The End of 2004

As I'm sure most bloggers have done by now, I'd like to review a year that brought so much happiness, sadness, change, and learning:

Personal:
- Started a relationship with the woman of my dreams
- Herniated disc surgery
- Went to Europe, gained new perspective in life
- Jumped out of a plane... 5 times
- Acquired a nephew
- Turned the big 2 0
- Went to the happiest place on earth with the most wonderful person on earth
- Gained fresh perspective on distance after driving to Irvine and back endlessly
- Rekindled my dislike of boba
- Decided to leave my current job and start a new company

In the news:
- Bush got reelected (against my deepest wishes)
- Blogging became a phenomena
- The iPod became king
- BitTorrents ruled P2P, then died off due to lawsuits
- Spyware dominated the online experience
- Spam accounted for 77% of all e-mail traffic
- Tsunami in Asia killed roughly 150,000 people
- Oil hit $55 a barrel
- Martha Stewart went to prison
- Michael Jackson was charged with child molestation (finally!)
- Ronald Reagon, Yasser Arafat, Ray Charles, and Marlon Brando died
- A boob caused a stir in the media and video delays were required on all live programming


I'll add on to this list as I recall more events. Add a comment, recommend some additions.

Where Are All The Dead Animals?

Sri Lankan wildlife officials are stunned: the worst tsunami in memory has killed around 22,000 people along the Indian Ocean island's coast, but they can't find any dead animals. No elephants are dead, not even a dead hare or rabbit.

Protect Your Privacy

I am not usually one to advocate privacy. I don't really care what marketing company has my information, since I harass them when they try to sell me something. However, there are a lot of dangers associated with so much information about a person being available to others, including the real threat of identity theft. I stumbled upon the following website, which lists good privacy resolutions to practice in the new year. Here are my favorite items:

5. Opt out of prescreened offers of credit. By visiting https://www.optoutprescreen.com/, you can stop receiving those annoying letters for credit and insurance offers. This is an important step for protecting your privacy, because those offers can be intercepted by identity thieves.

8. Request a free copy of your credit report by visiting http://www.annualcreditreport.com. All Americans are now entitled to a free credit report from each of the three nationwide credit reporting agencies, Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union. You can engage in a free form of credit monitoring by requesting one of your three reports every four months. By staggering your request, you can check for errors regularly and identify potential problems in your credit report before you lose out on a loan or home purchase. Currently, these reports are available to residents of most western states. By September 2005, all Americans will have free access to their credit report.

9. Enroll all of your phone numbers in the Federal Trade Commission's Do-Not-Call Registry. The Do-Not-Call Registry (http://www.donotcall.gov or 1-888-382-1222) offers a quick and effective shield against unwanted telemarketing. Be sure to enroll the numbers for your wireless phones, too.

The full list is at http://www.epic.org/privacy/2004tips.html

Jump #5

Woke up at 5:30AM, got to Sun valley at 6:30AM, waited for Sevan till 7AM, then left with Araks to Lake Elsinore. I kept calling Sevan and leaving threatening messages since he flaked on us. Bastard. We got to Skydive Elsinore at around 8AM and I started doing the ground training as my beautiful Araks waited patiently in the freezing cold. Oh and how cold it was!

This jump was a little different. It was AFF Level 4, which meant only one instructor beside me and a climbing exit. On the ground, the exit wasn't so hard to practice. Two miles up, it was a little harder. Swinging out of the plane, which was going roughly 90mph, was a bit of a challenge. It was sort of like how it would feel if you were outside your car on the freeway trying to hold on. Then I let go.

The 5 second hill curve was a lot more enjoyable this time. Usually the G forces are so strong that you sort of don't realize anything and don't look at anything. After 4 previous jumps, I was a lot more comfortable. The jump was AWESOME. She let go of me throughout all of it, and I sort of just "hung out" (HA!). I was a lot more relaxed, so it was a lot more enjoyable.

Lock on at 6,000ft. Wave off and pull at 5,000 ft. Check the parachute.....
Is it there? Check!
Is it square? Check!
Is it controllable? Controllability check: flare, left turn 180 degrees, right turn 180 degrees. Check!

The hardest part was over. The scenery was beautiful, with the mountain tops covered in snow and the mist gently masking the landscape.

1,000 ft: Start landing pattern. Go down-wind until 600 ft.
600 ft: Cross wind until 300 ft.
300 ft: Final approach. With no radio directions this time, it was sort of a guessing game. You lose perspective going to the ground at high speed. I flared at what looked like 10 ft. Then I realized it was more like 50 ft. Hard landing on my injured knee. Cut on the eye. But everything was ok!

