Holy muscle memory! Old habits die hard. After 10 years of writing two zero zero and the current year, we have to make that subtle shift. No longer do those zeroes flow off the keyboard. Change is tough, dudes.

Change is also constant and rolls down on us like a mile-wide steamroller. Like H.G. Wells said, "We were so busy making the future, hardly any of us contemplated what future we were making. And here it is!" At this moment, in some dusty California garage, evil slacker geniuses are inventing some wacko little gizmo that in two years will totally change our lives.

We don't know what they're doing. They don't know what they're doing. They're just modern Tommy Edisons mucking about in the lab and the next thing ya know we have electricity, artificial light and sound recordings.

Or personal computers, iPods, Google and Facebook. Innovation happens so fast not even science fiction writers can figure it out not that the sf brains have been very good at this stuff, preoccupied as they get with trying to sell their groundbreaking visions of vampire detectives flying through the cosmos on steam-powered dirigibles.

If you're a graying Baby Boomer worried about your 401(k) and how you'll hang on to your low-tech job for the next 10 years, don't worry about the future. Well, worry, a lot, but it's not like there's anything you can do about it. The future will happen, is happening, and all you can do is tighten your seat belt and keep it between the ditches.

So, embrace and expect change. Here at Latitude 59 degrees, we're damn lucky to live in a place where no matter what happens, beauty surrounds us. No matter what happens, there will always be cool things to do, like some of these Best Bets:

BEST BIG CITY BET: A couple of Anchor Town bands come down this weekend to shake up our musical scene. At 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, bands The Smile Ease and Jack River Kings play at the Down East.

BEST HIKE! HIKE! BET: Still waddling around with those holiday pounds? Keep cracking with that exercise plan for Winter Trails Day on Saturday. The Coalition for Homer Open Space and Trails and the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies sponsor snowshoe hikes. Take a 3-mile hike on the Baycrest snowshoe trail starting at noon; meet at the Rogers Loop trailhead. Or, head to the hills at noon at the Carl Wynn Nature Center on Skyline Drive for a hike on the CACS trails. CACS also loans and rents snowshoes. Call 235-6667 for snowshoe information.

BEST KICK GLIDE BET: Want to learn how to ski from some of Homer's hottest skiers? Check out an adult cross-country ski clinic from noon to 2 p.m. Sunday taught by Homer Women's Nordic. Meet at the Schwiesow Stadium at the Lookout Mountain ski trails on Ohlson Mountain Road.

BEST BAD ACID BET: Acid drugs, acid reflux or acid oceans, it's all bad. Worried about ocean acidification? Want to learn more about global effects? Watch "A Sea Change," a documentary on ocean acidification, at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Homer Theatre. Admission is $6.

BEST PAINT ON BET: Focus on miniatures from noon-2 p.m. Saturday for the Kachemak Bay Watercolor Society's monthly paint-together. Some of Homer's best artists share tips, techniques and ideas. Meet at the Homer Council on the Arts.