1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
Tried to eat a 30” pizza (with help). Had a disagreeable surgery. Biked a historic trail in the West Virginia/Maryland/D.C. area (and the accompanying vacation with my family, and cross country beer delivery to She Says). Viking Brewery tour with Kyle and Adam.
2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don’t usually make New Year’s resolutions except to promise myself sometime around New Year’s (two months before or after) what ride I’m going to aim for that year so I know how much I should train. My big goal was to ride the C&O Trail, so I guess I succeeded.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Physically, mentally, familial or spiritually? No…I think all the kids are at least 1 year old now.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
No one extremely close to me. But I was sad that George Carlin died.
5. What countries did you visit?
None! We did an in-country vacation. I did travel to
6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
A more concrete sense of direction. I never feel quite as organized as I’d like to be.
7. What dates will you remember from 2008?
November 14th, my 40th birthday.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Became a manager. Finished the MS 150. Did a ton of bicycle riding. Any year I do a lot of riding I count as an achievement.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Failures suck. I generally just decide something in them is a success. Seriously – I’m very anti-failure. My middle of the road attitude keeps me happy, but it’s also the reason for #6.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I suffered surgery. Not exactly illness or injury – but the follow up infection was probably illness and recovery has lasted about a month so far. Today was the first day I’ve climbed on my bike since the day before I visited the doctor. Leaning forward in the bars is fine. Sitting straight up in the seat to rest isn’t so restful.
11. What was the best thing you bought/received?
Super cool bike posters from many of my relatives/inlaws for my 40th birthday.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My wife’s. She’s been much more cheerful most of 2008 despite lots of visits to the pain doctor and some nasty injections.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
The general behavior of everyone I meet in public. I like people, but in general I despise their behavior toward other human beings.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Health care. School tuition for Eryn. The ethereal plane (at least the money that was in my 401(k)s and stock plan).
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Bicycling with Ming and Kyle throughout the summer and bicycling in D.C. Bicycling makes me excited. And when it falls through, it’s one of the few things that depresses me.
16. What song(s) will always remind you of 2008?
Katy Perry: I Kissed a Girl. Finger Eleven: Paralyzer.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you: fatter or thinner?
Thinner.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Bicycling. Seriously. Hmm….I have another answer as well. I reserve that one for my own amusement.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Reading bad books. Watching television (that I watched while not on my bike trainer).
20. How did you spend Christmas?
Christmas eve with my side of the family at my brother’s house north of the cities. Christmas day with Pooteewheet’s side of the family at her parents’ house north of the cities.
21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
Like with a dream? With an ideal? With a commitment to excellence? No… Although Eryn had a little paper fortune teller that told me I would. When I mentioned I’d have to divorce her mother first, she was very irritated with me. I pointed out that whoever I fell in love with, presumably a British woman of some sort, and a doctor according to Eryn’s fortune telling device, would be her new mother, so it wasn’t that bad. But she wasn’t having any of it.
23. What was your favorite TV program?
I like The Office. 30 Rock. Fringe. Dexter. Heroes.
24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I’m not a hater. I’m a lover. Or maybe I’m a loser baby… But no. I reserve my hate for institutions and political entities.
25. What was the best book you read?
I covered this in my book list. The top of the crop included The Fifth Elephant (Discworld XXIII), Absurdistan, The Android's Dream, The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II, Welcome to Tranquility, The Practice of Management, Confederates In the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War. If I had to pick one, then The Practice of Management with Confederates in the Attic a close second.
26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Probably Rock Band at Klund’s house. We now own Rock Band II, which we bought
27. What did you want and get?
A management job. To ride the C&O Trail in D.C. To meet She Says.
28. What did you want and not get?
Someone else to fix the rental properties.
29. What were your favorite films of this year?
I had a list for this too. Woman in the Dunes. In Bruges. Batman.
30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Pretty low key, but we did eat out. I turned 40 this year.
31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
See #28. More bicycling. More by myself. More with my bike group. More with Ming and Kyle. More with Eryn.
32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Managerial. At least after about March. I’m no longer a jeans guy.
33. What kept you sane?
Eryn. She’s a good egg and keeps
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I’ve always fancied Minnie Driver. But that’s not really a 2008 thing. Sarah Silverman was sort of my thing the last few years. But that’s not really 2008 either. Maybe Emmanuelle Chriqui. I’ve always thought she was cute, although that whole You Don’t Mess With the Zohan thing was really too bad. Wait. I recant and revise. Definitely Brad Pitt. I watched him pimp his eco friendly housing for hurricane victims project and talk about how much he loves his family. He seems like he’d be fun, and inspiring, to know, although I wouldn’t want to be in his Fight Club.
35. What political issue stirred you the most?
Getting the current administration out of office. What a clusterfuck.
36. Who did you miss?
Friends when I’m on a ride without them. My old work group. I really had fun with a few of them. Particularly Bruce and Jody.