Passed to level 5. Hopefully Sevan will actually MAKE it this time (jerk!).

Until next time...

Real Popups

Today I received a package in the mail from AOL foreshadowing things to come. You think website popups are bad? How about real popups on paper? All of this came in one small package the size of the AOL CD in the middle:

20/20 Hindsight

They (whoever the ambiguous "they" may be) say that hindsight is 20/20. In part, this is true. But there are many aspects of it I do not agree with. There are many things we choose to forget when remembering the past. "If I had only done x instead of y, if I had only known." But what makes you so sure that "x" would have worked out? There are so many things we don't consider when we think about the past and what we could have done differently. It all goes back to the Butterfly Effect (not just the movie): One small change could alter our lives forever.

The reason I am so annoyed by this comes when people say "Back in the good old days." Back then, we weren't thinking "oh this is great, I hope things never change." No matter what, we always say things used to be so much simpler and better. No they weren't! We are just naturally reluctant to change. In addition, we usually recall what we would like to remember. Time seems to fly because we remember only certain events. No one can recall an entire day's events for yesterday, much less years ago.

Things were worse back then. Sure, some things (like our moral priorities) have degraded, but humanity in general has gone forward. If you don't agree, comment. I enjoy reading the comments you guys leave. Sev, I'm sure you have an opinion on this matter as well.

Success Redefined

Sadly, “spork” wrote a response that was longer than my post in the entry 2 items down.. I like it! I like reading what you guys think about all this!

See what I see as a bit of an issue is the definition of success spilling over and becoming a definition of being happy. You don't need money, love, or anything to be happy. It is a state of mind. You could be a heroine addict and be extremely happy. But is that successful? Does success have to be a good thing? If I succeed in my goal to kill a person, I have successfully accomplished my mission. Success! Not a good thing, but you did what you set your mind to.

Maybe that is the definition of success: to set ambitious goals and meet them. I personally wouldn’t consider myself a successful person if I set a goal to wash the dishes and then did them. Wow, talk about Mission: Impossible, huh? True, that is success, but not in the sense that we are trying to define. Financial goals can be a form of success, and they aren't necessarily shallow if one understands the role of money in life and how much (or how little) emphasis needs to be placed on it.

When we look at others around us and say “she was successful, he was not,” how are we defining success? We don’t initially take into account how happy they are with life. We look at what they have accomplished, what ambitions they have, and how passionate they are about what they do.

What do you guys think?

Skydive!!

Everyone should go skydiving. It's liberating, it's exciting, it's crazy. You realize what "sensory overload" means. You don't realize what you're doing. You can finally breathe when you see your parachute opened safely. Your heart beats at 100mph when you realize your parachute didn't open safely. You want to slow down when you see the ground coming closer, but the radio in your ear says "wait for it, wait for it" as you speed towards the ground. You don't feel any different once you did it, but you do feel it days later. Every time you look at the blue sky, you dream of being there again. When your car hits 55mph, you have an urge to wave off and pull your seat belt. When the freeway is open and it's safe, you speed to 100mph and stick your head out the window to bring back memories of free fall.

Randomly you recall the feeling of standing at the edge of the airplane and throwing yourself off, the 5 seconds of feeling like you are falling, the 50 seconds of weightlessness and doing the drill, the signals from your instructors, the pull, the sound of your parachute opening, the amazing experience of hanging midair for 10 minutes, with no sound at all, looking around, landing procedures, landing, walking back, reviewing the jump.

And nothing makes the experience more amazing than having your other half there for you, supporting your crazy passion.

Love

Every once in a lifetime, you find someone for whom you would do anything for...

We Have A Winner

The responses I received for the previous question were pretty lame. I was hoping someone would have given something very unique, but that did not happen.

I didn't like "eZ tRiXs"'s answer because it was too corny. I don't believe successful people look at themselves in the mirror and get lost in their own eyes, unless they are extremely cocky.

"the gipsy king" didn't give much of an answer, just a reference to the picture. Not valid.

"ForDaGrowNSexy"'s answer didn't make much sense. Is sin the only way you can be successful? Scratch that entry.

Arineh's answer was the most complete, considering all aspects of success and that it didn't take just one thing to be successful.

Anonymous's post was good until the ending. A "successful" company will never go under by definition. It can stop being successful, and therefore fail, but it will never be successful in the process of failure. "it is a goal, but not a destination." That part needs to be elaborated on to make sense, otherwise it is too vague to qualify.


