text:
User's Manual - Grow
A Topiary Modeling Program
Grow is a program for creating synthetic topiary.
It is a batch program and the input files needed by it are divided into categories:
Plant class file: a file for describing the 'biology' of a plant (L-System definition, leaf definition).
Plant attributes file: a file describing some plant parameters (colors, number of generations, drawing parameters etc.).
Irit file: a file containing a surrounding object by which to prune by and the location and direction of 'seeds' from which plants will grow.
These files are used when executing Grow.
Grow is based on the paper 'Synthetic Topiary' and was written by Erez Louidor, Adi Izkovitch and Ido Tal as a project for the Intelligent Systems Lab and was supervised by Dr. Gershon Elber.
Environmentally Sensitive L-Systems
This project relies heavily on environmentally sensitive L-Systems. You can define your own L-Systems or use the L-Systems supplied in the examples to grow topiary plants in your objects. Click here if you want to skip the L-System theory and explanataions part.
In order to define environmentally sensitive L-System we will first define general L-Systems.
General L-Systems
An L-System is defined by an initial word called the axiom and by rewriting rules or productions. We start with the axiom as our current word and use the productions to obtain a new word which becomes the (new) current word. Every word is a sequence of modules, and the new word is created by placing successor modules instead of predecessor ones. A module which has no valid productions is copied as is to the next word. We continue this process iteratively a number of times.
In Our Program
The axiom represents the plant as a seed and every iteration causes the plant to grow by a time step. You can however interpret the words in another way, for example as fractals.
Simple L-Systems
To make the concept of an L-System more concrete let's look at a simple example (this example is taken from the book "The algorithmic beauty of plants" by Prusinkiewicz & Lindenmayer):
w: b;
p1: a -> a b;
p2: b -> a;
The rule which has w as its identifier is the axiom and p1 and p2 are the production rules. By these rules the current word of step i is:
abaab
abaababa
Notice that the productions are "applied in parallel" (unlike regular context free grammars), that is, a production influences the next word and not the current word. The above L-System consists of modules (a and b) which have no parameters (no stored numerical info).
As a principle, everything in our program is case sensitive and in particular the module names (that is, A differs from a). A module name must begin with a letter or an underscore, and may continue with a sequence of letters, underscores or digits (like c identifiers). These rules apply to all identifiers in the L-System.
We should point out that our program works with parametric L-Systems and a module with zero parameters is represented as the module name followed by () (for example a()) in contrast with our first example. This is necessary in order to avoid the ambiguity that arises when allowing modules with multiple letters names (otherwise for example ab can be interpreted as 2 modules named a and b or one module named ab).
The axiom is always the first rule.
A rule's identifier is syntactically like a module name, and is optional as it isn't being used in any way in our program. It is applied however in all of our examples to improve the readability.
At the end of every rule (or axiom) a semicolon (;) sign must appear. To denote an epsilon successor, simply put that sign after the -> (for example: S()->;).
C-style comments are allowed everywhere (/* comment example */). New lines, tabs and blanks are ignored.
Parametric L-Systems
In parametric L-Systems the modules may have parameters attached to them which are represented in the form: module(parameter1, parameter2, ..., paramaterN).
We can extend the above example to be a parametric L-System, for example:
w: b(1);
p1: a(x) -> a(x+2) b(x+0.5);
p2: b(x) -> a(x+1);
By these rules the current word of step i is:
a(4)b(2.5)
a(6)b(4.5)a(3.5)
a(8)b(6.5)a(5.5)a(5.5)b(4)
a(10)b(8.5)a(7.5)a(7.5)b(6)a(7.5)b(6)a(5)
We can further generalize the concept of L-Systems to include context matching, conditions and probabilities.
The parameters of a module in the predecessor side of a rule are local variable names that are created 'on the fly'. The actual value of the parameters is filled when deriving the words and applying that rule. The variables may be used in other relevant rule parts.
In the successor, each parameter may be a real numbers' expression. An expression is a combination of real numbers (in regular or scientific representation), variable names and built-in operators and functions.
The arity (number of parameters) of every module is determined the first time it is introduced (or is predefined for built-in modules). In any case of arity mismatch, the parser will print an error message.
Context Matching
In addition to the predecessor module (the module which was on the left side of the arrow in the previous examples) we can optionally define a production to have a left and/or right context. A general production would be: label: lc < pred > rc -> succ; where lc and rc are the left and right contexts respectively, pred is the predecessor module, succ the successor modules and label is the production label (optional both for the production and the axiom). A production would be considered valid for a given module if pred would match (that is, be the same type as) that module and the modules to the left and to the right of pred would match lc and rc respectively. Let's illustrate this by an example:
If the current word is: a(5) b(3) a(7) b(6) b(5) then the production b(x) < a(y) > b(z) b(k) -> b(x+y-k); would be valid for the third module a(7) but would be invalid for other modules, specifically the first module a(5) because at least one context doesn't match (in fact both don't). We can also define an ignore list which tells the program to ignore certain modules when matching contexts, for example: the production a(x) > a(y) -> a(x+y) is invalid for the first module a(5) in the above example, if the ignore list is empty. If the ignore list includes module b, the production becomes valid.
The ignore list is optional and is written as the command:
#ignore moduleName1, ..., moduleNameN;
This command must be placed after the L-Systems rules.
Like in the predecessor, modules in the contexts must have variable names as their parameters (if any). Variables declared in the contexts may be used in expression in the rest of the rule.
To the above definition we can also add a condition which has to be met in order for the production to be considered valid. A general production would be: label: lc < pred > rc : cond -> succ; where cond is the condition. For example: p1: a(x) : x<5 -> b(1.1*x); is valid for a(1) but not for a(7).
The condition is considered true if the exression's result is not 0.0.
The case where several rules match a certain module is generalized in the Probability section.
For some modules more than one production might be a valid production. We allow a production to have a probability so that if this occurs we will pick at random a production according to its probability. A probability should be a non-negative real and can be a function of the parameters. The sum of probabilities of all the valid productions must be a positive real (not necessarily equal to 1, we normalize the probabilities). If the probability is not supplied it is taken to be 1. An example of productions utilizing probabilities is:
p1: a(x) -> a(x+1) : 1/x;
p2: a(x) -> a(x-1): 1-1/x;
To sum up, the most general production has the form:
label: lc < pred > rc : cond -> succ :prob;
(where pred and succ are the only mandatory fields).
In addition to being an L-System an environmentally sensitive L-System has special modules. These modules influence a 3-D "logo style" turtle at derivation time. The turtle is defined by 3 mutually perpendicular unit vectors: H, L, U (the letters stand for Heading, Left and Up, respectively). The special modules are the following:
?P(x,y,z): a query module which returns the turtle's position.
?H(x,y,z): a query module which returns the turtle's H (Heading) vector.
?L(x,y,z): a query module which returns the turtle's L (Left) vector.
?U(x,y,z): a query module which returns the turtle's U (Up) vector.
F(x): advances the turtle x units along the H vector while drawing a cone.
f(x): advances the turtle x units along the H vector without drawing.
+(x): rotate (yaw) the turtle around the U vector x degrees to the left (changes the H and L vectors).
-(x): rotate (yaw) the turtle around the U vector x degrees to the right (changes the H and L vectors).
\(x): rotate (roll) the turtle around the H vector x degrees to the left (changes the U and L vectors).
/(x): rotate (roll) the turtle around the H vector x degrees to the right (changes the U and L vectors).
&(x):rotate (pitch) the turtle around the L vector x degrees to the left (changes the H and U vectors)
^(x): rotate (pitch) the turtle around the L vector x degrees to the right (changes the H and U vectors)
[: push the turtle's current state (position, 3 vectors and peripheral information) onto the stack (begin a branch).
]: pop the turtle's current state off the stack (end a branch).
%: prune a branch.
Most of the above modules are rather obvious and self explanatory, the ones which are not are:
% (Prune)
Prune removes all modules beginning with the current % and ending one module to the left of the ] ending the branch which % belongs to. As an example consider [a(1)b(2)%a(7)[a(5)a(6)]a(3)] after the prune symbol is executed we will be left with [a(1)b(2)]. If % belongs to no branch then the current % and all modules to the right of it are removed (as though there is a virtual [ at the start of the word and a virtual ] at the end of it). The prune symbols are executed after the productions leading to the next word have been executed.
[ and ] (Push and Pop)
[ and ] have special rules in respect to context matching.
Right Context Matching
Suppose the current word is a(1)[b(2)b(3)]c(3) and we are given productions:
p1: a(x) > b(y) -> d(x+y);
p2: a(x) > c(y) -> e(x+y);
In this case both productions are valid for the first module a(1). The logic for this is as follows:
For p1: we start out at a(1) and push the turtle's state onto the stack (the pushing action does not change the turtle's state so we ignore it) the next module the turtle encounters is b(2) so a(x) > b(y) is a good matching.
For p2: we start out at a(1) and push the turtle's state onto the stack, next we encounter all sorts of modules (b(2) and b(3)) and after them we pop the turtles state off the stack. At this point the turtle "remembers" only encountering a(1) and we proceed to c(3). At this stage the turtle "remembers" a(1) and c(3) so a(x) > c(y) is a good matching.
More formally: when trying to find a right context match and faced with a [ we can either continue looking to the right of it or jump to its matching ] and look to the right of it.
Left Context Matching
Suppose the current word is b(1)[c(2)c(3)]a(1) and we are given productions:
p1: c(x) < a(y) -> e(x);
p2: b(x) < a(y) -> a(x);
p2 is a valid production for a(1) for the same reasons that p2 of the previous example was a valid production. p1 is not a valid production because after c(3) we pop so the turtle "forgets" c(3).
More formally: when trying to find a left context match (moving from right to left) and faced with a ] we proceed to the module to the left of the matching [.
Query Modules:
A query module like ?P(x,y,z), ?H(x,y,z) and such are written ?P(x,y,z) when they are to the left of the arrow (a(x) ?P(x,y,z) : inside(x,y,z) -> a(x+1);). On the other hand, they are written as ?P(*,*,*) when they are to the right of the arrow (a(x) -> ?P(*,*,*); ).
Plant Class File
The plant class file defines key features of a plant it includes (in this order):
Leaf definitions: Lets the user define special modules which will cause the turtle to draw the Irit files attached to them (used primarily for drawing leaves). When drawn, the leaf is first multiplied by the turtle's orientation matrix and is then moved to the turtle's position. The syntax is:
#defineLeaf module_name = "file_name";
Any number of leaves can be defined (including zero, this definition is optional). The leaves have zero parameters (so you must add empty () after their names in the L-System).
L-System definition: Lets the user define an environmentally sensitive L-System as was explained earlier (this definition is mandatory). The ignore list is considered a part of the L-System.
Attribute file definition: Lets the user define a plant attribute file for this plant class. This file will be used by a seed using this plant class file if the seed has not overridden it. This definition is optional (the system has built in defaults). The syntax is:
#loadAttributes "file_name";
The Plant Attributes File
This file lets the user define parameters regarding the plant. There are built in system defaults (if some attributes are missing or an attributes file is not specified). The syntax for defining a parameter is:
parameter_name= value;
Below is a list of parameters:
coneBaseAngle: The angle of a cone drawn by the turtle in response to an F command (in degrees).
initialConeBaseRadius: The cone base radius when the turtle is at the start of the current word.
coneBaseThreshold: The smallest possible radius of a cone (cones which were supposed to be drawn with a radius smaller than the threshold will be drawn with the radius equal to the threshold).
coneBaseDepthDecayRatio: The factor by which to multiply the cone radius when we start a new branch.
leavesScale: Used for scaling the leaves to the appropriate size while drawing.
coneState: Can be one of these: DrawNoCones, DrawPolygonCones, DrawFreeformCones.
generationsNumber: The number of generations the plant will grow.
coneColor: The color of the cone drawn. The syntax is: (R,G,B).
The Irit File
The Irit file is used to contain the following objects:
The Bounding Object
An Irit object which is the bounding object or part of it. Several such objects can be defined in the file or in several files. The bounding object the program will use is the boolean OR of all the bounding objects defined. The object must be a polygonal Irit object.
Seeds from which plants will grow. You may use our Irit functions to create seeds, or make them directly yourself (as an Irit script or data file). A seed object is represented as follows:
The Irit object type is string and the value of the string is "SEED". This object has several attributes:
Attribute Type
initial turtle H vector
initial turtle L vector
initial turtle U vector
initial turtle position
CLASS_FILENAME
L-System class file name
PARAMETERS_FILENAME
name of overriding parameters file name
Executing Grow
After all these files are ready type from the command line:
grow 'List of Irit input files' 'Name of Irit output file'
Both .dat and .bdt Irit formats are supported.
grow dino.bdt seeds.dat dino-tree.bdt
Will read the binary Irit file dino.bdt and the ASCII Irit file seeds.dat and will write the result to dino-tree.bdt.


