2006 In Review

[hkellick]

2006, in Summary, was the year of dealing with things I maybe didn't want to deal with, but that I'm better off for dealing with them: financially, health-wise and emotional health-wise. I didn't enjoy dealing with any of it, but I'm a little more financially secure, or a little more emotionally secure because of it.
2006 was an all-around positive year. Yes, I had to go to TWO funerals, and I got into numerous family disputes, but I have a fiancee now, and am over 50 lbs. lighter than I was when I started. And both are poweful and important.

So, month by month, here's the breakdown of events, both in my life (and in Kristen's, because her life affects me), and current events that mattered to me.

January

• My mom tries to send her car to me. In the end, we can’t afford it, however our very nice neighbors Gary and Rae end up buying it instead!


• Kristen and I, for her birthday head off to Freddie’s Beach Bar and Restaurant, a gay bar, for her birthday to sing Karaoke.


• Kristen and I also head off to Brunswick/GCOM Games Day in Brunswick, MD and have a great time (and get EcoFluxx! :D )


• Kristen gets into a minor fender bender on her way home from work.


• Kristen and I go see Les Miserables


• Marc’s wedding to Libby is called off due to irreconcilable differences

February

• Dick Cheney goes out quail hunting with an old buddy and accidentally shoots his buddy. In the face.


• The Danish Cartoon Spectacle really heats up when Muslim fundamentalists start getting downright nasty because of their anger of the gall of a Danish newspaper to print anti-Mohammed cartoons

March

• Kristen runs off and buys herself a Mac Mini :)


• Due to stupidity on my part, I find out that a couple of my school loans have gone default. This leads to a scramble to get them taken care of, putting a hunk of money on K’s credit card, and… beginning to actually take care of them, which, thank god, I could.


• Jack Abramoff is sentenced for fraud. The lobbying industry, as it were, tries to appear small and totally legit.

April

• I head off to Greensborough, NC for my company’s all-hands meeting.


• Started logging on to a little site called Calorie-Count.com, originally just to count my calories, and then to use the community


• We pick up our first Moosewood book – Moosewood Lo-Fat Favorites. Thus begins our descent into madness and better eating :D


• I go to Kristen’s church for a “UU Seder” and get deeply offended, because instead of leaving a perfectly good Jewish holiday alone, they tried to make it theirs and make it all Politically Correct :p


• Both Baker and Watershed Concepts recognize me as a star performer. I get a certificate of appreciation and spot bonus. Ka-Ching! :D

May

• We met up with and hired up a pet-sitting service called PawNanny, that we’re still very happy with.


• Typically, I wouldn’t care about celebrities, but in May of 2006, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have a child, Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, Shiloh Pitt.. which, if you’re the capital steps get switched (in the Dirty Lies) to be….


• Ariel Sharon suffers a stroke and is still, I believe, out of office.

June

• Kristen’s company picnic at King’s Dominion – We have a blast :)


• Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the so-called “Butcher of Baghdad” is hunted down and killed.


• Beginning jogging, with the plan to try to do a 5K soon


• Marc moves back in with Josh and mom.


• Kristen and I go see Spamalot. :D

July

• Kenneth Lay died… a day before he was supposed to be sentenced. Good riddeance.


• Israel goes to war with Lebanon after Hezbollah killed three Israeli soldiers


• I go ring-shopping and get a beautiful ring for Kristen


• Mel Gibson, in a drunken stupor, is pulled off and issues an anti-semitic rant that becomes instant news, thanks to the internet


• I join a local gym, the Washington Sports Club, in a hope to continue to lose weight and gain health

August

• A terrorist plot to bomb plans in the air is foiled at Heathrow Airport. The U.S. responds by banning liquids. :p


• August 11 – I propose to Kristen, just before finally seeing the Capital Steps perform live


• George Allen, at a stop in Breaks, VA, uttered the word “Macaca” twice in reference to a member of Webb’s campaign staff


• kareila comes to visit for a long weekend. We spend an exhausting but fun weekend together :)


• I lose 50 lbs. and go off and get myself a Polar Heart Rate Monitor


• I get a MySpace. Why? Because I am a sheep. Bah!

September

• My grandfather Ruby dies. I fly into town for the funeral.


• I head back home with Kristen to visit Buffalo for a non-engagement party her parents put on (so everyone can see the ring and hear the story.) Mom and dad both come to the party, as well as Marc. On our way basically out to the airport, Marc and Kristen get into a huge blowout, and we need a new groomsmen.


• Kristen is approached by some fellow choir members and invited to join a smaller perhaps better choral group called Stelle. She, of course, says yes.


