Writing a Book, One Brick at a Time

For those of you who have been following this Blog or my YouTube channel for the past few years, you will have already seen the posts from our grand adventure when we purchased 'Boogaboo IV', back in 2010. Well, after retelling many highlights of that experience over the ensuing years, I have been inspired to put it all together in the form of a book. Yup, you heard right - I'm writing a book.

(Actually, I'm in the midst of writing two books, but the other one has a much deeper, personal resonance to it which I'll delve into more in a future post.)

Referring to that event as a grand adventure isn't mere hype. It was truly a milestones that would mark a turning point in our lives - not only in terms of our boating travels, but in our whole outlook on life and what we CAN do as a couple - and survive it intact!!

In Michigan with our soon-to-be 'Boogaboo IV'.

  Survival was the key to the whole story. And the whole story is a whole lot more than can be properly conveyed through mere Blog posts, hence the book. Survival, as you will learn, has many connotations and will be used in the context of this story to relate to not only surviving a voyage of nearly 700 miles, but also that of mental, emotional and yes, marriage survival! Perhaps 'ordeal' might have been a more descriptive term ;-)

Applying the name on the transom before leaving Michigan, making it 'Ours' :-)

 So, what the heck do bricks have to do with it all, you surely must be asking yourself? Read on . . .

 As I am going on about my day, especially when I am involved in physical labour (which is most work days, in my contracting businesses) I feel that my mind is somehow released and that more far reaching thoughts and inspirations come to me, most especially when I am working alone. Take this weekend, for example. As part of our preparations to move onto the boat full time, we had to make some changes to the house and I was basically pushing a paint brush and roller for hours at a time. Put on some good music & it gives me time to think.

 And think, I do. Lots of it! As I continually point out to my lovely Anchor Girl, I could fill five more lifetimes with all the thoughts, aspirations and inspirations that come to me. But that's OK, because I firmly know that when this current plain of existence ends, I (we) will continue on with a much higher propose, so ultimately, I got lots of time :-)

 But I digress. Back to the bricks!

 I find it amazing how thoughts seem to come to me out of the blue, then only to be reinforced, or revisited a short time later by that same 'spark' being presented to me in another context. Almost like it's trying to show me something. . .

 Case in point (and finally getting to the darned bricks!); As part of my free thinking moments yesterday, I was reflecting on one of the 14,286.419 pieces of seemingly useless information floating around my head, that being a fact I recalled that Winston Churchill (former Prime Minister of England & 20th Century icon) would spend a great deal of time working at his estate, Chartwell, doing - you guessed it - bricklaying!

 From many accounts, Sir Winston derived a similar mental escape through building walls, fences and other brick structures that seemed to clear the way for inspirations to flow freely. His bricks, my paint brush. Or drywall trowel, or whatever the tool du jour happens to be. Perhaps it was through this release that Mr. Churchill found the abundant inspiration to write more than 50 volumes in his time.

 Do I have 50 books in me? Dunno. Two years ago, I would have scoffed at the idea of me writing ONE book, let alone two! But here I am, knee deep into it and finding that writing and me seem to have a long suppressed destiny.  I hope that you will look forward to reading about our boating adventure - and more. I will promise you that I'm going to do my best to keep you entertained, and more importantly - inspired!

 Quickly getting back to the connections between these thoughts that seem to come out of nowhere. Yesterday I was thinking and jotting my notes to share with you about our Mr. Churchill and his bricklaying release. Today, I was looking at a web site (boating related, no less) published by someone we know but haven't haven't talked to in too many years and what pops up? A photo of a boat with the name 'Chartwell', along with a caricature of Winston Churchill on the transom, produced by this very person!

 Was this a coincidence? No sir. Just one more sign that our new path, book, rekindled relationships and so much more yet to be discovered destinies are meant all to be. And I'm grateful for that & the forces that are moving us along this path :-)

:-)

Book Review - 'Leap of Faith, Quit Your Job And Live On A Boat'

I don't recall when I first came to hear of the book 'Leap of Faith, Quit Your Job And Live On A Boat' (Leap), by Ed Robinson, but I'm sure it was during one of those times when I was dreamily pondering our own upcoming move to the boat. I was most likely searching for stories of folks who took their own ship's south to escape the increasingly unpleasant winters we are forced to endure. . .

Cover of 'Leap of Faith - Quit Your Job & Live on a Boat'

Whatever my state of mind, it must have been that 'live on a boat' part of the title that caught my eye. Now, before we dive into Ed Robinson's tale, I should let you all in on a little something; 'Leap' represents only the fourth book I've read in my 50 years on this planet. Don't get me wrong, I actually read quite a bit, but my attention span is for more of the bite size chunks, something that I can get through in one sitting. So, to say that I actually read this book from cover to cover really speaks to the strength of the author to keep a reader like me engaged, entertained and ultimately, inspired.