text:
What to do about Deer? Farmington Hills & Neighbors Exploring Solutions
What to do about the Deer? Farmington Hills and Neighbors Exploring Solutions
(Crystal Proxmire, October 11, 2021)
Farmington Hills, MI – At first seeing a deer walk through one's neighborhood is a novelty, but after a while as urban deer population to grow, so do concerns about their impact.
Dozens of residents came to the Hawk, Farmington Hills' new community center, to talk about what to do with the deer that are roaming the streets and feeding in people's yards.
The Sept. 21, 2021 presentation included information about deer studies in the area, and options for controlling the population and mitigating the damage they do. Deputy Special Services Director Bryan Farmer was joined on stage by DNR Deer, Elk and Moose Specialist Chad Stewart.
"We started getting calls about the deer population, car crashes," Farmer told the crowd. Other concerns include ticks, property damage, destroying natural areas and eating vegetation, and deer being intimidating to people or pets.
In April 2015 the city consulted with the DNR and began collecting data. Since that time, the city has logged over 200 phone calls from residents with a variety of deer concerns, as well as dozens of emails.
In 2016 there were 5,409 responses to a citizen survey with the vast majority of residents reporting landscape damage. Dead deer were also a problem, with 589 residents reporting a dead or injured deer on their property within the previous three years.
Aerial deer counts have been done since 2016, with surveyors finding 304 deer in 2016 and 729 deer in 2021, with a general upward trend. Farmington Hills picks up between 53-105 deer corpses off roads each year. In 2020 Oakland County reported the most deer/vehicle collisions in the state, with 1,855 crashes reported.
The problem isn't just in Farmington Hills. Novi and Southfield also struggle with the same issues. The three cities met with the DNR in 2017 to discuss collaborative efforts. Aerial studies were done in Farmington Hills and Southfield, with 2021 findings showing 1,598 deer total, with 869 being on the Southfield side. A map shows deer populations per square mile and in some places, mainly in wooded areas and along the river, numbers show 80 or more deer.
In addition to studying populations, in 2017 Farmington Hills enacted an ordinance to ban feeding deer, though deer do still find plenty to eat in the backyards and wild areas of the community, and the population has continued to grow.
"It's not a unique situation to Farmington Hills. It's not even a unique situation in Michigan," said Deer, Elk, and Moose Specialist Stewart. "There are deer and people conflicts around the world."
Stewart explained that suburban sprawl pushes deer from undeveloped areas into communities. That combined with the steady decline of those interested in hunting has contributed to the growth of herds across the state. In 2000 there were roughly 800,000 hunting licenses. By 2020 that number had fallen to 600,000. "We've lost 200,000 deer hunters over the last 20 years," he said.
Adding to that is the fact that "deer are extremely reproductive animals," Stewart said. He explained that deer in urban settings have higher survival rates because of the ample supply of vegetation (for example, yummy hosta plants in people's backyards). Because of the healthy conditions, there are 1.8 fawns per doe per year in a suburban area. He talked about studies that have been done at the George Reserve which regularly show how quickly deer multiply. In the original test four does and two bucks were introduced to the reserve, and by 1933 there were more than 160 deer in the space, and the natural vegetation was nearly destroyed.
But simply looking at the numbers doesn't really give a clear picture of the community's needs. "Carrying capacity" means the number of deer an area can support before habitat degradation happens and animals start to get sick. Stewart explained that deer will often eat native plants while leaving the invasive species they don't like, creating an environment where invasive plants take over. There are also diseases that affect deer and are more rapidly spread when the population is dense.
As the DNR works with communities to create deer management plans, they don't just aim to reduce numbers, but they study the area's need and capacity before reducing herd size. They also try to set goals that are not just related to population size, for example they may want to track improvement in the biodiversity of wooded areas, or reduce crashes and property damage.
However, population control is also part of the conversation.
Stewart explained the different methods that are possible, as well as those that have been used but are not options in Michigan.
Hunting is an inexpensive solution that can bring economic benefits to an area with fees and tourism, however it's not always possible in urban areas, and some people object to this option.
Sharpshooting reduced populations quickly and efficiently. "It is safe if you go with an experienced professional or groups," Stewart said. "It is expensive. And it is controversial."
Some have suggested trapping and relocating deer, however it is not allowed in Michigan for many reasons, including that it is stressful for the deer, the survival rates are low, and it can help spread disease.
Another idea is contraception – ie, birth control. The benefit is that it's not lethal. However it's not approved in Michigan and there are many challenges such as the cost. Hand injection is required and animals need ongoing boosters. It also is only proven effective in closed populations.
Sterilization has also been tried in other places, including Ann Arbor. In 2018 the State of Michigan banned sterilization with a sunset date of April 1, 2022. It's unclear if the legislature will renew the ban or not. Sterilization is expensive and only works if large percentages of animals in herds are sterilized.
Others have suggested reintroducing predators. This can get complicated, and is viewed as socially unacceptable, and the DNR won't entertain that idea.
Fencing and repellents can help mitigate deer damage, and is something the DNR may include in plans. "It can exclude deer and it's relatively inexpensive," he said. "But there are no guarantees."
In short, "There is no solution that is easy, effective, and immediate," Stewart said. "If there was we would not be here today."
So, what happens next?
Farmington Hills is joining forces with Southfield and Novi to research specific community needs and come up with a plan. Stewart said a plan will set goals that are not just based on population numbers, but on addressing problems like crashes, ecological conditions, and health. "The emphasis should be on the impact of the deer, not on the number of deer…Even five deer can impact a community. However you can have 500 deer in a community and people don't mind, then maybe you don't have too many deer," he said. "There is always contention around a deer number."
Farmington Hills mayor Vicky Barnett was in the audience for the presentation. When it was suggested that the city being sharp shooting, she called out to make sure people knew the city is not advocating for that at this time. After the presentation, we asked Mayor Barnett for her take on the meeting.
"Last night we hosted Chad Stewart of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources as he presented several options for managing deer overpopulation — the good, the bad and the ugly. He also discussed how to proceed with a deer management plan and how that process can work on both a city and regional basis. Chad then answered questions from the audience. His presentation was excellent an provided a great overview of the problem," she said.
"Our next steps will be to gather data and assess what and where our current problems exist so we can begin to form a task force in order to develop possible solutions to each separate issue. These issues include deer/car crashes, small animal habitat destruction, disease and homeowner landscape damage. There are probably several more issues that will come up as we mover forward. We have not yet established a timeline for developing the management plan. That will come after we complete our fact-finding."
DNR will be working with the communities, and residents will be updated as there are opportunities for engagement. There are numerous resources available on the City of Farmington Hills website.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Episode 4 - David Silverander - On Designing the Life that You Want
Learn more about David on his LinkedIn and his company on their website.
Episode transcript:
Young Han (00:00):
Thank you so much for joining me on today's show.
David Silverander (00:32):
My pleasure, Young.
I'm really, really grateful for you spending the time with me. I, I know you have a busy schedule and I really appreciate you being able to talk to me about something that isn't necessarily business related.
<Laugh> looking forward to it also.
Let's start off by getting the listeners to know who you are. So who are you and what do you do for a living? Sure.
What I do for a living, I do a few different things right now. I'm doing some consulting and doing some writing projects, working on a couple fun things with you. Most recently before that I, I, co-founded a company. We launched a pretty cool product on Kickstarter that did really well before that I've done operations, finance, a a few different things throughout my career.
That's awesome. Yeah. And I think you're being a little bit humble. I, I feel like you've done a lot more than that, but that's either here nor there <laugh>. Cause you also did something pretty cool before or the Kickstarter thing as well. I mean, you've had a long history of like exploring different realms in different career aspects and yeah, I mean, I, I, I mean, if you don't mind sharing at least one of 'em, cause I know, I know you and I'd love for the, the listeners to know the context behind this, but you even got into some stock training and investing and
I did, that was actually the first thing I did right outta college. I had a degree in philosophy in 2005. Weren't a lot of philosophy jobs to be had, but I'd always been pretty interested in the stock market. My mom traded stocks back in the day. And so I was kind of familiar with it and learned about options trading before it was real trendy, but loved the leverage in volatility there. So I spent a few years at different times of my life doing that and then have spent a lot of time working on tools for retail traders, professional traders tools for myself. So my background's really more in software. And then just more recently in life, I've gotten into consumer goods products, which were fun. I spent some time working in a running apparel company, which is fun, cuz running's a big passion of mine. So it's neat to kind of see the business behind that sport.
I didn't actually know you were a philosophy major. I always assumed you were a finance major.
Yeah. You know, I thought going in for sure. I thought I would be an econ major and yeah, I really love economics, but like macro econ 1 0 1, I just, I couldn't, I was like, if I have to draw one more, some applying demand chart, I just, I didn't find it interesting. And philosophy was what I found really interesting. And I had gone to a school that was kind of more liberal AR liberal arts focus. And so I decided to just kind of lean into that. Cause that's what I liked. And at the time I thought I'd probably go to law school, but then I realized I didn't wanna be a lawyer. So yeah. It served me well, it's not the most directly applicable, but you know, the thinking skills are useful for everything you do, obviously.
No, it's really cool. I mean, I, I know you, so it's, it's a little bit unfair. I have the unfair advantage, but it also helps to, to know you in this, in this circumstance because you definitely approach life, both work and parenting with kind of like a philosophical mindset. Like you're, you're always looking at it from like all the different angles and all the, the, the pros and cons. Like you're always like assessing it from all these different points of views. And it's pretty interesting to hear that that's kind of like where that initial passion and kind of like inclination steeped from, because I never actually even knew that. So even, even me knowing you, I'm learning something new about you, this
Is great. <Laugh> I do try and approach life that way, you know, that's or, or that's just how I approach life, you know? I mean maybe it's just natural.
Yeah. Philosophically. Right. What is the meaning of this? What's the point. Exactly. Yep. Yeah. So just before we get into a, what are some of the big projects you are working on
You and I are working on really exciting project related to helping, helping teach people how to run businesses, which is something I'm really excited about. Cuz I think it's a great tool for empowerment and as you and I discussed a lot, it's something that is talked about in the way that makes it seem way more confusing and abstract than it is. And it's actually 9% of its common sense. And so I think we're doing some really exciting work helping to surface, helping to surface that common sense and put in front of people. And then I'm also working with some folks who have been teaching MBA students for a long time and are looking to kind of bring some of their, their greatest hits online. So that's another opportunity to just kind of help share knowledge. These people are experts in what they do and you know, just kind of need some help translating that into an online world. And again, I think it'll be really powerful for young people who don't wanna go to an MBA program or don't have the wherewithal to do that or whatever, but they shouldn't be, you know, separate from that knowledge just cuz they can't get into those universities.
Oh man, those are two really great projects. And if I can be biased, I'd say that. They're they, the first one sounds amazing.
I think it's gonna be pretty good. I think it's gonna be pretty good.
I actually don't know that much about you, which is so funny. Cause we've talked about so much yet. We haven't gone more than surface level. So I'd love to ask you about your kid. Like tell me about your, kid.
My kid. My kid is amazing. He will be 21 months on the 30th. So he's just getting to be super fun and really under like he is at that point where he's not quite talking yet, but he just understands so much and you know, he's just really joyful, you know? And I of one I've, I mean I think quarantine for us came at a relatively good time and that it was just like a lot of family time, you know, and just being, I, I love being able to be around him throughout the day and just kind of get little doses of his energy, you know, and it's cliche, but like having a kid had just, he starts seeing the world through their eyes and like the simplest little thing, like a little mud puddle or, or a bird or whatever you see, like how, oh, that is pretty amazing. Actually it's easy to get jaded and, and cynical as you get older. And I love how he kind of just washes that away.
That's amazing, man. Yeah. I love it. And so you have an almost two year old boy. Yep. And that's the only, you just have one kid.
Yep. Just, just the one. Yep.
Any intentions of having more?
It's something we're talking about. I think we both, we both probably like to have another one. We're not sure a hard toward that destination just yet, but it's something we've can talk about more and more. And I think sounds, you know, once you, you have two kids, right? Like yeah. Once you've done it once. Well, I don't know. It'll be fun to have a sibling and it doesn't seem as intimidating. I think there's parts I would appreciate about the newborn phase a little more if I, you know, not having all the kind of fear of being a new parent, maybe soak it in a little differently.
Yeah. I think that for us, it was like we wanted to like group 'em as much as we could together. Cause yeah. Our logic behind that was it'll be easier if we're just kinda like bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. And so we like ours are two years apart and we were like going, trying to go for the third, but like, cause I wanted a lot of kids, but we kind of stopped it too because I, what you don't realize in this logic is that they're hard work. And so they're really tiring, you know? And I'm like, this is, I don't know if we can add another one. This is like, this is unbelievable. And it pushes you way beyond you, what you thought were your limits in, in physical tiredness. And so it's a fascinating thing that parents to go through. It's kind of incredible.
And so I, I know, I know that we've talked about this briefly, but the whole point of this podcast for me is like trying to like, you know, balance between my desire to like keep growing my professional career and also like balance my desire to be a good parent and learning how to do that. Right. And just like any other thing that I like to do, I try to start by researching and understanding how other people do it. And so this is kind of the impetus for the, the podcast. And so what I found is that as I get older and I start parenting, I've realized that a lot of my parenting style and foundations and values comes from my upbringing, whether that's mimicking or trying to enhance or augment or completely contradict. But I'd love to start by just like asking you, what was your childhood like?
