What an interesting year this one has been for me. I started out the year working from home on a big project for a hospital in the United Arab Emirates, and I end the year working on a project across the country in Reno, Nevada. In between those extremes I also had a long term consulting gig in Pennsylvania and took a trip to a conference in Chicago, my first visit there in nine years.

In between all of that I kept up with this blog and another blog, and earlier this month started blog number three, Top Finance Blog. So I've been a guy, and I've had a great run, but I'm really proud of what I did with this blog this year. I wrote, not including this post, 173 posts, and with number 400 I gave you a motivational video, without really marking the significance of the day. Trust me, when I hit number 500, there will be a retrospective of some sort. And, based on the numbers, I could hit number 500 near the end of February or some time early in March; I can't wait.

Anyway, I've gone back through my blog looking for my favorite posts of the year. I had originally planned on only doing ten, but I ended up with nineteen and I'm going to post them all because, well, I'm hoping that you might find something here that you may have missed during the year and will want to check it out. I almost feel a little silly because of my I'm Just Sharing blog, I only came up with eighteen posts, and I wrote over 300 posts there. No matter; the topics here are much different, and, in my opinion, much more important overall.

So, without further ado, here are my top nineteen posts of 2008:

RAC Audits - A Commentary was my most visited post of the year, with almost 350 views. This was my commentary on the federal government's process for doing audits on hospital payments for the Medicare program.

Sometimes We Know Too Much talked about how sometimes those of us who know something really well need to hear from someone who may not have a clue as to what we do in order to move forward.

Interview Series - HRM LLC. This year I started an interview series, and this was, in my opinion, the best of the bunch as far as motivating others.

Mitch's List - A Very Long Post was my list of accomplishments for the calendar year at that point, as well as a list of people I wanted to thank for helping along the way.

Whose Responsibility Is Diversity Within The Organization is my wondering why the buck seems to be passed when it comes to diversity issues.

What Other People Think talks about how no one should allow what other people think about them to stop them from their dreams and goals.

Os A Conversation About Race Possible came about after some encounters I was having with someone else on another blog about race issues.

Overcoming Fear Makes You Feel Better talks about addressing fears so they don't weigh you down and hold you back.

Don't Be The Victim To Insurance Companies was my tale about fighting my insurance company to make sure they covered my medication costs properly.

People Will Leave Your Life talked about how almost every person you know will leave your life in some fashion at some point and dealing with that reality.

Get Motivated And Do Something was my encouragement to people to stop waiting for things to happen and just do something.

Does The Health Care System Need Fixing was my take on the health care crisis in America.

Talking Price Transparency talks about the recommendation that hospitals should posts their charges online so patients know what their costs might be, and what the reality of research seems to show.

Did I Not Get The Contract Because,... was my showing how sometimes minorities wonder if the reason they didn't get work has to do more with race than qualifications.

Do You Black Hole Your Business Customers Or Contacts is based on contractors we kept having to come to the house that seemed to disappear into thin air.

Blog Action Day - Poverty was the most important piece I wrote this year about poverty, something I felt was important enough to write about it on my other blog on the same day.

My Counting Is Outed was my owning up to the reality that I, and other minorities, are known to count how many other minorities may be in a room at most functions.

A Change Done Come was a very short post, but I wrote it the day after Barack Obama was the first black president elect in American history.

President Bush And My Keys To Leadership was my attempt to see if people would step up to the challenge of rating President Bush based on criteria I set with my Keys To Leadership series. Oddly enough, no one took up the challenge.

And there you are. Just to mention this, I didn't count any posts I've written in December in this list because I'm still too close to them based on time, and I always think the latest thing I wrote is pretty good, even when it's short. If this is the last post of 2008 from me I wish everyone a safe New Years Eve and Day, and wish everyone great successes in 2009.