The Importance Of Hobbies

Like so many others, I have developed a pretty extensive collection of hobbies in my short 27 years on earth. My most recent hobby -as readers of this blog are well aware – has been surfing and in the 2 short years that I have had it in my life it has become a pretty central passion, one that I hope proves to be more than a mere blip in the story of me. I was fortunate enough to get some time out in the water this weekend and as usual I found time to reflect on my own thoughts.

Each of my passions have either served as a teaching example for an important facet of life or provided me with a metaphor for life in general, allowing me the opportunity to pull out whatever lessons I was able to interpret. It dawned on me while surfing that this is likely the case for all of us and it is likely what encourages us to fixate on a small number of activities – sometimes so intensely that other areas of life are forgotten or ignored. I guess the reality is this: it is far easy to conquer a metaphor for life than life itself.

Likely born out of my passion to my hobbies, I have always felt like they presented a glimpse of life in general. With water polo it seemed pretty clear. Success was largely determined by the work that went in. Training was difficult but the rewards seemed to pay out. Like other team sports there was often that goal of achieving more as a team than the sum of the parts – that sneaking suspicion that a mystical energy can be created by the harnessing of individual talents into a team effort.

Of course, like so many things in life there were obvious problems. Some seemed to be blessed with far too much natural talent – and it frustrated me (and others) that what took us hours of hard work to achieve took others no more than minimal input. Later I learned that this is true of all things in life, although lately I have begun to question even that basic rule in the place of another: sometimes the people who seem to have it easiest face challenges and obstacles you could not begin to imagine.

Perhaps the most intruiging thing about water polo is that so much of the sport takes place out of the eyeline of others. Each player, just like each person in society, is faced with the dilemma of how far to push things in their favor against what the rules allow. Some take great liberties, others respect the game and the rules and stay within the boundaries of the game.  Just like in life, some of those that cheat get away with it and we learn that sometimes the “winners” often achieve that status through means that others would not even contemplate.

With any luck, in water polo or life in general you find your little niche and you determine your balance of hard work and payoff and of respect for the game and what falls in your favor. Happiness is relevant and some players are happy with one win – others only happy with 50 wins. I found similar feelings in surifng and perhaps that is what drew me to it.

I found water polo at a time in my life where I was attempting to learn what it took to be “successful” in life. How to get into a college, how to win a job, how to earn money etc. I suppose the lessons that water polo seemed to teach were particualiry apt for that time in my life and I imagine this was a large function of the pull I felt to the sport. Soon enough I realized that success and happiness were not necessarily the same thing and that among the lessons water polo provided there was no insight into the more meaningful areas of life. I am happy to say that surfing provides that.

There were many mornings – especially in the beginning – where it seemed exceptionally painful to pull myself out of a warm bed, jump into the freezing cold water, and get beat up by an endless barrage of waves. But every morning I got up and did it. I spent hours upon hours with my teeth chattering, my arms aching and tired, and my nose running – all for a few seconds of bliss. The more I practiced and the more work that went into my hobby then those seconds of bliss turned into minutes – but no matter how much improvement came the ratio of work to bliss stayed pretty top heavy. But that ratio is the same one we all face in life. We all spend our time paddling in the cold, putting ourselves through hardship just for chance of those few seconds of bliss: marriage, family vacations, holidays, grandkids and anything else that puts a smile on our face. Maybe we need the hardship to appreciate the bliss. Or maybe there is a spiritual presence in this world who just wants to see us earn it. Either way it seems to be a simple formula and ever since I began surfing I find myself far more accepting of all the paddling we have to do.

There was a time when I was starting out with surfing that I watched the professionals and the really good surfers catching waves and dreamed that one day that could be me. I was like the 18 year old kid who looked out and saw a whole world out there and decided that one day it would be his. But like so often in life, a couple of years in I have found my relative niche. I like my spot on the outside of the line-up. Enough waves to keep me happy, not so many that I have to sacrifice other areas of my life to keep up. I hope that’s a lesson I can always remember.

