I'm not a coffee addict by any means, but because I work from home it's not uncommon at all for me to hit the local coffee shop a couple of days for a few hours.  It helps keep me sane, but I just read about a website called Coffitivity and their take on how the coffee shop can help improve creative productivity.

You can read more about it on their website, but the idea is they allow on their website the ability to 'listen to' coffee shop ambience.  Not sure I will try it out, but thought it was interesting enough.  It always encourages me when I find folks who have taken an off the wall idea and made it happen.

My local coffee shop is Coffee Chaos in Midland, MI.  There are others in town, but this one has the right mix of people, ambience, cleanliness, and of course great coffee.

One thing you can't get with Coffitivity ... actual coffee:)  Guess I'll keep heading out to Coffee Chaos ... maybe even today!

Yep, that pic is me making it happen at the coffee shop.

Yes, today is the day I turn 40 years old.  

I thought about sharing my fears and attitude about this point in my life.  You know the thoughts and emotions of growing older, wondering if what you do each day makes a difference.  Wondering if I've yet reached the half-way point in life.  Curious about the next ten years.

I thought about sharing how God has worked in my life this past year.  How he is teaching me contentment and compassion.  The more 'things' we get how quickly our lives become busy, complicated and it't not long before we start looking for simplicity.  How people matter more than anything else in this world.  When I come home from work, the moment I walk through the door the most important part of my day begins.  The rough day at work pales in comparison to the joy and responsibility of loving/serving my wife and three beautiful daughters.

I thought about sharing the priviledge of having close friends and teammates.  Friends that can laugh with you and at you.  Friends that can give and forgive.  Teammates that are passionate yet respectful.  Teammates that know your weaknesses yet still follow.

I thought about sharing how God has blessed me with a wonderful wife and children that seek after God.  Their patience with me.  Their smiles and laughter.  Their desire to do what's right, even when no one is looking.

After just thinking about sharing these things, wore me out ... I guess when you turn 40 things start down hill pretty quickly:)

I came across this essay and radio broadcast from the renouned Paul Harvey back in 1964.  Amazing what he said at that time.  The essay changed a bit from 1964 till 1996, but it's generally the same thing.

"Here's the rest of the story!"

I'm particular about what I post as fact/fiction so I did vet this out at and you can see for yourself here at snopes.com.

Thought I'd share this project I came across this morning.  It amazes me how far we've come yet oh so how far there is yet to go.

GravityLight: lighting for the developing countries from Therefore on Vimeo.

The ah ha moments do come at strange times, do they not?  The pieces of life's puzzle are trying to make sense in your brain, but you just can't find the order in it all.

I've been wondering why the business that I am priviledged to be part of has been 'successful', by many standards.  It's a given that we haven't 'arrived' nor can we rest on our laurels, but it truly amazes me that we've come so far.  Realizing that it could all be gone tomorrow ... what has been the difference maker in our company?  Why are we growing when others are shrinking?  Why do we have a super high customer satisfaction rate?

Tonight, as a family, we went to watch The Hobbit and a statement that Gandalf made helped put the 'pieces' in order a bit.  It's not that we have superb software, yet we do have great software.  It's not that we have perfect people, yet we do have really good people.  It's not that there is any one huge difference maker.  The statement from Gandalf sums it up...

“Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.” 
Gandalf: The Hobbit

Whether it be good or evil, success or failure it's my experience that the little things are the difference maker.  It's all the little things that we do as a company that make the difference.