I have finally gotten around to “switching over” my calendar from last year. It is an easy task of copying over birthdays, anniversaries, and other important info from last year’s calendar to this year’s. Simple as it is, I always put it off until after the craziness of the holidays. It is never as bad of a project as I make it to be in my mind.

The best part of this project is revisiting all of my events, appointments and schedules of the past year. Usually the past year is similar to the current year, but this time around the changes have been huge. It was interesting to see my old work schedule dominating the calendar pages. I could see all of my OB appointments and finally Catherine’s birthday. Wedding dates, cookouts, vacations and even baby milestones (first teeth!) remind me of all the fun times we’ve had with people we love.

As a sporadic journaler it is awesome to have this daily record of our lives. It reminds me of so many good times (and even some not so good) and events and gives me a marker of how much our lives have changed in such a short time.

January

In January, Becky was in her fifth month of her [very boring](http://prwdot.org/2006/01/17/this-pregnancy-is/) pregnancy. She was mostly over the nausea and was just enjoying the anticipation. Becky turned 27, and we had a fun [bowling birthday party](http://prwdot.org/2006/01/14/bowling-with-becky/) for her, and I helped organize a [get together of Gordon College computer science alums](http://prwdot.org/2006/01/22/computer-science/).

February

In February, we could feel “[the baby](http://prwdot.org/2006/02/06/kickin/)” kicking for the first time! Becky threw an [Olympics](http://prwdot.org/2006/02/12/passion-lives-here/) party for the winter Olympics in Torino. We got [our first camcorder](http://prwdot.org/2006/02/12/video-killed-the-photography-star/). And we [visited Montreal](http://prwdot.org/2006/03/01/je-me-souviens/).

March

In March, we went to a [Pseudo-St. Pat’s Party](http://prwdot.org/2006/03/05/pseudo-st-pats/) at [Jenny](http://raingirl3179.livejournal.com/)’s, and we got our [new Mac mini](http://prwdot.org/2006/03/20/our-new-baby/).

April

Becky had her [baby shower](http://prwdot.org/2006/04/10/showered-with-love/). My family’s dog, Beaux, [died](http://prwdot.org/2006/04/13/he-was-a-good-dog/). We said goodbye to Becky’s [Papa](http://prwdot.org/2006/04/27/papa/).

May

In May, Becky [worked her last day at the Otis House](http://prwdot.org/2006/05/06/sahm/) and became a SAHM! We did a lot of [reorganizing](http://prwdot.org/2006/05/06/sunny-inside-saturday/) and [purging](http://prwdot.org/2006/05/10/stuff-in-stuff-out/). We watched “the baby”‘s [due date](http://prwdot.org/2006/05/21/happy-due-date/) [pass by](http://prwdot.org/2006/05/22/ddpo-activities/). Finally, on Memorial Day weekend, Catherine Elinor Wood made her [dramatic arrival](http://prwdot.org/2006/05/27/a-dramatic-arrival/) into this world.

June

In June, Catherine was finally able to [come home from the hospital](http://prwdot.org/2006/06/10/homecoming/). She had spent two weeks as the guest of Brigham and Women’s hospital in Boston and Beverly Hospital here in our home town. Shortly thereafter, we took her on her [first trip to Taco Bell](http://prwdot.org/2006/06/13/fun-with-catherine/). Catherine had a lot of visitors this month – [Grandma and Grandpa Wood](http://prwdot.org/2006/06/24/grandma-and-grandpa-wood/), [the Farnhams and the Woods](http://prwdot.org/2006/06/24/a-confluence-of-visitors/). By the end of the month, Catherine had [grown by two pounds and one inch](http://prwdot.org/2006/06/29/catherine-is-on-the-grow/) since birth!

July

In July, we carted Catherine [down to Boston](http://prwdot.org/2006/07/03/holiday-weekend/) for Harborfest, up to York, Maine for [dinner with the Rainvilles](http://prwdot.org/2006/07/10/dinner-with-the-rainvilles/), down for her [first trip to Martha’s Vineyard](http://prwdot.org/2006/07/10/first-vineyard-weekend/), out to Pennsylvania for [Johanna’s wedding](http://prwdot.org/2006/07/29/weve-got-a-friend-in-pennsylvania/).

