A year (and a bit) in review

Well, I just passed the big 28, so I thought I'd do a look back on the year.

The first big thing that happened was me leaving St. Bonaventure as the youth ministry coordinator. That was one of the hardest decisions I ever made. It was such a wonderful work environment, and I loved the work so much. I think I had gotten a bit stale though, and needed to give engineering a try. I was nervous leaving, but Colm has done such a fantastic job this year, we definitely have the right man for the job.

Spent a week on Vancouver Island (had never been there). The highlight of that was definitely the surfing. It got me hooked (more on that later).

Fall and up to Christmas was mostly work. Two cool projects though. One was out on the military base doing some research to help protect our troops in Afghanistan, and we definitely learned a lot. It also didn't hurt getting to see a 5000kg high explosives charge go off! The other one was in a diamond mine for 10 days. Kinda cool being 235m below ground.

I did my first youth rally as a keynote speaker in Prince Albert. It went really well, I made a good contact down in Alabama (who's now coming to Calgary next year for the rally), and I learned a lot. I didn't bomb out on stage, and I got some good audience participation going on. I hope I can do a repeat next year.

Also beginning around the fall was my foray into internet dating. You can laugh all you want, but Karen and I have been together for 9 and a bit months now, so I'd say it's been surprisingly (in a good way) successful.

My outdoor activity level has skyrocketed, starting with a tonne of downhill and cross country skiing. I did enough XC to justify getting some decent skis.

Christmas was a trip to Thailand. It was so great. I was surprised, I didn't really wanna go, but I ended up just loving it.

The first few months of the new year were pretty slow. Nick moved home and that was awesome... it's been great having him (and now Andrea too) around again. Work was pretty boring and trying for those months... a lot of driving and GPS collection.

In the spring I decided to apply to school, and got accepted to U of C's teacher prep program. I'm looking forward to starting that.

I got some kayaking gear this year (finally my own boat), and I've used it so much. Almost every week since I got it. I finally have a regular group of paddlers to go out with. Making some good friends and building some awesome skills.

Mom and Dad just got home... it was kind of a cool 'Birthday present' to have them back. We're in the process of getting them settled, although I seem to have avoided doing too much of the work... I'll need to fix that before someone notices.

And to wrap it up, today I went riversurfing for the first time and managed to actually stand up. I'm so awesome!