by Assemblymember John Laird (D-Santa Cruz)

10. Being asked by a reporter for a Spanish-language television station to describe the governor's education budget proposal, and responding with: "Es un Trojan Hummer."

9. At a Capitol press conference jammed with news photographers, intentionally gesturing with my hands at random after realizing that the cameras would snap in unison each time I made a gesture while speaking.

8. Receiving a small bronze pig on a pedestal from the California Dental Association titled the "Glutton for Punishment" award for authoring bills that expand dental care and patient safety protection.

7. Managing 100 hearings as Assembly budget chair, including hearings across California that racked up nearly 3,500 miles of travel, leading to the first on-time Assembly budget vote in five years.

6. The disturbing discovery at a Central Valley transportation budget hearing that some rural roads are being "unpaved" and let go to gravel to save on maintenance.

5. Realizing the very conservative Dennis Mountjoy had inadvertently voted for my Civil Rights Act of 2005, later signed by the Governor, which protects gay Californians against discrimination by businesses.

4. Responding to a statement that the Schwarzenegger-backed Proposition 76 would be good for public schools by saying, "That's the equivalent of when Barbara Bush said everything is fine for Katrina refugees at the Astrodome."

3. The governor signing my first-time Homebuyers bill, which specifically targets only three areas in California—one of which is Monterey County.

2. Joining Dave Potter and other Monterey area officials at a Caltrans Roadside Trash Awareness event and tossing bags of roadside trash into a dumpster that happened to be right in front of a "No Dumping" sign.

1. Standing on the Capitol steps in Sacramento summer heat with Santa and his elves—who were complete with green pointy shoes—to highlight the North Pole meltdown due to global warming.