shellen dot com

Back in the saddle

Wed, 15 May 2019 23:48:14 -0700

In The Long Middle Part, I shared that I was in a world of hurt due to chronic pain. By the end of October, I wrote that I was in less pain after a few successful treatments. Today, I’m happy to say that I am almost completely pain-free. I’m looking forward to working again and getting back on track.

Friends ask me if I ever figured out what was wrong and the truth is I might never know exactly. What feels true is something along these lines: my body responded to a torn shoulder tendon by sending signals to some of the nerves in my head, neck, and shoulder and those nerves stayed in an “on” position. Apparently, that is common with nerves. The rest of my body was overwhelmed with the inflammatory response to the pain creating havoc for my entire body. It caused whole body inflammation, sensitivity in my extremities, interrupted sleep, a lowered immune system, fatigue, and chronic pain.

In short: it sucked. Lying on the floor wondering if doctor’s had missed a rare disease or if I would ever feel “normal” again. Would I ever work again? The acupuncture, physical therapy, recovery from the outpatient treatments. The excruciating, life-and-mind altering pain. There’s going to be a part of me that will twitch when I remember the pain forever.

It’s almost all gone now. I can live with what’s been left behind. It feels like a roommate moving out slowly. They still get some mail here and they’ll pick up the futon frame one of these weekends but they’re living somewhere else and it’s almost not my problem anymore. I’m managing the residual pain by watching what I eat, drink and getting plenty of exercise. I’ve even taken up yoga. Namaste.

I’m so thankful to have the support of my partner, Allison and our kids, who looked after me every day. For those of you who took me out to lunch, coffee, a ball game, or otherwise checked on me or video chatted just to keep me in the loop on your lives while I was struggling to regain mine, thank you. Sometimes the kindest thing you can do for someone in pain is just be there and not talk about the pain for a while. To those of you with babies on Instagram Stories, thank you for sharing their sweet little moments. Sometimes hope comes in tiny bundles.

I’ve had a number of doctor’s appointments recently that have resolved with “Well, I guess just keep doing what you’re doing and call us if you need us.” I’m elated, optimistic and frankly afraid of taunting fate. I’ve procrastinated writing this post on the off chance it’s all too good to be true but, I’m really getting better. Time to move on.

I’ve made up for lost time over the past six months. In December, I challenged myself to go skiing with my family. It hurt like hell but the joy of being out in the freezing cold doing anything sporting at all had me on top of the world.


RIP Winter Beard - Nov 2018 - Jan 2019	Solo ride to the top of a local hill

One of the more challenging symptoms was the inability to sit for nearly any period of time. Friends and family know that I’ve been reluctantly traveling with a floppy Purple seat cushion for almost two years. I’m glad to say that’s no longer needed. Over the past two months, I’ve been able to ride a bike, take a road trip through the Pacific Northwest to scope out colleges for our eldest son and even sit through all three hours of Avengers Endgame with our youngest.

When I was lying on my back wondering what life is all about, I had a lot of time to think about work and what I want to do next. I’m fortunate I’ve been able to spend my career building apps that help people make sense of the world around them. I really do love digging into challenging problems and I look forward to doing that again soon.

Since I’ve been getting comfortable with being uncomfortable I’ll share that I don’t know exactly what comes next. I’m trying to stay open and approach work with a spirit of play that I haven’t had in a while. While in recovery, I had a closed sign on my inbox since early-2017, but now it’s time for the grand re-opening. I want to hear how I can help your early-stage company, whether you need an advisor, board member, or something else. [email protected]?subject=I read your post, we should talk!">Please get in touch.

It’s good to be back in the land of the upright. I’ve missed you all.

Inside.com Interview about Brizzly

Mon, 03 Dec 2018 16:12:14 -0800

Back in August, I gave an interview about the relaunch of Brizzly and the current state of social for the Inside Social Newsletter. It’s still fairly relevant so I thought I would post a lightly edited version below.

On August 21, Jason Shellen, most recently the head of platform at Slack, launched the “next big social network” on Product Hunt called Brizzly. Its description – “Like Twitter but by yourself.” The simple web app allows users to type in a message (similar to a tweet), press send and have their comments go, nowhere.* Please note: This was language Product Hunt used to describe Brizzly, not the official tagline.

The launch was a bit of a gag by Shellen but also a statement. “My inspiration for this version of Brizzly was old friends deleting their social accounts over the past few months,” Shellen told Inside.com. “I don’t think they need a place to type into the void but they do deserve better from the public companies in this space.”

