While I was in high school and college, I always enjoyed listening to Devo. Hey what was not to like, catchy riffs, techno/punk rock, with a geeky concept? With smash MTV hits like “Whip-It”, “Satisfaction”, & Through Being Cool” they were always fun to watch and listen to. When I was off at college my brother Alan, who has always been a big influence on my musical tastes, turned me on to “Oh No! It’s Devo,” (1982) which was a masterpiece of prog-rock/punk fusion.

Now fast forward some, umm, well, a lot of years. Again, my brother Alan re-introduced me to Devo. You see, he’s picked up the drums and has been pounding on those things like it was the bosses head. And you guessed it, one of his favorite bands to jam to is Devo. We each rediscovered Devo’s greatness. Through the deep well that is BitTorrent, I was able to score their discography as well as some videos of complete concerts. After seeing them perform live, well at least on video, I was totally blown away.

Now I’ve seen a lot of concerts in my day. Some bands, just don’t transfer well to the whole reproduce their recorded sound, live. Well that’s certainly not the case for Devo. I guess essentially being a punk rock band helps. As my brother and I have come to realize many mainstream bands start off as punk bands, then evolve musically into more complex genres. Incubus and the Police are two such bands. My conclusion was that, when you get right down to it, punk rock is about the most simple type of rock there is. Sure there’s a big difference between the Sex Pistols, The Ramones, and Devo, but I think they all share a certain pureness that emerges from their simplicity.

After “Oh No! It’s Devo,” Devo only released three more Cd’s, the last coming in 1990. Now after 10 years, they’ve released “Something For Everyone.” Ladies and Germs, let me tell you, it is another masterpiece. Check out this brilliant video from one of the singles “Fresh” If anything, I’d say they sound better than ever. They’ve also picked back up where they’ve left off and are pimping the new CD all over late night television talk shows and have also hit the road for a new 2010 tour. Of course, they’re going to be performing in Indiana, and I hope Alan’s going to go, but the closest they’re coming to Puerto Rico is Atlanta, Georgia.

It’s easy to say that after watching them perform live and the total awesomeess that is “Something For Everyone,” I now want to see them more than ever. I remember them playing the 9:30 Club back when I was living close to Washington DC, but I’d have to say that was about the only opportunity that I can remember. So I’ve started to make some noize locally with a local promoter and will soon ratchet up the noize to see if there are any other Devo fans stuck on the island. My mission, and I’ve defnitely chosen to accept it, is to raize enough stink to get them to come to Puerto Rico; something which I don’t believe has ever happened. So how about, “Are we not men?”

On September 11, 2001, I, like millions, watched in horror as the worst terrorist bombing in the history of mankind transpired. As I watched, I felt a change come over me, and in the weeks to come, the world seemed to reflect that change. The world seemed like a smaller place, and for a fleeting moment, people begin to speak of the change this event meant.

However, in the months to follow, I saw our unity disappear. I saw the United States react exactly as it had always done. It was difficult to watch as the speech of change, devolved into speech of revenge. As the Bush war machine began to pick up steam, all sense of the great change the attacks on 9/11 had wrought were forgotten.

It made no sense to me, for I had changed. I had a new perspective on things, as well as new priorities in my life. I couldn’t understand how I had changed but the world hadn’t. In my confusion, I turned to God to ask for guidance. I asked for the knowledge to understand how everyone’s hearts seemed to have hardened, while mine seemed to cry out for peace, for love.

Now it may seem improbable, which I think is at the root of our discontent, but God spoke to me. He told me that if the world had promised that 9/11 changed everything, that they needed to be reminded of the change they had weeped for on September 12th. I played the humble servant and tried to remind the world, and, at least for me, my world did change. I became ostracized, feared, and shunned. Indeed, my life changed on 9/11 and eventually resulted in me becoming disabled by Crohn’s Disease, a ticking time bomb I had carried inside me since I was 25 yrs old.

Deepwater Horizon

Again on April 20, 2010, I watched as the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. At first it seemed like a minor catastrophe, but as the wellhead 5,000 feet below the ocean continued to gush oil into the gulf. I had that inescapable feeling once again. The world had changed. Only this time, no one else seemed to share my opinion. It wasn’t until two months of oil had spilled into the gulf, that I finally heard someone say: “The Gulf of Mexico will never be the same.”

Now a month later, we are still a month away from stopping the oil leak caused by the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion. I’ve watched in horror as the greatest environmental disaster in the history of mankind continues to transpire right before our very eyes, and yet, there are still very few who recognize the travesty that has taken place. It’s difficult to predict what the long term effects of this disaster will have on our ecosystem, but we’re witnessing the elimination of a major component of that ecosystem and very few seem to care.

Conclusion

Now forgive me for swinging for the low fruit hanging off of this rant, but it should be just as obvious to everyone else as it is to me. In July of 2008, crude oil hit a record high of $147 a barrel. Now the oil shortage is not factored into the economic collapse of 2007-2010, but I do believe it is relevant and contributed to the crisis.

