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I wrote up a whole nice long year in review post for 2012 yesterday. I thought I queued it up to post today. I guess not. I don’t really feel like rewriting all of it, so here’s the gist:

2012 was pretty awesome, despite getting fired from my job. Ended up being somewhat of a blessing because I got to travel and do a lot of cool stuff that I wouldn’t have otherwise.

I met a girl. She’s amazing. We have a lot of fun adventures today. I think I’ll keep her.

Happier than I’ve ever been. Feel like I’m on the right track again. Now I just need to figure out what my next project will be. I’m sure it’ll come soon.

1/21 - Statues of Liberty, The Muggs - Schubas
3/30 - Of Monsters and Men - Park West
4/4 - Say Anything, Kevin Devine & the Goddamn Band - House of Blues
4/12 - Ingrid Michaelson - The Vic Theatre
4/17 - Portugal. The Man, The Lonely Forest - The Vic Theatre
5/22 - M. Ward - The Vic Theatre
7/11 - Right Away, Great Captain! - Subterranean
7/13 - Pitchfork, day 1 (friday)
7/24 - The Dangerous Summer - Beat Kitchen
8/3 - Lollapalooza, day 1 (friday)
8/4 - Of Monsters and Men - Gilt City Rooftop party
8/4 - Official Lolla Aftershow feat: Of Monsters and Men & Yellow Ostrich - House of Blues
8/5 - Lollapaooza, day 2 (sunday)
10/8 - Taking Back Sunday - Beat Kitchen
10/9 - Ingrid Michaelson - Park West
11/4 - Sigur Ros - Laugadalshollin, Iceland Airwaves
11/16 - Louis CK - Chicago Symphony Center
12/1 - New Found Glory - Bottom Lounge
12/9 - The Starting Line - House of Blues
12/16 - Of Monsters and Men - Riviera Theatre

1. Marry Him: The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough - Lori Gottlieb
2. The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games #1) - Suzanne Collins
3. The Happiness Project - Gretchen Rubin
4. Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2) - Suzanne Collins
5. Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality - Christopher Ryan
6. Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3) - Suzanne Collins
7. How We Decide - Jonah Lehrer
8. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking - Susan Cain
9. Imagine: How Creativity Works - Jonah Lehrer
10. In Praise of Slowness: Challenging the Cult of Speed - Carl Honoré
11. How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie
12. Steve Jobs - Walter Isaacson
13. Emotional Intelligence 2.0 - Travis Bradberry

For the last few years, I set the goal of reading a book a month. This year, I decided I wanted to up it to 13. Next year? Who knows. Maybe I’ll hit 14.

1. Now, Now – Threads (677)
2. Taylor Swift – Red (352)
3. Of Monsters and Men – My Head Is an Animal (283)
4. Mumford & Sons – Babel (277)
5. The Lumineers – The Lumineers (266)
6. The Avett Brothers – The Carpenter (167)
7. Right Away, Great Captain! – The Church Of The Good Thief (166)
8. Ingrid Michaelson – Human Again (155)
9. Sigur Ros – Valtari (136)
10. Milo Greene – Milo Greene (110)
(according to last.fm)

I’ve officially been unemployed now for two weeks. It’s been amazing how supportive and helpful the community has been. So many old friends and plenty of new ones have all been graciously meeting with Mark and me, giving advice, and offering help. Truly humbling. It’s pretty funny how, like clockwork, the first thing out of everyone’s mouth is inevitably, “So, what’s next?”

At first, I had no idea. There felt like a myriad options and, to be honest, in all the commotion, I really hadn’t even really thought about what I’d like to do. Luckily, with my work day schedule opening up quite a bit, I was able to take some time and actually think about it some. And after having talked to a bunch of people, and sorted some things out, I at least now have some idea of what the next two months will entail for me:

Vacation!!

Aside from project offers, the single most common thing we heard from people was, “You should take some time off.” OK, twist my arm! Actually, it’s harder than it sounds. Mark and I are both such workaholics and love what we do so much, that it actually did take a bit to accept this idea. We wanted to get back on the saddle quickly. But who knew the next time we’d have an opportunity like this? Burnout is extremely common in this field and I’m certainly no stranger to it. The chance to recharge and feel healthy again is one I couldn’t pass up on.

Luckily, I had already made plans to visit my family in Western NY and attend some weddings in June and early July, so the idea seemed very timely. Aside from that, I think I’m going to hide in the woods for a bit to help clear my head. If I open my computer, it’ll be to work on one of the dozen or so little projects I’ve been meaning to get to over the last year or so. But even that will probably be on the rare side. I plan to take things pretty easy and enjoy this time as best I can. There will always be time to work, especially being that I love my work.

What about when I get back? I’m not planning that far ahead right now. I’ve got some ideas, but nothing definite yet. I’ll deal with it when vacation is over. We’ll see then what the future holds.

Au revoir.

Side note: I will be at StartupWeekend on June 1st-3rd, helping to coach participants, so you should definitely stop by and say hi.

I didn’t exactly stick to the one book a month timeline, but I was able to get in at least 12 this year, so I’m happy. I also attempted to tackle some pretty lengthy and non conventional books as well (the programming/tech ones and 4 hour body), which helped account for spanning multiple months. I definitely wish I had read more, but this year was kind of crazy so not much I could do. Plus, there’s always next year, right? Here’s what I read in 2011 (most recently finished first):

• The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
• The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Suppose to Be and Embrace Who You Are - Brene Brown
• Is There Anything Good About Men?: How Cultures Flourish by Exploiting Men - Roy F. Baumester
• In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto - Michael Pollan
• Anything You Want - Derek Sivers
• Delusions of Gender - Cordelia Fine
• Rails for PHP Developers - Derek DeVries
• The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman - Tim Ferriss
• The Thank You Economy - Gary Vaynerchuk
• Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose - Tony Hsieh
• See Jane Hit: Why Girls Are Growing More Violent and What We Can Do About It - James Garbarino
• Building Scalable Web Sites - Cal Henderson
• Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled — and More Miserable Than Ever Before - Jean M. Twenge

1. Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know
2. Robyn - Call Your Girlfriend
3. Adele - Rolling in the Deep
4. The Head and the Heart - Down in the Valley
5. Manchester Orchestra - Virgin
6. BONUS: Bon Iver - Holocene

At first I was kind of shocked at my how mainstream my favorite songs of this year have been. But then I realized that the top 3 aren’t really songs that I even listened to that much. I found myself falling in love with the songs through the covers done by other artists and their interpretations that really showcased just how great the songs were. Case in point: Army of 3 (Ingrid Michaelson) - Somebody That I Used To Know, Erato - Call Your Girlfriend, Vasquez Sounds - Rolling In The Deep

The rest of the list (plus a bonus 6th track) is really just a lopsided showcase of the amazing folk music that I really came to love this year. Most of the pop-punk I listened to was just lacking a standout track. The albums as a whole were great, but I couldn’t choose a solid single from those albums as I really loved the albums as a whole.