Last night on Taos

Sorry I have been neglecting this space for the past two weeks.

Here's a short update.  I have been house sitting a wonderful house for the past 2 weeks.  It's near Taos and has a wonderful view, secluded and a Hot tub.  Whoa!  This Hot Tub is something I could get used to. Or is it use to? Be that as it may I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in this town.  To call Taos eccentric would be an understatement.  It has so much character that only the people here outshine the environment.  I have gathered a bunch of photo's and will be punishing you with them over the next few weeks.  Also the nightlife is all about music and good food.  The town closes up at 10 PM but so does Santa Fe.

Stay tuned for further updates.

Please donate. Movember.

MoDay 12 on the road to Los Alamos

This month is Movember.  I started my Mo on November 1st.  Check out my profile and please donate.  Men's health is often ignored.  Usually by the owner.

Still in Santa Fe....

I have been here in Santa Fe for about 3 weeks now. My observations of the people I have met are varied. Number 1 is that no one was born here. It seems everyone I have met moved here from another part of America. I have met more than a few ex-Californians. There are a number of ex-Seattleites. Number 2 is the town has a strong Arts community. Canyon Road is home to numerous Galleries and from what I've seen the quality is high end. Then third observation is the town has a quiet, almost subdued, night life. For such an active fine arts community it was surprising the main square district lacked a vibrant music scene. I was talking to an Artist I met this week and she agreed with my assessment. The town I come from in Canada has a strong tech sector but the fine arts community struggles to suppress the talent drain. Waterloo Ontario has over 2000 tech jobs that employers struggle to fill. It seems the creative tech talent gets courted to Toronto, NYC and San Francisco.

What I have been trying to understand is how to plug the tech brain-drain in Waterloo Ontario. My theory is the young talent likes to have a vibrant and active night life. This includes fine arts, Music, restaurants and recreation. While Waterloo provides and active restaurant culture as well as various recreation activities the music scene is not supporting a wide style of venues. The town is very family friendly but the 20-30 year olds are looking for an active entertainment district. My thinking is that Santa Fe would benefit from an infusion of tech. If the local government made it attractive to set up a satellite office for RIM (Research in Motion) or a tech giant like Google then they may begin to see growth in other sectors aside from tourism.

While I am here I'll try and make some connections and see if partnerships can be set up. I think Santa Fe has more to offer than it realizes.

Stepping out of your comfort zone.

Today I am learning how to cook in a Tangine.  It's not a fruit it's a Morocan cooking vessel. Even now the thing is boiling over so I turned down the heat to let it calm down.

Sometimes in life we need to turn down the heat and let things simmer and stew.  The past few weeks have been a mix of running, meditating and self-evaluation.  I left Ontario with 2 potential directions in front of me and now I have three directions.  It seems opportunities pop up when I was not even looking in that direction.  I guess it's like a road sign that says go this way for stability or go this way for a scenic view.  In the end both roads lead to the same place.  It's just that on one road the view is nicer.

I may chose the scenic road. 

The pot is boiling over again...

Monument Valley is a must see.

My ride.

I have been in Santa Fe for two weeks now.  I have been keeping busy.  Too busy to keep up with the daily task of blogging. It's a self-imposed task as I know it should be a habit by now.  I have been hanging out with Arthur.  He owns Renaissance Art.  You can find his website here.   He makes incredible leather journals and other products.  He is passionate about marketing and about Journaling.  So much so that I will make the effort to write my thoughts consistently in a journal.

The past two weeks have been a mix of fellowship, introspection, traveling and fun.  The past 3 days I rode the motorcycle out to Monument valley. It's a place of incredible desolation and beauty.  I first visited the area in 2008 and vowed to return with more time.  Believe me three days is not enough time.  The weather was too cold to enjoy riding in near freezing temps all day and camp at night.  I never would have gotten warmed up.  So the next trip here will be with more time and warmer temps.  Apparently you can camp within 500 meters of the main attraction in Monument Valley.  I was told it's "primitive Camping"  I can deal with that.  Imagine waking up and looking at this outside your tent door.

As the temps and wind were too hard to bear I opted for a warm room at a local motel.  It was the perfect fit for the rough, cold, windy, dusty ride into Kayente AZ.   The next morning I rode over to the Navajo Cliff dwellers monument.  It was spectacular to see the hamlet of buildings built into the cliff walls. They even had a virtual Geocache at the site that I could log.  I got a little wind and sunburn in spite of my sunscreen application. If you look at the link below you will find my album which contains more photo's.

Playing with Wilie E. Coyote

More later.