I wrote this back in March as I deleted my social media accounts:

There’s something very powerful about the concept of a social network… The problem comes when these networks have revenue targets to hit and shareholders to please.

I don’t go on BuzzFeed often, but when I do, I fail their quiz about “important” events that happened this year and I’m validated in my life choices.

Emoji + Things App = 👨🏻‍💻

Happy Feast of St. Nicholas!

I hate when big box hardware stores close entire aisles during business hours.

Got all of the leaves mulched before the heavy rains. Feels good to get the lawn back into shape.

One of the things that I miss about Twitter/Instagram are the digital friends that I made. I wish there was an easier way to keep in touch with them, but I’m not sure that I’m willing to recreate those accounts just to stay in touch.

Merry muggin’

Manton likes to talk about how owning your domain means that you own your own content. In fact, that’s the major selling point behind Micro.blog. I completely agree with him. When I post to a blog at a domain that I own, I control the content, and how it’s presented, from here forevermore.

I started a blog called Catholic Husband back in March of 2013. I launched the blog in the run-up to my transition out of the workforce and starting my new job as a stay-at-home dad. With just an infant to look after, I wanted to fill my time thinking and writing. It’s my longest running, and most consistently updated, blog. I’m coming up on my 800th post, almost all of which are over 500 words.

I care passionately about the design of Catholic Husband and how readers see the content, even posts that are nearly six years old. That’s why I’m working my way back, through every single post, and updating the blog photo to match a standardized format. I’m using Unsplash, and the visual upgrade that those premium photos bring to my posts cannot be understated. This process is tedious and multi-step, but that’s okay. I’m in the driver’s seat and I think that the effort is worth it.

My ability to reach back nearly six years and manipulate every single post is almost unheard of in today’s Internet silos. I don’t need to wait for the content host to decide to create a tool to make it easy, because I’m in control. I simply open my web development app, make the changes, and hit publish. Try doing that with a Facebook post from Summer 2013.

I don’t know what the Internet will be like in 20 years, but I can be confident that as long as I own my domain and control my content, it’ll be available, if I so choose.

Hulu/AT&T plans for ads in 2019:

Streaming TV services offered by companies like Hulu and AT&T are testing the waters for a new type of advertising called “pause ads” The idea… ads that play when they choose to pause a show…

Nope.

I did three different 2018 tax calculators (Turbotax, eFile, H&R Block). The same numbers gave me three answers with a huge swing. I guess we’ll just wait and see what happens!

It’s that wonderful time of year again when the soft glow of the Christmas tree fills my home with light early in the morning.

Sky clear.

To the scientists who gave us contact lenses: I salute you!

My spot in line to move domain registrations to Cloudflare opened up this morning. $8/year for .com with free WHOIS privacy. Easy decision.

Hello, December! 🎄

“Free shipping” that delivers in 7-10 business days is just as off-putting to customers as paid 3-5 business day shipping.