by Zo (that’s me at the bottom with the hat)

1. Bob Marley – no, we didn’t smoke pot. It was a cruddy, rainy day and we’d gotten a couple crummy emails from people and all of a sudden Sun is Shining came on the radio. And, we decided, yes, the sun is shining. Somewhere. Things aren’t so bad and we always seem to find the silver lining in the clouds.

2. Jackie Chan – because he does his own stunts, and because he made a trilogy! Latest installment = Rush Hour III.

3. Jackie Chan – the horse. Getting away from the computer to go wrestle with and not get killed by a 1,300 pound animal makes us feel successful and fearless. It also gives the brain a chance decompress and to come up with new ideas. Plus, we get to laugh when he eats bananas with the peels on.

4. Lance Armstrong – we watched the Tour de Georgia (yay!! we took that picture to the right!) as it came through town and were inspired to think about taking up road biking again. So, now we have a couple bike magazines in the office. And next to a picture of a very determined looking Mr. Armstrong, we saw this quote:

“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.”

We weren’t dealing with the kind of pain you might experience while climbing “Col de Grosse Pierre” (Big Stone Pass if your French is a little rusty), but it was the perfect storm of pain caused by writer’s block, technology bugs and squelchers all occurring simultaneously. So, we pedaled on and in the coming weeks we will let you know what the pain was replaced with.

5. Creative Block by Lou Harry. We consider him a pal after our chat with him. He is heeee-larious. And, unstoppable. The man is an idea machine. And, he brings each idea to life with enthusiasm. (Apologies for not having the link handy, we will post the link to that interview ASAP, or you can search the blog for “Lou Harry.”)

Once we were done whooping it up at our pity party (hence the party hat), we were able to get recharged and inspired from some unexpected sources.

What do you use to get out of a rut and get refocused?