Ah, great, it's 2008...

So, here we are, in another year. I found 2007 to be something of a wild ride, and I don’t have a very strong desire to look back and review the year. Then again, I don’t really care to make a bunch of predictions and promises about the coming year, either. I can say it will probably be a little chaotic. Years usually are. Don’t worry... those little unexpected variations in life are exactly what makes life so interesting. So, rather than your usual "Year-in-Review" or list of the usual "New Year’s Resolutions" here instead are a handful of unexpected oddities to greet 2008:

First, when it came to ringing in the new year, London really knew how to party:

In London, people were gathering in Trafalgar Square and along the banks of the River Thames to watch a fireworks display and hear Big Ben -- Parliament’s iconic bell -- welcome the New Year with 12 resounding bongs.

Go Ben!

My New Year’s Eve wasn’t nearly that exciting... actually, I’ve spent the holidays doing virtually nothing. I was going to post this sooner, but that peace and quiet is highly addictive. I think I deserved the break.... After trying to simplify my life in 2007, my leisurely vacation was a welcome reward. Now that the holidays are past, it’s time to prepare for the new year. Like I said, I’m not much of one for resolutions or anything, but I do enjoy honoring the passage of time with silly puns and rhymes. It was painfully easy to rhyme "great" and "2008" in the title of this post. Seeing as how this is an election year, I expect we’ll probably get to hear many more things that rhyme with eight.

Wait.... didn’t INXS already cover that particular scheme long before 2008? Yep... after a quick search on YouTube:

Of course, the rhyming part doesn’t start till nearly the end.... I forgot the video was always shown alongside another INXS hit, "Need You Tonight". (It has been a decade or so.) Anyways, it seems a shame to just show the part where they rhyme everything with the number eight... I mean, this is the one where the (sadly now deceased) Michael Hutchence dances around in a black leather jacket with no shirt beneath. Hmmm... now I remember why I liked the video so much.Whew... look at that. Now, that was why we invented MTV, right? Why were we talking about numbers again?

Oh yeah... 2008. Ok, ok, so I’m not just spending 2008 staring at the guys in INXS. I’m also starting the new year staring at this guy:

My aunt Janet introduced me to bead art a few years ago, when she gave me a glass bottle she had artistically decorated with beads and wire, along with a few charms that still needed to be attached. She explained some simple techniques to bend the wires and told me to finish it off. I did, and was instantly hooked. Since then, I’ve made countless sculptures out of beads, typically animals with beady little eyes, or other odd things like a cuckoo clock or a bust of Nietzsche. So I was tickled pink when this Christmas, she gave me a wicked little sculpture that she made out of beads, wire, and, well, vermin bones. See, it isn’t just the art... Janet and I also both love exploring the open spaces along the Front Range. Apparently, while I’ve been sneaking through the weeds trying to get photos of the local wildlife, she’s been scavenging for their bones. So, the Vermin Tooth Fairy is holding an actual prairie dog tusk, along with an assortment of other bits of bone... a very cool gift.

Happy New Year everyone!

(If anyone happens to be getting anxious about my slow/low content posting rate, don’t worry. We’ll get back to the issue of climate change and defending predictive science tomorrow.)