Whenever a year rolls over into another, it’s customary to stop a moment and take inventory of self, family, career, finances etc.  (Much like the morning of Jan. 1: deliriously dehydrated, stumbling… one unfamiliar shoe, size 10, hmmm… ohmygawd…. where’s my wallet?!  Panicpanicpanic… oh there it is. And we are once again reminded that even in the purple haze of partying, we do indeed put things back where they belong.  Thank god for that.)
Anyhow, one other important thing to do is write down all that happened in 2007 so you don’t forget it.  Not enough time for that? Well this guy had time, and this guy wrote it ALL down.  Ben Schott http://www.benschott.com/en/almanac.html  writes almanacs.  Not the Farmer’s almanac, but an almanac that includes lists and statistics of all kinds of trivia - from politics to celebrities, health trends to hairstyles: (These are from the UK version) 43% of people polled would do more to halt climate change if other people would too.  Top 11 things to ban from shopping centers:  46% listed skateboards as #1.  12% brushed their teeth only a few times a week or less or never. 18% of consumers have avoided a company because of its ethical behavior. The UK’s top 2 favorite words of 2007: Love and serendipity. The #1 most searched for ailment in the UK in 2007 was Chickenpox? Egads - what does that mean?! He publishes 3 versions: German, British and American.  Although some of these statistics are funny and trivial, they will serve as an interesting time capsule of what we were like in 2007.  It made me think that I should write my own personal almanac of sorts for 2007… 25% of 2007 spent shopping (and still nothing to wear,) 5 trips to visit family, 1 International trip, average number of visits to the gym per month in ’07:  1.  (Note to self: work on that please.) And in writing this I decided to create other lists to complete for 2008:  Number of books read, Number of books written (why not?), Number of countries visited, Top 10 NYC restaurants, Number of trees saved by drinking from an actual glass at work (thousands already!!),  Number of plastic bags I declined at the grocery stores (thousands already here too!) yay! Number of races run, Number of oceans sailed, Number of wines tasted… etc. etc. … and who knows how many more lists I’ll have by 2009!  Thanks for the great idea, Mr. Schott!