NYE retrospective

I'm sure there won't be time tomorrow for a year-end wrap-up in my shortened work day, so I might as well get to it while I'm bored at home. 2007 wasn't the most eventful year of my life, but that isn't to say it was by any means a bad one. The year kicked off with me finishing up work on the new permanent exhibit at The Field Museum called The Ancient Americas; this job, probably my last in the Anthropology department for near future, was probably the biggest, most (hopefully) enduring thing I've ever taken part of. Hopefully The Ancient Americas will be around for many years to come, and will continue to educate the public about the latest research that has been conducted concerning the various amazing cultures that existed in the Americas before the coming of the Europeans.

After the installation of The Ancient Americas concluded, I was offered a job in the library at The Field Museum, which I accepted on the condition that I could delay my start date by a month because I was about to leave for Peru. During the month of May, I traveled through Peru with my best friend, Claudia; a fairly thorough account of my travels is contained in the first few posts in this blog, and also can be seen in these photo galleries of mine on Flickr:
Lima
Arequipa
Santa Catalina Monastery
Cañon de Colca
Lake Titicaca
Cuzco and the Sacred Valley
Machu Pichu

After returning to Chicago, I soon started my new job in The Field Museum's library, and my masters in library and information sciences through the LEEP program out of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This primarily-online program has allowed me to do the majority of my coursework from home or work without having to move elsewhere to attend a top school; on the other side of the coin, the on-campus visits have given me a nice, bite-sized taste of what it must be like to actually attend a big-ten university without having to stay there long enough for the novelty to wear off. Despite all this, it has become pretty obvious that library work isn't in my soul, so I have spent my time focusing on archival work, preservation, public policy and programs; I hope to get involved with the community informatics track within the gslis program, which focuses on targeting information needs in under-served communities and working with those same communities to make them self-sufficient. It was either focus on this, or drop out all together to go back for a masters in anthropology at UIC, which I might still do, but I felt that riding this out and finishing while making some connections and getting experience was the right thing to do.

This September marked Dan and my one-year anniversary. and things are going quite well. To celebrate, Dan and I did what any other overly-romantic young married couple, deeply in love, would do, and went to Detroit for the Paxahau 9 year anniversary - featuring Hardfloor, the act that first got me into the wonderful world of dance/rave music. For those of you who don't know Dan and I well, Detroit was where we initially got together (or at least realized we wanted to) during a trip to DEMF in 2004 and a healthy weekend of urban exploration, binge drinking, and techno. That's love...

The final stretch of 2007 included the Sadie Hawkins Day Race/Ride, which was a pant-load of fun. Again, big big props to Julie, Kisha, and everyone else who made this event a reality; a great time was had by all. I hope we all can look forward to a year 3 in 2008. Other notable events that happened in the final gasps of 2007 included a victorious weekend in lovely Green Bay, WI with my women's Nat. C hockey team, Team Glacier; our game against Michigan Tech was a particular treat - I think it's been about 10 years since I punched anyone in the face, so that was a real highlight. We'll be playing Tech again pretty soon here in Chicago, and I strongly urge any of you locals to come watch if you want some free entertainment.

That brings us up to the last few posts I've made here in Let's Rock, so I don't really think I need to recap. As for looking forward, here are a couple big things I'm hoping for in 2008:

• First and foremost, good health to all my friends and family (hell, anyone good enough to have read this far deserves it as well)
• Selling our condo and buying the house we've fallen in love with over in Bridgeport
• Maybe getting a new job in the anthro department or the archives at the museum
• Kicking some ass in the Fat Race
• Kicking some ass at the Nationals with my hockey team in PA
  
• There is a slim chance I may finish my degree by this time next year - getting my special collections certification would be an added bonus
• Thinking of taking the GREs - maybe I'll get it over with this coming year
• Add to that last one applying for a grad program in anthro at UIC as a possibility

Thanks to all my readers in 2007 - I will see you on the other side of a champagne countdown, and a mean hangover I'm sure. Be safe and smart tonight!