I can't say I was blown away by the depth and creativity of the answers, but I do believe, from the entries submitted, there is one that is better than the rest. Congrats Arineh! I'll see if I'm allowed to give you cash while you're working. Otherwise, give me your address.




Skydive #4 went pretty well. I was a bit more nervous since I had not done it for 3 months and didn't remember all the procedures, but the landing was super soft and the flight in general was wonderful. I can't wait for my next jump (first week of January?)!


I Love You Araks.





rebirth...

Define Success

Someone in my previous entry asked me to define success, which got me thinking. I wanted to make the definition as concise as possible, while clearly defining success. So here it is:

"Reaching your goals, whatever they may be."

What do you guys think defines success? Leave comments. In following Ramtin's example, I will give an award to the best answer. How does $20 sound? (minimum of 10 responses for me to consider this legit)

Patience

Apparently people didn't quite understand the point of my last entry. They concentrated too much on the ending (it's not what you know, it's who you know) and didn't even consider the beginning. I shall restate it for those people:

Don't try to rush success!

It takes time, it takes patience, it takes dedication and hard work. In the beginning, you might be working so many hours that your pay-per-hour comes out to $2 to $3. So what? That's what it takes! In addition, don't make money your gauge for success and happiness in life. Too many people (yes, even you Sev) are so focused on making more money that you ignore many other aspects of happiness. Sure, everybody wants to make money, but if you focus on being successful overall, money will come.

As I've said before, and will continue to say, I have been extremely blessed in my life. I have everything anyone could ever ask for, and I try not to take any of it for granted. It is too easy to lose it all. Opportunity has knocked down my door and grabbed me by the neck. I am so lucky.

So what have I learned in this past year? More than I could name here, although I will give it a shot:

1) Patience. As is the title of this post, it is the biggest lesson I have learned. I had always wanted to do things instantly. I didn't want to take my time and learn, I wanted a pill I could take and know everything. Well, life doesn't work like that, and wanting such a thing is just going to make you miserable. I've learned to take things as they come and not rush.

2) Plan. We all have dreams. The difference between those who dream and those who do is planning. Dreams are vague, narrow them down. Then plan how to get there. Most importantly, write this down! You will be truly amazed how much progress you will make towards your goals with this simple step.

3) Know what you are worth. You have to step outside yourself and understand how other people see you. You might be worth more financially, or you might deserve a higher position. Realize your potential, then do whatever it takes to make it happen.

4) People's heads are wired differently. Yes, it is an obvious one, but one that many overlook and forget. People think differently from you, they process differently, and they react differently. Work to bridge this gap. If you can't, then maybe you should work somewhere else where you are understood better.

5) If one person can do it, anyone can do it. If I can start a company, so can you. If I can build airplanes, so can you. If there is anything anyone can do in this world, then so can you. Everyone is fundamentally the same. No one has special powers or genetic advantages that make them untouchable. All it takes is passion.


There are hundreds more, but it is almost 11pm and I've been working 17 hour days for 2 weeks now. It is worth every second of it.

Everyone's Big Dreams

95% of the people I know today will not be as successful as they hope to be. 80% will have a dead end job that they don't care much about for the rest of their lives.

Why do I say this? Because I see their goals and ambitions. I'm glad they don't drive the way they dream because they would end up revving their car in the parking lot until the end of time. Vague goals like "I want to make a lot of money" are going to get you nowhere. How will you do that? Do you have a firm plan with measurable milestones? Do you realize you would almost guarantee yourself a successful future if you sat down and decided what you wanted to do with your life, then plan how to get there and what to do if things don't go as planned?

Everyone should have a life plan with contingency plans, all of which should be revisited every month to either ensure that you are on track or to alter the plan to any new developments in your life. You will never get anywhere if you don't know where you are going!

I look around and see a lot of my friends wanting to start a business to make money fast. At the age of 20, the last thing you should be planning is quick cash; because, as its name implies, the cash is quick and done with. Maybe it's the media or our education, but no one these days plans a long-term future. It is all about getting rich quick. If you want that, then polish your poker skills and hit the casinos. Don't plan your long-term career around short-term goals; it is going to fail miserably.

Of course, it always takes a bit of luck to be successful. I have been truly blessed with the opportunities presented; but in each and every situation, I have been actively seeking and embracing change. You can't expect an amazing opportunity to fall on your lap if all you are doing is hanging out with your friends, locked up in your room, or going to school. You need to put yourself in situations where you will meet people who will help you become successful. Remember: a small opportunity could lead to big things because of the people you meet.

The number one rule of being successful is surrounding yourself with successful people. Never forget that.