I don’t know what the future holds for me and my surfing passion. Perhaps other hobbies will present themselves or perhaps surfing will continue to provide the insight needed to make life seem easier. Either way, it has helped me recognize some very important lessons that I hope all eventually learn – through whatever means get them there. There is a whole ocean of experiences out there that we are all a part of. Sure, it may seem that some are catching more waves or perhaps lucky enough to find bigger waves but hopefully we can find peace in the waves we get. Surfing has helped me do that. Sometimes complicated things simply need to be broken down to a level where the answers are a little more obvious. Few things are as complicated as life; thankfully we have our hobbies there to make things seem just a little simpler.

Where Men Win Glory

As most of the people who read this blog are aware, I have been reading the new Jon Krakauer book, “Where Men Win Glory”, an in-depth account of the life of Pat Tillman. It is a fascinating book, obviously endowed in large part by the fascinating subject that Pat Tillman was. The book is both terribly tragic and terribly inspiring and it paints a picture of a complex man whose legacy has been largely shaped by people who had never met him. Krakauer’s reputation of accuracy and character development hold strong and what remains is a complete and honest portrayal of a remarkable man – one certainly worthy of a book. It is comprised of his journal entries, in-depth interviews with the people who knew him best, and interviews of eye-witnesses to the many phases of his life. While the book is essentially the story of a man, much of the focus is understandably on his participation and ultimate death in both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

I have acquaintences who are enlisted and have been deployed to battle. Thankfully, they have come back safe and frankly I have never had a conversation with them about their experiences, thoughts, or opinions. I have paid attention to the war but only superficially. The occasional article, documentary, or news segment. The 344 pages of “Where Men Win Glory” changed this though, giving me a human face to attach to the continuing conflict.

This got me thinking about how funny human nature is; that nothing becomes real until we experience it ourselves or through someone we feel close to. We formulate opinions with no true insight or experience yet we rigidly hold those opinions as fact – that is until someone close to us proves us wrong. I had my opinions on the war but the truth is that like so many others my opinions were based on assumptions and minimal knowledge. While I am opposed to war in general, I was exceptionally opposed to this one, a fact owing more to my own beliefs regarding the men in Washington who were pushing the war than any true understanding of the argument. I am not going to go into whether or not this book changed my position on this war (it did not). My blog entry goal is instead to discuss the thoughts I had as I closed the book and reflected upon what I had learned.

I am ashamed to discover how guilty I am of intellectual laziness. I took the easy way out, turned a few feelings into foundational assumptions, and put it to bed. We all do this I know, but this book reminded me that we can all be slapped in the face when and if we come across a human objection to our world view. We oppose illegal immigration until we meet an illegal immigrant and discover how honest, hard working, and genuine they might be. We oppose gay marriage until we meet our gay son’s boyfriend. We oppose stem cell research until one of our beloved is diagnosed with Alzheimers. The scary part of this is that most of us truly live our lives untouched by the very causes we fight for. We live in our safe bubbles avoiding the very experiences that could perhaps provide meaningful insight into the opinions we hold. I wonder how many people who fight on either side of the abortion debate have actually have been touched by abortion. Or how many people supporting or opposing a war have experienced it in a capacity deeper than print or visual media.

I understand the roots of this behavior. It is human nature to want to take sides and formulate opinions. Furthermore, policies cannot be established that take into account case-by-case basis’. And so we simplify, assume, extrapolate, and synthesize and eventually create our own beliefs based on what comes out. We carry along content and confident in our worlds so sure that our side is righteous. And then sometimes our world gets shaken – someone or something close to us comes and points out to us that that which we thought we knew is in fact far more complicated then we ever cared to discover. Some of us learn from this and we take our next steps in life far more curious, open-minded, and inquisitive than ever before. But many others do not learn this lesson. They remain detached and confident in their other views – certain that those assumptions are still fact despite evidence otherwise.

