Toward the latter part of the week, Alan and I were discussing plans for New Year's Eve. Neither of us could remember what we'd done the year before, although we were sure we'd spent it together as we would have been dating six months at that point. It was odd not to have the slightest idea of what we'd done; even if it hadn't been anything out of the ordinary, one of us should have remembered. Like on his birthday, we'd had dinner at Bugaboo Creek Steak House, where we eat quite a bit - so it wasn't a once-in-a-lifetime unusual event, but we remembered it.

I turned to my handy-dandy helpful blog and reported to Alan, "Honey, it turns out we cooked a couple of great steaks, watched "Invader Zim" and then watched the Big Peach drop in Underground Atlanta."

"We did?"

"Apparently."

"Well, make sure you write about whatever we do this year, so we'll know."

Sooo...this year we also opted for a laid-back celebration. We grilled some fabulous New York strips, had garlic mashed potatoes and salad, and listened to "Fred", the classic alternative station on XM Radio. DirectTV now has a bunch of XM radio stations in its lineup and a couple of them are very good. I suspect Alan's next car will be equipped with XM, for "Fred" alone.

After dinner, we watched the countdown in Times Square, had a champagne toast (sparkling cider for Alan) and set off a bunch of fireworks. Pyrotechnics are fun.

The new year didn't start out well for one member of the household.

There are more pictures on Flickr, including a great one where I gave him a shampoo Mohawk.

He's feeling better now and having some treats.

The cat is taunting him. It's what cats do.