alternative title – tips on gaining the quarantine 15.

Prior to COVID-19 I started getting interested in pizza. Some would call it obsessive. Even though I don’t proclaim myself a great cook. I do enjoy learning how to make a few dishes that can truly impress people.

To paraphrase filmmaker Robert Rodriguez – not knowing how to cook is like not knowing how to fuck. You’re going to do it your whole life, you may as well know how.

My first few attempts turned out pretty meh. As with most recipes – I start with the easiest version and slowly work my way up to more authentic versions. In this case I was simply using store bought sauce + a generic pizza dough in cast iron skillet.

Pretty quickly after that – I started making my own dough. 55% Hydration + Used a Pizza Stone. Though at this point  I was still using store bought sauce.

This was at the start of the pandemic – when the only place I could find bread flour was Costco. Unfortunately they only sold 50lb bags. At this point I was committed.

A few more weeks in – and I started layering a simple San Marzano tomato sauce. In hindsight, I probably should have done this much sooner. At this point I was as close to a neopolitan pizza as I could get without a true pizza oven. I probably should have stopped then and let good enough be good enough.

But naturally – I caved and ended up getting a pizza oven. I ended up getting an Ooni Fyra, which I immediately sold and replaced with the propane fueled Ooni Koda. While it is romantic to think about cooking a fire in a wood burning oven, experts agree that 60 seconds isn’t enough time to get any flavor out of the wood. Plus the propane oven was just so much cleaner/less fuss than the wood pellets. Below is literally the first pizza I made, so pardon the burnt edges.

At this point I started getting ads for real wood fired pizza ovens. Zuck – you know me all too well.

Since then – I’ve spent the past few months making pizzas. I’ve played around with increasing hydration levels (I now stick to ~60 -65% for the most part).

I decided that post-pandemic, I’m going to start a pop-up pizza stand at a farmers market. I’m still working on the details – but Moonlit Pizza is in the works.

Here’s are some photos from a little shoot we did.

So there’s a little snapshot of what I have been up to the past year.

Final thoughts:

• Pizza is good.
• If you’re in town – give me a shout and we’ll fire up the pizza oven.
• If you’re having a little party and want to have a pop-up neopolitan pizza stand, I’d be happy to do it.
• If somehow my doctor is reading this post, I promise I’ll start eating better.
• Pizza is really really good.

First trip sailing on the coast.

Huge thanks to Chris R. for helping get the boat ready and sailing around with me. Here’s to hoping that we get to sailing the full Texas Coast soon.

Arriving at the beach.

Rigged and ready to launch.

fin.

The shirt I’m wearing right now is currently 9 years old. Damn, I have a nephew who’s younger than that. Does this mean I’m getting old?

It’s not just some shirt that I wear on occasion, it’s a shirt I wear weekly. It’s become a staple of my wardrobe and more importantly changed the way I think about clothing.

Yes I recognize this photo is not nearly as cool as I thought it was at the time.

Here’s a picture of me circa 2011 in the same shirt I still wear to this day. Not the same type of shirt or the same brand, but literally the same exact shirt I was wearing in 8th grade.

When I first went backpacking, I bought one of these merino wool base layers to wear. At some point, I bought another one when they were on sale. But for the most part, I didn’t care much about it. Over time, I would wear them camping, but that was about it.

For the most part, they sat in my box full of camping gear. Until one fateful day my freshman year of college. I had put off doing laundry. All I had left was the base layers. So I threw one on and repeated the next day. Over time, they ended up being a staple in my wardrobe. These days my wardrobe consists of a pair of chinos, a base layer, and some fun socks. While simplifying my wardrobe wasn’t a conscious decision, I’m glad I made it and encourage you to do the same. Here’s why.

I made the most childish resolution I could last year. I resolved not to read any books. Yep, you heard me right nada, nothing, zippo, zilch. No books.

Before you judge me, let me state that I love to read. I’ll read anything I can get my hands on. As a kid, I would read every Rebecca Caudill book (20+ books a year) every year on top of my regular reading. I would get in trouble for reading during class. After five years of taking band, I still can’t play the saxophone because read during practice (by hiding a book on the music stand). That has stuck with me in college. When I moved to Austin, all I brought with me were two suitcase s, a carryon, and a backpack. Even then I ended up bringing 25 books with me. The point is, I read a lot.

