These are my favorite things from 2010. I wish i could say this was complete, but i’m sure there are some i haven’t thought of. And it’s not necessarily only stuff that was new in 2010, as long as i experienced it in 2010 i considered it for this list.

Movie:

Inception. Obviously. The Hurt Locker takes a strong 2nd place. Yes, i know it was a 2009 flick, but i didn’t see it until January. And probably Toy Story 3 if i had to fill out the podium. Honorable mention goes to Food, Inc. for kicking off an eye-opening look into the food that i eat.

Scene:

“Married Life” from Up. I fell in love with it at the Best Picture screening in February. Storytelling perfection with a matching score. Pure magic. Makes me cry every time. Shout outs to Hurt Locker’s gritty sniper battle and the zero-gravity hotel fight from Inception.

Song:

“Bedroom Intruder Song.” Nothing else could touch its simple, clever Auto-Tune-The-News catchiness, and infectious unplugged cover at the end of the video. This coming from the guy who had the same 6 old CDs in the the changer for most of the year. There just wasn’t much of anything new catching my ear this year. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Antoine Dodson wins a Grammy for Best Song.

Composer:

Michael Giacchino. I discovered this year that Giacchino’s signature piano and string chords were behind many of my favorite recent soundtracks. Namely Up‘s score, especially the “Married Life” scene — at the same time the happiest and saddest four notes. And of course the theme songs to the lives of our favorite castaways on Lost.

TV Show:

Dexter. The only show i’ve seen that gets better each season. Just superb writing. I might have started season one in 2009 but worked through the rest of it throughout 2010, finally catching up with season five in December. Should also mention Mad Men. My other favorite, also watched it beginning to end this year. Still can’t quite put my finger on why it’s good, but it just is. I relate a lot to the flawed leads of those two shows. Top Gear also has a place here — steady the most funny and entertaining series on the planet. New episodes or reruns, it fills the gap in mainstream television’s off season. It’s been up and down but after seven seasons The Office has established itself as a classic. I re-watched the show from the beginning on Netflix in November and caught several key episodes i’d never seen.

Title Sequence

“Morning Routine” from Dexter. Sure, it’s a few years old, but i only just got into it this year. I watch the intro every time. Great visuals and great music set the tone for the show. Food, Inc. had very clever opening credits, and Up in the Air‘s had some interesting visuals.

Character:

Jennifer Carpenter as Debra Morgan on Dexter. You just have to watch the show. She’s amazing. Also grew fond of James May, the compulsive, nerdy, and very very funny ⅓ of Top Gear‘s hosts. They started with a different presenter in the show’s first series, and when May replaced him in the next, everything clicked — the balance of chemistry between all 3 hosts was perfect. May’s short BBC series Toy Stories that aired this summer in the US was fun and inspiring.

Commercial:

Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like.” The best ad and campaign of the past 10 years.

Quote:

The only quotes i can remember are from TV. “They make it look so easy. Connecting with another human being. It’s like no one told them it’s the hardest thing in the world.” —Dexter, season 5 finale. And, “I’m on a horse.”

YouTube Video:

Ken Block’s Gymkhana THREE, Part 2; Ultimate Playground; l’Autodrome, France, basically the ultimate i wish video. Incredible car control and an incredible machine. That Double Rainbow guy is always good for a laugh.

Facebook Memes:

FML. And “Best Sung Hooks on Rap Songs.”

Tweets:

“If you’re havin’ code problems I feel bad for you son, I got 99 problems but a glitch ain’t one.” —@gohinty
“Would you ask a cabbie to take you somewhere for free because it’s just a short trip & they have a fun job? Then why ask an artist the same?” —@thekateblack
“I am informed by a comment on my blog: ‘Religion is to spirituality what porn is to sex.’” —@ebertchicago
“What does homie play?” —@brianbolter
“Saturday night just logged me out due to inactivity.” —@badbanana
“DC: Four months of Winter. 15 days of Spring. Seven months of Summer. 15 days of Fall.” —@danr

App/Service/Website:

Plex. Absolutely beautiful piece of software. Makes watching movies and TV shows from a Mac effortless. Honorable mention to Adobe Lightroom. Once you crest that learning curve, wrangling thousands of photos and processing RAW images is almost fun. I keep discovering new features and shortcuts that make exploring the software a treat. And then there’s Gmail. Because i just cannot imagine email without it. Not simply “still around” after 6 years, but constantly evolving, improving, and going strong. I still use Ping.fm everyday to blast my social networks.

