[Magdalen] Happy New Year 2015

[Jim Guthrie]

From: Kate Conant

>I just watched the ball drop at Times Square (from my recliner on the Blue
>Ridge).  The guns and firecrackers or whatever are going off now.

We stayed up as well, toasted the year with some sparkling wine and soon went to 
bed when the fireworks were done. It was interesting to turn out the lights and 
see the rocket bursts through the skylight over the kitchen.

One of our traditions I missed was spending most of New Years Eve watching old 
Honeymooners reruns. We'd watch them until midnight, change the channel to see 
the ball drop, then change back until we polished off the bottle (or two when my 
mother was still alive <g>). Of course, now, I'm supposed to avoid alcohol with 
the chemo, but thankfully my doctor said to not worry about it on special 
occasions.

Of course, when I was working for Newsday, the Ball Drop was central to my 
job -- which was running the Zipper headlines circling the 1 Times Square 
building -- News Headlines in 1600 bulbs. It's not likely you know anyone whose 
work has been read by more people (hundreds of thousands daily!) but certainly 
no one who has been read by nearly a half-million people simultaneously <g>.

The classic was in 1993, when I posted a one-revolution headline that read 
"Police say more than half-million freezing asses off in TSQ" about a minute 
before midnight. The crows roared so loudly that Dick Clark looked around and 
checked his wristwatch (we had a TV monitor on the second=floor of 1 Times 
Square where I ran the sign on New Years Eves.

Happy New Year to ALL!

Cheers,
Jim