A Day, A Week, Hemant, A Year

Since moving back to Saskatoon in 2005 I’ve been hosting the annual Geeks in Basements New Years Eve Extravaganza - a gathering of my closest friends to celebrate the coming of the new year. This also happened to be the first one that would take place in Michelle’s and my new house.

Since Saskatchewan was going through such a bitterly cold stretch we thought it would be a great idea to give the 2009 party a Caribbean theme. Our guests were informed to show up in their best island gear and enjoy some Jamaican style cuisine and groove to some funky reggae beats. We even announced that there would be a special prize for the most impressive getup.

Marla and Charles were the first guests to arrive and they sure did impress us with their costumes. All Marla needed was some suntan lotion and she could have jumped a plane to the West Indies.

Unfortunately as more guests arrived the quality of the costumes diminished. And when I say diminished I mean were non-existent. At least Michelle and I had enough leis for everyone to wear. Besides the “dressing up stick-in-the-muds”, the company was still top notch and everyone had a fantastic time.

As usual I laid out the “community camera” for people to fire off shots during the night.  I actually had no idea that there were so many picture taken until tonight when I pulled the photos off of the camera.

Feel free to check out some of the better shots on my Flickr site by following the links below.

• Thumbnails on Flickr
• Slideshow on Flickr

And in case you hadn’t guessed, Marla won the prize for best costume - a bottle of Malibu Rum.

The 3rd Annual Geeks in Basements New Years Extravaganza was celebrated at my place as we bid farewell to 2006 and welcomed in 2007. The night was a blast, and I’m glad that so many of my friends were able to attend. Most of the day was spent shopping and preparing for the party. Thanks to those who helped me get stuff ready.

I’ve posted some of the better pictures taken during the evening. You can view the pictures here.

Best quote of the night goes to Jeffrey’s wife, Rachel - “This party is really grown-up”. Keep in mind they had to leave early.

New Years Eve always seems to cause a dilemma for everyone when trying to come up with plans for the evening. Now that I was settled into my townhouse I decided that I would have my closest friends over for the evening to ring in the new year. The guest list was worked out and the invitations were sent about a week prior to Christmas.

The agenda for the evening was nothing more than for friends to sit around and enjoy each other’s company, some food, and some spirits. I spent the day of the party getting everything ready - picking up food that I had ordered, preparing Hors D’oeuvre I decided to make, and getting things straightened out around the condo. There really wasn’t much to do, but I ended taking longer than I expected.

It was good for everything to get done so I could just wait around for my guests to arrive. The evening went well, and think everyone had a good time. I was a little worried there wouldn’t be enough food, but it looked like I had exactly the right amount. Thanks for everyone who managed to attend and make the evening a success, and I’m sorry a few of you didn’t get a chance to stop by. Maybe next time. Special thanks goes out to Travis and Curtis for helping me with food and spirits, and getting things ready.

Please take a moment to check out some shots I took during the evening by clicking here.