2008 Year in Review for Bigcrazyjohn

This is my 2008 Year in Review in sort of chronological order. I hope everyone had a good 2008 I know I did. I hope everyone has a good 2009. This list is more of things I did, participated in or milestones. This has been a very interesting year with the US having the highest and now some of the lowest gas prices we have seen. There has been a Major Global melt down in the economy. China hosted the summer Olympics. A very entertaining election and a historical conclusion to the election with Barack Obama being elected as 44th President of the USA.

I went ahead and posted this but this post is still in draft needs some touch up work and pictures.

• 1/26 Attending an awesome Video Games Live concert with Joe and Adam at the Fox.
• 2/2 Attended Amie's work Holiday party
• 3/15 St. Patrick's Day Parade downtown St. Louis MO. with Joe and Amie. Good Halo Birthday Party for Joe in March. Sam Adams Keg included for the event.
• 4/18 Earth Quake morning of April 18th that shook us out of bed. 5.4 earthquake in Mt Carmel IL. http://bigcrazyjohn.blogspot.com/2008/04/earthquake-this-morning.html
• Working on the yard and lawn a lot more this year trying to grow a shade mixture of grass.
• 5/17 We had a big Family party at our house on May 17th so Amie and I did a lot of work preparing for that.
• Briefly ruining my credit score and also getting debt free from credit cards, however, I am fair to good on the credit score now and getting better.
• 6/28 Amie and I had a big garage sale Saturday 6/28 which also required a lot of prep work.
• 7/11 I bought a 3g iPhone on July 11th the day the came out and it has been awesome ever sense. I am an iPhone addict as my girlfriend will attest to. Selling my first items on ebay and craiglists successfully
• July we enjoyed spending Amie's birthday weekend at the lake of the Ozark's with her sister and her family.
• In July/August time frame I moved to a new job within the same company I have worked for 9 years now. The previous job I had been reporting to the same boss for 9 years. It was time for a change and it was a very good change, and I am very happy with the new job. I am not the only one because according to Wired Magazine the Apple App store was the #1 technology breakthrough. I also bought Amie an iPhone for Christmas.
• Dieting attempts with the South Beach phase 1 I lost 15 or so pounds but gained it back later. It really comes down to a need for a consistent diet and exercise routine which I have yet to manage. I could only do it when I was single it is much more difficult as a couple.
• Training and fund raising for MS 150 event and 150 mile bike ride. Lots of long weekend bicycle rides with Team Kaldi in preparation. I plan on starting to train and fund raise earlier in 2009. http://bigcrazyjohn.blogspot.com/2008/12/thank-you-for-donating-to-ms-society-in.html & http://bigcrazyjohn.blogspot.com/2008/08/ms-150-bike-ride-and-fundraising.html#links
• Sept 13th Tour of Missouri, went with Amie and her sister and Brother in law to Herman MO. I got George Hincapie signature he is one of my idol's. We got to watch the beginning of the race for the stage that started in Herman then we went to the winery, we all got drunk. It wasn't good for me later. That is all I am saying about that.
• Had an awesome time for my birthday during October in Nashville TN., Gatlinburg TN., and the Great Smokey Mountain National Park.
• 10/4 Ocktober Fest in Soulard St. Louis MO. lots of pints of beer and a cab ride home. Had a great time with Amie, Tara and Matt. We hung out at the Hofbrau Munchen tent, and drank lots of pints of Ocktober fest Hofbrau beer as Hofbrau slogan says "The original brew of the Bavarian Kings!"
• 11/2 This is the first year I voted. Yes I said it! I have been a lazy fence sitter for many years. I felt strongly about this election and I am happy to say I helped elect Barack Obama as the new President of the United States of America.
• 11/25 Began my first attempt at brewing my own beer. I used a Mr. Beer Kit I purchased at a Kitchen store in Pigeon Forge while on Vacation in October.
• 11/26 Purchased http://bigcrazybeer.com and startedhttp://bigcrazybeer.blogspot.com on 11/26 been reviewing beer since.
• 12/6 My sister and brother in law took Amie and I to see the St. Louis Symphony at Powell Hall for the first time. I love listening to Music Score's like the Dark Knight Music Score by Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard, so I figured I would love this. WRONG, they had opera singing for the majority which none of us enjoyed. It was still a great birthday gift and I did really enjoy the St. Louis symphony when they got to play and there was no singing. I am hoping to go back and there is just the symphony playing.
• Amie's Grandmother passed away :-(
• I had multiple medical issues this year with potential blood clots both in my chest and leg, both were non existent thank fully. I am living with protein C resistance so it is always a concern of a DVT Deep Vein Thrombosis also known as blood cots. After a chest CT Scan earlier in the year there was concern of small nodules that did not appear after a second scanning many months later. I also had chronic headaches, and inconsistent high blood pressure. The Dr. wanted to put me on high blood pressure medicine I said no i would work out. Which I am finally starting to do. All is good I just need to take my Coumadin regularly, get tested regularly. Work out consistently every week. Have a better diet and drink moderately.
• Favorite shows this year Battlestar Gallatica, Heroes, Terminator Sarah Conner Chronicles, The office, South Park, & Family Guy. Favorite Movies this year Batman the Dark Knight, Ironman, & I am Legend came out on the cusp of 2007 and 2008 Dec. 14th so it has to get a mention this year.
• Enjoyed many dinners, brews and evenings with the love of my life, my girlfriend Amie of course.

• A good Christmas and Happy New year Vacation at home.