Game:

Battlefield Bad Company 2. Wipes the floor with Call of Duty and Halo. And EA/Dice are doing DLC right. Instead of charging outrageous prices for map packs, many of which are recycled from previous games, and are essentially a coat of paint over the same game, BfBC2 gives you all new map packs for free. Then you can pay for DLC that unlocks actual new gameplay modes. Throw-back nod to Tetris. I dug up the old NES and played some during Christmas break. It’s a timeless game, so simple and still so challenging after more than 20 years.

Place:

Bed.

Drive:

Leaving Old Rag mountain. A spirited chase through winding Virginia countryside roads at magic hour.

Restaurant:

Chipotle. A 12-inch square of foil stuffed before your eyes with good, quality food for six bucks. Can’t really be beat. Definitely my go-to this year.

Burger:

Special-of-the-week lamb burger with sauteed cherry tomatoes, arugula, and (i think) mozzarella cheese at Chadwicks in Old Town Alexandria. I tried about 40 different burgers this year, and this one stood above them all. Perfectly cooked juicy lamb, and the sauteed tomatoes made the perfect “sauce” component — fresh, juicy, and tangy without requiring ketchup or other condiments. Arugula added unique flavor you don’t get from lettuce. The “Soul Burger Number One” from Ray’s Hell Burger was a close second. Ray’s burgers are a little too imposing to me.

Meal:

“Cuba” pork & pineapple tacos at Surfside. All the right flavors after a day of walking around DC.

Flavor:

Honey-Chipotle. Discontinued from the fajitas at On The Border, so i tried making my own and put it on Chipotle burritos. 1:1 honey and Chipotle Tobasco.

Recipe:

Perfect Thin and Crispy French Fries. Super-easy to make, and come out better than McDonald’s fries on their best day.

Purchase:

Canon EOS 7D digital SLR camera. A big chunk of change, but worth every penny. I researched for a month and decided to get a 7D over a smaller T2i. I initially planned to use it as a video camera, but i’ve used it almost entirely for shooting stills. Discovering the possibilities of shooting and editing RAW photos and learning about the qualities of different lenses has been eye-opening. I’ve barely scratched the surface of what this thing can do. Second fave cop-of-the-year is the Alpha Industries jacket i stole from Gilt in March for only $40. Finally got a chance to wear it when it got cold, and it’s awesome.

Lens:

Minolta MC Rokkor 58mm f1.2. The thing is a beast. It sees in the dark. It makes magic. And a relative bargain compared to modern lenses made of plastic.

Jeans:

Levi’s 514 Slim Straight, 3D Rigid Welder. Fit perfectly. More than likely i’m wearing them right now. Annoyingly, other 514s i got with the same measurements don’t fit the same.

Store:

I’m gonna have to go with eBay on this one. I bought everything on eBay this year. My new camera and all my lenses and accessories. Clothes, car parts, a piano tuning kit, gadgets, and gifts. And i made out like a bandit. Though the customer service is a joke. Indochino is the one to watch for custom-made online men’s fashion. Very attractive and easy-to-use website, and superb customer service. I got a custom-made suit and shirts, the best-fitting things i’ve ever worn, without ever stepping into a physical store.

Event:

AMC Best Picture Showcase. All day in the theater two Saturdays in a row. Can’t beat seeing all 10 Best Pic Nominees for only $40. Hiking Old Rag Mountain was a memorable day with good friends. Perfect autumn weather, amazing views.

Moment

I’m struggling to come up with a singular moment that could be my favorite for the entire year. Hard to know if recent memories overshadow older ones just because they’re still fresh in my mind. And difficult to recall everything that happened since 12 months ago. Only thing coming to mind is when i unboxed the 7D, the first time i held it in my hands. It felt perfect.

Day of the Week:

It all started to blur together toward the end of the year, but if i had to pick, i’d say Friday. Friday was Burger Night™ — something to look forward to no matter what happened the rest of the week.

Week:

My birthday week. No parties, but enjoyed great food with friends and family every day of that week.

