And there’s reason: we’ve had some good times. In 2007, we got to experience a legendary keynote by Wil Wheaton and joined a band of pirates in a con-wide game of assassins.

In 2008, we dressed up like characters from the Penny Arcade video game (ala 1922). We also played a hilarious 4 hour game of Munchkin that year consisting of 13 random strangers (a world record, I’m sure). At the end of it all it was so late it was early and we all went out to breakfast together.

2009 was packed full of fun as well. This year we got to go with CoDa, our gaming crew, and took lots of goofy pictures on the expo hall floor, with special effects added in thanks to some of the more creative booths. Pictured is one that even went the extra mile and emailed me the photo. Other booths printed out photos for us, I’ve yet to scan them. My favourite, of course, was taking photos at the area for Star Wars: The Old Republic, BioWare’s new KOTOR MMO. We donned Jedi robes and posed before a blue screen; Star Wars backgrounds were added in. Imagine my joy at discovering not only this, but also they had taken an entire room and turned it into a Star Wars cantina. Epic!

Some of the swag giveaways were really very creative this year. For instance, 2K Games had a special booth setup for their game Mafia II that looked like an old-style saloon. On their Facebook Page right at the beginning of day two they posted, “PAX attendees: Tell the bartender, ‘Joe said you have a package for me.’ Be discreet – we have a very limited quantity.” Harmony and I raced to the far side of the expo hall as soon as the doors opened to get to 2K’s saloon, then pulled the “bartender” aside and told him the code. He was totally in character with his thick 1920s Chicago accent as he leaned close and muttered, “Joey sent you, eh? Here’s the package…” he glanced from side to side and tapped his nose, “Tell him I send my regards.” He handed us some rather nice fedora hats which turned out to be the envy of other PAX attendees. But what really made it was how he stayed in character. Major props to 2K for making an extra fun experience for us.

Panel highlights included one from “The Guild” (watch it if you haven’t) and of course, drawing a panel with Gabe and Tycho. I went to a panel on how the iPhone is changing the mobile gaming market, and I’m hoping to share my notes from that after I get a chance to play some of the games mentioned.

Unfortunately, the after effect of PAX is more than just a homesickness for the friendly gaming community. It was easily noticed via the powers of Twitter that many, many people from this year’s PAX became ill shortly thereafter. Then it turned out that this particularly bad case of “Con-SARS” was perhaps worse than originally feared: the dreaded swine flu was confirmed. Luckily, I feel okay, as does my sister. News on #PAXflu is still developing.

Update: Wired is reporting “H1Nerd1″ has spread to over 100 confirmed cases.

The truth is, 2008 was my toughest year yet for personal reasons. But that also means it was a year of great opportunity to learn and to try to be a better person for it. This is not a time to get jaded, it’s a time to count the blessings and strive to find joy in what you have, even the memories of things now lost.

So in my own Pollyanna-like way, I’ve decided to list some highlights of my worst year ever. I want to look back on this year and think of these things. And if a personal blog is for anything, it’s for reminding oneself of what’s good in life. Without further ado…

Happy Highlights from the Worst Year Ever

Volunteering with Big Brothers Big Sisters

I have a really awesome little friend, she’s seven years old, about to be eight, and I just started hanging out with her this year. Being a part of a child’s life is a significant commitment, but it’s a blessing too – her friendship really warms my heart and she always cracks me up. We do a lot of activities together like bike riding and swimming. In motivating me to try to be a good example for her, I think maybe she’d done me more good than vice versa. :-)

She’s a bit of a ham (okay, a huge ham), and loves playing with my computer, so we made a video the other day:

I think it’s pretty easy to see how special being a Big is to me; I hope we’re always friends and someday when she’s taller than me we can celebrate 2008 as the year we met.

Becoming a Part of the Seattle Startup Community

It’s hard to imagine that is was only January 25th, 2008 when Seattle Startup Weekend was held at the Adobe headquarters just a stone’s throw from my house. That weekend was really the beginning of something much more for me though, it introduced me to so many amazing people. More than just networking, I’m happy to count them as friends, and have had such a blast spending time with them.

