Well as everyone was ringing in the New Year, I on the other hand was celebrating for a completely different reason. You see in 50 weeks, yes I said it, 50 weeks I’ll be celebrating my 40th birthday. Because it’s such a big one, my wife coined the phrase “The Year of Rahul” and I’ve gladly adopted it as my mantra for the year.

In my lifetime, I’ve been very fortunate to have seen, done and been to some pretty amazing places. I’ve been to the Grand Canyon, Great Barrier Reef, World Trade Center, Taj Mahal, Paris, Tokyo, all over the Caribbean, and even all five Disney Parks. But this year is going to be BIG. I’ve already planned a few trips and vacations, and I can’t wait to see what other fun things we can plan out.

So far I’ve a got a trip with the family to Disneyland at the end of this month. Now that our daughter is a little older (18 months) then the last visit, she’s already more aware of Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, June, Handy Manny and the rest of the Pixar and Disney crew. Let’s hope this time she’s not so scarred by the larger than life characters, although I’m guessing she will be, but one can hope. I’m incredibly excited to show her some of the things about Disneyland that make it such a magical place especially California Screaming, she’s going to love that ride. Then in March the guys and I are going to Arizona for Spring training to see my World Champion Giants get ready for the 2013 campaign, can we say Back to Back World Champions. In July my buddy and I are going to Cincinnati for a Giants road trip against the Reds. We may even sneak in a few Pittsburg Pirates games too, since they’re only 300 miles away from Cincy. As if that weren’t enough, in September another buddy and I are going to Oktoberfest in Munich. I can’t tell you how excited I am about that trip. Oktoberfest is something I’ve always wanted to experience, and with my father-in-law living in Munich, you’d think I’d have taken advantage and gone sooner, but there’s always been one reason or another that’s prevented it, but it’s finally going to happen. Oh yeah we’re also going to head to Dublin, Ireland for some quality assurance testing of Scotch, whiskey and Guinness. Then sometime between October and December once my wife’s work slows down we’re going to head somewhere for a week, and since it’s the “The Year of Rahul” it’s my turn to pick where. Being and OCD planner, I’m already trying to figure out where to go. At the top of the list are Thailand, French Polynesia, Seychelles, Turkey and Dubai maybe for just a day. I know such hard decisions, but planning a vacation is tough work, especially when part of the fun is planning it.

None of this would be possible if it weren’t for my amazing wife’s encouragement and cooperation. She’s the one that said it was a big year, and if I had a few bucket list items I should make them happen this year. I can’t thank her enough, and hope that part of my year, is about spending more time together. Although we both love to travel and are doing everything in our power to make our daughter enjoy it too, the most important thing is being together.