At the beginning of 2011 I had one goal for the year, and that was to live it to the fullest, with no regrets. With the year behind me I am happy to say it has been a great success! All the important elements in my life, family, friends, health, self improvement, career, and community moved forward in 2011 in very positive ways.

Family

On May 29th I popped the question on my long time partner in crime Julia Holland and asked her to Marry me, at Pacifica Del Mar and with a small pause due to shock (very cute) she said Yes! This is the biggest thing to happen in my life, and I am looking forward to the future. Julia and I have had a great time experiencing what its like to be engaged. Below are two pictures one of Julia showing off her engagement ring and the other at our engagement party with both our families:

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Also on Oct 1 I was honored to be the best man at my brother Eric and his new wife Janine’s wedding in San Francisco. I am very happy to see him enter a new journey in his life of happiness and excitement. I guess my brother and I are finally growing up a bit, and its nice to see the two of us lucky enough to find people to share our lives with. Below are some pictures from the Wedding:

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Friends

2011 also has been a year of reconnecting with old life long friends and making new friends. Having a chance to hang out with people you have known since 2nd grade is always an amazing thing. My buddies Jeff and Xan don’t ever seem to change! Also I got to see my good friend Christie, bringing back old days working in Hermosa Beach.

As for new friends I have managed to meet some great new people after joining Carlsbad LA Boxing gym which I will talk about later in this post. As I get older I find trying new things is the perfect way to meet new people and make new friends.

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Health

I would have to say 2011 has been the healthiest year I can remember for me. Both in watching what I eat and exercising a lot! The biggest change has been adding both Muay Thai Boxing and Yoga to my already crazy running training.

One of my goals I achieved was to earn the Triple Crown status, basically running 3 San Diego Half Marathons, Carlsbad Half, La Jolla Half, and the AFC Half in one year. In 2011 I had 464 Training Miles of running the most in a single year I believe I have ever run, quite the accomplishment for me, and getting the Triple Crown was pretty awesome.

The biggest change for me was joining Carlsbad LA Boxing, already in fairly good shape from all the running or so I thought. My first Cardio class almost brought me to the brink of puking. But 1 Year later I am happy to say I have graduated from just taking the Cardio classes to taking the Advanced Muay Thai classes as well and sparring a slew of fighters, and making some great friends. I went from weighing 155-160 lbs to now weighing 141-145 lbs and increasing my muscle strength and running speed by a huge amount, while having a blast. Special thanks to the Carlsbad LA Boxing Staff and new friends Samantha Schmitt, Adam Griffis, Alan Roach, Tony Burnett, and Owners Jeff Nason, Richard Montano. Here are some videos of me sparring, and slowly getting better.

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Career

Work is always something that is often regarded as a have to, versus a want to do, but I am lucky enough to do something I love to do, which basically makes me a happy camper.

As a Systems Engineering Architect and Entrepreneur 2011 has brought great things such architecting the cloud computing systems infrastructure for a new Private Video Sharing Service GIVIT to re-inventing Systems Watch into a source for cloud computing realtime monitoring and a cross vendor cloud health gauge. Also with Julia leading the development effort we are very close to launching mygraphs a data visualization and graphing resource for anyone to use. As I have experienced in the past loving what you do definitely ends up showing in the product or service you develop.

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Community

Every year I help raise money for various organizations to help research and fight disease, support animals, protect state and national parks, and more. But 2011 definitely was a year I am proud of for raising money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. With the generous donations from good hearted people I was able to raise $1605.00 for the Walk MS event in Carlsbad, and make the 100 top donors list joining the 100 club. Here is a video of the event. Giving back to the community I think is very important and I hope I can have the means to continue doing so for years to come.

Also in 2011 Julia and I became SDSU Lifetime Alumni, having both graduated San Diego State University we felt joining the Alumni Association and giving back to the school that helped shape us as individuals was important.

New Things

Possibly the largest purchase of the year was buying a new 2011 SMART Car. So first off yes its safe with 8 air bags a Tritium Roll Cage that can withstand a 65 mile per hour crash protecting you from being crushed, and yes its fast enough for the HWY I have taken it to 90 mph and it has a performance paddle shifter mode. Best of all you can park it anywhere, the turning radius is ridiculous, it gets 44 mpg and is fun as hell to drive. For those that know me and my 65 Mustang it still my baby and I still drive it a lot

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In Conclusion

I am happy the way 2011 went but I am even more excited for 2012. I hope to have an even longer blog next year! To conclude my 2011 end of year blog here is where you can see 365 pictures of 2011, a picture everyday. 365 Daily Photos of 2011

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