A few birthday reflections and the one gift I really want

Well, it’s official – I’m old. Today is my 38th birthday which means I am now officially closer to 40 than 35, yikes! That being said, I think I’m digging this getting older thing minus all the new face wrinkles…but apparently there are creams that can fix that, right?

While I’m trying to spend the day away from my computer, I had some reflections I wanted to share as well as my one gift request for anyone who wants to get me something. First let’s start with some reflections.

  • More than anything I feel very lucky and appreciative at this point in my life. It’s great to be back in San Francisco where I can see family and friends a lot more frequently. I also love the energy of the city, the ocean, access to amazing hiking and backpacking, in short – there’s no place like home and it feels really good to be back.
  • I also realize that while it is an incredible privilege to be able to run a startup, create jobs, and build new technology, it’s also incredibly stressful. Lately I’ve been more stressed than I have ever been in my life, most of it’s for good reasons, but it’s stress nonetheless. Moving forward this year I need to do a better job of taking breaks, slowing down even for a minute or two, and doing more to bring my stress back down to a healthy level.
  • On that note. Exercise has been a fantastic stress reliever for me this year and I’ve really amped up both my biking and gym routine which has felt great. As I get older I realize how important it is to prioritize exercise in my day. I did a pretty terrible job of keeping up with any meaningful exercise routine over the last decade, it feels good to get back in the groove.
  • On the personal growth side, I want to write more about Machine Learning, Python, game development, eSports, and other topics that I deal with on a daily basis but don’t talk about publicly much. Still need to figure out the best outlet for it, this blog probably isn’t the place but I do really love writing and in my reflective birthday mode that I seem to be in now, I feel like I should try to chisel out a way to write more about my passions outside of domain names.
  • Last but not least. Naps. I started taking more naps this year and it’s been a really nice thing. As I get older I see more naps in my future. It’s amazing how even a ten minute nap can totally recharge your batteries.

Okay, now for my birthday gift request. Don’t worry – it doesn’t cost a penny. There’s a great organization that helps the homeless living here in the Bay Area called Bay Area Rescue Mission. I donate to this organization and also want to start volunteering for them. What’s pretty neat is that you can actually donate to them without actually giving money directly, you can just change the URL you go to when you shop at Amazon, or download a program to track the money you spend at grocery stores.

A list of ways you can help to support Bay Area Rescue can be found here. If you enjoy my blog and want to do something special for my birthday, just try shopping on Amazon using this link – http://amzn.to/2blmhCL

Just like that, a portion of your purchases will go to help this awesome organization. Of course if you want to donate as well directly, that’s great too but there are little ways you can make a difference, the easiest being literally just shopping on Amazon using a slightly different URL.

Okay, well my day started with a morning workout at the gym, followed by a haircut, then I met a couple LA Clippers players and told them I hope they lost tonight (go Warriors), and now I’m off to a friends baby shower and then onto Sausalito for a weekend on the water.

Thanks to all of my readers, this will be my 12th year writing this blog and I wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t for all of you. So keep reading, keep commenting, and know that all of you play a important part in my daily life for which I am eternally grateful.

Now back to your regularly scheduled Saturday activities!

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton