Last Updated on June 4, 2018

I have mixed feelings about 2009, which is probably why I haven’t blogged here since the beginning of last year. From most perspectives, 2009 was far better than 2008, the most reviled year I’ve experienced since the debacle that was 2001, and it brought some surprises I couldn’t have anticipated. I halted my fledgling consulting business to take a full-time job, even after I’d vowed never return to the corporate world. But I’m enjoying my new role far more than I could have anticipated, and not just because it has allowed me to travel to Fiji and even take on philanthropic projects, such as brainstorming for NPR and working on a Habitat for Humanity project.

I didn’t get to check off as many cities on my to-do list this year as I did in 2008, but, considering I now have to actually show up at an office rather than work from truck stops across the nation, I still managed pretty well. (See below.) I also rode in a Zeppelin (and met Buzz Aldrin at the same time), sailed in a glider plane, participated in a Fijian kava ceremony, survived a trip to Martha’s Vineyard as the sole chaperone of four niblings, and somehow inherited a few more nibling-esque family members that have come to visit me.

All in all, a good year. I’m just hoping 2010 is going to be even better.

Warner Springs, CA
Easton, CT
Boulder City, NV/Willow Beach, AZ
Newport, RI
Martha’s Vineyard, MA
Las Vegas, NV
San Geronimo, CA
San Francisco, CA
Suva, Fiji
Paso Robles, CA
San Simeon, CA
Monterey, CA
Albany, NY
San Diego, CA