Year-end lists...

Before getting down to business, in case it’s Tuesday, December 30 or Wednesday, December 31 and in case you noticed and were wondering, that’s Venus hanging there with the moon tonight. Pretty cool.

So, the year-end list.

It strikes me that I only like to read the blurbs about movies or music or news stories or web memes or gadgets that I already know about. And it strikes me that the reason for that must be what makes year-end lists so popular. They give us all a chance to confirm our genius and taste.

Yeah, The National’s “Boxer” is on my ten-best list also!

And now that I’m blogging I also realize that top-10 year-end lists are a great way to fill column inches. Easy posts to meet a quota that only exists in my mind.

But truthfully, 2008 was a pretty tough year for me professionally and personally. Any year-end list that I make is going to be a “bottom-10” instead of a “top-10” exercise and that’s not what I need to do in order to set myself up for a new and better 2009.

This blog though, this has been one of my highlights. As a reformed band guy, it’s been a creative outlet that helped distract, excite and motivate me when I needed distraction, excitement and motivation. It helped to keep my mind sharp when it might have become dull – especially when weeks of unemployment stretched into months.

So my year-end list consists of my personal top-10 favorite posts at TMUOTF in no particular order. I completely and guiltlessly acknowledge how self-indulgent this is and refuse to ask for your forgiveness.

In August I posted Hot Buttered Memories about the death of Isaac Hayes which was the first real personal story that I shared. It’s one of my favorites.

Later in August we took a family vacation to Maine and the post Acorns tried to capture how much it means to me to create positive, meaningful and lasting memories for Littlefoil. It’s really what I live for.

Also in August, we went to the fair. It was awesome. You sir! You look like a strong young man… was a blast. Truth is, we took Littlefoil to the fair one afternoon and had a great time. The next day I went back by myself for more. Next year: more in-depth carnie stories!

In September, when they fired up the LHC, I did quite a lot of research to understand exactly what the stakes were and spent a lot of time trying to craft a post that was simple but accurate. It’s Large Hadron Collider day! made me feel like a real reporter.

About half way through September I began an experiment in serialized drama/reality blogging. (I know, I know…) But I have great fondness for this mess of posts because at least I was stretching out a bit instead of just sharing funny videos from YouTube. The drama began with Just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean that someone isn’t following me… . The series continued with Spooked , I’m being followed… , It’s him. , Keep goin’ bro. and finally Over and Done. .

Another multiple-post entry had to do with the ice maker in our refrigerator. No hyperbole required in this story of one man’s quest. It began with For the love of ice… , and continued with The Iceman Cameth. And Then He Lefteth… and ended with The $730 Glass of Ice Water . And it's all true.

My final multiple-post entry in this list is my corporate greed/insanity series. Take an unemployed guy with a lot of time on his hands and mix with some of the craziest economic news ever and you get some righteous indignation beginning with They didn’t even jet-pool! , continuing with The Business of Honor and How about some perspective? and concluding with What tremendous balls! . Boy I was pissed. Still am really.

A fun story about my mom’s experience with Jane’s Addiction’s bass player makes the list also.

Although no one ever posted a comment, I was pretty happy with my post about California’s Proposition 8 .

Finally, Nan doing the Gettysburg Address . ‘Nuff said.

So it wasn’t all bad. But truthfully, 2009 can’t get here fast enough.

Thanks for checking in here and posting your thoughts. I get a lot out of doing this and I hope that you get a little out of reading it. Please stay in touch. Maybe tell a friend even.

Meanwhile, I hope that you all get your share of happiness and peace and rest and excitement and fun in 2009. Acorns too.