“It’s been a long December but there’s reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last”

As anyone who has met me will attest, I am a Glass Half Full kind of guy. It takes a whole lot to get me “down” and very little to get me “up”. As such, I can’t remember one year in my life up to this point that I would unequivocally call a “bad year”. In fact, most I would call good years with some even reaching great year status. Well as I sit here less than 20 hours from the start of 2009 it occurs to me that 2008 was kind of a bad year. Sure, I got married this year and that is a nice little feather in my personal cap, but in reality people get married every single day and the only ones who really care at all are me and Mrs. GF. So other than that little victory, we have collectively and individually experienced quite a few tribulations, some of which have been documented in this space and others which have not. The Host lost his job (though he later found another), Pauly lost his job (and is still searching for a replacement gig). My dog died (not current Dog, but Rufus Dog) which is actually quite a bit more devastating than one would think. Mrs. GF and I endured The Rat House fiasco and subsequent uprooting. The economy and my industry in particular collapsed. My political party of choice ran a curmudgeon and a real life grown up High School Mean Girl for President with predictable results. The hometown baseball team lost the World Series to the worst group of people in the world (Philadelphians). And the home town football team made us endure one of the worst late season collapses in a franchise history full of collapses and disappointment.

So you know what 2008? Suck It. I’m glad to see you go. So tonight as I sip whatever libation I am choosing to enjoy, I will not celebrate the arrival of a new year but rather the demise of the old one. Here’s to a New Year that is better than the last. Cheers!