If nothing else this book reminded me that we do not know all that we think we do. We humans have been blessed with tremendous intellect and what I believe we owe in return is a commitment to challenge, question, explore, and learn. To never settle on opinions because we have seen a few supporting pieces of evidence. The world is an exceedingly complex place and it is increasingly difficult to fight the urge to make things black and white – it makes that complexity seem less daunting. But I hope we can all recognize that this results in flawed decision making and more importantly that someday we may find ourselves proven wrong by the very people and things closest to us. Pat Tillman unfortunately gave his life to learn this lesson. With any luck his story will prevent more from the same fate.

A Matter Of Perception

We live in contradictory times. On one hand, our technological and medical achievements continue to push the boundary of what even one previous generation thought possible. It astounds me to think that within my relatively short lifetime we lived without innovations like the internet, hybrid cars, GPS navigation systems, and countless more that make you realize  the exponential rate of human achievement. Yet in the face of these breakthroughs it makes you wonder why is it pretty much universally agreed that we are living amongst the dumbest generation in American history?

Nine year olds may be able to edit and upload their own videos to their Facebook pages yet I don’t think I have a single friend who could explain the technology behind the internet. Or the video camera for that matter.  And believe it or not I have some smart friends. Perhaps this is the downside to all of this innovation. A few very smart people have made things so easy for the masses that the masses are at this point incapable of their own innovative thinking.

Recently I have been reading the essay “The Doors of Perception” by Aldous Huxley. Published  in 1954, the essay tells the story of the author’s one-time experimentation with the hallucinogenic drug mescaline. I cannot say what sparked the Author’s experiment other than basic curiosity. But I do get the idea that part of his goal was to expand his realm of perception and consciousness and perhaps explore areas of his own brain that had laid dormant for many years. This of course was years before the tune in and drop out culture of the sixties making this pretty revolutionary experimentation.

What I took from his work is this: Despite our own narcissistic beliefs, we are all nothing more than animals. As such our minds have evolved in the same way as all other animals with the one golden rule of survival at all costs. Huxley makes the case that the animal brain is not by function a tool for exploration but a filter. The primary function of the brain is to take the infinite stimulus all animals experience and filter it down to what the animal needs to understand and be aware of for survival. Anything more is a waste of precious energy and is therefore ignored, at least by the conscious mind. Obviously the information necessary for survival varies from animal to animal and species to species but the overall pattern is the same. Essentially, there is an unbelievable amount of things that our mind is intentionally not perceiving due to the  lack of relevancy they may have to our attempts to stay alive.

A few pieces of experience Huxley shares: The author writes of seeing colors in a new and different way – reds were not just red – they were varying degrees of red. This is a perfect example. Our mind needs to process colors for various reasons related to survival but it does not need to go any further than basic distinction. Red not blue etc. So the many shades of red – shades that are perceptible to the mind – become filtered down in to a much smaller number forever altering the perception of that color. The author further goes on to share his overwhelming perception of oneness, the idea that all of mankind is connected and that it is merely perception that makes us appear as isolated islands. This may sound like a lot of kumbaya but through the context of his argument it does make sense. Perceiving that connection with fellow humans would cause us to potentially bring our guard down. Not to mention the fact that in no way does feeling connected energetically or spiritually to all other persons contribute to our survival skills.

Ultimately, the author’s thesis is that our brain is a tool of minimization and not maximization; that our biological predisposition is to only process and utilize as much information as we need to ensure survival and continuation of the human species. What does this have to do with the dumbest generation in American history? Well, using the theory of Huxley, now more than ever our brain has the luxury of filtering out more and more information. We as a species abandoned survival skills like hunting, gathering, structure building etc. many years ago in favor of a new set of survival skills – namely how to survive in a complex economic world where often it is brain and not brawn that determines survival. So our minds have now learned to filter out all non-vital stimulus and focus on what information we need to get by. Take the earlier example of the uploading of videos onto the internet. Five years ago or so, many people throughout the country were paid handsomely by companies who needed to upload videos on to the internet. Now, through those individuals own hard work, any person can do their job without any understanding of the technology.  In other words, the many thought processes behind uploading video to the internet – something that was once a “survival skill”  - are now worthless. Society today is comprised of people who are capable of doing more with understanding far less.