Photo: Ed Robinson.

  Ed refers to himself in the book as 'the luckiest man in the world'. Quite a statement and reason enough to read on to find out why he can say that . . .

 Like many of us, he began to feel trapped in a never ending rut of going to work, coming home to bitch at the wife about the day's stresses, go to bed and start it all over again. And again. And again. As he says, it was sucking at his soul. It wasn't as if he was struggling with a lower paying job that was stressing him out, but rather that he had a management position, bouncing between babysitting staff and kissing a** with clients.

 Sounds all to familiar with my own experiences.

 Beyond  the work related stress, he found himself increasingly frustrated with the endless BS he was bombarded with in the news. Crap that seemed to be piling directly on top of him; political fighting, financial crises, American Idol and all the rest of it. There is an entire chapter on the madness of the world that we live in that is more akin to an extended rant. I found myself reading this chapter in a hyper fast way, not missing a beat - I could have wrote it myself!

You can now see how I was drawn further into his tale . . .

Photo: Ed Robinson.

  Don't worry, it's not all bad news. In fact, apart from those two segments, you'll find it increasingly uplifting as the story moves us past the virtual despair and frustration and into hatching a plan to move Ed's life forward and away from the madness. Initially, escape came in the form of the musical storytelling from the likes of Jimmy Buffet and all those great Trop-Rock singers. Songs of passing the days in hot tropical climes, palm trees and boats. I mean really, who wouldn't find escapism in a song that spoke of ice cold Corona beer and sunsets on the beach?

 Did I mention I was really getting drawn into the book?

Photo: Ed Robinson.

  Now that these visions of a new life in flip flops and Hawaiian shirts had planted themselves in his mind, the next thought was how he would make it become a reality. Naturally, any sane person would come to the conclusion that selling everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) and moving to a boat full time would be a logical course of action. . . Or not. Apart from his wife, Kim, pretty much everyone around him thought he was crazy. Perhaps not only because he didn't have a boat, but that he also had a big debt load to overcome before saying adios to his job.

 How would he move the plans for his wife and himself from a fantasy of tropical escapes to the reality of living feet up on a boat in the middle of south-west Florida? It was very simple, actually; make a firm plan, and work it with disciplined resolution to see it through. The carrot on the end of the stick would ultimately become a goal of not running Away from a world that was crushing his spirit, but rather running To a new life of utter contentment.

Photo: Ed Robinson.

 Even if chucking it all and living in the shade of palm trees isn't your speed, this book offers compelling and practical insights as to how any one of us can better our current financial standing and enjoy the freedom that being debt free allows. That said, I might offer a word of warning before you read the book yourself. You may end up being so moved by the enticing world they have discovered that you could find yourself perusing online ads for boats that could one day become your own piece of paradise :-)

Photo: Ed Robinson.

The book is available at Amazon.com - both in print and Kindle e-reader versions.

  A big thanks to Ed for being good enough to allow me to share some his beautiful photos in this review, all of which have been taken during his enjoyment as 'happiest guy in the world'.

 

 :-)

Oh The Humanity!

Has it come to this? Yes, I spend a lot of time on the Interweb. That is because we are working towards expanding our online presence to one day soon providing us with a full time level of income. That is something that doesn't happen overnight, nor does it happen all by itself. This goal requires a great deal of effort and that's why Anchor Girl & I find our days being filled by a full time commitment to this ever expanding enterprise.

 As such, we are interacting more and more with signing in, logging on and applying for various elements in the online world. Most are innocuous and straightforward in nature; email address, password, etc.. Last night, I had to stop, chuckle and share this one with AG - a new line on a sign up page that I had never seen before; 'You must be a human. Accounts registered by "bots" or other automated methods are not permitted'.

 I must be a human to sign up?!?!? The nerve of those non-human servers to make such an outrageous demand. Next thing I know, these same, cold hearted machines will expect us to actually enjoy the fruits of our labours like real humans; taste the food, take in the sunsets and reflect on all the beauty that this human life affords us mere mortals

 Yes, I am a human. And yes, I will continue to take it in with all the glory and wonder that this flesh and blood existence provides. And throw in a dash of spirituality, just to keep it all in perspective :-)

A glorious sunset over Georgian Bay. One more human enjoyment :-)

 

 

 

Wings on Your Feet

While checking out some of the updates and and stories from last weekend's Fort Lauderdale Boat Show, I came across a neat bit of water fun technology, called the Flyboard. It's a jet pack attached to a board, onto which riders strap their feet and away they go! Apparently a big hit with the charter yacht crowd, these things will send riders flying - literally.

