Happy New Year!

I'm saying it a few hours early because when the clock ticks over to midnight I expect you all to be snogging or otherwise partying away, unless you're one of those sensible types who doesn't think having to get a new calendar is anything to celebrate, so you're off to bed for a good night's rest.

Here at Chez Myers, we shall be taking a middle road with a quiet evening capped with our traditional root beer floats. Whatever your happy choice of the day, have a good 2008.

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Getting a new calendar is something to celebrate, if it's a new calendar full of kitten pictures! =^_^=

By GodlessHeathen (not verified) on 31 Dec 2007 #permalink

Chinese dinner delivered. Opening a champaign at midnight. And once the kids are asleep, who knows what may happen... ;-)

Happy New Year!

Sadly, I might be here. Or nearby. I'm on solo child duty for tonight because my spouse is running a youth group lock-in at church that he organized (ahem), so it's a quiet evening of the Twilight Zone marathon for me. Even more sadly, I consider this several steps up from two years ago. Then I was visiting my family while my spouse and children were at the in-laws' place, and as it turned out my brothers had sleepovers to go to and my parents had a party to be at. So that year, I sat there wondering exactly how low on the "pathetic" scale it was to be a woman in my 30s sitting alone at my parents' house while they were out partying. :)

sorry, but I'm partying like it's 1999 this year.

Quiet, middle road is about right.

Root beer float sound absolutely disgusting though, to this European...

21:00-- I'm off to bed. The year will turn on its own without me having to watch it. I just hope the neighbors keep it frelling quiet this year so's I can sleep.

By Rav Winston (not verified) on 31 Dec 2007 #permalink

...

...

A toast from Robert Heinlein's Jubal Harshaw:

"Here's to our noble selves!"

To you, PZ, to the Myers clan, to all the commenters and readers here, and to all the bright, funny, reasoning people we share the world with:

Happy New Year!

To the living, all the best in 2008.

To those who couldn't be here with us, warm memories of the time we had together.

...

...

Happy New Year, everyone! One of the news readers on Channel 2 out of Oakland said it was time to bid farewell to 2005, so it appears there is a dangerous rip in the fabric of spacetime here on the West Coast, but I hope to survive it into a tranquil 2008 (or 2006, whichever shows up).

Happy New Year to all. I'll be in bed by 10PM. Tell me how it turns out.

Godless Heathen-surely you mean a calendar featuring kitten recipes?

PZ, Happy New Year to you. No rootbeer floats for this Texan, she hates rootbeer, but the bottle of wine my neighbor and I just polished off was very tasty.

Happy New Year to all the godless, godly and everyone in between.

@Nadeen: I never thought predators would taste very good. I like the leaf-eater's taste anyway. But the little predators are fun to watch sharpen up their hunting skills. =^_^=

Yay kittens!

By GodlessHeathen (not verified) on 31 Dec 2007 #permalink

Ditto #2 (except for the Chinese)
Happy New Year Everyone!

Cheers,
Ray

At least we arent pretending it is the birthday of the founder of a superstition. That is soooo last week.

Happy New Year.

By Desert Donkey (not verified) on 31 Dec 2007 #permalink

*sigh* Unfortunately, my university is a bit on the sadistic side with its final marks deadline. I will be ringing in the new year with a beer and a stack of Intro to Philosophy exams. Whee!

Happy New years to all, though!

Here in Europe we get the future early. We have flying cars and everything now.

Happy New Year everyone.

By Dave Godfrey (not verified) on 31 Dec 2007 #permalink

Hah! I get to the future an hour before PZ does!

For some reason, #2 Son was desperate enough to hang on to 2007, that he departed our time zone for PZ's this morning. He'll probably be getting sloshed with his roomies when the magic moment arrives.

Back here, everyone but me is building an eco-friendly gingerbread house. At midnight, we break open the champagne, phone the MIL in LA, and then retire (at least, us old fogies will -- don't know what plans #1 Son & GF have).

Root beer floats in *Minnesota* in the dead of winter? Whatever happened to hot chocolate or spiced cider?

At midnight here in California, Husband and I will carry the 12" Chinese gong outside (so as not to drive the poor cats completely crazy) and bang away. It covers the distant sounds of guns being fired.

Happy New Year all! I am at work. Have or get "some" for me!

By firemancarl (not verified) on 31 Dec 2007 #permalink

Happy New Year, PZ. The root beer float certainly sounds unique, but a good way to go nonetheless.

