Chip Oglesby

It’s interesting to go back and look at old cards and notes from the past. It’s interesting to see what people were saying, how they felt and look at the design ideas of the time. The set of photos below are Valentines Cards my mother received as a child in the 1950′s. She scanned them and sent them to me, so I thought I would share some of my favorites with you. Here thoughts and memories are below the card.

I love this one also. Another one to me from my log house cousins, Donny and Sonny Scott. One of my favorite childhood characters was Pocahuntas and the name of the coal mine where Daddy worked and the name of the town we lived in when I was born.

This is another really old one. It is unique in that when opened up the back is also in full color print showing a boy seated on a stool with a bowl and a bubble wand blowing bubbles. On the inside it says “With Love for My Valentine” from Beatrice Mathena. I’m sure she must have been a relative of my dad but Momma and Daddy were not yet married.

On the back, “to Pauline Johnson from Hawkins Brewster”. I don’t know that name but this is one of the really old ones also. Isn’t it amazing how the color has held in these since they were stored in that cardboard box, all jumbled up, all those years? The boy’s leg is partially missing but on the original you can still see his hands at the bottom.

View the complete set below

I love the idea of location based services like Google Latitude and Foursquare. I usually try to check-in at some of the most interesting places I go so that I can keep track of where I’ve been. I might also want to share it with a friend or look back on it for a blog post later.

Tonight when I checked in at my church on foursquare, I noticed that someone had stolen the mayorship from me and I was 9 days away from being mayor again. I usually check-in twice a week and when I was there last Sunday I was still the mayor. What happened?

I started to wonder how/why someone would check-in so often? What were they doing there? Did they work there? Maybe they were picking up their child from daycare every day?

I understand that foursquare is competitive in nature in that some people try to game the system by checking in everywhere, sometimes in fictitious locations, but what happens when an employee checks in every day before work making almost impossible for someone to steal their mayorship?

Its interesting when consider that a business might be trying to offer specials for local patrons that are loyal to their favorite haunt. How do you think businesses should deal with this?

I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on this. What do you think? How would you deal with employees that have never ending mayorships at their workplace?

Every once in a while you need to stop and ask yourself “Am I truly happy with what I’m doing?” If the answer is no, you need to figure out what you can change so that you will be happy.

I’ve decided to do that. I’ve worked for The South Carolina Policy Council since June of 2010. It was my first experience with a think tank and politics. I learned more about free market economics and capitalism then I ever thought possible. Most of all I learned that small business owners are the life blood of our economy.

I’m not sure why people aren’t taking risks right now, but I don’t want to be one of them. Right now more than ever the world needs our talent, our passion our voice and I’m going to start contributing to that.

First it was getting rid of the car, then buying the bike, then training for the triathlon, now I’ve decided that as of January 1, 2012 I will be going into business for myself.

I’m launching a digital strategy company that focuses on three things: Analytics, Search Engine Optimization and brand reputation and implementation through social media.

Right now in Columbia there is a need for people who can help analyze traffic reports and help educate businesses on the ROI of social media. There are plenty of people who want to run your social media campaigns, I’m not one of them. I want to take your business to the next level and educate you on how you can reward loyalty to your super fans on these networks.

This is an exciting opportunity and I’m really excited about it.

It’s time for me to step out in the world and become the person I was meant to be. Let’s go out and create something great, shall we?

Deep inside of each one of us lies a dream that is so big we’re too afraid to share it with anyone.

I’m not talking about the the answer you give people when they ask, “If money were no object, what would you do?” That question is a farce because most of us won’t really share our secret dreams.

Why is that? What are we all afraid of? Being chastised? ridiculed? Maybe, but why does that always stop us? Now is the right time to do the impossible; don’t wait another minute.

Maybe your dream is to travel around the world, or win an ironman, or fall in love and be swept off your feet. No matter what it is, I’m telling you that you have absolutely everything you need to accomplish it right now.

When we look back on our lives and tell our grandchildren what we did, will it impress them that we sat diligently in an office from 9 to 5 and when we got home we watched T.V. and talked to our friends on Facebook and Twitter? Not at all. Wouldn’t you rather tell your kids about your secret dream that you were able to conquer despite all the odds? I would hope so.

Before you come up with some excuse, let me go ahead and stop you. An excuse is something you tell yourself right before you decide to chicken out. This is something that you really want, right? Aren’t you tired of telling yourself “maybe next time”?

When you’re ready to set out on this epic journey, the first thing I want you to do is announce to the world that you’re doing it. Getting over yourself and putting it out there is the most simple, yet fearful, thing you can do. I promise you that you can do it.

