The “Happy holidays” post for 2016: thoughts on the past and wishes for the future

First things first: it’s a bit late, but I wish all my readers out there a happy holiday season, whatever the holiday(s) may be that you’re observing. For those new to the blog, this post from 2013 and this followup post from 2015 will explain why I say “Happy holidays” as opposed to other more specific greetings.

The ending of 2016 has set up what is certainly going to be an interesting 2017. I say “interesting” in the sense of the curse attributed to the Chinese “May you live in interesting times.” On one hand, there’s going to be a lot for me to write about, but on the other, I really wish things had been a bit more normal. During the last week of the year I’ll have a bit more to say about our president-elect in the US and some of his rather questionable actions before even being sworn in. I still have quite a few other posts I want to get out of the draft queue as well.

I haven’t made as many posts this year as I had wanted to. I’m not going to try to catch up all the ground in the final week of the year, but I’m pretty sure in 2017 I’ll have plenty of opportunity to make up for it. I can tell by the readership count that the regular readers I had in the past have yet to come back.

And I will admit that there are times this blog has been less-than-compelling reading, and there were stretches where I wasn’t able to post any new entries at all. I’m going to try to minimize those going forward. I remember in the beginning when this was simply a space for what I had to say that was too long to fit on Twitter. It’s evolved beyond that, into a part of me I didn’t realize was even missing.

There are people still reading now and then, which is good. If you like what you’re reading here, share it: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Reddit, email (including mailing lists), or however you usually share things with friends. If everyone who came by shared a post, no matter how old (I have a lot of posts I suspect never even got read from about 2013 to 2015), my readership count issues would disappear fairly quickly.

Speaking of old posts… if there are any formerly topics someone wants me to revisit, or if there is something you were expecting me to post about that I had missed, feel free to drop me a line. Please be sure you include a valid return email address.

Happy holidays, and best wishes for a great 2017.