It’s hard to believe it’s January again, but I have to admit a certain amount of relief in having 2008 behind me.  In March 2008, I had two surgeries back-to-back to correct 3 different problems. On September 11, my mother passed away after a two-year battle with cancer.  A week after her funeral, I was diagnosed with a different kind of cancer.  In October, I underwent another surgery to remove the cancer, along with my thyroid.  Through late November and December, I was taken off medication, placed on a restrictive diet, and given a dose of radiation to kill remaining cancer and thyroid tissue.  It’s not over yet, but I hope the worst is behind me.

The last few weeks I took a break from blogging, including this site.  I spent some quality time with Grand Theft Auto IV, which I finally beat yesterday.  I spent a little time with Spore, and a title from Valve’s Steam service called “Space Trader” that wasn’t bad (but not great, either).  I’ve also caught up on a bunch of television programs my TiVo collected for me, including the last couple of seasons of Stargate Atlantis.

Looking ahead to 2009, I plan to post more game reviews, more World of Warcraft tips as I learn new things about the game, more wargame news, and more game news period.  I plan to attend at least Origins 2009 and Gen Con Indy 2009, and other events if I can.

I have a netbook now (an Asus 1000H) that will allow me to do some blogging on my lunch hour at work, and an iPod Touch that could help out in a pinch where there’s WiFi access.  With any luck, this will help make the stream of news a bit more consistent than in the past.

If you have any recommendations for The Gamer Hotsheet in 2009, please feel free to post them in the comments for this article.  I’m open to anything that will make this a more interesting and useful site for you.