Rant 1,114: 2014

How was your New Year's Eve and Day?

Mine was pretty much nothing with nothing.

We were allowed to leave work early on Dec. 31, 90 minutes early, which rarely happens, but when it does, it is like a blessing from heaven.

Later, my family and my parents had a Chinese food feast. It was delicious.

And then, reality set in.

Sure, this was a special night on the calendar, but really, how special is it?

After the Hanukkah and Christmas onslaughts, is New Year's Eve, and New Year's Day, really that big a deal?

Not to my family, at least.

My wife fell asleep at 8:17 or so--I know because when she officially dozed off, I checked the clock--and then my son and I were the only ones up.

My son was on the computer or playing video games, and I watched television.

I watched the news, which was pretty dry, but the anchor was very pretty (yes, it has come to this).

Anyway, right after the news, "The Honeymooners" marathon began, so I went right into that.

At about 11:55, I turned on ABC to see the ball drop, and if you were watching, didn't you get the feeling that somebody made a big error during the ball drop?

It seemed that the camera was positioned in such a way that you really couldn't see the movement of the ball clearly. There was a big advertising sign in front of the ball, which didn't help either.

As the countdown went on, they showed shots of the crowd rather than the ball.

And then, to add insult to injury, they then moved to a different angle for the ball--probably because they saw that they made a mistake earlier on--and you could not see the movement of the ball at all.

I put this up on Facebook, and I wasn't the only one who was disappointed in the way the ball drop was handled.

I have to think that Dick Clark was turning in his grave at the sight of this, and to what his show has turned into--a freak show--in his later years and now that he is gone.

Anyway, I watched some more of "The Honeymooners"--an eternally funny show that has stood the test of time--and then I went to sleep.

New Year's Day was really nothing with nothing. I only ventured outside once, to throw out the garbage.

We watched "The Honeymooners" and "The Twilight Zone" all day, and that was pretty much it.

But now reality has set in on January 2.

The work week kicks in again, and there are predictions of a major nor'easter coming our way later today.

2014, apparently, will start off with a bang, and a white one at that.

My family has some major plans this weekend, and hopefully, they will not be derailed by this nonsense.

So happy 2014 to you and yours, and we are probably in for another interesting year.

Let's see just how interesting it is--Rant 1,114, the first Rant of 2014.

There is something eerie about the two number 14s aligning there, but I will leave it at that.