"In My Opinion . . ."
Jan. 3, 2000
Y2K: a clever stroke of merchandizing genius. So clever, in fact, that sales of survival equipment, food, and generators skyrocketed before Dec. 31. Of course now the lines of people waiting to try to return all that unnecessary stuff are quite lengthy. Whether I was brilliantly confident about the future or merely my usual procrastinating self, I did absolutely NOTHING to prepare for the predicted Y2K disasters.
I refused to balance my checkbook (not too hard a refusal, since I haven't balanced it for over 10 years), I allowed my larder to empty, and I resisted buying any Y2K Fix-It program for my PC. This last act of defiance was not really so gutsy. I want a new computer, and I secretly hoped my old one would blow-up when I booted it up on January 1, 2000. It didn't.
Too bad the Mayor of Seattle, Paul Schell, didn't exhibit the same courage (or apathy) as I did in the face of prophesized doom. His decision to cancel Seattle's Millennium festivities under the Space Needle made us the laughing stock of the nation. For two nights or more, Jay Leno poked fun at Schell, whining and wimpering about terrorists. The headlines of our own newspaper, in over-sized type, quoted the mayor as saying, "I'm No Wuss!" Well...
I admit, it was really creepy to have international terrorists try to bring massive explosives into our city. Our leaders were sure the car bomb was meant to be set off on New Year's Eve at Seattle Center. The city government had already lost face with the WTO protesters/police fiasco. The police department pressured the mayor to avoid any more confrontations with large crowds of reveling Washingtonians, so Schell and the City council decided to play it safe: they cancelled our party. Sigh. We sure looked pretty wussy next to all the high-profile festivities in Paris, London, New York, and Moscow.
I wouldn't say we lost out as much as some might think. The fireworks exploded off of the Space Needle just like always, and people oohed and aahed from vantage points all around the city. Bill Gates and two other richies had three privately funded fireworks displays on Lake Washington, displays for private parties, but the peons could still see them. All in all it was a safe and sane New Year's in Seattle. Now we just have to worry about 2001.