Very uneventful year for me. Got married in February, find out the wife is pregnant in April, got to see The Police in June, Ike hits in September, and then the following Monday the company I work for teeters on the edge of bankruptcy and gets bailed out by the government, then in October I find out that the division I work for is up for sale. Other than that, it was just another year.
I worked the hardest at my day gig that I ever have in 2008. It's my first year consulting. Very lucrative, but at the end of the year, I feel like my life is out of balance (too much work, not enough fun, not enough music). So, my NYE resolution is to play more music in 2009. Got the Carl Hayn CD coming out in the Spring, blues band is playing the House of Blues in February...so far so good. Life's too short, ya know? More music!!!!! High points in 2008....Springsteen at the Toyota Center in April, Tom Waits at Jones Hall in June. Low points in 2008....breaking up with my girlfriend in March, Hurricane Ike in September.
It was a decent year for me. I'm still at the same job that I hate, but at least I managed to get a bit of a raise and I'm supposed to be switching to a new (and better) department after the 1st of the year and another raise should come with that. I started taking web design classes in June, which is relevant to what I'll be doing in the my position, so that's working out well. Of course, the Rockets got knocked out of the first round again but also got Artest, so it's been good and bad. Nothing catastrophic happened, other than Ike. I didn't personally sustain any damage, but my girlfriend's apartment was a loss and I had to help her move into a temporary apartment and then again into a permanent one, so it wasn't fun for anyone. I had my ankle snapped while playing basketball back on June 7th (the day will live in infamy) and I just recently got back to playing "full speed". I love to play every chance I get, so being out of commission for 5 months or so was hard for me. Definitely the low point of the year for me. Overall, it was an OK year. Nothing too major on either end of the spectrum.
Van Halen in January Snowboarding in Tahoe (with all my CA peeps) in February Found out the wife was pregnant in March Reconnected with a long-lost best friend/soul mate in August Butthole Surfers in September Birth of first child (son) in November Not too bad, really...
Switched companies back in February. Didn't get any more money but got much improved benefits and a much more stable company to work for. That turned out to be very important when the oil prices dropped like a rock. Now most of the companies in my line of work are hurting and the company I left is laying people off and barely managing to keep it together. Been very happy with who I am working with now. My son, who was about 7 months old at the end of 2007, has continued to develop into a little person and it is just amazing fun to watch. Of course it is a lot of work also, but it's very much worth it. He's talking like crazy now, but I have yet to be able to get him to say "I love you". I'm thinking that's going to be my highlight during my 2009 reflection. Hurricane Ike hit me decently hard and gave me approx $12,000 worth of damage. I've been a homeowner for 3 years now and this is the first disaster that has really effected me. The process and hassle with insurance claims and adjusters was a big eye opener. Gained too much weight this year. That really needs to change next year but it is so difficult with my schedule to get time to work out or exercise. I need to figure out some way around that in 2009.
Aside from trading SF3, best year of my life. School is going great, I made a bunch on new friends, everything is really starting to fall into place. I don't think I've ever been this happy before.
spent about 5 months of the year looking for a job, new job in Sept with a large raise.. though I still don't particularly like it, so in that respect, I'm still kind of wandering. other than that, a pretty chill year. A lot of travel as usual (mostly not work-related), got my ps3, not enough exercise, went to Yankee Stadium, saw the US Open (tennis), gave the NHL a chance for the first time and learned about the game
Best year of my life. We had moved to Seattle in May of 2007, but 2008 was when this really started feeling like home. Almost left my job twice this year - first time, I had a job offer with the Sonics - goes without saying that I'm grateful I didn't take it (I was very close to doing so). Second time, I got accepted to business school elsewhere in the state and was going to go, but my boss offered me better hours and more money to stay. Literally, about two weeks later, I got into the business school at the University of Washington, which had been my first choice anyway (I just didn't have high hopes I'd get in, initially). Now that people are freaking out with the economy, I realize more and more how great my job is and I love it here. Otherwise, lots of personal growth which I hope continues into '09...of course, a Colts win in the Super Bowl, Flames winning the Stanley Cup, and Rockets winning the title sure wouldn't hurt the new year...
I lost a lot in the market & energy price crash, my beach house got destroyed by Ike, my wife was diagnosed with Lupus, and the Longhorns lost a national championship shot on a fluke last second play. On the plus side, I'm pretty excited about President Obama's election. I didn't think I would ever see the pendulum turn.
The worst year of my relatively young life. Realized the new company that bought my plant sucked, so left. My cousin (very good friend) died in an ATV accident. Displaced because of Hurricane Ike. Got laid off from my new job because I was the low man on the totem pole. I did go right back to work and got out of the stock market in April to avoid the crash I saw coming. I paid off a lot of bills. It wasn't horrible, but I've had a good life so far.
