2009 Year In Review

Is it New Year’s Eve already? Cliché for sure, but time does indeed fly, especially when you’re having fun. It’s been six months since I started Bermuda Shorts and after a quick look at my blog archive at right, it seems the island quite agrees with me. Take my very first post for example, dated June 1. Even then it was sunny and optimistic—in short, how folks like to say the word Bermudaful, a charming practice I’ve since adopted in outgoing emails (“with Bermudaful wishes,” I’ll now say). June was also the Month of Random Firsts. Like the time I shared fish sandwiches with the actor who played the Golden Child in the 1986 film starring Eddie Murphy. Or when I learned the importance of bungee cords, which of course, help to secure the day’s groceries. Or the first time I got caught in rainstorm while driving my rental scooter (spoiler alert: it ended with me buying a new outfit at Gibbon’s). With July came new experiences altogether, most notably the quest to obtain a driver’s license. There were small victories, mind-boggling exams and major failures, but the good news is my license and our tiny subcompact car eventually materialized one month later. The big news from August was Hurricane Bill, a category 4 storm that threatened Bermuda but turned out to be nothing more than major rain with major hype. Yes, I too bought the fear. And while my Al Roker-esque video shot from stormy Church Bay got some serious circulation, Bermuda got to the business of being its sunny self soon thereafter. How’s this for damage? Thank goodness my family arrived just before the storm! Moving along, September was filled with blissful sailboat charters, eastward Labor Day celebrations and shameless self-promotion. There was my Wyoming road trip story in that month’s issue of Budget Travel—featuring none other than Emmy-winning photographer Joshua Cogan—and my piece in the New York Times, 36 Hours in Bermuda, which ran in the travel section on September 27. Of course there was lots more going on that month—like sampling locally brewed beer at North Rock Brewing Company and day trips to the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences—but a guy’s gotta make a living, right? October gets the Bermuda Shorts Gold Star not only for its abundance of entries but for the world-class events that spurred such creativity, namely the PGA Grand Slam of Golf and the Bermuda Music Festival. If you haven’t seen them already check out these two videos I shot and edited from the Grand Slam: One on the sixteenth hole of Port Royal and another following Lucas Glover’s winning approach on 18. And be sure to turn up the volume. As previously mentioned, the Music Festival was equally as entertaining. After a brief workout at my gym, Wyclef Jean totally rocked the crowd during the festival’s opening performance and day two saw a rollicking rendition of We Are the World, a video also shot and edited by yours truly. But enough about October. In addition to a slew of shoulder season hotel deals, November brought with it the Twenty-Second Annual World Rugby Classic and a long-awaited visit from Queen Elizabeth herself (hey Lizzie, you can thank me later for all of those vacation tips). Which of course brings us to December, a festive month filled with eggnog appreciation, Christmas boat parades, scooter-driving Santas, vintage Bob Hope videos—and my personal favorite—a thirty-foot tall illuminated Michael Jackson. A crazy year, indeed. I'm not sure what's in store for 2010, but if it's anything like the 2009, I think I'll be just fine.