This is a bulb from the Times Square New Year's ball that ushered in 1978. The Daily News had assigned me to cover the festivities from a great perch: the roof of what back in the day was called the Allied Chemical Building or Times Building (now One Times Square). I had asked a woman I had met three weeks earlier if she'd like to accompany me, and she'd said yes. Her name was Chris. At the moment the ball dropped, we kissed for the first time. This bulb arrived at The News Building a few days later, a thanks from one of the people working on the ball drop. His watch had conked out, and I'd loaned him my $9.99 Timex. And Chris? New Year's Eve this year, Chris and I  yet again turned on the bulb and welcomed 2016.

A Happy New Year to you all, my friends.