I spent New Year's Eve/Day in Harlan, Iowa - with some pals. It was a good time. By the end, 2003 was crying that he had to go. We eventually got rid of him by throwing some popcorn onto the front yard and when he ran out to get it, we slammed the door behind him and locked it tight. It was a little sad - seeing him bang on the door, begging for us to "let him in - at least for some more popcorn," but after an hour-and-a-half, he gave up and stepped into a nearby forest - never to be seen again.

Granted, we saw him the next morning at Perkin's, but we avoided him by looking the other way. Funny. I think he looked away, too.

One hightlight? There's this video place in Harlan called... yes, "Video Place." It's the greatest video place (and "Video Place") in the whole wide world. You know how most video stores throw out (or sell) their videos after they become less popular? Well, not only does this video store not do that, but they get videos no other place would get in the first place. For instance, we rented an early 80's sci-fi sex comedy "Spaced Out" (featuring a computer that's programmed to talk dirty!), children's classic "Return to Oz" (the disturbing sequel to "Wizard of Oz" that you only remember when forced to), mid-80's meta-sex comedy "Hardbodies 2" (featuring an endless barrage of tan-linned titties) and the first two episodes of "Fraggle Rock" (featuring an endless barrage of fully-tanned titties).