odds & evens...enter 2006...
welcome to 2006. i know i already made an entry for this year so far, but that was primarily to explain the whole return of saltwater thing - it was pretty important and had to be done.
moving right along, i'd just like to say thank goodness 2005 is over with! on a worldwide scale the past year was treacherous at best with a massive wave of natural disasters, gas prices going nuts, bombings, and some poor decisions by those in relatively high position in the government (but then again that last one is never isolated to one year). there were plenty of good things to come out of the year, but they seem to have paled in comparison to some of the major tragedies. i don't want to get all philosophical or preachy, so i'll just say once again that i'm glad 2005 is over with.
on a more selfish note it was a crazy year for me with a lot of big changes (moving after 4 years), some disappointments (not teaching in the fall), some great times (establishment of/parties at The Tank), and several surprises (publishing on a favorite topic in a worldwide-circulated magazine). i'm not really complaining, because as janine said in her 2006 opening entry "my loved ones are healthy and happy. That's what matters." and that's the definite truth.
i'm really excited about the new year as historically the even numbered years seem to be much more eventful, exciting, and positive than the odd numbered years. broad generalization? yes, but i'm sure you all have your relatively baseless theories on pattern as well...go write your own blog entry with that. either way, 1996 was a great year and i figure 10 years later and ending in the same number (6, for those of you keeping track) can only be better. yikes, that was the year i graduated from high school! 10-year reunion here we come...and when i say "we" i definitely refer to the pact that myself, matt and jeremy made to actually show up instead of ditching for a movie (like we did the 5-year reunion). go figure.
so anyway, i wish you all a happy new year. new years was ushered in in a memorable way as i got together with some friends and we all went to dinner at The Chop House in ann arbor for new year's eve. i had wanted to go to this place for quite some time, but it never worked out. i must say the food was exquisite and better than i had expected (and i had expected quite a bit). the service (gasp!) was superb, even moreso for an ann arbor establishment (which are known for horrible service throughout the city). i had by far the BEST swordfish steak i have had anywhere else, and i tried it (being the fish-consuming person) at a lot of places. they also brought a new definition to the term 'blackened' as this was also the spiciest blackened food item i have ever had. and yeah, ironically no one in our party actually ordered steak, but all that was ordered was top notch and worth every penny. and it was A LOT of pennies...mainly because we all paid in pennies. yeah, we all had to roll them up the previous night and that took forever -- but i digress.
either way the chop house was phenomenal, and i would recommend it highly. after that we went back to brenda's place for the new year's eve party and were later joined by more people from SNRE and EEB (latter is the biology unit of UM). it was a lot of fun and as we watched the celebration on tv (including all the relatively annoying hilary duff songs and commentary...how the heck did ryan seacrest get that gig???) andrea and i were deemed the pop-culture gurus of celebrities, movies, and music...whether or not that was a good thing i don't know, but i think we shocked a lot of grad students, but then again they were quite interested in knowing the stories behind the pussycat dolls, 311, and why Three Doors Down is NOT one of the greatest bands of all time (as announced by hilary duff). overall a good time was had by all, and if it wasn't 6:10am right now, i would type more.
either way, 2006 should definitely prove to be memorable, and a new year is always fun to speculate about and plan...this year i'll learn to cook more, run more, get more work done and maybe even get a panchero's t-shirt...we'll see how many of those i pull off, but in the mean time TEXAS better put up a good fight tomorrow and MICHIGAN better do a heck of a lot better! after all, the even years are always better <:><
probably one of the biggest highlights of the year came just days before it ended; my uncle, who currently lives in new zealand, visited with his family...my aunt and cousins of which i have not seen in 14 years! yeah, that's an incredibly long time and it was great to spend time with them. also visiting with them was my grandma from my dad's side, who i had not seen in about 5 years, so that was another definite highlight.
ushering in the new year in style at The Chop House! (L-R) me, andrea, casey, brenda, in back - shinsuke.
andrea (eating some banana bread that my mom sent up to A2 -some of which i have been surviving off of for the past couple days-) and casey at brenda's place.
and finally, some favorite pics from the past year (primarily this past semester). as you can see, family and friends make up most of the pics, and that is what has definitely been most important. there are a lot more pics, and those will be posted in an album a bit later. enjoy!
