Category: Clearing the Cache

Coming up with a great costume is hard. Especially when I didn’t like wearing costumes. I didn’t like drawing attention. So imagine how thrilled I was with myself when I came up with the perfect costume: superhero alter egos.

I don’t get it. Do I need another screen to distract me from the world? Do I need another device to charge everyday? Those were the thoughts I had about smartwatches. I did not take them seriously until Apple came out with their smartwatch because it would make the product category mainstream. Even then, it didn’t have any killer feature that persuaded me that I needed one. But, as I’ve talked to people who own smartwatches, not just the Apple watch, I’ve learned that a smartwatch is greater than the sum of its parts.

I never camped growing up. It was not something my family was interested in doing. After I married Jenni, I had my first camping trip at Battle Ground Lake with her family. While we had interesting neighbors who kept us up all night, I found the experience pleasant.

We planned four camping trips this summer to unplug and adventure the outdoors. Though we only camped three times total, we learned from each one and culminated in camping at the beach.

I felt relieved when Jack and Rachel practiced their wedding vows at the rehearsal. He was reading them from a sheet of paper and she hadn’t finished her’s yet. I finished my speech two weeks before the wedding, but I trashed it on the week of the wedding, and started over.

With an amazing experience at Beaverton Foursquare’s day camp last year during my my sabbatical, I took a week off from work to serve again. It was also Violet’s first year attending day camp, and her big sister was very excited to share the experience with her.

January blurred by along with my birthday celebrations. I’m so thankful for Jenni who goes above and beyond to kick-start another year of my life with celebrations.

After ten years of employment at Vernier, each employee receives a four-week sabbatical. I remember thinking, wow, that’s awesome! What would I do with four weeks off? And now, here I am, at the end of my sabbatical thinking, “Wow, that went by fast. What did I do?”

Coconut ice cream apple pie with colleagues. Barbeque burgers with in-laws. Chow mein with parents. Allergy-friendly apple pie with kids. LAN party with the guys. Weekend date with Jenni. The best gifts from my birthday week.

“You know, we’ll have to do the routine,” I messaged to Agent R₁. I never got a response so I assumed he understood my joke. I underestimated Agent R₁—and that’s putting it lightly.