A Lesson Plan for Life

30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself


When you stop chasing the wrong things you give the right things a chance to catch you.

As Maria Robinson once said, “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” Nothing could be closer to the truth. But before you can begin this process of transformation you have to stop doing the things that have been holding you back.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Stop spending time with the wrong people. – Life is too short to spend time with people who suck the happiness out of you. If someone wants you in their life, they’ll make room for you. You shouldn’t have to fight for a spot. Never, ever insist yourself to someone who continuously overlooks your worth. And remember, it’s not the people that stand by your side when you’re at your best, but the ones who stand beside you when you’re at your worst that are your true friends.

• Stop running from your problems. – Face them head on. No, it won’t be easy. There is no person in the world capable of flawlessly handling every punch thrown at them. We aren’t supposed to be able to instantly solve problems. That’s not how we’re made. In fact, we’re made to get upset, sad, hurt, stumble and fall. Because that’s the whole purpose of living – to face problems, learn, adapt, and solve them over the course of time. This is what ultimately molds us into the person we become.

• Stop lying to yourself. – You can lie to anyone else in the world, but you can’t lie to yourself. Our lives improve only when we take chances, and the first and most difficult chance we can take is to be honest with ourselves. Read The Road Less Traveled.

• Stop putting your own needs on the back burner. – The most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone too much, and forgetting that you are special too. Yes, help others; but help yourself too. If there was ever a moment to follow your passion and do something that matters to you, that moment is now.

• Stop trying to be someone you’re not. – One of the greatest challenges in life is being yourself in a world that’s trying to make you like everyone else. Someone will always be prettier, someone will always be smarter, someone will always be younger, but they will never be you. Don’t change so people will like you. Be yourself and the right people will love the real you.

• Stop trying to hold onto the past. – You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading your last one.

• Stop being scared to make a mistake. – Doing something and getting it wrong is at least ten times more productive than doing nothing. Every success has a trail of failures behind it, and every failure is leading towards success. You end up regretting the things you did NOT do far more than the things you did.

• Stop berating yourself for old mistakes. – We may love the wrong person and cry about the wrong things, but no matter how things go wrong, one thing is for sure, mistakes help us find the person and things that are right for us. We all make mistakes, have struggles, and even regret things in our past. But you are not your mistakes, you are not your struggles, and you are here NOW with the power to shape your day and your future. Every single thing that has ever happened in your life is preparing you for a moment that is yet to come.

• Stop trying to buy happiness. – Many of the things we desire are expensive. But the truth is, the things that really satisfy us are totally free – love, laughter and working on our passions.

• Stop exclusively looking to others for happiness. – If you’re not happy with who you are on the inside, you won’t be happy in a long-term relationship with anyone else either. You have to create stability in your own life first before you can share it with someone else. Read Stumbling on Happiness.

• Stop being idle. – Don’t think too much or you’ll create a problem that wasn’t even there in the first place. Evaluate situations and take decisive action. You cannot change what you refuse to confront. Making progress involves risk. Period! You can’t make it to second base with your foot on first.

• Stop thinking you’re not ready. – Nobody ever feels 100% ready when an opportunity arises. Because most great opportunities in life force us to grow beyond our comfort zones, which means we won’t feel totally comfortable at first.

• Stop getting involved in relationships for the wrong reasons. – Relationships must be chosen wisely. It’s better to be alone than to be in bad company. There’s no need to rush. If something is meant to be, it will happen – in the right time, with the right person, and for the best reason. Fall in love when you’re ready, not when you’re lonely.

• Stop rejecting new relationships just because old ones didn’t work. – In life you’ll realize that there is a purpose for everyone you meet. Some will test you, some will use you and some will teach you. But most importantly, some will bring out the best in you.

• Stop trying to compete against everyone else. – Don’t worry about what others doing better than you. Concentrate on beating your own records every day. Success is a battle between YOU and YOURSELF only.

• Stop being jealous of others. – Jealousy is the art of counting someone else’s blessings instead of your own. Ask yourself this: “What’s something I have that everyone wants?”

