2007. Bring it on!

So it's 2007 already. I think I'll spare everyone a recap, but let me just share these two last things I learned in 2006.

One, do not force open a sparkling wine bottle with your bare hands. It was bothersome noticing how I'd smeared blood on people's glasses! It doesn't hurt, but yes, I did get those scrapes all across my index finger and palm just by twisting open a sparkling wine bottle's cork. The champagne we had opened so easily - don't settle for substitutes!

Two, if you want to get somewhere by midnight on New Year's eve, do call a cab well in advance. The cellular network was busted and the cab service was clogged up. I thought half an hour for the less than 2 km trip would be sufficient, but I was dead wrong. I was on time to kiss my wife only because a cab accidentally picked me up instead of the customers next door. Lucky, seeing that there were already quite a few people waiting for rides on the street when I came out to wait for mine. I don't actually know why the cab chose me, I didn't wave him down or anything. I was around five minutes late to my wife from seeing friends, but well in time for fireworks. Too bad the other customers had to wait the extra ten minutes or so!

Over the evening, we played with the Nintendo Wii and re-learned chess. I sucked at Wii. I was actually rather intrigued by chess, which I didn't expect at all. I haven't played since junior high.

Winter

It snowed yesterday. I understand they already have knee-high snow to tread through further up north, but it's often anybody's guess if the capital area gets snow before Christmas. I think it's the sea which warms this area so much that winter is all wet and rarely white and beautiful for more than a couple of weeks in the heart of winter. I do vastly prefer winter's snow and light freezing to fall's wet and cold.

While winter is the darkest time of the year, the world actually feels much lighter once it snows - simply because light reflects off the snow and illuminates the night. And it's lovely how snow changes the city soundscape, muffling the noise. And while the absolute amount of sunlight is reduced, it's often clear in the winter, as opposed to the permanently overcast fall skies.

My sports goal was to keep running until it snows. I accomplished that. Granted, I've slipped to once a week for the past three weeks, but I haven't missed a single week and I have plenty of excuses (flu, hurt knee, hurt ankle, wedding anniversary trip) for the slower pace. Now we'll see how I find running in the winter. It's not an unpleasant thing to consider and the track I use should be in a running condition through the winter. Progress has been slower than I thought, but I don't mind, really.

All in all, things are pretty sweet right now. Work is super exciting due to new colleagues and clients, I just ordered a new PC (my first in, what, someting like eight years) and there's plenty of good stuff on the TV. Oh, and my second to last "must see" band, Nine Inch Nails, is coming to Finland for their European 2007 tour's final gig in April.

Now if I can only figure out how I'm going to change my tires to studded ones from the slicks with roads frozen and snowed-in.