Author:  Amy Armitage

**Warning – This post is kinda loooooooooong**

I wish I could say I’m sitting here this New Year’s Day with a broken head because I’m SUCH a party animal.  My folks phoned last night from Oz at around 7pm to wish us a happy NY and when Jay answered the phone he made excuses to go into the other room because “The Party” we had going on at our place was OUTTA CONTROL and very loud..  I could hear him telling my mother..

“Kath it’s so loud here.  We have about 50 people over and each time the clock hits the hour everyone has to remove an item of clothing.  Ames is down to her underwear and a pair of ugg boots”

OMG..

The reality:  I drank hot chocolate by the fire all snuggled up (and clothed) and watched movies with Jay and the kids and I didn’t make it to midnight.  The only person who saw in the new year was our 12 year old son.  Jay woke at midnight to the sound of him yelling ”Wooooo hooooooo”

lol..

So I figured it was a good idea to blog something today covering 2006 in review and my hopes for 2007.  I know it’s a predictable topic so I’ll do my best to make it interesting and informative in an Amy kinda way ;)

2006 was my first full year in USA and the highlight for me was coming from working remotely in Australia [waking up at 3am to catch the Cali office] to being an interactive team member in a dynamic [sometimes dysfunctional ;)] office environment.  At first it was a complete drag to have to actually wear shoes, put makeup on and comb my hair, but the good part was, I felt professional and more motivated to get things done.  I can pull in the big deals in fluffy slippers and flannel PJs ;)

Things I Miss About Australia:

My Dogs..

Jabari - He could NEVER take a good photo.  Every time we would snap a shot his eyes would be closed..

.. or his tongue would be hanging out.

His sister Mali thought she was human..

Drinking REAL beer in summer on our back deck with friends..

Uh huh.. there’s MORE  >>>>>>>

Yum Cha.. Chinese breakfast in the Valley on Sunday mornings and contests with my boys..

.. Who can pull the worst face at a public family outing..

Taking the boys to Seaworld..

.. and freaking them out..

Hanging with my brother, chatting, smoking ciggies.. 

and listening to Aussies play REAL music.. ;)

Friends..

.. and their cheesy smiles

Family..

My brother & sister

Dancing..

.. when my family uncorked too many bottles of red ;)

Footy [football]

Actually who am I kidding.. I don’t miss the football constantly on our TV

Fishing..

.. and not catching anything but still having a blast

School uniforms..

No fashion fights at 7am ;)

Thongs.. 10 months of the year..

OMG I could keep going.. but let’s move on.. [Part of my anti-waffle resolution]

Living in America the biggest challenge was getting my co-workers to understand my accent and the Aussie sayings I use regularly.  They seem so natural to me yet so foreign to all you Americans! [mericans]

Expressions Like:

It stuns me sometimes why people need me to translate ;) 

For me, 2006 was about relationships, lessons learned and becoming more familiar with how the web hosting industry works, and doesn’t work. 

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend eleventy™ billion conferences and finally meet the people I’d been communicating with via email for so long.  I traveled from Orange County to Vegas, to Santa Ana, Denver, Dallas, New York, Palm Springs, and more.  Admittedly I mostly saw the inside of airports and hotel conference rooms, however I did get the opportunity to see parts of America I’d only dreamt of seeing and I now understand why you are all so proud of your beautiful country.

I actually met Keith Duncan at HostingCon in Vegas.  He doesn’t know this, but the basis of our association started based on a big fat lie.  You see he had a cute little set up going where he had people trying to putt a whole in one, and if they did they qualified for entry into a contest.  The DesignVar guys were sharing his space with him, and I got to chatting and catching up with them and saw an opportunity to win something.

Back in Australia when times were tough I was a contest junkie.  I literally won just about every conceivable prize on offer with the radio stations, to the point they banned me from entering for 6 months, and I had to come up with fake names and profiles to feed my competition addiction.  Thank gawd it was radio and it wasn’t necessary to wear a fake moustache ;)

So… I walked up to Keith with mega confidence and asked him for my entry form claiming I’d already shot my hole in one while his back was turned, and bless his dear trusting heart, he gave me the goods.  Thinking back, this is likely why I submit articles for him month after month, it’s the guilt. The guilt is tearing me apart so I appease it by contributing and helping him build up (or destroy.. depends on perception I guess) his wonderful web hosting magazine.

Highlights of 2006

I could cover all the annoying DDOS attacks that slammed many hosts, Google taking over the world and the whole AdWords and PR craziness, the Turkish Hackers or how the unlimited hosting plans out there now [Dedicated passing as Shared Hosting] are ruining the credibility of our industry. But that’s been done to death so let’s look at some of the best and worst stuff from 2006 that is at least entertaining!

Worst in 2006

Gadget – Wii – Parents hate that children asked for it and they couldn’t buy ANYWHERE unless they were prepared to sleep overnight outside techy stores in winter!

Movie – Clerks II (I thought it was going to be so funny not totally daft).

