The Big Bags

Dear internet,

I’m sorry it’s been so long since I said hello… I’ve been busy having the Best. Week. Ever.

For starters, I had what the worldly would call a kick-ass presentation at work. One of the things I’ve noticed after spending a few years working in a corporate environment is that people are generally weak and complacent. I recently decided to give up the facade, and just go after the things I want. If I get chewed out, so be it. The risk of achieving something incredible that nobody else has ever done is worth it.

So, I called a meeting with the executive team of the company I’ve been working at for only a month. Basically, I drug their website through the mud… probably a little too harshly, but in the end I got what I wanted. We all came to the consensus that we needed to make a change.

I am now spearheading the site redesign so I can effectively put into place my internet marketing plans to drive hundreds of thousands of people to our site. I’m so excited to transform this company, and show them that I can do things they never thought possible.

To celebrate my personal victory in the board room, I purchased a new phone. It’s a Palm Pre, and I love it more than the Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland… and that’s saying something. I promise.

The following day, I applied for graduation. I can’t explain in words the feelings of joy and accomplishment I gained from this experience. I can, however, show you what my victory dance looked like.

Not 30 minutes after completing my graduation application, I received an email (on my  new phone) informing me that I’d just won $50 from an internship competition I’d entered a few months earlier. We were supposed to write an essay explaining why we had the best internship experience ever. I won the Best Carreer-Building Experience award, and will post a link as soon as it goes up on the Career Services website.

The next day I was sifting through my Google Reader and stumbled upon this petition for Interns from Andy Sernovitz of Gas Pedal. If you don’t know who Andy Sernovitz is, or what GasPedal is, well… that’s ok. But, in a nutshell, he’s a hero of mine, and it’s a company I would LOVE to work for. I applied that day, and heard back almost emidiately. I have a call to discuss an internship tomorrow (Tuesday).

You’d think this would be the end of the best week ever, wouldn’t you? Well, it’s not.

On Friday I found out I was a finalist for a trip to New York over spring break. A professor in my department scored a grant and is taking 7 students to network with industry professionals for 5 days. Fourty students applied. Twelve were called back for interviews.

I felt really good about the interview, and not 3 hours later got a call with the news that I was chosen to participate.

At this point, my brain exploded. The amount of awesome experienced in one week was just too much to handle. There was really only one thing I could do at this point.  I sat in my bedroom and did a slow clap for myself.

If there is one thing I’ve learned from this week, it’s that the only way to be freakin’ awesome is to take risks and do all of the crap nobody else wants to do.  When you get down to the nitty gritties, most people are pretty much pansies. They don’t have the cojones to think they can succeed. They fear failure. They quake at the idea of competition. And that, my friends, is why I succeeded this week and will continue to do so. I refuse to be satisfied. I don’t care who I have to compete against to get what I want – I’m going to fight tooth and nail to get it, and unless my competition is willing to do the same… well… you can guess who will end up with the WIN.

Thanks to Ryan for pointing me to this video… it expresses exactly how I’ve been feeling lately.

I love seen what Google recommends from time to time. Today, I wanted to see what people regret… here’s what I found. Kind of disappointing if you ask me.

Merry Christmas to all.

Last year I created a playlist of what I called “Tolerable Christmas Music“… I looked it up today, and most of the songs still pass the test. Continuing with my one year tradition, I give you the Big Bags Playlist of Tolerable Christmas Music Part II. The music in this list isn’t necessarily new… but most of it is just really good, not-overplayed goodness.

Mr. Grinch – Lower Barday

Silent Night – House of Heroes (Thanks Jenn)

Maybe This Christmas – Ron Sexsmith

All I Want For Christmas – Matt Costa

Winter Song – Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson (Thanks Stacy)

Have Yourself a Merry Little Xmas – Daphne Loves Derby

Put the Lights On the Tree – Sufjan Stevens

Winter Wonderland – Phantom Planet

All That I Want – The Weepies

So This Is Christmas – Acceptance

My buddy, Jeff is an amazing friend. He told me what he’s doing for Christmas this year, and it was so cool that I felt I needed to share it with everyone else. Rather than tell my version of the story, I felt it appropriate to have him write a guest post.  Enjoy… and leave comments on this one, he’ll like that.

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Ask my wife and she will tell you that I am a “Grinch” and don’t appreciate the Christmas season. In a general way she is right.  I hate having to buy things for people that don’t need it, don’t appreciate it, or don’t deserve it. I hate that a holiday that is meant to represent and celebrate what I believe to be the greatest gift to this world, is reduced to a consumer spending spree.

Around this time last year, in an effort to be better, I was feeling the “spirit of the season.”  I decided to give a gift to all of my friends and family, instead of just the “secret Santa” gift to one of my family members.  In this endeavor I asked one of my best friends what he wanted for Christmas… I was surprised by his response.

“Do something nice for someone else.”

Really, that is it? At first I thought, that isn’t a gift to you, that is a gift to “someone” else. However, I did as he asked and gave his gift to another that was most definitely in more need.  This single experience has well and truly changed my outlook. It WAS a gift to my friend, and it was a gift to me. I have thought of the look on that man’s face all year.  He is a homeless man that lives in a park that I pass on my way home everyday.  I still do not know his name, but he recognizes me and waves when he sees me. Sometimes we even chat for a minute or two.  I know that he appreciated it. That is my friends fault.

This year, I decided to head up something else. I decided that since I and all my co-workers still have a job in this economy, we shouldn’t give gifts to one another. I organized my department and had them donate money to the local homeless shelter instead. It is a welcome success! Moreover, my firm has decided that they will match whatever we give! There is potential to sponsor this local shelter for well over a week. I had not anticipated that we would be able to do so much for someone else…

Merry Christmas Bags, you change the world more than you know.

(This is Bags again… and it’s proof that with a little effort, you really can change lives. Thanks Jeff, for being awesome!)

Yesterday I learned that the way you perform mundane, everyday tasks can demonstrate the way you live your life as a whole. As I thought about it on my way to school this morning, I experienced some sort of parable-like epiphany.

When I go shopping (even if I decide to make an organized list beforehand) I spend the majority of my time frantically running up and down rows and rows of products in a very less-than-intuitive manner searching for the list of products I desire.  I guess I still haven’t aclimated myself to the fact that most stores are laid out in a semi-logical manner. I’ll often walk down the same aisle multiple times in search for various objects on my list… and, not surprisingly, I almost always leave the store with more than what I came for.

How does this relate to my life, you ask? Well, sometimes I feel like I do a lot of running around, often in circles, trying to get everything done. I’ll make a list of important things with a determination to find them. I almost always end up getting what I’d hoped for, and often times I leave with even more.

Regardless of how well I plan a trip, however, it’s almost a guarantee that I return home exausted, determined not do make another trip till absolutely necessary. But somewhere, secretly, I’m satisfied with my accomplishment.

Does that make sense to anyone else but me? Meh, I guess it really doesn’t need to. This post was more for me than you anyway.

I feel like I’m trapped in the middle.

Tomorrow I’m going to be participating in this:

vs.

Noam would be proud.

“Sports plays a societal role in engendering jingoist and chauvinist attitudes. They’re designed to organize a community to be committed to their gladiators.”
-Noam Chomsky

OM NOM NOM!