'Tis the Season

As the year draws swiftly to a close, we enter one of my favorite seasons: the Season of Lists. If you read the newspaper, surf the internet's myriad of blogs and websites, or watch any sort of news or entertainment news shows on television, you know exactly what I'm talking about. From touching to weird, from serious to silly, this is the season where everyone issues their list of something from the year coming to a close. In keeping with the spirit of the season, I've decided to formulate my own list. I've scoured the world wide web, searching, filtering, and summarizing, to bring you this: the Top Five List of Lists from 2008 (in no particular order)!

From CIO.com, "Swanky Tech for the Filthy Rich"
Click above to learn just how much money you can spend on technology. From diamond-studded do-dads to your own flying car, this list shows just how far you can go being a geek if you have a few million bucks just lying around.

From MSNBC.com, "Msnbc.com's Most Peculiar stories of 2008"
Check out the weirdest stories from MSNBC.com for the past year, selected by readers via MSNBC.com's weekly polls.

From cityguides.msn.com, "New Year's Drops: Thinking Outside the Ball"
New York might be the most-watched New Year's party, but it's definitely not the only game in town. Brought to my attention by my lovely wife, this list gives you an idea of what people outside the Big Apple do to ring in the new year.

From gizmodo.com, "Roundup: Top Weird Gadget Lists of 2008"
Sean Fallon from Gizmodo.com rounded up a list of lists of his own. A sort of managerie of geekiness, these lists pay homage to the nerd in all of us. From "10 R/C Toys That Are Extraordinary (Or Just Plan Weird)" to "10 Gadgets That Have No Business Using a Jet Engine", he gives us ten lists that spark the geek imagination in all of us.

From time.com, "The Top 10 Everything List of 2008"
What can I say? Yes, it's Time Magazine. It's also CNN. So their claim to include everything is probably not far off. Just click. You'll thank me in about 7 hours when you're done.

It's an interesting way to look back on a year that's had so many ups (the first election in my lifetime where you weren't just voting for the guy who made you feel less dirty) and downs (What's that sucking sound? Oh, just the economy...) in just the second half. It helps us keep things in focus, and helps us look back on a year that stands to set trends in politics, the economy, and technology, for years to come.