1/1/11. 1/1/11. 1/1/11.

That is fun to type.

2010 was a great year for us. It is the first year I can say that I am happier, better off, and farther along in all the areas that are important to me. That’s not to say there weren’t a few bumps and hiccups along the way, but nothing too devastating or serious in the long run. There is much to be grateful for.

Here are some highlights from 2010:

* I published more short stories than I have ever published before.

* I also published several articles.

* I gave a reading.

* I judged a book contest.

* Kyle got a new job. This month, he will be starting at Cyan in Petaluma, which is just down the road from our house.

* Kyle published the second edition of the Official Ubuntu Server Book

* He also published articles, mostly for Linux Journal.

* Kyle’s column, “Hack and /,” was voted “Best Linux Journal Column” by the magazine’s readers.

* Kyle spoke at several conferences.

* We went to Spain!

* We got chickens.

* We bought a Karmann Ghia.

* We bought a kayak and used it until it got too cold.

* We went camping in Humboldt.

* I went to the AWP conference in Colorado, which I wrote about on the Word Pirates site.

* We went to Santa Barbara for our anniversary. We didn’t like Santa Barbara, but I’m still glad we went.

* I took a road trip to California gold country with Marcia.

* Kyle and I continued all our food hobbies. We made duck confit, bacon, beef jerky, strawberry jam, and other beers for the first time.

* I took a photography class at the community college, but I didn’t like it and dropped out.

* We made progress on the remodel of the bathroom. I hope to finish this spring.

And so on!

Our family also did well this year. My parents bought a house. This is a huge deal since my parents haven’t had a home of their own since I was in high school. Also, my mother-in-law’s business is starting to do well, which is gratifying because she has worked so hard to get it off the ground.

Our friends are doing cool things, too. Justin and Stephanie are traveling the world–and blogging about it. Marcia wrote her first book, which is coming out in April. You can pre-order it here. Word Pirates, my writing group, is doing great too. We are publishing more and seem encouraged to work toward our goals in a new way lately.

As usual, I read a lot. In particular, I read books on gardening and some classics, including Walden by Thoreau, Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham, Plato’s Republic, some Wittgenstein, and some Shakespeare. I also read new books as well, including the much-hyped Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, Jennifer Egan’s enjoyable A Visit from the Goon Squad, and The Best American Short Stories 2010. Every year, I intend to read the cool and happening writers my contemporaries read, but somehow I never get around to it and end up following strange threads instead. This fall, I became obsessed with Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald and read three biographies on them in the row. Now I seem to be over that, which is kind of a relief.

Another thing that happened this year: I hit a stride in how I handle my work, and this has been fruitful for me both intellectually and creatively. Something changed in my discipline and concentration. I would make a goal, devote time to it, and then my goal would be achieved–without the agonizing and worrying that usually accompanies this process. I also started free-writing in the morning for 20 minutes a day, which produced an astounding number of short stories and essays, many of which I polished up and published. And I kept a private journal all year, which not only helped me keep a better record of my life, it helped me remember just what the heck happens to me. Otherwise, I forget with alarming speed.

So that’s it for 2010. In 2011, I would like to:

* Go to New England in the fall. I want to see fall leaves and visit nerdy literary sites and eat maple syrup.

* Go to AWP again in Washington, DC this February, which is really a big excuse to visit the spy museum.

* Finish the book. You know the one.

* Use the kayak allll the time.

* Go on mini-trips in the convertible.

* See the Kentucky Derby in May, which also means we will be traveling to Kentucky.

* Finish remodeling the bathroom.

* Put a patio in the backyard. Goodbye ugly concrete slab.

* Plant an even bigger garden. I am going to put in blueberries, a pomegranate, a cherry tree, an apple, and lots and lots of flowers, as well as the usual vegetables. Our water bill is going to be enormous.

* Have a party in my lovely new backyard by the end of summer and invite all my friends.

Happy New Year.

I know, you have been expecting me to write about Spain on here. And I will. But in the meantime, here is our new car: a 1970 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia convertible.

My 1993 Honda Civic is on its last legs, so we needed a new car. (Or should I say “new”?) We bought this Karmann Ghia from a cute little German lady who bought the car straight from the factory showroom in Germany in 1970, had it shipped over to the USA when she moved here, and has been driving it ever since. She has kept immaculate care of the car. We are its second owners in its 40 year lifetime.

We decided to get a classic car for lots of reasons, including: the high resale value, Kyle’s desire to learn how to fix cars, the pleasure of sticking it to the current car companies (and their prices), and the coolness factor. Karmann Ghias are a mixture of Italian design–the body is made by the same firm that designed Porsche bodies–and German mechanics, which is kind of mind boggling and awesome.

