Happy 2004 Everybody!!!!

Well, its my 34th birthday, and like all my birthdays it is the start of a new year.

The first thing that comes to mind is WHEW!!!....both because there seem to have been no major terrorist incidents....and because 2003 is over!!!

While 2003 was all round a good year for humanity....for me personally it rather sucked.

All in all I'm doing good, but I'm going to whine a bit now.
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My Grandfather, Great Uncle and Aunt died.

I lost friends.

My dog died.

The call up, while not a thing I regret in the least, cut my pay by 30%

Tearing my knee up not only made me miss most of the interesting deployments, I put on nearly 30 pounds, mostly post surgery. I don't mind the reserve activation, but spending 7 out of 9 months laid up with an injury really doesn't feel like I've done any good.

A whole year was lost from college.

I lost heat.

My car is all mismatched and patchworked now....

(OK now we're getting petty).......Which is a good point to talk about what went right in 2003.

We got Saddam!

We freed Iraq! (this WAS a good thing)

There were no new Sept.11 scale attacks (here or anywhere)

Project Prometheus was started and is looking to be sucsessful.

The economy picked up massively.

The POTUS declared war on the intl' slave trade.

Libya switched sides

Stable carbon nanotubes came closer to production.

The POTUS began pushing hydrogen cars.

Many of Africas wars are beginning to stop.

The crew of the ISS made it safely to earth.

I got no demerits in the USCG while on active duty.

(...getting petty again)

2004 is here. For the noncritical focus group of one known as Ken, it looks to have wonderful promise, I have my health, I'm whole, College is all but totally paid for, I have next to naught in savings, but thats in part because the car, trailer, credit cards, and the loan are all paid off. I come off active duty in a few days. I'll be back at UPS.

On the world stage, things look promising too, from likely progress in the war, to the economy, we look poised to not only make progress in a whole number of vital areas, but also to be able to weather the setbacks well.

My only real complaint now is that it is 2004 and I have neither flying cars nor a bungalow on Mars. :)