The Meatstack

Manifesto Report Card

Craig — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:55:34 +0000

Back in November, I wrote and published my “Manifesto.”

But it’s one thing to write this, and another to live it. How am I doing? Great question. I’m figuring this out as I write it:

I am a Father… B

I think I’m doing ok here. My children are taken care of, and loved. Working to teach them every day. Only thing that’s stopping it from being an A is that I’ve not been taking care of myself. But more on that later.

I am a Husband… B

Once again, doing well here, but I can improve on “Operating as a team” with my wife. To be honest with myself, I can assist more around the house. I’m just being honest.

I am a Provider… C

Although I am obviously providing, it’s safe to say my cup is not “running over.” We’ve made excellent progress on the debt front, but this is a long war to fight, and not going to be fixed anytime soon. We didn’t get into debt over night, it won’t be fixed overnight.

As for harvesting more than one source – this is hit and miss. Had a great January, Horrible February, and on track for a mediocre March when it comes to non-wage income sources. I could do better, and I know where I need to improve.

Once again, healthy shows up, as well as empowering myself to provide. Both of these are put off because it’s just not easy now. The truth is – it’s never easy.

I am a Thought Leader… C

Once again, busy is an excuse, but not a good one. I have not spent any time “sharpening the sword” and have not worked at all within the community for positive change. On the positive, I know I’m being a role model to my extended family. I know that I’m training the next generation, and I work to refine my beliefs every day. When I locate the cognitive dissonance, I’m identifying it, and calling it out.

I am an Adventurer… D

And it’s a bad grade by choice. Because I’m working so hard on removing debt, the amount of exploration and fine things have been decreased on purpose. Simply put, it is very difficult to live this creed in conjunction with the “Provider” while remaining responsible. So be it. I’ll take the bad grade here for now.

Areas of improvement

Must continue to work diligently to reduce debt. Every 100 dollars of debt removed can mean a savings of as much as 25 dollars a year. There is no quicker way to the “Adventurer” items than that.
Health. I need to quit smoking. I need to lose weight. I need to stop saying that, and just do it.
I need to stop being afraid of the small loss, and consider lost opportunity cost when working in the stock market. I’ve held one particular stock for over 6 months, with little or no movement on it at all. I should have cut this loose LONG AGO. and moved on

I think this is a good introspective. Final grade? I think it’s a “C”. What’s yours?

Amazon, yet again, shows why e-readers are a bad idea.

Craig — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:04:05 +0000

This weekend, Amazon showed us again why the e-reader (Kindle, nook, ipad, etc) is a bad idea.

If you didn’t notice, Amazon and Macmillan Publishing have been having a hissy fit over the price of books. Because of this argument, Amazon pulled all the books published by Macmillan off of their virtual shelves, with no announcement or reason made public.

I’d recommend you read John Scalzi’s most excellent post for the details. Since he lays this weekend’s events much better than I can, I’ll take it up a level and talk about the e-reader in general.

If the arguments against the e-reader sound familiar, it’s because they are. Everyone is trying to do with books what Apple did with music. Create a great device, put up a walled garden, and control all rights and access to that product from the inside. It was a bad idea with music, and even worse with books.

What can happen when you “buy in” to a Monopoly?

1) Your purchases can be revoked, at any time, without your permission. Overly dramatic? Nope. Amazon did this with – of all books – 1984 by George Orwell in July of last year.

2) You are locked into one store. - So Kindle owners starting this weekend, and continuing at the time of writing this, cannot buy any books from Macmillan Publishing, or subsidiaries. If you want to read anything from them on your e-reader, you are trapped. You paid upwards of $250.00 and still have to buy a big chunk of pulp to read what you want.

3) You are subject to being “released from support” – There will come a day when every e-reader out there reaches an end of life. What happens to your e-books when that happens? Will you have to repurchase them all? will you have to do an “upgrade conversion” to the next iteration of hardware? What if the company you contract with for the e-reader pulls an Enron and implodes? Since they are no longer around to manage the books’ digital rights, your unit just might become a doorstop.

4) Monopolies create price inflation – Your e-reader can only get books from one source. What’s stopping the e-book distributor for charging over fair market value for your book? What’s stopping them from keep raising that price?

Artist's rendering of Jeff Bezos

I’m not trying to pick on Amazon. It’s just that they are working their way down this list of hypotheticals and turning them into realities. They’ve completed items one and two. They are working on four, and three is yet to be seen.

