Top Ten 2006

Top Ten for 2006

Hi Everyone.

As, I finish writing this several days after the New Year, I have already received a few emails asking about the Top Ten.  (And I have already gotten Wu-lan’s, Jason where is yours?) Thanks to everyone for your encouragement and inspiration – I truly believe this keeps me closer to all of you than otherwise possible. 

10.  The time share.  When my father purchased the time share several years back I remember telling him what a lousy investment it would be.  Boy was I wrong!  The time that we have spent as a family is as Mastercard would say “priceless”.  This year Yu-Fen and I tagged along with my dad, mom and Rasesh uncle and Daksha auntie on a week long vacation to Aruba.  Aruba was the perfect relaxing antidote to life and the vacation was much needed.  Thanks mom and dad!

9..Andy and Jeannie’s wedding.  Andy and Jeannie also got married in the LA area.  While this was a quick trip for me, it was great to connect with many old friends especially from the days of Survivor – Laurel, Kirsten and Andy Bohm.  I think part of my wedding gift to Andy is to NOT post Survivor on YouTube.  Congrats Jeannie and Andy!!!

8.  Dave and Andrea’s wedding.  Yu-fen and I drove down the scenic route, staying in Santa Barbara, to take a part in Dave and Andrea’s L.A, wedding.  The bachelor party was a blast, in more ways than one, as I learned later that night not to order raw tuna from a steakhouse!  Being a Groomsman I can report the wedding was perfectly orchestrated.  Dave has become my confidante, being in real estate, we have shared many of the issues and struggles that come from the profession.  Many thanks to Dave for the hours and hours of therapy and also to Andrea for setting up their house so that it is so guest friendly!!!  

7.  Sameer and Bethany’s place.  One of my greatest accomplishments is paying off handsome dividends.  This year I got to spend about 8 days  (two visits) in New York staying in my brother’s Upper, upper (okay Harlem) East Side condo.  Making it even better is that his girlfriend Bethany has moved in with him.  Bethany is a wonderful person, warm and engaging and I am thrilled that my brother (and my family) has her in his (our) life.

6.  600 Santa Ray.  Yu-Fen and I finally finished creating the downstairs into a nice cozy in-law unit in March.  We are even more grateful for finding Mark, Keitha and Barkley (woof-woof).  Mark and Keitha have brought a wonderful spirit into the house and we have shared wonderful times together, especially Thanksgiving when Mark spent all night cooking a traditional twelve course meal.  Congrats Mark on becoming a chef – Google will become even fatter.  

5.  Running a business.  At a top level the business has performed well – investors have received a good return, it has contributed to the revitalization of West Oakland, and it has kept me employed!  This was the first year that I ran a business alone and I learned so many lessons and should have done many things differently, however the number one lesson is the importance of delegating and trusting others.  I thank Hemant and Hiren for all their hard work in translating my version of QuickBooks into something that was IRS acceptable.  Mark Bloom also deserves a big thank you for his calm and reassuring presence, especially with the continuing saga of 1532 5th Street.  Thanks to all the investors of the business – we are in the home stretch and while I had hoped to close out the investment in 2006, we continue into 2007 until the Affordable units find buyers who qualify and meet the restrictions. 

4.  The Importance of Being Biren.  One of my favorite books is the similarly named play by Oscar Wilde.  This year I dropped many of the things that I love doing – my bookclub, my fantasy baseball team, and also many social activities – in the misguided belief that the time would be better spent on the business.  I told myself in last year’s Top Ten list that this was something that I needed to do, but I’m fairly dense and slow to catch on.  Life happens, Top 10 lists need to be created and I hardly think the extra time spent on the business was worth giving up on life’s important stuff.  This item will not be on the list next year!!!

3.  Yu-Fen.  One weekend late in 2006 we were scheduled to camp on Angel Island for Peter’s birthday weekend.  Angel Island is one of the islands (a little bit past Alcatraz) that overlooks San Francisco and the entire Bay.  In my 10 plus years I have never been to Angel Island – it is an absolute MUST SEE, reservations have to be booked months in advance.  Well the weather forecast called for rain and otherwise miserable conditions.  Like most other people who had scheduled to camp, I wanted to cancel.  However, Yu-Fen insisted that we go, and not pass up the experience.  Sure enough, it did not rain, the conditions were perfect and we enjoyed a great weekend.  For this weekend and for everything else I thank Yu-Fen for helping me see past life’s rough forecasts and helping me enjoy it to the fullest!

2.  Spending time with my family.  This year I realized how important my family is to me.  This summer my father and my brother both came to California to spend time with me.  My father while he was out here spent much of his time being my personal bookkeeper and helping organize the finances of the four entities and my own personal finances.  My brother came to California and he introduced me to the “Sammy” workout – it has whipped me into shape, we also did some fun stuff like catching a Giants game – next time Oakland (or Fremont A’s) Sammy!

1.  Finally, as always the people (each of one of you) who inspire me to write, dream and do the things that make life worth living.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Cheers,

Biren