2007, The Best of...

Seeing as how it's January 1st 2008, I figured this would be a good time to write about my adventures and travels over the past year. From general health to dating, and interviews to layovers, it's been one hell of a year! I hope you enjoying reading about it as I enjoyed living it. So without further ado, I present to you The Best of... 2007 Edition...

I entered this 31st year of my life with a renewed vigor. I was newly single, I was in the best physical shape of the last 5 years, and I was ready for my interview for the perfect job in Raleigh. The world was my oyster and my excitement was at an all time high! Fast forward one year later and I'm still single, in the same physical shape, and still interviewing for jobs in Raleigh. But that doesn't mean I've been sitting idle.

The biggest news of the year revolved around my heart, more specifically, the right ventricle. I was diagnosed with Heart Block, 2nd Degree Type II, which caused my heart to miss beats which were critical to supplying new blood to the brain and body. I had an artificial pacemaker implanted in March, and have been given a clean bill of health for the past nine months. I'm back to running and cycling, and will be back to the competitive schedule this summer. But my health maladies didn't end there. Just a few months ago I had a routine visit to the dentist, this time to remove an impacted wisdom tooth. The procedure went just fine, but upon extraction and mutant "black" tooth was discovered. My tooth was whisked away to the UConn medical center, where it is still undergoing tests. Finally, if those two freak incidents weren't enough, I caught Frostbite on one of my winter runs this month! Yup, inflamed tissue, the blackened skin, and I never made it higher than 1,000ft above sea level. I'm looking forward to a less medically diverse year...

As mentioned earlier, my first job interview came on January 8th with a great company in Raleigh, NC. While I didn't get THAT job, I've since had two job offers, dozens of interviews, and countless phone conversations with headhunters. I'm on the fourth revision of my resume, the third version of my cover letter, and a new phone plan too keep up with all the job activity. In that same amount of time, over 25 of my co-workers have found new jobs, and the company's stock price went from decent to de-listed. Thanks...

All this interviewing does bring some perks. I've had the pleasure of visiting some of the US's more exciting cities for interviews and plant tours. Raleigh NC, Philadelphia PA, Baltimore MD, Danbury CT, and Olean NY, just to name a few... I've spent multiple weekends in NYC and Boston. Went skiing in Salt Lake City UT. Drank some wine in Niagara on the Lake in Canada. Attended a Fuel Cell conference in San Antonio TX. I'm presently writing this blog at the airport after spending NYE in San Francisco. Somehow I missed trips to Vegas or Atlantic City this year, but I lost plenty of money at the Mohegan Sun Casino in CT, the Fallsview Casino in Canada, and the Seneca Allegheny Casino in upstate NY.

Speaking of Casinos, I was able to see the Violent Femmes on their farewell tour at the Mohegan Sun Wolf Den. I also caught the Projekt Revolution tour headlined by Linkin Park at the Tweeter Center. CT brought the amazing Blues Traveler to the Palace Theater in Waterbury, the Counting Crows/Live/Collective Soul tour to Beehive Stadium in New Britain, and legendary cover bands UF2 and Big Shot to Toad's Place in New Haven.

When I wasn't traveling, reworking my resume, boozing it up, building robots, or recovering from surgery, I actually found time to fit some training in. I ran my 2nd ever Half Marathon this fall, splitting the 9mile in sub-7:00 pace, something I haven't done in over 5 years. I ran a 5k in under 19:00 (okay, 18:59…) and built my weekly mileage up over 35 miles. But I think my ultimate running highlights came when I did some training runs with past, present, and future Olympians, wow! (Thanks girls!) I achieved all of these milestones after 3 months of idle recovery from my pacer surgery, not top shabby.

I'll leave my "Best of" dating stories out of this blog, as I could seriously write a book about my endeavors. Plus, I don't want to offend or boast about anyone who might actually read this thing… All I have to say to the ladies is, thanks for the good memories.

If you made it this far, congratulations! Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy my stories and tales from 2007. I realize that I averaged about a posting a week. I'll certainly try to maintain that schedule in 2008. Look! I've already got an entry for week 1! Best wishes and good luck to all in 2008!