adios corporate america

I'm sitting here trying to figure out what to even say in a blog. I'm no longer working in corporate america, at least for now, & I'm taking a new direction and will see where this take me. I want to learn another language, volunteer, get healthy, surf, see, explore, & challenge myself. I went hard for a decade on the career thing & now I want a break for a little life experience. So I'm heading on a journey south of the border. My friends are flying up from Costa Rica to northern Baja Mexico & we're driving back down to Costa Rica through Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicoragua, Costa Rica & Panama. We have roughly a month to get back to Costa rica so we will stay & drive whenever we feel like it, mainly based on trying to find surf which means our trip is going to stay on the pacific coast side until Costa Rica & Panama. We are driving my Silverado with the camper shell which is 4x4 so we shouldn't have any driving terrain cause too many issues...hopefully! I am bringing tents, air mattress, a cot, camping stove & cooking utensils, more camping gear, surf boards, portable shower, safe box, camera equipment (point & shoot, dlsr, water video cam), my laptop, portable speakers, a soccer ball, frisbee, hammock & some other things. I've got my lonley planet books for central america, baja mexico & mexico pacific which I've read numerous times. I am making copies (physical & digital) of all my important documents, letting my credit card companies & bank know I'll be out of the country, putting my things in storage, getting my truck ready, reading forums & talking to people that have done this type of trip, and brainstorming with my friends to make sure I'm as ready as possible. But I'm not actually planning exactly where I'll be when, that I'll figure out as I go. The first month only has one plan; get from Southern California to Costa Rica. At that point my buddies will be back home (Costa) & I can figure out my next step.

My life in 2008

In 2008 I went to Hawaii (Maui & Kauai), Aspen, NYC, the Outer Banks, Virginia Beach, Costa Rica, San Francisco, the rest of the cali coastal towns south from san fran to Santa Barbara to San diego. So I must say it was an incredible year. I also had some bad luck - meningitis took me down for a while (including my 30th bday on my death bed), kidney stone's are the worst, I got laid off (bad luck or good luck?), lost a grandparent. But this year I've surfed all over, had incredible days in the water from Ventura point to Jalama to steamer lane to san francisco to trestles to San diego to Maui to Kauai to Costa Rica & locally in Huntington. I love surfing, it's the only sport that when it's good & all the elements come together it can make me giggle. I went to so many great shows this year- Erykah Badu, Citizen Cope, Damon Aaron, common, Alice Russell, Little Dragon, G love, Ooklah the Moc, Katchafire, UB40, Barington Levy, Beres Hammond, Quantic & some others that I can't think of right now. I have really enjoyed what California has to offer & been so fortunate to have my friends & be able to do what I have done. My life always seems to be like this, I have the best fortune ever & then I have the worst. I spent some good quality time with my nieces & nephews this year, my family & friends over good food & drinks and lots of laughs. Overall 2008 was a great year and I'm always appreciative of my life but now I'm really excited where this new endeavor in 2009 takes me.