The best way to spend a warm spring holiday: barbecuing meat and veggies with friends on their back porch. Thanks to Mike and Jenny for hosting us this year.

Our desire to own a grill has both increased and diminished. We want to have BBQs on our own porch, but after such a great time it’s hard to do anything that would give a reason to not repeat it.

Welcome, everyone, to the new year. I hope you’re all finding it to be the cornucopia of possibilities that I do. This year the Voteprime crew found itself once again in Philadelphia. Last year Alisa and I bought a house and so did Alisa’s sister and her husband (our good friend) Brian. Our houses are within about four blocks of each other, so Philly was the obvious choice.

Much fun was had, as you can see in Adam’s photos. Many firsts occurred that year (all photos taken by Adam):

First VP NYE featuring someone on the verge of motherhood (no photo).

First VP Guitar Hero battle sessions (and my first time playing).

First VP Bob & Barbara’s gathering.

First VP t-shirt screen printing (we’ve used iron-ons up to this point).

First VP with our good friends Mike & Jenny (seen here experiencing the cow hat).

First VP trip to the absolutely wonderful Cafe Spice.

As well as many long-standing traditions: lots of good friends together, good food and drink, dressing in our finery, counting down to midnight with my great uncle’s watch instead of watching TV, lots of champagne, and playing great rounds of telephone pictionary.

For Alisa and I, 2007 was a lot like the second movie in a sequel: it serves mainly to set up the third, and raise the stakes. A few highlights: at my job I brought in a freelancer, Alisa and I continued to work on improving the house, we got pregnant, R Design, Ltd became just a little bit more substantial, and friends and family were married and got engaged. I predict that 2008 will be the year of life-altering changes, new chapters, and big decisions. I’m looking forward to it with anticipation and the thrill of the unknown.

What do you want to do this year?

As I walk around San Francisco, I encounter dogs tied to things, take their pictures, and offer them up to the world with whatever commentary springs to mind. Enjoy.

People of the world, these are your dogs. Well, at least those in SF. Get over there soon, before everybody else on the internet knows before you do.