The JackB

"When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun'." Groucho Marx

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Thanksgiving Week

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There is a full house here for the first time in what feels like forever. All of the children are roaming the place and for a brief time we’re together under one roof.

I understand what the older folk meant when they said time goes quickly and now I try hard to be present in every moment because they move so quickly.

It is surreal how fast it went and I am so very proud of what I see and hear, but it is bittersweet in some ways.

That is a good thing and I know it to be so.

I’ll blink and we’ll be in a new place…again.

Three Weeks Of War

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Three weeks of war already. Three weeks following the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust.

Feels like an impossible amount of time and similar to a nightmare that is hard to wake up from. Every day there is a new story of horror tied to the attacks or another example of antisemitism.

Can’t break, can’t falter because that would let the bad guys win and we won’t make that possible or probable.

It is not an option but we’re going to pay a price beyond that which we have paid but that is the cost of survival- there are no options so we move forward.

One Post A Month

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There was a time when I would update 2-3 times a day every day but it was before the content shock of 10 million online sources.

Some people thanked me for entertaining them and some people asked if I could slow down because they found it overwhelming.

I told the latter to stop reading everything and or to feel ok to take a break, wasn’t going to hurt my feelings. I write first for me and then for everyone else.

Now I sit in a place in which I may produce one or a couple of posts a month with the odd time in which I pump out multiple posts in a week.

And for some reason I have received email from multiple people to let me know about broken URLS.

They always say they work for company XYZ and want to make sure my readers aren’t hurt by not finding the correct link.

And they are always tied to posts that are more than 10 years old.

Kind of odd to see such things but they seem legitimate.

Most of the time I simply delete the section with the broken link or the entire post because there doesn’t seem to be a solid reason for keeping it.

They weren’t particularly good posts and sometimes less is more.

Tends to happen more when I receive multiple emails pushing me to update, especially when they adopt a certain tone.

Dawn Of A New Day

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Rolling through the weeks like a juggernaut whose forward momentum cannot be slowed or stopped we reach the place where the so-called rubber meets the road.

It is time to make decisions in a few areas about what direction the path forward takes. Been saying this in multiple ways for years now but there will be movement from discussing possibilities.

Now it turns to action and the consequences of those moves will play out as they will. Can’t straddle the fence forever, enough is enough.

The Warnings

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I think I have received about a half dozen warnings via email over the past week or so.

They are all tied into the blog and tell me that certain plug-ins aren’t active anymore and if I don’t make adjustments I won’t be able to track information or take advantage of XYZ.

I get tired of being warned because the language in said warnings chaps my hide. Could be that I am irked about other things and thin-skinned now or that their marketing language is weak.

A softer message would probably go over better with me. I see value in being notified that some changes are impacting the functionality of the blog.

But I also recognize some of those changes are intentional so sending me email after email declaration of the sky falling isn’t useful.

Reminds me of a couple of people who wrote me to ask me to update links on posts that are more than 10 years old.

Something about the manner in which I was approached ruffled my feathers so I took the posts down.

Maybe it is just me.

Maybe I am getting cranky and ornery in my old age or maybe it is something else.

Don’t you just love decisive stances where we take a position of maybe.

Disconnecting From The Office

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The lack of consistent posting here doesn’t provide any insight into the other things going on in my life or why things have slowed down.

But that is not what this post is about, nor do I think most readers have that kind of interest in the little details.

This is more of a note to myself, a reminder that I haven’t done a good job of disconnecting from work during vacation.

Or maybe it is better to say the last three or four, because I was better about it in the past.

Anyhoo, the one thing this blog does a great job of establishing for me is how fast time goes and how quickly children grow up.

Which is why I have promised to leave my work phone and laptop at home when I go on vacation at the end of this week.

It is time to disconnect.

Time To Make More Memories

My children probably don’t recognize slides though I know they have seen them before, but shots like the one above make me smile.

Because they remind me of great trips from the past and invaluable experiences with friends and family.

The goal when I leave this week is to make some more and to put myself in a position where work cannot distract me because I will have no way to see it or acknowledge it.

Ideally there will be no great fires or challenges while I am out, but if there are, they will wait.

It is time to disconnect and recharge my batteries.

This computer will come with me and maybe I’ll update the blog again, but the primary focus will be on creating and enjoying experiences.

Life is too short to ignore the clock.