Great post by my good friend Abbi:
Reblogged from Reno Rebirth Blog:
I received an email on Friday from the editor of PR Daily asking me if I wanted to comment on a recently released Forbes-commissioned survey which cites Reno as one of the cities with the unhappiest workers behind Boulder, Colo.
Yes, that’s right. Boulder. The mountain town that’s home to Powder magazine and Brad Feld, and was recently picked as one of Money magazine’s “Best Places to…
Great question. In my humble opinion, moving to Reno is primarily a lifestyle choice.
Picture this:
Friday evening in summer and it is about 85 degrees out. You live in Old Southwest Reno (best part of town to live in), after you get home from a day of work at the Reno Collective you, your better half and your 2-year old Labrador pup (who has an awesome yard because you live in Southwest), ride your bikes down to the river, go for a quick swim in the Truckee river’s downtown wavepools, grab some grub at Foodtruck Friday, and even catch some live music in Wingfield Park. After grabbing a beer at the Sierra Tap House you run into that cool couple you met at Craft last week and you all bike down to Death & Taxes in Midtown Reno for a late-evening Calavarques. You wander over to Public House and sample every beer on tap realizing that even though that Mikkeller saison is damn good, Icky is still where it’s at.
It’s Friday mid-evening, and after calling it a day you grab a quick round of golf at Washoe, Lakeridge, Montrêux, Red Hawk with the boys. You call up the ladies and they meet you at Brasiere St. James for cocktails, craft brews and that famous Buenos Aires Barbeque Platter. Everybody says, we should go grab that awesome new flick, and a few blocks later you are downtown Reno along the Truckee River in front of the big screen followed by ice cream, and a cappuccino martini at Chocolate Bar.
Your YFZ 450 has been itching for a ride. Since you bought the perfect house in Spanish Springs, you and your homeboys are right out the back door and ripping into the senset. Grab the boat on Saturday morning and you’re only an hour away from epic wakeboarding on Stampede, Boca, Donner, Lahonta
n, or Tahoe. And shoot, I forgot, tomorrow is race day at Hangtown, no worries it is just over the hill (two hours away).
Believe me, I understand you brotha. If you are moving here, you better bring your GNAR. 15 resorts within two hours: Squaw Valley, Northstar, Heavenly, Sugar Bowl, Kirkwood, Homewood, Boreal, Mt. Rose, Diamond Peak, and then some. You get the picture :). But if we are being real, backcountry is where it’s at: Maggies, Tallac, Blackwood Canyon, Mt. Rose Wilderness, Incline Peak, Castle Peak, and on the list goes. Get your Subi or Tacoma and mount up.
Photo by Zak Shelhamer
Mountain biking, hiking, camping, fishing, rock climbing, kayaking, disk golf, horseback riding, even high-altitude vinyasa yoga; yeah, we’ve got that. Minutes from world-famous white-water training (not to mention just over the hill from the American River), an hour to the Pacific Crest Trail or the Tahoe Rim Trail, day-trips away from the Desolation Wilderness and the Sierra Buttes, half-day from the Pacific Coast, and only a day to Central Oregon, Utah, and Arizona. Reno is a prime spot to be close to everything outdoors.
Photo by Zak Shelhamer
Explore the Great Basin and ride off into the sunset. From Reno you can easily disappear into the desert for your choice of guns, brews and barbecues, deer, chucker, lizards and natural hotsprings, Night in the Country, the Reno Rodeo, Reno Rib Cookoff, and Hot August Nights.
If all of my thoughts are constantly sitting on my computer’s hard drive or in my head, they have a 0% chance of helping anyone.
I began blogging during the summer of 2009 with a simple Blogger site: dananimal.blogspot.com. Without context, most people might think my blogging is for “personal branding” or some sort of vanity exercise. Precisely to the contrary.
After being laid off due to the economic downturn early 2009, I felt that all signs were pointing toward a personal, philosophical, and spiritual journey further outside of my comfort zone. While backpacking throughout New Zealand that summer (winter in down south) I reconnected with my undying purpose to serve society by aiding those in the midst of ambiguity. From being a soft ear to deeply troubled neighbors, to helping friends launch new adventure voluntourism businesses. From hosting Startup Weekends, to serving as a high school basketball coach guiding young men on more than their quest for a championship.