I’m a little nervous about owning such an old car, but so far it is a lot of fun.

Karmann Ghia!

I have not forgotten you, blog. I have been working incredibly hard to finish up a bunch of projects before I go to Spain on October 16, and that has been taking up all my time. However, we have made progress on our bathroom, which I will post on here soon. And last weekend, we went camping in Humboldt to escape this burst of hot weather and I took lots of pictures, which I will also be posting.

In the meantime, I joined Goodreads, a social networking site about books. If you are on there, be my friend. Here is my review of Underworld by Don DeLillo:

It took me forever to finish this book. I have no idea why it was so slow going, but it’s done now and I am relieved.

There’s no doubt that this is a masterfully written book. The structure alone is worth studying, how DeLillo seems to drop and pick up the threads so often that you almost forget he’s telling a story, but then in the end he ties everything together, which makes the novel satisfying enough to justify the long read. I respect what he’s doing here, and the book made me think about things like why people are so obsessed with collectibles and the difficulty of verifying the true history of any given object, and so on. The scenes between characters, when he chooses to write them, are brilliant and detailed and draw you into the characters’ minds enough that you still care what happens to them 50 pages later when they reemerge in the narrative.

That said, I don’t know why DeLillo isn’t criticized more for being heavy handed. All through this book, I felt like the dude was hitting me over the head with his many important ! points! During a baseball game, advertisements are literally raining down on peoples’ heads, because America is consumerist, don’t you know. Even when we are enjoying our national pastime, consumerism! And did you know that people don’t listen to each other? They say things and then the other person says something, but they are different things! They don’t listen! America, with its waste and loneliness. Crazy, huh? There is something inherently affected about this writer that has always turned me off, and this book, while brilliant, is no exception.

Taken with Marcia’s iPhone.

Did you notice that the year is almost one-third over already? Yeah. Fast, huh? I have been bad about keeping up with our lives on here, so here are some recent things that have happened:

* Yesterday we put the chickens outside in their coop. I am worried about them because it is raining, but they seem okay so far. They are a little confused, but also happy to be in a bigger space. We knew it was time to put them outside because, aside from the fact that they have full feathers and look like small chickens now, every time I opened their brooder, they jumped around and ran around the guest room. So much pent up energy! Now they can take it out by scratching in their runner.

* I went to AWP in Denver this month. AWP is a writing conference. I went with Marcia and we had a great time. I blogged about it here and Marcia added her two cents here. I liked Denver quite a bit.

* Kyle made his own bacon. He took a pork belly, cured it, and smoked it. It tasted awesome. Here is a picture:

* Kyle is almost done with his update to The Official Ubuntu Server Book. He has been working very hard on it.

* I went kayaking last weekend. We kayaked under a heron nesting ground. Dozens of herons and egrets had put weird twiggy nests in eucalyptus trees. It was neat. Now I want a kayak.

* Afterwards, we had a picnic on the bank of the American River and a Canadian goose swam up on the bank and hissed at us. We gently intimidated it back into the water, but it kept coming back to hiss again. I think there was a nest nearby and it was protecting its family.

* I planted the garden. Well, most of it. I still have to put in winter squash, melons, and leeks. The bugs have been crazy this year already. They killed all my young greenbean plants, so I had to re-plant them all. I hope they come up.

* I have been steadily publishing short stories in literary journals lately, and this makes me very happy.

* Kyle and I made plans for the rest of 2010. I want to go camping, take a smaller trip to somewhere in the United States, go to Spain, and remodel our bathroom. That’s a lot, but also very fun–well, the first three things are fun. The remodeling, not so much.

I like having fun.

So here we are in a new decade. I just looked back on the last year of this blog and realized that very little of my personal life is making it onto the Internet anymore. That’s a good thing for my sense of privacy, but I do like the highlights to hit the web. So there’s a small resolution for next year–make sure this blog has at least the highlights of my personal life, as well as the professional.

For many people I know, 2009 was a dramatic year. People lost their jobs and got new ones. Loved ones passed away. Other people got big promotions or new career opportunities. Oh and babies–there were so many babies born this year, I’ve lost count.

By contrast, 2009 was a rather introspective year for me. I spent most of it focusing on fiction writing and managed to publish several short stories (most of them still forthcoming) and a poem. I also published articles and judged a book contest. I generally wrote and read lots and lots. I spent a lot of time on the computer.

Also, 2009 was the year of Kyle. He turned 30, published a successful book, spoke at many conferences, wrote lots of articles, and had a great year at QuinStreet. I am proud of him!

I started out 2009 saying I wanted to be more active, but then the snow mobiling trip I was planning got canceled, which sort of punctured that ambition. Still, it’s not like I did nothing all year. Here are some of the highlights:

* I went to Puerto Rico with Kyle.