Shellen released his initial version of Brizzly in 2009 as an interface to “add super-powers to Twitter and Facebook,” he told us. It was acquired by AOL in 2009 and shut down by the company in 2012.

We recently spoke to Shellen about his repurchase of Brizzly and his take on the future of social media.

How have social media companies changed since the first launch of Brizzly?

Twitter and Facebook have cut the APIs that would allow anyone to build something similar on top of their platforms. Following that lead, Instagram and Snapchat rose to prominence on top of relatively closed platforms as well. My enthusiasm for building on top of other’s platforms has certainly waned as a result.

A common theme seems to be that people choose engaging experiences over open platforms. I don’t blame them, but it’s a big trade-off that sometimes isn’t felt for years down the road. My hope is that great spaces can be built on top of open systems. Independent developers shouldn’t have to fight to exist.

Even more disappointing and frustrating is watching these companies take so long to adequately address the abuses enabled on and by their services and policies. I have sympathy for some of the product issues they face but many of us close to these companies have been sounding the alarm for years with seemingly little response or care.

What are your thoughts on social media censorship?

If you have a party and someone spills a drink you clean it up and move along. If a guest deliberately pours a bottle of wine on the floor you might admonish them and kick them out. If a friend tells you, ‘This person has done this in three other houses in the last month’ then you wouldn’t invite them in the building in the first place and you’d probably warn others.

Services like Youtube and Facebook should be good hosts of their platforms when there are people who mean harm. As hosts, they are stewards of the commons just like the next platform that comes along should be.

What are the potential downsides of “being a good host”?

The downside is more pleasant platforms at the expense of some accidental squelching of speech. Free speech doesn’t mean you can say whatever you want, wherever you want. It’s probably why there should be more transparency in the decisions being made because these aren’t governments, they are companies capable of bad decisions just like any of us. We can leave, we’re not being forced to use these services, it just feels like it sometimes.

Where do you see the social media industry heading?

In my own networks, I’m seeing a little frustration over where to invest their time. I’m usually paying attention to a very intentional, early adopter crowd and many of these folks are back to blogging or moving on to podcasting or doubling-down on Instagram. Other friends have been harassed to the point where it’s not worth the time spent blocking replies or comments from bad actors so they give up or go private. It’s an odd and depressing time for social media.

Do you foresee a more fragmented landscape?

The success of the large services was from blending your existing network (people you already know) with things they think you should see. It feels like that’s getting old. People want real connections and to be in more control of the programming as well. I don’t expect the incumbents to adequately address that and I think it’s an opportunity for new services.

What about privacy?

People sign up for these services because of the network, community and usually one or two key features. Until now, people have assumed that privacy is a feature of every service. Though I think it’s been proven that most of the time that privacy is an illusion. No one will join something just because of privacy but it could become a differentiator if there are companies who are willing to stand up for their users.

Starting the “next social network” became cliché over the years. Do you think that will change?

I think it’s possible that people will get tired of being the product (monetizing eyeballs) and move on from the major networks. I’m eager to see people create smaller networks for specific communities. I haven’t seen anything amazing on the horizon in a while so that probably means it’s time for something new in the next 18-24 months. In the end, users will go where they find their “people.”

Why’s that?

I believe the fundamental human motivation that drives people to connect through social media is that they want to be acknowledged, understood and informed/entertained. I think social media is pretty good at the acknowledgment and information part but we haven’t moved very far in the understanding portion. Increasing human understanding is incredibly motivating to me and it’s what I hope to work on next.

Will “increasing human understanding” be the focus of Brizzly 2.0?

I don’t know what the next incarnation of Brizzly will be quite yet, but there are some problems to think about and those are getting clearer every day.

Do you believe social media will ultimately be used for good?

All of the major services have wonderful examples of bringing people together for a shared cause. People raise money to rebuild houses of people who they don’t know. Long lost relatives are reunited and political change is organized every day. Sometimes the terrible things we’ve seen on the platforms get drowned out but I’m willing to admit good things happen there and we should find a way to increase that kind of positive change on all services.

With the original Brizzly, we allowed users to submit descriptions for trending topics right alongside the Twitter or Facebook timeline. Eventually, we turned it into its own service called the Brizzly Guide. It was almost a Wikipedia of what’s happening. Our community was great at quickly providing context alongside descriptions in the form of links and other media too. We employed an editor and had some serious community management tools in place behind the scenes to make it run smoothly. To me that was the promise of social media, dip your hand in the stream, improve the conversation, keep the good bits and pass it along.

