2008
2008 was a pretty awesome year, as far as years go. Let's recap the highlights:
1) I got married!
After six long years of wondering if I could sucker Jena into spending the rest of her life with me, she finally caved, and we had a beautiful (if somewhat Hannah soaked) ceremony, and a fantastic reception with our family and best friends there. It was a great, great day, and as a bonus, almost four months later, Jena is still sticking with me! I not only gained a wife, but a large new family, all of whom had already treated me like family. I am happy and honored to be official. 2) We went to Italy for almost three weeks to celebrate our wedding! We started in Roma, taking in as many historical sights and as many gelatos as possible for three days. We saw the Vatican, walked through the city, checking out such tourist standbys as the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, the Colosseum, and the other 2000 year old stuff that Rome offers. We then hopped a ferry to Sardinia where we spent a week enjoying the relaxing coast, and eating delicious Sarda fare. Then it was back to the mainland for a week in Tuscany, exploring more history, eating, drinking Chianti, and taking hot air balloon rides. Fantastic trip.
3) I got a new job at Sportsvite back in March, and have been flooding my brain with new stuff ever since. I think this is the year I sort of 'turned the corner' in my career. I was always pretty good at what I did, but I think this year, and the switch to a new job has really sealed it for me as far as a higher-level understanding of all the moving parts. Like I talked about in this post, it's great to work as a developer at a startup, because you really become a solid generalist. There aren't enough people around to just focus on one area. You have to touch everything, and this requires some level of understanding.
4) I got a lot better at the guitar. I have been taking lessons solid for about a year now, and I have really come a long way. I am not going on tour anytime soon, but I am certainly much less incompetent on the guitar, and can pick up and play most simple songs. If my stupid fingers would cooperate with barre chords more, I could play a lot more. Guitar is something I have always wanted to play, and my wonderful wife got me one for Christmas a couple of years ago. It took me a while to realize I'd need lessons, but once I finally got started, the progress has been really encouraging.
5) I blogged a fair amount...and it sucked for the most part, I think. The bright side is that in the haystack, there were some decent needles. May 2009 be better on that front.
Happy New Year - 2009 is coming next.
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