2.1.09

2008 year in Review

Since I don't send you all Christmas cards, I try to do a "year in review" post where I can sum up my activities for the year. It's really a pleasure (and sometimes fairly traumatic as well) to go back and read all of my old posts. What did 2008 hold for me?

January: The beginning of last year found me starting to remodel my kitchen and having one wall torn out in my bedroom for a while too. If you've never lived through a remodel, the experience is a little like this.

February: While the kitchen remodel was still obviously going on in February, the most exciting thing that happened was me becoming a mentor, which I still am actually. I'm glad it stuck. My mentee and I were talking about how sick I was the first day we met. This post almost does it justice. A better way of explaining it might be that I went to bed around 8:00pm that night. What was the kitchen remodel like in February? It was as exciting as at any other time and can best be summed up by "and you just left him there?" I still maintain that was the right decision. And of course, I actually bought the house in February too.

March: As the spring came, the kitchen started to look complete but that was a lie too owing to a fairly serious clog in my plumbing that took a few weeks (no, really, weeks) to figure out. On an exciting and happy note, Mark and Irmghard got married and I got a trip home out of the deal.

April: In April, the kitchen and living room really took shape because they were finally painted. That was about when I felt like the condo was mine and I wasn't living in some other guys house any more. Also, April was my month of not eating out. It was really successful and probably started me on the path to better cooking. I'm thinking about doing it again for a month this year. It was a good experience.

May: In May I started having some interesting internet experiences and apparently ethical decisions too. I also raced for the cure, visited with my parents, and did 29 days of giving.

June: Happy Birthday Lizzie. And congratulations to Jenny and Doug on finally getting married. I'm really happy for you both. I also had one of two really bad sicknesses this year in June. I loved it when the doctor looked at me and said, "well, if we don't fix this, your brain will get infected." Well, that's not good. And Bonnie told me she'd be my match maker. I don't think that was a totally serious offer, but it wasn't totally in jest. Either way, I had a really good time writing that.

July: The summer was fairly uneventful for me. I was saving my vacation time for South Africa. I did have an exciting home improvement accomplishment though.

August: At the end of the summer, I did manage to make it down to Chicago to see Mom and some of her side of the family. But, as any Minnesotan knows, the most important thing to happen in August is the state fair. Every time I see those pictures I think, Chocolate covered bacon? Seriously?

September: In the beginning of the fall, I ran my first 10K which Eric. But what I really remember is that month came in like a lamb, and went out with a roar. Sucks.

October: Really, the bulk of October also felt like it was spent dealing with bed bugs. But wouldn't you rather read about the time I was in New York? Johannesburg? Cape Town? And then when I came back I got so sick I thought I was going to die. But not a bug from Africa, just some regular American stomach virus.

November: Sometime this fall, I also decided to run the marathon in 2009 and began my training. Training has been an up and down process. It's been a little discouraging at some points, with all the snow and the cold making me want to hibernate. But it's also been exciting and I can feel myself getting stronger. I also wrote my 1,000th blog post. And one of the most memorable and powerful moments of my life as an American came in November.

December: One of the most encouraging times in Marathon training came in early December. Just another reason to live the iPod. And of course, I got drunk for Christmas went home for Christmas and visited with friends and family alike.

2009 started out with what is sure to become one of my favorite traditions. Is it wrong I want to go do it again already?

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