Photo credit; http://www.seemallorca.com

 Developed by a company called Zapata Racing, only a couple of years ago, there are already over 2,500 deployed throughout the world. Looks like the world of fun on the water just got a little wilder. Here's some video of it in action. Hold on to your hats!

Price? Around six grand.

Moving Full Time Aboard Our Boat!!

 I am absolutely ecstatic to share the news that my beautiful wife (the lovely and talented Anchor Girl) and I (the less lovely and talent challenged)  have committed to moving full time to our beloved 'Boogaboo' !!

Our New Home :-)

 This idea is something we have thrown around for the past couple of years, but were 'held back' by excuses too numerous to even think about any more. Can we afford it financially? No. Is it the most prudent decision many would ask? No. Are we doing it anyway? YES!
 
 For those of you who haven't been following along on my YouTube channel and were not aware of my condition, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis - MS - early this year (2013) and we went through a rough and very scary time over the winter. Being hit with the news and dealing with the symptoms is something that stopped us both in our tracks.

 These days, what's the first thing one does when told by their doctor that they have something like MS? Google it. Some pretty scary stuff we saw when learning about the disease, but eventually we saw a glimmer of hope and the fact that we didn't have to live the same life that other sufferers were dealing with. We had options, but it wouldn't be easy or overnight.

The fear, emotions and questions, for a very dark period of time, overwhelmed us. And the way I was feeling during my worst 'flare ups' was very shitty, to say the least. I don't have to go into the details as to what was going on with my body, but it really, really hit home that our time on this planet is very limited. Now I am the first to say (something that I had to repeat to Anchor Girl over an over) that things could have been much, MUCH worse. It was only through the hard work and dedication of Anchor Girl's efforts that, for the most part, I have had a very positive turnaround. For the past few months my symptoms have mostly been in check and despite the recommendations of my doctors (G.P. and two neurologists), I am NOT on the heavy duty medication that has been suggested. Despite the fact that there is no way to know when, where or how severe the flare ups (or attacks) will be, I am very hopeful that I will be good for a long time to come. Even without drugs!

 If you want to learn more about our MS journey, as well as learn POSITIVE information about food, stress reduction (huge part of my 'recovery'), vitamins, gluten and more, feel free to check out my YouTube Channel (YouTube.com//MotivateSuccesses).

   Move forward to April, 2013 and our boat has just gone in the water for the season. Apart from the benefits of the uber healthy diet I am on, the hugely positive feelings of simply arriving at our boat each weekend has been something I cannot put into words. We step onto the boat and the not only does stress melt away, but there is both a physical and emotional sense of well being, as if there is a cloak of a welcoming, reassuring presence that is saying 'you are here now, no worries, everything gonna be alright' Ya, I don't think Bob Marley could have said it any better ;-)

The 'side yard' view from our boat ;-)

 

 It's that great feeling that we both want to have every day and our boating lifestyle gives us that. So why not live it every day? That is why we are making the jump and I am on an indescribable high that now permeates every part of my life :-)
 

A beautiful sunset sky at the boat.

Another Boating Year :-)

2011 certainly ended well and 2012 has so far stayed in step, with really good weather - from a boater's point of view;-) I'm liking it and with the Boat Show starting at the end of the week, that can only mean that we are just about half way through & things should be heading in the right direction in no time. And by 'right direction', I'm saying 'back on the water';
 (Thanks to the 'Overdoo' crew for snapping this beauty shot of us on the Severn River last summer!)

'Boogaboo IV' on the water

Another Year of Boating Videos :-)

2011 certainly brought some dramatic changes to the Boogaboo Crew, and that of our family and friends. Focusing on the positive, the best thing that came from our boating year was the move to a new marina and the fact that many of our boating buddies were able to join us.

 Not to sound like a broken record, but I continue to be very busy with 'Work' work and haven't done as many updates as I would have liked to, but at least I've gotten quite a few videos posted and I'd like to share some of the newest ones with you.

 Any ways, in no particular order, let's go boating;

 First one is a seven minute full ride onto, over (down) and off the Big Chute Marine Railway (taken on our way to Georgian Bay this summer);

 And, now it's time to go back up (taken on our way back from The Bay at the end of our holidays). Quick note that this was the very first time we were able to drive right up to the carriage without having to wait at the blue line;

 
Now, let's pick up the pace a bit and let them horses fly across Parry Sound. I hope I don't mess my hair up ;-)

 Here's a gale warning report from the end of September. How would you like to be in the THIRTEEN FOOT waves forecast in this marine report?

More to come . . . .