Happy Purim (a week late)! Last week I performed at the annual Jewish celebration of Purim (one show was at a Synagogue, the other was at a community center). It was a really fun and interesting day for me since this was the first time I had performed for this particular celebration. The background for the celebration is the story of Esther in the bible and how she saved the Jewish people from annihilation by the hand of Haman. It's a fantastic historical story and you should read it if you haven't done so before.

Anyway, at the festival everyone dresses (almost like it's Halloween) and it's a very festive atmosphere. The thing that really stood out to me was that unlike costumes that you normally see, like witches and monsters, etc. There were a ton of kids dressed up like doctors, pilots and other professional jobs. Have you ever wondered that Jewish people, as a whole, make up a large percentage of these high end jobs even though they are only a small percentage of the total population? Alicia and I talked about this on our drive between the shows and we couldn't help but note the difference between the role models that Jewish families place in front of their kids and the rest of our society.

We need to change the role models that we present to our kids. We can't expect our kids to really achieve their potential if the only people they have to look up to are actors (with their extremely dysfunctional lives, marriages, drug problems, etc.), musicians (many with the same issues), and athletes. Now don't misunderstand me, there are some very good examples in each of these categories that would make great role models, but generally speaking, they aren't the type of people that exude proper behaviors that successful people need to emulate. Why not, instead, let your kids look up to someone like Warren Buffett or Winston Churchill. Or maybe we should promote careers that will require our kids to aspire to something truly great, like a pilot or a doctor.

You may agree with me or not, but you can't argue with success, Jewish families obviously know something that many of us in this country have lost and instead of criticizing them and demonizing their success, why don't we try and emulate them since they have a long track record of coming out on top.

Every once in a while a newspaper will show up and do an article on me. Most of the time they're local papers and I rarely get a copy unless I stay close by. However, with the internet it is sometimes possible to find the articles and I just came across one from December when I was in Spokane, WA. You can read the whole article by Clicking Here. The article itself was on a local jump rope club in the Spokane Area, but they did mention me because I performed at one school that was involved with the club. Below are the relevant segments from the article.

Seven-time world champion jump-roper Peter Nestler performed Friday at Balboa Elementary in North Spokane to help that school's jump-rope club keep up momentum.

He told the captivated grade-school audience that he started jump-roping in 1987, when he was in second grade. By the end of third grade, he was a world champion.

Practice and work hard, Nestler said, and "you can do anything you want."

"That was cool," said Jake Healy, a fourth-grader and a member of Balboa's club. Healy says he likes to jump-rope because "it's fun. ... I mostly do it for my muscles and the activity."

I just spent 5,000 miles flying round trip to eat some pancakes at Pancake Pantry in Nashville. Before you pack your bags and head to the airport to follow my stellar example, I need to point out that this wasn't planned. Don't get me wrong, if ever there was a breakfast place deserving of hours of flying, it just might be Pancake Pantry, the food was stellar, but I am a bit too frugal to make that kind of trip.

I was scheduled to do a show in Kentucky last night. I caught a midnight flight out of San Francisco, connected in Cincinnati and ended up in Nashville around 9AM. I met up with a friend of mine at PP, sat around talking for a bit, had a most excellent breakfast then got ready to head out. I had checked directions before my trip on g**gle and he punched it up on his iphone to double check that I was going to the right place. The drive time was consistent with what they had told me on the phone so I headed out. Right before I got to my destination, I called the organiser and told her where I was. She paused for a moment and said, "you're on the other side of Kentucky". I stopped the car, and asked if she was kidding...no. Now I'm in trouble. It turns out that g**gle sent me to the wrong part of Kentucky and now I'm 4 hours from where I'm supposed to be and the show is supposed to start in 1.5 hours.

Obviously I was sunk with no hope of getting there in time. We tried to work out an alternative for later that night or today, but nothing would work. We decided that it would be best to reschedule for next year. LAME!! I am so embarrassed and feel terrible for all the kids that were coming out on a Saturday night to see the show would be left with a hastily thrown together alternative. Sometimes depending exclusively on technology will come back to bite you, yesterday was that day for me. Thanks g**gle.

I ended up driving back to Nashville, slept and caught a 5:50 flight back to San Fran. All I have from this trip is a lesson learned about directions, and a really good, albeit the most expensive breakfast (thanks to a rental car and flight) I've ever had. However, all is not lost, there were 2 interesting things that happened/I noticed while gone.

