Cake is delicious!<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s not lost on me the significance of this day. The one I\u2019ve been waiting for. The big one.<\/p>\n

Why exactly do we give the 31st birthday so much prominence? I\u2019m not sure. Perhaps it\u2019s because \u201c31\u201d is the 3rd Mersenne prime and therefore related to that most perfect number \u201c496\u201d since of course 496 = 2^{5 – 1<\/sup> ( 25<\/sup> – 1). Or is it because there are 31 flavors in Baskin Robbins ice cream, an American staple, and proof that capitalism always works? Or maybe it\u2019s because 31 was the jersey number of Indiana Pacers player Reggie Miller, known as the most flexible man in basketball? Whatever the reason, it\u2019s clear that this year has a special significance to a lot of people.<\/p>\n}

A wise Starbucks barista once told me, \u201cDon\u2019t count your life in years. Count the moments.\u201d And I\u2019ve tried to do just that, every single one.<\/p>\n

Each is special. Some have personalities. And others, I\u2019ve given names to. The 13th second of the 10th hour of each day I call \u201cJimbo\u201d. And the 3rd second of the 4th hour I call \u201cWilfred Sam Lewis\u201d. If you\u2019ve seen me counting to myself, rocking back and forth near that on-ramp to the 101 freeway, don\u2019t worry, I\u2019m just catching up with my old friends, \u201cthe moments\u201d.<\/p>\n

When I think about my youth, growing up in rural Oklahoma with nothing but my parents, their middle class income, wide open spaces and the finest school in the state to support me, I can\u2019t help but be proud of how I\u2019ve been able to turn that around.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t easy. There were times when I doubted myself. And why wouldn\u2019t I? As a white male, there are challenges. You blend in and you have to work a lot harder to get noticed. I always felt so envious of the two black kids in our all white school. Everyone knew who they were. Our local in-school police officer even reached out to tell them \u201che was watching\u201d. At that age, we are all looking for someone to watch over us. How encouraging that must have felt for them.<\/p>\n

When I got to college there was more pressure to stand out, to make my mark. But I didn\u2019t shirk. When tasked with a particular term paper or research assignment I would always find the best articles on the subject and be sure to copy them word for word into my final draft. They were exact down to the comma. No one could accuse me of sloppy work!<\/p>\n

When we went to parties or out drinking, I could always be counted on. I would never let a friend drink and drive while I was around! No sir. If anyone was going to get a DUI, it would have to be me. That\u2019s just the kind of friend I am. And if a lady friend of mine was maybe a little too intoxicated to make good decisions, I\u2019d be sure to help her find a nice overly confident football type to watch her sleep while I took everyone else home. You\u2019d be surprised how willing people were to offer themselves to that cause. Especially Todd. He loved watching girls sleep. Just goes to show that people are<\/i> mostly selfless.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve tried to apply that to my work life. To give back. My practice of giving surprise back rubs in my office has been met with overwhelmingly positive response. Each time someone says, \u201cYou can stop now. You\u2019ve done enough\u201d, those few words of gratitude make me smile. Somewhere, deep down, I swell. With pride. I have<\/i> done enough. But don\u2019t worry office females. Surprise back rubs are coming to you as well! I\u2019m not a sexist.<\/p>\n

After 31 years, I know that I\u2019ve probably learned all there is to learn, but I\u2019m not keeping it to myself. I\u2019m happy to give advice to anyone in need, whether they ask for it or not. I\u2019ve tried to be more observant and compliment people more too. I keep a mental tally of each person\u2019s weight in the office so I can comment on any change. And I make sure to notice when someone wears a new outfit. Just last week, I complimented Alice on her size 20 skirt. It\u2019s important to mention the size so they know you are really<\/i> paying attention. She was so grateful, there were tears in her eyes. She just wanted someone to notice. Reporting for duty, Alice!<\/p>\n

I find that these small actions really do add up. Someone even referred to me as a \u201cbusy body\u201d last week. He\u2019s right. I have<\/i> been busy! Thanks for noticing, Dan!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not lost on me the significance of this day. The one I\u2019ve been waiting for. The big one. Why exactly do we give the 31st birthday so much prominence? I\u2019m not sure. Perhaps it\u2019s because \u201c31\u201d is the 3rd Mersenne prime and therefore related to that most perfect number \u201c496\u201d since of course 496 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3,4,5,11],"tags":[8,6,9,10,7],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.richardfromsales.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/icecream_birthday_cake.jpg?fit=600%2C439&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6yCEP-9","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.richardfromsales.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.richardfromsales.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.richardfromsales.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.richardfromsales.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.richardfromsales.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.richardfromsales.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81,"href":"https:\/\/www.richardfromsales.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9\/revisions\/81"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.richardfromsales.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.richardfromsales.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.richardfromsales.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.richardfromsales.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}