May all your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions.

~Joey Adams

Well, it has been quite a year. It’s hard to believe a little over a year ago I was just starting at the office I currently work in. Sometimes it seems like it was five minutes ago and at other times it feels like it has been five years.

January
Went up to Lutsen for the annual ski/drinking trip with the college friends. My brother-in-law was officially deployed to Iraq. My mom had surgery to find out what the spot on her lung was which led to the great tuberculosis scare of 2008. I also got to see Avenue Q at the State Theater. Other than that, I was living in St. Paul with Dawn (which seems like eons ago).

February
Again, not a lot happened. I moved to Eden Prairie to help my sister while Mike was gone and to be a little closer to work…that and our lease in St. Paul ended. I had to go back into the blog archives to see what else happened in February. The answer…not much but I did discover this video:


March
I spent half of the month serving jury duty. It was a great couple of weeks. :nerd: My brother was also in town for about a week. We caught the Twins season opener together.

April
All I can remember from April was that Dawn and Nick got married. The wedding was a good time. I met Carly for the first time which rocked. I also hated life the day after the wedding. All things considered, a great time was had by all J

May
I moved…again. This time into my own little apartment to the land of a giant lake. During said move, there was an unfortunate incident with my old TV leading to the purchase of my new TV. It’s still shiny.

June
Had a small grill out in the backyard. That’s about it.

July
July was an insane month. My mom had a double lung transplant. All I remember is lots of time spent in the hospital and the car.

August
More running to and from the Roch. Went golfing for the first time in a couple of years. Remembered how much I love golfing.

September
I got to go to a taping of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart in St. Paul. It was, in a word, awesome. I got serious about studying for the Series 7 exam. Mom was given the green light to go home.

October
I studied. A lot. In fact, that’s about all I did. On the plus side, I passed the Series 7.

November
I studied for, took and passed the Series 66. I decided no more tests until 2009. Mid November we welcomed Mike home from Iraq. I joined the quarter century club on Thanksgiving.

December
I didn’t do a whole lot of anything all month. I helped my sister throw a surprise welcome home/40th birthday party for my brother-in-law. I also survived a round of layoffs at the office. Although way too short due to work restraints, Christmas was good.

I‘m looking forward to 2009. I’m convinced that it will be less hectic than this year has been. I have no specific resolutions but as always, the goal is to make progress…professionally, financially, emotionally and much more. A great big thanks to those of you who have stuck by me through the many ups and downs of this year.

A happy and prosperous 2009 to you all!