Yeah...Yeah...Yeah...2008...

Happy New Year And All That Stuff...


I regret to admit that I was asleep by 10:30 last night so I missed the dropping of balls and firing of fireworks and the balance of the festivities.

I guess that I'm just getting old. Ten years ago I was running around Atlanta in a Lincoln Limousine until the wee hours of the morning with an entourage of college friends and business associates I was hosting for the evening--how times change.

2008 found me in a coma at midnight, and I didn't budge again until 4:30 AM when it was time to get up and check my Boston Pork butt which was reclining in a lovely brine mixture in a big pot in a cooler full of ice in the kitchen.

I was also haunted by a giant bundle of Turnip Greens, Spinach, and Kale that needed washing in the sink and a load of Black Eyed Peas that had soaked overnight yesterday and were yet partially cooked on my stove top.

I'm trying to hit the ground running in the new year, so after searing the pork butt in my giant Cast Iron Dutch Oven and setting it cooking on a low 200 degree F heat we'll head over to Lowes for a couple of sheets of OSB and some caulk, then visit the job site for four or five hours finishing the external sheathing and installing three windows in the new front wall of the dining room.

Unfortunately winter will arrive here on our little island this week, with temperatures expected down into the mid to upper 20's Wednesday night and gusty winds blowing the Spanish Moss out of the trees in the yard. I've got to move all five thousand five hundred fifty of Pat's ferns and other tropical plants into the garage and sun porch between now and then in order to avert disaster. We only have to look forward to a dozen or so nights of this kind of weather down here--so it's sort of a shock when it arrives to interrupt our otherwise balmy existence.

At least Georgia Tech managed to not start the year with an ugly loss in football (instead finishing the year with an ugly loss), losing 40 to 28 yesterday on some kind of blue football field out in Idaho in the Humanitarian Bowl. On behalf of all of the GT Alumni, I offer my apology if you felt compelled to watch the game (I didn't.)

In other football news of note, Auburn beat Clemson (I laugh no matter who wins because I know engineers from both schools), my Dad's Alma mater Kentucky beat Florida State, and let's hope that Hawaii gives Georgia a good pounding so I can live in peace for the next eight months here in the Peach State.

I smell my greens boiling, so I guess that I better go check on them. Have a nice New Years day everyone, and don't be tempted to make any resolutions you're not prepared to keep.

Know what I mean?