A goal I purposefully didn't tell anyone about was that I would post every day in 2011. I mostly got that. I can say I had a post for every day, but sometimes they were scheduled ahead of time and sometimes they were posted a little bit late. But actually, I ended up with 380 posts for 2011, so I guess some days I did more than one. When I add in all the other blogs I posted to this year, it was actually over 900 posts. That's... way too much. That's... a big waste of time. Next year, I will post less often. I also shut down three of those blogs... more about that in a few days as I start the new year unpacking my theme for 2012. So I have some posts scheduled to launch in the new year, so it's going to seem like I'm still posting daily, but once they all run their course, it will slow down.
I do appreciate all of my readers and I hope that you find things worth reading in my posts and it's not just out of a sense of duty. But, hopefully my slower schedule makes it less to slog through.
Let's Rewind...
January: Hyperbole
I always thought it interesting that you heard a politician so often say "The Great State of California" when I lived there. I decided it wasn't a fluke, that either currently, or at some point in the past, someone had told people to say that, as a subtle part of a marketing campaign. On the other hand, we've suffered through "The Other Washington" and "Washington. The State"... Read More...Also in January:
Estée Lauder * Haiti * Voiding the Warranty on my Washing Machine * Some Failed Resolutions
February: And Then There Were Two
When I arrive home, I park in the garage, come into the house and then ascend the long stairway from the basement to the ground floor. Most days as I'm coming up the stairs, the door is thrown open and one or both children rush to greet me. It's a nice way to be greeted. A few weeks ago, I was immediately struck with the thought "There should be three." If you asked me at the time what our plans were, I would have told you "We're not sure." Read More...Also in February:
Lazy * Vacation * Open Letter to Seattle Times * Courage to Face Your Fears * Sick * Some Book Reviews * My Inner Grump
March: Suggestion for Comcast
Walking to my car after work on Tuesday, the thought occurred to me... Comcast should offer text-messaging. I'm not sure why I thought that - I already have text messaging through AT&T and Google Voice, I'm not sure I *want* text messaging on my home phone. But this little piece of inspiration wouldn't be dismissed that easily. "Hear me out," it seemed to beg. Read More...Also in March:
Waiting for My Real Life to Begin * I Will Not Go Quietly * Who I Am * The Tough Job of Acting * Email Purge * If I Ran Foursquare * Apple's DNA
April: Labels
I think it's finally dawning on me. Maybe I'm late to the party. Or I've been overly optimistic. Or maybe I still have every reason to be optimistic. Maybe this is just my very literal nature getting the best of me. But after talking to Lori Saturday night, it seems like I'm not arriving at a place she's been at for awhile now. When we took our little guy in to the doctor a few months ago, we finally got a referral to Birth-to-Three. Read More...Also in April:
Our Own Peter Warski * What's Up * No Power of Hell * It's Friday (Friday) (Friday) * Going Nowhere Fast * Belief Systems * The Two Bills *
May: The Shoulders of Giants
Lori was reading last night to Rachel. She was reading from 1 Chronicles 28 and 29 - David wants to build a temple for the Lord but God says no, it won't be David that builds it, but instead his son Solomon. It was David's vision and he had a passion to do it. He was ready to get going. But God said no. Read More...Also in May:
Happy Endings * Nowheresville * Lobster Theory * The Shoulders of Giants * Will I Ever Shut Up About my Vacation?
June: Mentorable Me
If you've read "Outliers," you know that there's a theory that do something for 10,000 hours and you have a good chance at getting good at it. Were that the case, I'm less than a year away from being an expert employee. However, it's not quite that simple. I think maybe 10,000 hours of playing a musical instrument or playing a sport may make you quite the expert, but it also assumes that you've got a good coach, you know the rules and they don't change. Now, that may have been good enough for Bill Gates to become a really proficient computer programmer. But I'm not sure it works out so well when it comes to management. Read More...Also in June:
100 in 100 * Taco Bell Doesn't Want You to be Healthy * Why I Drive * More Love Letters to Starbucks
July: Legacy
The word legacy to me brings to mind the word family. Jim and Shirley Denison led a Homebuilders weekend back when we were at Lake focusing on the topic of legacy. Legacy remains after you're no longer around. Sure, that can exist in an office, staff remembering who you were after you left, but that's incredibly fleeting, subject to revision and often negative -- even if untrue, the last guy out the door often gets the blame for a lot of stuff because once you're an adult "not me" can't get the blame anymore. So family legacy, that's something that endures. Friends of ours are part of a multi-generational close-knit family. Each successive generation has had larger-than-average families and so it just builds exponentially. Read More...
Also in July:
Khan Academy * Slow Me Down * False Sense of Security * Off-Brand * #trust30 * Brain Rules * This is broken
August: Big Finish!
Remember that 100 miles in 100 days goal? If you follow my blog, you should - I made that goal on June 11 - 56 days ago. Somewhere along the way I realized that was too easy a goal and upped it to 1.5 miles a day, or finishing in 67 days. I was looking at the chart tonight before my run and realized that I had six miles to go. Read More...Also in August:
Silent Running * Rediscovery * The Awesome Vacation Lori Planned! * I Would Run 500 Miles * I Love Seattle * No Plan B
September: Endless Mode
You know those games where you encounter wave upon wave of enemies that you must take care of? And they come at you faster and faster and more and more? Eventually either something has to give -- you detonate a super-bomb or you get overrun and "Game Over." Wow, it kinda felt like that this week. Except not with enemies. Read More...Also in September:
For Tomorrow We Dine * I Would Fail Second Grade Math * Rain! * Suicide Warning Signs * Stupid FedEx is Stupid * Do Not Taunt Happy Mini Bar
October: What's It Going To Be?
Some interesting thoughts in my head recently. Studying earlier this week for small group, the reading asked "What is your idol?" That is, "What do you place above Jesus?" The book gave some examples and I thought "control" fit quite nicely. We had another assessment with our son for therapy and that always makes me think about how I'm probably undiagnosed ADHD and probably somewhere on the autism spectrum myself. Read More...Also in October:
Occupational Hazard * Pushy Salespeople * For Sale: You * CDO and the Thermostat * Curb Appeal * How Not to Sell a Car
November: Sense of Belonging
I was driving through the neighborhood tonight on my way home from work. Now that the time has changed, the drive is in complete darkness. And in that part of the neighborhood, that means nearly complete darkness because that's the non-association side and there's no street lamps. I recalled someone once who was just agahst - "Why on earth would you want to be part of an association?" I thought of how the next street over, a less traveled street, how rundown the houses are. Some, I suspect, might just fall over soon. And no one cares. Their neighbors might, but who cares, really? Read More...Also in November:
Meta * Reasons why Comcast is better than DirecTV * Wish List * The Problem with the Internet * The Problem with the Theater * Muppets!
December: Controlling Serenity
After a few frustrating incidents recently, I was feeling pretty down and did some soul-searching. I realized that my frustration was the result of a feeling of being out-of-control. Now... not every case was something that I should have had control over. But there were also instances of places where I should have been in control and I wasn't. Either I was being neglectful or I was distracted. Read More...Also in December:
Death and Control * Death 2 * Not of Macy's Quality * Ford Hates You * Christmas * Unroll.me
Wow... it's been quite the year. And the same themes keep popping up... family, work, church, Starbucks, control, diet/exercise, order, information, simplicity. One of these is my theme for 2012 and hopefully it will help me with my approach to all the others. And it might not be the one you think, but don't be disappointed.
Here's to 2012. Happy New Year!
Past Years:
2010 * 2009 * 2008 * 2007a, 2007b, 2007c * 2006 * 2005
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