Long Weekend Update

I made it to midnight last night, but only in the most formal sense. After reading about Haskell for a large chunk of the evening (Jean watching a biography of Paul Linde, Kelly playing with dolls) we played games with Kelly for awhile. Jean had bought Kelly Mousetrap, so we played that for a bit, with simplified rules. Then we played Spoons, a card game Jean's parents taught Kelly. This one works better with more people, but Kelly had fun any way.

We got Kelly showered and conducted the ritual of the new year. This consists of wandering around the house banging pots and pans to chase away the evil spirits for another year. Needless to say, Kelly really gets into this part. At 10:30, we tucked her in and read her some stories. She was ready for bed without protest. Jean and I stayed up a little later, then retired to the bedroom.

I turned out the light, but I was playing games (Minehunt and the tile-matching variation of Mah Jongg) on my Palm Pilot in the dark. Backlit screens are so cool "qbullet.smiley". I'd been playing quietly in the dark for who knows how long when I heard fireworks going off. Check the clock on the Palm Pilot, midnight is here! The sound of the fireworks woke Jean up, and she gave me my first kiss of the new year!

So I rang in the new year, but no parties or watching balls descend in Times Square on television. Suits me just fine.