My Best of 2009
January 6th, 2010
I decided to share a few of my favorite things of 2009. Yes I know 2009 was so last week, but I think this post still lands within the relevancy window.
My list doesn’t necessarily includes things that were newly created last year, but rather things that were new-to-me, or made a significant impact on me within the year. And we’ll start it off with…
Trip: Prague/Munich/Ghent
I went to Prague, Munich (Oktoberfest), and Ghent (for the third time) in September with two friends. It was, of course, awesome. Amazingly though, I still haven’t posted pictures from the trip. New Year’s resolution: suck less.
Runner-Up: (Tie) AEA/ACBF (Boston), WWDC (San Francisco)
It may seem like I’m cheating by listing every place I went in 2009, but I couldn’t really decide which trip was better. Both included technical conferences, good friends, and great memories.
Local Event: Philly Beer Week 2009
Philly Beer Week came at just the right time for me, and it was a lot of fun. Some standout sub-events were the Voodoo tasting at Doobie’s and the Zythos Belgian Beer Fest to cap off the week.
Runner-Up: BarCamp Philly 2009
Philly’s second BarCamp was twice as good as the first. If this trend continues…
Blog: Daring Fireball
I’ve been a DF reader for years, but this year I decided to support Mr. Gruber and buy a membership. It’s my favorite blog.
Runner-Up: UI&us
UI design is one of the most challenging, but also interesting aspects of software development for me, and this blog put forth a lot of great ideas. Plus Keith Lang is a really nice guy.
Programming Site: Stack Overflow
I was a little skeptical at first, but Stack Overflow has definitely changed the Q&A landscape for the better. It’s hard to go back to forums and mailing lists.
Runner-Up: GitHub
I’ve only skimmed the surface, but so far I’m impressed with GitHub. It really delivers on the promise of “Social Coding”.
Local (Philly) Site: (Tie) Technically Philly, Unbreaded
Both blogs are well-written and on-topic. I couldn’t pick a clear favorite, so they’ll share the honor.
Runner-Up: uwishunu
It’s not a new site, but it’s become my favorite place to find fun and interesting things to do in my fair city.
Album: Jaydiohead
Yes, a mashup album. Why? Because it rocks, and made a 30-year-old white guy who never cared for Jay-Z before into a fan.
Runner-Up: Infinity + 1 by A-Track
I picked this up from an Amazon MP3 deal on a whim, not knowing what to expect. Since then slowly but surely embedded itself in my brain. Super fun mix.
Movie: Up
Great film. Squirrel!
Runner-Up: Zombieland
Zombieland produced the most real-life LOLs for of any movie I saw in the theatre all year. Worth it for the Bill Murray cameo alone.
TV Show: Pushing Daisies
I know Pushing Daisies was actually cancelled before 2009 began, but it’s new to me. I loved the characters and the feel of the show. My only gripe was the rushed ending of the second season, but that is obviously attributed to it’s cancellation.
Runner-Up: Dexter
Another new-to-me show. I’m not quite sure what I was expecting, but I was surprised by how much I liked this show. I’ve only finished the first two seasons, but the third is already in my Netflix queue.
Podcast: The MDN Show
The new, unified show from The Mac Developer Network became an instant favorite of mine. I liked all the previous shows, but it’s nice having the content all in one place.
Runner-Up: Stack Overflow
I can’t exactly put my finger on why I like the Stack Overflow podcast so much, but I keep coming back to it. I think there is a good dynamic between Joel and Jeff. It’s also fun to listen to them discuss anything Apple-related. It’s like two polar bears trading tips on life in the rain forest.
Book (Fiction): The Road
Best novel I’ve read in awhile. And I read it before I knew it was being made into a movie, which makes my appreciation more authentic.
Runner-Up: Consider the Lobster and Other Essays
I actually consumed this particular work as an audiobook. I highly recommend it, especially since it’s read by the author, David Foster Wallace (may he rest in peace).
Book (Technical): Learn Objective–C on the Mac
Although I still think Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X
Runner-Up: JavaScript: The Good Parts
Technical books that approach a topic from a particular angle, instead of being just another tutorial or reference really stand out for me. I don’t even write much JavaScript, but I really enjoyed this book. Plus it’s a short read.
Mac Application: (Tie) Acorn, Opacity
I’m not a big fan of Photoshop. It’s expensive, cumbersome, and does much more than I need. I wanted some lighter, cheaper, and more geared towards developers. Enter Acorn, a well-designed, scriptable image editor. It’s usually the first place I go if I need to work with any graphics. However, this year I discovered a super-interesting application called Opacity. It’s obviously designed with the developer in mind, with bindable variables and it’s own “build” system. I do almost all my image work in these two apps, hence the tie.
Runner-Up: DTerm
I was aware of DTerm for awhile, but I didn’t “get it” until recently. It’s great for interacting with git from within Xcode, and supersedes the “Open Terminal Here” applications I’ve written about previously.
iPhone Application: Tweetie 2
Great application all-around. I love the “pull down to refresh” feature.
Runner-Up: Byline
Byline is the best Google Reader client I’ve tried. I love swipe to mark/unmark as read.
iPhone Game: Parachute Panic
Parachute Panic is a fun, casual game, but it’s the hand-drawn graphical style and music that pushed it to the top. ♫ The game is overrrr ♫ But not foreverrrr ♫ Try it again! ♫
Runner-Up: Flight Control
Again, a fun, casual game whith great graphical style and music.
Video Game: House of the Dead: Overkill
Yes, its bloody, campy, and kinda stupid, which is exactly why it won. Very fun in that “turn your brain off and shoot at things” kind of way.
Runner-Up: Tales of Monkey Island
Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate returns. Man, I miss adventure games.
Brunch: Café Estelle
Excellent food, friendly staff, and human-sized portions.
Runner-Up: Figs
This little BYO has great egg dishes and the thickest pancakes I’ve ever seen.
Lunch Truck: Honest Tom’s Tacos
I love the simplicity of the menu. For lunch, there are two kinds of tacos, coffee, and no step three. The sweet potato tacos are my favorite.
Runner-Up: La Dominique
This unassuming cart serves up delicious, painstakingly-crafted crêpes on Drexel’s campus.
Restaurant: Amada
I’ve actually been to Amada once previously, but it stood out in my mind as the best restaurant experience I had this year. The “Matador” cocktail was awesome.
Runner-Up: The Belgian Café
It gets mixed reviews from fellow Fairmount residents, but I really like The Belgian Café. Tasty veggie burgers and impressive beer list. Done.
Bar: National Mechanics
National Mechanics has become the go-to bar of the geek crowd in Philly. I’ve had several “good times” there this year, so this was an easy choice.
Runner-Up: The P.O.P.E.
I don’t make it out to this South Philly hangout very often, but I have blast every time I do.
Beer: Liefmans Cuvée Brut
This may seem like an odd choice, but I stand by it for a few reasons. First, I was given a tour of the Leifmans brewery in Belgium brewery courtesy of some awesome friends. Second, although sour fruit beers aren’t usually my first choice, this is actually a pretty damn good beer.
Runner-Up: (Tie) Dogfish Head Sah’tea, Palo Santo Marron
And a Dogfish Head double-whammie in the runner-up position. I discovered both these beers in 2009 but under very different circumstances. Palo Santo I first tried during a tour of the Dogfish Head brewery, and Sah’tea at the aforementioned Belgian Café after the first fateful night we spent with the little monster. Friends and I bought and split cases of each.
Predictions for 2010
- Probably contain around 365 days.
- Still no jetpacks.
- Ragnarök.