Why exactly do you want to read a "year in review" by me? Because it's different from all the rest. It sets itself apart. It's a step up. In a league of its own. Or maybe you just have nothing better to do, which is more likely.
2007 started out with some major progress in our basement. All of our drywall was hung in February. We did the work ourselves in the studio, and contracted out the rest of the basement. I wanted to do the studio myself because of the special sound-blocking requirements and Green Glue application. It took us about 20 hours to do the studio, while a contractor single-handedly did the rest of the basement in 6 hours. This was a major milestone in our basement project, which is still in progress after about four years. If I learned anything from doing drywall this time around, it is this: if possible do not carry 50 sheets of 1/2" drywall down your basement stairs. Hire someone else to do it!
Nikki and went to Chicago in March over St. Patrick's day. Unfortunately Nikki got sick while we were there and she stayed in bed watching the St. Patrick's day parade. I got out and snapped some pictures of the green river on St. Patrick's day.
I spoke at my first Twin Cities Code Camp in April on the topic of 3D construction basics in WPF. I haven't done a lot of technical presentations but have found that I don't mind doing them and that the WPF 3D topic is something I specifically enjoy talking about.
Jason and I wrapped up our recording for the Sidetracked Project. What a beast of a project that turned out to be. I think the fact that Jason and I had three children (combined) during our musical efforts contributed to making it a challenge to finish it. All of our music is downloadable from the site, by the way. After we finished recording, the mixing process took about a month and was a time consuming but fun challenge. I learned that it's difficult recording other people's instruments in other people's spaces. I've been so used to recording myself with my own gear that I was biasing my recording techniques to my own situation. Things like the drum sound on our recordings weren't perfect on "tape" and needed some extra care during mixing - it just made it that much more challenging.
Inetium moved in to a new office this year in order to support a fast-growing staff, make Inetium a fun place to work, and present a nice atmosphere for our guests. We're at about 100 employees right now. When I started three years ago there were 40. Details about the new office, including pictures, can be found here: http://kindohm.com/archive/2007/06/04/new-office.aspx. Just like all other .Net shops, Inetium is hiring, and I'd argue that our new office is one reason why you should work here (if you're a .Net developer/consultant). We do all of our projects in-house, so you get to be in the new space every day. Plus there's the annual $750 you get to spend on any tech gear or geeky gadgets you want. And a foos table. And lots of personal time off. Did I mention the $750? In my team's area of the office we have about 5-7 vacant desks for you to choose from.
I can't talk about 2007 without mentioning Eva. She turned two in August. She's growing up so fast and is learning so much so quickly, and she already looks so different compared to earlier this year. She's talking up a storm, picking up words and phrases that surprise us when she repeats them, and sings along with to her favorite songs (among her favorites is Sara Bareilles - she actually knows the words to the chorus of Love Song). She's also asserting her independence these days and gets pretty angry with us when we try and help her do something. Sometimes it's hard to be patient when she has no patience of her own, but it's fun to watch her figure things out.
I had an outstanding experience with Microsoft's XBox 360 support this year. What a joke. I really hope my 2nd 360 doesn't break, but I have low expectations for it. The 360 was/is a sub-par product. Hopefully Microsoft has fixed the issues going forward - for their own good.
Unfortunately, the release of Halo 3 coincided with my 360 being broken (I ended up having a console to be able to play though). Halo 3 is a great game, but the jump from Halo 2 to Halo 3 is nothing like it was from Halo CE to Halo 2. The features in Halo 3 just aren't that much different from Halo 2. The online experience is still about the same, and that's what was so cool about Halo 2. I don't know any real numbers, but I can't imagine that the online success of Halo 3 is anything like it was with Halo 2. I mean, we got our fill of online death matches in 2004-2005. Why have more of the same? LAN parties are still fun though. In person gaming is fun no matter what game you're playing.
Our basement construction progress continued later this year after we got carpet and flooring installed. We used Empire (which I would recommend), and they had our laminate and carpet ordered and installed all within two days. We also completed the basement bathroom by painting it and installing the sink and toilet. After the flooring and bathroom, we were able to get our basement permit signed off by the city - which was a huge milestone and a big monkey to get off of our backs. Looking back, I don't know that I'd pull a permit with the city again for such a large project. Four years ago, I wasn't sure I knew how to build a basement, and that's why I wanted the permit. It ended up being easier than I thought (from a planning/design/technique perspective, not physically or from a time perspective).
We also had our deck built this year too. It's awesome to have a deck, and we didn't even get a chance to use it yet this year. It's great to have the grill out there and to be able to walk out the back door onto a finished set of steps. Not a big deal when you first think about it, but for six years we've been either jumping down from the back door or using a rickety set of make-shift steps to get out in the back.
I spoke at the October Twin Cities Code Camp with Jason on our Quixo3D project. More WPF 3D. I'll be speaking at more of these...
In November we went to Florida and Eva got to spend lots of time at the beach. We also took an unplanned trip to Disney World (8 days of beach beach beach can drive you nuts), went to the Tampa zoo, and went to a Tampa Bay Lightning hockey game. Eva loved Disney World so much... I wasn't sure how much she'd really enjoy it but to this day she talks about the stuff she saw there every day. She about exploded with excitement when she saw the castle (see picture inline) for the first time when we walked in. The toughest part was that she wasn't really old enough to go through the whole day without getting tired or to not ride in a stroller, but it really didn't matter because in the end she had so much fun. I'm sure we'll go back again soon, but some day I hope we can go back and spent more time visiting all of the Disney parks there.
Right now, I'm getting ready for another Code Camp (it's not until April), trying to get some misc. house projects done, and working on a few small .Net projects on the side. Nikki and I are also taking a serious look at scheduling a weekend or two to begin painting our basement. Scheduling is the key word... we need to find a babysitter for a few days :) I really want to start making music again and to be able to use our basement for our own relaxation and enjoyment.
Here's to 2008. Whee!