1. When I got off the plane in Cincinnati, the pilot was standing there adiosing the passengers when he looked at me and said, "Peter?" I looked at him and thought, man he looks familiar. "I'm on your newsletter, I'm one of the coaches from a team near here." Suddenly it clicked, I had met him in North Carolina at a camp and had seen him at a few different events over the years. We talked for a minute before I headed off for my connection. What a small world we live in.
2. The line for Pancake Pantry is longer than the security line at the airport. Yes it's true, there is a line that takes longer than the TSA. PP is one of the most popular joints I've ever been to, I believe that the average wait is over an hour, which I can attest to. The food is good and you should check it out if you're ever in the area, unless you've got the spare dough to make a trip across the country for a great meal. Deep down, maybe that was the real reason for my trip all along.

Every once in a while Alicia or I will overhear a comment after a show as we're tearing down. The other day we performed at an all Kindergarten school in Kansas. As we were packing, Alicia heard one little boy tell another, "He stole all my moves, now what am I going to do?" I guess I somehow destroyed his evil plan to take over the world through jump rope. Normally I feel that students walk away inspired, but for this little guy...I'll let you be the judge.

Ok, so I was driving between schools about 2 weeks ago. We were out in the middle of nowhere in Kansas. During a lull in the conversation with Alicia, I looked up and I saw something that honestly shocked me...camels...and zebras. And not just one or two, there was a herd of camels...and zebras out there grazing...in Kansas. Yeah, that's what I thought.

Alicia and I are planning on going to Africa next summer to teach some jump rope and I was really excited about possibly seeing a zebra while there, but my first viewing was in Kansas. Oh well, it just goes to show that if you travel a lot and keep your eyes open, you never know what you're going to see. No matter where you live, take a drive sometime and keep your eyes open, you might see something new!

Yes, you read that right. While in New Zealand I had the opportunity to put on a quick demo in the crater of an active marine volcano. Alicia and I went out to White Island Volcano last Sunday. It's about 90 minutes by boat to the island from Whakatane, which I must admit isn't my favorite mode of transportation. I was very grateful to finally get off the boat and onto solid, albeit steamy, ground. From what they told us it's the only active marine volcano in New Zealand and boy was it neat!

Before the tour we requested to do a few "odd" pictures while on the island. We went out with the first landing group and about half way through the tour, surrounded by steaming thermal vents, I busted out my rope and did a short demo for the group that was with us...sort of. Actually I went aside and had Alicia take some photos of me jumping, but the group watched most everything so it ended up being a short demo. After that everyone in the group kept asking who I was and what I did for a living, it was quite fun. We got on the boat as a quiet couple (me being the green faced guy trying not to puke) and came back with everyone chatting us up. Very awesome experience.

One quick note here: in case you ever want to try doing this, it's impossible to breath! I have pretty good oxygen delivery in my system from all my jumping, but after 5 minutes breathing in thick, thermally heated air, I was about to pass out. I don't think I've ever been that out of breath in my life. It was a crazy feeling (I do have asthma so that probably made matters doubly worse for me).

It's been quite a while since I last posted to this and for good reason. I've been busy. I am currently in Sydney, Australia and will be here for another 10 days before heading over to New Zealand for the first time ever (yeah!). I'll be posting a few things I've learned from some of my experiences sometime in the near future, but I wanted to give a quick tour of what I've been doing since I got here.

I started the tour in Blayney then quickly headed to Cowra then Wagga Wagga (one student I talked with told me that Wagga was such a hole that it echoed, I thought it was a neat town). After a few days I zipped over to Canberra (the capital of Australia), back to Cowra, then back to Canberra where I caught a flight to Brisbane. I toured around Brisbane for about a week then went to the Gold Coast for the Australian Nationals. As soon as those finished, I caught a flight to Cairns then drove to Townsville, Airlie Beach, Rockhampton, the Sunshine Coast and back to Brisbane. I took a train south and headed to Brunswick Head and then caught a flight back to Sydney where I am today.

Needless to say, it's been a busy trip with LOTS of driving (almost feels like I'm back home and actually working or something). While at the Nationals tournament I was asked to fill in for an injured kid and ended up doing 5 team events for them. In the end I won 2 medals (my first ever Australian medals, and probably my last since I don't really qualify as an Australian). I also did a demo at a concert for Blue Juice. They have a song in the Australian top 40 and the music video was done about rope jumping. It looks like I'll be performing at the album launch next week also, which should be neat. I've done around 20 shows so far and had the chance to visit a rainforest, snorkel, scuba dive and visit the set of the next Chronicles of Narnia movie (Voyage of the Dawntreader).

Anyway, that's all the time I have for now. I will be starting my school tour as soon as I get back in early October. I will then be flat out (to use my newly learned Australian term for really busy) until next August. Doesn't that sound fun? Like I said, I'm going to put some thoughts down here sometime soon on things that I've learned/done while out and about.

