This is a guest post from Gary Sharma (aka “The Guy with the Red Tie”), founder and CEO of GarysGuide and proud owner of a whole bunch of black suits, white shirts and, at last count, over 40 red ties. You can reach him at gary [at] garysguide.com.

So, 2013 is almost here. Time to break out the paper hats, the party glasses and the annoying air horns. How are you planning to spend your New Year's Eve? At home with friends and family watching TV? Partying it up (a.k.a. getting your drunk on) at an overpriced club / lounge? Or smooshed together with the rest of humanity in the bowels of Times Square? Well, wherever you are, I hope you have fun and remember that 2013 will be an amazing year!

While we're on the subject, an advisory from our friends at Uber: Surge pricing will be in effect for NYE, people. So don't be surprised tomorrow morning when ya see the bill. In Uber's own words, "NYE pricing is not for the faint of heart! The average surge multiple will likely be 2x normal prices, but during extreme spikes it could cost you $100 MINIMUM before time and mileage charges!" The most expensive times to take an Uber? Between 12:15am and 2:45am. There. You've been warned.

This Sunday is the Tesla Spirit Award Gala Benefit Reception at the New Yorker Hotel, marking the 70th anniversary of Nikola Tesla. Tesla died on January 7th, 1943 at the hotel in room #3327 on the 33rd floor, where he'd lived for the last 10 years of his life (1933-1943). Yup, he was a fan of the number three. And in case you don't know who Tesla is (god forbid), here's the Oatmeal comic celebrating the greatest geek who ever lived.

A few months ago, at the launch of the Queens Tech Meetup (complementing existing ones in Manhattan, Brooklyn and New Jersey), I wrote how cool it would be to have a Bronx Tech Meetup. Well, guess what folks--it's finally happened! The first meeting is January 16 at 901 Hunts Point Avenue. So go check it out and show your support for the community taking shape there. Any takers for a Staten Island Tech Meetup next? ;)

Want a no-strings-attached grant of $100,000 to skip college and focus on your cool projects? Of course you do. Check out Peter Thiel and his fellowship program. Applications for the 2013 class are due by 11:59 PM, December 31, 2012. That's tonight, so you'd better hurry.

The good ol' MTA finally gave us the holiday gift we'd all been craving: Subway Time!, an app providing a countdown to the next train's arrival arrives so you can slurp down one last mojito before heading home. Took them 11 years and $228 million but by golly they did it. Now, before you get all excited, remember there are a few caveats. It only works on the iPhone (for now), it does need an internet connection, the UI is bad, it only works with a third of the subway lines (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & S) and it could take years and hundreds of millions of dollars to fully roll out. But..... it's a start! And while we're on the subject, MTA, can we haz some WiFi pleez?

It's almost the end of the year, which means everyone and their uncles have predictions for 2013. Lemme save you the time and spell it out for you: Moar cloud, moar big data, moar 3d printing, moar wearable computing, moar internet of thingz, moar collaborative consumption, apple tv (duh), moar contextual stuff, moar privacy intrusions, moar k-pop, moar grumpy cat photos (hola Tardar Sauce!), moar sexting, moar oversharing, moar mobile everything. Moar moar moar! Meanwhile, here's a video you should watch.

And now let's see what's going down in the Alley this week...

Headspace: Your Brain on Music!
Showcasing the latest at the intersection of neuroscience and new media, with a focus on music. Live demonstration of a brain-controlled environment to drive spatial control of music and real-time visual effects based on the thoughts, moods and emotions of the headset-wearer.
Monday (Dec. 31), 10 a.m. @ Dolby Theater NYC, 1350 Avenue of the Americas, Main Floor Screening Room

Startup Pitch Night
Wednesday (Jan. 2), 6:30 p.m. @ Bar 13, 35 East 13th Street, 2nd Fl.

Raising Startup Capital
With Arie Abecassis (cofounder, AppStori and venture partner, DreamIt Ventures)
Thursday (Jan. 3), 6 p.m. @ General Assembly East, 902 Broadway, 4th Fl.

Explore Social Media
Thursday (Jan. 3), 6 p.m. @ Empire State Building, 350 5th Avenue, 59th Fl.