* I went to Portland, Oregon with Kyle and Marcia.

* Kyle published a book with a new publisher called The Official Ubuntu Server Book.

* I played hooky sometimes with Marcia. We went to the King Tut exhibit and a day trip to Monterey and so on.

* Kyle turned 30 years old and we had a 1979 Party to celebrate.

* I went on hikes.

* I saw my friends and had them over to my house.

* Kyle spoke at 6 or 7 conferences, as well as the North Bay Linux Users Group, where he is still president.

* He also got a raise.

* And published articles, mainly for Linux Journal.

* I published articles and short stories, as mentioned above.

* I judged a book contest.

* Several of my photographs are being used in promotional campaigns. For example, the Sonoma County Regional Parks Foundation is turning one of my photographs into an art postcard.

* We painted our house all by ourselves.

* We also finished our guest bathroom.

* We started composting and planted a big garden.

* Of course, we made a lot of food, like our own homemade sausage, beer, and smoked salmon.

* I turned 33 and we went out for Basque food in San Francisco. I heartily recommend Basque food.

* I went to a few shows and readings, including a comedy club for the first time.

* We rang in the New Year with a Spanish Tapas Party at my house, which was delicious.

* I read 91 books in 2009.

Much to be thankful for. And of course, I have lots of plans for this year that are already making 2010 look better than 2009. Here they are:

* I am taking a photography class at the junior college to get better at using my camera.

* I’m planning a trip to Spain in May.

* I hope to put on a literary reading for the Word Pirates in San Francisco.

* I want to go to a book or writing conference.

* I want to go camping on the Lost Coast.

* Kyle is going to be writing an update to The Official Ubuntu Server Book.

* We will be remodeling the bathroom, an even bigger project than painting the house.

* I want to attend a symphony or opera in the near future.

* I want to go hiking more and maybe try something new, like ice skating.

* I plan to take my mother to some art shows in San Francsico, such as the upcoming birth of Impressionism exhibit.

* I want to start going on walks around the neighborhood in the evening, as part of a routine.

* I will start a new blog called LitTripper–coming soon!

* Maybe I will read 100 books in 2010 … ?

Lots to do. Better get started.

Happy New Year!

“Business!” cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!” –Dickens.

Merry Christmas!

1. My Life–Hey I’m not dead! Also I am in good health.

2. My Freedom–I can do anything I want. I can say, think, and believe anything I want. I can vote. No one makes me wear a burka.

3. Kyle–Yes.

4. My Family–Who are all healthy and doing well.

5. My Work–I get to do exactly what I most like doing every day. I don’t even have to listen to a boss or wear nylons or sit in a cubicle or anything.

6. Sonoma County–I live in one of the most beautiful places in the world, I am convinced.

7. My House–I own a house! In California! Wow!

8. My Friends–I have great friends who are interesting and add a lot of fun and laughter to my life.

9. My Cats–Quill and Miles.

10. Fun–This is a catchall for all the great things we get to do all the time, like eat nice food or travel or have parties. I almost put “books” here, since I love books, but maybe not as much as fun. I’m not sure. It’s a tie?

Happy Thanksgiving!

I live in a beautiful place. Two weekends ago, fellow Word Pirate, Morgan, invited a group of us up to his family’s property in Jenner for a picnic. There were gorgeous views of the ocean and surrounding mountains. Here we are on the deck:

(L to R: Marcia, Julie, Morgan, Kyle)

Laura was also there. Also Penny, Morgan’s dog:

We ate a lot of food–salami, homemade bruschetta, cheeses of all kinds, sourdough bread, olives, fruit, wine, dolmas… Afterwards, we burned it off by playing Frisbee.

Then we took a hike to the lookout on top of the mountain. The views up there were even more incredible. I am not feeling very wordy right now, so here are more pictures. The rest are in my gallery, if you know where that is.

Laura

Listening to the ranger read from a book he had with him.

me

sunset

On the way home, the waves along the coast were literally glowing. There must have been some sort of phosphorescence in the water. We stopped for awhile to watch sparkling black waves hit the shore.

I have a pretty awesome life.

As someone who spent most of yesterday daydreaming how I can make a lamp that says “Read” on it for my living room–and then plotting out with my husband the exact font I would use for the word “Read” and how I could make a grid in Gimp to exactly reproduce the word on the lamp–I naturally love MythBusters Co-Host Adam Savage’s speech on obsession. In it, he talks about his quest to reproduce a dodo bird skeleton and then the statue from the movie The Maltese Falcon. Although I don’t have his patience or detail-mindedness, I am totally picking up what Savage is putting down here. (Thanks Justin for the link.)