year in review 2007

As is tradition, my year in review. Hang tight, this'll get long. I'm also doing this really quickly, so it's not terribly edited, just to warn you.

January

Started off with a bang since I worked New Year's Eve at the club job. Fell on a Sunday, after all. Took a few photos.

Pink had crept back into my wardrobe by this point. That's notable for some reason, trust me.

At work, we started planning and eventually got permission to do the site redesign, which was desperately needed. Despite that project, I still had days entirely booked with meetings.

It was a month of busy, as per normal, and enjoying squash, and appreciating that I knew how to drive in snow. Also started yoga twice a week rather than once during this semester. Oh, and there was a birthday and associated celebration.

February

Thankful for my warm down coat. Got a ton of songs (that I seriously dislike) from the club job stuck in my head throughout the month. I eventually made a mix CD of those I could tolerate and those I couldn't, hoping to rid them all from my brain-pan. It worked, eventually.

This month at work we got the weirdest inquiry letter I've ever seen, which became a short running joke: short because the source was so bloody uncomfortable. Obviously a mentally disturbed individual reaching out, but it was so uncomfortable you couldn't help but laugh about it. My grandboss brought it to me while I was in the office of another colleague who has since left the office.

Some choice lines we would spout at each other as we passed in the hallways:
"Conditions are not good."
"I will need fed because I eat and am active."
"I have a felony but it should be removed."
"I do not like female/male integration."
Or our summary, which boiled down to: "I need food."

We also had a call asking if the football coach had any sway in admissions decisions, who was very insistent and kept calling back to try different angles. It seemed to be the month for weird at work.

Developments in yoga: starting to love inverted poses, appreciating Pigeon pose.

March

Grandboss left the office. Sad, sad day. This caused a ton of upset at work, and with me in general. He was absolutely the person I most looked forward to seeing every day.

As a horrible up side, I got a promotion possibly/probably in part due to his leaving. His brother (who also works in the office), also a bit of a cut-up, asked if he needed to address me as Assistant Director all the time now. I told him nothing had changed except actually getting recognition of the things I was doing already. :P

Before my grandboss actually left the office but after the position was posted (because I went for a position, it wasn't just an automatic promotion-type-thing), I went into his office and asked him "do you think I'm qualified for this?" and he laughed at me. Made me feel oddly better.

Found one of the houses I lived in when I lived in Denmark via the satellite view of Google Maps. Also found the church Dad was baptized in. Signed up for Twitter. Ha.

April

80 degrees to snow. Inches of it on Easter, which I took pictures of coming down. Weird weather this month.

Moved offices and had incredible trouble with the new office's desk (which was eventually replaced, thankfully). Had to trot out suits even more often due to even more important meetings: scored a subtle coral-pinstriped one that looks pretty cool, if I do say so myself. Meetings and more meetings and training.

Experimented with beet casseroles. Played with a new hairdo: a French twist kind of thing.

Got the scanned version of my aunt's album from L (thank you!) and uploaded it to flickr.

Attended the Teaching and Learning with Technology Symposium, which was generally excellent.

Events at Virginia Tech caused a bunch of conversation at work.

Kept having to take days off at work or lose them, having bumped into the limit of stored vacation days.

My cell phone battery life continued to die, which caused some problems (though much of that was in February).

May

I think this month could best be summed up as OMG WTF BBQ WORK. The last cram of work on the redesign was just overwhelming. I had a ton of codewrangling this month for the redesign and launch of one of our mini-sites: the one for Spend a Summer Day (SASD, as I more commonly refer to it).

The Big Ten Admissions Conference that we hosted happened this month. A few photos here. Quickly thereafter, our Penn State Admissions conference: a few photos of that here.

Listened to a lot of jazz this month as we wrapped up the launch of the redesign, which happened the morning of the second day of the latter conference.

Got new glasses: from pretty severe black secretary glasses to a pair that are a bit more cat eye-shaped, with filigree-type stuff on the edges. I've gotten a ton of compliments on them. :)

Still doing decant circles for the scent community I'm part of this month: I do quit that somewhere along the way, though, and regain the time I dedicated to it, thankfully.

Stormed a lot at the end of this month and the beginning of the next.

June

Penn State Web Conference was excellent this month: some pictures.

There were also a ton of caterpillars out, which of course I took pictures of. Oh, and there was a birthday party in here somewhere.

Started reading a bit more, which was a nice return. Experimented with cooking wilted greens, which ended up really well.

The big event was the visit to Seattle. The conference was incredible there: easily the best I've attended. I'll be looking for it again this coming year, though I don't think it will be in Seattle again (nor could I attend it there again, I don't think, just given how tight budgets are becoming).

Once that was over, hit vacation, staying with college friends in Seattle. Very easy to slip back into old rhythms, though of course things were different: a pair of them had a little girl, for one thing. Played tourist throughout Seattle both alone and with said friends, though easily started eyeing it from the point of view of moving there someday. Both the Ballard and Fremont neighborhoods started looking extremely appealing, though it's far more likely I'd be in the suburbs somewhere, depending on where I got a job, of course. If I eventually moved there, which is still obviously extremely theoretical.

The other big event was the first Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab East Coast Will-Call (this is the scent/perfume community I may have mentioned once or twice) in Hershey. I had also met up with a couple of folks from that community (I say community in the broadest sense of the word, really) in Seattle, who were awesome. But the ECWC at the end of this month was a fantastic event, with people dressing up in the theme and all. These started monthly after this point and I've only missed one so far.

July

Got some awesome shots of the 4th of the July fireworks.