37. Who was the best new person you met?
I met She Says and her husband (to be). I met my new boss and new group and all the people associated with my department that I didn’t know well before. I met some great programmers from the UK. I met a bunch of coworkers on the MS150 ride I didn’t know very well. I met all the Facebook friends that I’d lost touch with. I met a strange group of people at a campground in Chetek who thought I was there as some sort of a gay karaoke ménage.
38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
Same lesson I have always embraced. (Despite my fascination with dystopias and the inevitability of the world to try to make life miserable for everyone) Things always get better.
Showing posts with label 2008. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2008. Show all posts
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Year in Review Meme - 2008
Pilfered from She Says. I always do her memes.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Books 2008
I started recording the big books I read in total to Eryn on my list this year (as well as a few magazines I read back to back that were heavy on text). Reading almost the entire Series of Unfortunate Events set pushed my total higher than at any point in my last 14 years of recording what I read, despite my end of year being pretty weak. 19,360 pages. 76 books, with an average of 254 pages and an average rating of 7.37. I am getting more discriminating as I get older. I have 191,840 pages recorded, so by next year I should break 200,000, and if I live another 60 years, I might break 1,000,000 if the numbers hold up. That's something to consider. If I only get to read another 800,000 pages in my lifetime, or approximately 2,300 books, what should those books be? Given that I gave a Clive Cussler book a 2.0 this year, those should be right off the list. My favorites from the year were a nice mixture of history, management, graphic novel, science fiction, fantasy and general fiction. I guess that reflects my scattershot approach to learning: Fifth Elephant, The (Discworld XXIII), Absurdistan, Android's Dream, The, Rape of Nanking, The: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II, Welcome to Tranquility, Practice of Management, The, Confederates In the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War.
| 12/16/2008 | Here Be Monsters! An Adventure Involving Magic, Trolls, and Other Creatures. The Ratbridge Chronicles Volume I | Snow, Alan | 7.00 |
| 12/16/2008 | How to Win Friends & Influence People | Carnegie, Dale | 5.00 |
| 12/15/2008 | Welcome to Tranquility Book Two | Simone, Gail and Neil Googe | 6.00 |
| 12/10/2008 | Popcorn | Elton, Ben | 5.00 |
| 12/1/2008 | Truth, The (Discworld XXIV) | Pratchett, Terry | 8.50 |
| 11/24/2008 | Fifth Elephant, The (Discworld XXIII) | Pratchett, Terry | 8.75 |
| 11/17/2008 | Slippery Slope, The: A Series of Unfortunate Events (X) | Snicket, Lemony | 8.75 |
| 11/17/2008 | Axis (sequel to Spin) | Wilson, Robert Charles | 8.00 |
| 11/10/2008 | Carpe Jugulum | Pratchett, Terry | 8.00 |
| 11/4/2008 | Carnivorous Carnival, The: A Series of Unfortunate Events (IX) | Snicket, Lemony | 8.50 |
| 11/4/2008 | Last Contintent, The (Discworld XXII) | Pratchett, Terry | 7.00 |
| 10/27/2008 | Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones | Schwartz, Alvin | 6.00 |
| 10/25/2008 | Halloween: Stories and Poems | Feller Bauer, Caroline (editor) | 7.50 |
| 10/25/2008 | Pattern Recognition | Gibson, William | 7.25 |
| 10/18/2008 | Last Colony, The | Scalzi, John | 8.75 |
| 10/15/2008 | Absurdistan | Shteyngart, Gary | 9.00 |
| 10/15/2008 | Hostile Hospital, The: A Series of Unfortunate Events (VIII) | Snicket, Lemony | 8.50 |
| 9/30/2008 | Vile Village, The: A Series of Unfortunate Events (VII) | Snicket, Lemony | 8.50 |
| 9/30/2008 | Harvard Business Review: September 2008 (Magazine) | Various | 8.50 |
| 9/15/2008 | Ersatz Elevator, The:A Series of Unfortunate Events (VI) | Snicket, Lemony | 8.50 |
| 9/8/2008 | Three Signs of a Miserable Job, The | Lencioni, Patrick | 7.00 |
| 8/19/2008 | Confederates In the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War | Horwitz, Tony | 9.25 |
| 8/19/2008 | Harvard Business Review: July/August 2008 (Magazine) | Various | 8.75 |
| 8/13/2008 | Technology Review (MIT): July/August 2008 (Magazine) | Various | 8.00 |
| 8/13/2008 | Austere Academy, The: A Series of Unfortunate Events (V) | Snicket, Lemony | 8.50 |
