I started the year with some ambitious goals. Among these were the monthly acountability projects as well as tracking finances in detail. I didn't quite accomplish the goals I set in January, but it was a good start. Also, two of my coworkers who were also very good friends left the company in January.

February again started with a challenge as well as a major step in my financial accountability project. February also was the month I got my new camera. I gave myself credit for February's goals.

March brought more goals and more photos. I also attenede a reading by Salman Rushdie and fired up the grill for the first time in 2007.

April saw the first public release of Habari followed by the release of Aiden's Theme for Habari and this site's conversion to Habari. I also took a look at my goal setting system, and decided it needed work and solidified my finanical goals.

May came with a financial wake-up call as well as a new garden. June was pretty darn quiet.

July on the other hand was big. Mostly because of my birthday. Turning 30 causes one to reflect a bit. I set some goals and one of my best friends had a baby! Oh, and my little brother got married.

August brought my first habari plugin and a reading by William Gibson.

September brought the 5th anniversary of TBWITWW and I's wedding. A trip to OLF and (although we didn't know it till later) a baby.

In October, joined the Habari PMC bought a new laptop, and ranted about several political issues.

November was a silly sort of month. I made an LOL Cat and grew a Mustache It was for the kids.

And this month, we announced that we were pregnant. Everything else pretty much takes a back seat to that.

Well... not true. I've already gotten some good stuff. The MIL got me two photography lighting books and a subscription to Popular Science. Which is sweet. Also, TBWITWW and I have decided to take the day off. We won't be traveling or cleaning or whatnot today. We're just going to stay in, watch movies, and eat. (Our usual Thanksgiving tradition.)

However, we're not exchanging gifts. We've decided that instead of each of us running around trying to find gifts for each other we're going to get a Wii. We've played one a few times, and enjoyed it greatly. The game play is more intuitive to me (I'm a button masher) and the simplicity of it makes it fun. Also, it seems to be more likely to get us off our butts and moving a bit more, which can't hurt. We decided that rather than drive ourselves crazy looking for one though, we're going to just put the money aside in the account and when we find one, buy it then. It may be a wile before we get it, but that's okay.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and gets the important things. Love, Happiness and Peace.

Guess What?

Yep.

Twenty-four hours until the mustache challenge is complete. My donation total is still woefully low. What the heck is wrong with you people?
Do you hate children? I work with children. Many of those children are annoying. And yet, I'm not only kicking in money to help children, I'm growing a freakin' mustache for children. Seriously. You can pitch in $10. Some of you can pitch in more than $10.

Think of the children.

Also, you definitely don't get a say in the post-stache-facial-hair if you didn't donate.

Yeah.

I'll even come up with a prize for whoever kicks in the most.

Today is my father's birthday. I've said before, and I'll say again, that my father is my hero. I hope to be the kind of man he is. I hope to be the kind of father he is. I hope to be the kind of brother, son, husband, and friend he is. He's not perfect by any means, but to my knowledge only one person in history has any claim on that. He has made mistakes, and poor decisions in his life, but he's learned from them and grown from them. In the processes he allowed my brother and I to learn and grow from his mistakes, which allowed us to avoid having to make those same mistakes ourselves. Not that we always did avoid them. He's also been wise enough to know that you don't just teach your children, you also learn from them. It's been a two way street my whole life, even when I didn't appreciate or understand it.

But enough with the sentimental crap. I've written it before, and it doesn't get more true the more I say it. There's a lot of fun that I've gotten from my dad as well. My taste in music is largely influenced by my dad. There's a reason that I still think The Who is the greatest rock band ever, and that U2 is as smart as they are savvy. Thanks to him, I appreciate Robert Johnson and BB King. There's very little music that I can honestly say I can't stand, because he taught me that even in bad music there can be fun stuff that makes it worth a listen. Even as he went from working in a guitar store to being an accountant, he never once questioned the "sensibility" of choosing the arts as my profession. (Honestly I think he likes being an accountant though... which makes no sense to me.)

Yes, my dad is everything I want to be... a snob when it comes to beer, music and books; a political didact, opinionated, curmudgeonly, passionate and inquisative (and prone to using large words when it suits him). I'm proud of him, and I'm thrilled that he's proud of me.

Happy Birthday Dad! I love you.