I was there with the huge throng to ring in 2000!

Now you can tell your friends that you know someone who was there when 'the ball' dropped. Yes, I decided to drop by Times Square for a certain millenium celebration (a.k.a. a cheap New Year's Eve party). To help make my little excursion seem more worthwhile, I wanted to share it with my closest friends. If you don't have a lot of time, you can read the short version... For more "in-depth coverage" read on to the longer version...

*The short version*
I went to Manhattan. I stood there for 8 hours. A brightly-lit ball dropped at midnight. I went home.

*The longer version*
I went in alone, ready for combat, driving from my brother's house in Queens to a subway station to catch the E train into Manhattan. Midtown was crawling with cops. It was already 4pm when I emerged from the 7th Avenue station, so I knew I wouldn't have the best 'seat' in the house by far. For those of you keeping score at home, I ended up at 7th and 48th street, which was a couple blocks outside the thick of things, so we couldn't see or hear the ongoing entertainment except on the screen under the ball, which was in plain view. As each block filled up, the cops closed off their barricades, so once inside, you were pretty much penned in. Everyone in the crowd seemed to understand that if you departed (even for a port-a-potty break) you might not get back in (unless you bribed a cop) so people weren't drinking much of anything.

Probably since they're mainly out-of-towners, everyone was pretty well behaved. The police did an impressive job both before and after the main event. Yes. For 8 hours, we pretty much just stood there and waited. Then we waited some more. In the overall scheme, I had a good spot, if you consider that the crowd stretched blocks and blocks farther back to Central Park. I even had enough room to shift my weight from one foot to the other at times. We were squashed together (I think sardines are actually given more room inside their little tin cans). Since we were out of sight and earshot to the entertainment, we had to provide our own entertainment. We watched the big screens under the ball and counted down in each time zone. That occupied us for about 5 minutes each hour. We caught glimpses of the around the world celebrations. But other than that, it was up "us" to pass the time.

One such activity: There must have been just one nearby take-out place for food. Some pizza place was charging exorbitant prices to feed those who were starving, so every time a box of pizza went by over someone's head, chants of "Pizza! Pizza! Pizza" filled the air until the box disappeared. Every now and then, a bunch of Ausies would sing a little song. A Jamaican guy occasionally beat away on a bongo drum. Yeah. We were pretty bored. Even all those people wearing those silly '2000' glasses. Even the two guys with green hair. We actually envied a couple people playing 'War' with a deck of cards.

But by far, the most excitement was generated whenever a lady was lifted on someone's shoulders to snap pictures of the huge throng. That started when some pretty girls started leaning out the 3rd story window of one of the buildings and started waving to the crowd. Naturally, all the guys started whistling and shouting. One of them got into the spirit and did a mock striptease, removing her top except for her bra. When she stopped there, the crowd turned against her and commenced to boo every time she came back near the window. She'll probably be emotionally scarred for life. Soon after, a girl on someone's shoulders waved to the crowd to wave back to her for a picture. They (OK, *we*) started whooping it up until she lifted her top and flashed the crowd. Suddenly it was Mardi Gras time on 7th avenue. Over the ensuing hours, about 6 or 7 more women did the same thing. Like the guy attached to one of my shoulders stated, "What a nice family atmosphere!"

What I'm basically saying is that we survived until the time that the rest of you tuned in to help us worship the ball on its descent. You saw the spectacular lights and confetti. It rained all over us. The other thing that rained all over us was the champagne that everyone must have had hidden under their coats until Dick Clark gave his little countdown!

Some time later, as this little shindig started to end (mind you that 2 million people would itself be one of the largest cities in the country) all of mid-town was eerily filled with people headed this way and that on streets that were closed to traffic. I made my way to the heart of Times Square in time for the 1am countdown (particularly enjoyed by a large group of Mexicans near me). Then I wandered the streets in search of an open subway station. By now, the high-priced partygoers were now filing out of the exclusive restaurants and hotels, mixing with us low-lives. The funny thing is that for the most part, they were more hammered than *we* were. (Note: Yours Truly only sipped water, due to a cold).

Once I was safely on the subway [that's supposed to be a joke, in case you didn't get it] I could finally rest my weary legs. I was in bed by 3am (When you California hoodlums were doing your thing).
Would I do it again?
You bet.....In fact you can count me in for the next millenium celebration!

You may enjoy this website that I built:

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Skiing Adventures

I've conquered mountains in New York, Vermont, California, and Wyomming.   Wanna race?

Actually, my skiing experience has been limited to about once per year, but I like to spread it around. Here's the "trail":

My old company was dying.
Naturally, I had been hitting the internet job sites pretty heavily as unemployment approached, but the Lord was merciful.
I'm was thrilled that after a 3 year job search (and just a few pleasant vacation weeks since my old position ended), a job came through just at the perfect time. I started 9/24/01 as an Outbound Shift Supervisor with QVC in their jewelry distribution center in West Chester, PA. It is 2 miles from their home office and TV studio, so naturally, I'll be trying to hook up with one of their models or lovely hosts. [Oops, I got side-tracked] The wonderful part is that I will get to continue working 3rd shift. Isn't that great?!

...actually, it is since for the most part, it will be a 4 day week. It's 45 minutes from my house. I supervise about 20 people who pack the items and try to get them to you ASAP. I'm being hit with an incredible amount of information--procedures, reports, physical locations of everything, too many people to count, policy manuals to read... The floor of the distribution center is controlled chaos, with pieces of jewelry sitting everywhere in large bins, in various states of packaging.
An average day includes about 50,000 items mailed.
One night, one of the ladies asked me to help her untangle 25 multi-strand gold necklaces (at $200 each). I was successful with about half of them, but had to send the rest back downstairs to the professional untanglers.

Feb - Launched community website www.crossgates.20m.com (It's greeted with widespread apathy.)

Mar - Participated in USS Mauna Kea wardroom reunion with 3 old navy buddies.

Apr - Transplanted spruce and hemlock trees at the Farm during a beautiful week.

May - Attended my goddaughter Nicole's First Communion and awesome party. DJ, dancing, balloons, great food.

May - Ran an unsuccessful yard sale (but I did sell a few old pillows!).

Aug - My PC crashed and was down for 2 weeks. I even got tech support from my brother at the NYTimes.

Oct - Took advantage of a 5 day weekend to visit my sister in Charlotte. She and the rest of my family are all doing well. [Meanwhile, my parents were river cruising in France!!]

Oct - Put a fresh coat of paint on my shed. It hasn't been a big year for home improvements.

Nov - Ran a personal best distance of 5 miles in my local park.
Next: Boston Marathon?? . . . . . More likely a cold Sam Adams!!!

Start Your Engines!

I attended my first NASCAR race in June at Dover Downs (DE). My brother Ken's girlfriend came up with tickets and he even brought my father down to spend a nice hot weekend.
Best part: I can still hear!

Walk This Way!

Two weeks later, I was in NY for a real party weekend. Friday night, my buddy joined me for the first Mets/Yankees meeting since the Subway Series. Saturday night found me with him and others at Jones Beach, LI to see Aerosmith. Great concert...
Best part: I can still hear!

My final day at Matlack was August 24. That afternoon, I attended a Matlack happy hour before catching a few hours sleep prior to flying from BWI to San Jose for 10 days of visiting. I did my standard circuit of friends throughout the Bay Area.
Highlights included touring the UC Davis campus, walks at Lake Tahoe and the Yuba River, and driving along the Marin county coastline.

Now I'm ready to do some skiing! My brother gave me one of his several pairs, so I'm good to go, but I've never hit the Poconos.