As many people around the valley have heard, Skylar Stock, a 27 year old Tempe firefighter, was killed on Monday, December 7, 2009 while hunting outside of Payson. While sleeping in a tent a tree was snapped by a high-wind storm and fell on him, killing him instantly. Here is a link to the story from ABC 15. Skylar is survived by his young wife Kari and their 3 children, ages 4, 2.5 and 10 months. Skylar was my brother-in-law and this has hit very close to home. While many of us struggle with these realities in life it has been quite amazing being around Kari and seeing her strength throughout this last week. Skylar was a selfless individual always eager to help others and do the right thing. He chose a well-suited career path and had only been with the Tempe Fire Department about 2 years, but had been aiming for this career his entire life.
The funeral this past weekend was quite amazing with the amount of support from family and friends and including the Tempe Fire Department and other departments. The service was extraordinary and it was a true, uplifting celebration of his life. Skylar will sorely be missed and I can only pray that these circumstances help us all re-focus our purpose and our goals in life. His young children don’t quite grasp what has happened but still have a sense of their father missing; however, they are surrounded by strong people and support and I have the utmost faith that the entire Stock family will move forward stronger than ever and with peace in their hearts. Words can never express enough sympathy to help someone through, but it is the simple ”I’m sorry” that is a genuine heart-felt expression to those who have suffered a loss. To Kari and the kids, I’m sorry. I love you all and we will all be here for anything that you need.
For those interested in helping out the Stock Family, there are 3 ways you can help. You can donate directly to the Stock Family Donation Fund at any Wells Fargo bank. The account # is 7218152986.
For those who may not have access to a Wells Fargo, you can donate via Paypal by clicking here.
There is also a fundraiser set for Thursday, December 17, 2009 at any Chili’s Restaurant in Mesa, Tempe, Chandler and Gilbert. For those who may have planned to eat out, if you do so on Thursday at Chili’s and mention the Stock Family, they will contribute 10% of the bill to the Stock Donation Fund. If you can donate in lieu of eating out it will benefit the family more; however if you planned to eat out or want to get together with friends, please go to Chili’s and eat that night, and tell your friends. Print this coupon and share it with whoever you can.
As I’ve pondered my passion for entrepreneurship I’ve decided on two things. First, I definitely need to find myself a nemesis. Someone to compete with, someone to motivate me to excel. Plus, I just love saying the word nemesis and to actually have one would be pretty nifty. Second, I’ve read many postings and articles on the phrase “Serial Entrepreneur”. I can’t locate the source of the most recent one but it tended to bother me quite a bit. It had to do with the argument that no such thing exists, and entrepreneurship is not something someone does. Well, I have to disagree.
I feel that serial entrepreneurship is as real as being called a ‘Software Engineer’, or a ‘Policeman’. Over the last 7 years I’ve worked for, or on my own, startups. I am ABSOLUTELY driven by building ideas and fostering innovation. My companies range from Real Estate and Mortgage Lending, to Food Delivery, to Digital Signage, to green concepts, travel websites and more. I don’t particularly say I’m an expert in any one of those fields, or any expert in anything for that matter, BUT, I do see a pattern developing. A pattern for taking a new idea and running with it until I’m blue in the face. Behind every failure is a success, and success is not an entitlement.
I’ve decided to coin the name Entreprovator, as long as nobody else has of course because I’ve learned my lesson on IP law. The term to me closely aligns with what a serial entrepreneur might be. An entrepreneur who is CONSTANTLY innovating, constantly working on new ideas. Maybe you take a company and build it to failure or build it to success, but you move on and work on something else because you constantly have ideas or innovation in your mind.
I seem to have 3-5 ideas in my pocket at any time that I’m working on. Some more than others, but plenty of coals in the fire. Some may call it a distraction, and I could validate that point; however, while I may be focused on one main project, I can’t just turn off the valve and stop ideas from flowing. They motivate me, they empower me, and they certainly bring in aspects to my main project that I may not have thought of. It’s important to keep that valve open. It doesn’t mean you have ‘fallbacks’ all the time or that you are not committed to your main project, although a VC might tell you otherwise, it means you are constantly striving to innovate, which provides for learning and self-betterment.
Innovation is the driving force behind the true stabilization of an economy. Without it, a lot of suffocation will occur and we will continue down a path of always doing what we’ve always done, which will always give us what we’ve always got, except for the fact that we will stare at the entreprovating people, economies and countries passing us by. Long live the entreprovator and the people committed to constant creation, and the entrepreneurs out building a new economy. Now…..about that nemesis.
