See Ya, Aughts!

So today is the last day of the "aughts," as in aught one, aught two, etc... I seem to remember heating that in an old movie, when some anciet coot had a line like "I remember back in aught 9..."

Well, aught 9 is going out, and the 10s are coming in!

I spent a rather busy final week. We returned from our annual Holiday cruise Saturday, and that night there was a party at our friends Arnald and Cathay's house.

Monday I went to the office and actually did a bit of legal work --preparing a lawsuit for filing next week, against a driver who rammed my client and broke her arm. The driver is insured by Geico, and they've offered 1/2 of their policy. They'll pay more after suit is filed; I've been doing this so long, I know the calculus of settlement with car insurers. They're such predictable fools -- which is why it was so easy taking their money over the years...

The adjuster on this case sounds like she's about 6 months out of college, and on the phone was giving me the standard corporate line. I was pleasant to her, and prepared a letter for delivery next week saying, really," Best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2010. Enclosed please find a lawsuit I filed today..."

If I couldn't have fun doing the law business, I really WOULD have to immediately quit.

Tuesday Joel and I blasted up the Turnpike to Orlando to watch our Canes in the 2nd Rate Bowl. There were a ton of fans there, and we each ran into some good friends. We had a great steak at Kress Chop House, and some fine martinis at our hotel bar --The Grand Bohemian. Nice hotel --more New Orleans than Orlando.

The game was awful --the Canes played terribly, and were beaten by a bunch of slow white guys from Wisconsin. I wouldn't want to be going to any New Year's parties in NW Miami tonight, if I were any of the players.

Still --Joel and I laughed a lot, and had a blast. We're both raconteurs --plus we're good story tellers --so the 3/5 hour drive each way seemed to fly by.

I was greeted by D1's boyfriend Thomas, and I took him and D1 to Titanic Brew restaurant near the U for dinner. Afterwards I drove him around and showed him the campus --still my favorite place in the world.

Today I had D2's car waxed and de-mildewed (the price we pay for living in a damn arboretum) and then drove her to my office, where she had her hair cut by the hilarious gay French guys in my building's salon.

Afterwards we are sushi and Thai food al fresco (wow --2 Asian references and one Italian in a single sentence) and debriefed a bit about her friend's funeral. The young man's death haunts these final days of '09 for him --he was so alive and vital to me just months ago.

And tonight? D1 and Thomas are going to a party at Fox's Saloon in South Miami --one of my favorite old Miami pubs. It's across from the hospital where she was born, and the place my mentor Ed Perse taught me about martinis...

They're taking a cab home, though it's not more than two miles away.

D2 is going to a sleepover party at one of her friend's houses ALSO in the neighborhood. Ah --her last New Year's Eve before adulthood...

Wifey and I were invited to a few local get togethers, but I'm still troubled by a few I've been to where the guests were struggling to stay awake past 10 pm. If one is going to be an old fogey, and admit they're over the hill, to me there's more dignity in doing it at home than there is in front of others.

Wifey LOVES movies, so we're going to see the new George Clooney flick, and probably be in bed by 10. With luck, we'll stay awake to see the ball drop in Times Square, and maybe the red slipper with the drag queen that falls on Duval Street in Key West.

Adios, aught 9.