And to practice what I preach, I’m announcing today a new section to my site: See Chip Swim, Bike & Run. I’ve decided that part of taking control of my life is doing something that I never thought was possible. I’ve got nine months to prepare for a triathlon and I’m going to chronicle everything that happens along the way.

The beauty of this is it’s not my secret dream. This is only a baby step to an even bigger goal that I have. I can only accomplish it once everything else has fallen into place. So until then just bear with me.

So tell me, What do you want to do?

It all started by reading a simple book on a plane flight to Portland in August of 2011. I read Chris Guillebeau’s book The Art of Non-Conformity after becoming a fan of his blog. The idea was simple: why live your life for everyone else? why not do what makes you happy?

Until that point I hadn’t been very vocal about my decision to take control of my life. Since then I’ve learned that there are many people doing exactly that. So today I want to share my story with you.

Fighting obesity

I’ve been overweight since I was eight years old. I slimmed down when I became active in high school while playing football and throwing shot put and discus on the track team. I had yet to discover the joys of living the college life.

Fast forward 10 years and I’ve put on more weight than I have ever imagined. I weighed almost twice as much as what someone my height should weigh. I was literally the size of two people! And you know what? I was tired.

• I was tired of not going on dates
• I was tired of getting winded walking up stairs
• I was tired of wearing old people clothes and not something cool and hip
• I was tired of being tired

So I did something about it. I decided to take control of my life. I purchased a bike in August and I started commuting to work daily. I don’t have a car anymore. If I need to go somewhere, I ask a friend for a ride, or call a cab. If it’s outside of town I rent a car. Not having something will make you prioritize what’s important in your life. You can read all about the first two months.

I also learned how to take better care of myself by eating the right things. I’m not an unhealthy eater, but I do tend to over eat, I LOVE FOOD! Someone gave me a fitbit for my birthday and I became obsessed with how far I walked daily and what I ate and how well I slept at night.

Through tracking what I ate, I learned most of my calories were being consumed at night. Shifting those to the morning and lunch would help drastically with my weight loss. So I did that. Now instead of skipping breakfast, I have a whey protein shake or oatmeal. I eat a balanced lunch with lean protein (venison or fish) and have another protein shake for dinner. There are days when I stray from this, but the biggest thing to overcome was my lack of self control. Another issue was eating out for lunch every single day of the week. Not only was it making me fat, but  it was also putting me in debt.

In my fight with obesity I have found these sites very inspiring:

Livestrong
Fitbit
Bigfatshoe
Running for my existence

Fighting debt and consumerism

With student loans and two credit cards, I feel like I’m treading water. I make the minimum payments but never get ahead. Am I suppose to go through my life feeling in-debited to someone else? No! It’s a pretty simple theory in practice, don’t spend more than you take in, but as well all know, sometimes life gets in the way. Things happen, decisions have to be made and before you know it, you can easily be in more debt than you realize and asking yourself  ”How did this happen to me?”

So what did I do? I did something about it. I started taking half of my paycheck and using it to pay off this debt and I’m still doing that now. That means that I have to tighten my belt, a lot. No more expensive meals (the main way I treat myself); no more unnecessary trips to see friends and family who live more than hour away; no more buying things I can’t afford.

And you know what? It sucks. But just like losing weight it is possible to get out of debt. You start to seek out the simple life, taking joy in doing more things that don’t cost money or looking for deals where you can do things on the cheap. Instead of buying print books now, I buy books on my Kindle. Instead of buying every book on my Kindle, I go down to the local library and check it out if they have it. Instead of $25 meals, I hunt out 75 cent taco nights at local bars. Instead of top shelf, you can ask for bottom shelf, and if you don’t want to drink, ask for water instead of tea or soda. Water is still free at most places!

Don’t get me wrong, if you’re dying to do something or you’re craving a meal, don’t deny yourself but don’t go into debt to do it. Allow yourself to have something nice when you’ve done something good as a reward. Don’t however, constantly reward yourself. It’s all about self control.

In my fight with debt and consumerism I have found these sites very helpful:

Early Retirement Extreme
Man vs Debt
Zen Habits
Get Rich Slowly

Fighting conformity

Do you ever read stories about people doing extraordinary things and wonder “why can’t I do that?”

It happens all the time and there should be no reason why we can’t chase our dreams. Maybe you want start your own business, or a blog, or quit your job, or meet the love of your life. Now is the perfect time to do all of those things. What’s stopping you?

