So long 2009

All years have their ups and downs, but for me personally 2009 had more ups than downs - in fact, in many ways, it's been a bit of a stellar year. I'm probably a little unusual in that respect vis-a-vis most people in Ireland as the year has generally been an unmitigated disaster with rapidly rising unemployment, wages cuts, collapsing house prices, severe flooding, and general all round misery.

From my perspective though:
The Rule Book finally saw the light of day.

The 12 volume International Encyclopedia of Human Geography was published.

Rethinking Maps followed shortly afterwards.

I submitted two new books - Code/Space: Software and Everyday Life (MIT Press) and the 2nd edition of Key Thinkers on Space and Place (Sage)

We put up the Atlas of Cyberspace up as free PDF download (my only book to briefly break into Amazon top 100 sales rank) and gave it a new life.

I finished a ten year stint as Editor of Social and Cultural Geography

I was appointed Editor of Progress in Human Geography

I got the green light to start a new journal, Dialogues in Human Geography (Sage)

The first books in the Key Concepts series I edit were published (Sage) and the first books in the Irish Society series were commissioned (Manchester University Press).

I travelled to some interesting places: Armenia, Ohio, Kentucky, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Germany, UK

We moved into the Blue House back in January

I started two blogs - The View from the Blue House in July, and Ireland After NAMA in November.

I discovered the world of blogging in general and some great blogs and communities

My reading got a new burst of life as I discovered loads of new authors whose other works I want to read and I read loads of fabulous books.

On the negative side, I've taken a 20 percent cut in my take home pay and been trying to fight a rearguard action on cuts to the institute I run. 2010 will be an interesting year on that front. I'm genuinely worried about the hole Ireland finds itself in and the government's handling of the crisis, and my fear is that things are going to get worse before they get better and it'll be a slow climb back to where we were. I also failed to find either agents or publishers for Saving Siobhan and The White Gallows.

I doubt I'll have another year like that any time soon. So long 2009, you were a rare vintage ...