Happy New Year!
Lisa and I rang in the New Year with Lisa's mom, Gloria; listening to Christmas carols (after all, it's still Christmas until the Feast of the Epiphany on Friday, 6 January) and toasting the New Year with some nice champagne.
New Year's Eve in our Pleasanton neighborhood was unusually boisterous this year: someone invested a fortune in firecrackers. These folks must have been celebrating the brief break between winter rainstorms, or maybe they recognize what the mainstream media doesn't: life is pretty good for most of us. For those who had a bad 2005, we pray for a better 2006.