Happy New Year From Surly!

First of all I just want to say I hate New Year’s Eve. It’s one of those nights that promises so much but delivers so very little. At least this is the way it has been for me. I know a lot of people consider it the biggest party of the year but for me all the hoopla and expectation just cause me stress, so my favorite way to spend the holiday is in a very quiet fashion, hanging out with my family , enjoying some good food, good drink, and relaxation of sorts.

This New Year’s eve we got some snow here in Minneapolis. I’m not sayin’ it was our first snow of the year, but it sure felt like it, because we haven’t had much yet. My son and I decided we were gonna go out for a midnight ride in the snow. My wife thought we were nuts, which for me made all the more worthwhile. My son, Senna, is only 6 years old, so I wasn’t about to take him out on the streets at midnight with no lights on our bikes and a lot of drunks on the road, so we headed for the paved paths of a nearby park. The paths were covered in about an inch of slushy snow, and there were occasional puddles to splash though and also some slick spots where the snow covered ice underneath. Neither of us went down but Senna almost did a few times, which made him enjoy it even more. We had so much fun that we did it again last night, but this time there was a full moon and not a bit of wind. The slushy snow had now frozen and become a hard crust that was bumpy and a little sketchy to ride on.

When I lived in Japan I had one of the best New Year’s eves ever. My wife and I took the train into Tokyo to spend the afternoon, with plans to have dinner and drinks in the evening. After shopping and walking around Tokyo we decided to grab some food when it got to be around 9:00 pm. The only problem was there was nothing open. We had never spent this holiday in Tokyo before so it took us completely by surprise. After searching for a long time in the Ginza area we finally found one pub that was open, and since it was the only action in town it was also totally packed. The hostess found us two seats at the bar, or else we would have had to wait about two hours for a table. After several rounds of drinks and great pub food we found ourselves back on the Tokyo streets with nowhere to go and not a care in the world. We just started walking. We walked around the Imperial Palace, down toward Roppongi, and finally ended up at Tokyo Tower where numerous folks were lined up to take the elevator to the top to view the first sunrise of the year (a Japanese tradition). For this reason we couldn’t go up in the tower, so we just kept on walking. The beautiful thing about the walk was that there was hardly a soul around. During New Year’s Tokyo becomes a ghost town, so we could walk for 15 minutes at a time without seeing another person, and hardly any cars were on the roads so it was very quiet and peaceful. It was one of those nights where you hope it never ends.

Golly I love New Year’s Eve. It’s just about the greatest day of the year.

Resolutions? Bahahaha!!!

Surly had a great year in 2006, and we thank all of you who made it so special. Looking forward to an even better 2007.