2008 Retrospective
Mark and I had a music filled year. We spent much of our entertainment dollars on rock concerts, and much less than usual on movies and other forms. The year in concerts started off on the right foot with the incomparable Eddie Van Halen tearing up the stage with pounding solos and his signature tapping style. This was a fitting beginning for what would probably be our most musical year to date.
The most memorable concert for Mark and I was Rush, three hours of unbelievable playing and Pert solos was almost beyond belief. The most fun concert for me was the Five Finger Death Punch concert at Ybor City. Even though I missed Mark, I got to meet Zoltan Bathory and reconnect with a high school friend Steven Perez, who attended the concert with me.
Somewhere in early Feb, Mark and I seriously talked about what instrument I would learn. I had been teetering between flute and piano for years and just could never get excited about either. Mark longed for a partner so that his drumming could become a family affair. It seemed inevitable that I would settle on guitar and the only thing holding me back was cutting the nails. However after mastering Guitar Hero (Metallica's One) in a few weeks I was forever hooked. It was only weeks before I was signed up for lessons using Karen's beautiful Alvarez acoustic guitar.
Turned out that the acoustic guitar wasn't for me and I just couldn't get excited about playing it. That's when Argonath entered my life. After that fateful visit to Guitar Center, I was completely sure that the Gibson SG was for me. 9 months (plus a Fendar Mexi Strat and a Line 6 Pod X3 Live) later I can play a few songs. "Hit Me with your Best Shot", "Leave the Memories Alone", Shimmer", "Innocent" and the hooks to a few others.
This year in rock for me was the discovery of some awesome bands plus reconnecting to some old favorites like Disturbed, Chevelle and Rise Against. New bands for me included 5FDP (and joining my first street team) Trivium, Opeth, 10 Years, Thrice, Killswitch Engage, All that Remains, In Flames, In this Moment, Bullet for my Valentine, Dragonforce,
As far as work goes, I had an extremely productive and satisfying year on projects. It was very disappointing that the economy took a down turn because this would have been my biggest bonus/raise year ever, but that all got obliterated when Chase announced no raises this year. Oh well, I can still be proud that mine was one of the only project that brought in revenue for Chase Card in '08 (ALP) and I can be very proud of how I handled the Disney renewal project. 08 was the first year that I completely led two Chase large scale projects in the role as lead-PM as opposed to the mid-scale ones I had always done. The infrastructure that we built on these two projects is almost mind-boggling in their scale and complexity.
On the non-profit side, I can be proud of setting up our scholarship fund and working with Sue Ann to pull off the dinner/fundraising event. We actually walked away with several thousand to give back to students in the form of scholarships. I pretty much have discontinued all other work in the charitable arena. With work and learning music, I don't seem to have any more time to spend on outside projects.
The most memorable concert for Mark and I was Rush, three hours of unbelievable playing and Pert solos was almost beyond belief. The most fun concert for me was the Five Finger Death Punch concert at Ybor City. Even though I missed Mark, I got to meet Zoltan Bathory and reconnect with a high school friend Steven Perez, who attended the concert with me.
Somewhere in early Feb, Mark and I seriously talked about what instrument I would learn. I had been teetering between flute and piano for years and just could never get excited about either. Mark longed for a partner so that his drumming could become a family affair. It seemed inevitable that I would settle on guitar and the only thing holding me back was cutting the nails. However after mastering Guitar Hero (Metallica's One) in a few weeks I was forever hooked. It was only weeks before I was signed up for lessons using Karen's beautiful Alvarez acoustic guitar.
Turned out that the acoustic guitar wasn't for me and I just couldn't get excited about playing it. That's when Argonath entered my life. After that fateful visit to Guitar Center, I was completely sure that the Gibson SG was for me. 9 months (plus a Fendar Mexi Strat and a Line 6 Pod X3 Live) later I can play a few songs. "Hit Me with your Best Shot", "Leave the Memories Alone", Shimmer", "Innocent" and the hooks to a few others.
This year in rock for me was the discovery of some awesome bands plus reconnecting to some old favorites like Disturbed, Chevelle and Rise Against. New bands for me included 5FDP (and joining my first street team) Trivium, Opeth, 10 Years, Thrice, Killswitch Engage, All that Remains, In Flames, In this Moment, Bullet for my Valentine, Dragonforce,
As far as work goes, I had an extremely productive and satisfying year on projects. It was very disappointing that the economy took a down turn because this would have been my biggest bonus/raise year ever, but that all got obliterated when Chase announced no raises this year. Oh well, I can still be proud that mine was one of the only project that brought in revenue for Chase Card in '08 (ALP) and I can be very proud of how I handled the Disney renewal project. 08 was the first year that I completely led two Chase large scale projects in the role as lead-PM as opposed to the mid-scale ones I had always done. The infrastructure that we built on these two projects is almost mind-boggling in their scale and complexity.
On the non-profit side, I can be proud of setting up our scholarship fund and working with Sue Ann to pull off the dinner/fundraising event. We actually walked away with several thousand to give back to students in the form of scholarships. I pretty much have discontinued all other work in the charitable arena. With work and learning music, I don't seem to have any more time to spend on outside projects.
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