Year: 2008

A Year of Firsts

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As 2008 draws to a close, the realization that it was a year full of “firsts” for both me and now my family is finally sinking in. The year has been a great one, with highs and lows and every combination in-between.

Jessica and I were married this year and will always look back at 2008 as the beginning of our lives together. We traveled to Belize and endured a hurricane in Houston — something that I hope stays a “first and only” event. I became a co-host of the SitePoint Podcast and rebuilt this site. Our new family celebrated its first Thanksgiving and Christmas and just recently we decided it was time to add another member to the family and adopted a puppy named “Sofie”.

A year of firsts is coming to an end and leading us to a year of seconds, thirds, but hopefully some more firsts thrown in along the way.

Happy New Year!

May your 2009 be blessed and full of joy.

My year in cities, 2008

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Maybe this will become a yearly thing. I decided to post a list of cities I visited in 2008.

  • Austin, TX *
  • San Pedro, Belize
  • Amarillo, TX
  • Lubbock, TX
  • New Martinsville, WV
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Denver, CO *
  • Los Angeles, CA
  • Honolulu, HI

 

One or more nights was spent in all locations except for Amarillo, where we spent an entire day. Cities marked with an asterisk (*) were visited multiple times on non-consecutive days.

What Happens if We Save Them and Fail

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With all of the talk about bailing out the auto-industry I started wondering what would happen if we bailed out the Big 3 automakers and still they failed. It is a very real possibility. Pushing money to a problem and committing government “oversight” to something does not ensure an entity’s ability to thrive, just look at Fannie and Freddie.

If Washington rescues Detroit and the auto companies fail anyway, then we have essentially shot ourselves in the foot. Sure, Washington can continue to print money, devalue the currency and attempt to pay off debt with more debt but in the long run it just will not work.

I understand that a lot of people would lose their jobs if we do not do something about the automakers, but I also understand that we can do something and still have a lot of people lose their jobs. This fact is little talked about and seems that it is one of those things that “we can worry about later”. Yep, let the later generations pick up the pieces…

Continental Jet Runs Off Runway in Denver

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Continental Airlines flight 1404 has reportedly run-off the runway at Denver International Airport. Smoke was reported to be coming from the wrecked plane. I hope everyone made it off the flight safely.

[EDIT] More information about the crash posted below

There is a lot of information coming out of Denver as to what caused the flight to exit the runway and catch fire. Some reports state that the wing broke-away from the plane and others that weather was a factor. This is all speculation and until the NTSB has had time to explore the crash site we will not know exactly what happened.

The good news is that all passengers and crew made it off of the flight safely and were taken to area hospitals. A few had severe injuries but were listed in stable condition.

Some information on the airplane itself:

  • Boeing 737-500
  • N-Registration #: N18611
  • Delivered in 1994

I found a few pictures of the 737-500 involved in the crash (here and here)

There is also a Twitter user who was a passenger on the aircraft when it ran off of the runway, 2drinksbehind

It appears that Continental ferried a 737-800 to Denver to pick up the passengers who are stuck in Denver due to the crash.