American’s today do not ask foundational questions about whether or not our existing methods are the best. We have filtered that out and are instead fixated on building upon what we all accept as fact. Maybe this is what made the Sixties so special. It was a time of radical change and exploration where variances in everyone’s perceptions allowed them to approach areas of life with different ideas. Music was more creative. Today’s music industry just builds upon whatever was popular last year. Movies are no different. Status quos were challenged.

My point in all this is not that we should all take hallucinogenic drugs and alter our perception to save humanity. (Although many people would likely benefit from this).I am merely hoping to point out that our brains are biologically only interested in but a small percentage of the things that it confronts. So many times, the facts with which we make our conclusions upon are taking in only a small fraction of the information given to us. The more our brain can automatically filter out, the more it will, resulting in a very narrow approach to life. Worse yet, I believe that this narrow approach is one of the greatest contributors to the relative unhappiness out there in the world. The more we allow our brain to filter the more we slip away from the defining aspect of humanity – the free will to explore our world in search of happiness. How ironic is it that the very understandable need for survival may be the thing keeping so many of us from truly living in the first place?

If The Glove Don’t Fit….

Last wednesday I was summoned to the San Diego Superior Court House as a prospective juror – the first time in my nearly ten years of being eligible. As such, I was obviously selected to serve as juror 10 in Department 51 -also known as the criminal fraud division. I had mixed feelings from the start on my assignment. On one hand, no one wants to sit through testimony and evidence regarding a rape or murder, but one wants to be mildly entertained. Maybe a nice car-jacking or armed robbery. Instead I got a $600 contested workers compensation claim that resulted in criminal charges filed against a 25 year old kid. 

So I spent 4 days listening to workers compensation attorneys testify about the mundane boring details that make up their days, roofers talking about proper accident proto-call, and doctors talking about “vertical fall trajectories”. It was more boring that it sounds. Even more amazing was the fact that the case was essentially a he said – she said. The kid claimed he was injured on the job. His father, who was also the foreman, wrote a letter three years ago following the accident stating that he did not. The prosecution had no concrete evidence, just the vague recollections of 50 year old roofers and a claims adjustor who testified that they denied the claim strictly because the roofing company (the insurance company’s client) asked him to. The verdict was simple. Based on the evidence it was certainly reasonable he was lying. But  it was also reasonable he is/was telling the truth. As such, in keeping with the satisfaction of reasonable doubt I figured we would all quickly agree that he would be found not guilty. 

Of course, our first straw poll displayed a room divided, a fact that would later result in the case being ruled a mistrial. Regardless of what was the correct verdict I took away a few things from this brush with our legal system that I wanted to share:

1.) The wisest decision I ever made was to not attend law school.

2.) Our trial and jury system may in fact be the best system in the world (as it is advertised) but that in no way means it is the best we can do. I don’t have a better solution here but I walked away from this experience terrified to ever find myself as a defendant in America. At least 3 of the 12 jurors in my panel could not get past the idea that just because he was charged does not mean he is guilty. I had more than one juror tell me that the reason behind their decision was that “he just looks guilty.” I also had a woman in her 80’s who spent the better part of our deliberations coming up with other things that may have happened – including the idea that maybe he snuck out and went to a “drive-thru and got his feet run over”. She also seemed to base her decision on a 1967 paper she published on the falls of infants. I am not joking. We also had one who voted not guilty because he always “sticks it to the man” when given the chance- the man in this case being the DA I suppose. My point in all of this is that the majority of the jurors in this room did not do what court expected them to do. They did not weigh the evidence impartially, they did not apply the standard of reasonable doubt, nor did they display the “common sense” that is the mythical foundation of our jury system. They were people. They were biased, stupid, bored, uncaring, and flawed. Myself included. Frankly, had the room come to an 11-1 guilty vote with mine being the abstaining vote, I would have switched just to get out of there. Again, I understand the idea behind a jury trial system – but all I know is that if I end up a defendant some time I hope to God I get a less representative jury.

