You know, as Disco so eloquently pointed out…I too, realize we aren’t as ‘bad’ as what we made ourselves out to be. One of the things we took away from the UNSeminar is that we HAVE accomplished a LOT in our short time together and our short time on the planet. We’ve dedicated time to our family and made adventure a top priority. We’ve committed to our marriage fun and love and craziness. We’ve set some goals along the way that we achieved working together. And, we’ve managed to find our way to the top of wage earners while watching 200 hours plus tv a month. Yes, we’ve experienced our own setbacks, yes, we’ve encountered difficulty, and yes, most undoubtedly, we will again. I really believe the main thing here is to step back and see what HAS been accomplished and to drink in the achievements. At the UNSeminar, that’s probably one of the few times I really took in all that we’ve accomplished. Not that we aren’t grateful, but rather, really soaked in what we’ve created to date. Truly thinking about how we’ve worked together to do what we set out to do. It was sobering. I believe, like all overachievers, the thrill is in the chase - in the challenge of the creation - and it is often a good thing to come back and delight in what is. No, it’s a good thing to OFTEN delight in what is - in the now - in this moment, which, really, is all we have. So, tonight, I find myself celebrating all the triumphs, the frustrations, the setbacks, the achievements and all that we are together.
I wish for you the same…take a moment to think of all you have done that you would consider a ‘good thing.’ If you want, make a list! Soak it in…you deserve it!
Hugs,
Tina
Well here I am on day…..hmmm don’t really know. LOL Everynight we have managed to do at least one thing constructive. I good thing in my book. One amazing thing is that I have noticed I didn’t get the improvement that I expected from all the extra time. I think it is because I was always doing something while I was watching TV. Meaning I was working and watching at the same time. I wasn’t as lazy as I thought in the first place. Don’t worry, I am not going to run over and turn the TV back on. Just good to know that I wasn’t like the beautiful picture I decided to put on our website. Not that there is anything wrong with doing what he is doing 
In the mean time I am learning the wikipedia software for yet another of my wonderful ideas I will share soon.
 Much Love
Sunday Sunday Sunday. Yes, it is Sunday night. Oscars are on and I am here on my pc doing nothing much. I have been reading some of our sites, trying to find out why so many people go to our new sites but don’t buy our services. Why is our business always referral? I think it is because that we work in so many spaces that fear of judgement keeps us from putting our faces on anything out on the web. It feels like we live somewhere where what we think isn’t exactly the same as everyone else. So, we just keep quiet. This evening as I am sitting here I started thinking, why do we do what we do? Then the truth came to me, out of fear. Fear of not being understood, fear of not being heard, and fear of not being successful. The other night I was writing my entry and thought to myself, no one is reading what I am typing so I might as well watch TV. I know this is silly, but I still felt it. I should be doing what I am doing for me and shouldn’t care if anyone else is reading it or not. But I do some of the time!
Then I started thinking why do we care so much whether people like all the things we do together. The answer is simple; fear of judgment and lack of understanding. What would people think if they knew we do so many different things. Would they care? Would they understand? Of course the answers are never in front of us. People that know us never question the place of love we come from. So tonight I leave you with a little note to help you step a little closer to where you need to go and for myself the realization that we need to step further down our own path.
Look to the path that you are on and try not to pay attention to what is in the bushes
Well it is Saturday and I am up all alone…poor me. It has been a pretty good week so far given that we have not be able to live someone elses life through the lense. I have been working on other product ideas besides www.miitations.com which I launched the other day. For those of you that have seen the site, you are right! I have no way to make money off of that site yet. The only purpose of the site right now is to drive traffic somewhere else. Now, when www.miitations.com traffic picks up? in a way it is making money by saving me money on places like adwords etc. I haven’t seen any updates on any of the shows that we are addicted to. I guess that either no ones cares or no one is reading this BLOG except my wife and I…LOL. If we are not getting any emails or updates because of the later I might as well watch TV because no one would know. *GRIN*. It is Saturday and I hope that everyone is spending time with your families, cuddled up in front of the TV, watching your favorite REALITY TV SHOW; while I sit here contemplating life and the fact that I live in a verbal world and don’t like typing much.
Much Love
Wow, that went really fast. Perhaps it’s because I am so well rested? We have two projects nearly complete - the second will be complete on Monday. We are well underway on the third and fourth. I haven’t really thought about tv that much today - I think I’ve settled into a groove.
One thing I noticed is that my mind is working in different ways. I think it may similar to when you quit eating salt and then all of a sudden your tastebuds come back again. It’s like all kinds of ideas are coming to me - like they did before, but differently. It’s good, although I still couldn’t describe the ‘difference.’ Perhaps it’s much quieter all the time instead of quiet here and there. I find myself stopping and really noticing things again.
I had a conversation with a dear friend tonight. She commented that she didn’t really think we watched tv and was stunned to see the list. I remember the time she spoke - it was the beginning of 2005 - March to be exact. At the time we would record a few shows and watch them on the weekends. We were fanatical about Amazing Race and a few others, but were really not what I would describe as ‘addicts.’ I commented that tv or whatever it is you ‘escape’ with is what you mind-meld into when you don’t want to look at your current reality.
For us, we hit a glitch last year with a business project that didn’t go as planned. Everything else around us seemed to be business as usual except for that. But ‘that’ one thing took us into an abyss of reality-tv frenzia.
So today, as I write this, I can honestly say it feels good to be back. I’m not totally ‘back,’ yet I know I’m feeling and sensing a lot more now that I’m not spending four hours a day numbing my mind and my senses. Things are more colorful.
All in all, it’s the bitter AND the sweet that makes each what they are. It’s the contrast that puncuates our experience, and I can’t say that the last year hasn’t made me realize so many things that I’m not sure I would have known in such a very real way. It’s late. I don’t really know if this makes sense. It does to me, so maybe it doesn’t matter.
