2005 Review

Inspired by the year-end reviews done by Jofish and Batman, I’m doing one myself, except, y’know, a month late. Rather than a best of, mine is going to be more a snapshot of my life with some best of mixed in. Organized vaguely into categories:

Work

I changed jobs in May, moving to Applied Strategies as the “Associate Director, Technical Solutions”.

Biggest professional moment:
Having the instrument I worked on for four years at two companies actually be released.

Career paths considered:
Software engineer, data analyst, project manager, “Techno-cultural translator”, writer, blogger, pundit, designer for the collective, social science grad student, philosopher

Personal

Where I went in 2005:

Non-local person with whom I hung out the most:
Jofish, who I hung out with four times in four cities in seven months (Ithaca in March, Oakland in June, Portland in July, LA in October). It doesn’t quite match the streak I had in 2000-2001, where I hung out with Batman five times in five cities in seven months, but it’s not bad.

Most expensive meal:
Michael Mina. Alas, not as good as the French Laundry.

Best concert I was part of:
None of the concerts I did with the chorus this year were too memorable. Probably the most enjoyable was this fall’s Messiah.

Sport I enjoy playing:
It’s still ultimate frisbee, especially with the San Francisco Ultimate League. Good group of people.

Sport I enjoy watching:
Pro football. Especially when Da Bears are playing well.

Best new (to me) group of people:
BrainJammers

Media

Books that changed how I think:
The Politics of Nature by Bruno Latour, Where the Action Is by Paul Dourish, Finite and Infinite Games by James Carse, Sources of Power by Gary Klein

Fiction books that I liked this year:
Um, none that I can think of. I don’t read much fiction, and most of what I do read is forgettable fluff.

Magazines I read:

TV shows I make sure to see:
Gilmore Girls, How I Met Your Mother, Battlestar Galactica, The Shield

TV shows I watch when I have time:
Bones, Veronica Mars, Alias

TV shows I enjoyed watching on DVD:
Wonderfalls, Firefly, Season 1 of The Wire

Movie I liked most this year:
Serenity. Unsurprising. I saw it twice in the theater, and have watched it a couple more times on DVD. I actually find it more rewatchable than the Firefly series. Not sure why that is.

Other movies I watched this year:
When I was debating whether Serenity was my favorite movie of 2005, I realized I was unable to actually remember what other movies I’d seen. So I went back and looked at every movie released in 2005, just to see what I’d seen in the theaters. The list, in approximate order of my enjoyment quotient:
Serenity, Kung Fu Hustle, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Sin City, Batman Begins, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Star Wars Episode III, The Island, Harry Potter 4, Wedding Crashers, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sky High

Best new (to me) blog:
Creating Passionate Users

Best new (to me) software:
WordPress. It was not nearly as painful as expected to transfer my blog into WordPress, and it gave me tons more options in my blogging, from comments, to updating over the web, to backing up more reliably.

Websites I visit way too much:
LiveJournal, Bloglines, ESPN.com, SI.com, Chicago Sun Times sports, Chicago Tribune sports, James Berardinelli’s Movie Reviews

Favorite webcomic:
Questionable Content

Favorite sports columnist:
Sports Guy

Okay, I’ll shut up now. Whee! More serious content coming, y’know, when I get around to it.

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