Last year I set out to change something. I wanted to create more than I consume. I know it sounds like something an angsty fifth-grader would say, but I was genuinely curious to see what would happen if I stopped reading. While there’s a large camp out there of successful individuals such as Ryan Holiday who swear by reading a lot, there’s a small but vocal minority of individuals who swear that you’re better off spending your time doing things. Why read about being a pro-cyclist when you can get on your bike and become a cyclist. That’s always been the voice nagging me at the back of my head.

I’m writing this article with the assumption that nobody will read it. In six months I’ll ask myself why I even joined gymnastics. I’m hoping this will help jog my memory then.

Let’s say you’re craving something different. You’re craving something out of the ordinary. Simply put, you want to go on an adventure.

You can buy a plane ticket to a fancy place. Let’s say Iceland*. You grab your passport, pack your bags, and you jet off. While you’re at it you rent a swanky RV.

You can drive around, eat at neat restaurants, see lots of sights, and take lots of photos.

But that’s not an adventure. That’s just travel.

To me, travel does not equal adventure.

Adventure is almost missing your flight, losing your phone, and getting stuck in the mud. Adventure is what happens when you go off the script.

Adventure is trying to cook soup while driving. Adventure is climbing behind waterfalls. Adventure is finding love in random places.

Here’s the secret, you can do all of these things without traveling far.

You can find just as much of an adventure biking through a part of town you’ve never been to or by getting lost in your local state park.

Here’s my challenge to you. Stop watching travel vlogs. Close your computer. Throw on your shoes and get out there. Because adventure awaits and it rewards the restless.

*I chose Iceland because this was a realization I had while traveling around Iceland in a swanky RV.

When tasked with writing a cover letter, most everyone goes to google and searches for a cover letter template. Trust me, I have been there. The thing is every cover letter template sucks. No matter how good the template, a copied template sucks. It’s like trying to make a movie by replicating Star Wars. The problem is that it lacks genuineness and narrative.

Right now, take 5 minutes and write a cover letter to your dream company. One caveat, don’t look up a single template or glance at an old cover letter you’ve written. Ready. Set. Go.

So what did you come up with? Odds are it’s pretty usable, let’s go ahead and make some improvements.

Acquire Your Target:

One of the quickest ways to set yourself apart from other candidates is showing that you’ve done your homework. It’s easy to write “Dear recruiter,” but it’s a lot more impressive to address it to a specific individual.

If you’ve networked with someone in person, that’s a start. If not, consider using LinkedIn and figure out who you are likely emailing.

Do Your Research:

Prove that you are not simply copy pasting the same cover letter to every job listing you see. Talk about something that you know the company does that interests you. It does not have to be hard. When I met a recruiter at Toyota, I talked about the new redesigned Camry, a freaking Camry (one of the most vanilla vehicles in the world of automobiles). While I might have lost a few jalopy points for knowing so much about the Camry, it showed the recruiter that I had been keeping up with the company.

Tell a Story (in tweet form):

Tell a short story about who you are and why you are applying. It does not need to be vivid with details, but a cute intro will do. If you don’t believe that you can tell a story in that span, remember Hemmingway wrote a story in 6 words (“For sale: baby shoes, never worn” – Ernest Hemingway).

Compare two options.

I would love to intern for Toyota this summer. I believe my experience in finance and design, along with my experience from being part of the business council qualify me for this internship. It would be a dream come true to work for Toyota.

This is a pretty typical introduction for an email. Following most advice, it does the job, it’s clear, concise, and has a definite ask for the company. But it fails to stand out from just about every other cover letter. Let’s try a more unique introduction.

Going to the dealership as a kid was like going to Disneyland. Growing up my friends were fascinated with sports cars, but I was intrigued by how cars were built and designed. Maybe it’s because my family always drove practical cars like Toyota’s. Now that I have some finance and design knowledge, I would love to help the team that makes these fascinating cars.

It will not win a Pulitzer, but at least it stands out from 80% of cover letters.

Offer Value:

We’ve already talked about this. But it’s important to re-iterate that your cover letter should focus on how you can offer value.

