#55 - Schfifty Five + the Year in Review

Motto: I can count... allllll the way... to schfifty five.

To start this column off, I'm going to link to an old internet favorite. This video is every bit as stupid as "End of Ze World", and was watched an equally shameful number of times by me in my internet-going youth. It is relevant only to this column, so it basically had to be posted now. It is 95% safe for work.

This is likely the last post I will have for the year. So, I will use it to bid adieu to 2012. I think 2012 was the greatest year of my life. Allow me to do a quick recap, outline style:

• I finished out the second semester as the RA of the greatest floor ever.
• 3rd Floor Templin > all other floors in history
• I graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Kansas.
• I managed to hit the GPA I wanted and worked for the last two years of college.
• Future schooling remains to be seen...
• I lived someplace OTHER than the dorms and my parent's house:
• For a couple of months I got the chance to have Josh as my roommate and live in Lawrence.
• I moved by myself to Downtown Kansas City; and I love it here and I love living by myself.
• I had an extended vacation...
• For several months, my only job was "looking for a job". This is strikingly similar to "vacation" when you know that you should be able to find something and aren't worried about it.
• I got my first real job - and it is going great (in a not-sarcastic way, too!)
• Related: I got on my own insurance.
• Related: I got on my own phone plan.
• I hit a couple of milestones...
• I, for the first time, own my own furniture
• My current relationship became my longest ever... and it's stronger than ever
• I developed a new and improved Demetri List, and have been running it longer than any previous attempts
• I got stuck in an elevator (I always wanted this to happen once in my life... now that it's done, never again)
• I won $60 on a slot machine, walked away with all of it.
• I got to play for the intramural basketball championship in Allen Fieldhouse
• I got into a physical shape that I could be a tiny bit proud of... (still working to improve, though)
• I kept my 2012 new year's resolution - "take more photos"
• 2011 - 199 pictures and videos
• 2012 - 1943 pictures and videos (if I get 47 more in the next 4 days, I will have increased my shutterbugivity tenfold)
• I was the top post on all of Reddit for several hours
• A.K.A. - I was king of the internet for several hours
• I went on a few trips...
• I went to Colorado with several of my residents from T3 and learned how to snowboard
• Also got super sick and thought I was going to die... but that's a funny story now
• Melissa and I visited Austin, TX and genuinely loved it there. Could easily see myself living there.
• I visited my girlfriend at her job as a camp director at a summer camp in Indiana for children with special needs
• I went to California and made my first lasting memories of the state. I saw Hollywood, Los Angeles, San Francisco, wine country, and the GOOGLEPLEX.
• I started my most ambitious video project ever, and it's going really well
• At the first of the year, I'll upload the first 4 months of it to YouTube (next post, prolly)
• I met many new people and made several new friendships - friendships that have grown and developed much further than I thought possible one year ago
• I have been doing a semi-decent job of visiting friends for a change!
• I organized and procured an excellent EDC bag that has worked out better even than I expected it to
• I got a (new) Nexus phone and a Nexus tablet... and couldn't be happier with them
• Kansas City Irishfest
• The Avengers finally came out... and fter years of anticipation, it didn't disappoint
• I watched Amy's volleyball team trounce everyone they played
• I watched my girlfriend succeed with her first two classrooms during her stent as a student teacher
• Both my sisters got married and have started their "happily ever after"(s)
• I re-started The Column, and have found myself enjoying it more and more as time goes on
• And many, many more memories that I didn't even list here

Best year ever.

Here is an album of my favorite 50 photos from the past 361 days. It loads pretty quick and doesn't require you to sign into anything to view. I considered posting all 50 of these photos in-line, so consider yourselves lucky that I didn't just force you to look at them.

Well, other than the mandatory column picture - my winning favorite photo from all of 2012... and I took it today.

A smart man would have cropped this. A less smart man wouldn't have added Alt Text

Top 5: Google-related Chrome Extensions
5. Google Calendar - Access your upcoming events and add new ones without opening a calendar window
4. Google Tasks - Same thing, except with tasks... I use this extensively
3. Google Voice - If you have a Google Voice # (and probably if you don't), this is a very handy. Send texts, call, and check voicemail quickly and easily
2. Google Plus One Button - Share any webpage on Google+ instantly and easily - really the easiest way to share something on the web
1. Better Music for Google Play Music - See what's playing and all the basic music controls, without opening the Music tab.

Quote:
“We've got color TV... but it still isn't satisfying”
- CAKE, in their song 'Thrills' -