A farewell to 2006

By Todd Stadler · Saturday, December 30, 2006 3:25pm

Allow me to be the first to note that 2006 (the year, not the integer) has come to an end. And to be the first to bid it a fond farewell. It was a fine year. Hopefully, we'll see it hanging around here and there, perhaps on radio stations or whatever.

It was Julia's and my first full year of marriage. If our relationship keeps up like it has this year, we'll go to Scotland a lot. And that's what true love is about. Well, that and lots of hugs.

We started 2006 in Hawaii, in a small houselet that we shared with several geckos on the isolated eastern end of Molokai. As I remember, we went to bed early since Molokai isn't known for its nightlife. Or, for that matter, its traffic lights. The only indication I remember that 2006 had started was the sporadic noise of small fireworks, followed some time later by a siren — presumably of an ambulance or fire engine. Someone's new year was much more eventful than ours!

That wasn't the last ambulance that 2006 would bring — I left work in one a few weeks ago after experiencing the thrill that is "benign heart palpitations" (a question for whoever named it that: if they're so benign, why did I freak out? Huh? Huh?). But I hadn't mentioned this medical excitement to you, dear Blog Reader, because it ultimately amounted to nothing except for a very dramatic ending to my work week. And a few oddly shaped hairless patches on my chest. So it goes.

Let's see, what else to toss into this year-end review? There was the aforementioned trip to Scotland. And ... um ... that one brunch was pretty tasty ... I had a nice walk one day ... hm.

And that was the year that was.