After about 4 months of being unsure about where we can park our house, we have finally moved for the last time... at least for a couple of years! It wasn't easy. We really had to make things happen to get settled in our new place before the end of the year. There's still a lot of work to do on the place, but by the spring it will be looking great and we are in a prime location for our summer activities with Broadway Under the Stars. My commute has grown to about 40 minutes, but it is a gorgeous, scenic drive through Sonoma wine country, which I don't mind at all. It's just the right distance to offer a decompression time after my work day without adding stress to it. Things are looking up for 2014!
   Another bonus of being in our new place is that we have a mailbox that we can receive packages in right on our doorstep. This may seem silly, but after 8 months of going to a PO Box to look for my packages, I can't wait to see little brown boxes in my mailbox and on my porch... I HAVE A PORCH!!! One of the first things I will receive are the razors pictured above from Dollar Shave Club. I loved the commercial that they put out a while ago for their off beat sense of humor combined with a really good idea and REAL SAVINGS. I went to the store during tech week of my last show to buy a new leading brand razor cartridge for the 3 week run and couldn't believe the cost. I ended up paying over $10 for a single cartridge (since I was feeling the lack of appreciation for good art in my wallet). I can't wait to get 4 good razor cartridges in the mail every month for less than $10! My wife and I use the same razors, so it's a good deal for the both of us. It's a great gift idea for the shaving enthusiast in your life. No more running out of razors or using them until the comfort strip is completely gone and the razor feels like a cheap disposable that rips my skin with every stroke!
    I'm also really excited to be in the heart of the Sonoma Valley so that I can do more wine tasting. As I drive by local wineries that refer business to us at Kaz all the time, I will have the opportunity to check them out and see which ones I would really like to recommend. Usually I stick with recommending the little vintners, but I should give some of the mondo vinos a shot, too. Regardless of whether or not they end up being favorites of mine, it will be fun investigating them! Leesa and I are headed to a mixer at what is known as the castle of the Sonoma Valley on Wednesday. She has been talking about going there since we first drove by and she remarks about it almost every time as I turn up my nose. I decided in the spirit of the season and since they are going to be all decorated, this would be a great time to check them out. Maybe we'll even get some good pics of us for the annual holiday facebook posts!

A couple of years ago, I had heard of Bitcoins and had the idea to get a couple for my son for the annual festival of gift giving that comes in the heart of the winter. I was over ruled. Back then, one Bitcoin was valued at about $20 and I would have only been able to buy him a couple, if I wanted to give him something else, too. My wife thought that we should give him something that would be more tangible, instead of something that was basically an economics lesson.
Cut to today, those same Bitcoins would be valued at over $700 a piece. I've always had a knack for spotting trends and speculating about things that would become more popular. I've never had the resources to actually invest in things like this, but if someone were to follow my advice, they might be able to profit from it. Unfortunately, in our capitalist society, the people with the money don't tend to listen to those without it.
I've been trying to get Kaz to start accepting Bitcoins at the tasting room for a few months now. When I first suggested it, Bitcoins were valued at between $150 and $200. If we had been accepting them and keeping them, we could have tripled our money. I did a little research and found out a simple way to accept Bitcoin without taking on the risk of holding on to them for their speculative value, too!
I love to watch Star Trek, and in that society, people spend their "Credits" the same way that Bitcoins work. They predicted the tablet PC, video phones and the communication devices which are ubiquitous today, so why not  this too? Bitcoin (or something very similar) is the future of currency. Not tied to the whimsy of petty politicians or dictators in any country, but an open source currency that is protected by the people who use it. Anyone can look at the code to find any problems or make any improvements, so it's a lot safer than the mysterious way in which The Fed works to control the US economy.
If you have the means, I highly recommend that you put a little money in Bitcoins. Perhaps you'll be able to buy some wine from Kaz with them in a little while. The Petit Verdot and Lenoir that were just released are well worth the current market price of .05836 BTC!

I work for this crazy wine maker who is letting me and my family live at the winery through crush season. He's been telling me to make a website on weebly for months and I finally listened to him. I figure he's built quite a beautiful life for himself and maybe he knows a thing or two!
In business school they taught us about looking for mentors and being able to take their advice. I feel pretty lucky to have a mentor like Kaz.
On a side note, we just sold the last bottle of the 2010 Mainliner (Lenoir is the varietal) yesterday. It is one of the most interesting wines I've ever tasted, and as my wife would say, it is "yummy." I can't wait until we bottle another run of it. We have about 4 cases of the 2011 Bullseye (Petit Sirah varietal) left, which is possibly my favorite wine EVER! It's always a little sad to see them go, but I know there are good things on the horizon.