Took a couple days off in July for my birthday and Arts Fest/People's Choice. Good times, though mildly sunburnt. Got a new lens for my DSLR, which I'm still adoring (and using more frequently than the kit lens, I might add).

Got contacted about a company that wanted to use a picture of mine in a documentary.

I think this is the month the replacement for me (writer/editor position) started, and she came on board really quickly. Not a whole lot of training time needed there: she picked things up quickly, and blew through projects quickly, which was awesome and very much needed. The balance of having to manage two people started becoming a bit precarious in here somewhere, though, given that I had my own projects as well.

Concluded the month with another BPAL ECWC, where again, I took some pictures. Oh, and Spend a Summer Day (SASD) started, which were just exhausting.

August

SASD continued. Just no time to do anything in here: too wiped out. Also did a bunch of web application revisions for the College of Arts and Architecture.

Stardust came out, and I went to see it far too many times, which still wasn't enough.

Went to Hersheypark mid-month with a couple friends: definitely an enjoyable time.

Finished the month with yet another awesome ECWC.

September

Kicked off with a great Labor Day eve Sunday night crowd. Got totally backlogged on photo-taking--not all I took that night are up since I've just had more important photos (to me) to crunch and upload than that.

Fall Conference for us, Student Aid, and the Registrar. I took some pictures, but haven't messed with them yet. Had to do double work somewhere in here when revising visit emails. Irritating, but welcome to work. Then again, made headway on various very cool projects as well, so I shouldn't complain.

"Talk Like a Pirate Day" passed again with little fanfare, unfortunately. Though the Libraries did a pirate-themed open house, which was cool.

Finally gave in to the iPhone temptation after the price dropped and my old phone just wouldn't hold a charge.

Ended the month, once again, with a great ECWC, one during which I dragged along S to get our nails done beforehand.

October

Started with Cirque du Soleil with L, which was an excellent performance/experience.

Had a touch of asthma problems this month: a rarity. Resolved in the next month somewhere.

Finally figured out that the noise made during rainstorms right near my head was because the roof hadn't been entirely sealed. They got it fixed, finally.

The HighEdWebDev conference happened this month. Good sessions, good people.

One more very cool ECWC: pirate-themed this time. Dax and S both came with, which was very neat.

Wrapped up with Halloween at the club job, which I only have one shot up of as of yet. Started getting stressed about finishing things before the Hawaii trip in November.

November

Cut my hair back by about seven inches in preparation for being in the water a lot in Hawaii (which didn't really happen, but that's beside the point).

Completely undid a corner of my room so they could fix the water damage while I was away. And by fix, I mean paint over, but whatever.

The Hawaii trip was a mixed bag: mom is doing far worse than I'd thought, but then again, I was in Hawaii. What right did I have to complain? And it was a great experience: I learned to surf, went on a bus tour on one island and a helicopter tour on the other, etc, etc. But seeing mom liked that made me keenly aware of my own health and future. And, of course, concern for her, some of which I'm working on, but we'll see how that plays out.

Still working on the photos from that trip. I'm only about halfway through, but had enough to take with me to show people during the holidays.

When I got back, had to re-do that corner of my room, including taking my bed out of the bathroom, where I'd wedged it for the interim. Changed my comforter cover in the process, from a green to a deep red. I like it; might be changing the sheets and pillow cover to match in the near future.

The rest of November was a scramble to catch up again, pretty much. My maternal uncle was put in the hospital near the end of it, which was another big concern for awhile. Thankfully, all turned out all right. Oh, and yet another ECWC, as per normal.

December

Ended the CSA experience, unfortunately. Still trying to figure out how to replace it.

Divided up my Twitter presences into personal and professional: a necessity after awhile, really. I kind of regret leaving some personal stuff on the supposedly professional version, but not much to be done about it.

Underwent a few all-day meetings of one stripe or another. Again. Major work drama happened this month, drama that I'd rather forget about, frankly. One outcome, though, is the new great staff member leaving--not because of drama. Drama just ensued. There may be major changes on the horizon, and I'm not entirely convinced this is a good thing for me. But it should be an improvement for the office as a whole, and I did volunteer it. We'll see.

Started trying to figure out how to afford a class next semester. Still in that process, to some extent, though I'm signed up and ready to go.

Got a couple pictures from Seattle published in a travel guide. Got a Wii. Left for Wisconsin.

Long visit in the Midwest: saw Dad, B, my paternal uncle (not the one who was in the hospital), and a few friends: H and H, actually. One from my sorority and one from college (yes, those are different. it's complicated). Missed C, though, which I was sad about.

Dad and I sat down and went through my aunt's album to fill in the details, inasmuch as he could remember.

Had a great French-themed Christmas dinner with B's family, as well as our usual Danish-tinged Christmas Eve dinner. I still love fliskesteg. I should really learn how to do it myself.

Did some tech help with Dad's new laptop and GPS unit. Hopefully, got him set up for the marine maps he wanted. (Let me know if you have problems, okay Dad?)

Got some fantastic presents, including new shoes and suits, many of which were very much needed. I felt very much spoiled once I got home and started unloading the car, which was pretty well packed. True, some of it was my own purchases since they've got better shopping out there, but still.

And now, back and trying to catch up again, as well as trying to integrate everything. Space is very much at a premium and I need to get things out of the hallway. To do that, though, I need to make some space. It's a Tetris challenge: I used to be very good at this, back when I worked for the Symphony, but I haven't needed to do so for a decently long time. I'll make it work, though, somehow.

My only regret for December is missing this month's ECWC, but it just couldn't be managed. Can't be two places at once yet, unfortunately. Hopefully they'll invent that soon. Ha.