All is well though. Through the magic of the Internet and my credit card, Joeism is back online through Slicehost — a hosted website provider that is a step above most of the stuff out there. Slicehost is geared more for developers so I had to brush off some rusty Linux and MySQL admin skills to get it going. Still got it and so far so good.

I will now resume my previous schedule of posting an entry every couple months. Stay tuned!

Related posts:

• Bronto Server Back Like Seabiscuit
• Back in Action

BabyLegs are probably not intended for 90-degree Carolina days but we enjoyed them anyway. Very cool.

Now if we could just get you on an equally cool email marketing platform ….

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She came in a little larger than the others, weighing in at 8 lb. 6 oz. Nothing like six extra days to help you pack on the pounds.

The kids were very excited about her arrival and thrilled to finally meet her — at least Ximena and Xiomara were. 2-year Xalvador not so much. He seemed much more interested in stacking plastic cups in the hospital room than interacting with her. He’s still a little flabbergasted about the whole thing and his little 2-year old mind is probably still pondering the consequences of having three sisters. Don’t worry buddy … we’ll hang tough together!

Thanks to our neighbors Mollie & Adam and Susan & Robert for watching our kids while we were away on this special trip. Great to have friends like them for these type of events.

View slideshow of Xaviera photos.

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There are endless number of books on productivity. I just read (skimmed!) “The 4-Hour Workweek”. It seems the common thread in books like this is to work less by writing a book telling others how to work less. Unfortunately I don’t see this as realistic for most people. The author seems like a bit of a huckster too so take that for what it’s worth.

Here are some of the tactics that work for me:

• Understand the difference between being productive versus being busy. It’s easy to be busy. Much harder to be productive and know the difference.
• Throw out / recycle most everything. Lets you focus on the few things that matter. Hard to do with kids and a pack rat of a wife … but I’m trying
• Make to-do lists for the day. It helps me prioritize and stay focused.

Here are some more specific recommendations:

• Quit Facebook. Major time suck. I did this at the beginning of this year and feel much better for it. We lived many a year without it so life will go on if I don’t know every detail of everyone else’s lives.
• Remove all Twitter apps. Tweetdeck, Twitteriffic, etc … from your desktop or dock. Easy to confuse keeping with everyone’s tweets with being productive. Use it at select moments during the day. Life is too short to fritter it away on this.
• Remove those “you received an email alert.” Again, move away from distracted oriented things.
• Shred all receipts and bills (after paying them.) You can get most everything online anyway. It’s easier to focus when you have less stuff.
• Concentrate certain types of meetings on particular days. I get a fair amount of meeting requests from potential investors. Instead of scattering the check-in calls throughout the month, I started scheduling them to occur on a particular day in a given month. I would much rather have one day completely booked with my investor hat on versus having to disperse my thinking across a number of days.

So try them out or call me crazy. Either way, I’m always looking for new ways to minimize distractions in my life and focus on fewer things better. If you have additional suggestions, I would love to hear them.

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2010 should be a good year on the professional and personal front. I expect the momentum for Bronto to continue into the new year. We’re picking up some great clients and talented employees so I’m thrilled to see what 2010 holds.

On the personal front, Karalyn and I expecting another baby in April. #4. Amazing. Never thought that I would be recreating my childhood but it’s true. It’s becoming harder and harder to pretend that I’m still 22. Not that I should, I’m enjoying it all.

Like every year, I try to shake things up with some New Year’s Resolutions. Here are the ones that I have so far:

• Clean Living — I’m going to exercise more and eat better. My near-term goal is to run the Raleigh Rocks Half Marathon at the end of March. I did it a couple years ago with mediocre results. I’m expecting a bit more this year and somehow I’ll find the time to train. To step up my efforts, I’m going to skip soda, alcohol, and junk food until the race. Hard core at least until April then I’m back to normal. With a new baby, I’ll need it.
• Deeper Connections — I’m going to connect better with people. The rise of social networks, although fascinating from a business point of view, feels particularly unfulfilling on the personal side. I’m going to spend more time focused on fewer things and try to get distracted less by things that don’t matter. As a first step, I’m quitting Facebook. We’ll see what else follows.

That’s all for now. Any other suggestions? I’m open to them.

Related posts:

• Recap of 2007’s Resolutions
• Resolutions for 2008

Last year Karalyn (my wife) was approached while shopping at our local Whole Foods about starring in a short clinical trial video related to pre-term labor. In addition to her Hollywood personality and starlet looks, she was 8 months pregnant, which was probably one reason why she was picked out of a crowd for such a role. As her husband, I got to participate too.