Fall Update

Thu, 25 Oct 2018 17:12:14 -0700

It’s been two months since I wrote about my ongoing struggle with chronic daily pain so here’s a quick progress update. In short, I’m in less pain in my head and neck. I’m still in the Long Middle Part but I’m extremely grateful for the progress. The outpouring of support from everyone who commented or checked in mid-August had me feeling like a lucky man. In fact, I felt so good that I spent a few hours resurrecting an old friend, Brizzly.com. The current version of Brizzly is perfect for taking a break from social media, try it yourself if you haven’t already and tell a friend. Techcrunch and Slate (and Slate France) wrote about it and now Brizzly has a contingent of frequent users in France. C’est la vie, Brizzly!

Brizzly coverage on Slate France

Techcrunch got in on the fun too

The last week of August, I had a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) treatment. This PRP knocked the pain in my neck & head down a click or two. It’s still a hassle since it spikes my inflammatory response. I get tired and sore and you can’t take any anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen or Aleve for a few weeks before and after to give the PRP the best chance of healing. The idea is to stimulate your body to use its own natural inflammatory response. It’s annoying, it’s working and I’m having another one this morning.

Allison (we celebrated our 20th anniversary in August) has been the best throughout all of this and I’m covered on the day-to-day for support. I’m making progress in physical therapy and trying to stay in tune with what my body is telling me. If I need to rest, I take a rest or cancel plans — and then I don’t look back. I’ve spent a lot of my time in pain frustrated with missing out on life so I’m trying to go a bit easier on myself and accept the reality in front of me. I still get frustrated and crabby when pain demands my attention but I’m trying to learn, grow and breathe.

Speaking of inhaling… I got your note Internet. You want me to try CBD oil or some other form of marijuana. Since those things are in a class of drugs that are anti-inflammatories I’ll take a rain check for now but thanks for the suggestion.

I’m using a computer with more ease, so I’m trying to spend a couple days a week in Oakland at a friend’s office. When I’m there I’m spending my time meeting with old friends, reading and trying to tune into the right mission for the next phase of life looks like for me. I’ll let you know how that goes.

After my last post, a lot more friends suffering silently reached out to say you were in chronic pain too and looking forward to brighter days yourself. It felt so good to hear I’m not alone. If you are in pain, tell someone! Hiding pain seems to make it worse. Pain is already bad enough, let’s not make it worse.

I’m looking forward to the PRP today and looking forward to the possibilities of less pain soon. Wish me luck!

The Long Middle Part

Mon, 13 Aug 2018 17:12:14 -0700

The opening of Stevie Nicks “Edge of Seventeen” crackles over an obscured speaker in the surgery center pre-op area. I’m in a recliner with a hairnet on and booties over my shoes. I’m here for a nerve treatment to block pain in my tailbone. I’ve been here before for my neck and head and even if this treatment works, I’ll probably be back again.

I’ve been in chronic daily pain for over 18 months now. It’s been a difficult and painful pause in my life & work. I’ve tried almost every treatment available but recovery is slower than I ever imagined. Getting better has been a full-time job which means I’ve dropped almost all my commitments along the way to better health.

I left my job in December 2016 eager to start on a few new ideas. A few weeks later, I had trouble sleeping. I thought I was having a tough time adjusting to a new schedule. I cleaned out the garage, went for some bike rides, and a lot of long walks with my wife, Allison. I started waking in the night from pain in my shoulder. I was quickly diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff, it seemed as if physical therapy, medication & rest would have me back in shape in three to six months.

Six weeks later, I experienced neck pain, severe headaches, and numbness in my hands, face, and feet. It scared Allison & me enough to re-evaluate my recovery plan. I tightened up my eating habits, eliminated caffeine & alcohol and dropped weight I’ve always meant to lose. The pain mostly centered on the right side of my body. What was happening? I closed my laptop lid and limited my phone time. I started doing mindful meditation and listening to audiobooks about pain.

The headaches lessened at the end of April 2017 but left behind a new symptom of having a hard time sitting down for longer than 15 minutes at a time. Driving, dining out or travel became a challenge. Laying down and standing became painful as well. What other positions can one rest in?! It was excruciating. I would have done anything to stop the pain at this point. For the first time in my life, I truly understood why people turn to drugs and alcohol to ease the pain. Instead, I continued to walk every day at Allison’s urging.