On this end, I may try to stay up until midnight. I made a pretty tasty chocolate cake with a chai-latte pastry cream which I worry will not live to see the sunrise. It's the kind of thing I'd like to eat with a shovel.

Unfortunately, no champagne can be consumed on this end due to some pain killers I have in my system which seem to be working, and I think tossing alcohol on top of those things would lead me to run naked down the street with my tasty chocolate cake smashed all over my face as a result of actually trying to eat it with a shovel.

Anyway, Happy New Year to you and the whole Myers clan. I look forward to what you've got to say in 2008. Just, you know, don't play too nice.

Echoing #15, it's already 2008 in the UK, and I'm glad to report it's pretty good so far. I went to a party and I knew I would get a beautiful woman into my bed by the end of the evening. So glad I married her 10 years ago!

Have a great New Year everyone.

I'm just surfing online between watching the Law & Order marathon and Discovery Channel. All the while I'm trying to make decisions about how I can improve for the new year. The main objective is to watch reruns less and to read, watch, and play new things. That and find a new job that does not involve a 90 minute commute.

Well, all I've got to say is there's still '08.

Youtube version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUHtx5NUH0Q

Some of you may have already seen it, if not, check it out!

Hopefully 2008 is gonna be better. At least we know for sure something really, extremely good is going to happen in November, but depending on who the hell fills the place something bad may happen too. Oh well.

Well, if it were Halloween, we'd probably sacrifice some Christians. But it's just New Years, so as a reformed cultist of the Icor God Bel Shamroth I can tell you that you are ALL going to spend eternity walking alone in the Land Of Despair after we dance sky-clad around the inverted cross.

For us, it'll be Marx Bros. movies and champagne, but right now, here on the left coast, kiddies are playing name the dinosaur to the big sounds of Stravinsky in Fantasia.

Anybody know of anybody simulcasting the New Years parade, like Firesign Theatre and Credibility Gap have in years past?

Root beer floats, Mmmmm!

How 'bout a scoop of vanilla ice cream in a glass of ginger ale?

Dad used to make 'em for us; called a Horse's Neck. Special occasions only.

If I had any vanilla ice cream I'd have one right now. If I had any ginger ale.

No matter. The libation at hand is sufficient.

Happy New Year, all.

By Crudely Wrott (not verified) on 31 Dec 2007 #permalink

PZ,
Did you see that the Ducks won their bowl game today?
Nice to see both Oregon schools won.
Celebrate with a nice hot home made mocha. And maybe go to bed early as usual.

If only I could root beer down here in Buenos Aires. My son and I dream about it and is one of the first things we get when we are stateside. My Argentine and Brit friends just don't get it. My wife thinks it tastes like cough medicine. I grew up with A&W root beer stands in California. It was a great day when the family would pull up to the drive-in and order floats and freezes in the car. The corporate canned version is not even close to the same. I do like Henry Weinhard's though and a good friend's dad is The Dad of Dads Root Beer.

We hit 2008 2hrs 30mins ago. For the first time in years Argentina went on daylight savings time... yesterday.

Happy New Year to you and the family PZ... please have another root beer float for me.

By mayhempix (not verified) on 31 Dec 2007 #permalink

Not trying to turn this into a food blog, but the Root Beer Float sounds divine, the Horse's Neck sublime, and vanilla ice cream in cream soda is to die for...
Come to think of it, do you know what a Yoohoo chocolate soda is? That could make a good float too...
Happy New Year. 9:30 here in Arizona right now. I expect fireworks and frightened dogs.
All the absolute best to you and all.

Once more I shall try to not blow off two or three of my fingers...

A safe and prosperous New Year to everyone here.

By BobbyEarle (not verified) on 31 Dec 2007 #permalink

Oh boy I'm in NYC for the New Year! Unfortunately, with the frau having bronchitis, things are a bit sedated... (She's literally sedated!)

What's that noise I hear?

By Onkel Bob (not verified) on 31 Dec 2007 #permalink

What's that noise I hear?

sorry, had a burrito for dinner.

oh, and HNY!

I'm here alone again (although I do have New Year's Day festivities to attend). I thought I'd check out some webcams. It turns out that there's only one webcam in Quito, and they're a half-hour ahead of us (who knew?), so I missed it. And the streets of Bogota are surprisingly empty. And the webcam in Cartagena opened some insidious Java process that locked up my whole system.

But I do have the delightful sound of gunfire here to ring in the new year. Assholes.

