The sun sets on another day, month, year…
Sunset was, well, still cloudy and snowy, and pretty cold out. It made me smile watching the flakes fall, and I enjoyed the moments as I used the snowblower to make a path.
It’s funny but you may not think it’s funny. As I was creating a path with the snow blower, I thought about the paths that we take in life. 2025 has been a unique year because so many new paths have been taken and so many older paths have come up.
Our world changed significantly after a new election and a shift in some ways of thinking. There has been a shift but whether it will be good or bad will be written in history books and my opinions are not relevant at the moment. I have seen people change their thought processes more often as of late, and some people seem nicer. Of course there are those who do not.
In spite of it being available previously this has got to be the year of AI. The emergence of AI and the constant change in the world based on AI seems to be at the forefront of most people’s thinking. Personally, I find it amusing that some things that have absolutely nothing to do with thinking are now associated with AI. I expect over the next several years to see a plethora of changes like “AI Toothpaste” and the groups of similar products that are not truly affected by artificial intelligence.
I made a change in my position. I felt I needed a challenge again and wanted to lead teams, learn more, and make a difference. I was reminded of the Incredible Mr. Limpet. If you are not familiar with that particular movie the main theme song is “be careful what you wish.” My experience with quality systems, technology, cyber security, building systems, networking, and far more were put to the test rapidly as a company was being built from the ground up. I found myself challenged daily and remembered that often those challenges had prices attached.
In my family there were significant medical issues faced. I try to keep my family life very separate from my writing, but it bleeds over a lot and dealing rare diseases and cancer is never something someone wants to be a part of. I feel bad for my family members that have faced great difficulty this year and in doing so have overcome much and still have much to overcome.
I focused on writing different things. In 2026 I have to finish a lot of projects, and it will be up to me to find perseverance and diligence to eliminate them from my path. I have over 50 started projects in my writing including some newly developed insights on CMMC and the core of information technology. There is a move to separate technology into multiple areas and in reality, someone needs to understand the global landscape and new positions are necessary in that. I also added several additional fiction books and actually published another poetry anthology this year. I found myself less motivated about smaller projects and seemed to pour myself into larger ones. 2026 will require I finished these.
I traveled a lot this year by car. I enjoy traveling by car it gives me time to think and to listen. I listen to books while I’m driving and it’s nice to have them slowed down to a point that I am not consuming them at a ridiculous level. Several years ago I tried to do the challenge on Goodreads and found that it was slightly annoying to go back over everything because I immediately wanted to start reading another book. By my count I’ve read a few over 300 books this year, but I’m not entirely sure. I continue to read a lot of indie authors, but I have found that the reciprocal is not often true. Many indie authors love when you read their book, but they have no desire to read anyone else’s. I have found quite a few that put the time and effort into reading more and doing reciprocal reading. I hope I find more. I have also engaged with multiple authors that feel they are mainstream, but they have paid for their books far more than most independents or small press would. I met another person who spent well over $30,000 to get their book published because it was in the name but have sold far fewer than I have. I hope they find success, and I hope of creatives.
All in all, the world is in an interesting place and part of it is because you are in it. This year a significant number of individuals visited 29,000 sunsets. Some weeks as many as 5000 people. Some weeks less. I don’t know who everyone is but I see the numbers move around and it is random what people think of as important or interesting. I thought about turning comments on again, but decided not to simply because I don’t want to be the source of more anger on the Internet if someone agrees or disagrees with each other.
I added the donation button this year S. I still don’t display any ads or try to scrape money off of people indirectly. I wish people realized the level of monies that are being ripped off from them just by going to silly little sites. I find myself thinking about the early days when night watcher was prevalent. The Internet was cleaner in many ways and people were sometimes nicer. Still, occasionally I need to pay for things so if people enjoy their time here there is now a donate button.
There is also now a subscribe feature that allows us to stay in touch and since the last several posts once a week.
So as the sun sets on another day, it was a great 2025. Sure, there were ups and downs but let’s get ready for more and let’s make 2026 even better. If you’re reading this, you are the reason 29,000 sunsets exists. Let’s make every day amazing, no matter what.
Sleep sweet, love life, and happy new year…