What I Learned in 2008

• Heinrich Harder is wicked awesome.
• Even Mariners baseball can get boring if the team is inept enough.
• Never volatilize cat urine.  Not even your worst enemy deserves to smell that.
• Day trips from Eugene to the John Day Fossil Beds are feasible, provided you're willing to get up at 4:00.
• There's never a dull moment on the Mariners blogosphere.
• The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is everything the Experience Music Project wishes it were but will never be.
• Going to a game at Autzen is much more fun when the Ducks win.
• Getting funding is hard, at least under the Bush Administration.
• Preparing for - and worrying about - comps is far, far worse than actually taking them.
• There is no free lunch as far as camping in the Juntura area is concerned.  Unless you're a mosquito.
• Lucy is well worth the trip to see in person.
• American democracy is still alive and kicking.
• Barack Obama is an exceptionally good speaker, especially in person.
• Caucuses are more fun than primaries.
• Horses > dogs >> squirrels, at least as far as their fossil records go.
• Genghis Khan invented pants.
• I still refer to Seattleites and Washingtonians as 'we' (and I probably always will).
• Dave Niehaus really is a hall of fame-caliber broadcaster.
• Pasadena is cool.  San Bernardino is not.
• The Big Time Brewery has a long-lost twin in Berkeley.
• Giving a talk at SVP is much better than presenting a poster.
• I'm not the only one who thinks making a year-in-review bulleted list is a good idea.

Happy 2009, everyone!