Many of the Christmas cards I got contained wishes for a better/less tumultuous new year. This surprised me, because I consider 2005 to be an extremely rocking year. I can see how others might assume it wasn’t, given my health issues, but I really don’t feel that way.

Following in Cristina’s stead, here is my year-in-review:

Personal

• Broke three bones in my left ankle in early February. Had major surgery to insert ten screws and a plate. Recovered for the rest of the year.
• Which totally cemented my already-strong relationship. Got married.
• Travelled to Michigan, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and South Dakota. Honeymooned at Lake Superior. Made a point of going to different destinations in the Twin Cities.
• Made several new friends here. Kept and lost some old friends in Arkansas, and kept in touch with family there. Met a couple of blog-friends.
• Made a lot more photographs. Took up counted cross-stitch after an absence of about fifteen years. Started listening to more and more varied music than I have in quite a while, thanks to emusic and the Friday Random Ten. Probably saw fewer movies than I have in other recent years. Read more non-work-related books during the semesters.
• Learned to do new things in the kitchen, and started cooking regularly again. Discovered Ethiopian and Afghani foods.
• Contemplated getting pets, either fish or cats. Did neither.
• Got rid of a bunch of books and other miscellaneous stuff.

Professional

• Completed twelve more hours of Ph.D. coursework, which means I should finish that quite shortly.
• Taught three sections of our online course in professional and technical communication and one f2f section of Scientific and Technical Presentations.
• Published a book review that I co-authored with Laurie in a series with Laura Gurak, Jessica Reyman, and Gretchen Haas.
• Presented at CCCC (in absentia), NRNM, and the Sweetland conference on Originality, Imitation, and Plagiarism. All of the NRNM pieces were collected in the conference proceedings, so my essay on methodological issues relevant to studying authorship in Wikipedia was published there.
• Gave four invited talks on campus.
• Chaired the department Graduate Technology Fees Committee.
• Acted as Editorial Assistant for the summer issue of TCQ.
• Finished my Industrial Affiliates Fellowship with Veritas Software.

Looking back over this, I’m particularly pleased by the fact that the lists are about the same length. Previously, the professional list would have dramatically overtaken the personal one. If I learned any Big Dramatic Lesson in 2005, it was about how little time we have here in this gorgeous, mysterious, difficult world and with our dear ones, and how much there is to enjoy.