New Year (of the Lobster?)

Happy New Year Eveyone!!!!

Yup. Another year. As usual the last few years, today I looked at the date and thought, wow, I am really old. I never imagined that I would see the digits 2-0-0-9 on a calender.

As has become somewhat traditional for me, I did nothing overly exciting on New Years. Instead Aviva and I spent the evening relaxing and laughing, a lot. We drank prosecco and scotch, and made a great meal of lobsters (which are surprisingly cheap these days) with jumbo shrimp and tabouli. Then we watched Kung Fu Panda, snuggled and read waiting for the ball to fall in Times Square.

I have to say, I am a little nostalgic for 2008, despite the dire financial and other global crises, it was a pretty good year for me. First off, I got engaged to an incredible woman who makes me happier than I have ever been at any point in my life ... and the wedding planning and engagement parties and all that stuff has actually been a blast. I got my first independent grant at work and my science has been going very well, hopefully I will have some publication news for you all in the near future. I grew to love my New York family even more and feel like a true part of Aviva's incredible family. And I basically spent the year with great friends, traveling, eating, drinking, hiking and exploring the East Coast, living close to the job I love in a great apartment with the love of my life. So 2008 year was excellent for me, I hope that anyone reading this was also blessed to have a positive year despite the broader crises emerging around us.

Still I am pretty excited about this year, it has the potential to be even better ... after all, 2009 is the year that I am going to get married ...