I Have A Friend With Cancer

I met her at work and she is going through chemo right now. The radiation treatments are awful and she still manages to come into volunteer at the American Cancer Society Discovery Shop (it's a second hand (donation only) retail store in Corona Del Mar that donates 75% of revenue to ACS.) She came into today with a wristguard on because the radiation is now giving her carpal tunnel. 

Everyone is sensitive to her weak immune system and low energy, but she still wants to help out so we find her small jobs. I'm amazed and overwhelmed by her passion for life and activity. She is past pain. And I think just wants to be treated like a capable human being and not a sick person. She will live longer, or, even better, beat cancer because of this. A truly inspiring woman.

Learn how to volunteer for the American Cancer Society in your neighborhood:

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/EMP/EMP_0.asp

Practice Makes Perfect

We've heard this saying many times. Especially as kids. I think it's supposed to inspire us to stick with something that's a challenge, but (not surprisingly) I've always taken it literally. I applied this philosophy to almost everything and also believed in perfection. The perception, the reality, and the self-destructive path getting there.

Now, I'm thankfully writing off perfect as a human state of existence. My goal is to be present and let my senses, soul, and mind do the rest. Maybe by being more aware I can learn and improve organically. Sounds like the same result of "practice makes perfect" and a lot more attainable than aiming for perfection from your regimens.

Practice presence. 

(deep breath)

Try Not Having Everything

Almost everyone who has access to the internet, and therefore this blog, has every thing (think Maslow) humans require to live. And a lot more. (I'm included in this group.)

Recently, I've been inspired by letting necessity facilitate action...instead of access. You will be overwhelmingly satisfied (maybe even enlightened) when you wait until you need something, become temporarily uncomfortable because you don't have it, seek it out*, and ultimately make the aquisition.

Try this with diet, medicine, wardrobe, household accessories, even your social calendar. Shock your system with raw fulfillment.

* This could even require waiting. Not as frightening as it sounds :)

What Would Google Do?

I just started reading "What Would Google Do" by Jeff Jarvis. Here is my favorite quote so far. He uses these sentences to explain how to reevaluate your method of attracting customers to take advantage of the power (and necessity) of "thinking distributed" in the context of the web:

"People draw their me-sphere with themselves at the center and everyone else - especially those who want their money - on the outside. That's how companies and institutions should view themselves: on the outside, asking to come in."

Google has provided a platform to enable anyone and anything to get distributed. It's a tool to get your potential customers to the destination or content they are seeking as efficiently as possible.

So figure out how to ask your customers to come in, not make them. Turn over traditional, centralized advertising theory and find out what people may ask to find you...need you...want you! Your own homepage is important, but nowhere close to the breadth of pages featuring links to your homepage. Apply your resources here and grow. Fast.

This thinking can be applied by companies and institutions, but also by anyone with an audience. I don't want your money; however, I do want your time - the time it takes to read my blog. I'm inspired to find other content on the web that I think you value and start distributing "Breathe Air & Drink Wine" there. Please leave a comment with your favorite sites to help me get started. Thank you!

Larry Hutnick Sr.

This is my dad's dad, the grandfather I refer to in the post below. I want to give some context to his influence on me, so I thought I would share the my eulogy with you (1/31/07):

Larry Hutnick Senior is a legend. Now I’m one of five people who can say Larry Hutnick was my grandfather. It is something I know I’ll be saying for the rest of my life because my grandfather’s life will be remembered by many people for a long time. 

Anyone who’s ever met my grandfather has something wonderful to say about him. I knew his funeral would be a day of stories and attended by as many people who knew him who could be here in person. If you would like to know how touching my grandfather’s life was, this day and this room are a glimpse. 

When I got the call from my dad I was at work and completely lost it. I was in my new home, Las Vegas, working with a bunch of people who had never heard of the famous Hutnick name and had never been to a Saturday morning clinic. Before I left for the day, I was in my office booking my flight home and a girl I work with walked in to say how sorry she was and asked if we were close…I said “yeah, we were close – if my family was Jerry Seinfeld my grandfather was Kramer”

He came over the house all the time. The pool was probably one of his favorite places to be after a day of teaching tennis. He’d change in the dressing room we set up in our garage, soak his feet for a little while, before he entered the water with a whale-like plunge. We’d shuck corn from Adelson’s farm, hit golf balls into the net we’d set up in the back yard, play driveway golf, and of course tennis at Millwoods, the Purtles, Glastonbury raquet club, Elm Ridge, or any other empty court with a net and preferably a fence…and he always made sure I had the best numbers (or the most) in Joey Viggiano’s annual Superbowl pool. 

I would meet people and they would recognize my last name…are you related to Larry Hutnick? Growing up I felt like a little celebrity. Yeah, that’s me, I’m a Hutnick. It’s my name I’m probably most proud of and the one thing I had the least control over. Anyone can make themselves into something. As a Hutnick, I was a born champion.  Hutnicks are born champions.  I learned that at a young age as I watched everyone in my family bring people together, selflessly give to those who were in need, and ALWAYS play for the love of the game. 

Thank you Grandpa for showing us how to live. You will be missed, but you are a legend who’s life didn’t end three days ago.  We will retell your stories, bake your apple pies, and play tennis at your clinics every weekend. It's your turn to "take it easy." Amen.

We're All Self-Conscious

I was listening to the Kanye West song "All Falls Down" on a bike ride yesterday when I heard the following lyric:

We're all self-conscious, I'm just the first to admit it.

It made me think, "then I must be the second". I scanned my brain for the list of things in my self-conscious vault (some put away more recently than others) and thought about why I'm proud to admit to having this human quality.

Self-conscious feelings are completely yours or disclosed to a special few. Self-consciousness inspires reflective inner dialogue. It stimulates motivation and grief. It's private, familiar, and sexy. I'm very thankful we're all self-conscious.

Cocoon Hutnick

Maybe one day I'll wake up and be a butterfly...

Can You

Run 3.2 miles? My four year old nephew (Grant) can! He finished his first 5K road race yesterday! This is the same little champ who rode a bike without training wheels at two and a half. Sorry to brag, but I think this is more news worthy than 95% of the live television that will air today :)