and majority leader dean skelos was only 4 years old. but a dapper lad he was, wasn't he? speaker silver was only 8 years old. but even at 8, speaker silver was speaker silver. but what is very heartening is that even then you should know they were both working together hand in hand in a spirit of bipartisanship. let's give them a round of applause. [ applause ] 2011 will go down in the history books as an extraordinary success. and the members of the legislature should be very proud of what they accomplished. unfortunately that wasn't the only story of 2011. 2011 was also a very challenging year for the state in many, many ways. especially outside of albany. we had a terrible situation with tropical storm lee and hurricane irene that caused terrible damage in parts of the state that could really least afford it. the mid hudson, the north county, the southern tier sustained terrible damage. but maybe in our darkest hours new yorkers shined the brightest, the way new yorkers came together and the spirit of community and the volunteerism was inspiring. the way our first resp