August

In August, we did [Beverly Homecoming](http://prwdot.org/2006/08/01/beverly-homecoming/). We also took another trip down to the Vineyard, this time [with the Rainvilles](http://prwdot.org/2006/08/14/a-workend-post/). Catherine and I got to see our first [Grand Illumination](http://prwdot.org/2006/08/25/illuminati/). We took trips to [Long Hill and the USS Friendship](http://prwdot.org/2006/08/29/long-hill-and-the-friendship/), and had [dinner at Lynch Park](http://prwdot.org/2006/08/31/dinner-at-the-park/).

September

In September, we went to [David Lee](http://prwdot.org/2006/09/03/wedding-pics/)’s wedding. We got to see some cool ships at the [Gloucester Schooner Festival](http://prwdot.org/2006/09/05/gloucester-schooner-festival/). We took Catherine on her first trip to the [Museum of Science](http://prwdot.org/2006/09/10/mossy/). We attended Beverly Hospital’s [special care nursery birthday party](http://prwdot.org/2006/09/17/a-busy-weekend/) and [Art and Leanne’s wedding](http://prwdot.org/2006/09/17/a-busy-weekend/). Becky and I finally jumped on the bandwagon and purchased an Xbox so that we could play [Dance Dance Revolution](http://prwdot.org/2006/09/18/ddr/) at home. At four months old, [Catherine was 16 pounds nine ounces and 26 inches long](http://prwdot.org/2006/09/26/four-months/)!

October

In October, Becky had her first experience with general anesthesia in a successful operation to [remove three cysts from one of her ovaries](http://prwdot.org/2006/10/03/cystectomy/). We went to see the [Topsfield Fair Parade](http://prwdot.org/2006/10/07/topsfield-fair-parade/) and to [Gordon College Homecoming](http://prwdot.org/2006/10/09/gordon-college-homecoming-2006/). We [changed Catherine’s diaper in many interesting locations](http://prwdot.org/2006/10/22/recent-diaper-changes/) on our trip out to Ohio and Toronto. On [that trip](http://prwdot.org/2006/10/30/have-a-nice-trip-see-you-next-fall/), we finally got to meet [Michelle](http://mikao.blogspot.com/)! Becky and I celebrated our [fourth wedding anniversary](http://prwdot.org/2006/10/26/45/). Catherine also celebrated her first Halloween, and joined us for [several Halloween parties](http://prwdot.org/2006/10/31/happy-halloween/).

November

In November, we slept through the [Danvers chemical plant explosion](http://prwdot.org/2006/11/22/explosion/), even though we were just two miles away. We also celebrated our first [Thanksgiving with Catherine](http://prwdot.org/2006/11/22/gobble-gobble/)!

December

In December, we spent the first weekend [on a trip to western Mass](http://prwdot.org/2006/12/03/a-weekend-with-friends/) with Bob, Leah, Lucas, and Jeremy. We visited Boston’s new [ICA](http://prwdot.org/2006/12/10/i-see-a/) with Mark. The month was fairly busy with preparations for Christmas, which culminated in our [week-long Christmas event](http://prwdot.org/2006/12/30/christmas/)!

It was indeed a good year, and of course it will surely go down as one of the most memorable with Catherine’s arrival. 🙂

And now, we wish you a happy 2007!

ppp||ppp

I’ve been thinking alot lately about all the services that are out there that cater to the personal interests of their subscribers. Services like Bloglines, Google, the iPod, Yahoo and Tivo.

All of these systems allow the user to select specific content and custom design how they’d like to view (or listen to) that content. For instance, you can set up a google homepage that shows you your weather, news headlines, sports scores, etc. It will be completely custom and therefore different from the guy’s in the next cube over. Bloglines is a great product that pulls together all your favorite news sources, blogs and web goodness into one tight little package; you, of course, get to choose the ‘feeds’ that bloglines compiles for you.

