The last post of the Year
As 2004 comes to a close in a few hours (and I sweat out the rest of my bowl picks) I thought I would share a few thoughts in reflection on the year past.
Like most years, I accomplished less than I had hoped, but am often reminded that all things come in time. As my mother sometimes tells my sister, setting the oven to a higher temperature won’t necessarily make your cookies bake faster.
I was reminded this year that we live and work together, but we approach life from very different perspectives. I was reminded that the power of ignorance is not easily combated by the power of knowledge, and it’s mostly because knowledge can’t get its foot in the door.
This past April marked the launch of Second Negative. The audience was very small, but it was an exciting and experimental period that shaped how things later developed.
I’ve made mistakes that have hurt others over the past year, and I regret that. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not a conspiracy to screw over the clueless, or to target only those with bad dye jobs. No, it’s just bad judgment combined with a careless attitude. I’m proud to say that I’ve given of my time as often as possible this year, and I’ve shared whatever knowledge I have to make things easier for others. I like to think that although I rarely have all the answers, I’m fairly adept at finding them.
The Best of Everything
I was considering selecting my favorite post from this past year, but then I realized that most of them are crap. Instead, I’d like to mention a few other interesting highlights from the award winning first season of Second Negative. Be on the lookout for the DVD in 2005.
- I was amazed by the relevance of Bobby Kennedy’s words from 1968.
- I love the image from The great wide open because it represents a feeling of freedom that I rarely experience during the daily grind. It’s a photo that I took out by the VLA in New Mexico during the magical summer of 2002. It is easily my favorite post image.
- The post election Bushwhacked entry received more comments than any other, and featured a notable war of words waged effectively by Clay, the official Harvard student of Second Negative. In second place, The Austin traffic report proved that bad drivers are pretty much the same all over.
- The entry that marked the site re-launch in August became the most visited of any that I’ve written. My thoughts on losing the pets that we’ve loved wasn’t far behind, and inspired a number of really nice emails.
- The majority of people that arrived here via search engine came looking for “deep fried candybars”, a phrase that I never actually wrote, but was left in a comment by Clay on the Texas State Fair entry. Other notable search terms included “doodle artist”, “Greg Hanover”, and “William Frist”.
- The photo section of the site is still coming together, and I have a lot of images to upload, but Horse At Sundown is easily my favorite photo from the past year. It’s not much by any standard of photography, and truth be told I’m still learning how to use my (fairly average) digital camera, but it’s a beautiful image.
- The top referring site of the year (besides Google) was atthe404. Many thanks to Root for including Second Negative in his discussions. (Note: I didn’t include a site link because it’s been down for over a month. Where are you Root?)
- The browser of choice for visitors to this site was Firefox by a fairly slim margin over all versions of Internet Explorer. If you’re still using IE, 2005 would be a great year to trade in that clunker.
- And finally, outside of the United States, I seem to be the most popular in the United Kingdom, Canada, The Republic of Korea, and Germany. I value your international support. Sehe Bokmanee Bateuseyo!
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
It’s been a special year in many ways, and I’m hopeful for 2005. Hopeful for changes in national policy, and hopeful for peace. On a personal level, I plan to make an effort to spend more time with Nicole, and less with my computer. I hope to make a new commitment towards realizing my goals, and finding the motivation to see them through. I hope to be a part of work that I am passionate about. I hope to continue to be a part of the blogosphere, and the free exchange of ideas that it supports. Best wishes in the New Year to you and yours.
