Last Post of the Year!

Happy New Year!  I hope it's been as interesting and fulfilling for you as it has for me.  Last year, I posted a summary of how the year went, so I thought I would do the same this year.  I've already posted about the books I've read this year, but here's a bit more about my travels, professional milestones, and hopes and to-dos for next year!

Travel
I didn't get as far and wide as I did in 2011, but I did manage to get to:

• New York (June 30 - July 4 2012)
• DC (September 30-October 3 2012)
• Baltimore (October 3-6 2012)
• Hawaii (US Thanksgiving week 2012)
• Ontario (Toronto and Ottawa, briefly)
• a few trips back to Vancouver, of course!

On my travel wish list for 2013: Anywhere in Europe and/or possibly another return to Japan.  I get the feeling I'd like to go back about every two years, so it's about time!

Professional Life
It was another busy year with lots of projects, training and trips!  Here's a few:

• Attended this year's Grace Hopper Conference with a team I organized of 10 Windows Phone engineers who taught Windows Phone app development
• Presented as part of a panel at GHC12
• Evangelized Windows Phone app development at UW's CS Open House
• Mentored an intern for the second time
• Helped with recruiting efforts in Vancouver
• We shipped Windows Phone 7.5 for 256MB phones, the big project I worked on last year!
• We shipped Windows Phone 8!

Incidentally, I got a new Lumia 920 which I love, as well as a new Surface RT, which proved a wonderful device to have on vacation over the holidays!  I am excited to get back to work and start building new, cool things!

Blog
I didn't do as well with my blogging as I did last year, because I was so busy doing other things!  But here are the top five posts from my blog in 2012:

• Leadership Workshop: Office Politics for People Who Don't Like Office Politics
• It's coming!
• GHC12 Submission Results
• Are you ready for social networking at GHC12?
• Are We There Yet? Perspectives from Junior Women in Technology

Other
Outside of work and travel, this year I got outside more.  I played in four ultimate leagues this summer, including on Microsoft's corporate team!  I went hiking, swam in Lake Washington almost every weekend this summer, and learned to climb (top roping indoors and outdoors, as well as bouldering).  Now that we're back to winter weather, I hope to get some skiing in this spring!