John Zeitler

I hope that everyone who celebrated it today had a merry Christmas, and that those among my readership who don’t had a nice day anyway.

This year was a bit more subdued, even though I have the rest of the year off and am planning on relaxing throughout most of it. It’s probably the first year where, even though we don’t have Dad, we found ourselves somewhat happy in spite of it. The past two Christmases were difficult, to say the least, and as a result I wasn’t expecting much out of this year. It’s not that we don’t miss him… But we’re learning to move on. And that’s not that bad.

As for what I usually do, I got sick during December and felt that sending out cards that contained well-wishes and germs to make the recipients unwell may not have been exactly in the spirit of the season. I’ve mentioned this on Facebook and other sites, but I’ll apologize here as well and say that next year, I’ll be starting the cards in November, if not sooner. Again, mea culpa, and I hope that this will be a satisfactory replacement for the time being.

I usually take this time as a point to stop and reflect on the year gone by, and to look ahead to what I’m going to plan on accomplishing in the future. Part of this includes the realization that it was five years ago that I managed my unbroken streak of a full year of daily posts. I did say that with the iPad, I’d be able to post more often, and to this point it hasn’t exactly been so. I’ve discovered a little bit about why that is, actually– 2007 had me in jobs where I had a little bit of free time during the day and could locate quirky things to comment on. I’m planning on spending some of this week locating tools so that I can more easily collect said quirky stuff in the smaller timeframes I have now, as well as have a stockpile of them for later use.

There’s also some site maintenance work that needs to be done, some code maintenance that I’ve been meaning to do for Beyond Madness & Genius, and some cleanup work in the apartment for the 1st or 2nd. But all that can wait– I have a few more days with my family, and that’s always of utmost importance.

Again, have a wonderful and peaceful holiday, and I’ll be in touch before the first of the year.

Happy birthday, mom. I’ll call ASAP.

Cherry Blossoms in Washington, D.C. Photograph taken April 4, 2010 by Ismail Saeed.

Folks, not really a whole lot to say other than I hope you had a pleasant Easter, and that in the coming morning– and every morning to follow– you, like these blossoms, awaken reborn: renewed in hope, spirit, and love.

Catch you all tomorrow.