Archive for life

land of Oz

07/07/2011 life, travel No comments

view of sydney's darling harbour from taronga zoo

so i’ve been in australia for quite some time. about six weeks now i suppose and i should be out here a spell longer.

fantastic times. living a mile a minute and enjoying every bit of time out here.

thankful for the opportunity.

grateful for my loving and supportive family.

pleased to keep in touch with great friends from all around the world.

happy to host and meet so many great couch surfers here in such a short time.

it’s been a great time to sit back and reflect on how far i’ve come.  but also to meditate on how long i still have to go with my journey.  meeting so many longterm travelers and career volunteers and watching the long way round has truly begun to inspire me in ways i haven’t been inspired in a while…  but even to be able to write such things and seriously consider so many amazing opportunities i have to wonder:

how’d i get so lucky?

oh and by the by – i just signed up for google + … looks really tight.  drop me a line to keep in touch ;) .

feliz ano nuevo

03/01/2011 life, travel No comments

alright alright so i know almost no spanish.  but at least i’ve made it two weeks in central america with plenty of good food and drinks – and without being arrested or mugged either.  well maybe a lot of it was luck and pointing…

and honestly – even more so than in the last post – i’m just so grateful lately for everything i’ve got going well in my life.  travelling for the third time this past year to central america, having met so many great new people along the way, and getting to know the old faces a bit better as well.

casco viejo, sundown

so i’m off to an undisclosed US-based location (it’s a surprise to some) tomorrow morning.  i’ll disclose more in person if i see you, and perhaps more to come at a later date… it’s always tough to see what is appropriate to be shared with the rest of human kind, and what is not.

i think this year will be really challenging for me, but i have a good feeling about it.  i can see a lot of really daunting things ahead – but a lot of life-long benefits associated with confronting them.

again, check out the new feeds to see what i am listening to.  it’s always good finding new music.  oh and also check out a fellow traveller i met who is a great photographer on a mission.  of course – check their site out and support them!

really, you should just go out and support somebody.  anybody who needs it.  there are so many genuinely good people out there to outweigh the bad.  and so much good in this world to outweigh the bad.

so drink [ or smoke ;) ] up, and be merry, or whatever you’d like to be called.

happy new year

- andrew, the Grateful

Work From Home

15/12/2010 cisco, ironport, life No comments

SO i’ve had a new job for about 6 months now… and what a great 6 months those have been.  i’ve travelled across the continental US several times, met dozens of great new people, and moved into a fantastic, new apartment.

it’s also been a time of great change elsewhere in life.  less sys admin / coding things, more networking stuff.  less time for Pirate Cat Radio.  less Facebook and more actual work, deadlines.  more time and flexibility to see my family and travel the world, but less time spent in SF enjoying the city with friends and loved ones that matter there…

looking down and up, simultaneously

been listening to a lot of great new music.  i’m actually going to throw up some RSS feeds from my last.fm account to share details on those.

about to get back on the CCIE horse too.  Hope to be announcing my CCIE number sometime later this year – can’t thank my new boss enough for supporting me in this.

getting back into couch surfing has been great.  meeting many great people – one extra extra special one in fact…  thanks to my new roomie for supporting the hosting efforts.  if you’re around in the city or want to stay – i’m your man.

thanks to everyone who came to our house warming party at 1090 page street.  it was a blast.  thanks to my pops for sharing this link to show me the cool history on.  thanks to the girl for introducing me to her awesome startup-py crew and providing an awesome opportunity to “work from home” in a beautiful Santa Cruz rancher on the coast.

i wish i had time to cram more thoughts into this post.  i hope to post more content however, much more frequently.  the art of writing is a dying form i think.  Facebook postings, acronyms and L33t-speak – all eroding the face of an intelligent society.  turning the world into shorthand quips and retorts.  but at the same time – supporting something beautiful.