So we have three crises within 10 years, which, for many, if not everyone, has changed the world indelibly. So I argue that they are are all linked to one root cause, our dependence on fossil fuel, especially crude oil. For me, the obvious change needed after 9/11 was a discrete change in the policies of the United States which extricated us from the Middle East, or rightfully, eliminated our need for oil supplied by the Middle East.

In 2008, the $147 per crude oil barrel should have caused us to form the same conclusion. During the duration of the shortage, there was frequent talk of developing clean energy, but by December of 2008, crude oil had dropped down to $32 a barrel. At that point, the crisis had ended. Except for the looming economic meltdown, everything was business as usual.

Now in 2010, we have yet another messy reminder that we are too dependent upon fossil fuel, yet very few people are recognizing the dire need for us to change. For me, when the Deep Water drilling rig exploded, our world changed, we’re just in denial that it means that we have to change as well.

I woke this morning and I was perusing my emails, I found one from Seth Godin telling me that “I rock!” And so I’m like finally, someone recognizes the awesomeness that is me. ….I’m sorry, what?…He sent that out to everyone subscribed to his email update list?….Oh….Bu, bu, but, he said “I rock,” and then I was thinking “Oh yeah” and then feeling like totally awesome. Well anyway, don’t matter casue I know that I, in fact, do rock. You’ll see….

Nah, all kidding aside, as a long time fan of Seth’s writing, today’s post ends a little bit on the snarky side: “And five minutes of rocking would be enough, because it would be five minutes more than just about anyone else.” Back in my previous incarnation as an artist, I became convinced that I was slowly building momentum, safe in my belief that I was outperforming everyone else I knew in the amount of time I was being creative. My thinking was that if I kept outproducing any of my potential peers, I would eventually obtain the attention and recognition I sought.

For me, Seth’s post reminds me of this mindset. I think too often we think that obtaining our goals is a sprint, but with everything I’ve read (and witnessed) I’m certain that reaching our dreams is a marathon. Reaching your dreams is left to those who keep their goals in front of them and consistently put one foot (or five minutes) in front of another, whether it’s second after second or day after day. With writing, most accomplished writers clearly identify a direct correlation between a writer’s “success” and the amount of time they are sitting in front of an empty pad of writing paper, a typewriter, or word processor.

At times knowing that you’re in a marathon is de-motivating. Especially when we see the rare and extraordinary shooting stars break this rule and blast their way to their dreams, it becomes even more difficult to accept. However, what we miss is that even though some bright stars seem to give us a glimpse that achieving our dreams can be obtained through a sprint, I bet if we did the research, we would discover that even those shooting stars didn’t achieve their dreams without putting more time into their passion than anyone else. Of that I’m certain, there are no shortcuts. Whether you finish the marathon in world class time of 1 hour and 56 minutes or 6 or 8 or 10 hours, achieving our dreams IS a marathon.

In a long list of things I have to do to complete X-cito’s resurrection, perhaps one of the most critical is done. It looks like I’ve successfully upgraded WordPress. While I couldn’t go with the latest release 2.9.1 (I was blocked because my 1&1 hosting service of MySql did not meet the requirements for the latest WP version, using this chart I was able to find out which was the latest Wp version I could use with 1&1’s MySQL4.0 installation), I was at least able to get version 2.8.6 installed, which meets the minimum requirements for adding the Comic Press Plug-in

So, new WP version installed, check. Now onto re-familiarizing myself with the latest plugins available for WP, especially how to link to my Flickr gallery, and how to combat comment spam. Then I’ll be moving on to installing Comic Press, including actually getting started at drawing some comics. I need to update my resume to reflect my retiree status

Since a search for my name ranks this blog right behind O’Reilly then, I’m wasting valuable SEO, by not using it. While it may have to go through a couple of metamorphosis, I really think it’s worth the effort. I’m not sure if I’ll redo the objective, but two things are clear. I’m grossly behind in my version of WordPress, so I’ve got to upgrade. Plus there’s way cooler templates out there. Who knows, maybe that cartoon based theme, might be the ticket.

Plus there’s a lot of link cloud marketing to do to get this linked up to my different social network sites. I also have to reinvent my resume to reflect my medically retired status. Oh man, here we go again, but unlike before. I think I know where this is going. “Straight to the moon Alice.” This time it’s real. More soon.

“In the long run it is far more dangerous to adhere to illusion than to face what the actual fact is”

In the category of most profound quote read this year, David Bohm, physicist, Univeristy of London from the book “The Holographic Universe”, by Michael Talbot.

In last week’s Caribbean Business Rafael Hernandez Colon, three-term former Governor of Puerto Rico, restated the obvious by emphasizing the need for Puerto Rico to mobilize itself and put in place promptly a plan to attack the genetics, digital, and knowledge revolution. I do agree with him; to address this opportunity will require a change in our system of higher education. The only problem is I have not heard nor seen any such plan to dramatically impact Puerto Rico’s higher education system.

