New Year’s Eve, people. I have a huge night planned. I’ll make burritos, read Jane Eyre, and fall asleep by 10PM. Don’t mess with me, people. Oh, I might actually do a shot or two.

Ok, I need to knock out a proper year end bullet post. Here we go:

Best Day: Thursday, Oct. 11th, in Laverna, Italy. You can read about it at http://randomanthonyontheroad.blogspot.com/. Man, that was a great day.

Worst Day: A day in early August, when my mother-in-law freaked out on me in her kitchen, and I ended up leaving western NY early.

MAJOR TRENDS/BIG CHANGES/NEW DEVELOPMENTS

I finished my dissertation. I’m glad it’s over. Honestly, I don’t feel as if I achieved anything huge by interviewing and observing a slew of teachers then writing a 200 page paper about the experience. I guess I learned a lot about research and perseverance. I learned just as much about jumping through hoops.

My two best purchases of the year were, shockingly, both at Cabela’s, a hunting and fishing store. I’m a vegetarian who has never hunted in his life. However, this year I bought 1) a great sleeping bag, and 2) really warm hiking boots. The kids and I pass the sleeping bag around, using it more as a really warm cover, and the boots served me well in Italy and beyond.

I found myself shopping less this year. I just don’t need as much, I don’t know, stuff.

I switched positions at work. I get to work with students more and I deal with the inter-faculty bullshit less. I taught a ton this semester, way more than usual, but I had fun and rekindled some classroom passion. Next semester I should have more free time. I’m looking forward to writing, reading, and program development.

This was a good year, a transitional year. More later. I need to talk through last year’s goals, etc., but the boys are watching Sportscenter and I can’t concentrate.