My childhood was great. I think it was kind of unusual in, in some sense. So I I'm an only child and my parents split up very shortly after I was born. And so I grew up and then they had joint custody of me and they, they were friendly and they lived in the same town <affirmative> so I had very much a one-on-one relationship with both of them separately. And they were both very, very intelligent people and really never, I don't know if it was a conscious decision, but they didn't really treat me too much like a kid, you know, they, from an early age, they just kind of talked to me and treated me, like I could understand what they were talking about, what was going on. And so I think that certainly shaped me a lot. And I was one of those kids who was kind of more comfortable around adults than kids really kind of feel like I didn't really understand a traditional family cuz I didn't grow up in one, like you just said, you know, like whatever you grew up in is what's normal to you. And so I think that always made me, I wasn't someone who imagined having a family, but as it's coming to my life, it's just like the greatest blessing, you know? And I'm, I'm so glad that that's what happened, but it's not like something that was for,
Do you feel like there was like impact in your current way that you're parenting, like based on how you were brought up? Like what do you feel like you're mimicking some of the things that you grew up with or are you trying to like, cause obviously significantly different just at the literal level. Yeah. What does that look like for you? What's the, what's the major different that you're seeing between you and your parents?
Because of that I'm really aware of, I mean, he's two, so it's not, it's kind of impossible for it to be otherwise, but like of him having a childhood, you know, and, and that the kind of innocence and fun that is just comes naturally, the kids, you know, I think if kids are put in situations where they have, have feel responsible for things like kids will take that on, but it's not really the best that there's plenty of time in life to be responsible for things. And so, yeah, I just really want him to feel supported and loved more than anything, which I certainly did. You know, I wanna have fun with him and we do have a lot of fun, but I think one thing I, I do carry on from both of them certainly is just the idea that like, you don't know how much they can understand how early, you know, and so there's no reason to talk down to them and he, it flows.
I mean, I'm, I'm sure you've had the experience of like, wow, how do you know that word? Or how, how do you understand what I'm saying right now? Like they're, that's right. You know, their intelligence is a they're listening quickly. I just assume that assume he understands more than I think. And it's made me, you know, he's at that phase where he just will mimic things. And so it makes you hyper aware of the small things you're doing and the big things you're doing and assuming like, well, he's gonna just be copying those patterns of behavior. So try to be really conscious about that and setting just a good example on a day to day basis, I would say is kinda my focus and then just spending a lot of time together as a family. That's really like, I think that's something frankly, like I just didn't wouldn't really have that as like a family unit, you know, the nuclears but all three of us and he really seems to enjoy it, you know? And, and so do I, so for prioritizing that, and when I said like, for me, family is more important than work. Like that's, that's a value that like I've become pretty clear on and like really try and live every day. And it is important
To me you're making some big moves, right? Like you have had a couple of really exciting entrepreneurial experiences hit some really large milestones with, you know, some of the companies that you've started, you've made the conscious decision fairly recently. I'd say like even within the last year, six, seven months to like, I take an intentional approach on your life to adjust it, to meet your new value prop of this time, time, over time over work.
I did step away from my day to day role there earlier this year. Yeah. Largely cuz I wanted more time and, and kind of energy for my family. And as you know, like being the co-founder of a startup, particularly if you're in charge of the operations, it's not a, a job you can put in a box and say, oh, it's five o'clock, I'm done. You know, there's always messages and meetings and, and that's fun and exciting. And when you're younger, I think that's great. But I just realized like there's gonna kind of constantly be a tension between putting as much time into my family as I want in the business. And so for me at this phase in my life, it just was pretty clear to me that I wanted to be able to put my family first. Obviously there's like a lot of privilege embedded in that and being able to do that, you know, and, but at the same time I had that opportunity. So that's what I wanted to do. My dad worked a lot. He's a great dad, amazing man. But he worked all the time. He just liked working, you know, I think that's why it worked all the time and he made a great living and he supported us and you know, we paid for private school and college and all kinds of amazing stuff, but I wish, I wish we would've spent more time together. I had the chance to change that. Yeah.
That's wild. So because you wanted that, you're making that intentional decision to change the diet dynamic in, in your kid
Trying to yeah. Yeah.
That's amazing man. Cause I, I met you during this transition. I met you when you actually started to like figure out how to like control your time and work and like starting to do consulting for that exact same reason, which is really, really like, I think where we bonded a lot because I'm, I mean obviously like I started the same early last year and so maybe Sam, a similar time we're going through this, you know, like very similar time, we're talking months here that we're kind of going through the same life cycle in our yep.
I think that's why we connected so much. That's probably
What it was. Right. We're both just like, we felt this like kindred spirit. We're like, oh my gosh, my, my brothern, you know, like the same kind of emotional, a mental journey and, and, and struggles quite frankly, because it's a weird jump. I, I feel like with society today and how we qualify success, it's very, very difficult to explain. I don't know if you've ever talked to your parents about, let's actually ask you, how do your parents feel about you doing this jump? What, what do they say? What do your family say about this?
My parents aren't around. I lost my mom about 10 years ago. And then my dad passed away last year actually. And that, that to be honest is another thing that contributed to really wanting to go on what mattered to me now because you know, I mean, it's again cliche, but like losing people really makes you realize that life is pretty short. You know, my mom was 57 when she died, my dad was 70. You never know what's gonna happen. And like, I do know that today, like I can go to the beach with Milo or whatever, and that I don't know what's gonna happen in the future. You know? So it's kind of optimizing for the present in that sense. And, and that, that was a big push to really be like, yeah, you gotta just do what really matters to you. And there's not necessarily gonna be more time.
My dad ran his business until a few months before he died, which was a huge accomplishment, you know? And he, like, his business was almost as old as me, like as a, you know, his other child essentially. And it's amazing what he built, but also like, I think, I always imagine he would have that time after he was working to do whatever he wanted, you know, which he certainly earned and he didn't get to have that, you know? And that that's really sad obviously. So that for me was a big impetus to go, you know, you gotta, this is the, the urge you're feeling like you gotta just listen to that dude.
That's wild. I am so sorry for your loss. And I can definitely understand how that could force you to like really rethink your life. Right? Like you just like casually layered in all these like incredible tidbits of monumental information that I'm sure philosophically you're just like wrestling with, right? Like this whole idea of like, he worked so hard for what, you know, and then to like ex you know, be able to like spend some time and, and then he wasn't able to spend that time and not to say that it doesn't mean anything, but like, you know, just kind of re-looking at like how fleeting life can be. And I, I, I can, I can just like see all the and variables and like, and, and the calculations you probably went through and had to go through. And not that it's bad or good, right.
Cause there's no judgment, no, no matter which way. But all you can do is try to like do what's gonna make you happy and fulfilled. And I think that you're very, very brave for being so transparent and sharing. So thank you for, for doing that. And for whatever it's worth, I empathize. And I, I completely understand what you're saying, even though I haven't experienced that fully. I do know. I do know what you mean. Like in a much lesser way, I've been like, kind of struggling with the same concepts. Like mm-hmm, <affirmative> I look at my dad and he, he's still, he's still alive, you know, but he, you know, he has some health issues and, and whatnot, but it's like, it's, I don't know where I saw this, but someone said this they're like, you gotta like, look at your parents.
And I think he was like, he was like a successful entrepreneur, you know, these like influencer types around like social media, about business. And he was talking about like how he had to like slow down intentionally because he calculated backwards. How many times he thought he was gonna see his parents. And it was like the weirdest thing. Right. Wow. Cause he's like, he's like, my parents are like 70, you know, like the average age, you know, they're, they're decent help. They're let's say he lives, he lives for 15 more years. Right. He lives to be like 85. Right. Let's say that's good. And, and maybe he lives to 90. Great. But let's say I see them like twice a year. Cause I'm busy, I'm running my business. I see 'em on Christmas. And then I see 'em at like my kid's birthday. Right. Great. So I see 'em twice a year. So now that's 30 times. I'm gonna see 'em that's 30 more times and I'm gonna see my parents. Right. And it's like, and I'm just like, what the heck does the, the wildest concept, right. Like just like blew my mind. And, and so morbidly, I did the exercise as well. <Laugh> like, naturally you start doing it. And I'm just like, oh my gosh, we gotta go see my parents from my perspective.
You know? And I know obviously a lot of people have challenging relationships with their parents and for good reasons, but I do think it's an important relationship to put effort into. And when they're not here, you know, you'll, you'll probably wish that you had that's right. And again, that's something that you, you know, if they're here now, you know, they're here now. You don't know what you get in the future. You know, I think we spend so much time. Yeah. Just thank it on like, oh, it's gonna be different later. Well, we'll all, you know, we'll retire to some compound, whatever, you know, like sometimes people make that happen, but usually life just kind of keeps going on in its kind of automatic way. And, and that's great, you know, or it can be great.
If we can get into specifics. Can you like talk us through like what you actually articulate? Cause it sounds like you put some pretty strong specifics and containers on what this new value prop in lifestyle looks like you. And I know we've had some brief conversations, you know, over the last few months, I guess what I'm trying to get at is like, it sounds like you actually have some black and white things that are non-negotiable now.
I mean, I would probably be a good exercise for me to like actually really codify it that way. I would say the biggest thing. I, I like working. I get to do cool, cool work. And it's really amazing to be able to work from home and work. You know, what I like working is what I like about work is what I do when I want to. So like, I think maybe you're similar. Like sometimes my most productive hours are 9:00 PM to 1:00 AM or whatever the family's asleep. And like I just get jamming on stuff and, and I like working that time and it also means that yeah, during the day, if we want to go to the park middle day or whatever, we can do that. Like, I, I, I got just pretty burn out on the like, you know, eight to six zoom meetings. And like, I like feeling like I own my time and that there's not, you know, how, like when you're in a company, like all of a sudden, you know, the Calendarly, whatever, there's just meetings getting put on your calendar, you look at your day and you're like, where did my day go? You know? And like, I don't, I mean, I don't find it that productive for most companies either.
You're just reacting. You're just reacting. Yeah. You're just reacting.
Exactly. And like, yeah, I guess that's what I most wanna be. It's just kind of deliberate with, what am I doing with my time? You know? And frankly, before I at a family, like, yeah, I don't know, work was kind of a great default thing, but like once you have a family, like hanging out just with the family, like becomes in and of itself for me anyway, a pretty satisfying activity, you know? And like eventually my will be in school and everything. And like, but right now it's really great to just be able to be together. My wife, you know, as you said, having a kid it's really hard and like Kate, my wife has done more childcare than I do, certainly. And, and so whenever I can kind of just give her a break or help support her, that's really I, to me too, you know, it's important.
That's the other aspect of our family obviously is our marriage. I didn't grow up witnessing a marriage. And so again, it's another thing that like, I'm kind of figuring as I go and it's really important to me to, to do a good job. Like my wife is the best thing that ever happened to me by a million, you know, just to be good to her and, and give for everything she deserves is like really important to me. You know? And obviously like I'm our primary income earner. So work is an important component of that, but yeah, it's kind of a decision to make work, fit into life instead of the other way around. Wow,
This you're a lot more complex than I, than I, I realized that's like a huge amount of very serious stuff that you are now and trying to create for yourself. You're literally designing the life that you want and trying to, and it's really, really intentional. That's very, very wild. I had no idea. Yeah.
It's funny. You mentioned that phrase cuz like that's a book. I don't know if you're familiar with that book, but designing your life is a, a book actually our, our mutual friend Vick or beyond too, they use design thinking to say like, yeah, what, you know, what are your beliefs about work? What do you want your relationship to work to be? What are your values? You know, and a lot of people would never in life have the opportunity to have that whole discussion and you know, like they gotta just go earn a living. And, but I have a little bit of breathing room to, to do that. And so it's important to me to do it. Cause like you said, you never, you know, you put things off for a later day. You don't know that you're gonna get that later day.
Oh man. I totally think that that's an incredible insight and a good way to think about it. And I, I think it's also so like interesting because you're so grateful and humble for what you have, you know, and, and you have the humility to know that this is even a luxury in itself. Right.
It's important to look at that. Yeah.
You're almost like Zen about everything you're trying to like find, find the center for everything and like, see like how you can, can continue to aspire for what you want, but still be grateful for
It. I would say that's definitely like my, my mom's legacy in so many ways. My mom was, I, I like to joke. She, she was woke before woke was like a thing. You know, she, she was a, a white woman from Ohio who like, she went back, she didn't graduate college when she was young and she went back and she actually graduated from college. The same year. I graduated from high school and she studied black studies because that's what she was really interested in. And she was just someone who was keenly focused on people who were underrepresented and appreciated and under-resourced, and, and all of those things. And so she just, it, you, you know how like the way your parents see the world, it's impossible for you not to have that lens. Maybe it's not your primary lens, but you see it, you know? And so a lot of these topics that are so big right now, you know, white privilege and cultural things and, or things, things we've been talking about for a long time as you, most of us have the experience of getting older, realizing that your parents were right about a lot of things that you didn't realize when you were younger, you know, and she was right about so much of that.