April stretched into May and even with physical therapy, exercise, meditation, healthy habits and medicine, things worsened. Typing was definitely out and it was painful to talk for long periods of time. Bright lights and loud noises started triggering pain. Something was really wrong. Brain fog and inflammation set in. Brain fog is like having an uninvited guest sit on your head while you’re forced to remember your second-grade teacher’s name. Underwater. I thought for the first time “I might be dying.”

I can’t describe how terrible this time was to traverse. I was physically exhausted all the time. It was a year ago and I still get a little sweaty thinking about it. I started keeping a pain journal. I cried multiple times a day, often in front of my kids. My doctor worried that I was becoming depressed and prescribed anti-depressants and psychotherapy. However, I was mostly just depressed about being in a terrible amount of pain! The doctor’s appointments, MRI & CT scans, blood-work and lots of well-meaning people asking “how are you?” took its toll too. I was low, in pain and scared.

The anti-depressants made me feel worse. The pain in my tailbone was too much to bear. I stopped anti-depressants and started a long course of antibiotics. Finally, sitting became a little less painful. It’s hard to positively think yourself out of an infection. However, psychotherapy was truly helpful through the pain. Even if you’re not in physical pain the emotional toll adds up quickly.

By June, I started seeing a pain medicine specialist who thought most of my pain was related to a nerve in my neck. If nerves start sending pain signals due to an injury they can stay stuck in that state and may require intervention. After some intense treatments (epidurals, steroids, stem cell, ablations, etc.) and frequent physical therapy, the pain started to slowly back off in Fall 2017. I could sit for longer periods of time. I still spent most of the day laying on the bedroom floor but I had hope at last. I finally wanted to see friends and family again after spending a lot of time feeling an odd mixture of shame or humiliation about my physical state.

Today, I’m in the long middle part of this story. I wish I were writing about my full recovery from… whatever this has been. That’s what I’m working towards every day with continued treatments and physical therapy. However, the part I’ve been looking forward to telling you isn’t here yet. It feels so close some days. I’ve been able to rejoin in the joy of life again. I’ve done a little travel and volunteer work with my family. I’m beginning to think about what problems I’ll work on next. I’m looking forward to a conference in a few weeks where I’ll see good friends. I’m crossing off symptoms every month, but I’m still in chronic pain.

Recovery isn’t a straight line so I’m learning to live with pain. I have this experience to thank for good changes too. It’s brought me closer to my family. I ask for help when I need it and am working on sharing my challenges. I spend more time empathizing with people and less time in political fights on social media. I’m very grateful for friends and family who have checked on me during long quiet periods. It’s not the worst thing in the world to find out you need people and that your family loves you. I hope to have happy updates on my health soon but more than anything, I see many of you in the long middle part of your struggles too. I’m right there with you and wish you strength, help, hope and most of all good health.

People love stories, not decks

Wed, 15 Jul 2015 18:33:00 -0700

Jason Calacanis recently invited me to speak on the topic of presenting to potential angel and venture investors at the Launch Incubator Spring 2015 class in San Francisco. In preparation, I asked some friends in the industry for their pitch advice. While I’ve pitched many times as an entrepreneur it never occurred to me that I could just ask VCs and angels what they wanted to hear!

In response to my informal survey, I received some solid advice as well as conflicting thoughts on data that should be included. Some even questioned whether a slide deck was necessary. Most of all, many investors personal preferences emerged so the key takeaway may be to know your audience. For context, the average amount of pitches a professional investor saw on a daily basis averaged around four pitches a day and angels saw around one a day. Their unfiltered opinions below, happy hunting!

What is one piece of advice you would give to founders before they pitch you?

“Tell a story. I need to know what problem you are solving and why you care about that problem.” — David Hornik, August Capital

“Show, don’t tell. show a demo, show customer testimonials; don’t tell me what you will do. Show me what you’ve done. start with a “bottoms up” story — why you built the product and started the company. unless you’re in an obtuse industry don’t start with ‘top down’ — ‘Market size is X; market inefficiency is Y’ etc.” — David Lee, SV Angel

“If you have co-founders, pick a single co-founder to do the pitches & the meetings. Two reasons:

Nothing worse then having 2 or more people show up, but only one person does all the talking. Makes you suspect some odd founder dynamic.
Fundraising is a massive distraction and pretty hard to run the company and fundraise simultaneously. If all the co-founders are involved, makes me nervous that the company isn’t running at full speed.”