Normal day,normal life for me as usual to be a colleger out there.Just wanna work harder to earn more money before the graduation from school,btw,I'm doin' finance right now,I don't know how slim the chance for me gonna be in the future. This year ends with my joys and happiness.Right now I'm looking forward to the new year,2009!
My oldest son married (finally) My daughter moved to the jungle (missions) and survived My next oldest son finally got in the studio and released his first CD, he is now on tour (guitarist) My third oldest son and I fished, golfed and surfed together My youngest son just played alot Built my wife a water feature she always wanted on our pond Our garden produced great The church started a very successful children's club My wife and I plus the 2 youngest children were given an all expense paid vacation to the Virgin Islands, it was fabulous The Company I worked for donated a van to the church I actually received one official vote for the US presidency in the election
mine was good...made it through our first year of marriage just fine, switched jobs in feb, turned 29 for the first of many times, got LASIK done in april, enjoyed my year back after being in africa for 16 mths so we saw family and friends as much as possible, found out my twin is pregnant, went to toronto, paris, taipei, tokyo and kyoto all in the last 4 months, celebrated my grandmother's 90th birthday, got season tickets to the rockets games and bought my first car 2 days ago so overall pretty good. oh and we got money from Ike to fix up our house so hopefully we can buy something next year, settle down some more and start our own family.
2008 Ike stands out the most. 13 days of no power with a newly pregnant wife, 2 year old bent on getting into everything and my Husky suffering from hot spots. No fun at all. Had to see my older cat and dog enter the last stages of their lives. Don't think either will see 2010. On the good side, had a few fundraisers for a show I will do in 09 and had many people encourage me to do it and offer to be a part of it. With a baby girl on the way, 09 looks to be busy!
2008.. hmmm... Took my daughter to DisneyWorld for the first time. Flew on an airplane for the first time. Visited S.A. way too many times to goto SeaWorld. Met Tony Hawk while eating at our Hotel's Bakery. Discovered Vietnamese sandwiches. ...and had my 3 year wedding anniversary. <3<3<3 It was a super year.
I... worked at the same crappy job, got a crappy raise, and a crappy bonus, no promotions. watched my middle sister who is younger than me get her masters, and an awesome job, and move back to Houston. celebrated 5yrs with the BF bought a car went to England, Wales, and Ireland ... that's it.
After a very tumultuous 2007 (changing jobs mid-year after 5+ years at a different company), 2008 has been wonderful. Everything about the new job rocks - substantially better pay, better hours, better co-workers, more respect. Occasionally, I sit back and kick myself for not making the change sooner. To top things off, the company I previously worked for just sold off the subsidiary I was in, is seemingly muddling along without a rudder, and is up for sale. Like RMT, I haven't played as much music as I'd have liked to, but that will come in 2009. I have GAS (Guitar Acquisition Syndrome) and this week I "contracted" a Gibson Non-Reverse Firebird and it comes with gobs of sweet, creamy P-90 goodness... a welcome addition to the fold. I will leave work early today and go home, crank up the AC30, and play it loudly until I have to head out to the Rockets game. Neighbors beware. The Rockets... sigh. Hopefully, they will show up with a little more interest than they did against the Wizards. Season tickets for the third year in a row... their performance has been a constant over the last few years. Again, sigh. My gf and I are quickly approaching 10 years together, and that's just staggering to me. Damn, I love her. She even supports my nasty guitar habit. She's got the weekly consulting gig, so she usually works out of town. This year, I've seen her more than I did last year. Our cats are a year older and love us more every day. No house yet because we don't necessarily want to be tied to Houston... and no kids. Outside of the 401k, saved a lot of $ this year, paid off the car, and we're just waiting out the uncertainty. It's a very nice feeling actually to know that we could just take off and move anywhere, but it might be a little reckless to do that until the economy turns around.
meggo -- have noticed you using the word "crappy" a lot. I think you would enjoy Cruddy, possibly the world's best book. It has an amazing opening line. For 2008... after a year of ground work was able to change my job into exactly what I want to be doing for my school. That was satisfying. Otherwise, had some health scares with parents, which resolved nicely for now. Had no real travel. Mrs. B-Bob is in good health and spirits. We're both steadily employed for now, which is nice. Lots of friends moved away from the Bay Area this year. So we're cooking a lot and having new people over all the time. Have noticed that, as I age (nearly 40), I am progressively less funny. Otherwise, am enjoying life very very much, but worried I will become the cliche old man, increasingly cranky and less flexible. My only unrealized new year's eve pledge was my commitment to become more substantially involved in charity. Even though I work for a non-profit, I get paid for that.