The Product Group January 2013
With Jared Raskin (manager, site and subscriber analytics, WeightWatchers)
Thursday (Jan. 3), 7 p.m. @ MTV Networks / Viacom, NYC

Village Tech Breakfast
Friday (Jan. 4), 8 a.m. @ The Smile, 26 Bond Street, #1

Foursquare Hackathon 2012: Connect all the Apps!
The best Foursquare hacks and apps will get global glory, swag and some mind-blowingly awesome prizes including ringing the NASDAQ closing bell, rocking tickets to SXSW, partying with an action figure version of yourself, or wearing the infamous Foursquare hackathon TITLE BELT!
Saturday (Jan. 5), 9 a.m. @ Foursquare HQ, 568 Broadway

Conducting User Research
With Diane Loviglio (resident mentor at 500 Startups and former Mozilla user researcher)
Saturday (Jan. 5), 11 a.m. @ General Assembly West, 10 E. 21st Street, 4th Fl.

Tesla Spirit Award Gala Benefit Reception
Marking the 70th anniversary of Nikola Tesla. Organized by the Tesla Science Foundation and endorsed by HRH Prince Philip of Serbia. Event will include a number of prominent speakers, dignitaries, artists and others who will receive this year’s Tesla Spirit Awards.
Saturday (Jan. 5), 6 p.m. @ New Yorker Hotel, Grand Ballroom, 481 8th Avenue

More events on the horizon...
A Conversation with Adaptly Founder Nikhil Sethi on Jan. 7 @ General Assembly East
#BARK Presents: New Year New You | What Can We Learn From Brands That Pivot on Jan. 8 @ Yotel
Invasion of The Hackathons: Creating Unique Opportunities for Entrepreneurs on Jan. 8 @ NYU Poly
January 2013 NY Tech Meetup on Jan. 8 @ NYU Skirball Center For The Performing Arts
NJ Tech Meetup 32 on Jan. 10 @ Stevens Institute Of Technology
Investor Feedback Forum on Jan. 10 @ Microsoft
Startup GC Panel #2 on Jan. 10 @ General Assembly
Startup Dinner on Jan. 10 @ Central Cafe (TBA)
Enterprise Technology Meetup on Jan. 15 @ Cooley
1st Bronx Tech Meetup on Jan. 16 @ Majora Carter Group
Hearst Fashion Hackathon 2013 on Feb. 9 @ Hearst

Until next week. Stay thirsty social, my friends! And Happy New Year! :)

Kathleen Henkel attempts to play Solitaire Blitz for 30 hours straight with only a ten-minute break per hour. (Photo: Jess Schiewe)

It was lunch hour on the corner of Lexington Avenue and 47th and the intersection was teeming with people. A Prêt-A-Manger employee proffered brownie samples to passersby on a silver tray. A family of five, laden with backpacks and rolling suitcases, searched for a cab. A man in a suit peeled a banana. A panhandler begged for money. A knock-off purse salesman set up shop. And Kathleen Henkel, a 68-year-old retiree from Oakland, New Jersey, played another round of solitaire.

“This game is great,” said Ms. Henkel, a sprightly red-head wearing a patterned shirt and skirt outfit that she bought in West Africa and a beaded ankle bracelet. “It’s addicting.”

She was sitting in front of laptop computer in a white corner room penned in by two walls of floor-to-ceiling windows facing out to the street. Cameramen and videographers crowded around her, snapping pictures and rolling film. Curious pedestrians, passing by, paused to peer in. Models—Dan Metz, Brandon Collins, Jay Parks, and Georgie Badel— and minor celebrities—Kenley Collins, Chelsea Krost, and Lady Jenn Bocian—ostensibly there for the publicity—“What is this for again?” said Ms. Collins—preened in the background.

Ms. Henkel hardly noticed them. Her eyes, hidden behind red-wire glasses, were glued to the screen in front of her. She’d played solitaire before, but today was different. Today she is attempting to break the world record for the longest videogame marathon playing a card game. She’s not alone: 31-year-old mother of three, Laura Rich, from South Wales, is attempting to do the same on the other side of the pond.

A few months ago, both women were contacted by PopCap Games, a video game developer based in Seattle, best known for their 2000 gem-swapping game, Bejeweled. The idea, they were told, was two-pronged: create publicity for their new social media game, Solitaire Blitz, and raise money for charity.

“We wanted to do something unique,” said Laura Jackson, a public relations representative for PopCap Games who produced the New York event, “and we knew this would be the way to do that.” Solitaire Blitz is an animated, nautical-themed online card game that can be played for free on Facebook. Since its release in March, over two billion hands of the game have been played, the company said, with an average of 1.6 million sessions played per day.

