Welcome to 2007

Last night I eschewed the larger parties and instead attended a very small get together at a friends house. It was very pleasant. I ate some wonderful Tai chicken and saffron rice, and then began the ritual drinking. It started with a very sweet Pear mead, followed by a less sweet (but very tasty) Italian Muscat, Chocolate Mint Bailey's Irish cream, some more mead, a brief interruption for some Welsh Scotch and then something else I can't remember clearly.

Of course all this was consumed in very modest quantities and with lots of munchies and some Pepsi One. We watched THE most disturbed South Park episode on my hosts ginormous big screen tv. And when midnight approached, we fired up the Internet and watched Saddam drop.

You heard me. Everbody's seen the big ball. Nothing new, but the shaky camera footage of a dictator being hanged? That's different. Now I could go into the many implications of this event. It's significance with relation to the war, the Iraqi judicial system and in the broader context of our society. But I won't. We sat and watched it like it was a train wreak, knowing what was going to happen, but unable to look away. Each of us, I am sure, took away something different.

I am not sad to see this guy go.

And now, we're officially done with 2006. I'm not sorry to see it go either. It was a good year business wise. But the quality of a year cannot be judged solely on its financial merits. I'm looking forward to 2007 with some optimism and hope. To all of you, I bid you Peace of Earth, and good will towards all. Because the other thing we're doing? Not workin so well.