The big news is that I’ve found a great team of people who want to change the world…

I’m so deep in Ruby on Rails web development right now that I’ve finally max’ed out the capabilities of the trusty iBook G4 I moved to Maui with – an 800 mhz computer. Jess has herself the same model, but it’s half a Gigahertz faster. So I just ordered one of the new 2 Ghz iMacs based off the Intel Core Duo processor… the top of the line consumer Mac available right now… 20″ screen, 1GB memory, 250GB hard drive. It ought to keep me happy for a couple of years at least! But that’s not the big news.

I’ve been working on Ruby on Rails web development projects for a company in Taiwan, a yoga studio here on Maui, and doing various other smaller web-related tasks for other companies. Recently I started contracting with a great Rails consultancy in the Northwest, and they’ve got using Basecamp down to a science. These together had come to the point of paying the bills without a ‘day job.’ I could have pursued all of these further and made a very good living for at least the next few months. But that’s not the big news.

The big news is that I’ve found a great team of people who want to change the world… not by developing the best bookmark manager or creating the next big thing in online address books, but by bringing together people interested in the spiritual life, in conscious living, in enlightened entrepreneurship, in communities of value, and by building the tools that help people succeed at making change happen in the world.

My job with this company will be to help the development team turn the vision of the company into reality. They’ve already got a great start, but the CEOs want me to hit the ground running. (They’re out here in Maui to enjoy the sun and brain-dump as much of their vision to me right now).

I’ll be developing in Ruby on Rails (I love it!), but more importantly, I’ll be able to take what I’ve learned about usability, about simplicity, about creating tools that really help people, and help craft an incredible machine for change.

I’m amazed at how this job will bring together so many elements that have gone into my life: Buddhism, yoga, philosophy… (even Ken Wilbur had a part way back when I lived in Atlanta and was on a mailing list called armchair-philosophers; and a significant number of KW enthusiasts comprise the initial rush of their site members), self-improvement, BFL (Shawn Philips, brother of the creator of the Body-for-Life program, is a member), and so much more of what’s important to me… and yet provide me with the ability to use the professional knowledge I’ve gained over the years.

Did I mention I get to work from Boston with a team of people from across the continent and even the world?

I’m so excited to be a part of this team; it’s a little intense, but I know I’m embarking on an incredible journey.

I bet you want to know who I’m talking about now, don’t you?

Alright. Go ahead. Sign up. Join the community I’m helping build at Zaadz! Psst… my profile is at “”http://jake.zaadz.com/":http://jake.gaia.com/">http://jake.zaadz.com/":http://jake.gaia.com/

P.S. It’s pronounced Z-ahhhhhh-dz; zaad is Dutch for ‘seed’!