In a few short hours 2008 will be history. To paraphrase Dickens, it wasn’t the best of times, and it wasn’t the worst of times.

For the OpenNMS project, it was a good year. We got a new stable release out and we had a great Dev-Jam in Atlanta.

For the OpenNMS Group, it was a decent year. Sales were up slightly (our usually robust fourth quarter was pretty flat this year), but we managed to start new work with a couple of very large telecom clients.

I traveled about 95,000 miles on airplanes, and visited 8 countries. I stayed 53 nights in Marriott hotels. Next year my goal is to hit Platinum status on American with exactly 50,001 miles and come nowhere close to Gold status at Marriott.

I love the new year. For me, 2009 stretches out like a clean slate, full of possibilities. And I for one am hoping it will be much, much better than the advanced reviews.

Here’s my heartfelt wish that you have had a marvelous 2008 and may the most that you wish for in 2009 be the least you receive.