I have two gears. Fast, and stop. It’s a roller coaster ride. 90% of the time I’m moving at super speed, cruising up and down hills at 110 mph.

Then the other 10% of the time I’m just slowing down for the rise up the next hill.

That’s where I’m at today (lately). I don’t want to do anything work related. I don’t feel like building a single website. I don’t feel like checking my affiliate stats. I don’t feel like blogging. Nada.

I’ve gone fishing.

(Me, my boy, and my daughter)

This happens to me once every few months. I get worn down by moving so quickly that I just need a break. I need to simply walk away and stop messing with this computer and catch my breath. Sometimes it’s just a day, and sometimes it’s longer. Today was my first day in that cycle.

Today I took my two kids fishing for the first time in their lives. Our first cast… my 2-year-old caught his first fish. I’m not sure I could be happier at that moment. Mission accomplished. There is more to life than this computer.

Then I mowed the lawn, brought out the grill, swept and hosed down the back patio. Now I’m having a few beers on a Saturday evening and I felt the need to get this post out.

Perhaps it’s my dad still in the ICU and my emotional ride dealing with that the past two weeks. Perhaps I’m simply growing older and realizing even more that success means more about happiness and family and health and friends, to me at least. Or… perhaps it’s the beers. :)

I’ll leave you with this quote from an Indigo Girls song that is on my mind lately.

“Some look to the kingdom of heaven, and some bet the stars and roll lucky seven…
I don’t know what to believe, I just show up and breathe, anymore.”

Put down the keyboard and mouse. Life is happening away from the monitor. Go fishing.

Yet another reason why Jason Calacanis is successful. He knows how to get attention and brand himself, just like Mark Cuban.

The word is on the street that he’s going to try and take on Google and build a search engine.

So what’s the idea? It’s a cross between Wikipedia and Google. Calacanis’ new site will create more digestible search results for popular queries such as the names of Hollywood stars, and tech products. The pages will be seeded, initially, with content gathered automatically from the web and other sources. But they will be open to contributions by readers. Sounds like Wikipedia? Yes: except Calacanis will employ paid editors to oversee the pages.

C’mon, we all know nobody could pull this off. You’re not going to beat Google? So what is he really up to?

What Jason is doing is classic branding association. You associate yourself with the types of business/people/projects that you want to attract. The laws of attraction anyone? Anyone realize he works for a venture firm?

I gotta give Jason credit, again, he’s a big name, and it was going to be hard to get to the next level. This is a step in the right direction.

What about you? What’s your branding goals? Do you associate yourself with brands that help your cause? It can work.

More on this story at Techmeme.