Year in Review

Greetings, family and friends, well it's that time of the year again...for hustle and bustle and rustle and truffles. OK, that last one was a stretch. In short, it's the season to hurry up and relax, so since I've got some serious chilling to catch up on, you're only going to get the Reader's Digest version of our year. Here are the headlines:

• I moved out of my parents' house. Yup, they started charging me rent, so I figured if I was going to be paying someone rent, it might as well be someone not related to me. In the process, I got someone that was related to me to start paying me rent money. Pretty sneaky, huh? Yeah, my cousin Steve has been hunkering down in the second bedroom of my apartment for the last few months, and it's worked out pretty well for both of us I think. He even makes some pretty darn good chicken legs!
• The roof of my parents' house blew away. OK, so the whole roof didn't actually blow away,only about 25% of the shingles. That just made a much better headline, especially after the last headline of me moving out. Trust me, it was just coincidence, not amazing foresight. But wow, the weather around here sure has been crazy lately...a winter storm in the fall that dumped anywhere from 2 inches to 2 feet on the poor neutral-climate-loving residents of the greater Seattle area. And that was on top of the recording-setting rainfall for the month of November. So not to be outdone, December decides to throw some wind in the mix and knock out power to over a million Seattlites (not to mention blowing away my parents' roof).
• I won money in Vegas. You read right. Won money. I beat the odds and came out on top by...drum roll, please....a whole dollar! Yay!!! I was considering retirement, but I'd fear I'd be too bored. Besides, I went to Vegas on the company dollar in the first place (Microsoft IT Convention), so it wouldn't be too nice to thank them by throwing in my hat and leading a life of debauchery. And before anyone thinks that I'm the newest gambling addict (I'm talking to you here, Mom), you can rest assured that I only bet a total of $5 down there. I spent almost twice that for lunch today, and the only thing I won was a full stomach (which just went away again).
• There is no bluegrass in Kentucky. Well, maybe there is but I certainly didn't see any. I studied a couple of blades with a pretty scrutinous eye, and the only pigment that I could detect was indeed green. Why was I in Kentucky? Not to visit the Louisville Slugger museum unfortunately, but another business trip, this time as a vendor rather than a learner. Our best marketing though was arguably to the other vendors. The Internet that the hotel/convention center provided was mostly non-existent, we decided that we would buy a router to boost the signal and provide wireless Internet to everyone there, with "MeteorComm" (our company name) as the name of the connection, of course. Hey, our tag-line isn't "Wireless Communications" for nothing!
• My car can survive tires bouncing off of it. Normally the rubber is supposed to meet the road, but this last summer, some hit the hood of my Corolla. I was driving down I-5 toward Tacoma following a Mariners game to take my girlfriend (at the time, she was just the 3-week variety) home when the car to the right of us started acting rather strange. Next thing I know there's a tire bouncing off my hood and continuing across I-5 (it somehow managed to not hit anyone else, or vice versa) and the car on my right is sparking like crazy as the metal hit the road (not as friendly as rubber). Fortunately, the driver was able to maintain control and pull off to the side of the road, which I also did to check out the "damage". Luckily, there was none, the tire marks wiped right off. But it was exciting nonetheless.
• There is an opposite to undefeated. And it's not defeated. It's "winless". Which summed up the softball team I joined this summer. Somehow, we all managed to have a good time though, except for maybe after the game that we should have won (the other team didn't count the innings right and persuaded my coach that they were right so we ended up losing in 8 innings despite leading after the standard 7).
• I've been replaced by a cat. Now instead of me to keep my parents company, a furry feline named Snooky has the honors. While I will admit that she might be cheaper and at times more entertaining (you should see her with a rope), I never bit or scratched my parents, nor did I claw the furniture. At least not as much.

Well, that's about all I can think of for headlines this year. We didn't really take any major trips as a family this year, although we did go out to Chicago to visit my dad's parents for a couple of days, and we took some day trips down to Ocean Shores and Seaside/Cannon Beach, which were quite fun. All of my pictures from these trips and other events this year can be viewed at http://picasaweb.google.com/brianpsmith81. Sorry this didn't make it inside any Christmas cards this year, my mom was busy visiting her dad the week before Christmas this year, so she wasn't able to get any out. Nevertheless, I figured I could still get a "letter" out this way, so thanks for reading it! May God bless you in 2007 as He has blessed us in 2006!

-Brian