Top Ten 2020

Happy 2021! - I'm more than a little late however better late than never! So 2020 went as planned, not. It started with a trip to Taiwan for a funeral for me and in retrospect I should have just spent the whole year there. I'm glad I didn't though as My Annual Top Ten list shows why.  With gratitude and appreciation here is a look back at some of what made 2020 special for me notwithstanding anything else. 

10.  Taiwan trip:  Last year I started my list with a funeral and this year begins with one as well. Yufen's dad had passed away late 2019 and the funeral was in mid January. I took a quick 4 day trip to Taiwan for the multi-day ceremony. The funeral industry in Taiwan is quite sophisticated - almost as much as the Indian wedding one. There is a belief that the more people that attend your funeral the greater chance you have of a better after life. This explains why some funerals have gogo dancers and other entertainment at the ceremonies. Yufen's dad's funeral didn't. As a foreshadowing of the year to come when I arrived at Taipei airport there was some screening (temperature check) and lots of warnings about Covid. When I landed back at SFO, I walked straight out with no health checkpoints. As it happened this was my only airplane trip of the year, quite strange to say that.

9.  Wiffle Ball and T Ball.  Okay so a shout out to one early fall afternoon where a bunch of guys - my new Fantasy Baseball friends - got together to play wiffle ball. It was a total throwback to my younger days. Memories as we hopped a chain link fence to a Covid closed school field and set up our playing field. Thanks to Stan for organizing and adding me to his group of friends. Another shout out to Kaiden for lacing up and starting T-Ball. I was an Assistant Coach for his team and although the season got cancelled right before first game - we got some practices in and looked good in A's uniforms. Kaiden - keep that back elbow up, lead with the hips and stay balanced. I also give a shout out to MLB for putting on a show and taking the field for a shortened season and seeing it through to the end, it was an essential diversion from the "real" world.

8.  Road trips to Vegas and Squaw.   As a consequence of Covid - we took three rather long road trips to places where we had places to stay - properties where we had openings. In Vegas we loved having a pool - I have to convince them of the virtues of moving to desert life. On the way back we took the scenic road back through Death Valley and then up the East side of the Sierras on 395. Highly recommend that route for the sheer variety of being hundreds of feet below sea level at 120 degrees and then in about 2 hours 7000 feet above at about 40 degrees. I'm not sure there is any other place on the planet where one can do that. Another special place for me is Lake Tahoe. We were initially only going to go up for a weekend - however a flat tire led to us staying for a whole week. It was great to see Steve who has joined the exodus leaving the Bay Area and who had lots of toys for us to play with.       

7.     Co-working spots.  Very grateful to my friends Fred and Jamie for letting me crash at their work spaces.  Early in the year got to hang out with Fred and Kerry and friends at the beautiful Kaiser location. We developed our own pod which we dubbed the Quaran-team. Unfortunately, as the year wore on and effects of the lockdown became more severe we ended up disbanding. That's when I set up shop at Jamie's warehouse / office / boxing gym / barbeque / chess / Cole's kindergarden Zoom room and Halloween Party place. Really grateful to have had that space to get away and maybe one day Carlos you will beat me! 

6.  Kindergarden and 4th Grade. So how many times have you said if I could only take school over again. So this year I getting to take both Kindergarden and 4th Grade again. Woohoo! The whole virtual school thing whatever the rationale and justification is not fulfilling for my kids. They miss their friends and they certainly don't need more screen time. So I have been spending time with both of them to make sure that they are getting some learning in by reviewing material with them. Its becoming easier as we've gotten into a daily habit. In the process I'm learning about CA coastal Indian tribes and my letter H needs lots of practice. And if anyone wants to learn about Bridges check out the video Kailee and Kaiden made. 

5.  Business.  While Revenue was down year over year and the level of work and change was enormous, I'm ever more grateful and proud of all my Partners and co-collaboraters. The short term business that we had built from nothing took a abrupt halt in late March and April. Michael and I worked hard to convert those into long term housing. Many thanks to Michael for as always taking things in stride and making this happen. Thanks also to Yufen for helping us dispose of tons of furniture later in the year. Unfortunately we also halted the technology business with Rick. The product still survives and provides a benefit. We also want to thank our staff, especially Roxanna and team who suffered the most. The long term business did well especially in Las Vegas which saw and inflow of people leaving higher priced areas. Meanwhile the Bay Area is seeing an exodus and we are seeing vacancy and lower rents for the first time since the Great Recession. We are of course reminded of prior downturns and optimistic that these times are temporary. Thanks always to Jamie and David for all the help on keeping things in shape. 

4.  Sameer.   Thanks to my brother Sameer for spending a month with us in November. Like so many others he didn't have to show up to work in person which enabled him to work from anywhere. He was able to get up at 5AM to attend to his meetings and then spend the afternoon with the kids and keeping us entertained. Great job with Thanksgiving dinner and I've replaced my Starbucks habit with the Nespresso one.  

3.  Zoom Calls.  As a homage to 2020, not that I'm a fan of virtual meetings over real ones, it was good to get in some time with friends. Special shout out to Guys Night Out for keeping our regular schedule and Yale friends - Ed, Mike, Cliff, Brian, Rachel and Robin for organizing (in lieu of Reunion), book club for having one and my family, Ankur, Bijal, Sameer and Anisha. Okay in hindsight - what I really meant to say is that I missed all you guys and I really wish this was in person and can't wait!  I also spent a good deal of time on Facebook - all of you are as nutty as me for doing that - thanks to a wide cast of characters for that infotainment. 

2.  The Orange Outdoors 

We had some surreal weather this year with the fires. Our sky was raining ashes for a few days and turned bright Orange for a month with the nearby fires. Combined with the stay at home orders it made our many neighborhood hikes, bike expeditions and even a camping trip take on a eeire feel. Of sad note our camping trip to Big Basin Redwood Park with Adam, Maria and Lia took place a month before a fire ripped through there and demolished the Visitor Center and other areas of the Park - I'm told though that most of the Grand Redwoods have survived.

1.  Thanks everyone for being a part of 2020 and here's to a great 2021 - here's a few cards (and emails) from some of you that made my Holidays Brighter!