Wow. New Year’s Eve. What a night. What a day.

After a hiatus last year, I found myself downtown again for the final hours of 2005. The rain didn’t seem to have any impact at all. Even Dragonfly — the “late bloomer” of downtown, who rarely sees a full house before midnight — was full by 10:30 and packed by 11. I actually wanted to spend NYE at the Mariott, where the Unknown DJ was spinning an 80s/early-90s dance soundtrack. However, given the choice between paying to go out or getting paid to go out, I’ll take the latter.

2006 is going to be a good year for floor-9.com, and a good year for downtown Harrisburg. If you want to know my thoughts on downtown development, they’re pretty much summed up in Sara’s latest article.

Adult nightlife — that’s where it’s at. Before a flamewar from the 18-24 crowd ensues, realize that I was once 18-24. For a period of 6 years straight, actually. We did our time at Eclipse, we thought we were pretty cool at the Wanda’s all-you-can-eat buffets, and we threw the acronym “OCMD” around at any given opportunity. That was 1999. Six years later, I’m still going downtown, but it’s to places like Max’s and Red Door and The District. Places that are a little more laid back, a little more subtle, a little more refined. And the funny thing is, that’s where development is heading. Look at what opened in 2002 vs what opened in 2005. Last year’s big contenders have been upscale, almost-niche establishments that specifically DON’T cater to the Eclipse crowd.

2006 promises to hold more of the same. In addition to the surge in downtown nightlife development, floor-9 is moving to its new web host this March. Frost, our nightclub venture in State College, continues to open tomorrow. My new employer continues to see exponential growth. My mall has the best food court in Harrisburg. MakRadio is returning. BroadbandAccess launches in central PA this February. I only have two more months of $300-a-month heat. My annual new laptop is on the way. I have three regular ghostwriting contracts.

Yep. 2006 aint looking too bad.