3.) This was also a broader experience with the state – that lovely beauracracy that has earned so much ire the last few years. I mean no offense to state workers at the individual level. I am sure many are hard working and innovative people but my four days was basically a seminar on inefficiency and poor planning. Of the four days I served as a juror, I would say I spent only about 8 hours in the court room. One and half to two hour lunches, fifteen minute breaks every hour, and frequent recesses to allow the judge to see her doctor kept us waiting in the hallway most of the time. This is not mentioning the hour commute each way. In a nutshell, the state  basically dropped thousands and thousands of its own dollars, pulled 14 people out of their jobs, and called  doctors, lawyers and other private employees out of their jobs over a $600 dispute. To make matters worse, they couldn’t even put together a thorough enough investigation to warrant a conviction (or an acquittal for that matter). I get that it is a noble service etc., but that duty goes both ways. You want me to participate, then please do your job and let me get in and out. Otherwise my tax dollars (the ones that help fund this little excercise) get placed in jeapordy. And frankly, any private business that spent thousands of dollars to recoup $600 would be bankrupt – just like California. 

So overall I would have to say this was not a positive experience. In fact I would call it an eye-opening and even scary experience. Fortunately, my service buys me three years until I am eligible to be called again. I better get started on my excuse….

On Grit.

Many moons ago, I sat in my 5th grade classroom on the first day of school and listened with delight as my teacher shared with us that she would not be responsible for assigning grades to us at the close of each semester. We, the 11 year old students, would be the final judges of our own academic performance, an idea that for obvious reasons delighted me. I had seen several changes to our grading structures throughout my short academic career, all of which seemed to fit a certain pattern. First our school had switched from the standard ABCDF scale (would love an explanation why there is no “E”) to the OSU scale – Outstanding, Satisfactory, Unsatisfactory. The train of thought here was that there were stigmas attached to any letter grade below an “A” and that this new scale would protect the feelings of lower grade recipients by gently reminding them that while their work fell short of special recognition, it certainly was satisfactory. In other words, little Jimmy feels better about getting an “S” then a “C”, and the parent still gets the report that their boy needs some work in math. Pretty quickly after that the OSU scale was changed to OSN – Outstanding, Satisfactory, and Needs Improvement. It seems that the term unsatisfactory was a little a harsh and that it was impacting some of the children’s self esteem. This was the early nineties after all, when numerous psychologists and educators had begun to develop curriculum and rules to teach self esteem, arguing that it was as important as education itself. 

I started thinking about this a few weeks ago during one of  my numerous “what the hell is wrong with this world/country” rants that have escalated in number recently. In the midst of this I came across a study by a psychologist named Angela Duckworth, who in a nutshell found that self-esteem in the United States has gone way up while achievement has not. Apparently self esteem is one of the few topics that has been studied pretty in depth over the past 40 years or so so there is  a great deal of data that allowed Dr. Duckworth to arrive at her conclusion. Her background as an education specialist kept her preoccupied with kids but I think it is fair to say that much of her findings could be expected to apply to older generations as well – specifically the  generation of 25-40 year olds, a group that has contributed to the mess we are in now. Duckworth found that over the last 40 years there has been a massive uncoupling between one’s perception of their own competence and how much one likes themself . This obviously coincides with the “self esteem at all costs” mantra of parental and educator groups throughout the country, the same group that pushed the grade yourself agenda that I experienced above. 

What does this have to do with anything you may wonder? Simply put, I believe that the proliferation of self-esteem boosting institutional behavior has had perhaps the greatest role in us landing in the predicament we are in today. We have been programmed to believe that results do not matter anymore, that the only underlying notion of success is that we feel good in our own shoes. Now this in a vaccuum is not the worst concept. I could certainly argue that a society measuring success and happiness by win-loss metrics would create a host of problems as well. But the truth is that self-esteem should be earned, and there is nothing wrong with being humbled and taking your lumps. Duckworth goes onto mention her conclusion that parents today never want to say anything critical of their children. They organize soccer leagues that do not keep score, lest their children begin to feel down on themselves for not winning. But we all know that the reality is that winning and losing is perhaps the most valuable  concept that organized sports teach our children. Learning to never get too down with a loss or too high with a win is a critical and valuable life lesson. Learning that life does not end with a loss is important, and having coaches and teammates that demand that you stand up to play again breeds resilliency and toughness. Most importantly, we learn that life is not always fair, that sometimes despite all of our efforts others are better than us, that others cheat to win, and that sometimes our heads get too big for our bodies and we embarrass ourselves.

