January – My niece, Maren Myung Ja Wall, was actually born on the last day of 2009, but the first month of 2010 was defined by witnessing a new member of my family into the world. She’s grown so much since this fragile start to her life:

February – New York was hit by a monster blizzard. Unlike the December blizzard of this year, I was around to enjoy it, and the city’s cleanup was actually fairly expedient. This is Prospect Park, Brooklyn, after the sun came out and before the snow melted:

March: My family gathered in Golden, CO, to see Maren for the first time. I traveled from New York, my brother and sister-in-law traveled from Chicago, grandmom from Atlanta, and my dad and stepmom came all the way from Korea. Here’s the whole family at Maren’s baptism:

April: Spring had sprung, and I hit my bike to see the city. One of the highlights of these rides was visiting the newly-opened Brooklyn Bridge Park:

May: OverthinkingIt.com presented its first live show as part of Boston Improv’s Geek Week. I performed my Terminator Monster Ballad; my colleagues gave a hyper-intellectual lecture on the political science implications of Mr. T. I highly recommend watching the entire presentation, but since this is pictures, I’ll leave it at this hilarious photoshopped image of the T-Viathan and the banner of the nascent political movement we created, the “Mr. T Party”:

June: I previously raved about the “Play Me I’m Yours” public art project that placed dozens of pianos in public places throughout New York City. I logged multiple sessions at these pianos and had a blast. I appeared in a couple videos which you can watch here, and I took a lot of pictures of other people playing pianos:

July: I made my first trip to the West Coast and had a fabulous week catching up with old friends and taking in the sites. One of many highlights was making the pilgrimage to my favorite actor’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame:

August: While waiting to see the movie Rocky on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, I had my own cinematic moment at sunset.

September: I went on an amazing bike tour of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, a former military installation turned bustling industrial zone. It’s typically only accessible by employees, so it was a real treat to get this special access. We biked pass huge warehouses, factories, and a few remnants of the facility’s old days:

October: I traveled to Baltimore for a friend’s pre-wedding party. Family and friends were treated to an amazing crab feast:

November: So, I met someone quite special back in September. One of the many great things about her: she convinced me to take a trapeze lesson in spite of my fear of heights. Don’t get me wrong–I was TERRIFIED–but it was exhilarating:

Another great thing about her: she loves karaoke.

December: The year ended with a celebration of Maren Wall’s first birthday. Family once again gathered in Golden, CO, although dad and stepmom couldn’t make it in from Korea this time.

Over the past 12 months, she grew into a beautiful baby. She’s cute beyond words…one of many reasons why I chose pictures to tell this year’s story.

2010 was a great year. I’m looking forward to an even better 2011.

• Over 500,000 visitors to OverthinkingIt.com
• Over 25,000 job placements by NYC’s Workforce1 Career Centers
• Over 20,000 visits to last year’s “Hubbert Peak Theory of Rock” Overthinking It article, many of which came after it appeared on Gawker, Boing Boing, and the front page of Digg.
• 47 posts on Overthinking It, including an article on “Slumdog Millionaire” that’s now the number 1 Google search result for “20 million rupees”
• 5 weddings
• 2 days reporting from New York Comic-Con
• 1 promotion
• 1 song for George Soros
• 1 move to a new apartment
• 1 new member of the family – my niece, Maren Myung-Ja Wall, born on  the last day of the year!

This year was not without hardships and difficulties, but I can say that overall, it was a pretty good year. In 2009, I’ve learned, unlearned, loved, lost, laughed, cried, celebrated, mourned, and done everything else in between. I anticipate all of that–and then some–in 2010.