2007 in one post...

I'll probbaly go back and expound on this in other posts later but for now here's 2007 in nutshell.

January - Snowboarding trip to Winter Park, Colorado was a lot of fun though I wasn't feeling my best and eight months on steroids and the associated side effects were taking their toll. I really want to go back and try it again. I did manage some cool pictures of trains coming out of the Moffat Tunnel on the old D&RGW however. After the trip I tried a special Specific Carbohydrate Diet to try and alleviate some of the symptoms of my disease but it just made me sicker and I went back to normal food after a month.

February - Amazingly Valentine's weekend was the two most normal feeling days I've had in months. Amy and I made our traditional V-day lasagna and went for nice long walk on the Katy Trail. Saw both The Shins and The Tragically Hip play at the Palladium Ballroom.

March - Guess who won the office NCAA Basketball Tournament bracket pool? Maybe the guy who doesn't do anything but stay home and watch college basketball during the evening? :)

April - Finished final design of the 11-mile coal shuttle railroad project I've been working on for several years since it was merely an idea and a line on a map. Quite proud to see it go to construction.

May - Finally tapered off of the steroids. My face starts to return to normal size.

June - My green card application paperwork is finally completed and submitted for processing. It will probably take 11-15 months to be processed and a decision to be reached. Bridge construction starts on the 11-mile coal shuttle railroad!

July - Amy and I visit some of her relatives on the family farm in Iowa. It's a fun trip to the cornfields. We also get a chance to drop in on my friend Jim and see his new (to us) kid and beautiful old country farmhouse.

August - Start work on a new secret project at work that could be of historic proportions if it goes through to construction. My work really impresses the client and, even better, I really enjoy working on the project. Hopefully I'll be able to let the cat out of the bag soon.

September - Travel to Champaign for the University of Illinois Job Fair to help with recruiting. Have a lot of fun visiting with the students and my old advisor, and even manage to squeeze in an Illini home game which tunrs into a victory over Western Illinois (little did I know the Illini would make the Rose Bowl this season). Also head up to Chicago for the AREMA conference which was rather good with lots of interesting presentations. My friend Kevin, who I shared a cubicle with in grad school at the U of I does an excellent presentation during the closing general session on a bridge replacement. The company client dinner at Ghostbar is pretty lame. Unfortunately I lost my wallet on the CTA train which makes life interesting for a few days. Amazingly it is turned in and I get it back with all of my cards and identification but without the cash that was inside.

October - Amy and I go to Vegas for a few days and I propose and she accepts in front of the big windows of our MGM Skyloft overlooking the glittering lights and mountains right before we go to see the Beatles Love show!

November - Amy gives me a iPod Touch for my birthday and it is totally awesome! I get a good chance to test it out on a brief trip to Omaha on business the same week. Thanksgiving is yummy with tons of mashed potatoes and the Friday shopping expedition to Northpark is very successful.

December - Amy and I go to New York City for a few days to visit her sister. We go to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, take in a Rangers game at Madison Square Garden, go through Grand Central Station, zip through the Metropolitan Museum of Art and hit Rockefeller Center and Macy's. We stay at the Hotel Pennsylvania but I start to feel pretty bad and get a good case of the chills on the way home. I drop 12 pounds in three days and keep losing weight and feel sicker every day. By the 19th I'm ready to be put in the hospital but my doctor says I'd be better off resting at home. However, I do need to go back on steroids which I'm not excited about. I make it back to Winnipeg to stay with my parents for a week over Christmas. I spend most of the time sleeping on the couch but get to see all of my relatives on Christmas Day, including five new kids that arrived since I was last at home two years ago. I also get to see The Weakerthans in concert at the Walker Theatre and eat Pizza Place and A&W a few times. Amazingly by the time cimes to return to Dallas I'm feeling pretty good. Amy comes up with some great gifts for me and after being so sick earlier in the month it turns into a wonderful Christmas. To cap the year off Amy and I make it out to our friends' new house for an awesome New Years bash!

2007... a whirlwind with a lot of ups and downs. Here's to an exciting but smooth 2008.