2007 -- In Memoriam

I fully admit that I've shirked my blogging duties as of late so please be patient as I do my best to redeem myself by featuring quantity over quality.

I contemplated fashioning this into one of those popular end-of-year top ten lists but later decided that I didn't want to limit and/or stretch my imagination by subjecting it to some arbitrary number. I'm also not so good with counting backwards.

Henceforth, you shall find my list of highlights and disappointments of the past calendar year, with no particular numerical values assigned. Enjoy.

Highlights

Paying off my car - After nearly five years, I can officially call my Toyota Corolla my car as opposed to the bank's security interest. I've now satisfied my first significant adult debt. This is a nice contrast to my student loan, which I will be paying off until I'm 87. Now let's just hope I can squeeze another 200,000 or so miles out of my reliable wheels.

Subway garage - To quote the legendary Jerry Orbach in Dirty Dancing, "When I'm wrong I say I'm wrong." Yeah, I was wrong. I'm actually quite pleased with the parking garage at the Owings Mills metro station. Of course a dry barren field would also have made me happy after trudging through the mess of mud and construction for two years. Still, it's pretty nice to park somewhere that I can avoid the snow and rain, especially this time of year. My newly-paid-off car appreciates it too.

New familial additions - This year brought two additions to our extended family -- one of the two-legged variety and one of the four-legged. Aidan, my nephew, joined the family under somewhat less-than-expected circumstances but he's managed to win everyone's heart. And Eli, my step mother-in-law's service dog, has also been a big hit. I'm really curious to see which one, Aidan or Eli, will learn to talk first. Eli got a strong lead on walking so we'll have to wait and see.

Gastro-travel - As if travel isn't enjoyable enough on its own, this year I discovered the pleasure of gastro-travel. I don't know if this phrase exists or if I'm inventing it so in case the latter is true, I shall define gastro-travel as the process of immersing yourself in the cuisine of the area you're visiting, or, at minimum, daring to try something new. This is a big step for me -- someone who grew up with a palette only as extensive as the menu at McDonald's. Our San Francisco trip is the perfect example of how to eat your way through a city. I tried things I never would have willingly eaten before, such as cappuccino and fancy focaccias, and my colon lived to tell about it.

Laptop - Thanks to Rich and a great Black Friday sale, I am the proud recipient of a new laptop for my birthday/Chanukah. My new Dell is a huge improvement over my aging Compaq Presario and I truly enjoy living my untethered cyber life. With my birthday commandeered by Chanukah this year, the laptop was the best gift I could have asked for. It shall lead me into many more years of blogging goodness.

Bladensburg Quik-E-Mart - Sometimes you feel like society just doesn't get you and then this happens. I already detailed my love for the Springfield experience so you can review my fawning there, if you wish.

Disappointments

Striking writers and stagehands - Wouldn't it be nice to care so little about your work and the people you serve that you just go on strike? Oh, no wait, I have a sense of responsibility so I would never do that. It's not like we're living in the era of Upton Sinclair, where workers are really facing danger on a daily basis. Frankly, striking Hollywood writers or Broadway stagehands just minimize the legitimate efforts of those who came before them and really suffered. The greedy, self-absorbed unionites of today have no regard for the people making less money than they do and who they're screwing out of a paycheck by striking. If you don't like your employer, find yourself a new job. You're lucky to have that luxury. And in the meantime, stop messing with my TV viewing. It pisses me off.

Mayor Dixon - Until Sept. 11, 2007, we could still pretend. We could still delude ourselves into thinking that Sheila Dixon would never become the full-fledged mayor of Baltimore, and her short stint as acting mayor was just some cruel joke that would end soon enough. But once Baltimore City's primary election of 2007 came to a close, there was no more pretending. It was just disappointment -- disappointment that city voters actually elected Sheila Dixon to control the city for the next four years. Sadly, the city of Baltimore is getting what it asked for.

Baltimore Ravens - When the 2007 season started, the big guys in purple had just come off of a pretty good season, going 13 and 3 the year before. We had no reason to expect that this year would be too much different. We were so wrong. This season has been excruciating to watch. The Ravens managed to not just lose, but to really get creative in how they lost. They lost in overtime to the Bengals on a field-goal that bounced off the crossbar, and a few weeks later, tricked us into thinking they might defeat the undefeated Patriots. They followed that one up a few weeks later with a loss to the win-less Dolphins. If only they could put this much flair into winning.

(Notice that the Baltimore Orioles failed to make my list. While they hardly had a stellar season, I also never had any real expectations of them. I was too young to appreciate the World Series victory of 1983 so I really came of age in an era when an Orioles' win was something you often hope for but rarely got. As such, the Orioles are not a disappointment, but rather a way of life.)

Baltimore County - Fighting cancer twice was hard enough. I never thought I'd have to fight Baltimore County just as hard over holding a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. As a co-chair of the 2008 Relay For Life of Northwest Baltimore County, I was shocked when the county school board evicted our 11-year-long fundraiser from county schools. Adding insult to injury, the county's Department of Recreation and Parks also refused to host us. After a lot of effort from some dedicated people, we're thrilled to have found a home at Reisterstown Regional Park. So watch this space next year when Relay For Life takes the top spot under my 2008 highlights.