I wasn't planning anything major for...

New Year's Eve, but the one thing I didn't want to be doing today was to go to the VA.  However, after breakfast that is where I'm headed.  The swelling in my right hand that was going down has gone back up and is worse than before.  Plus there's an area of discoloration in one part of where it is swollen, so my plans for the day just got ruined.

Someone drove a car into a church near my place after midnight.  Then they fled the scene.  It shouldn't have been that hard to find parking at that hour, but maybe parking wasn't the issue.

A homeless man died of hypothermia in Wyoming.  He had a very large cashier's check in his wallet and he was the potential heir to a $19 million fortune.  None of his relatives had seen him in years, but someone retained an attorney to represent his interests in the battle over a $307 million estate.

New State Laws going into effect tomorrow:

Wellington, Kansas has a new city ordinance limiting how many cats can be owned.  Homes are limited to four cats.

Good news/bad news for motorcyclists in Illinois.  The good news is that they can now run red lights, if a reasonable amount of time has passed, because motorcycles aren't heavy enough to trip the sensors to cause the light to change.  The bad news is that if they pop a wheelie while speeding, the fine has been upped to $1,000.

In Florida it will be illegal to flash your headlights to warn another driver of a police speed trap.

And in North Carolina, it becomes a crime to steal unused cooking oil for deep fryers.  If the value of the stolen oil exceeds $1,000, it's a felony.

Things being pondered today include:

If Congress gets rid of the penny, will the 99 Cents Only Store be forced to finally move prices up to a dollar?

In some states, if a woman gives birth while married, her husband is legally the father, even if he didn't father the child.  Should Kim Kardashian be concerned that she's preggers and still married to her estranged husband, Kris Humphries?

Why in the world will people jump into freezing ocean/lake/river waters to begin 2013?  I don't get the point of freezing to ring in the New Year unless you're bundled up in Times Square to watch the ball drop.

Will there be at least one day in 2013 where I don't get any complaints about anything from a resident? Probably not.

Why do woodchucks chuck wood?

What will be the worst movie re-make to be released in 2013?

Since Jennifer Lawrence has admitted to being a "junk food junkie", did anyone introduce her to this song?  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na2ot4X7Zpg

Do we really need to eliminate terms like "trending", "spoiler alert" and "Twitterverse" from the English language?

Will Yahoo ever hire a freaking editor to avoid stuff like this:  Thieves Break Into 2 SoCal Thieves, Escape With…- CBS 2/KCAL 9 

Fun With Classifieds

There's an ad for a p/t personal assistant with an interesting statement on the line involving compensation:  "Compensation: 420/ per week"  Is that supposed to mean $420 per week or that you'll get a bag of '420' each week?

"STRIP CLUB WEEKLY.com - needs data entry clerk."  Words escape me that the market for this website is large enough to make it viable.

"Must be Bilingual in English & Korean or trilingual in English, Korean, & Spanish." So if you aren't bilingual in English and Korean, you're still able to be considered if you're trilingual in English, Korean and Spanish??  I'd talk about sets, subsets and supersets, but apparently sixth grade math is no longer relevant.

This Date in History:

On this date in 1600, The British East India company was chartered.
On this date in 1660, James II of England was named Duke of Normandy by Louis XIV of France.
On this date in 1695, England enacts a window tax, causing many to brick up their windows to avoid paying the tax.
On this date in 1759, Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease and starts brewing Guinness.
On this date in 1831, Grammercy Park was deeded to New York City.
On this date in 1862, President Lincoln signed a bill admitting West Virginia to the Union.
On this date in 1907, the first New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square takes place.
On this date in 1951, the Marshall Plan ends, after distributing $13.3 billion in aid to Europe.
On this date in 1983, AT&T/Bell is broken up.
On this date in 1999, the U.S. turned over the Panama Canal to Panama.
And on this date in 1937, Sir Anthony Hopkins was born.  Also born on this date were:

1930 - Jaime Escalante
1943 - John Denver
1948 - Donna Summer
1958 - Bebe Neuwirth
1977 - Psy