For me, I would describe 2011 as a “timeless” year. Not in a sense, that it was a year that was the best of my life™ but because there was no pressure from time. We didn’t have any long-running activities that required planning (i.e., wedding or move), we don’t have kids yet so there isn’t stress or limitations due to them, and there weren’t any hard decisions or health issues to think about. Instead, it was an easy, carefree, “in-between” year – it’s great to have these and who knows how many more there will be.

Biking on the Don Trail, somewhere around the Science Centre

Given our freedom, we did some more adventurous travelling. I think the best travel memories I will have from this year are:

• Visiting Chamonix because of its renown as the base camp for adventurers to climb (and die) on Mont Blanc. It has this certain allure and romanticism for me, although we didn’t climb or really do outdoor activities there!
  
  Mountain meets Villa in Chamonix
• Being the only guests in a hotel on top of Mt Pilatus in the Swiss alps. We felt like celebrities because it was so exclusive, yet it was also freaky and insecure!
  
  The front of Hotel Pilatus-Kulm
• Our bus getting stuck,a few times, behind horse+wagons carrying bales of hay in Poland, while visiting Auschwitz. Wow, Poland is really undeveloped!
  
  The balloons. They’re attracted to me! (Warsaw)
• Randomly visiting Riga, Latvia to stay overnight because that was the best way to organize our flights, and then ending up (by plan) in this humongous Soviet-era hotel. I wish I had taken more pictures, but I was tired and I was starting to be photographed-out by that point in the trip; but the place was just *so* gaudy. There was a chandelier in our room above the bed, and lots of brass/metal furniture and fixtures. It was a real and unintended journey into the past. Even SPB wasn’t that Russian!
  
  Church of Spilled Blood in St Petersburg, Russia
• The island fortress part of Suomenlinna in Helsinki is spectacular. It is absolutely huge, like out-of-a-movie huge.
  
  It is here that they defend against warships

From a career point of view, I was leading a major feature for our next major release for the entire year at work. We spent the entire year on that, and it was hectic up to the end. That put a hamper on other developmental activities that I could have done during work time (i.e., I didn’t present at TechConnect nor CASCON because the work I was doing was not announced yet, nor really novel – it was a lot of implementation and design discussions).

Eating at Primanti Bros in Grove City

On the side, I learned a lot and did a lot of work building Android apps. I completed Condado by probably investing a couple of hundred of hours into it; but it is fulfilling and successful, because I have received many positive reviews and emails about it! I also completed a couple of other apps, although I am at a point where I feel I have spread myself too thin on those apps and want to concentrate on a few, very high quality ones.

Catching a Jays game in the nosebleeds on Canada Day

My media consumption patterns were shifting this year, even as they have become more prominent in society. Many people are starting to use tablets and cellphones to consume – you can stream Netflix or rent videos from Amazon/Zune/etc on your personal devices. However, this year I listened to less radio (side effect of taking the bus) and thus heard less new music. It didn’t feel odd or that I was missing something though.

Skating on the TD Rink on the Brink in Niagara Falls

I bought fewer CDs, only saw one or two (maybe exactly one) movies, and stopped reading/following comics. I tried to read more books, perhaps due to the enthusiasm of owning a Kindle, but other hobbies ended up taking up my reading time. I started watching more TV, but it doesn’t feel like something I want or need to do. I definitely played fewer games, specifically on XBox; I have begun playing some on my (Android) phone, but not to the extent that would replace my previous game playing.

Fishing! in a swimming pool!

My hobbies and interests have shifted a bit. We are apparently doing a good job at raising coffee plants, but not so well on other types of plants. I started learning guitar towards the end of the year but have somewhat plateaued. We hardly went to TSO this year (only twice) and I don’t think I went to any other concerts. The malls are uninteresting, especially because there are so many people there on the weekends; instead, we’ve taken to heading to Buffalo to do our shopping every several months. We have been more interested in the Leafs this fall, although maybe because they have a better team.

Our take out box for Ruby Watchco

And now, on to 2012!

Posted by Kevin in Blogs Tags: recap, travelling