Ed Brill

It was a year ago today that Volker convinced me to start my own weblog.  Well, he made it pretty easy -- since he hosted it, did the setup and design, and showed me how to access it.  A few months later, John Head transitioned me from Volker's site and Moveable Type to PSC and the DominoBlog template.  We lost the comments from the first few months of the blog in the migration, but the actual entries are (mostly) intact.

Much as for many of us, it is time for us to write our annual self-evaluations, the fact that this blog's anniversary date occurs so close to the end of the year makes the "year in review" format ideal for this entry.

First, I should start with some gracious thanks.  Being "on the air" for the last twelve months has been an incredible experience.  I (and some occasional blogjackers) have written roughly 650 blog entries here in that time (plus the lotus.com/weblog stuff),  covering a huge variety of topics.  This weblog has been visited by over 12,000 unique IP addresses, just in the last four months.

Beyond the numbers, getting to know many of you through the entries written here, as well as interaction with your own weblogs, mails, IMs, and live and in person has been enriching and contributed to my professional as well as personal growth.  So thank you.

Since I've titled this a year in review, let's take a look back at some highlights.

Countries visited:
-- Germany, Spain, Canada, China, Hong Kong/China, England, Switzerland, France, Japan, Austria, Slovakia, Australia, New Zealand  (Four new countries!)

Airlines flown:
,,  Alaska, Air Canada, bmibaby, Iberia, Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, Air China, Shanghai, Qantas, Air New Zealand  (Six new airlines)

Top dozen blogged moments (I couldn't keep this to just ten :):

1. Megan's first steps
2. Cholesterol testing results (the graphic is no longer there... it shows a 45% reduction in my #s after I started taking Lipitor)
3. Alone on a snowy Great Wall of China, March
4. Rollerblading the streets of Paris at night, July
5. Herkules above the clouds, Kassel, November
6. Mont Blanc and raclette with the Lanvers, July (more accurately depicted in my photos)
7. Driving over the final hill to view Stonehenge, England, May
8. Penumbra award at Lotusphere 2003, January
9. Vienna City temple tour, October
10. Coming into Victoria Harbour by ferry, Hong Kong, March
11. Beginets and chicory coffee, New Orleans, April
12. Home landscaping rennovations, August

Top five strangest moments:

1. Drinking pasta water, Tokyo, October
2. GRANITE users group meeting aboard the Spirit of Chicago, August
3. Olaf's Christmas carol (who is this, anyway?  No e-mail, never heard from on LDD or other forums, something isn't quite right here)
4. Being called a liar by a cred-less hacker, August
5. Imaginging John Head dating the woman whose pictures he sent to me, July  (oh wait, I guess I didn't blog about that ;)

Top Hotels:
Grand Hyatt, Hong Kong; Park Hyatt, Canberra; Hotel Marlowe, Cambridge MA; W Hotel - The Tuscany, New York; Wyndham Grant, San Diego; Hilton, Toronto; Hotel Opera, Zurich; Sheraton Towers, Melbourne

Top Restaurants:
Gutshof, Kassel; Oysy Sushi, Northbrook; Nacional 27, Chicago; Kemo sabe, San Diego;  Italian place near Marriott hotel, Munich; Fresh tempura, Matsuya, Tokyo; Fugakyu, Brookline (near Boston); Le Monchau, Chamonix; place I ate at in Paris Bastille (this picture).

Most certainly, I've left some things off these lists -- I'm struggling to remember great restaurants in other cities, for example.  And there were many great, inspiring moments from the year that were never blogged.

I've generally left anything IBM/Lotus-related out of this year in review, by design.  As much as many of you read this site primarily to find information related to Lotus, IBM, and and the collaboration market, what has made the last 12 months energizing has been sharing in human interaction.  I look forward to more of the same in the next year.
--Ed