2008 Retrospectus

As 2008, comes to an end, it's interesting to take a look back at an year that went by way too fast.

January - The Fuzz and Whitney come to visit, much fun ensues. I get free tix to see Ozzy Osborne. It's fricking cold in D.C.

February - The cold drags on, but I do find out that I'm a Sloanie.

March - The Spitzer call-girl scandal breaks. I have an intense desire to be in the Strokes, and I start to improve in my music production skillz.

April - Visit my old stomping ground of Madison, WI, although my plane is rerouted to Green Bay that night due to lingering winter weather. Count my blessings of being in DC as Madison is fricking cold near the end of April. Good times ensue in Madison. I yearn for Thai Banana Pancakes. The Pope comes to DC, and I get really annoyed with Windows Vista.

May - Spring Kickball league takes off. I get to see my friend's band's music video get made. A huge typhoon hits Myanmar/Burma and that country's military junta shows off how crappy they are to their people. I lose 8 pounds after getting a horrible stomach bug and attend my first Radiohead concert in the midst of "Noah's flood" part 2.

June - My birthday is off the hook. Gas sky-rockets, Kobe loses and Celtics win the NBA

July - Get ready to move to Boston. Meet the owner of Leininkugel's Beer as I enjoy his brew. I leave my job. Going Away Party is a lot of fun, but I will miss my DC people and lifestyle a lot.

August - Move to Cambridge, after a huge amount of moving in difficulty, we're settled right as soon as pre-term starts, which leads into orientation.

September - Class starts, and it's intense.

October - I'm Link from Legend of Zelda for Halloween, class gets more intense, and throw in clubs and recruiting.

November - School officially takes over my life, Thanksgiving is scrumptious though.

December - I somehow survive the Core and actually do pretty well, go to Florida with Richie to visit Dave to take in some sun, and then come home to DC.

Can't.... Wake... Up

For the past few days, despite me going to bed around 12, and setting my alarm for 9:30, which would get me over 9 hours of sleep, I can't wake up. I'll snooze until 11:30 or so, and even though I could keep on going, wake myself up to keep on prepping for interviews.

I don't know what's up, and I don't half like it.

Freakish Weather

It's nearing the end of December in Washington D.C., which is usually known for a miserable combination of humidity and cold weather, which seeps through any amount of clothing layers worn. Yet, it's in the 60's and balmy outside. It feels more like a tropical rainforest than near New Years.

Global warming, or rather as T. Friedman would say, global weirding anyone?

On the bright side of our scarily changing world - I'll be able to go running outside for the second day in a row.

Feel the Burn

I lifted for the first time since September yesterday, and can barely lift my arms now. Oooh the burn... It feels good!

Personality Flowing Back

With so much to do this semester, I got to the point where I felt like an automaton. My task was to complete homework, team and club projects, and network, network, network.

Now, a little more than a week after being done - I can feel my personality flowing back as my shell shock subsides. Last night, for the first time, I truly felt like myself again.

I feel like doing other things again and not like just staring at a wall. Let's see where this goes...

Interesting Commentary re: America's Deteriorating Infrastructure

Here is an interesting article by Thomas Friedman putting into perspective what I've been seeing for years during my travels: America's infrastructure is quickly deteriorating. Our airports, trains, roads, and bridges are being left to grow outdated or insufficient with an increasing population while the rest of the world builds ever better and more modern facilities.

More depressing is the fact that there is no plan to renovate or rebuild much of anything.

The Core is Over

Greetings from Miami. I finished three and a half of the most grueling months ever on Wednesday with my last final. Since then, life's been a whirlwind. Made it out to quite a bit of celebration of the Core being over, and then a few short hours later, I was out the door at 8:30 AM to catch a flight to Miami. I've since been here, recovering from the first semester on the beach.

Looking back, it's amazing that I got through everything I did. I really believe that I learned and accomplished a lot, although I see that all of that I undertook came at the cost of so many other things, like sleep, exercise and at times it felt like, sanity. I experienced a lot of success, but also, quite a bit of frustration at times. It is interesting though to note how much you can get done if you dedicate 99% of your waking hours to work.... I guess that's the secret behind a start-up. It is nice to be able to just lie on a beach.