Month:

December. This year after many struggles, procrastination, and a few surprises, i finally found some forward progress in key areas of my life in December. And it was a lot of fun, for the most part. Hoping it continues and multiplies into 2011.

Stay tuned for a few more year-end lists like my Numbers post, where i break down the stats of my 2010. The last time i did a year-end wrap-up was 2006: The Numbers and What I Didn’t Do.

Why does it have to be so difficult to transfer Outlook accounts/settings to a new computer? I dropped my Firefox profile folder on my new computer, and picked up right where i left off—history, passwords, windows sizes, and all. Outlook has no built-in import/export function that’s worth anything, and files and settings are spread all over the place.

What’s the point of having a headphone jack on the front of the computer case if all you hear on it is hum and noise from the hard drives?

Sunday.

How long is going to be before i don’t have to press Cancel when i swipe my bank card? Cancel means cancel. Not: “oh, you want Credit, not debit.”

And here’s today.

Why does Outlook ask me to save changes to an email when all i did was click to display the images?

And it hurts when you cut your thumb on a table saw. It should be okay, but it definitely didn’t look good.

[You might not want to see if you're squeamish.]

I guess i should have checked out the photos a little closer. Turns out she had been working on it for a while, but didn’t get a chance to finish it before Christmas. If you can’t tell from the pictures, it’s a scarf she knitted out of cashmere and something else that sounds fancy.

Sorry everyone else, but this was probably the coolest gift i got for Christmas. Definitely the most thoughtful. The colors and style are perfect. I’m definitely rocking this sometime soon—it hasn’t been above freezing in days. Thanks, Nina!

Driven: 7500 miles

In the driver’s seat: 300 hours, over 12 days

Cost to own and operate my car: $6500, about $20/hour

Highest speed: 120ish mph

Tickets: 0

Farthest on one tank: 354 miles

Spent on 93 octane: $1000

Most paid per gallon: $3.209

Swam: 3 times

Surfed: 1, almost

Spent at Target: $1000, mostly on snacks and the clearance rack

In the hospital: 36 days

Weight lost: 25 lbs

Weight gained: 15 lbs

Spent dining out: $2000

Percent of that at Quiznos: 15%

Went to Sunday morning coffee: 5 times

Actually got coffee: 1 time

Sunday mornings sitting in a pew: 1, maybe

Weddings: 2

Haircuts: 5

Paid for: 2

Spent on clothes: $750

Credit cards paid off: 1

Cellular minutes used: 1600

Direct Connect minutes used: 3750

Faxes sent: 1

Photos: 6000, 10GB

Shot on film: 0

Listened to Alicia Keys, Unplugged: about 50 times

Movies watched: 50

Books read: 0

Blog posts: 130

Dlee’s blog posts read: all of them

Gummi bears: thousands

Cans/bottles of Coke: countless

Asleep before midnight: almost never

A 2005 wrap-up post

Get searched by airport security

Go to Scholtzsky’s in Savannah

Get the right plan with my new phone

Go to the dentist

Like Sundays

Go to California

Keep my job at Christ Chapel

Remember my ribeye

Go to Hawaii

See the fireworks at the lake

Drive to the beach

Ride without AC

Catch a wave. But i did catch a redneck fisherman

Go to the beach for half of vacation

Just have surgery. Oh, no, wait. I definitely did do that

Family reunion

Scrabble

Eat for three weeks

Work for about three months

Get anything for my birthday

Catch the punk that egged my windshield

Make moves

Like the much-hyped Hoodwinked!

See DLee

Finish LCD

Get rich. Quick or slow

See the Christmas production

Miss listening to the radio

Go to the gym

Get a coat

My shopping before Christmas Eve

Start playing drums

Iron Chef

Pursue happyness

Everyone got on Gmail and Google Talk. I started that by a long shot—sorry Gudo.
[Correction: Gudo invited me to Google Talk. Of course, i invited him to Gmail.]

Sisters left for school.

Editing the music video.

Bro put my new wheels on my whip.

Trees were cut down and the deck was built.

A big move at work. And plenty of other stuff, i’m sure.

Mike’s birthday.

Family get together in KY.

About 90 meals.

About 1000 miles on the odometer, and about $150 in 93 octane.

Scrabble.

4 Coffees. As if i ever went.