— Raanan Bar-Cohen, Resolute VC

“No presentation decks. Just tell me about yourselves & show me the product. A story is nice, but is not necessary at the meeting — I’ll either “get” the problem or not, and am usually not swayed by the narrative.” — Rich Chen, angel investor

“You have about 5 minutes to grab the attention of a VC during the opening of your pitch. If you don’t hook them by minute 10, it’s probably over.” — Charles Hudson, SoftTech VC

“Know your market. How big it is, how much you can address soon, who are the competitors, etc.” — Anon, angel investor

“If you have a pitch — make it! Don’t just show up and want to talk informally about an idea and “bounce around ideas”. Have a clear ask. Have clarity about what you want from me as an investor (how much are you raising, at what terms) or as an advisor. Just because you know someone that raised money on an uncapped note — doesn’t mean you should too!” — Brad Garlinghouse, angel investor

“Investors have really poor attention spans. Don’t wait till the middle to deliver the best part of the pitch. Get their greed instincts firing early. Whatever is most awesome about your startup, say that first — killer team, unique market entry tactic etc.” —Anamitra Banerji, Foundation Capital

“1) Hair on fire problem
2) Unique insight and/or defensibility
3) Know the economics (If not a pure consumer play)
4) Big addressable market
5) Amazing team (clearly of the ones to solve this problem)
6) Social proof (Advisors, pilot customers, investors)” — Adam Smith, Bowery Capital

What’s the most commonly overlooked piece of information you wish was in more pitches?

“Team bios and why they started the company; of all the things they could do in their lives, why this crazy thing?” — David Lee, SV Angel

“Genesis for the idea.” — Raanan Bar-Cohen, Resolute VC

“A very clear definition of what the early traction figures represent — Many people glaze over gross vs. net sales, which just makes it look like you’re trying to pull a fast one. Don’t do that.” — Rich Chen, angel investor

“Tell me about why the market will be big and interesting. Tell an exciting story about the potential. Spare me your bottom up TAM slides.” — Charles Hudson, SoftTech VC

“Bottoms-up, market analysis. I’d like to know how many deals you need to get done and a plan on how you’re going to do it. I’m sure the plan will change, but I want to get a feel for how you’re thinking about going to market and not just that it’s an X Billion dollar opportunity.” — Adam Smith, Bowery Capital

“Why now, why them.” — Anon, Venture Partner

“Who are you? Why are you building this business? Who are your team members? How’d you meet them?” — Anon, angel investor

“Don’t pretend you don’t have competitors. You can demonstrate truthiness and transparency by proactively sharing with me who you see as relevant competitors. I’m going to do the homework anyway (really cool search engine called Google) so you might as well proactively tell me and help me understand why you are better, stronger and faster.” — Brad Garlinghouse, angel investor

“Product demo. In-depth discussion about the user phenomenon behind the data. Non-obvious insights.” —Anamitra Banerji, Foundation Capital

Thank you to all who responded and I hope you’ll hear better pitches from founders in the future as a result.

For my take on what’s important for founders to focus on, watch the full This Week in Startups episode below.

PS: The slides I used are on Slideshare and are embedded below. However, and perhaps proving my point, the slides don’t make a lot of sense without narration — since it’s a story too, not slideware.

Post-erity

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:55:00 -0800

Tonight while looking for my personal blog post about the sale of Thing Labs to AOL I realized… I never posted it. There it sat in the drafts on Blogger. I must have been a little busy that day. In any case, I just back-dated it and posted it like it was a page ripped from one notebook and Scotch-taped back in where it belonged. All is right with the world.

Build a new model

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 12:31:00 -0700

You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.

-R. Buckminster Fuller

Thing Labs joins AOL

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 21:46:00 -0700

I’m incredibly happy to share with you today that my company Thing Labs is merging with AOL. Thing Labs has come a long way in the last two years, and we’ve built products I love and a team I’m proud to work with daily. AOL has recognized this, and we agree that there are a lot of great things we can do together. My collaborator and business partner Chris Wetherell and I will be heading up product development for AIM, Lifestream and other consumer products. Don’t worry: Brizzly will live on.

I want to thank those who had a hand in making this deal happen, and my team at Thing Labs for building great products and just generally being great people. For more information about what the future holds, see our post about the merger on the Thing Labs blog or check out the announcement from AOL.