• Stop complaining and feeling sorry for yourself. – Life’s curveballs are thrown for a reason – to shift your path in a direction that is meant for you. You may not see or understand everything the moment it happens, and it may be tough. But reflect back on those negative curveballs thrown at you in the past. You’ll often see that eventually they led you to a better place, person, state of mind, or situation. So smile! Let everyone know that today you are a lot stronger than you were yesterday, and you will be.

• Stop holding grudges. – Don’t live your life with hate in your heart. You will end up hurting yourself more than the people you hate. Forgiveness is not saying, “What you did to me is okay.” It is saying, “I’m not going to let what you did to me ruin my happiness forever.” Forgiveness is the answer… let go, find peace, liberate yourself! And remember, forgiveness is not just for other people, it’s for you too. If you must, forgive yourself, move on and try to do better next time.

• Stop letting others bring you down to their level. – Refuse to lower your standards to accommodate those who refuse to raise theirs.

• Stop wasting time explaining yourself to others. – Your friends don’t need it and your enemies won’t believe it anyway. Just do what you know in your heart is right.

• Stop doing the same things over and over without taking a break. – The time to take a deep breath is when you don’t have time for it. If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’re getting. Sometimes you need to distance yourself to see things clearly.

• Stop overlooking the beauty of small moments. – Enjoy the little things, because one day you may look back and discover they were the big things. The best portion of your life will be the small, nameless moments you spend smiling with someone who matters to you.

• Stop trying to make things perfect. – The real world doesn’t reward perfectionists, it rewards people who get things done. Read Getting Things Done.

• Stop following the path of least resistance. – Life is not easy, especially when you plan on achieving something worthwhile. Don’t take the easy way out. Do something extraordinary.

• Stop acting like everything is fine if it isn’t. – It’s okay to fall apart for a little while. You don’t always have to pretend to be strong, and there is no need to constantly prove that everything is going well. You shouldn’t be concerned with what other people are thinking either – cry if you need to – it’s healthy to shed your tears. The sooner you do, the sooner you will be able to smile again.

• Stop blaming others for your troubles. – The extent to which you can achieve your dreams depends on the extent to which you take responsibility for your life. When you blame others for what you’re going through, you deny responsibility – you give others power over that part of your life.

• Stop trying to be everything to everyone. – Doing so is impossible, and trying will only burn you out. But making one person smile CAN change the world. Maybe not the whole world, but their world. So narrow your focus.

• Stop worrying so much. – Worry will not strip tomorrow of its burdens, it will strip today of its joy. One way to check if something is worth mulling over is to ask yourself this question: “Will this matter in one year’s time? Three years? Five years?” If not, then it’s not worth worrying about.

• Stop focusing on what you don’t want to happen. – Focus on what you do want to happen. Positive thinking is at the forefront of every great success story. If you awake every morning with the thought that something wonderful will happen in your life today, and you pay close attention, you’ll often find that you’re right.

• Stop being ungrateful. – No matter how good or bad you have it, wake up each day thankful for your life. Someone somewhere else is desperately fighting for theirs. Instead of thinking about what you’re missing, try thinking about what you have that everyone else is missing.

June 5, 2010-Dirty Dancing

OK, here’s a hypothetical: “You’re a professional doubles tennis player, but you break your leg and can never play the game again. Your former partner goes on and wins Wimbledon without you. How do you feel about it?”

So, if we were answering honestly here I think most of us (not all mind you) would be a little jealous, right? It’s funny; jealousy is a familiar experience in human relationships. It has been observed in infants five months old and older with some anthropologists claiming that jealousy is seen in every culture across the globe. I don’t think I am a particularly jealous person, maybe envy works better for me. Actually, I think the definition of envy sounds WORSE-an emotion that "occurs when a person lacks another's (perceived) superior quality, achievement, or possession and either desires it or wishes that the other lacked it." Yikes! That last part really bothers me…

For those who know me this will come as no surprise, but I really dislike singing IN PUBLIC. Get me alone behind the wheel of my car or soaping up in the shower and look out American Idol, but in front of others… NOT. This brings me to some of my new friends who treat Karaoke as a kind of new national pastime. For those of you who have been living under a rock and missed the 90s craze, Karaoke is a form of interactive entertainment or video game in which amateur (note the term) singers sing along with recorded music (and/or a music video) using a microphone and public address system, sometimes there is scoring involved…UGH!

