Wouldn't it be nice...

Something I take a bit of pride in is accomplishing goals. I'm a scrounger, and my mind works like a scrounger. When I see something that could be useful in the future, I make a note of it in my head. It usually comes in handy. Similarly, when I see something that looks like it would be fun in the future, I make a sort of "soft goal" or "bucket list". It's a goal (big or small) with no timeline and no intensity. But when the opportunity comes along, I take it.

Here are some examples of some older soft goals I've accomplished:

Drive buses in Alaska - Done

Be a summer camp counselor - Done
Go on something like Outward Bound - Done
Be an EFY counselor - Done
Learn to play the guitar - Done
Climb Mt. Timpanogas - Done
Learn to rock climb and own the equipment - Done
Teach at the MTC - Done
Be a ski bum for at least one season - Done
Intern with a Big 4 Accounting Firm - Done
Get a masters degree - Done
Climb Half Dome - I hiked it... but I still need to climb it!
Go to Mexico - Done

Learn web development - Done
Start a blog - Done

Here are some recent ones:

Live in Boston - Done
Go to New York - Done
Be in Times Square for New Years - Done
Solve the Rubik's Cube - Done
Ski Vail - Done
Stay in a condo at a resort - Done
Go to Maine - Will do this weekend
Climb Mt. Rainier - Will do this summer


I chose not to include the soft goals I haven't accomplished yet, but the list is much longer than what your see here. What are some of your soft goals?

Auld Lang Syne

Although slightly belated, I thought New York deserved a few lines. Being in Times Square at midnight on New Years is quite the experience/ordeal.

We had to arrive at 4:30 to get a spot. Once you were in, you were stood in a barricaded block-long corral. We were told that there were no bathrooms, so we were careful not to drink much before. There were no street vendors, so we had to bring our own snacks.

It was FREEZING. Standing around for 8 hours is not a particularly enjoyable experience. It was too cold to turn the pages of a book (I brought The E-Myth Revisited). There were lots of foreigners around to talk to, but it was so cold that nobody was very chatty.

The experience is one of those things you do so you can say you did it. For the rest of my life, every New Years, I'll be able to say I was there. It's a little like camping sometimes. The trip may be miserable, but the best part is looking forward to it and looking back on it.

The baked potato wasn't half bad...

After a perfect day of skiing we hopped into the PT Cruiser, paid a ridiculous $25 to exit the Vail parking garage, and got back on 1-70. Our destination? Red Cliff, CO. Google maps shows that Red Cliff is only 20 minutes from Vail. Google maps is a big fat dirty liar.

We got stuck behind a snowplow going 30 mph, driving up a windy and icy mountain road. 45 minutes (and one missed turn) after leaving Vail we pulled into the town or Red Cliff. Our hotel, the Green Bridge Inn, was the first building. (http://greenbridgeinn.com/)


Still donning layers of spandex and goretex, we headed to eat at Mango’s (http://www.mangosmountaingrill.com/), the only restaurant in town. The menu was varied, but nothing sounded very good. At length, I decided to order the Teriyaki Mahi. Some of you might be thinking “But Colorado is landlocked! Never order seafood in a landlocked state!” Well, you’re absolutely right. But I’ll get to that.

Michelle also ordered the Mahi. She picked it before I did, but I swear there wasn’t any collusion involved.

When the food arrived, fear coursed through my body. The mahi was tiny, the beans didn’t have a sauce and the garlic bread looked pretty burnt and stale. My fears were soon confirmed. I took a bite of the beans and nearly spit them out.

The waitress was nearby and explained that the beans were cooked on the grill. Hmmmmm… Out of sheer hunger, I choked the meal down. It was, without a doubt, the worst meal I have ever eaten at a restaurant. But the baked potato wasn’t half bad. Guess that’s hard to screw up.

At the hotel check-in (on the first floor inside the general store), a 50-something hippie awaited us. Long curly hair, bandana, jade necklace and all. He programmed our door code for room 33 (0933… very secure…), and we were in.


As we were entering, a couple was leaving and asked the hippie if there was food in town. He said “Mango’s is right across the street. It’s great!!!” I shared our recent experience and the desk clerk looked shocked.

At about 9 pm the phone rang. I answered, and it was the hippie. He said “I did some follow-up because I had to find out what happened with the mahi. You see, I was the cook there for 6 months, and the mahi is one of our best dishes. So I called over and here’s the deal. The cook is new and there wasn’t any mahi in the refrigerator, so he pulled some out of the freezer and put it right on the grill. But I’m really sorry you had a bad experience, because Mango’s is usually incredible.”

I found that interchange pretty humorous. I definitely appreciated his effort. It was quite unexpected.

The room was great. It was all built in August, so everything was practically new. There were two double beds, a flatscreen TV with a DVD player, and a stereo alarm clock with an iPod hookup. I was quite impressed that they had a DVD player and iPod compatible stereo. I’ve rarely been in a hotel with those amenities.

On Saturday we decided to stay at my friend Brig’s house in Longmont instead of the hotel. We called around 11 and asked if it was too late to cancel for that evening. The lady at the desk was incredibly kind and accommodating and said we could cancel the reservation and pick up our stuff whenever it was convenient.

We didn’t get off the mountain until late, and then we lounged around Lionshead Village for a bit. When we finally got back to the hotel it was around 7. We decided to check with the front desk again to make sure that we wouldn’t have to pay a penalty at all, and the lady was so nice. The hippy was there too.

As we thanked her for her flexibility, she added “Plus, I was really sorry to hear about the bad experience you had at Mango’s last night. I’ll send you a coupon for a discount on your next stay.” Even she had heard about the Mango’s incident! I was a little embarrassed, to be honest. I’m a little picky about food but I’m not one to complain. The whole town knew that we had a bad meal at Mango’s!!

Lessons learned? The hotel was great. The staff was nice and the rooms were new, clean and well-equipped. Just stay away from Mango’s!

-30 F Outside? Not a Problem

My parents never took me on a ski vacation. I always wanted to go, so I did. I flew down to Colorado on Friday. The flight was originally scheduled for 7 pm, but a huge storm was supposed to dump 6" that afternoon, so I went standby on the 6:10 am flight. Luckily, I was the last standby called and got on the plane. Then in JFK, I was was also waiting standby. Fingers crossed, I made it!

Ate some Panda Express in Denver, took the airport shuttle for $19 to meet my friend Michelle downtown, finished some work and had a conference call, then.... freedom!



Saturday we had rental car issues. My buddy Brig was going to drive to downtown, pick us up, and go skiing with us all day but his babysitter bailed on him. We made an online reservation at Enterprise and went to pick it up, but the guy said that they actually didn't have availability. We eventually got everything sorted out, then hopped in our Pontiac Vibe and headed to Vail.



Snow was dumping out of the sky and I-70 was a nightmare. Luckily, I've been driving on snow since I learned to drive and we didn't have any problems. But it was SLOW. By the time we got to Vail it was 12:30, and I still needed to rent skis. Vail is ridiculously expensive the grocery store discount ticket machine wasn't working. After some quick calculations, I decided that it wouldn't be worth it to ski Vail. Keystone, however, offers night skiing, so we could get more for our money.



We hopped back in the Vibe and started backtracking. Vail pass was a nightmare and several cars had slid off the road. We kept driving carefully and made it to Keystone without any problems. (Authors note: Keystone has incredible signs everywhere telling you where to go and what to do - Vail has none)



FINALLY, we got on the mountain at 2 PM. It was pretty chilly so we had thrown on some extra layers at the car. As the sun set and night skiing started, it got really really cold. Really cold. Very cold. Everyone was wrapped up so you couldn't see an inch of skin. The lift line was almost nonexistent.



Wondering how cold it was, I skied close to a sign they had at the top of the lift. It read: "-4 F, Feels like -30 F. SEVERE FROSTBITE WARNING!" I fear that the temperature was a bit intimidating, because we didn't take too many runs after that.

The Secret

The Secret is an interesting book, but it only tells half the story. It is written in a sensational manner utilizing persuasive techniques (read some articles by Cialdini on persuasion). It is inspiring, yes, but it is incomplete.

While visiting my parents in Washington DC I attended church with them. They were on assignment to a relatively poor congregation in the inner city. At the lunch after the services, one lady at the table, who was quite a bit more successful than the others, began telling stories about how everything just worked out for her. She didn't worry, she didn't plan; she merely focused on faith. Her stories were really quite inspiring.

In the car on the way home my mother said "I wish she wouldn't tell those stories around everyone. They get to thinking that everything will just come to them without them doing any work." That comment caused me to pause and think.

The Secret is not a groundbreaking book, nor does it claim to be. It's a repackaging of books such as "As A Man Thinketh" by James Allen, "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill and "The Power of Positive Thinking" by Norman Vincent Peale. There have been hundreds of books written about Positive Mental Attitude (PMA).

Stephen Covey makes important comments regarding PMA in "The 7 Habits of Highly-Effective People". Most notably is his analogy of a map. Roughly paraphrased, it says that if you're in the middle of Chicago with a map of Detroit, you're never going to get to your destination no matter how positive your attitude is. Does Covey state that PMA is worthless? Absolutely not - but PMA is only a part of the formula.

In Christianity, PMA is a subset of Faith/Hope. Faith is rarely discussed without its companion, "works". James 2 is perhaps the most beautiful explanation of the relationship between the two. Faith must be manifest by works. Faith without works is dead. Works without faith are empty.

I firmly believe that a positive attitude and outlook on life is vital to happiness. I also believe that visualization, focus, and meditation are important keys to obtaining balance and reaching our goals. Not only do I believe these things, but I've had incredible experiences in my life putting them to work. I don't share these experiences here due to their personal nature, but they are many and they are varied.

All of my personal experiences involved both faith and works. I believed something and had a positive view of the outcome, but then I went out and worked for it. And I got it.

Should you read "The Secret"? It's not a waste of time. But please, please read it with a critical eye. I enjoyed "The Power of Positive Thinking" much more. And perhaps my favorite is "The Right to Riches" by Dean Christensen, although that's a little harder to come by. Also, "Seeing With an Eye of Faith" by Grant Von Harrison is incredible.

The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less

The Paradox of Choice is a book written by Barry Schwartz, a professor at Swarthmore (where my dad got his undergrad!).

I was going to write this post and then I checked my voicemail messages and got one that wasn't particularly what I wanted to hear and now I don't feel like writing.

But the book is incredible. I loved it because it inspires thought. Certain conclusions drawn by Schwartz may not be universally accepted, but his work leads the reader to analyze and probe their own inner workings.

Random CD's I Purchased on Amazon

The first CD I ever purchased was Ace of Base: The Sign. It was a good one. The other day I was thinking about a Matchbox Twenty song I really like than was on a CD I lost, and I decided to to buy that CD. Minutes later, I had a full shopping cart at Amazon.com.

Most of the CD's are really old. But for $.01 + S&H, you can't really complain.

the verve pipe - villains
Sum 41 - All Killer No Filler
Collective Soul - Dosage
Howie Day - Australia
Live - Throwing Copper
Daughtry - Daughtry
Matchbox Twenty - Yourself or Someone Like You
Matchbox Twenty - Mad Season
Matchbox Twenty - more than you think you are

Double, double, toil and trouble

Friday night my roommate organized a group of about 18 people to go to Salem (yes, the Salem where they burned the witches). The entire month of October they have celebrations and activities going on for Halloween. There are haunted houses and witch conventions and witch parades and people selling lots of hats and costumes and re-enactments of the trials. It's really quite the event.

One of the girls who came with us is a direct descendent of Bridget Bishop, the first woman burned at the stake for being a witch. Kind of crazy.

Downtown Salem is beautiful. Brick streets, beautiful old buildings, lots of history everywhere. We went to a few of the Halloween attractions but didn't get to see as many of the historical sites as I would have liked. Next time I go I want to visit the Witch Museum, the site of the hangings and the burnings, the House of Seven Gables (like the Nathaniel Hawthorne book), and see the memorial they put up.

The evening was fun, but not as exciting as it might sound. It's one of those events that sounds really cool when you tell it to people yet in reality was relatively normal.

At 9 this morning my mom Skyped me from Ireland, so I got to talk to my parents for almost an hour. It's only been recently that I realize how much I miss being able to pick up a phone and call them any time I want. Several times every week I see or do something that makes me want to call my mom, but I can't. Email accomplishes the task, but only crudely.

After the phone call I met up with 4 friends and we drove to New England for a "Fall Photo Shoot". I decided it would only be appropriate to dress in 60's clothes and celebrate nature. Unfortunately, I was the only one in the group feeling adventurous, and was therefore the only one in costume.

I drove. As we were waiting at a stop sign in Concord, one of the girls pointed to the house to the left of us and said "That's Emerson's house." Sure enough, there was a sign in front. I took a picture. How incredible is that! Emerson!! He lived right there! He walked those streets. He read in those parks. Incredible.

At my request, we stopped to see where the shots were fired during the Revolutionary War. I've always loved the Revolutionary War. Growing up, my favorite book was "Silver for General Washington". Historical Fiction was by far my favorite genre. The site was beautiful. There was a mossy stone wall lining the path and leading to the Old North Bridge, where the fighting occurred. A park ranger gave a 20 minute lesson on the troop movements and the historical significance of the site. It would all take too long to write, but I wish I could tell you the entire story. Maybe soon.

We took a lot of pictures and then kept driving, staying on the back roads. The leaves were INCREDIBLE! Most of them already changed, but we got to several areas where they were at their peak. The houses were so old and picturesque. Life seemed very slow and preserved out there, unlike the chaos of the city. I needed to get out.

Our meandering eventually took us to our final destination: an apple orchard in southern New Hampshire. There was a petting zoo, a corn maze, a hay ride, a gift shop, and of course, an orchard. But first we took a short detour past the orchard to go to an estate sale, and on the way passed the house of Uncle Sam. I know what you're thinking - he's just made up, right? Wrong. He was a supplier of food for the Continental Army. On his barrels he would use the brand "US". So when the colonies became the United States of America, the abbreviation US was already associated with Uncle Sam, and the legend began. Pretty cool, huh?

Back to the orchard. We didn't pick apples. That was the whole purpose, but once we got there we just didn't feel like it. We did everything else, though. The corn maze was great! So was the hayride. I've always wanted to do both of those things.

We stopped in Concord again on the way back. I'm already in love with that town. We parked downtown and went to a café there. I wish I could describe the ambiance that existed. It was one of history and refinement and sophistication and age. I was relatively quiet during the meal because I didn't want to spoil that feeling.

Leaving Concord, we contemplated visiting the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery (umm… as in the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Incredible!), but decided to do it another day, when we come back in the winter to go ice skating on Walden Pond (as in Walden. As in Walden Pond. As in Henry David Thoreau).

I love all the history there is here! It's so wonderful. You need to come out and visit.

Who Says You Can't Go Home?

I went home. People do that fairly often, but not me. I haven't been back to Wilmette for 4 years. And that was only for two days and I didn't see any of my friends. So it's really been 6 years.

When Accenture decided to fly me out to St. Charles, IL, for training, I decided to make the trip. I rented a stretch limo with 6 Italians, 2 Belgians, 1 Finn, and 1 Nigerian (that'll be my next post) and headed downtown.

We had 3 limos in total, with 27 people. 27 people attempting to run around Chicago in an organized fashion on the day before the Chicago marathon is not a very feasible endeavor. The streets looked like New York in the movies. After a coordinated trip to the Apple store, we splintered into smaller groups.

I led my splinter to Navy Pier, where we bought Chicago style hot dogs and took the sunset boat cruise. The cruise ($15), was incredible! I love the Chicago skyline, and the clear sky made for a gorgeous sunset.

