30 By 30

I know that I wrote in my birthday post that I'm not the type to mourn previous years of my life.  I don't care what I'm losing in my later years that I had in my early years.  It's part of growing up and enjoying the new experiences life hands to you.

Having kids and a wife and a house and great friends totally outweighs what I had in my twenties and teen years.

What I do like is setting goals for myself and trying my damnedest to achieve those goals.  I figure that I'll be 30 in a year, so why not come up with 30 things that I'd like to accomplish within that time frame?  Seems reasonable enough, and it will keep me focused on what is really important to me.  We all know we put things off if we don't write them down or really focus on them, so I figured I'd track them here on my blog.  I know it is a little derivative and unoriginal, but I'm doing it anyways.

I also know it's going to be pretty damn near impossible to do all of these things in a year, so this is really a list of 30 things that I'll definitely accomplish.  It may take me longer than a year to do so, but I will do everything on this list at some point.

30 by 30

1. Run another marathon but try to do it in under 4 hours
2. Learn to play at least one song on any instrument (preferably guitar or piano)
3. Get my weight under 180 pounds and keep it there
4. Drink every beer on tap at Yard House (not in one night)
5. Learn how to tie a bow tie
6. Hear my girls say "I love you Dada" or any variation of dada
7. Cook a gourmet meal with multiple courses
8. Go skydiving
9. Take snowboarding lessons
10. Learn how to make one of my Grandma's pies
11. Buy a tailored suit
12. Get a straight-razor shave
13. Spend a night in Vegas without getting a hotel room (unless it's comped of course)
14. Actually write something of substance
15. See a baseball game at Wrigley Field and/or Fenway Park
16. Go on a family camping trip
17. Watch every movie on the AFI 100 years, 100 movies list and/or every Best Picture winner
18. Visit Napa again and buy some wine
19. Get a tattoo
20. Teach my girls to say "Please" and "Thank You"
21. Go to a Notre Dame football game
22. Have a romantical night out at a five-star restaurant with my wife
23. Drink Dom Perignon for the first time
24. Try a food that I've never had before (Escargot?)
25. Write a song
26. Try to sell a screenplay to Hollywood
27. See Dave Matthews Band perform at The Gorge
28. Share Calvin and Hobbes with my girls
29. Learn to golf
30. Kiss my wife and kids every single day

That's my list, and I'm going to try my best to complete it in the next year.  If anyone has a hook-up or knows someone that can facilitate any of these items, feel free to comment or contact me any and all info.

Since My Last Birthday...

Tomorrow is my 29th birthday (Please hold your applause until the end).

For the last few days I've been in a reflective mood.  I'm not the type to mourn my twenties like some overdramatic people would.  Nor do I think that everything will change when I turn 30.  I'm not a huge birthday guy.  I don't feel a need to celebrate too wildly.  It's just a day changing on the calendar.  I have been thinking about how wonderful the last 365 days of my life has been.

When I write that I've been reflective, it's really about the larger picture that I'm now only a piece of. 

Since my last birthday, my entire life has changed.  My daughters were born.  They spent time in the NICU and came home for the first time.  They've learned so much since then.  They have filled our house with an incomprehensible amount of love.  Every single day is a new and wonderful experience with them in my life.

Since my last birthday, I decided to take a huge leap and leave the industry that I've worked in since my teen years.  I've thrown myself into a completely new line of work (and I'm still learning).  The comfort zone that I established is squarely in the rearview mirror at this point, but it is also exciting and exhilarating.  And I get to see my wife every day at work which is wonderful.

Since my last birthday, my sister moved back home after living in Ohio for almost a decade.  I forgot what it was like having her around because she's been gone so long.  She brought back a wonderful guy who fits right into our family.  As a result of her moving back, we've spent a lot of time with my family, and I've loved it.

Since my last birthday, both my sister and brother got married.  What's not to like about an ever-expanding family?  And it has continued to expand since my new sister-in-law got pregnant with the girls' first cousin.  It's so comforting to think about a cousin so close in age to them.

Since my last birthday, the Giants won the World Series.  Sorry I had to mention it one last time.

Since my last birthday, the birth of my daughters and my new role as dad has inspired me to start writing this blog.  Hopefully my daughters can look back and read some of things their dad wrote about them 29 years from now.

Birthdays are fun and great, but they aren't everything.  If your life was a book, your birthdays are just the chapters.  There isn't a book out there remembered for how many chapters it had.  The story within those chapters is the most important part of the book.  I've loved the story since my last birthday.  I hope the next chapter is just as great.

Cheers!!!