My First Post: a little blurb about me...

I grew up in Arlington, TX; the bible belt of the US, and new home of the Dallas Cowboys!  My childhood was typical for a first generation American kid.  Trying to assimilate into “American” values all the while figuring out where the values of the Pakistani culture fit in.  But like most kids, I just didn’t care.  I was too busy having fun with my friends, recording home videos with my brothers Nomi and Irfan, and getting an earful of New Kids on the Block from my sister Sadia.

I graduated from Arlington High School in 1997 and enlisted in the US Navy.  From there, I saw and experienced the world, its people and cultures first hand.  Hong Kong, Australia, the Middle East; all different cultures of people, but all somehow the same; just trying to survive.  It allowed me to introspect on what I can only assume most astronauts already know...it’s one world; a pale blue dot as Carl Sagan would say, yet there’s so much indifference, fighting, tribalism and downright arrogance between ourselves.  Those who really know me can understand why I feel the way I feel about our cultural inefficiencies, like not using reason and logic to advance our society.  This understanding has molded me into the person I am today.

The Navy did one great thing for me, it brought me to San Diego, CA; where I met the love of my life, Lisa.  I don’t believe in fate or destiny; but there’s something really enchanting about realizing that one little venture off course of your current life could lead you to a completely different life.  For me, that would’ve been a life without Lisa, which I just can’t imagine.  She’s my reason for everything.  We got married in Maui in 2008.

Lisa gave me the greatest gift anyone could receive.  A son.  A wonderful,  adorable, happy albeit often cranky little boy named Jackson.  The things that Jackson will teach me far outweigh the world of knowledge that I can present to him.  I get to teach him things like how to think (not what to think), how to play football, about music, about life and about his place in the universe.  I plan on purchasing a telescope so that he can learn early on that our planet, this pale blue dot, is just a speck of dust flying around a vast, seemingly infinite array of space.  That we may not be the only ones lucky enough to exist and ask questions like “where did we come from?”.  That there may be other intelligent civilizations with radically different cultures somewhere else in the cosmos.  If that doesn’t get him to appreciate his place here in this universe and on this planet...I don’t know what will.  This is and will be my life, and I love it.