Happy New Year

Just wanted to see what the date would look like: 1/1/10

HNY2010

Wadda ya gonna call the new year?

Just to let you know about how my mind works (maybe the word "operates" is a better term), I have been pondering for the past few months about what to call the new year. Is it going to be "two-thousand-ten"? "Twenty-ten"? Or some new combination I haven't thought of?

I know, I know, get a life, you say. But this is interesting...well, at least to me...and at least at the moment.

For most of my life - which now exceeds a half-century - we were satisfied with saying something like "nineteen hundred and ninety-nine" or more simply, "nineteen-ninety-nine." There was virtually no one saying "one-thousand, nine-hundred and ninety nine," right? So, then along comes the new millennium and everything changes. Did anyone refer to the new year as "twenty-zero-zero"? or "twenty-ought-zero"? or "twenty-hundred?" No, from the very beginning it was simply "two thousand" and occasionally, we seemed to feel the need to qualify it by saying, "the year two-thousand."

Then for ten years we simply used the same convention, "two thousand-one," two thousand-two," right up to "two thousand nine." So, logic would dictate that the New Year starting tomorrow will be called "two thousand ten," right?

Wrong.

Everyone around here is referring to it as "twenty-ten," including me. And, God-willing, in ten years I will be calling the New Year "twenty-twenty" and those people on ABC News will be happy (even though their "news-entertainment" program is probably supposed to be referencing the notion of 20-20 vision. Indeed their program is actually listed as "20/20.")

Part of me wants to call this new year "two-thousand-ten," but perhaps because this almost past-decade sucked for so many folks, most people seem almost happy to change the vernacular. But maybe it's just because I am basically lazy and "twenty-ten" is easier to say.

So, what will it be, folks? Wadda ya gonna call the new year?

As my father was fond of saying to these rhetorical questions, "we'll see."

Happy New Year! Whatever you call it.

----

image licensed through Creative Commons by photonbomb

Happy New Year

A couple of months ago I discovered that the television signal I was receiving at my house had about a 5-6 second delay. This was determined one day when I was on the phone with a friend in southern Maine and he was watching the same TV program that I was and he was seeing it before I was. We speculated that it was probably because Augusta was "just a little behind the rest of the world" and laughed it off. But the effect became rather noticeable last night when Dick Clark "rocked in the New Year" about six seconds later than the time on my atomic clock. You see I am one of those loonies that has four atomic clocks in the house and I even set my watch to it. As someone who is perpetually late, you would think I'd have no interest in the exact time, but precision has always fascinated me.

In between my fussing about the the time, I have been having fun observing the extreme weather we have been experiencing here in Maine this early winter. December may have broken some records in the amount of snow received and the temperatures have been well below average. I've posted some photos here and on Flickr of latest snowstorm. This was the largest so far with just under a foot of fresh powder recorded. And the fun part is that another foot it forecast for tonight into tomorrow. Despite the vast open expanses of this great state, we Mainers are actually running out of places to put all this white stuff. So, if you want some, c'mon up and help yourself.

Anyway, I celebrated the new year from the comfort of my recliner in my living room, warm and relaxed. I hope you all have been as fortunate and have a bountiful, peaceful and happy new year.

~jeb