Month: November 2009

I think I’ve just lived the best week of my life.

From Phoenix, where I saw Andy, Arielle and my brother play soccer, to my birthday, which was made amazing by great friends and just an absolutely amazing Micky, to being in North Carolina over Thanksgiving, where I just had an amazing time, I was enveloped in a genuine sense of love and compassion that I don’t think I’ve felt for a really long time.

It was in every way imaginable a reminder of how lucky I am. It’s the eternal cliche to not appreciate how lucky you are until you no longer have the opportunity. I didn’t fall into that trap in this instance. Instead I yearned so much for what I had lived for in a past life that I dreaded going back home because I thought it would never live up to the memories. Over the course of the last year, I would say that I’ve learned to put my memories in the right context, but that doesn’t mean that being in the moment wouldn’t be overwhelming. Somehow, someway, it was even better than I remembered. I think a lot of it is that I have amazing friends both in San Francisco and Raleigh who have created a wonderful network of nerds, geeks, jocks, and the occasional Saar (who of course gets his own category).

I also was successful in my 33″ by 25 campaign. On my birthday I measured in at a lean 32 ⁷/₈, and hopefully this Thanksgiving hasn’t been too harsh on that conquest! I just want to thank everyone who committed to giving to a charity. I know how lucky I am, but I’m also really excited that someone else will somehow benefit from how great my friends are.

Pictures are coming, and I’m sure I’ll be telling stories about all of the fun that I had to anyone who will listen, but before I crashed tonight (after writing some superb code I might add) I just had to share with the world that right now I’m genuinely the happiest person. It’s wonderful. Thank you.

While most of you may know me as a rather good looking fellow with boyish charm, I have in fact become a bit of a slob over the years. When I started at TokBox in June 2008, I was probably approaching a 40″ waist line. Nothing like the 30″ waistline that I came into college with. Clearly those “Freshman 15″ hit me a bit harder than I would have liked.

When I first measured in February of 2009, I had a 38″ waist. I did so because I gave up fast food for Lent, and I wanted to see what the difference would be. It was huge. I lost 2″ over the 40 days of Lent with no fast food. I’ve since gotten it down to somewhere between 34.5″ to 35.5″ depending on the day. Now my goal is to reach a 33” waist by my 25th birthday which is on November 20th. I have just over 2 weeks to do it, and I want you to help.

You probably weren’t going to get me anything for my birthday anyway, and that’s okay! I didn’t get you anything for your birthday either. But, I am going to be a bit selfish, and ask that you help motivate me by “sponsoring” my drive to 33″. For each inch lost (today I measured, and I was 35″), I ask that you pledge an amount to donate to charity. I don’t have a favorite charity, and so I’ll be taking suggestions for that as well. I say make it a bit fun too. As an example, pledge $10 for a 34″ waist, but $25 for a 33″ waist. Give me that extra bit of push!

All said, I need 2 things from you, my friends.

• A charity to which I should donate my proceeds (most popular two or three will get the proceeds)
• A birthday gift of pledging some amount to donate for each inch lost

Worse comes to worse, we’ll have fun and laugh over that time when I thought I could be good looking again! Please do post to my blog your ideas and pledges because these links tend to get lost on Facebook/Twitter/etc. after a few days.