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Leaders Are Readers

I think I first heard the phrase, “Leaders are Readers” when I was a teenager. I didn’t think much about it, except that I liked that the phrase rhymed.

I loved to read so it wasn’t much of a stretch to read more books, but maybe just an encouragement to read different types of books. Summer was my favorite time of year because with my extra time, I could bury my nose in all my favorite summer reads and maybe add a few new ones after finishing my favorites. I always had a copy of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with me on summer vacations and I loved to peruse the libraries of the cabins we stayed in or the shelves of books whenever and whenever I would see them.

Libraries were fascinating to me. The ability to travel in time or to far flung places just by cracking open a book. Both my parents would take me to the public library as a child. I loved the smell of books, the rows and rows of tall domino like shelves stuffed with all sizes of books and periodicals, and the reverent quietness which most people had at the library. The hushed whispers and the rustle of turning pages felt like church to me.

My Uncle Jimmy loved to read too and I remember how excited he was to share his growing library of books on tape. He lived 12+ hours away from me and he listened to lots and lots of books while driving. I thought listening to books was interesting, but I loved the tactile connection I had to the pages when I was reading a book. Years passed and soon my friends started using a Kindle (or other electronic device) to read. I still loved reading with a physical book in my hand, so I never adopted the new technology.

As I started working more and more, I found I had less and less time to read. I read several books a week as a kid and now I was lucky to squeeze in a few books a year. I was driving a lot more for work and as much as I resisted it, I started listening to Audio Books. To be honest it felt like I was cheating, and I often felt like I should go read the physical book later when I had the chance, but those chances were hard to find. I finally embraced this NEW way of “reading” and I’ve been excited to add more book titles to my audio book list.

I recently discovered that I could get audiobooks from my local library and depending on the app I used, I could borrow up to 15 books a month for FREE! Audiobooks easily led me to various podcasts (which took me years to finally adopt) and now I’m a voracious listener. It’s standard for me to have an audiobook or podcast on and I usually only pause it when I’m writing or if I have company.

I heard a lecture by, Jim Kwik, the brain and learning expert, and he said leaders  and CEOs read 4 to 6 books a month. At the time that I heard that I was reading 4 to 6 books a year if I was lucky. He broke down the time needed to read an average book and for most books, 45 minutes a day of reading will do the trick. With an average reading speed of 200 words per minute and the average book containing 64,000 words, with less than an hour a day of reading I knew I could get back on track to reading a book a week.

There are so many skills I need to learn and improve on. If I’m to be a better leader for The Burrito Project and in my other businesses, I know I need to expand my thinking, mindset and knowledge. Books are magical! I can read a book in a week which is filled with lifelong knowledge and insight from an authority in their field. These life lessons and professional tips can be learned from a successful person who is willing to share their mishaps and gems of truth. Books can be a timesaver because the knowledge of a lifetime is condensed into a book which can be read in days. I’m great at making mistakes, but reading is a way to learn from other people’s mistakes and hopefully save myself some grief.

Last week, 5 new business books arrived in the mail. I’ve already finished one of the books and I started on the 2nd book this morning. On this Star Wars Day, I’m reaffirming my commitment to reading, expanding my consciousness and learning the skills I need to become a better human being, businessman, entrepreneur, speaker and leader in my community.

May the 4th be with you!

Cheers!

TofuAlan

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Earth Day, Spring Flowers and Beautiful Buzzing Bees

Thank you Google and Dr. Jane Goodall for the Earth Day google doodle message.

“It’s April 21st and everybody knows today is Earth Day
Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday to whoever’s being born..” These lyrics from, Dramarama, always echo through my head when this date is near.

It may be argued that the date of April 22nd is the actual official date of Earth Day, but I have no need to split hairs on this distinction and strive to live every day like “it’s 1999″…. Wait, sorry, that’s a different song! As much as possible, I strive to live everyday as Earth Day. Our everyday small choices can create a large impact over time.

I have been a vegetarian for over 2 decades and being a quiet vegan is my simple way of being kind to Mother Earth. I love that many people I know have adopted Meatless Mondays, a simple step creating diversity in their diet and making their meals intentionally and thoughtfully healthier. If you haven’t yet tried this with your family, here are 2 “green” facts I found interesting.