An e-reader is an idea who’s time has come, but this device has to come from a third party, and has to be able to accept and read e-books from multiple different stores, and in a standard format. It must work with libraries and allow for lending. Until that device happens, which is looking less and less likely, I’m staying away.

My Personal Manifesto

Craig — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:23:20 +0000

I’ve come to a point in my life where I need goals. But I have no idea what those goals should be. I’ve created my personal Manifesto to help validate what my next directions should be.I don’t really have much more to say about this, but will let the document speak for itself.

Creed

I shall only exist once, and for a very limited time. I can choose to plod along my in life or I can choose to enjoy and make a difference in the world. I choose the latter.

I am a Father

I will ensure my children are provided for. This includes clothes, food and shelter, but intangibles as love, education and principles.
I will provide structure and discipline to them, empowering them to be successful in their lives, and giving them the skills to live those lives how they wish to live.
I will teach my children how to think critically, how to question the world they live in, and how to find the answers to those question
I will be healthy in order to pass on my wisdom for as long as possible

I am a Husband

I will ensure my wife is provided for. This includes clothes, food and shelter, but intangibles as love, education and principles
I will receive the love of my wife with open arms. If I need more, I will ask for it.
I will explain my principles to my wife, and expect respect of them.
I will operate as a team with my wife, ensuring our home and family is a sacred.

I am a Provider

I will provide for my family. I will strive for a cup that runs over.
I will diversify. I will harvest more than one source to provide.
I will be free of the chains of debt. I will pay myself first. I will use debt as a controlled leverage tool only.
I will take the steps needed to empower myself to these ends.
I will be healthy to ensure my family and causes are provided for for as long as possible.
I will die self-sustained.

I am a Thought Leader

I will be a role model to people. I will establish my principles, communicate those principles, and live by those principles
I will work within my communities to affect positive change.
I will “sharpen the sword” and maintain my position as an agent of positive change.
I will train the next generation. I will empower them to advance their principles so that they too can become thought leaders
I will define and refine my beliefs. I will work towards eliminating cognitive dissonance.

I am a Difference-Maker

I will make a difference in my communities. I will make the greatest contribution where my influence is the greatest
I will value people over corporations, and neighbors over populations
I will strive to eliminate problems. I will invest in stop-gap solutions only if solutions in the root causes is being advanced.

I am an Adventurer

I will experience life in the fullest. I will venture out of my comfort zone often.
I will enjoy the fine things in life. I will be unapologetic for doing so.
I will seek out new adventures. I will use the wisdom gained to increase the impact of my other roles.
I will embark on these adventures. I will invite others along, however will not require their participation

March Social Media Cafe

Craig — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 14:47:32 +0000

Join me for the March installment of Columbus Social Media Cafe on Monday March 30th. Our friends at Northlich have offered to house us on Monday at their offices in the Smith Hardware Building, 580 North Fourth Street, 6th floor. This months meeting will use an Open Source format to sift through a few topics that will become Columbus-wide blog topics for the coming months. The goal: Generate content for large-scale discussion utilizing various viewpoints. Join us from 6:30p – 9:00p

Crimson Cup – Coffee + Community

Craig — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 02:39:35 +0000

For Greg Ubert, great coffee is only half the equation.

“It’s my passion, and one of my questions was ‘where do I want to be? Where do I want to live?’ said Greg Ubert, during an interview for the Columbus Tastecasting event held at their corporate headquarters in Columbus Ohio this past Saturday, “I love Boston, I love Chicago. For me, I love Columbus more.”

A great espresso is a signature characteristic of Armando's Blend, from Crimson Cup

Greg founded Crimson Cup in 1991, after a brief stint in the computer software industry. “For me, it was kind of like, at this age, I don’t have much to lose. Here’s what I do know: I know I wanted to do something that I was passionate about, really that’s what I wanted to do. And so I think the passion might have overcome a lot of fears.” Greg said “In 91 coffee was a commodity, but I think people will always find quality, and of course the experience that goes along with that. That’s what we believe here.”

Greg’s roots are strong in the Columbus area. His parents lived here, who gave him a step up during his start-up, and one of his first employees was a barista on the campus of Ohio State University.

Armando Escobar is Crimson Cup’s CEO – Chief Espresso Officer – and is responsible now for training and assisting coffee houses to getting the most out of their equipment and premium coffees, but in the day, he and Greg worked together to create what is the Crimson Cup’s signature blend.

