Ponderings #27: Reflections on 2008

So, we find ourselves with only a few hours left in 2008 (here in the US. Elsewhere, it may be 2009 already!)

Personally, I’d like to take a moment and think of what 2008 has been for me. To start with, it was the first full year without my Grandmother. I miss her terribly. I don’t have a big family, so every loss hurts that much more. I had hoped to build her a piece of furniture. Unfortunately, that wasn’t meant to be. Still, since her father was a woodworker himself, I can’t help but think she would approve of the bookcase I’m building for my Mom.

Much of 2008 was spent going through her stuff and getting her old home ready for me and my family to move in. This was one of her wishes, conveyed to my Mom before she went in the hospital. We were finally able to move in just before Halloween. My grandmother didn’t throw away much in her life apparently…she still had all kinds of stuff from my grandfather who died in 1982 and my uncle who died in 2001.

However, once I was in the house, my thoughts returned to woodworking. I was able to complete a simple project of my stocking hanger and frankly I’m tickled about that. That went from concept to design to execution very quickly. It may not be as fancy as many of the projects here on LumberJocks, but it was a start. I have been able to approach the bookcase project with a lot more confidence because of it.

In 2008 I was promoted at work, with the associated pay raise. This was just a few weeks ago, while the economy was going in the toilet. So far, so good as far as jobs go.

My son was accepted into the gifted program in the local school system and has been having a blast. He has to maintain an 86 average to stay in there, but with 86 being his lowest grade this year it seems, that shouldn’t be a problem. I’m glad too, because he’s learning a lot and he doesn’t even realize it.

Also this year I had a cool PM conversation with good old T-Chisel. Frankly, I count Tommy as a friend now, despite his insistence that the Celtics are going to win it all (the smart money is on the Hawks after all ;)). His early videos annoyed me for some reason, and I thought poor things of him. But the fact of the matter is he is a skilled craftsman and his willingness to share his knowledge with no thought to profit shows his true character. Frankly, I think the reason he rubbed me wrong to start with is because he’s a lot like me :D

However, one of the great things that happened to me in 2008 was joining LumberJocks. I’ve communicated with a great many people from all over the world about the one subject that really doesn’t know national or political boundaries…wood. Thousands of projects to admire and draw inspiration from, and thousands of craftsman and artisans to learn techniques from. The wealth of information available is second to none in my opinion. This is what Facebook and MySpace pretend to be. They think of themselves as social networking sites, but in truth they’re high school popularity sites. LumberJocks is different…it’s people with a common interest getting together and discussing their passion.

Frankly, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

To one and all, I’d like to wish you a happy new year! May 2009 be short on disappointment and long on all that brings you joy!

-- "Give me your poor tools, your tired steel, your huddled masses of rust." Yep, I ripped off the Statue of Liberty. That's how I roll!