I cannot believe that it is more than 3 months since I came up with the hair-brained idea to do a Kickstarter to launch an independent Carolina Hurricanes blog – in the middle of the summer – during a down stretch of 6 consecutive playoff misses.
Time has flown by, but then I guess that is what happens when you seem to miss chunks of days (and nights) due to late-night writing, web development to-do lists, email binges and some hazy days that follow. I am excited that after a long summer of working on the boat (Canes and Coffee) for hours on end in the driveway (desk in our family room at 12am+) and taking some small runs around pond (slow part of hockey offseason), we finally get to launch into the ocean (the regular season!) of real NHL Carolina Hurricanes hockey.
Big changes are coming for the Canes and Coffee site, and if you are reading this, it hopefully involves you. I will post a more serious site update of sorts within the next 7-10 days before the season starts, but I wanted to first catch my breath and take a look back at the crazy Canes hockey adventure that was my summer, or seemingly most of it at least.
Top 10 list from the launch of Canes and Coffee:
10-Doing big, complicated projects as a hobby is in some ways better than doing it for work. The ability to completely let yourself off the hook for having any real plan can be quite empowering…
9-…But sadly, work volume and size of to-do lists do not automatically size adjust for “real work” versus “hobby type project” which gets me to #8…
8-Sleep is overrated…
7-…Until the 3rd consecutive day without enough of it at which point, sleep becomes about as good as seeing your captain lift the Cup in your own building after winning game 7 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
6-Projects like this are incredibly good (maybe too much so) for learning who really supports you when it matters. I am incredibly thankful to my wife for being a cheerleader on days when this project made sense and more importantly on days when it did not. I am also thankful for all of the people who stood up in June and since then when I asked for help. I am forever grateful.
5-I forgot how much I loved Arturs Irbe. Writing the 50+ player bios for bracket event churned up many a chain reaction of buried memories. He was a good player on two key teams, but more importantly I think his quirky, almost misfit, persona was nothing less than perfect for a hero at those early stages of Hurricanes hockey when the fan base and entire community was maybe a bit the same.
4-While part of it might be in hibernation right now, there is a tremendous core fan base that is incredibly passionate about Canes hockey. One of the my favorite experiences this summer was swapping a few emails with people who agreed to help, finishing an email with “What is your favorite Canes moment/game?” and then indulging in the fun of reading the responses.
3-My initial instinct that I needed to find web development help who was Canes-inclined and also understood and bought into the cause was right on. The willingness of Rob and Drago from Oak City Technology to go above and beyond and be flexible has put Canes and Coffee months ahead of where it would be without them and many $ ahead of what would have been possible without their generosity. If you happen upon OCT in your travels, please thank them for the contribution to Canes and Coffee’s early progress.
2-I cannot believe that there are not a dozen coffee-related sponsors banging down our door to be part of Canes and Coffee, join a great local grass roots story, and drive massive branding and sales gains for their coffee-related businesses. This makes figuring out how to fund next steps and even bigger dreams challenging, but then see #10 above.
1-The core of the Caniac Nation is strong and incredibly passionate. My hope is that this site can become part of keeping that strength and growing its size.
Thank you to everyone who helped over the summer! The best is yet to come!
Go Canes!
