27!

I'm "working from home" today and stumbled across this dusty old blog that I haven't updated in 7 months now. Where did the time go?? And speaking of time flying by, somehow today marks 27 years since I've been on this earth. That got me thinking about how the last 27 years are widely accepted as the most incredible since the dawn of time, with monumental technological advances happening seemingly daily, amazing improvements in medical knowledge and practice, and unbelievable strides in a million other areas...

Coincidence? You decide.

Anyway, I've determined it's time for an update, although at this point I'm fairly certain whatever readership I had at one time has moved on. :)

Things are going really well right now. This past week I moved from my Presidio home where I'd been for 2 years into a new apartment in the Sunset district in SF. I've got some really cool new roommates, a nice big room all to myself, and even partial custody of a 56" HD flat screen with access to 100s of channels (and even 1 or 2 good ones!). It's always exciting and refreshing to make a change, although it can be admittedly a little stressful. As I was packing up my stuff, I was shocked to realize everything I owned in the entire world in September 2008 fit into a Corolla... This time around I needed 2 trips in my roommate's Silverado and 4 loads in my G35 to get the job done. Is this real life? My aunt said something poignant on the phone to me today when she compared humans to goldfish -- We tend to grow as big as the space we're put in. I would have to agree.

I spent a little time this afternoon catching up on posts from old friends, and it seems like everyone is thinking about the same two things: (1) what they are grateful for, and (2) how they are going to make 2011 the best year ever. Not surprisingly, my thoughts have been directed towards those two topics lately as well (along with thoughts of how the Mavs are dominating right now, but maybe I'll save that for another post, especially if they can finally perform in the post season). I feel richly blessed and look forward to being reminded of how great my family is over the next few weeks as we meet up in Provo. I'm also optimistic that 2011 will indeed be my best year yet. I love new beginnings!

Mother's Day!

My mom is an amazing woman and someone I truly admire. From tennis star to antique collector to painter to scrabble expert, from nurse to relief society president to YW leader to nursery leader, her skills and abilities are too many to list. I've always looked up to her and aspired to develop myself in the ways she has developed herself.

Even more impressive to me than her resume-like qualifications is her ability to love. She genuinely cares about people and is able to quickly and easily demonstrate her love through a kind word, a small gesture, or even just a smile. When people meet my mom, they can't help but love her in return.

How can you thank someone who gave you life and then willing gave up much of her life to raise you and give you the best chance of success and happiness? It's a tough job, but it's one I hope to tackle each day by living the way she taught me and by telling her as much as possible how much I love her. Thank you for all you do mom!

Happy Mother's Day!!

The Count of Monte Outliers

I'm not sure when my blog turned into a forum to critique the books I've been reading, but since I enjoy finding out what friends say about books, movies, and other forms of entertainment they've recently consumed I'll add a few more titles to the list.

As promised, I finished "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell a few weeks ago. This book is an easy read filled with stories and analysis looking closer at how incredibly successful people manage to achieve their incredible success. The book contains a lot of stories and a fair amount of analysis. The stories I really enjoyed and found to be entertaining and thought-provoking, whereas the analysis seemed a bit stretched and repetitive. Overall, it's worth a look if you haven't had the chance to read it yet.

I also have to say I respect this guy's hair so much even if I didn't like his books, I would probably recommend them anyway.


My newest novel is Alexandre Dumas' "The Count of Monte Cristo". I LOVE it so far. I stumbled across it after downloading a fantastic iPhone app called "Classics". Laid out like the library in the upcoming iPad, "Classics" is a free app that gives you access to about 20 titles like "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", "Alice in Wonderland", and "The Jungle Book". If you have an iPod touch or iPhone, you gotta check it out. Once I finish my reading, I'll jot down a few of my thoughts.

That's so WICKED!

