the mario blog

Shameless University of Montana propaganda. Passed along by Adam Steffen.

Let’s do this.

This is pretty funny. My mother sent me an email about her having to watch this terrible movie with my dad. I asked her why, and this is what she wrote back.

der film ist schrecklich außerdem ist es eine raubkopie und wir müssen dann sowieso in das gefängnis. aber papa hat außerdem noch stubenarrest, wenn du wüßtes was der sich mit seinen trinkerfreunden geleistet hat
, er ist irgendwann samstag morgen nach hause gekommen und hat mir zur wiedergutmachung eine dose fisch geschenkt. das war der trostpreis, weil er der schlechteste spieler des abends oder besser der nacht war. jetzt darf er die nächsten wochen nicht mehr gehen vor allem nicht kurz bevor du kommst. sonst können wir dich noch nicht mal vom flughafen abholen. ich muß papa umbedingt wieder zum marathon anmelden, damit mal alees wieder normal läuft oder besser noch zum ultramarathon

in liebe mama

Now, let me translate.

The movie is terrible, plus it’s a stolen copy. So we’ll probably have to go to prison for it. But that doesn’t matter much to your father since he’s grounded anyways. You should have seen what he did last Friday with his card playing drinking buddies.

He came back home Saturday morning (let it be said that my father starts playing cards Friday at 5pm) and woke me up with can of fish. Apparently that was the prize he got for being the worst player of the evening – and morning. Now he’s not allowed to go play cards anymore for the next weeks. Especially not before you arrive. Otherwise he won’t be able to pick you up from the airport. I really need to register your dad for another marathon, better yet an ultramarathon (it should be noted that my mother has a history of registering my father for long-distance races to stimulate his weight loss).

Love,

Mom

Otto really seems to be having a hard time with me being out of town.

Yesterday I ran the Seattle half marathon with my good friend Jerry. It was a lot of fun, and we came within 5 minutes of Jerry’s goal of running it in 2 hours. It might have been my un-aerodynamic beard or Jerry’s dislike of hills that kept us from achieving that mark.

I am not exactly sure why I am writing this. You probably don’t care. Then again, you probably also don’t care about why I am training for an Ironman, why I thought I could live without a cell phone or what I think about those weird five finger shoes. Most of my entries are about me (it is called the mario blog after all), so I thought it would be a nice change to write about others for once.

If you’re ever in Germany, maybe this can serve as some sort of guide.  Here are the five things that I miss the most about Germany.  Because yes, that’s where I was born and raised.

My parents

Yes, I could have written my family. I have two beautiful sisters, two funny looking cousins and amazing grandparents, aunts and uncles. All of who I miss.  But, really,  I grew up with just two people. My mum, and my dad. They’re the best parents in the world, have done so much for me and while I would never admit; I wish I could see them more often.  If you ever met my parents you’d know that they’re the perfect parents. I’ve gone through my entire life, knowing I had the coolest parents in the whole wide world.
Anyways, my mum and dad are the best. I owe everything to them. I miss them the most. Most definitely.

My friends

This one is expected. What else am I supposed to write here? My favorite soccer team? That’s next. Considering I’ve been away from home for the past 12 years and I am the worst at staying in contact with people; it’s amazing that I have any friends at all. I do. Not many. But the ones I do have, I will have for life. And they will forever remind me of the best childhood one could imagine having.  Thank you Alex, Sebastian, Dominik and Christian.

Schalke

If you’ve never been to a professional soccer game in Europe, then you haven’t lived. True, I enjoy watching baseball, basketball and football. But compared to a Schalke game, those sports are like watching paint dry. If you’re ever in Germany, let me know and I’ll try to hook you up with some Schalke tickets. If you’re traveling solo, bring my mum. Then come back and tell me that that wasn’t the best sporting experience you ever had.

Plettenberg

I grew up in a small town of about 30,000 people. It’s not that in Plettenberg everybody knows everybody. But every weekend there is some sort of community event (mostly built around some sort of alcoholic beverage) where hundreds of people gather and celebrate.  Whether it’s watching a Germany game on big screen TV,  drinking after Sunday morning church or celebrating one of the dozens cultural and religious holidays; there’s always something going. I miss that in the US. True, there are huge communities here. But they normally don’t evolve around your neighbors but rather things that people are passionate about – such as religion, sports or XBox. Every time I go back to Plettenberg, I go to some town’s festival and every time, I run into 200-300 people who I grew up around. That is so great, and something I miss here in the US.

Döner kebabs

Yes, I am listing my all time favorite food in this list. And it’s not even German. But it was invented by some Turkish gentleman in Berlin. The Döner Kebab. Lamb, salad, other healthy stuff plus this killer sauce that gives you the worst breath ever – all served in some delicious toasted piece of round bread. While my consumption of Döner Kebabs is definitely not healthy, there fundamentally isn’t anything terribly unhealthy in this most wonderful creation of Allah’s.

There we go, five things I miss about Germany. Have you been to Germany? Anything you miss?

I met a good friend of mine for a drink last night at Shutters on the Beach. I had a pretty good idea of where the place was, but thought it might be smart to confirm with Google Maps. See below. Those directions didn’t lead me anywhere, especially not the beach. This is why I don’t follow directions.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. This is getting out of hand. Or maybe we just need to work on his posture.

It’s best to say nothing at all.

I learned about that saying when I first moved to America. Actually, my college sweetheart reminded me of that line on a daily basis. Credit to her, she lived and breathed it.

It took me a while to figure that one out, which in combination with the fact that my expected growth spurt at the age of 21 didn’t quite happen, is probably why we didn’t work out.

