fathers day

I had a great fathers day. Nicole painted Samantha's little foot in a rainbow of colors and pressed it on a small white tile and wrote 'Daddy & Samantha' on it for me. She made ones for the grandpas as well. It was awesome. The boys got me a cool digital frame that runs off a usb key drive. Nicole is going to load some recent pictures on it for me. Jordan created a personal card for me with a poem on the inside. I couldn't ask for more. This is what being a dad is all about.

Welcome Samantha

Ok - after a long absense and a good beating for writting a blog from some folks that shouldn't care - i really want to get back to it. There are so many things i love that i get to do every day.

• My Wife
• My Family
• My Work

And did I mention my new baby daughter Samantha?

(Samantha Lynn Pape - Born March 24, 2007 at 6:39pm - 8lbs 11oz - 21 inches long)

I may have also put a small gallery of pictures of her together over on Picasa

http://picasaweb.google.com/kdpape/Samantha?authkey=IA2pACyK4rM&pli=1

I'll cover a bit more later - as I'm pretty comfortable with where I'm headed and if not - it's not going to be because I like to talk about it on my blog.

A consequence to the balancing act

I've been thinking about this post for a week or two now. I had a disagreement with a company I was working with, over several items, including the contents of my Blog. I'd always thought about the blog and how it seems to be a private journal in so many ways, yet, obviously it's open to the entire Internet.

I enjoyed working with this other company (although no relationship is perfect -they all require sacrifice and compromise), but in the end, they thought it best that we part ways. I have no hard feelings for them, and actually offered my personal assistance during a transition period. What I am glad about is that I know things happen for a reason (at least that is my version or reality) and I take each hiccup as an experience to learn from.

One of my considerations is what to write in my blog.. Did I jeopardize my relationship by writing my thoughts in my blog, or is it simply and indication that we weren't a good match to work together and it is better for us both. I'm not pretending to have the answer, but it certainly reinforces the importance of remembering that his is a public forum, and there are issues that can arise, especially as I usually work in a 'client' environment and there is always potential for sensitive or conflicting information to be out there.

I've spent a lot of time reading other entrepreneurs and executive's blogs to see how they deal with this issue. The most common seems to be to speak in generalities when it comes to customers, or to use open examples (like.. Google made an announcement about support (or lack there of for Rich Media formats today.. (provide link).. that way I'm not discussing one of my clients - or at least not until after the project is 100% public... very interesting quandaries.

The end result is that although my most recent change was unexpected, I know that we will both persevere, and I will find a way to fill what I've lost, and it's my sincerest hopes that we all gained something from the experience and it makes us better people.

On a similar note.. I really enjoy reading Keith Ferrazzi's articles on relationships and networking on inc.com (http://www.inc.com/resources/sales/articles/20050901/ferrazzi.html) - his most recent is on 'Making Business Personal' and along the same lines as the issues I had, he shows that making it personal and ensuring that you have a good fit, you can also involve all of your activates, and even involve your family in your business, and he even feels that mixing clients, with each other, as well as with your friends and family only makes a relationship stronger - as you never know how much more personal that relationship can become and lead to unexpected successes for you as well as the unexpected others you might involve in your dealings. He says that by making all of your relationships personal (instead of having business relationships and personal relationships) that you then ensure that each relationship has the same quality standards, and you treat them all equally (with the benefit of spending more time with your family as they aren't excluded while you work too much! (a little humor here and there.. thanks for staying with me).

I've been accused of being a workaholic in the past - and I hope Mr. Ferrazzi's advice can be something that I implement and improve my own life and relationships with.

Happy New Year everyone.

Keith

Holidays Apporach

It would seem that the holidays are fast approaching. Faster than I can ever be ready. My wife and I are remodeling the kitchen (which means I work day and night - and she does all the remodeling. I pretend to help by occasionally handing her tools. She's very handy that way and completely unwilling to wait for me to have 'spare' time. It looks really good. My friend Jeff has a construction company and comes over occasionaly to help out.

My article on iMedia has been postponed until November 30th. I'm just glad that it is getting published.

Training was going well, but I started having knee problems last week, just prior to the Mission Inn run (10k) and I ended up working with Nicole on the kitchen instead. Good time to spend with her -but I do miss racing. The SoCal Half Marathon is in like 3 weeks - not sure if I'll be ready. I enjoyed it last year - bit I'm just not sure.

Publish or Perish

I was recently asked to write a short article for an online magazine. I was very excited, as this was a goal I had, since I started as an online professional nearly 10 years ago. I thought I did a good job of remaining calm when the editor asked, I asked what I felt were some relevant questions that I had heard other writers ask in the past (what type of topic are you interested in, when do you need it by, how long should it be..) I was very proud of myself.

So off I went back to my normal work day, with a basic idea in hand and a plan to start a basic outline, as I had learned in college, and I figured I'd be off and running in a day or two, as I fit it into my already busy schedule or sales calls, meetings and project management (not including family time, training, sleep..). I had just over a month to get it done, plenty of time. You wouldn't believe how quickly those first couple weeks go, and of course, I hadn't really accomplished anything. One of my key programmers was off on his honeymoon, and that added some stress, then a project got behind, then my business partner went off on his honeymoon, wow, what a month.

