It's always exciting to turn over the page on the calendar and discover a new year. Here comes 2014 and a refreshed slate of possibilities. I'll have to say this for 2013, it left a lot of balls in the air. They'll be coming down in the new year.
The Pack may be back. After an exciting win in Chicago on Sunday (boy, those Bears fans must really be upset), order has been restored to the football universe. Another game at Lambeau! That'll help liven up January.
The Winter Olympics return in February. The Russians get their turn on the global stage, and we'll all get a healthy dose of Slavic cultural lore in between the ice rink and the slopes. I wonder if Edward Snowden will get to light the torch?
Elections! This will be interesting. Here's hoping Kathleen Vinehout gets to contest the Democratic nomination. It would be a healthy exercise in democracy. No slight intended toward Mary Burke, but airing out the issues is always a good idea. More options rather than fewer are always preferable.
More elections! In the last midterms the Republicans cleaned up in the House. This time they have their eyes on the Senate, but maybe they're getting ahead of themselves. There's that whole sequestration/shut-down-the-government thing that people haven't forgotten about yet, and the Democrats aren't likely to let them forget about it. And a lot can happen between now and November.
What needs to happen between now and next week is that we all recover from holiday excess and prepare for a busy 2014. The arrow is pointing up on all indicators; we have to make sure that's the direction in which things go. There are no guarantees. Someone still has to turn the crank.