This post is a tad bit dated, but before too much time passes I want to give a shout out to the musical Wicked. Over the years, I've overheard random conversations (coming from Lizzie, Whitney, and a lot of other girls I've met) about how incredible this show is. They go on and on about the music, the story, the whole experience... "Bah! Humbug! Sissy girl stuff!" I would tell myself, and I didn't think twice about it.

Well last weekend Kelly was in town, and she and I went... and it was GREAT! I was surprised how many of the songs I had heard before over the years, and I was blown away by the talent of the actors and actresses who brought the story to life. The stage was flat out amazing, the jokes were laugh out loud funny (literally), the production was practically flawless. For the guys out there who haven't seen it and are reading this, I understand your skepticism. But GO. It's really entertaining and a lot of fun. I found myself replaying a lot of the show over in my head even a few days after we went. Our seats weren't bad but they weren't fantastic either, and I'm tempted to go again to experience it from up close.

The whole evening got me thinking about how habit driven I can be sometimes. I have "my things", my go-to activities I'm comfortable with that I don't have to put much thought or effort into. Things like movies, bowling, familiar restaurants, even down to using the same streets as I make my way around the city. I'm always surprised how much I enjoy branching out a little and trying something new every once in a while. It's another one of those hidden rewards for trying to live up to my new year's resolution of going on adventures and saying "yes" when normally I would do otherwise.

Tuesdays

We're only a few days into 2010, and I've made some good progress on my theme. I ordered 3 books on half.com (seriously, how awesome is that site?) and they all arrived yesterday. My mini library now consists of an odd mix: "Tuesdays with Morrie", "Outliers", and "Eat This, Not That". I think the total came out to 25 bucks, shipped. Can't beat that.

I started with "Tuesdays". It felt like an appropriate choice given the surprising New Year's day passing of my ward bishop, Glenn Laymon. This inspiring, gentle, humble man lifted and loved me and hundreds of other young adults during his calling in the San Francisco 1st ward. In contrast to Morrie the title character of my book, Bishop Laymon was not given a few month's notice of his impending demise. I like to think he didn't need special warning. Instead, he spent years of his life quietly preparing to meet his Maker through under-appreciated, unselfish service. I can't help but smile when I think of his strong handshake, his quick laughter, his caring eyes, his warm heart. He will be missed.

In "Tuesdays", author Mitch Albom recounts his weekly visits with his old college professor, Morrie Schwartz. Morrie, slowly deteriorating after being diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gherig's disease), philosophically comments on the meaning of life and attempts to pass along the wisdom and experience he has gained (and continues to gain as his disease progresses) to his now-adult student Mitch. This easy read touched me and strengthened my resolve to live life more fully this year. A few passages that I found especially poignant:

- Following a discussion of the many wasted hours we spend digesting celebrity gossip, cheap thrills, and other forms of crude and shallow entertainment: "So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important... The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning."

- "...I don't allow myself any more self-pity than... a little each morning, a few tears, and that's all."

- "Sometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel. And if you are ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them, too - Even when you're in the dark. Even when you're falling."

- Answering Ted Koppel when questioned how he, a man who soon would be left without his voice, would communicate with a friend who would soon be deaf: "We will hold hands. And there'll be a lot of love passing between us. Ted, we've had thirty-five years of friendship. You don't need speech or hearing to feel that."

- "The fact is, there is no foundation, no secure ground, upon which people may stand today if it isn't the family... If you don't have the support and love and caring and concern that you get from a family, you don't have much at all."

Morrie Schwartz faced his own death with dignity, grace, humor, and an outpouring of love towards those around him. If I learned anything from reading "Tuesdays", it's that I can do a better job of facing my own life with those same characteristics.

2009... PEACE

What a great way to end the year. As has been the tradition for almost a decade, my family spent Christmas together at my grandparent's house in Provo. There's something so special about coming back here each year, reminiscing about my days at BYU, bumping into old friends and acquaintances almost everywhere I go, and most importantly spending time with those I love the most. Right when I got off the plane 10 days ago, I had a feeling of complete contentment come over me, complete satisfaction and peace about my life, and those feelings have only gotten stronger as I've spent time with loved ones and reflected on the last year.

