Just few minutes remain in 2008, at least here in the desert. The new year has already arrived for those east of us and for my blog friend Ms. Soup 'down under', 2009 is already yesterday's news. I didn't expect to be awake to ring in 2009, but events conspired to make it so. The awake part anyway. I won't be doing any ringing in. Let's face it, 2008 had way more downs than ups for our country, so we are starting at the bottom in our hopes for the new year, which is a good place to begin on the road to better times. 2008 was a historic year, both in the historic turmoil in the economy and in the historic rise of a black man to the Presidency. There are lessons in each and in the end we will all be better for both. The Sneeds had a very good year. There was the wedding of Greg and Daughter Sneed and the birth of our little doll, Riley. Both Mrs. Sneed and our daughter received their Masters Degrees this Spring. On a personal note, I made a bunch of new blog acquaintances from whom I learned a lot. I continued my meteoric rise the the retail hardware field. The betting pool on when I would get fired has shut down, so I must be permanent. We paid off the house, long a goal of mine. We may wind up broke, hungry and in the dark, but they can't toss us out on the street. I'm sorry if this sounds like one of those annoying Christmas letters. My brother-in-law sent me a link of a guy named Uncle Jay, reviewing 2008. Maybe you've seen Uncle Jay's videos, I hadn't. On behalf of the staff and management of the Merle Wayne Sneed blog and Mr. Sneed himself, I wish you a happy and more prosperous 2009! Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong, sometimes just full of it, but always judgmental and cranky