Travel & Timothy Ferriss

Sorry for the brief hiatus there, I just recently returned back to the States after a brief vacation through Turkey with my wife. We were in Turkey for Turkey Day. (Yes, a cheesy pun, but I still think it's funny.)

This wasn't the first time my wife and I had been to Turkey, but it was the first time in many years, and even though I had been there before, I always find new and exciting things to do wherever I go. I love traveling and exploring.

One of my favorite ways to explore the area that I am visiting in through hiking, or even just simply walking around and getting lost. Traveling, however, takes a large toll on the body. I know for myself that after long plane rides where all you can do is sit and wait, I feel tired and knotted up, which makes it difficult to enjoy the vacation until after a day or two of "acclimatising" and then when you finally are ready to go explore and wander around or hike, all of that walking can be hard on your knees. Recently, thanks to my wife and daughter, I have been doing a small yoga practise each day to help strengthen my knees so that I can walk and explore even more, and to help stretch and relax me before and after long and stressful plane rides. Yoga is something that members of my family have been doing for years, but I've only recently gotten into it, and I am so glad I did. In fact, I wish I had earlier! It made me realize that it's never too late to try new things, and that you shouldn't be afraid to either, because usually the experience whether good or bad will make for a great story, it will help to better you life or worldview in some way.

Which leads me to Timothy Ferriss. When I I was traveling back from Turkey, I was reading one of the magazines that you find in the fold of the seat in front of you on the plane and found an article about a man and his "obsessions". "Newsweek calls Tim “the world’s best guinea pig,” which he takes as a compliment. Other odd habits: Japanophile, compulsive tea drinker, tango world record holder, and language learning fanatic." I was instantly hooked, he seemed like somebody that I could relate to. Somebody who loved traveling to new places and tryin new things. I instantly wanted to know more about him.

Now a contributer for Quarterly Co, "Timothy Ferriss is feverishly working on a first mailing for Quarterly, which will be posted here—along with future mailings—once it’s been shipped. Subscribe now to be part of Timothy’s mailings from the very beginning."

In his own words: The theme of my Quarterly mailings is obsession—the ideas and objects I just can’t get out of my head. I get obsessed with all kinds of things. Sometimes I’m hooked on a great health product or travel gadget. Other times I’m into a new productivity booster. And a great book can always grab my attention.
I never know what I’ll get obsessed with next, and that surprise factor is what makes obsessions great. Sign up for my mailings to share in my world and get surprised along with me.

I cannot wait to see what he comes out with, so I can broaden my scope even further! 

Contributor - Maud Newton

A new day, a new contributor! Maud Newton is a writer, reviewer, critic, and lover of language. In many ways she reminds me of my family, all of us loving and devouring books (though very different kinds/genres) and losing ourselves in a different world then the one we are constantly standing in.

In Maud's own words:

"As a child I lived in novels as much as I did in the world, stumbling around hunched and dreamy, tearing through my alloted seven library books and then begging my mother to take me to check out more. Nowadays the challenge isn’t getting my hands on books, it’s finding stories that excite me, as a reader, writer, and critic.

My passion for unusual, well-told stories sends me foraging not just through bookstores—though I do spend a ridiculous amount of time circling the staff recommendations tables at McNally Jackson—but all kinds of media: TV, movies, magazines, blogs, apps, whatever. I still love books best of all, but it took me a while to know that for sure after devouring The Wire.

My Quarterly objects will be books and other great stories that I hope will make you cancel plans or miss your stop or ignore the doorbell. Sometimes they’ll be juicy and suspenseful; other times they’ll be weirder, less about sinking into a story than thinking about the way we tell them. Occasionally they’ll be both, so you can experience them, and ponder them, and then experience them again."

Random side note, don't you just love her name? (That's rhetorical, of course you do!). 

If you are a book worm or just love to learn and discover new things that you might never have heard of, then a subscription to Maud Newton would be like receiving a present each "quarter". Then, when your friends or family are looking for a good new book they've never read to read on a flight home for the holidays or vacation, or just to lose themselves in during the winter months, you can stand up and say that you have a great suggestion. You can set yourself as the knowledgable "what to read" trend setter. And believe me, as someone who travels a lot, we all need someone like that in our lives that helps us to discover new things so we don't get  incredibly bored in the monotonous security lines, flight delays, or just lazy sunday mornings of our lives. 

