Today is January 1st, the first day of a new year when we usually look back at the previous year and make resolutions for the year ahead of us. For me, this past year had been amazing, I am not just saying that, this past year for me really has been the type of year you look back on and go, yeah things have changed. B)
When I think about it, my mindset is so different than it was last January it is actually a little freaky. I had planned to do a "year in review" post and talk about stuff that happened each month but after thinking it through I realized I could write a multiple page editorial and it still probably would not cover all I would like to say...I also figured people don't really want to read that much about my year anyway. :p So how about the cliff notes version?
In January, my friend Daniel and I decided to go on a road trip up the east coast in June. It is something I had wanted to do for several years but never actually planned out. It actually took less planning than I thought it would and by March we had every detail planned out, even where we would eat in some places.
Sometime in April or May I am not sure when or how exactly it happened but I decided I would spend more time praying and reading the Bible and make my relationship with God more of a focus. Not that it was not before, but I was having lunch with a friend and it occurred to me that even though I was not really thinking about marriage, if it were to happen I did not feel as capable to lead a family spiritually as I felt I should be. So that really became something I wanted to focus on.
June rolled around and Daniel and I embarked on our magnificent road trip. DC to Philly to New York City to some little town in PA to Niagara Falls and back home. The trip was a blast, we did everything we had planned in DC and more. Philadelphia was not a main leg of the trip and due to somethings out of our control we were unable to do all we wanted but I did get an incredible Philly cheese steak sandwich. :D New York City was for me the best part of the trip.
If you don't like crowds New York might not be the best place to go but since I have no problem with crowds I thought it was awesome. Even at 1am the city was still at a frantic pace. We ended up leaving before we finished everything we wanted to get done because we unfortunately had some bad weather, that was the only bad thing about the trip, the limited time we had in NYC. I honestly could have spent the whole trip just in NYC.
After a stop in PA to visit some of Daniel's friends because my friends were not home, we headed to Niagara Falls for some unknown reason....I had been to Niagara Falls when I was like 8 or so and I remember being sorta bored. I guess I figured since I was older it would be more fun....heh Well it was more fun but still not quite as exciting as I had hoped. We did say in Canada though which was cool. After eight days of traveling we headed home....Planning the trip really helped cut down on the cost. We stayed in 2 star or higher hotels every night, ate meals at sit down places not McDonalds and their dollar menu and since we had my car, got great gas mileage. The total cost for both of us covering food, gas, hotels and sites (cough, Statue of Liberty = $15!!) was only $970 which divided by both of us equaled a pretty good deal at least IMO. That is a very brief overview of the trip, most people who know me have already heard most of the details of the trip anyway. :p
When I got back from the trip I decided I had some priorities that needed to change and along with them my whole mindset on life shifted somewhat. I doubt anyone except maybe my family really noticed. A change in the way you think about the world and life in general is not as noticeable as say gaining 30lbs of muscle. :p Anyway because my mindset had changed as well as my relationship with God due to spending more time in the Word, I started working on the "William Manifesto" Sound cool eh? ;)
It really is just my philosophy on everything, life, music, God, culture, society in general....Some of it has made it on the blog, if you have talked to me, you have probably heard more of it than maybe you even want to hear. :p Most of has been in my head for a while but I have found that typing it out has enabled me to really focus on why I believe the way I do. Still much a work in progress it has nevertheless really helped me grow as a person at least in the terms of how I think about things and my ability to explain what I believe.
I know this post is getting longer, just think we might still be on January if this was the non "cliff note" version. In August we had the first of three visits with our great friends up in New York, and Sarah and I also started this blog. Most of the things that have happened since are documented on here and you probably know them already. If you are a new reader and want to read pages upon pages of the things that have happened since August, feel free to check out the archives in the side bar on the right ;)
There are somethings not on the blog that I have not mentioned, one of them is in September I started thinking about changing jobs. For the past several years I have been the office manager for a residential development company. The pay was rather lousy but I was learning the business as well as patience (this is a story in itself, suffice to say I sometimes feel like I could give Job a run for his money in terms of patience.)
Because of my changed mindset on what I needed to be doing with my life as well as some other things, I started praying about what I should do and where I should go job wise. I am sure everyone remembers my apartment bought cheap, fixed up and currently for sale though someone is very interested in purchasing it. Well going through that process made me realized fixing up houses and selling them is something I really like. There is a lot more I would like to know construction wise though so in a few days I start classes with that purpose in mind.
Looking forward to 2008, there is so much I want to get accomplished, it is a good thing I had a job that worked on my patience because now every bit of it will probably be put to work. Without that or my trust in the Lord, that He is there to guide me through it all, I might be dreading this upcoming year. As it is I am really excited about 2008! :D
Sidebar on the blog, I want to thank all the many people who visit, as well as the few who visit and actually comment for taking the time to read Life from the Toaster. I never thought we would have half as many visitors as we have had. While most visitors don't comment, the fact that we have a significant number of visitors a day has been pretty awesome, it shows people actually feel the blog is worth reading, (or maybe they just like laughing at us :p ) Either way thanks for visiting and reading. Oh one more note!
The 500th comment! The 500th comment actually occurred while Sarah and I were in NY in December.....It was actually my sister :p I don't think I mentioned this on the blog but family was not eligible to win. Since comments 499 and 501 were by the two people who have commented the most since the blog started (Abigail and Sleepy Joy) I decided just to give them both a CD. Just thought I would mention that if anyone was wondering.....
The real final note, :p some readers already know this but, because of my changing job situation as well as some other things I feel I should be devoting time to, the blog is going to be updated less frequently than it has been. I know that is rather sad, and I wish I could continue to post as much but I just don't see how I will have the time. Hopefully Sarah can pick up some slack and Anna probably will post some as well. I pray everyone will accomplish the goals they have for this coming year and that y'all will have an incredible 2008. :)
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