2008 So far

I have been thinking recently about this year. It seems to have flown by. Here's a quick list of things I have experienced over the last 12 months (part of 2007 as well), and 2008.

2007
Relationship with Erin ended
Job with HP ended
Got new job at Synergetics
Halloween in Denver with Mike and Sara. Went as Waldo
In December made first attempt at dating again
Campaigned hard for Ron Paul. Sign waving in old town, neighborhood canvasing, went to a Rally. Hope for America.

2008
10 day cruise in Hawaii with family (17 people total!)
Bought new truck (2008 Nissan Frontier LE)
Went to my first Caucus, Feb 5, Super Tuesday. Got elected as an alternate delegate for county.
Ron Paul didn't win any counties in CO, or any states nationwide. Sad.
Sold old truck (92 Toyota pickup I'd been driving since I was 16)
Played tons of Guitar Hero 3
Sold Motorcycle (2005 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R)
Picked up Golf
Did my brother's and his girlfriend's graduation photos
Bought a PS3
Went to Las Vegas
Sold a bunch of random crap sitting around
Photographed a wedding
Hiked every weekend for 2 months.

• Deserted Village
• Gray's Peak (almost)
• Crosier Mountain
• Gray Rock
• Round Mountain
• Gray's Peak (victory! 14,270 ft)
• 3 day camping trip to Great Sand Dunes National Park
• (some others probably... who knows)

Within one week, almost lost my job and my apartment. Managed to keep both.
Went to my first Envision: Young Professionals meeting.
Went to the 2008 Tour De Fat bicycle parade.
Paid off my the remainder of my student loan with the motorcycle money and some savings.
Over the year took out at least 8 people that went no where.

And the year's not over yet...

"You Are" = You're

For a few years this has been grating on me. Why do so many people get this wrong. Is it laziness? Ignorance? I've talked to enough people across the continent online to notice it's semi regional too. I know almost zero Canadians who use you're, opting to always use your instead. Does this mean their school system doesn't teach this? Or maybe it's a result of an accent or pronunciation. Maybe they verbalize both as "Yor", while down south we say "You're" and "Yor" (spelled that way to help illustration pronunciation).

• You're is a contraction for "You are." Just like Can't, Don't, Shouldn't are all contractions of can not, do not, and should not. Example sentence: You're much more likely to be respected when using proper grammar.
  
• Your is the possessive form of "you." Just liks his/him, hers/her. Example sentence: Your misuse of this word drives me insane!

Ironically, 99% of the time I see "your" used improperly, it's in the sentence "Your an idiot", when the writer is belittling someone else on their false logic, or poor spelling, grammar, ideals, or something else.