and support: she flung her own stack of files high in the air and then laughed along with me as we watched her blizzard of paper flutter to the floor on top of mine. Friends."

I was in constant awe of how, even though they got hit over and over and over again with trials, their can-do attitude persisted. I think fundamentally, they asked different types of questions than "normal" people. When Charlie wanted to keep coaching despite not being able to stand up any more they would ask, "How can I coach?" Instead of "Can I coach?" This assumption: "I'm going to coach" made a world of a difference.

Charlie ended up living many, many more years: Even after they wrote this book, Charlie (with Lucy's help) continued as an assistant coach even when I played. Lucy and his love proved to be an inspiration to the world. Near the end of their story, they talk more and more about their faith and how God sustains them. It's amazing! I HIGHLY recommend this book. It's hard to fully capture the amazing-ness of their story, so I'm going to let YouTube help me out. Unfortunately, the creator of the videos doesn't want them embedded so you'll have to visit them yourself. Here are the two video links which should open in a new tab for you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUC2kSJp0co

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwX2jdMSPD8

Harley Davidson Puzzle Completed!

Last weekend we spent a night on the coast. It was extremely relaxing. One of the activities we (well, Jessi) did was puzzle. Jessi had previously spent a couple minutes here and there working on the puzzle. On our trip she was able to dedicate a few hours and made a ton of progress. She made so much in fact that she was able to finish the puzzle this week.

This puzzle was given to her by my dad for Christmas. She found the tanks pretty easy to complete given their distinct colors, whereas the chrome and seats all kind of looked the same.

What also made the puzzle fun was the new puzzling surface she got for Christmas: It's a large piece of felt fabric and a plastic cylinder about 3" in diameter and the length of the fabric. What that means is Jessi could easily roll up her puzzle and move it - to the living room, the back room, or on a trip to the coast. When it's unrolled, all the pieces are right where you left them. Pretty cool. It allows her more flexibility and opportunities to puzzle. She's even starting to talk about trying to take a puzzle with us on our next camping trip.

Resting On The Rock Weekend Stay

At Christmas Jessi gave me a present of a one night stay at a bed and breakfast and we decided to "spend" it this weekend at the coast. Jessi found a nice little bed and breakfast just South of Newport in Seal Rock call Resting on the Rock. It's run by an older couple with one sunset room and a suite. You can see the ocean from their place and easily walk down to the beach.

We arrived Friday evening and had dinner at a nice Japanese restaurant. Jessi's grandma gave us some money for Christmas and so we took the opportunity to have a nice meal. We tried a bunch of different types of sushi since Jessi recently discovered she actually likes it. I guess, when she was a kid she had tried it and hated it - never to try it again. Then, while visiting her family in Colorado last summer they convinced her to try it again and she loved it! She wasn't ready to try eel, but maybe some day...

Once we were fully stuffed, we went back to our suite. Jessi worked on her puzzle (another Christmas present) while I read an excellent book. I'll share more about my book later.

The next morning we woke up late (well... late for me, perfect for Jessi) and enjoyed a wonderful breakfast cooked by our hosts. We ate sliced fruit with whipped cream, banana muffins and a cheese/hashbrown/bacon bake. For drinks we both had water and apple juice. In addition, Jessi tried a couple teas and I had hot cocoa. It was an amazing meal! While eating we talked with our hosts and learned more about their life. They are very strong Christians and enjoy people visiting their house. The suite we stayed in was a recent update which they did all by themselves. Their business doesn't fully support them, but helps pay the property taxes, plus (and probably more importantly) it gives them something to do.

After we ate, we spent some more time puzzeling and reading. Around noon we headed out and watched a glass blowing class and grabbed some salt water taffy from downtown Newport. The glass blowing always looks like fun (and perhaps a good experience gift for Jessi in the future). It's cool how whole process is very precise, yet also very forgiving, and it always seems to turn out pretty. As for the taffy, it's becoming a tradition that any time we head to the coast we have to pick some up. Jessi only gets 3 flavors: Cinnamon, licorice, and peppermint. I on the other hand, like to grab 2-3 pieces of all sorts of different flavors. Then invariably, Jessi wants to try some of my flavors. It works.

To cap off the day, we headed up to Salem to join some friends at a hot chocolate party. The hot chocolate was amazing and the games were fun.

It was a fantastic mini get-away. We were able to unplug and just relax. I was very pleased with the gift.

