Looking back and ahead

(This post is going to be totally and only about me, consider yourself warned)

About 10 years ago I bought my first domain (which I just got a cancellation notice for from DENIC – which is another story), since 2004 I have been writing weblogs. I don’t think I have written an entry on and about my birthday yet, but there’s a first for everything.

I turned 35 today. I don’t think I have been as paranoid as I could have been; actually, I am pretty relaxed about growing older and birthdays are not that much of an issue for me. There might be three reasons for this: One is that for quite a number of years I have treated my birthday as any other day. There were few parties and I preferred even to leave the country, a feat accomplished quite regularly. Secondly, despite all this low-key talk, some of the birthdays of the last 10 years were quite memorable. My 30th was spent in a small cabin at Manasquan, NJ with a trip to see Norah Jones and the incredible Amos Lee as support. One was spent with my girlfriend surprising me, when she visited me on the job in another city. I know the year, too, cause one week later we exchanged hectic messages because two planes hit the twin towers. In another year, my parents told me they were getting a divorce. And of course, one year I spent my birthday carrying my two week old son around.

You see? This kind of stuff relaxes you.

Thirdly, there is so much time left. Looking forward, just a couple of weeks, there’ll be an addition to the family. So much time to spend. I am in no hurry to go anywhere else. 35 years means that – if everything goes well, knock on wood – I’ll have at least another 35 years to go. It means that although I have been working for 20 years I still have more than that to go which is a good thing. It is a good thing in that I don’t have to rush now. I want to be able to see my kids grow up and I can, because I still have 30 years to become general manager of a hockey club 😉

Don’t get me wrong. I work hard. I – ill advisedly – seldomly take a lunch break and work at night and weekends if necessary. And if we worked together I think you know that. And I’d like to think that I work “clients first”. And I guess you’ll see it first-hand in the near future. There’s a time and place for everything.

Today many people reached out to me. Some who did so 10 years ago, some who did 5 years ago, and some who I met on- and offline during the last five years. Every call, mail, and comment meant something to me. And I would like to say thank you. Thank you.

Well. Enough now.