2008

The bad stuff:

My boyfriend's grandmother passed away in March and my grandfather died in June. His other grandmother had a stroke this year, and so did mine. Several friends lost grandparents, aunts, friends or pets this year. Car trouble. A few friends lost their jobs and one had to move because his landlord was evicted from the place she was renting. My niece moved to Colorado in July. Prague. Work. Politics class. School in general. Heath Ledger. Michael Crichton. Recounts. My iPod breaking. Too much snow in December.

The good stuff:

My boyfriend and I celebrated a year together. Lots of babies born, two engagements and a few new pets. My niece moved back. Berlin. I moved into an apartment and neighborhood I really like. Most of those friends have found new jobs. Obama. Calculus 2. A+ certification. A week up on Potato Lake. Camping. The Dark Knight. Duluth. The Minnesota Zoo. Sonic. Bowling. Zack and Miri. 33 books. The 35W bridge reopened. Lots of new music. My Blackberry. The boyfriend got a Wii, and he is buying me a sewing machine for Christmas.

So it seems there was a bit more good than bad. That's a good trend, right?

Moving

I just completed the 15th move of my life of 31 years. 15 moves is 16 different places, which means I have averaged less than 2 years per location.

The longest place I have lived is the house my mother still lives in, and the shortest place is the 3rd Hopkins apartment. I forced them to give me new unit after mine flooded 3 times and they wouldn't let me out of my lease, so I was in the two 1 bedrooms for a total of a year, one for seven months and the other for five.

This last move was a pretty different experience than my others. For one, my roommate and I just got approved last Friday. I knew it was going to be down to the wire and had no idea if I could get in to the place before July 1st, so I didn't hire movers or reserve a truck. I did rent a 10x15 storage unit on Thursday afternoon. From Thursday to Saturday, my sister and I took seven cars loads of boxes to the unit. Sunday morning we signed the lease and started moving stuff into the apartment. In all, it took 20-21 car loads, two passenger truckloads and one Home Depot truckload to get all of our stuff out of the old place. Um, time to declutter! I did some of that before moving, but it never seems like enough. I still have some stuff in my friend's basement from two moves ago. I know there is a Christmas tree down there, and an unknown number of boxes, somewhere between 5 and 20. But it sort of evens out as I am storing some things for my niece.

Despite the last minute timing of it all, the only really bad thing about the move was how sore we all got (and still are). Our family has had some nightmarish moves in the past, including one where we lost the key to the Budget moving truck and had to get a locksmith to cut a new one and another where our U-haul broke down multiple times on a 75 minute drive. In comparison, this one was not so bad. It helped that I was moving out of a first floor unit.

Thanks Shannon, Gerardo, Josh and especially Tanya for hauling my stuff and cleaning my old place.

Booklists

I have an Amazon wishlist and IMDB and Netflix to help me remember which books and movies I want to buy or watch, but I have now joined 3 more sites that all keep track of what I have read, am reading and want to read.

All Consuming - part of 43 things. This site includes Music, Movies and Food& Drink categories.

Goodreads

Shelfari

Top Ten Movies of 2007

3:10 to Yuma
Across the Universe
Charlie Wilson's War
The Golden Compass
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Juno
Knocked Up
Lars and the Real Girl
Superbad
Waitress

Double O Seven

2007 in review:

January - I packed all of my possessions, got a new apartment thanks to Craigslist, and moved in the last week of January (movers rock). I also got Microsoft certified in Excel 2003.

February - I unpacked most of my stuff and started making dinner at my house once a week, starting with chicken lettuce wraps. I also got to go to a Minnesota Wild Game.

March - I started the month by booking my airfare to Europe in May and applying for my passport. The rest of the month spent I booking hotels and tours.

April - My grandparents moved out of their house and held an auction to get rid of stuff.

May - Europe!! But first, I had to beg and plead for my passport.

June - I turned 30.

July - I reread Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and the Half-Blood Prince and then read the Deathly Hallows. My niece and I hit Borders at midnight for the Deathly Hallows release party. I saw Order of the Phoenix at midnight the day it came out, and 3 more times in the theater.

August - It started with the bridge collapse. It ended with the first meeting of my Writing 2 class.

September - I met a guy online, started dating him and made him my boyfriend, all in 30 short, rainy days. We went to the Renaissance Festival on the 29th.

October - I visited Duluth with the new boyfriend and I transformed myself into Medusa for Halloween. My brother-in-law and I took my sister to see Jim Gaffigan at the Orpheum for her birthday.

November - I finally got to see MIA in concert at First Ave.

December - I stopped biting my nails. I used the method of wearing a rubber band on my wrist. It served as a reminder and on the few times I did bite, I snapped the rubber band. Lastly, I posted to my blog on 27 of the 31 days in December, which was one of my 101 things to do.

Couch Potato (2)

Here are some additions to this post, basically a list of any show I have watched regularly.

2006
The Loop
My Boys

2007
Andy Barker, P.I.
Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?
The Big Bang Theory
Carpoolers
Cavemen
Chuck
Don't Forget the Lyrics
I Hate My 30's
Kid Nation
The Sarah Silverman Program
Thank God You're Here

Couch Potato

Here are all the TV shows I have ever watched with any regularity. None of these should be viewed as an endorsement. It was actually painful to admit watching some of these.

