I think 2008 will go down as the best year overall of my life and I don’t have a fear of saying that with two months or so to go. First, 2008 marks the first full year Kelly and I have lived in our first house. It has been a lot of work, a lot of learning, and requires more work going forward. I now know how to build a drainage system in my yard, do basic plumbing, replace outlets and switches, repair small roof leakes, regrade a yard, use a chainsaw, cut trees, and probably more things that I don’t remember learning. And despite the whole dollar increase in living expenses (mortage +taxes + insurance > rent payment), after equity and tax deductions it really does end up being a wash. So, I’m very happy there, and I’m happy that Kelly and I bought the specific house we did. Even it was originally decorated in the 70’s and never changed and we are the first non-retired couple to own it, we’re still very happy.

The next best thing this year, is that I ventured out into podcasting. After years of sitting on the sidelines and trying to come up with something I could really get into, my friend Jonathan and I created “The Libertarian Dime” a podcast dedicated to exploring libertarianism and developing a modern approach to promote libertarianism. We’ve had a lot of cool people on. I’ve talked to Michael Shermer, one of my favorite authors of all time, we were able to speak with the head of the Missouri Libertarian Party Glenn Nielsen who has been a great guest, and soon we will be speaking to Nick Gillespie, editor of Reason.com and Reason.tv. It has been amazing to think that I’ve been able to talk to the people we have through the podcast, and if we decided to quit tomorrow, it still would have been far more of a learning experience than I expected.

I did have one partial setback, where a project I put a lot into at work was canceled. It really sucked to have put all the work into it, and I was down about it for a couple weeks in total probably. However, the hard work I did do was appreciated and for the people that matter, they don’t fault the technology that I built. I’ve taken my efforts to a new project, used what I learned, and put it to good use. Furthermore, I think I will be in a better place soon anyway within the company groups with a real chance to flex my skills in a way that working on longshot startup projects don’t offer. So, overall, I’m very happy about that.

In short, no matter what happens in November and December, I can say I’m pretty happy about 2008. I know the election will come and go, and we’ll be led by someone who isn’t really going to solve our problems, but that only makes me want to solve them for myself and those around me. That’s not a bad feeling to have methinks.

Suck it C#: Uptime: 12w6d20h47m28s

For those who are in the know..

Perhaps the Ron Paul Tards are right about end of the world as the ultimate end to the current financial crisis:

GNR’s ‘Chinese Democracy’ Gets Release Date

As long as the world lasts to 11/24….

Somehow Jonathan and I have managed to do 25 episodes of our podcast, The Libertarian Dime. Read about it here. I made a big deal about episode 10, but, hell, 25 is a MUCH nicer number. We’ll be making some small changes, all for the better I assure you.