In spite of all that, I'm in a pretty good mood, and enjoying a nice taste of good rye whiskey (Russell's, which has the distinction of being the only rye at my local package store that lies somewhere between dirt cheap and requiring a loan to pay for).

Happy 2008, PZ, and to all the Pharyngulites!

Bah Humbug! Calendars are all arbitrary! There is no meaning!

But I have off from work so I shall get drunk anyway. *raises glass* Prosit! :-)

when the clock ticks over to midnight I expect you all to be snogging or otherwise partying away

Ew, no. I don't like eggsnog.

Wow, what everyone is doing sounds so nice. The root beer float idea had me thinking of A & W, too. In fact, they still served their floats in a frosty mug when I was a kid, and the ice cream was really hard.

Chocolate Yoohoo would work, too. Some in my family make floats with Orange Crush--like a creamcicle.

Of course, there's a drink I like called a California Float--dark roast coffee, rum, and a scoop of hard ice cream, with a bit of whipped cream.

It should be called a Puget Sound Float, but it's nummy no matter the name.

"To root beer" sounds like a perversion to an Australian like me.

And of course "Happy New Year" is sooo 18 hours ago.

First, hurrah for 2007! - Australians at last have something to be proud of - we got rid of John Howard.

Second, here's a nice provocative quotation for PZ - I've been looking for an opportunity to hit him with it for some time, and this is as good a chance as any.

"The mere affirmation or denial of the existence of God does not entitle a man to have his opinions heard with respect on matters of greater importance." (Henry Labouchere)

Anyway, happy new year to all, especially to all who struggle for rationality.

By john Monfries (not verified) on 31 Dec 2007 #permalink

Twelve-year-old Macallan scotch.
Not the snobbiest of quaffs, though far from the most mundane, it is about ten billion times better than whatever fizzy pouf-water the majority of Americans are currently mistaking for good.
I got mine as a Christmas gift (for single malt scotch, I'll go ahead and be Christian for as long as it takes) from my mother-in-law. More proof that I won in the marriage!
Happy New Year to all, and to all a very powerful hangover remedy in the morning (nothing, in my opinion, beats drinking two full glasses of water before going to bed, but I understand that this can sometimes lead to rather damp sheets in the morning).
Work it out for yourselves, and get back to me (not really, I'm just pretending to care).
Happy New Year!
Autumn

Too much Grey Goose. Damn but that is smooth! Oh, before you sober up, you should watch this. "Now every man, woman and mutant will know the truth about de-evolution."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRguZr0xCOc

It is all just wind and sails.

Root Beer floats. Nothing finer.

Autumn,
Seems strange to me starting the new year without a hangover... Show a lack of commitment, if you care for my opinion.

Happy New Year everybody!

(Oh, and kittens taste great! Just like puppies. You only have to get to them before they weaned...)

Happy new year from the Beagle Project to PZ, esteemed commentators and lurkers all - hell, I'm feeling generous - and the trolls. Where would we be without their gumbying to give us a laugh?

@Arnaud: What? WHAT? They're not even hors d'oeuvres at that age! :P

By GodlessHeathen (not verified) on 01 Jan 2008 #permalink

I wish everyone a good year. May you be proud of your actions, happy in your circumstances, and make your own world a better place.

"To root beer" sounds like a perversion to an Australian like me" John Monfries

I will blame the perversion on champagne. It's the best excuse I can find. The verb to "get..." got lost somewhere in the process of writing and posting.

But in hindsight I like the way it sounds. Next I'm in the US I will root beer myself silly.

By mayhempix (not verified) on 01 Jan 2008 #permalink

Next "time" I'm in the US... Doh!

And I can't blame it on the champagne this time.

By mayhempix (not verified) on 01 Jan 2008 #permalink

Happy New Year!

I spent the hours through New Year's watching Kathy Griffin on Bravo, including her reprise of her Emmy speech.

And, to paraphrase, "Suck it, Donohue! PZ is my god now!"

By CortxVortx (not verified) on 01 Jan 2008 #permalink

Evening was spent with family. Barely made it past midnight. Pretty boring, except...I found out that one of my rather conservative reletives is actually a closet deist/atheist! Praise reason! Kinda made my New Year. The conversation started with him noticing the Darwin Fish emblem on my car. I've known this guy for over a decade, never knew... Keep up the honest advertising folks. I really believe there's more of us out there than most would believe.

Have a happy, safe, and rational year.