Yes there will be fear and doubt and that little voice inside of you telling you not to step out of your comfort zone. It’s there for a reason, but sometimes you have to learn how to ignore it.

Now more than ever the world desperately needs you! It needs your ideas, your passion, your drive, your voice. Did you get the good news? Things are happening, people are striking out on their own and accomplishing their dreams. You and I both can do it. I got tired of seeing other people doing all the cool things that I’ve wanted to do. Guess what? I’m doing something about it! I’m putting plans into motion that could be one of the greatest opportunities of my life. If I told you about it, you would think I’m crazy. So for now it’s going to stay with me. But believe me, when it happens, it’s going to be huge!

In my fight with conformity I have found these sites very inspiring:

Nate Walks America
America by Cycle
The Art of Non-conformity

Conclusion

I’m writing this as a manifesto because I want to inspire you to do something great! I want you to reach your full potential because I know you have it inside of you. I don’t want you to focus on how I do things because it won’t work for you. I want you to figure out what matters the most to you and tackle those things head on. I’ll always be here to inspire you to reach new levels of greatness.

Having dreams are great. Wanting to conquer the world is great also, but without doing something about it, it’s pointless. What are you going to do?

At the beginning of August, I took a trip home to see my parents. Three quarters of the way there, something happened to my car and it started overheating. I wasn’t sure what it was, so I stopped off at the gas station and topped off the coolant.

After leaving the car at home for two consecutive weeks and not being able to fix it, I finally diagnosed the problem: it was a blown head gasket! Anyone who knows me knows that I’ve always had problems with my Lexus, but this drove me over the top after hearing that it would cost $2,500 to fix it. It was then that I decided that I wouldn’t buy another car, but instead I would purchase a bike and get back in shape.

Buying a bike was something that I’ve toyed with for a while, but never had the motivation to do. The first week I was back in Columbia without a car, I walked three miles to work and decided that I would never do it again. After that I began my search for some new wheels.

I consulted friends on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ to see what they liked. For a while I was considering purchasing a Trek Soho, a fixed speed Gary Fisher bike that would be good for getting around the city. A guy from my local bike store (LBS) convinced me that if I were going to buy a bike, I was better off going with a commuter/hybrid bike, something that’s a cross between a mountain bike and a road bike. Mountain bikes are too heavy for the city and I’m to heavy for a straight road bike so I finally settled on the Trek 7.1 FX pictured below.

When I first started telling friends and family what I was going to do, I got a lot of resistance. I heard lots of people say “You can’t do that” “You won’t last long/you’ll give up after a while” “What will you do when it gets cold?” “What if you need to go out of town?” and I would calmly reassure people that I in fact wasn’t going crazy and that I was excited about riding to work everyday. Besides, it’s only six miles round trip, how hard could it be?

Two months later: What have I learned?

Two months in to this experiment and I’m still going strong! I am very happy to report that I love biking to work on a daily basis and even have fun riding in the rain!

When I was commuting by car to work, it would take me about 10-12 minutes by car to get to my office. When I first started riding, I took things very slowly and didn’t push myself but my times have drastically improved since then. It now takes me about 17 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes to get home in the afternoon. On the week of September 20th one afternoon I had to race a storm home in time so that I could make it to my house before things got crazy! I made it home just in time for the bottom to open up.

Riding in the (light) rain isn’t that bad. It stings when it hits your skin if you’re going more than 25 mph like I was, but other than that, it’s pretty refreshing riding in the rain. Just be sure to pack your clothes in a waterproof bag or put them in a grocery bag and stuff them in your backpack and you’ll be fine. If it’s raining really hard like it was the morning of 9/23, I’ll just call the office and tell them I’m working from home until the rain stops.

Bike facts from Trek go by bike:

• Just three hours of bicycling per week can reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke by 50%.
• If you bike four miles round trip each day instead of driving, you will save about 66 gallons of fuel per year.
• That same daily trip will burn 36,000 calories in a year; the equivalent of over 10 pounds of fat.
• 40% of all trips are within two miles of the home.
• You can park 14 bikes in the same space you can park one car.
• The U.S. could save 462 million gallons of gasoline a year by increasing cycling from 1% to 1.5% of all trips.

Yes, there are still days when I’ll ask someone for a ride, but I try to limit that to extreme circumstances. I’ll never ask someone if I’m just too tired; I always suck it up and ride anyway. I have asked friends for rides before I bought my lights and lock but now that I have those, I feel comfortable riding anywhere. I’ll also ask a friend for a ride if we’re all going somewhere more than 8 miles out of town, like to the movie theaters in Sandhills or on Harbison.