“Greg came in and we put the blend together.” Armando said. “We worked on it. Espresso counts for just one percent of your coffee sales in the US. Americans don’t know what Espresso is. They don’t know how its supposed to be consumed, but at the student union, it accounted for 12 percent of our sales. It was really important that the espresso be really good. The roast level was very good, light enough to make a great tasting espresso, but dark enough for the flavor to come through for the lattes and Mocha and cappucinos. The third criteria we set was to have it be our drip coffee.”

Greg and Armando worked on it, and once it was approved, Armando received quite the surprise. “When I got it approved from our headquarters on the West Coast, I told Greg ‘Hey, we can switch.’ and, the first invoice he called it Armando’s Blend. I thought that was really cool. We had it for two or three years before I came to work for Greg.”

It’s this level of attention to the individual coffee house managers that makes community so important.

Steam comes off fresh-roasted coffee at Crimson Cup

They believe that the small business owner who’s spending 80 to 90 hours a week in the coffee house should get to keep it how they want. “We are sort of the Intel inside for coffee.” Said Greg. “What we care about are entrepreneurs who are working in their place. They are working a lot of hours, and we want that place to be theirs. So it’s very important to us to have their expression in the coffee bar. Not necessarily our expression.”

This community focus can be seen in their partners, a full list can be found here.

Another way that Crimson Cup is looking to increase community involvement is through a “Cupping club”

Dave Eldridge, one of the Roastmasters at CC, brought up the idea during the coffee cupping (tasting) of the tastecaster’s tour. Interested participants should contact Anna at Crimson Cup. or drop a tweet to @crimsoncup.

Crimson Cup

Craig — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:30:16 +0000

Looking to seeing you all at the Tastecasing event this Saturday at Crimson Cup.

We’ll be touring the facility, and hopefully tasting some sweet coffee. More coming soon

Ice Cream Meetings

Craig — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 11:19:03 +0000

Quick Discussion between my wife and son this morning: WIFE: “Daddy will take you today, I have a conference.” SON: “yea, I have a meeting.” WIFE: “You have a meeting? with who?” SON: “it’s with my workers” WIFE: “what’s your meeting about?” SON:”Rainbow Ice Cream”

ROFL.

What’s up with this trapped whitespace?

Craig — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 04:46:05 +0000

See it there, above the adsense block? anyone think they can help me get rid of this big block of junk?

RIP Scott McCloud

Craig — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 04:38:03 +0000

It’s 10:00 p.m., and the cell phone rings “This is never a good sign.”

It’s Chris, my friend, and former High school classmate. “Scott McCloud died.”

It takes my brain a couple seconds to comprehend this. That name is familiar. Oh, our Journalism teacher. The nostalgia hits.

McCloud, Scott G., 64, Richland Twp., died Mar. 16, 2009 at UPMC, Pittsburgh. Born Dec. 30, 1944 in Windber son of the late Herbert and Leona (Gindlesperger) McCloud. Also preceded in death by father-in-law Orville Pauley. Survived by wife Dr. Carol (Pauley) McCloud, mother-in-law Elizabeth (Jones) Pauley, Windber, aunts Donna Park, MI, and Elsie McCloud, Pittsburgh. Scott was an English and journalism teacher in the GJSD for 28 years. He was a well-known radio personality who announced for WCRO and WKYE. At Scott’s request there will be no viewing, visitation, or service. Arrangements by Meek and Dalla Valle Funeral Home, Inc., Windber.

It’s 1990…

My junior Year, Scott McCloud came to Johnstown High school. He was technically an English teacher, but this was just one stop on his many varied carriers. He was a DJ for WCRO and WKYE in Johnstown, PA. He seemed to know someone in any business in Johnstown.

Scott came to JHS, and with plan in hand, built a student journalism department. And, much like I experienced later in life, the early years of this department was much like it’s professional counterparts. Wild, untamed, and effective.

I’m not sure how I got involved with it, but when the boxes of Macs arrived, I was un-boxing them and setting them up. We worked layout, wrote stories, and edited our work. Students roamed the halls with expensive SLR (single lens reflex) cameras in hand, taking metric tons of photos.

I wasn’t the best student. I was bored in school. My circadian cycle almost guaranteed I took a nap in trigonometry every day. And, when other teachers let me slide, he challenged me. And he did it by trusting first.

He had no reason to trust me. But he did. Even to the point where he would give me his car keys at lunch to drop off the negatives at the developer. He had to know I was going to get lunch while I was out, didn’t he? Probably.

One time I broke his trust. looking back I don’t remember what I did, but I remember the pained look on his face, and I know I never wanted to do that again. I didn’t hurt a teacher – I hurt a friend.

