2011 was great. Here's why:

Personal Life & Travels

I got married to Fharzana, the love of my life. This was a long time coming, to say the least. The wedding was small, quiet and just about perfect. Every day since then has been more blissful than the last. 

Travel was restricted to California for most of the summer due to the new startup, but we still managed to see the redwood trees at Big Basin and Muir Woods. We also went to Cambria for a short oceanside stay, and then drove back up through Big Sur (awesome). Sprinkle in short day trips to Monterey & Carmel in the middle, and trip to Portland for a conference.

In September, Fharzana & I went to India for our wedding reception there. A thousand people showed up, including many friends and family I hadn't seen in ages; it was great. We then went to Pondicherry with friends (always awesome), and then Kerala for a brief coastal stop before heading back to the Bay Area.

I left my old job and started Kicksend with Brendan Lim. Now I get to work with one of my best friends on awesome products that help everybody.

Things were shaky at the beginning, but we were still heads down and improving our product. We got into YCombinator, which was really great. We got to meet a bunch of Silicon Valley luminaries, and made a lot of new friends in our batch. We then raised a lot of money to turn Kicksend into a product that people know about and love. 

Startup life is stressful, but once you get a taste, it's hard to do anything else.

Other Random Thoughts

Every one of my friends is either having kids or getting married. The transformations are incredible to see, almost overnight folks seem more worldly and mature :)

I'm starting to appreciate a slower pace of life more. Cities no longer hold the same appeal to live in (except NYC). Now I like places with a lot of trees and fresh air.

Meditation helps a lot.

Fharzana cooks like a beast, and I'm really enjoying being the test subject for the new cooking classes she's hosting nowadays.

It was a good year :)