Another year has passed, so it’s time to take stock, and make soup from it.
In 2008, we downsized by selling my house, gave away lots of stuff, drove less, and called Angeline’s 700 sq ft apartment home. I’d like to continue the trend of reducing even while we try to find a slightly larger place.
Angeline landed her first real job after 14 years of training, receiving offers from every place she interviewed. She’ll begin at a private practice in Rockville in the middle of this year (if you have diabetes, I know a great endocrinologist!). We’re very excited and hope this practice will be a great place to work.
Meanwhile, I came into the year hating my job, resolved to leave by April. I did interview and receive a couple of job offers, but nothing too exciting. Instead, I decided to stop caring so much about work, and to wait and see what happens.
In 2008, I continued my hobbies. I cooked a lot, taking cooking classes on bread-making and sauces. I also messed around with electronics as usual, built a theme kite for the Smithsonian kite festival, and read a ton of books. Angeline and I completed hundreds of crossword puzzles together, and watched a lot of hockey games.
Most of my spare time, as boringly detailed on this blog, was spent focusing on kernel hacking, with OMFS being included and my becoming a maintainer of the ath5k wireless driver. In 2009, I hope to have my 100th patch included in the kernel (currently at around #35). I’d also like to make systems software a focus of my future career. To that end, I’ve applied for jobs with a couple of embedded device manufacturers, and applied to masters degree programs at nearby schools.
All in all, it was a good year. Our families are all reasonably healthy. Many were affected by the economic downturn but no one we know is suffering hardship. We look forward to spending more time with friends and family this year. 2009 holds lots of promise and all that other optimistic crap.