2009

9 years ago I was filling my bathtub. Really. I'd taken elective Computer Science classes and remembered how teachers gave us clever tips on how to save space in our programs by using just two digits for the year. I was taking no chances.

An interesting ceremony at the end of the year is to look back and look forward to what might occur. The Roman God Janus with two faces always seemed as strange and foreign to me as the many-armed God (Shiva?) of India, but I see now it's the perfect representation of this habit or ritual we seem to do at the end of a year.

I have great hope. I do not think all will be well, but I think there will be some bright spots and improvements.

Here is Dave Barry's view of 2008 (you might have to create an account to view it. Don't know why TV stations and newspapers bother visitors to register. I'll bet they lose half the would-be viewers to their stories, but I guess they must get some advertising benefit.)

http://www.miamiherald.com/living/columnists/dave-barry/v-fullstory/story/826965.html

If you read the column, you can see trouble coming for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as the column unrolls the year month-by-month. You'll also learn little-known details, such as:

Meanwhile John McCain, still searching for the perfect running mate, tells his top aides in a conference call that he wants ''someone who is capable of filling my shoes.'' Unfortunately, he is speaking into the wrong end of his cellular phone, and his aides think he said "someone who is capable of killing a moose".

I read a great newspaper column at the end of the decade a while back that I will try to locate the author and ask for permission to reprint on my blog as we wrap up the decade in a few months. That's the last thing on my to do list in 2009.  ¶ 7:56 PM (0) comments