Down and up in 2011

This comes late, but anyway. I’ve offered years in review in the past. 2011 certainly was an up and down year for me and the girls.

• In January, we traveled to Florida to visit my paternal grandfather, my last surviving grandparent. Two weeks later, he died at age 88.
• Got our biggest snowfall in Macomb yet–14+ inches on Feb 1. Snow fort time!
• I enjoyed a fantastic Computers & Writing conference in Ann Arbor, with a great blogging panel, From A to <A> getting the Computers & Composition book award, and time well spent with good friends.
• With Neil Baird, I began a writing transfer research project which is helping me to kick-start my research into ease. In May, we got approval for our IRB protocol and a $7,800 internal grant; since that time we’ve build a strong set of case study data to work from, with 10 participants sharing their transition to writing in the major with us this this fall.
• Erin and I decided to road trip in summer 2011, covering 2,000+ miles on a three week trip which began meeting my brother in Arkansas, then heading west to New Mexico and Colorado. Chama, Ouray, Denver, Gunnison, and points between.
• As part of my sabbatical retooling, in August I traveled to Hanover, NH for the Dartmouth Seminar in Composition Research. Being away from the girls for two weeks was very hard, but the seminar very much worth it.
• Madelyn started school, in Mrs. Bear’s kindergarten at Lincoln Elementary.
• On September 12, we said good-bye to The Big Kitty, returning to a pet-less house for the first time since 1994.
• Some family issues I don’t wish to share caused us some serious aggravation.
• Obviously, the low point of the year was rupturing my Achilles tendon playing football. To be specific, the bottom came about a month after that, when I ran out of good cheer and struggled to cope. But now that I’m a month into physical therapy, hopefully the worst is behind me.

Here’s hoping for less not-so-great stuff in 2012.