This is where I need to do some explaining. Wilmette is a suburb of Chicago. Technically, if you look on a map, Wilmette is directly north of Evanston and Evanston is directly north of Chicago. So I'm two towns away. But Chicago has lots of neighborhoods that aren't cities, so I'm not actually that close to downtown. It was a very rare occasion that I went downtown. Field trips, mueseums, theater, the Taste. I don't know downtown very well. Giuseppe (from Milan) was teaching me the name of some of the buildings.

Chicago is not my home. Wilmette is my home.

I'm going to fast forward to Sunday now because I'm bored of talking about Saturday. Yaniv took me back to the suburbs, and the memories started flooding back.

The Edens Expressway is I-94. If you take exit 34-B you'll exit at Lake Ave, heading East. That's where I live. I didn't remember all the trees. I mean I remembered them, but I didn't even recognize some of the intersections I drove by every day for 18 years.

Everything was prettier than I remembered. Green, lush trees everywhere. A very quiet, out-of-the-way neighborhood. Lots of parks. Beautiful churches. Green.

We did a drive-by of my old house. They cut down two of the trees. One had broken in a really bad ice storm, so that wasn't a surprise. The other was more of a large bush. I think they should have left the bush. The house looked naked. We didn't stay long.

We at Lou Malnati's pizza, walked all around New Trier Township High School, and went to Gillson Beach. I feared that all these places would seem foreign to me, but they didn't. I picked up right where I left off.

On our way down Lake Shore Drive, we stopped at the Baha'i Temple. I've lived in Wilmette all my life but never been inside. We went inside and it was beautiful! The entire dome is open. It's a place for meditation and prayer. I would have loved to stay there for hours, but I think I was the only one in the car who did.

I'm glad I went home. As I wandered around, I realized that it was a pretty good place. I always said I wouldn't move back, but now I'm not sure. Home is a beautiful thing to feel.

"i don't want your boring life, and i don't want your 9 to 5"

Thank you, Good Charlotte. Your words are very inspiring.

In high school a good friend of mine told me that she could never imagine me going to work every day in a button-up shirt and tie. I got the last laugh on that one - I don't wear a tie.

I have now officially started Week 2 at Accenture. We have five weeks of Analyst training before we're actually staffed on a project. The first three weeks are here in Boston, the last two are in St. Charles, IL. Home, sweet home. I think I'll give a few close friends a call while I'm there. It would be great to see Yaniv and Ana and Cam.

Today we've been learning programming. "But Derek," you ask, "isn't that what you majored in? Don't you already know how to program?" Yes, that is what I majored in. And yes, I already know how to do it. That is precisely why, at 1:44PM, I've already finished all the training for the day, finalized my monthly budget, and am now blogging. Who knows, I might even make it to Facebook today.

It has been a very rough transition. I moved out here with very little money into a ghetto unfurnished apartment with my auto insurance expiring within the week and insufficient business casual clothes. I left all my friends and my girlfriend back home. It was hard.

There's a moment that comes every time I move, every time I have my entire life in an automobile and am doing something that will forever change me. It's the moment I become completely overwhelmed with emotion.

It happened when I went back to school after my mission. I was in the minivan with my mother and siblings and we parked to go to the Creamery on 9th. We had to park in the Law Building parking lot because the Creamery lot was full. It hit me then.

Last summer as I was driving out to Santa Clara, it hit me while driving over that bridge you have to go over to get from Sacramento to San Jose.

Two weeks ago it hit me as I drove along I-90 and passed through Buffalo at night. I took the closest exit and found a hotel.

When it hits, it's like a punch of emotion. Both the excitement of something new and the sadness of something gone. Knowing that life will never be the same. Knowing that you've closed a door. The old room was comfortable, warm, bright, and familiar. The new room is dark and cold. Change takes time.

I'm getting settled, slowly but surely. I still have frustrating mornings when I miss the bus. Or when I go somewhere I've never been before. Lots of logistics. But I got my first paycheck and I'm not dirt poor anymore (just poor), so life is on the upswing.