2008: Through The Eyes of a Beaver
Posted in Ramblings on December 27th, 2008Its been an interesting year. This has been my second year living in Las Vegas and this place has really grown on me to the point where I’d have no problem living here for the rest of my life. Its the perfect mix of everything in the perfect location(if you don’t mind the desert heat in the summer) and the opportunites are endless.
I got arrested for the first time in my life this year. I guess I should be thankful it didn’t happen all the way up until this late in my life, so I consider myself lucky in that respect.
My love life in 2008 definitely had its ups and downs, but at least there were ups.
I bet on the Giants for the Super Bowl and won. I didn’t bet on baseball but the Phillies won the World Series. The Cards didn’t even make the playoffs this time around, which was disappointing. The ChiSox won the A.L. Central but were beat by the D-Rays in the Division Playoffs.
Its been our best year for business yet. With the economy tanking, its been a rollercoaster and its still not quite where we want it to be.. but 2009 should easily outdo 2008 businesswise. Lets just hope the U.S. dollar doesn’t become worthless, if it hasn’t already.
I’d like to think my photography skillz have improved, but I still have a lot more to learn. I’m also constantly learning new things to update my programming skillz, considering I have been out of college almost 5 years now! I’ve also added a considerable amount of ink to my body in 2008 and 2009 will have even more.
I made some new friends, I lost a few, but I am lucky to be surrounded by some great people. I do miss my family back east and in Arizona. I will have to do some traveling in 2009, maybe overseas..
All in all, I have few, if any, real complaints about 2008, and only 2 regrets. The first is not slowing down at mile marker 100 on the US 93 in Arizona on that fateful day back in July. The second I’d rather not share.
O.J. finally got what was coming to him this year, and having it all go down right here in Vegas makes it that much better! Watching the look on his face when the verdict was read and seeing him taken into custody just moments later really made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. He will be in segregation at the Nevada State Prison way up in Carson City, hopefully for the rest of his life.
Guns N’ Roses “Chinese Democracy” finally came out this year after like 15 years in the making. Pretty damn solid too, though that is to be expected after so long a time. It was actually a good year for music. The new Metallica album has some killer guitar riffs and some solid releases from Slipknot, Disturbed, and Nine Inch Nails(for free even!). Lots of bands from my past making comebacks.. its kinda surreal.
We saw gas prices climb to record highs and then quickly drop to the lowest level in years. We watched Wall Street tank and the economy go down the shitter. Things look pretty bleak at this point for our country, but at least we didn’t elect McCain/Palin or we’d be in even deeper shit.
President-Elect Barack Obama made history this year and for the first time I was inspired to work to get a politican elected. He’s a fascinating guy and I’m hopeful he makes the right choices. So far my biggest complaint is his inclusion of Rick Warren at his historical inaguration, but lets see how he does on policy and actions. In all honesty I don’t believe there should be any kind of invocation or prayer at an event that should be 100% secular, but I digress. Picking Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State was a brilliant move as it shows the President-Elect is willing to work with big egos and former rivals if he feels they are the best for the job. They really make a great team! The Democratic party is united and Howard Dean’s 50-state strategy has so far been a success!
We definitely saw some assholes in 2008. These people are going to be the death of us, if they continue to influence our politics (and in no particular order):
Sarah Palin (and that first fucking dude)
Newt Gingrich
Rick Warren
Mike Huckabee
Joe Lieberman
Sean Hannity
Bill O’Reilly
Karl Rove
Rod Blogavich.. why can’t they just shitcan this scumbag right now?
Joe The Plumber.. seriously why does the media even pay attention to this clown?
Palin is the most interesting on that list, and was sort of a phenomenon in 2008. She’s like a scary cross between Mike Huckabee, Dan Quayle, and GW Bush.. with lipstick. No, I’m not sexist, I actually supported Hillary early on in the primaries. Even though I can’t stand her, I hope with all my heart that Palin gets the Republican nomination in 2012, because she couldn’t possibly get elected by the majority in this country AND she is so damn entertaining! From Putin reering his head to protection from witchcraft to watching her do an interview in front of the slaughtering of turkeys.. its all pretty amusing!
On second thought, maybe she should just stay in Alaska.
We can consider these victories for 2008:
Elizabeth Dole
Ted Stevens
Larry Craig
Norm Coleman (hopefully)
Jon Porter (One of the Bush Administration’s biggest allies in Congress and my VERY soon to be former congressman here in NV-3)
Dick Cheney
George W. Bush
Although we will be cleaning up their mess for at least Obama’s first term. With 2 wars going on, a planet in peril, a global economy in the shitter, killing in the name of religion, a healthcare crisis, an energy crisis, a lack of what should be basic civil liberites, and a society where even in 2008 not everyone has the same civil rights as the majority… we will need all the good luck we can get. Still, I am optimistic that 2009 is going to be an exciting year.
So long 2008, its been swell! Roll on 2009..
Have a Happy New Year!
BB
