Coverage

We still miss you Mike

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:33:00 -0700

Five years ago today, my father-in-law Michael J. Fitzpatrick passed away suddenly. It was a shock then and sometimes it's still hard to believe he's gone. I was asked to say a few words at his wake and I've hung onto them since and now, here they are. I don't expect anyone outside the family to read all of this, but if you do - he was quite a guy and I wish you could have known him too.

August 2005

In 1991, almost 15 years ago I fell in love with a beautiful young redhead named Allison. Her family attended Saint Joseph's Church and I remain thankful for their faith. It turns out Allison came from a long line of Irish Catholics named Fitzpatrick. I think I met Mr. Fitzpatrick after our second date. He wasn't the typical father of three daughters. There was no shotgun, no stern look, just a handshake and a smile. However, he was still Mr. Fitzpatrick to me. Over the next few weeks as I spent more and more time with Allison, Mike took an interest in me. Where was I going to school? Where did I work? What did I want to do? Who were my parents? Where were they from? Soon it came to light that my mother was from Oakland just like Mike. Not only that but Mike knew of my uncle, Ron Tomsic, who was a famous Stanford and Olympic basketball player during the 50's. Mike grabbed my arm, 'THE Ron Tomsic. Fremont High. Ron Tomsic! Boy, he was something!' I assured him it was one and the same. The connection certainly impressed him and I hadn't done a thing other than being born into basketball friendly genes. I knew I was on the road to becoming family. Over the years, Mike continued to ask about Ron and was excited that he would be attending our wedding a few years later.

That enthusiasm was a familiar story with Mike. He was a generous man and his success was your success. Not only that but, your success was his success as well! Mike had a win-win situation on his hands on a daily basis. His children all speak of Mike as the champion of the underdog, someone who was always hoping that the local Mom and Pop coffee shop was going to outsell Starbucks. That perhaps - his children should give the kid with the funny hair in science class some slack. Another great example, he was a proud supporter of Saint Mary's College Football. God bless 'em.

Mike read many biographies and considered himself a student of human nature. He especially loved stories about triumph over adversity. It made him an engaging conversationalist and a very encouraging man to be in the presence of. Mike made me feel like I could accomplish anything. When I told him I was going to join a small business, he was right there with an encouraging word and sage advice. When I talked of selling the business to Google, he wanted every detail. I often drew from that well of enthusiasm and will continue to remind myself that Mike believed in me and helped shape the kind of father & friend I am today.

There was a rarely a time when I was in the position to help Mike. He was a strong man, a successful man, and I - a young man. There was one time however, when I came to his aid. We were on vacation in Maui. The Fitzpatricks allowed me to tag along the summer after Allison and I graduated from Saint Mary's. Jeannine, Allison, Mike and I drove up the coast past Lahaina to a beautiful protected lagoon to do a little snorkeling. After spending a little time in the water, Allison and Jeannine were looking at green fish thru their masks and I was enjoying the warm water. Mike suddenly, let out a loud, "Um, JASON. I need a little help.' Mike was stung by a Portugese man-of-war. It had wrapped a tentacle around his left hand around his watch. My lifeguard training kicked in and I removed the tentacles from his watch and helped him in to the shore and quickly got him to the car. A few doses of Benadryl later and Mike was good as new. I don't know that I did much but the Portugese man-of-war quickly turned into a stingray, and then a shark, as the years wore on. He was happy to make me feel like I had saved his life that day in Hawaii islands.

I think my lasting memory of Mike will be of a man that was successful in all matters. He was successful in business, successful in being a loving father and a fantastic grandfather to Miles, Emma and Drew. Even though he was successful by anyone's yardstick he didn't care much for other people's measurements. To Mike the journey was the destination. He took pride in making sure you were along for the ride whether it was a bike ride in Solvang, or a walk down the beach. Life was an adventure and every day was a gift from God.

Mike, I would love to have another conversation, another bike ride, another concert in the park with you but somehow you were even successful in death, knowing that your big heart was so full of love and pride for your family will leave us with happy memories and life lessons until we meet again. God bless.

Mike in Solvang, CA in November 2002 during our annual family bike ride

Charles in charge

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 22:41:00 -0700

Today my youngest brother Grant and his wife Heather welcomed a beautiful baby boy to the world. Meet Charles Andersen Shellen. You can call him Charlie. I know this photo isn't my best look but I may have shed a tear or two holding my baby bro's baby.