Timeout! Technology, Business, and Sigrid Olson...

As some of you may have noticed, I have taken a break from my commentary on Thoreau's commentary about life, Walden.  There have been many things happening in my life since I started that project and I have to say that I have been spending more time reading paper books than listening to Walden on my mp3 player and have been spending more time researching market revenues than considering the profitability of solitude.  *It is strange how a "simple" life can include so much complexity!

So what has been going on:

1. The Brewery-- This has been taking up a lot of my mental energy.  I have been using a lot of my extra time to work on a business plan for starting up a brewery in Grand Marais.  The plan itself is looking pretty good, but there are a lot of questions and specific pieces of information that I lack because, well, I have never started a business before, let alone a brewery.  I have operated several businesses and have done a very good job of cleaning up/organizing the places that I have worked for, but doing the initial research is challenging to say the least.  However, I have been making headway and I will post the business plan up on Cabin Industry when I get it completed!  Wish me luck and send me any advice/help you can!

2. Computers-- *Warning: There is a lot of computer mumbo-jumbo in here, so if you are not of a stout computer person, this could be painful... You have been warned.*
Recently the macbook that I have been using (which was given to me by the author of another riveting blog called opentheory.net) has been showing its age (6+ years) and is likely tired after being lugged around the world and having to put up with the unreliable voltage in India for 9 months.  So, alas, the time has come to replace it!  Here is my conundrum:

Why should I buy a brand new fancy-pants computer when a used one can do all that I want it to do and is much, much cheaper?  The answer for this, of course, is reliability, but I haven't had much trouble with reliability as long as you keep water and explosives away from it...

So used is a possibility... Any ideas?

Then there is the 2 party issue of computers these days... has anyone else noticed that Apple and Microsoft are a lot like the Democrats and Republicans?  I won't delve into which is which and what characteristics each shares, but it is amusing to think about!

Let's put politics aside for a moment, shall we?

I like Macs because they are very intuitive and smooth. I kind of feel like Apple is becoming too "Big Brother" and is becoming such a computing way of life that I want to pull back from it, just like how facebook can start to suck your soul out through your eyeballs after you see the 30th cute kitten update in the timeline... you know that you have been there...

PCs are waaaaaaaaaaaay cheaper.  However, Microsoft hasn't put out an operating system since XP Pro (Service Pack 2) that has made me feel anything but sadness about computers.  I hear that Windows 8 is going to be better, but I just don't think that I trust them anymore... Sorry Windows, we had a nice run, but I am afraid that maybe we should see other people...

Like Android.  This is an interesting new competitor in the laptop operating system game.  A third party so to speak.  Google's upstart is famous for making smart phones smarter and gave the population access to hundreds of thousands of applications that could make your life more productive, but likely will just take more of it up...  Anyway, Android now has a version out (4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich... yum) that is robust enough to run on a full fledged computer, but still integrates all of the things that people love about smart phones.  Coupling this with really snazzy designs and decent prices like the Asus Transformer tablets makes a very good argument for Android... Any thoughts?

The jury is still out, but I am leaning towards previously used computers or something that runs Android...

3. Phones-- Jeez!  Thoreau must be rolling in his grave I am talking about all of these THINGS that he would dismiss as not adding any value to my life.  I can see his bearded head shaking side to side with that look of disappointment on his face... he often wore that expression...

Anyway, my current phone doesn't do me any favors when it comes to work.  It doesn't actually receive calls, but does me the kindness of telling me when I have missed calls.  And then charges me for them even though I didn't receive them.  Hmm.  Time to change.

Does anyone have any experience with Straight Talk?  This, allegedly, is a month to month, no plan cell phone program that is not only much cheaper than most other carriers, but has better reception because it uses just about everyone else's network!  There is a Dark Side here though... Straight Talk is done through Walmart.  I guess that I don't have a huge problem with benefiting from Walmart's buying power in this instance.  I do get a funny feeling about it though...

One cool thing about it is that you can use just about any phone with Straight Talk, so I can, again, use a used phone and won't have to buy a new one...

Anyway, enough about all of that.  It makes me tired.  I hope that I haven't tired you out too much.  I sometimes have to pull back from all of this stuff so that I can realize that I don't need any of that stuff to thrive in my life.  Time for something much more refreshing and that has kept me centered throughout most of this other stuff...

