This has been a year of building for us.  I started the year working in a shrinking job for a very small company and ended working for one of the world's largest and most prestigious consulting firms, one that actually offers promise of a future.  We bought a second house and jumped back into home improvement on steroids.  I rebuilt my boat "Sea Dreams."  Winnie went back to China for a family visit while I tended the home fires.  We had visits with old friends of both Winnie and I that we hadn't seen in many years.  We made new friends in this area and started to build a life here.  

As bad as this year has been for so many people, once again I feel blessed that Winnie and I have done reasonably well for ourselves.

Winnie and I spent New Year's eve at a friends house with several other families.  Us men watched movies ("Casino Royal" and "The Dark Knight") while the ladies played cards.  I bankrolled Winnie with three quarters and by the time the evening ended she had 15.  I would like to think that this is a sign of good luck for us in the coming year.  But then again, Winnie has always seemed able to make her own luck no matter what she gets herself (and me) into.

Of all the holidays, New Year is my second favorite after Thanksgiving.  I like New Year because it offer the promise of better times to come and the opportunity to move on from the past.  So in this new year, with all the problems of our economy; of people losing their jobs and their houses; of two wars that we are losing and our soldiers dying; of bizarre weather changes that threaten our entire way of life;  I'd like to think that there is promise of better times to come in 2009.

Happy New Year to One and All.  May your coming year be better than the last.