A year ago this time perhaps I was you.  I had everything I could ever need in life, yet the feeling that I wanted more tugged on my brain like a child incessantly pulling their parent’s pant-leg to get their attention.  I deserved more pay for my job.  I needed a bigger home and a better car.  I required the latest and greatest iPhone to uphold my status as a true “technophile”.  My taxes were too high, gas was too expensive, my lawn wasn’t green enough and my bank account not nearly full enough.  Yes, not too long ago I wanted more – and that want filled me with a repressed jealousy of those who had that which I desired.  Family members who took extravagant trips, neighbors with better landscaping, friends with bigger TV’s all served to fuel my desire  on a daily basis.  It wasn’t fair that these people … Read More

In many ways life’s journey is much like traveling down an unknown highway complete with detours, speed traps, hazards,  unexpected sights, sounds and smells.  Each of us starts our trek as an unwitting passenger in our parent’s own journey. At first our own path is indistinguishable for that of our Mother’s and Father’s as we are incapable of forging our own path – our biology ensuring our dependence on them for years. Yet, while we begin tethered to our parent’s own journey, the yearning to forge our path develops almost immediately. As time progresses the yearning to make our own way in the world grows and we begin heading off on our own side travels, stretching the limits of the ties that bind us until, after further and more frequent stretching, the tie is completely severed and we begin the process of forging our own way down life’s highway – … Read More

Yesterday my family and I decided to take a walk to the beach, something we have not done at all this summer even though we live within walking distance. Neither Samantha, nor I, are “beach people” – we like the idea of being near the water but find the annoyances; sand everywhere, the not quite pure nature of Long Island sound etc. of beach days outweigh the joys. When Sam and I purchased our home almost ten years ago we figured we would go to the beach all the time and if nothing else, enjoy the sites, sounds and majesty that our shores provide on an almost daily basis. We figured the proximity of the beach would transform us into beach bums who would idle away their summer break on Long Island’s north shore. Sadly history has proven otherwise, as I can count on my digits (toes included) the number … Read More

Those who know me personally are keenly aware that, at my core, I am nothing more than an overgrown child who refuses to let go of the fantasies and hopes that most people jettison long before adulthood.  It is not an uncommon site in my home to see me watching a cartoon while simultaneously reading a scientific article about Quantum mechanics or the latest developments in genetic engineering.  Even today, at the age of 38, I would rather take a trip to Toy’s R Us than to Home Depot.  I can just as easily recite the entire rosters of the Justice League of America and the Avengers (including part timers!) as I can the structural differences between the 20 amino acids that make up all of our proteins.  I am a man of science whose major thought processes are structured around the precepts of reason and logic who can still … Read More