Prelude to the Adventures

“Remember what Bilbo used to say: It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.” --J.R.R. Tolkien

I like adventures. I am always excited to try things that are new, novel, and that test my limits. Here are a few of the more adventurous things I've done in my life:

• Leaving school to write and sell genetics software while saving money by living out of a van.
• Moving from North Carolina to San Francisco to find work at a computer startup and quickly taking a leadership role there.
• Spending time on numerous challenging athletic accomplishments - running races, participating in triathlons, and backpacking throughout California and on the east coast.
• Taking a year off work to travel, hike the Pacific Crest Trail, and make money playing Poker.
• Experimenting with freelance software development with my company Adventure Support.
• Joining Google as a software engineer.

While none of the things I've done are exceptional, I do think a pattern emerges - I find myself the happiest when I don't quite know what the day or year will bring. I would be an unhappy farmer, but perhaps a spirited hunter gatherer.

Some recent things that I have been excited about include:

• My current work at Google. I have tons of respect for what the company is doing, and the fact that I can affect so many people there.
• Triathlons. I've been doing some triathlon training in hopes of doing a half Ironman next year
• Kiteboarding. I really want the season to pick up so that I can get better at this insanely fun sport.

I'll be blogging about these intentions, as well as other ideas, so stay tuned.