Top Ten 2008

Top Ten List for 2008 

     In many ways this was the best year since I began

writing these updates 10 years ago.  I got married! The

wedding provided an excellent opportunity to connect with

many people who I cherished seeing from the past stages of

my life.  The wedding reminded me that the stages are

artificial and that we are connected more than not.   

     10.  End of the Year trip.  Things returned back to

normal towards the end of the year and we were fortunate to

spend a week in Bend Oregon with Jaleel, Nasira, Safia and

their friends.  It was a great week of skiing and just

relaxing,eating and celebrating the Holiday season.  Also of

note was Lava Cave National Monument on the

Oregon/California border.  If you ever wanted to spelunk,

unsupervised, this will satisfy that need!  

     9.  Product of the Year.  If Oprah gets to choose

one, I have to select the iPhone.  Not that Apple needs any

more publicity, but I can’t think of a product that I have

come to rely on as much.  Having a phone, GPS, and Internet

all in your pocket is a necessity.   Unfortunately I did

lose many phone numbers in the process, so I look forward to

replenishing them this year!  

     8.  Visits.  My brother and Bethany visited Yu-Fen

and I this past spring.  We had a great time hosting them

and hope that others take advantage of the mild Northern

California winter and for that matter spring, summer and

fall.  The house has a guest room and we encourage visits

(thanks also to Ankur, Dave, Cliff, Ed, Jessica, Sarav for

staying over this year) 

     7.  The Bachelor Party.  Many thanks to everyone who

made this a fun event.  It was everything a Bachelor Party

should have been – which was a fun day of sailing and an

evening without anyone getting into any real trouble. 

Thanks  Jeff for driving us home!  

     6.  Trip to Taiwan – Engagement - Yu-Fen’s

parents hosted my parents in Taiwan where we celebrated our

engagement – twice – on the same day.  Imagine a Chinese

banquet where you are served over 15 courses.  Then imagine

doing it over again for dinner.  Yu-Fen’s family certainly

did a great job transcending the language barrier and making

my family feel welcome.  I thank them and feel lucky to be a

part of the family. 

     5.  Wedding Photos.  I never imagined I would ever

put taking photos on any of my highlights.  I hate being

photographed as much as the camera hates taking photos of

me.  Well it turns out that Taiwan has an amazing industry

devoted to taking photos.  It was relatively inexpensive,

tons of fun and the results – as Tejal put it – “I

didn’t know that you could look so good” or “Who’s

that guy in the photos?”  Feel free to check them out at

www.yufenandbiren.ning.com and you’ll see what I mean.  

     4.  My Grandfather’s life.  If a person lives to be

95 years old and is in good health til the last month and

has lived through an epoch in history where he can see his

kids go from agricultural India to a post-industrial America

then you have to put his passing on your Top Ten list.  Last

year we gave him the chance to host our engagement party in

India.  As he put it children are like principal (you have

to work hard for this) and grandchildren are like the return

on principal (the payoff).  I’m glad that he got to that

point in his life where my cousins and I have rewarded his

life.  May we all be so blessed.  

     3.  Sandalstone.  The business took a decisive turn

this year – from playing defense to playing offense again.

The year started with my having to figure out how to pay

off a construction loan that was due against condo units

that were not going to sell.  Fortunately, with help from my

father, I managed to turn all the condos into rentals and

turned the short term loan into long term mortgages.  Now

into the sixth year of the Company I am starting a Fund that

takes advantage of the current economic situation – it’s

my way of getting back my share of the tax payer bailout of

institutions that should have failed.  Without making this

into an advertisement – contact me if interested – the

Fund pays 6.5% paid monthly and I project over the life will

return 15 to 18% annualized - or $1 returns $2.50 if held

for 7 years ...oops I think I just did. 

     2.  The Wedding.  So many people made this happen –

I can’t even begin to thank each of you.   My mom tells me

that the few touches that we did – the videos – were

appreciated by people as being different.  But mostly we

just followed the traditions and ceremonies of the Indian

wedding.  I still don’t know the meaning of half of what

we did (although the priest was very instructive) but it

felt right and being with Yu-Fen who handled it all with

elegance and grace was all that needed to happen.  We’ll

have one final event where we just celebrate in a casual

setting in California – where Tony is going to have the

grand world premiere of the video!  Everyone’s invited! 

     #1.  As always to each of you who make life worth

living!  

     Happy 2009!