Whilst visiting the beautiful town of Wanaka in the Southern Alps, I consider the fact that if all of my thoughts were constantly sitting on my computer’s hard drive and/or in my head, they had a 0% chance of helping anyone other than me. How selfish is that? (Not to mention mind-blowingly simple). I inherently believe there’s a large chance that none of my thoughts will become anything more than letters on a page of the internets. But, there is that off chance that one of my thoughts, one of my posts, even one sentence of my blog may be useful to somebody else. To that end I find blogging as selfless as one can possibly be.
Now if only to take that ultimate step of selfless conveyance of perceived truth without the Theory of Mind. Here we all could learn a thing or two from FAKE GRIMLOCK:
“What’s the purpose of what you’re doing?”
(Question to FAKE GRIMLOCK because he dresses up in and assumes the online persona of a Giant Robot Dinosaur)Answer: “It’s a proof of concept, it’s to prove a theory. And it’s to prove that who you are doesn’t matter. In fact, truth requires that you aren’t anyone, because if you’re someone, whatever you say is always biased. It’s influenced by what you know about that person.”
Darn right there are great attractions, activities and “all around merriment” in #Reno! Great post Alli!
My hometown, Reno, Nevada, was recently put on blast by EscapeHere.com as one of the “10 Worst Cities to Visit in the United States.” Now, I wouldn’t exactly call Reno a travel destination, but there are many fun attractions, activities, and all around merriment to be had in The Biggest Little City. If you get a chance, check out The Biggest Little City Movement, which is a collection of Renoites stories and shared love of our biggest little city. Below is my list of top ten activities and attractions that are a MUST when visiting Reno, or even if you’re a Reno local.
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Dan’s Social Media & Inbound Marketing Cliffnotes
Keys to making social media work for your business
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I have read 6 books about Social Media, Personal Branding and Inbound marketing over the past two years and I thought it might be helpful to provide you with a super-condensed “cliffnotes” version I recently compiled:
A big shout out to @DrBret for help pushing many of us to jump into the fire and get started in this way:
Thank you for reading my blog – Daniel S. Herr.
I invite you to connect with me on Twitter @DanHerr
Or follow to my blog 
Sources
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and socialmaximizer.comGreat poem by our dear friend and close family Julianne about our cousin Logan.
Hi friends 🙂
It’s been the usual forever since I’ve blogged and unfortunately, this will be short and sweet. Tomorrow morning (at precisely o’ dark hundred) my parents and I are headed to my hometown in Florida to celebrate the life of the face you see above. This sweet little boy was the kind of family the government may not recognize, but God sure does. The kind of family you make for yourself. He died last summer at the age of 16 and together with his family and ours we’re going to be reminded that heaven isn’t as far away as we think it is. Have a safe and happy 4th ❤
Heaven to me, seems like a cozy train.People boarding
Doors open
Doors close.
Constant hum of togetherness and safety.
When you left, you left a space.
You made heaven, to me, seem…
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Senses
are doorways
to revelation
Out of the ashes of recession
A state born of the battle, reinvents itself
Makes opportunity in a deserted land
Turns loss into opportunity
And gives new life in an empty void
$100,000 pooled
To start new hope
To launch a new Nevada business
Not what the Project wants
What we the people need
Not California rebranded
Not in Nevada for the sake of a state-shaped logo
But because we are from here
We were born in a great struggle
We were born in the sage and the Basin
We don’t show up to party in the black rock
We were in the desert before the desert was hip
This is not a conglomerate and outside consulting firm
This is not Silicon Valley money
This is not an out-of-state investment
This is Nevada money for Nevada people
This is us, pulling ourselves up
This is our own grunting hard work
Our own get-it-done
Our own micro-brewed, down-home, self-serving revival of Nevada business
Investing in ourselves for ourselves
Reinventing how we, the real Nevadan’s, revive our economy
Revive our business culture
Rebuilding; one startup at a time
We the people of Nevada
Launch Project Vesto
In Nevada
For Nevada
On Nevada Day
Giving new life
With our battle-born business rebirth
Elko to Host Startup Weekend for Entrepreneurs
Startup Weekend Elko will connect local innovators
and startup enthusiasts to share ideas and launch companies
ELKO, NV – Startup Weekend, a national grassroots business-launching event, is coming to Northern Nevada, September 28-30, 2012. Startup Weekend Elko will connect local entrepreneurs, developers, designers and startup enthusiasts with mentors and resources for a weekend of sharing ideas, forming teams and launching startups. The weekend-long event will take place at the Great Basin College campus in Elko.
