One story to end '08

This year was wacked.  Not sure how to even begin to describe it to those of you who were not along for the ride, some of you know, and I might have time to put together a list of some of the events, but it will take some thought so I want to tell a heart-warming tale to end 2008.

Christmas day I convince Karin for our family to get a wii.  Doesn't sound like a big deal for most, but for us it really is.  We are saving, pinching pennies, the budget rules us and was feeling like a prison.  So it was a big deal and thanks to it being a gift from family it made us feel good.  Little did we know that there aren't any in stock anywhere.  We call Bestbuy on the 26th, the person lied and said they had them, and then wasted a trip there only to be disappointed.

So I twittered on it.  Then I began searching wiiripofflist, errr  craiglist to see what was there, made a few calls, but none of the leads seemed good.  So we waited.  Then I get an email from an account manager for a very large localization company who I compete with out at Microsoft, though there is not much competition since his companies does lots more business than us.  He email and texted me that he had an extra wii.  This whole waiting time I had been hoping for a used one because frankly full price seemed silly and I didn't want to add one more to the waste pile in a few years.  He had a system which he gave me a very reasonable price on!  We have been having a blast the last two days playing!  My daughter is amazing at bowling and has been kicking our butts!

A few lessons for me from 2008, some related to this and other events:

1.  People matter, not just a little bit, the are the most valuable thing in your life (after God) and you  need to treat them that way.  It does not matter who they are.  Yes, family get special treatment and spouses even more special, but these relationships are what we are given and God cares about what we do with them.  I hope to treat people better next year.

2.  Technology is cool and even cooler when it brings people together.  We are just making baby steps about how technology can bring people together.  The Social Web is nice, but it is worse than baby talk right now.  I am excited about how we will be brought together as we move into the future.  Twitter, blogs, facebook, wii, iPhone are all neat technologies but just the beginning.  Not only do I want to continue to take advantage of these, I'd like to drive the creation of a cool one myself.

3.  Be true.  Nothing causes more trouble than lies.  I make stupid decisions, I need to own them.  I try to cover my own butt, I need to stop it only makes things worse.  I get angry, listening and patience go a lot further than a raised voice.  People eventually learn to deal with the truth, and in the long run it is best for everyone!