Sunday Reflections: Broken Ben Upgrades to Bluetooth Ben, Plus a Cupdate

January 12, 2020

On Sundays I reflect.

I didn’t drink alcohol this week. It’s been almost two years since I quit drinking. Life is different.

I blew glass this week a bit. I’m working on collaborations for my show next month and very little else. We’re busy with so much else getting ready for the show, it’s nice to get a break in and melt some glass. So far, I’m still mostly in the prep phase but I’ve gotten a batch of cups in with Luke and Rob along with J. Cost.

I didn’t snowboard this week as I’m still trying to allow my shoulder and neck to heal. My acupuncturist, chiropractor and I have determined that my pain is coming from a handful of my behaviors and bad habits including being on my phone so much. I’ve finally invested in a Bluetooth headset that I can use with Siri to replace the things I was doing with my arm and hand with my voice. I hardly understand technology but the test run worked out so I’ll be shifting into Bluetooth mode moving forward. Technology is weird, and I don’t like the idea of in ear buds taking over my brain with whatever waves they produce so I got some big over ear style headphones that I’m sure make me look very hip. My shopmates seem to love me yelling into my headphones rather than the clicking noise my phone made when I would text rapid messages to dozens of people at a time.

So I spent most of the week recovering, as hard as that was for me to do. I did a lot of nothing waiting for my shoulder pain to go away. I’m bad at doing nothing, it’s boring.

One of the days I drove clients to and from the airport all day. My only break from being in the car that day was to go to my acupuncturist. In theory that should be a nice break, except that she’s aggressively trying to fix years of bad habits culminating in the severe pain I’ve had in my back, shoulders and neck for almost a month (and even longer on a less severe scale). Two clients had me take them to the dispensary which is always so cliche, but they tipped me with a medicated orange soda so I’m not complaining.

Today I’m shooting lifestyle with a girl from Boulder. Reda has to work at her snowmobiling job, so I’ll be photographing this one. I’m definitely not a professional but I have taken classes on photography and can certainly get the job done (as proven in Seattle). Wouldn’t it be amazing to be able to hire a photographer full time at DV to document what we’ve got going on? One day we’ll get there! I’ve been thinking about investing in a digital camera myself, but if anyone out there would be interested in a trade please contact me. This will help us expedite the process when we receive new cups in getting them shot and put on the website rather than having to wait for scheduled shoots and then edits. It’s incredible how quickly things have grown, to the point that twice a month photo shoots aren’t enough any more!

CUPDATE
W.C. Stearns put up a cup drop and I scooped as many as he would let me. We have half a dozen of his 10-12 oz. cups available but they won’t be around long with the amount of people that have inquired since my post on Instagram.

I‘m down to three pints from Jason Gordon but more are coming soon, and he told me he’s making affordable fumed mugs too which should be on their way to us this week. I can’t wait to see what the wizard whips up!

Ed Wolfe sent us a big box of mugs and tumblers. I have a nice little collection of their cups in my personal collection and there are a few from this batch I’m considering keeping. I have pairs of Rainbow and Blue Fadez Tumblers, but have not yet kept a mug since our dude Dennis grabbed my favorite one I’ve gotten so far. This batch has a few that are speaking to me but I might have to custom order some with the colors of the one Dennis got.

We sent another wholesale order of drinkware down to High 5 Knoxville, so if you’re down in Tennessee stop by and check out their selection. It’s always nice to get love from my home state (yes I grew up in Chicago suburbs but I was born in Memphis).

Our neighbor in Leadville came through to scoop a cup he won in our live stream auction and some pipes for his shop Earl’s in Leadville. You can find J. Cost's chillums over there now!

Lastly, we’ve started a new thing. Every Mug Monday we’re going Live at 5PM MST on Instagram for giveaways, auctions, new product reveals, and a chance to hang out with the team at Bat Country Studios in Minturn, Colorado! We hope you’ll tune in to see what’s new and catch up with us.

Thanks for tuning in,
BB