Where are you if you don't mind me asking?

I grew up in New Hampshire, but now I live in southeast Alaska.

I found a third-grade autobiography once: "When I grow up I'm going to live in Arizona, California, or Alaska." I had no idea how far back I had the desire to move west.

Interesting. I always pictured Alaska as a beautiful but lonely place.

There are definitely some isolated places in Alaska, but how lonely a place feels depends on a number of things. My town is big enough that I don't feel alone at all here.

I live in Sitka. We have ~9000 people here, but you can only get here by boat or plane. It's really nice to be off the road system. If you need to get out, you can take a plane and be in Juneau in an hour or two, in Anchorage in a few hours, and you can get to Seattle in about 4 hours.

That said, you can climb to the top of a mountain, drop down the other side a little bit, and see no sign of humans for hundreds of miles. That's a pretty nice balance. :)

But how much of that GDP is going to the workers who're putting in the long hours?

Great time to be an employer in the US.

This is really cool. Anyone know of any good tutorials for learning how to make sounds like this?

1. Stop waiting to be invited to the party. Be the one who creates it (eg. invite people out to lunch and other activities). 2. Assume and act like everyone you meet is already your friend.

Friendship (and success with women for that matter) is largely a self-fulfilling prophecy.

3. Go out, talk to people, and force yourself out of your comfort zone

No amount of reading and theorizing will ever substitute for real-world experience.

You've got to learn how to create your own reality and not depend on others giving you permission. Surround yourself with other confident people and pay attention to what makes them different (hint: it's not their accent or physical appearance).