Obviously this is impacting your works. This question is like, how are you navigating the work like balancing because you are also, you know, very ambitious and you're also very successful in your work career trajectory. And you've done some really extraordinary things. And you have some amazing stories by the way. <Laugh> but that's neither here nor there, cuz this is a parenting podcast. So we won't go too deep into those amazing things you've done. But how are you balancing that with this new kind of like value prop and kind of direction that you're trying to intentionally build your life for? Like how do you approach
Work? I'm sort of thinking, you know, short term pay the bills and then long term, like build the dream, whatever I'm 38, you're always learning about yourself, stepping back, like what is the work you really find versus maybe the work that you're good at or you've got an affirmation for, or that pays the best or whatever, you know, and kind of pulling that all apart and going like, well, if you, you know, if in five years I could just be doing this kind of work, what would that look like? You know, that's a, a scary process for sure. Or can be there's my making the space to do that. Cuz I know again, like that's the only way you're gonna get there. You know, trying to give myself the time and space to reflect on that and dream a little bit, you know, take a little, a little bit midlife, pause to dream and you see so many people get themselves in situations that they just feel kind of tracked.
You know, I remember that was what was like my first corporate job was 20 for or whatever. And I looked around and I was just like, man, if I'm here in 15 years and I have that guy's job, who's been here for 15 years. I am not gonna be happy some days, frankly, I feel like, what am I doing? You know, what am I doing? What have I done with the opportunities I have in my life? And am I making the most of 'em and you know, I think we all have those days where you question whether you know anything, but and it's hard, what you parent, you know, you have that responsibility, but it's a great motivator too. And
Then are you, are you kind of thinking about parenting the same way? Like do what's good for now or do you have some sort of master plan for that as well too? That's obviously a huge component of why you're doing this or are you like putting guardrails around like the aspects of like ad hoc park days? Like that's like a, that's like an untouchable thing or is that, is that also, is that something that's also kind of like short term and then long term you have plans for? No, I don't
Really have, like, I wouldn't say a master plan that I have certain non-negotiable like, I always want him to feel loved and supported and safe, you know, and taken care of. And other than that, I feel like we're like, we're on, we're on this journey together, you know, and no, I wouldn't say I have really a master plan in that sense.
That's awesome. And that's okay. Right. I think that's the, that is the plan in itself is to kind of like just be intuitive and, and try to feel it out and figure it out. It also sounds like you're, you're kind of juggling a lot of different things. So I think in some ways you can't actually say this is the plan because it you're doing a lot. You're trying to design your work life. You're trying to design your new life for yourself and your happiness. And you're also trying to design a life where you're trying to build this family and also a mirror to me,
That's what parenting comes down to is it's juggling. And that's like, like you said, it's the hardest thing, but it really makes you grow too. Cause you're like, well, okay. I can pull a little more outta myself than I realize. Cause cuz I need to right now.
Oh yeah, totally. Like I, I think like the, the, the biggest shocker for me was just like, how little sleep you get, like the first time or two of like a child's life. Like, and you don't even like, cause I feel like, you know, I've worked hard, right? Like I've, I've grinded at startups. And I built my own companies and I remember staying up like, you know, all the, all the all night long for weeks, right? Like sleep on an hour or two and then like go back at it. And just, it's just like adrenaline and focus. And this is more tiring than you're like, how could I possibly sleep less? You can. And you, you literally will.
Yep. It's humbling. I, I would say I was pretty, very humbling, naive thinking like, ah, I, I don't think it's gonna be that, you know, we went to like the birthing, you know, the class with other expecting parents. And I was like, I don't think it's be that hard. Like we're like, my wife is a champ be an ultra runner. So she runs, you know, 50, 60, a hundred miles at a time and I've crude her for that. I'm like, well, you know, we've got this endurance thing down, but like, yeah, it is it's every day, there's no break, you know? And it's this thing that you care about more than you've ever cared about anything in the whole world.
Yeah. And it's mentally draining and emotionally draining. And then it like makes the physical part, even that much harder, but you still muscle through it for some reason or another, like you just get through it and biology, incredible <laugh>. Yeah. And it's like, so your, your threshold is like magnified. It's like, it's so much bigger than you think you can push yourself. And I think that is like one of the biggest like ahas, like as a, as most parents that I see go through is that like, they start to realize like, oh my gosh, I actually didn't know I could do that. And then you start to like, I don't know, like you tell me how you feel about this, but I feel like I just have like a bigger appreciation for everybody. My empathy level's like so much higher, you know? And like I'm a lot less judgemental and just much more like relaxed. And do you feel like you're the same way? <Laugh>
Oh yeah. I mean, it just, it connects you into humanity in this different way where you're just, you know, you've, you're seeing this person start from zero and come to the world and yeah. You see some, you know, kid throwing a tantrum on, at a restaurant or something and like, yeah. You just have different perspective on everything, you know, a hard parenting is. And like that parent who's overwhelmed in that moment or whatever. Like you can understand, you know? Yeah. I think it does make you less judgemental
Pre pandemic. I, yeah, I would've like, I mean, this is all pre pandemic, but like when I was younger and I'd see that I'd get annoyed, right. I'd be like, oh my gosh, that's so lame or annoying. Now, when I see, when I saw that like pre pandemic, I like want to help the parent <laugh> I'm like, yeah, can, can I hold that napkin for you while you address that? Or like, you know, you just wanna lend a lending hand, you know, that being said, like, do you feel like that has parlayed into your view on work and the projects that you work on that level of like empathy and, and the kind of growth of like your understanding of humankind?
I think it's highlighted for me how important that is in my work, you know, to be connecting with people and like, you know, I think both of those projects I talked about what's exciting to me is like the idea that I could help bring, put knowledge of people's lives that would help them, you know? And like on the other extreme would be trading, right? Like trading, I always said, you make money or you lose money that like, that's really all that happens. You know, you can, maybe you could come up with some reason why you're contributing to the world, but you know, you're not like you're really, probably not. And that's fine. Like, I don't, there's nothing wrong with that super intellectually stimulating. It's exciting, but I wouldn't that it doesn't fill me up. And so, yeah, I guess I realized like, yeah, I'm kind of a, you know, hippy hippy person in that sense where it's important to me to have that in my life and kind of acknowledging that about yourself. Yeah. I think having a kid has opened that up more and more and, you know, having a kid, it's, it, it makes you very are vulnerable in some ways, you know, cause you do care so much and they're so fragile and you love him so much. And I think that vulnerability also leads to strength and growth, you know? So as much as I want him to be able to be exactly who he is, then I'm kind of can bring that energy to myself a little bit too. Yeah.
Do you think that you qualify success in business a little bit differently and than you did before?
Yeah, I think so a much more if there were some hypothetical scenario where I was just like had a little business that was paying all the bills and no one, it had no prestige associated with it. No one knew that I did that. That would be fine. And I think there was a time in my life where I was like, oh, I wanna be thought of a certain way and this and that. And my, you know, and like, I just, I just don't really care right now if those things came along with something I was doing that I loved fantastic, you know, but like that's not what I'm shooting for, you know? And I think that's been a big growth process really extending back to even before, well really like all the way back to when I left financing technology, that was, that was cuz my mom was ill and I wanted to be with her.
And like I had, I had a great job and was like, right, right. Where I wanted to be, you know, but my mom was sick and she didn't really have anybody else. And I didn't, I knew I wouldn't feel okay like going to work every day and being far away from her, you know? And so I, I think looking back that it, that was 2010, I was already being like pulled away from this like, oh, like maximize your salary at a certain age or whatever, you know? And yeah. So I think, you know, like that's who, that's just who I am and that's probably why like I look back like why didn't wanna be a lawyer like, oh, cuz that I, you know, it's probably the most efficient way to make a bunch of money at that time or go into I banking, I guess. I don't think I would've been that happy.
Yeah. In hindsight. Yeah. Absolutely. It's easier to look at that and see it. And it's really validating too, if you can like do that for yourself. Right. Knowing that those career transitions probably made a lot of big differences in, in who you are right now. And it's hard to like do that and then like have the realization later. But I mean, it's also really great when those things happen. You're like, Hey, I did the right thing by moving and changing those things. But I'm sorry to hear that. The, the other reason why that, that happened wasn't necessarily an ideal reason either. It sounds like your parents, your parents their death were, were really CATA catalyst for a lot of change in your life. Well obviously, well for obvious reasons, but also like, you know, philosophically and directionally, like really, you really take those moments and you like learn from it, adapted it and kind of like intentionally drove yourself into different directions.
Yes, very much. So I think I knew, I mean, to put it bluntly, like I, from my mom died, I knew I was gonna be really sad for, you know, and I saw that as an opportunity, like, well, let's just push really deep. What all is, well, you know, I had a, I love my mom a lot. We also, she was a pretty challenging person. We had a pretty challenging relationship. And so it was just a time to like unpack all that and go, well, what, what else there, how, you know, how's that driven you to where you are right now? Where do, where do you really wanna be? You and, yeah, that's because I came home at back to Santa Barbara that's time. That's why I met my wife. That's why for the last 10 years I saw my dad once or twice a week instead of like once every three months, you know? So that's another blessing and I'm not sure, I believe that everything happens for a reason, but when I look at that particular Zig or zag in my path, I'm, I'm grateful. I made the decisions I made.
Yeah. And I, I, I am too. I mean, I don't think we would've met if you didn't and I'm also really glad that because you made those decisions, we're kind of on the same journey, not obviously in the, in the way that we got here, but also like just in the, like the way that we're thinking about our parenting, like trying to build a career and trying to build this lifestyle, that that is much more intentional to what we want. That is really like, it's, I guess it's more, it's just more balanced and kind of like more thoughtful in the sense of like, not being, not succumbing to, you know, what we societally accept as normal success. And
I think, and that's one thing I think is cool in society. Like I love that you're having this conversations with people and like, I think, and that's part of what motivates me to be pretty open up about the path I've been down is like, I think we all do better when we can be more real with each other. And, and the nature of work in society is changing so rapidly that like, it is possible to work from home and make a good living, you know, for a lot of people. And that opens up different possibilities, you know, and, or work three days a week or whate you know, whatever. There's just things that weren't possible before. And like the old taking the train into the city, every, you know, weekday, like, that's not, you know, some people still do that, but a lot of people there's other possibilities
Now. Yeah. There's a lot more possibility. That's a great way to say it. I have basically four questions that I want ask every guest. So there's some symmetry to what I do here. And so I'd love to kind of just jump into my last four questions and just kind of rapid fire at you. Sounds great. All right. So what advice do you have for other parents and soon to be
Parents, I think be kind with yourself, seek out other parents that you respect. You know, don't think of it as if there's one right way to do things. You are gonna get a specific human being and think of all the adult human beings, you know, and how different they are. And you're a kid. You don't know what per that person is yet, but it's the process of getting to know them. And don't judge yourself. If, if your friends are sleep training, their kids, then they're sleeping perfectly in two months and yours isn't, it's not cuz you're doing something wrong. You know, I think just that, that kindness with yourself and just to soak it up, you know, like it, I mean, everyone says it goes so fast, but it does, you know, and you look back at pictures from three months ago and you're like, oh, it was so different, you know? So yeah. To try and be present with, I think.
Yeah, absolutely. If you could go back and tell yourself one thing before you, you had kids, what would it be?
I guess that, you know, you'll, you'll do okay. You have decent instincts and and you'll figure it out. That's great.
What is your all time favorite business book?
My all time favorite business, I would probably have to say high output management by Andy Grove, which is not, not like a bar burner, but man, that guy is smart and I'm a big fan of the hard thing about hard things. Also Ben Horowitz.
Yeah. I that's my favorite book. Yeah. Can you, can you message me the other book so I can like read that one cause I've never even heard of it.
He's amazing. He is an immigrant became the CEO of Intel and yeah. Genius.
Wow. Yeah. I mean for you to say someone's the smartest person, you know that, I mean, I definitely want to read that book. Yeah. That's, that's, that's quite the compliment. Okay. And finally, what is the most surprising thing that you learned about yourself? Becoming a parent.
I mean, this maybe sounds not great, but how much I like it. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> I was pretty scared to be a parent. I didn't, like I said, the whole family thing, I, I didn't really, I just felt like I didn't really know what that was like and man, I love it. It's it's so there's just so much sweetness and light there. That is just awesome.
That's awesome, man. Yeah. Hey, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me today, David. I really, really appreciate it. And it was really, really fun getting to talk to you about parenting, but also getting to know you better. I just like learned so much about you and I hope that all the listeners that are checking in also learn something from you and can glean some insight on how they can navigate their life and how to be a good parent.
Yeah. It's my pleasure young. And thanks for, thanks for starting this conversation. I think it's, it's so important for people just to talk about the reality of parenting and, and it's different for everybody and you know, kudos to you for, for getting these conversations going.
Oh, thanks for saying that. Yeah. I'll talk to you soon. Okay. Sounds good, bud. Thank you.
← Back to Show Notes


