2007 in Review
Well... One of the last things I said in my "2006 in Review" post was "How will we look back on 2007?" It's that time... A full year has gone by. Although I don't think this year was quite as eventful as recent years, I still think it's worth taking a while to look back. I think most people, whether they realize it or not, at least take a quick look back at the preceding year. In a time of year that's based on getting rid of the old and looking forward to the new, where people set personal resolutions... it's kind of hard not to.
All in all, I kind of have mixed opinions about this year... not that it was a bad year, I just feel like it was the kind of year that didn't really have too much of a pinnacle.
Even just in the small world of UIUC, we look at the month of February and a lot happened right there. We saw the school get two snow days... the first time a snow day was called in 30+ years, and "the first snow day since yesterday". Only 2 weeks later, we saw Chief Illiniwek dance at Assembly Hall for the last time.
The school year concluded and we all closed our dorm room doors for the last time. That sure felt surreal. After making that cinderblock box home for two years, it sure felt strange to be leaving. And then there was summer...
It was really a strange summer... Back at Motorola, so not like there was anything new to get used to there. It was nice to go back and already know the background of the projects and know all of the people and acronyms I'd need to know without a week's worth of tutorials in two days. But at the same time, it really felt like nobody else was around. I did manage to get to do some things this summer though to pick things up a bit. Managed to get myself out to north-central Illinois to jump out of an airplane for the second time, got to go to a couple of Cubs games again, and pulled a little bit of a reversal when I spent a summer weekend down in Urbana. And you can't beat ending a summer by going to a baseball game... even if it's watching your two rival teams playing each other. (Steve, Amanda and Robin, I'm definitely up for another trip to Miller Park this summer...)
Then life at The 6 began. What a difference from dorm life. Although I've come to like the additional space and not having to deal with the being treated like a 4-year-old by dorm staff, there are some things I've found I miss, such as being able to take the 15 second walk to visit somebody down the hall at 2AM. Although making your own food is nice, sometimes it'd be nice to just walk downstairs and swipe an ID for a pre-cooked meal, no matter how it tastes. You also can't forget some of the crazy dinner conversations we had at the 3 South table... That kind of stuff has been tough to live without.
September brought Stevie Wonder... or a rainstorm, then school, then Stevie Wonder. Wow... talk about a memorable two days. Thought I had everything planned out... Head home, see the concert, miss only one class, and still get it all in. Well, I still only missed one class, but did about 250 miles of extra driving and got a speeding ticket. And yet, in retrospect, it was still all worth it. Amazing concert, and always good to be able to go to something unique like that with such a good friend (Thanks, Robin!). But for anyone else (and myself in the future), I don't reccomend doing the Champaign-Suburbs drive 4 times in a 48 hour period.
And then there's Illinois Football... Where the heck did these guys come from!? The best turnaround team in the NCAA this year! I can't believe UIUC got a Rose Bowl bid. That's extremely exciting. Only one of the sports turnarounds we saw this year... The Cubs went from worst (in 2006) to first, and the Bears... well we all know how the Bears did...
Overall, I guess nothing major to gripe about, but I guess I'm kind of glad to be turning the calendar over. It's just one of those times when a fresh start will be nice. I'm not really a resolution-setting kind of person, but I have some personal goals for myself for next year, and I definitely think I can achieve them.
2008 is already shaping up to be an interesting year... Spring Break in Arizona, my 21st Birthday in July, Senior Year starting in August, the ACTUAL job hunt this fall... There's really a lot to be looking forward to.
No matter what kind of year people have, you can always say "I hope next year is (even) better". Even in a 10-out-of-10 kind of year, it'd be silly not to hope for better. Just as each day is a new day, the same applies to a year. I'm reminded of my Scouting days when one of our leaders could always be quoted saying "HALLELUJAH! We learned something today!" I really feel like that's the case every day, even if it's something small. We begin each year knowing more than the previous (at least 365 new things :-P). We have the tools to keep getting stronger and become better people. And with that, we take what we've learned from the past, and look forward...
I wish everyone a safe, healthy, and happy 2008...
All in all, I kind of have mixed opinions about this year... not that it was a bad year, I just feel like it was the kind of year that didn't really have too much of a pinnacle.
Even just in the small world of UIUC, we look at the month of February and a lot happened right there. We saw the school get two snow days... the first time a snow day was called in 30+ years, and "the first snow day since yesterday". Only 2 weeks later, we saw Chief Illiniwek dance at Assembly Hall for the last time.
The school year concluded and we all closed our dorm room doors for the last time. That sure felt surreal. After making that cinderblock box home for two years, it sure felt strange to be leaving. And then there was summer...
It was really a strange summer... Back at Motorola, so not like there was anything new to get used to there. It was nice to go back and already know the background of the projects and know all of the people and acronyms I'd need to know without a week's worth of tutorials in two days. But at the same time, it really felt like nobody else was around. I did manage to get to do some things this summer though to pick things up a bit. Managed to get myself out to north-central Illinois to jump out of an airplane for the second time, got to go to a couple of Cubs games again, and pulled a little bit of a reversal when I spent a summer weekend down in Urbana. And you can't beat ending a summer by going to a baseball game... even if it's watching your two rival teams playing each other. (Steve, Amanda and Robin, I'm definitely up for another trip to Miller Park this summer...)
Then life at The 6 began. What a difference from dorm life. Although I've come to like the additional space and not having to deal with the being treated like a 4-year-old by dorm staff, there are some things I've found I miss, such as being able to take the 15 second walk to visit somebody down the hall at 2AM. Although making your own food is nice, sometimes it'd be nice to just walk downstairs and swipe an ID for a pre-cooked meal, no matter how it tastes. You also can't forget some of the crazy dinner conversations we had at the 3 South table... That kind of stuff has been tough to live without.
September brought Stevie Wonder... or a rainstorm, then school, then Stevie Wonder. Wow... talk about a memorable two days. Thought I had everything planned out... Head home, see the concert, miss only one class, and still get it all in. Well, I still only missed one class, but did about 250 miles of extra driving and got a speeding ticket. And yet, in retrospect, it was still all worth it. Amazing concert, and always good to be able to go to something unique like that with such a good friend (Thanks, Robin!). But for anyone else (and myself in the future), I don't reccomend doing the Champaign-Suburbs drive 4 times in a 48 hour period.
And then there's Illinois Football... Where the heck did these guys come from!? The best turnaround team in the NCAA this year! I can't believe UIUC got a Rose Bowl bid. That's extremely exciting. Only one of the sports turnarounds we saw this year... The Cubs went from worst (in 2006) to first, and the Bears... well we all know how the Bears did...
Overall, I guess nothing major to gripe about, but I guess I'm kind of glad to be turning the calendar over. It's just one of those times when a fresh start will be nice. I'm not really a resolution-setting kind of person, but I have some personal goals for myself for next year, and I definitely think I can achieve them.
2008 is already shaping up to be an interesting year... Spring Break in Arizona, my 21st Birthday in July, Senior Year starting in August, the ACTUAL job hunt this fall... There's really a lot to be looking forward to.
No matter what kind of year people have, you can always say "I hope next year is (even) better". Even in a 10-out-of-10 kind of year, it'd be silly not to hope for better. Just as each day is a new day, the same applies to a year. I'm reminded of my Scouting days when one of our leaders could always be quoted saying "HALLELUJAH! We learned something today!" I really feel like that's the case every day, even if it's something small. We begin each year knowing more than the previous (at least 365 new things :-P). We have the tools to keep getting stronger and become better people. And with that, we take what we've learned from the past, and look forward...
I wish everyone a safe, healthy, and happy 2008...