Recently we had one of those singing sessions where I was determined to be the “good guest” and participate willingly in something I consider more torturous than water boarding. Keeping in mind, that I can’t carry a tune with two free hands and wheelbarrow one of my new buddies steps up and promptly starts crooning “Livin’ La Vida Loca” like Ricky Martin! (He did lose a few points for his Karaoke artist and song selection, but who’s counting?) In this case, I did not feel jealous of his singing abilities, I simply wanted to remind everyone in the room that WASPs are not what I would call “musical people.”

Later on that evening, when the band finally decided to play, the dance floor began to fill up and my heart sank with dread, because my dancing makes my singing sound like music to your ears. (For those who are Seinfeld fans and would like a point of reference on my dancing prowess, see Elaine’s wild gyrations during the office party scene.) Actually, I am the reigning “White Man’s Overbite” dancing champion-a disgusting display which no person should be made to observe. As best I can describe, it is an expression of what could possibly be described as enjoyment (on the part of the white man dancing) except it scares children to tears. Suffice to say, watching me dance is like staring at the sun, it will make you go blind (‘cause you will want to gouge your own eyes out or at least spend a couple extra months on the couch with a good shrink or hypnotherapist blocking that tragic memory.) So up steps my other friend, who has clearly been practicing for his upcoming gig on “Dancing with the Stars.” His smooth moves-spins and dips and twirls and bends drive the crowd wild, well maybe not WILD but they were diggin’ what he was doing. For the second time in the evening I realized I was “over my head” with the styles and skills of the new ‘crew’ (but hell one thing I can do is swim). Once again, I attempted to remind everyone that WASPs are not what I would call “dancing people.”

The next day, after one hard night in between, I was talking with yet another new friend who is so optimistic and organized his name, if he was born a girl, I am sure would be “Rosy Scenario!” Just a tremendously upbeat and together guy, I think it is fair to say, no one, at any point in my life on this Earth has used those two terms to ever describe me. This guy has mapped out his life with great detail, has a plan that includes his career path, additional graduate school work and what he will eat for breakfast the next 5 days. Every “i” is dotted and “t” crossed…twice. Now I have never been one to pay attention to detail. More like a big picture, fly-by-the-seat of my pants guy. For us WASPs planning best left to assistants or administrators and optimism is held in reserve for when the market rallies or the Euro falls (yeah, I’ve been smiling a lot ‘cause of that last part).

In each case, I truly stand in awe of these gentlemen, since not only can they do it, but they make it look so frikkin easy too. I wouldn’t say I was jealous, because I am not sure I would want to do what they are doing (its great to watch, but for me not as fun to do) and see you have to WANT it for it to be called jealousy. I wouldn’t say I was envious either, because I would never long to see them fail or lose their incredible skills as is the case of with envy. Actually they teach me something new every day, little life lessons that hopefully can and will make a difference over time. In fact I believe American author and humorist Mark Twain summed it up best, "Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening. Love like you've never been hurt and live like it's heaven on Earth."

June 2, 2010 – “Who are you?”

For those who didn’t know, I used to cover American politics for a living and being a fan of film, television and the stage let start by saying there is no greater theater in the world than a U.S. Presidential campaign. I mean come on, consider the plot—the stakes couldn’t be higher, the daily twists and turns through the battleground states, the scandals, the name-calling and of course constant polling (where else in the world can you get feedback from your audience WHILE you are performing on the grandest of stages? It’s Improv on steroids!)

One of my favorite (and incidentally one of the most famous) campaign moments actually happened during a VICE-Presidential debate (and no, it’s not the Quayle/Kennedy line from Sen. Bentsen, although that is a DARN good one too). Actually, the one I am talking about occurred on October 13, 1992 when General William Stockdale infamously opened the debate by saying, "Who am I? Why am I here?" Initially, the rhetorical questions drew applause from the audience, seeming to be a good-natured acknowledgment of his relatively unknown status and lack of traditional qualifications. However, his unfocused style for the rest of the debate (including asking the moderator to repeat one question because he didn't have his hearing aid turned on) made him appear confused and almost disoriented.

