Sunday Reflection: Hi Five for a New Era of Tech

Sunday Reflection: Hi Five for a New Era of Tech

April 11, 2020

On Sundays I reflect. I didn’t drink alcohol this week.

For the first time, I am writing this entry from my first desktop computer. I have been operating this business from my iPad (10+ years old), my iPhone 6s and a secondhand macbook laptop I bought from a friend years ago. Basically, I am about a decade behind, but all that is about to change now that I got a used 2012 iMac desktop running on Yosemite. I would like to be the first to officially welcome myself to the current era.

As silly as it sounds, using my iPad and iPhone for the last decade has had a crippling effect on my body. My bad habits and posture, combined with always arching my neck to read my screens and the strain on my arms, shoulders, and back have caused me chronic pains that I have been working with my acupuncturist and chiropractor to correct. I haven’t been able to see either of them until just this week I was able to get to the chiropractor. It has made a world of difference in alleviating much of the pain I’ve been in during quarantine. I'm not fully pain free, but I’m finally at a point where I feel like I’m making progress. Part of that progress is correcting bad habits, such as writing these blog posts in my bed on my iPad.

Another habit I’ve been trying to change is that for many years I did not read at all. I have slowly been reading more over the last year, and this week I read “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell in three days. It was a captivating read, which I would have read faster if i hadn’t been required to arch my neck and use my shoulders and arms to do so. I am hoping to figure out how to navigate audio books soon, so that I can continue to digest information while performing other tasks like blowing glass or driving in my car. If you have any advice or tips please share.

I have been using zoom to stay in touch with friends and family, as I’m sure many of you are as well. My family and I had a Passover Seder the other night over zoom, and the following night my mother’s extended family joined together to catch up. I have a few friends that I’m also regularly chatting with, and another friend created a Friday night zoom trivia night I’m hoping to get in on this week.

Unfortunately, last week my friend Matty had to postpone joining my Mug Monday Live at Five, but hopefully he will be available tomorrow! Either way I will be doing my weekly live stream at 5PM MST.

Mid week I got a call from my friend Dizzle asking me to help with a project. I have been flaring feet for him to use on a project, which I’ll ship to him shortly. In the process of flaring 5-6 inch feet, I have burned the second knuckle on my left hand, and will need to take a few days off the torch to let it heal so I do not make it worse. Fortunately I have some good burn cream from the Starship Crew, and the pain is not too bad. Our coins from the third annual Vail Cup Collectors Club are available at the Star Ship website.

Hopefully you got to check out my interview with Dan Hoffman a few days ago that we have been working on since his visit this past summer. I am in the process of working on blogs interviewing Ed Wolfe, SALT, Rob Retza, and others so don’t forget to sign up for our email list (scroll to the bottom of this page) to have the first look at those, along with special deals for each artist’s work on the site.

CUPDATE

We sold out of Jason Gordon fumed pints and hopefully we can get more soon. We also sold out of Ed Kippling but he has another order on the way already. 

I finally got my hands on a Dosa pint glass, though it's already sold. I'll definitely be getting photos to share before it leaves my possession. From the same studio in Bellingham Washington, I also got my first shot glass from Jake C which will be available once I get photos and get it listed on the site. If you are interested you can contact me to see that one before it goes live.

I got a few more cups from JOP listed on the website this week, including one dating back to 2012. We are also working on a blog interview so you’ll be able to learn more about Josh soon!

 SALT Glass Goblet

My high school intern Gibberz has been illustrating cups into hand drawn stickers. A handful of the cups on my website will include a matching sticker of the cup in a caricature. Now, stuck at home, my seventeen year old intern is taking on custom illustrations at $10 per cup and we’ve gotten an overwhelming response of orders with more coming in everyday. If you would like to get on the list, reach out with a picture of your cup and we can add you to the list. She’s excited to have something to do while stuck at home with her parents.

Let's talk about the kitchen. If you know me, you know that is not where I excel. This has been one of the greatest challenges of quarantine. This week I may have overcome that. One afternoon while making my breakfast smoothie I also made a bacon egg and cheese. Now, it is not unheard of for me to handle these two things, though every time I successfully fry an egg, I text JCost to brag. In addition, I cooked pasta simultaneously for a salad and a meat sauce I would make later in the week. The salad was supreme, and was complimented by my shopmate Rob who is highly critical of my cooking skills. It had mixed greens, pasta, chickpeas, tuna, mayo, green pepper, green onion, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries and it was delicious. It fed me for a few days out of a giant bowl in my fridge. I will probably make another similar salad this week. I am trying to get on that meal prep game to manage my time better. It is certainly a lot less expensive to make my own food, and a lot faster to grab something prepared from my fridge or freezer than to wait for a restaurant which is only open for pickup anyways.

I am in the early stages of planning the biggest project of my career, based off of a family heirloom that my parents have from my great grandfather. The bar is handmade from wood, opening to show a drunk clown etched into a pane of glass and a marble serving counter. Each glass is monogrammed with my great grandfather’s initials which happen to also be my father’s initials; MJB. Since I was a child, I have been fascinated by this piece of legacy in my family. I am finally discussing the prospect of creating a modern take on this roughly 100 year old piece in collaboration with a few other artists and craftspeople. Obviously, I will be making the entire line of glassware which can be customized with monogram etch or not. I will work with wood and/or metal workers, and hopefully be able to incorporate some plates of glass with custom engravings. Ultimately, I would like to be able to produce different one-of-a-kind sets for private collector’s homes based on a similar design and concept. If you are interested in helping to make this a reality, please get in touch with me to discuss details. I am hoping to create a sample this year.

As always, thanks for tuning in. I hope you are all staying safe and sane during quarantine, and appreciate your ongoing support!

BB



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