2008, My Year in Review

Seems folks like doing "memes," which have been defined as "some kind of list of questions that you saw somewhere else and you decided to answer the questions. Some suggest that you get [a specific number of] other people to do the same" and so forth and so on, infinity. So, in the spirit of memetics enthusiasts everywhere, here's my wimpy attempt to start a meme, with only ONE question. I hope you'll play along.

Name the TWELVE most "news worthy" things that you learned/experienced in 2008. These should be things that friends and family would find interesting. Here are mine:

1. January: I enrolled in CPR Training at my place of employment. Things have changed since I learned the "ARMY" way back in the late 80s.
   
2. February: I turned 40--and 10--this year (I'm a leap year baby). So I threw myself a big 'ol 80s party, complete with live band karaoke and big-haired girls. It was rad.
   
3. March: The day after I turned 40, I tore my meniscus. My wife says I turned 40 and broke. Four previous injuries (football, basketball,Army and martial arts) helped assure that this tear was complete. Doc recommended surgery and I opted for "natural healing." I'm about 90%...hoping to lose the cane by the time birthday 41 rolls around.
   
4. April: I decided to give Twitter a try after watching the Common Craft explanation. Now I'm addicted. Here was my first "Tweet": "Having lunch...thought I'd give Twitter a try, primarily as a tool for use with Emmaus."12:48 PM Apr 23rd, 2008 from web. It has become so much more than I intended.
   
5. May: My oldest son, Nicholas, turned 13. So after a year of private conversations about the difference between boys and men, myself and a group of mentors took Nicholas through a Rite of Passage weekend that none of us will ever forget. Highly symbolic with lots of neat ceremonies and great learning experiences. Then we welcomed him into the community of men.
   
6. June: "The boys are back in town..." Mike Timms moved his family from Florida to the Atlanta area, just 2 hours south. Trying to get the "Men of 101 McNabb" back together again!
   
7. July: I watched Affliction Clothing launch their first attempt at promoting an MMA event. It was called "Banned" and featured some great bouts. I signed up as a local promoter for the event.
   
8. August: After a six year hiatus, I was able to re-launch YouthChurch.com, the site I had developed when I worked for Strang Communications, thanks to Strang generously agreeing to give the domain to me free of charge. The site went live on December 8 and is doing well so far.
   
9. September: Life Care paid for me to receive training on all the new features of Adobe CS3 (Illustrator, Photoshop & Flash. Fun experience and I came away wowed by Adobe software.
10. October: Started doing some Mobile DJ gigs around town. My first was a black bachelorette party. It was VERY interesting. :-) I learned a lot about modern hip-hop.
    
11. November: For the first time that I can remember, I had a Crisis of Voting Conscience experience. I did NOT want McKain to win the nomination and did not support him, but refused under any circumstances to vote for anyone as liberal as Obama. I felt very "disenfranchised."
    
12. December: I decided to throw a New Year's Eve Slumber Party for friends and family. A great time was had by all and Phyllis and I are hoping it becomes a new tradition for us.
    

So, there you have it. My Year in Review, the meme. Looking forward to reading yours.

If you are interested, here's the "companion slideshow" to this meme.

To start things off, I'll ask seven folks to respond: Phyllis Wilbanks, Eric Partin, Jon Grubbs, Matthew Green, Adam Lowe, Daniel McElhenny and Stephen Hollifield.

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About Eric Wilbanks

Brand strategist. Wordsmith. Change architect. Training specialist. DiSC Certified. Family guy (hot wife and 4 cool kids). Love my Bible, guitars, baseball, and MMA.