With No Y2K, Some Plan to Party Like It's 1999

Dec. 30 -- Mike Cox’s millennium dinner came from his favorite restaurant—in a takeout box.

Like thousands of other workers, he rang in last New Year atwork, awaiting fallout from the Y2K computer glitch that threatenedto wreak havoc, but didn’t.

“I had my entire staff at work,” said Cox, who was thenspokesman for the Texas Department of Safety. “Threadgill’s sentover chicken fried steak and we had fake champagne. Then we justsat by waiting on problems. It was probably the safest New Year’sEve ever.”

Don’t call Cox this Dec. 31. For him and others who missed thefun last year, this holiday will be an excuse to party like it’s1999.

Celebrate ‘Real Millennium’ in Style

Cox said he’ll celebrate the “real millennium” in style—the food will be the same, but he’ll eat at the restaurant.

Under the widely used Gregorian calendar, which started with theyear 1, the third millennium doesn’t begin until Jan. 1, 2001.

Weather permitting, organizers of some public celebrationsexpect a bigger turnout this year than last. Some events last yeardrew weaker-than-expected attendance because people feared bigcrowds or problems from the Y2K computer bug—glitches caused bycomputers reading “00” as 1900 instead of 2000.

In Denver, Sunday night’s celebration is expected to attractnearly 100,000 people after a weak turnout last year.

“It will be better this year than if they had it last yearbecause people can just concentrate on celebrating rather thanbeing caught up in the overall sense of impending doom,” saidLashley Pulsipher, a 25-year-old Denver resident.

Millennium Celebrations in Short Supply

Randall Horton of Dallas is content just to celebrate withfriends and family instead of staring at a computer screen. As Y2Kproject manager for Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Horton spent therollover to 2000 in a command post monitoring the transition athospitals around the world.