Happy blog-birthday to me!
Web-goddess is now officially eight-years-old. Good grief. Have I really been doing it that long? Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time on Facebook, and it’s been weird to see how many of my high school and college classmates have kids now. I guess – for better or worse – this blog is my baby. This is what I have to show for the past eight years. Each anniversary has become sort of a special point of reflection for me, when I can look back over the highlights of the past twelve months. As usual, I’ve compiled some fun statistics to celebrate. (Previously: 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003.)

• Number of posts: 868 (A 7% increase from last year’s 811. Going back to a desk job probably helped.)
• Number of comments: 2195 (An 11% decrease from last year’s 2454.)
• Comments to post ratio: 2.53 (Hm. Lower than last year’s 3.02.)
• Posts mentioning the Snook: 193 (Up from last year’s 167. I must like him more.)
• Most commented posts: My first half-marathon, getting laid off, losing my step-brother, Ron Howard’s endorsement of Obama causes family arguments, getting a new job, and the now deleted “Sorry Day” post. (Man, most of those are heavy. Remember when we used to talk about silly Internet stuff?)
• Top 10 commenters excluding myself: Bex (130), rachel (104), Emily (104), Jenny (76), eileen (66), M-H (66), aim (50), jp (42), Kevin (41), and crumpet (38).
• Number of polls: ZERO! I think I, like, completely forgot about those.
• Moblog posts: only TWO! (I haven’t got it working on my new host yet, so no big surprise there.)
• Oscar contest entries: 386, won by Gerald Granozio
• Nike+iPod total distance run: 811km / 504mi (That’s a 64% increase on 2007!)
• Races run: Mother’s Day Classic, Sydney Half-Marathon, City 2 Surf (third in a row!), Bridge Run, Melbourne Half-Marathon, Tough Bloke Challenge.
• Finished knitting projects: twelve, including my “highly-commended” Road to Golden, several pairs of socks, and two novelty jumpers
• Media appearances: two (interview/photo for JJJ Magazine which never got published; interview/photos in October issue of Knitting magazine about WWKIP Day in Sydney)
• Jobs: three (knitting shop, software developer, software developer/BA)
• Trips: Los Angeles for work in July; Melbourne for a race in October; Eungai for Christmas in December
• Natural disasters: EARTHQUAKE!
• New additions to the family: Professor Death (aka “Petey”), our new kitten; and Indie Marie Carbo, my new niece

So goodbye to 2008! I just had a look over last year’s resolutions, and I did pretty well at keeping them! I ran regularly through most of the year and completed my first half-marathon (along with a second and several other races). I took swimming lessons and learned to do a proper stroke. I got a new job back in I.T. that paid better than the knitting shop. I was more organised both at work and at home. Not too bad!

Okay then, what’s for 2009? I’d like to keep up my running and improve my half-marathon time, with a goal towards running a full marathon in 2010. Towards that end, I need to drop about 10kg. I’d like to take a few more steps down the path towards becoming a full-time Business Analyst. I’d like to win a blue ribbon at the Easter Show. I’d like to do some volunteer work. Here’s to a great year, everybody!