Well, there goes another year… Welcome 2008. This is the year of the Rat for any of you knowledgable about Chinese Astrology… I’m not quite sure what that means for the coming year… but I thought you should know anyway.

2007 was a very disruptive year for me… It was full of changes, that I obviously wasn’t even clued into last year.

Last year, I wrote this:

“I’m cautiously optimistic about 2007. Hopefully things continue to expand at work. And I’m hoping my personal life settles down a bit, and I can get all the custody issues out of the way. I’d also like to start flying kites again. Maybe even pick up a girlfriend along the way (or.. maybe not…) I don’t really have any plans besides that. Obviously I’d like to lose some weight and start exercising… but then, who doesn’t right?”

Well, things certainly didn’t happen like I had hoped.

In February 2007, I moved to a two-bedroom “condo” in Hollywood FL so that I could be closer to work… But, by March, I had gotten laid off. They say, “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” That couldn’t be more true this year.

Luckily, by the end of my first day of unemployment, I had gotten a temporary job in Miami and was already attending interviews. So I was feeling pretty good about myself. That was until 2 days later, when my transmission went out in my vehicle only days before starting that new temp job… I look at that 2 weeks as a wash because for as many hours that I worked, it only paid for the repair costs of my vehicle.

I then got an offer near the end of March to start working as a web developer for a major television broadcasting company in West Palm Beach (called ION Television). They bumped my salary by about $10k a year, and I’d be working in a very stress-free environment for my old boss at Proxicom (back in 2000-2002)… Problem was that I had JUST moved to Hollywood, which is atleast 1.5 hours commute time one-way. Luckily the commuter train stops about a mile from my house, and only a few blocks from my office. So for the last 9 months, I’ve been taking the train to work. Often, by the time I get home, I’m too tired to do anything… so I haven’t been going out as much and spend WAY too much time at home vegging in front of the TV.

The biggest thing I started in 2007 though, is my personal lifestyle blog called: http://www.theraceislong.com  Here I write about all the stuff going on in my life, and I’ve even written a few “advice” style articles… My folks get most of their news about me from that.. isn’t technology great? I also started making candles out of my kitchen… Who knows where some of these ideas come from… You’d think I’d be able to come up with an idea that would make me rich… nope.. Not this year anyway.

I still haven’t gotten anything resolved with my custody issues. I do get to see my son about once a month, and any extended school vacations.. its obviously not as much as I’d like to see him, but its better than nothing I guess. Recently my ex-wife informed me that they will be moving to Atlanta at the end of the school year so that she can start a higher-paying job… I’m choosing to see that as a positive thing, because now all of my son’s flights will be non-stop and easier to arrange. I truly wish them well..

I haven’t started flying kites again… nor gotten a girlfriend.. but… well, thats all I’m going to say about that.. I have lost a few pounds though, so maybe this year will be my year..

So, to close up this much-longer-than-I-expected email, 2008 seems like it might be a good year for me… Hopefully my employment will remain steady and I plan to move closer to work in the very near future. Not to jinx it, but I’ve already let my landlord know I’m moving in February… I haven’t secured a new place yet, but I have a couple that I’m looking at, which will be WAY closer to work… I’ve also been thinking about starting my online kiteshop again… We’ll see.

Thats about it.. I hope everyone has a Happy New Year, and may 2008 be even better.