Fast forward 3 years.

It’s 1994, and I’m out of school. I’m back home, in Johnstown, and have nothing going for me. I use Mr. McCloud as a reference, and land a job as a clerk for the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat. It was a shot in the dark job, and and it beat flipping donuts at Dutch Maid.

Couple years later, I’m at the TV station (WJAC-TV). Once again his name graces my resume, and once again Mr. McCloud’s silent hand gently glides me into a better job.

The Big Shift

It’s 2000. The “dot com” bubble is in full effect, yo. I’m in Columbus Ohio, and within 4 days of moving I find a job.

“So, you used to work as a reporter?” my interviewer asked.

“Yes, it was a great job, but the hours were hard, the money was poor, and I experienced a couple of incidents that scarred me.”

“What’s it like to be on TV?”

“Well, I don’t think I’ll be on TV much fixing computers, but I’ve demonstrated an ability to write, and, as you know, communication is such a big part of customer service.”

Bingo. I have the job. And who can indirectly be thanked? Right again.

Back to the present.

Chris and I talk for 45 minutes. “When was the last you saw him?” “How long was he sick?” “Have you heard from any of the other crew?”

Do you remember this. Do you remember that? It floods back in laughter.

I think Mr. McCloud would want to be remembered with laughter, but if he doesn’t mind, I’ll always remember him with something more.

Suisse Shop – More Than Just Flower and Sugar

Craig — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 04:29:07 +0000

There's a lot of passion in this little box

For Darlene Jones, baking isn’t just a business, it’s a family passion.

“When I grew up, my mom made all cakes from scratch, breads, everything. I grew up knowing how things should taste. She put love in her baking,and I got that from her.” Said Darlene in an interview for the tastecasting event held March 18th, at the Suisse Shop located at 2119 Polaris Parkway in Columbus, Ohio.

But that passion was not recognized at first. Darlene spent 17 years as a registered nurse, then attended Design school. Something in told her, however, this was the way she wanted to go.

“The shop went up for sale, and at the time it was in the Busch center, which as you know is an industrial park now.” Darlene said. “It was a tiny little place, kind of dark. But they had the recipes, so when I walked out, I said to my husband I WANT It. ‘What?’ my husband (Herb Jones) said to me? I said ‘I WANT it.’ So we went into proceedings to buy the company, and then I came right up here and started designing the store.”

Designer cupcakes are one of the stores specialties

Darlene attributes her success to two factors. The first being location, and second being a perfectionist. “Use the best ingredients, and you have a much better product.”

The Suisse shop stands behind this statement of quality. If you are looking for a special occasion cake, the way this bakery does tastings really showcases that quality. Each component of the cake is tasted separately. First the cake, followed by the icing, and lastly the filling. Therefore each cake is custom built to your exact taste and desire.

The formula is working. When The Jones’ bought the store they had done 25 cakes in a year, now their output is 145, and have increased the product line three-fold. Included in the line-up is delicious Boston Cream cupcake, and a Waldorf Red cake with a recipe dating back to the 1930’s, topped with a icing that is only used on that one cake. Then there’s the central Ohio favorite, the Buckeye. But unlike so many others, this cake does not beat you over the head with peanut butter, but balances against the rich chocolate like a ballroom dancing couple. A Tawney port comes to mind as the perfect complement to this.

It isn’t all pomp though. Unlike the famous bakers currently on hit shows like the food network, Darlene does not let unique get in the way of quality.

“With Ace of Cakes, a lot of that is Styrofoam and fondant, to the point that they really are not editable.” Darlene said. “We’ll make cakes for a child with a fire-breathing dragon. We’ll put fondant on the top, but the cake is french butter cream, and truffle, and really good stuff. So the top is decoration, but everything else is really good cake.”

It’s a mission that is demonstrated in everything this family does. “I wish my mom was around to see this.” Darlene lamented. “Because she said ‘I never thought you would be a cook or baker,’ and I said ‘don’t you remember me with my little hands on your pastry table watching you?’ She said ‘I thought you were bored.’

Attention to detail can be found in all the sweet treats

Now my kids are all interested. My boys are baking for their families, and my daughter is now my general manager of the bakery, and she’s in charge of all the design. It would not nearly be as much fun without her. All my employees, all the girls up here, all the girls in the back, they have passion. Everything they make is wonderful. They really have that same drive that I do.”

The Suisse Shop is located at 2119 Polaris Parkway, Columbus Ohio. Their phone number is (614) 846-5102.