Awesome Find...

...this guy, Jaime Mantzel! He lives on his own land in the woods, built his own sawmill rather than buy wood and is currently building a giant robot. Also, he has world views that mirror my own nearly identically, and thinks the same thing I do: if you need something done, do it yourself. If you don't know how, learn about it--and in so doing it will lead to more things and you'll always keep learning. My dad used to tell us, 'If you don't know how to do something, someone, somewhere has written a book on it.' Of course, this was in the days before the Internet, but it's something I still tell my 11 year old daughter. Also the way he just kinda digs around his house/shop and finds stuff to reuse/repurpose is exactly what I do, hah!

I really recommend that you sit down and watch a few of his videos, you'll be hooked. If the guy ran for President tomorrow I'd vote for him. His energy is infectious. I wish he'd travel around to middle schools and give this exact same talk, he'd absolutey electrify those kids to get off their asses and attack the world's problems. He reminds me of one of my older sisters and her husband. When we were kids, they would swoop down and take us out for the day, or even just a few hours. Where to? Didn't matter, where EVER you went with them you'd have an awesome adventure, a no holds barred, high-energy time that would stimulate your brain and creativeness, and was a blast to boot. We thought they were amazing and in addition to our parents, were a huge influence on forming a 'get it done and HAVE FUN!' mindset for us. They lived in Idaho out in the woods in a house they had just gone and built themselves...did they know how? No. Did that matter? No. They got it done. They were everyone's favorite people no matter where they went.

Jaime reminds me a lot of them. It's nice to see someone younger than me that has a true 'Get it done' attitude without that overreaching fear of defeat, laziness, apathy, ennui and timidity that is SO prevelant these days.

Damn...! Awesome, there's hope for the world yet.