This has been a great week. Like fasting, I recommend everyone take at least a 7-day sabbatical from the tube every once in a while and join life again. Of course, not everyone is a junkie; for those who are… try the lighter side! It’s refreshing.
Sweet dreamzzzzzz….
Tina
It is day 4 and I am moving along nicely. I had one of those days where you just laugh at the sillyness that the world sends your way. If you know anything about me, you know that I am paid by other people to be creative. I have a million ideas a day. Now in and of itself this is not a bad gift to have unless you want to do something for yourself. Well, I have done just that thanks to our little experiment! My family got a nintendo wii a few weeks back and I was reading about how there were all these sites that are made for the wii. So, I had to see it for myself. Just how well do the screens render on these little toys. I was amazed at how well the browser looked. Then it hit me hey you can play music through this thing using flash…..yeah. I bet you could play meditations to help people get through their day. In that moment of clarity http://www.miitations.com was born. I had the design in about 30 minutes and now that I have no TV the website is up and functional. Go enjoy and have fun.
Much Love
Okay, enough is enough. My darling husband left out the part that I have not been feeling 100 percent. Thanks, hon. I do have to share that the last two nights, I must have - at least subconsciously - been dreaming about my withdrawal symptoms.
The first night, I dreamt about Dr. Rey (the flashiest character on Dr. 90210). I had the strangest dream that he was dating someone else with brown hair and that Hayley (that’s his real wife) found out about it and then when they saw each other, he rushed back into her arms professing his love. Yes, that’s a true dream.
Last night I dreamt about BJ and Tyler (from the Amazing Race ? - not sure, it was a couple ago - I lose track of time). Anyway, for those of you who don’t know. BJ and Tyler were the intellectual scholars who were peace and granola man all the way through the show. We were rooting for them, and were so happy when they won the million-dollar prize! Well, in my stupor last night I found myself in a mini-car with them racing around the streets of merry Paris (read it like pear-ee). It was a fun, fun time, I have to say! In my dream, I told them they were way cooler than they were on the show and we would have to do it again sometime.
When I woke this morning, all I could wonder is… are they on Amazing Race All Stars? But, true to our word, we aren’t scouting the sites and such. Though, I have to admit that someone told me Trista and Ryan are preggers. Congratulations!
Another person recently asked me HOW I could be so addicted to someone so “stupid” and I guess to me it isn’t stupid sharing time with other’s lives. I mean, who wasn’t crying when Jennifer Hudson triumphed after getting the boot on American Idol? Do we not see ourselves in others?
I’m alive and well - thanks to those who have been asking!
Tonight, we are doing the PTA thing, so we may be logging on a little later.
Peace-out and hugs!
Tina
I would like to thank the universe for the wonderful comments and feedback. We have had some very interesting ones if I do say so. My personal favorite was one from digg.com where someone said how we were just trading reality tv shows for a reality TV website. I thought about this and they do have a small point. The only thing that the reader didn’t understand was our purpose. We are creating the site to inspire people to find more time for what they enjoy in life. We enjoy to travel and have fun exploring the world with our son. Our successful consulting business requires much of our physical time which we would normally use for travel. Unless you have people doing the work for you, you are still an hourly employee even though you own the business. We don’t have as much passive income as we would like, except for some real-estate, which hello you cant get passive income out of in a down market, no matter what Robert Kiosaki says. The point is to use our time to create something that can help the world, which is what we love to do and at the same time do it while requiring less of our physical time. Now when you look at your life it may be something totally different that you are using at the end of the day to escape the thoughts that are in your head about what you should be doing. It may be going somewhere with your friends, playing golf all the time, video games, eating, you name it. So to anyone out there that is reading our stuff or following our story,  Start doing what you love and make a product or two that you can sell, besides selling hours of your life.
And yes the house is still quiet, I can hear the dog breath, and my wife is asleep LOLÂ
Much Love
I read my wife’s post. Ahhhhh how beautiful.
Now for my observations on the situation.
If you are not accustomed to loud noises put your fingers in your ears;Â HELP HELP HELP HELP!
So what could be so bad?
- We missed the Amazing Race All-stars first show and no-one is telling us how the show was. Did we say we LOVE Rob and Amber!
- The house is so damn quiet that I hear everything including my dog breath. IN OUT IN OUT IN OUT IN OUT Oh and IN OUT IN OUT
- I am bored….my wife is going to bed so it is me and the dog again IN OUT IN OUT
- Did I say it is quiet
- Not to mention people at work letting me know that American idol is on like every day this week.
- Need I say more
- And my wife looks a little on edge
I am definitely putting up a conference bridge number tomorrow in-case anyone out there would like to chat or give us updates. I also wanted to share a little audio of mine to let everyone know what it feels like without reality TV. Until I find it here is a pic of our dog. You get the idea.
Yesterday was pretty bad. Okay, I admit it, about 5:45 pm, I start thinking about Extra and wondering about what new movies are coming out (although, admittedly, we rent more than we actually view). Tonight feels hard, too, what’s going on… what are we missing? But I digress…
We spoke with a few friends who also are reality tv addicts. They feel for us. Then, I got a few emails from others who are addicted to the rest of television - hospital and police shows. They feel for us, too. Aaaah, let’s get a group hug!
On the upside - and there is ALWAYS an upside - we’ve finished three loads of laundry, shopped for two weeks worth of groceries, picked up around the house, and finished two JV partner projects. Just imagine what we’ll do in 28 more days! This is just my first night and Mark spent most of his time last night completing our site.
Things are moving…how are things in your world? We hope bright!
Hugs-
Tina