• It turns out that Spinach (Spinach first, but other vegetables later) have dangerous levels of E Coli linked to a couple of deaths and it’s all taken off all of the shelves in the country.


• I start counselling again. This time on my own, with Dr. "Gerri" Rodriguez

October

• After accidentally dropping my 20 gig iPod in the cat fountain, I try an iPod Shuffle, hate it (and it had problems) and get an iPod Nano instead, which is tres cute! :D


• In a truly scary moment, North Korea reveals that they have tested their own nuclear bomb. Joy.


• Google buys YouTube, ensuring that there will always be a place for people to drop illegally recorded Buffy Clips and videos of their Uncle Pete accidentally peeing in the Rose Bushes.


• A sudden winter storm hits Buffalo, taking down many of the local trees and cutting off power for most people for days.


• I get into a car accident driving to work. I’m physically OK, but the car is totaled.


• Representative Mark Foley, one of the foremost opponents of child pornography, resigns in disgrace when incriminating evidence shows up showing him instant messaging pornographic IMs to a 15 year old (male) page.

November

• Kristen and I see Barenaked Ladies in concert and are both totally blown away. Best. Concert. Ever! :D


• Election Day – The election that becomes a referendum about war and a lot of bad things numerous republicans had gotten caught up in. The Democrats win the House AND Senate.


• Upon losing the election, the republicans act by… tossing Donald Rumsfeld out of office.


• Kristen and I head up to Buffalo for Thanksgiving. The good news is I get to take mom out to a movie. The bad: Kristen’s family melts down at us, in front of my dad and Elaine, because they don’t seem to agree with the way we’re planning with the wedding (it’s not the way Katie planned hers)


• Michard Richards gets steamed at a heckler and goes on a racist rant.


• Ted Haggard, founder and pastor of the New Life Church, who preached a vehemently anti-gay message, resigns after it turns out that he was seeing a male prostitute


• In another moment of dealing with stuff I don’t want to deal with, I chip a tooth and need to go get dental work. I get a root canal, which wasn’t pleasant, but not the end of the world either.

December

• I accept a position as volunteer moderator in The Lounge of Calorie-Count


• December 23, 6:00 AM – My mother passes on after a two-year battle with COPD


• Saddam Hussein was hung

My songs of 2006
2006 was a good year for me, musically. Between Tower Records going bankrupt, CD Warehouse in Georgetown, and my agreement to buy myself a new iTunes CD for every 10 lbs. lost, I got lots of music.
With that in mind, I did a Double CD this year :)
Here's the track listing :)

CD 1
Tenacious D - Kielbasa
The Pitchforks Of Duke University - Tribute
Bloodhound Gang - No Hard Feelings
Ani DiFranco - Deep Dish
Captain Tractor - Maria's Last Words
Eve 6 - Small Town Trap
Smash Mouth - Defeat You
Tenacious D - Beezleboss (The Final Showdown)
Carbon Leaf - Under The Wire
Barenaked Ladies - Take It Back
The Capitol Steps - In The Metro
York University Wibijazz'n - Rosanna
Nina Gordon - Sufragette
Weird Al Yankovic - Virus Alert

CD 2
The Arrogant Worms - Particle Board
Dramarama - Everybody Dies
Bob Rivers - Can't Afford To Drive My Car
KT Tunstall - Suddenly I See
The Arrogant Worms - Canada's Really Big (Semi-Conducted Version)
They Might Be Giants - E Eats Everything (Remix)
MIT Logarythms - The Kids Aren't Alright
Fatboy Slim - Wonderful Night (Radio Edit)
Bloodhoung Gang - The Inevitable Return Of The Great White Dope
OK Go - Here It Goes Again
Towers of London - Kill The Pop Scene
Eve 6 - On The Roof Again
Army of Freshmen - Uniforms
Monty Python's Spamalot! OST - Run Away

Video Games of 2006
DDR: Extreme 2 and DDR: Supernova
Zoo Tycoon 2: Marine Mania
The Movies: Stunts and Effects
The Sims 2: Open For Business and The Sims 2: Pets

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Wow. I got a new toothbrush in 2006.

*gigglesnort* :P

Forgot One

[erotic-dralion.livejournal.com]

April
Re-connected with old college roommate!

[(Anonymous)]

Wow I couldnt list out last year even if someone paid me. Whew, how do you do that?

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

Is "Particle Board" a takeoff on the TMBG song "Particle Man"? 'Cos I can *so* see the possibilities in that, most of them so very very wrong.