#this reminds me of that time when I was 16 when this super popular rowdy football player guy got sat next to me in math

[circusclownproductions]

don’t need to learn any small talk skills because people make eye contact with me and immediately start telling me about their relationship with their dad

[mrmrsvegan]

What is your story? How did you guys meet, are you the same age? How old are you? Where are you from, what are your interests outside of nutrition- what did you go to college for (if you went)?

I’m sure we’ve told this one 1000 times...  We are both from St. Louis.  I met Kristin when her sister invited her to my 4th of July work party (I ran a software company(s) for ~20 years) nearly 16 years ago (she was 21 & I was 26).  I had met @basicveganbitch a few weeks earlier and impressed upon her that I was an insane vegan entrepreneur who’s house was embarrassingly devoid of a subzero fridge & she told me about her sister who loves crazy people, which was great because it was near impossible to get a date being vegan 20 years ago in STL, plus I wasn’t very cool!  I remember this person was like a beam of light walking into the party (at a popular packed restaurant looking out at the St Louis Arch Fireworks & our party was roped off in the middle of the chaos & she was wearing all white) and her sitting down at the end of the huge table and all my female friends instantly started going to town with jealousy and getting catty, with comments like “who invited barbie?”.  I had no doubt she was out of my league (I was a super super nerdy techie with extra nerdy clothes (dressed like I was 60) so I didn’t even try and just was nice and got to know her.  The party moved back to my house and things got rowdy with some of my employees and their spouses fighting over who was sitting next to who in the hot tub, so I had to designated drive a few people home separately and I was sure I’d never see her again, but when I got back she was still there waiting for me and we’ve never really been apart since.

We both have college degrees & I am back in school again (I started college at 15 at Washington University in STL, but I have a BSBA, MSBA & went to all three years of law school, but realized I never wanted to be a lawyer, just needed to know enough to not be afraid of them & protect myself, but now getting my MPH/DrPh).  I recommend doing it right the first time and getting a professional degree that qualifies you to do something you can put all your energy into or skipping it all together and getting job training of an in demand skill.

I honestly only started making software thinking it’d be a great way to make money so I could spend the rest of my life writing songs (had my first computer at 8 years old and back then we’d record our code onto an audio tape and play it back into the computer to launch games we transcribed from magazines that were just pages of code we had to retype...)  but Kristin reminded me yesterday that I haven’t written a song in over 10 years...  I actually played some songs on the guitar for her the night we met (some Ben Harper).  But Tate loves all the instruments and wakes up and runs over to the guitars and strums them every morning so I feel like we’ll have a band soon :)  I’m sure you know we are into art/architecture/travel/tech/community. 

My parents weren’t wealthy, we were made fun of because we didn’t have food in our pantry or fridge, I paid for my school with student loans (over $120k+) & made every penny I have at the keyboard or flipping houses with my own two hands.  I do everything from tile to roofing, concrete, masonry, electrical, plumbing, carpentry, etc.  My most expensive hobby is my Twike (see twike.com), which I recently upgraded to lithium ion batteries ($10k worth (what was I thinking!) but then found out I was going to be a dad and decided it was too dangerous to drive so now its an expensive driveway ornament, but really enjoy working on cars, too (rebuilt my engine while in college) & still watch how to vids online and do my own maintenance vs getting hosed at the dealership.  I don’t know who the heck is going to read this aside from my wife, but I spent all day today in the sun planting trees and getting our house ready for market and can’t impart how gratifying it is to earn skills at as much as you can in life.  I’ll share with you everything I’ll share with my son.  Its all part of what made me me and able to pay off my student loans, buy my 1st house with cash right out of college, travel the world all thanks to an insatiable appetite for knowledge and the experience applying it.  Be humble, get your hands dirty as much as possible.  I often get called a Renaissance Man by people, but for me I wouldn’t let someone do for me what I wasn’t willing to do for myself & I don’t want to own anything I can’t take care of myself.  Lots of things it pays to have others do (like cut your hair, but believe me I’ve tried), but gaining an appreciation and knowledge of as much as you can will help you appreciate others more and give you unique perspectives to help you with all your goals in life.

Not everything goes to plan, but we learn from our mistakes as much as we do from our triumphs and maybe even more. 

Next time something breaks search how to fix it. 

Next time someone asks you something don’t take the answer in your head as fact, research and dig hard to find other perspectives from diverse backgrounds.