Most people, newspapers, and other publications do their year-end review in the last month or last week of the year. I think it makes more sense to wait until the year is actually over to reflect on it. Here are the significant events and accomplishments that define 2005 in my memory:

We rang in 2005 by watching Auburn win the SEC championship with a Sugar Bowl victory over Virginia Tech.

We built the backyard deck we had been planning for over a year. We did the site preparation in 2004, which included some of the hardest work like digging the holes for the concrete footings, but all the actual construction took place in January and February of 2005.

I overhauled jimthompson.org using WordPress 1.5 and a custom-written theme called Rhapsody in Blue. Somewhere during the coming year, I plan to upgrade the site and the theme to the new WordPress 2.0. I also launched weblogs for Bryn, Summer, Leigh Ann, and Sue.

We shared our home with a series of seven foster dogs from the Houston Sheltie Sanctuary: Blake, Jack, Star, Margo, Major, Bailey, and Kaci.

I made Dad two nice music videos for his 75th birthday.

We got the space shuttle Discovery back in flight and brought her safely home.

We took a visit to Alabama. While there, we gave Dad a surprise birthday party that Leigh Ann, Sue, Kay and I had planned months in advance. We also spent a few days with the Richardsons on Lake Wilson. In between those visits, Wendy and I spent two wonderful nights at the Avaleen Springs Bed and Breakfast in Linden, Tennessee.

Bryn spent a week in horse camp at Blue Streak Stables near Seguin, Texas.

Summer spent a week vacationing with her friend Hannah and Hanna’s family near Apalachicola, Florida.

We boarded up the house and evacuated to Temple, Texas for Hurricane Rita. It was a very trying time for all of us, although it was nothing compared to what the Katrina evacuees went through. I had planned to write up that time, from the day we went to buy our plywood (our wedding anniversary) to the day we drove back home, but I’m still not ready to think about it in detail. Maybe I can post the story next June at the start of the 2006 hurricane season.

I built a new server for the Pine Gulch Data Center.

We watched Auburn have a good season with a 9-2 record. The season included a thrilling win over Georgia, and a thrashing of Alabama in the Iron Bowl. Fortunately, this is a 2005 review, so I am not obliged to comment on Auburn’s Capital One Bowl game against Wisconsin.

I was awarded a bronze medallion and silver medallion for technical innovation by United Space Alliance. I also marked my tenth year with the company.

Wendy took a part-time job stocking stores for Leapfrog.

We simultaneously lost our minds and acquired a horse.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 2nd, 2006 at 11:44 pm and is filed under Family. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.