At the time, I blogged about the whole experience but didn’t actually get to see the video … until now. I’m sure that I will regret sharing this at some point but I might as well face the music now. Also, after watching it, I’m sure that you’ll agree that I shouldn’t be giving up my day job anytime soon.

We don’t appear until 50 seconds into it. For those of you on Bronto’s Operations Team, you may recognize a familiar face playing the nurse at the 4 minute mark. Small world.

Enjoy!

Related posts:

• Karalyn’s Blog

Yesterday the Women’s Professional Billiards Association descended on the American Tobacco Campus for the Carolina Classic 9-Ball Tournament. To kickoff the tournament, the world’s top 12  women players teamed up with amateurs to play in a pre-tournament ProAm contest. Fortunately, Chaz and I got to be two of the amateurs.

Joe "Urban Slim" Colopy shooting 9-ball

The evening started simple enough. We went down to the tournament area at a little bit before 7. As we entered, we each received a complementary cue that we would play with for the rest of the evening. I was teamed up the #5 ranked player, Sarah Ellerby. She was a true professional and did a great job in putting up with my serious lack of talent.

Right off the bat, Sarah suggested that we just share her cue because it was much better than the one that I had. Made sense, although I don’t think that the cue was much of the problem with my play. After playing for a while on a number of different tables, the main competition ended and it was time for the final. We didn’t make the final but the pro player and celebrity billiards person Jeanette Lee, the “Black Widow”, did.

Right before the final, all the amateur players got our cues’ autographed by our teammates and the other top players. Since I hadn’t been playing with my cue, I went back to my first table, where I had set it down. Coincidentally, this was the same table where the final match was being played. Ok … you see where this is going. Yes, it is bad.

Me, Sarah Ellerby (#5), Anna Kostanian (#7), and Chaz

So, I had Sarah and another professional autograph “my” cue and then walked over to the final. Just when I was strolling past the table, the “Black Widow” glanced around to look for her cue and saw me holding it. Then,  this reality hit me. I just had her very nice and very expensive cue ($2k?) permanently autographed by two of her competitors. Needless to say, it was a very awkward moment and initially she was pretty  mad, which was completely understandable. In the end, she played in the final and her team ended up winning the whole event.

Fortunately, she and the WPBA folks had a good idea. They had the cue signed by all the players and they’ll auction it off to charity. Nice twist to a very big mistake.

This episode was about as awkward (and comical in hindsight) moment as you can imagine. So, “Black Widow”, if you are out there, let me know how I can make things right — drinks, shoes, bronto, free core edition account, etc. Let me live another day. I have a small children.

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Somehow I knew that it was going to be rough from the beginning. My registration was misplaced and I was a bit late so I was very rushed in getting to the starting line. After that, the first five miles were ok but afterwards my pace dropped significantly and I wasn’t feeling well. Of course, the main challenge was that I pulled a muscle about a month ago and it was starting to act up. It also might be sciatica — not sure. In order to help it heal, I ran a lot less in the weeks leading up the race — a necessary but lose-lose tradeoff.

In the end, I finished in a little over two hours — far from breaking any records and about 20 minutes longer than what I ran the my last half marathon five years ago. I’m regretting that I should have stayed on place and run the Crystal Coast Half Marathon a month earlier, before my leg took a turn for the worse. Of well — perhaps I’ll give it another go with my hometown Akron Half Marathon this fall.

Of course, I tracked my running patterns since the beginning of the year. Here they are:

Related posts:

• Resolutions for 2008

Here are some recent posts about our fish and oldest daughter:

• Remembering Sally
• Ximena’s First Business

Enjoy.

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No beer, wine, liquor, etc. I have a couple beers a week so I wouldn’t say that I’m a big drinker. But, I’m a big believer in cleansing one’s system from time to time. In the past, I’ve given up meat and soda (last year). I expect this one to be the easiest of the three.

2. Run a half marathon.

I enjoy running and have run a marathon and half marathon in the past. Of the two, I enjoyed the half marathon much more. But, I haven’t run anything interesting since my first daughter was born five years ago. This year that changes. I scouted out the half marathons in the area and decided to do the Crystal Coast Half Marathon in early March. I ran the Raleigh Half Marathon back in the day in 1:45 so ideally I would beat that time. I’m also considering running another one later in the year — perhaps returning to my hometown for the Akron Half Marathon in September.

Related posts:

• Recap of 2007’s Resolutions