Jiu Jitsu Blue Belt Test Videos!

Earlier I shared about earning my blue belt in jiu jitsu. You can read about it here.

Now I have video to go along with it. I put together two:

The first is a longer video which actually shows a lot of how the test went. I also explain what's going on during each part. Check it out:






The second is a trailer using iMovie. It's a new feature in iMovie '11, and I can't but play around with it. The movie's pretty dramatic. Check it out:

Switching Banks: Good-Bye Chase, Hello Wells Fargo

This last month I officially migrated over to Wells Fargo for most of my banking needs with Jessi. You see, back in December I got a nice letter from Chase explaining to me that my free checking accounts would no longer be free. Well, technically if I did some very specific things (like keep high balances, or make large direct deposits) I could waive the fee. However, Chase managed to set the bar so high that 2 of my 3 accounts would be charged $10/month . Here's the one that really got me: One of the requirements was a direct deposit of at least $500. Since I get paid bi-monthly, I had two direct deposits of $300 each. Bummer.

So, Jessi and I took the opportunity to re-evaluate our situation. Before now, our accounts were pretty much separate. We decided this time to mostly merge our accounts together. Here's the set-up we wanted (it's the Dave Ramsey envelop method using the Automatic Millionaire process):

• 1 Checking account that all deposits go into. All automatic monthly payments also came from here. We also set up automatic transfers to all the other accounts.
• 1 Checking account for charitable donations.
• 2 Checking accounts for living expenses (gas, food, shopping). One for Jessi, one for me.
• A bunch of savings accounts for later spending (emergency fund, travel, car maintenance, etc)

Every single account is a shared account, but I never spend from Jessi's living expenses account, and she doesn't spend from mine. This makes everything really simple to track, and with Mint.com we're able to see everything all together at once.

So, with this in mind we set out to find possible solutions. Some of the ones I was hoping would work were ING and BankSimple, but they actually pride themselves on aggregating everything together which is the opposite of what I wanted. Furthermore, because of our business, we needed to easily be able to deposit checks and cash. We also looked at classic large banks and local credit unions.

In the end, we ended up going with Wells Fargo. Here's why:

• They let us set up the checking accounts the way we wanted - for free
• Jessi was already banking there which meant only I had to move everything
• There's a branch right next to us, plus there are branches all over the nation
• Jessi's mom actually works for Wells Fargo in Colorado, so we're supporting her family.

We also kept all those savings accounts I mentioned with ING. We never need that money right away since it's planned spending and we earn more interest than what Wells Fargo offers.

Me being the web-a-holic that I am, have already spent plenty of time on their site customizing my account views, setting alerts and just surfing around to see what they offer. Wells Fargo isn't the most technologically advanced bank (I'm going to miss depositing checks with my phone), but it's passable.

So that's what we're doing. It's nothing glamorous or brilliant, but it works for what we're trying to accomplish. The biggest change is really combing our income into one large bucket. I'm sure there'll be some learning along the way, but I ultimately think it's a positive change. At the very least, it'll help it feel like it's "our money" instead of mine and Jessi's.

Furry February Kick-Off

I know, I know, I'm a little late to the party, but I'm finally here. I'm officially starting to grow out my beard for the month of February as a run-up to Mustache March. Then I should be rocking a pretty sweet stache right away.

Jessi isn't a huge fan of this time of year, but I can't disappoint my fans: Co-workers in Boise love to see a hairy face (which they'll see in a couple weeks). Co-workers in Corvallis love it too. The high school students at our church absolutely love the stache (It's prefect for our Mexico Mission Trip). Guys in jiu jitsu claim it makes me more intimidating. Even my pastor said it was an inspiration for him.

Yeah... my stache is pretty popular.

Sorry Jessi.

Jiu Jitsu Blue Belt!

James, Rylan (Black Belt), David, Amber (Instructor), Mike (Instructor)

One of my 2011 goals was to earn my blue belt in jiu jitsu. I'm proud to announce I accomplished this goal on Saturday.

About a year and a half ago, a friend of mine, David, and I started training in jiu jitsu with the Oregon Pound at Cheldelin Middle School in Corvallis. We went twice a week with the goal of it helping us get in shape. In order to achieve a blue belt, we had to take at least 120 classes and be able to competently do all 88 blue belt moves. Furthermore, we must be tested by a black belt. Since our black belt, Rylan, lives in Hawaii, we had to wait until this weekend when he came out to put on a seminar.