text:
Jerome Whitehead
Name: Jerome Whitehead
Waukegan High School
NBA--Several Teams
A 6-foot-10 center, Jerome earned all-state honors at Waukegan High School before becoming an NCAA champion at Marquette University. As a junior, he helped Marquette to the 1977 national championship. His basket at the buzzer defeated UNC-Charlotte in the national semifinals. Jerome averaged 11.1 points and 7.7 rebounds for his career at Marquette. He was taken in the second round of the 1978 NBA Draft and played 11 seasons in the league with San Diego, Toronto, Utah, Dallas, Cleveland, Golden State and San Antonio. Jerome scored 4,423 points in 679 NBA games. He died on Dec. 20, 2012, as a result of gastrointestinal hemorrhaging.


Best Place to Buy Indian Table Linens. Our cotton tablecloths, placemats, napkins and table runners are extremely beautiful and unique. Gorgeous designs in .
Embrace global style (Indian, French, Moroccan ..) to create a table that is as unique as the moment by taking your pick from our exquisite range of tablecloths.
Find great deals on eBay for Indian Tablecloth in Tablecloths. Shop with confidence.
Bring your dining room to life with unique table linens that celebrate the Indian tradition of hand-block printing! Fair trade tablecloths make great gifts.
Cotton Blockprint Tablecloth, Vintage Anokhi Indian Hand Blocked Printed Square. tablecloth, tablecloth, tablecloths, table cloth, tafelkleed, Indian tablecloth,.
You searched for: india tablecloth! Etsy is the home to thousands of handmade, vintage, and one-of-a-kind products and gifts related to your search. No matter .
Wholesale Cotton Tablecloths from India Arts. We carry several sizes of round tablecloths in a range of designs and colors.
Shop Wayfair for the best indian print tablecloth. Enjoy Free Shipping on most stuff, even big stuff.


