Today: The Good, the Bad, and the U-G-L-Y

This may seem a bit premature, but before I knew it, December was here and I have a feeling January will be similarly sneaky.  Like every year we’ve lived before, 2009 had its ups and its downs.  It had beautiful moments, it had ugly moments.  I hope your moments were more up than down, and more beautiful than ugly.  And I hope 2010 is your best year yet.  Most of all, I hope those pleasantries will distract you from this, my worst blog post of all time.

GOOD in 2009

The Recession: Whoa, whoa, whoa… I know what you’re thinking.  Good?  The Recession? And then maybe you’re deleting this blog from your Google Reader.  I ain’t mad at cha.  But, like most catastrophes, the recession has provided several opportunities.  And opportunities are good.

I am being more mindful of my spending.  This holiday season, we are placing more value on the time we spend with one another, and less value on how much we spend on one another.  Some of us are rediscovering Yankee thrift, others never forgot it.  We make lists, print coupons and look for discount codes.  We don’t buy cheese balls when we could buy… cheese.  We realize that being generous with our time and talent, and putting others first when we can, does more for us than buying a new handbag.  Saving keeps our bank accounts in the black, but spending goodwill  keeps our human accounts in the black.  I am a cheese ball.

The AdCouncil’s Fatherhood Involvement PSA:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A2Ap3DyvLg&hl=en_US&fs=1&]

Glee on Fox: If you told me this time last year that I’d be hooked on a musical/comedy/drama about a high school glee club, I would’ve looked at you like you were a man pretending his son was trapped in a tin foil weather balloon.  In other words, like you were crazy.  And yes, we will get to the Heenes,  but not in this category.  Glee is a great treat.  Kurt’s coming out to his father was one of the best TV moments of the year, except for any moment that happened on Lost.

A new home: After all the looking and wishing and hoping and praying and deals falling apart, we moved into our new home at the end of August.  If there was a perfect category, I would have filed this here.  That’s where I’d also put my family, my friends, health, happiness, work and the puppy.

THE BAD in 2009

Saying Goodbye: We said goodbye to some pretty incredible people this year.  No disrespect to Billy Mays, but our Senator from Massachusetts may have been the hardest goodbye.  Just yesterday, my fellow voters and I turned out (in very small numbers) to pick party candidates to fill Sen. Kennedy’s seat.  I noticed one news anchor referred to these candidates as “vying to replace Sen. Kennedy.”  I’m not sure that’s possible.  A longtime champion for the disenfranchised, the elderly, the sick, Ted is truly missed.

I haven’t made it past the prologue of True Compass, because it only took reading a few pages to turn me into a weeping willow, but hopefully I’ll read the whole thing soon.   And you know I miss the King of Pop.  But that’s a different blog post.

H1N1: Call it the swine flu, but please, let’s not  call it the Mexican flu.  The H1N1 is still sneezing around schools and workplaces, which is why there are two bottles of Purell on my desk.  Actually, I think I mistakenly took one from my co-worker, but I am prepared nonetheless.

Bernard Madoff: He’s too handome-ish to fall into the Ugly category, and he is most definitely bad.  I had a French teacher in high school would say “Shame, shame, everyone knows your name” if you didn’t do an assignment.  He’d then write your name on the blackboard.  Shame, shame, everyone knows Bernie’s name.  BC alumnus Harry Markopolos knew Bernie’s name before many of us, blowing the whistle for ten years and blasting the SEC for not acting sooner.  Harry, you most certainly land in the good category.

Sarah Palin wrote a book?: Yes, that was a question.  If you’ve read it, please let me know if I assumed correctly that it is… bad.

THE UGLY in 2009

Terrifying Television Families:  I hope all of these folks get real jobs in 2010, in workplaces that don’t allow TLC or TMZ or WTF cameras to follow them around.  Forget Jon and Kate +8, I’d love to cast The Universe Minus You Weirdos, and by design, it would never air.  Octomom, the Balloon Family and anyone with the last name Lohan:  Call me.  Actually, don’t.  Just assume you got the part.  Hopefully in 2010 we can all focus on our own (less ridiculous) families.

Bad Role Models: Is it me, or did lying and cheating politicians and athletes come out of the woodwork in 2009?  I’m talking to you, Tony the Tiger.  You’re not grrrrrrrreat.  Sure, public figures are human and yes, there are two sides to every story… but politicians and athletes choose to be in the public eye.  It’s not that hard to do the right thing.  Regular people do it everyday, don’t we?  I think I just got winded.

Whew! The good news is that 2012 is just a movie, so we have plenty of time to get it right.  And regardless of my list, I really do think there is far more good going on than bad.  How’s that for ending on a delightful note?

Also On Tap for Today:

• Make vegetable lo mein and brown rice bowls (fortunately we have Teriyaki House on speed dial if this goes awry)
• For a less dingbatty year in review, check out Yahoo’s run down of 2009

Who or what made it to your Good, Bad and Ugly lists?