If everyone in the U.S. went meatless for just one day we would save 70 million gallons of gas–enough to fuel all the cars of Canada and Mexico combined with plenty to spare.

If everyone in the U.S. ate no meat or cheese just 1 day a week for a year, it’s like not driving 91 billion miles – or taking 7.6 million cars off the road. (source: Environmental Working Group)

As a Southern California resident I understand our dependence on cars. Driving is a way of life ingrained in many of us who live here. If a change in my diet can help offset my driving miles, then I think of it as a small price to pay for the pollution I may be creating. I also try to limit my solo driving as much as possible and attempt to carpool when I can.

Whatever you do on this Earth Day, thank you for being mindful of your impact on our society and our global community at large.

I was visiting my dad earlier this week and when I walked up to his front door I was welcomed with a beautiful array of flowers. There were bright yellow daisies and a few noble purple ones decorating the garden.

Daisies and sunflowers always bring a smile to my face and can lift my spirits if I’m ever feeling low. Thank you Mother Earth for the joyous treat in my day.

Among the daisies were some buzzing bees. I have always been fond of bees. My first bee sting was in my adulthood and that was by accident. I stepped on a bee while enjoying a picnic in the park. I heard a podcast today about the importance of bees in the pollination of our food crops and the fact that it’s getting harder to do so because of the declining bee population every year.

I guess it’s appropriate on Earth Day to contemplate the symbiotic relationship of humanity with the earth and the impact we have on our planet and it’s ecosystems. It’s possible that our actions in decades past created an imbalance in our ecosystem through the extensive use of pesticides and fossil fuels. I love that there’s a social movement around the globe with greater importance placed on the preservation of the environment.

On this Earth Day I raise my glass to everyone who in their unique way is making a positive difference in our world. Thank you to the bees for their part in keeping us fed and to the flowers which bring sunshine and color into our lives.

Cheers!

TofuAlan

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Accidental Wedding Hack and the Benefits of Thinking Outside of the Box

I absolutely LOVE weddings! A friend of mine makes fun of me because I attend so many weddings throughout the calendar year. On average I go to about one wedding a month. I think my record was 7 weddings in the month of June a few years ago.

There are 5 siblings in my family of which I am the eldest. My brother is the youngest and we have 3 lovely sisters  sandwiched between us. My brother was the first of the “boys” to get married and he and his wife had a lovely outdoor wedding at a hidden garden oasis in Pasadena, CA.

I never asked him how much he spent on his wedding because frankly, it’s none of my business. It was definitely a classy and gorgeous wedding with all the beautiful perks, so I’m guessing it was in the ballpark of the average wedding in America. According to a 2016 poll of 13,000 wedding couples conducted by The Knot, the average American wedding cost was $35,329. Wow! No wonder this is such a huge industry.

I grew up within the wedding industry so I never realized how indoctrinated I was. I was an altar boy growing up and weddings were a treat because we received some pocket money for “serving” at the Saturday weddings. My mother usually sang at the wedding ceremony so it was easy to catch a ride to the church.

My mother was also a florist and specialized in balloon decorating. (Yes, there was a time when balloons were a huge part of wedding decor). Most of my childhood weekends were spent helping my mom and the neighbors decorate for wedding receptions. The neighborhood trio included a florist, a cake maker and a balloonist.

As a teenager I had helped decorate so many weddings, anniversaries and birthday parties that I started to help coordinate weddings and parties. It gave me a good perspective of what is needed to have a wonderful party and reception.

The  eldest of my 3 sisters was engaged in October 2017 and my thoughts started imagining what kind of wedding would be perfect for her. I knew she wanted easy and simple with minimal fuss. They were leaning towards a backyard reception so my dad started prepping the yard by building a dance floor, building a bar, cutting down trees and turning a few of the remaining stumps into bar tables and benches, hanging lights and transforming a nice backyard into an amazing backyard. My dad is really handy. I’m really proud of him!

I would have chats with my sister about what she wanted. What she didn’t want. What she knew her husband to be wanted or didn’t want. What certain other family members needed or wanted and the puzzle started to take shape.

