13 good things about last year:
Visiting with and getting to know family and friends, old and new, and in general feeling welcomed into the community. Lindsborg is a special place, and we’re very satisfied with our decision to move here.
Family generally healthy, my brother Steven’s heart notwithstanding. Aunt Adelia turned 90, and is still living at home!
Greater community involvement: starting with serving as chairman of the Midsummer’s Day Publicity committee (Sheryl served on the program committee). Also participated in various discussions related to Lindsborg’s future, both online and in person.
Served as technical consultant to the Red Barn Studio Gallery and Museum, providing system support and consulting and performing a major revamp of the Redbarn’s web site.
Served as volunteer for the local Chamber of Commerce, doing occasional website updates and providing a weekly 2 minute overview of local happenings, broadcast on the local news radio station KSAL. That’s kind of cool.
Took 3 trips to California for work, with small bits of personal travel included. Created and deployed a blogging environment for a major internal technical conference during one of the trips. Also attended eTech05, a wonderful conference on emerging technologies.
Had 2 great trips to the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley, plus other fun travels, including a weekend in Hays and Logan, KS and our first visit to the Salton Sea and the desert near Blythe.
Got a new camera (Canon Rebel XT) and created a new photoblog, luminosity. Continued blogging at here at All the Pages and created and occasionally post to Little Sweden USA. Began using Flickr in a big way; it’s great for sharing photos, especially amongst family and friends. Also, All the Pages underwent both a major software update and visual redesign during the past year.
Enjoyed attending my first Svensk Hyllningsfest in over 30 years. Especially enjoyed watching my grandaughter Moneka performing traditional Swedish dances.
Was proud and pleased that Lindsborg hosted Gorbachev’s visit as part of the Chess for Peace initiative. Am saddened by the apparent troubles facing the local chess scene.
Watching Moneka embrace the casual lifestyle afforded by living in a quiet rural town. She’s been involved in sports, dancing and in general has freedoms she wouldn’t have had out in the Bay area.
Established our first geocache, Spillway View, and also located a number of local caches.
Created a bumber of food dishes for the first time: posole, bread and butter pickles and monkey bread; by all accounts the recipes were worth making again.