It's strange to me that I haven't actually made a birthday post in a few years. When I got up this morning, it was one of the things I told myself I wanted to do and when I tried to find my last few posts I realized I hadn't. Maybe I'm becoming a little senile in my old age.
In all seriousness, this one is a strange birthday. I'm definitely starting to feel my age, both physically and mentally. Physically, it's just harder to stay in shape. I haven't trained for a marathon in a while, and so this is probably contributing to this, but when I go out for a run my times are significantly slower than they once were. On the mental side, it's harder to stay focused for long periods of time. I actually feel pretty drained after a long day of thinking.
But when I think about my life in general, I have to say I really don't have much to complain about. I recently asked my wife if she could change one thing, anything, about our life now so that it would make us happier she said she wouldn't change anything. I admit, I really am not sure what I would change either. Marriage is good. Job is good. We are all healthy. Not much we are want for.
Since the last time I wrote this, my startup closed and I took a job at Google. I think a few years ago I would have not been happy at a company like Google but having done the startup I think I gained perspective. I'm not sure I would describe it as getting the startup route "out of my system" but it was something close to that. I think I may someday try to go out on my own again but that someday isn't anytime soon.
I'm actually pretty happy at Google which is saying something since I'm 2 years in and I tend to think this is when dissatisfaction starts. Things aren't perfect, but they are good enough for now and that's saying something.
The dog is wonderful. Things were a little dicey last time I wrote about him but I chalk it up him being a puppy. It was one of those things that before I got him, I wasn't sure we were really ready for but now that we have him, I wouldn't give him up for the world. It's made me think that maybe children might be in the future for us.
Speaking of which, it is something my wife and I have discussed in a very serious way and something I'm a lot less afraid of happening than before. It's now at the point where I think its more likely than not that we do have children.
One of the things I thought a lot about this year is things vs experiences. Usually its in the context of thinking about when I might "retire" and what I want to be doing. One of the things driving this decision for me is what I want to spend my money on now and then. What crystalized in my mind this year was how much more I value experiences over things. Granted, I've been frugal with myself on buying material items and much less so on experiences like vacations but I don't think that's an accident. My best memories are all the times I did things with my wife. They are never about joy I received because I bought or owned something.
Take this past year. I travelled to Tokyo. I explored the city and I went to the famous Sukiyabashi Jiro. It, and the whole trip, was just awesome. My wife and I constantly talk about it and it brings joy to us every time we do. Its things like this where we want to focus our attention.
Honestly, not much is bad in my life. My biggest current problem is that I earned a lot of money this last year (thanks to a bunch of stock vesting) and now I have a very large tax bill to account for. I guess the other thing is that I do feel like I'm a little bit too busy with work. I would like to have some spare time to explore other things I'm interested in but can't seem to find the time to do it. The real kicker is that while i'm not doing badly, I wish I was doing better so the effort isn't commensurate withe the return. Need to try to find a way to get that in balance.
But seriously, those are my big problems. Not too bad really. It's a little strange because for the last several years, life just seems like it gets better and better. Is that sustainable? Is all of a sudden, things will do the opposite? Let's hope not.
