Thursday, December 23, 2010

2010 Review

Whew! We're almost at the end. And unless I buy a motorcycle next week I don't expect anything more noteworthy that would qualify for this list so I'm gonna go ahead and write it.

Here's the big stuff that happened to me this year:
  • Spoke at high school graduation. (Definitely top of the list)
  • Worked the launch of the fan relations area at Bristol. Awesome experience.
  • My video CMS survived an entire year at the Post and is still running strong as it is being replaced with a 3rd party solution ("sunsetted" in Yahoo! language). I never imagined I would single-handedly build a system in Python for a company as prestigious as the Post that would handle something as mission critical as video. And I estimate that I saved the company ~100k by doing that but I don't know for sure.
  • I was on call 24/7 all year b/c of said CMS.
  • I survived my first year of marriage (Congratulations to Mandy, really. Had to be much worse on her ;)
  • Moved to Alexandria!
  • Started working in downtown DC ~3 blocks from the White House
  • Road my bike >20 miles for fun on weekends and commuted ~25 miles to and from work on several occasions. (NEVER saw either of those coming)
  • Road trip with Kyle to Hotlanta for Sara's wedding
  • Lost ~>25 lbs (as of today compared to 1/1/2010)
  • Beach Week Blowout with all my closest college friends. It was WONDERFUL!
  • Rode a zipline! (without Mom, unfortunately)
  • Rode a surfboard! Basically I used it like a giant boogie board but never-the-less I got to feel what it's like to ride a wave.
  • Took a concealed weapons class and shot the VA DOJ course of fire with a 295/300.
  • Got my motorcycle learner's permit and rode a KLR 650 over US 421- "The Snake"
  • Met an amazing group of freelancers / entrepreneurs and got in on the ground of floor of something that is going to be amazing.
  • Went camping! Found a gorgeous, quaint campsite Wilderness Canoe

And I have absolutely no doubt 2011 is going to be even BIGGER...