The 2011 Yearbook is done. What a year! You can see all the albums from the year here.
This years edition clocks in at 108 pages – the longest yet. I hope you enjoy it, as I know Tiff and I will for years to come!
You can browse the pages below.
Don’t forget this one too.
First, there’s the famously watered down Hollywood apology for greed and money, delivered by Gordon Gekko (Micheal Douglas) in the movie Wall Street.
Gekko: Well, I appreciate the opportunity you’re giving me, Mr. Cromwell, as the single largest shareholder in Teldar Paper, to speak.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, we’re not here to indulge in fantasy, but in political and economic reality. America, America has become a second-rate power. Its trade deficit and its fiscal deficit are at nightmare proportions. Now, in the days of the free market, when our country was a top industrial power, there was accountability to the stockholder. The Carnegies, the Mellons, the men that built this great industrial empire, made sure of it because it was their money at stake. Today, management has no stake in the company!
All together, these men sitting up here [Teldar management] own less than 3 percent of the company. And where does Mr. Cromwell put his million-dollar salary? Not in Teldar stock; he owns less than 1 percent.You own the company. That’s right — you, the stockholder.
And you are all being royally screwed over by these, these bureaucrats, with their steak lunches, their hunting and fishing trips, their corporate jets and golden parachutes.
Cromwell: This is an outrage! You’re out of line, Gekko!
Gekko: Teldar Paper, Mr. Cromwell, Teldar Paper has 33 different vice presidents, each earning over 200 thousand dollars a year. Now, I have spent the last two months analyzing what all these guys do, and I still can’t figure it out. One thing I do know is that our paper company lost 110 million dollars last year, and I’ll bet that half of that was spent in all the paperwork going back and forth between all these vice presidents.
The new law of evolution in corporate America seems to be survival of the unfittest. Well, in my book you either do it right or you get eliminated.
In the last seven deals that I’ve been involved with, there were 2.5 million stockholders who have made a pretax profit of 12 billion dollars. Thank you.
I am not a destroyer of companies. I am a liberator of them!
The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed — for lack of a better word — is good.
Greed is right.
Greed works.
Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.
Greed, in all of its forms — greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge — has marked the upward surge of mankind.
And greed — you mark my words — will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.Thank you very much.
And then there’s the epic Money speech delivered by Ayn Rand’s Fancisco d’Aconia in Atlas Shrugged. What Gordon Gekko would have said, if he hadn’t been delivering lines written by Hollywood liberals:
Rearden heard Bertram Scudder, outside the group, say to a girl who made some sound of indignation, “Don’t let him disturb you. You know, money is the root of all evil – and he’s the typical product of money.”
Rearden did not think that Francisco could have heard it, but he saw Francisco turning to them with a gravely courteous smile.
“So you think that money is the root of all evil?” said Francisco d’Aconia. “Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can’t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?
The 2010 Yearbook is done. Another 60 or so hours of work in the layouts over the course of the year (again, this year, I tried to do them as we went). This is a monumental undertaking, but the final product has always been worth it.
This years edition clocks in at 98 pages – largely because once Tiffany left her PhD program we both started doing things on our own. Since 80 pages is the limit allowed by PhotoWorks, we had to look for a place that would allow us more pages. And we found Viovio.
You can browse the pages below.
The Yearbook Accounts of the year in words is below:
As I said, vacation is often a state of mind. Despite our proximity to home, the leisurely pace, eating out and general discovery of the area really made it feel like a destination vacation; we might as well have been a thousand miles away.
Annapolis was great, too. Down on the pier, there was always something going on. There was a yacht of very drunk party-people. There were kids eating ice cream. And there were dogs. Tiffany liked the dogs:
One of the best parts about being so close to home is that we were also very close to our friends. On July 4, our friends Mark and Lindsay always host a rooftop barbecue in Baltimore to watch (and shoot some) fireworks. Since we were so close, we could still go!
Warrenton is a way-point on a trip to Shenandoah, and more importantly a drive back. After our regular Old Rag adventures, we’re always looking for some good eats.
Rae’s in Sperryville used to be the famous Appetite Repair Shop. Under new management, the menu is eclectic and the service is friendly, but the food is rather boring. It’s good if you’re really hungry – say after a challenging hike or a camping trip. But it’s not great. I don’t crave it while I’m on the trail. We settle.