These are all lessons that in my opinion should be serving us all well as we face what must be some of the most trying times for people throughout the country. Our country needs grit right now, not people who are so inexperienced with failure and loss that at the first sight of it they quit. We seem to have spent the last few decades just congratulating one another, certain that we as a people and as a culture were on the right track – I mean look how happy we were. But that sort of blew up in our face and we are all taking our lumps now. It is a humbling feeling and I can certainly understand, especially under the context of the feel good 90’s, how the daunting task of re-building America could force weaker people to quit. That is the scary circular logic here. Our collective values have weakened us to the point that we cannot fight the very problems the values created. 

When I coached high school water polo we always had a week before the season to push our kids hard to help us guage who could most help us be succesful as a team. We ran a number of drills – swimming drills, ball handling drills, shooting drills – all that were intended to display the various levels of talent comprising the team. I never viewed these as the most important indicators of value though. For that we used a drill where we wore the kids down through swimming and then unbeknowenst to them assigned them a partner that was to dunk them underwater when they came up for a rest. I watched this drill hard, looking for signs of fight in the kid. The best players – and usually not the most talented kids – were always the ones that fought back; that showed heart. A kid who could swim fast but had no heart was useless because eventually he would find someone faster, lose his edge and quit. But a kid with heart, well he is always ready to go and never backs down.

I think of that drill as I hear our leaders today shouting that we need the best and brightest of minds to take us out of this mess. Well brains are nice, but brains without heart do us no good. I think instead, all of us need to be reminded of the virtues of grit and fight our way out of this thing. It will take each and everyone of us to take our losses and be reminded that we can always get up. Now is the time to earn our self-esteem, to behave in a way that we can all be proud of for generations to come. I just hope that the damage has not already been done, that enough of us can remember that losing just brings with it the challenge of a rematch. After all, it is important to remember that great accomplishments are by definition arduous – otherwise they are simply accomplishments.

Away We Go…..Again.

Why does it seem like so many of my posts are apologetic in nature? I suppose a follow up question would be who am I apologizing to? But once again I look back and see that it has been 5 months or so since my last post. I can’t really explain this break. Sure I was busy for a while with work but a big part of this exercise for me is learning to write around my work schedule so that is not really a valid excuse. But I suppose if I had to come up with a reason I would guess that it has something to do with the broader world and not feeling too much inspiration to write.

Things have been a bit melancholy lately – for everyone – so maybe I just didn’t feel like contributing to the negativity and writing about how frustrating things are. But during some recent thinking I made the decision that I need to really start approaching all aspects of my life with a better attitude and some blind optimism. I am going to just assume that things will approve and try to live “as if”. As if everything is exactly as I would like it to be. As if I am in total control of all the external factors that impact my daily life. Lumped in to that line of thinking is the removal of my self-created excuse to not try and write everyday – so whether or not I meant to, I got to get going. I may fall short and write once a week, I may write five times a week, but most importantly I am going to try and write when I feel I have something I want to share and in a manner that puts me in the custom of watching my thoughts appear in font on my computer screen. I already have a few thoughts I want to get out there so I will post those in the coming days. 

I look forward to all of your challenges to keep me up to this and I of course look forward to any responses you all may have.

PURA VIDA

The wife and I are off to Costa Rica tonight for a belated honeymoon. We are both excited to get some beach, sun, surf, and exploration in such a beautiful place. I will post pictures when we get back and hopefully have a few stories worth repeating.