I am finally on my way home! After months of non-stop travel, I have one flight left and then a 10 hour drive, but at least that's it for a while. Last week I spent a couple days near Asheville, NC and while flipping through a tourist magazine, I saw an add that really stood out to me. A guy holding a unicycle and standing in the woods. I stared at the picture and thought, "I know this guy". Sure enough, when I looked at the bottom it was Dan Heaton. Last year sometime Columbia Sportswear signed a sponsorship deal with him and have been using his awesome unicycling skills as part of their outdoor clothing campaign. Good for him!

If you've seen Revolve, you'll probably recognize the name as well. I was visiting a friend near Seattle when I gave him a call and he was kind enough to do a segment for that video while I was out riding with him. While there, I had a couple tricks that I had been working on, but just couldn't seem to get. I asked him and in a few short minutes he showed me what I was doing wrong and how to fix it. Boom, I got them. Never underestimate the value of asking for help.

I think it's part of human nature to be proud. You're proud of your child, or your team or your job. It isn't something that you have to learn from anyone, it's just there. Pride can be a good thing, but it can also hold you back from achieving your dreams. So many people naturally have this proud attitude that says I'm too good to learn from anyone. They act like they know it all, and will go to great lengths to prove that they can do it all on their own. I honestly thought that if I learned the basics, I could figure out all the hard stuff on my own. Don't get me wrong, it will usually work if you stick with it...but you will waste an exorbitant amount of time figuring out how to do something. I would have eventually gotten the tricks I was working on, but Dan helped me leap frog hours of practice because he could already do it.

Be willing to ask for help, don't let your pride get in the way of you accomplishing something amazing today! No matter how good you get, there's always something that you can learn. It's easy to ask when you're just getting started, but when you're at that in between stage, that's usually when you need the most help and you're least likely to ask...get over it! Ask away! I'm amazed at how much I still learn about jump rope from little kids. I've been jumping 2-3 times longer than they've been alive, but they still can teach me stuff. You'll find that people are always flattered and willing to help if you're not too proud to ask. Give it a try, you will be amazed at how much you can learn and how far that will take you.

The preferred method to pay for bridges and roads in the East must be tolls. I have spent a ridiculous amount of money on them over the past couple weeks and the states of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania should send me some cookies for my support...or maybe they already have. For some reason, a fair share of the last few trips through a toll both has been a source of great excitement in my truck. You see, I have a giant Schnoodle that travels with me and a good portion of toll booths notice her head trying to squeeze out the window every time I roll it down. As they hand me a receipt, there has been some dog treats that come along with it. The frequency has been enough that my dog has come to love tolls. Whenever I slow and roll down the window she is practically jumping out to get to the treats. An expectation has been created for her.

I'd love to say that she is always rewarded for her expectation, but unfortunately not every toll booth is that nice. However, I think it serves to illustrate the point that having high expectations is a great way to live life. How many times have you found yourself down and depressed because you don't think there's anything to do, or worse, to live for. You mope around, go to a job you hate, drudge through your workout and eventually go to bed. That is not the way to live. Take a cue from Wookiee (my dog).

If you've found yourself in a rut and need a way out, try to find a simple reward that you get every time you do a specific thing. Take your workout for example. If you've been dreading the gym and started to miss out, find a simple reward that you can get excited about and do it after your workouts. Maybe it's a smoothie, or a small ice cream or...whatever. Find something that is a reward and get it after you finish your time at the gym. After a short time you'll find that an expectation is built for the reward that makes the workout that much more bearable. Have some fun in life and mix things up. Life isn't meant to be a depressing thing that you just have to do. It's easy to get caught up in the constant bad news that's spewed out by the media. Turn it off and find something that builds some excitement in you.

I always like to promote jump rope as a great exercise that you can do. It gets your endorphins cranking, allows you to be creative and can be a lot of fun once you get into it. Expect a great week, then make it happen.

About 2 weeks ago I knocked off 2 more states from my "Haven't Performed List" and boy were they beautiful. I went up to Massachusetts and performed at a middle school and a few elementary schools before heading into New Hampshire. I've heard for years that New England has some great scenery and it was nice to finally put that to the test. There was still some hard packed snow on the ground (much to the joy of my dog who is a snow fanatic) and the weather was in the mid-50's. Every school I performed for was great and I really enjoyed my time up there.

With the amount I travel I'm often asked if I get bored doing it. I must admit that there are certain areas I would care to never see again (I have to include LA, NYC and Chicago strictly due to the fact that I HATE sitting in traffic with my 1 ton dually truck, the people are awesome and I have a great time at the schools, but I can't stand the traffic and parking). But all in all I find that seeing new areas constantly piques my interest. I really love to travel. To really get the most out of a trip, though, there are a couple things that you need to do, here are my top 3.

