Reflections on 2005

Greetings. Well, we've reached the end of another year and I suppose some reflections are in order.

This year has been an interesting one for me. First of all, I fully discovered blogging and have had this space on Blogger. Its been interesting to watch the various challenges and how they were hhandled by Blogger and Google in general. At this point, I don't see any real progress, in terms of accessibility, with Blogger or Google. Hopefully that will change at some point, in terms of the visual verification code. At least they could offer an audio code that could speak the code to those that can't read it on screen, something like what Live Journal does. Anyway, it's also been interesting to keep track and put links to some interesting technology articles on this blog, such as: cities getting Wi-Fi access, the continuing battle between the Cable and phone companies for customers, and countless other articles of personal interest to me, and I hope to you as well.

On the personal level, this year has presented me with quite a few memorable moments/events, such as, in no particular order:

* Going to Guatemala to visit my parents: not just seeing them but also learning about another culture and traveling internationally, and recording all those things on the blog/website.
* Practicing my interviewing skills with countless phone interviews and even a few in person ones. One in person interview that sticks out to me is one I did back in March, when I met a sales representative for VisuAide at a nearby Starbucks, and interviewed for an 8-10 week position promoting the Maestro handheld digital assistant. Though I didn't get that job, I think that it improved my interviewing skills. And, well, it was just fun to go to Starbucks after church and sit there with my PAC Mate and connecting to the Starbucks free wireless network, not to mention talking with this salesman.
* And, probably one of the biggest things to happen to me in my career thus far, being laid off from the Assistive Technology Center. Though its not a pleasant highlight, and though I had been looking for a job sometime before that and had planned on leaving the ATC eventually, it did lead me to the next highlight.
* Pursuing, interviewing for and getting the technology trainer job down in Austin. This is one highlight that is not fully completed yet since I have yet to move there. Though next year's year end reflections should be interesting, in light of the fact that I will have nearly a year's worth of full time work to reflect upon.

Some lesser highlights, but highlights all the same include, in no particular order: going to the farewell concert for Petra in November, starting active and regular attendance at my local church (Scofield Memorial), and taking care of my former guide dog, Tony.

There are likely things I'm missing here, but that's ok. If you've been reading this blog for any length of time and know me fairly well, then you probably already know what those things are, even if I can't remember right now.

So, here's to a good end to 2005 and a great 2006! Good luck to your favorite team in the annual bowl season, which for me means: "Hook 'em Horns!"