Governments are like businesses. Many of the same methods are equally effective in each of these environments. Puerto Rico faces declining revenues, increasing costs, and ineffective leadership. If this were a business, the actions required are clear. Develop new revenue streams, or maximize those you have by trimming costs, and find new leadership Although the Pridco reduction seems promising, I doubt the entire Government could follow suit. There are just too many powerful constituencies. There is a potential solution, however, social entrepreneurs. When there is too much bureaucracy and the resistance too powerful, then social entrepreneurs can leverage agility and freedom to address critical issues.

We need a plan to quickly empower Puerto Rico’s higher educational system, but the Government nor the United States holds the answer. The only possible path to a plan and a solution lies within the entrepreneurial community. For me, what we desperately need are businesses that wire, educate, and instill Puerto Rico.

First we need low cost broadband available for all of the major cities of Puerto Rico. However, what needs to be clear is this is not an investment to get rich quick, but a rising tide floats all boats scenario where the long range is emphasized.

Second, the only way to create a knowledge industry is to produce knowledge workers. We need massive quantities of highly educated, computer savvy graduates. We need a new workforce which is as comfortable with a keyboard and compiler as they are with a cellular phone.
Finally, we need to instill into this new workforce, the entrepreneurial spirit. They need to be able to see for themselves that we need a new path. They need to feel it in their bones, that the old path only leads into a dead-end. They need to be able to look past the lackadaisical acceptance that our current system is not broken and see opportunity.

Plainly, there is no other way. This is the only option available to us. Becuase if we don’t found businesses to address these problems, we hasten our arrival at the end of our current path. Only suffering lies at the end of that path.

I am convinced that one of the greatest things which limits Puerto Rico is our inability to accept this fundamental principle: our lives (and thus our island) is the result of our own decisions. Therfore our inability to accept this principle ensures our inability to take control of our own lives (and thus our island).

There are no inconsequential decisions! Each and every decision we make creates a long chain of cause and effect. The problem as Peter Senge points out in his book “The Fifth Discipline”, is that often times there is a delay between the two. When we put our hand on a hot stove, we immediately pull it away. Ouch that’s hot! When there is no immediate feedback mechanism, then we lose that immediacy. When a frog is thrown into a boiling pot, they will immediately try to jump out. However, if we put them into a pot and then crank up the heat, they never realize it is getting hot until it is too late.

What we must develop is a more long range feedback system, so that when we make bad decisions, the negative impact can be seen and felt more acutely. One area that Puerto Rico needs to develop a better understanding is how breaking the laws of our country dulls our sense of what is right and wrong. When a society can no longer judge what is in the greater good of that society, is when that society is doomed.

They say after you fall from a horse, the best way to recover your composure and confidence is to get right back on. I think so it is with writing, maybe the only way to start writing again is to…start writing.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately. Maybe even too much. Most of the time I have been thinking about my blog and where it is headed or not headed, as the case may be. I’ve got so many things swirling around in my head, and I’m trying to learn new things, that by the time I get around to deciding to write, it is like now 11 something p.m., and well my energy level has been that great lately. So I usually just succumb to my desire to get a decent night’s rest and head for bed. I’ve also been beating myself up daily because I have not been writing. I want to create a schedule where I can plan to write more often, but I’m just baffled on how I can find the time. So now that everyone is asleep, I’m climbing back into the saddle and hopefully I can shake off the rust and figure out how to make that schedule. It is my great desire to make that happen. So I’m sure I will find a way.

So on this long Thanksgiving weekend, I thought I would start by just listing a few things for which I’m thankful. Here it goes:

• God’s presence in my life
• My beautiful family, especially my four girls
• Great friends, even if many of them I don’t get to see as often as I would like
• Many great new friends that I’ve met this year: Gil, Jose, Dan, and Joseph
• Speaking at 3 major industry conferences
• SNAP’s brief success on SourceForge.net
• Being selected as an Enterprize Business Idea winner

So in many ways, this has been a phenomenal year for me. However, there are still some things for which I’m full of sorrow. I believe that we must also enumerate the things that bring us sorrow. We must because they also define who we are. Most of us carry them upon our backs most of the time, so it is important that we also acknowledge them as well. Hopefully, by forcing ourselves to open the door that should remain closed – we learn. We learn from what brings us sorrow so we can appreciate that which brings us joy.

• The premature loss of Francisco Gregory Martinez (”Paquito”) on March 20
• The United States’ continued occupation of Iraq
• The tailspin into chaos here in Puerto Rico from: corruption, greed, snobbery, egotism, jingoism, nationalism, politics, drugs, murder, …
• Making only $0.91 from Google AdSense
• Losing my focus in a fog of SNAP challenges and Web 2.0

For many years I continuously read self-help and success books. During those many years I felt like I just wasn’t “getting it” becuase the success I desired, did not seem to be getting any closer. Now to my surprise, I did “get it”, but it just took a while to become fully installed.

So I’d like to second Gil’s recommendation that he adds to his “Success Starts Now” post. Now many years later I’m hearing things I read those many years ago, come from me with such fluidty and ease I sometimes amaze myself. So add a little patience to this mix, and you may find that many years from now, the simple things Marcus Vorwaller suggests in his list of “Ten Things You Can Do Today to Jump-start Success” have become second-nature.