To find players who were up for the challenge, PopCap Games looked at a list of the most frequent Solitaire Blitz players. The results were surprisingly unvaried, said Ms. Jackson who was part of the selection, and consisted mostly of women over the age of 35. But finding a player was difficult. “I was reaching out to players and I wasn’t the getting the sense that any of them were right,” said Ms. Jackson. “I had to be able to pick someone who would be able to go the 30 hours and I wasn’t getting that sense that any of them were very motivated.”

Ms. Rich, the London player, was selected from the list of avid players, but this was not the case with Ms. Henkel. In fact, prior to finding out about the event, she had never even played Solitaire Blitz. “But it’s not like I hadn’t seen the game before,” Ms. Henkel said. “I am on Facebook.”

So how did Ms. Jackson choose Ms. Henkel to be the New York Solitaire Blitz player? “I remember distinctly it was 5 a.m. and I woke up and I thought, ‘Kathleen Henkel,’” Ms. Jackson said.  “She’d be our player.” The women had met three years earlier while taking an African drumming seminar in Guinea, West Africa, but had lost touch once they returned to the States. “But I knew she was the one,” Ms. Jackson said. And it turned out she was right. Ms. Henkel, a life-long solitaire player, was interested in the challenge, and she was also a fan of the organization that it would be raising funds for, charity: water. The donated funds are used to bring clean and safe drinking water to people in developing countries through the construction of wells and education about hygiene and sanitation.

Her role in the solitaire challenge was meant to be, she told Betabeat. She's been playing solitaire since she was young, and she retired from her job as a substance abuse counselor for criminal offenders to pursue projects providing access to water after a visit to West Africa.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records rules, she is allowed a ten-minute break every hour, which she plans to spend doing Qigong stretches, visiting the bathroom, or eating a snack.

“Right now I’m doing okay," she said, after almost five hours of playing. She spent the last few weeks training by playing the game for a few hours each day, and had a bran muffin and Greek yogurt for breakfast. But there’s another thing she attributes her strength to: her amber necklace. “I’m a crystal fanatic,” Ms. Henkel said. “I was going to wear a Labradorite necklace but when I looked up the properties of this one, I just had to wear it today.” It is believed that amber brings good luck and protection.

If all goes to plan, Ms. Henkel will be playing Solitaire Blitz in the corner space of the Roger Smith Hotel on Lexington Avenue until 3 p.m. Wednesday, June 27th. "Fresh juice would be nice," she said, glancing up briefly from the computer screen to muse about lunch. "I heard they have a place around here."

The tech powers-that-be reached out to me over the weekend with a desperate plea: "Gary, as u know two of our blowhards superstars were unceremoniously booted regretfully let go last week. Now we love these kids, but God knows what kind of crazy mischief they'll get into if we don't find them a new gig, pronto. Can you help?" So I put on my red tie, summoned my super powers and went searching for some answers.

The Boutique VC Firm
If you thought Andreeseen-Horowitz was the gold standard in Silicon Valley, wait till ya get a load of Arrington-Bartz. With Bartz's take-no-prisoners approach and Arrington's friendships cemented at Bin 38, dealflow should be a cinch. And I believe A12Z.com is available.

The Buddy Movie
Think an R-rated version of Jackie Chan + Chris Tucker but with way more colorful language and just a hint of romance. If that's not a sleeper hit franchise in the making, I don't know what is. You're welcome, unimaginative overpaid Hollywood studio execs.

The Crime Fighting Super Duo
Worth it just to see all the prancing around the valley in tights and capes. Bartz's trademark one-liner? "I'll dropkick you to (bleeping) Mars."

The Swap
It's a no-brainer! Arrington takes over the reins at Yahoo while Bartz assumes blogging duties at TechCrunch. It'll be like nothing ever changed. Bonus: Bartz and Arianna face off in a boardroom cat fight! But thats a story for another day.

And finally... the 2012 Presidential Candidate Team
If there was one takeaway from their infamous fireside chat at Techcrunch Disrupt NYC last year, it was that these kids would kill it in a presidential debate. F-bombs, anyone?

And now, onto this week's tech-a-licious events...