| 8/8/2008 | Miserable Mill, The: A Series of Unfortunate Events (IV) | Snicket, Lemony | 8.50 |
| 8/1/2008 | Wide Window, The: A Series of Unfortunate Events (III) | Snicket, Lemony | 8.50 |
| 7/25/2008 | Ruins, The | Smith, Scott | 8.00 |
| 7/8/2008 | When Generations Collide | Lancaster, Lynne C. and David Stillman | 8.50 |
| 7/7/2008 | Books of Magic, The | Gaiman, Neil | 6.50 |
| 7/3/2008 | Matter | Banks, Iain M. | 8.50 |
| 6/30/2008 | Harvard Business Review: June 2008 (Magazine) | Various | 8.50 |
| 6/30/2008 | Reptile Room, The: A Series of Unfortunate Events (II) | Snicket, Lemony | 8.75 |
| 6/15/2008 | Bad Beginning, The: A Series of Unfortunate Events (I) | Snicket, Lemony | 8.50 |
| 5/28/2008 | How to Speak Dragonese by Hiccup Horrdenous Haddock III | Cowell, Cressida | 8.00 |
| 5/21/2008 | Billly the Kid's Old Timey Oddities | Powell, Eric & Kyle Hotz | 5.00 |
| 5/14/2008 | Money & Power: The History of Business | Means, Howard | 5.00 |
| 5/7/2008 | Art of the Start, The | Kawaskai, Guy | 7.50 |
| 4/27/2008 | How to be a Pirate by Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III | Cowell, Cressida | 8.00 |
| 4/25/2008 | Growing Great Employees: Turning Ordinary People Into Extraordinary Performers | Anderson, Erika | 2.00 |
| 4/24/2008 | Dumbest Moments in Business History, The | Horowitz, Adam (editor) | 7.00 |
| 4/22/2008 | Harvard Business Review: May 2008 (Magazine) | Various | 8.50 |
| 4/18/2008 | Harvard Business Review: April 2008 (Magazine) | Various | 8.50 |
| 4/15/2008 | How to Lie With Statistics | Huff, Darrell | 8.50 |
| 4/12/2008 | 12: The Elements of Great Managing | Wagner, Rodd and James K. Harter, Ph.D. | 8.00 |
| 4/9/2008 | Mister B. Gone | Barker, Clive | 8.50 |
| 4/5/2008 | Polar Shift | Cussler, Clive with Paul Kemprecos | 2.00 |
| 4/1/2008 | Rainbow's End | Vinge, Vernor | 8.00 |
| 3/30/2008 | Batman, Hush (Vol. 1) | Loeb, Jeph, Jim Lee and Scott Williams | 7.00 |
| 3/29/2008 | Wolverine: Origin | Jemas, Quesada, Jenkins, Kubert, Isanove | 5.00 |
| 3/28/2008 | 30 Days of Night | Niles, Steve and Ben Templesmith | 5.00 |
| 3/25/2008 | Oral Biography of Buster Casey, An | Palahniuk, Chuck | 7.00 |
| 3/21/2008 | Android's Dream, The | Scalzi, John | 9.00 |
| 3/18/2008 | No Asshole Role, The: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t | Sutton, Robert I , PhD | 8.00 |
| 3/16/2008 | First Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently | Buckingham, Marcus and Curt Coffman | 8.00 |
| 3/14/2008 | How to Train Your Dragon (Heroic Misadventures of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III) | Cowell, Cressida | 8.50 |
| 3/13/2008 | Rape of Nanking, The: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II | Chang, Iris | 9.00 |
| 3/10/2008 | Eclipse One: New Science Fiction and Fantasy | Strahan, Jonathan (Editor) | 8.00 |
| 3/7/2008 | Dark Delicacies: Original Tales of Terror and the Macabe by the World's Greatest Horror Writers | Howison, Del and Jeff Gelb, Editors | 2.00 |
| 2/25/2008 | Practice of Management, The | Drucker, Peter F. | 9.25 |
| 2/22/2008 | Spook Country | Gibson, William | 7.75 |
| 2/11/2008 | Gun Seller, The | Laurie, Hugh | 8.00 |
| 2/9/2008 | 10 Days to Faster Reading | Princeton Language Institute, The and Abby Marks-Beale | 6.00 |
| 2/4/2008 | Chance in Hell ("Empress of the Universe" from Love and Rockets) | Hernandez, Gilbert | 3.00 |
| 2/1/2008 | League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The: Volume II | Moore, Alan and Kevin O'Neill | 7.00 |
| 1/30/2008 | Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus: Volume One | Kirby, Jack | 7.00 |
| 1/26/2008 | League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The | Moore, Alan and Kevin O'Neill | 7.00 |
| 1/25/2008 | Maxwell Strangewell | Fillbach Brothers, The | 8.50 |
| 1/21/2008 | Welcome to Tranquility | Simone, Gail and Neil Googe | 9.00 |
| 1/21/2008 | Strengthsfinder 2.0 | Rath, Tom | 6.00 |
| 1/20/2008 | Personality Code, The | Bradberry, Travis | 8.00 |
| 1/19/2008 | Treasury of Victorian Murdrer, A | Geary, Rick | 7.00 |
| 1/18/2008 | Philosopher Fish, The: Sturgeon, Caviar, and the Geography of Desire | Adams Carey, Richard | 8.00 |
| 1/14/2008 | Execution Channel, The | MacLeod, Ken | 6.00 |
| 1/10/2008 | Sky Horizon | Brin, David | 6.00 |
| 1/7/2008 | Book of Vice, The: Very Naughty Things (And How to Do Them) | Sagal, Peter | 7.00 |
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