From Wagga Wagga to Redfern, get to know new Souths front rower Mark Nicholls.
Country boy Mark Nicholls started in Wagga Wagga with Leeton Raiders and Gungahlin Bulls, before signing on with the Canberra Raiders in 2008.
Nicholls was a part of the Canberra Raiders inaugural under 20s squad that finished 2008 as Premiers. Two years later, Nicholls' efforts were rewarded with a place in the Junior Kangaroos squad.
Nicholls made his long awaited debut in Round 17 2012 against the St. George Illawarra Dragons, coming off the bench as an interchange prop. In 2016, he signed on with the Melbourne Storm for two seasons, where he was a valued member of their Telstra Premiership squad.
Tipping the scales at 104kg and standing at 194cm, Nicholls is an asset to any squad. Soon to turn 28 years old, Nicholls is considered a late bloomer whose attitude and commitment is second to none.
His high work will be invaluable to the side as the front row stocks get rotated throughout the full 80 minutes.
Nicholls brings a wealth of rugby league experience which will hold him in good stead as he looks to nail a regular spot in 2018. His preferred position is prop, but he is able to switch to the back row if needed.


text:
package cacher

import (
	"k8s.io/component-base/metrics"
	"k8s.io/component-base/metrics/legacyregistry"
)

/*
 * By default, all the following metrics are defined as falling under
 * ALPHA stability level https://github.com/kubernetes/enhancements/blob/master/keps/sig-instrumentation/20190404-kubernetes-control-plane-metrics-stability.md#stability-classes)
 *
 * Promoting the stability level of the metric is a responsibility of the component owner, since it
 * involves explicitly acknowledging support for the metric across multiple releases, in accordance with
 * the metric stability policy.
 */
var (
	initCounter = metrics.NewCounterVec(
		&metrics.CounterOpts{
			Name:           "apiserver_init_events_total",
			Help:           "Counter of init events processed in watchcache broken by resource type.",
			StabilityLevel: metrics.ALPHA,
		},
		[]string{"resource"},
	)

	watchCacheCapacityIncreaseTotal = metrics.NewCounterVec(
		&metrics.CounterOpts{
			Name:           "watch_cache_capacity_increase_total",
			Help:           "Total number of watch cache capacity increase events broken by resource type.",
			StabilityLevel: metrics.ALPHA,
		},
		[]string{"resource"},
	)

	watchCacheCapacityDecreaseTotal = metrics.NewCounterVec(
		&metrics.CounterOpts{
			Name:           "watch_cache_capacity_decrease_total",
			Help:           "Total number of watch cache capacity decrease events broken by resource type.",
			StabilityLevel: metrics.ALPHA,
		},
		[]string{"resource"},
	)
)

func init() {
	legacyregistry.MustRegister(initCounter)
	legacyregistry.MustRegister(watchCacheCapacityIncreaseTotal)
	legacyregistry.MustRegister(watchCacheCapacityDecreaseTotal)
}