moving right along, i'd just like to say thank goodness 2005 is over with! on a worldwide scale the past year was treacherous at best with a massive wave of natural disasters, gas prices going nuts, bombings, and some poor decisions by those in relatively high position in the government (but then again that last one is never isolated to one year). there were plenty of good things to come out of the year, but they seem to have paled in comparison to some of the major tragedies. i don't want to get all philosophical or preachy, so i'll just say once again that i'm glad 2005 is over with.
on a more selfish note it was a crazy year for me with a lot of big changes (moving after 4 years), some disappointments (not teaching in the fall), some great times (establishment of/parties at The Tank), and several surprises (publishing on a favorite topic in a worldwide-circulated magazine). i'm not really complaining, because as janine said in her 2006 opening entry "my loved ones are healthy and happy. That's what matters." and that's the definite truth.
i'm really excited about the new year as historically the even numbered years seem to be much more eventful, exciting, and positive than the odd numbered years. broad generalization? yes, but i'm sure you all have your relatively baseless theories on pattern as well...go write your own blog entry with that. either way, 1996 was a great year and i figure 10 years later and ending in the same number (6, for those of you keeping track) can only be better. yikes, that was the year i graduated from high school! 10-year reunion here we come...and when i say "we" i definitely refer to the pact that myself, matt and jeremy made to actually show up instead of ditching for a movie (like we did the 5-year reunion). go figure.
so anyway, i wish you all a happy new year. new years was ushered in in a memorable way as i got together with some friends and we all went to dinner at The Chop House in ann arbor for new year's eve. i had wanted to go to this place for quite some time, but it never worked out. i must say the food was exquisite and better than i had expected (and i had expected quite a bit). the service (gasp!) was superb, even moreso for an ann arbor establishment (which are known for horrible service throughout the city). i had by far the BEST swordfish steak i have had anywhere else, and i tried it (being the fish-consuming person) at a lot of places. they also brought a new definition to the term 'blackened' as this was also the spiciest blackened food item i have ever had. and yeah, ironically no one in our party actually ordered steak, but all that was ordered was top notch and worth every penny. and it was A LOT of pennies...mainly because we all paid in pennies. yeah, we all had to roll them up the previous night and that took forever -- but i digress.
either way the chop house was phenomenal, and i would recommend it highly. after that we went back to brenda's place for the new year's eve party and were later joined by more people from SNRE and EEB (latter is the biology unit of UM). it was a lot of fun and as we watched the celebration on tv (including all the relatively annoying hilary duff songs and commentary...how the heck did ryan seacrest get that gig???) andrea and i were deemed the pop-culture gurus of celebrities, movies, and music...whether or not that was a good thing i don't know, but i think we shocked a lot of grad students, but then again they were quite interested in knowing the stories behind the pussycat dolls, 311, and why Three Doors Down is NOT one of the greatest bands of all time (as announced by hilary duff). overall a good time was had by all, and if it wasn't 6:10am right now, i would type more.
either way, 2006 should definitely prove to be memorable, and a new year is always fun to speculate about and plan...this year i'll learn to cook more, run more, get more work done and maybe even get a panchero's t-shirt...we'll see how many of those i pull off, but in the mean time TEXAS better put up a good fight tomorrow and MICHIGAN better do a heck of a lot better! after all, the even years are always better <:><
probably one of the biggest highlights of the year came just days before it ended; my uncle, who currently lives in new zealand, visited with his family...my aunt and cousins of which i have not seen in 14 years! yeah, that's an incredibly long time and it was great to spend time with them. also visiting with them was my grandma from my dad's side, who i had not seen in about 5 years, so that was another definite highlight.
ushering in the new year in style at The Chop House! (L-R) me, andrea, casey, brenda, in back - shinsuke.
andrea (eating some banana bread that my mom sent up to A2 -some of which i have been surviving off of for the past couple days-) and casey at brenda's place.and finally, some favorite pics from the past year (primarily this past semester). as you can see, family and friends make up most of the pics, and that is what has definitely been most important. there are a lot more pics, and those will be posted in an album a bit later. enjoy!
posted by Solomon at 4:17 AM
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