So we knew that we were in it for a while.

Leading up to the test David and I kicked it into high gear: In January, we trained four days a week with our class. We stayed after to review what we learned. Plus, we trained with our instructor on Sundays at his personal gym. Needless to say, we made sure we could do all our moves perfectly.

As a result, the test was a lot of fun!

We started off in a circle showing Rylan each move in super-slow motion. That way he could see we understood the technical pieces of each move. Then we rolled at about 80% with our partner. The goal to once again show him we know how to apply each of our moves. "Slow rolls" are probably my favorite thing to do. It's often very fluid with many transitions, but you don't get physically tired because you're focusing more on doing the move perfectly.

Slowing rolling with my partner Morgan

Then we were paired up with a higher belt to roll with. Rylan said, "It's so you know what it feels like to be an upper belt". I prefer to think of it as making sure we stay humble - we still can learn more. The person I rolled with was extremely good (obviously). I didn't keep an exact count, but I was submitted at least 7 times - two of which were the exact same way right after each other! We got done and David asked me how many times I was submitted. I told him at least 7 and he said, "Oh, good. Now I don't feel so bad. I was submitted at least that many times too."

David slow rolling with his partner Bo

After we passed, Rylan put our new blue belts on and choked us using our own white belts. He also encouraged us to continue improving and reaching for new levels. Fun fact: he actually started out in our gym as a student at OSU.

Getting choked with my white belt

So now we continue training, though at the 2-times a week rate. It'll take 100 classes before we even get our first stripe. After 4 stripes, we'll be able to test for our purple belts. Given the rate we go at, it'll be 5 years before we're ready for that next step. For now, I'll enjoy being a colored belt and beating up on new white belts.

Newly minted blue belts!

Jiu Jitsu Rolling

I was unable to participate in jiu jitsu yesterday and so took the opportunity to capture some video of David rolling. I know lots of you ask me what it is we say we do there, and here's the answer. As you'll see, we're in a middle school wrestling gym (which by the way, hasn't had a wrestling program for the last 20 years) and have anywhere from 15-35 people showing up. It kind of has that rough and tough feel to it - Jessi calls it a fight club.

We're not quite at the level where we're doing flying arm-bars, but I think we'd do OK in a bar fight. The person David is rolling against is the person I'll be partnered up with when we do our blue belt testing.

Here's the video:

January Update - Get Prepared

January had one theme with three activities for me: Jiu Jitsu training, working for HP, and studying for my property management license all revolved around getting prepared.

Jiu Jitsu
In preparing for our blue belt test, David and I have been training pretty hard. We've been going to class 3 nights a week, working out Saturday mornings, and putting in some personal time with our instructor on Sundays. We've been making great progress and should be ready for our test on February 5th.

Jessi has started running more in preparation for the half-marathon we'll be running in April. She's also been great about letting me train so much - I asked her to only encourage me to keep going and she's done a wonderful job of it.

Working for HP
January is the quiet before the storm at HP. February is when HP does all of it's long-term planning, which gets crazy. So I've been spending time improving my Excel tools and perfecting methodologies. That way when we get requests for 3 scenarios within a couple hours, it won't be a mad rush to get them done. The goal is flip the 80/20 rule. Normally I spend 80% of my data creating views and only 20% of my time actually looking at, and thinking about, the data. My hope (and we'll see how it goes), it to tip the process in favor of doing more actual analysis instead of data creation.

Jessi has also been working at her school and really enjoying it. She tries to remember at least one goofy thing one of her students does so she can share it with me - it's pretty hilarious.

Property Management Class
In order to manage other people's properties you have to be licensed. To be licensed you have to pass a test. Before you can take the test, you have to complete at least 60 hours worth of approved course work (and pay money for each step). So... Jessi and I are in the middle of completing our course work - I'm so thankful it's an online self-paced class. We're about a third of the way done. There are 30 sections, which take 2-4 hours each. It's amazing how hard it is to find them time when you work all day and train in jiu jitsu 5 days a week.

Jessi and I have been getting into great conversations over what we're learning. We go from talking about setting up client trust accounts to talking about what is, and is not, discrimination.



So, it's been a lot of preparing and working hard. Still, we do manage to find time to see fun things. Speaking of, here's another great How It Should Have Ended Video: Top Gun