So, as the deadline approaches, I keep opening the article I had started, and everything I had a thought, even in the shower - I would jump out right after the thought - no matter where I was and at least shorthand the information/idea onto the doc I had opened for this article. I was now getting desperate to get something down on paper (virtual paper.. But paper none the less). I felt as if I only could get a couple thoughts together and some quiet time, the ideas that I knew were in there would start flow and I'd be okay again. The deadline of course, came and went. I emailed the editor immediately, I did have some professional dignity left, informed her that I was in fact behind and would complete the article over the weekend, and then have it reviewed by some friends and business associates on Monday and have it to her on Tuesday.

Believe it or not, that was the final straw, now I was embarrassed for having missed a deadline, something I preach heavily to my own employees and yet here I was.. Late. I finished very early Monday morning, had my business partner review the article, accepted his changes and sent it f off to the editor with my sincerest apologies and a lot of apprehension that the article was complete crap.

It's now been nearly a week since I sent the article off, and I've yet to hear anything back. I'll be unwilling the editor today to get an update, but I have to admit that I'm concerned that I didn't follow my rule of 'under promise and over deliver'. I've certainly learned that I need to follow my own rules and if I commit to a side project, it still has the same weight as any business commitment. I truly did enjoy irritating the article, once I got to it, and know that only thru practice and professionalism, will I get the opportunity to do it more (other than this blog - which is completely up to me). Whatever the outcome, I think I've learned a lesson about side projects, and how important writhing is to me. I'll be adjusting how I do a few things, and either way, I've learned a few lessons. It's funny. I was just thinking that my dad, who has written articles for decades and has a few books published, still has this same problem, and warns me against it all the time. Shows you that sometimes you can't tell someone - they have to learn the hard way. Darn kids.. never listen.

Lessons Learned

So, being new the blogsphere - I've learned an important lesson this week. Don't ever delete work that you've done - or others have done to you, no matter how trivial, as everyone takes their work very seriously.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't take pride in your work, but I mean SERIOUSLY, don't delete comments others make - almost no matter what.
Its been very busy the last week. I'm working on 3 projects for various clients and companies, my family is busy with preparing for the first holiday of the 'holiday season' - our annual halloween party - and you can feel the holiday stress building already. Not to mention that I have about 5 more projects (just work related) built up already. I've also been asked to write my first article for a publication, iMedia (www.imedia.com). I'm a big technology geek, and although I'm not a programmer by trade, I pride myelef on being a technologist and becoming an expert in 'how' a technolgy works and how it's used in business. So - I'll be writing about one of my favorite subjects - Flash Video - I have some frustrations - as I'm not all that happy with how it gets used, and some misconceptions that I think might be holding it back some. (anyway - I'll update more on that as I get it written).

Our Halloween party is always fun - it usually goes until about 3am (sometimes 5am) and usually has some combination of karaoke, DJ's, jello shots, scary monsters, etc to keep all types entertained for the evening. The key - we found out - is to always invite all neighbors - even if you know they won't come - because if you invite them - they seem less likely to call the police at midnight to shut you down - I guess they feel that they are invited, and although not there - that there is some legitamacy to the whole thing.

I worked all weekend - and I'll be needing to make that up to my wife and kids very soon, as I hardly saw them at all - sleep deprevation was definitely setting in between Friday - Sunday (Thanks to Todd (www.cybersmack.com) for doing so much more than I did - he's the real hero). He's been my go-to guy for a couple years now and I wouldn't be a smarter business owner without his help.

That's it for now - I'm still not sure what to do about my cancelled triathlon - I may do Catalina in Novemenber - it's just a sprint -but it's supposed to be very tough.. although I may just train for the SoCal Half Marathon and call it a season.

End of Season Bummer

Well, I just got back from my business trip to Las Vegas ( I was at the ICCM show on Monday and Tuesday) to find out that my half ironman triathlon (The Big Rock) has been cancelled for this year!

It appears that there is an issue with Lake Perris, where they are having to release water, and swimming will be unavailable (no swimming - no need for a Triathlon)

I'm looking for a replacement, as I really wanted to do a half ironman type distance race for the end of the season..

Bummer.

Getting Started

Ok - so this is my first post. I thought I would start with my day. I've got a little bit less than 7 weeks until the Big Rock Triathlon (http://www.sawsportsproductions.com/bigrock.html) - so I thought i might get my act together. I rode with Anthony's cyclery today, and we went from Canyon Crest up around Lake Mathews. The group pomised to keep an eye on me, as they get spread out (as there are MANY hills) - well ofcourse I got seperated (lost) - I kind of knew my way around, and made my way to the 215 and back over to canyon crest. I might not have done their route - but I did finish 43 miles on the bike today - overall a successful ride.
The Big Rock Triathlon (November 12th) consists of a 1 mile swim, 52 mile bike and an 8 mile run. (sounds great.. huh!)

I'm heading to Vegas for a tradeshow tomorrow and Tuesday- we'll see how I do keeping up on the training.

Web work is going well, with search business really picking up, along with general web business.