So it’s been a terrible couple of weeks that followed a terrible year. But now it’s Friday evening and I think we can all use a little bit of celebration for making it this far.
Herein I present music for a Friday night’s celebration.
Author: <span>Ron Charest</span>
My frequent visitors may have noticed some issues with this website over the past couple of weeks. In fact, my very frequent visitors may have even noticed this website was not available for about three days, and usually looked completely crappy.
Missing images, no themes, wrong pages loading, and “website not available” error messages, are all indications that a website is experiencing technical difficulties. And wow, did we ever experience technical issues, including all the above. But, welcome back. We’re still standing. Mostly. Warning – Tech Talk Ahead!
So, finally, we came to the last day of the year 2020 as defined by the Julian calendar. I think I can call this past year a wild ride. I’ve heard some people were surprised Godzilla didn’t make a return visit to either Tokyo or New York City. Alien invaders from Planet X also haven’t attacked us, so I guess there’s two bits of good news.
So now we get to look forward to a new year full of surprises and excitement. Which sounds suspiciously like the year we just left, that no one seems to want to repeat.
My maternal Grandfather was among the people who inspired me the most when I was growing up. He was an immigrant from Germany and supported himself and his family as a house painter and general carpenter. He could make anything out of wood and frequently made us, his grandchildren, all kinds of cool wooden toys.
Alas, like too many childhood things, most of the toys he made me disappeared over the years. They were victims of my family moving, or letting my younger brothers have my things when I grew up and joined the Navy. However, one toy did manage to survive, abet in a state of disrepair. Recently, I took a trip down memory lane and restored this old toy.
So this is Christmas. After a bitterly long year that still isn’t over we are in the season of peace and goodwill towards all men. I think anyone could be excused for not feeling particularly “Christmasy” about now.
But, I want to think there is still some good in this season.
Today is my pandemic day two hundred eighty-two of staying safer at home. I’d like to be witty about this and make some wise-ass comment such as “if most accidents happen in the home, how are we safer there?” But honestly, after over nine months of staying in or near the house, I don’t have much to feel witty about.
This is just another day in the trenches. Now with with an extra added dose of Christmas holiday blues.
So my regular readers dropping in for a visit might momentarily think they come to the wrong blog. I can assure you, if you were looking for “The Charest Family on the Web” you dropped in on the correct website. After several years I’ve given my humble blog a bold new look.
I did this for several reasons, partially driven by learning a lot of User Experience (UX) principles over the past year of graduate school. Partially because my former theme had a few quirks I didn’t care for. Partially because, it was time for a style refresh.
We are now thirty-four days past our last Presidential election. In normal times all eyes would be on our incoming president. All news stories would be on the transition of power and how the opposing party is nominally cooperating with the incoming President. In normal times, most people would hardly be paying any attention and life would go on.
Regretfully, these are not normal times. In these times, about one half of our nation’s citizens are holding our collective breaths that trump finally leaves office peacefully. The other half is loudly screaming “VOTE FRAUD” and going so far as proposing a military-led coup to keep trump in office.
I don’t think I’m breaking news by posting that this past year has been a difficult year. Millions of people are out of work with no way to buy food or pay their rent. Schools are shut down with an entire generation of children facing a severe setback in their development and education. Our country remains in turmoil with one half of our people ready to go to war against the other half. People have been locked inside their homes for as long as eight months with no end in sight.
But today is Thanksgiving, a day we traditionally set aside to give momentary thanks for the blessings we do have. One day out of a year to remember the good things as a perspective on all the bad things. So this is my small contribution to giving thanks.
A Painful Week Behind Us
So today, Saturday January 9, 2021, ends a week I could once never have imagined. Wednesday evening I sat in front of my TV transfixed, watching scenes of our National Capitol being overrun and trashed by rioters. Then video clips of national leaders speaking out. Then a clip of Pres*dent trump telling the rioters “Go home, I love you all.” Then more clips of rioters and a woman shot.
What a painful week for anyone who continues to love this country.
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