Well, I have fantastic news… it’s finally being released on DVD!

The film itself has been finished for a while, and has gotten great reviews.  My co-conspirators Justin Brandon and Dan Schnorr have done an incredible job, and we’re all really proud of how it has turned out.

Now we have a whole slew of exciting extras for the DVD, and an extremely talented design team has put together a website and is working on the DVD packaging.

Our goal is to sell 1,000 DVDs in time for UNIF’s first-ever graduation ceremony, which will happen this summer.  That will allow us to make a cash contribution of at least $20,000 to support UNIF’s continued growth and expansion, and build from there to get the word out about this film, the story it tells, and the remarkable community of Fondwa.

Don’t miss it… sign up at www.Fondwa.org and join us!

http://www.brianmcelroy.name/NoEmail.jpg

ZERO EMAILS IN MY INBOX!!

I’m going through David Allen’s book “Getting Things Done” one more time (highly HIGHLY recommended by the way), and cleaning up my projects/next actions lists.

I also watched a fantastic lecture by a guy who has gained a bit of fame recently for his “last lecture,” which is also well worth a look.

Here is the lecture:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5784740380335567758

Very inspiring.

My biggest takeaway?

“Your Inbox Is Not Your To Do List!”

That’s a very powerful statement, and it really got me to clean out my inbox and lay out my projects and next action list properly… will make a big difference this week and beyond.

Also check out his amazing “last lecture,” which is touching to say the least:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5700431505846055184

Craigslist helped me find a temporary place for the summer in Spanish Harlem (a great place to live, by the way), and a broker who I now loathe “helped” me find an apartment in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

That lasted a few months… until I decided to move to the beach!  I was helped immensely by a member of the UNIF USA board and his wife, Michael Haerting and Aileen Brousseau, who set me up with a studio on Miami Beach.

That lasted a few months… until I decided to move to Brazil!  My time with UNIF was over, and I had started working as a freelance copywriter.

All that moving takes a lot out of you though… every time you have to change your address, your bank gets angry with you, credit card statements go to the wrong place, you have leases right and left, your phone number’s no good, all that stuff to drag around… what a mess!

So I decided to do something about it.

I now have an almost completely mobile life… I can pick up and go anywhere, and my life isn’t too disrupted.

Here’s what I did…

For the love of Craigslist

I found a great couple to sublet my apartment in New York, so that lease wasn’t hanging over my head.  I wrote the most enticing ad you’ve ever read and booked 8 appointments to view the apartment in one day… and of course the first people took it.  I love Craigslist.

Virtually Perfect

I had an office in Miami (on a month-to-month basis, no lease!), but obviously I don’t need that anymore.  They happen to offer a “virtual office” solution, where I can keep my business address there, and have them forward all of my mail wherever I like.  It costs next to nothing, but is a Godsend… I now have that address for all of my statements, notifications, etc. etc. etc., so important things will no longer go to the apartment I had three cities ago.

Downsizing

I’ve never had that much stuff to begin with… but when you move around, every bit of stuff is that much more cumbersome.  When I left Miami, I either gave away or threw out most of my stuff.  Everything left over went into the trunk of my Honda, with room to spare, and I just brought one big suitcase to Brazil.  As long as I have my laptop (and maybe some clothes), I’m good to go!

Skype Me

I have quite a collection of cell phones right now… at least two from the States, one from Haiti, one from the Dominican Republic, one from Brazil… and I may have one from Denmark laying around.

And they all have different numbers!

So I gave myself a little gift: a Skype in number.  It’s a number with a US area code that forwards to any number I want, anywhere in the world.  So if you call my Skype number (or call me on Skype when I’m away from my computer), it will forward to my cell phone here.

Unless I’m in the States… in which case it will forward to my cell phone there!  Brilliant.

Fax by email

Some businesses are still in the stone age, and require faxes rather than the infinitely more convenient scanned documents and email attachments.  I now have a fax number where I can send and receive faxes via email for next to nothing.  When it can take hours just to find a place to send a fax (let alone receive one), this is priceless!

Gmail

Someday I will write an entire ode to gmail.  I must have 10 or more email addresses (one of the hazards of running multiple websites), but they all forward to my Gmail account.  Makes keeping communications organized a snap- especially because of the great search function.

Ok, I admit it… I Facebook

Even if I’m no chatty Kathy, I do like to keep up with the friends I make around the world.  Now that the whole world is on Facebook, it’s really not that tough.

Freelance = Freedom

It does help to be able to feed myself… which freelance writing accomplishes for me.  My clients really don’t care where I am… as long as I deliver the goods!

So there you have it… my mobile life.

I went kind of because I could.  I didn’t have many responsibilities at the time… and I really wanted to go!

After the surprisingly not as painful as I thought it would be 14 hour flight from LA to Sydney, I spent a good week in Syd with Tricia, one of my best friends from the year I lived in Paris.  She has a bunch of French friends from her job at the Alliance Francaise, so my trip was a mixture of Australian slang and Parisian French.  Quite a one-two combo.

Sydney has to be on the most idyllic places on Earth.  There are young people everywhere (from around the world), the entire place is clean as could be, seemingly everyone dresses sharp and fitness obsessed… not to mention the incredible beauty of the harbor, the architecture, the landmarks, and everything in between.

One of the biggest eye openers was the big foodcourt in the center of town.  Whereas US foodcourts have your usual assortment of fried death on a stick, the one in Sydney has almost nothing but organic, green, so healthy you almost want to puke selections of goodness.

I also spent a week in Queensland (hicktown according to people in Sydney) with my business partner JD.  He’s my age and basically lives the dream of every 8 year old boy, with a huge house to himself, giant entertainment system and home theater, a pool, and two spas.  Basketball took up much of the time we weren’t working on our projects.

Overall I had a great time… and would love to go back, especially to travel a bit more widely, such as to Perth, New Zealand, and beyond.

When I was running the UNIF USA Foundation, I blogged about the University of Fondwa.

Now that I’m 25… I think I’ll blog about that!

My 25th birthday was January 24th.  That means I’m now officially in my mid-20’s.

GAH!

Oh well, I’ve had my share of adventures so far, including my 25th birthday in Las Vegas… photos not forthcoming!

I’m in transition right now, because I just finished up my time as Executive Director of the UNIF USA Foundation.  We sure came a long way during my time on board, but now it’s time for new leadership to step up and help the organization grow.

I’ll still be supporting UNIF, mostly through promotion of the film The Road to Fondwa, but my main focus will now be on building my new online venture, Instant Media LLC.

I feel like I’m hitting the quarter century mark in full stride.  We will launch The Road to Fondwa DVD in San Francisco on March 12th, I’m planning to travel to Australia for a few weeks in March, and I’m hoping to learn Portuguese and spend significant time in Brazil soon.

All in all, I’m very grateful for where I am, the wonderful people I have in my life, and the opportunities that lie ahead.

Should be a great year!

-Brian