2008 in review

Well, 2008 was certainly interesting. Let’s do a quick year in review. This was my life, as seen through the blog:

January: [My server was down](http://www.flyingsquirrel.ca/index.php/2008/01/21/were-back/).
February: [I went looking for MP3 players](http://www.flyingsquirrel.ca/index.php/2008/02/21/what-i-want-from-a-portable-audio-device/).
March: Not much, but I [went home for Easter](http://www.flyingsquirrel.ca/index.php/2008/03/13/toronto-stop-over/) and [Ellen is awesome](http://www.flyingsquirrel.ca/index.php/2008/03/23/making-music/).
April: I finally got fed up and [canceled my gym membership](http://www.flyingsquirrel.ca/index.php/2008/04/12/the-gym-conclusion/).
May: [Anime North](http://www.flyingsquirrel.ca/index.php/2008/05/23/live-from-anime-north-day-1/).
June: I discovered I [no longer had a doctor](http://www.flyingsquirrel.ca/index.php/2008/06/19/apparently-i-dont-have-a-doctor/).
July: [Polaris](http://www.flyingsquirrel.ca/index.php/2008/07/12/polaris-day-1/).
August: [Nothing, apparently](http://www.flyingsquirrel.ca/index.php/2008/09/06/my-poor-neglected-blog/).
September: [An election](http://www.flyingsquirrel.ca/index.php/2008/09/08/ugh-election/) and [economic angst](http://www.flyingsquirrel.ca/index.php/2008/09/30/frustrating/).
October: [I lose my job](http://www.flyingsquirrel.ca/index.php/2008/10/17/new-opportunites/).
November: job searching (which I don’t talk about), [Barcamp](http://www.flyingsquirrel.ca/index.php/2008/11/23/barcamp-waterloo/), [home improvement](http://www.flyingsquirrel.ca/index.php/2008/11/29/good-bye-ron/), [Stratford](http://www.flyingsquirrel.ca/index.php/2008/11/09/emilia-galotti-and-romeo-and-juliet/) and [Wiki Links](http://www.flyingsquirrel.ca/index.php/2008/11/03/functional-spec-wiki-links-wordpress-plug-in/). I had a bit more spare time…
December: I start a new job (which I also haven’t talked about yet) and [Christmas](http://www.flyingsquirrel.ca/index.php/2008/12/26/merry-christmas-one-and-all/).

It makes me realize that most of the really significant stuff in my life doesn’t show up in the blog explicitly. It’s there. *I* see it. But only because I know what it is, and I can read between the lines. I suppose it’s kind of unfair that you can’t. But we’re all going to have to learn to live with that.

By far the most significant thing, of course, was losing my job. No small thing, that. If nothing else, it did settle a long-standing argument I’d been having with myself about whether I’d stayed at one place too long and should have moved on. I think in future I’ll be more cognizant of the signs and portents that I could kind of see then but are glaringly obvious now.

Those six weeks of joblessness have given me a fresh perspective on my life and my career. This is actually a good thing. I feel like I have much more of a direction now. I’m not entirely sure of the destination, but there’s more purpose to the journey.

I’m now working for a fairly small company in Kitchener named [Miovision](http://www.miovision.com/). It’s fascinating, and I can see a lot of challenge and opportunities there. It’s a slightly riskier move than a lot of places I could have settled on, but I think whichever way it goes, I’m better off with something like this than going for the safer option.

2008 also made it abundantly clear what a fantastic person Ellen is and how lucky I am to have her in my life. Without getting all mushy, she was the best part of every part of the year, and she single-handedly turned 2008 from what should have been a really crappy year into something really good. She’s my lovely alchemist.