This is the new Web Team area. It’s much bigger and sunnier than our old spot, which was in the most remote, forgotten bowel of the building.

This is my office. There are no windows, but the lighting is actually surprisingly natural, and leaving the door open lets in copious amounts of sunlight from the main area.

The view from my desk. I still need to hang pictures and maybe get a plant to make it seem less spartan, but overall it’s much nicer than I expected. I feel like now I really need to earn my space by being extra productive.

That’s my favorite part about working at UW-Whitewater. I might not be making as much money as I could be in the private sector, but I feel much more valued and respected than I would if I were working in cubicle farm.

Plus, the work I do helps students find out information about classes and more easily manage their education. At the end of the day, I’d rather be able to say I spent my time doing that, than hacking away at some line-of-business software for a giant financial institution or something.

In the last 12 months, I did the following:

• Took my first “real” full-time job at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
• Adopted two dogs
• Bought a house
• Got married
• Drove to Tennessee for two weeks for my honeymoon
• Printed my band’s first “real” album that you can buy
• Was the best man in my best friend’s wedding

I think it’s going to be a while before I beat 2011 on the eventfulness front. That’s why, as you’ve heard so many sports coaches do before me, I’m declaring this a rebuilding year.

What I mean is that, while Mary and I want to start our family sooner rather than later (since we’d like to be less than a million years old when our kids graduate high school), we’re barely scraping by as it is due to student loan payments and paying back money we spent on stuff for the wedding.

So, this year is a rebuilding year. We’re going to keep our heads down and pay off as much as we can so that, at some point, we might be able to actually keep some of our money rather than have it all immediately spoken for in loan and credit card payments.

There’s nothing wrong with a rebuilding year, everybody needs them once in a while. It will actually be nice to just spend time with Mary and the dogs and do projects around the house and “pay our dues.”

Your fondest memories are usually of the times you were just goofing around at home with your loved ones.

We got some good prospects. Who knows, maybe next year we’ll win the pennant!

We’re living in a time in our country where every issue is completely divisive and polarizing. You’re either for us or against us, and many people vote entirely on single issues, regardless of the actual policies enforced by their leaders.

What I have to say is this: whether you’re a conservative or a liberal, a Republican, a Democrat or an Independent, take a moment to ask yourself whether you want to be seen by future generations as a hero or a villain.

We need heroes to ensure we have good schools and healthcare for our children and our neighbors children. We need heroes who have the empathy it takes to give up some of what they have when their neighbor doesn’t have enough.

A villain pulls his neighbor down with him, arguing that if he can’t have some, nobody should. A villain looks at his neighbor not to make sure that she has enough, but to make sure she doesn’t have more than he does.

No movie has ever had a hero who cut jobs, increased tax breaks for the wealthy, and made drastic cuts to education. We all want to be George Bailey, nobody wants to grow up to be Mr. Potter. So why do we vote for politicians and policies that hurt our communities? Why do we ruin our children’s futures and let our homes and cities slide into decay just to save a few dollars in taxes?

When future generations are dealing with the long-term effects of the policies and laws we enact today, do you want them to think of you as a hero, or a villain? Do you want them to inherit a government bereft of empathy and hope, that denies your fellow man the bootstraps he needs to pull himself up?

So, no matter what your politics, next time you’re at the polls just think: Am I really voting in my and my neighbors’ best interest? Will this vote do the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people? Does this vote make me a hero? Or a villain?