All too frequently I find myself not unappreciative of life, but certainly not taking it at its most. I lose sight of the little things, things like the Puerto Rican family at the corner grocery who makes those fantastic sandwiches, when I am caught up in the goings on at the spudWorks office. Too often, I feel as though life is about phone calls, rolodex's and venture capital. IPO, IPO, IPO, learn it, know it, love it. But if that is the case, why so I so often feel unfulfilled at the end of the day.

Taking a step back, I think often about the years prior to the corner office and red headed secretary, and how in those day I felt so much more alive. I told the following story at a recent company retreat and many of the staff were so moved, they ask that I share it with our readers in the hope that it might chip away at the disillusioned exteriors so many have. I agreed, after all, pledge week is coming up.

Not long before dreaming up the spudWorks business plan, I was a web programmer who hacked out some video art and "music" on the side. I had a small, but quite wonderful studio apartment in the Village where I spent many nights practicing guitar and lounging with my girlfriend. It was here that one of my most fond memories took place.

It was August, one not unlike the one we just had, and my girlfriend who was a student at the time, was back visiting her family. I had chosen not to go out that night, tired of the bar scene and desiring an evening of sobriety. I had a six pack of soda, a pack of cigarettes, and some Chinese food which I had ordered because it was light enough not to cause me to fall asleep in the humid heat.

I had rented a couple of movies and it was then, while watching a movie with a virtually naked television teen sensation screaming in horror at the recent plot development that it occurred to me how well I had it. I took a deep drag on my smoke considering how well the food items complimented each other and how the cigarette was like a coat of finish on a piece of fine furniture. I couldn't help but to smile.

Sure, I had problems. The stock options in the company I was working for looked more and more worthless every day. The wash and fold laundry had lost yet another sock of mine. The garbage man came faithfully every Saturday morning at 7 AM. That all aside however, I had everything I needed. Food, soda, and cigarettes. And what more, really does a man need than that? Nothing was my honest answer. Though the girl on the screen would have been the cherry on top.