// recordsWatchCacheCapacityChange record watchCache capacity resize(increase or decrease) operations.
func recordsWatchCacheCapacityChange(objType string, old, new int) {
	if old < new {
		watchCacheCapacityIncreaseTotal.WithLabelValues(objType).Inc()
		return
	}
	watchCacheCapacityDecreaseTotal.WithLabelValues(objType).Inc()
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Pee Ess Vee Arr —
First look: The PlayStation VR headset arrives at Ars
Sony's headset is big on comfort and big on wires.
Kyle Orland - Sep 30, 2016 12:00 am UTC
The PlayStation VR box.
POWERED BY PS4.
Everything included inside, in case you need a checklist.
The box inside the box, with a thin plastic strip holding it closed.
Pop open the box within the box to find... another box (with a quick start guide up top).
Inside the box inside the box inside the box are three smaller boxes with various cables and such.
Remove those boxes and we get the first glimpse of the headset itself.
Everything inside the multi-level set of PSVR boxes.
The headset itself and the wires that will connect to the junction box.
Welcome to VR's comfortable middle ground.
Rear view. Note how the cable slides down under the left ear.
Some nice, subtle PlayStation branding on the underside. Depress the button to slide the screen forward and backward in front of your face.
The headphone connection hub on the wire connecting to the headset, with convenient volume and headset power buttons.
The included earbuds, with the left earbud wire much shorter than the right one.
The "processor unit" that sits between the headset and the console, shown with the headset for size.
The processor unit apes the style of the PS4 a little bit.
The right side of the processor unit slides back to give access to the front HDMI cables, then slides back to provide access to those on the rear. We have no idea why...
The processor unit uses its own AC adapter and even has a fan for cooling.
The first consumer virtual reality headset for a game console is coming to stores on October 13, but it has already arrived in Ars Technica's orbiting HQ. Yes, a full two-and-a-half years after our first trade show demo, the PlayStation VR is in our hands and currently hooked up to our PS4 and TV via way too many wires.
Out of the box, our very first impression is how comfortable and easy to put on the headset is. The rear headband extends out quite far on its slider, with a strong elastic springiness to snap it back to the underside of the back of your skull. From there, a quick turn of a knob on the back tightens the headset for a precise fit.
On the front, the headset's weight is supported by a large, heavily padded semisphere that rests comfortably on your upper forehead, far away from any sensitive nasal passages. The display itself floats free in front of your eyes rather than resting heavily on your nose, and it can slide forward and back by simply depressing a button. Thin, flexible, rubber light blockers bend around the sides of the face and nose to lock out any outside distractions once the display is aligned properly.
A first look at the unboxed PlayStation VR.
We'll have more on the full setup process and some launch software impressions along with our full review of the hardware next week. Until then, check out our gallery and video to get a close-up of the hardware we've previously only seen in badly lit conference rooms.
Kyle Orland Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in the Washington, DC area.
Email kyle.orland@arstechnica.com // Twitter @KyleOrl


text:
José M. "Nelo" González Ortiz is a Puerto Rican politician and former mayor of Luquillo. González is affiliated with the New Progressive Party (PNP) and served as mayor from 2001 to 2013.

References

Living people
Mayors of places in Puerto Rico
New Progressive Party (Puerto Rico) politicians
People from Luquillo, Puerto Rico
Year of birth missing (living people)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Home / ace / Bankruptcy / Dutch court / everton / Netherlands international / Racing Murcia / Real Madrid / Royston Drenthe / Spanish fourth tier side / transfer / WInger / Ex-Everton And Real Madrid Ace Completes Transfer Just Weeks After Bankruptcy
Ex-Everton And Real Madrid Ace Completes Transfer Just Weeks After Bankruptcy
January 08, 2021 ace, Bankruptcy, Dutch court, everton, Netherlands international, Racing Murcia, Real Madrid, Royston Drenthe, Spanish fourth tier side, transfer, WInger
Former Everton and Real Madrid winger Royston Drenthe has completed a transfer to Spanish fourth tier side Racing Murcia.
Still only 33-years-old, the former Netherlands international was declared bankrupt by a Dutch court just last month.
Since showing flashes of brilliance at the Bernabeu and Goodison Park, Drenthe has gone through some troubling times off the field.
This eventually led to him giving up football altogether in 2016, after spells in the Championship, Turkey, and Abu Dhabi. In his two-year hiatus from the game, he tried acting with a role in crime drama Mocro Maffia, and tried to start a music career under the name Roya2Faces.
However, he returned to football in 2018 with Sparta Rotterdam in the Dutch second division, and then went on to play for Kozakken Boys in the Netherlands' third tier.
He is now returning to Spain, where he was last playing for the iconic Real Madrid, as well as a loan period to Hercules.
Manaer Antonio Pedreño will have to hope he does a better job with the mercurial forward than David Moyes did at Goodison Park.
Drenthe admitted regret at telling the Scot to f*** off during his time on Merseyside, claiming that Everton was one of the highlights of his career.
"I was waiting outside the room," he told FourFourTwo, explaining that he was about to be disciplined for poor time-keeping - apparently a regular occurrence. "When I went in afterwards, Moyes told me to f*** off.
"I should have accepted it, but I said, 'What do you mean, f*** off, bro? You f*** off.' And then I left for Holland and didn't come back. If I'd adapted more to Moyes I think I'd have reaped the benefits, as initially, I did play a lot under him."
He added: "Together with my first months at Hercules, I had the best spell of my career at Everton."
Ex-Everton And Real Madrid Ace Completes Transfer Just Weeks After Bankruptcy Reviewed by Rush Hour Sport on January 08, 2021 Rating: 5


Independence is a city which lies in the Jackson County in the states of Missouri. It is the fifth largest city in this state where you can find plenty of beautiful places and fun things to do. If you are planning to travel around the city of Independence but you can't get your car down the road, perhaps you need garage door experts to check out the problem. Luckily, you do not have to look far because A1 Garage Door Service is here to help. Contact and hire us to help you out today.
If you want to experience the services that you always wanted then turn to A1 Garage Door Service. As a family owned business we have a better understanding of quality service as we too have the same desire when we are hiring services from others. So, when you hire our team, expect only world-class service that we will give to you. Our expert technicians know how to handle all the garage door services and repairs for both commercial and residential garage doors. In our everyday performance in the field, we make sure that we will never fail and ensure the safety and satisfaction of our customers.
Most homeowners and business owners in Independence City recognize us and even provide positive feedback on our testimonial section and even regularly give us the highest ratings on many online review sites. This can be attributed to our hiring of only the best of the best technicians in the city of Independence city because we want them to carry our reputation. As expected, they did not disappoint us. You too can experience the same excellent service of our technicians and experience 100% satisfaction on all our works and products. All you need to do is to call us.
We pride ourselves in carrying the most outstanding garage door, garage door openers, and their parts from the manufacturers that lead the industry. Whatever types and kinds of garage door you want and need, we are very sure that you can get them in our comprehensive inventory. We have the widest selection of garage doors from different brands, materials, colors, and durability. For added services, all products are covered with warranties and you can get them for prices much less expensive than what is being offered by other garage door service companies and marketplaces. We will give you an advice as well if you do not have any ideas on what garage door is perfect for your garage door system. Contact us for more information.
You can rely on A1 Garage Door Service anytime you will need us. We are the most trusted even in the hours that you do not expect your broken garage door can occur. In just one call, we will be at your areas in the scheduled to promptly fix your garage door whatever the problems may be. We will dispatch honest and courteous technicians in your area for your safety. Simply contact us to book an appointment.