A Saturday date was finally picked which worked with everyone’s schedule and February 10th, 2018 was going to be the day of the wedding. Things were starting to fall into place, but my sister was having second thoughts about the church venue. We were experiencing some interesting weather patterns and as the wedding date approached, rain was predicted for the day of the wedding.

With the expectation of rain, the backyard wedding plan needed some adjustment. We started pricing tents and elevated flooring and heating lamps. The budget easily doubled in price with these new expenses. The idea of renting a hall was back on the table, but unfortunately the Banquet Hall I manage was already booked and so were several of the local banquet halls I had helped design.

We started looking at lots of local restaurants and fraternal organizations which had banquet rooms. The wheels started turning and at this point the wedding was less than 10 days away. My dad was getting frustrated with my sister’s indecision and was getting ready to book a hall which was recommended by the neighbor.

A week before the wedding my sister had a work meeting at St. Peter’s Italian Church on the northern edge of Chinatown near downtown LA. After the meeting, she peeked inside the church and fell in love with the quaintness and simplicity of the church. She gave me a call and excitingly told me how much she loved it. I told her to check with the rectory to see if it was available because the wedding was only a few days away.

She called me back and said she had good news and bad news. The good news was that the church WAS available, but the hall across the parking lot was already booked. I jokingly told her to inquire about the event. Maybe they would be willing to switch dates with her.

To make a long story slightly shorter, although the church was available, a Valentine’s Day Dance Fundraiser was scheduled for 6:30 pm the same day as the wedding. This is where the story becomes more interesting. I think because my sister and I were already thinking outside the box and exploring various options, some different questions popped into the conversation.

The hall is rather large and could accommodate over 400 people. It turned out they had already sold about 100 tickets, so it would be impossible to change the date. The Valentine’s Dance included a live band, DJ, a sizable dance floor, a coffee/espresso/cappuccino bar, 2 bottles of wine and 1 bottle of champagne per table, a 5 course meal and a cash bar.

The tickets were a great price for everything included. They even offered a discount if you bought the full table of 10 seats. With some out of the box thinking, and flexibility of expectations, my sister ended up buying 210 tickets at the discounted price and because she had made their fundraiser so successful they included dedicated time for their first dance and speeches, a song list for the DJ to play and they opened the hall & bar 90 minutes early so we could have a private reception with our family & friends immediately following the wedding before the dance began.

The dance was spectacular and the 400+ guests all got along swimmingly. There was so much dancing and eating and laughter it was almost as if the whole event was planned this way from the start. It ended up being the perfect weather for a wedding and the photographer took some beautiful family photos outside the church.

Just remember, keep an open mind and you open yourself up to even greater opportunities. My sister was able to have the perfect wedding for a small fraction of the American average, PLUS the check she wrote for the venue was 100% tax deductible. =)

Cheers!

TofuAlan

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Wearing Green While Enjoying Pi Day!

It’s not easy being green, sings Kermit the Frog. That may be true, but I love wearing the color green!

Many of my favorite articles of clothing have been green. I had an velvety green vest with mesmerizing green buttons I picked up at Aaardvark’s when I was in high school, I had a wonderfully patterned green shirt which I wrote about in a creative writing class in college, and I have a snazzy plaid green bow tie which I wear any chance I can!

My favorite shade of green is chartreuse, but I enjoy most shades of green! This Saturday is St. Patrick’s Day, so you can be sure I’ll be wearing as much green as I can… at least in the evening, because I’ll be at a business conference during the day. Ahhh… The perfect place to wear the green bow tie. =)

Today, is one of my favorite days of the year! Pi-Day!

I’m not sure exactly why I love it so much, but I’ve always been fascinated by Pi since I was a young child. Maybe it’s because I also love PIE and they sound the same! Mmmm… Pie! =)

As you may or may not know, I am an ordained minister and this past weekend I was able to officiate a wedding for my childhood friend. There is an exchange of rings between partners. The rings are said to be a symbol of eternity. They have no beginning and no end.

According to Wikipedia, the number π is a mathematical constant. Originally defined as the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, it now has various equivalent definitions and appears in many formulas in all areas of mathematics and physics. 

I find it amazing to think that there is a mathematical constant, and just like these wedding rings whose circumference is worn around a ring finger by a married couple, the rings are a symbol of something constant in their marriage.

