Taylor Vafiades

This is where Media Medic usually has its executive meetings but the other day I decided to come here for lunch by myself. It was nice to break away for a moment and just take a deep breath. I am really trying to do this more often.

And finally some good news to report! After a final meeting with our designer and configuring our phone system, Media Medic is finally ready to do its first big marketing campaign.  It was a lot more work than we had anticipated but that has made it all the more rewarding now that we’re ready.

With 30 just around the corner I have decided to take a different approach to my training and am focusing more on symmetry and definition rather than size and strength. When I get to the point I want I’ll switch into a maintenance routine and settle there for good within 5 pounds of my target.  I think I’ve put enough stress on my body gaining and losing so much weight so many times. So far I’ve gone from 187lbs at Thanksgiving to 154lbs today.  This is probably the fastest I’ve ever done this but I don’t think I’ve ever been so focused either.  Then again I do have a very dedicated gym partner which is key. Tiffany agreed to partner up with me a few weeks back and we have been pushing each other ever since.Yoga is also something I really want to make time for.

I have completely shifted gears from Kitchen Nightmares to Hells Kitchen. Holy crap Gordon goes absolutely nuts on this program and I love it. The tests and challenges he does to bring out the best in people are so creative I find myself just sitting there laughing. I like how he handles people when they try to bother him when he’s working too. There are plans in the works to go to one of his restaurants soon and I am really looking forward to it.

I’ve started to gather a few bits of old junk to throw up on Ebay for fun including all my motorcycle gear. After thinking about it I realized that since I insist on riding a motorcycle wearing a tank top and toy helmet to look cool rather than any protective gear I probably shouldn’t be riding one. Good thing I figured that one out before it was too late!

Oh and on New Years we raged!!

Well it’s been about almost a month since I got back from Europe and I have to say its really good to be home. Although I enjoyed my time away it really made me appreciate being back in the USA. I will take the California sun over England’s constant rain and clouds any day! My only regret was not having time to say goodbye to all the great people I met along the way. Hopefully some of you will come out to visit! In the short time I was back in California I was able to go fishing with Glen a few times and make it to Nocturnal Wonderland with Brian and Shelly before jumping on a plane to New York. I’m going to be here for at least another week or two handling some business with my Mom and should have the opportunity to take some great photos. The air is remarkably clear here so I’ve used the past week to cough Europe out and get back to exercising. I ran two miles last night which isn’t much but after 3 months of partying you got to start somewhere.  Some notable pictures so far are this grocery store in Queens that looks like a prison, this egg at Wholefoods and a line of 50 people outside of Trader Joes Manhattan.

I like to think of myself as a pretty open minded guy but this I just couldn’t get my head around black pudding. And because of that I wanted to try it and came pretty close to doing so. Eventually I realized that there is really no reason these days to eat such a thing. Organs I understand in rough times but I can’t imagine the situation that would come up where you would need to eat blood. That’s super rough. At least I found my limit which I don’t think is too bad.  My trip to Scotland was great except the hotel I stayed at was in the middle of nowhere and was about 20 miles from town. Plus they didn’t have any food really except breakfast where I could get some lovely black pudding. I had one really good day of weather there so I did manage to take a boat out on the Loch, go to the Foyer and see the Eilean Donan Castle where Highlander was filmed. I was also able to snap a pretty good shot of Nessie below.

I met a pretty cool cab driver who took some pictures of me also. I didn’t eat much while I was there and ended up catching the Scotch Flu as Toenails put it. It’s basically just a really horrible cold and I ended up passing it to Eric and Mark when I got back. In fact I have been in England for a few days now just trying to get geared up for driving up to Holland with Eric and TIffany tonight. Copious amounts of rest combined with Trailer Park Boys and Futurama over the past few days and I feel great today and ready to take the ferry to France! Waste of time? Nope. I am, after all, on vacation.

Tiffany just got here and we’re getting ready to leave when Eric gets home from work.  Only two more weeks in Europe and then its back to California. I’m only in California 6 days and then I’m off to New York for a month with my Mom. Originally I intended to keep this blog just for my Europe trip but I think I’m going to continue to keep it for my trip to New York and travel beyond. I can’t wait to get back to California and work on Media Medic with much support from friends like Brian and Shelly and Jurgen. Working for myself should allow me to continue to do the things I like to do and travel and still be in “the system”.

So I’ve been trying to get a few websites up before I leave to the beach because lately the weather has been shitty here in England. It’s given me time to dust off my HTML skills and think about new ways to generate traffic. I was thinking Spain but might just go down to Cornwall and chill out for a few days before I begin the last stretch of my trip.  I have also been trying to keep up on emails and getting pictures up. I was able to get a few for DOTS that Eric took but I have tons more for it as well as Brighton , Ghent and Rotterdam. I will do my best to get this done before I leave in the next few days. I wasn’t sure if anyone actually read this blog for the first month or two but it’s worth all the time I put into it knowing that some people do even though they might be busy with other stuff. I have been listening to a lot of good music out here in the UK as well and wanted to make a video section on this blog but it didn’t work out. I can’t link most of the stuff I want to from youtube. Sam Sparro - Black and Gold is the first song I really heard in the UK. I dig that new Weezer video Pork and Beans and Perfect Situation too. Euro late night MTV is unmatched. Time for me to go upload some more pictures.

Eric got his .mobi address for his http://www.pixelfactor.org website which is really great because it can be accessed via cellphone now. Below is a blurb from his new http://pixelfactor.mobi address. To the right is a few other blogs I enjoy reading from different people I know.

These past few weeks in England have been great! I’ve had a chance to really clear my head and see what’s important. I am very lucky to be alive and in the position I am in. Although we made it to D.O.T.S. and the Brighton birthday bash for Celina Eric and I have mainly been getting businesses started to have ready for when I arrive to the states. I have really enjoyed this Europe trip and will be headed to the beach somewhere soon for a week or two to hash out some of the ideas we’ve come up with. I also have a number of personal projects I need to get started. This trip has made me realize I don’t ever want to go back to a 9-5 for the man. I’ve been blessed with the money that I was able to earn when I was younger and have enjoyed not working for several years now. The hard times are way behind me and the past few years reconnecting with people have been great. I am eager to put my money into a few ideas and see if it grows now. The life of being care free and traveling is certainly the life for me. I am ready to put my creativity to the test and technical skills at hand to work. It’s been fun paying 2-4x more for everything for the past two months but I am ready to get back to the states. After my time at the beach it should be around the time Tiffany and a few of her friends arrive here in England from the states and we rage again in London and Holland and wherever else this crazy trip takes us.

Pictures to follow for D.O.T.S. and Brighton and others that are missing. Its 2am here and I haven’t been able to get to my laptop much. I have TONS of photos to post.

Also if anyone has a website out there please link me and I will do the same if I haven’t already. I want to build my link popularity in order to keep a good Google ranking. Cheers!

Things have been crazy and I really haven’t had a chance to sit and the computer and post. I was able to post pictures from this last weekends rage, Stonehenge and Windsor Castle here. We got to Windsor too late to go inside so I will be going back another day. Eric is headed back to the states on Monday for two weeks so I will be flying to Holland on Wednesday and probably take a train to Germany from there. Since I will be leaving my laptop at his house hopefully I will be able to find an Internet cafe along the way. Also, I should be picking up a cell phone today if I can get there in time today.