When I worked at Kammok and was going through the general email account, I would see dozens of emails that were all the same. They all started with introducing themselves and how they would love to work for the company or how it was their dream to work in the industry. Rarely did we see emails where someone included tangible reasons for how they would benefit the company.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s wonderful that you see a specific company as your gateway to fulfilling your dreams. But, it is not compelling for an employer to dwell on what they can do for you.

As a stranger, especially one trying to grow a business, employers care much more about how you can help grow their business than about how they can fulfill your dreams. If you can prove your value to someone else’s operation, you are already ahead of 80% of candidates. Here’s the thing, once you do land the opportunity, you will have plenty of chances to grow and learn. Again, it’s about framing the relationship.

Edit Away:

I have made the mistake of misspelling a company’s name in a cover letter and still managed to get the job, but for all intents and purposes your cover letter is a) a pitch on why you would add value to the company b)a signal of how vested in the company you are c) an indicator of the work that you do.

If you expect someone to take an hour to interview you, they expect that you take ten minutes to edit your letter. The simple reason you need to make sure your letter is meticulous is that everyone else’s will be meticulous. And if you do not put in effort into your cover letter, why would an employer expect you to do better work once they hire you.

Not to beat a dead horse, but edit your cover letters.

Last week a girl told me I was psychotic when I told her I hang my clothes with the hangers facing backward.

Two years ago I would have agreed that hanging your clothes backward just feels wrong, it’s like pouring your cereal into a bowl of milk.

Let’s step back. Like most everyone, I own a few too many clothes. Things that I loved when I bought them, but over time didn’t receive the love they deserve. In most given months, I wear the same 10 shirts. Yet, the majority of my closet is taken up by shirts that never see the light of day.

At the start of every year, I flip every single one of my hangers backward. Then, each time I then wear that article of clothing, I flip the hanger so it sits the right way. By November it’s evident what you wear and what you don’t.

To add another layer. Here’s the thing, everything that hasn’t been worn in the past year goes into a big garment bag/hamper. If I feel so inclined to wear it in the next six months and actually take it out of the bag, it reclaims a spot on my shelf. If it doesn’t I get rid of it in one way or another.

When I was moving to Dallas for a summer internship, it was easy to decide what I was taking with me. There were only a dozen or so shirts I actually loved wearing. The rest stayed at home.

If you feel like your possessions are bogging you down, start by clearing up your wardrobe. It doesn’t have to be as difficult as you think. You may get some odd looks when someone looks at your closet, but flipping your hangers is a start at simplifying your wardrobe.

They Don’t Have Their Act Together: 

You might be excited to start your internship, but odds are it’s just another day in the office for everyone you’re working with. You may have known your start date for months, but your manager probably just found out that you were joining their team yesterday. So don’t be surprised when you aren’t assigned a project on day one. It might take a week or two.

It might take a while for them to set you up with a laptop or company badge (I’ve heard stories of interns not getting a badge to go to the bathroom until 5 weeks in). Every internship I’ve been has had me sitting around the first week or two. Don’t take it personally. Just sit tight and use the time to network.

It’s Exhausting

In college you probably spend 60+ hours a week between class, homework, studying and extracurriculars. But you get plenty of naps and breaks in between.

The first week you start working a 9-5 job, where you stare at a screen all day, you’ll find yourself exhausted. Add in commuting and getting ready for work (you can’t show up in sweatpants anymore) and you’ll find that the first week is going to feel long.

I forget this every year when I start interning. After a few days, you’ll find ways of breaking up the monotony.

More importantly, remember not to make judgments about working there right off the bat. Every job is going to feel slow at first, but remember it’s your responsibility to keep yourself energized.

You Have a Golden Telephone

You can talk to anyone.

No, I’m not trying to motivate you like your mom did in first grade. But here’s the secret. If you want to talk to your manager, they’ll make time. Want to talk to your manager’s manager, just send an email. Want to talk to the VP, just ask. Even if his or her calendar is chock full, they’ll find the time. After all, they only have 10 weeks to sell you on the dream of working there.

I’ve been able to talk to CEO’s and partners of companies I’ve worked at simply by asking. Once you’re full time you might not get that access, but as an intern, nobody is off limits.

Those connections don’t die once you join the firm. Take the time now to build those relationships, because those open doors slowly close off once you’re a full-time employee.