I mention this because it’s important to know “who you are.” For most of us there are at least two or three “us” amalgamated into one. There is the public “us,” the person we show the world-at work and at play. Then there is the private “us” the person we are when we are with our family and close friends, and for some of us there is a third “us,” the person we are when are by ourselves, alone with only our thoughts to guide us. People who are comfortable with themselves and truly can answer the questions “Who am I and why am I here?” with confidence are home free. I would venture to guess they have only one “us.” Meaning they are the same regardless of who they’re with or where they are. Remember any constant in life is hard to come by; something that can be counted on time and time again to perform consistently is indeed a rarity.

The personality “chameleons” are much more difficult to gauge. Randomness by its very nature encourages chaos and leads to uncertainty. The now famous Forrest Gump quote comes to mind, “Mama always said life was like a box a chocolates, never know what you're gonna get.” Well, that may be fine for chocolates, but it sure ain’t for friendship. The question is this: Can friends who “change” truly be counted on? True friendship isn’t for the fickle or faint of heart, it’s for the dedicated and devoted. People come in and out of our lives for a reason, those who pitch a tent and stay… those are the ones we should make sure we work hard to keep.
Friendships should be treasured, held precious, as they are apparently more valuable than gold. According to a 2006 study by the American Sociological Review, Americans are thought to be suffering a loss in the quality and quantity of close friendships since the mid-eighties. The study states 25% of Americans have no close confidants, and the average total number of confidants per citizen has dropped from four to two. Friendship it seems is a dying art, or at least on life-support.

It’s said the best time to make a friend is when you DON’T need one and the quickest way to lose one is to be dishonest. Honesty, perhaps in situations where it may be difficult to speak the truth, especially in terms of pointing out the perceived faults of one's counterpart is the mark of true friendship. All of this takes me back to my point-in order to be a good friend you first have to know yourself, to be yourself and be willing to give yourself freely. As the great warrior/philosopher Sun Tzu once wrote, “Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.”

This brings me back to our story’s protagonist, Admiral Stockdale. He most definitely knew who he was-a highly decorated Navy pilot who inspired fellow prisoners of war in North Vietnam and later ran for vice president. Now I know Stockdale's name has become a buzzword in this culture for a doddering old man, but that’s not what the record SHOULD reflect. He taught philosophy at Stanford University, and was a brilliant, sensitive, courageous man (he passed away in 2005). And yet he committed the one unpardonable sin in our culture: he was bad on television (a thing or two I know something about). In one quick moment, his public “us” or persona tarnished everything else about him, transforming him into the butt of jokes from late-night comedians. If it can happen to him it most certainly can happen to you. Leave the “us”-s behind and become ONE with yourself. Don’t put yourself or your friendships at risk because the mask or appearance you present to the world gets in the way. Take the mask off, and just be yourself.

June 1, 2010—“The Beach”

Everyone has heard the expression, “you never know what you’ve got until it’s gone” right? Heck, many of us have lived it more times than we care to recount to ourselves and others. Well, in my opinion if you muttered this phrase to yourself then you have gone through life with more than a few regrets.

However, this entry is not about regrets; it’s about living IN THE MOMENT. Trying hard to appreciate life as it happens to you, because whether you like it, or not once that moment passes, it’s gone forever, alive only in your memory. Recently, I was lucky enough to experience one of those wonderful moments, well actually it was closer to a whole day. It wasn’t perfect mind you, as I capsized the sailboat multiple times and as usual my mouth “wrote a few checks my body just couldn’t cash.” Those missteps aside, it truly was a great day at the beach.

One of the great constant joys in my life has been “The Beach” (not that awful Leonardo DiCaprio movie) but that geological landform along the shoreline of an ocean, sea or sometimes even large lake. I grew up a stone’s throw from the beach in New Jersey, USA. Summers there were idyllic and make up the majority of the moments I treasure from my childhood. Right now, the beach I am referring to is along the Persian Gulf (sorry, ARABIAN Gulf apparently they can’t seem to agree on that either). Down by our compound’s yacht club (using the term loosely).

We were lucky enough to settle in with a real party planning crew who thought of and planned for just about every contingency imaginable. When I say EVERYTHING you could have ever wanted or needed was there for this picnic, I am not kidding… Picture a Williams-Sonoma, Toys R Us and Chili’s all rolled up into one. Being the slackers we are, we brought… hummus. (This actually might have been considered original in the WASPy circles we used to travel in back home, but in this neck of the wood is the very definition of passé.)

