I've been swearing, SWEARING, that I was going to dust off the blog and start writing again. That day has come. I'm still struggling with how to parse out my "audiences" for this blog. If you know me from the personal social media sphere, you know my politics, my weaknesses and whimsy. If you know me from the LinkedIn space time continuum, then you know that I geek out pretty hard on healthcare, technology and in general the new world of work. Those threads are similar, albeit a bit more pointed when I'm speaking semi-privately to an audience of friends and former colleagues that generally share my values. I also wear different glasses depending on whom I'm talking to.
Sometimes I think it would be a good idea to start an email newsletter for the small audience that might be interested in my longer and more opinionated ramblings, but I worry that many people are just not ready for that kind of commitment. Email is a funny thing that way. For personal correspondence, most people are very stingy with it. I have been thinking hard about a blast email to my contacts to drum up business for TMO or at least refer me to a job with a company that has good values and mission, but I've put that off for a while. Worried about that whole sanctity of the inbox sort of thing. And maybe my fear of rejection will be so heightened that I will cry each time someone unsubscribes.
So for now, I'm committing to just blow out this old blog again. I try to journal every day by hand, and I'll try to put something thoughtful and of hopefully some value or interest in each of these posts.
Despite the near-certain apocalypse, I'd love to move to Los Angeles. Or at least have an excuse to travel there regularly. I have no illusions about what it would take to live there: big piles of money, but it stirs my imagination like no other city in the country. Sure, Seattle or Denver would be much more practical and perhaps aligned with our lives, but there is something that I find fascinating about the city; its crevices and artifacts of both its vapidness and its role as a testing ground for modern culture. And don't forget that it's likely the biggest center of manufacturing in the entire country, even the LA-style weirdos have factories going full bore.
It's still a city where people go to re-invent themselves or find fortunes, and certainly all those stories don't play out. There's even deeper misery there today. But there has been no surer example of American optimism and hope as LA in the 20th century and that pull is still there for me today.
Sometimes I think it would be a good idea to start an email newsletter for the small audience that might be interested in my longer and more opinionated ramblings, but I worry that many people are just not ready for that kind of commitment. Email is a funny thing that way. For personal correspondence, most people are very stingy with it. I have been thinking hard about a blast email to my contacts to drum up business for TMO or at least refer me to a job with a company that has good values and mission, but I've put that off for a while. Worried about that whole sanctity of the inbox sort of thing. And maybe my fear of rejection will be so heightened that I will cry each time someone unsubscribes.
So for now, I'm committing to just blow out this old blog again. I try to journal every day by hand, and I'll try to put something thoughtful and of hopefully some value or interest in each of these posts.
Despite the near-certain apocalypse, I'd love to move to Los Angeles. Or at least have an excuse to travel there regularly. I have no illusions about what it would take to live there: big piles of money, but it stirs my imagination like no other city in the country. Sure, Seattle or Denver would be much more practical and perhaps aligned with our lives, but there is something that I find fascinating about the city; its crevices and artifacts of both its vapidness and its role as a testing ground for modern culture. And don't forget that it's likely the biggest center of manufacturing in the entire country, even the LA-style weirdos have factories going full bore.
It's still a city where people go to re-invent themselves or find fortunes, and certainly all those stories don't play out. There's even deeper misery there today. But there has been no surer example of American optimism and hope as LA in the 20th century and that pull is still there for me today.
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