So far as I know, the number Pi goes on FOREVER!!! That’s another crazy thought and hard to wrap my head around. Pi does start with 3.14 and continues on forever. So just like Pi, which has a definite beginning, it has no end, maybe I’ll start wishing newly weds Happy Pi Day and may their marriage and love last FOREVER… and ever and ever and EVER…

Now, we can have our Pi and eat it too!

Cheers to you!

TofuAlan

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Freaky Fridays and Siamese Twins

I woke up early in preparation for a long day of meetings at 3 different Building Departments; Long Beach, Garden Grove & Los Angeles. At first I was thinking of going for the super comfortable Relaxed Friday look, but at the last minute, I changed my mind and chose navy slacks, a dark blue shirt, a burgundy sweater vest, red vans and a bow tie to complete the outfit.

My first meeting in Long Beach went perfectly. Only 2 items are pending from the contractor and I’ll be pulling the Building Permit for the project at my meeting next week. My 2nd Long Beach meeting was rescheduled due to the building official being out sick with the flu that’s been going around these past few weeks.

As I was walking to my car and thinking of lunch, I received a call from one of my best friends, who also happened to be in Long Beach. We picked a spot for lunch, Seabirds Kitchen, one of my favorite vegan places in Long Beach.

We had a fantastic lunch and were able to catch up with each other’s lives. The funniest, or possibly the freakiest thing about our lunch was the fact that we had perfectly coordinated outfits.

She was wearing blue jeans, a burgundy blouse with matching sweater and to make the coincidence even more fantastic, she was wearing red shoes. What are the odds of us picking the same colors?

I like when these sorts of coincidences happen. Not only were we both in Long Beach at the same time, but we even dressed like we were heading to a Sadie Hawkins Dance.

After lunch we parted ways with happy smiles and the rest of the day went swimmingly. I hope you’re lucky to have some happy coincidences this month too!

Cheers to you!

TofuAlan

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Hello 2018! Inspiration Point, Bite Sized Goals & Infinity Abundance!

Hello 2018! I’m super EXCITED for this year and ecstatic about the next 365 days!

For the past several years, it’s been my tradition to hike to Inspiration Point to start off the year with some great exercise and to write out my goals & intentions at the top of this mountain. The view is always breathtaking and the effort to get there is rewarding. It’s not the highest peak in the neighborhood, but it’s no easy breeze either with an elevation gain of about 2,700 feet.

I love that on a clear day you can see Catalina Island and most days you’re looking down at the local clouds. When I arrived, there were 2 other people already there scrolling through their phones, possibly doing the same thing I was there for? It was super quiet and felt sort of like church or a library. I was almost afraid to talk because I didn’t want to disturb the peaceful silence.

I made several goals, many of which had a bite-sized component to them. In 2017, I think I barely squeezed in 4-6 books all year long. In 2018, I want to read 4-6 books a month. This seemed nearly impossible at first glance because I’ll probably be more busy this year than last year. After doing the math though, if I set aside an hour a day to read, I think I can easily get through a book a week.

I love my fitbit because it gives me a fair assessment of how much I’m moving on a daily basis. My monthly goal is 400,000 steps a month with a high end goal of 500,000 steps for the month. Ideally, I would love to hit 100,000 steps a week which is always a great accomplishment. This past week I worked so much, I hit less than 2,000 steps a day several days in a row. (That was slightly embarrassing). I understand it’s more about my daily activity than cramming it all in on the weekends, so I’m setting a 10,000 step goal minimum for each day, but I would LOVE to hit 20,000 steps per day. If I can hit the higher daily goal, I can easily hit my big monthly goal. It’s all about the bite sized activity.

With dancing at last night’s NYE party combined with the Inspiration Point Hike today, I jump started my year, month and week with a 41,000+ step day. I’m excited to get this year’s fitness started.

I love numbers and one of my favorite numbers is the number 8. I love it because it looks like an infinity sign. I am planning to launch 3 new businesses this year and with any new business, it’s probably similar to another business in the neighborhood.

I have really been focusing on the  idea of abundance. There’s more than enough for everyone and if I offer excellent service and quality, then I know there’s a chance to succeed. My focus is to provide the best value possible for my clients. If they win, then I win too.

I love that there’s an “8” in this year. It’s yet another sign to me of a prosperous year full of infinite abundance!

