Shaking the Snowglobe

I’ve found it a bit harder to write posts while being in Taos. We’re just having too good of a time! Everyday has been a blue bird ski day with great conditions on the mountain, followed by a gourmet meal prepped by Michael back at the house and a kaleidoscopic sunset viewing from the hot tub, staring out into the desert and craggy western horizon. Everyone is always laughing at a new word or phrase or story, or even more often, old words, phrases, and stories. It’s a little sad already to think that there is only one full day left. Afterwards I’m heading to Frisco, CO to meet up with Nick, marking the start of the gradual return to California.

Spending time with this group is truly special. Everyone has achieved, learned, changed, failed, and succeeded since we graduated in 2018, all while staying exactly the same. It is an easy source of pride and inspiration for me to just spend time thinking about how awesome these friends are, and how grateful I am for the cadence that I still see them with despite only Rob still living in SF. This direction of the post could wind up very corny but hey its my blog and I’m a corny guy.

Collin was my freshman, sophomore, and senior year roommate/housemate. I remember him sending me a message on the roommate finder service asking if “I was down to try and work on any projects or hustles on the side” of our baseline college education. This was the first exposure I had to Collin’s deep love for entrepreneurship, solving problems and building stuff. Now he runs a startup whose effective mission is to make it easier to start a business, effectively seeding his dream in other people! Not to mention this startup has thousands of clients, millions of dollars of revenue, and many employees that love working there. Collin manages to do this while being an amazing, present friend at all times, and hilarious gremlin when the sun goes down. He shows up to the mountain in hilarious ski suits, wears visors and sunglasses while playing beer games, and starts freestyle rapping every fifteen minutes.

Matthew has the world downloaded into his brain and its a blast to hear him talk about something he’s knowledgeable about – usually followed by his loud cackle (which sometimes verges on an evil villain’s cackle). For all his love of politics, economics and markets, the best talks with Matthew are the most human ones about just navigating being a person in New York, all with a massive sense of humor and appreciation. Matthew also combines two unique and somewhat opposing talents: consuming record breaking counts of espressos and cold brews, and completely passing out on command.

Rob was determined to get to Taos this year and arrived to the house Friday morning, and will leave Monday morning. Obviously three days skiing in Taos is a blast, but its not a convenient trip to come for just a weekend, which just speaks to how committed Rob is to this group of friends and how excited he is to spend time together. Rob takes charge of his life in incredible ways – adjusting and maneuvering things to make them more awesome, always improving, always learning, doubling down on what is amazing, having fun always. Anytime Rob and I see each other we lament we don’t hang out enough in San Francisco, but the time not spent together takes nothing away from the dense excitement of hanging out when it happens. Rob is also an athletic legend: he got ~6 feet of air off a big jump in the terrain park yesterday. He is also a prankster at heart: my senior year he led tricks on me and my three floor mates by lining our entire hallway with completely filled cups of water, hanging hot dogs from every inch of our bedroom ceilings, and countless other shenanigans.

Michael also takes charge. He is the man with a plan – charting his course through a life of loving his wife, family, friends and staying fascinated with the world around him. He is one of the most confident people I know, where the confidence is less some hubristic assumption of his greatness, but a wise exuberance for life that makes every passing moment feel triumphant. Every finished meal he cooks ends with, “Oh boy I did it again!” Constant self affirmations of, “Damn I really am amazing at this game aren’t I,” are contagious and funny. His greatness is real though, he crushes work, has a beautiful home in Chicago, and wins chili awards (pretty much the peak of any man’s life). Michael is also a major goofball – latching onto any funny phrase and repeating it constantly, letting out big roars of laughter.

Alex is a king. He is the most down for anything involving our group of friends. There are not many people who would have dealt with my last minute plan changes leading up to this trip — are we going to Tahoe? Flying to Mexico City? Meeting in Salt Lake City with a bunch of people Alex doesn’t know and then driving down to New Mexico? “I’m good with whatever.” Never a doubt. Alex also knows exactly how to call everyone of our friends out on their crap, certainly including me, which is because he knows and loves everyone so well. Alex has this natural ability to pay attention to everything going on, both in the world and in his immediate environment. It’s an interest in the world and in his friends that I could only hope to replicate. He also has an award winning dance move, where one hand points to his chest and his other hand on an outstretched arm points at some member of a crowd while he puts on his best blue steel. His legs are completely locked in place during this, while also looking like jello.

I could write longer paragraphs or essays about all of these people but the universal theme of this group (and those that did not make it to this year’s trip) is that everyone is immensely human. No one takes themselves very seriously, despite participating in life in serious, creative, and interesting ways. Most of all its a great group of people because they continue to show up here every year and make it a blast, I think they will continue to for a long time.