1. Bring the right stuff

   If you spend your entire trip shopping for things that you should have brought with you, you're wasting your trip and you're losing precious time that should be spent seeing the sights

2. Plan...but be flexible

   I've been around a few people over the years that have every moment of a trip planned out, talk about a lame vacation! They're more worried about a time table then actually seeing things. Have an idea what you would like to see, but be flexible on how long and when you actually do them. Certain things require you to buy tickets, that's an obvious time thing, but others need not be so stringent. Last year was the first time my wife and I visited NYC together. She wanted to see the Statue of Liberty. We got tickets went out and...we were quite disappointed. Every movie and tv show make it out to be huge, we were shocked at how small it is, plus when we took the inside tour, you're not allowed into the statue anymore. Needless to say it was not what we expected and shortened our planned tour of the statue. Instead we went out and saw other areas of New York that had much more interest to us.

3. Attitude is everything

   Maui was my final family trip growing up. My two brothers decided that they were going to fight pretty much the whole time we were there and my parents officially decided that was it for us. We've all seen kids/teens ruin a family vacation because they want it to be 'just another stupid family trip', so they make it one. As we get older, it's funny how we don't realize that many of us continue to carry a negative attitude into trips/vacations we take. We subconsciously ruin many trips because we are mad at our spouse or we're having a bad day, etc. Make up your mind to enjoy yourself. Don't allow trivial things that would set you off at home to interfere with your trip. Make a conscious effort to be more forgiving, more relaxed and DON'T STRESS OUT! As I travel around I see way too many stressed people yelling at their kids as they rush to see one more thing. Relax and enjoy yourself, trips are supposed to be relaxing, not to burn you out so you're more tired when you get home.

That's it for my major tips on travel. There are plenty more that I could share, but I'm sure you have plenty of other things you could be doing rather than reading this.

Now if I could only get to Vermont, Maine and Louisiana...

A few weeks ago when I met up with Tim Hannig and he was showing Alicia and I some tricks (I also did a quick demo for his kids), we also had the opportunity to sit down and share a number of marketing ideas. We both shared what has worked for us, what hasn't and what some ideas for the other would be. Networking is important!

It's funny how often businesses try to operate in secret so that nobody will know what they're up to. Don't tell, they'll steal our ideas...or something along that line. I hate to break it to you, you're missing out. If you operate in a bubble you miss out on a ton of ideas that could take you further than you could ever go on your own. I'm not saying to meet up with your arch business rival and share a cup of tea and lay out exactly what you're doing, but try to network with similar people and help each other out. I got some great ideas from Tim that I will be putting into place and I shared with him a few things that have worked for me and it looks like he's taken those into account.

Back when I was competing, we would go to Colorado every year for the IRSO (International Rope Skipping Organization) camp and championship. The competition was always tense and tough, but the thing we always looked forward to was the camp afterward. We would spend a few days sharing what we had made up that year and learning from others what they were doing. It was a great opportunity to compete, but at the same time learn. I wouldn't be nearly as good of a rope jumper today if it wasn't for those years spent at camp. Don't be afraid to share what you can do. It will help others and you'll find that you will learn from them and improve yourself. Avoid the secrecy bubble, it will limit your potential.

Last weekend I stayed with an old friend of mine, Tim Hannig. I've known him for quite a few years as he does quite a few school assemblies annually. His show incorporates some illusions, magic and audience participation. While we were there, he showed Alicia and I some card tricks and I always find it fascinating how they are done. I met up with master magician Daniel Garcia a couple months ago and I couldn't help but be impressed as he showed some different illusions to a small group of us. As impressed as I am with how they are done, I know that they are an illusion and are just a trick. I personally don't care how they do them, I enjoy being fooled, but there's still a trick to how it's done. I did learn how one illusion was done and once you know the trick, it loses a certain part of the mystery, which is why I'm happy not knowing.

Over the years I've found that most people refer to what I (or others) do with a jump rope as a 'trick'. Nothing could be further from the truth. There's no trick to what's being done, it's all skill. Almost everything that I've learned to do with a jump rope has taken lots of time and practice to do. There's no back door, no illusion, it's really being done. In fact, most of the time after I explain how a 'trick' is done, people realize that it's harder than it looks. **Note** I know that doing illusions properly takes a ton of skill and practice and I fully appreciate what goes into doing one.

If you want to jump rope properly, don't look for the easy way out. Any shortcuts you take in learning to jump will come back to haunt you as you learn more difficult skills. Jump rope is a skill and the neat thing about skills is that you earn each new 'trick', nobody is giving it to you, you're earning it. You now own that skill.

Skill or trick? With jump rope there's only one option.