I’m loving me this new little show called Community. It’s on NBC after The Office. It’s just awesome. The last 2 episodes have some interesting pieces at the end. I hope they continue doing these, just crack me up.
UPDATE: Bad links now that NBC has removed them from youtube for copyrights. Check out www.hulu.com to see the clips.
So many years ago at a band practice we were goofing off and started making a song. It ended up being this ridiculous song about Sesame Street and Reading Rainbow–with my man Lavar. We played it a couple of times before we stopped ‘being a band’. Last weekend I did a show with my buddy Joe from my old band and Chris Trapper, of The Push Stars. At the last minute I wanted to do this song so invited Joe out, unrehearsed, to sing with me. So here is 5 years of no practice, a sore throat and bad lighting.
So, being a music fan and all I was semi-excited for Fox to debut Glee after the teaser during American Idol this year. Every once in awhile networks seem to get things right (my recent memories include Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Ed, Eli Stone). Glee is one where I actually hope they do cancel it. OK, I am ALL for mixing it up and not displaying the “constantly re-told stories in a new form” type of television, and respectfully, Glee is a great attempt at doing that, but WHY oh WHY does every aspect of this show have to be based around the sexual activity of kids and adults alike? My assumption that the show would be about music was incorrect. While yes, there is some music on the show, who is editing this show? Since when does a 4 piece acapella group have 4 guys singing parts but yet the audio track has beat boxing when nobody on stage is beat boxing? That is a HUGE flaw for a show supposedly supposed to be wrapped around a glee club and MUSIC! It reminds me of Carl Weathers in Happy Gilmore during Happy’s dream. He’s playing the piano and says ‘Look Happy, I got my hands back’, while waiving with the piano continually playing in the background!
It’s the only copy I could find.
CONTINUITY ERRORS DRIVE ME INSANE!
But wait, sex sells, right? So whoe cares if the music isn’t accurate as long as we get back to sex. Nearly 80% of this show is sexual innuendos or sexual context. Cheerleaders in bikinis doing stripper dances? Celibacy clubs where no one wants to be celibate (and no i’m not saying celibacy is the answer). Co-workers deliberately seeking affairs with married people? WHAT IS WRONG WITH OUR SOCIETY THAT THIS IS SO ACCEPTABLE TO US NOW? I applaud Fox for experimenting with creativity but when do we go too far? Especially during the time slot it is in and the audience it is presumably geared towards? Hey kids, we understand you think about sex, so watch Glee and make sure it’s the only thing you ever think about. My DVR has been unscheduled now.
Anyone need a good computer? I have an HP DV9000 17″ laptop for sale. It’s almost 3 years old. I paid about $1,100 all in all for it and everything with it. I’m asking $500 for everything. Comes with a 2nd battery, 2nd battery charger as well as the Hp xB3000 docking station with keyboard and mouse. This is a big laptop. It’s obviously a littler slower because of the time i’ve owned and used it and the battery life isn’t very good so i keep it plugged in most of the time. The screen was recently replaced by HP due to a faulty hinge but was completely fixed. Huge display and has the 10 key built into the keyboard, which was huge for me in business school. It has XP Media Center edition on it. I received a free Vista upgrade, did it, then downgraded back to windows. I might still have the upgrade available. I’m moving to a smaller laptop due to frequent travel, etc and i can’t carry this beast everywhere. Great computer.
Has an AMD Turion 64 x2 processor, 4 USB ports, ethernet, modem, Svideo out, VGA out, expansion port, SD card slot and a remote control for built in, as well as DVD burner with lightscribe. Built in camera with microphone, 802.11, line in and 2 headphone outs to watch movies. Altec Lansing speakers.90GB total hard drive space, 70-80 usable.
I LOVE this computer, just need to downsize (and switch to Apple)
survived by his young wife Kari and their 3 children, ages 4, 2.5 and 10 months. Skylar was my brother-in-law and this has hit very close to home. While many of us struggle with these realities in life it has been quite amazing being around Kari and seeing her strength throughout this last week. Skylar was a selfless individual always eager to help others and do the right thing. He chose a well-suited career path and had only been with the Tempe Fire Department about 2 years, but had been aiming for this career his entire life.
