Coach Bill / Dad, Entrepreneur Special Educator, American Political Scientist, Writer, Musician.

Tio Guillo would steer the ship and Tia Rosi and I would follow his directives. Back then the boat was smaller, way smaller. It was called, Memo, which is a nickname for Guillermo (William). The cockpit was small, not like the newer, custom sailboat he roams the seas on now. This guy is a sailor’s sailor if there ever was one. Tio Guillo knows how to be both gentle and strong as the moments call for them and he has the respect and love of all who know him. Just like Boaz in the bible, Guillo is known by the ‘elders at the entering of the ‘city gates,’’ his good works walk before him, his eyes look straight ahead and his wife adores him. I think of my uncle and I realize how much I love the guy and why I love him. It is not so much the mass of our conversations, but the time we spent with each other. The time he afforded me with him. He took me under his wing and his impression on my life has emphasized the value of honesty, grit and goal-directed persistence in being t...

Jose Gustavo Ramirez, a father with one daughter, a thirty-six year old waterman, entrepreneur and consummate sailor operates as a pirate full-time off the coast of eastern Puerto Rico. His pirate ship Mirili, can be often seen and reported with prisoners on-board between the waters of the U.S & British Virgin Islands.  Mr. Ramirez, speaks three languages fluently, was born and raised in Puerto Rico by a Cuban mother and a Puerto Rican father and is a master chef.  A surfer’s surfer, Jose has traveled the world extensively and repetitively living in faraway lands, surfing seemingly impossible mammoth waves, and parachute jumping as a master of the air with his wing suit, allowing him to move horizontally at over 170 miles per hour. Be it living in Indonesia, or surfing in New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, Costa Rica, or across the United States, Jose has been there, skied it or worked it as a sushi chef, surf contest camera man, or expert wing suit glider. ...

Five hundred years ago, Christopher Columbus, from Italy, set out on the Santa Maria with two Spanish captains who are maternal ancestors of mine, the Alonso Brothers. They commanded La Nina and La Pinta across the Atlantic Ocean. The three captains and their valiant crew went southwest on adventure for many months to what was hoped to be a new land to them and not the end of earth as many at that time forecasted.  Nothing was sure. This was the first time anything like this had been attempted before across the widest expanse of the Atlantic.  They made it though. They set out on an adventure into the unknown with only the wind pushing their sails being certain. Skateboarding is like that. When you are able to skate the bowls at a skate park, a sense of adventure is attained. It is an epic moment between hesitancy and commitment as the body and mind commit to dropping-in effortlessly and doing all the needed functional balance adjustments to skate down the wall s...

When I was a young boy, my Uncle Guillo, a consummate sailor’s sailor took me under his wing.  Off we would go on sailing adventures, sometimes through storm, sometimes by night, but always to paradise. It was clear that he was the ‘Capitan’ of the ship, I was one of his mates, happy as a fly on apple pie. Out at sea, everything is restricted and unleashed at the same time. The constant motion of the bobbing sailboat, the tacking and the jiving, the occasional command by Guillo..Hour after hour, wave after wave, making slight course directions here and there, Guillo brought the boat safely to its destination expertly every time. Confident and spilling grit by the way side, ‘Tio’ mastered the depths of the sea like a seasoned poet with vision and purpose drops words on a page. My heart and his heart are intertwined. A part of him lives in me a part of me lives in him. He knows this…Young at heart and always with a quick reassuring phrase to make you smile. That is my Uncle Gu...

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment. Buddha The decisions you make every moment tend to lead to action and non-action. Regardless, of what decisions or choices you are typically known to make. Regardless of how long you have done things a certain way, it is possible to come to terms with the understanding that right here, right now, you are free to make different decisions, thereby possibly embarking on the new you? Are you feeling like a victim? Maybe you are. I am not here to talk about why you may/ may not be a victim. Maybe you are being teased, bullied, slandered. Maybe your being shunned, excluded, purposefully unappreciated. That can definitely get anyone 'down,' and feeling kind of 'dark gray.' If you are such a person, or if you are the parent, older family member, or teacher,  of someone in this situation, please experiment with these guidelines. Make a daily goals checklist identi...