Marc's 2009 "Best Of" Top 10 List

It's the end of another year. I don't know about you, but this one ZIPPED by fast for me.

Last year I put together a list of the "best of" 2008 as a way of signing off from one year and moving into the next. That post can be viewed by clicking HERE.

This year, I'm going to do something similar. However, with all the stuff that happened around the world, there are plenty of Top 10 lists re-capping the best and worst of the past 12 months. For example, see the Time Magazine "Top 10 of Everything" story by clicking here. So, I'll leave it to Time and others to judge the world's top tens and instead give you a list of ten more personal things that were significant or meant a lot to me in 2009...

1. Another great year married to my sweetheart - simple and very true. The most important.
2. Staying employed - I rate both Diane's and my continued employment in 2009 - one of the worst for unemployment in recent memory - as a significant accomplishment.
3. Our Trip to the South - Diane and I thoroughly enjoyed visiting a part of the U.S. that we had not been to before. You can read about our vacation by clicking HERE.
4. My 40th Birthday Bash in Hawaii - along with a number of friends from the mainland, we celebrated my entrance into my fourth decade on the planet with a big bash over on Maui. A very good time and memory. You can read about that adventure by clicking HERE.
5. Seeing the Manic Street Preachers Live in Seattle - this is one of my all time favorite rock bands. Over in the UK and Europe, these guys play big venues, but when they come to the U.S. they play small clubs. My buddy Paul and I were thrilled to see the Manics and meet their lead singer. Read my review of this show by clicking HERE. A close second was seeing Glasvegas live. More on that show HERE.
6. My Alma Mater Wins the Pac-10 Football Championship and Goes to the Rose Bowl (And So Do I) - OK, only the first part of this headline happened in 2009, but based on that achievement in 2009 the Oregon Ducks are playing in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 2010 and I will be going there with some friends to see the game and have fun.
7. Going to the U2 Show in Vancouver - we love Vancouver. We really like U2. The combination made for a delightful weekend up north.
8. Our Ski Weekend at Whistler/Blackcolmb - we don't go skiing very often, but not because we don't want to. When we do go, we like to make it count, so in February we went to Whistler/Blackcolmb to downhill and cross-country ski. A great time and good memories.
9. Discovering Delancey in Ballard - discovering new restaurants is something both Diane and I really like. We also like pizza. Finding this new, wood-fired pizza joint on a residential street in Ballard rated as our best "find" of 2009.
10. The hot summer we had - I loved it! Except for a couple days in the 100s, the hot summer helped us enjoy the summer more with hikes in the Cascade mountains, bike rides on the Burke Gillman trail, walks around our neighborhood and generally being outside much more than we were able last summer when temperatures were more often in the 60s.

So there you go. My personal 2009 Top 10. No, no political observations, comments on the good and bad going on the world, celebrity f-ups or similar. Just ten things that struck through as the most important and/or interesting in my own little life.

As a reminder, you can see my own "2009: The Year in Pictures" feature by clicking HERE.

Here's to a good 2010.