10 best moments in 2010 came from freedom/focus

there are many, but since this is the year of bike/ped for me, my list truly has to start with the epiphany to focus on bike/ped policy in may as a volunteer at a conference that David Byrne headlined. perhaps it actually started in january in joan prittie's grantwriting course where i wrote a small grant to fund the REM Murmur trestle restoration. she gave me freedom. but the first time i knew it and acted on it was GA rides to the capitol on March 22 where hundreds of us descended on the capitol to lobby the general assembly to pass the 3-foot law.
1 - volunteering at CNU18 conference all week in exchange for attending anything i wanted including lectures from Andres Duany, HUD Sec. Donovan, Island Press authors, Charles Brewer, Mayors Reed, Franklin and of course David Byrne. many of you will say, duh, um tracie have you looked in a mirror? you are bike/ped and have been...what took you so long? well if i knew the answer to the latter many things might have come to pass by now. be that as it may, its a fine time to be involved in bike/ped.
2 - independent study on greenway corridors where a professor who sponsored my research said, oh, by the way, your keyword is 'active living' and thus focused my entire body of work on active living which cleverly combines transportation policy + public health policy.

3 - being asked to join Oconee River Greenway Commission and bikeAthens as boardmembers and joining up with a fine group of folks poised for the next chapter of alternative transportation solutions for athens
4 - being allowed to join the Firefly Trail advisory group and design their npo development plan
5 - are you sensing a theme here? yea, well it continues. each graduate school professor gave me freedom to write about bike/ped: cycling advocates as atypical leaders, greenway corridor plans, economic analysis of ciclovias, trail coalition development, active living as solutions to obesity, and grants for railroad trestle restoration...even though we dont offer a transportation policy degree. ha!

6 - attended three free transportation summits, bike summit 2010, Macon intermodal summit, and CNU18 whose focus was transportation solutions for ATL and being sought out as uber volunteer to help at CNU19 in Madison, WI
7 - being supported by it all by a patient, encouraging partner and the best hound dog ever who takes good care of me when my mind is on other things
8 - biking about a 1,000 miles and enjoying perfect health, weight loss, vacation adventures, new commuting & cycling friends and only incurring one loss, a broken seat post which josh, at sunshine cycles repaired in minutes and so far, is still holding
9 - managing to take the career on the horizon, all the passion, support, and new focus associated with it to shush the discontent from current job burn out
10 - holding out to see how the year finishes up...2 job interviews and lots of apps out, PMF, CDC, NPS, ATL, Beltline and such.