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Happy New Year!

New Year’s is probably my favorite holiday of all. We end one orbit around the sun and begin another. It reminds us that no matter what has come before, what we’ve done wrong or failed to do, it’s a new year and we have new chances.

I don’t believe that any society, relationship, organization, city, or system can thrive without continuous renewal. We mess up, learn from our mistakes, and progress into new ideas. We adapt and evolve, finding ways to subtract the negative and add the positive. In that singular moment when time tolls the sunset of all we’ve experienced in the year past and the sunrise of everything that is unknown in the new lies the infinite promise that anything is possible.

I’ll be down at Navy Pier watching the fireworks — and kissing — my Honey.

I hope that each of you gains what you want in 2007. I have a feeling it’s going to be a fabulous year.

The new Web is a very different thing. It’s a tool for bringing together the small contributions of millions of people and making them matter. Silicon Valley consultants call it Web 2.0, as if it were a new version of some old software. But it’s really a revolution.

I like this. For me, it points out that you don’t have to be famous, in a position of great power, or notorious to make an impact in the world. All you have to do is be who you are and do what you love.

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks.

This building is in my neighborhood, just around the corner. I love the street lamp:

My El stop:

Downtown:

The first snow! When I looked out the window that morning, I had to make several phone calls to squeal about it:

A walk along the lakefront:

I’ve been having a great time. Last night, Cheryl took Val and me (both carless) to Target. I was excited and oddly comforted to learn there’s a new one just a little over a mile from my place. Tonight, I’m going downtown with Matt and Richard to have dinner and visit the Christkindlmarket, “a traditional German American holiday market”. I wonder if they will have Gluhwein.