Blog Archives

My Brother's Funeral

4/25/2012

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you for your calls, e-mails and cards on the sudden demise of our beloved Christopher Marston.

The Funeral arrangements are as follows:

The viewing and Rosary will be at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012 at St. Johns Catholic Church, 264 E. Lewelling Blvd.,San Lorenzo, CA 94580.

The Funeral Mass will be 10 a.m. on Thursday, May 3rd, 2012 at St. Johns Catholic Church, 264 E. Lewelling Blvd.,San Lorenzo, CA 94580. The phone number for St. John's Church is 510-351-5050.

The burial will follow at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery at 1051 Harder Road, Hayward, CA 94542. The phone number for Holy Sepulchre Cemetery is (510) 581-2488

Funeral arrangements are made by: Holy Angels Funeral & Cremation Center, 1051 Harder Road, Hayward, CA 94542.

Thank you.

The Marston Family.

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Yesterday My Brother Died

4/22/2012

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My 54 year-old brother collapsed and died at the gym as he was working out with his wife. Now the shock is turning to sorrow and contemplation.

Today I find myself questioning my own mortality. I have heard many people say that ‘Life is short’ and that is true. What I am thinking about today though is how suddenly life can end. Death has no regard for your plans, your future, your dreams and goals!

Do we have a predetermined amount of time on this earth?

Is our final times written in some book somewhere?

In Greek mythology Atropos or Aisa was the oldest of the Three Fates, and was known as the "inflexible" or "inevitable." It was Atropos who chose the mechanism of death and ended the life of each mortal by cutting their thread with her "abhorred shears." She worked along with her two sisters, Clotho, who spun the thread, and Lachesis, who measured the length.

For me my brother’s death – he was just a year younger than me – creates massive urgency in my mind to get more done, get more accomplished and fill my life with more memorable moments.

Not sure if I can live every day like it is my last but I am contemplating the concept.

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I Like a Great Story!

4/12/2012

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This is such an awesome story that gives humanity hope that good people and their good deeds can go viral. I like what is happening in this story: http://www.wisecraks.com/2012/04/coffee-shop-where-everyone-pays-for.html

Plus there are a lot of great Little Ideas that you can read about on my other blog and then go act on it.

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Entrepreneurial Reading

4/1/2012

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It's a lazy sunny Sunday as I sit on a patio chair reading the March 2012 issue of Inc magazine. Most of the articles are on entrepreneurship which has me reminiscing about my startups and my journey into Silicon Valley with my first tech company.

One of the first things I encountered was the huge difference in the mentality of Angel investors and Venture Capitalists here in Calgary, Canada and those I was meeting and presenting to in the Valley. In Calgary they wanted to know how much of our own money we had put in and even then they wanted to own most of the company.

In the awesome Inc. article on Howard Tullman, the manic super entrepreneur and investor who has a dizzying array of accomplishments, says it best. The entrepreneur's stake in a startup should be his time, and only his time. "This idea that you have to go into hock and mortgage your home and starve is bullshit," says Tullman. "I tell entrepreneurs this all the time. If these VCs' come along and say 'Would you work for $5?' find different partners."

As I continue my entrepreneurial reading I come across another article on the file-sharing startup, YouSendIt.com and the nightmare the founders went through. If you think all Silicon Valley startup stories are magically uplifting, they're not. In this one the VC's really screwed the founders bringing in $5 Million and leaving the founders with 3% each even though the company had over a million dollars in earnings that year.

I call it stealing the souls of the creators. They then fired the founders as YouSendIt went from 300,000 users to 100,000. Beware, startup entrepreneurs! It might be better to continue to toil in the Valley of Darkness than sell you soul to the devil.

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Allan Marston

I have written many blogs over the years so I am going to keep this one as my way of keeping in touch with my friends.

Allan Marston

Create Your Badge

The Secret Killer

Find out what it is before it kills you and your loved ones and what you can do about it.

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