Cheers to you!

TofuAlan

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Sayonara 2017

An amazing year of up’s and down’s and now we find ourselves at the final day of the calender year of 2017.

I have an intentions list I read weekly (daily if I’m on point) and I added on some extra goals at the beginning of December.

One of my many goals for 2018 is to learn how to ride a unicycle and to juggle. It’s a little out of my comfort zone, but a dream talent since I was an kid.

Tonight, I was invited to a friend’s NYE party near my home. Although the past 2 years I celebrated new years eve by going to bed before 10 pm, this year I felt compelled to go out in public instead of hiding in my cave.

While chatting with Jon, a new friend at this new years party I attended, I find out what he does for a living and it blows my mind.

He’s part of a physical comedy duo with a performance featuring juggling and unicycle tricks. What are the odds? He’s totally legit too. He’ll be performing at a Lakers halftime show in LA on January 21, 2018.

I tell him about my newest goal for 2018 and with a sly grin on his face, he offers to show me something in his trunk.  We walk to the parking lot and he opens the hatchback of his vehicle and laying there is his unicycle.

This thing is amazing, super tall with extra fancy gears. It’s the most sophisticated unicycle I’ve seen in person. I ask if I can take a picture, and he poses with the unicycle.

As we walk back to the party, Jon asks me what my favorite colors are and if I have a nickname. He offers to send me a free sample of personalized starter juggling balls in my favorite color. I find out Jon also has an online business and sells juggling gear.

Wow! Thank you, 2017 for helping me get started on another goal on my list. ?

Yet another example of writing it down so it can become a reality.

Cheers to 2017 and welcome 2018!

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Bitcoin Mania and Hashrate Opportunities within the BlockChain

I have watched bitcoin rise in value from a few pennies per bitcoin coin (in 2009) to now over $16,000 per bitcoin (as of today, December 26, 2017 the value was $16,198 per bitcoin). It’s amazing to see such an idea gain traction and take hold in the world in just a few short years.

Is this our century’s gold rush? Another “dot com” chance we may have missed a decade ago?

I was watching a show on Netflix and I learned that one of the characters in the series made his family fortune during the gold rush, not by finding gold, but by selling supplies to the miners who were searching for gold. The idea struck a chord with me. Supply the miners with what they need as they pursue their fortune, and your fortune will be made as well.

Over the holidays, I noticed the buzzword of the season was bitcoin. When I asked people what they knew about bitcoin, the answer I heard most often was “I don’t know much, but I wish I got onboard earlier.” It seems like so many people want to be involved with the cryptocurrency market, but many feel like they have missed the bandwagon.

I think that the bitcoin value may be a bit inflated, but because of the nature of bitcoin and its ease of use internationally, it will only grow in value as awareness grows in this country and within the different sectors of the world.

Do I think it’s a safe investment?  I’m not a professional investor, but I’ll tell you that I’m going to jump on the bandwagon this week. I want a piece of this currency because I think this will be a widespread, legitimate alternate currency within the next few years.

Even today as I went to lunch with a friend, we used venmo to split the check. It was an easy and simple “virtual” transaction which transferred funds between each other. As this type of transaction gains familiarity, bitcoin will make more and more sense within the worldwide market, since bitcoin can be used easily around the globe.

As I’ve been looking at the cryptocurrency market, it seems that the safest way for me to enter this market sector is to join the blockchain mania through mining. Through mining I can leverage the power of hashrate and earn bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies through a mining contract.

One of my favorite quotes from the 1989 movie, Field of Dreams is: “If you build it, he will come.” When I am focused on an idea or a goal, I notice that the answers to my questions seem to fall in place right in front of me. Earlier this week, I started writing down my longterm and shortterm goals. One of my long term goals is to get my pilot licence. Today, as I was chatting with my Lyft driver, it turns out he is a flight instructor at my local airport. Was that coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, I welcome the information.

Another goal was to enter the cryptocurrency market before the end of 2017.  As I was investigating several options this month, one of my business partners (who I “randomly” met in an elevator at the Building Department earlier this year) brought up cryptocurrency and I learned about a company which sells hashrate for cryptocurrency mining. This sounded like the perfect answer to my question. After hours and hours of research, I decided that this is the company I’m going to partner up with.