Epguides.com was a big help for me in compiling this list, especially their list of shows by year. They have a current grid of primetime lineups and it includes shows currently on hiatus, with an expected return to air date. They even have some RSS feeds for newly added shows and cancellations.

1959 - Twilight Zone
1960 - Flintstones
1962 - Beverly Hillbillies
1964 - Addams Family (73?)
Bewitched
Gilligan's Island
Munsters
1965 - I Dream of Jeannie
1966 - Batman
1972 - M*A*S*H
1974 - Happy Days
Little House on the Prarie
1975 - Jeffersons
One Day at a Time
Saturday Night Live
Wonder Woman
1976 - Alice
Laverne and Shirley
Quincy, M.E.
1977 - Fantasy Island
Incredible Hulk
Love Boat
Three's Company
1978 - Dallas
Different Strokes
Mork and Mindy
WKRP in Cincinnatti
1979 - Dukes of Hazzard
Facts of Life
Hart to Hart
Knot's Landing
1980 - Bosom Buddies
1981 - Falcon Crest

1982 - Cheers
Family Ties
Knight Rider
Newhart
Remington Steele

1983 - GI Joe
He-Man
Mama's Family
Scarecrow and Mrs. King

1984 - Cosby Show
Double Trouble
Night Court
Transformers
Who's the Boss

1985 - Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Amazing Stories
Golden Girls
Growing Pains
Jem
Moonlighting
Mr. Belvedere

1986 - Designing Women
Head of the Class
It's Gary Shandling's Show
LA Law
My Sister Sam
Perfect Strangers

1987 - Beauty and the Beast
Degrassi Junior High
A Different World
Full House
My Two Dads
Out of This World
Star Trek TNG
thirtysomething

1988 - China Beach
C.O.P.S
Dear John
Empty Nest
Just the Ten of Us
Roseanne
Whose Line is it Anyway (UK)
Wonder Years

1989 - Coach
Doogie Howser, M.D.
Life Goes On
Saved by the Bell
Seinfeld
Simpsons
Young Riders

1990 - Beverly Hills 90210
Blossom
Bobby's World
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Law and Order
Northern Exposure
Parker Lewis Can't Lose
Wings

1991- Civil Wars
Dinosaurs
Homefront
Home Improvement
The Ren and Stimpy Show
Rugrats
Sisters
The Torkelsons

1992 - Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Mad About You
Melrose Place
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles

1993 - Class of '96
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman
Frasier
Grace Under Fire
Living Single
Lois & Clark
The Nanny (US)
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

1994 - Chicago Hope
The Critic
Duckman
These Friends of Mine / Ellen
ER
Friends
Inside the Actors Studio
Models Inc.
My So-Called Life (entire series)
Party of Five
Space Ghost Coast to Coast
The Tick (1994)

1995 - The Bonnie Hunt Show
Caroline in the City
Central Park West
Dexter's Laboratory
The Drew Carey Show
Earthworm Jim
Freakazoid!
Hope & Gloria
Ned and Stacey
NewsRadio
Pinky and the Brain
The Single Guy
Star Trek: Voyager

1996 - Boston Common
Early Edition
Everybody Loves Raymond
Hey Arnold!
Kenan & Kel
Men Behaving Badly (US)
Suddenly Susan
3rd Rock From the Sun

1997 - Ally McBeal
Angry Beavers
Cow and Chicken
Daria
Dharma & Greg
E! True Hollywood Story
Fired Up
Just Shoot Me
King of the Hill
The Practice
South Park
Veronica's Closet
The Visitor
Working

1998 - Bob and Margaret
Conrad Bloom
Dawson's Creek
Felicity
The King of Queens
Lateline
Powerpuff Girls
Sex and the City
Sports Night (entire series)
That '70s Show
True Life
Whose Line Is It Anyway? (US)
The Wild Thornberrys
Will & Grace

1999 - Dilbert
Family Guy
Freaks and Geeks (entire series)
Futurama (entire series)
Home Movies
It's Like, You Know...
Jack & Jill
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
The League of Gentlemen
Popular
Providence
SpongeBob SquarePants
Stark Raving Mad
Strangers with Candy
Zoe, Duncan, Jack and Jane

2000 - Big Brother
Boston Public
Clerks
Coupling
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Dark Angel
Queer as Folk (US)
Survivor
TV Funhouse

2001 - The Amazing Race
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Dinner for Five
Fairly OddParents
Grounded for Life
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
The Oblongs
Primetime Glick
Scrubs
Six Feet Under
The Tick (2001)
24
Undeclared

2002 - Andy Richter Controls the Universe
Firefly (entire series)
George Lopez
Good Morning Miami
Less Than Perfect
Life with Bonnie
The Osbournes
Still Standing

2003 - Arrested Development
Coupling (US)
Last Comic Standing
Miss Match
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
Reno 911!
Star Wars: Clone Wars

2004 - The Apprentice (first 1.5 seasons)
Blow Out
Entourage
Joey
life as we know it
Lost
Quintuplets
Significant Others (2004)
Wonderfalls (entire series)

2005 - Grey's Anatomy
How I Met Your Mother
The Office (US)
True Life

2006
The Class
Heroes
How to Get the Guy
Lovespring International
The New Adventures of Old Christine
The Nine
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
10 Items or Less
30 Rock
Three Moons Over Milford

2007
The Sarah Silverman Program

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