If you go back to the beginning of this blog (even I'm afraid to do that), you'll meet a very different person than the writer in front of you. Today, I'm a working for a great telecommunications company, married to a wonderful wife, and raising a cute little Yoda.

It's been fun being a husband and father, but also exhausting. Waking up in the middle of the night to take care of him. Playing with him at 5:30 in the morning when he's ready to go. Trying to convince him that going to bed isn't a big deal and he shouldn't cry himself to sleep. These are some of the challenges that you read and hear about, but don't really feel the gravity for until you're dealing with it, everyday, even weekends. On the flip side, having a boy that laughs at the silly things you do cannot be replaced by a video game, movie, or novel. It's something, again, that you have to experience. The pure enjoyment of a baby is so innocent, unabashed, and heartwarming.

At work, I'm managing some products that I'm very excited to work on. It's taken longer than I planned to get up to speed, but now I'm hitting my stride with my products and I'm excited for the second half of this year. On top of that my team has gotten stronger and we are pushing our capabilities to the limits. I really think we'll pull of some groundbreaking work.

My wife has been enjoying her summer. Being a teacher has it's benefits. Plenty of time off during summer, winter and spring. The rest of the year, she's wrangling 30+ kids and trying to teach them test material and raising the to be good kids. When I compare her responsibilities of watching over so many kids, I wish we could do more about the class sizes that teachers deal with and the amount of help they get. They're really in a tough situation and could use some help.

My goals for the second half of the year include (in no particular order).

1. Writing more on my blog

2. Spending more time on Syte Gear

3. Teaching my son and supporting my wife

4. Be a strong component of my team at work

If I can pull this off, I'll be very proud of myself =)

In my own little world, February has changed from an average month, to a very important one. Hyun's birthday is on February 4th, so now, every February is going to be extra special. For her birthday, I took her kart racing at K1 speed, out for drinks at 1st Street Bar, and then dinner at El Q'ero restaurant in Encinitas. I don't think that racing was a huge success. Hyun got more comfortable with the kart on each lap, but was quite timid to start. After driving down PCH and enjoying the sound and smell of the ocean, we ended up in Encinitas far earlier than our reservation. We decided to stop for a drink and happy hour was still going on. This meant a pitcher between the two of us for under $10. Many rounds of darts and erotic "find what's different" later, we were happy and heading over to El Q'ero. This place is tiny. They have room for about 30 people inside, and another 8 outside. Because of this tight seating capacity, it's understandable that reservations are necessary. We checked in right on time and was told that a specific table inside would be ours. After waiting for 5-10 minutes, I started to get impatient. Seeing that there was an open table outside, I went to see the waitress about sitting outside. Unfortunately, a couple walked in before me and asked the waitress if they could sit outside. Now this normally wouldn't bother me, but I specifically remember the waitress asking, "do you have a reservation?" and the customer saying, "No. We called in and they said to come down." The waitress then proceed to seat them outside. At the same time, the table that was supposed to be "ours" emptied and another couple that was waiting inside with us was directed to that table. So not only had one table of walk-in's get seated without a reservation. A second table was seated in front of us at a table that was "marked" for us. After waiting another 10 minutes, we were seated at a nice table looking out on the street.

Dinner at El Q'ero was very good. I had a hard time enjoying it because of feeling mistreated before we were seated. Looking back now, it was probably the best meal I had in 2011. Our quinoa salad was delicious. My short ribs were cooked to perfection and had some delicious marrow in the bone. It was served with kale, which had a hearty taste that spinach or lettuce couldn't pull off. Hyun had the flat iron steak with qinoa. Her steak was a little chewy, but the qinoa was spectacular.

Geoff's birthday was 4 days later, so I don't think I'll miss his birthday for a long time. Ameesh's birthday is coming up soon as is Cheryl's. February is turning into a great month.

It's been six months since January 1, 2010. Moving by fast or slow for you? I wanted to look back at how I'm doing in my goals, and try to make adjustments. As a reminder, my goals were:

1. Wake up earlier that 7 am for 100 days straight. I have not been able to do this yet. I had a good streak near a month, but I fell off the wagon and had trouble getting back on. The impetus for this goal was to get better sleeping habits. Even though I am having trouble with this goal, I am sleeping earlier. I will try this again soon.

2. Go to church once a month. Sometimes more than once. This has been an interesting goal for me. I was looking for another form of motivation in my life, and thought church would be interesting. It has been. I'm still forming my opinions, but I feel it is something that I want closer in my heart and mind moving forward.

3. Read a book a month. 1 book read. This has been frustrating. I've started strong on a couple of books, but couldn't keep the steam to keep reading it. I get distracted reading tech news online. I got a new book that I think will do the trick. Updates to come. I can still read 6+ books this year!

4. Learn to surf. Looking for surfboards now. Then it's off to the ocean to try not to drown. It should be great for my cross training with running. I look forward to the challenge. Going to start around the end of June, beginning of July.

5. Learn more Chinese. Been listening to Chinese podcasts and working on pronouncing words again. Really need to get on a program to improve it instead of trying to maintain it.

Six Flags for Arnaud's (PixelActive co-worker in picture) birthday. We all took off from work on Thursday and had a blast. Rides: Goliath, Colossus (getting old), Scream, Tatsu, Terminator Salvation (fast!), Goldrusher, Batman, Flashback. X2 was closed (booooo!!!)

Got the Pasta maker attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer. This is a homemade spinach pasta chow mein with seasoned ground turkey, red peppers, and green onions. It's really good.

Kogi (LA korean taco truck) spicy pork and spare rib tacos. I liked the spicy pork more.

Homemade noodle soup with

Tabe bbq, a San Diego Korean taco truck. The taco toppings were not as good at those at Kogi. The fries are underpriced at $1, but good. Aioli tastes like mayo with rooster sauce.

Hyun runs her first 5k. She finished in under 30 minutes!

Taste of Hillcrest was gastronomically delightful but stretched our stomachs. Urban Mo's pulled pork sandwich was one of my favorites.

Rose Boa in the Jacumba wilderness. Pretty close to a nude camp community. My Aunt, Hyun, and I had a great time going through Wilderness Basics Course. Looking forward to Fall when we plan to start going again.

Wildflowers in Anza Borrego. I can't believe it took me 30 years to go there. What a great place.

Dan and Sarah Krans enjoy the first dance. What a great couple!

Coffee art by the barista at Farley's East in Oakland, CA.

Steve Wiebe, Donkey Kong World Record Holder and Start of "King of King" (awesome soundtrack!)

Delicious Thai pork belly

Joey giving an excellent demo at the PixelActive booth during the Game Developer's Conference (GDC)

Amazing snow crab boil at an incredible price. Too bad yelp doesn't tell you will be going to a safe neighborood.

Rob and Evelyn on the morning of our race, Rock n' Roll Mardi Gras.We all finished about as happy.

Some of the beautiful things you see when outside. That's a double rainbow.

My dad enjoying the Pacific Beach view. Then he flew to Cincinnati.

The new young family. She was pregnant, but not really showing. Bryce Benjamin Young born May 4, 2010

Erin and Alex Kozlowski's Pirate Bar hopping.