> Since we Rinkies pride ourselves on having such a world-wide community presence :-), we ought to determine the time of the First RinkPost by when the New Year comes to the most Eastern-most person we know. That would be... (Drum roll)... Brunnen-G.

Yes, it was. I even spent it in a town slightly further east than Auckland, so I probably caught a precious extra few nanoseconds. At midnight on that magical millennial eve, I was sitting around reading a book, while vaguely wondering whether the illegal fireworks landing on the roof from the neighbours' party were going to set fire to the house. I stayed awake until 1 or 2 a.m, I guess, but I do that anyway.

Brunnen-"wasting the rare privilege of being easternmost"G