My Duke Nukem station at dad’s house in the late 90’s. Mixed in some Leisure Suit Larry and Myst too. Floppy disks. Take out burritos in styrofoam. College years imminent. Short cab carbureted Chevy S-10 with flowmaster and 12” subs behind the seat. Simple times of boyhood.
4 years married to this ridiculously funny, stunningly gorgeous, open-hearted human and I sure hope I’m lucky enough to get 50 more. Please enjoy a carousel of my wonderful wife for our special day. ❤️❤️❤️
Do you support fish passage in the Ventura Watershed? WATCH our TROUT CAMP micro short and VOTE for us to win the audience award. Your votes can help organizations like South Coast Habitat Restoration restore fragile ecosystems. #Fishpassage #microshort #illuminatefilmfestival #habitatrestoration
For the past 6 months, @willingfoto and I @scotthirschmusic have been filming a short documentary about the transformation and restoration of the Wheeler Gorge campground (just north of Ojai in the Los Padres Nat’l Forest). While the film is near completion, we made a micro short - a telling of the story in 90 seconds or less - and submitted to the @illuminatefilmfestival .
To our surprise- we were selected as semi finalists! Now we YOUR help to win the People’s Choice Award! PLEASE VOTE at the link in bio and stories and share with everyone you know! Likes, comments & views also count. You can vote once a day until May 7th, rating on a 5 star scale (5 stars = 5 votes!)
More about the film:
Beneath its beauty of Wheeler Gorge lies a quieter legacy: one shaped by convenience, where the rise of automobile culture left concrete and rebar embedded in the creeks, severing a vital migratory path for endangered steelhead trout. In the fall and early winter of 2025, a coalition of environmental stewards—South Coast Habitat Restoration, the U.S. Forest Service, and Waterways Consulting—began the careful work of undoing that history. What unfolds is not just an engineering effort, but an act of listening: to water, to time, and to the delicate balance of an ecosystem interrupted for generations. #IlluminateMicroShortContest #IlluminateFilmFestival #OnenessOfHumanity
2.5 years ago, around sunrise, I walked into the gym down the street and pushed some weights around. Couldn’t have been more sore the next day. I went back anyway. I hadn’t felt an endorphin rush in so long, and I started to chase them. Some days I would feel tears coming down my cheeks. This wasn’t joy exactly, but it did feel “good” to fight against the oppressive inertia of grief. That chemical release served to keep me close to Seamus.
I had packed on 40 lbs or so while he was in the hospital. Chronic stress releases a lot of cortisol, a hormone that tends to increase desire for sugary and fatty foods. So much take out, so much ice cream, so many lattes, so much worry and pain and anger and confusion. My body was in so much pain. So was my heart.
So I kept going. It hasn’t been linear, but over time I’ve gotten stronger. Body, heart, and mind. Resistance became a habit. The habit became non-negotiable. Do I still eat ice cream and burritos? You bet. There’s probably a ripped sixer and deeper lines under there but honestly I love food too much. And, having a bit of belly makes it a lot easier to sit Aidan on a hip. 🤷🏽♂️
So I dunno what the lesson is exactly, but what I can and want to share with those of you who come across this shirtless Gen-X dad is:
Life can f*ck you up real bad but it’s a tiny bit easier to deal if you get jacked. 🫱🏽🫲🏼🍔💪🏽
