Some of you know that my first serious attempt at blogging was my coffee blog (Brotherhood of the Bean).  I started it on a whim really to see if I could get companies to send me products to review.

I think in many ways it’s success surprised even myself.  In little to no time I found myself reviewing coffee and coffee products with a minimal investment of time and energy (request for demo products, etc.).

And in the course of things, I found I really enjoyed writing again.  Note that I said I “enjoyed writing”, not that I “enjoyed writing well”.  I will always be a third or thirtieth edit is the charm type of writer, blame it on my passionate spirit that prefers content over form. lol, passionate spirit — sure… we can go with that reason.

But one lesson that I learned with Brotherhood of the Bean is that having a singular focus while in the beginning is a great focusing tool in the blog writer’s arsenal — after a period of time that is different for every writer — you just get burned out.

That’s kind of where I am with the Bean.  I just don’t feel the burning desire that I once did to work on it.  I still love coffee, it has just become something of a monkey on my back.  I know that’s horrible to say, but I just feel somewhat beaten down by it.  Crazy I know.

Despite the fact that my last post there was on April 8th, the number of hits each day is continuing to rise each day.   If there was ever a testament to the effectiveness of search engines this clearly is one such example.

So while the embers of passion for the Bean are slowly dying in my heart, the onslaught of visitors is clearly on the rise.  Ironic.  Hopefully the passion will return sooner rather than later.

This has been a pretty excited time for Brotherhood of the Bean, my Coffee product & culture blog. For a long time I have worked to develop it into a coffee resource that offers valuable product and culture insights. In truth it has been a lot of fun.

Some time ago I became aware of the 9rules blog network, from what I saw I knew it was the community for me. The problem was that thousands of others had the same idea. So I decided to sit back and enjoy the community while I waited for my application to be reviewed.

Along the way I found some of the most interesting people on the web, and with the newly available notes feature, I could communicate my thoughts with them. I thought it was pretty cool.

You can imagine my pride and excitement when I was invited to become a member. To have Brotherhood of the Bean recognized as being being of a high enough caliber for 9rules means a lot to me.

For those of you wondering what 9rules is all about:
9rules is a place where members and readers can connect, build relationships, gain exposure, learn new things, and have fun. 9rules started in 2003 with a set of 9 rules:

1. Love what you do.
2. Never stop learning.
3. Form works with function.
4. Simple is beautiful.
5. Work hard, play hard.
6. You get what you pay for.
7. When you talk, we listen.
8. Must constantly improve.
9. Respect your inspiration.

When last we spoke, we had just arrived at our friends house in Jericho Vermont. Since it was around dinner time we did little more than setting in, have some pizza and drinks. The next morning I went for a run and returned to find breakfast and more importantly, coffee waiting.

As we enjoyed the sweet flavors of an apple coffee cake and the pleasant taste of hazelnut coffee, I let the calming sounds of the river outside their house wash over me. It felt like the stress of the world was just melting off my psyche. My wife and I could live in that room and die happy people.

Caffeine infused we started to murmur about what we would do for the day. Out of nowhere our friend and host Phlerb announced his game plan for the day. It sounded more well thought out than anything we had uttered so we quickly embraced his plan without question.

The plan was to pack a picnic lunch and head out to the Green Mountain Coffee store. The actual store mind you, ground zero. I have a plethora of pictures that will be posted, and a review destined for Brotherhood of the Bean when I get back, for now take my word for it that the coffee and the store was something to remember.

Coffee could only hold our kids attention for so long — luckily for us there was a nice park outside that they could run around like banshees in for a little while. But not too long, our next Vermont stop was none other than Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream headquarters.

Pulling into the parking lot it was amazing how many different state license plates there were. It didn’t seem to matter if the state was close or far, the call of Ben & Jerry’s is quite powerful. Heading into the store we purchased tickets for a tour and braved the crowd to buy souvenirs/trinkets. With a bit of time to spare we wandered around outside. They had a few games for the kids outside that they had fun doing, along with a spin art station where they all made their own spin art. Soon enough our tour started and we were herded into an auditorium to see a short video about the history of the company.