I joined a TEAM who are pooling their resources to sell hashrate for cryptocurrency miners. Sell to the miners what they need and we can profit as well. It seems like another answer has fallen into my lap.

If you’d like to learn more about mining cryptocurrency (like Bitcoin, Ethereum & Zcash), and what hashrate can be used for, feel free to reach out to me.

UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2019: When, OmniaTek and Neo Mine Tech. both closed their doors, I kept my eyes and ears open for a company which looked reputable and I could trust with my hard earned money.

I’ve done some mining with HoneyMiner and I am happy with their services. It might be more cost effective to just buy BTC from an exchange, instead of mining it, since the current price is so low (currently hovering at $8,000 as of September 2019).

I’m also aggressively looking into Cloud Token 2.0 as a potential company to utilize for arbitrage crypto trading. I downloaded a free wallet and I’m trading some BTC using JARVIS. If you’d like to test out their products with me, please join me for the ride.

Cheers!

TofuAlan

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Traffic + Poker = Taco Man?

I live in Los Angeles, so traffic is a normal way of life when traveling the freeways. This particular day was extremely hot and the normal traffic flow came to a complete stop. I’ll reshare the story of what can happen when we take regular ingredients in our lives and mix them up with a dash or adventurous fun. It’s a fun memory for me and a lesson in creating different results when approaching a situation with a different attitude.

2014-07-26 09.16.32

On Friday, July 26, 2014, I was headed to Orange County to teach dance classes at Atomic Ballroom in Irvine, CA. It just so happened that my usual route along the 5 Freeway from Pasadena to Irvine was destined to be a parking lot for over 3 hours from about 3pm to 6pm that afternoon.

Traffic was at a complete standstill due to a man standing on the ledge of the overpass half a mile ahead. After sitting on the freeway for over 20 minutes, I noticed a guy 3 lanes over fill up his water bottle from a water jug stored in the side of his construction vehicle. Armed with my extreme thirst, a red Solo cup and a box of Triscuits, I walked over to guy with the precious water jug and offered a trade of crackers for water. The man greeted me with a smile, some Triscuits were exchanged and as I weaved between vehicles on a path back to my car, I shared my crackers with my fellow drivers who were stuck on the freeway with me.

Soon, people were getting out of their cars and chatting with each other offering snacks, conversation and even lending mobile phone chargers to fellow drivers stuck in a strange situation on a Friday afternoon.

I had hosted a Fundraising Poker Tournament the week before for The Burrito Project and my poker chips were still in the trunk. I noticed a folding card table in the SUV next to me and proposed setting up a poker game in the middle of the freeway. Within minutes the poker table was being set up including a red table cloth.

2014-07-25 17.01.08Sarah Jung, of Los Feliz, posted a photo of the scene on Instagram. Her picture was displayed on the local Channel 7 news. Someone took a screenshot of the TV, posted a caption about tacos and within minutes a poker game among stranded drivers was being portrayed on the media as a #TacoMan setting up shop on the 5 Freeway.

As the afternoon hours were spent on the 5 Freeway this crew of new found friends shared laughs, stories and posed for pictures which were being snapped by fellow drivers with their mobile phones.

2014-07-25 17.10.01Two young ladies who joined in the fun were headed to San Diego to referee a soccer game the following day. After playing poker, a soccer ball magically appeared and this fun group of people had time to play pass between their stopped vehicles.

Soon after we started playing with the soccer ball, the CHP approached us and relayed the good news that all the drivers should return to their vehicles so we could safely turn our vehicles around and drive off the nearest exit which was behind where we were parked. Within 30 minutes the freeway was cleared of cars and these friendly drivers returned to our busy lives with a story to tell our friends.

When I was asked why I first decided to get out of my car, my first response was, “It was hot and I was really thirsty!” I have been told that I could have fun in a stuck elevator. Whether or not this is true, I know for a fact I can have fun on shutdown freeway.

2014-07-26 17.02.37

Most of this post was reproduced and modified with permission from this original interview: http://theburritoproject.org/fundraising/poker-tournament/freeway-poker-or-taco-entrepreneur

News Article: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-stuck-on-5-freeway-some-played-texas-hold-em-20140725-htmlstory.html