On the surface these services are fantastic. I like not having to blog crawl daily to find out who’s updated and who hasn’t. I like getting the news headlines from places that are important to me (Beverly, Townsend, MV, Mount Vernon), and I love having all my favorite music on the iPod to listen to at a moment’s notice. These programs save time and frustration and have simplified ‘surfing the net’ for many people.

I worry, however, that having so many customizable options will turn us (or me specifically) into close minded, locally focused society unwilling to try new things. Our iPod is great at playing our favorite tunes, but lacks the ability to force us to listen to new artists or different types of music. Tivo is a little better, as it can ‘guess’ the kinds of things you’ll like based on what you’ve recorded before; but it still limits the bredth of programming you’ll see. Bloglines may show me my local news headlines, but if I haven’t selected an ‘internationally’ focused newsfeed then I won’t see foreign stories show up.

Channel surfing on tv or spinning the dial on the radio can give us the opportunity to discover new and interesting things. In the long run we may miss out because we never discovered how much we love jazz, since we never bought an jazz album from iTunes, and never heard it on the radio. We may never have heard the theory that the Sahara was once a lush, fertile region, since we never stumbled on that documentary on the Discovery Channel.

I hope that most folks out there are well balanced in the news they read and the music/shows/cultural interests they participate in. I hope that people are still growing and adjusting their tastes in music and literature and are recustomizing their tivo/ipod/feedreaders to reflect the change.

Our top 10 commenters for 2005:

* [Jenn](http://junefourteenth.blogspot.com/) – 45
* [Angela](http://www.thebiggspicture.org/) – 43
* [Michelle](http://mikao.blogspot.com/) – 33
* [Christine](http://www.amusings.net/clg/) – 21
* Ken F – 20
* [Will](http://pulchersentio.prwdot.org/) – 14
* Melanie – 12
* Beth Bray – 12
* [Mike](http://refugeisland.net/) – 11
* Susie – 9

Interesting statistics:

* 6/10 of the top commenters have their own blogs
* 7/10 of the top commenters are female
* 1/10 of the top commenters are family members

Maybe in 2006 we can get some more guys to comment on the blog. And more family members (thanks Susie!).

Most commented post: [Anybody Got $250,000 We Could Borrow?](http://prwdot.org/archives/2005/11/anybody_got_250000_we_could_bo.html) with 18 comments.

Month with the most posts: [January](http://prwdot.org/archives/2005/01/) with 42 posts.

Lengthiest post: [Under the hood](http://prwdot.org/archives/2005/02/under_the_hood.html) at 14,131 characters.

Interesting note: Since January 2005, the number of posts we’ve made per month has shrunk from 40 to 15. But at the same time, the number of comments we’ve received per month has stayed steady, and even increased a bit. So I guess we’re going more for quality than quantity?

Here’s to a bloggy new year!

You may remember that a while ago, I believed I had photographed U2’s Bono as he rode through Boston in a limo. I later [discovered](http://prwdot.org/archives/2005/10/bamboozled.html) that it was actually a look-alike who had been hired to promote their upcoming concerts. Well, I later posted that [photo](http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterwood/48993813/) on [flickr](http://www.flickr.com/), and wouldn’t you know it, just a couple days ago, the Bono look-alike himself [left a comment](http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterwood/48993813/#comment18760866)!

Isn’t the Interweb a wonderful thing?

I have revitalized and reorganized [Gordonexus](http://prwdot.org/gordonexus.html), the page where I keep track of the webpages of various folks who have attended [Gordon College](http://www.gordon.edu/) (in Wenham, MA – not that annoying, bane of my Google searching existence, Gordon College in Barnesville, GA… curse you!). Mainly, I have now organized the listings first by year of graduation, then alphabetical by last name. I had a few difficult cases where I had to split up married couples since they graduated from different classes, and also some people who are married, but whose spouses did not graduate from Gordon.

The Gordonexus has a permanent link on the left side of our site under the ‘Site Content’ heading. As always, if you would like to recommend a new site to link to, or correct/update/remove information, please let me know!