I had heard whispers, rumors, of some snowfall hiding up in the higher reaches of the nearby mountains. We decided to investigate and put a rest to these dreams of snow that seemed unreal, after a long hot summer.

We packed our bags, grabbed our gear, and headed to Castle Peak. As in most trips, it was a culmination of a cold, semi-sleepless night and of a hastily made fire in the dark as our shadows danced in the surrounding landscape. But the morning, with the creek flowing slowly past our camp, promised the exciting prospect of snow.

As we readied our gear and the sun peered over the mountains we saw the seemingly bare rock. Nervousness gripped us as we climbed towards this barren land. Higher and higher we climbed; the air getting cooler but, only tiny patches of snow appeared.

The fellow climbers on the trail would ask, as they laughed, "What are the boards for?" As you can imagine our morale was getting low as we reached the crest of the mountain. But, all of a sudden... magic.

The North side of the mountain, hidden from the harsh sun, had snow.

We pushed passed our doubt and the laughter of others to find snow in October. What was merely rumor became reality with a little perseverance.

"The best way to complain is to make things." - James Murphy

I saw this quote in Tim Ferriss' 'Five Bullet Friday' email this morning and at first it didn't really resonate on my first pass reading it. After I read it again, it made way more sense in a personal way and I immediately made a connection to a recurring frustration on social media. 

One of the more common Facebook comments I encountered while manning our social media channels is some form of the following: "Of all the things you could invent, *this* is what you came up with?" To which I would respond something like, "We're continuing our work on solving world hunger on the evenings and weekends, but now you've piqued my interest and I'm really interested to hear about your invention? (insert wide eyes emoji here)"  

*Note: humor mixed with sincerity and a dash of sarcastic irony is my sweet spot.*

What I took from this quote, as it relates to this example, is that if you haven't put in the sweat equity, the hard work, the countless hours, then you have no foundation to stand on when you question someone who HAS. That's not to say that guests shouldn't offer feedback or constructive criticism - that's always appreciated - but if you don't have any skin in the game, the criticism probably won't be well received by someone who actually does.

The answer is to make things, create, push yourself, get outside the box, do things at which you'll fail, stretch yourself...building that credibility is the best way to relate and question and constructively criticize. But having skin in the game also probably means that you understand the peaks and valleys of creativity and creation infinitely better than you would have otherwise (which, in turn, means you're probably far less likely to criticize someone actually doing it).

As I walked into the warehouse yesterday morning, I was greeted with the question, “Connor, do you eat the ends of a loaf of bread?” To most this would seem like a strange question, but with my oddly passionate opinions on food, it seemed perfectly reasonable to me. “I never eat the end pieces” I answered, “because I see them as the beginning pieces”. At first my fellow crusaders seemed puzzled, but soon made sense of my different perspective on the matter.

I bring up this seemingly irrelevant conversation because recently I have had a change in perspective. Due to school starting back up, I am only able to be in the office three days a week, which I really, really hate. However, after looking at my situation from a different perspective, I’ve realized how lucky I am to work for a company that I actually want to get up and go to work for! It is truly an awesome feeling to wake up and be excited to go to work (after a cup of coffee, of course).

Anyway, happy Friday everyone! This weekend is going to be nice and sunny and in the high 50s, so if you want to know where I’ll be, you can...