Happy Holidays

So, about that theory that by mostly quitting Facebook I'd write more here... I have been sending an email newsletter every week though.

A lot has happened since my last post back in September. The big news is that we have bailed out of the Washington DC area rat race. We moved 50 miles south to Richmond, but it feels like 500 miles. The cost-of-living is lower, the traffic is non-existent by comparison to Fredericksburg and points North, and the people are friendlier. We should have done this years ago.

We downsized dramatically. 3 couches, 3 love seats, a recliner, a kitchen table, and a full formal dining room have become the recliner, a new couch, and the kitchen table. We cleaned out the closets and cabinets and purged with reckless abandon. I haven't missed any of it.

I seem to have found a happy medium with Facebook. I log in once or twice a day for 5 minutes and otherwise generally don't think much about it. Once a week or so I'll click on "Friends with new posts" and click through to see what people are up to. It turns out not being there the second people post stuff doesn't really matter. It's still there 3 days later and I can still say hi, or congratulations, or whatever.

Fear of missing out (FOMO) is a big driver of social media usage, but I don't feel like I'm missing out at all. I still keep up with what is going on in my friend's lives, just not in real time. I don't miss concerts or events because people don't post those on six hours notice, so I still see them in plenty of time. I only follow my wife and kids, so I probably am less likely to miss an event update because it's not going to get lost in my news feed. Events pretty much are my news feed.

I want to write a year-end retrospective or something, but it's still forming in the recesses of my brain, so it'll be coming later. I hope your holiday season is happy and fun and filled with family and friends. Or not, if you'd rather be alone. I'd say 2018 has to be better than 2017, but I think we all know that isn't true. So let's hope it's better.