“New Year” blog posts typically deal with lists. Lists of the best and worst of the preceeding year. This post will be no different. Observe

2008: The Best

Discovering that my pr0n name is Jake Ponderosa and getting people to actually refer to me accordingly.

2008: The Worst

We have a tie between Mamma Mia! and being rejected for Celebrity Rehab.

I do not really want to focus on 2008 with 2009 currently so shiny. 2009 holds so much promise: a new new deal, a new president, new friends, a new Star Trek movie that actually looks good, and a new motto “Feelin’ fine in oh-nine!”

I figured the new year was a great time to redesign erichurst.com. I kicked around a few approaches before settling on this package. I started rewriting the blog engine with Rails. Then realized that to do this the way I really wanted to I would need a virtual private server which I would have to maintain. Rails is a blast for me, but maintaining a server is not. That’s why this blog continues to be powered by good old fashioned Wordpress.

This turned out to be beneficial since at UCLICK we also decided that we would provide creator sites – to those who want them – powered by WP. This leaves us with the task of skinning the app appropriately and adding plugins and widgets as desired. I decided to experiment with my own site and what you now see is the result of said experiments.

I don’t know what to call the design. I’ve narrowed it down to Asian Cowboy, Parquet Party, Fake Brass, & Booyah Bowler. Your thoughts are certainly welcome. I’ll announce a winner this time in 2010.

Besides blogging and developing more there are a few things I’m looking forward to in the coming year.

First, Jen, my wife, is scheduled to give birth to our first child. We’re hoping for a Panda since they are so rare.

Second, in March I’m going to attend SXSWi for the first time. I’m hoping to make new friends, learn a lot, and make convention lanyards sexy again.

Third, I will be joining the Under 200lbs Club again. I’ve been hitting the gym with a buddy and I’m liking how much spandex agrees with me.

I hope you will join me here often in 2009. I’ll share a little of my world, if you will share a little of yours.