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.jpg) Personal page crew member: Leo (aka "Hawk")
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Hello and welcome to my personal pages
Something about me
Nationality: Born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands (Holland)
Home town of the soccer team Feyenoord
Current nationality: Canadian
I am Leo. An adventurer, entrepreneur, philosopher, self proclaimed
musicoholic, creative designer.
I was born and raised in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, home to one of
the busiest shipping ports in the world. Even as a child, I was
always ready to buck the trend. If I wanted to do something or had
an idea, often times adults said, “That’s not the way it’s done” or
“Nobody does it like that”. I questioned this “wisdom” and said “Why
not?”. To this very day, when someone says to me “That’s not how
it’s done” or “It’s never been done that way” I still say “Why not?”
and follow my instincts.
This axiom and belief has carried me forward to where I am today.
Living a dream, travelling on my sailboat, “retired” from the rat
race. I was never one for following trends and walking in line with
the lemmings. As Frank Sinatra said “I did it my way”.
Why do you call yourself a philosopher?
I love to watch and study people. Not what they wear, what the buy,
what they drive, but the actual people behind the façade. This is
the basis for anyone interested in people, their actions, what they
do and why. The Dreamers, the Do’ers, the Backstabbers, the Weasels…
People, both old and young, need to stop worshipping and idolizing
movie stars, musicians & sports figures and start idolizing the
people that make a difference. It is the people that are around us,
the people that have accomplished something, the neighbor that
volunteers - these are the people we should be role-modeling.
I look around me at people and wonder where humankind has gone
wrong. We have more conveniences than ever, incredible knowledge at
our fingertips, the ability to travel and explore the other side of
our planet at the drop of a hat, yet we are negative and miserable.
News stories tell of the negative, radio tells of the negative, your
neighbor repeats the negative. This is a dangerous, self fulfilling
trend that has to stop!
How many people actually get out to be with friends and meet new
people? They sit inside behind their computer, Facebooking,
Twittering, emailing - always hidden behind a screen, never having
to “deal” with another person face-to-face. Don’t be afraid of what
you do in public, Life has no “Undo” - you don’t need it.
What do you do on the boat?
I love to create and design. Much of my creative talent is used
designing and creating on the computer. It is unfortunate that a
tool as incredible and powerful as a computer is often a source of
aggravation. Whether it is a(nother) Windows 7 glitch or a
completely unintuitive workflow pattern in an Adobe product these
things are aggravating and impact creative potential. However as
humans we are more resilient than machines. I get over these
irritations and begin to let the creative juices flow, sometimes
spending hours on a single design until it has reached my acceptable
level of perfection. That’s just me!
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Where does all your music come from?
As a musicoholic I love music. From the time I wake up until I go to
bed, I need to have music playing. Most of my personal music collection
has been digitized and is onboard the sailboat. At last count I have
over 18,000 music tracks on my computer! As for the trends of music, I
find that this too is loosing the individuality that is affecting people
on their computers. I love music from all parts of the world and think
the greatest travesty of music in North America is the need to
Pigeon-hole the music. This is Country - you can only play it on a
Country station. This is rock - you can only play it on a Rock station.
This is Easy Jazz - you can only play that on an Easy Jazz station. This
is totally wrong. Music should be mixed. Music should play with your
emotions. Let the music lift your emotion, raise your blood pressure,
build to a crescendo and then start to let you down slowly. Ease things
off, slow it down, relax -- and then start all over again. In my teen
years I used to create mixed music collections on reel to reel for
business and bars. Using the music, I would slowly build it up all night
until it reached the peak and, as things were winding down and patrons
starting to leave, the music has also slowed down.
This is what music should do. Music needs to be individual, Music needs
to be fresh, it needs to have a life and existence of it’s own - not
drone on from one song to the next!
 How
did you get where you are?
Being entrepreneurial and opportunistic from a young age has served me
well. I always look to see what somebody else missed. A niche that isn’t
being serviced. A market that has room for expansion. These are the
things I look for and, following my instincts, I know what to jump on
and when. All of my companies to date and into the future provide real
services, honest information, no fine print - actually treating people
like I want to be treated.
Travelling on the sailboat has been one of the most rewarding things in
my life. I love going to different places, meeting new people, having
new experiences, broadening my horizons. The trip to Alaska has taken
longer than expected, but with such beauty I can’t just rush through. I
like to visit new places and explore them to the fullest. For me,
travelling is not about going somewhere, snapping a few photos and
name-dropping on the website - it’s about embracing what I see and
getting the most out of it. The photos capture only the visual portion
of any experience. It is being in that spot, at that time that makes it
complete. I tell people “Don’t live through images on your computer
screen, open the front door, walk outside and live through yourself!”
Do you have any advice on life?
I have tried to inspire people to do what I’ve done. Get off the couch,
Go out, Explore, Live. In the book I am writing “Lemmings 101”, I talk
about life and living and how the two fit hand in hand. Forget the
templates of life, the big screen TV, the brand name clothing, the new
car every two years, the “new” thing at Costco that every has to have.
Be unique and individual.
 That is it.
We are not couch potatoes.
We are not whiners.
We do not blame anyone else for our situation
I am living my dreams.
I am “Exploring to inspire…”
I am a Mad Dog
Go out and explore!!
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How do we pay our bills? Follow link to find out more
My hobbies: Marketing,
Graphics,
Photography,
Diving,
Sailing,
Music
& Exploring Nature,
Photo restoration (incl slides & negatives)
Some of my favorite photos:
1.
Follow this link to view my favorite photos
2.
Photos of me and Dean in the Rocky Mountains in various winter seasons
3.
The photos of various vehicles I've owned through the years
Note:
All photos on the above pages were taken by myself in
various locations
throughout
the world
and in various years
My favorite music on our iPod
Top 100 "favorite" songs on our iPod player
Top
50 of my "Easy listening" selection on our iPod player |
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