It has been a while since the last post and the main reason for that has been the lack of too much positivity in the world. Blog writing – at least mine – is typically reactionary and demanding of inspiration in some form. We are all inundated today with thousands of quasi-journalists and their take on the situation we are all confronting and I guess the thought of adding something new or positive to that body of work is daunting. And so this trip comes at such a welcome time for me. Costa Rica represents not just a honeymoon; it represents an unbelievable opportunity to escape to a world of basic need satisfaction. Sun, food, sleep, and nature. I look forward to hiding from news of stock markets, bail-outs, housing prices etc. and instead focusing on weather reports, tidal charts, and bar menus. With any hope this refreshment inspires more blog posts upon my return. Who knows, maybe I will get something posted while there. 

Before we take off though I wanted to say a thank you to my parents who are making it all possible. You have spoiled us rotten yet again but I hope you know how much this trip means to us at this particular point in our lives. It is very needed. So thank you from the bottom of our hearts and cannot wait to come back with tans and stories.

Cheers!

So I guess we all find ourselves on the eve of yet another new year, this one with the added collective apprehension over whether or not things can actually get worse. That will likely be the story of 2008, the year that the world’s economy shut down making most of us feel a bit nervous and re-consider (likely temporary for most) many of our life choices. Looking back on even the greatest years often fosters melancholy feelings so I imagine that there are a number of people who are welcoming the opportunity to usher in a new year. While it is human nature to move on I think it is additionally important to look back and learn from the year’s events. I wont bore anyone with what I think the year’s lesson has been, but I will suggest that a balance between looking forward and looking back is probably in order.

Most of the people in my life have been touched in some way or the other and unfortunately many more will continue to feel its effects. I hope that all of us have learned that no economic slump can take away our most valued possessions; our family, friends, health, and mind. Nothing in this world is permanent or automatically bestowed and we all must learn to appreciate those things that are worth fighting for – and those are certainly not material goods. Money is a strange thing and with exceptions our individual need for it seems to me to be largely variable. This is to say that in my limited years I have found that my need seems to ultimately match up with my supply. Priorities shift, lessons are learned, and money is managed. It may not be the easiest transition to go from more to less but we all get there and when we do we find that laughter still comes, the sky is still blue, and our family still nourishes us. 

On a personal note (since that is what blogs are for) I would be also remiss to ignore the wonderful parts of 2008. I was fortunate enough to marry the most beautiful and wonderful person I have ever known in front of our loving and supportive families. Since we found one another, my life has grown richer every day and I am continually amazed by the limitless bounds of our happiness together. 

In addition to my beautiful bride, I have been blessed with a wonderful set of new parents who I look forward to years and years of memories with. They are beautiful people and I could not ask for a more supportive and welcoming family to become a part of. Plus they come with a beast named Phoenix, only adding to the total package. 

My 2008 brought a number of memories with my wonderful family as well, starting with Thailand and Japan and ending with a unique and memorable Christmas in SF. They continue to be the foundation of all my success and I love them all dearly. We bade adieu to Emily as she found her place in a bigger city, but she remains in our hearts and certainly in our call logs.

I have continued to fall in love with my new city of Encinitas and have taken advantage of the lovely outdoors it offers. I surfed nearly every day this year and hope that the coming year is no different. 

Work was challenging and carried with it ups and downs. I enjoyed a year of excellent companionship from my office mates Sladed, Alison, and the Dad. Alison has been so wonderful to my family and I shudder to think where we would be in San Diego without her. It has been a pleasure to share such tight confines with Sladed and have enjoyed his wry and intelligent sense of humor and his voice of reason in an otherwise unreasonable place. Furthermore, his dedication to fitness and diet is more of an inspiration than he knows; he is what Amber and I think about when pushing ourselves to finish a workout.

I look forward to the coming year and I hope to bring a positive attitude and perspective; I think that can make all the difference in the world. I have faith that good things are coming around the corner and that above all I will continue to enjoy life and the wonderful things brought to me. Thank you to all my family, friends, random readers who are likely not there, and of course to my lovely wife – I look forward to another year of shared times.

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!

Nailed It