2005 started out with me taking a new position within Miami. One that really helped me grow professionally and allowed me to make some really great friends at work. This was a very positive change.
Abby then followed suit. She left 5/3 for greener pastures at Luxotica Retail in march of 2005. There she was able to make use of her new accounting skills that she had learned in her post-grad schooling. Luxotica was also a lot closer to home being located the suburb of Mason, OH instead of downtown. Though she had a rough first six months, Luxoitica proved to be a very good experience for Abby. Mostly because she made some great friends there.
Abby broke her foot playing soccer in late June. That was a major concern at the time because Abby and I were preparing for a hiking trip in early August. Even if Abby could get back in time her conditioning was going to suffer. In the end Abby recovered and hiked the mountains like a champ. You can read about it here here and here. View the photos here.
I started growing a beard on the trip and I've kept it ever since. I can't imagine getting rid of it at this point. I cringe when i see old photos of myself without it. The beard is probably the most symbolic physical change of my maturation. well, that and the glasses. and about 10 pounds of excess weight.
I started wearing glasses full time in 2004. I got them initially in 1998 sometime so that I could better see the blackboard in the large lecture halls but didn't wear them all the time. I'm not sure what caused me to start wearing them everyday in 2004. probably just diminishing eyesight.
There's a big difference between how I looked sans glasses/beard at the end of 2004 and how i looked at the end of 2005. I got new, thicker rimmed, glasses in early 2006 which solidified my current 'look'.
I took three new albums with me on my iPod for that hiking trip. They were Alligator by The National, Illinois by Sufjan Stevens and Meadowlands by The Wrens. So much driving requires alot of music listening. And I played the hell out of these albums on the trip. I'm not sure if there is causality there, but these three albums have become some of my all-time favorites. Maybe they were just great albums that happened to coincidentally come along in time for the trip. This happened before as Radiohead's OK Computer came out just before I embarked on a similar backpacking trip to the Canadian Rockies after I graduated highschool. For whatever reason, good music and hiking trips go hand-in-hand with me.
2005 turned out to be a phenomenal year for music. for me anyway. In addition to Alligator and Illinois, Okkervil River released Black Sheep Boy, Spoon released Gimme Fiction and Animal Collective released Feels (though I wouldn't get to that until later). My interest in music certainly piqued in 2005. (note: Meadowlands was released in 2003, but i didn't get to it until 2005. and incidentally, it's probably my favorite record of the decade)
In November, 2005 we acquired our third (and hopefully last, for awhile) cat, Sid because he was just too cute to pass up. Abby promised me a computer in return. A promise that went long unfulfilled. She is forgiven, however because she let me upgrade our technology situation after moving into the new house. We got a HD projector, receiver, PS3, readynas and replaced the aging 12" powerbook with a new mac within the last year or so.
2006 was pretty uneventful. We took two vacations, New Mexico in June and Northern California to visit Abby's brother and family over labor day. Abby wasn't a huge fan of the New Mexico Vacation but I really enjoyed it. You can read about it here. We both really enjoyed the trip to California. There's something to be said about taking it easy on vacation instead of go-go-go all the time. We were able to just hang out with family which was very refreshing. We also spent a day in Napa Valley which was fun.
The last major event of 2006 was the Wii launch when abby and I camped out at Walmart for 12 hours. It was actually more fun than it sounds. and considering the scarcity of Wiis that lasted for over a year, I'm glad we did it.
2007 was our last year of the easy life. Although it started out inauspiciously with me losing my wedding ring while changing a tire in the snow. Even though we couldn't quite settle our plans, we knew that we were approaching family time. We talked about moving back to Indiana and considered the various scenarios. Have kid in Ohio then move? move then have kid? We couldn't really decide. There were too many working parts.
We took a vacation to Mexico. Since we were starting to think about making babies, we knew this would be our last big vacation for awhile. We decided to go out with a bang and do the international thing. It was a very positive vacation overall. We had some really awesome food there. I successfully avoided the sun. And sammy hagar.
By 2007 i was getting really into beer thought it's hard to pin that down to a specific timeframe. My love of good beer goes all the way back to college when I was drinking sam adams varieties instead of keystone or nattie light. By 2007 I was thumbing my nose at anything macro-made and trying new microbeers every week. This continues to be my biggest obsession, i think.
That fall was my 10 year high school reunion. I decided to attend at the last minute. I ended up having a good time and left wondering how people could change so much but conversely still stay the same.
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