I've spoken to two people who say with 100% certainty that the FBI has been asking questions about The Mission Continues. And – both say – their questions deal with several areas, not just the donor list.
One veteran capitol observer cautions that that the G-men are known for asking wide-ranging questions and there's a wide gulf between asking questions and the deep drill that constitutes an investigation.
Alissa Zhu writes (see it here) in the Springfield News-Leader that "Gov. Eric Greitens' spokesman, Parker Briden, told the News-Leader the office will make appointments to three vacant seats on the Missouri Ethics Commission before its next scheduled meeting on April 25.
Concern has been raised from several different folks – including members of the Senate – that Greitens choosing the Ethics Commissioners would constitute a terrible conflict of interest. An ethics complaint has been filed against the governor alleging that his previous consent order with the commission contained misstatements.
One reader suggested that a way to alleviate this conflict would be for the governor to publicly recluse himself from the appointment process. This person said the governor could send an open letter to Lieutenant Governor Mike Parson requesting that he find the individuals to serve. The governor would promise to appoint whatever names the lieutenant governor offered.
These swirling investigations are creating more than just that one potential conflict of interest. One reader pointed out that Susan McGraugh was mentioned yesterday has having applied to fill the circuit judge vacancy created by the resignation of Robert Dierker. McGraugh was quoted in a recent Springfield News-Leader as an expert for the Greitens' legal team… "Asked about any evidence the woman consented to the photograph, Greitens' lobbyist did not comment and referred the News-Leader to Susan McGraugh, a professor of law at Saint Louis University, whom Greitens' defense team asked to speak on the record about the matter. Regarding consent as an element of the invasion of privacy statute, McGraugh raised the possibility that by agreeing to go with Greitens into his basement, that may have been a sign of implicit consent to what happened next.
Will Schmitt dropped a big article following up on criticism of Attorney General Josh Hawley's timid investigation of the Greitens Administration's use of Confide. (See it here). Senator Claire McCaskill tweets that her "jaw dropped to the floor" reading the article.
Gabriel Gore, an attorney for Dowd Bennett — the law firm also defending Greitens against a felony charge of invasion of privacy — was present while Hawley's investigators were quizzing several of Greitens' top aides, Moore has said previously. But it was "not unusual" that Greitens staffers were accompanied by legal counsel due to the possibility of civil litigation, Hawley's office said Tuesday when asked about Dowd Bennett's presence.
Also Tuesday, six attorneys who worked for either former Gov. Mel Carnahan or former Attorney General Chris Koster publicized an open letter in which they slammed Hawley's "halfhearted" and "unbelievable" investigation… The attorneys — Andrew Hirth, Joanna Trachtenberg, Joe Bindbeutel, Bradley Ketcher, Ronald Holliger and Michael Wolff — questioned Hawley's willingness to believe that the governor's office would resort to such secrecy for communications about mundane matters like agreeing on a time for a meeting. "It makes no sense to coordinate the time, date, and location of meetings through a messaging app that shows only a few words at a time and immediately deletes the message after one reading," wrote the group of former state employees, which includes a former Missouri Supreme Court justice and former appellate judge….
A couple MOScouters sent some thoughts on today being the "third anniversary" of the governor's basement incident.
- Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015: Eric Greitens creates exploratory committee Greitens For Missouri at Missouri Ethics Commission.
- Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015: Tom Schweich commits suicide.
- Tuesday, March 3, 2015: Schweich funeral including Jack Danforth eulogy.
- Monday, March 9, 2015: MOScout reports $50K Greitens For Missouri donation from August Busch III.
- Tuesday, March 17, 2015: MOScout reports GreitensForMissouri.org is launched.
- Saturday, March 21, 2015: Greitens' basement episode.
- Tuesday, March 24, 2015: Mission Continues list apparently in possession of Greitens campaign.
- Sunday, March 29, 2015: Spence Jackson found dead in his Jefferson City apartment, apparent suicide.
Point is, Greitens was in the race and had already begun moralizing when he started his affair which allegedly lasted through his September formal announcement.
Today is the third anniversary of something happening in the basement of Eric Greitens' former mansion on Maryland Avenue in St. Louis' Central West End… a central question has remained unanswered: Why would Greitens, who ran as a devoted husband and father, as an outsider committed to ethics, and as a highly disciplined, mission-focused leader, take the risk of an extramarital affair?
That initial episode three years ago now threatens Greitens not just politically – that damage is already severe, perhaps fatal for any future in office – but legally. The Kansas City Star reports subpoenas indicate investigations by the St. Louis Circuit Attorney, the Attorney General and a bipartisan Missouri House committee are broadening their scopes beyond the affair. Now the subject matter apparently includes campaign finance matters.
There is no doubt Greitens had political ambitions since his youth. In 2009 he reserved website URLs including Greitens for president, governor and senator. The first Missouri Scout report on "Greitens for Gov?" was posted July 8, 2014, days after he stepped down as CEO of The Mission Continues. Greitens had launched TMC in 2007 to help fellow veterans. He told the Post-Dispatch he was stepping down, in part, because he wanted to support his pregnant wife.
Why did he take this risk?
KY3 ran a report on the Christian County Republican Central Committee's denial of Ray Weter's attempt to run as a Republican. See it here.
Treasurer Eric Schmitt launched Missouri First (see it here) which includes the "elimination of a single-use restriction on borrowers, the expansion of eligibility criteria for agricultural loans and a streamlined application process" for the linked deposit program.
eMailbag: House Line Too Conservative?
Saundra McDowell filed for Auditor as a Republican.
Ayanna Shivers filed for Senate 10 as a Democrat.
Jeanine Molloff filed for House 72 as a Democrat.
Mariah Vandiver filed for House 80 as a Democrat.
Denny Braun filed for House 105 as a Democrat.
Theresa Schmitt filed for House 120 as a Democrat.
Progress KC - $50,000 from Heavy Constructors Association Industry Advancement Fund.
Progress KC - $20,000 from Burns & McDonnell.
Happy birthdays to Thomas Long, Clay Rodgers, and Trent Summers.


text:
require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../abstract_unit'

# The template_root must be set on Base and not LayoutTest so that LayoutTest's inherited method has access to
# the template_root when looking for a layout
ActionController::Base.template_root = File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../fixtures/layout_tests/'

class LayoutTest < ActionController::Base
  def self.controller_path; 'views' end
end

# Restore template root to be unset
ActionController::Base.template_root = nil

class ProductController < LayoutTest
end

class ItemController < LayoutTest
end

class ThirdPartyTemplateLibraryController < LayoutTest
end

module ControllerNameSpace
end

class ControllerNameSpace::NestedController < LayoutTest
end

class MabView
  def initialize(view)
  end

  def render(text, locals = {})
    text
  end
end

ActionView::Base::register_template_handler :mab, MabView

class LayoutAutoDiscoveryTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
  def setup
    @request    = ActionController::TestRequest.new
    @response   = ActionController::TestResponse.new

    @request.host = "www.nextangle.com"
  end

  def test_application_layout_is_default_when_no_controller_match
    @controller = ProductController.new
    get :hello
    assert_equal 'layout_test.rhtml hello.rhtml', @response.body
  end

  def test_controller_name_layout_name_match
    @controller = ItemController.new
    get :hello
    assert_equal 'item.rhtml hello.rhtml', @response.body
  end

  def test_third_party_template_library_auto_discovers_layout
    @controller = ThirdPartyTemplateLibraryController.new
    get :hello
    assert_equal 'layouts/third_party_template_library', @controller.active_layout
    assert_equal 'Mab', @response.body
  end

  def test_namespaced_controllers_auto_detect_layouts
    @controller = ControllerNameSpace::NestedController.new
    get :hello
    assert_equal 'layouts/controller_name_space/nested', @controller.active_layout
    assert_equal 'controller_name_space/nested.rhtml hello.rhtml', @response.body
  end
end


BRAIN TEASER: This player missed the cut in his PGA TOUR debut but gave his playing partners a gift. Who is he?
ANOTHER REASON WHY GOLF IS GREAT! Phil Mickelson passed on his hometown event, the Farmers Insurance, because it was too much of a golf course. His words, not mine. He missed the cut at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, his last event, where he has won three times previously. He won at age 48 beating the some of the best players in the world and handling Mother Nature along the way. Don't look now but this year's U.S. Open is being held at Pebble Beach. It's the only major in the Grand Slam Mickelson hasn't won. He has finished second, six times. Guess where he made his PGA TOUR professional debut? At the 1992 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach! Lefty will turn 49 on June 16th, the final round (weather permitting) of the 2019 U.S. Open!!
THESE GUYS ARE GOOD! Phil Mickelson won the 2019 Pebble Beach Pro-Am by shooting 19-under par. A year ago he finished second to Ted Potter Jr, who won with an aggregate score of 17-under. While the weather made it harder for players in 2019, maybe it helped too. Jordan Spieth won the 2017 edition coincidentally also with a score of -19. So much for the golf ball being an issue with scoring!
GOOD OR BAD FOR BUSINESS? It's been less than a month since the major of the golf business was conducted. The PGA Merchandise Show is historically been the launching point for new product introductions in advance of the recreational playing season. There seems to be less new items this year than previously reported. Meanwhile, Callaway Golf is shifting away from golf to other outdoor activities with its purchase of Jack Wolfskin.
THE BEST IS YET TO COME! Phil Mickelson is closing in on three decades on the PGA Tour and a half-century on Earth, and he still feels his best golf is good enough.
ANSWERS: "I'm certainly far more nervous out here trying to make a 10-foot putt than anything else I do professionally."--PGA TOUR Commissioner, Jay Monahan on playing in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Ho Sung Choi missed the cut at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am but gave each of his playing partners a gift - a headcover with the logo of his signature follow-through.


Freelance journalist, Anna Morris, is struggling to make a name for herself, so she's delighted to attend a launch event for a hip young artist at her friend Seb's gallery.
Seb is intent on convincing Anna that Darrick is up to no good but, try as she might, she can't seem to keep away from him. And as she becomes further embroiled, Anna begins to wonder – can Seb's behaviour be explained away as the well-intentioned concern of an old friend, or does he have something to hide?"
The first two thirds of this book is a gentle but interesting ride in which Clare Chase draws you in, but it cannot prepare you for the wild roller coaster that follows.
Following a build up which will have you questioning everyone, You Think You Know Me transforms into a gripping page turner and I did not come close to guessing the outcome until it was thrust upon me. As the "baddie" was revealed, I gasped and as the climax developed, I could feel my heart thudding in my chest and I sat holding my breath as I turned the pages as quickly as I could thinking "this cannot be happening".
I was disappointed once the ending came, but only because I had become so embroiled in the story that my brain, and my heart, was longing for more.
The character portrayals in You Think You Know Me are excellent and combined with the fabulous storyline, it make this an incredible debut from Clare Chase.
You can always rely on Choc Lit to deliver the absolute best authors and they have not failed to deliver, once again, on this occasion. You Think You Know Me is chick lit with a razor sharp edge.
You Think You Know Me is available as an ebook now and will be released in paperback in September.