So, it's been a while...

Hi all,

If at one point you read this blog, please accept our most sincere apology! As the date of the previous post testifies, it has been almost a year since we last updated this page. Ugh.

What a crazy time it has been in the interim. I (Andrew) have been teaching 6th grade in San Jose, CA as part of Teach For America (TFA). If I had only known what I was signing up for!! I've learned to redefine hard work, how to feel hopelessly inadequate and completely defeated, and what getting up at 4:30 every morning feels like. Yet, this has also allowed me to learn what it feels like to tackle a challenge for which I am ill prepared, empathize with and see first hand a reality I could not before hand have understood, and to celebrate even the smallest of victories with great veracity.



As a rational, self-interested human being (homo economicus) the balance of my life must always tilt in the favor of happiness. Despite the epic that has been teaching, I've never been happier! Heidi and I live in a very small, but very cute apartment on the campus of Stanford, CA. This is a wonderful place --though it does little to help my daily attack of nostalgia as I think back to being a college student :) Being married is simply wonderful! All those things people warned me about being married have simply not materialized. I love living with Heidi!

As I like to think of myself as wise beyond my age (which should immediately disspell any notion that I'm correct in that regard), I will close this long overdue briefing with a short series of aphorisms:

-Anyone who thinks they've got it all figured out, simply hasn't seen enough to have a clue.

- People are dumb. They are irrational. They can also be mean. This does not, however, give you any right to intentionally be any of the above.

- Life is too short to be doing anything other than that which you love. The opportunity costs are simply too high.

- Be lazy sometimes. Procrastination may add unduly to your future stress, but it is also often the most efficient way to get things done.

- I really doubt there are such things as "natural rights"--when was the last time nature stopped someone from taking your stuff? This is incredibly empowering however. You now have the ability to view people not has entities protected by some supernatural force, but rather as "poor, nasty, and brutish" creatures deserving of your respect nonetheless.

-Eat lots of pizza and ice cream. This should be self-explanatory.

Sorry for the semi-insightful, semi-ridiculous catch phrases. Pretty sure that is all I have to offer. Ciao!