2006 recap: all's well that ends well

I've had crappy years, I've had feh years. But looking back on 2006, it was a good year.

This December marks the 1 year anniversary of ack/nak. Looking back on my first post, I'm reminded of how different this blog has turned out compared to what I envisioned it's mission to be at that time. Life is funny that way. So here are some highlights/lowlights as memorialized here:

1. I'm both amazed and appalled at how interesting I thought Gmail's addition of a "delete" button was.

2. At the turning of the calendar, the importance of "writing the MRD first" and "avoiding the red-eye" remain as important as ever. These are two of my most-read posts, curiously.

3. One of the most valuable lessons of 2006 was that nothing good comes of email. Nothing. Better to go talk to someone than blast off an email. Especially at mid-sized software companies that are spread-out geographically.

4. I'm still a fan of stinky cheese.

5. Most prescient title: gnosticism kills marketing, news at 11.

6. Favorite startup: Boxxet. I'm proud to have distributed lots of invites to this exciting new service - here's to their launch in 2007.

7. I realized I was not cool, part of the type-mismatch that was Bob in Marketing.

8. I learned that ack/nak readers are poetry fans. Starting with Richard Brautigan in March, I found poetry to be an apt way to express the unexpressable. Some of my favorites were Alice Howell's The Cardinal in Venice, Poe's Alone and W.B. Yeats' The Choice.

9. Postmodern Marketing failed to take off. Which was perfectly OK with me. Overall, the kung fu of marketing turned out to be more powerful than I thought, which is why I'm so gosh darned happy to be back in PM full-time.

10. I rediscovered how much I enjoyed Manhattans. And cider. And cricket. And Intertype Vogue. Among other things.

11. I was nearly killed by a fast-moving Russian post-teenager. Good-bye Beetle.

12. And after a terrific trip overseas, I ended my long gig at InstallShield/Macrovision and started my new job at Emmi Solutions LLC.

Looking forward to 2007, I've elected to avoid making any "resolutions", resolving instead to "keep doing what's working".

I'm looking forward to watching the Greg the Bunny DVD that Santa brought me.

I'm looking forward to figuring out how to play Battlelore.

I'm looking forward to reading my way through the huge queue of books - including John Scalzi's Old Man's War and Sanjay Patel's The Little Book of Hindu Deities.

And I'm looking forward to accomplishing - as Mr. Ollivander put it - great things.

To all of my faithful readers, I compliment you on your discriminating good taste and overall penchant for quality discourse. I wish you great joy in the new year, and pray that you may meet with good fortune, good health, good humor, and most of all, good stories.