Its going to be long...goodbyes, even temporary ones, aren't my bag baby....
A true friend always tells you like it is. Or, at least, they try to always tell you like it is. And as a friend told me, "your blog has jumped the shark".
After months of stories about adventures in politics, sports, music, drinking, funny videos, relationships, travel combined with more drinking, anything but work, promotional products / services, etc., HTW blog is taking a long overdue summer break. It might be the endless summer as far as regular HTW blogging goes.
It's not that I don't want to write or that my life has become any less absurd. In fact, if anything the absurdity level has increased. Perhaps I am more at peace with it now and don't think it is actually all worth documenting.
And I joined Facebook. (Still debating whether this was a proactive move on my part or just another form of playing with the Internets now that blogging isn't the distracting, shiny object in front of my eyes.)
What have I learned? I have learned that creative writing / blogging can be done for any reason or no reason at all and you can still draw an audience. However, the most "successful" blogs usually have a point or some familiar narratives running through them. It helps too if that it isn't all about drinking or relationships, even though posts on such topics guarantee increased viewership.
It was my intent to make this blog a catalog of my interests and not a daily diary of how great I am or a blog about what I think is important / politically relevant. It is my opinion that people get sick of taking in other people's opinions, not matter how well-written or well-presented. There is only so much George Carlin I can watch and I love the guy and think he is pretty much always on the money. (Speaking of which, the amount of time I have devoted to watching him on YouTube recently is just shocking.)
Just as well, I have enough politics in my life anyways. Writing about it would just seem lame and not very unique. In fact, politics and government in one form or another have been my passion for the last decade. My interests and career may be heading in another direction and that potential future is what is more on mind these days. In closing, I will offer the following personal observations about politics in the last decade:
- It’s not all George Bush's fault. There is a certain amount of truth to the statement that the world has gone a little crazy. Regardless of who is in the Oval Office, some of this change would have happened and it would be just as disturbing. I have recently re-read some of Bill Clinton's speeches in the late 1990's about globalization and how the coming interconnectedness of the world would great benefits as well increased dangers. Bin Laden is a world away and the Internet exponentially increases his ability to reach folks who might have never heard of him. This observation leads me to point 2...
- The media have had it in for President George W. Bush from day one. They don't believe he won the 2000 election fairly and the liberal group-think so present in today's editorial boardrooms is predictably laughable, if not pathetic. They do not take seriously the national security threats (China, Islamic-fascism, Iran, and Russia.) Which leads to me point 3...
- People like me, and hopefully, a large majority of folks here in the USA are not real ideologues. And neither were the great leaders who were supposedly the ultimate ideologues: Reagan compromised with Tip O’Neill all the time. Convoluted theories are nice but don't hold much of a candle to time-tested, practical ways to solve problems. It greatly concerns me and other folks that we can't seem to solve big problems anymore. Dubai has almost 25% of the world's construction cranes because it is building so much so quickly. We still haven't built the Freedom Tower seven years after 9/11. In fact, we don't build big things anymore but rather quibble about who will win or lose if anything is done. Our system of governance has not cured a major disease (AIDS still kills folks but not before the drug companies make 20 years of profits off of their “cocktails”) or made solvent our public welfare programs (Social Security and Medicare / Medicaid). Let’s get moving again folks…set a goal, compromise on a plan to get there where everybody gains something and lose something else, and get on with it. Which leads me to the sense that people, now armed with most information with a few mouse clicks, want results because…
- The Internet is changing everything. Duh. The Republicans have a lot to catch up in this respect. As a golfing buddy said to me yesterday, “who calls anyone anymore? Send me an email already.” Our world is only becoming more wired and right now the Obama vs. McCain race feels like a repeat of the 1960 presidential election where people listening to radio think Nixon won the first-televised presidential debate while those watching the debate on TV give Kennedy the edge. Message counts but how you package counts just as much but…
- Substance counts even in the age of Facebook billionaires. There is something to be said to having traveled the world and worked with world leaders for two decades as opposed to living in Hawaii for a few years when you were a kid. Be careful what you wish for because…
- The role of government is not to solve every problem, it is to solve problems that individuals and markets can’t solve alone. I look to the government to provide for the common defense and provide some measure of safety in some facets of life; I don’t look to the government to give me hope. Also, politicians are afraid to get ahead of the marketplace these days. Its true, the people who the Wall Street Journal and not the Washington Post run the world. But the people who give the Wall Street Journal the ability to exist rarely get the coverage they deserve because…
- The real heroes in our world are those in the military who defend our country without complaint or those go to work every day and do their job so they can raise a family whom the politicians claim to represent. My brothers defend freedom and my Dad raised a large family on one salary. These are incredible things that seem very ordinary but they can truly heroic at times.
Wow. So much for not doing the blog rant about politics.
There is a website out there is meant to showcase blogs that only have one post. I am proud that my blog has lasted more than one post. All good things must come to an end…nothing changes if nothing changes and all that. Plus I need to go watch the Tour de France and buy the new I-phone.
By my calculations, three of you actually might care about this notice. May I suggest to you that you work harder and stop looking at a lame blog at your place of employment in the hopes that you find some laughter as an escape of your miserable existence.
But...really... thanks for reading. It means something to know that you might actually like what I write. Any columnist is lying when they say they don't care if anyone reads their work. Same is true for bloggers.
I heard the world and I want you to hear it too.
