Life: I suspect that I’ll look back on 2010 as the “calm before the storm”. At this time next year, I’ll be the father of a nine month old. Holy shit.

Other than that (everything else seems so insignificant by comparison), we spent most of the year trying to figure out what to do with our upstairs bathroom. We met with a design/build company at the start of the year and were scared off by their estimate. We then spent a bunch of time interviewing and half-heartedly working with several other contractors who had varying commitment levels before finally coming back to that first design/build company. And I’m glad we chose them. The designer has been very patient with us and I’m incredibly happy with our plans. Our new bathtub will be large enough to fit me!

Fitness & Health: I started the year strong, running at least two miles almost every day. I completed the Kirkland Half Marathon in May in under 2 hours and 30 minutes, which has long been a goal of mine. I kept running for most of the summer until around September, when I completely lost my momentum after suffering a nasty case of sciatica followed by bunion pain followed by a gnarly cold followed by more bunion pain. I was inspired when my mother completed the Trek Women’s Triathlon in September, but I haven’t gotten off my ass yet. I’ve probably gained 10-15 pounds and am afraid to weigh myself, so there is work to be done. I’ve read that it is not uncommon for men to put on a few pounds when the wife is pregnant, but that seems like a lame excuse.

Work: There is nothing to report this year–at least, nothing that I can publicly crow about (or complain about). I wanted to become more effective at persuasion last year and I don’t think I succeeded.

Travel: I went to Kennewick, WA five times this year–four times for work, and once during our annual spring wine tasting adventure that also took us to Walla Walla and Yakima. We went to Canada for Labor Day (or is it Labour Day?) and spent the weekend in the penthouse suite at the Listel Vancouver. And we spent a couple of weeks on the East Coast, visiting friends in Washington D.C. and New York.

Charity: all YMCA, all the time. Every time I think about moving on, they do something to inspire me to stay (and increase my involvement). It really is a great organization and I hope that I can serve it well next year as board chairman.

Previously, previously, previously, previously.

Life:  This year was all about moving. We sold Emily’s condo and moved to West Seattle in April. Then, we bought a house (after two years of searching) in October and moved again. I am officially done with moving, but it was worth it to end up in this house.  Two months after moving in, I still have a "holy crap, we own THIS" moment two or three times per week.

On a sadder note, my last remaining grandparent passed away in May. I wrote a post that day that I decided not to make public, but there is one thing I wrote then that is worth mentioning after all of the crap he gave me about being single:  "I’m so happy that he was able to attend my wedding. I don’t know if I’m lucky to have had him there or if he is lucky to have finally seen his grandson get married. Both, I suppose."

Fitness & Health:  I’ve decided to break this out into its own category, since it has become a rather important part of my life. I unfortunately didn’t run any races this year. I somehow ended up with a stress fracture in my foot back in February, which sidelined me for six weeks or so. And then our trip to Japan occurred right in the middle of Seattle marathon training.

I did a much better job of sticking to a regular exercise cycle this year, though. Every year, I’ve managed to improve on the previous year by finding ways to stay active. I’ve let myself go a bit during the last couple of weeks of the year, but that’s a huge improvement over last year when I let myself go for that last couple of months.

Weight-wise, I’m at about the same weight I was at last year. I’ve been as light as 229 and I’ve gotten up to almost 250. I seem to plateau at 240–if I’m lighter than that, it is really easy to get back to 240, and if I’m heavier than that, it is really easy to lose the extra pounds. Losing any weight beyond 240 is a struggle. Not sure why, but merely discovering this is likely to be helpful.

Work:  Really, nothing to report this year. I felt like I was in a rut for most of the year, but I think I might finally be breaking out of it. There was a single project that consumed most of my time and energy last year that was ultimately successful. I learned that I have a hard time taking credit for stuff, though. It is very easy to take the blame when some senior vice president is yelling at you about something YOU DID (or failed to do), but it is less easy to take the credit when everything works. I need to get better at both taking credit and not taking it personally when someone points out a failure.

Travel: We went to Vancouver in February to celebrate the two-year anniversary of our first date (and the one-year anniversary of our engagement).  We went to New York and Washington D.C. in February/March for a friend’s wedding and got to see U2 shoveling snow on David Letterman. We went on our spring Yakima wine tasting trip in April. We took a first wedding anniversary road trip in July, and drove from Seattle to Post Falls, ID to spend time with Emily’s grandparents. From there, we went to Missoula, MT, Kalispell, MT and Glacier National Park, Banff AB and Lake Louise, Kelowna BC, Vancouver BC and back to Seattle. It was a lot of fun and a very beautiful drive–particularly through the Canadian Rockies. And finally, we went to Japan in October. I spent one week in Sapporo for work, and then met Emily for a second week in Tokyo

Charity: All YMCA, all the time. I feel a little badly about this. My original plan was to get deeply involved with a single organization (instead of being kinda involved with a bunch of organizations) but I think my priorities are shifting.

Previously, previously, previously.

I’ve been reading "The Reagan Diaries" and thinking about how Reagan’s daily diary entry was essentially a low-tech (and until recently, private) blog post.

My frequency of posts per month/year/whatever has declined to the point where I’m somewhat worried about Livejournal deleting all of this. I need to find a way to back up my blog so that I can refer to all of this once Livejournal is long gone (RSS hacking begins in 5…4…3…).

I blame two things for the slow death of this blog, both of which are entirely positive developments:

• Facebook. Facebook is the living embodiment of Metcalfe’s Law. I’ve reconnected with childhood friends, learned more about my wife’s (large) family than I ever could have at a once-a-year Christmas party, kept up with my own once-distant relatives, and much more. Facebook is how I stay in touch when I am traveling.  With the blog, everything I say is immediately public.  With Facebook, only the people I care about get to see it.  I prefer making a jackass of myself among friends and family, so I prefer Facebook.
• Marriage. Marriage changed my priorities in life on so many levels. I much prefer spending time with my wife to surfing around on the internet (oh, and my wife is also–wait for it–on Facebook).  I think one of the things that prompted me to start blogging in the first place was that I wanted to leave a legacy of some kind.  As a single man, I was scared of "what happens after".  Those fears are gone now.  It is a very nice feeling.

Oh, and "The Reagan Diaries" is fascinating, even if you (like me) are not so much a fan of his politics. Reagan was one of only three U.S. presidents to keep a diary, but the only modern president and the only one to diligently make an entry virtually every day of his presidency.  It is a weird trip down memory/history lane, and if anything, I think it makes Reagan sound eerily detached from most presidential business. He got very fired up about communism and the Soviet Union in particular, and he also was very cute whenever Nancy traveled–he complained about being lonely, or the White House feeling empty, etc.  He also seemed to watch 1-2 movies per week, and usually commented about the movie.