It was a day of food, folks and fun-celebrating each other’s company and just living life. Let me say that again because it’s important-JUST LIVING LIFE. Not a second of that day on the beach was spent worrying about tomorrow, fretting over yesterday; it spent just enjoying the moment for all it’s worth. One of the few things I learned at my last job (more on that in the future) was from their corporate cultural training. It was very extensive and actually worked. It was a multi-day course that could basically be boiled-down to one phrase-“Be Here Now.” It’s a great way to live your life. I see people around me do it each and every day with the greatest of ease, and boy are they blessed.

It’s these new friends that I want to stop and thank. (They know who they are, I guess I could “change the names to protect the innocent” or in this case the very guilty). Albert Schweitzer, the famous medical missionary in Africa once said, “At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” Many of the people I have met here “on camp” have lit flames in me already-to be a better father, to be a better husband, to be a better friend, to be a better athlete, to be a better professional, to be a better person. Already, I owe them a lot.

Most of us can’t help but take things for granted, especially the people closest to us. We assume that good times will roll on and on and that people will never leave us. It’s an assumption that causes us to devalue the people we hold so dear. Eventually, sometimes for specific reasons or just because of relationship “drift” they slip away. It could be a quick, easy departure or a long, slow agonizing divorce that poisons everything between you. Regardless of which it is, when they do leave you'll realize that you wished that you valued them every second they were with you.

Live in the moment as much as possible and hold dear to you the people that matter most. I promise you will be happier. I know I am.

May 31, 2010 – “Some Kind of Wonderful”

Wow, two days in a row, now that is cause for celebration! I thought I would stick with the John Hughes/80s teen angst themed movies and talk about my own foibles, faults, and failures and boy is that a long list…

Some Kind of Wonderful is set against the strict social hierarchy of an American public high school. In a nutshell, a young tomboy, Watts, finds her feelings for her best friend, Keith, run deeper than just friendship when he gets a date with the most popular girl in school: unfortunately, the girl's old boyfriend, who is from the rich section of town, is unable to let go of her, and plans to get back at Keith. This is a movie about teenagers, which is also about life, about insecurity, about rejection, about learning to grow. But essentially it’s a "don't judge a book by its cover"(DJABBIC) story. Something I tend to do all too often, and to those closest to me.

Lots of people and I am no exception tend to determine the worth of something or someone based on its appearance. Come on people, if everyone were really being honest we would admit that most of us make these kind of snap judgments ALL THE TIME. In fact, the research says we do it in less than 7 seconds! Think about that, we can ‘size people up’ faster than it takes us to turn on our computers. The science here says that most of us have honed our instincts to the point that we ‘trust our gut’ over 90% of the time. Here’s the problem with my gut (besides being big and flabby), my gut tends to make three critical errors in this process time and time again:

1. I tend to make unfounded judgments during my sizing up process. It really should be a somewhat data-driven process.
2. Sometimes I find it hard to keep my results private (my mouth gets me into trouble). The rule should always be—keep it to yourself. Results from the sizing up process are often personal and based on one’s own ability to process information about how they perceive people.
3. At times I tend to confuse ‘the sizing up process’ with my own personal envious feelings and/or displays of inadequacy as an individual. A shrink would call this ‘projecting’ (attributing your own repressed thoughts to someone else).

So DJABBIC is probably one of the most common expressions used in the English language to convey vanity. It is often used in modern culture, to publically indentify people that just ‘don't seem to fit in.’ Let’s face it; it’s all about fitting in, right? There is a great line in Some Kind of Wonderful that goes, “You can't tell a book by its cover. No, but you can tell how much it's gonna cost you.” There it is… money.

This brings me to another one of my favorite quotes from actor/author Spike Milligan, “Money can't buy you friends, but it does get you a better class of enemy.” Money you see screws EVERYTHING up. Money makes the world go ‘round right? Money is how athletes have entourages and cult-like followings. Money is how our gut gets thrown off when making our ‘sizing up’ decisions. And money is how the geek gets the girl. (Anyone who has been to a High School reunion has seen firsthand the impact of money-it’s from all those Microsoft, Google, or Apple stock options right?) These class battles are everywhere: cities vs. suburbs, private schools vs. public, and the powerful vs. the under-privileged.

You see, Some Kind of Wonderful is fundamentally about socio-economic class distinctions. It’s about kids from the ‘wrong side of the tracks’ versus the preps who live in the gated communities up in the hills. The best example of this in my opinion is “The Outsiders” a classic coming-of-age novel by S. E. Hinton (also a fairly good movie).

I mention this, because where I am now, half-way around the world living the bubble-life that is the expatriate camp existence these class distinctions create an unlikely duality. You see here, class is dichotomous-it means everything and nothing at the same time. More to come on this… Oh yes, MUCH MORE…

May 30, 2010 -“The Breakfast Club”

Almost forty days and forty nights after my last attempt to restart my blog, I am going to try again. If at first you don’t succeed try, try again. (Heck, new month-new effort.)

Anyway, I have been thinking a lot about one of my generation’s (that would be Gen ‘X’ not ‘Y’) seminal movies, “The Breakfast Club.” Sure there are others, but let’s face it, if you are in your late 30s or 40s right now, then you probably saw a few John Hughes movies before you were eighteen! The Breakfast Club continues to be a classic because the issues presented in the movie about social class and acceptance remains hot topics not just for high school students but adults of all ages.

The reason my mind keeps wandering back to John Bender and the gang from the fictional town of Shermer, Illinois is that life, you see, is high school. My theory has always been that EVERYONE can personally relate to one or more of the characters. (Yes you can conduct the same exercise for the characters in Star Wars too. And no, everyone can’t get to be Han Solo either.) Interestingly enough, when you live overseas in a somewhat artificial (one might say surreal) environment, you might as well have stepped into a time machine and been transported back to those four fun-filled years at High School.

Now don’t get me wrong, I liked HS (at least what I can remember of it). But there is still no better lasting visual reminder of how human beings rationally, routinely and robustly divide into self-selected groups or cliques. Admit it; it’s all right there on display at lunchtime in the cafeteria. Here on “camp” it is absolutely no different. People cluster together around like interests – sports, scrapbooking, Scrabble, etc. But interestingly enough, the ties that bind them together are so strong, they rarely wander outside their immediate social circle for very long. The world, it seems, has very few “floaters.”

I have always liked “floating.” You get to meet more people, expand your horizons, and life rarely gets boring. Let’s remember that life is always about clever dialogue and interpersonal questions. The downside is, you tend to “connect” with people a little less, and unfortunately it’s harder to improve your skills/talents in each area, because you are simply unable to focus your energies in specific areas. (Of course it could be that you are simply out-of-shape and lost ANY athletic ability you ever had - RE: Softball)

So life = high school. Cliques = clubs or groups. What, if anything should be done about it? I have often thought a great research experiment about social situations would be to use an elevator, which is one place where people from different social groups could be forced to bond. My hypothesis is this; an elevator on a normal day has hundreds of people go in and out of it without exchanging a single word. But if that same elevator suddenly stops due to technical problems, well suddenly the group is mentally forced to start talking to each other. Consider a foreign expatriate camp a very large elevator.

Now back to our story…as anyone who has seen The Breakfast Club knows, the movie ends with the fade up of a terrific song – “Don't You (Forget About Me)" – by Simple Minds; the “club” going their separate ways (Will they ever interact again outside this artificial environment? Acknowledge each other in the hallway? Sit together in the lunchroom?); and a voice-over by Anthony Michael Hall reading the group’s letter or essay to Principal Richard "Dick" Vernon. The end letter is as follows:

Brian Johnson: Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong...but we think you're crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us... in the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain...
Andrew Clark: ...and an athlete...
Allison Reynolds: ...and a basket case...
Claire Standish: ...a princess...
John Bender: ...and a criminal...
Brian Johnson: Does that answer your question?

Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club.

My question to you is, “Which one are you?”

A Brave New World - Dubai, UAE

All I can say is WOW! I have lived pretty much all over the USA in great cities of the world like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, & Washington DC and let me tell you Dubai is right there with each and every one of them. What an amazing place! Huge.. Massive Skyscrapers (we went up to the top of the Burg Kalifa..very cool). Great hotels, restaurants, golf, beaches, etc. To think this modern paradise is right here!.. More to come on this later!