Not everything has been absolutely perfect. Since I’m a big guy, I do put more weight on my frame and wheels. I’ve magically broken two spokes in the months since I bought my bike but I blame those on rough riding, like going through potholes. I do also have to deal with the fact that I don’t have a full shower at work and have to resort to other options, but I’ve managed to tame that beast rather well.

Here’s what I know about riding in the city so far:

• If you’re going to ride, be safe. Never assume a driver knows what your doing.
• Don’t ride too close to parked cars. You never know when someone will open a door in your path. It’s called getting “doored” and it sucks when it happens.
• Buy a helmet, lights and a bike lock. I know it doesn’t seem cool, but it will save you a lot grief in the long run.
• Don’t be afraid of using the higher granny gears on your bike. They’re there for a reason.
• It’s not a race; enjoy your ride every time your on your bike.
• Anyone can do it, including me. I might not look like Lance Armstrong, but I will.
• Columbia isn’t the bike friendliest city ever, but it’s better than New York and San Francisco.
• Pedestrians are always distracted. Don’t assume they can hear or see you, especially when they’re glued to their phone.

The image above sums it up pretty well. I’ll add the following points:

• I look forward to getting out on my bike and riding without a destination.
• It feels great zipping through stopped traffic right when the light turns green!
• Driving a car at any speed above 45 mph feels like you’re piloting a rocketship!!
• People for the most part are pretty nice about passing and not honking or gesturing.
• There’s a large community of daily commuters throughout the US with some very helpful websites.
• Riding a bike has allowed me to slow down and enjoy life more. No more life in the fast lane.

What to look forward to:

Fall will be starting soon and that means it will be getting cold. That means it’s time to think about layering up when riding to work and also figuring out bus routes if it snows this winter so I can continue to get around. At some point I would like to add some upgrades to my bike.

I’m also looking forward to living in a city that’s more bike friendly. Columbia has very few physical bike lanes in the city. I won’t point fingers at who should be responsible for building those, but I do think there’s an opportunity to do something about it soon.

While on my trip out west, I was surprised by how bike friendly Portland, Seattle and San Francisco were. Some people call them a bikers heaven so it would be nice go back and visit them when I actually have time to rent something and spend the day riding around.

If you’re curious about bike riding or are looking for someone to go with you, let me know and I’ll help you out as much as possible. We can ride around town and look for the safest route for you to ride to work.

Happy trails!

This post will be short, sweet and to the point. Social Crush was a very intense two day hands-on social media conference for Columbia, SC.

Monday featured a bootcamp that taught basic 101 information for Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin. I taught the Twitter session and felt like there was some really great engagement with questions about how to compose tweets, how often someone should tweet and how to track analytics using services like bit.ly.

Tuesday we absolutely hit the ground running full speed! We covered every topic from ‘like-gating’ to geo-location services. The afternoon sessions featured more breakouts that covered Youtube, Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and location based services. Social Media Club again volunteered to help lead some of these workshops. I was looking forward to hearing Skeeter Harris’ Youtube talk, but I totally missed it.

I spent the day taking notes for Social Media Club. You can find those here.

Wednesday was another full-speed hands on session that featured a keynote speaker from Hubspot as well as a great overview of blogging from the guys at Zementa.

All of my notes from Wednesday can be found here as well.

Given my current situation with my car, I decided that now might be a good time to look into buying an electric car.

It seemed like a good idea at the time. The Nissian Leaf gets 100 miles on one charge.

There’s even the Chevy Volt which is a gas/electric hybrid. It gets 35 miles on an electric charge and 340 miles additional mileage on gas.

The idea of having a fully electric car in the city is very appealing. My average commute to work is 6 miles round trip so I would be there perfect audience.

But what happens if I want to go out of town? How far could I really make it?

I built the map below that shows all electric car charging stations in South Carolina.

Data provided by Plug-in Carolina.

As you can see, it’s very sparse. There are stations in Greenville, Union, Spartanburg, York (Rock Hill), and Columbia.

If you were to buy a Leaf your travel options would be very limited. Greenville  is 103 miles away from Columbia. Spartanburg is 93 miles away, Rock Hill is 68 miles away and Union is 72 miles.

Granted, these are towns that provide dedicated charging stations and you can still plug your car in at a friend’s house but will that stop you from traveling with your electric car?

Here’s another Google Map I’ve found by a user, Jim, while searching for EV stations. His map has a few extra additions my doesn’t.

View Larger Map

So the big question is, with most large towns spread out around South Carolina will you be willing to take the risk of traveling to these towns in a fully electric town?