4. Sigurd Olson-- Sig Olson was an amazing man who was instrumental in the forming of many of the National Parks of the United States and their policies.  He is most famous around here (Minnesota) for being the most vocal proponent of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.  I have been reading a book of his quotes and writings and it has brought me back from the abyss with all of this mumbo-jumbo I wrote above here.  His writing was aimed at helping people to "feel about the woods and hills and waters as I do." They bring me back to the simplicity that I truly desire, more than a computer or a phone or even a brewery.  This will be forever ingrained in me and his words have a magical way of touching me.  I would like to close not with any of my words, but with his, because I believe that what he has to say will speak well for me:

"Think of the wonder of being able to live on dreams, of being able to do what more than all else in the world you have wanted to do.  Think of the wonder of knowing that you have found yourself." -Journal, January 14th, 1930






"I have stood on top of a windswept hill, waved my hat at the breeze, shouted to the skies that I was alive, and I have fought the waves on gigantic lakes and enjoyed the slap of every one.  I love the rain, the snow, thunder, storms, quiet, every change of the weather. " -Journal, March 4, 1935

Take That Thoreau! I'm Starting a Business!

In my last post I talked a little bit about Thoreau's view of work and how it is integrally connected with the possession of "stuff."  The more "stuff," we have or want, the more we will have to work in order to get it when, according to Thoreau, we actually don't need it at all.

He uses the example of his squatter garden, which he proudly claims profited him $13.44 or around $350 today all told.  He planted and hoed and harvested by himself.  People who walked by often scoffed at him saying that his field will never bear any fruit because he was so late in planting and because he never actually hoed the whole thing.  If he had an ox, he could have gotten it all done earlier, had more leisure time, and would have had more income from a better harvest.  Problem is that an ox in 1850 cost around $30, which would come out to be about $650 today.  He would be working for almost 2 years to pay off the animal and that doesn't count building the animal a stall, feeding it, etc.  The expense adds up without you realizing it!  This is still the case today in many situations.  Thoreau claimed that he was doing better than any farmer in Concorde that year!

Anyway, with all of that said, I am going to try to take the best of both worlds and start a business based on low overhead, a sound idea, a lot of elbow grease, and some serendipitous resources.

A little background first:

My acquaintance with the great city (village) of Grand Marais began some 8 years ago when I arrived here on my way to be a canoe guide at the end of the Gunflint.  At that time Grand Marais was already a tourist destination, but hadn't done a lot to polish up its image.  (It has since done a magnificent job of becoming a welcoming destination).  That summer I repeatedly told my co-workers that something that Grand Marais needs is a gym because there is no place to work out in this city!  Behold, 2 years later: The Pump House and a community gym at the high school.

THEN, I was an intern at the North House Folk School and spent pretty much all of my spare time out in the woods doing this or that, hiking, collecting mushrooms, collecting birch bark, you name it.  I told people then, "You know, Grand Marais needs an outdoor sporting good store." Behold, Stone Harbor.

SO, this time I am not going to let my ideas get away from me!  I have already begun discussing business plans and potential investors to get this project off of the ground.

Behold, the Grand Marais Brewery.

No, the brewery is NOT in the lighthouse... I doubt that I could get the Coast Guard to go for that one, but I think that the lighthouse is going to be present in the logo when I get it developed...

Anyway...

Grand Marais is a destination.  People love it here because it is beautiful and it is pretty calm, and there is some really great food around here.  What better to compliment these wonderful things than the ability to quaff some great local beer along with your Lake Superior Trout or Ancho BBQ marinaded pork ribs?  Sit by the Lake and enjoy a Pincushion Porter in the shadow of the mountains that gave it its name.  Watch the loons fishing while tipping back a Loonlight Belgian White.  Dig into a Wild Rice Stout and be transported to a simpler time...

Ok, so that last one was going a little overboard, but I think that you get the point.

I have been brewing since I was an intern at North House.  I haven't done much in the last year (because you can't get good hops in India... or any of the other stuff for that matter!), but I am starting to refresh myself and already feel that I have exceeded the brewing knowledge that I accumulated over those years.  I do have many additional resources to tap (heehee) into to make sure that the product is as good or better than the idea!

Supply would be limited to the North Shore, starting in Grand Marais and branching out.  The recipes are in the works as we speak and if anyone has any name ideas that have to do with things Northern, please send them to me via email!  I would love to hear your ideas!

I have serendipitously met several people who have been interested in helping me get this project started: One person who knows a master brewer who can give advice on the recipes, one person who is looking to start a distillery and could potentially coop, and many people who are excited for this to happen.

The first thing is funding.  I will likely be able to get some startup funding from the Northeast Entrepreneurial Fund (the same organization that helped one of my friends start a coffee roasting business-- Fika Coffee), but am open to grants and other ways of getting funding.  If any of YOU out there in blogger land would be interested in being a part of this, please let me know!

There will be more coming in the future about this, but I just wanted to get the word out more effectively and put some of my ideas down on "paper."  And to see what you all have to say about this idea.

This has truly been an interesting development considering my recent reading of Thoreau and Sigurd Olson, both of whom viewed that their work, writing, was so much more important than anything else that they could possibly be doing.  I am pleased to be pursuing something that I am excited about and see that this could add another layer of strength to Grand Marais's appeal/draw.



It will be a win/win situation!