But really, it’s a cultural thing.

Let me tell you, that saying or behavior would not catch on in Europe. First of all, most Europeans wouldn’t look at one long enough – much less say something nice.

It took me years to get comfortable with the notion that it’s ok to just ask random people how they’re doing. It took me even longer to figure out that they aren’t looking for an answer and any such thing lead to nothing but confusion and awkwardness.

But being a transplant to this great country, one has to adjust a bit.  And after lengthy phone conversation a couple of nights ago, I came to articulate my position on that line.

Here’s my take…

If you don’t have anything nice to say, then it’s best to say nothing at all.

Other than if it’s really funny.

Just don’t be an asshole. And if you are, apologize sincerely, quickly.

It’s really hard to make jokes about people by just saying nice things. As a matter of fact, I would have no clue how to even begin doing that.

Heck, I can’t even make fun of myself that way.

I know I’ve probably offended a lot of people in my lifetime, but in the grand scheme of things, most have forgiven me. Some even thought I was funny.  Yes, I know, that soccer coach up in Oregon probably didn’t. Nor did Bill Cosby’s manager…big deal.

In the grand scheme of things, life is too short to be mean. Or to just say nice things. So joke freely and if you hurt someone’s feelings, be sincere in your apology.

If I hurt your feelings, I am sorry.

It’s a cultural thing.

I am currently working on an interactive course to help recent college graduates get their careers kicked off. In the process of building this course, I have had the opportunity to speak with many of my peers who’re successful executives. One of the topics that has come up over and over again is that many mid-level execs are missing a strong sense of determination with some of their junior colleagues. That has gotten me thinking, about myself and about what I look for in a really solid co-worker.

And honestly, it is not determination. I think being a determined individual obviously beats being a lazy individual. However, I care much more about people having a passion for what they do.  Determination is a state of mind that either goes up or down, while to me passion is something that evolves, adopts, grows but, of course,  could also lessen.

Looking at a few personal examples, this became painfully clear to me.

Work.

The reason I am successful in my career is because I love marketing – in particular anything that has to do with selling stuff on the Internet. Now I haven’t always had the chance to absolutely love what I do. A while back I was working in business development for a DRTV agency. While I was pretty good at my job (after all I am determined, and was passionate about the people I worked for), it didn’t come easy to me. The founders of the company on the other hand were madly passionate about DRTV which is why they are so successful in that industry.

Relationships.

Anytime I have to push myself to be a good boyfriend, my relationships are beginning to crumble. But if I am really passionate about the other person, then having a great relationship comes easy. While any relationship requires hard work, I am a firm believer that love can’t be forced. You either have the passion, or you’re growing apart.

Sports.

Everybody who knows me knows that I want to be good at yoga. I am very determined to do yoga. It’s good for you. Unfortunately, I have zero passion for doing odd poses in a room filled with funny dressed people for excruciatingly long periods of time . To me yoga is about as exciting as it is to watch Otto clean himself. Hence, I do yoga maybe three or four times per year. Triathlons on the other hand are a different story. I am passionate about those. Oddly enough, triathletes dress even funnier than the yoga folks. At this point, the only way I will probably be able to succeed at doing yoga is by convincing myself that such will help my triathlon performance.

Now, I need to be careful about that tactic as years ago I tried to combine my relationship (passion) with the sport of yoga. In the course I was asked to spot my girlfriend while she attempted some sort of elbow handstand.  Unfortunately, she kicked me in the nose, I fell over, everybody laughed and I didn’t go back to yoga for at least another year.

Anyways, I think it’s a good idea to ask yourself if you’re simply determined to do something or if you’re doing because you’re passionate about it.  Sure, both passion and determination can lead to success. But it seems much easier and sustainable to be led by passion.

Summer is coming to an end here in Los Angeles, which means we are transitioning from warm summer days to warm fall days. Seasons are really something special here in LA, let me tell you.

I have one more triathlon race this weekend. Then I am going to get as out of shape as possible before Ironman training begins in January.  Since I will have all this ridiculous extra time, I am thinking about taking a comedy writing course somewhere in Hollywood. That, and do laundry. Probably.

I am going to take a few days off in early October to head up to Montana for board meetings, homecoming and a brand new presentation that I have cooked up.  It’s called AudienceShift and is all about why the future of marketing is about building an audience. Another trend that I am only a few months behind on. Looks like I will be flying into Spokane and then road tripping it from there with my good friend Adam. So there is a pretty good chance that I won’t even make it there.

The weekend thereafter, my good friend Chris is getting married up in San Francisco. Chris and I have an interesting history as we actually met because I was called in to clean up his vomit (I was a custodian, he was a drunk) when we were Freshman in college.  We officially met a couple of days later, became friends and he then went on to become wildly successful helping Google conquer the world.  I have a knack for meeting people in the oddest situations. If I ever get married, I will have met half of my groomsmen in a Sauna somewhere. Regardless, Chris is now getting married to the fabulous Natasha and I left the custodial arts to work in Advertising. Here is a link to his wedding website, in case you didn’t get invited and want to see who did.

Thanksgiving will be spent in Seattle. Eating Jerry’s food, drinking his wine, using his toothbrush and then running his first half marathon with him. He’s very fortunate to have me as a friend.

Last but not least, I think I am going to spend Christmas in Europe. It’s time to check in with my little sisters and break up whatever dating life has developed in my year-long absence. My mother also insists on spending a few days with her and my dad somewhere in the middle of nowhere,  forcing me to do terrible things like play board games, go on walks and worst of all – listen.