She has not only has she been posting a ton of great content over there but has also taken Twitter by storm under the alias, @asparagusdesign.  Go over there and follow her at http://twitter.com/asparagusdesign

2007 was quite a year for us as everything that we were planning for the year came through. I’m still amazed to be honest!
- Liz’s business has taken off and she has done several plans for kitchens, baths, remodels, etc (including our own which leads into…)
- We were sold our old house in record time and moved in-town (as we call it in the biz Ville) back in July
- We had a new addition to our family with Poppy being born in October

With following the tradition that I started last year, here are a couple quick facts for 2007…

Me at a glance for 2007
- States visited in 2007: Illinois (by default), Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin (week at the cabin again), Minnesota (trip for work), Michigan (a couple of times for weekend trips) and Washington (annual Gnomedex trip)
- Number of cars that I either purchased or assisted in purchasing this year: 0 (but I’d be lying if I told you that I haven’t been thinking about something German again…) :)
- Newfound hobby for 2007: Amateur Photographer (VERY amateur!)
- Place on the Internet where I spent the majority of my time (get your minds out of the gutter!): http://twitter.com/marusin
- Favorite Album of 2007: Challengers by The New Pornographers
- My favorite gadget(s): Tie between my Nintendo DS/Wii, the Nikon D40 and my iPhone. I use almost each one daily!
- My favorite video game: Tie between Guitar Hero 3 and Legend of Zelda Phantom HourGlass
- My favorite book: Not that it came out this year, but I re-read The Cluetrain Manifesto a couple of times and still get something out of it each time it’s revisited
- My favorite movie of 2007: Has to be either Ratatouille or Superbad

The Year That Is To Come…
I just hope to have as good of a year as I did in 2007. We had a lot of great things happen and hope this streak continues into 2008. I do have a couple of other tricks up my sleeve that you may just be hearing about at some point, but I won’t even begin to hint at those right now! :)

Happy New Year, everyone…

I created an iMix of this year’s compilation (which includes everything besides “Twin Killers” since it was a live track) that is available on iTunes (link will open the iTunes Music Store).

People are sometimes amazed that someone who’s my age (not disclosing), married and has two kids has the time to put this together. All I have to say is that I buy a lot of music through the year and it’s pretty easy to just filter my most played songs that came out this year. With that said, I give you this year’s Compilation. Enjoy…

01.) “Unguided” – The New Pornographers
Easily my favorite album of the year. I could have picked any song and literally flipped a coin between “Unguided” and “Myriad Harbor”. Want a bonus for this year’s compilation? Download the live New Pornographers show from NPR and/or subscribe to the Live in Concert from All Songs Considered Podcast. Easily my top played “track” from 2007 (seeing that it’s the whole show).

Buy The New Pornographers – Challengers on iTunes



02.) “Twin Killers” – Deerhoof
I first saw Deerhoof open for Wilco a few year’s back. I’ve really enjoyed their sound since. Earlier this year they released a free album that you could download from their site. This track, “Twin Killers”, was taken from the album. Looking around their site I can no longer find the link to download Choo Choo Choo, Beep Beep but definitely check out their album, The Runners Four since this is where “Twin Killers” was originally from.

Buy Deerhoof – The Runners Four on iTunes



03.) “Plasticities” – Andrew Bird
I like this song alot and the whole album is just as good. Definitely one of my favorite “finds” of 2007.

Buy Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha on iTunes



04.) “Plus Ones” – Okkervil River
Okkervil River made it’s debut to my yearly compilation back in 2005 when I first discovered them. I absolutely love the cleverness of this song and if you are any sort of music fan I think you’ll “get it”. :)

Buy Okkervil River – The Stage Names on iTunes



05.) “Intervention” – Arcade Fire
I first heard this song back a few years ago on a live album (I think). I have always enjoyed the Arcade Fire but I tend to forget about them (if that’s possible). Anyways, I think that “Intervention” is a very monumental-sounding song. Hence, it made the cut.

Buy Arcade Fire – Neon Bible on iTunes



06.) “Business Time” – Flight of the Conchords
An awesome song from my absolute favorite television show from 2007. “That’s why they call them Business Socks!” :)

Buy Flight of the Conchords – The Distant Future – EP on iTunes


07.) “Must Be The Moon” – !!!
I first heard !!! (I believe it’s pronounced “Check Check Check”) on the KEXP Live Performances Podcast and loved the energy and rock/punk/dance sound that they have. I kick myself for passing on an opportunity that I had earlier this year to get a photo/press pass to a show of their’s at The Metro in Chicago. It was a weeknight and I hadn’t heard any of their music before. I definitely would have taken advantage if I had known. Next time. Also, this song will definitely make a playlist the day that I start running.

Buy !!! – Myth Takes on iTunes



08.) “Past In Present” – Feist
I stole this from Liz as this was her CD. According to Maggie, Feist is “mommy music”. I know you heard “1 2 3 4″ and you know I can’t go that mainstream. Of course I always have to one-up Liz by telling her that I listened first (Feist is a member of Broken Social Scene). :)

Buy Feist – The Reminder on iTunes



09.) “Young Folks” – Peter Bjorn and John
See above. Stolen from Liz’s pile of music. I still like this song even though I heard it about two zillion times this year.

Buy Peter Bjorn and John – Writer's Block on iTunes


10.) “These Girls” – Ryan Adams
What’s a Marusin Compilation without Ryan Adams? Seeing that he puts out about 10 albums a year there’s always going to be a good chance that he’ll make the cut.

Buy Ryan Adams – Easy Tiger on iTunes



11.) “Safety Bricks” – Broken Social Scene Presents: Kevin Drew
I will not consider this “double-dipping” because of the Feist connection. Another one of my favorites from 2007.

Buy Kevin Drew – Spirit If… on iTunes



12.) “Song Writes Itself” – Pela
As with !!!, I first heard Pela from the KEXP Live Performances Podcast. No I don’t just automatically take anything that I hear there and push it to the Compilation! There’s something about this band that I really really like and I think it has to do with their sound. They TOTALLY remind me of Emmet Swimming which holds a nostalgic place in my heart.

Buy Pela – Anytown Graffiti on iTunes



13.) “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” – Radiohead
Absolutely one of my favorite albums of the year and in my opinion one of Radiohead’s best since OK Computer. Yes, I said that. Oh, and I paid $10 for it and is worth every penny.

Buy something from Radiohead on iTunes



14.) “Us V Them” – LCD Soundsystem
Another track that is not normally associated with my sound. As with !!!, the day I am training for a marathon, this track will be in my playlist.

Buy LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver on iTunes



15.) “Side With The Seeds” – Wilco
As with Ryan Adams, anytime Wilco releases an album you’re pretty much guaranteed that a track will make the Compilation. This year, I had a tough choice between “Side With The Seeds” and “Impossible Germany”. Both good songs and a great album.

Buy Wilco – Sky Blue Sky on iTunes



16.) “North Star” – Magnolia Electric Co.
Another “find” of mine this year. As you probably know by now, I kind of dig the twang and “North Star” totally delivers. This is usually the song that I am listening to when I’m walking from the train to the office each morning for some reason. The guitar riff between 00:38 and 00:43 is usually enough to get me going in the morning (with some coffee on the side).

Buy Magnolia Electric Co. – Sojourner on iTunes



17.) “We’re Not Alone” – Dinosaur Jr.
I rediscovered Dinosaur Jr. this year and remembered back to my college days and how much I loved them. Even though this album came out this year, it brings me right back to 1995 (and that’s actually a good thing sometimes).

Buy Dinosaur Jr. – Beyond on iTunes

Looking for the perfect blogging software has been a topic of conversation around this website (and in my head). I really grew to despise the WordPress web interface for writing/editing posts as it would always screw up the HTML after I clicked “save”. I think having a nice blogging client that I can easily keep drafts of posts and work on things at the times I want to (when on a train, etc) is going to be helpful.

See I just wrote a new blog post about this! It’s already working! :)

More info on the new house/neighborhood, all of the personal projects I’ve got going on, music I’m listening to, “stuff” I’m watching, games I’m playing and lots more will be coming real soon around here.

and just an FYI to my non-nerd friends: Gnomedex is next week (already!?!), so prepare to be up to year ears in “geek” towards the end of next week. Just a warning. :)

Soon, my friends… Soon. :)

My picture is in a post on Steve Rubel’s Micro Persusasion site today (along with Matt and JR… oh, yeah, there’s Matt Mullenweg and the one of the “crazy uncles” in front of us ~ wait, aren’t “links dead”?) :)

The post is about Nielsen banning blogging at a conference of their’s this past week. Steve has a good point about conferences like Gnomedex that have started becoming very popular due to their exposure from everyone blogging.

Hell, that’s one of the best parts about going to events like Gnomedex: being able to join in the conversation (well, that and the possibility that a crowd shot that includes you nerding out in the second row shows up on a farily popular website)… :)

Bloglines has been acting really wonky for me the last couple of days. Feeds being updated are very sporadic (that is if they even update).

Anyone else in the same boat or once again, is it just me? :) If I were on my Mac all day, my problems would be resolved. Until then, I’m really starting to get frustrated… (and yes, I’ve submitted a trouble ticket)

Update:  Looking at Technorati, I guess I’m not the only one…  It’s all about sympathy in numbers, man…