TV Series – Fashion House (Don’t ask.  I actually watched two and a half episodes before I started sending them hate mail).

Death of AWESOME TV – Alias, Six Feet Under, Will & Grace, That 70s Show (They will be missed)

*sniff

Song Lyric – Paris Hilton – Stars Are Blind

Just hanging here with you
Cuz I don’t find too many guys
That treat me like you do
Those other guys all wanna take me for a ride
But when I walk their talk is suicide
Some people never get beyond their stupid pride
But you can see the real me inside
And I’m satisfied, oh no, ohh

I reckon’ she wrote that..  Ooooooh NOOOOOOOOOOoooooooo *ugh

Social Stuff Up (Made you cringe) – Michael Richards going postal with the “N” word and then being interviewed later and stuttering & blabbering and making it just… WORSE.

Web Phenomenon – That my mother still emails me forwarded messages that I need to send to 10 special friends.  All her friends and the friends after that get my work email addy and my spam increases!

Death – Steve Irwin – Being an Aussie this hit me really hard.  I loved that a “Wiggle” was a part of his memorial service.  So Aussie.

Video Game – Bully – You are the school yard bully and the aim of the game is to bully other children.  Pfffft.

Fashion Accessory – Blue Tooth.  OK when I first saw these I thought they were head jewelry.  Apart from the fact they don’t look space age and cool at all, it now appears we have more of our generation walking around aimlessly talking to themselves.

*Note to Joe – If you wear it at work I WILL PAY OUT ON YOU!

Word – Unlimited.  Just blah.

TV Advertisement – The Tampax ad with the tampon stopping the leak in the boat (I was traumatized)

Children’s Saying – I don’t drive too much, but when I do, my children treat me like I’m an idiot.  Recently I was driving them to a Soccer game on a rainy Saturday morning..

“Mum, make sure to drive on the left side of the road, that is your indicator there and you’re going to need to use your wipeys”.

Omg..

Best in 2006

Gadget – According to my husband and 2 children it was the iPod.  For MONTHS I didn’t know because I didn’t HAVE ONE!  Every time Baxter (my dog) walked in I expected to see him with little earphones attached to his head boppin to “Who let the dogs ooooooowt”.  Santa was good to me this year and now.. I’m an iPod girl!

Movie – Borat – Is nice… Is a good, but I have… seen bigger (Kinda reminds me of customers comparing hosting plans).

TV Series – Dexter – I’m a mad Six Feet Under fan.  This made up for part of the devastating blow of the series ending.  He is such a cool psycho.  I never imagined liking a serial killer’s character.

Death of CRAPPY TV – 7th Heaven, Charmed (thank gawd they are gone)

Song Lyric – National Anthem of Kazakhstan!

Kazakhstan greatest country in the world
All other countries are run by little girls
Kazakhstan number one exporter of potassium
Other countries have inferior potassium

 

Social Stuff Up – (Made you laugh and watch it again and again) – Borat inviting his “date” to a high society dinner.  Borat enjoying himself outside the Victoria Secret window display.  Borat showing photos of his wife at the Rodeo.

Web Phenomenon – Video sites like YouTube, GoogleIdol (Now known as Bopsta because American Idol tried to sue them claiming they own the word Idol]  Poor Billy Idol.  I wonder what his new name will be?

Death - Kevin Federline (His Career)

Video Game – PS2 Guitar Hero [OMG this is soooo much fun!] – Watch out CLAY!

Fashion Accessory – Starbucks – Spesh at soccer games when you’re going for the whole soccer mom look.

Word – NOICE – It’s the Aussie way to say “nice” – “Merica is noice, different, unusual”

Kath & Kim – Australian Housewife Icons

TV Advertisement – The Apple MAC ads.  I just love these.  They crack me up.
 
Children’s saying – My son found a dog on our doorstep.  When he was telling a friend of mine she said “It must be a sign”

He responded “NO.. it was a DOG!”

Hopes for 2007 – New Years Anti-Resolutions (Things I’m NOT going to do)

1. Learn how to create a video, edit and burn it onto a CD in a format my family in Oz can view!
2. Socialize more and leave my puter
3. Learn to play World of Warcraft
4. Start exercising!
5. Attend a maximum of FIVE conferences this year!
6. Buy another new phone
7. Limit my SMS to 878 per month.
8. Ummm.. something something about smoking
9. Blog less
10. Say no to helping other people out (Keith – NO articles for February.  I’m serious here).
11. Be more patient and less “busy”
12. Try to be a genuine soccer mom
13. Delegate more!
14. Drive more
15. Learn to road rage
16. Cut back on my morning coffee add shots.
17. Cuss less and smile more
18. Under no circumstances will I take on watching another reality TV series
19. Apply for The Amazing Race
20. Stay on topic and stop waffling

If I don’t manage to do any of the above it won’t matter because these are anti-resolutions ;)

Happy New Year everyone! 

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This entry was posted on Monday, January 1st, 2007 at 6:59 pm and is filed under Amy Armitage, Fluff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed . Comments are currently closed.