A quiet New Year’s eve at home. Then get ready to fight, tell hard truths and bring backup.

It will be a quiet evening at home for Anne, me and Ulysses.

We just got home from a two-day drive from New York to see family and friends. Despite the blizzard and the cold, there wasn’t a bad moment.

Of course, we didn’t need to get to work, get a car out of a parking space or need an ambulance.

Naturally there are rumors going around NY that the disaster of a clean-up was somehow caused by the union workers in the Sanitation Department who were out to punish the Mayor for cutting the budget and laying off workers.

It wouldn’t surprise me if the source of this rumor was the Mayor’s office. Isn’t it just like an uber manager to cover his ass when things go bad. This mayor-manager loves blaming unions any chance he gets. Witness his assault on the teachers union.

But back to my New Year’s eve plans.

We have none.

We stopped for some shrimp and I’ll mix up a little cocktail sauce. Anne will make a great salad with some blue cheese dressing. We’ll pour some wine. But after our two-day drive back from Brooklyn we will probably be dreaming sweet ones by the time the clock hits twelve.

School opens Tuesday and by then the trouble will have begun.

Like Bloomberg in NY, politicians in Springfield have their cross hairs on the backs of union teachers in Illinois.

They will be targeting my right to strike, my right to have our local and school board negotiate our own performance review procedures, my already limited rights to tenure and seniority.

And our pensions are always at risk from these suckers.

So to all my readers, friends and colleagues: Happy New Year. Enjoy the weekend. Gather with your friends and families. Hoist a few for me.

But Monday morning, get ready. 2011 looks to be one hell of a year. I like what the writer Naomi Klein said to her Facebook friends, “Get ready to fight, tell hard truths and bring backup.”