Startup Weekend truly was the toppling of that first domino that led to my attending so many other tech events in Seattle like Gnomedex, nPost events, MindCamp, Lunch 2.0 and Hops and Chops, and of course Startup Drinks, and making further friends and acquaintances. It’s funny this all happened this year, because it really feels like some of these people have been in my life for much longer than that. We’re like one big geeky family, and I am grateful for 2008 because of it.

Being a Best “Man”

I got to be in my best friend’s wedding. Definitely a highlight, even if I did sound shaky and nervous during the toast, it was such an honor to be in the wedding party, and spending time in Kansas City with so many friends was a blast.

Traveling my Little Heart Out

I went to the Caribbean this year! I went to Leavenworth and Hood Canal! I went to Phoenix to see Connie! It was all a blast.

Seeing Last Year’s Resolutions Through

Guys, I did it. I really quit biting my nails. Really and finally. Other minor but happy accomplishments include doing my longest run yet, putting chains on my tires all alone, and doing a lot of helpful introspection (something I’ve never been very great at before). This is the first year I’ve really paid attention to fitness and taking care of my body and made it a priority, and I think that’s an important milestone since it’s been a huge attitude adjustment for me. I’m pretty sure I can do just about anything I set my mind to now. Watch out, 2009! You’re going to be the best year ever.

A Few Goals for 2009 (trite, but good):
Spend more quality time with close friends & my family
Work on being more focused and efficient with time
Continue to deepen healthy eating habits started in ’08

A Few Goals for 2009 (less trite and also good):
Visit people in Washington, D.C., St. Paul, & Phoenix
Run another 5k or two at least, stay on fitness targets
Jump off that abandoned part of the 520 bridge
Sneak into that members-only goth club just for fun
Try seeing the opera once more before you give up entirely
More dancing, canoeing, hiking and climbing this year
Read “Atlas Shrugged” by March 18th

From Wikipedia: “The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon occurs when a person, after having learned some (usually obscure) fact, word, phrase, or other item for the first time, encounters that item again, perhaps several times, shortly after having learned it. This is a specialised version of the effect of serendipity.”

There are several theories about the psychological explanation of the phenomenon, including a popular one that cites its primary cause as being the recency effect, in which the human brain has a bias that lends increased prominence to new or recently acquired information.”

Now, a specific example pertinent to my own personal life. Browsing Etsy for Christmas gifts, I noticed this design on several pendants:

I didn’t pay it much attention aside from thinking it was a nice sentiment, until I noticed it was on a few designs from multiple sellers. Surely, I thought, this must mean something. The design haunted me a bit. Perhaps “haunted” is too serious a word, but as a member of the microwave generation, which has grown up with information at our fingertips, the fact that I knew it meant something but didn’t know what that something was began to very subtly annoy me.

I had more pressing things to attend to, so ignored this subtle annoyance, but the next morning got an email from my favourite online tshirt store only to be slapped in the face with a reminder of my annoyance:

An obvious play on the original. I had to know: what the heck was this from? What did it mean? What was it’s significance, and why was it so influential that my favourite tshirt site was satirizing it? I did the obvious Google search and found the history of the design, an interesting little story. My curiosity appeased, I was now a happily satiated information junkie.

At lunch I noticed a poster directly outside my building, which convinced me once and for all that this slogan was now following me about. Hours later after dinner, I found it again outside Hops and Chops at Linda’s, waiting for me without any hint of shame. I took a photo on my trusty iPhone:

Now, the funny thing about this slogan and design is that now I know about it, I am keen to notice it everywhere. That’s the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon at work. It is like buying a Dodge Neon, and then suddenly noticing Dodge Neons everywhere.

And of course, it’s sort of a Catch-22. Now that I know about the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon, I’ve been noticing examples of it in my own life, like my little story above. My “Keep Calm and Carry On” instance happened only a week or two after I’d discovered Baader-Meinhof. And I’d already been meaning to write about the phenomenon because I’m curious to see if once people are informed of it, it starts popping up into their lives as well. So if you read this, I’m somewhat sorry, it’s like opening one of those vile chain letters that say you’ll now have to forward this to six people to kiss someone at midnight, et cetera… because the way the brain works, now that it has a label for it your brain will start to look for these Baader-Meinhof patterns whether you like it or not. I know mine certainly did. I’d like to hear about it if yours does too.

The brain is an amazing machine.

(For even more info on the origin of the phrase: See Damn Interesting: The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon)