It is 2009 and it is a good day to both look forward and back. It seems as if we get piles and piles of lists this time of year. The best and worst of everything from movies to music, books, people, you name it.

Well lame writers usually jump on that band wagon and so being a lame writer; I will add my two cents to what my thoughts are for the upcoming year as well as judging 2008.

2008 biggest events:

1. I turned 40.

2. Barack Obama became our first black president.

3. Wall Street took a poop.

4. Corporate greed hit an all time high.

5. My Packers also took a poop.

2008 things that I liked:

1. Relay for Life was huge again!

2. Our community built a great house.

3. United Way is almost to the goal.

4. I am still alive.

5. Karma bit O.J. Simpson in the butt.

2008 cool stuff:

1. The Joker in the “Batman Returns” movie. Heath Ledger nailed it.

2. “The Last Lecture” was a great book and YouTube video. A must see!

3. My daughter is in high school — yikes, I am old.

4. My daughter still talks to me like a human being (people with kids will understand this).

5. Gas prices took a nose dive.

Now for upcoming events:

Just so everyone knows, I received a crystal ball for Christmas and will now use it for the first time.

2009 biggest events:

1. Inauguration

2. A political figure will be caught doing something illegal.

3. A corporate CEO will make 1,257 times more than me for managing a business into the ground. He will then have the government bail him out and write a book about business and retire with a huge sum of money.

4. A Hollywood type personality will go to rehab.

5. A reality show with people trying to date 1980s rock band personalities will become the top show in America, furthering our decent into hell.

2009 things I would like to see:

1. CEOs fired without a penny given to them.

2. Our economy to steadily make a great comeback.

3. Our place in the world to be strengthened by a great diplomatic team.

4. A waterskiing squirrel.

5. The truth.

2009 new inventions I would like to see:

1. A phone that screens out bad people.

2. A hammer that drops out the sky to hit bad people in the head.

3. The controls for this hammer.

4. To be able to buy time.

5. A lie detector that is put in the body so that your head lights up when you tell a lie. I would love to watch c-span if this was invented.

So that is all I have.

Here is wishing everyone a safe and happy 2009.

Tribune Publisher Scott Schmeltzer’s columns appears every Thursday.