I am tired. Tired of being admired… sorry, watched Blazing Saddles the other day. Actually, I’m tired from staying up late to watch the Bruins kick some Canuck butt last night. Very sorry if you’re Canadian. I was born in Canada, I like Canadians, but truth be told, the Bruins deserved to win.

Yeah, I said it. If there was karma at play, then it was wearing black and yellow. Trash talk, thuggish behavior and soccer-style theatrics can get you to the playoffs, but if you want to win, you should shut your mouth and play the game.

One of my favorite quotes is from artist Chuck Close, “Inspiration is for amateurs. I just get to work.” I’ve got it on a sticky note on my desk for those days when I am staring at the blank page, overwhelmed. I can’t say that every time I fight through the inertia and write something or design something that it’s brilliant. Quite often it’s crap. But crap is fertilizer for beautiful things, right?

Building this site this week has forced me to go through years of work, PDFs, printed pieces, illustrations, some photography, trying to figure out what to showcase here. Day to day it doesn’t feel like I accomplish much, sometimes it’s all busy work and invoices, but spreading five years of my life on a desk and taking it all in, I’m amazed how it all adds up.

Bruins’ goalie, Timmy Thomas, is a great example of that ethos. He wasn’t always a star player, he put in a lot of time playing for minor league teams, playing in Europe, trying to find his place in hockey. He was 28 before he was signed to the NHL, an old man by hockey standards. But he kept showing up, he just got to work. And last night, at 37, he was the oldest man to ever win the Conn Smythe trophy for Stanley Cup series MVP.

Talk is cheap. Persistence pays. Time to get to work.