Contributors - Veronica Belmont

The best part about Quarterly Co. is learning about our contributors. At first glance, you might not recognize their names but just click on their profiles and read their “About” sections and you will see just how amazing these people are. 

At Quarterly Co. you don’t just read about people you admire; you are actually able to subscribe to a package of goodies shipped to you every 3 months that is designed by your Contributor and that is intended to reflect what's on their mind and is important and meaningful. At Quarterly Co. we are interested in finding the “underground” geniuses of each and every niché, that you and so many others are interested in. And the more you get to know about them the more extraordinary they become. Subscribing to these alternative masterminds opens you up to a whole new world of awesomeness!

For example: Veronica Belmont

Ever heard of her? Yes? No? Well, you have now. 

“Veronica is a technology and gaming-centric video host based out of San Francisco. Currently her projects include Tekzilla (a weekly tech help and how-to show on Revision3.com, and The Sword and Laser, a science fiction and fantasy video show, podcast and community, co-hosted with Tom Merritt. She has also written for Slate, DoubleX, MaximumPC, and PC Gamer, and advises for companies including About.me, Goodreads, and Trippy. Veronica was also the original host of Qore on the PlayStation Network.”

While Veronica is a tech geek, she has other interests and sides to her that most people don’t know about: food. And who among us can’t relate to a passion for food. 

“... while living in San Francisco, [Veronica] discovered a love for all the delicious and creative food options [they] have [t]here. From coffee to chocolates, [she] will be sharing some of [her] favorite local flavors of the Bay Area.”

As someone who is from the Bay Area, I can personally say that she is 100% spot on! While I’m traveling I often miss the smells and tastes of the Bay, and even though I’ve lived there for most of my life, there are always new and interesting things popping up all over the place that I’v never heard of. 

Enter Veronica.

Start-Ups and Quarterly Co.

Previously I have been affiliated with larger businesses that you may have heard of, such as Redbox and Netflix, but before those companies took off, they were simple start-up companies that most people didn't think would make it. Even my family thought they were crazy, but that's what I loved about them. At heart I have always been an entrepreneur and after many years of living in the corporate world, I have finally found my way back. 

For me, the beginning of a business is the best part. Building and designing a business model, hiring passionate and creative people, that is what where the magic happens. While the aftermath of all of that hard work and late nights and crazy ideas is also very rewarding in itself, it's the creation that has always been where my passion lies. 

For those of you who haven't yet heard of Quarterly Co. I am excited to introduce you and share with you my new venture, my new beginning! 

As one of our founders have said, "Quarterly is a new way to connect with the people you follow and find interesting. We spend so much of our lives connecting with people online that we forget the value of tangible interactions that happen in the real world. Quarterly wants to bridge that gap by allowing anyone to subscribe to influential contributors and receive physical items in the mail from them. It’s like a magazine, but instead of receiving words on a page, our subscribers receive actual items that tell a compelling story crafted by the contributor."

How does it work?

"As the name suggests, Quarterly is a quarterly subscription service; the person you are subscribed to sends you a new package every 3 months. You will be billed for your subscription every 3 months until you unsubscribe. When you first sign up, your account will be in “trial” mode until your contributor’s next shipping cycle.

Please note, each contributor has a different shipping date, and depending on when you sign up, you may not receive your first package for up to 3 months. Visit your contributor’s page (or your account page if you are already a subscriber) to see when you can expect your first package."

One of the many things that makes me so excited about Quarterly Co. is it's connection back to the physical world instead of the digital. Yes, we as a society are moving forward, we can now buy practically anything online, we can stream movies straight to our T.V's, you can download books to your tablet, and as amazing and exciting as that all is, don't you miss the days when you would get a letter in the mail from a friend, or when your parents would send you care packages when you were away at college? Or even when you were little and would get a birthday invitation in the mail? Each item was a new and exciting present, and that's what Quarterly Co. is. The way we like to think of it is PUBLISHING 2.0. Quarterly Co. is a company made up of people and stories and things, not just bits and bytes.