Calendar Years 2007, 2008

A phone call in the late night last Monday informed me that the the calendar had flipped over and we were on a new calendar year. Around the holidays I tend to start thinking about the year, and by the time 2008 hits I am usually anxious for a return to work, to school, and to other various activities. It seems wasteful, especially at a time of infrequent blogging, to keep these reflections and aspirations to myself so below are some of my thoughts on a year past and a year upcoming.

The year 2007 started much better for me than 2006. In January I started a couple of classes at uOttawa; I was well settled into the company and job I was at for nearly a year; and things at home were relatively good. In February Evan and I started playing squash, and I made my return to the gym around my school schedule. I used the gym as a reason to go to school to try to entice me to go to my maths class–sometimes it worked.

In the early 2007 various wheels were set in motion for a change in position at work, with my seeking a new challenge, and that change came about at the end of March. I began my training for the CN Tower climb around that time and was excited to climb the tower in a time better than my private goal of 15 minutes. This led perfectly into my scheme whereby I would run the Ottawa Half-Marathon in May without telling anyone else who ran it. My squash and stair climbing allowed me to complete the 21.1 km race in under 1h 45m–my private goal.

Certainly my summer highlight was traveling to Germany for work. By now the memories of how much work it was are lost and I have only the positive memories remaining (such as driving 235 km/h in a Porsche). The NASCAR race was another great memory, and the two trips meant I was out of my apartment for something along the lines of three and a half weeks. Adam J. watered my plants while I was away.

September 2007 will forever be the month of the Genesis concert. Sure, other stuff happened, but going to see Genesis with Alex, Evan, and Katy was exceptional. Through the rest of the year I kept busy, but the shortened daylight and early winter storms really slowed any momentum. I tried to revive myself by suggesting that I was going to run the Ottawa marathon but that didn’t stick.

I think 2007 was a significant year for my fiscal management. Certainly in the early months I pushed myself to minimize my spending and re-align myself with the realities of financial responsibility. My extravagant purchases slowed significantly, if not stopped completely, and I’m amazed that such a thing was even possible. I think I even toned down my Christmas giving, even though I’m sure I still spent a bunch. (I haven’t tallied up December’s expenses yet.)

But speaking of, how cool is it that I have an entire year’s worth of financial data in a Google calendar? I think that’s pretty exciting. I suppose it’s not much different than having the data available via online banking (I use debit or credit almost exclusively), but the data feels more accessible to me. I wonder if I’ll do anything with it. I’m sure I won’t do anything useful.

So, for 2008 what’s on? Work, school, motorcycle. I think we’re doing the CN Tower climb again, and I’ll probably at least run the half-marathon in Ottawa. Financially I’m off to a reasonable start to the year (no crazy purchases in the first seven days). I think this year will be the year of a new computer, and it’s going to take all I have to not buy whatever is announced at the MacWorld keynote in 8 days. I now have an electronic keyboard that I hope to use to learn to play the piano. Certainly the first four months of the year will not be boring.

Thanks for reading. I hope 2008 will be an exciting year for rja.net.