Frost Diner in Warrenton is about half an hour away from Sperryville. I love diners and Frost is pretty normal diner fare. Again, it’s good if you’re hungry, but not amazing. And a few years back, a group of us were sorely disappointed when half of the menu was out of stock – including ice cream.
On our recent trip to Shenandoah, I think we stumbled upon a winner. A must-stop on a return trip from Shenandoah.
I knew Carousel Frozen Treats was a good when I saw it was packed with people – mostly locals. The menu was daunting – mostly deserts, but also hot dogs and some fries that looked amazing. Both Tiffany and I ordered variations of fudge deserts. They were huge. And they were delicious. I even became a fan on Facebook…
As you can see, 2009 was an action packed year. Most every weekend was spent doing another action-packed adventure. Every year Jed makes a yearbook that encompasses all of the major events of the previous year. It is a lot of work (to put it mildly) and the results are always amazing. However, this year, Jed has outdone himself. Through a combination of artistry, photography, and photoshop, he has designed a masterpiece. Also, as part of our tradition, we each do a summary of our thoughts on the events that had occurred that year, and things that stick out in our mind. You can see that below the fold.
Here is a link to Jed’s post about the yearbook.
The 2009 Yearbook is done. 50-60 hours of work went into the layouts over the course of the year (this year, I did them as we went instead of all at once over the holidays). This is a monumental undertaking, but the final product has always been worth it.
At 80-pages, we reached the maximum allowed by PhotoWorks – and I dare say the maximum possible in a year. I’d have to check, but out of 52 weeks, we might have taken two or three off.
So please enjoy. You can play with the final book in a cool little java-applet from PhotoWorks by clicking here.
Or you can just browse the pages below.
The Yearbook Account of the year in words is below:
Most of you probably know that in our family, Jed is the planner, but recently I had multiple conversations with friends where they expressed interest in seeing the move Avatar. I decided it had been a while since we all hung out, so I organized a dinner at our house first, and then going to see the movie in IMAX 3D afterwards. The surprise turned out to be on me when Jed and I went to pick up the tickets for everyone the day before, only to find out that all IMAX showtimes had been sold out for two days already. I was very disappointed and felt bad that we wouldn’t be able to see the movie in IMAX, but it turns out our friends are awesome, and everyone ended up coming despite the unfortunate circumstances.
We were pleasantly surprised to find out that nearly everyone was able to make it, which posed a bit of a spacing problem for us, as we had never had that many people in our house at once, and I don’t believe I had ever cooked for 14 people before. I chose to make a 6.5lb roast for french dip for most people, and a copy of the “fully mozzy”, my favorite sandwich from Hickory Ridge Grill for our veggie friends, in addition to 10 lbs of mashed potatoes. Our friends are super awesome and everyone brought delicious appetizers and side dishes (spinach artichoke dip, spreadable feta and crackers, salad, veggie plate with dip, bacon wrapped dates stuffed with goat cheese and almonds, a veggie salad dish) and dessert (brownie sundaes with ice cream and amazing toppings). It was one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time. Not only are my friends attractive and brilliant, but man can they cook. Pretty much everyone chipped in some wine as well, and I believe we went through close to 10 bottles of wine in all. Well done all. 
Afterwards, we went to the movie about 45mins early so we could all sit together. Once at the theater, we were in line when all of a sudden a friend of ours, Eric, came up to greet us. He had seen Bushey’s ridiculous hat at a distance and was in the process of making fun of it when he realized he knew us. It was quite a coincidence. We all sat down and played with our 3D glasses a bit till the movie started. I believe there were also incidents where popcorn were lodged in ears…
The movie seemed to be a general hit among our friends, and I certainly enjoyed it just as much the second time. Even Jed seemed to have warmed up to it a bit more the second time around.
After the movie, we headed back to the house where we indulged in a bit more wine, but mostly the decadent brownie sundaes. After a few more hours, people started to file out and go back home. All in all it was an awesome night and it was so nice to see our friends once more. Enjoy the pics!
Picture 1:
Picture 2:
The gallery:
