There was a recent article that said that the happiest year for most men is when they are 33. I’m turning 31 tomorrow and 33 seems two years too far away to think about. At this moment in life, I know two things:

1. It would really be hard to top my last year in college.
2. My happiness is about an 8 on a scale of 1-10.

Life has been pretty great the last couple of years. No real problems or issues have come up. I’ve completely gone out of debt (over 22k in credit card debt) and I married a wonderful wife who is not only super supportive, but complements me completely.

It’s hard to ask for more, which also makes it hard to blog regularly. I have nothing to say anymore as people just don’t like reading happy posts all the time. I’d be lying if I said I blogged for myself.

I think a lot of people don’t realize that happiness can be obtained and most importantly, it’s from having a healthy lifestyle. You wake up feeling better, both physically and mentally. I’ve since cut back on binging, whether it’s drinking or eating. I try to sleep earlier and try to exercise as often as possible.

You know that feeling of built up stress? Yeah, I don’t feel that. Just by eating better and exercising regularly, I am losing weight and feeling more clarity and focused as ever. Happiness starts from living healthy, mostly because of how you feel at any given point.

Maybe I’ll be happier at 33, but that’s only because I’ll be a father by then. You only live once, which many people use as an excuse to go all out. I think of it as something really precious. You only have one chance–make the best of it.

All around Manhattan, on practically every block corner, are coffee carts. They have coffee, tea and all kinds of breakfast selections like bagels and muffins. Some even have hot breakfasts and you can order eggs and bacon.

Along the way from my stop at Lexington and 59th Street, to work, about two blocks, I walk by four carts. Around my building, not including those four, are another three carts, totaling seven within a two block radius. I’ve been to all seven and only two serve decent coffee. It’s interesting that you can tell other people tend to feel that way because the lines for these carts are much longer than the other ones.

What I don’t understand is how these cart owners not understand why the cart across the street always has a line, but their own cart barely have any customers. It’s obvious that those other carts are doing something right.

The ROI (return on investment) is so much higher if they’d just invest in better coffee. The problem is that once you screw yourself over with crappy coffee, people aren’t as likely to come back so essentially, your customers are usually one-time only. I go to the same cart whenever I get coffee and although it’s not the best, it’s good enough. The guy recognizes me and knows my order right away, just like he knows everyone else’s order who is in front of me. We are all returning customers. He even let’s us buy on credit! I only had a $20 bill and he told me to give him the dollar next time.

Which brings me to the next thing–customer service. The fact that he remembers my orders and is polite everytime I see him, makes me want to go back. Some of the other cart owners have very poor attitudes and it’s hard to want to support a business like that. One time, I bought coffee and two hard-boiled eggs from my guy and as I was putting the change away, I dropped my coffee and eggs. Without missing a heart beat, he quickly made me another cup and packed two eggs into a new bag and told me it wa okay. He wouldn’t even take my money despite the fact that it was entirely my fault. How can I ever go back to another cart?

There was an article in the WSJ yesterday titled, “Struggling on $350,000 a year” (javascript:mctmp(0);) referring to a guy who makes $350k and doesn’t think he makes enough to live comfortably in NYC. While it’s true that his salary may put him in the 1% category, he’s nowhere near “rich” (in our opinion), but many would disagree.

It’s not my place to criticize how he spends his money, but it’s more about choices than actual $ value. My parents made a combined like $40k a year and were able to raise two “successful” children in NYC. They were able to purchase their own home and cars. Obviously, they couldn’t send either me or my sister to a $32k/yr private school, but who knows if my parents would have if they could? I think my parents tried to make the most with their money and if they could afford to send their children to a top school so that they can have a better education, then why not?

While that’s rational, articles like that really cause bigger disparities between the 1% and 99%. Personally, I don’t really understand the OWS movement. Why did they protest banks when they should be protesting the politicians who are being lobbied by the banks? A lot of them talk about redistribution of wealth, but that’s communism and when confronted, mention that they “only want what’s fair.”  But what’s fair?  I think there are a ton of jobs out there and if you’re not motivated to work, then you’re never going to get anywhere.

The reality is that I’m positive an overwhelming majority of those in the 99% want to be part of that 1%, so it’s redundant to protest against a group they aspire to be.  I’m sort of off a tangent on this, but the point I’m making is that everyone wants to make more and a lot of critics against the man in the article are just haters.  At the end of the day, we all want to make more money.  

What are your thoughts on the article?  Do you think $350k a year should be more than enough and he’s just whining?