2007 Review
2007 was another awesome year.
It started out slow and with the same grind. At the beginning of the year, I grew increasingly uncomfortable with my job at IBM, because of the numerous rumors that massive layoffs might be happening soon. Those rumors affected everyone that I worked with. The mood at work was terrible. I was burned out from 7 years with an annual vacation of 5 days without sick days. I was tired of living a solitary life working from home and only communicating with my peers via IM or phone. It was just work, work, work. Mid-January, Bob and I went to MAL in DC. I snagged a Wii in January or February after at least a dozen unsuccessful attempts. Early April, I responded to several job postings on various web sites. One of the job postings stood out, but I didn't expect to even get a response. To my surprise, I got invited to interview a few days later. After 3 days of interviewing, I got the job. It changed my life. It changed everything. I was totally unaware how much your work life affected my life in general. I am so happy with my new job. Love it. Mid-April, I went to Bear Trek to celebrate, met a few old and new friends and had a blast. I started my new job in May.
May, June, July were spent settling in with the new job and occasional trips to the Woods Campground for the weekend. In July, my mom came visiting for almost two weeks. I always look forward to her annual visit and it seems the older we both get, the closer our bond gets. The summer was great and a lot of time was spent at the pool at home, home improvement and camping. Holly, the Boxer pup, came home on July 21st. I have wanted a dog for a long time, but was not allowed to keep one and was also not sure, if I am ready for the responsibility of being a dog owner. Well, Holly changed quite a few things in my day-to-day life - all for the better. She's an absolute sweetheart and I wouldn't miss a day without her. Seeing her grow up and mature was and still is wonderful. The fall was rather uneventful and mostly spent with work, home improvement and dog training. Bob's mom came for a visit over Thanksgiving for a week. The week after Thanksgiving, I quit smoking - hopefully for good. Became a Mac user in November. Christmas was spent at home, very relaxed, with good food, great mood and plenty of presents. New Year's Eve was spent at the Bike Stop with a lot of friends.
Rating: B+
Positives: New job, Holly, quitting smoking, camping, nice tax return, no debt, good health
Negatives: Old job, politics, still no Green Card, missing my family
Regrets: Could've been more social and could've done more day/weekend trips
It started out slow and with the same grind. At the beginning of the year, I grew increasingly uncomfortable with my job at IBM, because of the numerous rumors that massive layoffs might be happening soon. Those rumors affected everyone that I worked with. The mood at work was terrible. I was burned out from 7 years with an annual vacation of 5 days without sick days. I was tired of living a solitary life working from home and only communicating with my peers via IM or phone. It was just work, work, work. Mid-January, Bob and I went to MAL in DC. I snagged a Wii in January or February after at least a dozen unsuccessful attempts. Early April, I responded to several job postings on various web sites. One of the job postings stood out, but I didn't expect to even get a response. To my surprise, I got invited to interview a few days later. After 3 days of interviewing, I got the job. It changed my life. It changed everything. I was totally unaware how much your work life affected my life in general. I am so happy with my new job. Love it. Mid-April, I went to Bear Trek to celebrate, met a few old and new friends and had a blast. I started my new job in May.
May, June, July were spent settling in with the new job and occasional trips to the Woods Campground for the weekend. In July, my mom came visiting for almost two weeks. I always look forward to her annual visit and it seems the older we both get, the closer our bond gets. The summer was great and a lot of time was spent at the pool at home, home improvement and camping. Holly, the Boxer pup, came home on July 21st. I have wanted a dog for a long time, but was not allowed to keep one and was also not sure, if I am ready for the responsibility of being a dog owner. Well, Holly changed quite a few things in my day-to-day life - all for the better. She's an absolute sweetheart and I wouldn't miss a day without her. Seeing her grow up and mature was and still is wonderful. The fall was rather uneventful and mostly spent with work, home improvement and dog training. Bob's mom came for a visit over Thanksgiving for a week. The week after Thanksgiving, I quit smoking - hopefully for good. Became a Mac user in November. Christmas was spent at home, very relaxed, with good food, great mood and plenty of presents. New Year's Eve was spent at the Bike Stop with a lot of friends.
Rating: B+
Positives: New job, Holly, quitting smoking, camping, nice tax return, no debt, good health
Negatives: Old job, politics, still no Green Card, missing my family
Regrets: Could've been more social and could've done more day/weekend trips