We are staying in and having sautéed striped bass filets with browned butter and lime, stir-fried vegetables and rice, plenty of very nice cheeses and charcuterie, and tiropita triangles (Greek cheeses with phyllo, formed into small triangles.)  And oh, a soup course of Vietnamese beef and rice noodle soup/stew.  Not pho- this one is very spicy.
Plus a very nice bottle of champagne to wash it all down with.

We will be in for the evening, as usual.  This year, I have the cold from hell, and feel pretty much like death on a cracker, so not envisioning any culinary wonders emerging from my kitchen...

So, the first thing on my wish for the New Year is good health, lol.

I think it's going to be an even more turbulent year, politically, than 2017.  It's hard to imagine it going to another level, but I think that's what's going to happen.  The one thing we absolutely cannot do is become numb to it all, to lull ourselves into believing this is normal.

Stay warm, friends - keep feeding the birds, don't leave your pets outside for longer than it takes to take care of business.  

I worked a few of Bill Graham's all-night shows at Winterland, featuring Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, and Quicksilver Messenger Service.

After one of those nights I left the auditorium at 6:00 a.m., and the truck didn't start.  Had to hitchhike home at 7:00 on New Year's Day.  Not a lot of traffic at that time, but I finally caught a ride with a woman I knew who had worked for Bill Graham at the auditorium all night.

On another of those evenings, The Sons of Champlin, the act I worked for, were done and I was ready to party, but the Grateful Dead entourage was so overwhelming that the security guy wouldn't let me backstage, because it was already over fire marshal capacity.

Heck with it, I just went home and flipped on the live FM broadcast of the gig I had left half an hour before.  In the time since, a stoner had crawled out on one of the steel rafters over the crowd, and the show had ground to a halt.

But I was already home by 11:00 and very comfortable.

Somehow, I need to find a way in '18 to work three more months so I can retire with health insurance.  That is my hope for 2018 - hopefully that's not too much to ask.

No traditional NYE dinner in my family. We have been out of town for two weekends in a row and we're just having whatever anybody can find to eat for dinner tonight. I will probably be asleep before midnight hits.

Here is the text.

GOP is `working the refs' by attacking Mueller

The outcry against special counsel Robert Mueller as being "biased" is a hysterical attempt to "work the refs."

Surely every American citizen is aware that we have a branch of government that we call "courts." In these "courts," "evidence" and "testimony" are presented. These must meet specific legal standards that eliminate most aspects of bias.

Anyone who is accused is permitted to hire the most biased individuals he or she can find, someone who can then show the court where the prosecutor's "bias" has affected the evidence. It should be obvious that the person you want investigating a subject is not a friend of the accused or has any reason not to be diligent.

Bias on the part of the investigator works in the public interest.

Republican members of Congress are complaining that an investigation of the White House is being carried out by people who do not like the president. These are the same people who investigated Hillary Clinton nine times over five years, opening a new investigation after each acquittal.

These people were openly hostile to Ms. Clinton, clearly "biased" against her, and Democrats did not demand resignations.

If the GOP felt that nine investigations of Ms. Clinton over five years, conducted by her political enemies, and 11 hours of sworn testimony on live TV were what it took to exonerate her, why don't they want to extend the same courtesy to President Trump?

Surely, those who have nothing to hide, welcome the scrutiny.

[Repack Rider]

The decision to open the investigations was not based on a dossier of salacious, uncorroborated allegations that were compiled by a former British spy working for a Washington research firm.

The informal, inter-agency working group began to explore possible Russian interference last spring, long before the FBI received information from a former British spy hired to develop politically damaging and unverified research about Trump

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon called the 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Trump campaign officials and a Russian lawyer purportedly offering damaging information about Hillary Clinton "treasonous," according to a new book obtained by The Guardian.

My step mom since I was 10 died in October. My Dad has memory issues.  So, he has trouble remembering she died.  I gave the main eulogy and looked at my dad almost the whole time. Days later, he did not remember.

And, so I had to tell him again.  I just hated doing it.  I told my brother I was not going to go through that again.  But, he said, we should not b.s. him and give it some more time.  Maybe it was more denial instead of memory issues.

In December, my brother stopped responding to my texts.  It really ticked me off.  And then I thought maybe he met some wild woman and ran away to Mexico.  On December 20, I went by his place.  He had died of a stroke days before.

And, I have had to tell my Dad more than once that he is gone. It breaks his heart all over again.  

We've got some gender fluidity out of Key West, and I don't care what you say that CNN anchor in Colorado is STONED! She has been a token solo female anchor.

The weather's been gorgeous if unseasonably warm for this time of year (86 degrees on Saturday), but it's expected to cool off considerably later in the week and will probably be raining by Thursday. (That's good, because they need it.) We're driving down to San Diego on Tuesday to visit my brother-in-law and his wife. Then it's back to Hilo on Saturday night.

A few weeks ago, the favored Tigers were all the rage in Sports Punditland after two dominant wins at home, first against then-No. 1 Georgia and then against the new No. 1 team, Alabama.

While Auburn's national championship aspirations were quashed after the Tigers' pratfall in the SEC championship rematch against Georgia, there's no denying that the SEC West champs were the real deal.

But the Tigers certainly met their match today at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta against a vastly underrated UCF team, who sought to silence the naysayers -- I'm talking about you, Kirk Herbstreit and Stephen A. Smith at ESPN -- and prove to everyone today that they belonged in the discussion.

The Knights did just that. After a less than stellar first half, UCF QB McKenzie Milton -- who's from Mililani, HI -- settled down and took control of the game. Meanwhile, the Knights' defense effectively held Auburn's high-powered offense in check, delivering the knockout blows with two key fourth quarter interceptions.

Thank god for binging.  Seriously what did we do for arctic cold invasions.

AMC is doing a marathon of Breaking Bad.  Sure, it's on NETFLIX but the DVR is just so easy.  I just watched the pilot.  Fu@k.  I'm stuck.  I will now do the whole damn thing.

Interesting list.

THE SHAPE OF WATER has many nominations.  I hope it wins some.