Whether participants found companies, find a cofounder, meet someone new or learn a skill outside the usual 9-to-5, they will be better prepared to navigate the chaotic and exciting world of startups.
“Many of us in Nevada had the rug swept out from our feet the past few years and we’ve had to adapt; become innovative and entrepreneurial to survive,” said Daniel Herr, life-long Northern Nevadan, organizer of the event and a recent participant in the Las Vegas Startup Weekend. “Northern Nevada has a lot of hidden gems and I am really excited about bringing this fast-paced startup proving-ground to Elko. It will be great to bring entrepreneurs from many of Nevada’s smaller North-Eastern communities together.”
On Friday night, attendees will take the open mic to…
Building sandcastles and other sand structures is incredibly similar to being an entrepreneur. Everyone on the beach has the tools and resources to do so right in front of them, but few try for one reason or another. Perhaps some have never thought to try, they do not have the creative vision. Others might think it a cool idea, think back on times as a child, and say, “Well I will be shunned by society if I try; and I’m likely no good at it anyhow, so I won’t bother.”
Growing up my father loved to make his classic Skeeball game on the beach out of sand. I do not know where the idea sprang from to do so, but every summer on the beaches of Ocean City Maryland, we would make grand sand-sculptures: from mermaids, to hammerhead sharks, turtles, and the famous beach Skeeball. The sand was our canvas and we could create darn-near anything out of it; why not create a classic game to play? We would build a giant mound of sand, water it down, pack it out, use buckets to create perfect hole, and personally I loved to build in automatic ball returns for every hole.
Today we were at Big Carona Beach in Orange County, California and after a swim out to the buoys, body-surfing, some paddle-ball and a brief nap in the sun, it felt like time to add my creative touch to the sand for all of my fiancés cousin’s little children to enjoy. Skeeball.
It is crazy the level of doubt at first outset. So many lack the vision. Perhaps it is because I have been there before, made other versions. The fact remains; so many doubt what they cannot see. And the progression is always the same: doubt, disregard, curiosity, desire.
I tried to recruit a number of the kids, and full grown cousins, to help without avail. I did get one young-in to grab me one bucket of water, but that was enough for him. People walk by and you can tell the look on their faces says, “Why is that full-grown man piling up sand; weird. Keep walking.” The slow progression moves toward; “Wow, that is a big mound of sand,” people whisper, “that must have taken him a while.” Not too long, thanks. “What ‘cha makin?” come the next and more curious questions. “Skeeball, wanna help?” “Skeeball hunh? Cool (I think). No that’s alright, I’ll let you do your magic,” followed by a thought of, “Wow, he’s taking this too seriously.” Or “That’s kinda lame; no thanks I’d rather boogie-board. Have fun playing in the sand though (you grown-as man).” I was probably done in 20-minutes or less, though it definitely took longer do it by myself than when I was a kid with my father, brother, sister and cousins helping.
But once you finish, everyone wants to gather around and play the game. “Wow, can I play?” “It’s my turn, give me the ball.” “This is awesome!” And finally those who ignored the call build upon that original vision and make it better once you’ve created it.
The joy in these kids faces as they played the game time and time again was fantastic. The laughs and excitement as they ran around the back to grab the ball they overthrew is that unexpected value and feeling of success that many search for their whole life-through. This value of creating for others out of seemingly nothing is one thing I cherish most in life.
Success is not eminent in the sand; there are many ways for the vision to fall off track. Perhaps you run out of time. Maybe you don’t have great vision at the outset and build it poorly; or make it in haste leaving people to understand the vision but think, “Wow this really had potential, but just isn’t that cool.” Or you could be entirely unlucky and have a wave (or mischievous child) come knock your masterpiece to the ground before completion; but perhaps you could have planned better for this.
At the end of the day, sand will return to sand: bound to gravity and mulled around by the ebbing sea. But for a time, it is possible to build a grand work: as simple or complex as you like. For a time you can enjoy what you have created out of the world’s canvas. For a while you can create value that is life and enjoyment thereof. But understand that in time all will be washed away to not but memories of what once was.
DanHerr.com 