When I pause to think about it, it's truly amazing to me how my life unfolds. Normally I'm not the type of person to spend much time looking back and thinking about how I've arrived where I'm at, but nice round numbers like 01/01/10 for whatever reason tend to put me in more of a reflective frame of mind. The littlest things in my life really have made all the difference. For example:

- Deciding to walk 2 miles home after football practice every day in 7th grade because I was too impatient to wait for my mom to come pick me up. After weeks of doing this with JT, I gained a lifelong friend who has influenced for good so many aspects of my life.

- Leaving high school a year early to attend BYU despite my sometimes almost overwhelming fears of failure and self doubt. If I hadn't done this, I wouldn't have met so many other people who have influenced me in positive ways. I wouldn't have graduated in 2008, just months before the worst economic recession of my lifetime, and I may not have found the job opportunity I did.

- Signing up for an interview with Deloitte where I faced my current roommate Matt, someone who has made all the difference in my life as I've transitioned to living far from family, working full time, and adjusting to life in San Francisco.

These are just a few examples of things that have been on my mind lately. It's amazing to me how God knows me personally. He knows my weaknesses, my strengths, my desires, my hopes and my dreams. As I've made an effort to live His commandments and follow the teachings of His prophets, I've seen and felt His guiding power in my life. When I've reached out to Him through prayer, He has always responded and blessed me in seen and unseen ways.

My mind this week has bounced back and forth between thinking about the past and trying to foresee my future. What do I want out of my life? What do I need to improve on? Where do I want to be a year from now? 10 years from now? How can I influence people for good? How can I share the blessings I've been given with others around me? What bad habits can I leave behind and what new good habits can take their place?

I don't know if there are easy answers to some of these questions, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be asked. I think my theme for the new year is going to be one simple word: Live. Live in the moment, be curious about things and people and places. Read, explore, go on adventures, say YES when my sometimes annoying logical mind is screaming NO. Uplift people, fight back the urge to be critical, serve and love. After 26 years, I can look back, see how far I've come, and allow myself to feel a sense of pride and accomplishment. After 26 years, I can look forward, see how far I have to go, and put my trust in the Lord that He will continue to guide me as He has all my life.

2010, you're mine!

The World Wide Inter-web

This week I made a discovery -- RSS feeds. For those of you who have been going about your daily lives in the dark as I have, Wikipedia describes RSS feeds as something to "benefit readers who want to subscribe to timely updates from favored websites or to aggregate feeds from many sites into one place." And if it comes from Wikipedia, it MUST be true. If I had to describe them, I would say they're basically headlines from your favorite websites that allow you to get a brief glimpse of a lot of information all at once, without having to click on different pages. Although I heard of them before this week, I never really looked into how they work or how they could benefit me until now.

My discovery came about because of a conversation I had with my boss. I've been working on a project in Deloitte consulting for the last 2 months where I'm in charge of data analysis for something called the "Shift Index". It's been eye-opening working on this project and seeing how technology has dramatically altered the world we live in, and in particular the environment where U.S. businesses operate. Feel free to read the Executive Summary of the report to get a better understanding.

Anyway, back to my boss. He always seems to know everything about what's going on in the world, especially with regards to technology. He manages to do this while balancing all his other numerous and time consuming responsibilities, which, frankly, are more demanding and more time consuming than my own. I asked him how he was able to accomplish this, and part of his answer was these RSS feeds. So, if you feel overwhelmed by the amount of content out there on the internet every day and you'd like to stay current on any and all topics, I highly recommend reading up on this and getting started. Google makes it REALLY easy to get set up with their free, web-access Google Reader program. Firefox even lets you combine Google Reader with Gmail to get all your news and emails in one convenient location.

My life is forever changed.

Speaking of life changing events, I saw this video below this week and loved it. Just in time for Halloween! Pretty sure at 0:17 the guy on the right wanted a high-five... Awkward...