Rocking out on the Terrace 3
Back, by popular demand, for one last hurrah this summer, the only party where you rawk it on a terrace. It's an all you can drink affair. So go get hammered! Just don't fall over into the Hudson, cuz that wouldn't be very pretty. And FYI to all those folks who thought that this was my terrace: it's not. But feel free to treat it like it is. ;)
Monday, 6 p.m. @ Private Residence Terrace, 312 11th Avenue

Fashion 2.0: Evolution of Online Flash Sales
If u're crazy about fashion & tech, you'll like this. And if u're not, well there will be cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, so u'll like it anyway. Panelists includes Mike Steib (CEO, Vente-privee.com), Ted Nadeau (General Manager, ELLE Digital), Vicki Young (WWD Women’s Wear Daily) and Andy Dunn (Co-Founder, Bonobos). Moderated by the always lovely Yuli Ziv (Style Coalition).
Monday, 6 p.m. @ Gansevoort Park, 420 Park Avenue South

Founders@Fail: Ted Morgan (Skyhook Wireless)
Cuz there ain't no such thing as an overnite success, homie.
Monday, 7 p.m. @ General Assembly, 902 Broadway 4th Floor

Design for 3D Printing with Shapeways
Okay, so maybe you can't 3D print a double espresso ultra grande soy mocha chai latte yet, but mark my words, it won't be long!
Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. @ Union Square Ventures, 915 Broadway 19th Floor

TechStars NYC on Bloomberg TV Premiere Party
The confessions. The drama. The showboating. The apps. The tears. The mentors. The late-night coding. The drinking. The pivoting. It all begins this Tuesday. The show that will launch f-bomb dropping Dave Tisch & his TechStars cohorts into the Donald Trump / Apprentice stratosphere.
Tuesday, 7 p.m. @ Undisclosed Location

Inside the Lean Founders Studio with San Kim (Show Me) and Fred Wilson (Union Square Ventures)
Speaking of lean, here's a couple of lines from a speech I may be giving at a paper company later this month ... "Lean is right. Lean works. Lean clarifies, cuts through, and captures, the essence of the startup's spirit. Lean, for lack of a better word, is good."
Tuesday, 7 p.m. @ Meetup HQ, 632 Broadway 3rd Floor

The Business of Big Data
If there is one venture firm that has Big Data tattooed on its forehead, it would have to be IA Ventures. Srsly, these folks know more about Big Data than my grandma knows about baking cookies. So do urself a favor and head on over to learn some useful insights from IA's Brad Gillespie and Ben Sisovick.
Wednesday, 6 p.m. @ General Assembly, 902 Broadway 4th Floor

Teaching Yourself to Code for N00bs and Product People
New York Tech Meetup frontman, OHours founder and all-around tech rockstar Nate "innonate" Westheimer will morph you from the somewhat desperate "I'm looking for a tech co-founder" all the way to the empowered "Good Lord, I AM a tech co-founder!" This one is for all you "idea guys" and "business gals" out there. Get on it. Best decision you'll ever make.
Wednesday, 7 p.m. @ SkillShare HQ, 407 Broome Street 5th Floor

PaidContent Advertising Summit
An online advertising all-star speaker cast including Paul Caine (EVP, Time), David Carey (President, Hearst), Pete Cashmore (Founder, Mashable), Carolyn Everson (VP, Facebook), Colin Kinsella (President, Digitas), Scott Kurnit (Founder, AdKeeper), Ross Levinsohn (EVP, Yahoo), Mike McCue (CEO, Flipboard), Neal Mohan (VP, Google) and more.
Thursday, 9 a.m. @ Time Life Building, 1271 Avenue of the Americas

New Work City Third Anniversary Party
Whoa, time flies! The grandaddy of New York co-working spaces is turning three. So go party like the co-working rockstar you are with New Work City Mayor Tony Bacigalupo, Deputy Mayor Peter Chislett and the rest of the NWC gang.
Friday, 8 p.m. @ New Work City, 412 Broadway 2nd Floor

Foursquare Global Hackathon!
Okay, so here's what you do. Take a bunch of foursquare APIs, add a generous helping of iOS with a pinch of gamification and mix it all up in a blender. You, my friend, have just whipped up a spanking new super delicioso So-Lo-Mo app. Now go tweet about it and annoy ur followers.
Saturday, 10 a.m. @ General Assembly, 902 Broadway 4th Floor

Maker Faire and Open Hardware Summit
THE event for all ye DIY aficionados out there. Bit of a hike to Flushing but think of it this way--you'll finally be able unlock that "far far away" badge, no?
Saturday, 10 a.m. @ NY Hall of Science, 47-01 111th Street, Queens

More on the horizon ...

Mashable Social Good Summit on Sep 19 @ 92 Street Y
TechCocktails NYC Mixer on Sep 21 @ General Assembly
Pitch Your Startup To CNN Money on Sep 22 @ Time Life Building
Smash Summit NYC on Sep 23 @ Microsoft

Until next week. Stay thirsty social, my friends!