Moving on to the viewing station we had a birds eye view of the production floor… Guess what? Its a factory. Wheeeee! Admittedly it was pretty cool to hear about the different sections and what they did, but in the end I think everyone had their fill of factory fun, and we headed down for some free ice cream samples. Yum — Strawberry Cheesecake!

From here we started towards Smuggler’s Notch. A Vermont cave used by you guessed it… Smugglers. If you want my truthful opinion, it was a dank wet hole that Phlerb decided to crawl up into in his Italianesque sandals and slipped and fell on his ass giving him a cool stain on his white shorts. I decided to pass on the experience.

We did however climb up the surrounding hillside and found a nice spot to have our lunch. It was amazing just how high we were after a short climb. Phlerb and I ended up heading out to an outcropping we had seen some kids on from the street.

After lunch we were still feeling in the mood for a hike so Phlerb suggested we check out something called the “Long Trail” that led to a hidden pond called — Sterling Pond. This sounded like a cool adventure to all of us, so without any hesitation we headed out. Maverick and I had our walking sticks we picked up at the Morton Arboretum and I was SO glad we had them after a few minutes of — “hiking”.

Now when I think of the word hiking, I envision walking up a pine needle strewn path, or over a meadow etc. This version of Vermont hiking involved walking 1.1 miles up the mountain over some of the most brutal terrain I have ever encountered.

• Slippery Rocks? Check.
• Dead inducing drop offs? Check.
• Dripping Water? Check.
• Big/Medium/Small boulders to walk over? Check.
• Four & Six year old children in tow? Check.

I have been on easier treks with the National Guard infantry, and that is no exaggeration. But, after speaking with a few people as they came down who assured us that we were 3/4 of the way to the top, we pressed on. When we finally emerged at the actual “Long Trail” it was over two hours from our start. A short .1 mile walk downhill and we were at the hidden Sterling Pond.

Sterling pond was gorgeous. The water was ice cold but that didn’t stop us from putting our feet in. The kids played on the rocks and laughed in the sun. For as brutal of a climb as that was, they didn’t hardly complain at all. After our break we decided to head back down, we were ready for the adventure to be at an end.

Going down was easier than going up, but it was decidedly more painful on the knees. We took our time and emphasized safety. I was so proud with how well Maverick was using his walking stick. He really took technique direction well and listened, I really felt like he and I were a team.

Karin was behind us going down. During both the ascent and descent the adults took turns holding a kids hand. It was just too dangerous to allow them to go it alone. We had almost reached the bottom when Karin took a spill and got some nasty road rash on her arm. Thankfully she didn’t have a kid at the time and wasn’t at one of the really dangerous areas. The cause of her fall was none other than crappy shoes (Tevas). We decided after that to get some better footwear.

We were tired and beat by the time we got home, but in generally pretty content in our accomplishment. Shanin started to make chicken fajitas while we all washed up. They were excellent and literally inhaled by everyone. We ended the night watching Borat which was — “Very Nice!!!” and headed to bed.

More to come in Vermont Adventure (Part 3)

It would have been really nice if all those pizzas, beer, and assorted fried foods I have eaten over the years would have work for me instead of against me. Want 6-pack abs? No problem, just eat 10 pizzas.

So a few months ago I found myself pushing 315 lbs. The heaviest I have ever been in my life. I’ve always been heavy, I grew up with a loving Irish mom who didn’t have a lot growing up, so her kids were going to have what she didn’t — which equated to sugar laden food.

As you can imagine I formed certain unhealthy eating habits which have continued into my adult life. A few months ago my wife suggested that we both do weight watchers together. She felt it would be easier for us both to do, and it certainly has made things easier.

I’ve lost 45 lbs. so far and she has lost almost 20 lbs. As the weight has continued to come off we have both started to feel better, have more energy and be more conscious of what (and how much) we eat.

Like eating right I think I am going to set a goal for myself to post a blog entry here every day. Exercise for the mind if you will. With my other blog Brotherhood of the Bean, I could justify not posting something every day — let’s face it, sometimes there just isn’t any coffee news, reviews to write etc.

At Eleven 22 I shouldn’t have any reason not to write. Life never stops, its time I started to write about it!